Chatham News & Record Vol. 149, Issue 6

BRIEF

Supreme Court rules 8-1 against Colorado ban on “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ Washington, D.C.

The Supreme Court has ruled against a law banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ kids in Colorado, one of about two dozen states that banned the discredited practice. The high court majority sided Tuesday with a Christian counselor who argues the law banning talk therapy violates the First Amendment. The justices agreed the law raises free speech concerns and sent it back to a lower court. President Donald Trump’s Republican administration supported the counselor. Colorado said the measure simply bars a practice of using therapy to try to “convert” LGBTQ+ people to heterosexuality.

Wisconsin judicial panel dismisses Democratic attempt to redraw congressional maps Madison, Wis.

A three-judge panel in Wisconsin has dismissed a lawsuit brought by Democratic voters that sought to redraw the battleground state’s Republican-friendly congressional boundary lines ahead of the November midterm election. The Tuesday decision to dismiss the other case can be appealed to the liberalcontrolled Wisconsin Supreme Court. There is a second lawsuit pending also seeking to redraw the swing state’s congressional districts, but it isn’t slated to go to trial until April 2027.

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Volunteers packed meals for an estimated 92,000 people across four states

By Dan Reeves Chatham News & Record

SILER CITY — Before sunrise on Saturday, the employee parking lot at Mountaire Farms in Siler City was already buzzing with activity. Church groups, nonpro t volunteers, law enforcement ocers and company employees began arriving around 5 a.m. for Mountaire’s annual “Easter for Thousands,” a large-scale meal-packing e ort aimed at helping families facing food insecurity across the region.

Working assembly-line style, volunteers packed boxes containing a full Easter meal: a roaster chicken, canned vegetables, macaroni and cheese, chicken and rice, cornbread mix and brownie mix for dessert — enough food to feed a family of four.

“We want everyone to feel good about food security,” said

‘Easter for Thousands’ feeds families in need Chapel Hill to utilize excess fund balance for various needs

The town had around $3 million in excess funding from FY 2025

By Ryan Henkel Chatham News & Record

CHAPEL HILL — The Town of Chapel Hill will be utilizing excess funds left over from the

scal year 2025 fund balance to cover one-time funding needs.

According to Business Management Director Amy Oland, the excess funds are a result of the town ending FY25 in a much stronger nancial position than originally anticipated.

“Midyear, we were preparing for a very di erent outcome,” Oland said. “Sales tax revenues were dropping sharply and we anticipated minimal lapsed salary savings. In response, we asked departments to pause on major expenditures, to delay noncritical hiring and to hold o nondiscretionary projects. These decisions were intentional and designed to protect our year-end nancial position.”

However, the town had bet-

Apollo vs. Artemis: What to know about NASA’s return to the moon

“There is no way we could be that same mission or ever hope to even be.”

Christina Koch, NASA astronaut

Artemis brings greater diversity to humanity’s return to lunar orbit

By Marcia Dunn The Associated Press

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s Apollo moonshots are a tough act to follow, even after all this time.

As four astronauts get set to blast o on humanity’s rst trip to the moon in more than half a century, comparisons between Apollo and NASA’s new Artemis program are inevitable. The world’s rst lunar visitors

orbited the moon on Apollo 8. The Artemis II crew will play it safe and zip around the moon in an out-and-back slingshot.

Another key di erence: Artemis re ects more of society, with a woman, person of color and Canadian rocketing away.

While Artemis builds on Apollo and pays homage to it, “there is no way we could be that same mission or ever hope to even be,” said NASA astronaut Christina Koch, part of the Artemis II crew. Here’s the lowdown on Apollo vs. Artemis, the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology, as

“We’ve got it down to a science. They get started, the music starts playing, and watch out, they’re rolling.”

Liz Mauney, Mountaire Cares

Liz Mauney, manager of Mountaire Cares.

Mountaire Farms, the nation’s fourth-largest chicken company, marked the 30th year of the initiative, which is organized through the company’s

ter sales tax and inspection permit revenues, as well as lapsed salary savings, than projected.

“After the budget was adopted, the picture improved,” Oland said.

As a result, the town had excess savings of around $3 million, and at the town council’s March 25 meeting, the council approved an appropriation in that amount for various items.

“Ending the year with excess fund balance re ects strongnancial management,” Oland said. “This outcome directly supports the council’s goal of organizational and scal

CRIME LOG

March 23

• Eleazar Costilla Benitez, 58, was arrested for failing to properly restrain a dangerous dog.

March 24

• Dewey Lee Smith, 44, was arrested for identity theft, resisting a public o cer and possession of up to half an ounce of marijuana.

• Aurora Michelle Bertine, 32, was arrested for indecent liberties with a child, second-degree forcible sex o ense and crime against nature.

March 25

• Marcos Emmanuel Benitez, 24, was arrested for violating an ordinance prohibiting animals at large.

• Nicholas James Beckner, 30, was arrested for indecent liberties with a child, second-degree forcible sex o ense, crime against nature and felony child abuse involving a sexual act.

• Noe Wuilfredo Perla, 25, was arrested for going armed to the terror of the people, possession of marijuana and assault on a female.

March 26

• Archimedes J. Kyrillidis, 63, was arrested for second-degree trespass.

• Ashley Culbreth Johnson, 60, was arrested for indecent exposure, obstructing a public o cer and obstructing justice.

• Timothy Richard Fox, 19, was arrested for larceny of a motor vehicle, possession of a stolen motor vehicle and purchasing or disposing of a motor vehicle from a chop shop.

March 27

• Robert Alton Lockwood, 38, was arrested for driving while impaired, failure to comply with license restrictions, reckless driving with wanton disregard and speeding.

March 28

• Aleaha Renne Marr, 32, was arrested for driving while impaired.

• Charity Lee Chambers, 54, was arrested for operating a vehicle with no insurance, driving without an operator’s license and possession of marijuana paraphernalia.

March 29

• Christopher Bryan Monroe, 28, was arrested for driving while impaired, expired registration, reckless driving with wanton disregard and rear lamps violation.

• Daniel Joseph Summa, 70, was arrested for simple possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

• Billie Bowles Powell, 66, was arrested for felony possession of cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia and resisting a public o cer.

Tillis, other senators to visit Taiwan before Trump’s summit with China’s Xi

Lawmakers look to improve ties with Taiwan, Japan and South Korea

By Stephen Groves The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bipartisan group of four senators has plans to visit Taiwan, Japan and South Korea in the coming days on a trip meant to bolster U.S. alliances seen as important to countering China’s dominance in Asia.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced the trip Saturday. She will be joined by Sens. John Curtis (R-Utah), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.). Their visits to Taipei, Tokyo and Seoul are coming before President Donald Trump’s trip to Beijing in May for a rescheduled summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The lawmakers’ stop in Taiwan could draw scrutiny from China, which opposes such relations and sees them as a challenge to its claim of sovereignty over the self-governing island. Taiwan relies on American backing for its democracy, but recent moves by Trump, such as discussing

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) descends a stairwell after a vote at the Capitol last month in Washington, D.C.

a potential weapons sales to Taiwan with Xi, have raised questions about the future direction of U.S. policy.

Analysts in both China and the United States believe Xi, through the leader-level summit, will try to in uence Trump to soften the U.S. stance on Taiwan.

“This bipartisan delegation demonstrates Congress’ commitment to these alliances and partnerships is unwavering and will endure well beyond any one administration,” Shaheen said in a statement.

In a show of reassurance to the Asian allies, the lawmakers plan to meet with political leaders and defense o cials on their trip.

“Our alliance with Taiwan is one of the most strategically and morally signi cant partnerships America has in the Indo-Paci c,” Curtis said.

It remains to be seen how Trump’s intervention in Venezuela, Iran and elsewhere could in uence other powers such as China and Russia. But there is some concern among lawmakers that the Republican president’s actions could be seen as giving those countries an opening for their own foreign moves.

The economic relationship with Taiwan has also come under scrutiny from the Trump administration. The U.S. is reliant on Taiwan for its production of computer chips, which contributed to a trade imbalance of nearly $127 billion during the rst 11 months of 2025.

The Trump administration reached a deal with Taiwan in February that removed 99% of its trade barriers.

During another visit by a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers last year, they emphasized that the U.S. would continue to partner closely with Taiwan.

Sanford, former SC governor, makes last-minute bid to return to Congress

He’s trying for his former seat with an emphasis on the national debt

By Meg Kinnard and Je rey Collins The Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Mark Sanford, the former South Carolina congressman and governor whose political ascendency was stalled by a 2009 a air, wants to return to Congress — again.

Just hours ahead of the deadline to do so, Sanford led candidacy paperwork with state o cials to run in the June 9 GOP primary for South Carolina’s 1st District seat, which he has held twice before.

Sanford’s rst political o ce was in the 1st District. An outsider with almost no name recognition, he navigated a primary for the open seat, nishing second before winning the runo . He served for six years before his outside run at governor, again pushing his way through a crowded primary and then knocking o the last Democrat to hold the o ce.

But his eight years were overshadowed by the Appalachian Trail, which became shorthand for Sanford’s disappearance to go to Argentina to see his lover. Sanford’s wife,

FUNDS from page A1 sustainability and reinforces our commitment to responsible budgeting and long-term scal resilience.” Town sta recommended breaking the funding up for six separate items:

• $100,000 to cover the town’s cost share allocation requirement from the Greene Tract master plan

• $140,000 to cover the upfront costs of a contract with IEM International to manage FEMA disaster recovery grant work

• $327,500 for purpose-built equipment to remove leaves from gutters

• $360,000 for improved way nding and the purchase of lights and decorations for downtown

ELISE AMENDOLA / AP PHOTO

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford speaks during a news conference in 2019 in Concord, New Hampshire.

family and his sta didn’t know where he was.

Beating back both an ethics inquiry and calls to resign, Sanford held fast, leaving o ce on his own terms.

In 2013, Sanford won back his old seat, beating 15 other candidates in a primary and runo . He won two more full terms before falling to a GOP challenger in 2018 who had President Donald Trump’s backing.

The seat would go on to ip to Democratic hands that fall for the rst time in decades, won back by GOP Rep. Nancy Mace in 2020. Mace is running for governor this year.

Sanford, 65, also brie y ran

“(We’re) focusing funding on where we can make the greatest impact now.”

Amy Oland, business management director

• $1 million for the demolition of Fire Station 4 as well as to cover construction funding gaps

• $1,072,500 to be allocated to the FY 2026 parking fund to cover the gap in revenue projections

“Selecting targeted projects ensures we stay disciplined and avoid overcommitting our limited funds and focus-

Here’s a quick look at what’s coming up in Chatham County.

April 4

Chatham Mills Farmers Market — 2026 Season Opening 8 a.m.

The outdoor market returns for its 2026 season on the lawn of historic Chatham Mills, o ering locally grown produce, artisan foods, crafts and goods from area vendors. The market runs Saturdays 8 a.m. to noon, April through October. visitpittsboro. com/event/chatham-millsfarmers-market/2026-04-04

Chatham Mills 480 Hillsboro St. Pittsboro

April 5

Downtown Pittsboro Historical Walking Tours — “The Arts” Noon

The Chatham County Historical Association leads guided walking tours exploring the history of artists, performers and creative spaces that shaped downtown Pittsboro’s cultural life. Two sessions are o ered — noon to 1:30 p.m. and 2-3:30 p.m. — with attendance limited to 20 per tour; admission is $5 for members, $10 for nonmembers. chathamhistory.org/Events

for president in 2020, challenging Trump for the nomination in what he characterized as a “long shot” e ort around warnings about the national debt. Some, including Sanford’s former gubernatorial sta ers, initially questioned whether the e ort was a serious one, positing that it might be an e ort to stay relevant after the 2018 defeat.

Sanford dropped out of the contest just ahead of the New Hampshire primary. Sanford’s home state would ultimately opt not to hold a 2020 GOP presidential primary, clearing the way for Trump’s nomination in South Carolina.

Sanford did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Monday. True to the themes that have dominated his political thinking, an email release on Sanford’s candidacy focused on the national debt, with the candidate saying he felt 1st District voters wanted a representative “who is an advocate for nancial sanity that has been lost in Washington for all too long.“

Since leaving the U.S. House, Sanford has hung onto more than $1.3 million in a federal campaign account, funds that he can now use in a primary already crowded with multiple Republican and Democratic candidates.

ing on the highest impact opportunities,” Oland said. “The proposed recommendation for these funds re ects a careful alignment of organizational needs and council priorities, focusing funding on where we can make the greatest impact now.”

“We have interest in doing a lot of stuff, but we’re really in some difficult times financially,” said council member Paris Miller-Foushee. “The state has yet to pass a budget, we’re dealing with a lot at the federal level, and the fact that we’re able to move forward with the allocations and lean into some of our priorities, I hope our community is able to see that.”

The Chapel Hill Town Council will next meet April 8.

Historic Chatham County Courthouse 9 Hillsboro St. Pittsboro

First Sunday Sound Bath 11:30 a.m.

Musician Jenn leads a one-hour sound bath in the cathedral-like tasting room of Starrlight Mead, combining ambient tones and healing sounds in a nondogmatic communal setting. Admission is $20 suggested; attendees should bring a yoga mat and cushions. starrlightmead. com/upcoming-events Starrlight Mead 130 Lorax Lane Pittsboro

April 6

American Red Cross Blood Drive 10 a.m.

The American Red Cross holds a community blood drive at the Chatham Community Library from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Donors are encouraged to schedule appointments in advance. chathamcountync.gov/ government/departmentsprograms-i-z/parksrecreation/upcoming-eventsand-programs

Chatham Community Library, Holmes Family Meeting Room 197 N.C. Highway 87

Church News

OAKLEY BAPTIST CHURCH

As Oakley Baptist Church (2300 Siler CityGlendon Road, Siler City) seeks to begin its next chapter, we are enjoying hearing a word from the Lord from various old and new friends. Our service begins at 10:30 a.m., but we also have Sunday School classes for every member of the family at 9:30 a.m. We would be blessed if you joined us for any and all of these speakers in the coming weeks.

April 5 – John Strider

April 12 – Jason Golden

April 19 – Gary McCollough

charitable arm. The program is designed to place a traditional Easter meal on the tables of families who might otherwise go without.

This year’s e ort unfolded simultaneously at four Mountaire locations — Selbyville, Delaware; Siler City; Lumberton; and Statesville. Together, volunteers packed about 23,000 boxes, enough food for roughly 92,000 people.

