VOLUME 149 ISSUE 10 | THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2026
CHATHAMNEWSRECORD.COM
THE CHATHAM COUNTY EDITION OF NORTH STATE JOURNAL
PJ WARD-BROWN / CHATHAM NEWS & RECORD
Farm labor The Davis family, from left to right, Rys, Colette (4) and Jaclyn, of Pittsboro, took advantage of the late-April weather to pick strawberries at Chatham Oaks Farm on Saturday.
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BRIEF this week
United Arab Emirates to leave OPEC, dealing blow to oil cartel Dubai, United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates announced that it will leave OPEC effective May 1, stripping the oil cartel of its third-largest producer and further weakening its leverage over global oil supplies and prices. The UAE’s decision had been rumored as a possibility for some time, as it pushed back in recent years against OPEC production quotas it felt had been too low. Regional politics are also likely at play. The UAE has had increasingly frosty relations with Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s largest producer, even after both came under attack by fellow OPEC member Iran during the war.
Republicans in Congress push for Trump’s White House ballroom after shooting at event Republicans in Congress have launched new efforts to approve and pay for President Donald Trump’s proposed ballroom at the White House. They argue it would help avert security breaches like the shooting at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. A bill introduced by Republican senators would authorize $400 million for construction and security infrastructure underneath. Trump has said that private money would pay for the ballroom. Sen. Lindsay Graham said at a news conference that it is necessary to allow the president to hold events safely and avoid much less secure venues like the Washington Hilton.
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Commissioners push out decision on Fearrington Reserve The 370-acre proposed development is planned to have more than 600 residential units By Ryan Henkel Chatham News & Record PITTSBORO — The Chatham County Board of Commissioners has postponed a decision on a proposed com-
pact community to next month. At its April 20 meeting, the board held three public hearings, with one being for a rezoning request for seven parcels of property containing approximately 370 acres and located off
724 Andrews Store Road to be zoned as a compact community known as Fearrington Reserve. The proposed development is projected to include up to 603 residential units, potentially 23,000 square feet of commercial, 183 acres of natural open space and 75 acres of managed open space. The project would be split
into three phases, with Phase 1 involving the construction of single-family detached units, an amenity area and potentially a commercial area. Phase 2 would contain multifamily, two-story condo units, and Phase 3 would also consist of single-family detached units. See BOARD, page A7
Former Chapel Hill police officer accused of plot to kill black people at New Orleans festival The Associated Press NEW ORLEANS — Authorities say a former North Carolina law enforcement officer planned to kill black people in a mass shooting at a major New Orleans festival but was arrested at a Florida hotel with a hand-
gun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Authorities in several states did not name the event, but the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, commonly known as Jazz Fest, runs from last Thursday through May 3. The gathering attracted about 460,000
people last year, organizers said. Christopher Gillum of Chapel Hill was wanted for “terroristic threats,” the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office in Florida posted online last Thursday. Federal authorities told the sheriff’s office that Gillum, who is white, was in the Florida Panhandle
Tillis says he’s ready to move ahead with confirming Warsh as Trump’s pick as Fed chair The Senate Banking Committee was set to vote after the DOJ closed its inquiry of Jerome Powell The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Republican senator who had effectively blocked confirmation of President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve said Sunday he was dropping his opposition after the Department of Justice ended its investigation of the current central bank chair. The announcement by Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina removes a big hurdle to Trump’s effort to install Kevin Warsh, a former high-ranking Fed offi-
cial, in the job in place of Jerome Powell, long under White House pressure to lower interest rates. Tillis’ opposition was enough to stall the nomination in the GOP-controlled Senate Banking Committee as Powell neared the scheduled end of his term on May 15. “I am prepared to move on with the confirmation of Mr. Warsh. I think he’s going to be a great Fed chair,” Tillis told NBC’s “Meet the Press” two days after the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia said her office’s investigation of the Fed’s multibillion-dollar building renovations was over. Powell’s brief congressional testimony last summer about that work was also under review. The Fed’s internal watchdog is See FED, page A10
“heading to do a mass shooting at a large festival in Louisiana.” The FBI in New Orleans said it’s working on the investigation with law enforcement across the three states. The Okaloosa sheriff’s office See SHOOTING, page A10