Chatham News & Record Vol. 149, Issue 14

the BRIEF this week

Democrats feud over stock trading in e ort to sharpen anti-corruption case against Trump

Democrats are increasingly critiquing each other over their personal stock trades as the party looks to hone its anti- corruption message against President Donald Trump in the midterm elections. In primary races across the country, Democrats are critiquing individual stock trades and the personal wealth of their rivals in a bid to build credibility with voters. The debates have scrambled ideological lines inside the party, with some more moderate lawmakers attacking progressive rivals over past stock trades. Progressives express skepticism that Democrats who have recently highlighted the issue are o ering genuine critiques about money in politics.

Trump: Everything checked out “perfectly” at his medical exam

President Donald Trump had another medical exam on Tuesday, putting his health under renewed public scrutiny. The 79-year- old president spent more than three hours at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for what the White House described as preventive medical and dental checkups. It was Trump’s fourth publicly disclosed medical exam since he returned to o ce for a second term. In a social media post after the visit, Trump said that he had just nished his “6 month physical” and that “Everything checked out PERFECTLY.” Trump, turns 80 next month.

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American Legion Post 93 in Siler CIty is closing after 100 years in operation.

On Memorial Day at a celebration of the post, attendees honored 100-year-old Albert McClain, the oldest veteran in Chatham County.

The Chatham County budget is balanced at about $303 million

By Ryan Henkel Chatham News & Record

PITTSBORO — The Chatham County Board of Commissioners held a public hearing for the recommended FY 2027 budget at its May 18 meeting.

Blue Sky Robotics would bring around 150 new jobs to the town

By Ryan Henkel Chatham News & Record

CHAPEL HILL — The Chapel Hill Town Council met May 20 for its regular business meeting.

The budget is balanced at about $303 million, an increase of around $15 million from the previous year.

“As we move forward into the next scal year, I am condent this budget will enable us to address current challenges, seize opportunities for growth and innovation, and continue building a stronger, more resilient Chatham County,” said County Manager Bryan Thompson.

“When you think race car driver... Kyle Busch is probably one of the rst that comes to your mind.”

Joey Logano, Cup Series driver

The board held a public hearing for an economic incentive agreement for a project entitled “Project Stark Tower.”

“This is a priority industry for the town, it is a local business in fact, a high-impact project, and it also presents a high-growth opportunity, especially in our downtown central business district,” said Economic Develop-

Kyle Busch died last Thursday at 41 from pneumonia that progressed into sepsis

By Steve Reed and Michael Marot The Associated Press

CONCORD — NASCAR

CEO Steve O’Donnell honored Kyle Busch’s widow, Samantha, and the couple’s children, Brexton and Lennix, before the start of the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday in an emotional speech.

The budget also calls for the maintaining of the current property tax rate of $0.60 per $100 valuation. While Thompson described the budget as a “maintain budget,” there are still steady increases in multiple areas of funding.

ment Director David Putnam.

The company, which Putnam revealed to be Blue Sky Robotics, is an advanced robotics and precision software company that designs, builds and deploys automated robot solutions for complex problems in elds such as logistics, manufacturing, healthcare and hospitality.

Major features of the recommended budget include an additional $3.1 million increase in funding for Chatham County Schools, a $1.7 million increase in sheri ’s o ce funding

The company is also proposing to headquarter at town property located downtown at 136 E Rosemary St.

“They would take over a

The company is proposing to add 152 new jobs with an average wage of about $77,000 and invest around $1.5 million over the course of ve years.

Standing on the frontstretch at Charlotte Motor Speedway, O’Donnell looked directly at the Busch family and said, “Samantha, I want you to know that this sport stands with you, and that you and your children are NASCAR family forever. And Brexton and Lennix, your dad loved you with all his heart. Everyone gathered here, everyone behind you, everybody watching on TV, and all those people up in that grandstand are your family — and we’ve got you. ”

CRIME LOG

May 18

• Luis Enrique Bustamante-Chigo, 29, was arrested for driving while impaired, hit-and-run leaving the scene of property damage, no operator’s license and other charges.

Isaiah Xavier Liggett, 27, was arrested for assault on a female and misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

Mario Escorza, 30, was arrested for habitual impaired driving.

May 19

• Alivia King, 33, was arrested for misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

Zachary Robert Shaw, 41, was arrested for misdemeanor larceny.

May 20

Phillip James Collins, 42, was arrested for misdemeanor crime of domestic violence and being intoxicated in a park.

Michelle Lynn Fritz, 45, was arrested for misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

• Joshua Anthony Bjorklund, 26, was arrested for ctitious or altered title, registration card or tag; driving on a revoked license; no liability insurance and other charges.

Trey Madison Conway, 31, was arrested for communicating threats.

May 21

Anthony Lamont Sanders, 61, was arrested for possession of stolen goods and misdemeanor aiding and abetting.

Cheryl Elaine Smith, 59, was arrested for exploitation of a disabled or elderly person and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

• Cameron MacKenzie Cagle, 29, was arrested for accessing computers, simple assault, communicating threats and other charges.

Eddie Dean Justice, 33, was arrested for identity theft and obtaining property by false pretense.

Supreme Court rejects Florida’s bid to sue Western states over truck licenses for immigrants

The ruling allows states to continue issuing commercial licenses to noncitizens

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Florida’s long shot attempt to sue California and Washington state over the issuance of commercial driver licenses to truckers who don’t speak English and are not authorized to be in the United States.

The case stems from a crash in Florida last year that killed three people. The driver, Harjinder Singh, is accused of making an illegal U-turn that caused the accident. Singh, who is from India, was carrying a valid commercial driver’s license from

BUDGET from page A1

and a $1.2 million increase for emergency operations.

“This budget focuses on funding increases for education and public safety,” Thompson said.

The budget also includes a 3% salary increase for county sta .

“While many expenses are necessary to continue movement toward our goals, competitive salaries are essential to attracting and retaining our greatest asset, which is talented professional sta ,” Thompson said.

The goal is for the budget to

COUNCIL from page A1

signi cant amount of space over time in this building, reaching nearly full occupancy,” Putnam said. In exchange, the proposed incentive package from the town includes $261,000 in parking credits and a $57,000 cash grant portioned out in annual sums over the course of ve years as well.

The package is performance based, and the company will be required to provide evidence of employment. According to Putnam, the town is expecting to see a posi-

SCOTT APPLEWHITE / AP PHOTO

California and had earlier been granted one by Washington state. Republican-led Florida has accused the Western states, led by Democrats, of openly defying immigration laws and asked the justices to rule that states lack

be nalized for board approval on June 15.

The board also continued a hearing on a request to rezone approximately 370 acres of property located o of 724 Andrews Store Road for the development of the Fearrington Reserve compact community.

The proposed development, which was brought before the board already on April 20, is planned to have more than 600 residential units split among single-family detached units and two-story condo units.

However, commissioners and sta were still left unsatis ed and with questions per-

tive cash ow from the company in year one and overall, it’s estimated to bring in around $2 million in new revenue by 2036.

Following the hearing, the board approved the request.

The council also approved a conditional zoning modi cation application for 11 White Oak Drive to change the previously approved maximum build height of the project, which was previously approved in June 2025.

The height was previously capped at 62 feet, however, the applicant requested adjusting it to 69.5 feet.

CHATHAM happening

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

the authority to issue CDLs to people who are not citizens or legal permanent residents.

The Supreme Court typically hears appeals of lower-court decisions, but it sometimes takes on what are known as original lawsuits in which states sue each other in the nation’s highest court.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from Tuesday’s order, as they often do when the court rejects an original lawsuit, saying that the court has no choice but to hear such cases.

Separately, a federal appeals court has blocked a Trump administration proposal to impose new restrictions that would severely limit which immigrants can get commercial driver’s licenses to drive a semitrailer truck or bus.

taining to multiple elements of the site plan. As such, the board once again continued the item to July 27.

“I’m personally not really satis ed with this application,” said Vice Chair Franklin Gomez Flores. “It’s kind of an unnished packet, and I feel like we’re going to be at the same place next month and so that would kind of be time wasted. I think they’ve had enough time to provide the answers to us and the public and to work with sta to come up with agreements.“

The Chatham County Board of Commissioners will next meet June 15.

The purpose for the request is to break up the massing of the building and to help create a more varied facade.

“We really wanted to have these buildings naturally step with the grade of the site and lean into the site instead of grading it out completely at,” said Dwell Design Studio Project Manager Bryan Harris, the architect of record.

The request does not include any changes to the oor areas, dwelling unit count, setbacks or anything of that nature.

The Chapel Hill Town Council will next meet June 3.

Central Electric providing grants to local educators to fund innovative projects

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!

May 29

Beach Music Series: The Extraordinaires

7 p.m.

The Extraordinaires bring beach, soul and Motown classics to the MOSAIC outdoor stage in the free 2026 Beach Music Series powered by Brightspeed. Lawn opens at 6 p.m. Free tickets required through the MOSAIC website.

Philip H. Kohl MOSAIC Family Commons 457 Freedom Parkway Pittsboro

The Old Ceremony

7 p.m.

Chapel Hill folk-rock band

The Old Ceremony, led by singer-songwriter Django Haskins, performs as part of the Bynum Front Porch Summer Music Series at the historic Bynum General Store. The show is free; donations are accepted for the performers.

Bynum Front Porch 950 Bynum Road Bynum

May 30

“Say His Name: Jim Becomes James” Presentation

11 a.m.

Chatham Community Library presents “Say His Name: Jim Becomes James,” a one-hour program at the Holmes Family Meeting Room. The event is free and open to the public.

Chatham Community Library 197 N.C. Highway 87 N Pittsboro

May 31

Pittsboro Summer Fest 2-6 p.m.

The Pittsboro Business Association’s annual summer festival features live music, food trucks, artisan vendors, a decorated bicycle parade and family activities including a watermelon seed-spitting contest, pie contest and beard contest. The event is free.

Pittsboro Pop-Up Park West Salisbury Street Pittsboro

June 5

Jack the Radio

7 p.m.

Jack the Radio performs as part of the 2026 Bynum Front Porch Summer Music Series at the historic Bynum General Store. The show is free with donations accepted for the performer.

Bynum Front Porch 950 Bynum Road Bynum

SpaceX launches biggest, most beefed-up Starship test ight yet

This upgraded version avoided the catastrophic midair explosions of previous test ights

By Marcia Dunn The Associated Press

SPACEX LAUNCHED its biggest, most powerful Starship yet on a test ight last Friday, an upgraded version that NASA is counting on to land astronauts on the moon.

The redesigned mega rocket made its debut two days after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced he’s taking the company public. It blasted o from the southern tip of Texas, carrying 20 mock Starlink satellites that were released midway through the hourlong spaceight that stretched halfway around the world.

The spacecraft reached its nal destination — the Indian Ocean — despite some engine trouble, before erupting in ames upon impact. That last part was not unexpected, according to SpaceX.

Musk called it “an epic” launch and landing.

“You scored a goal for humanity,” he told his team via X.

It’s the 12th test ight of the rocket that Musk is building to get people to Mars one day. But rst comes the moon and NASA’s Artemis program.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman ew in for the launch, saying Starship is now one step closer to the moon.

The last of the old space-skimming Starships lifted o in October. SpaceX’s third-generation Starship — a souped-up version dubbed V3 — soared from a brand-new launch pad at Starbase, near the Mexican border. Last-minute pad issues thwarted Thursday evening’s launch attempt.

SpaceX was hoping to avoid the reworks it experienced during back-to-back launches last year when midair explosions rained wreckage down on the Atlantic. Earlier ights also ended in ames.

There was no reball this time until the very end. The spacecraft plummeted upright into the Indian Ocean under seemingly full control, then toppled over and ignited.

While the lifto itself went well, not all of the engines red as the booster attempted a con-

trolled return. The spacecraft also had to make do with fewer engines but kept heading eastward 120 miles up. A pair of modi ed, camera-equipped Starlinks ejected from Starship provided brief views of the spacecraft in ight — a remarkable rst.

At 407 feet, the latest model eclipses the older Starship lines by several feet and packs more engine thrust.

The revamped booster sports fewer but bigger and stronger grid ns for steering it back to Earth following lifto , and a larger and more robust fuel transfer line to feed the 33 main engines. This fuel line is the size of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rst-stage booster. The retro-looking, stainless steel spacecraft also has more of everything — more cameras, and more navigation and computer power — as well as docking cones for future rendezvous and moon missions.

Starship is meant to be fully reusable, with giant mechanical arms at the launch pads to catch the returning rocket stages. But on this latest trial run, nothing was being recovered.

The Gulf of Mexico marked the end of the road for the redesigned rst-stage booster, and the Indian Ocean for the spacecraft and its satellite demos.

NASA is paying SpaceX billions of dollars — and also Je Bezos’ Blue Origin — to provide the lunar landers that will be used to land Artemis astronauts on the moon.

The two companies are scrambling to be rst.

While Starship has reached

the fringes of space on multiple ights lasting an hour at most, Bezos’ Blue Moon has yet to lift o , although a prototype is being readied for a moonshot later this year.

NASA is following April’s successful lunar yaround by four astronauts with a docking trial run in orbit around Earth planned for next year. For that Artemis III mission, astronauts will practice docking their Orion capsule with Starship, Blue Moon or both.

A moon landing by two astronauts — Artemis IV — could follow as soon as 2028 using either Starship or Blue Moon, whichever lander is safer and ready rst. It will be NASA’s rst lunar landing with a crew since 1972’s Apollo 17. The goal this time is a moon base near the lunar south pole, sta ed by astronauts as well as robots. SpaceX is already taking reservations for private ights to the moon and Mars on Starship.

The world’s rst space tourists, California businessman Dennis Tito and his wife, signed up 31⁄2 years ago for a ight around the moon. The timing is uncertain.

This week, another wealthy space tourist — Chinese-born bitcoin investor Chun Wang — announced he will y to Mars on Starship’s rst interplanetary mission. Wang previously chartered a SpaceX polar ight in a Dragon capsule last year and, along with his hand-picked crew, became the rst to orbit above the north and south poles.

No price tag or date was revealed for his Mars cruise.

AUCTION

Saturday, May 30th – 9:00am – Rain or shine

Location: 356 Mt. Vernon – Hickory Mt. Rd., Siler City, NC

(Personal property)

Barry & Melissa Milholen are downsizing their collectibles

There will be guns, coins, pottery, quilts, tools, antiques, etc.

For photos & listing, go to: auctionzip.com

Preview on Friday, May 29th, 12:00pm – 6:00pm

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.

May 31 – Gary McCollough

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.

