North State Journal Vol. 11, Issue 3

Canadian police investigate gun re at U.S. consulate

Toronto Canadian police are investigating after the United States consulate in downtown Toronto was hit by gun re early on Tuesday morning. Nobody was injured. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police called it a national security incident and said the national police force is working with Toronto police to understand the motive.

Leather said the U.S. and Israeli consulates, as well as embassies in Ottawa, will see an increase in security. Toronto Police said two individuals emerged from a white Honda CRV SUV at around 4:30 a.m. and red multiple shots at the building before eeing. Barredo said both suspects were involved in the discharge of the rearm. He said there were shell casings as well as damage outside but said bullets did not penetrate the building.

State Department allows up to $40M for Mideast evacuation ights

Washington, D.C.

The State Department has authorized the use of up to $40 million in emergency funds to pay for evacuation charter ights for Americans to leave the Middle East because of disruptions in transportation caused by the Iran war. The department had approved the use of money from a fund normally reserved for emergencies involving diplomatic and consular sta , according to two U.S. o cials who spoke anonymously. The State Department con rmed the use of the emergency funds but declined to specify the amount.

NC to get $165M for Helene recovery, COVID-19 measures

The federal dollars will come from the Department of Homeland Security

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — Another tranche of nearly $165 million in public assistance grants is headed to North Carolina, made up of $92.1 million for Hurricane Helene Disaster

Recovery and $73.8 million in outstanding COVID-19 emergency measure grants.

The funds will come through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its subagencies like FEMA.

“Since Democrats irresponsibly shut down DHS, I have been working with President (Donald) Trump, his administration, and colleagues in Congress like Rep. Chuck Edwards

Senate Leader Phil Berger trails Rockingham County Sheri Sam Page by a razor-thin margin

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — The North Carolina March 3 primary delivered upsets in several state legislative races, with the most consequential in Senate District 26 — the race between Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) and Rockingham County Sheri Sam Page. Berger, considered the most powerful politician in the state, found himself two votes behind Page at the end of the night despite Berger being endorsed by President Donald Trump. The race was a statistical tie at 50% each on election night.

Berger told reporters, “We’re going to continue to press this until all legal votes have been counted and we know what the result is.” Provisional ballots were counted by county boards last Friday, and Page’s lead grew to 23. The margin is still less than 1%, with Page at 50.04% and Berger at 49.96%.

“While today’s results were not what we had hoped, the vote difference continues to be less than 1%, the threshold for requesting a recount,” Berger said in a press release.

“If we believe a recount is merited, I will pursue that avenue as allowed by law.”

Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden)

“As we wait for the election results to be reviewed one week from today, our legal team will continue to evaluate the situation. If we believe a recount is merited, I will pursue that avenue as allowed by law. A lot of folks have supported me throughout my time in public service, and I owe it to them to ensure clarity of the election results.”

At his results watch party, Page took the stage, thanked supporters and claimed victory.

At his watch party location,

Cooper, Whatley pitted in race to succeed Tillis

All the state’s congressional incumbents defeated their primary challengers

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — Former Gov. Roy Cooper and former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley secured their party nominations during last week’s U.S. Senate primary. Uno cially and before provisional totals were added, 824,798 Democratic votes and 625,667 Republican votes were cast in the race to replace Republican Sen. Thom Tillis. Cooper became the Demo -

cratic nominee after winning his primary race with more than 90% of the vote.

“North Carolina, we’re ocially on the road to November 3rd,” Cooper wrote in a post on X following the results. “There’s no doubt — we’ve got our work cut out for us. But North Carolinians have always given me hope and that’s what’s going to get us across the nish line.”

Cooper has pivoted to “affordability” issues in his campaign. He recently rolled out a campaign called “make stu cost less,” which highlights “how his track record of putting party aside to get results for working people will help

“This November, North Carolina voters will have a choice: Safer Communities, Secure Borders, More Jobs and Lower Costs or Roy Cooper’s failed record. Let’s win.”

Michael Whatley

The deadline to le an

the word | Present day thoughts

The history of that human ignorance which calls itself “philosophy,” is absolutely identical with the history of fools. If one were to write the history of folly, he would have to give several chapters to philosophy, and those chapters would be more revealing than any others. As Paul warned, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” (Colossians 2:8).

Beware of the worldly books of the present day. The truth of God is the only treasure for which we seek, and Scripture is the only eld in which we dig for it. If you keep close to the inspired book, you can su er no harm; you are at the fountain-head of all moral and spiritual good. This is t food for the people of God; this is the bread which nourishes the highest life.

The prayerful study of the Word is not only a means of instruction, but an act of devotion wherein the transforming power of grace is often exercised — changing us into the image of Christ, of whom the Word is a mirror.

Within the Scripture, there is a balm for every wound, a salve for every sore. Oh, the wondrous power in the Scripture to create a heart of hope, within the ribs of despair! Amidst sharp and strong temptations, and erce and bitter trials — the Word of the Lord has preserved us. Amidst discouragements which damped our hopes, and disappointments which wounded our hearts — our Bibles have brought us a

secret, unconquerable consolation. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

There is no true doctrine which has not been fruitful in good works. For “all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is pro table for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Payson wisely said, “If there is one fact, one doctrine, or promise in the Bible, which has produced no practical e ect upon your temper or conduct — be assured that you do not truly believe it.”

The “doctrines of grace” produce a ne morality, a stern integrity, a delicate purity, a devout holiness, consecration in life, calm resignation in the hour of su ering, joyful con dence in the article of death. This must be a true gospel, which can produce such lives as these.

Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) is one of the most widely read preachers in history and is known by many as the Prince of Preachers. Spurgeon was pastor of the New Park Street Chapel (later the Metropolitan Tabernacle) in London. His works are now in the public domain. This article is an edited excerpt from “The Greatest Fight in the World.”

porting documentation and terminated her on Nov. 3, 2021, for noncompliance.

The hospital system terminated an employee in 2021 after denying her vaccination exemption requests

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission settled a federal lawsuit against Rex Healthcare that involved alleged COVID-era religious discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The case, led in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, centered on claims that Rex unlawfully denied a religious exemption from its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy to a remote employee and subsequently terminated her employment.

The EEOC argued this constituted a failure to provide reasonable accommodation absent undue hardship and resulted in discriminatory termination, seeking back pay, compensatory and punitive damages, and aninjunction against future violations.

Under the terms of the consent decree, entered by the court to resolve the suit without admission of liability by Rex, the company agreed to pay Goeller $150,000 within 30 days, including $85,643 in back wages and the remainder as compensatory damages.

The two-year consent decree also enjoins Rex from religious discrimination or failing to accommodate sincere religious beliefs in employment practices, absent undue hardship.

“Even when faced with unique challenges such as the

with

Melinda Dugas, Equal Employment Opportunity O ce attorney

federal law related to religious accommodations.”

“As with many hospitals and health systems across the country, we had to make di cult decisions during the worst of the pandemic in the interest of protecting our patients and teammates,” Wolf said. “Although we dispute the allegations in the lawsuit, we are happy to resolve this matter and move forward. UNC Health Rex has a robust process for reviewing exemption requests and strives to provide a supportive environment for all of our more than 6,500 teammates.”

“Even when faced with unique challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, employers must comply with federal civil rights law,” Melinda Dugas, regional attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity O ce’s Charlotte District, said in a press release. “The EEOC will continue to take action when an employee’s right to religious freedom has been unnecessarily restricted.”

to replace him

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — North Carolina State Board of Elections member Bob Rucho resigned his seat last Thursday morning.

“I’m thankful for Bob Rucho’s service on the State Board of Elections,” State Auditor Dave Boliek, who oversees the board, said in a press release. “He led on election integrity and helped make it easy to vote and hard to cheat

The complaint described by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) does not name the case, however, court records show the complaint involved Heather Goeller, a senior revenue cycle representative in a nonpatient-facing role who had worked remotely since March 2020.

Goeller, who identi es as Christian, held a “sincerely held religious belief” that vaccines con icted with her faith, viewing her body as a temple created in God’s image. She had previously received religious exemptions from Rex’s u vaccine requirement in 2019 and 2020.

However, Rex denied her four requests for a COVID-19 vaccine exemption in 2021 despite sup-

Rex must also adopt and implement a new policy for handling religious accommodation requests, provide training on Title VII requirements to human resources sta , employee relations personnel, managers and supervisors involved in reviewing such requests, and report compliance to the EEOC. The court retains authority to enforce the decree, which binds Rex and its successors.

Alan M. Wolf, director of media relations for UNC Health/ UNC School of Medicine, responded on behalf of UNC Health Rex, stating, “UNC Health Rex fully complies with

in North Carolina’s elections.

“This o ce has high standards for its board members, and Angela Hawkins will continue the good work being done by the State Board. She brings valuable experience, having served as chair of the elections board of North Carolina’s largest county.”

