VOLUME 148 ISSUE 23 | THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2025
CHATHAMNEWSRECORD.COM
THE CHATHAM COUNTY EDITION OF NORTH STATE JOURNAL
PJ WARD-BROWN / CHATHAM NEWS & RECORD
Wet hot American summer Folks are doing whatever they can to stay cool, with heat indexes soaring well into the triple digits across the region and heat warnings issued for several days. These youngsters found a respite from the hot temps at the Asheboro-Randolph YMCA’s splash pad. In Chatham County, the Knight Farm Community Park Splash Pad is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 362 Vine Parkway in Pittsboro.
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BRIEF this week
Gunman who killed 4 in N.Y. was trying to get to NFL offices, claimed to have CTE New York Police say a gunman who killed four people in a Manhattan skyscraper before taking his own life claimed to have a brain disease linked to contact sports and was trying to target the National Football League’s headquarters in the building. New York City Mayor Eric Adams says investigators believe the gunman wanted to get up to the NFL’s offices on Monday but entered the wrong elevator. Police say Shane Tamura, a Las Vegas casino worker, had a note in his wallet that suggested he had a grievance against the NFL and asked that his brain be studied. He played high school football in California but never played in the NFL.
Brain-eating amoeba kills boy swimming in S.C. lake Columbia, S.C. A 12-year-old boy died from a brain-eating amoeba after swimming in a South Carolina lake over the July Fourth weekend. The amoeba enters the body through the nose and causes a fatal brain infection. Fewer than 10 cases are reported annually in the U.S., but almost all are deadly. More than 160 people are known to have died from the amoeba in the U.S. in the past 60 years. The boy’s parents were unaware of the amoeba when they let their son swim in Lake Murray. The amoeba is common, even if the infections caused by it are rare. Other dangers in lakes include E.coli and harmful algae, which can cause severe health issues.
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In mobile home parks, clean, safe tap water isn’t a given Seventy percent that run their own water systems violated safe drinking water rules By Michael Phillis, Travis Loller and M.K. Wildeman The Associated Press THE WORST WATER Colt Smith has seen in 14 years with Utah’s Division of Drink-
ing Water was at a mobile home park, where residents had been drinking it for years before state officials discovered the contamination. The well water carried cancer-causing arsenic as much as
10 times the federal limit. Smith had to put the rural park under a do-not-drink order that lasted nearly 10 years. “The Health Department refers it to us like, ‘Why aren’t you guys regulating it?’ We had no idea it existed,” he said. More than 50 years after the Safe Drinking Water Act was passed to ensure that Ameri-
Lumbee tribe sees politics snarl recognition by Washington The tribe is struggling to get recognized by Congress By Graham Lee Brewer The Associated Press SINCE THE 1980S, the Lumbee Tribe has lobbied Congress to acknowledge it as a sovereign
nation. There was renewed hope last year when both major party candidates in the presidential election promised to intervene on behalf of the Lumbee. In his first week in office, Pres-
ident Donald Trump appeared to be making good on his endorsement. He issued an executive order directing the Interior Department to create a plan for federal recognition, a move Lumbee Chairman John Lowery called a “significant step forward.” But several months later,
Group of volunteers repair by hand parts of Appalachian Trail damaged by Helene “Volunteers are the lifeblood of the Appalachian Trail.” Jake Stowe, Appalachian Trail Conservancy
There are still significant detours in several places along the trail By Erik Verduzco and Makiya Seminera The Associated Press UNICOI COUNTY, Tenn. — In a rugged patch of the Appalachian Trail in eastern Tennessee, volunteers size up a massive, gnarled tree lying on its side. Its tangled web of roots and dark brown soil, known as a root ball, is roughly the size of a large kiddie pool. The collection of volunteers and staff from the Appalachian
Trail Conservancy and local organizations, doesn’t plan to move the tree. Instead, their job is filling the gaping holes left by it and many other downed trees along iconic East Coast trail. Almost a year since Hurricane Helene tore through the mountains of the Southeast, restoration is still ongoing. In places like the Appalachian Trail, it’s powered primarily by volunteers at a time when federal resources are strained and uncertain. That labor, made up of people spanning several generations and continents, aims to not only return the trail to its See TRAIL, page A3
cans’ water is free from harmful bacteria, lead and other dangerous substances, millions of people living in mobile home parks can’t always count on those basic protections. A review by The Associated Press found that nearly 70% of mobile home parks running See WATER, page A10
it remains unclear if Trump will take further action. The plan was submitted to the White House in April, according to the Interior Department. However, a White House official told The Associated Press last week that the Lumbee will have to achieve its goal through legislation — which the Interior Department also confirmed. “We anticipate the tribe will work with Congress on a path forward to be formally recognized,” Interior spokesperson Elizabeth See LUMBEE, page A7