FELLOWSHIP HOUSE OF GOD

All Covenant Gathering

Bishop Willie Gilmore & Pastor Faye Gilmore 444 Stage Road Carthage, NC

Sunday, May 31 — 11 a.m.

Praise Church Of Deliverance Ministries will be in charge of the service.

We are one of the bishop’s churches. We are pastors James Peoples and Prophetess Callie Peoples

We are on Facebook every Sunday at 7 p.m. for our worship service, and every Wednesday at 7 p.m. for Bible study. We also have service in Carthage once a month and other places.

If You are interested in counseling or have another problem in life, call us and make an appointment to set up a meeting.

(984-368-2942 – 984-270-3011)

We are a nondemomination deliverance ministry.

You may be interested in fellowshipping with us. we are state certi ed for a church. If we can be any help, please let us know.

To get us on Facebook, search my name, James Peoples. If you are interested in any of our services, just give us a call.

Prophetess phone — 984-368-2942 (Callie) Pastor’s phone — 984-270-3011 (James)

SUPPORT OUR LAW ENFORCEMENT!

Bible study: Ephesians 6:10-20 Church of Living Water; Pastor: James Mitchell.

Let us be thankful for our Law Enforcement! Thank you, Heavenly

THE CONVERSATION

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

A hell of a commencement address

We confuse maturity and responsibility with joy and happiness.

THE SCHOOL YEAR is nearing its end. I smile at each of the yard signs congratulating a high school graduate.

Recently, I came across a commencement address given by Tom Robbins in 1974. The author spoke to a small class and their loved ones on Whidbey Island in Washington. Nevertheless I found his words instructive for our time and place.

Robbins noted that, while notions of heaven and hell are considered exact opposites, “an astonishing number of people seem to be confused about which is which.”

Speci cally, we confuse maturity and responsibility with joy and happiness: “The sad funny truth is adults are nothing but tall children who have forgotten how to play.

… And if that isn’t one hell of a note, it’s certainly one note of hell.”

A de nition of “play” is any activity done for its own sake rather than an outcome or product. It’s not about earning or completing. Another way to think of play is whatever causes you to lose track of time. Play is the opposite of punching a clock. It is time out of time.

When I was in high school and college, I worked a series of minimum wage jobs, including as a lifeguard and a waiter. It was not a lot of fun, but I had bills to pay.

I also learned how to play guitar and smoke cigarettes. Thankfully, only the healthier of these two habits stuck with me. Around this time, my loved ones had to

COLUMN | BOB WACHS

endure my brooding phase when I considered myself a songwriter. I was jolted from this navel-gazing by a puppy whose daily needs brought me out of existential angst and into the world of walks by the pond, taking care to avoid the geese and their calling cards. I switched from writing tortured poetry to silly limericks.

There once was a man with a dog, who took his furry friend for a jog, they hurried past a goose, who ew away with a poop, and the man had to leap like a frog.

Robbins told the graduates, “Remember that life is much too serious to take seriously — so never forget how to play.” Sure, everyone has taxes and bills, but no one makes it out of life alive. And I doubt that many folks regret their times of silliness, magic or awe.

Over the years, my poop jokes have morphed into dad jokes. My children are my gurus about discovering heaven on earth, but before I was blessed with them, dogs reminded me not to take life too seriously. And every limerick I’ve ever written has made me smile as other people have cringed.

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.

Shutting out the outside means losing things inside

Eventually Mama and Daddy got a big honking window air conditioner about the size of a small bus.

SOME RECENT NIGHTTIME temperatures have been good, even outstanding — in the 50s and 60s with little or no humidity.

That meant that I could throw up the windows and count sheep to my heart’s content or for 15 seconds, whichever came rst before I went to see the Sandman.

Those after-dark lullabies are a great thing. They call up memories of my childhood when Mama and Daddy did not have air conditioning in the ol’ homestead, and I listened to Grandpa Bullfrog down on Wallace Farrell’s pond across our backyard as I drifted o to Dreamland. Throughout much of my childhood, I was my daddy’s right-hand man when we went frog hunting, but I knew enough to leave that one alone and I prayed nobody else knew about him.

I know I never told anyone he was there. I guess he just nally went o to where old bullfrogs go.

Anyway, he was part of the evening melody I listened to for years — him and the crickets and the whining tree bugs and the croaking toads and even Jimmy Capps on WPTF’s “Our Best to You.” Actually, Jimmy wasn’t part of Mother Nature’s chorus, but he was still part of the total evening package.

It was great stu . There was a lot about the world I didn’t understand or know, but I knew my mama and daddy were in the house and that’s all I needed to know. I didn’t know about terrorists blowing up airplanes and unemployment and Middle East tensions and stu like that.

But somewhere along the line that all changed — both the deal with the windows and the size of my world of knowledge. Eventually Mama and Daddy got a big honking window air conditioner about the size of a small bus. It was great. Sat in a window at the front of the house, coming inside near the dining room table. That meant whoever sat in front of it would nd their back ice cold and

turning blue after Sunday dinner, but it was OK.

At least we were cool.

It was so big it would cool the entire house even though it wasn’t centrally located. Later on — I don’t know why for sure — they got a smaller unit that went into a window in the back bedroom where I slept and listened to the outdoors chorus … except now with A/C I couldn’t leave the windows open, so I lost out on my nighttime buddies.

When our troop moved into our current location, we asked the builders to install central air, which they said they would but we would have to pay for it — both to be installed and to operate. Still, we were pretty sure it would be worth it all.

Now I keep the thing cranked down to 70 or so, and I know all the Green Movement People will tell me how wasteful I am. Guess what. It’s staying on 70 … except when there are nights like some recent ones when the temps are so good, we can cut o the A/C and ing up the windows.

Then hearing Grandpa Frog’s grandson singing “Knee Deep, Knee Deep” on the banks of our pond, along with an assorted chorus of katydids, tree frogs, whatchamacallits, no-see-ums and other things chiming in, I nd I’m relaxed, even with in ation, double-talk from the politicians and being (or at least feeling) double-crossed on other fronts, that I don’t care.

And once again, I’m content. I’m pretty sure if some of the folks making decisions today would spend an evening listening to bullfrogs croak, they’d be in a better state of mind and maybe make some sane decisions once in a while.

Couldn’t hurt.

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

A confetti practitioner?

The Golden Fleece is my symbolic and penultimate job description in this life.

I, JAN, AM A confetti practitioner.

Uh-oh, do I hear rumbles from the peanut gallery? Has Jan gone bonkers? Wait, she doesn’t even drink or smoke, does she? So what is this confetti practitioner business? A late in life crisis?

Hold on, just hold your horses, all ye who judge! In the making for beaucoup years, I’ve nally ( nally!) found my Golden Fleece. Whoops, not exactly true. I’ve possessed said Golden Fleece for quite a few years without realizing its tangible, human-sized value in our world. (I’m sometimes slow on the uptake.) Wait, you don’t know about the Golden Fleece? Have you not seen that ancient 1963 movie “Jason and the Argonauts”? (It’s on Tubi.) Possessing the putative Golden Fleece is the symbol of a richly rewarding endeavor. Of course, it has 4,000-plus other diverse de nitions online. Take your pick. This is mine.

The Golden Fleece is my symbolic and penultimate job description in this life. Yeah, but what is that Golden Fleece-bearing job description of which you’re so proud? And, come on, what the heck is a confetti practitioner? Please, get to the point! OK, OK, legitimizing explanation on the way … I like making people feel good. No, no, not codependency — that’s just so old-school. Sharing small (often teeny-tiny) ongoing amounts of uplifting goodness. With all and sundry. Like what?

COLUMN | MICHAEL BARONE

Hold onto your judgments, please, inclusive of my own. I often feel guilty regarding my small, small o erings to our world. The word paltry occurs to me frequently. Am I doing enough?

Uh-oh, this is sounding a bit like drivel. This is the chosen Golden Fleece meaning you’ve chosen to represent you in the world?

Here am I, sounding brave (although, honestly, feeling quite timid), “Yep, my teeny-tiny, conscious and uplifting o erings to our world constitute my Golden Fleece.”

Truthfully, though, I can’t begin to tell you how many years I’ve felt as if my o erings were never big enough. Small pickings in a needy world. Then, boom, I bumped into the words of the late, beloved folk singer Pete Seeger. (Thanks, Pete.)

“Who knows where some good little thing that you’ve done may bring results years later that you never dreamed of?”

Each time I return to Seeger‘s quote, I begin breathing again. All my chosen confetti, i.e., smiles, hellos, quickie compliments and simple acknowledgments of others (lots and lots of them) are my proudly worn Golden Fleece. Confetti practitioner, at your service.

Who, of us, as Pete Seeger notes, ever really knows what the impact of all our small goodnesses (confetti) are in the lives of others. I don’t, but I do so love being a confetti queen, and I have faith in Pete!

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

Can Trump handle the world he has changed?

The cheap drones that Ukrainians have invented and produced in astonishing numbers — some 60,000 per day.

TEN YEARS AGO this month, Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination for president, with a platform that was vastly di erent on trade and foreign policy from other recent presidents, Republican and Democratic alike.

How fares America — and the world — 10 years later?

In some important ways, things have moved in Trump’s direction. In 2016 and since, he complained constantly that Europeans were not contributing their fair share to NATO. That had been the position of previous administrations, but none emphasized it as Trump did.

Early in Trump’s rst term, only ve NATO allies met the stated goal of spending 2% of GDP on defense. A decade later, the goal has risen to 5%, and most NATO allies are moving toward that goal.

And as Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened his neighbors, previously neutral (for nearly 75 years!) Finland and Sweden, with their highly competent militaries, have decided to join NATO and have made the Baltic Sea just beyond Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg a NATO lake. In the Middle East, Trump has also made a di erence. His predecessors’ policy was based on the hoary assumption that the key to stability was to pressure Israel to make a peace agreement with the Palestinians. So America’s task was to pressure Israel to make concessions.

Trump saw it di erently. He pushed the Abraham Accords, diplomatic relations between Israel, Saudi Arabia and Persian Gulf oil producers. Progress has been uneven but palpable. Israel’s paci cation of Gaza has not prevented the Saudis and United Arab Emirates from supporting Trump’s e orts, cooperating with Israel, to disarm and destabilize the regime in Iran.

On trade, Trump’s on-again, o -again threats, impositions and adjustments of tari rates have resulted in channeling trade in di erent patterns. The days of a jointly dependent “Chimerica” (historian Niall Ferguson’s phrase) seem to be waning. Not everything has gone Trump’s way. His xation on unproblematic trade “de cits” has led him to impose tari s that have fed in ation and eroded his job approval at home. His initiatives in Iran, without persuasive explanations to voters or any attempt at buyin by the political opposition, have also hurt him politically — although regime collapse in Iran remains possible and could put things in a di erent light.

More importantly, the world has changed, sometimes in line with his expectations, sometimes to the contrary. The prime example is Russia’s war on Ukraine. As Trump has noted, Putin launched his 2014 attacks on

IN TOUCH

BE

What went wrong for Democrats

FOR MONTHS NOW, Democrats have been arguing about whether to release the “autopsy” the National Committee commissioned on what went wrong in 2024. The report was completed but then not released; under pressure, Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin released the report this week, but only with the caveat that it didn’t meet the committee’s standards, whatever that means.

The real issue for Democrats is not why they lost the last election, but how they are going to avoid losing the next one.

In truth, the report nds plenty of blame. That’s the problem with losing a close election — and 2024, no matter how many times President Donald Trump describes it as a landslide, it wasn’t — is that almost everything you did “wrong” could have made the di erence. Which doesn’t necessarily tell you what to do right, the next time around, or address the very real divides inside the Democratic Party.

The report faults almost everyone. The Biden White House is faulted for not doing enough during the rst term and the 2022 midterms to prepare Kamala Harris to lead the ticket, which, of course, would not have mattered so much had former President Joe Biden not waited so long to bow out, but that’s another story.

Donbas and his 2022 march toward Kyiv when Democrats were president. And former President Joe Biden’s restrictions on aid to Ukraine — especially bans on lobbing attacks on Russian territory — limited Ukraine’s defense.

As analysts of various stripes have concluded, Ukraine has developed drone warfare as a barrier to Russian advance and to make advances itself.

Ukraine has had one advantage Putin didn’t count on in 2022: morale, a sense of national pride and resolve that is unquanti able but has enabled seemingly ordinary people to adapt with extraordinary speed and inventiveness reminiscent of the best of American examples in World War II. It’s interesting that Trump, for all his emphasis on building America’s national morale, has been deaf to the importance of that factor in Ukraine.

The cheap drones that Ukrainians have invented and produced in astonishing numbers — some 60,000 per day — have routinely destroyed much more expensive Russian missiles and have enabled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to destroy energy infrastructure in Perm, 1,000 kilometers beyond the Russian border, and prompted Putin to downsize his WWII victory parade in Moscow.

It is clear that the Trump policy of pressuring Ukraine to accept Russian control of provinces it hasn’t occupied is as obsolete as Trump’s predecessors’ policies of pressuring Israel to accept Palestinian control of territory from which the Palestinians could launch attacks like those of Oct. 7, 2023.

It seems clear as well that the remnants of the Iranian regime are unwilling to abandon their 47-year hostilities toward the U.S., and that Trump’s eagerness to deploy “the art of the deal,” even under the auspices of a hostile Pakistan, is encouraging their continued resistance. And in the meantime, will the drawdown of America’s expensive smart weapons in the Persian Gulf reduce American deterrence against Chinese aggression against Taiwan?

The nal verdict on Trump’s foreign policies cannot be written now, with 32 months left in his term and so many kinetic events in unpredictable motion. But perhaps it can be said that while his departures from his predecessors’ policies have had some successes in reshaping the world, it is not clear that he has developed policies adapted to the world he has done so much to change.

Michael Barone is a senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and longtime co-author of “The Almanac of American Politics.” (Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

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. Contact a writer or columnist: connect@northstatejournal.com

The Harris campaign is faulted for writing o rural voters, relying too much on identity politics and not being tough enough on Trump. When the other side runs a negative campaign and wins, as Trump did here, the response is always that you should have hit back harder. With what, is the question.

One of the most striking conclusions and the most troubling is about the e cacy of the ad Trump ran attacking Harris on transgender issues — in this case, on her previous statement of support for taxpayer-funded gender - a rming surgeries for prison inmates.

The report cites the ad as “very e ective,” and says that internal pollsters believed that “if the Vice President would not change her position — and she did not — then there was nothing which would have worked as a response.” Are Democrats in fact too far out front of voters on transgender issues?

Do Democrats rely too much on identity politics, an argument that works better with the base of the Democratic party than it does with more moderate, independent voters, whom they need to attract?