The State Board of Elections (NCSBE) held a brief emergency meeting at 12:30 p.m. acknowledging Rucho’s resignation and addressing some county vacancies. Hawkins, a Wake County Elections Board member, was also sworn in. Hawkins has been replaced on that board by Donna Williams.

“This

Dave Boliek, state auditor

Rucho, a Republican, had drawn criticism for weighing in on the race between Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) and Rockingham Sheri Sam Page in a post on his personal Facebook page.

Campaign contribution records show Rucho donated to two candidates since becoming an NCSBE member last May: Catawba County Sheri Don Brown and Iredell County Sheri Darren Campbell. Under state law, elections board members are barred from making such contributions.

A spokesperson from the auditor’s o ce indicated the donations were part of the reason for the resignation. Rucho’s resignation letter o ered no explanation for his departure.

“I am formally announcing my resignation from the North

Board of

tions,”

Several pandemic-era lawsuits are still making their way through North Carolina’s court system. Cases in the state have involved disparate treatment of bars during COVID-19 closures under former Gov. Roy Cooper’s tenure, vaccination of a teen without parental consent, and breach of contract issues with UNC System schools over fees and tuition.

State retirement plan’s assets reach record $20B

The state treasurer’s o ce issued updates on the N.C. Investment Authority, the state pension plan and a new State Health Plan medical advisory group

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — The North Carolina State Treasurer’s o ce, led by Treasurer Brad Briner, announced several developments related to the state’s retirement savings, investment management and State Health Plan.

The updates include milestones for supplemental retirement plans, strategic changes at the newly formed North Carolina Investment Authority (NCIA), performance data for the state’s pension fund, and the inaugural meeting of a medical advisory committee for the State Health Plan.

The North Carolina Supplemental Retirement Plans (SRP), comprising the NC 401(k) Plan and NC 457 Plan, reached a record $20 billion in assets at the end of 2025. The gure represents an increase from $17.7 billion at the close of 2024, with assets more than doubling over the past seven years, according to a press release.

“Today marks an important day in Supplemental Retirement

Plans history. It’s obviously a testament to the hardworking men and women of North Carolina and their commitment to being retirement ready in their savings, but it’s also a compliment to the team,” Briner said, acknowledging the leadership of SRP Director Je Hancock.

The retirement plans serve 325,714 participants across more than 1,100 state employers.

“It’s not enough to get to $20 billion,” Briner said. “We have aspirations to go even further, and the way we do that is by making it a better and better plan.”

Related news included North Carolina’s pension fund achieving a 13% return in 2025, excluding fees, ranking the fund in the 54th percentile among large U.S. public funds with more than $20 billion in assets.

Equity holdings of $60.5 billion returned 21%, xed income 7.4%, private equity 5.8%, and noncore real estate declined 1.7%. Over three years, the fund averaged 10.2% annually, but 5.6% over ve years, below the 6.5% target and peer averages.

At the Supplemental Retirement Board of Trustees’ quarterly meeting Feb. 26, the board

“It’s not enough to get to $20 billion. We have aspirations to go even further, and the way we do that is by making it a better and better plan.”

Brad Briner, state treasurer

approved an extension of an administrative fee waiver, known as a fee holiday. The measure is estimated to save participants approximately $1.7 million in recordkeeping costs over the next year, equating to about 10 cents per $1,000 held in accounts.

The waiver, which was effective March 1, is funded by accumulated reserves from prior fee negotiations with vendors. The board also voted to reduce reserves by an additional $2.25 million, continuing a pattern from previous years when similar waivers were implemented. Additionally, the board unanimously approved updates to the GoalMaker asset allocation tool used by participants. The meeting also included presentations from UHY on an upcoming nancial audit, from CEM Benchmarking on cost-e ectiveness comparisons and from Empower on enrollment data, as well as from the Bank of New York Mellon on arti cial intelligence applications.

In a separate meeting Feb. 25, the NCIA Board of Directors approved a new strategic asset allocation for the North Carolina Retirement Systems (NCRS) and voted to establish a long-term strategy for investing

assets of the Ancillary Governmental Participants Investment Program (AGPIP).

“These were the nal steps in the construction of North Carolina’s newest state agency, the North Carolina Investment Authority,” Briner said in a press release. “We now have approved the Investment Policy Statement and the incentive compensation plan.”

NCIA, established under the 2025 State Investment Modernization Act, manages $208.23 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2025, including $141.5 billion in the state pension plan.

“NCIA’s sole purpose is to deliver superior, risk-adjusted investment returns on the over $200 billion of taxpayer, employee, and retiree assets we manage on behalf of all North Carolinians,” said Briner. “These two important actions will allow the team to do just that.

“If the team increases historical returns by just 1% a year, the state will soon be able to increase retiree payouts through COLAs while at the same time reducing the annual pension contribution cost to the state budget.”

The allocation provides exibility in asset classes such as public equity, xed income, private equity, real estate and hedge funds, with new performance benchmarks and risk controls. It also covers the AGPIP, which includes 78 entities with statutorily limited investment options.

The NCIA Board also approved an incentive compensation plan for NCIA sta , based on recommendations from Mercer. Awards are tied to exceeding the 6.5% return assumption and other criteria.

Review of UNC’s SCiLL completed; not available to public

Con dentiality of personnel issues and interviewee protections were cited for withholding the report

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — UNC Chapel Hill has received the results of an independent review of its School of Civic Life and Leadership. The public, however, won’t get to read it, with con dentiality of personnel matters and protection of interviewees cited as the reason.

University o cials issued formal statements about the review, expressing con dence in the school’s leadership by Director and Dean Jed Atkins, as well as the mission of the School of Civic Life and Leadership (SCiLL).

“The review has concluded, and the University has unwavering con dence in the comprehensiveness, integrity and ob -

toward a solution that will allow Helene aid to ow despite the current shutdown posture,” said Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) in a press release. “I am proud to announce that these e orts, in conjunction with Secretary (Kristi) Noem, have resulted in tens of millions of additional PA grant funding being approved for Western North Carolina.

“This solution will not last forever, as FEMA’s reserves will run dry without reopening DHS,” citing Congressional Democrats currently refusing to fund DHS and its sub-agencies.

Noem was ousted as DHS head by Trump last week.

Edwards, in a separate statement, applauded the citizens hit hardest by Hurricane Helene.

“When Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina, our communities didn’t hesitate — they stepped up immediately to protect lives, clear debris, and restore essential services,” said Edwards. “But FEMA’s bureaucracy slowed parts of that recovery. I worked with federal and state leaders to cut through the red tape and make sure these reimbursement funds are delivered to the people back home who have already shouldered the cost.”

Budd’s press release includ-

jectivity of that review,” UNC Chapel Hill General Counsel Paul Newton said in a formal statement. “The University is committed to taking all steps appropriate to ensure that any necessary corrective actions are taken.

“Among the issues under review were a series of allegations that implicate sensitive and con dential personnel infor-

“This solution will not last forever, as FEMA’s reserves will run dry without reopening DHS.”

Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.)

ed a detailed chart of the grant amounts and related projects.

• $1,239,259 to the Town of Old Fort to restore damage to the Westerman Street Water Line

• $1,916,520 to Madison County to reimburse emergency response e orts

• $4,607,775 to the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) for road repairs to Pearson Falls Road in Polk County.

• $5,326,298 to Buncombe County for repairs to the county’s sewage system and other emergency measures

• $5,600,601 to the city of Asheville to repair the North Fork Water Treatment Plant

• $13,275,253 to Mitchell County for debris removal

• $20,358,749 to NCDOT for road and highway repairs in Buncombe, Mitchell and Avery counties Of the projects listed, NCDOT is receiving the largest

mation that is protected by state law and University policy. In accordance with applicable law and policy, the University does not plan to o er any further public statements about the details of the Review.”

Newton is the former North Carolina Senate majority leader who announced his resignation last March. In a press release, he said he was leaving to “pursue an opportunity outside of state government.” Not long after Newton’s announcement, Sen. Michael Lee (R-New Hanover) was picked to ll the majority leader spot, and Newton’s new role at UNC Chapel Hill was made public.

The review, which was initiated seven months ago to address concerns about internal operations and governance, was conducted by the rm of K&L Gates. Professor Michael Gerhardt of UNC’s School of Law, the incoming faculty chair, also served as an expert resource in the review.

Newton’s statement says that over the seven-month review, “K&L Gates met with anyone who expressed a desire to share a perspective — positive or negative — about SCiLL, often meeting with individuals multiple times,” and that the review team interviewed “dozens of individuals” and “hundreds of thousands of documents.”

“Put simply, the review was lengthy, detailed, and exhaustive,” Newton said. “The care taken underscores the University’s resolute commitment to taking all campus concerns seriously and to optimally positioning SCiLL for decades of success.”

