MAN DROWNS
Virginia man drowns at North Carolina beach
EMERALD ISLE, N.C. (AP) — Officials say a Virginia man drowned at a North Carolina beach on Monday. The Town of Emerald Isle says emergency services were called for a report of a man in the water who needed assistance and he was pulled from the water by firefighters and two lifeguards. News outlets report that 36-year-old Joshua Paul Bishop of Roanoke, Virginia, died at Carteret Health Care in Morehead City about an hour later. Yellow flags were flying along the beach Monday as rip current risks were considered low.
AP-EVICTION-MORATORIUM
Landlords, tenants fill courts as eviction moratorium ends
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Tenants are turning up at housing courts hoping for last-minute reprieves from looming evictions after the federal eviction ban ended over the weekend. Also there are landlords who, frustrated with the slow pace of federal help and with bills to pay, just want their apartments back. Scenes like this are playing out from North Carolina to Virginia to Ohio and beyond as the eviction system, which saw a dramatic drop in cases before the federal moratorium expired, rumbled back into action Monday. Activists fear millions will be tossed onto the streets as the delta variant of the coronavirus surges.
LOTTERY-EDUCATION
Big NC lottery sales in pandemic mean record education money
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Massive ticket sales for the North Carolina Education Lottery during the coronavirus pandemic have resulted in a best-ever $936 million in annual game profits for education. The lottery announced on Monday that earnings for education during the year ending June 30 grew by 28% compared to the year before. Ticket sales also soared by 26% to $3.8 billion. A lottery leader says consumers played games more because they had few other options for entertainment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He says multistate lotteries, scratch-off tickets and a new game called Fast Play also helped. The first North Carolina lottery tickets were sold in 2006.
COOPER-COUNSEL
Cooper general counsel McKinney heads to SC private practice
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s legal adviser within state government for several years has returned to a private law practice. A law firm in Greenville, South Carolina, announced on Monday that William McKinney is back with the business he worked at in the 2010s. McKinney was general counsel in the governor’s office since Cooper took his gubernatorial oath in January 2017. McKinney led attorneys who offered legal strategies as Cooper issued executive orders during the COVID-19 pandemic and when he challenged in court legislative actions that lessened his gubernatorial powers. Cooper’s office has not yet named McKinney’s successor.
PANTHERS-CHINN’S MOVE
Panthers’ Chinn eyes ‘freedom’ at safety after move from LB
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — Jeremy Chinn is moving to safety for the Carolina Panthers after making plenty of plays as mostly a linebacker last year. The Panthers think he will make even more plays with the freedom to move around. The 6-foot-3, 221-pound Chinn was runner-up to Washington’s Chase Young for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2020. The Panthers are making the switch because of Chinn’s versatility and playmaking ability in pass defense. Carolina also hopes it will boost the club’s last line of defense.
EVICTION MORATORIUM-NORTH CAROLINA
Threat of rising evictions looms in North Carolina
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Legal Aid of North Carolina is seeing strong demand for assistance from residents who cannot afford to pay their rent. The nonprofit law firm that helps low-income renters facing the threat of eviction is inundated with calls and struggling to keep up with demand. Pandemic-induced job loss, a COVID-19 surge fueled by the delta variant and a lack of awareness of state and local rental assistance programs are creating extra cause for concern. The state still has hundreds of millions of unspent dollars available to help cover rental costs. About 1 in 13 North Carolina tenants have no confidence they’ll be able to make next month’s rent.
DRIVER RUN OVER
Police: Man ran over driver after stealing car
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Police in North Carolina are asking for help finding a man they say assaulted a driver, stole his car and ran him over as he fled. Asheville police say Michael Lynn Hayes Jr. assaulted a driver on White Pine Drive on Sunday night, then ran over the driver as he fled in the stolen car. The driver was taken to a hospital, where police say he is in critical, but stable condition. People are urged to be cautious if they see Hayes, as police say he is known to be armed. Police say Hayes faces charges including felony hit and run inflicting injury, possession of a stolen vehicle, and felony larceny of a motor vehicle.
TEEN BITTEN-BEACH
Teen gets stitches after likely shark bite in North Carolina
WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, N.C. (AP) — A 15-year-old visiting Wrightsville Beach needed 15 stitches in his leg after he was bitten by what officials think was a shark. Town Manager Tim Owens said lifeguards and emergency personnel tended to the boy’s injury after he walked out of the water on July 27. The teen’s father, Ivan Nekrasov, says the family was visiting from Tennessee and the teen was in waist-deep water when he was bitten. No one got a good look at what bit the boy, but Wrightsville Beach Fire Department Chief Glen Rogers says they believe it was a shark.
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