According to the report, “Harris wrote o rural America, assuming urban/ suburban margins would compensate. The math doesn’t work. ... You can’t lose rural areas by overwhelming margins and make it up elsewhere when rural voters are a signi cant share of the electorate. If Democrats are to reclaim leadership in the Heartland or the South, candidates must perform well in rural turf. Show up, listen and then do it again.”

As for male voters, the report argues that “Male voters require direct engagement. The gender gap can be narrowed. Deploy male messengers, address economic concerns and don’t assume identity politics will hold male voters of color.”

The release of the autopsy and all the discussion about why it took so long to release it coincides with a new New York Times/Siena College poll showing Democrats with a strong advantage going into the midterms, but also with deep divides and disillusionment within the party. While the left is the loudest force on the Democratic side, it may not be the most popular: a majority of Democratic supporters said that they were generally happy with the party’s ideological positioning, but 52% said the next Democratic presidential candidate should move the party to the center in order to win. Only a quarter said the next candidate should move the party to the left.

The Times found that more than half of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents expressed frustration with the party: “unhappiness spanned almost every part of the party’s coalition — including young, white, Black and college-educated voters — and was especially strong among Democrats least attached to the party, who are the most likely to swing elections.”

The real issue for Democrats is not why they lost the last election, but how they are going to avoid losing the next one.

Susan Estrich is a feminist legal scholar and the rst woman to run a U.S. presidential campaign. She has written eight books. (Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

obituaries

Betty Joe Robinson Alston

April 7, 1942 – May 19, 2026

Betty Joe Robinson Alston, age 84, of Apex, died Tuesday, May 19, 2026.

Betty was born in Harnett County on April 7, 1942, to the late Lindwood Robinson and Callie McLaughlin Robinson. She was also preceded in death by her husband John Henry Alston, two brothers; Charles Robinson, Jimmy Robinson, one sister; Ines

IN MEMORY

Robinson, and one brotherin-law; Raymond Harris. Surviving relatives include one son, Leon Alston and wife Twyla Alston of Morrisville, daughter Debra Mangum of Apex, two grandchildren, Ti any and Larry Mangum Jr., two great-grandchildren, Legend and Ali Mangum, one brother; Exel Robinson, three sisters; Annie Ruth Mckenzie and husband Bud, Peggy Leathers and husband Oris, one sister; Judy Robinson, two brother in laws; Joseph Harris and wife Lydia, James Harris, and one sister in law Claretta Harris. The funeral service will be held Friday, May 29, 2026, at 11AM at Mitchell’s Chapel Church with Rev. Little presiding.

Burial will follow in the church cemetery.

Condolences may be made at www.donaldsonfunerals.

com

Donaldson Funeral Home & Crematory is honored to serve the Alston family.

AMEL ALLEN DECKER

MAY 4, 2026

Amel Allen Decker, 62 of Bonlee, NC, passed away on May 4th, 2026. He Will Be So Missed!

HELEN MARIE WRIGHT BRADY

AUG.22, 1934 – MAY 18, 2026

Helen Marie Wright Brady, 91, of Bennett, passed away on Monday, May 18, 2026, at the Siler City Center.

The funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 23, 2026 at Bennett Baptist Church with Rev. Tim Strider presiding. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends in the Narthex one hour prior to the service and will return to the fellowship hall following the committal. Joyce-Brady Chapel will be open from 1:00-5:00 p.m. on Friday, May 22, 2026 for friends to sign the register.

Helen was born on August 22, 1934 to Harvey and Bonnie Davis Wright. She graduated from Coleridge High School in 1953 and worked at McCrary Hosiery Mill for 13 years. She was a faithful member of Bennett Baptist Church. Helen operated Brady’s Grill in Bennett for 44 years where she served the best hot dogs with her homemade chili and slaw. She also meticulously cleaned the church as long as her health allowed.

She was a former owner of Joyce-Brady Chapel. Helen was a kind and gentle lady who always greeted everyone with a smile. She loved her church, her community and her family.

In addition to her parents, Helen was preceded in death by her husband of 67 years, Andrew “Jack” Brady and her brother, Olin Wright. Helen is survived by her sons, Michael Alan Brady (Lori) and Patrick Dwayne Brady (Lorriann); grandchildren, Meghan Brady McLeod (Josh), Dylan Brady (Ireland), Anna Brady, Nicole Brown (Jason) and Leigh Ann Sumner; great-grandchildren, Kayleigh Brown and Easton Brown; sister, Lucy Emerson (Louis); sister-inlaw, Myrldeen Wright and a host of family and friends.

The family extends their thanks to the sta of The Siler City Center for the care and compassion shown to Helen. Condolences may be o ered online at www.joycebradychapel. com Joyce-Brady Chapel of Bennett is honored to serve the Brady family.

Carol Duncan Esau

May 21, 2026

Carol Duncan Esau, 62, passed away peacefully on May 21, 2026, surrounded by loving family and friends after ghting a courageous battle with cancer. Carol is survived by her brother Ron Duncan (Debbie) along with nieces Ryanne

Duncan and Paige Duncan-Libby (Keillor), all of Salem, Virginia. She was preceded in death by her loving parents, Richard (Buck) and Wanda Duncan.

Carol moved through the world with an unshakeable optimism. After graduating from Salem High School in 1982 and Virginia Tech (Go Hokies!) in 1986, she enjoyed a successful career at Northern Telecom, Progress Software and Verint. She was most known for her leadership and genuine care for her employees around the globe.

Carol spent twenty- ve years of her life in Pittsboro, North Carolina. She kept a very active social life upon moving to Pinehurst and retirement, enjoying book club, Bunco, concerts, mahjong, golf and bible study. Carol’s unwavering faith sustained her throughout

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.

her life and many bene tted from her servant heart. She was known for her kindness and dedication to her friends and community.

Special thanks to Dr Michael Sundborg, Dr. Chasse BaileyDorton, Taylor Galford and Tammy Haywood of FirstHealth Cancer Center and Michelle Bruntz of FirstHealth Hospice.

Carol loved celebrating in all its forms, and we ask that you honor Carol in your own way.

A Celebration of Life is being planned for a later date.

Memorials can be made to Pittsboro United Methodist Church PO, Box 716, Pittsboro NC 27312.

Online condolences may be made at www.

BolesFuneralHome.com

Services are entrusted to Boles Funeral Home of Pinehurst.

Rob Base ‘It Takes Two’ rapper, who helped bring hip-hop mainstream, dead at 59

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Rob Base, a rapper and one half of the Harlem hip-hop duo Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 59.

Base, whose real name was Robert Ginyard, was best known for the 1988 chart-topper “It Takes Two,” a blend of hip-hop and house music that helped bring both genres into the mainstream.

“Rob’s music, energy, and legacy helped shape a generation and brought joy to millions around the world,” read a statement on his Instagram announcing his death. “Beyond the stage, he was a loving father, family man, friend, and creative force whose impact will never be forgotten.”

His creative counterpart, Rodney “Skip” Bryce — who

went by the stage name DJ E-Z Rock — died in 2014 at age 46 of complications from diabetes.

The two met as fth grade students in Harlem and said they were inspired to make music by the success of another Harlem-based group, Crash Crew. They signed in 1987 with Pro le Records, one of the earliest hip-hop labels.

The following year, “It Takes Two” landed in the Billboard Hot 100 and reached No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Club Songs chart. The song has since been sampled by other artists, including Snoop Dogg and The Black Eyed Peas, and has appeared in several lms. It has been certi ed platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The duo’s next single, “Get on the Dance Floor,” saw similar success on the club songs chart.

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

Dang Van Phuoc, AP combat photographer who lost eye covering Vietnam War, dead at 91

The fearless photojournalist documented Vietnam’s civilian toll after surviving ve combat wounds

By Gillian Flaccus and Hannah Schoenbaum

The Associated Press

IRVINE, Calif. — Former Associated Press photographer

Dang Van Phuoc, who was injured multiple times during the Vietnam War and returned to capture the action even after losing an eye in an explosion, has died. He was 91.

Phuoc died Saturday in Southern California after collapsing suddenly, his nephew, Van Nguyen, said.

Phuoc was hired in 1965 by AP’s former photo chief, Horst Faas, to replace another local hire who had been killed on assignment. He quickly gained a reputation among other journalists and the U.S. and South Vietnamese troops for his uncanny ability to nd the thick of the action.

Phuoc was born in a Vietnamese village near Quang Ngai, south of Da Nang, in 1935 and was the youngest of many siblings. When he was about 10, his father was killed by local members of the Viet Cong insurgen-

cy. A few years later, his mother died, leaving him homeless.

“He was a really very extraordinary man who grew up from very bad treatment when he was a boy,” Nguyen said.

As a young man, Phuoc volunteered to help carry equipment at a Saigon lm studio where Nguyen’s mother worked as a cook. It was there that Phuoc rst picked up a camera and taught himself photography, his nephew said.

Phuoc, who was dubbed the AP’s “secret weapon” by his boss, was known for walking with the “point man” on combat

patrols, putting him in position to get excellent photographs — but also exposing him to grave danger.

He was injured at least ve times during his 10 years with the AP in Vietnam, the rst time just ve months after he was hired. A grenade explosion left him with shrapnel in his chest and leg, but he was back on duty within a few months covering the drawn-out civil war between the Communist forces of North Vietnam and the U.S.-backed South Vietnamese military.

In 1968, he sustained a con-

cussion when he was hit in the head by a rocket while covering street ghting in Saigon. That same year, Phuoc risked sniper re to carry a wounded U.S. soldier to safety and received a commendation from the Ninth U.S. Army Infantry Division for saving the man’s life.

Phuoc lost his right eye in a grenade explosion in 1969 while on patrol with a Ranger battalion south of Da Nang, along Vietnam’s central coast. He learned to shoot with one eye and returned to work.

In a 2011 interview for AP’s archives, Phuoc described the di culty of working with one eye when he had to look through the camera while also watching for silent hand gestures from the soldiers with whom he was patrolling.

His colleague in AP’s Saigon bureau, Huỳnh Công “Nick” Út, described Phuoc as fearless and resourceful in the eld. Behind the scenes, he was a giving man and loyal friend who treated Út like a brother.

“Everyone loved him so much,” Út said. “When I heard, I cried, ‘My brother, he’s gone.’” Despite his reputation for shooting action, the photos that touched Phuoc were those that evoked the plight of civilians caught in the cross re. In the 2011 interview, he compared himself to a “small grain of

BUSCH from page A1

Tears rolled down Samantha Busch’s cheek as she wrapped her arm tightly around 11-year-old Brexton, an aspiring racer. Both wore black T-shirts that read “Battle of the Busches.” Busch’s older brother and former Cup Series champion, Kurt, and his parents, Tom and Gaye, also attended the tribute.

“Kyle Busch is NASCAR,” O’Donnell added. “He was one of a kind, and there will never be another.” A moment of silence followed O’Donnell’s speech. Auto racing’s biggest day became a Memorial Day weekend tribute to Busch from Indianapolis to CMS. Busch died last Thursday at 41 after severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming complications, according to a statement released by his family, and his loss sent shockwaves through the motorsports world and beyond.

Charlotte Motor Speedway honored the two-time Cup Series champion with a large, black No. 8 and his signature on the frontstretch grass and a photo on the videoboard.

The U.S. Army Golden Knights carried Busch’s ag during prerace festivities. Each of the 39 cars in the eld carried Busch’s decal. On the pace lap, the cars formed the missing man formation.

The speedway’s public address system and the television commentators went silent on the eighth lap of the race. On Saturday night, Layne Riggs celebrated his Truck Series win at Charlotte by imitating Busch’s traditional bows to the crowd after the race, and Ross Chastain did the same after capturing the rain-shortened O’Reilly Auto Parts race.

“When you think race car

sand” who used his pictures to bring their stories to the world.

When Saigon fell in 1975, Phuoc ed with his family with little more than the clothes on their back and a bottle of milk. His family was rescued from a refugee camp in Guam with the help of AP reporter Linda Deutsch, who was covering the tent city, and own to Camp Pendleton.

Phuoc then returned to Asia and worked brie y for the AP in Hong Kong before leaving the company and settling permanently in Southern California with his family.

He went on to become a professional portrait photographer in Orange County, which is home to Little Saigon, the largest single community of South Vietnamese refugees in the world. His great-nephew, Kim Nguyen, looked back Tuesday at the portraits Phuoc shot of him as a baby and reminisced about bringing his own son to see Phuoc’s work on display at a museum in Vietnam.

In California, Phuoc was a founding member of The Artistic Photography Association and trained young photographers. He also was a civilian volunteer for the Los Angeles County Sheri ’s Department and in 1994 was named the county’s volunteer of the year.

driver and what that person should be like, Kyle Busch is probably one of the rst that comes to your mind on the type of racer he was,” Cup Series driver Joey Logano said.

Fans at CMS arrived in droves Sunday with shirts that read “Rowdy” and “KFB.”

Earlier in the day at the Indianapolis 500, Dale Coyne Racing changed the font of Romain Grosjean’s No. 18 car to replicate the font the two -time Brickyard 400 winner used during his 14 seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing in his No. 18 car.

Then came the opening prayer, in which Busch was mentioned by name. And on lap 18, race o cials lit up the scoring pylon next to pit lane with Busch’s name, his birth year and 2026.

Even with the pageantry of Indianapolis’ big IndyCar race, Busch, who had a record 234 victories across NASCAR’s three national series, was never far from the thoughts of people in the city that dubs itself the “Racing Capital of the World.”

“It’s desperately sad. It’s also one of those things where you try not to think about it or let it in because you’ve got so much to do, you can’t let yourself get emotional,” Katherine Legge said. “But honestly, racing has lost one of the greatest drivers, in my opinion, of all time. If you look back at the history and just — he was a legend.”

As Indy held its biggest race of the year, those who knew or competed against Busch raced with a heavy heart.

“How can you not be in shock over the situation?” two-time Indy winner Josef Newgarden said. “I think it just puts into perspective how fragile life is. You just don’t know. Makes me think of his kids, to be honest with you. Gosh, I feel terrible about — I have two sons now. That’s the thing that breaks my heart.”

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NOTICE OF SERVICE OF PROCESS BY PUBLICATION STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF CHATHAM

In the Chatham County General Court of Justice District Court Division Ocampo v. Ocampo File No: 26CV000448-180 To: Alejandro Mondragon Ocampo TAKE NOTICE

That a pleading seeking relief against you has been led in the above-entitled action. The nature of the relief sought is as follows: Absolute Divorce and Equitable Distribution.