A spokesperson for the university said the estimated cost of the SCiLL review andnal report totaled $1.2 million, and no state funds were used.

Established in 2023 by the UNC Board of Trustees with backing from state lawmakers, SCiLL focuses on promoting

share of grant money at more

than $33.427 million.

NCDOT recently indicated that repairs to I-40 for the ve miles nearest the Tennessee border will cost $2 billion, an increase of $900 million over its June 2025 estimate. The overall cost estimate now sits at approximately $5.8 billion.

This latest grants follow more than $233 million in federal Public Assistance Grant reimbursement funds issued to North Carolina by DHS in early

February, along with $116 million issued in January.

Estimates have put the state’s damage at around $60 billion due to Hurricane Helene, which took the lives of more than 100 North Carolinians.

Before the January funding announcement, FEMA paid more than $1 billion in public assistance grants and more than $549 million in direct grants to survivors.

But the overall federal relief total is estimated at closer

“In accordance with applicable law and policy, the University does not plan to o er any further public statements about the details of the Review.”

Paul Newton, UNC Chapel Hill general counsel

the study of civic discourse and public service with a focus on classical texts, American political thought, constitutionalism and related topics. The school was created in part to address ideological imbalances on campus, allowing for diverse viewpoints in an environment often described as left-leaning.

A more in-depth version of this story, including access to full statements by UNC Chapel Hill o cials, can be read at tinyurl.com/NSJ-SCiLL.

to $8.5 billion when factoring in spending by multiple federal agencies, including $2 billion for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers support and to conduct debris removal and more than $1.4 billion in Housing and Urban Development CDBG-DR funds for housing and infrastructure.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has issued nearly $2 billion in emergency relief funding for roads and bridges, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent $75.8 million for child care and related infrastructure.

Another $10 million came from the U.S. Department of Labor for workforce recovery programs to help those who lost jobs. As of mid-2025, the Small Business Administration was estimated to have provided between $350 million and $420 million in disaster loans.

The Environmental Protection Agency has allocated an estimated $747 million for water infrastructure, resiliency and repairs.

The North Carolina General Assembly has directed a total of $3.1 billion in state appropriations toward recovery from the storm.

Gov. Josh Stein has asked the federal government for more than $13.5 billion to address unmet recovery needs.

THE CONVERSATION

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

VISUAL VOICES

EDITORIAL | FRANK HILL

Is it the right thing to do?

Ronald Reagan understood the fragility of our system when he said American values could vanish in one generation.

IT HAS BEEN an interesting last couple of weeks, that is for sure.

I have had the great opportunity to be able to listen to di erent philosophers and theologians speak in depth about the meaning of life in various forums while celebrating a momentous birthday on the day the U.S. and Israeli forces attacked the Iranian leadership.

When I had the chance to respond to various well-wishers about my birthday, I was able to speak with several long-term Washington, D.C., friends about Iran and the current state of a airs of politics in general.

The amazing thing was each conversation centered around the very thing many people are so concerned about today in our elective discourse and process — how do you trust people who are in elected positions to make the best decisions for us as a nation and as a people?

Concurrent with such conversations were a series of discussions I had helped set up for 25 scholars from the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that were held on the campuses of NC State, Duke and UNC Chapel Hill. One of them was on the intellectual and philosophical history from ancient Athens to our modern American democratic republic.

The critical role of understanding how philosophy, intellectual inquiry and theological belief have shaped the American democratic republic is often neglected and even ridiculed in some left-wing circles today. Ronald Reagan understood the fragility of our system when he said American values could vanish in one generation if we don’t work to educate each new generation about why we live in the democratic republic that we do so freely and cavalierly today.

Aristotle wrote about how ethics and virtue should shape each person’s life, which then in turn governs how we all should act in a civil society as we try to live together in peace and harmony. Obviously, we have fallen short of the ideals of which he wrote, but we still have a chance to make things right, don’t we?

As I was speaking with my long-term D.C. friends about current events, we all remembered various times when we were in meetings with elected o cials, candidates, pollsters and campaign managers and a contentious point would come up and ignite a spirited discussion.

In the good o ces, there was always one person who would ask this great question: “Is this the right thing to do?” In the great o ces, that question would be asked by the elected politician or candidate — thereby setting the tone from the top. Such a great leader would ask each attendee to o er their fair and honest assessment of the situation so he could evaluate the merits of each argument and then make the nal decision and move on with it.

That one question — “Is it the right thing to do?” — would quickly pierce through the often sticky, gamey shell of elective politics and produce a lively, open discussion that brought together the various philosophies, religious beliefs, worldviews and intellectual experiences of everyone in the room. Each argument had to be supported by some claim to a historical philosophical, theological or intellectual train of thought and couldn’t be o ered simply as a “feeling” someone might have had at the time.

Politics may be the only forum where such an array of serious, mature thought must be brought to bear to make decisions that will a ect the greatest number of people.

Accountants, hospital administrators and business executives make critical decisions every day that a ect individual people’s lives, and they have to consider the ethical and moral implications of their impending decisions as well. However, politics is the one area where millions of people’s lives are impacted one way or another by the collective decisions of our elective legislative bodies. Sadly, politics is one area in America that most people consider to be broken in some manifest ways. It has to be xed, correct? However, what is broken in our politics won’t be xed by one person or one political party. The great danger to our elective system is when people of high character and intelligence cede the battle eld of ideas to candidates who couldn’t care less about understanding the long, rich history of intellectual and philosophical thought in Western civilization. Or worse, how about ceding the battle eld to candidates and political factions who openly seek to undermine and overturn the basic American principles and values on which we all depend?

Thomas Je erson wrote often about how elective service is one of the highest callings a person could be called to in their lifetime. Understanding the rich intellectual, philosophical and religious underpinnings of our democratic governance is a very close second because without such a vigorous understanding by the voting populace, it truly could vanish into the ether of history.

Ask any candidate this year to explain why they think a policy they support is “the right thing to do.” If they can’t answer it in a coherent way without getting all tongue-tied with a look of anguish on their face, then you may have your answer on whom to support or not.

The thrill of watching … primary night results?

Eight state legislative incumbents — ve Republicans and three Democrats — will not be returning after this year.

I’VE WRITTEN BEFORE about the thrill of general election campaign seasons, watching how things play out between party nominees as they battle for the hearts and minds of the voters they want to represent.

For political junkies, few things are quite like watching the debates that take place, the TV and forum appearances, the speeches given at local BBQ events, and anxiously awaiting the periodic polling results.

Better still is when you get the chance to make your voice heard — whether it’s by absentee ballot, early voting or on Election Day. While hunkering down to watch election night results is probably the most exciting part of it all, few people have that same feeling when watching primary night results come in, particularly in races one wouldn’t think would turn into nail-biters.

And yet that is exactly what happened last Tuesday night as results came in for numerous races that saw incumbents lose their bid for reelection well before November.

In total, eight state legislative incumbents (with all but one serving in the N.C. House) will not be returning after this year, with ve being Republicans and three being Democrats.

But there’s a possibility that a ninth incumbent will go down as well in one of the most shocking turns of events in modern North Carolina political history.

Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger and Rockingham County Sheri Sam Page are locked in a tight battle for Senate District 26,

which encompasses all of Rockingham County and parts of Guilford County.

Berger has been in the General Assembly since 2001. In 2011, he became state Senate leader. He’s been highly e ective — instrumental in many GOP victories on issues like redistricting, crime, gun rights, ICE cooperation, increased higher ed oversight, pro -life and anti-trans causes, and neutering the power of the governor.

Page, an Air Force veteran, has been sheri since 1998 and, in many ways, is the stereotypical aw-shucksy, tough-on-crime Southern sheri on whose bad side you don’t want to get. He’s probably the one political gure in the district who is more well-known than Berger. From the outset of the race, Berger seemingly knew it was going to be a challenge, with some reports claiming as much as $10 million, mostly from the Berger camp and groups that supported his reelection campaign, being spent.

Page, on the other hand, had some help from Democrats who want to see Berger gone, in addition to support from some grassroots Christian conservatives who weren’t fans of a Berger-backed push in 2023 for a casino in Rockingham County that never came to fruition.

President Donald Trump likes them both but endorsed Berger.

On primary night, the results in the district were a must-watch, and the longer the night

went on, the more often N.C. political observers were hitting the refresh button on the election results page.

If memory serves me correctly, I don’t think Berger was ever in the lead, but the gap narrowed from a few thousand to a few hundred, and then … two. By the time primary night uno cial results were in, Page had 13,077 votes, and Berger had 13,075.

As of this writing, with accepted provisionals included, Page is ahead by 23 votes, 13,136 to 13,113. What’s left? According to Carolina Journal, “County boards of elections are scheduled to certify the results during the o cial canvass on March 13.”