After an invocation by Mountaire chaplain Iris Jordan, the packing lines moved quickly.

Music played over speakers as teams sealed boxes and loaded them onto trucks bound for churches and distribution centers across the state.

“We’ve got it down to a science,” Mauney said. “They get started, the music starts playing and watch out — they’re rolling.”

Volunteers were fueled by breakfast prepared by the culinary department at Chatham Central High School. Led by teacher Everett Goldston, the school’s Bear Claw Café served chicken biscuits made with Mountaire poultry along with co ee and hot chocolate.

“Everybody raved about the breakfast from the Bear Claw,” Mauney said. “It was great to have the culinary students involved.”

By late morning, the nal trucks had pulled away, heading toward partner organizations that would distribute the meals ahead of Easter Sunday.

“I’m grateful for the help from both our employee volunteers and the community,” Mauney said. “There were a lot of events happening this weekend, and we appreciate everyone who chose to come out and help.”

Teachers, are you looking for new opportunities to fund projects for your classroom?

Central Electric is awarding up to $15,000 in Bright Ideas education grants to local educators in K-12 classrooms for the 2026-27 school year.

Educators in K-12 classrooms with creative ideas for learning projects are encouraged to apply for a grant up to $2,000.

Grant applications will be accepted through Sept. 15. However, it pays to apply early.

All teachers who submit their applications by the early bird deadline of Aug. 15 will be entered into a drawing for one of ve $100 Visa gi cards. Scan the QR code or visit NCBrightIdeas.com for more information or to apply!

April 26 – Spencer Andrews

We look forward to meeting you at any of these services and in the future, and invite you to pray with us as we seek a new pastor. To learn more, go to oakleybaptist.org or email us at oakleybaptistchurch@gmail.com.

The Annual Easter Egg Hunt at Oakley Baptist Church will be on Saturday, April 4 from 1-3 p.m. at Lou Clark Park. All kids are welcome, and remember to bring your Easter Basket!

Easter Sunday Services at Oakley Baptist Church

Sunrise Service at 8 a.m.

Breakfast at 8:15 a.m. (Sponsored by the Deacons)

No Sunday School

Service begins at 9:30 a.m., including Special Music by the Choir ALL ARE WELCOME!

SANDY BRANCH BAPTIST CHURCH

Everyone is invited to our special Easter services as we celebrate the victorious resurrection of our Savior.

On Friday, April 3 at 7 p.m., we will have our Good Friday service as we remember Jesus’ cruci xion and death.

Our April 5 Easter morning schedule is: 8 a.m. – Breakfast in the Activities Building; 9 a.m. – Worship service and decorating the cross in the sanctuary; 10 a.m. Sunday School classes. There will be no 11 a.m. service.

We are located at 715 Sandy Branch Church Road, Bear Creek. You are always welcome to join us.

Horton High School Alumni Association 2026 Scholarship Application

Applications are being accepted for Horton High School Alumni Association 2026-2027 Scholarship

Descendent of Horton High School alumnus or attendee of Horton High School may apply.

• Apply on website: www.hortonhighalumni.com

• CLICK: “Scholarship”

Deadline for application: June 1, 2026

THE CONVERSATION

Trip Ho end, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

Holy laughter

HERE IS AN IDEA that I cannot prove: The man known as Jesus had a funnier sense of humor after his resurrection than before.

Not that I think the rabbi was humorless in his earthly life. His counsel to “consider the birds of the air” and “the lilies of the eld” evidences a certain joie de vivre. He probably smiled, if only to himself, when headstrong Peter started sinking into the water after taking a few steps. (He had nicknamed Peter the “rock,” after all!) However, Jesus then had to rescue that poor sherman of little faith, and throughout his life, he was constantly busy with healing and teaching, often having to repeat himself. I imagine there were simple pleasures on the journey, but he also knew he was headed to the cross.

the way?” Though seemingly an innocent inquiry, there must have been something pointed in his demeanor, for the disciples immediately shut up like children anticipating a reprimand from their teacher.

The resurrection is “funny” in the way that all things that are too good to be true bring joy. I have come to trust that humor cannot explain mystery but does recognize the holiness of a moment.

My theory about his post-resurrection humor comes from contrasting two conversations. The rst occurred on the way to Jerusalem, where Jesus would be executed, when his disciples argued with one another. After they arrived at their overnight destination, Jesus asked them, “What were you talking about on

COLUMN | BOB WACHS

Flash forward to the day of his resurrection. Once again, two disciples walked along a road, holding an adamant discussion. Jesus suddenly appeared and inquired, “What are you discussing as you walk?” These disciples immediately responded with the story of the carpenter’s son from Nazareth and how he had been arrested and cruci ed. What’s more, they had an indignant question for this stranger: “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

(See Luke 24:13–35.)

Now that’s funny, right? They are accusing of ignorance the very man who lived and died in the story!

I like to picture Jesus listening to their story, nodding in an appropriately serious way at all the right moments. I imagine the mirth couldn’t help but sparkle in his eyes.

I do not mean to be cavalier. I minister to the sick and dying, and I live in a death- dealing culture in a time of global violence and mass extinction. There’s nothing funny about tragedy or su ering. And yet, glimpses of joy and moments of levity and light-heartedness persist. I can only imagine that these are but foretastes of the heavenly banquet. Surely, laughter is on the menu!

As I envision the Risen Christ, listening to these disciples recount his cruci xion as if it happened to someone else, I can’t help but smile at the thought of him giggling, and it helps me to keep going in my journey.

Andrew Taylor-Troutman’s newest book is “This Is the Day.” He serves as pastor of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church as well as a writer, pizza maker, co ee drinker and student of joy.

This time, like all times, is the best of times

My theory about his postresurrection humor comes from contrasting two conversations. Since my birthday cake holds a bunch of candles, I may not have as many tomorrows as before and there’s still a lot to do.

YEARS AGO, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was a youngster, I was a star athlete.

At least in my backyard. Why, in that day and age, I could toss a no-hitter for my beloved Cardinals while cracking a bases-loaded homer in the last at-bat. At the same time, I could knock in 30 points for Dean’s Heels and run a kicko back a hundred yards to break a scoreless tie in the Rose Bowl. And the great thing about all that was I could do them one after another without missing a beat or even at the same time. And, on top of that, I could broadcast the games to an audience of thousands while playing in them.

I say all that, of course, to contrast it to reality, which is that none of those things ever happened except in my mind, and there are several reasons for that. One is I wasn’t and still am not particularly athletic. Oh, I once scored 15 points in a freshman basketball game, but I never got o the J.V. team and when I got old enough to get an after-school job, I opted for the cash. Mainly my athletic interest was either on the concession stand or a cheerleader.

BE IN TOUCH

But there’s another issue which impacted those tender times and turned into a long-time character aw that I’m now trying very hard to get over because it does have consequences. I speak of procrastination. During those high school years, I was not noted for being eet of foot. I was usually the last one down the basketball court when the ball changed hands. My buddies started calling me “Lightning” as a back door jab. So, in time, that became a self-ful lling prophecy. Through the years, I took the old proverb and turned it around and lived by the mantra, “Never do today what you can put o ’til tomorrow.” Now, the reality is setting in that since my birthday cake holds a bunch of candles, I may not have as many tomorrows as before and there’s still a lot to do … or, at least, that I want to do, and at times putting them o can be unpleasant and counterproductive. Case in point: a recent visit with my dentist, who did some ne work for me and then said I needed to visit an oral surgeon for something she wasn’t all that comfortable doing. Then she said the magic words of procrastination: “You don’t have to do it right away but don’t wait too

long.” And, of course, because the tooth in question didn’t hurt, I forgot about it.

Until 6 p.m. on a Friday night.

I’ll spare you the details; su ce it to say when your tooth hurts, you hurt all over, and as of this date, it’s all in my rearview mirror. But had I not waited two months, I would not have endured seven days of pain and agony. And I wonder how often do we humans put ourselves in similar situations. Procrastination can strike anywhere anytime, big or small. Don’t let it. The Book tell us that “now is the hour of salvation,” the time to get things right with God and our fellow creature. At this season of Easter, or as some call it Resurrection Sunday, put procrastination — whatever it is for you — at the bottom of your priority list.

Recognize and accept the Holy. Make that phone call. Write that letter. Repair that relationship. Right that wrong.

Now.

Not later.

Bob Wachs is a native of Chatham County and emeritus editor at Chatham News & Record. He serves as pastor of Bear Creek Baptist Church.

Letters to the editor may be sent to letters@nsjonline.com or mailed to 1201 Edwards Mill Rd., Suite 300, Raleigh, NC 27607. Letters must be signed; include the writer’s phone number, city and state; and be no longer than 300 words. Letters may be edited for style, length or clarity when necessary. Ideas for op-eds should be sent to opinion@nsjonline.com.

Deer antlers, fool’s gold, what’s next?

Tugboat Jan’s perseverance was really put to the test ferrying home naturesculpted cedar branches and sticks from my forest frolics.

I NO LONGER wanted to be a homeowner. Been there, done that. Desperately wanted to call someone (other than me) when something broke or was in need of resuscitation. (Help! You do it!)

After 22-plus years of owning a home, I had the opportunity to divest myself of stu galore (seriously galore!), temporarily storing what remained. Storing was a true litmus test of what I loved and had been nurtured by over many years.

Temporarily stored …

Multipronged racks of deer antlers, shed by bucks passing through in the spring and sni ed out by my late dog. Every time I found a rack of antlers, it was like Christmas and Hanukkah combined. Whoopee! Stones and rocks catching my eye while out walking in the woods? Home they came.

Tugboat Jan’s perseverance was really put to the test ferrying home nature-sculpted cedar branches and sticks from my forest frolics. Neighbors would kindly wave at me as I tugged cedar branches home. (Oh, it’s just Jan; there she goes again.)

Gosh, I can’t forget that magical clear glass bowl lled to the top with fool’s gold, collected, over the years, while exploring gravel roads. Angular gold specks suddenly peeking out from dark stones. Constant reminders of hidden light, everywhere. Ready to move out, all these wondrous pieces of nature’s bounty were lovingly wrapped, by a friend, and placed in storage for three months until a renovated duplex opened up.

In the new place, many still- lled boxes

COLUMN | LARRY ELDER

were sequestered in the kitchen. My cranky knee was querulous about unpacking. Been there six weeks and the walls were still bare, spacious corners yet to be occupied. Lovingly collected branches, sticks, stones, and antlers, all stashed against a kitchen wall.

My nature-collected beloveds of many years didn’t want to come back out. Nothing was calling me from those boxes. No nature imbued voices whispering, “I need light, I need light. Please let me out!” Nothing. My beautiful nature-sculpted sticks were bundled together in a kitchen corner. I avoided looking at them.

Remember Tolkien’s Gollum? Gollum desperately intoning, again and again, “my precious” in reference to the ring he sought. My own “precious,” the beloved totems from the woods, had stopped talking to me. Poof. Gone.

I was totally ummoxed and didn’t know what to do.

Do nothing. Just trust. Light will return in its own time and its own unique form, perhaps one I’m not accustomed to. Meanwhile, I had brilliant vistas of trees that could be viewed from all my windows. Nature, just a bit more remote. Hey, yours truly was still whole, despite those bare walls and empty corners, denuded of my beloveds from nature. I was on my way to the next me…

Jan Hutton, a resident of Chatham County and retired hospice social worker, lives life with heart and humor.

Exclusive ‘interview’: Gavin Newsom on his possible presidential launch

We don’t simply build houses in California. We sculpt sanctuaries.

Napa Valley, California — The French Laundry, March 3, 2026

Gavin Newsom is weighing a presidential run at a moment when “a ordability” dominates voter concerns across the country. I’m conducting this interview from his preferred corner table at The French Laundry where, during COVID, he dined maskless with lobbyists while millions of Californians lived under his pandemic lockdown rules and policies.

Elder: Governor, you’re running on a ordability. Yet rankings place California among the least a ordable states. How do you sell when the state is the poster boy for sky-high costs?

Newsom: First, I prefer the term poster-person. Second, this is just right-wing MAGA Trumpian spin. A ordability isn’t some pedestrian metric generated by spreadsheets and right-wing calculators. It’s a lifestyle elevation. Californians don’t complain about prices; they embrace them as badges of civic virtue. A $500 prix xe isn’t indulgence. It’s ethical consumption. We curate excellence while yover states settle for adequacy.

Elder: The median home price in California is $850,000, roughly double the national average. Families are relocating to Texas and Tennessee to buy a home.

Newsom: Elevated prices are proof of enlightened stewardship. Climate change regulations, coastal commissions and equity impact statements aren’t barriers. They’re safeguards against the chaos of unrestrained a ordability. We don’t simply build houses in California. We sculpt sanctuaries. We’ll embrace scarcity with gratitude. True a ordability is spiritual; it’s attitudinal. Californians cherish what we can’t own while proudly owning what we can’t truly cherish, if you will.

Elder: Gasoline in California is nearing $8 per gallon — the highest in the nation, even exceeding import-dependent Hawaii.

Newsom: It’s Trump’s war.

Elder: But California had the nation’s highest gas prices before the war.

Newsom: I prefer not to look back. I look forward. We’re not merely dispensing hydrocarbons. We’re dispensing cosmic accountability. Hawaii imports fuel; California exports spiritual virtue. In California, our pump prices re ect the full carbon penance. Your conscience will thank you. So will the polar bears.

Elder: California’s top income-tax rate is at 13.3%, including its mental-health services tax. High earners are leaving, which shrinks the state tax base.

Newsom: Taxes are communal purpose made visible. They fund our collective aspirations — universal services, early education and yoga sessions. If some a uent residents depart, well, that’s evolutionary pruning. The truly committed remain. And most of those who leave eventually return for the climate, the coastline and the Korean food. As president, I’ll end the racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, anti-trans race to the low-tax havens of white supremacy.

Elder: You created a reparations task force even though California was not a slave state. How do you explain that?

Newsom: Tell that to Kunta Kinte. Tell that to Jesse Jackson. Tell that to Jussie Smollett. California has moved beyond the binary relics of conventional logic, which is a contemporary right-wing form of systemic oppression. California reparations represent an alchemical transformation that converts historical guilt into good vibrations, which, of course, create excitations.