You are required to make a defense to such pleading not later than June 23, 2026 which is forty-days (40) from the rst publication of this notice. Upon your failure to do so the party seeking service against you will apply to the court for the relief sought. This the 14th day of May, 2026. Dana Bellingrath Triangle Divorce Lawyers 109 N. Boylan Avenue Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 919-303-2020

Notice of Public Hearings

Town of Siler City

The following items will be considered by the Siler City Board of Commissioners as legislative hearings. The hearings will be conducted during the Board of Commissioner’s regular meeting on Monday, June 1, 2026, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the court room located in the Siler City Town Hall at 311 N. 2nd Ave.

CASE TA26-001: The Town of Siler City is requesting an amendment that will repeal the Uni ed Development Ordinance adopted August 1, 1993, and will hold a Public Hearing for the adoption of a revised Uni ed Development Ordinance.

CASE S26-001: Request to rename Hill Street, an existing town-maintained street, to McClain Street.

Legislative Public Hearings

The proposed item is available for review by contacting Tim Garner at tgarner@ silercity.gov or 919-726-8628. All persons interested in the outcome of this item are invited to attend the legislative hearing and present comments, testimony, and exhibits on the above referenced item.

Interested parties may also submit written comments. Written comments can be submitted by email to tgarner@ silercity.gov. Individuals desiring to speak may sign up by registering their name and information on the sign-up sheet, located outside the entry doors to the court room.

The Town of Siler City will make appropriate arrangements to ensure that disabled persons are provided other accommodations, such arrangements may include, but are not limited to, providing interpreters for the deaf, providing taped cassettes of materials for the blind, or assuring a barrier-free location for the proceedings. This information is available in Spanish or any other language upon request. Please contact Briana Martinez at 919-726-8620, 311 North Second Avenue, Siler City, North Carolina 27344, or bmartinez@ silercity.gov for accommodations for this request. Esta información está disponible en español o en cualquier otro idioma bajo petición. Por favor, póngase en contacto con Kimberly Pickard al bmartinez@ silercity.gov o 919-726-8625 o en 311 North Second Avenue, Siler City, North Carolina 27344 de alojamiento para esta solicitud.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of Thomas Earle Tillman, 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 19th of August, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment.

This May 21, 2026. Gillian Tillman, Executor Estate of Thomas Earle Tillman

Moncure Fire Dept Annual Meeting

The Moncure Fire Department will be holding its annual meeting on Monday, June 22, 2026 at Moncure Fire Dept Station #8, 2389 Old US 1, Moncure NC 27559. The meeting will begin at 6:30 pm and cover the state of the re department, nancial report, and Board of Directors elections. If you reside in the Moncure Fire District and are a taxpayer, you are a member and invited to attend.

23SP000024-180 NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE NORTH CAROLINA, CHATHAM COUNTY Under and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by Laura R Lo in, divorced to Rod Raszler, Trustee(s), which was

Notice to Creditors

Having quali ed as Administrator of the Estate of MICHAEL JOSEPH MCCORMICK, late of Chatham County, North Carolina (26E000177-180), the undersigned does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the estate of said decedent to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 10th day of August, 2026 or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons, rms and corporations indebted to the said estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This the 7th day of May 2026. Daniel Dylan McCormick Administrator of the Estate of Michael Joseph McCormick c/o Lisa M. Schreiner Attorney at Law P.O. Box 446 114 Raleigh Street Fuquay Varina, NC 27526 (For publication: 05/07, 05/14, 05/21, 05/28/26)

CREDITOR’S NOTICE

Having quali ed on the 28th day of April 2026, as Co-Executors of the Estate of Margie W. Johnson, 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 7st day of August, 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 29th day of April 2026. Eric Johnson, Co-Executor of the Estate of Margie W. Johnson 5090 Butner Drive Hickory, NC 28602 Brad Johnson, Co-Executor of the Estate of Margie W. Johnson 6307 Whedbee Road Julian, NC 27283 Attorneys: Law O ces of Doster & Brown, P.A. 206 Hawkins Avenue Sanford, NC 27330 Publish On: May 7th, 14th 21st and 28th 2026.

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE

TOWN OF PITTSBORO, NC

On Monday, June 8, 2026 at 6:00 pm, the Pittsboro Board of Commissioners will hold a legislative public hearing for the following requests at the Chatham County Agriculture & Conference Center at 1192 Hwy 64 Business West: The Town of Pittsboro’s Development Fee Ordinance for FY 2026-2027 has been submitted to the Board of Commissioners, and a copy is available for public inspection in the o ce of the Town Clerk, Town of Pittsboro Town Hall, 287 East Street, Suite 221, Pittsboro, NC. A legislative public hearing on a voluntary, contiguous annexation petition (A-202601/PB-26-150) from Highcroft Investors, LLC, and Chatham Park Investors, LLC. The applicant is requesting to annex 95.795 acres south of Highway 64 Business and east of Chatham Park Way (PID 7310 partial, 70324, 7311 partial, and 75046 partial). The hearing will be held in person. The public can also watch the hearing live on the Town’s YouTube channel at https:// www.youtube.com/@townofpittsboronc/ streams. Members of the public must attend in person if they wish to speak at the hearing. Contact the Town Clerk, Carrie Bailey, by 4 pm on June 8, 2026 with written comments or to sign up to speak at the hearing. You can contact Carrie Bailey at cbailey@pittsboronc.gov, (919) 5424621 ext. 1104, or PO Box 759, Pittsboro, NC 27312.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY

26E000227-180 ALL persons having claims against Mary T Schaumburg-Bo nger, deceased, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, are noti ed to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before Aug 07 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment. This the 7th day of May, 2026. John R Knauf, Executor C/O Beth W Bowen 590 New Waverly Place, Suite 120 Cary, NC 27518 M7, 14, 21 and 28

NOTICE

NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND DEBTORS OF CARL EUGENE RENZ

TAKE NOTICE: All persons, rms, and corporations having claims against Carl Eugene Renz, deceased, are noti ed to exhibit them to Nancy Jane Donahue, Administrator of the Estate, at the following address: c/o Harvell and Collins, P. A., 1107 Bridges Street, Morehead City, North Carolina 28557 on or before August 28, 2026, or be forever barred from their recovery. Debtors of decedent are asked to make immediate payment to the above-named Administrator.

Cecil S. Harvell

Harvell and Collins, P.A.

Attorney for the Estate of Carl Eugene Renz, Deceased 1107 Bridges Street

Morehead City, North Carolina 28557

Publish: Thursday, May 28, 2026; Thursday, June 4, 2026; Thursday, June 11, 2026; and Thursday, June 18, 2026.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE

SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION

CASE NO 26E000235-180

Having quali ed as Administrator of the Estate of Juan Carlos Gonzalez, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the Estate of said Juan Carlos Gonzalez, to present them to the undersigned on or before the 12th day of August, 2026 (this date being 3 months from the rst publication date of this notice) or same will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate please make immediate payment. This the 14th day of May, 2026.

Susana Gonzalez Administrator of the Estate of Juan Carlos Gonzalez 2865 1st Street Vero Beach, FL 32968

Attorney’s Address: Stephanie M. LeBlanc, Esq. LeBlanc Law Firm, PLLC 1 Page Avenue, Suite 229 - Grove Arcade Asheville, NC 28801

Publication Dates: May 14, May 21, May 28, June 04, 2026.

Notice to creditors

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY

26E000103-180

Having quali ed as Administrator of the Estate of Mark Beals, deceased, 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 at the following address on or before August 28, 2026 or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment.

This the 18th day of May, 2026. Ashley Hensley, Administrator Estate of Mark Beals 1761 North Main Street Goldston NC 27252

NOTICE

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, having quali ed on the 30th day of April, 2026, as Executor of the Estate of James E. Merkel, 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 21st day of August, 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate, please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

This 21st day of May, 2026. Hugh T. Merkel, Executor of the Estate of James E. Merkel c/o Gwendolyn C. Brooks Kennon Craver, PLLC 4011 University Drive, Suite 300 Durham, North Carolina 27707

THE CHATHAM NEWS: 5/21/2026, 5/28/2026, 6/4/206, and 6/11/2026

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

ESTATE OF PAUL LESLIE SANDERS FILE NO. 26E000278-180

The undersigned, Regina Leigh McCoy, having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of Paul Leslie Sanders, 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 at 42 Carson Ct, Pittsboro, NC 27312 on or before the 21st day of August 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said estate will please make immediate payment.

This the 21st day of May 2026. Chatham News & Record May 21, 28, June 4, 11, 2026

NOTICE TO CREDITORS: Chatham County, North Carolina RE: THE ESTATE OF KENNETH CARO–26E000190-180 Having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of KENNETH CARO, 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 19th of, August, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. This the 15th day of May, 2026. Nicholas Young, Executor DSR Legal, PLLC PO Box 51596 Durham, NC 27717 5/21, 5/28, 6/4, 6/11, 2026

NOTICE TO CREDITORS STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF CHATHAM Having quali ed as Personal Representative of the Estate of Joe David Styres aka Joe D. Styres, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, the undersigned does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the estate of said decedent to present them to the undersigned attorney for the estate on or before August 7, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons, rms, and corporations in debted to the said estate are requested to make immediate payment to the undersigned. This the 7th day of May 2026 Karen Louise Styres aka Karen L. Styres Personal Representative Adam G. Kerr Kerr Law, PLLC PO Box 10941 Greensboro, NC 27404 Telephone: (336) 808-5028 Fax: (336) 464-2819 May 7, 14, 21 and 28, 2026

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY

FILE#26E000257-180

The undersigned GANG NAM YOO, having quali ed on the 30TH Day of APRIL 2026 as ADMINISTRATOR of the Estate of CHUN CHA YOO., 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 7TH Day OF AUGUST 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 7TH DAY OF MAY 2026. GANG NAM YOO, ADMINISTRATOR 354 SKY LANE PITTSBORO, NC 27312 Run dates: M7,14,21,28p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#26E000038-180

The undersigned SHARON GUARIGLIA, having quali ed on the 6TH Day of MAY 2026 as ADMINISTRATOR of the Estate of DUNCAN CRUICKSHANK, 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 14TH Day OF AUGUST 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 14TH DAY OF MAY 2026. SHARON GUARIGLIA, ADMINISTRATOR 665 REBECCA LANE SILER CITY, NC 27344 Run dates: M14,21,28,J4p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#26E000275-180

The undersigned, SUSAN E. WELSHARDOIN, having quali ed on the 19TH Day of MAY 2026 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of JAMES ROTH CONRAD, 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 28TH Day OF AUGUST 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 28TH DAY OF MAY 2026. SUSAN E. WELSH-ARDOIN, EXECUTOR 5901 WHATSIT LANE RALEIGH, NC 27603 Run dates: M28,J4,11,25p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS: Chatham County, North Carolina RE: THE ESTATE OF DONNA OLSEN–26E000167-180 Having quali ed as ADMINISTRATOR of the Estate of Donna Olsen, aka Donna Kullman Olsen deceased, Chattam 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 5th day of August 2026, or this

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#26E000230-180 The undersigned DWIGHT W. WALKER, having quali ed on the 20TH Day of APRIL 2026 as ADMINISTRATOR of the Estate of STANLEY PARRISH WALKER, 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 7TH Day OF AUGUST 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 7TH DAY OF MAY 2026. DWIGHT W. WALKER, ADMINISTRATOR 2706 VESTAL ST. GREENSBORO, NC 27406 Run dates: M7,14,21,28p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#26E000250-180 The undersigned DOROTHY TAYLOR, having quali ed on the 29TH Day of APRIL 2026 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of MATTHEW TAYLOR, JR., 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 7TH Day OF AUGUST 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 7TH DAY OF MAY 2026. DOROTHY TAYLOR, EXECUTOR 300 RIVER BEND ROAD SILER CITY, NC 27344 Run dates: M7,14,21,28p

will o er for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthouse where the property is located, or the usual and customary location at the county courthouse for conducting the sale on June 2, 2026 at 10:00 AM, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following described property situated in Chatham County, North Carolina, to wit:

CERTAIN LOTS OR PARCELS OF LAND

LYING AND BEING IN THE TOWN OF SILER CITY, MATTHEWS TOWNSHIP, CHATHAM COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, AND MORE PARTICULARLY

DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS: LOT 1: ALL THAT CERTAIN LOT OR PARCEL OF LAND DESCRIBED AS LOTS NO. 1, BLOCK “C”, AS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AND

DEFINED ON PLAT ENTITLED “OAKLAWN SILER SUBDIVISION, SILER CITY” AND RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK EN AT PAGE 39-602. REFERENCE IS MADE TO SAID PLAT FOR MORE ACCURACY AND CERTAINTY OF DESCRIPTION.

LOT 2: BEGINNING AT A POINT, SAID POINT BEING THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF LOT NO. 1, BLOCK “C’ ACCORDING TO PLAT RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK EN PAGE 39-602, CHATHAM COUNTY REGISTRY; AND RUNNING THENCE WITH THE NORTHERN LINE OF LOT NO. 1, LOT NO. 2 AND A PORTION OF LOT NO. 3 FROM THE POINT AND PLACE OF BEGINNING 125 FEET TO A POINT, BEING THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF CLARENCE GILLILAND

PROPERTY AS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED IN DEED RECORDED IN BOOK 449 AT PAGE 448, CHATHAM COUNTY REGISTRY; AND RUNNING THENCE IN A NORTHERLY DIRECTION PARALLEL WITH NORTH EVERGREEN AVENUE 50 FEET TO A POINT; THENCE IN AN EASTERLY DIRECTION PARALLEL WITH THE NORTHERN BOUNDARIES OF LOTS NO. 1, NO. 2 AND A PORTION OF LOT NO. 3, 125 FEET TO A POINT IN THE EASTERN MARGIN OF NORTH EVERGREEN AVENUE; THENCE IS A SOUTHERLY DIRECTION WITH THE EASTERN MARGIN OF NORTH AVENUE

50 FEET TO THE POINT AND PLACE OF BEGINNING, AND BEING THE SOUTHERNMOST 50 FEET OF LOT NO. 8, LOT NO. 9, AND A PORTION OF LOT NO. 10 AS SHOWN ON THE PLAT HEREIN REFERENCED AND BEING THE SAME AND IDENTICAL PARCEL OF PROPERTY MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS SECOND LOT IN DEED RECORDED IN BOOK 318 PAGE 311, CHATHAM

COUNTY REGISTRY AND BEING THE SAME AND IDENTICAL PROPERTY AS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED IN DEED DATED FEBRUARY 6, 1950, FROM THE CHURCHILL TO STANLEY AND RECORDED IN BOOK KG PAGE 538, CHATHAM COUNTY REGISTRY, AND TO WHICH DEED REFERENCE IS MADE FOR A MORE COMPLETE DESCRIPTION. LOT 3: BEGINNING AT A POINT, SAID POINT BEING THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF LOT NO. 2, BLOCK “C’ ACCORDING TO PLAT RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK EN PAGE 39-602, CHATHAM COUNTY REGISTRY; AND RUNNING THENCE WITH THE SOUTHERN LINE OF LOT NO. 2 AND A PORTION OF LOT NO. 3, 75 FEET TO A POINT IN THE SOUTHERN MARGIN OF WEST 4TH STREET; THENCE IN A NORTHERLY DIRECTION 175 FEET TO A POINT IN THE LINE BETWEEN LOT NO. 3 AND LOT NO. 10; THENCE IN AN EASTERLY DIRECTION 75 FEET TO THE CORNER OF LOTS NO. 1, NO. 2, NO. 8 AND NO. 9; THENCE IN A SOUTHERLY 175 FEET TO THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF LOT NO.2, BEING THE POINT AND PLACE OF BEGINNING, AND BEING THE ENTIRETY OF LOT NO. 2 AND A PORTION OF LOT NO. 3 AS SHOWN ON THE PLAT HEREIN REFERENCED. Save and except any releases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of record. Said property is commonly known as 506 W 4TH ST, Siler City, NC 27344. A Certi ed Check ONLY (no personal checks) of ve percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, will be required at the time of the sale. Following the expiration of the statutory upset bid period, all the remaining amounts are immediately due and owing.