“Before this occurs, any absentee ballots that need curing and any military and overseas ballots outstanding will also be added to the total, potentially moving the current number,” they also noted.

If the two still end up being within a percentage point of each other, a recount can be called for by the second-place candidate. Will there be legal wranglings beyond that, as we saw in the prolonged 2024 N.C. Supreme Court race?

We’ll nd out soon enough.

North Carolina native Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a media analyst and regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.

COLUMN

NC families deserve education freedom now

The Education Freedom Tax Credit doesn’t take a single dollar away from public schools.

WHEN PRESIDENT Donald Trump nominated me as secretary of Education, he told me I’d succeed if I red myself. But his vision isn’t about me or one position — it’s about you and breaking up the education bureaucracy in Washington, a system that enriches adults while sti ing progress for students. He and I, along with millions of Americans, believe education should return to states, local communities and parents to unleash a new era of excellence. And one of the most powerful ways to achieve this is by expanding school choice.

Since my con rmation, I’ve traveled the country listening to parents, teachers, legislators and students from every corner of the nation, including here in my home state of North Carolina. Their message is consistent: Americans are tired of top - down, one-size- ts-all policies that trap students in failing schools. That’s why the president and I have worked to expand educational freedom, allowing families to select the learning environment that best meets their children’s needs.

Here in North Carolina, I was elated to see the legislature swiftly pass House Bill 87, the Educational Choice for Children Act, becoming the rst state to opt into Trump’s Education Freedom Tax Credit. This initiative allows families to use scholarships for private schools, tutoring and after-school programs, tailoring education to t each child.

But when the bill arrived on Gov. Josh Stein’s desk, he had this to say: “Once the federal government issues sound guidance, I intend to opt North Carolina in so we can invest in the public school students most in need of after-school programs, tutoring, and other resources. … HB 87 is unnecessary, and I veto it.”

Yet in the seven months since Stein issued his veto, and more than a month after the U.S. Departments of Education and Treasury jointly released comprehensive guidance detailing exactly how the program works, he has yet to follow through on his promise. North Carolina remains on the sidelines while 27 other states have already opted in. This isn’t leadership; it’s partisan delay dressed up as caution.

Nor is his reasoning sound. Stein asserted that the tax credit would “hollow … out” public schools, “cutting public education funding by billions of dollars.” It does neither. The Education Freedom Tax Credit doesn’t take a single dollar

COLUMN | STEPHEN MOORE

Don’t let

Congress ruin college sports

The SCS proposal is an idea that only Bernie Sanders could love and is likely to generate less revenue for all NCAA men’s and women’s sports.

SHOULD THE REVENUES made by big-time college athletics be “shared” by all the schools? Do we want “revenue-sharing” socialism to come to college football and basketball? Many in Congress are answering yes to that question.

The NCAA isn’t the massive moneymaker the NFL and NBA are, but in many ways the product is more exciting than the boring professional leagues. That’s especially true in this month of March, when the hoops madness begins.

Even with the new “pay-to-play” rules that have turned college football and basketball into semipro leagues, with some star athletes earning more to stay in college than “going pro,” the fan interest is higher than ever before. So is the money the big schools are making.

There are a lot of legitimate complaints about these billions of dollars in TV contracts collected by the supposed “nonpro t” colleges. But keep in mind that the multibillion-dollar annual TV contracts for college football and basketball help subsidize the cost of all the other men’s and women’s sports — from badminton to cross- country.

The two mega conferences, the Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference, tend to dominate viewership and, thus, money — about $2 billion in TV contracts.

Now Congress has concocted the so - called Saving College Sports plan, which would create a government “oversight” panel that would negotiate media rights on behalf of colleges and conferences across the country. The idea is to share the wealth: bring socialism to the football stadium and the basketball arena.

But the SCS proposal is an idea that only Bernie Sanders could love and is likely to generate less revenue for all NCAA men’s and women’s sports. Advocates warn that, under current rules, only the big, rich schools get richer and win all the titles.

Wait. The Indiana Hoosiers, the losingest team in college football, just won the national championship without a single ve-star recruit on the roster. A few years ago, tiny Villanova beat all the SEC and Big

away from public schools — and it doesn’t cost Tarheel taxpayers a dime. Instead, it raises additional funding for education by stimulating private donations with federal tax incentives, providing exible scholarships for K-12 expenses, such as private tuition, tutoring and homeschooling materials. All driven by private generosity, not government spending.

The program empowers families across all income levels and builds on North Carolina’s existing strong choice ecosystem. Crucially, it allows students in traditional public schools to receive scholarships for extra support without changing schools. Families can use funds to get tutoring for their child or to procure supports for their students with disabilities while remaining in their traditional public school.

Stein’s hesitancy now appears less about policy details and more about political posturing that puts ideology ahead of North Carolina’s students and families. But he’s not denying the president a victory. He’s denying North Carolinians their right to choose an education that ts their child’s needs.

Even if North Carolina chooses not to participate, its taxpayers can still claim the federal tax credit — they’ll just send their money to scholarship organizations in other states instead of supporting students in their own communities. No governor should want residents’ tax dollars leaving the state when they could help North Carolina families and schools.

North Carolinian families need more than excuses. Every child deserves access to an education that empowers success — not one limited by their ZIP code, family income or government-imposed barriers. The legislature showed boldness in passing H.B. 87; it’s time for Stein to match that urgency and secure this tool for Tarheel families before another generation misses out.

North Carolina, the state that gave the world powered ight, has long led our nation in innovation.

The Trump administration is your ready partner — opt in, unlock these opportunities for every Tarheel family, and ensure every child can manifest their academic destiny.

Linda McMahon is U.S. secretary of Education, a New Bern native and an alumna of East Carolina University.

Trump avoiding repeating history in Iran

HISTORY DOESN’T ALWAYS repeat itself, or even rhyme. People sometimes learn from experience, their own or others’.

Example: Woodrow Wilson, a stubborn Southerner, refused to involve any Republicans, all Northerners in those days, in treaty negotiations after World War I. His treaty version, which would require the United States to go to war on a vote of the League of Nations, was rejected by the Senate. Franklin Roosevelt, who had been Wilson’s assistant secretary of the Navy, included Republicans in post-war and treaty planning while World War II was still going on. That ensured bipartisan support for the United Nations, where America had a veto in the Security Council that authorizes war, and paved the way for bipartisan support of the Marshall Plan and the NATO Treaty — a post-war settlement that has lasted nigh on 80 years.

But are current leaders capable of learning from past mistakes? As the formidable, learned historian Niall Ferguson wrote on Feb. 28 as the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran, “For the habitual critics of U.S. foreign policy in general and Donald Trump’s in particular, the analogy between today’s air raids against Iran and the invasion of Iraq nearly 23 years ago is too obvious to be resisted.”

As for public opinion, such critics expected history to be repeated. There would be a familiar refrain, dating back to protests against Democratic presidents’ 1960s escalations in Vietnam — the “traditional model: Rally-around-the- ag, then quagmire and backlash,” as the brilliant polling analyst Nate Silver puts it.

Trump clearly wanted to avoid that trap. He’s plainly unfamiliar with the people’s great success in reviving dormant traditions of electoral democracy and rule of law in post-World War II Germany and Japan, and he spent most of this century decrying George W. Bush’s attempts to nurture such plants in the less fertile soil of Iraq and Afghanistan.

As did Roosevelt, he has taken a di erent course in his removal of Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela and in the bombing of Iran, which resulted in the deaths of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several dozen regime leaders.

One reason he could do so was precision bombing. Massive bombing didn’t produce regime change in Churchill’s Britain or Hitler’s Germany, but bombs were famously inaccurate. Five decades later, technology facilitated precision bombing. In 1991, Iraqis strolled along the banks of the Tigris River, con dent that the bombs released from George H. W. Bush’s Desert Storm planes would fall on buildings hosting Saddam’s entourage and regime loyalists.

Electronic surveillance — which will not surprise viewers of Apple TV’s Israeli-made streaming series “Tehran” — has enabled the precision location of regime leaders, ushering in U.S. special forces to extract Maduro from his safe room in Caracas and Israeli and American jets to zero in on Khamenei and the supreme leader’s colleagues in their Saturday morning conference.

That capability has added an arrow to America’s quiver. Trump recognized Maduro’s deputy, Delcy Rodriguez, as Venezuela’s de facto leader, but his capacity to take out her predecessor has left her, her colleagues and possible successors fearful of being caught doing anything Trump may not like. You can control a regime, to some limited extent, if you have the capacity to extract or exterminate the leader.

Ten behemoths to win the NCAA basketball championship.