Elder: California school ratings are near the bottom nationally. Its water infrastructure has not kept pace with population growth. It has poor forest management. It has a huge gap between the rich and the poor. It has the nation’s largest unfunded pension liability. It has more illegal aliens and more homeless than any other state. The high-speed rail project grows ever more costly.

Newsom: We’re bound to be No. 1. We don’t take a back seat to anyone. We don’t follow outdated paradigms — we transcend them. The nation can evolve with us here in California or remain anchored in nostalgic decline. As Bruce Lee said, “Be like water.”

Elder: On biological males competing in women’s sports, you’ve o ered little clarity.

Newsom: Biology is an outdated science narrative. We reject narrative. We believe in prose. As president, athletics will evolve into a rming civic rituals — participation over exclusion, identity over rigidity. Fairness is a feeling, and our feelings are second to none.

Elder: You appointed a black woman to the Senate after Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s death, saying it was time for black women to ascend.

If Vice President Kamala Harris runs in 2028, wouldn’t your candidacy prevent the election of the rst black female president?

Newsom: Racial leadership is a journey, not a tra c jam. History has a way of harmonizing these moments. I’ll leave it there.

Elder: Thank you, Governor.

Newsom: The check’s on me. Consider it reparations.

Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. (Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

Are we safe anymore?

IT’S TIME to ask some serious questions.

As spring travel ramps up, a record 171 million Americans are expected to take to the skies. Airports will be crowded, security lines long, and for many travelers, a fundamental question will linger: Are we safe?

That question extends far beyond the airport terminal. It surfaces at the southern border, in major American cities and in the wake of tragedies like the killing of 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman in Chicago.

Gorman, a student at Loyola University, was shot and killed while walking with friends along a pier in Rogers Park. According to prosecutors, the group encountered a man hiding near a lighthouse. As they ed, he allegedly opened re, striking Gorman in the back. Authorities say the suspect, a Venezuelan national, had previously entered the United States illegally and had prior contact with law enforcement before being released. The case has reignited debate over immigration enforcement, sanctuary policies and public safety.

The case has reignited debate over immigration enforcement, sanctuary policies and public safety. Still, the divide is stark.

Critics argue that policies limiting cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities can have serious consequences. Chicago’s sanctuary status, they note, restricts such coordination. In this instance, the suspect had reportedly been arrested on suspicion of shoplifting months earlier but was not turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Supporters of stricter enforcement contend that more consistent cooperation could prevent repeat o enses. They argue that when individuals who are in the country unlawfully are released after prior arrests, the system has failed to mitigate potential risks.

Others, however, caution against drawing broad conclusions from a single case. Some local o cials have emphasized the complexity of crime and the need to avoid politicizing individual tragedies. Chicago leaders have also reiterated longstanding concerns about overreliance on incarceration, arguing that deeper social issues contribute to violence.

Still, the divide is stark.

On one side are those who believe enforcement — whether at the border or within cities — must be strengthened to ensure public safety. On the other are those who argue that enforcement alone cannot address the root causes of crime and that policy responses must be broader in scope.

Meanwhile, the political backdrop adds another layer of tension. A funding dispute a ecting the Department of Homeland Security has raised concerns about sta ng and operations, including airport security. Reports of long TSA lines have only heightened public anxiety, even as federal o cials work to manage the strain.

Even traditionally critical voices have acknowledged that personnel shifts, including assistance from other federal agencies, have helped ease some delays.

But for many Americans, the broader question remains unresolved.

Public safety — whether in neighborhoods, at the border or in transit hubs — continues to be one of the most powerful forces shaping political opinion. Incidents like the killing of Gorman bring that concern into sharp focus, forcing policymakers and the public alike to confront di cult questions about accountability, enforcement and priorities.

As millions prepare to board planes in the coming weeks, those questions won’t be easily dismissed.

And for voters, they may prove decisive.

Ben Shapiro is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” and co-founder of Daily Wire+. He is a three-time New York Times bestselling author. (Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

obituaries

William (Bill) Covert Smith

March 23, 1949 –March 22, 2026

William (Bill) Covert Smith, 76, of Greensboro, NC, passed away on March 22, 2026. Born in Chatham County, he was the son of Prentice Lane and Lois Covert Smith and was preceded in death by his parents and brothers, Charles and Thomas Smith.

Bill worked in electronics technology and communications, including roles at Bell Labs, Micro Computer Systems, and BellSouth. He was also a former deacon and treasurer at Riverside Baptist Church in Burlington.

A lifelong learner with a remarkable memory, Bill was known for his gentle personality and deep love for his family. He especially treasured the eleven years he spent caring for his granddaughter, McKinley “Kinny” Oakes, every Friday without fail. He is survived by his children, Greg Smith (Amy Starke) of Raleigh and Jann Oakes (John “Monk” Oakes) of Greensboro; granddaughter, McKinley Oakes; sisters, Anne and Mary Smith of Siler City; and nieces, Jennifer Harris (Scott) and Kim Dumke, and her son Logan.

A graveside service will be held at Chatham Memorial Park, Siler City, on Saturday, March 28th at 2:00 pm.

In lieu of owers, memorials may be made to VoteSaveAmerica or the Cancer Research Institute.

Charlie Kirk’s mentor, cheerleading pioneer Je Webb dead at 76 after ‘tragic accident’

The Varsity Spirit founder turned cheerleading into an international competitive sport

The Associated Press

JEFF WEBB, the founder of Varsity Spirit who helped transform cheerleading into an International Olympic Committee-recognized sport and mentored late right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, has died. He was 76.

A family spokesperson said Webb died last Thursday in Memphis, Tennessee, following a “tragic accident.” The family has declined to comment on speci cs.

Webb founded the Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) in 1974 with the mission of changing the narrative around cheerleading, boosting its visibility and turning it into a globally recognized sport. His e orts included new uniform concepts, educational camps, training programs and the creation of the rst national cheerleading competition. These efforts evolved into Varsity Spirit.

“He helped pioneer the use of advanced gymnastics and stunts in cheer routines, launched the rst national cheerleading championships, and brought the sport to national audiences through televised broadcasts on ESPN,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “He also played a central role in developing the rst safety guidelines and helped establish key governing bodies, including the U.S. All Star Federation and USA Cheer.”

“Our father was, at his core, a man of inexhaustible energy, and he poured that energy into everything he did.”

Webb’s children

Webb is survived by his wife, Gina, and his children, Je ery and Caroline.

“Our father was, at his core, a man of inexhaustible energy, and he poured that energy into everything he did, from revolutionizing cheerleading to his never-ending — and constantly growing — list of activities,” Webb’s children wrote in a statement. “He brought that same spirit of dedication and encouragement to being a father and grandfather. To most people, he is a legendary entrepreneur — to us, he was our soccer coach and on-demand comedian, our mentor and father-daughter dance partner, our solace and our source of strength.”

He was also a conservative activist who was described as a mentor to Kirk, who was fatally shot at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. Kirk’s company, Turning Point USA, posted a video in memory of Webb on social media.

“In memory of Je Webb,” the post reads. “A visionary who helped shape generations of young leaders and believed deeply in the power of community and country. A dear friend to Turning Point USA and Charlie. He will be greatly missed.”

Celebrate the life of your loved ones. Submit obituaries and death notices to be published in Chatham News & Record at obits@chathamnewsrecord.com

We offer an on-site crematory with many options of Celebration of Life services, Traditional, and Green Burials. Call us to set an appointment to come by and learn more.

Tracy Kidder, National Book Award and Pulitzer-winning author, dead at 80

His empathy and curiosity transformed obscure topics into literary classics

By R.J. Rico The Associated Press

TRACY KIDDER, an award-winning narrative nonction writer who turned everything from computer engineering to life in a nursing home into unexpected bestsellers, has died. He was 80.

Kidder’s longtime publisher Random House con rmed his death in a statement Wednesday: “Tracy’s gifts for storytelling and tireless reporting are an enduring re ection of the empathy, integrity, and endless curiosity he brought to everything he did.”

Kidder won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for his 1981 work “The Soul of a New Machine,” which delved into the work of a edgling computer company long before most people cared about the inner workings of Silicon Valley.

“It was like going into another country,” Kidder told The Associated Press at the time. “At rst, I didn’t understand what anybody was saying.”

Over the ensuing decades, Kidder immersed himself in worlds he was previously unfamiliar with, producing richly researched books about topics that may not sound like light reading.

For 1989’s “Among Schoolchildren,” he spent a year in a fth-grade classroom, highlighting the dedication of an inner-city teacher in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Later, for 1993’s “Old Friends,” he observed the dark side of growing old in America while also chronicling how two friends maintained their dignity in

PAT WELLENBACH / AP PHOTO

Author Tracy Kidder stands in his cottage in South Bristol, Maine, in 2005.

a nursing home despite their in rmities.

Turning these events at a Northampton, Massachusetts, nursing home into a cohesive narrative was one of his major challenges, Kidder told the AP.

“Not a lot happens, and yet I think when you read it, you feel that a lot does. Small things have to count for a great deal,” he said.

In 2003, Kidder wrote “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” about a doctor’s e ort to bring health care to Haiti. The work introduced Kidder’s work to a new generation of readers as numerous universities added it to their reading lists.

“Mountains Beyond Mountains changed my life — and the lives of so many others around the world,” John Green, author of “The Fault in Our Stars,” wrote on social media.

The book even inspired the indie rock band Arcade Fire’s 2010 hit “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains).”

All the while, Kidder was careful to eschew focusing on his longtime loves like shing or baseball, afraid that if he spent too much time in one of those realms, it might cause him to “feel sick of it.”

Kidder was born in New York City in 1945 and attended Harvard University, where

he signed up for ROTC to avoid the Vietnam War draft.

After graduation, despite thinking he would be assigned a Washington communications intelligence role, Kidder was instead sent o to Vietnam, where the 22-year-old was placed in charge of an eight-man rear-echelon radio research detachment that monitored the communications of enemy units to try to pinpoint their locations.

Kidder documented the confounding experience in 2005’s “My Detachment,” an often humorous memoir that offered insights into the lives of the support troops who made up most of the 500,000-plus U.S. military personnel who were in Vietnam at the height of the buildup when the author served there in 1968-1969. The war became an abstraction for Kidder, who never saw combat and knew the enemy only as “dots on a map.”

After the war, Kidder and his new wife, Frances Gray Toland, moved to the Midwest so Kidder could enroll in the University of Iowa’s prestigious creative writing program, where he latched onto the New Journalism wave pioneered by writers like Tom Wolfe and Truman Capote.

Kidder hated the title “literary journalist,” telling the Dallas Morning News in 2010 that he found the description “pretentious.”

The term creative non ction irked him too: “It suggests we make things up.” Instead, he saw himself as a storyteller.

“I don’t think of ction and non ction as all that di erent, except that non ction is not invented,” he told the AP. “But I take exception to those people who think non ction should not appropriate the techniques of ction ... They belong to storytelling.”

Actor James Tolkan of ‘Top Gun’ and ‘Back to the Future’ fame dies at 94

The actor spent 25 years in New York theater before his lm career

The Associated Press

JAMES TOLKAN, known for his roles as authoritarian gures in the hit lms “Back to the Future” and “Top Gun,” has died. He was 94. Tolkan died last Thursday in Lake Placid, New York, where he lived, his booking agent, John Alcantar, said Saturday. A brief obituary published on the “Back to the Future” website said Tolkan died “peacefully,” but no cause of death was given. In “Back to the Future,”

Tolkan portrayed the bow tie-wearing vice principal Gerald Strickland, who eyeballed students for trouble in the halls of the ctitious Hill Valley High School — in particular Marty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox.

“You got a real attitude problem, McFly,” Tolkan’s character says in the 1985 lm. “You’re a slacker. You remind me of your father when he went here. He was a slacker, too.”

Tolkan also appeared in “Top Gun” as commanding ofcer Tom “Stinger” Jardian. Near the end of the lm, when Jardian asks Tom Cruise’s character, Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, about his choice

for future duty, Mitchell replies that he wants to be a Top Gun instructor.

“God help us,” Tolkan’s character replies, laughing.

Born in Calumet, Michigan, Tolkan graduated from high school in Arizona and served in the Navy during the Korean War. He eventually made his way to New York, where he spent a quarter century acting in theater roles. He was a member of the original ensemble cast of “Glengarry Glen Ross.”

Tolkan is survived by his wife of 54 years, Parmelee Welles, who said in a statement that her husband also was an avid art collector and adored animals.

This undated image provided by the Tolkan family shows actor James Tolkan.

NASA targets the rst six days of April for lifto . Run-up to the moon

It took NASA just eight years to go from putting its rst astronaut in space to putting Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon in 1969, beating President John Kennedy’s end-of-decade deadline.

“The Apollo program still just absolutely blows me away,” said Artemis II astronaut Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, Artemis has progressed much more slowly, after decades of indecision and ip- opping between the moon and Mars as the next grand destination. NASA’s new moon rocket, the Space Launch System, or SLS, has soared only once in a test ight without anyone on board more than three years ago.

This plodding approach is why NASA’s new administrator, Jared Isaacman, overhauled the Artemis program in February. Keen to emulate Apollo, he added a mission between the upcoming Artemis II mission and the moon landing that’s now shifted to Artemis IV in 2028.

During next year’s revamped Artemis III, astronauts will stick closer to home the same way Apollo 9 did in 1969. Instead of attempting a moon landing as originally envisioned, they will practice docking their Orion capsule in orbit around Earth with one or both lunar landers under development by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Je Bezos’ Blue Origin. The rival companies are accelerating work on their landers in a bid to be rst.

Political rivalries

The Soviets were America’s erce rivals during Apollo, but their moon rockets kept exploding at lifto and they eventually gave up. Now the Chinese are the competition.

China already has landed robotic spacecraft on the moon’s far side — the only nation to achieve that — and is scrambling to land astronauts near the lunar south pole by 2030.

NASA is aiming for the same polar region, where shadowed craters are thought to hold vast amounts of ice that could provide drinking water and rocket fuel. Like his predecessor Bill Nelson, Isaacman is determined to beat China to the nish line and win this second space race.

Moon rocket

Apollo’s Saturn V rockets stood 363 feet, with ve rst-stage engines. The Artemis SLS rocket comes in at 322 feet but packs more lifto thrust with its four main engines and two strap-on boosters.