THIRD PARTY PURCHASERS MUST PAY THE EXCISE TAX AND THE RECORDING COSTS FOR THEIR DEED. Said property to be o ered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS WHERE IS.” There are no representations of 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. Substitute Trustee does not have possession of the property and cannot grant access, prior to or after the sale, for purposes of inspection and/or appraisal. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, unpaid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special assessments, easements, rights of way, deeds of release, and any other encumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the current owner(s) of the property is/are Laura R. Lo in. 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 the 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 no more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in the notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination [NCGS § 45-21.16A(b)(2)]. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the

Pope Leo XIV calls for robust regulation of AI in manifesto pondering future of humanity

The encyclical asked researchers to re ect on the power of AI

By Nicole Win eld, Kaitlyn Huamani and Paolo Santalucia

The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV called Monday for robust regulation of arti cial intelligence and for its developers to work for the common good rather than pro t, issuing a sweeping manifesto on safeguarding humankind as the technology impacts everything from work to war.

“Magni ca Humanitas” (Magni cent Humanity), Leo’s rst encyclical, has been eagerly awaited ever since history’s rst U.S.-born pope announced days after his election that he considered AI to be the biggest challenge facing humanity today.

In the text, Leo denounced the “culture of power” driving the AI race, especially in developing ever more sophisticated methods of remote warfare. He declared that it was “not permissible” to entrust irreversible, lethal decisions to AI systems, setting up another ash point between the American pope and the Trump administration, which has worked aggressively to deregulate AI development.

“Arti cial Intelligence now demands to be disarmed, freed from logics that turn it into an instrument of domination, exclusion and death,” the pope told a special Vatican presentation of the encyclical, one of the most authoritative types of teaching documents a pope can issue.

Experts in the tech industry, academia and Catholic morality said the document will likely become a benchmark in the debate over AI, a point of reference for policymakers, researchers and ordinary folk alike. It comes as the near-daily developments in the technology trigger concerns over AI replacing human jobs and even human intelligence.

Taylor Black, a Microsoft AI executive and director of Catholic University of America’s AI institute, said the document would prompt people “at the forefront of these tools” to ask questions such as “What does it mean to be human?”

Pope calls out AI companies even as he hosts Anthropic

The Vatican launch also included remarks by the co-founder of Anthropic, which is currently locked in a legal battle with the Trump administration over access to its AI technology. The Vatican decid-

ed to involve Anthropic as part of its decade-long e ort to engage Silicon Valley in dialogue over the human cost of AI.

And yet in his text, Leo repeatedly blasted the concentration of power and data in the hands of so few people in the private sector as a danger, especially to children and the most vulnerable, and called for external regulation of their work.

“It is not enough to invoke ethics in the abstract; robust legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users and a political system that does not abdicate its responsibility are required,” he wrote. “A more moral AI is not enough if that morality is determined by a few.”

Leo appealed to AI developers and political leaders responsible for regulating them to slow down and re ect on what they are doing. He urged them to use ethical and spiritual guidelines to make the choice to work not for their own pro t or power, but the betterment of humanity.

AI competitors OpenAI and Anthropic are the second- and third-most valuable U.S. private companies, each valued at hundreds of billions of dollars, more than the GDP of many nations. Both companies are heading toward near-trillion-dollar IPOs.

Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah welcomed Leo’s criticism and concern. He said such external checks were fundamental to the technology “going well” for humankind since there is so much at stake — “a real possibility that AI will displace human labor at a very large scale.”

“We need more of the world — religious communities, civil society, scholars, governments — to do what His Holiness has done here: to take this seriously, to look closely and to push events in a better direction,” Olah said. “We need moral voices that the incentives cannot bend.”

Experts say text will become benchmark

In a methodical text, the math major pope traced the history of the Catholic Church’s social teaching and applied its core concepts — justice, solidarity, the dignity of work and the universal destination of resources — to the digital revolution.

“I am convinced that this will prove to be a de ning document for our era, a profound and prophetic document,” said Paolo Carozza, law professor at Notre Dame Law School and chair of the Meta Oversight Board.

“Pope Leo is o ering a clear, comprehensive and coherent

voice urging us to take responsibility for constructing a world in which technology will serve humans rather than degrade them,” he said.

In its strongest chapters, Leo denounced how AI had helped accelerate the “normalization of war” by desensitizing people to its cost. He didn’t name specific con icts but cited “opposing imperialisms, between powers that wish to preserve their supremacy, and those that aspire to seize that supremacy.”

He demanded transparency and accountability by AI developers so that the chain of decision-making command in ordering strikes with AI weaponry is always known. He declared that the Catholic Church’s “just war” theory, which provides speci c criteria for when force can be justi ed, was now “outdated” given the technological advances of warfare.

Text in church’s social justice tradition

Leo signed the text May 15, the 135th anniversary of the publication of “Rerum Novarum” (Of New Things), the most important teaching document of Leo’s hero and namesake, Pope Leo XIII. That document addressed workers’ rights, the limits of capitalism, and the obligations that states

NASA lays out future moon base plans with landers, buggies, drones at top of list

All this hardware should arrive before astronauts land on the moon in 2028

By Marcia Dunn

The Associated Press

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.

— NASA is already ordering landers, rovers and drones for a sprawling moon base, less than two months after the Artemis II’s record-breaking lunar yaround.

The space agency outlined the rst phase of its moon base plans on Tuesday, awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to four U.S. companies.

Je Bezos’ Blue Origin will provide a pair of landers to deliver moon buggies to the lunar surface, at a spot near the moon’s south pole. These socalled lunar terrain vehicles will be built by Astrolab and Lunar Outpost. Fire y Aerospace, which landed successfully on the moon last year, will deliver

the moon, planned for as early as 2028. During April’s Artemis II mission,

“For

those waiting patiently, the grand return is close at hand and we will not slow down. We are really just getting started.”

Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator

around the moon, traveling deeper into space than the Apollo moon crews did during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

For next year’s Artemis III, another team of astronauts will practice docking NASA’s Orion capsule in orbit around Earth with the lunar landers being developed for crews by Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

NASA is targeting Artemis III for mid-2027, with a landing by two astronauts following as soon as 2028. The moon

and employers owed workers as the Industrial Revolution was underway.

It became the foundation of modern Catholic social thought, and the current pope cited it at the start of his ponti cate in relation to the AI revolution, which he believes poses the same existential questions that the Industrial Revolution posed over a century ago. “Magni ca Humanitas” thus becomes the latest chapter in a century-long history of popes adapting “Rerum Novarum” to the social questions of their times, often dwelling on the dignity of work for human ourishing.

AI is evoking both existential fears and utopian vision amid an intensifying debate on whether it will become a catalyst that enriches humanity or a technological toxin that dulls human intelligence while wiping out millions of high-paying jobs.

“The pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacri ce jobs, because the human person is an end, not a means, and the economic order must remain subordinate to human dignity and the common good,” Leo wrote. Vatican o cials declined to say who contributed to Leo’s encyclical, but Vatican and church o cials have been engaged in a dialogue with Silicon Valley tech rms for a decade.

base’s second phase, from 2029 into the early 2030s, will start building up the permanent infrastructure, including a power grid. As for when the base will be ready to support astronauts for extended periods in specialized permanent habitats, that’s expected sometime in the 2030s, during the third phase.

“Then we’ll be able to say, ‘Hey, we’re permanently here and we’re not giving it up,’” said NASA’s moon base program executive Carlos Garcia-Galan. Garcia-Galan envisions a moon base sprawling over hundreds of square miles, with a perimeter marked by drones, dubbed MoonFall, stationed at the corners.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said these territory markers are meant to be respectful of other countries’ spacecraft and equipment that might be nearby. He expects reciprocity in the matter.

The goal of the moon base is to encourage a lunar economy while conducting scientific research and laying the foundation for a Mars expedition, Isaacman stressed.

“For those waiting patiently, the grand return is close at hand and we will not slow down,” Isaacman said. “We are really just getting started.”

CHATHAM SPORTS

Hawks soar into rst

baseball state title berth

Chatham Charter falls to NCLA in the 1A East regional nal

By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record

5A EAST REGIONAL FINAL Seaforth 2, Rockingham Co. 0

PITTSBORO — The deepest playo run in Seaforth’s baseball history has reached itsnal stop.

After defeating No. 3 Rockingham County 4-0 in Game

2 of the 5A East regionalnal on May 21, the nine-seeded Hawks earned their rst state championship berth.

“It’s a special feeling,” Seaforth coach Spenser Messmore said. “There were some anxious moments not because, you know, of nerves, but more just like, ‘When is it going to end?’

Because we had the lightning delay, and then the lights went out, and we had a light delay. And then a little bit of heavy rain delay.” Game 2 ended in the bottom of the sixth inning as heavy rain caused unplayable eld conditions.

Against Rockingham County pitcher and UNC commit Nick Rumbley, junior Bryce Huneycutt led the way for Seaforth, going 2 for 3 with a team-high two RBIs. Seaforth led 1-0 when a single from Huneycutt allowed senior Jaedyn Rader to reach home in the third inning for a 2-0 advantage. Following an RBI double by senior Colin Dorney in the fth inning, Huneycutt sent a single to left eld and scored sophomore Ben Taylor for a 4-0 lead. After junior Easton Sykes grounded out in the next at-bat, lightning in the area caused a

Post 305 starts American Legion season strong

By Asheebo Rojas

more than 30-minute delay.

Junior Bauer Bowling, who got the start on the mound, junior Anthony Landano and Rader combined for a shutout and allowed three hits on the evening.

In Game 1, Huneycutt’s pitching propelled the Hawks to stealing a game on the road 6-3.

Battling the heat and what he felt was a steeper mound than he’s used to, Huneycutt struck out 10 batters and gave up a walk, four hits and three earned runs in a complete game. He allowed one hit and zero runs in the nal ve innings.

“I think the rst couple of innings, he just had to get settled in,” Messmore said. “Fastball, slider, curveball, change up mix and was able to play o of all four pitches in all counts, which at the high school level, especially, is going to go really, really far.”

At the plate, Rader went 2 for 3 with a team-best three RBIs. His two-RBI double in the second inning gave the Hawks a 4-1 advantage, and he scored junior Duncan Parker with a single to put Seaforth ahead by two in the fourth inning. Parker smashed two doubles in a 3-for-3 performance, and he scored two runs.

Seaforth will face o against No. 1 North Lincoln in a best- of-three series for the state title at Burlington Athletic Park. After Game 1 on Wednesday, Game 2 will be

By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record Girls’ Soccer (state playo s)

CHAPEL HILL — Woods

Charter’s ticket to the 1A state championship game was a tale of two halves — or two days, rather.

The top-seeded Wolves and No. 2 Falls Lake were scoreless after the rst 44 minutes when a weather delay on May 21 caused the game to be postponed to Friday. In thenal 36 minutes, played nearly 24 hours later, Woods Charter turned up the heat and won 4-0, reaching its fourth state title game in ve seasons.

“It’s unbelievable,” Woods Charter coach Graeme Stewart said. “I’m just so proud of these kids, the way they performed today. It’s really tough to have an interrupted game like they did. Falls Lake, they’re a good team. Congrats to them on a great season. They’re big and physical and strong. They have a plan. They’re well coached. They’re disciplined. But we really went and did the job today.”

The Wolves broke the ice early. Three minutes into resumed play, freshman Avery Wesololoski corralled a re-

Graeme

bound and scored from close range.

About 10 minutes later, junior Lucy Poitras, who was playing through a leg injury, landed a shot from long distance to extend Woods Charter’s lead.

Shortly after that score, Poitras set up junior Annabel Unah with a behind-the-back pass, and Unah dropped a long shot over the goalkeeper’s head and into the net for a 3-0 lead.

“It started with (Leah Marshall),” Poitras said. “We had a little bit of confusion with it still, but I was like, ‘You know what? I’ll run down the line.’ I took it down the line, and Annabel was thinking ahead. She ran in the middle.”

Said Unah, “I just hit it. There wasn’t anyone on me, so I was aiming for the corner.” Freshman Leah Marshall put the nishing touches on the win with a goal in the nal 10 minutes.

Former local athletes wrap up 2026 spring season

By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record

BASEBALL

Aidan Allred (William Peace University, Chatham Charter)

Allred played 33 games and made 32 starts in his sophomore season. He batted .282 with 33 hits, three doubles and 13 RBIs. In the eld, Allred recorded 46 putouts and 75 assists with a .931 elding percentage. During a season in which he helped William Peace nish as USA South conference tournament runners-up, Allred’s best game came in a 3-for-4, three-run, three-RBI performance against Rhode Island College in March.

Zach Cartrette (Guilford Tech, Chatham Charter)

Cartrette made eight starts on the mound in his freshman year with the Titans, recording a 1-4 record, a 9.36 ERA and a 1.90 WHIP. His best game came in a 15-13 win over Robeson CC in February in which he struck out eight batters and allowed four hits and two runs in ve innings.

Jackson Shaner (Guilford, Northwood)

Shaner saw the most action of his career during his junior season, appearing in 14 games and making two starts. He batted .200 with two hits and seven runs.