The legislation also ignores the reality that as the kingpins in the SEC and Big Ten have gotten really rich, the other leagues have seen healthy returns and pro ts as well at roughly the same pace. The better the power conferences do, the better the Mid-American and Big East conferences do, just at a lower scale. The rules also ensure that the smaller conferences are represented in the NCAA basketball tournament and the College Football Playo . Anything that makes the overall product less attractive hurts all the schools. Given that the games aren’t broken — although some reforms are de nitively needed in transfer and name, image and likeness rules — it’s not clear what Congress is trying to x here.

Socialism and revenue-sharing requirements aren’t likely to work in college sports any more than they have in any other industry. At some point, Congress should reconsider whether college athletics are “nonpro t activities” that are tax-deductible. In the meantime, Congress has better things to do than impose price controls and revenue-sharing requirements on college sports.

Stephen Moore is a former Trump senior economic adviser and the cofounder of Unleash Prosperity, which advocates for education freedom for all children.

(Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

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Contact a writer or columnist: connect@ northstatejournal.com

Which makes it easier, apparently, for leaders of other countries to endorse an operation launched by just the U.S. and Israel. Australia and Canada chimed in with immediate support (though Britain has dithered), France and Germany made helpful statements, and Iranian military leaders’ attacks provoked sharp opposition from the Gulf Arab states, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, reviving the Abraham Accords, one of the prime achievements of the rst Trump term.

Another reason Trump may not be repeating history is that he is, for the time being and at least in the near future, keeping any perceptible number of U.S. troops out of Iran, as he has in Venezuela. There’s been no visible conquest and no visible occupation.

One corollary is that there’s almost no U.S. press or American television cameras there either. Media budgets are tightening, and media executives may be reluctant to order constant coverage, as they did in Afghanistan and Iraq, with so few Americans currently at risk in Iran.

Some on the right charge the press with trying to subvert U.S. aims, and certainly, there are some who root for the other guys. But covering a war is a dangerous business, and no one should ignore the many deaths and grievous su ering of the press, going back to the death of Atlantic editor Michael Kelly in April 2003. And bad news, by its nature, gets more coverage than good news.

Trump is trying to avoid any backlash generated by bad news by setting modest goals. The 1960s Democrats wanted anti-communists to govern South Vietnam; George W. Bush wanted democracy and human rights to prevail in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Trump’s goal appears to be to prevent leaders of adversary nations from doing bad things beyond their borders. Just as Thomas Je erson sent the Navy against the Barbary pirates (without a declaration of war or much initial congressional approval), Trump’s seeking not internal regime change but external regime behavior.

The upside possibility is disappointing for those proud of Americans’ role in advancing freedoms around the world over the last century and more. But the downside risk of negative history repeating itself looks to be less.

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.”

Murphy to Manteo

Discover small towns by shopping local

Seventy-two small businesses from Murphy to Manteo have earned the designation as a Certi ed North Carolina Destination Business by the North Carolina Department of Commerce. Launched by the North Carolina Main Street and Rural Planning Center in 2025 with 33 businesses, the statewide initiative strengthens small businesses and enhances community vitality by transforming local shops into destination-worthy experiences. Through hands-on training led by national destination development experts, participants have learned strategies to stand out in competitive markets. From unique product o erings to immersive experiences, these businesses now serve as anchors for tourism and economic growth. Funding for the workshop series and the enhancement of the N.C. Main to Main Trail was secured through a State Outdoor Recreation, Travel and Tourism Grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. The N.C. Main Street & Rural Planning Center is North Carolina’s state coordinating program for Main Street America. Main Street America has been helping revitalize older and historic commercial districts for more than 46 years.

1. Olive’s Porch at John Campbell Folk School (Murphy)

2. Mayberry Antique Mall (Mount Airy) 3. Front Porch on Main (Troy)

4. Bright Penny Brewing (Mebane)

5. Banks Bed and Breakfast (Garner)

6. Artisan Leaf (Wilson)

7. Kitchen Kuriosities (Elizabeth City)

PIEDMONT

Prom Shop o ers free formal wear to all students

Forsyth County

camps” claim Henderson County The city of Hendersonville’s King Memorial Park has issued a statement following a social media post from a former Hendersonville High School baseball coach who posted a social media video claiming that the park had “meth camps.” The statement says crews from public works responded to the coach, making arrangements for crews to address the claims. According to the statement, the Hendersonville Police Department was contacted to evaluate the situation and found no active homeless camps or any drug activity. The statement said King Memorial Park is a joint facility shared between Henderson County Public Schools and Hendersonville High and Middle school teams. According to the city, all three teams are responsible for the maintenance of the park. It said that in the past, the city sta was noti ed of the issues by coaches or public school system sta in advance of games, but they claim that didn’t happen in this situation. NSJ

The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools’ annual Prom Shop o ers free prom dresses, suits, shoes and accessories for all students. The shop, at 2700 S. Main St., will be open from 9 a.m. to noon on March 21 and March 28 for WS/FCS students with a valid ID, with parking available behind the building. Organizers said prom season shouldn’t be stressful or create a nancial barrier for families, and the shop is there for students to shop and feel con dent.

WFMY

Beloved owl dies at N.C. Zoo

Randolph County

EAST

Police search for suspect after alleged peeping incident at ECU

Pitt County

Two injured in plane crash near Indian Trail

Union County

Two people are injured after a plane crashed after take-o from Goose Creek Airport in Indian Trail, according to the sheri ’s o ce. The plane crashed into an open eld near the airport. The passenger was ejected from the plane before it crashed, but the pilot had to be cut out of the aircraft by rst responders. The passenger was found and airlifted to the hospital. The pilot was taken to the hospital by ambulance. The FAA is investigating the crash.

WXII

The North Carolina Zoo is mourning the loss of Sam, a barred owl who lived at the zoo for more than two decades after being rescued from a car strike in 2002. Sam, estimated to be 25 years old, far exceeded the typical 8 - to 10-year lifespan of her species and became a cherished presence at the zoo’s Streamside habitat. Sam formed a particularly strong bond with one keeper in recent years, responding to his voice, participating willingly in daily training and even calling to him in her nal moments. During her time at the zoo, Sam was cared for through the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and trained to enter her crate, y to a glove and perch calmly on a scale, making medical procedures less stressful. Sta said her longevity and gentle nature re ected both her resilience and the dedicated care she received over more than 20 years.

NSJ

ECU Police are searching for any information on a suspect who is wanted for peeping on a student in a dorm shower stall. A male resident of Cotten Hall on East Carolina University’s campus reported to campus police that while he was getting ready to take a shower, he noticed a hand holding a cell phone near his feet. The suspect ed the area before any confrontation could take place. Police say the suspect entered the dorms after following someone inside.

WNCN

Nonpro t board member allegedly killed by husband

Onslow County

A 43-year-old Jacksonville woman is dead after her husband shot and killed her in Jacksonville on Saturday night, police say. O cers found Staci Davis with gunshot wounds at her home and pronounced her dead at the scene. O cers arrested her husband, Michael Davis Jr., at the scene after what police say was an argument that led to the shooting. According to social media, Staci Davis was a board member at One Place, a nonpro t that serves children and

State reports detail Rocky Mount’s “severe” nancial troubles

Nash County Two reports from the North Carolina O ce of the State Auditor detail nancial distress within the city of Rocky Mount and raise concerns about governance, oversight and contracting practices. In a performance audit, the auditor’s o ce found the city experienced severe nancial strain between scal years 2023 and 2025. According to the audit, city employee compensation increased by 27% and capital purchases rose by 153% in scal year 2024, while revenues declined by 2%. During that same period, the city’s cash and investment balances dropped from approximately $100 million in August 2023 to $21.8 million by August 2025 — a 78% decrease. The audit states total annual purchases and other payments rose to more than $300 million. The report attributes the nancial distress to “a combination of poor personnel decisions and egregious overspending,” leading to increased property taxes and utility rates, pauses in capital improvement projects and the elimination of city jobs.

NSJ

“North Carolinians are shouldering the burden of massive increases in local budgets.”

N.C. Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden)

Iran names Khamenei’s son as successor NATION & WORLD

Mojtaba Khamenei was picked to be the country’s new supreme leader

The Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran’s late supreme leader, has been named as the Islamic Republic’s next ruler, authorities announced Monday, as Tehran widened its attacks across the Mideast to strike oil and water facilities crucial to its desert sheikdoms.

With Iran’s theocracy under assault by the U.S. and Israel for more than a week, the country’s Assembly of Experts chose as the next supreme leader a secretive, 56-year-old cleric who maintains close ties to the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. The Guard has been ring missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf Arab states since the younger Khamenei’s father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed Feb. 28 during the war’s opening salvo.

The war has shaken global energy markets, pushing oil prices above $100 a barrel and leading to tighter supplies of natural gas after Qatar turned o its production.

