PARKING LOT-SHOOTINGS
NC police: 3 dead, 2 wounded in hotel parking lot shootings
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Police in a North Carolina city say three people were killed and two others wounded following reported shootings in a hotel parking lot. Fayetteville police officers say they went to the lot at the Baymont Ramada on Saturday night and found four people who had been shot. One shooting victim was pronounced dead at the scene, while two others later died. A fifth shooting victim located was being treated at a local hospital. Their names weren’t immediately released. The department’s homicide unit was investigating the shootings, and officers asked the public for any information about what happened.
AP-US-NATO-PLANE-CRASH
Marine Corps identifies 4 killed in NATO exercise crash
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Marine Corps has identified the four Marines who died when their Osprey aircraft crashed Friday night in a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle during a NATO exercise. All four were assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261, Marine Aircraft Group 26, 2d Marine Aircraft Wing stationed on Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina. They are Capt. Matthew J. Tomkiewicz, 27, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Capt. Ross A. Reynolds, 27, of Leominster, Massachusetts; Gunnery Sgt. James W. Speedy, 30, of Cambridge, Ohio; and Cpl. Jacob M. Moore, 24, of Catlettsburg, Kentucky. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
NIGHTCLUB-SHOTS FIRED
South Carolina man accused of firing at Charlotte officers
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Police in North Carolina’s largest city say a South Carolina man is accused of firing a rifle at officers while they tried to break up fights outside a nightclub. It happened early Saturday as Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers responded to a call about a physical assault at the club. Several fights began in an adjacent parking lot, and police say that’s when someone retrieved a rifle and fired directly at officers. The officers weren’t hurt, and the suspect was ultimately tackled. Records show 27-year-old Tyler Drew, of Rock Hill, South Carolina was released Sunday on bond. It wasn’t immediately known if he has an attorney.
OBIT-GARROU
Linda Garrou, former NC Senate budget leader, dies at 79
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — A top budget-writer in the North Carolina Senate when Democrats controlled the chamber in the 2000s has died. The husband of former state Sen. Linda Garrou of Winston-Salem said Sunday that she died Saturday at a local hospital after suffering a stroke. Garrou was 79. She served in the Senate for over a dozen years until she declined to seek reelection in 2012. Her Senate colleagues included future U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan and Gov. Roy Cooper. Cooper on Sunday recalled her as a champion for North Carolina through her “firm, steady leadership.” A memorial service will be held Thursday at a Winston-Salem church.
AP-US-ELECTION-2022-REDISTRICTING
Democratic gains in legislative maps might not last long
DENVER (AP) — The surprising advantage Democrats gained during the torturous process of rewriting the nation’s congressional maps may be short lived. Two major states — North Carolina and Ohio — are already poised to redraw their maps in the next few years. Several cases at the U.S. Supreme Court, meanwhile, could dramatically alter the rules that govern mapmaking nationwide. Those twists could ultimately transform the redistricting process from a once-a-decade process into a regular political brawl that consumes state capitals already gripped by partisan tensions.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-PPP CONVICTIONS
NC federal jury convicts father, son over virus business aid
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A father and son now await sentencing after a federal jury in North Carolina convicted them of charges involving $1.7 million in pandemic business relief received by the father’s businesses that the U.S government say was obtained fraudulently. Jurors convicted Izzat and Tarik Freitekh following a trial in Charlotte that ended Wednesday. Federal prosecutors presented evidence that showed the father and son obtained $1.7 million by submitting fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan applications for several companies the father owned, including a Charlotte restaurant. The federal government says it has reclaimed $1.3 million of what the father and son stole.
AP-US-SUPREME-COURT-NOMINATION-BLACK-GIRLS
First but not last: Black girls see themselves in court pick
For Black girls, the possibility of Ketanji Brown Jackson being the first Black woman on the Supreme Court is a moment of promise, hope and the breaking of yet another barrier. Still, many are hungry for deeper change that goes beyond just representation. They say seeing someone like Jackson fully embrace her Blackness and ascend to the top of the American judicial system is a reminder that they don’t have to shrink themselves in order to succeed. Some people have tried to diminish Jackson’s nomination by calling it an example of affirmative action or a case of discrimination against white people. Whether that strategy continues as her Senate hearing gets underway Monday is something that’ll be widely watched.
VISA FRAUD-ATTORNEY SENTENCED
Suspended North Carolina attorney sentenced for visa fraud
NEW BERN, N.C. (AP) — Federal authorities say a suspended North Carolina attorney has been sentenced to prison for continuing to submit documents for immigration benefits by impersonating another attorney. U.S. Attorney Michael Easley says that Roydera Hackworth was sentenced Friday to one year and one day in prison and two years of supervised release for fraud in connection with visas, permits and other documents. Hackworth had been suspended in 2012 by the N.C. State Bar, but evidence indicted she continued to submit petitions and applications for benefits. A review showed that as many as 24 clients were represented by Hackworth with no knowledge that she was using another attorney’s name.