All but one Saturn V rocket soared from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39-A, now leased by SpaceX. NASA will use neighboring pad 39-B for all SLS ights. While the Saturn V launched twice before carrying astronauts, the SLS has own only once. Hydrogen fuel leaks delayed the SLS debut in 2022 and struck again during a countdown test in February, stalling Artemis II. Then helium trouble reappeared, causing further delay. NASA is now targeting an April lifto . Launch Control remains at the same place. There was one woman in the packed ring

“If we can contribute a little bit to hope for humanity,” said Artemis II pilot Victor Glover of NASA, “that is a huge thing.”

Shades of Apollo 13

The Artemis astronauts will orbit Earth for a day to make certain everything is working properly before igniting the main engine and heading for the moon. It will take three to four days for the capsule to reach the moon and continue some 5,000 miles beyond, exceeding the distance record set by 1970’s ill-fated Apollo 13.

room for the lifto of Apollo 11. Now a woman leads it: Artemis launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson.

First lunar crews

Apollo 8 still ranks as the gutsiest space mission of all time. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders became the rst humans to launch to the moon in 1968. Borman, the commander, insisted on as few lunar orbits as possible given the risks. He and his bosses settled on 10 orbits as a warmup for 1969’s moonwalk by Armstrong and Aldrin.

NASA decided long ago against orbiting the moon on Artemis’ crew debut, judging it too dangerous. The main goal is to test the Orion capsule’s life-support equipment, ying for the rst time.

One big similarity between Apollo 8 and Artemis II is the troubled times surrounding them.

Like Apollo 13, Artemis II will take advantage of the moon and Earth’s gravity, making a gure eight after whipping around the moon to head home in what’s known as a free-return trajectory requiring little if any fuel. It got Apollo 13’s three astronauts safely back although they had to abandon their moon landing.

Artemis astronauts will parachute into the Paci c after their mission like the Apollo crews did.

Suiting up

For Apollo, the white, bulky spacesuits did double duty. What the astronauts wore for launch and return was the same for moonwalks since there wasn’t enough storage space for di erent out ts.

The Orion capsules for Artemis are bigger, designed to hold four astronauts instead of three plus two sets of spacesuits. NASA created brand new spacesuits for use inside the capsule, while turning to private companies for the moonwalking attire.

Commander Reid Wiseman and his crew will wear the or-

ange custom- tted suits for launch and reentry. They’ll also use them in case of a depressurization or some other emergency. They can survive up to six days in the suits, inserting a straw into the helmet to sip water or protein shakes and relying on undergarment bags and bladders as a built-in toilet.

Houston-based Axiom Space is designing the white moonwalking suits that will accompany future Artemis crews.

Long-term goals

Apollo was all about beating the Russians to the moon and planting the U.S. ag. Astronauts landed six times from 1969 through 1972, with the longest surface stay lasting 75 hours. Five of the 24 Apollo astronauts who ew to the moon are still alive. For the rst Artemis moon landing, a pair of astronauts could spend nearly a week there. It’s a complicated plan compared with Apollo.

Artemis moonwalkers will launch to the moon aboard Orion and, once in lunar orbit, transfer to SpaceX’s Starship or Blue Origin’s Blue Moon, whichever is ready rst. They’ll descend to the surface, and, after a few days, blast back into orbit to rendezvous with their Orion capsule. Orion will be the astronauts’ ride home.

NASA is striving for sustained lunar living, with Mars to follow, although “day one of the moon base is not going to look like this glass-enclosed, domed city,” Isaacman said. Last week, he unveiled a blueprint for the moon base showing habitats, rovers, drones, power stations and more. NASA plans to invest $20 billion over the next seven years.

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TAKE NOTICE

Public Notice

The Town of Goldston will hold a public hearing on April 13th to consider adoption of a new Land Use Plan. The Town Board will not meet on April 6th due to the Easter Holiday. For questions about the plan or the process please email Chris Lawson at clawson@centralpinesnc.gov

NOTICE

NOTICE TO CREDITORS NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#26E000130-180 The undersigned WALTER RICHARD O’CONNELL, JR., having quali ed on

NORTH CAROLINA STANLY COUNTY IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION BEFORE THE CLERK FILE NO. 26E000155-830 NOTICE TO CREDITORS Having quali ed as Co-Executors of the estate of Beulah J. Huneycutt deceased, of Stanly County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons having claims against the Estate of said Beulah J. Huneycutt to present them to the undersigned on or before July 3, 2026 or the same will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate please make immediate payment. This the 1st day of April 2026. Michael L. Huneycutt 10454 Island Creek Road Stan eld, NC 28163 Co-Executor Cathy H. Mcswain 2020B Saint Martin Road Albemarle, NC 28001 Co-Executor

CREDITOR’S NOTICE

Having quali ed on the 26th day of September 2025, as Administrator CTA DBN of the Estate of Henry Roderick Alston, deceased, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the decedent to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before the 19th day of June, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons, rms and corporations indebted to the estate should make immediate payment.

This is the 10th day of March 2026. Woods Doster, Administrator CTA DBN of the Estate of Henry Roderick Alston 206 Hawkins Avenue Sanford, NC 27330

Attorneys: Law O ces of Doster & Brown, P.A.

206 Hawkins Avenue Sanford, NC 27330

Publish On: March 19th, 26th April 2nd and 9th 2026.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of MARY BETTY SOLOMON BASS, Deceased, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the estate to exhibit them to the undersigned at the o ces of Munson Law Firm PLLC, P.O. Box 1811 Pittsboro, NC 27312, on or before the 10th day of June, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment. This 12th day of March, 2026.

DIANNE BASS HINSON, EXECUTOR ESTATE OF MARY BETTY SOLOMON BASS NOTICE

NORTH CAROLINA aCHATHAM COUNTY NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, having quali ed on the 20th day of March 2026, as Executor of the Estate of Jody Lynn Kulick, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms, and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 26th day of June 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

On this 26th day of March 2026 George Charles Kulick, Jr Executor of the Estate of Jody Lynn Kulick

Gwendolyn C. Brooks, Esquire Kennon Craver, PLLC 4011 University Drive, Suite 300 Durham, North Carolina 27707 3/26, 4/2, 4/9 and 4/16 The Chatham News

NOTICE TO CREDITORS:

Chatham County, North Carolina RE: THE ESTATE OF DOMENIC MAROTTA–

26E000068-180 Having quali ed as EXECUTOR of the Estate of DOMENIC MAROTTA deceased, CHATHAM County, North Carolina, the undersigned does hereby notify all persons, rms, and corporations having claims against the estate of said deceased to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 1st day of July, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. This the 2nd day of APRIL, 2026.

ALFONSO MAROTTA, EXECUTOR DSR Legal, PLLC PO Box 51596 Durham, NC 27717

NOTICE

NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE TO CREDITORS

CHATHAM COUNTY

HAVING QUALIFIED as Administrator of the Estate of Peggy Alice Cockman late of Chatham County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the estate of said deceased to present them to the undersigned on or before the 18th day of June, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. This the 10th day of March, 2026. Kimberly Rose Cockman, Administrator Of the Estate of Peggy Alice Cockman 1034 Stage Coach Road Siler City, North Carolina 27344

MOODY, WILLIAMS, ATWATER & LEE

ATTORNEYS AT LAW

BOX 629 SILER CITY, NORTH CAROLINA 27344 (919) 663-2850

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NOTICE

NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE TO CREDITORS

CHATHAM COUNTY

HAVING QUALIFIED as Administrator of the Estate of Patricia Ann Campbell a/k/a Ann Lindley Campbell

a/k/a Anne Lindley Campbell late of Chatham County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the estate of said deceased to present them to the undersigned on or before the 18th day of June, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery.

This the 11th day of March, 2026. Casey Anne Campbell Administrator Of the Estate of Patricia Ann Campbell

a/k/a Ann Lindley Campbell

a/k/a Anne Lindley Campbell

255 Bob Clark Road Snow Camp, North Carolina 27349

MOODY, WILLIAMS, ATWATER & LEE

ATTORNEYS AT LAW BOX 629 SILER CITY, NORTH CAROLINA 27344 (919) 663-2850 4tp

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

ALL PERSONS, rms and corporations having claims against MARIELLE SHINE aka MARIELLE EMILIA SHINE, deceased, of Chatham County, are noti ed to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before, the 19th day of June, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the Estate will please make immediate payment.

This 19th day of March, 2026.

BRENDA SHINE, Executrix ESTATE OF MARIELLE SHINE aka MARIELLE EMILIA SHINE

c/o Tillman, Whichard & Cagle, PLLC 501 Eastowne Drive, Suite 130 Chapel Hill, NC 27514

NOTICE

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

COUNTY OF CHATHAM PUBLIC NOTICE HEARING ON INTENT TO PERMANENTLY CLOSE A PORTION OF NC HWY 902

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Chatham County Board of Commissioners has scheduled a public hearing to consider the closing of a portion of NC HWY 902. The public hearing has been scheduled for April 20, 2026, at 6:00 o’clock p.m. at the Superior Court Courtroom, Historic Chatham County Courthouse, Pittsboro, North Carolina at 9 Hillsboro Street, Pittsboro NC 27312. The hearing is being held pursuant to the provisions of NCGS §153A-241 and the Resolution of Intent to Permanently Close a portion of NC HWY 902 that was approved and adopted by the Chatham County Board of Commissioners on February 16, 2026 upon Petition led by Gavin Mekemson, Maura McKeon and Triple A Homes, Inc. (“Petitioner”).

This the 16th day of February, 2026. Chatham County Board of Commissioners

ATTEST: Clerk to the Board Chatham County Board of Commissioners

NOTICE

NORTH CAROLINA

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

CHATHAM COUNTY HAVING QUALIFIED as Executor of the Estate of Patricia Collins Perry of Chatham County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the estate of said deceased to present them to the undersigned on or before the 2nd day of July, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery.

This the 26th day of March, 2026.

Ronald P. Collins, Executor Of the Estate of Patricia Collins Perry 117 West Raleigh Street Siler City, North Carolina 27344

Notice to Creditors

All persons, rms and corporations having claims against Anthony Michael Hayes, Deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina are noti ed to present their claims to the below-named Administrator on or before June 26, 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are requested to make immediate payment to the undersigned. This the 26th day of March, 2026. Marsha L. Henthorn, Administrator c/o Thomas R. Crawford Attorney at Law Crawford Law Firm P.O. Box 300 Sylva, NC 28779-0300

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA

CHATHAM COUNTY

26E000075-180

ALL persons having claims against Carol A. Moore, a/k/a Carol P. Moore, deceased, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, are noti ed to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before Jun 19 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment. This the 19th day of March, 2026. Leslie A. Argenta C/O Christopher S. Morden, Limited Personal Representative C/O Monroe, Wallace, Morden & Sherrill, PLLC 3225 Blue Ridge Road, Suite 117 Raleigh, NC 27612 M19, 26, 2 and 9

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA

CHATHAM COUNTY

26E000128-180 ALL persons having claims against Linda Kay Betulius, deceased, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, are noti ed to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before Jun 26 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment. This the 26th day of March, 2026. Gregory Gary Duell, Executor C/O Huston Law Firm, PLLC 2501 Blue Ridge Road, Suite 300 Raleigh, NC 27607 M26, 2, 9 and 16

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY

FILE#26E000121-180 The undersigned COURTNEY H. KNOLL, having quali ed on the 9TH Day of MARCH 2026 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of BARBARA DUNNAVANT HEDGEPETH deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 12TH Day OF JUNE 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 12TH DAY OF MARCH 2026. COURTNEY H. KNOLL, EXECUTOR 153 EDGEWOOD DRIVE DURHAM, NC 27713 Run dates: M12,19,26,A2p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY

FILE#26E000040-180

The undersigned SARAH ELIZABETH WILSON, having quali ed on the 16TH Day of JANUARY 2026 as ADMINISTRATOR of the Estate of CALVIN

MARTIN WILSON deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 19TH Day OF JUNE 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 19TH DAY OF MARCH 2026.

SARAH ELIZABETH WILSON, ADMINISTRATOR 1764 GLOVERS CHURCH ROAD

BENNETT, NC 27208 Run dates: M19,26,A2,9p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA

CHATHAM COUNTY

FILE#17E000351-180

The undersigned DOBORAH LOFTON AND MAURICE NUNN, having quali ed on the 12TH Day of JANUARY 2026 as CO-EXECUTORS of the Estate of ELSIE

ROSETTA HARRIS NUNN deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 12TH Day OF JUNE 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 12TH DAY OF MARCH 2026.

DEBORAH LOFTON, CO-EXECUTOR 50 NEW HOPE CHURCH RD. APEX, NC 27523 MAURICE NUNN, CO-EXECUTOR 93 NEW HOPE CHURCH RD. APEX, NC 27523 Run dates: M12,19,26,A2p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA

CHATHAM COUNTY

FILE#26E000141-180 The undersigned JAMES TUCKER COWARD, having quali ed on the 12TH Day of MARCH 2026 as ADMINISTRATOR of the Estate of JAMES THOMAS COWARD deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 19TH Day OF JUNE 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 19TH DAY OF MARCH 2026.

JAMES TUCKER COWARD, ADMINISTRATOR 6448 BUFFALO FORD ROAD RAMSEUR, NC 27316 Run dates: M19,26,A2,9p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY

FILE#26E000120-180 The undersigned JANET DUNN FRANTZ, having quali ed on the 3RD Day of MARCH 2026 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of JOSEPH GLENN

DUNN, SR., deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 12TH Day OF JUNE 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

This, the 12TH DAY OF MARCH 2026.

JANET DUNN FRANTZ, EXECUTOR 1525 RED LANE EXTENSION SALEM, VA 24153

Run dates: M12,19,26,A2p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA

CHATHAM COUNTY

FILE#26E000153-180

The undersigned JEANNE P. MAXWELL, having quali ed on the 17TH Day of MARCH 2026 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of MARGARET ANGELA GILSENAN deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 26TH Day OF JUNE 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 26TH DAY OF MARCH 2026.