The younger Khamenei, who had not been seen or heard from publicly since the war started, had long been considered a contender for the post. That was even before the Israeli strike killed his father and despite never being elected or appointed to a government position.

There appeared to be some dissension over his selection. Political gures within Iran criticized the idea of handing over the supreme leader’s title based on

heredity and thereby creating a clerical version of the rule of the shah, who was toppled during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But top clerics in the Assembly of Experts likely wanted Khamenei to prosecute the war. Khamenei, who is believed to hold views that are even more hard line than his late father, will now oversee Iran’s armed forces and any deci-

election protest is March 17 at noon. Once led, a machine recount is conducted followed by, if requested, a hand recount of the ballots.

The only outstanding ballots are overseas and military ballots, which are due by Thursday at 5 p.m.

The overseas and military ballot receipt deadline is the last business day before counties conduct their canvass on March 13. The Guilford County Board of Elections’ canvass is scheduled for 11 a.m., and Rockingham County’s will occur at 3 p.m.

Overseas and military ballots have new rules on them following an April 2025 North Carolina Supreme Court ruling that requires those voters to comply with the photo ID requirement for state and local contests, making voters who

lower costs for North Carolina families.”

Whatley won his primary race with more than 64% of the vote.

“I’m honored to be the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina,” Whatley said in an X post.

“Republicans are united. Now the real ght begins,” wrote Whatley. “This November, North Carolina voters will have a choice: Safer Communities, Secure Borders, More Jobs and Lower Costs or Roy Cooper’s failed record. Let’s win.”

Following his primary win, Whatley was endorsed by the North Carolina Troopers Association (NCTA).

Whatley accepted the endorsement during a press conference held at the Charlotte Fraternal Order of Police lodge. He announced that, if elected, he would end “soft-on-crime policies” and create a federal version of Iryna’s Law.

Iryna’s Law is named after Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, who was murdered on Charlotte’s light rail system, allegedly by repeat o ender Decarlos Brown Jr. Leading up to the primary, Whatley primarily focused on public safety, including attacking Cooper over a “secret list” of 3,500 prisoners released during the pandemic under a settlement agreement with activist groups. Brown’s name was

have never resided in North Carolina — known as “never residents” — ineligible to vote in those contests.

The State Board of Elections’ state canvass is scheduled for March 25 to o cially certify the results of the election if there are no pending recounts or protests.

Other upsets

Eight other incumbents lost their primary races last Tuesday — three House Democrats, four House Republicans and one Senate Republican.

• Rep. Carla Cunningham (D-Mecklenburg) lost to Rodney Sadler

• Rep. Nasif Majeed (D-Mecklenburg) was defeated by Veleria M. Levy

• Rep. Shelly Willingham (D-Edgecombe) was defeated by Patricia Smith

• Rep. Kelly Hastings (R-Gas-

on the list, as were 51 prisoners with life sentences for violent crimes.

Since the list made headlines, Cooper has dodged media questions multiple times but recently gave a response to a reporter, blaming the settlement agreement on law enforcement while also pointing the nger at President Donald Trump.

The race could be one of the costliest ever for a Senate seat.

Congressional results

In congressional district primaries, nearly all the incumbents won their races outright. Seven of the eight races saw incumbents taking voting percentages in the 70% to 90% range. The only race that remained in contention on election night was Rep. Valerie Foushee’s (D-Hillsborough) District 4. Foushee held a slim lead of 1,200 votes (0.98%) on election night over Durham Commissioner Nida Allam. On election night, Allam told The Daily Tar Heel she would request a recount since the race was under the state’s 1% recall threshold, but she later issued a concession statement.

Foushee was endorsed by both Cooper and current Gov. Josh Stein. Allam was backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and other progressive groups. Outside spending in the race was reported by NC Newsline as “just shy of $4.5 million.”

ton) was defeated by Caroline Eason

• Rep. Keith Kidwell (R-Beaufort) lost to challenger Darren Armstrong

• Rep. Mark Pless (R-Haywood) lost to Jimmy Rogers

• Rep. Reece Pyrtle (R-Rockingham) lost to Seth Woodall

• Sen. Chris Measmer (R-Cabarrus) was upset by Kevin Crutch eld; Measmer was appointed to the seat last fall to ll the remainder of Sen. Paul Newton’s term Cunningham, Majeed and Willingham drew challengers mainly due to having voted with House Republicans on veto overrides by former Gov. Roy Cooper and current Gov. Josh Stein.

Other notable race results included Republican Shirley Johnson defeating Sarah Al-Baghdadi by 90% of the vote in the District 17 contest. Johnson will face Minority Leader

sion regarding Tehran’s nuclear program.

Israel has already described him as a potential target, while U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the idea of Khamenei taking power.

“Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me,” Trump has said. “We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran.” Trump told ABC News on

Sunday he wants a say in who comes to power once the war is over; a new leader “is not going to last long” without his approval. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard issued a statement expressing support, as did the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Top Iranian security o cial Ali Larijani, speaking to Iranian state television, praised the Assembly of Experts for “courageously” convening even as airstrikes continued in Tehran. He said the younger Khamenei had been trained by his father and “can handle this situation.”

The U.S. military said a service member died of injuries from an Iranian attack on troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1. Seven U.S. soldiers have now been killed.

Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said Monday it intercepted a drone attacking the country’s massive Shaybah oil eld. The kingdom followed the alleged drone attack with sharper warnings to Iran that it would be the “biggest loser” if it continued to attack Arab states. The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, at least 397 in Lebanon and at least 11 in Israel, according to o cials. Israel reported its rst soldier deaths Sunday, saying two were killed in southern Lebanon, where its military is ghting Hezbollah.

Sen. Sydney Batch (D-Wake) in November.

Raleigh-area attorney Chris Stock won the Republican primary against Wake County School Board Member Cheryl Caul eld. He faces Sen. Terence Everitt (D-Wake) for the District 18 seat in the general election.

Sen. Sophia Chitlik (D-Durham) defeated her challenger, former Durham City Council Member DeDreana Freeman. In November, Chitlik will face Republican LaKeshia M. Alston.

Former Democratic lawmaker Michael Wray’s bid to retake his District 27 seat from Rep. Rodney Pierce (D-Halifax) did not pan out. Pierce won with almost 64% of the vote.

In statewide judicial races for the Court of Appeals, Republican Michael Bryne defeated Matt Smith in the race for Seat 1 by just over 3% of the vote. That

In the crowded Republican primary for the state’s rst district, Laurie Buckhout prevailed and will face incumbent Rep. Don Davis (D-Snow Hill) in the general election. Davis’ district was redrawn last fall and is now considered a Republican-leaning seat. Buckhout ran against Davis in a tight 2024 race. There were no primary races in District 2, and incumbent Rep. Deborah Ross (D-Raleigh) will face Republican Eugene F. Douglass and Libertarian Matthew Laszacs in the general election.

Other congressional district results

District 3: Incumbent Rep. Greg Murphy (R-Greenville) will face Democrat Raymond Smith.

District 5: Incumbent Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-Banner Elk) defeated three primary challengers and will face Democrat Chuck Hubbard.

District 6: Incumbent Rep. Addison McDowell (R-Advance) will face Democrat Cyril Je erson, who won his three-person primary race.

District 7: Incumbent Rep.

seat is currently held by Democratic Judge John Arrowood. For Court of Appeals Seat 3, currently held by Republican Judge Craig Collins, Christine Walczyk beat James Whalen with more than 63% of the vote. Primary results did not begin processing until after 8:30 p.m. due to an hour being added to accommodate for polling location issues in Halifax County.

According to the State Board of Elections, voter turnout was up 25.4% over the 2022 primary. Additionally, total turnout this year surpassed the 2022 primary by 5%. Statewide, 1,505,264 ballots were cast out of a possible 7,664,465 ballots.

The NCSBE published the list of provisional ballot counts by county, rst reporting those counts on March 2 as 8,185 statewide and updating the gure on March 5 to 8,811.

David Rouzer (R-Wilmington) easily won with more than 80% of the vote against David Buzzard.

District 8: Incumbent Rep. Mark Harris (R-Indian Trail) will face Colby Watson, who won his three-person primary.

District 9: Incumbent Rep. Richard Hudson (R-Southern Pines) will meet Democrat Richard Ojeda II, who won his primary race.

District 10: Incumbent Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-Hickory) won over his challenger Matthew Sin. He will face Ashley Bell, who was the winner in her ve-person Democratic primary race.

District 11: Incumbent Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-Flat Rock) easily defeated challenger Adam Smith. Jamie Ager won the Democratic primary over the four other candidates.

District 12: Incumbent Rep. Alma Adams (D-Charlotte) defeated three primary opponents. In the Republican primary, Jack Codiga beat Addul Ali.

