VOTER ID-NORTH CAROLINA
NC justices weigh legality of voter ID, tax amendments
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s highest court is deciding whether the legislature was barred from placing constitutional amendments on the ballot because members who agreed to do so were elected from districts declared to be illegal gerrymanders. The state Supreme Court scheduled oral arguments for Monday in litigation filed by the North Carolina NAACP. At issue are amendments approved by voters in 2018 that mandated photo voter identification and reduced the maximum income tax to 7%. A trial judge voided those amendments, saying that edition of the General Assembly had exceeded its authority. A Court of Appeals panel overturned that ruling in 2020.
DOWNED AIRCRAFT SEARCH
Coast Guard: Crews respond to report of downed aircraft
MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. (AP) — Officials say Coast Guard and local fire department crews are responding to a report of a downed aircraft off the coast of North Carolina. The Coast Guard says watchstanders received a report of a possible downed aircraft about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) east of Drum Inlet from a Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point air traffic controller on Sunday evening. The air traffic controller reported that the aircraft was behaving erratically on radar, then disappeared from the radar screen. Coast Guard boat crews and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew searched the area. Local fire department and National Park Service beach crews also responded.
NORTH CAROLINA CHURCH-RACIAL UNITY
Racial unity: Merged Southern congregation sets an example
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (AP) — More than five years after a Black congregation merged with a mostly white North Carolina church, members of The Refuge Church continue striving to be an example of unity and racial reconciliation in the American South. Church member Troy Savage says Martin Luther King Jr.’s decades-old criticism of the racial divide in the U.S. church still rings true today. Be he does not think it has to stay that way. Across the U.S., research shows congregational diversity is growing, but a majority of Black adults who attend religious services continue to worship with congregations and clergy that are mostly or all Black.
HOTEL BALCONY DEATH
13-year-old dies in Chapel Hill hotel balcony fall
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — A teenager has died after falling from a hotel balcony in North Carolina. Chapel Hill Police say the 13-year-old fell from a fifth-floor balcony at the Graduate Hotel on West Franklin Street Saturday just before 11 p.m. The child landed on the third floor. The cause of the fall is under investigation. In a press release Sunday, police did not release the name of the teen or any other details about the incident. Once known as the Franklin Hotel, it reopened as the Graduate in 2020.
IMPALED HIKER
Hiker with impaled foot rescued from North Carolina mountain
LINVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Rescuers helped retrieve an injured hiker from the top of a North Carolina mountain. Burke County Search and Rescue said in a Facebook post that they received a report of an injured hiker on top of Shortoff Mountain Thursday night shortly before midnight. The rescuers were able to reach the hiker by about 2 a.m. Friday; the hiker’s foot had been impaled by a tent stake. Over the course of the next eight hours, the rescuers helped hiker get down the mountain safely. Burke County is roughly half way between Charlotte and Asheville.
BURGLARY SUSPECT SHOT
Police shoot, kill burglary suspect in North Carolina
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Police in North Carolina say an officer shot and killed a burglary suspect after a confrontation at a car dealership. Concord Police say an officer on patrol discovered a burglary in process Sunday around 5 a.m. at a Nissan dealership. Police say the officer observed a white male suspect trying to steal a vehicle. According to police, the suspect ignored multiple commands to stop what he was doing and a physical confrontation ensued. It was then that the officer shot the suspect, who was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. The officer is a 2-year veteran of the department. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting.
OUTER BANKS-CLEANUP
Outer Banks beach cleanup organized after home collapses
MANTEO, N.C. (AP) — Park rangers are hosting a volunteer cleanup event Monday on North Carolina’s Outer Banks in response to debris from a collapsed home. The National Park Service said the cleanup on Cape Hatteras National Seashore will take place from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Monday. Volunteers can obtain gloves, garbage bags and trash pickup sticks from rangers at two locations Monday morning. The Park Service says debris has spread up to 15 miles from the site of the collapsed home in the Rodanthe area. The beach in the immediate vicinity of the collapse has been closed due to unsafe conditions.
POLICE SHOOTING-NORTH CAROLINA
N. Carolina police shoot person trying to run over officer
MOUNT HOLLY, N.C. (AP) — Police officers shot and seriously wounded a driver after authorities say he hit the officers with his car. Mount Holly Police Chief Don Roper told news outlets Friday night that the officers received reports of a suspicious vehicle near an apartment complex on Friday. Officers were talking with the man when Roper said the driver put the car into reverse and struck both officers. The officers responded by firing their weapons. The driver was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. The two officers were released from the hospital after receiving treatment for their injuries. The North Carolina Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting at the request of local authorities.
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