GUNS AT SCHOOL
2 teens charged after student brings 2 guns to high school
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Officials in North Carolina say two teens are facing charges after a high school student brought two guns to school. The News & Observer reports that Enloe High School Principal Jacqueline Jordan said that a school employee was alerted about a student with a weapon on campus. Jordan says staff escorted the student to the main office, where he was found to have two firearms. Investigators determined that two students may have handled or seen the firearms. Raleigh Police say they obtained juvenile petitions charging two 16-year-old boys with carry conceal, possession of firearm on school grounds and possession of a firearm by a minor. The discovery comes a day after a fatal school shooting at a Winston-Salem high school.
HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING-NORTH CAROLINA
Leaders offer compassion, few answers after school shooting
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — State and local leaders are offering encouragement and compassion but few answers a day after a North Carolina high school student was shot to death and a suspect arrested. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper told a news conference that the shooting at Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem was a pain and fear no child or parent should have to confront. District Attorney Jim O’Neill provided no new information at the news conference. Unanswered questions include whether the suspect and the victim knew each other, whether the gun used in the shooting has been recovered or if criminal charges have been filed against the suspect.
COOPER-RACIAL INJUSTICE
Bipartisan North Carolina police reforms signed by Cooper
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A bipartisan police reform package has been signed into law by North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. Backers of the legislation signed Thursday say it will rid departments of derelict officers and give mental health assistance to others on the force. Many items in the bill originate from a task force he commissioned following George Floyd’s murder, while law enforcement agencies and state House members also made recommendations. Other task force recommendations that lack broad consensus were left out. The new law creates databases designed to keep tabs on wayward officers and requires officers to intervene when they see colleagues use excessive force.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS-TESTING
Data: Majority of NC K-12 students taking state exams failed
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — New data shows the majority of North Carolina public school students taking standardized state exams in reading, math and science failed them last school year. The State Board of Education released results this week that showed just over 45% of K-12 students passing the exams. That’s lower than the nearly 59% who passed them two years ago — the last time testing was required. Education leaders cautioned against making year-over-year comparisons with the tests taken during a school year marked by limited in-person instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There was also a slight drop in the graduation rate this past year compared to the year before.
AP-US-DISPUTED-ELECTION-CHARGES
Key figure in NC ballot probe gets prison for benefit fraud
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A key player in a North Carolina ballot probe that led to a new congressional election has been sentenced to six months in prison for Social Security fraud. Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. received the sentence Thursday in federal court. He had pleaded guilty to two counts in June on the day his trial was supposed to begin. The judge also told Dowless he must pay $8,600 in restitution. The federal case was tangentially related to the ballot probe by the State Board of Elections and local prosecutors. Dowless and others still face state charges related to 2016 and 2018 elections.
AP-US-PLANE-INTO-BUILDING
Small jet crashes into building on takeoff; 4 aboard die
Authorities say they are trying to identify the two pilots and two passengers who died aboard a small jet that crashed on takeoff in Connecticut and hit a building. The Cessna Citation 560X took off just before 10 a.m. Thursday from the Robertson Airport, crashed into a building at the manufacturing company Trumpf Inc. and caught fire. The jet was headed to Dare County Regional Airport in Manteo, North Carolina. An intense fire burned for about 20 minutes. Authorities say there was “some type of mechanical failure during the takeoff sequence.” No one on the ground was seriously hurt.
AP-US-TEACHING-RACE-NORTH-CAROLINA
Bill to curb racial teaching goes to North Carolina governor
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina House Republicans have given final legislative approval to a bill to limit how teachers can discuss certain racial concepts inside the classroom. The proposal would prohibit teachers from compelling students to personally adopt any ideas from a list of 13 beliefs. The measure approved Wednesday will now make its way to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. The latest action in North Carolina follows a national trend of Republican-controlled legislatures looking to combat certain ideas they associate with “critical race theory.” The GOP has not identified a single case of alleged “indoctrination” that House Bill 324 would prevent. Cooper is likely to veto the proposal.
TROPICAL WEATHER-ATLANTIC
Ida remnants pound Northeast with rain, flooding, tornadoes
NEW YORK (AP) — The remnants of Hurricane Ida blew through the mid-Atlantic states with at least two tornadoes, heavy winds and drenching rains. The storm collapsed the roof of a U.S. Postal Service building in New Jersey, left cars and roads underwater and sent garbage floating through the streets of New York. The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado hit a southern New Jersey county just outside Philadelphia. Other video showed water rushing through the Newark airport, which suspended all flights. Thousands of people were evacuated after water reached dangerous levels at a Pennsylvania town nicknamed Flood City.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