District 13: Incumbent Rep. Brad Knott (R-Raleigh) prevailed over Sid Sharm with nearly 90% of the vote. On the Democratic side, Paul Barringer emerged as the winner in his three-way race. District 14: Incumbent Rep. Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain) beat Katie Barr. Moore faces the Democratic primary winner Lakesha Womack in November.

Hims & Hers, Novo Nordisk end lawsuit, enter collaboration

Hims & Hers Health has agreed to stop selling compound versions of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and other weight-loss drugs, ending for now a patent lawsuit. The companies on Monday announced a partnership in which Hims & Hers will sell Novo Nordisk’s medications at “self-pay prices.” Hims will also stop advertising compounded GLP-1 drugs on its platform or in its marketing. Shares of Hims & Hers surged in morning trading.

Simon & Schuster names Greeley CEO

New York

Simon & Schuster has named a former Amazon executive, Greg Greeley, as its new CEO. The publisher announced Monday that Greeley’s appointment is e ective immediately. The 62-year-old Greeley succeeds Jonathan Karp, who announced last year that he was stepping down. Greeley has a background in business and investment. He spent nearly 20 years at Amazon, where his positions included vice president of Amazon Prime. Greeley will be running Simon & Schuster at a time of rapid change in the industry, with publishers, authors and agents debating the role of AI in the future of books.

Ford recalls 1.74M cars over rearview display issues

New York Ford has issued two recalls a ecting nearly 1.74 million of its cars in the U.S. due to software issues impacting the vehicles’ rearview camera displays that could increase crash risks. According to notices published by the National Highway Tra c Safety Administration this week, an internal component inside the infotainment system of certain 2021-2026 Ford Broncos and 2021-2024 Ford Edges may overheat and shut down, preventing the rearview image from displaying when drivers are going in reverse. Meanwhile, some 2020-2022 Ford Escapes and Lincoln Corsairs, as well as 2020 -2024 Lincoln Aviators and Explorers, may show a ipped or inverted rearview image.

Saks Global to shutter 15 more department stores

New York

The parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus is closing more of its department stores as it focuses on its most pro table businesses and trims debt during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring. Saks Global Inc. said last Friday that it will close 12 more Saks Fifth Avenue stores and three more Neiman Marcus stores. The shuttered Saks include stores in Chicago, Las Vegas and Chevy Chase, Maryland. The closures come on top of last month’s announcement it was closing eight Saks Fifth Avenue stores and one Neiman Marcus store.

Justice Department, Live Nation reach settlement over monopoly case

The trial to lower costs of ticketed events and include competition is ongoing

By Alanna Durkin Richer and Larry Neumeister The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C.—

The Justice Department said Monday that it has tentatively settled its antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation Entertainment, striking a deal to ultimately lower ticket prices for consumers and end an illegal monopoly over live events in America.

But some states signaled they won’t join the deal and will continue an ongoing trial.

After the Justice Department announced the deal at the start of the trial day in Manhattan federal court, Judge Arun Subramanian called it “entirely unacceptable” that no one informed him of the tentative deal until late Sunday. A term sheet for the expected settlement was signed last Thursday, he said.

A senior Justice Department o cial, though, spoke e usively of the looming settlement on the condition of anonymity Monday during a phone call with journalists under terms set by the department to release some information about the proposed settlement.

Live Nation would pay a ne of up to $280 million and divest itself of at least 13 amphitheaters across the country as it opens up its ticketing processes so that competitors can share in the sale of tickets, the o cial said.

The o cial called it a “win-win for everybody” that will bring immediate relief for

consumers and protect venues from retaliation when they choose companies other than Live Nation to handle tickets or promotions for events.

A double-digit number of states were expected to join the proposed deal, the o cial said.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement the Justice Department deal “fails to address the monopoly at the center of this case” and that she would not agree to it.

“My attorney general colleagues and I have a strong case against Live Nation, and we will continue our lawsuit to protect consumers and restore fair competition to the live entertainment industry,” James said.

A release containing her statements said New York state was joined in its decision to continue pursuing claims by attorneys general in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming and the District of Columbia.

In a release, Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown said the bipartisan group of state attorneys general who joined the Justice Department’s lawsuit in May 2024 would continue because the “case against Live Nation is strong, and the state coalition is committed to holding the company accountable for its illegal behavior, protecting consumers and restoring competition to this market.”

Adam Gitlin, a lawyer for the District of Columbia, told Subramanian that several states

The Justice Department reached a tentative deal with Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, after accusing the companies of running an illegal monopoly over live events in America and squelching competition.

had not decided what they would do, including Texas, Florida and Louisiana. He said Texas had expressed “serious concerns” about the deal.

Gitlin requested a mistrial on Monday, a week after opening statements, but David Marriott, a lawyer for Live Nation, opposed the request. The judge informed the jury of the proposed deal and told jurors that “certain states are proceeding” with their claims and the trial was expected to resume next week.

Live Nation didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Associated Press for comment. The continuation of the trial will leave the states to press claims to further dismantle a monopoly the Justice Department said was squelching competition and driving up prices for fans.

The case, brought under President Joe Biden’s administration in 2024, accused Live Nation of using threats, retaliation and other tactics to “suffocate the competition” by con-

trolling virtually every aspect of the industry, from concert promotion to ticketing.

The Justice Department accused Live Nation of engaging in a slew of practices that have allowed it to maintain a stranglehold over the live music scene. It has said the company uses long-term contracts to keep venues from choosing rival ticketers, blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers and threatening venues that they could lose money and fans if they don’t choose Ticketmaster.

Live Nation has maintained that artists and teams set prices and decide how tickets are sold.

Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment, based in Beverly Hills, California, have a long history of clashes with major artists and their fans, including Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen.

Ticketmaster, which was established in 1976 and merged with Live Nation in 2010, is the world’s largest ticket seller across live music, sports, theater and more.

Hilton launches recovery fund for women business owners after disasters

The celebrity heiress lost her Malibu home to a re last year

By Gabriela Aoun Angueira The Associated Press

POP CULTURE star, ad-

vocate and entrepreneur Paris Hilton launched an initiative Monday to support female small-business owners impacted by disasters, a nationwide expansion of her philanthropic support for women entrepreneurs after the 2025 Los Angeles res.

Hilton is donating $350,000 to kick-start the Back in Business Recovery Fund, with a goal to raise at least $1 million by the end of March.

“Women-owned businesses are really the heart of so many of these communities,” Hilton told The Associated Press. “I want to be able to lift up and support them, shine a light on them and really make a di erence in their lives.”

The new initiative will be a partnership between Hilton’s social impact organization, 11:11 Media Impact, and GoFundMe.org, which is the nonpro t partner to the fundraising platform GoFundMe and will contribute $100,000 to the fund’s launch.

ed the community of Altadena. The money helped cover rent, payroll, replacing equipment and rebuilding.

One year later, 90% of the grantee businesses are still operating, according to the Pasadena Women’s Business Center.

Grant helped oral designer

NCDOT CASH REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 5

Beginning Cash

$2,526,699,672

Receipts (income)

$268,483,262

Disbursements

$140,018,932 Cash Balance

$2,655,158,593

Hilton and those organizations deployed over $1 million in cash grants to 50 women-owned small businesses after the LA res, which destroyed her Malibu home.

Losing the home where she was raising her young children has been “very emotional,” Hilton said, and spurred her to think of other mothers who’d lost not just houses but income to support their families.

The grants of up to $25,000 went to owners of childcare centers, bakeries, bookshops, dance studios and salons damaged by the Eaton re, which devastat-

The grantees included Renata Ortega, who ran her oral design company, Orla Floral Studio, from a converted garage next to the Altadena home she shared with her husband and three dogs.

Ortega was unsure how she would keep her business going after ames destroyed her house and studio space, including all her oral and event equipment.

“Nothing prepares you for that amount of loss,” she said. “I didn’t think I was going to be able to get back on my feet because it took me years to be able to come up with the inventory I had.”

The grant helped Ortega pay the deposit on a studio space and purchase a badly

needed oral cooler. Orla Floral is now “booked and busy,” she said. She was able to keep her sta and is hoping to hire another employee soon.

The support also gave Ortega a motivational boost as she faced rebuilding her home and livelihood simultaneously.

“You have to keep going, and you have to keep pushing and ghting forward,” Ortega told herself, “because if somebody like Paris Hilton notices your story and thinks you’re important, then you have to believe in yourself and also think that you’re important.”

Hilton wanted to think bigger

Hilton supported grantees as a customer, too, proudly donning a catsuit from the apparel shop Crop It Like It’s Hot at the Coachella music festival and hiring food vendors like Carmela Ice Cream and Hot Shrimp Mami for her parties.

Those relationships inspired her to “think bigger” about a national initiative, Hilton said. So did her lived experi-

ences as a woman, mother and entrepreneur.