Luke Johnson (Mid-Atlantic Christian University, Chatham Charter)

Johnson saw few opportunities on the mound his freshman season, appearing in nine games and starting one. He threw nine strikeouts and recorded a 9.88 ERA in 132⁄3 innings. He made a larger impact in the batter’s box, nishing the year with a .279 batting average, 19 hits, 13 RBIs and four doubles. Against Virginia Peninsula Community College in February, Johnson went 3 for 3 with a home run, seven RBIs and a run.

SOFTBALL

Caleigh Warf (North Carolina Wesleyan, Chatham Central)

Warf made 26 starts in her freshman season at NC Wesley-

an. She batted .300 and logged 21 hits (including three doubles), seven RBIs and 20 runs. At catcher, Warf recorded 84 putouts, 10 assists and a .989 elding percentage. Against Averett in March, she went 3 for 4, including a double, with two RBIs and a run.

Logan Gunter (Furman, Jordan-Matthews)

Gunter returned from last year’s season-ending injury and played in 13 games (seven starts) this spring. She set career-highs in batting average (.261), slugging percentage (.391) and on-base percentage (.320).

Jaylee Williams (Maryland, Chatham Central)

Williams made six starts for the Terrapins, recording a .278 batting average with 10 hits, seven runs and three RBIs on the season.

Delana Lo in (Blue eld University, Chatham Charter)

Lo in once again played a signi cant role for the Rams, starting in a career-best 46 games. She logged career-highs in batting average (.238), hits (34), runs (20), doubles (four) and stolen bases (12).

WOMEN’S LACROSSE

Ella Boecke (Campbell, Northwood)

Boecke saw the rst action of her college career this spring. The defender played in six games and caused a turnover in a win over Radford in March.

OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD

Lucas Smith (UNC Wilmington, Chatham Charter)

Smith set new personal bests in his sophomore outdoor season, including 21.68 seconds in the 200 at the UNCW Seahawk Invitational in March and 47.23 seconds in the 400 at the Raleigh Relays later in the same month. He was part of the Seahawks’ 4x400 team that placed third with a time of 3:11.50 at the CAA Championship meet on May 16.

Will Cuicchi (Charlotte, Seaforth)

Cuicchi set a new personal best in the 1,500 at the Charlotte 49er Classic in March, recording a time of 3:59.19. He placed third in the 800 at the Charlotte Invitational in April, and he competed in the same event at the American Conference Championships.

Sebastian Calderon (Campbell, Seaforth)

Calderon posted college bests of 11.38 in the 100 and 49.94 in the 400 during his freshman outdoor season.

Juana Silva Jimenez

(Meredith College, Seaforth)

Jimenez placed third in the 10,000 (40:05.22) and fth in the 5,000 (19:26.62) to help Meredith nish third in the USA South outdoor championships in April. She earned multiple top ve nishes during the season.

Anna Peeler (Catawba College, Woods Charter)

Peeler set three personal bests during her freshman outdoor season including the 800 (2:21.01), the mile (5:20.12) and the 1,500 (4:50.99).

Rachael Woods (NC Central, Jordan-Matthews)

Woods recorded her career best in the long jump with a mark of 4.85 meters (15 feet, 11 inches) at the Aggie Invitational in April.

Jack Anstrom (NC State, Seaforth)

Anstrom landed a personal best of 3:43.39 in the 1,500 at the Mount Olive First Chance Meet on May 8. During the ACC Championships a week later, he nished 35th in the 1,500 prelims with a time of 4:00.44.

Yardbirds fall in inaugural game, announce roster additions

Chatham County fell to Clayton in its inaugural ONSL game

By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record

THE CHATHAM County Yardbirds’ inaugural season took ight over the weekend.

A day after their rst scheduled game against Wake Forest was canceled, the Yardbirds began their 2026 campaign with a 6-2 road loss to Clayton Sunday.

Chatham County’s bats struggled as it mustered four hits. Clayton starter Richie Paltridge and six other pitchers combined to strikeout 17 batters with four walks and one earned run.

The Clovers scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to build a 4-0 lead. During Davis Albert’s at-bat in the inning, Evan Slawinski scored on a wild pitch, and Graham Wike made it home on Albert’s sacri ce y.

Chatham County cut the de cit in half with two runs in the seventh inning. With one out, Jason Johnson scored Nick Papciak with a sac y, and immediately after, Landon Parker’s y ball caused an error that led to an Aidan McCandless score.

Clayton earned those runs right back in the next inning.

After Slawinski was hit by a pitch, Caiden Chilausky tripled to send Slawinski home. Wike stepped up to the plate and followed right behind with an RBI double to put the Clovers’ lead back to four.

After the Yardbirds’ home opener Wednesday, they’ll return to Braxton Field for a 7 p.m. game against the Raleigh Red Oaks Friday. Chatham County will get back on the road against the Danville Dairy Daddies Saturday at 7 p.m., and it’ll play at home once again Sunday at 6 p.m. against the Sanford Spinners.

The Yardbirds will play Chatham Post 305 Monday at 7 p.m. on Braxton Field.

Leading up to opening day, Chatham County announced numerous additions to its roster.

Here’s a rundown of the players signed since April 30 (college, position):

*played high school baseball in Chatham County

Jason Johnson (Guilford Tech, out elder)

Johnson batted .292 with a home run, seven RBIs and 11 runs as a redshirt freshman at Guilford Tech.

Dane O’Neill (Notre Dame, out elder) *

O’Neill played at Seaforth High School where he helped the Hawks win their rst playo game in 2024.

Luke Johnson (Mid-Atlantic Christian University, pitcher) *

Johnson, who played at Chatham Charter, made three starts for the Mustangs this spring. He logged a .279 batting average, 19 hits and 13 RBIs.

Kaden Sajorda (Middlesex College, pitcher)

Sajorda just nished his senior season at Holly Springs High School.

Jared Lehrer (Rockingham CC, in elder)

Lehrer batted .256 with 20 hits, ve doubles, 18 runs and 18 RBIs as a senior at Holly Springs High School this spring.

Julian Arreola (Gaston College, pitcher)

Arreola made six appearances (four innings pitched) on the mound during his sophomore season at Gaston College, logging a 4.50 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP, ve strikeouts, ve hits and two earned runs.

Jonathan Sendziak (Guilford, pitcher)

Sendziak started 11 games on the mound for Guilford in his junior year this spring. He recorded a 2-6 record with a 7.84 ERA, 36 strikeouts and 31 walks in 491⁄3 innings pitched.

Landon Parker (New Jersey Institute of Technology, catcher)

Parker nished his sophomore season at NJIT this spring. He saw limited action this year, receiving three at-bats in seven games.

Stratton Barwick (Guilford, pitcher)

In his junior season at Guilford this spring, Barwick went 5-2 on the mound. In 401⁄3 innings, he collected a 5.58 ERA, 24 strikeouts, 10 walks and 44 hits.

Nick Papciak (Wingate, in elder)

Papciak made nine appearances and four starts on the mound as a freshman at Wingate this spring. He logged a 13.86 ERA with 11 strikeouts, 10 walks and 19 hits.

Zach Cartrette (Guilford Tech, pitcher) *

Cartrette, the former Chatham Charter pitcher, made 14 appearances and eight starts on the mound as a freshman at Guilford Tech this season. He posted a 1-4 record with a 9.36 ERA, a 1.90 WHIP, 30 strikeouts, 21 walks and 43 hits in 332⁄3 innings pitched.

Charles Puryear III (Methodist, out elder)

Puryear batted .387 with 12 hits, six RBIs, two doubles and a triple in his senior season at Jordan High School this spring.

Gabriel Ferrell (Montreat, out elder)

Ferrell made 12 starts in his freshman season at Montreat this spring. He recorded a .255 batting average with 12 hits (including three doubles), 12 runs and eight RBIs. He also stole seven bases across his 23 games played.

Anthony Lopossay (Cleveland CC, pitcher) *

Lopossay, the former Chatham Central pitcher, nished his sophomore season with Cleveland Community College this spring. He made seven appearances on the mound, logging a 9.95 ERA with 11 strikeouts, seven walks and eight hits in 61⁄3 innings.

Bryce Huneycutt

Seaforth, baseball

Seaforth junior Bryce Huneycutt earns athlete of the week honors for the week of May 18. Huneycutt put on a stellar pitching performance in the Hawks’ 6-3 win over Rockingham County in Game 1 of the 5A East regional, striking out 10 batters and allowing four hits, three earned runs and one walk in a complete game. In Game 2, Huneycutt went 2 for 3 and knocked in a team-best two RBIs to help the Hawks beat the Cougars 4-0 and clinch its rst state title berth.

Late pass sends Rosenqvist surging past Malukas for closest Indianapolis 500 win in history

Katherine Legge’s double attempt ended early with a crash

By Michael Marot

The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS — Felix

Rosenqvist swung to the outside of David Malukas, then found a way past the Team Penske driver to win the closest Indianapolis 500 in history by a margin of 0.0233 seconds on Sunday.

Malukas looked like he was in position to win when he passed race leader Marcus Armstrong o the nal restart with one lap to go while Meyer Shank Racing teammates Rosenqvist and Armstrong battled wheel to wheel down the back straightaway and through the fourth and nal turn.

But Rosenqvist had just enough power to pull away from Armstrong and snake behind Malukas before making the decisive outside pass in the nal 50 feet.

The closest previous nish came in 1992 when Al Unser Jr. beat Scott Goodyear across the yard of bricks by 0.043 seconds.

“The last ve years I’ve been in the front and I’ve had a good enough car to probably win it, but today there was just something more,” said Rosenqvist, who had been fast all month.

BASEBALL from page B1

“It was an absolute rocket this month and year; it was still there in the race.”

It was Rosenqvist’s second career win in 120 IndyCar races and comes after the recent birth of his rst child. His last win was on July 12, 2020, at Road America, making this his rst win on an oval. Rosenqvist joins Kenny Brack and Marcus Ericsson as the only Swedes to win the race.

The wild nish began with a red ag that came out with seven laps to go because of a scary crash involving Indy 500 rookie

played at 2 p.m. Thursday. Game 3, if necessary, will also be played Thursday.

The Hawks are the lowest seed remaining across all NCHSAA classi cations.

“We honestly don’t feel like a nine seed,” Messmore said. “We feel like a really talented team that has a ton of pitching depth, a strong lineup one through nine, plays defense really well. And when you put all those pieces together, it’s a championship-quality team.”

On its path to the state nal, Seaforth went on the road for four games. It took down three straight top four seeds including No. 1 Hunt in the third round.

ROUNDUP from page B1

Woods Charter nished the game with 11 shots, and nine of them were on goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Kori Myers recorded three saves.

Stewart said “positional changes” helped make a di erence between the two days.

“I think they worked really well,” Stewart said. “But what it comes down to, it doesn’t matter what you do with X’s and O’s, it’s about belief, and it’s about con dence and talent.”

The undefeated Wolves (22-0) will play No. 1 Summit Charter Academy in the 1A title game Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The game will be held at Durham County Memorial Stadium.

Despite being one of the state’s top soccer programs in the 2020s, Woods Charter is looking for its rst state title. Many of the Wolves’ upperclassmen were less experienced or had smaller roles on the last team that reached the nal game in 2024. Last year, the Wolves fell short of the Final Four. But over time, Stewart has seen his players develop the characteristics needed to get back to this moment.

“I’ll tell you the big di erence,” Stewart said. “Mentally,

LEGION from page B1

the bottom of the sixth inning when Moser tripled on a y ball, scoring three lead-cushioning runs.

Left elder Carson Jackson also had an impactful opening night as he went 1 for 2 with three RBIs and two runs.

Post 305 won a more defensive game over the Bull City Lollygaggers 2-0 on May 19.

Brett Phillips earned the win on the mound with six strikeouts, zero hits, zero walks and

Caio Collet. Flames billowed out of the side of his car as it skidded to a stop in the grass.

When racing resumed after a 10-minute delay, Armstrong and Malukas sped past the top two cars — Rosenqvist and Pato O’Ward. But with 3 1/2 laps left, the yellow ag came out again when Mick Schumacher, the son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, brushed the wall in Turn 2. On the nal restart, Lap 200, Malukas sling-shotted his way past Armstrong for the lead

Messmore believes a factor of the Hawks’ playo success is the gauntlet of a regular season schedule they played in preparation.

In the nal weeks leading up to the postseason, Seaforth took on Wake County Home School (ranked 11th in North Carolina by MaxPreps) and played two games against Grace Christian (Sanford), which is ranked second in the state by MaxPreps. The Hawks fell short in all those matchups by one run, but the experience against that caliber of competition was the most important takeaway.

“We saw a lot of good arms throughout the year,” Messmore said. “Now, it’s not the rst time we’re seeing them. We’ve seen them ve, six plus times,

this team is strong. This team’s really strong, and I think that was the di erence today. I think Leah said it that we were focused. We talk about the mental side of the game a lot. And today, we were mentally very strong. That’s what we’re going to need to do against Summit.”

Over in the 3A East bracket, No. 4 Northwood fell to No. 1 Wake Prep 3-0 in the fourth round on May 21. Inclement weather forced the game to end with 17 minutes left to play. The Chargers ended their season with a 15 - 8 -2 record.

Prior to its nal game, Northwood defeated No. 5 Bedding eld 10-1 in the third round. Senior Amelia Cherry recorded a hat trick, and seniors Sulema Arias and Mabel Collins logged two goals each. The Chargers took 31 shots and 20 landed on goal.

Girls’ lacrosse (state playo s)

In the fourth round of the 1A-6A East bracket, No. 4 Seaforth fell to No. 1 Croatan 13-10.

The Cougars landed 20 shots on goal, and senior Maddie Sutton scored six times. The Hawks, who were

a shutout in the game’s last four innings. Bubba Sims, who earned the start, also struck out six batters and allowed two hits and a walk in the rst three innings. Phillips and second baseman Simon Delgado recorded Chatham’s two RBIs. Chatham dropped its rst game of the season at Wake Forest 10-1 on May 21. After a tightly contested ve innings, Post 187 scored eight runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull away. Leighton Cash’s two-run ho -

and started pulling away from the two Meyer Shank Racing drivers. But Rosenqvist nally caught the Team Penske driver to win the biggest race of his career in the same month he became a father.

Malukas said he couldn’t think of what else he could have done to hang on to the lead.

“I was given two options: either I lift or I crash with Felix,” said Armstrong, who nished fth. “I chose to lift. I don’t know if I could have done anything di erent.”

Malukas’ teammate Scott McLaughlin was third, and Rosenqvist’s best friend in racing, O’Ward, was fourth. O’Ward had two runner-up nishes and a third place in the past four years.