JEANNE P. MAXWELL, EXECUTOR PO BOX 3052/27515 CHAPEL HILL, NC 27515 Run dates: M26,A2,9,16p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA

CHATHAM COUNTY

FILE#26E000156-180

The undersigned TRACI B. NUNN, having quali ed on the 18TH Day of MARCH 2026 as ADMINISTRATOR of the Estate of MARY H. BROWN deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 26TH Day OF JUNE 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 26TH DAY OF MARCH 2026. TRACI B. NUNN, ADMINISTRATOR 90 JOHNSON FARM ROAD NEW HILL, NC 27562 Run dates: M26,A2,9,16p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY

FILE#26E000148-180

The undersigned PAMELA HOWARD SCHAECHER, having quali ed on the 17TH Day of MARCH 2026 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of ROBERT FRANCIS SCHAECHER deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 26TH Day OF JUNE 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 26TH DAY OF MARCH 2026. PAMELA HOWARD SCHAECHER, EXECUTOR 4624 FORSYTH PITTSBORO, NC 27312 Run dates: M26,A2,9,16p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Having quali ed as Personal Representative of the Estate of Gerald Stephen Koermer, deceased of Chatham County, North Carolina, on the 19th day of March, 2026, the undersigned does hereby notify all persons, rms, and corporations having claims against said estate to exhibit them to the undersigned at

at the Chatham County Agriculture & Conference Center at 1192 Hwy 64 Business West, Pittsboro, NC: ZTA-2026-01. A legislative request by Town Sta to amend the De nitions found in the UDO Section 12.12.

ZTA-2026-02. A legislative request by Town Sta to amend the Record of Amendments location found in the UDO Section 13.1.1 to Section 1.0 of the UDO. ZTA-2026-03. A legislative request by Town Sta to amend the Recommended and Invasive Plant Lists Language, remove the Plant Tables found in the UDO Section 5.7.1 and update UDO Section 5.4. ZTA-2026-04. A legislative request by Town Sta to amend the Relationship to Comprehensive Plan found in the UDO Section 1.5 and provide two (2) subsections for clarity of o cial plans and conformance with acceptance of streets and extension of services. PB-25-345 – DRB Group NC, LLC.; have petitioned to have approximately 74.48 acres of land, Parcel 0062517 currently zoned Residential Agricultural (RA) to be rezoned to Multi-Family ResidentialConditional Zoning (MR-CZ). The Future Land Use Plan designates this parcel Traditional Neighborhood/In ll. The property is located south and west of Powell Place subdivision and Old Rock Springs Cemetery Road, and adjacent to the Rock Springs Baptist Cemetery.

PB-25-624 – Chatham Park, LLC is requesting to subdivide approximately 99.55 acres located on ve (5) Parcels 75046, 96110, 07310, 07311, & 70342, into 408 single family residential (a combination of attached and detached) located along US Highway 64, north of US Business 64, east of Chatham Park Way, and west of Eubanks Road through a Major Subdivision Preliminary Plat. A legislative public hearing on a voluntary, contiguous annexation petition (A-2025-06/PB-25-678) from Chatham

North Carolinian, 3 others make up rst planned mission to moon in half-century

The diverse crew includes a widower, a black astronaut and a Canadian

By Marcia Dunn

The Associated Press

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.

— The four astronauts making NASA’s next lunar leap bear little resemblance to the Apollo era.

The Americans who blazed the trail to the moon more than half a century ago were white men chosen for their military test pilot experience. This rst Artemis crew includes a woman, a person of color and a Canadian, products of a more diversi ed astronaut corps.

None of them were alive during NASA’s storied Apollo program that sent 24 astronauts, including 12 moonwalkers, to the moon. They won’t land on the moon this time or even orbit it, but the out-and-back journey will take them thousands of miles deeper into space than even the Apollo astronauts ventured, promising unprecedented views of the lunar far side.

Here’s a look at the Artemis astronauts whose mission aims to pave the path for future moon landings.

FORECLOSURES

Leading the nearly 10-day mission is a widower who considers solo parenting — not rocketing to the moon — his biggest and most rewarding challenge.

Reid Wiseman, 50, a retired Navy captain from Baltimore, was serving as NASA’s chief astronaut when asked three years ago to lead humanity’s rst lunar trip since 1972. His wife Carroll’s death from cancer in 2020 gave him pause.

He’d spent more than ve months at the International Space Station in 2014, and his two teenage daughters, especially the older one, had “zero interest” in him launching again.

“We talked about it and I said, ‘Look, of all the people on planet Earth right now, there are four people that are in a position to go y around the moon,” he said. “I cannot say no to that opportunity.”

The next day, homemade moon cupcakes awaited him, along with his daughters’ support. The toughest part isn’t leaving them — “it’s the stress that I’m putting on them,” he said.

Open with his daughters about everything, he recently told them where he keeps his will.

“I cannot say no to that opportunity.”

Reid Wiseman, Artemis mission commander

As one of NASA’s few black astronauts, Victor Glover sees his presence on the mission as “a force for good.”

The 49-year-old Navy captain and former combat pilot from Pomona, California, makes it a habit to listen to Gil Scott-Heron’s “Whitey on the Moon” and Marvin Gaye’s “Make Me Wanna Holler” from the white-dominated Apollo era.

“I listen to those for perspective,” he said. “It captures what we did well, what we did poorly.”

The ability for him now to offer hope to others is “an amazing blessing and a privilege.”

Despite having one space ight behind him — an early SpaceX crew run to the International Space Station — he nds himself in new personal territory. His four daughters are in their late teens and early 20s, “and I spend as an much time and thought preparing them

as NASA does preparing me.”

He’s hyper-focused on running “our best race so that we can hand the baton o to the next leg” — a 2027 practice docking mission in orbit around Earth between an Orion crew capsule and one or two lunar landers. The all-important moon landing would follow in 2028 with yet another set of astronauts.

The last time Christina Koch blasted into space, she was gone almost a year, so she’s not sweating a quick trip to the moon and back.

The 47-year-old electrical engineer from Jacksonville, North Carolina, holds the record for the longest single space ight by a woman — 328 days. She took part in the rst all-female spacewalk during her lengthy stay at the space station in 2019.

More than any one individual, “it’s about celebrating the fact that we’ve arrived to this place in history” where women can y to the moon, she said.

Before she got called up by NASA, Koch spent a year at a South Pole research station. Between that and her space stint, she feels she’s “inoculated” most of her family and friends.

“So far, I haven’t gotten too many nerves from folks. Maybe

my dog, but I’ve reassured her that it’s only 10 days. It’s not going to be as long as last time.”

Her and her husband’s rescue pooch is named Sadie Lou.

The Canadian ghter pilot and physicist is making his space debut, stressful enough, but also serving as his country’s rst emissary to the moon.

“Maybe I’m naive, but I don’t feel a lot of personal pressure.”

Jeremy Hansen, 50, grew up on a farm near London, Ontario, before moving to Ingersoll and pursuing a ying career. The Canadian Space Agency selected him as an astronaut in 2009, and he was named to the Artemis crew in 2023.

He realizes only now how much e ort it took to send men to the moon during Apollo.

“When I walk out and I look at the moon now, it looks and feels a little bit farther than it used to be,” he said. “I just understand in the details how much harder it is than I thought it was watching videos of it.”

Dangers still loom — something he’s shared with his college-aged son and twin daughters. “The most likely outcome is that we will come back safe. There’s a chance we won’t, and you will be able to move through life even if that happens,” he assured them.

and the successful

party bidder shall be required to make payment for any such county land transfer tax. It is the intent of the holder of the above Deed of Trust that the execution, delivery and recordation of a Trustee Deed to the holder as high bidder shall not merge with any superior Deeds of Trust held by the holder of the above Deed of Trust, and that the holder of said superior Deed of Trust shall continue to enjoy all rights and remedies set forth in said superior Deed of Trust, including the right to foreclose either by judicial action or under power of sale contained in the superior Deed of Trust. The property to be o ered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being o ered for sale “AS IS, WHERE IS.” THERE ARE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES relating to the title or to any physical,

environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being o ered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. A cash deposit of 5% of the purchase price will be required at the time of the sale. Remote bidding will not be accepted pursuant to North Carolina General Statutes Section 45-21.25 (a). Credit bids on behalf of the Noteholder will be accepted. Any successful bidder shall be required to tender the full balance of the purchase price so bid in cash or certi ed check at the time the Substitute Trustee tenders to him a deed for the property or attempts to tender such deed, and should said successful bidder fail to pay the full balance purchase price so bid at that time, he shall remain liable on his bid as provided for in North Carolina General Statutes Section 45-21.30 (d) and (e). This sale will be held open ten (10) days for upset bids as required by law.

Residential real property with less than 15 rental units, including single-family residential real property: an order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may, after receiving notice of sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be e ective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days, but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in the notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the

Dated: 3/10/26

Philip A. Glass, Substitute Trustee Nodell, Glass & Haskell, L.L.P. Posted on 3/10/26 Exhibit A BEING ALL OF Lot 73, Bobcat Point Subdivision, containing 2.812 acres, more or less, and Lot 73A, containing 0.455 acres, more or less, as per plat and survey entitled “Survey for BOBCAT POINT SUBDIVISION PHASE III (Lots 60-74) and Revision of Lot 57 and Lot 59,” prepared by Van R. Finch - Land Surveys, P.A., recorded in Plat Slide 2001442, Chatham County Registry, reference to which is hereby made for a more particular description. Subject to easements, restrictions and rights of way of record, and utility lines and rights of way in existence over, under or upon the above-described property. PIN: 972400040904 Property Address: 324 Arrowhead Loop, Pittsboro, NC 27312

including the

or

to foreclose

Deed

of

by

contained in the

Deed of Trust. The

to be o ered pursuant to

Notice of Sale is being o ered for

“AS IS,

IS.” THERE ARE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES relating to the title or to any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being o ered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 25SP000140-180 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Je rey J. McFarlane and Cathy Lynn McFarlane (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Je rey J. McFarlane and Grecia Elsa Burga Champa) to CB Services Corp., Trustee(s), dated July 1, 2010, and recorded in Book No. 01519, at Page 0380 in Chatham County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the O ce of the Register of Deeds Chatham County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will o er for sale at the courthouse door in Pittsboro, Chatham County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 1:30 PM on April 9, 2026 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Durham in the County of Chatham, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot 54 of Rosemont Subdivision, Phase III, as shown on that Map recorded in Plat Slide 2004, Page 360, Chatham County Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 558 Royal Sunset Drive, Durham, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to three hours as provided in N.C.G.S. §45-21.23. Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1). Should the property be purchased by a third party, 31 CFR 1031.320 requires certain qualifying residential real estate transactions to be reported to the federal government. If you are the

successful bidder in this proceeding, you may be required to provide all applicable identifying information about yourself and, if applicable, any entity or trust purchasing the property. The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being o ered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certi ed funds at the time of the sale. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the

CHATHAM SPORTS

Northwood’s win streak falls in loss to Orange

Orange’s Clark scored ve goals against the Chargers

By Asheebo Rojas

Chatham News & Record

HILLSBOROUGH — Orange snapped conference foe Northwood’s four-game win streak with a wire-to-wire 13-4 decision on March 26.

Senior Brett Clark led the Panthers with ve goals on the night. Clark secured a hat trick in the rst half, scoring Orange’s third goal in the rst quarter and notching two in the second. He also assisted junior Casey Olson for the Panthers’ second goal of the game.

“We’ve got a defensive play where we can go ahead and lock somebody o , and we tried to do that,” Northwood coach Randy Cox said. “(Clark) is a pretty talented player, and they’ve got a supporting cast that complements his ability, and so I think that’s where, today, they got the better of us because their players played collectively as a team better than our players played collectively as a team.”

The game’s rst goal came from a goalkeeper as Orange junior Jackson Runkle ran the ball from his own territory through the back of Northwood’s net less than two minutes into the opening period.

“We just didn’t play well for about 24 minutes, and then, we never got in our rhythm.” Randy

Northwood struggled to respond while the Panthers kept attacking. After a goal by senior Jay Parker with under four minutes left in the rst, Orange led 4-0. Senior Grayson Cox temporarily stopped the bleeding as he fought through contact and scored the Chargers’ rst goal

in the quarter’s nal seconds.

Orange sped up the tempo in the second period, quickly extending its lead with consecutive scores from Clark and junior Jack Eakes. Just before the half, junior Owen Wimsatt joined the party with his only score of the night and gave the Panthers an 8-1 advantage.

“We just didn’t play well for about 24 minutes, and then, we never got in our rhythm,” Randy Cox said.

Northwood put on a better showing out of the break, matching Orange’s two scores of the period with goals from senior Jackson Glinski and junior Malik El Yosef. Glinski nished the night with two goals.

Up 10-3 entering the fourth quarter, Orange junior Daylon Smalls scored twice to help close out the win. Smalls (two), Eakes (two) and Clark were the only Panthers to score multiple goals.

Orange moved to 7-3 and 2-0 in 1A-6A Conference 2

play, while Northwood fell to 6-4 and 1-1 in the conference.

The Chargers are o to their best 10-game start since the 2023 season that ended with a state title appearance. They’re on pace to beat last year’s eight wins. During its recently ended win streak, Northwood defeated three teams with winning records as of Sunday.

“That really is the di erence between last year and this year is that we have that many more returning players that have experience,” Randy Cox said. “At every position, whether it’s attack, mid eld, defense and the goalie position.”

Randy Cox believes his team is “better” than its showing in the loss to Orange. The Chargers will host the Panthers for a rematch on April 21.

Northwood will have a tough stretch of matchups coming out of spring break. The Chargers will play at Seaforth on Tuesday and then host defending state champion Croatan on April 11.

By Asheebo Rojas Chatham

“They were con dent. They believed in each other. They stuck to the plan.”

Graeme Stewart

By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record BASEBALL

Seaforth got back on track after its consecutive losses to Cedar Ridge with two shutout wins over Durham School of the Arts (11-0 and a forfeit) and an 8-3 win over Jordan. Five Seaforth pitchers combined for a no-hitter against Durham School of the Arts on March 23. Junior catcher Colin Dorney homered against Jordan. Northwood extended its win streak to four with wins over North Moore (13-2 and 12-2) and Vance Charter (8-3). Junior Finn Sullivan hit 3 for 4 and recorded four RBIs in the rst meeting with the Mustangs on March 24. With back-to-back victories over Lee Christian (13-3) on March 23 and North Stokes (8-3) on Friday, Chatham Central has won four of its last ve. Junior Reid Caviness went 3 for 4 with three runs and two RBIs against South Stokes. Chatham Charter swept Central Carolina in a double header on March 24 (15-2

and 13-0), and it swept Falls Lake with 7-5 and 5-0 wins. Jace Young pitched a no-hitter and hit a home run in the rst win over Central Carolina. The Knights have won six in a row. Jordan-Matthews split two losses to Southwestern Randolph with an 18-0 win over Central Carolina on March 26. Senior Landon Moser hit two home runs in a 3-for-3, four-run and four-RBI performance.

