VIRUS OUTBREAK-NORTH CAROLINA

North Carolina announces first COVID vaccine lottery winners

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina announced on Monday the winners of its first COVID-19 vaccine lottery drawing. Winston-Salem resident and teacher Shelly Wyramon won the state’s first of four drawings for a $1 million cash prize, while 14-year-old Vania Martinez won a $125,000 college scholarship. The state will pick the remaining three cash and scholarship winners on July 7, July 21 and Aug. 4. Few residents have come in for a COVID-19 shot since the lottery was announced. Gov. Roy Cooper and state health officials hope more people will get their shot after news of winners being selected.

SHARK BITES GIRL

Mayor: Shark bites girl, injuries not life-threatening

OCEAN ISLE BEACH, N.C. (AP) — Ocean Isle Beach Mayor Debbie Smith says a shark bit a 7-year-old girl over the weekend. WECT-TV reports that EMS responded to the scene on Sunday morning and the young girl was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not thought to be life threatening. Smith says there were no other sightings of sharks on Sunday and no additional warnings for swimmers.

OPEN MEETINGS LAWSUIT

City ordered to pay news outlets’ costs in open meeting case

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A judge has ordered a North Carolina city to pay over $4,000 in attorneys costs to a coalition of media outlets that successfully sued to open a portion of a City Council retreat. The Citizen Times reports that the judge’s June 21 order said the city of Asheville must reimburse the Citizen Times, Mountain Xpress, Carolina Public Press and Blue Ridge Public Radio for their legal fees. In March, Buncombe County Superior Court Judge Steven Warren ruled that it would be illegal for the council to close the public part of its annual retreat. The city subsequently announced that all of the retreat, except for a team-building portion, would be streamed online.

DEADLY FIRE

Infant boy and man, 21, killed in apartment fire

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Authorities in North Carolina are investigating an apartment fire that killed a 10-month-old child and a 21-year-old man and critically injured an 18-year-old woman. The Winston-Salem Journal reports that the woman was taken to a hospital to be treated for life-threatening injuries from the fire that broke out early Sunday. Police said 21-year-old Anthony Lamont King was pronounced dead at the scene of the fire at the Winston-Salem apartment. The infant boy died at a hospital. The cause of the fire remained under investigation, but police said foul play wasn’t suspected.

MARCH VIDEOS

Newspaper: Police missed deadline for releasing march videos

GRAHAM, N.C. (AP) — A newspaper report says law enforcement agencies in a North Carolina county failed to comply with a court-ordered deadline for releasing videos that show officers using pepper spray on a group of people marching to a courthouse. Superior Court Judge Andrew Hanford ordered the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office and the Graham Police Department to turn over videos and photos of the Oct. 31 march to a coalition of news organizations by 2 p.m. on Friday. The News & Observer reports that the agencies didn’t give any of the material to a newspaper staffer who visited their offices on Friday afternoon. A sheriff’s office spokeswoman said the county was weighing whether to appeal Hanford’s June 15 order.

LAKE SEARCH

Divers searching lake for person who fell off pontoon boat

CORNELIUS, N.C. (AP) — The search for a person who fell off a pontoon boat on a North Carolina lake and didn’t resurface was expected to resume on Saturday. The Charlotte Observer reports that divers joined firefighters in searching for the person who went missing on Friday night. Cornelius Fire Capt. EJ McCormick told WBTV that officials are asking visitors to avoid the area that they are searching. Lake Norman is approximately 20 miles north of Charlotte.