“I just don’t know what else we could have done,” Malukas said. “We were driving 150% that whole time. We had the fastest car out there, loved that whole race. It was ours to win and I knew that, so I just never pushed like that my whole life.”

It was a strange day on the 2.5-mile Brickyard.

There was a 12-minute rain delay near the midway point of the race and the threat of more rain the rest of the afternoon changed strategies throughout the day. It looked like Rosenqvist and O’Ward had the advantage over the nal

and so they just have more con dence because it’s something they’ve seen before.”

1A EAST REGIONAL FINAL

North Carolina Leadership Academy 2, Chatham Charter 0 No. 2 Chatham Charter’s historic season met its end in a 7-1 loss to No. 1 North Carolina Leadership Academy in Game 2 of the 1A East regional nal on May 20.

The Knights recorded eight hits but struggled to bring runners home. Chatham Charter left ve runners on base, and in the fourth inning, the Falcons pulled away with ve runs.

“It was an absolute rocket this month and year; it was still there in the race.”

Felix Rosenqvist

25 laps because of pit strategy. But Malukas and McLaughlin fought their way back into contention as other drivers such as defending Indy champion and pole winner Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing faded to seventh.

Palou led the most laps (59), had the most on-track passes (60) and retained the points lead. Malukas, however, passed Kyle Kirkwood for second in the standings. The Chicago native trails the four-time series champion and 2025 Indy winner by 40 points.

The rain didn’t return until Rosenqvist was celebrating. Katherine Legge’s attempt to become the rst woman to complete “The Double” ended after just 17 laps when she couldn’t avoid Ryan Hunter-Reay’s spinning car. Legge’s car skidded down the track and into the inside wall in Turn 2. The English driver was checked at the track’s in eld medical care center and was released.

Game 1 saw a similar issue for the Knights as they left four runners on base in a 4-1 loss.

Nevertheless, NCLA pitcher James Reynolds played a huge part in slowing down Chatham Charter’s o ense as he struck out 12 batters and allowed four hits and one earned run in a complete game. Chatham Charter ended its season with a 22-6 record.

The Knights’ senior class of Westin Phillips, Tyner Williams, Garrison Clark, Brandon Rives and Jace Young were the program’s rst class to win four conference regular season titles, win at least one playo game in all four seasons and win 20 games in a season.

ASHEEBO ROJAS / CHATHAM NEWS & RECORD

Woods Charter celebrates its fourth regional championship in ve seasons.

in the fourth round for the first time, were led by junior Natalie Boecke’s seven goals and freshman Ad-

mer sparked the run. Wake Forest had nine batters record a hit or reach rst base, and seven runs were scored before the second out. Chatham logged ve hits and left four runners on base.

Post 305 bounced back with a nine-inning 6-4 win at the Bull City Lollygaggers Friday. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Bull City’s Peyton Kozink popped out, but Frankie Gilchrist tagged up and scored the tying run that sent the game into extra play.

die Holloway’s three scores. Seaforth dominated No. 5 Southeast Guilford 16-3 in the third round. Boecke notched

Chatham regained its advantage in the ninth inning with an RBI single from Gavin Dodson followed by a two-RBI triple by Phillips. Bull City attempted a rally in its nal batting turn as it landed a double and two singles, which scored one run, but it was cut short by a strikeout from Sims. Sims went 3 for 5 with three runs and two RBIs from the plate. The Post 305 senior team is o to a much better start than last summer in which it dropped three of its rst four games.

seven goals, and Holloway recorded a hat trick. The Hawks finished the season with a 12-8 record.

The junior team also picked up two big wins to start the year. Chatham defeated Cary 12-3 in its season opener on May 19. It logged 14 hits, including a 3-for-4, three-RBI and one-run night from Eliel Tomas. Post 305 dominated Cary again 8-1 on May 20. Wyatt Clewis and Mason Hayes combined for eight strikeouts and zero earned runs. Will Murchison recorded a team-high three RBIs, and Kaide Davis went 2 for 3 with an RBI.

SIDELINE REPORT

TENNIS

Gotta go: Home player Gea takes emergency bathroom break during French Open debut

Paris Home player Arthur Gea ran o the court for an emergency bathroom break early in the rst set of his French Open debut. Gea told the chair umpire before hastily running o , “I need to go to the bathroom. I can’t move anymore. I’m going to (go) on the court.” The 135th-ranked Gea lost to 13th-seeded Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-0. Usually bathroom breaks are only permitted between sets. The 21-year-old Gea received a wild card invitation from Roland Garros organizers to participate in the main draw.

NBA Trail Blazers lay o employees as part of restructuring e ort

Portland, Ore. The Portland Trail Blazers laid o employees as new owner Tom Dundon cuts costs. The exact number of employees let go was not made public but included sta in both the business and basketball operations. Dundon leads the group of investors who bought the NBA franchise from the estate of Paul Allen, the co -founder of Microsoft who died in 2018. The NBA’s Board of Governors approved the sale, worth a reported $4.25 billion, in April. Dundon also owns the Carolina Hurricanes of the NHL.

PWHL

Montreal Victoire win team’s rst PWHL title, beating Ottawa 4-0 in Game 4

Ottawa, Ontario Abby Roque scored twice, Ann-Renée Desbiens made 23 saves and the Montreal Victoire won their rst PWHL title, beating the Ottawa Charge 4-0 in Game 4 of the Walter Cup Finals. Maggie Flaherty and Lina Ljungblom also scored. Montreal opened the best- of- ve series at home with two overtime victories, then fell 2-1 at Ottawa. Montreal captain Marie-Philip Poulin was named playo MVP. She tied for the postseason lead with eight points.

NCAA FOOTBALL

Orgeron returns to LSU as special assistant to recruiting, defense

Baton Rouge, La. Ed Orgeron returned to LSU’s football program Wednesday, seven years after he coached the Tigers to the 2019 national title. LSU head coach Lane Ki n added Orgeron, 64, to the sta as a special assistant to recruiting and defense. Orgeron worked under Ki n at Southern California and Tennessee. Orgeron spent six seasons as LSU’s head coach before being red after the 2021 season.

NFL

NFL taking 2030 Super Bowl to Nashville, Titans’ new enclosed stadium Nashville, Tenn.

The NFL is taking the 2030 Super Bowl to Nashville and the Titans’ new Nissan Stadium after team owners voted to hold the league’s championship game in the Music City for the rst time. Once the Titans broke ground on the $2.1 billion enclosed stadium, a Super Bowl being played in Nashville appeared to be only a matter of time. The Titans are on schedule to nish the new stadium directly across from the current Nissan Stadium in February, completing the three-year construction.

Harvick, ’14 Cup Series champion, selected to NASCAR Hall of Fame

Je Burton and Larry Phillips will join him in January 2027 induction ceremony

By Steve Reed The Associated Press

CHARLOTTE — Kevin Harvick, who captured the 2014 Cup Series championship and won 60 races at the sport’s top level, was selected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame along with former teammate Je Burton and Larry Phillips.

The induction ceremony is set for Jan. 22, 2027, bringing the total number of Hall of Fame inductees to 73.

Harvick received 46 of the 50 votes cast by the panel which included representatives from NASCAR, the Hall of Fame, track owners from major facilities and historic short tracks, media members, manufacturer representatives, competitors (drivers, owners, crew chiefs), recognized industry leaders, reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson and a nationwide fan vote.

Burton received the second-most at 32% to edge out Neil Bonnett, Randy Dorton and the late Greg Bi e for the second and nal spot on the modern ballot.

Phillips received 38% of the pioneer ballot votes.

“When you talk about your reputation and the respect factor I think that speaks volumes about the things you were able to accomplish,” Harvick said of receiving 92% of the votes.

“I can say it now, I’m proud of that.”

Harvick’s career took an unexpected turn when he was selected by team owner Richard Childress to replace Dale Earnhardt after the seven-time champion was killed in a wreck at the 2001 Daytona 500.

Initially, Childress had planned to bring Harvick along slowly and have him gain experience at the sport’s lower level (then known as the Busch Series), but Earnhardt’s death accelerated his rise.

Driving the renumbered No.

46

Number of votes, out of 50, received by Kevin Harvick in the Hall of Fame balloting

29 GM Goodwrench Service Plus Chevrolet, it took Harvick only three races to nd victory lane at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2001, giving RCR an emotional victory. He went on to win NASCAR Rookie of the Year, establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with in the sport for years to come.

Harvick said replacing Earnhardt was di cult at the time, but he and others within RCR buried themselves in their work and “hid” from harsh reality of the star’s death.

“I think the racer’s excuse is, ‘I have to go to a race,’” Harvick said. “Whether it’s with your wife or a terrible moment like

we had with Dale, it was like, ‘Well, we gotta go to the race this week.’ We just booked like 70 or 80 races that year and we just kind of hid from everything that we did. ... (The racetrack) was really where everyone wanted to be so we didn’t want to address the other situation.”

Known as “The Closer,” Harvick, 50, went on to win the 2007 Daytona 500 and earned his only championship seven years after NASCAR turned to an elimination-style playo format.

Harvick’s 60 Cup wins over 826 starts ranks 11th all-time.

Burton, 58, was a teammate of Harvick’s at RCR for years. The calmer of the two drivers, Burton won 21 Cup races over his 20-year NASCAR career in 695 starts. He was the 1994 Rookie of the Year and his career highlights include winning the Coca-Cola 600 twice and the Southern 500. He won six Cup races in 1999. He said he was “playing a

crappy round of golf” when he received a phone call informing him that he got it.

“The generations before us, they made it all possible,” Burton said. “So to be enshrined in something that my heroes are in, that just means a lot.”

As for Phillips, who died in 2004 at 62, nobody can say for sure how many races he won because he raced everywhere from dirt to asphalt and in places where record keeping wasn’t always a priority. His crew chief, James Ince, estimated Phillips won 1,000 times; maybe 2,000, according to NASCAR.

Landmark Award winner

Lesa France Kennedy, the executive vice chair of NASCAR, was selected as the Landmark Award winner for her contributions to the sport. Kennedy spearheaded the revitalization of Phoenix Raceway and the Daytona Rising project at Daytona International Speedway.

Lone full-time spelling bee coach charges $180 per hour; champions say he’s worth it

Scott Remer has coached ve national champions

By Ben Nuckols The Associated Press

WHEN DEV SHAH won the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2023 and Faizan Zaki took the title last year, they posed for remarkably similar photos on the confetti-strewn stage. Standing next to them, beaming, was a bespectacled man in an aloha shirt, holding up a copy of his book “Words of Wisdom.”

For Scott Remer, the champion spellers’ coach, posing for a picture was more than just a celebration. It was a business necessity.

While nearly every National Spelling Bee champion over the past 15 years has worked with a coach, the 32-year-old Remer is the country’s only full-time, professional tutor for elite spellers. Most coaches are former spellers who are still in college or even high school.

“He’s probably one of the most in uential gures in spelling over the past 10 years,” said Shah, now 17. Remer has coached ve national champions, and since the bee emerged from the pandemic disruptions of 2020 and ‘21, he has scaled up the coaching profession. He claims 34 spellers as his students this year and has worked with no fewer than 29 during each of the past four bees. He charges more than other coaches: up to $180 for an hourlong private lesson. If spellers nish in the top 10

and earn a cash prize, he receives up to 10% of their winnings, which he called “a performance-based bonus.”

Many spellers and their families believe Remer is worth it — despite, or perhaps because of, the intense personality that emerges during his lessons.

Always earnest and gregarious on any spelling-related topic, Remer describes coaching as a passion that grew out of his disappointing fourth-place nish in 2008, his nal year as a speller. He says he’s motivated by sharing his knowledge, helping kids reach their potential and the challenge of discovering spelling bee-worthy words.

“This is really about the love of language and the love of the competition. Part of it is once you’re stung by the bee, there’s kind of no going back,” Remer said. “I’m not going to deny that it pays well, because it does.

“Once you’re stung by the bee, there’s kind of no going back.”

Scott Remer

But I don’t know that there’s anything wrong with that.”

The last two champions he coached say he was crucial to their victories.

“Even though his classes are more expensive, it’s de nitely worth it,” Faizan said. “I saw results.”

Faizan’s father, Zaki Anwar, said he negotiated a reduced rate of $120 an hour for Remer’s services because Faizan was already an accomplished speller. Remer took home 7% of the champion’s prize haul of $52,500 — a bonus of $3,675.

“After winning, it doesn’t really matter,” Anwar said.

Expensive and demanding, Remer is not for everyone Remer drills his students on roots, language patterns and the exceptions to those patterns. He seeks to instill a deep understanding of languages that will allow spellers to gure out a word even if they have never seen or heard it before, as Shah did with “rommack” in 2023. But Remer’s pricing, and his coaching style, have led some spellers to seek help elsewhere.

“I found it prohibitively expensive,” said Navneeth Murali, a University of Pennsylvania student who competed through 2020 and now coaches spellers, charging rough-

ly $50 for an hourlong lesson. “It wasn’t a realistic option for me.”

Remer said his goal is to be supportive while giving spellers the feedback they need to avoid repeating mistakes.

“I try to be tough but fair, and I also try to modulate my teaching methods, based on the kids’ needs and the kids’ personalities,” he said. “Whether I’m always successful at that is I guess an open question.”

From the Ivy League to fulltime spelling coach

Remer graduated from Yale in 2016 and earned a master’s degree from Cambridge a year later. His rst study guide, “Words of Wisdom: Keys to Success in the Scripps National Spelling Bee,” was published in 2010, when he was a teenager. That was also the year he coached his rst champion, Anamika Veeramani.

Scripps, the Cincinnati-based media company that has run the bee for a century, does not endorse coaching, but Corrie Loe er, the bee’s executive director, described the practice as inevitable, given the intensity of the competition.

Loe er gently pushed back at the idea that any coach should claim credit for a speller’s success.

“It’s hard work, it’s study ethic, it’s perseverance,” she said. “These kids are doing pretty incredible things at a really high level, especially at a young age, and I want them to be able to take credit for that themselves, knowing that it’s a community and they’ve had so much support along the way.”

this week in history

Watergate Hotel burglarized, Gehrig succumbs to ALS, crackdown in Tiananmen Square

The Associated Press

MAY 28

1830: President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, forcing nearly 50,000 Native Americans primarily from the Southeast to relocate west of the Mississippi River.

1863: The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, composed of free black men, departed Boston to ght for the Union in the Civil War.

1972: Burglars connected to the Nixon White House broke into Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel, installing surveillance devices; the scandal led to Nixon’s resignation.

MAY 29

1914: The RMS Empress of Ireland sank after colliding with a cargo ship in the St. Lawrence River, killing 1,012 of 1,477 on board.