Conference standings as of Sunday (overall, conference)

Central Tar Heel 1A: T1. Chatham Charter (9-2, 4-0); T1. Clover Garden (5-4, 2-0); 3. River Mill (4-5, 2-2); T4. Central Carolina (0-4, 0-2); T4. Southern Wake (0-6, 0-4) Greater Triad 1A/2A: 1. South Stokes (9-2, 6-0); 2. Bishop McGuinness (8-5, 4-2); 3. Chatham Central (5-5, 4-4);

Annabel Unah

Woods Charter, girls’ soccer

Woods Charter sophomore Annabel Unah earns athlete of the week honors for the week of March 23.

In the Wolves’ 6-2 win over Northwood last Friday, Unah logged three goals, including two in the last 15 minutes of the rst half. Her nal score of the night, by assist of Lucy Poitras, helped give Woods Charter a comfortable lead in the second half. Earlier in the week, Unah assisted on three scores in the Wolves’ 9-1 win over Central Carolina. She has scored multiple goals in at least four games this season.

Construction begins on Yardbirds’ ballpark

The eld will be completed by the team’s home opener in May

By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record

SILER CITY — The construction of the Chatham County Yardbirds’ future home eld is underway.

Last week, construction crews began working on Braxton Field in downtown Siler City and shaping the dirt paths for the in eld.

Home plate will be the closest point to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Carolina building with the out eld extending in the direction of Chestnut Street and Third Avenue. This year, the ballpark will utilize the concrete seating behind the back stop and lawn chairs and bleachers along the fence line for seating.

The eld is scheduled to be completed in time for the Yardbirds’ home opener against the Carolina Yankees on May 27 at 7 p.m. Construction was expected to begin earlier this year, but in March, Reggie Allred, CIO of the Old North State League in which the Yardbirds will play, told the Chatham News & Record that the project fell behind due to “bad weather.”

When completed, the ballpark will feature a concrete grandstand, a beer garden, dedicated space for food trucks,

$200K+

Expected cost of the project

new dugouts, a modern press box and more fan amenities. It will serve as more than a home for the Yardbirds as the ONSL hopes to host movie nights, concerts and other entertainment events to serve Siler City’s downtown area.

The project is being facilitated through a partnership with the Town of Siler City and Yardbirds owner Chatham County Baseball LLC, a privately owned company headed by ONSL President and CEO Alec Allred and Reggie Allred.

Construction costs are expected to be more than $200,000.

The Town committed $125,000 in capital improvements.

The new ballpark will be somewhat of a revival of the site’s former purpose as Siler City’s historic American Legion baseball eld once stood there.

The historic Paul Braxton Gymnasium also stood at the site for over 90 years. Built in 1930, the gym was operated by the former Siler City High School, now Braxton Manor and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, until 1956. From 1957 through 1977, the

school and gym were used for elementary school grade levels and renamed in honor of Principal Paul Braxton, who served as principal for the high school and elementary school from 1931 to 1968.

The gym was demolished in 2025 due to various damages and needed repairs for its structure.

Now, the site is expected to once again bring numerous visitors to downtown Siler City, especially on game nights. The Yardbirds have 17 home games on their current schedule. Siler City Mayor Donald Matthews sees the team providing a “positive economic ripple e ect” to the Town as visitors are expected to bring support to local businesses.

Before the rst home game, fans can watch the Yardbirds in their season-opener against the Wake Forest Fungo at Flaherty Park on May 23 at 6:30 p.m.

Based on the developing roster posted on the Yardbirds’ website, the team is expected to feature players from Chatham County and the surrounding areas, including former Chatham Charter standout Aidan Allred, who is a sophomore at William Peace University, and current Chatham Charter player Jace Young, who will begin his collegiate career at Guilford College next spring.

Other names listed on the roster as of Sunday include Andrew Mullis (Mid Atlantic Christian University), Andrew Riedel (Denison University), Jack Bolte (Kenyon College), Simon Schreiber (USC Sumter), Tyler Dowler (Methodist University) and Weston Rhem (Belmont Abbey).

Haynes to lead Region 5 baseball at Bodyarmor State Games

Northwood’s program leader will return to the Games as a head coach

By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record

NORTHWOOD BASEBALL

coach Brent Haynes was selected as a head coach for the upcoming Bodyarmor State Games High School Baseball Showcase in the Triad.

The High School Baseball Showcase will feature the best 20 underclassmen from each of eight regions across North Carolina. Each team will participate in a scout workout on June 15 and play one game per day in a tournament from June 16-19 in front of over 70 college and pro scouts. The event will take place at First National Bank Field, Truist Point Stadium and UNC Greensboro.

Haynes will lead the Region 5 team alongside coaches Kevin

“Clover Garden did well, and we learned a lot of things from that game that we talked about, and the girls really implemented it today. And I’m super proud. They were con dent. They believed in each other. They stuck to the plan.”

After Northwood freshman Annastyn Trogdon tapped in a score to bring the Chargers within one (3-2) early in the second period, the Wolves responded with three straight scores to pull away.

Junior Lucy Poitras, who had multiple close misses in the game, including a couple that hit the crossbar, started the run with a goal that put the Wolves ahead 4-2.

“We were con dent,” Poitras

Underclassmen from each of eight regions will participate in the Games

McIntosh of West Forsyth, Ryan Spencer of Trinity and Adam Gunn of Southeast Alamance.

Tryouts have already started for the games. Region 5 will hold tryout sessions at West Forsyth (April 19), Southeast Alamance (April 26) and possibly at Northwood (May 9) if a rain date is needed. All the sessions will start at 1 p.m. Players must be current varsity level players in the 2027, 2028 and 2029 graduating classes.

Haynes was an assistant for the Region 5 team that took fth place last year. He helped coach

said. “We were good at getting forward and having a lot of shots.”

Minutes later, Poitras sent a free kick long and high, leading Unah to a position where she was able to tap in her third goal of the night.

“We actually practice a lot what we call ‘sni ng,’” Poitras said. “It’s where I launch it, and I nd Annabel because she’s good at just tapping it in. If I get it up there, I know that she’ll nish it.”

Freshman Leah Marshall put the nishing touches on the late-game burst with a corner kick that went through the goalkeeper’s hands and into the net.

The start of the game went at a much di erent pace as neither team scored in the rst 25 minutes.

his own player Finn Sullivan, a junior pitcher at Northwood, on that team. Currently, Haynes is in his second season as the Chargers’ coach.

In his rst year at the helm, Northwood went 13-10, nished third in the Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference and ended the season in the rst round of the 2A playo s. Under his watch, Sullivan was named the conference Pitcher of the Year.

This season, the Chargers are 8-4 and 5-1 ( rst place) in Four Rivers 3A/4A conference play as of Sunday. Northwood is riding a four-game win streak into spring break.

Prior to his time at Northwood, Haynes served as an assistant coach at Southern Alamance in 2022. He became the head coach at Eastern Randolph in 2023 before taking the head coaching position at Williams the next season.

Unah broke the ice after dribbling past defenders and nding an opening for the Wolves’ rst goal. Minutes later, Unah rebounded a saved shot from Marshall and tapped it in to give Woods Charter a 2-0 lead.

“Coach says I got the speed,” Unah said. “So, I use my speed to try to get past other players, and I just hit it at the corner.”

Northwood senior Jacey Martinez connected on a goal from long range ve minutes before the end of the rst half, putting pressure on Woods Charter. However, Marshall provided the response two minutes later after rebounding a free kick for a goal and putting the Wolves ahead 3-1 at halftime.

Woods Charter continuously attacked the Chargers’ defense

all night as the Wolves collected seven corners to Northwood’s two.

With the win, Woods Charter moved to 7-0, picking up its sixth victory by a margin of at least three goals. The Wolves are o to their best seven-game start since 2023. At the same point as last season, Woods Charter had two losses.

“We’ve got depth o the bench now,” Stewart said. “We’ve got experience. We’ve got some good players from the middle school last year to come up, and everybody else is a year older. So, you don’t have to teach them about what we’re trying to do because we’re doing very similar to what we had last year.”

Northwood fell to 6-2, snapping a three-game streak of shutout wins.

Both teams will have another nonconference test coming out of spring break.

Woods Charter will host 5A opponent Cedar Ridge on April 9. The Fighting Red Wolves, sitting at 4-5 overall and led by junior striker Kate Finnegan (13 goals this season), will be coming o two straight shutout wins over Webb (8-0) and Orange (2-0). Northwood will resume its season at Seaforth for the rst of a two-game series on April 7. The Hawks will also be coming o two straight conference wins over Cedar Ridge (5-0) and Durham School of the Arts (5-1). Senior striker So a Viana, who leads the team with 11 goals this season, scored a combined for four goals in those two games.

Splash & Socialize

Whether you’re learning the game, mastering your doubles strategy, racing down the water slide, or soaking up the sun, there’s something here for everyone. Perfect for beginners and seasoned players alike—for movers and relaxers. But don’t just take our word for it—come see for yourself!

2 Membership Levels Now Available— Full & Pickleball-Only!

Memberships are available to Chatham Park residents and non-residents.

SIDELINE REPORT

FIGURE SKATING

Malinin bounces back, wins 3rd straight world gure skating title

Prague Ilia Malinin reeled o one huge jump after another, and a back ip for good measure, to retain his world championship title for the third year running. Malinin landed ve high-scoring quadruple jumps but not his pioneering quad axel, a jump he didn’t attempt at the Olympics. Malinin scored 218.11 in the free skate for a total 329.40 on Saturday, far ahead of silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama of Japan on 306.67. Another Japanese skater, Shun Sato, was third on 288.54.

NBA Lakers’ Doncic suspended 1 game by NBA after 16th technical foul

New York

Luka Doncic was suspended one game by the NBA after picking up his 16th technical foul of the season. The league announced that Doncic was suspended after a scu e in the Lakers’ win over Brooklyn. Ziaire Williams yelled in Doncic’s space after an o ensive foul call. Doncic pushed Williams’ arm and Williams swiped across Doncic’s face. O cials reviewed the play and gave both players technicals. Under NBA rules, the 16th technical triggers an automatic suspension without pay.

NBA James passes to James for 3-pointer, NBA’s rst father-son assist Los Angeles LeBron James literally passed it on to the next generation. The NBA says James recorded the league’s rst father-to-son assist when he passed to Bronny James for a 3-pointer in the second quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against Brooklyn. The Lakers’ father-and-son duo played meaningful minutes together for the second straight game. Bronny James was on court with his father for nearly 41⁄2 minutes when they checked in together to start the second quarter.

WNBA

Sun reach deal to sell to Rockets owner, move team to Houston in 2027

The Connecticut Sun have reached an agreement to sell the team to Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta for $300 million and will move to Houston in 2027. The WNBA Board of Governors still needs to approve the sale and the move. The team will play in Connecticut for the upcoming season before moving to Houston and becoming the Comets. This will end a 23-year run by the team in New England after the team moved to Connecticut from Orlando in 2003.

Elliott beats Hamlin at Martinsville for 1st Cup Series win of season

It is the Hendrick driver’s 22nd career win

By Nate Ryan The Associated Press

MARTINSVILLE, VA. —

The strategy calls don’t always work out for Chase Elliott in the Cup Series.

So when the plan comes together — as it did in a victory at Martinsville Speedway — it’s especially sweet for NASCAR’s eight-time most popular driver and his legions of adoring fans.

“It’s really cool when this stu works out, and to win these races is so tough,” Elliott said while celebrating on the frontstetch to huge cheers after his rst win this season and the 22nd of his career. “So just really, really grateful for the opportunity. I never take it for granted. Trust me, this is a dream come true for me.”

The 30-year-old from Dawsonville, Georgia, capitalized on a shrewd gamble by crew chief Alan Gustafson to pit the No. 9 Chevrolet earlier than the other contenders. When the caution ew on the 312th lap, Elliott was in second behind Denny Hamlin and pitted with the rest of the lead-lap drivers aside from Ross Chastain, who took the lead by staying on track.

Elliott took rst from Chastain after a restart and led the nal 69 laps to win by 0.565 seconds over Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota.

“It was de nitely a team effort,” Elliott said after his second win on the 0.526-mile oval. “That was awesome. So proud of Alan and the whole team. They did a great job, and we took a gamble. But just so proud of them. They put up with a lot, and they got to put up with me all the time. So I just appreciate them for sticking with me.”

Joey Logano nished third, followed by Ty Gibbs and William Byron.

Elliott, who has been voted NASCAR’s most popular driver annually since 2018, led 84

“It’s really cool when this stu works out, and to win these races is so tough.”

Chase Elliott

laps in delivering the rst win this year for Hendrick Motorsports. The winningest team in Cup history has a record 31 victories at Martinsville.

Gustafson, whose calls are frequently second-guessed by one of NASCAR’s biggest fan bases whenever Elliott struggles, said he got a supportive call Sunday morning from team owner Rick Hendrick.

“He’s like, ‘Everything’s great, love you guys, playing the long game, and this is a marathon, not a sprint,’” Gustafson said in recounting the conversation. “But nevertheless, when

the boss calls you, it gets your attention.”

The decision was virtually a no-brainer for Gustafson after Elliott started 10th and ran mostly outside the top ve for the rst half of the 400-lap race.

“We were just kind of trapped in like the 10th spot,” Gustafson said. “It’s really hard to pass, and we just need to do something di erent. I just felt like it was worth a shot. And when we pitted early, I think it just drug a lot of guys down. Obviously, the caution’s great. It gave us track position, and the rest is history.”

Hamlin, who has a series-best six wins at Martinsville, started from the pole position and dominated, leading 292 of the rst 317 laps. The Joe Gibbs Racing star got shu ed from the lead during a pit stop sequence under a yellow ag that began on the 312th lap and then lost momentum on the en-

March Madness meets the iPad era

How coaches’ challenges are changing the game

By Maura Carey The Associated Press

FLORIDA’S Boogie Fland was driving to the basket with 1:10 remaining and a three-point lead over Iowa when Hawkeyes forward Cooper Koch stepped into the lane, swatted at the ball and it sailed out of bounds. O cials ruled it Florida’s ball.