1953: Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the rst climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

2020: Derek Chauvin, a red Minneapolis police ocer, was arrested for murder in George Floyd’s death. Floyd’s death sparked nationwide protests against racial injustice.

MAY 30

1431: Joan of Arc, condemned as a heretic, was burned at the stake in Rouen, France.

1935: Babe Ruth played his

last major league game for the Boston Braves, leaving after the rst inning.

2023: Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes began serving an 11-year sentence after being convicted of fraud and conspiracy.

MAY 31

1889: More than 2,200 people died in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, when the South Fork Dam collapsed, sending a massive ood through the town.

1921: A two-day massacre began in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as white mobs looted and burned the black district of Greenwood; as many as 300 black residents were killed.

1949: Former State Department o cial Alger Hiss went on trial in New York on perjury charges; his rst trial ended in a hung jury, but he was later convicted.

JUNE 1

1813: Mortally wounded

USS Chesapeake commander Capt. James Lawrence urged his crew, “Don’t give up the ship,” during a losing battle with the British frigate HMS Shannon in the War of 1812.

1916: The Senate con rmed Louis Brandeis to the U.S. Supreme Court, making him the rst Jewish justice.

1962: Former Nazi o cial Adolf Eichmann was executed after being convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

JUNE 2

1941: Lou Gehrig, baseball’s “Iron Horse,” died in New York of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS; he was 37.

1953: Queen Elizabeth II was crowned at age 27 at Westminster Abbey in London, 16 months after the death of her father, King George VI.

JUNE 3

1888: Ernest Lawrence Thayer’s poem “Casey at the Bat” was rst published in the San Francisco Daily Examiner. 1943: An altercation in Los Angeles between U.S. Navy sailors and young Mexican Americans escalated into the Zoot Suit Riots, as white mobs attacked Mexican Americans across the city, injuring more than 150 people.

1989: Chinese army troops entered Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to begin a crackdown on student-led pro-democracy demonstrations, crushing their movement.

1924: Congress passed, and President Calvin Coolidge signed, the Indian Citizenship Act, granting U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans born within the country’s territorial limits.

Malek explores art, love, death in Ira Sachs’ Cannes entry ‘The Man I Love’

The lmmaker also directed “Passages” and “Love Is Strange”

By Jake Coyle The Associated Press

CANNES, France — In Ira Sachs’ 1980s-set drama “The Man I Love,” Rami Malek nds the most well-tailored role since his Oscar-winning portrayal of Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

While Sachs’ lm, which is a competition entry at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, likewise centers on a performer dying of AIDS, it’s otherwise an altogether di erent and dramatically more personal tale about art, love and death.

“It took me a minute to realize it was more about life,” Malek said in an interview alongside Sachs on a terrace in Cannes. “There’s a threat looming throughout, but it’s an undercurrent. Throughout the lm there’s a cacophony of sound and imagery and beauty that is lling your soul.”

The lm, which is for sale in Cannes, has earned Malek — an

actor who has sometimes struggled to nd well-suited roles since his breakout in “Mr. Robot” — some of the best reviews of his career.

Sachs, the New York indie lmmaker, knew he wanted an actor with an ine able star quality.

“What I saw in ‘Mr. Robot’ was a very natural actor and someone who has an ability where you don’t know how they get from one word to the next.”

In “The Man I Love,” Malek plays Jimmy George, a New York performance artist who’s trying to continue performing despite his illness. His partner

(Tom Sturridge) diligently cares for him while a man (Luke Ford) who moves into the same building immediately falls for Jimmy. It’s not a movie lled with medication and hospital visits. Instead, it captures a performer desperately trying to continue on.

Sachs said he wanted “a rapturous lm.”

“I wanted to make a lm that contained all the things that I’ll miss when I’m gone,” said the lmmaker. “I wanted it to be su used with emotion and pain and skin. It’s a sexy lm. It has color and music. You could say it’s a list of pleasures or sins.”

Some of the movie’s most overwhelming scenes are of Jimmy rehearsing or performing. In a heartbreaking showstopper, he sings the 1970 Melanie hit “What Have They Done to My Song Ma” to his family.

“It came straight from my soul,” says Malek. “It’s a moment in the lm when Jimmy has some sense of clarity as to what’s coming. There is this stubborn refusal to keep creating in the most desperate of times that emanates through this lm. It imbued me with this sense of, ‘Oh, I can be dangerous. I can take things to a limit that I haven’t before.’”

The 1980s has deep importance to the 60-year-old Sachs, who began working in New York in 1984. He was inspired by the stories of performance artists like John Kelly and John Jesurun.

“They’re the ones who told me about the last night that the comedian Frank Maya was on stage and he lost the ability to nish his act,” Sachs says.

Malek calls Sachs “a library,” whose connection to the time of “The Man I Love” fueled his curiosity.

Cannes’ amfAR Gala raises millions for AIDS research with sales of artwork, jewelry, lavish goods

The event has been raising money and awareness since 1985

By Louise Dixon

The Associated Press

ANTIBES, France — Actors and celebrities at the Cannes Film Festival were coaxed o the Croisette and up the French Riviera coast to Antibes on Thursday for dinner, performances and the annual amfAR Gala auction, which raised millions for AIDS research.

Guests were treated to a lavish reception on the Hotel Du Cap, Eden Roc, lawn, followed by performances from Robbie Williams, Zara Larsson and Lizzo over dinner. The gala was hosted by Geena Davis, who appears on this year’s festival poster, a tribute to “Thelma & Louise.”

Lizzo teased her new album on the red carpet. “I’m just so excited. I’m trying to bring back good, clean fun. Like, I just want to have fun again, people need to dance, people need to laugh.”

Other guests included Rami Malek who has a lm in competition in Cannes, Eva Longoria, Heidi Klum, So a Carson,

“I’m just so excited. I’m trying to bring back good, clean fun.”

Lizzo

Natasha Poly and Bar Refaeli.

An array of art, jewelry and experiences were auctioned.

Actor William Abadie auctioned o a walk-on part in “Emily in Paris” while con rming the sixth season will be the show’s last. After some enthusiastic bidding, two opportunities were given for a turn in the limelight, for $435,545 each.

Some of the artwork raised the bar with a famed full set of Andy Warhol screen prints of Marilyn Monroe fetching $3,252,228.

Festival sponsor Chopard donated diamond earrings that sold for $696,906. And a limited-edition Audemars Piguet watch — one of only ve — went for an eye-watering $1,684,160.

Williams performed a medley of his hits ending with “Angels” dedicated to his daughter.

A surprise lot of VIP concert tickets was split between two bidders at $255,527 each for two sets of tickets each.

closed the dinner with a high-energy perfor

The guests then moved to the afterparty around the hotel’s pool to dance and celebrate. Since 1985, amfAR has

raised nearly $950 million in support of AIDS research and programs and awarded more than 3,800 grants.

famous birthdays this week

Annette Bening is 68, Brooke Shields turns 61, Pat Boone hits 92, Morgan Freeman is 89

The Associated Press THESE CELEBRITIES have birthdays this week.

MAY 28

Actor Carroll Baker is 95. Singer Gladys Knight is 82. Singer John Fogerty is 81. Actor Christa Miller is 62. Singer Kylie Minogue is 58. Talk show host Elisabeth Hasselbeck is 49. Actor Jake Johnson is 48. Singer Colbie Caillat is 41. Actor Carey Mulligan is 41.

MAY 29

Composer Danny Elfman (Oingo Boingo) is 73. Actor Ted Levine (“Monk,” “The Silence of the Lambs”) is 69. Actor Annette Bening is 68. Actor Rupert Everett is 67. Singer Melissa Etheridge is 65. Guitarist Noel Gallagher (Oasis) is 59. Actor Laverne Cox (“Doubt,” “Orange Is the New Black”) is 54. Singer Melanie Brown (“Scary Spice”) of the Spice Girls is 51.

MAY 30

Singer-actor Idina Menzel is 55. Guitarist Tom Morello (Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine) is 62. Country singer Wynonna Judd is 62. Singer Cee Lo Green (Gnarls Barkley, Goodie Mob) is 51. Actor Stephen Tobolowsky is 75.

MAY 31

Actor- lmmaker Clint Eastwood is 96. Football Hall of Famer Joe Namath is 83. Actor Tom Berenger is 77. Actor-comedian Chris Elliott is 66. Actor Lea Thompson is 65. Musician Corey Hart is 64. Rapper Darryl “DMC” McDaniels is 62.

Actor Brooke Shields is 61.

JUNE 1

Singer Pat Boone is 92. Actor Morgan Freeman is 89. Actor Brian Cox is 80. Actor Jonathan Pryce is 79. Rock musician Ronnie Wood (The Rolling Stones) is 79. Country singer-songwriter Ronnie Dunn is 73.

Actor Lisa Hartman Black is 70.

JUNE 2

Actor Stacy Keach is 85. Filmmaker Lasse Hallström is 80. Actor Jerry Mathers is 78. Actor Joanna Gleason is 76. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is 74. Comedian Dana Carvey is 71. TV personality-producer Andy Cohen is 58.

JUNE 3

Former Cuban President Raúl Castro is 95. Basketball Hall of Famer Billy Cunningham is 83. Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin is 81. Singer Suzi Quatro is 76. Singer Deniece Williams is 76. Former rst lady Jill Biden is 75.

Paul McCartney, John Travolta, Tina Fey, Latto, Nicolas Cage as Spider-Man

“Deli Boys” returns to Hulu for a second season

The Associated Press

PAUL MCCARTNEY re ecting on the “Days We Left Behind” with his 18th studio album and John Travolta writing, directing and narrating an ode to the glamorous days of 1960s air travel 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: Net ix drops Season 2 of Net ix’s “Four Seasons” starring Tina Fey, Atlanta rapper Latto returns with “Big Mama” and Nicolas Cage stars in a new live-action series inspired by Spider-Man.

MOVIES TO STREAM

Bill Skarsgård’s aggrieved everyman takes Dacre Montgomery’s mortgage executive hostage in “Dead Man’s Wire,” streaming on Net ix on Thursday. In his review for The Associated Press, Film Writer Jake Coyle wrote that “it plays a little loose with facts but the righteous rage of ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ is present enough in Gus Van Sant’s … thriller that’s as deeply 1970s as it is contemporary.”

Fresh o its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, Travolta’s “Propeller One-Way Night Coach” will be streaming on Apple TV starting Friday. The actor wrote, directed and narrated this ode to the glamorous days of 1960s air travel following an aviation-obsessed 10-year-old on a cross-country trip with his mother. Running at only 60 minutes, the lm, which is based on a novel he wrote, has received mostly mixed reviews.

In “Miss You, Love You,” written and directed by Jim Rash and streaming on HBO Max on Friday, Allison Janney plays a recently widowed woman who has to plan her husband’s funeral with a stranger: Her estranged son’s assistant, played by Andrew Rannells. Also coming to HBO Max on Friday is the Charli xcx movie “The Moment,” a meta mockumentary about the end of Brat summer and grappling with otherworldly success.

by the Marvel character. Set against a gritty 1930s New York, Cage plays Ben Reilly, a P.I. who carries the weight of being the city’s only masked hero ghting rampant corruption. Viewers can choose between black-and-white and color versions. All eight episodes of “Spider-Noir” are now streaming on Prime Video.

The wild crime comedy “Deli Boys” returns to Hulu for its second season on Thursday. Two Pakistani American brothers, played by Asif Ali and Saagar Shaikh, inherit a chain of delis after their father dies and think they’re set for life until the realization that those delis were really a front for smuggling drugs. Poorna Jagannathan plays their aunt who has taken over the business.

“Dead Man’s Wire” plays a little loose with facts but the righteous rage of “Dog Day Afternoon” is present enough in Gus Van Sant’s … thriller that’s as deeply 1970s as it is contemporary.”

Jake Coyle, AP lm writer

in prison for life but also helping the BAU track down other killers like himself. The big bad for Season 19 is a copycat killer, who is a fan of Voit. A number of actors from the original series return, including Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster. Connor Storrie of “Heated Rivalry” will also guest star.

VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY

Filmmakers are still trying to decide on the next actor to play James Bond, but gamers worldwide are ready to take on the role in “007 First Light.” Developer IO Interactive describes it as an origin story, as a 20-something Bond who is new to MI6 is sent in pursuit of a rogue agent. Expect plenty of exotic locations, cool weapons and gadgets, a slick wardrobe and, of course, a glamorous love interest. You can “go silent or go loud,” meaning you can take a stealthy approach to each mission or go in with sts and bullets ying. IO is best known for its globe-trotting “Hitman” series, so it’s well quali ed to take on this franchise. Pick up your license to kill on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S, Switch 2 or PC.

MUSIC TO STREAM

McCartney re ects on the “Days We Left Behind” on his 18th studio album, “The Boys of Dungeon Lane,” out Friday.

That’s a reference to a particularly nostalgic and wistful track on the new collection, which reects on the youth of a life well lived — so, of course, it’s all soft piano and delicate harmonies.

Markiplier’s “Iron Lung” is also making its streaming debut, on YouTube, Sunday. The adaptation of the indie horror game was self- nanced and self-released in theaters where it earned more than $50 million worldwide.

If that’s not enough to inspire

a listen, perhaps this is: The album also features the rst duet of Macca and Ringo Starr, a must-play for any Beatles fan. “The world around us wasn’t safe, the place was falling down/ But it was my hometown/And it was home to us,” they sing. It’s enough to make someone weep, if it wasn’t such a jam.

SERIES TO STREAM

A Spider-Man series but make it noir. Cage stars in a new live-action series inspired

Net ix drops Season 2 of its “Four Seasons” on Thursday. It’s about a group of friends navigating relationships and life’s ups and downs. Fey is a co-creator and stars alongside Colman Domingo, Will Forte, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Marco Calvani and Erika Henningsen. It’s adapted from Alan Alda’s 1981 lm of the same name.

“Criminal Minds: Evolution” Season 19 premieres with two episodes Thursday on Paramount+.

In the new episodes, serial killer Elias Voit (Zach Gilford) is still

“Mina the Hollower” is a mouse who’s really good at burrowing, which comes in handy when she needs to run away from — or sneak up behind — the nastier critters roaming her spooky home. She can also ght back with her whip, and she can track down sidearms and trinkets that make her more of a threat. All this takes place in a colorful, pixelated 2D world reminiscent of 1980s classics like “The Legend of Zelda.” Developer Yacht Club Games, which gave us the retro indie smash “Shovel Knight,” promises a “bone-chilling yet heartwarming tale inspired by Victorian Gothic horror.”

May 29,