Iowa coach Ben McCollum quickly consulted video coordinator Jace Smith, who checked his iPad and nodded yes — go for it.

“I had a very clear view,” Smith said. “Once I saw it, I felt pretty con dent, so it was an instant yes. That was a big moment.”

McCollum challenged the call and won; Fland had touched it last. Iowa took possession and outscored Florida 5-1 in thenal minute to oust the defending champion and 1-seeded Gators with a 73-72 win and advance to the Sweet 16 for the rst time since 1999. That the tournament’s biggest thriller so far was set up in part by a coach’s challenge is something that wouldn’t have been possible in years past. This season is the rst where coaches are allowed to challenge certain calls by o ciating crews. The rule change was approved in June, and eight months later, it’s still an adjustment for even the most experienced sta s. When used correctly, a challenge can ip a game in seconds. But the Gators already knew that.

Florida’s chances of winning a mid-January game at Vanderbilt were slipping when video coordinator Nolan Crist

NC State’s Reed Vial, left, and Patrick Stacy,

watch a replay during a game against

spotted an on-court tangle. He checked the iPad, sideline discussions commenced and what followed changed the game. Coach Todd Golden’s challenge revealed a hook-and-hold, which led to a seven-point swing and boosted Florida’s win probability by roughly 30%. The Gators went on to beat Vanderbilt by four.

Like Iowa, Florida turned to its video coordinator when challenges were introduced. Crist, like all the others, has seconds to make a recommendation.

NCAA men’s teams get one challenge per game and must have a timeout to use it. If the call is overturned, the timeout is retained and the team gets one other challenge. If the call stands, the timeout is lost and no further challenges are allowed. Challenges aren’t used in the women’s game, but coaches can appeal calls. There is no limit on the number of appeals, but a failed one can cost a team a timeout if available. An unsuccessful appeal without an available timeout results in a technical foul and two free throws and

“When a play happens, and every coach turns around and looks at Nolan (Crist, team video coordinator), he understands it’s his time to shine.”

Todd Golden, Florida coach

possession for the opponent. For Florida, when a potentially challenge-worthy play unfolds on the court all eyes turn to Crist.

“When a play happens, and every coach turns around and looks at Nolan, he understands it’s his time to shine and gure out what we need to do,” Golden said.

A similar process is followed at NC State, where assistant general manager Patrick Stacy ran the system for the men’s team. Stacy keeps a tablet running next to him — sometimes on the oor next to his

suing restart. He also thought a loose wheel caused his handling to fade in the nal stage.

“(Elliott) did a good job of controlling the pace there,” Hamlin said. “It just really came from that bad restart I had. Just not much really I could have done, and it felt like we gave it our all. We’ll check it out here, but I just thought the wheel was loose here on that last run. Either way, these are just some of the races that get away from you and your career.”

The win came 11 years to the day of Elliott’s debut in the Cup Series. He nished 38th in the March 29, 2015, race that was won by Hamlin. Elliott said he was reminded of the anniversary at an autograph session Sunday morning.

“A couple fans that were here that day came up to me and told me about it,” Elliott said. “So I got to thinking about it. Really cool to kind of see all that come full circle.”

bench seat, other times leaning against the scorer’s table — while tracking play calls and lineups during the game.

“On any close play, I don’t wait for the call, I just instantly look down and watch the replay and then start clicking rewind,” Stacy said. “If I hear the call went our direction, I’ll obviously put the iPad down and stop reviewing it. If it didn’t, then my clock of that 10 to 15 seconds has started, and we’ve got to make a decision on if it’s the best option or to challenge or not.”

“It’s not just a one-person decision. Usually, you’ll hear from the bench what they think. … Then coach will look at it and we kind of come to a consensus,” Stacy said.

A complex dynamic with o cials

The introduction of challenges has changed dynamics beyond the bench. Video replays are now inaccessible to o cials until the nal two minutes of the game, meaning the bench has unseen angles at its disposal.

“It’s very easy for us to get the call right when we’re able to stare at the iPad right after, and these guys don’t have the luxury to do that,” Golden said. “It makes it a little bit of a ‘gotcha’ game, and I think it’s a little unfair for the refs that way.” Several conferences told The Associated Press they do not track challenges. But in 243 men’s basketball games at home arenas in the Southeastern Conference this season, there were 128 total challenges; 85 were reversed and 43 calls stood, a 2-to-1 ratio.

“It’s a little more accurate in how it’s o ciated,” Stacy said. “If you can switch to one or two calls a game to get them right, relative to ones that would be wrong in prior years, it rings truer to what the outcome should be.”

Uwharrie Charter (9-2, 4-2); 3. Southwestern Randolph (7-3, 3-2); 4. Eastern Randolph (5-7, 2-3); 5. Jordan-Matthews (3-9, 1-4); 6. North Moore (4-7, 1-5)

Big Seven 4A/5A: T1. South Granville (9-2, 6-0); T1. Cedar Ridge (8-2, 4-0); 3. Seaforth (9-4, 4-2); T4. Orange (5- 6, 0-2); T4. Durham School of the Arts (3-7, 0-4); T4. Webb (2-8, 0-2); T4. Carrboro (2-10, 0-4)

Power rankings (week of March 23): 1. Seaforth; 2. Chatham Charter; 3. Northwood; 4. Chatham Central; 5. Jordan-Matthews SOFTBALL

Northwood ‘s Kelis Watson went 4 for 4 with a home run to help the Chargers snap their two-game skid in a 15-2 win over North Moore on March 24. After a 10-5 loss to Cedar Ridge the next day, Northwood defeated North Moore again 5-1. Seaforth’s Alyssa Harris, Emma Grace Hill and Abigail Johnson all homered in a 20-3 win over South Granville on March 23. Annika Johansson joined the home run party in Seaforth’s 16-1 win over Webb, and Hill, who also homered in the game, pitched another no-hitter.

Chatham Central won three straight games over South Davidson (19-0), Apex Friendship (6-5) and North Stokes (9-3) during the week. Tied a 5-5 in the top of the seventh against 8A opponent Apex Friendship, Chatham Central’s Maddie Kaczmarczyk sent Maeson

Straight

Smith home for the go-ahead run with a single. Kaczmarczyk then threw three pitches to get three outs in the closing inning (one line out and two y outs).

Chatham Charter also extended its win streak to four with a 15-0 win over Cornerstone Charter and a 21-1 victory over Ascend Leadership.

Jordan-Matthews dropped two games to Southwestern Randolph (20-0 and 10-1) following its 3-0 win over North Moore on March 23.

Conference Standings as of Sunday (overall, conference)

Central Tar Heel 1A: 1. Clover Garden (10-0, 6-0); 2. River Mill (4-3, 3-1); 3. Chatham Charter (6-5, 4-2); 4. Central Carolina (1-10, 1-7); 5. Ascend Leadership (0-5, 0-4)

Greater Triad 1A/2A: 1. South Stokes (8-4, 6-1); 2. Chatham Central (10-3, 4-1); 3. North Stokes (4-6, 1-3); 4. South Davidson (2-10, 0-6) Four Rivers 3A/4A: T1. Southwestern Randolph (9-1, 5-1); T1. Northwood (9-3, 5-1); T3. Uwharrie Charter (4 -7, 3-3); T3. Jordan-Matthews (8-3, 3-3); T5. North Moore (4 -7, 1-5); T5. Eastern Randolph (2-9, 1-5) Big Seven 4A/5A: 1. Sea-

forth (9-0, 5-0); T2. Cedar Ridge (8-3, 4-1); T2. Orange (4 - 6, 4-1); 4. South Granville (4-6, 3-3); 5. Webb (8-3, 2-3); 6. Carrboro (2-9, 1-4); 7. Durham School of the Arts (0-11, 0-7) Power rankings (week of March 23): 1. Seaforth; 2. Northwood; 3. Chatham Central; 4. Jordan-Matthews; 5. Chatham Charter

OUTDOOR

TRACK AND FIELD

Here are the local rst-place nishers from Jordan-Matthews’ home meet on March 26. Boys (school, event, time): Tyler Congrove (Chatham Central, 100, 11.59 sec -

onds); Ezra Roebuck (Northwood, 200, 22.47); Holton Mody (Woods Charter, 800, 2:15.67); Torris Price (Chatham Charter, 1,600, 4:36.02); Price (Chatham Charter, 3,200, 9:53.93); Yadiel Zayas (Jordan-Matthews, 110 hurdles, 17.11); Zayas (Jordan-Matthews, 300 hurdles, 44.25); Tequone Moore, Kaleb Powell, Wyatt Webster, Roebuck (Northwood, 4x100, 44.67); Jordan Wiley, Sam Bachelor, Juan Sanchez, Moore (Northwood, 4x400, 3:40.18); Zaire Ellils, Drew Yell, Bachelor, Wiley (Northwood, 4x800, 9:09.17); Titus Moore (Northwood, long jump, 18 feet, 7.50 inches); Kamarie Hadley (Jordan-Matthews, triple jump, 40-3); Jakari Blue (Jordan-Matthews, discus, 101-3); Jamison Brown (Northwood, shot put, 39-5) Girls: Athena Dispennette (Jordan-Matthews, 400, 1:07.15); So a Rodriguez (Woods Charter, 800, 2:59.41); Emily Scheidt (Chatham Charter, 1,600, 6:26.24); Sydney Gray (Northwood, 3,200, 12:16.46); Khamya Woods (Jordan-Matthews, 100 hurdles, 18.11); Jordan-Matthews (4x200, 2:02.62); Jordan-Matthews (4x400, 5:18.74); Gabby Ghita, Ashley Perry, Ava Zawada, Gray (Northwood, 4x800, 12:00.28); Lizzie Alston (Jordan-Matthews, long jump, 14 - 0); Juanita Perez (Jordan-Matthews, triple jump, 26-6)

Close sounds warning on coaching’s new grind as UCLA’s postseason run rolls on

NIL and transfer rules changes have made the job all consuming

By Doug Feinberg

The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

Cori Close isn’t sure how much longer she will be coaching. The responsibilities of coaches have changed a lot in her 33 years in the game, especially in the last few years.

“I’ve never been as tired as I’ve been in the last two years, and it’s made me think how much longer I can do this,” said Close, of No. 1 seed UCLA. “And I’m just being transparent with you about that. There are so many things that are harder, and we keep losing incredible people on the men’s and the women’s side.”

Between the transfer portal, name, image and likeness, and revenue sharing, coaching

has changed. It’s not just about recruiting players from high school, but also now about keeping a team together each season and guring out how much money each player will make through revenue sharing.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said she welcomes change and likes the challenge of guring out ways to be still be successful — something she’s excelled at with three national championships in the last nine years.

“When that leaves me, then I know it’s time for me to move on,” the 55-year-old Staley said.

Staley said she’s seen the sport become more transactional the last few years.

“We can try to keep core principles of who we are as coaches and the sanctity of the team,” she said. “For me, I coach from my days being on the Olympic team. That is how I coach. Meaning I try to coach where

the team is the team success. Then we know that individuals make up the success of a team. You deal with each player and have them try to get them in a position where they understand their worth.”

Staley has seen the change the last few years with the additions of NIL.

“NIL has really changed everything. Like it really has changed. I mean, how you have to move day to day. You got to make sure psychologically our kids are in a good place. Mentally, they’re in a good place, and they’re parents,” Staley said. “So you’re actually having to do a lot of work and if you’re not used to that part of it, you know, it will it will run you out of the business.”

Staley relishes the two hours each day that her team practices because nothing else enters the space at that time and she can just focus on coaching.

“The 22 hours beyond that,

you have to go and exhaust yourself and make sure everyone is good from day to day, from week to week and de nitely in the postseason,” Staley said.

The transfer portal was moved this year to open the day after the national championship game, as opposed to during the NCAA Tournament.

“If there’s one thing I would ask of our governing bodies and the NCAA and our administrations, it is please develop infrastructure and boundaries that create an opportunity to have sustained excellence and sustainable pace,” said Close, who is in her 15th season at UCLA. “Otherwise, we are going to continue to lose some of our best coaches, and I do not think our game can a ord to do that.”

Some longtime coaches have stepped down over the past few seasons for a variety of reasons, including for health issues. Others have mulled retirement.

Louisville coach Je Walz didn’t sound close to retirement when the 54-year-old in his 19th season with the Cardinals was told of Close’s comments.

“I’m friends with Cori,” Walz said. “My favorite line, I would tell her, if you don’t like your job, nd a new job. I mean, I’m listening this morning at 4:20 as the workers outside my window at the hotel in the street are working. I mean, you choose your profession. If you don’t like it, nd a new profession.”

“I mean, of course, it’s a lot of work, but we chose to do it and we get compensated for it,” Walz said. “I don’t think anybody is going to feel too sorry for us that you might be tired. I’m tired, too, but who is not?”

Wolverines coach Kim Barnes Arico said coaching fatigue is less about age and more about adaptation.

“A few years ago when all this started to come into play, I knew as a coach and I talked to our players and I talked to our sta , times are changing,” Barnes Arico said. “We need to evolve. We need to grow. We need to step up to the challenges, because if we can’t, the game, the landscape, all of it is going to pass us by.”

this week in history

MLK assassinated, NATO established, U.S. enters WWI, Kurt Kobain dies by suicide

The Associated Press

APRIL 2

1792: Congress passed the Coinage Act, authorizing the creation of the U.S. Mint.

1865: Confederate President Je erson Davis and most of his Cabinet ed Richmond, Virginia, after Union troops broke through Confederate lines at the Third Battle of Petersburg.

1917: President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany, saying, “The world must be made safe for democracy.” (Congress declared war four days later.)

APRIL 3

1860: The rst Pony Express mail riders set out, one heading west from St. Joseph, Missouri, and another traveling east from Sacramento, California.

1882: Outlaw Jesse James was shot and killed in St. Joseph, Missouri, by Robert Ford, a member of James’ gang.

1968: Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his nal speech in Memphis, Tennessee, telling striking sanitation workers, “I’ve been to the mountaintop. … I’ve seen the Promised Land.”

APRIL 4

1949: Twelve nations, including the United States, signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, D.C., establishing NATO.

1968: Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was

assassinated while standing on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. His death sparked unrest in cities across the United States that left 43 people dead and more than 3,000 injured.

1973: The twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center were o cially dedicated.

APRIL 5

1614: Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan chief Wahunsenacawh (Powhatan), married English settler John Rolfe in the Virginia Colony.

1764: The British Parliament passed the American Revenue Act of 1764, known as the Sugar Act, enforcing duties on sugar and molasses imported into the American colonies.

1887: In Tuscumbia, Alabama, teacher Anne Sullivan helped her deaf-blind pupil Helen Keller understand the word “water,” marking a major breakthrough in Keller’s education.

1994: Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain died by suicide at

his home in Seattle at age 27.

APRIL 6

1830: Joseph Smith and followers met in Fayette, New York, to organize the Church of Christ, later known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1896: The rst modern Olympic Games o cially opened in Athens, Greece.

1917: The United States entered World War I as the House joined the Senate in approving a declaration of war against Germany, which was signed by President Woodrow Wilson.

APRIL 7

1862: Union forces led by Gens. Ulysses S. Grant and Don Carlos Buell defeated Confederate troops at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee.

1922: Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall secretly leased U.S. Navy oil reserves to private companies in the scandal later known as Teapot Dome.

1994: A day after the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi were killed in a missile attack, Rwanda’s moderate prime minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and her husband were murdered, triggering the genocide that followed.

APRIL 8

1820: A farmer on the Greek island of Milos discovered the ancient statue now known as the Venus de Milo.

1864: The U.S. Senate approved the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery. (The House passed it in 1865.)

1992: Tennis great Arthur Ashe announced he had AIDS, saying he contracted HIV from a 1983 blood transfusion.

Puth shows o bag of musical tricks on ‘Whatever’s Clever!’

Actor Je Goldblum provides a spoken-word prelude on “Until It Happens To You”

By Elise Ryan The Associated Press

THERE HAVE been some changes in Charlie Puth’s life recently. He got married. He’s a dad. And in the musical shoutout heard ’round the world, Taylor Swift declared that he “should be a bigger artist.”

On “Changes,” the lead single from his fourth album, “Whatever’s Clever!,” he ponders those shifts: “There’s been some changes in our life, oh / I can feel the distance,” he sings. “Space and time, has made everything di erent.”

An eight-member choir backs him up in the song’s latter half, joining Puth’s keys and a steady drum. These layers, while plenty, aren’t heavy. Puth keeps the track buoyant.

That light, playful energy is felt across much of the album releasing Friday (“Beat Yourself Up,” “Washed Up”). Puth and his co-producer BloodPop pull from a Mary Poppins bag of musical tricks — a choir! an orchestra! Kenny G! — to create complex tracks with in uences that range from yacht rock to jazz and R&B, diverting from Puth’s previous pop. Consider the wonky “Until It Happens To You,” which combines the orchestra and choir for

a song about embracing the best of times while anticipating the worst, with a bubbly spoken introduction and interlude by Je Goldblum.

Musically, the outcome is fun, largely because Puth, with his perfect pitch and Berklee College of Music training, has only leaned further into his “Professor Puth” persona, giving listeners the tools to break

Oscars leaving Hollywood for downtown LA

The Academy Awards will now take place at the Peacock Theater

By Andrew Dalton The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — The Oscars are leaving Hollywood.

In 2029, the year the telecast moves from ABC to YouTube, the ceremony itself will move from its longtime home at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood to downtown Los Angeles and the Peacock Theater, 9 miles away. The Academy announced last Thursday that it has reached a 10-year agreement with AEG, which operates the L.A. Live complex where the Peacock Theater sits.

It’s a surprising move given that the Dolby was developed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences itself, expressly as a home for the Oscars. The ceremony has been held there since 2002 (with the exception of the COVID-driven downsized show at Union Station in 2021) and has provided an especially steady home for the Oscars, which have never stayed in a single venue for such a long stretch. The awards bounced between various LA hotels in its early years before moving up to theaters in the mid-1940s.

The downtown Doro -

thy Chandler Pavilion, a ne arts facility that is home to the LA Opera, became heavily identi ed with the Oscars when it hosted the ceremony from 1968 to 1986. The ceremony then alternated between the Chandler and the Shrine Auditorium, next to the University of Southern California, until the long-term move to Hollywood.

The Dolby will continue to host the show as it airs in its nal years on ABC, conclud-

ing with the 100th Academy Awards in 2028.

The Peacock Theater is next to the Crypto.com Arena, home to the Los Angeles Lakers and Kings. The theater has hosted the Emmy Awards nearly every year since 2008 and, in recent years, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

The academy says in its announcement that, under its agreement, AEG will make major upgrades to the theater and its tech setup and will

The Hollywood sign is seen prior to the nominations announcement for the 32nd Annual Actor Awards on Jan. 7 in Los Angeles.

down those layers themselves through explanatory TikToks and talk show appearances. But Puth and BloodPop play it safe lyrically throughout the album, often relying on generic platitudes. (“You know everybody cries,” Puth sings on “Cry.” “Cry, cry, cry.”)

And yet, painting in broad strokes has worked before for Puth, and there are moments — when he pushes a simple idea a bit further — where it does here, too: “Love in Exile,” featuring and written with Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins, is catchy and quotable. “Sideways,” featuring verses and harmonies by Coco Jones, recalls Puth’s early collaborative hits like Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again” and “We Don’t Talk Anymore” with Selena Gomez, with their affecting but not overly complicated lyrics.

If the album is seen as a sort of scrapbook assembled ahead of his next chapter, then ipping back to the rst page reveals Puth knows growth comes with those dreams being rewritten: “Sometimes the wind blows in di erent new directions,” he sings on “Changes.” Where that takes him, we’ll have to see. For now, Puth is embracing his in uences and exing what he’s learned. And that makes for a good time.

“For the 101st Oscars and beyond, the Academy looks forward to closely collaborating with AEG to make L.A. LIVE the perfect backdrop for our global celebration of cinema.”

Bill Kramer and Lynette Howell Taylor, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

“collaborate closely with the Academy to incorporate bespoke design elements needed to accommodate the Oscars ceremony.”

The Peacock Theater, previously known as the Nokia Theatre and Microsoft Theater, opened in 2007, as the then-Staples Center site expanded to become the L.A. Live entertainment complex. It hosted concerts from the Eagles and the Chicks to celebrate its opening.

The theater’s capacity of about 7,000 is about twice that of the Dolby. And its plaza is bigger and more open-air than the Dolby’s Ovation Hollywood complex, which has more of an enclosed shopping mall feeling. Like Hollywood, L.A. Live also has multiple hotels, essential to the logistics of the Oscars. And there is a cinema at the site, though its Regal theaters multiplex lacks the historic patina of the TCL (formerly Grauman’s) Chinese Theatre next to the Dolby on Hollywood Boulevard.

“For the 101st Oscars and beyond, the Academy looks forward to closely collaborating with AEG to make L.A. LIVE the perfect backdrop for our global celebration of cinema,” the academy’s CEO Bill Kramer and its president, Lynette Howell Taylor, said in a joint statement.

famous birthdays this week

Wayne Newton turns 84, Clive Davis celebrates 94, Billy Dee Williams is 89, Patricia Arquette hits 58

THESE CELEBRITIES have birthdays this week:

APRIL 2

Disc jockey Dr. Demento is 85. Actor Linda Hunt is 81. Musician Emmylou Harris is 79.

Actor Christopher Meloni is 65. Tennis Hall of Famer Todd Woodbridge is 55. Actor Adam Rodriguez is 51.

APRIL 3

Actor Marsha Mason is 84. Singer Wayne Newton is 84. Singer Tony Orlando is 82. Singer-songwriter Richard Thompson is 77. Actor Alec Baldwin is 68. Actor David Hyde Pierce is 67. Actor-comedian Eddie Murphy is 65.

APRIL 4

Recording executive Clive Davis is 94. Golf Hall of Famer JoAnne Carner is 87. Actor Craig T. Nelson is 82. Football Hall of Famer John Hannah is 75. TV writer-producer David E. Kelley is 70. TV host-comic Graham Norton is 63. Actor Robert Downey Jr. is 61. Magician David Blaine is 53.

APRIL 5

Actor Michael Moriarty is 85. Actor Max Gail is 83. Singer Agnetha Fältskog (ABBA) is 76. Rock musician Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) is 60. Country musician Pat Green is 54. Musician-producer Pharrell Williams is 53.

APRIL 6

Actor Billy Dee Williams is 89. Film director Barry Levinson is 84. Actor John Ratzenberger is 79. Baseball Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven is 75. Actor Marilu Henner is 74. Actor Michael Rooker is 71. Actor Paul Rudd is 57.

APRIL 7

Country musician Bobby Bare is 91. Former California

Gov. Jerry Brown is 88. Film director Francis Ford Coppola is 87. Musician John Oates is 78. Singer-songwriter Janis Ian is 75. Actor Jackie Chan is 72. Football Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett is 72. Actor Russell Crowe is 62.

APRIL 8

Journalist Seymour Hersh is 89. Songwriter-producer Leon Hu is 84. Rock musician Steve Howe (Yes) is 79. Author Barbara Kingsolver is 71. Guitarist Izzy Stradlin (Guns N’ Roses) is 64. Singer Julian Lennon is 63. Actor Robin Wright is 60. Actor Patricia Arquette is 58.

Two doses of Amanda Seyfried, ‘The Housemaid’ with Sydney Sweeney, Jon Hamm robs

Country singer Charley Crockett drops “Age of the Ram”

The Associated Press

AMANDA SEYFRIED starring in “The Testament of Ann Lee” and Bravo’s hit reality show “The Valley” returning for Season 3 are some of the new television, lms, music and games headed to a device near you.

Also among the streaming o erings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Jon Hamm is back stealing in his Apple TV series “Your Friends & Neighbors,” Sydney Sweeney teams up with Seyfried for the steamy thriller “The Housemaid,” and Grammy-nominated country singer Charley Crockett o ers his album, “Age of the Ram.” MOVIES TO STREAM

Seyfried probably should have been nominated for an Oscar for her performance as Shakers founder Ann Lee in Mona Fastvold’s audacious and euphoric musical “The Testament of Ann Lee,” which is streaming now on Hulu. “The lm is absolutely not for everyone,” Jocelyn Noveck wrote in her AP review. “But Fastvold has undeniably created something we’ve never quite seen before; speaking of visions, her singular artistic vision lls every frame. And Seyfried is a marvel, in yet another role that stretches this ercely talented actor in ways we might not have predicted.”

Another movie that scored with critics but didn’t necessarily nd a massive audience in theaters was “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” which is available now on Net ix. The zombie lm, directed by Nia DaCosta working o of an Alex Garland script, stars Jack O’Connell and Ralph Fiennes. In his AP review, Mark Kennedy wrote, “The fourth entry in an ever-more engrossing franchise is absolutely bonkers — and a triumph. It mixes dark, queasy disembowelment and laugh-out-loud humor in a way that both subverts the genre and leads a way out of it, too.” For something completely di erent, the Broadway production of “Merrily We Roll Along” starring Jonathan Gro and Daniel Radcli e is also

coming to Net ix on Saturday. The box o ce sensation “The Housemaid” is on Starz. The Paul Feig lm starring Seyfried and Sweeney became a breakout hit in theaters, earning more than $396 million against a $35 million budget. Kennedy wrote in his review that it’s a “delicious, satirical look at the secret depravity of the ultra-rich, but it’s so well constructed that’s it’s not clear who’s naughty or nice. Halfway through, the movie zigs and everything you expected zags.”

MUSIC TO STREAM

Grammy-nominated country singer Crockett enters the “Age of the Ram,” co-produced by Shooter Jennings, the third and nal chapter of his “Sagebrush Trilogy.” In true Crockett fashion, it’s equal parts old school country storytelling and forward-thinking future-casting. Singles “Fastest Gun Alive” and “Kentucky Too Long” are good places to start — Crockett’s idiosyncratic voice is all Old West air.

Everyone’s favorite Philadelphia-based, Medieval-obsessed punks Poison Ruin will release a new album, “Hymn from the Hills,” on Friday. Expect more of their classic sound — an inventive intersection of death

rock and chain mail — with increased ferocity. Or, as the album description reads, themes that include “spirits traversing sunless deserts and wilted hillsides, demonic torture objects limning the edges of the psyche, bodies trans gured into Luciferian snakes, Sadean prisoners bound to the screaming silence of abandoned castle towers.” You know, the usual. The great Swedish post-punk band Makthaverskan will release their rst new album since 2021’s “För Allting” on Friday. Titled “Glass and Bones,” the

10-track LP may very well be the best dream pop album of the year so far: Start with “Pity Party” — a ne reintroduction to singer Maja Milner’s idiosyncratic vocal tone and the band’s addictive guitar melodies — and build from there, to the chilly “Black Waters,” to the gothic confessional “Louie” and the lead track “Won’t Wait.” SERIES TO STREAM

Bravo’s hit reality show “The Valley” is back for Season 3 this week. The show follows for-

“Seyfried is a marvel, in yet another role that stretches this ercely talented actor in ways we might not have predicted.”

Jocelyn Noveck, AP Film Writer

mer “Vanderpump Rules” cast members who traded West Hollywood for life north of Los Angeles, bringing marriages, kids, divorces and drama with them. Kristen Doute, Brittany Cartwright, Jason and Janet Caperna, Luke Broderick, Danny and Nia Booko, and Jesse Lally return. Former “Vanderpump” regulars Lala Kent and Tom Schwartz also join as full-time cast members. Notably absent: Jax Taylor, Cartwright’s ex, who won’t be returning. The season premiere hits Peacock on Thursday.

Hamm is back to stealing from his neighbors. His Apple TV series, “Your Friends & Neighbors,” launches Season 2 on Friday. Hamm plays a suburbanite who steals from his wealthy New York neighbors to maintain his upper-crust lifestyle. Amanda Peet, Olivia Munn and James Marsden also star.

Bravo also adds to its “Real Housewives” franchise with the debut of “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island,” streaming Friday, April 3 on Peacock.

VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY

Darwin’s Paradox! looks like a throwback to classic arcade games, in which colorful mascots ran and jumped through tricky 2D landscapes. Darwin is an octopus who’s minding his own business when he’s suddenly ripped out of the ocean and thrown into a junkyard. As he tries to nd his way back home, he stumbles across a conspiracy that “could very well seal the fate of humanity.” Fortunately, Darwin has a big brain to go with all those useful legs. The adventure comes from France’s ZDT Studio, whose founders include the director of the terri c Dishonored series. It launches Thursday on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S, Switch 2 and PC.