“For so much of my career, I’ve been underestimated,” said Hilton, a great-grandchild of the hotel magnate Conrad N. Hilton. “I’ve worked very hard to show people that there’s much more to me.”

While there are 14.5 million women-owned businesses in the U.S., a 39% share according to Wells Fargo, women, and especially minority women receive disproportionately less investment than men through venture capital and loan nancing.

“They are the most undercapitalized and under-resourced, and particularly if primary caregiving responsibilities are falling on them too, sometimes that leads to increased recovery burden,” said Rebecca Grone, director of 11:11 Media Impact. Like the LA program, the Back in Business Recovery Fund will distribute unrestricted grants, partnering with some of the 150 local women’s business centers spread across the U.S.

Collaborating with the centers will help identify impacted women quickly and open up access not just to cash but to a community of business owners facing similar challenges, said Amanda Brown Lierman, executive director of GoFundMe.org. “It’s really key to the success.”

While the money will go to owners themselves, the impact is aimed toward the whole community, said Grone. Saving businesses can protect jobs and tax revenue, but it can also preserve the soul of communities, drawing displaced residents back home.

“You don’t want to come back if the community isn’t thriving, so as folks are rebuilding their homes, the things that are familiar and make a community feel like home are equally as crucial,” she said.

the good life

Historic venue restoration project reignites Mount Pleasant’s revival

The Avett Theater signals a new chapter for the small Cabarrus County town

By Dan Reeves North State Journal

MOUNT PLEASANT —

Buddy’s Place sits along Main Street as a steady reminder of what Mount Pleasant has long been — an old-school breakfast, lunch and dinner spot where the pace is unhurried and the faces are familiar.

A block away, a long-vacant movie house is being prepared for a second act that could reshape the town’s cultural and economic future.

The building, which opened in 1948 as the Paula Theater, will soon become The Avett Theater, a live music venue and performing arts center named for The Avett Brothers — one of North Carolina’s most successful bluegrass-rock bands and sons of Mount Pleasant.

At the center of the e ort is Dr. Allen Dobson.

Widely known across Cabarrus County as a longtime family physician, Dobson founded Cabarrus Family Medicine in Mount Pleasant and across the state in the early 1980s. He later helped establish the Cabarrus Family Medicine residency program, which for 22 years has trained doctors who now serve communities across the region.

His professional career has focused on long-term investment — building institutions that strengthen communities over time.

That same philosophy now drives the revival of the town’s long-dormant theater.

The 13,000-square-foot structure stood largely unused for decades after closing as a movie house. When Dobson and local partners rst stepped inside, the building had become little more than a warehouse.

“When we bought it, it was full of stu — oor to ceiling,” Dobson said.

Earlier this year the building, valued at $600,000, was donated to Mt. Pleasant Theatre Inc., a nonpro t organization formed to preserve and operate the venue for public bene t.

Plans call for restoring the theater’s original façade and stage while modernizing the building with new electrical and mechanical systems, accessibility upgrades including an elevator and a three-story backstage addition.

When nished, the venue will seat more than 600 people, lling what Dobson believes is a missing niche in North Carolina’s music ecosystem.

“There’s a lack of midsized venues,” he said. “You’re either in a nightclub or you’re playing a stadium.”

The Avett connection became tangible shortly after the pandemic, when Scott Avett, who lives in Mount Pleasant, and Seth Avett, now in Charlotte, returned to lm a music video inside the stripped-down theater before renovations began. Their father, Jim Avett — also a musician — serves on the Avett Theater board and remains actively involved. Clearly, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

“There wasn’t any power.

There wasn’t any heat,” Dobson recalled. “They said, ‘It doesn’t matter. Can you give me some power?’”

Temporary lighting was installed. Extension cords ran across the oor. The band lmed their video for “Orion’s Belt” inside the empty hall.

Dobson watched from the back of the room.

“Hearing and seeing those guys on stage in here, it was like — this is what it has to be,” he said.

The theater project carries an estimated $4 million price tag, with fundraising structured across multiple sources.

About $2.7 million will go toward historic restoration and

“The whole notion is to give small towns back their character and their identity.”

Dr. Allen Dobson

infrastructure upgrades, including structural repairs and new mechanical systems. Another $1.1 million will fund sound and lighting systems, staging, a marquee and furnishings. Roughly $200,000 is earmarked for operational support during the theater’s rst three years.

Funding will come through private donations, grants and corporate partnerships, while long-term sustainability will rely on ticket sales, venue rentals and programming.

The theater is not the rst historic structure Dobson and local partners have helped revive in Mount Pleasant.

Just down the street, 73 & Main occupies a restored mercantile building at the corner of Main Street and N.C. 73. During renovations, the building’s original hardwood oors were preserved, and historic mercantile shelving was repurposed behind a rare bourbon bar.

A mid-1800s stone-lined well discovered beneath a concrete slab during construction was restored and is now visible behind the glass on the patio. The feature inspired the name of the Old Well Brewery — Mount Pleasant’s rst, a nanobrewery operating inside the restaurant by Allen’s son and brewmaster, Robert.

Behind the bar sits Conviction Straight Bourbon Whiskey, pro-

duced one mile away at Southern Grace Distilleries at Whiskey Prison, the former Cabarrus Correctional Center.

The 1930s-era prison compound has been transformed into one of North Carolina’s most distinctive craft-spirits destinations, where bourbon now ages in spaces that once held inmates. Conviction has earned national recognition, including Gold at the MicroLiquor Spirit Awards, Double Gold at The Fifty Best Bourbons Competition and Best Bourbon at the New Orleans Bourbon Festival. Southern Grace Distilleries was named North Carolina Visitor Attraction of the Year in 2019, and the historic prison grounds have also become a popular destination for paranormal investigators who consider the site among

the region’s most haunted. Nearby taps rotate through imports, local craft beers from Cabarrus Brewing and Old Well creations, including Hazy Horns IPA, which is also served at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh.

Within a few blocks of the future theater, visitors can explore a compact collection of historic sites, restaurants and locally owned shops that give Mount Pleasant its walkable character. Mount Pleasant, about 40 minutes northeast of Charlotte and 15 minutes east of Concord, once thrived as a commercial stop along the old Charleston Highway before rail lines and highways shifted the ow of commerce. Today, Mount Pleasant’s historic churches, longtime barbershops and small storefronts still anchor the town’s quaint,

small-town charm — but the vision for the future is decidedly forward-facing. Visitors now travel from miles around, including nearby Lake Norman communities and Charlotte, to dine at 73 & Main in the heart of downtown, making it a natural starting point for exploring Mount Pleasant’s growing lineup of walkable shops, eateries and local attractions.

Dobson’s in uence in Mount Pleasant may have earned him the informal title of “mayor,” but his method hasn’t changed — invest early, build carefully and strengthen the community for the long

CUMBERLAND

NOTICE

The undersigened having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of Franklin Delano Adkins, deceased,late of Cumberland County, hereby noti es all persons. Firms,and corporations having claims against said estate to present their claim to the undersigned on or before the 19th day of May, 2026, (which date is three months after the day of the rst publication of this notive) or this notice will be pleased in bar of heir recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment to the undersgned. This the 19th day of February, 2026. Administrator/Executor – Tabitha Kiger Address- 3608 Lismore Ln, Hope Mills, NC 28348 Administrator of the Estate of Franklin Delano Adkins

Executor’s Notice IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION ESTATE FILE 25E001950-250 State of North Carolina Cumberland County NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, having quali ed as the Executor of the Estate of Jurita Gayle Barber aka Jurita G. Barber, late of Cumberland County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms or corporations having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned at 316 Glenburney Drive, Fayetteville, North Carolina 28303, on or before May 27, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

quali ed as Executor of the estate of Charles W. Young, deceased, late of Cumberland County, hereby noti es all persons, rms, and corporations having claims against said estate to present their claim to the undersigned on or before the 12th day of June, 2026, (which date is 90 days after the day of the rst publication of this notice) or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All Debtors of the decedent are requested to make immediate payment to the undersigned. This 12th day of March, 2026. Jodie Bailey, Executor 3524 Kelburn Drive, Fayetteville, NC 28311 Of the Estate of Charles W. Young, Deceased

NOTICE In the General Court of Justice Superior Court Division Before the Clerk Estate File#26E000264-250 STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA CUMBERLAND COUNTY ADMISTRATOR NOTICE The undersigned having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of Joe Acosta, deceased, late of Cumberland County, this is to notify all persons having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned on or before May 29, 2026, (which date is three months after the day of the rst publication of this notice) or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This 17th day of February, 2026. Leila Acosta-Scarbrough, Administrator of the Estate of Joe Acosta. CG&T Attn: Leila Acosta-Scarbrough P.O. Box 64729 Fayetteville, NC 28306

This the 26th day of February, 2026. Carlos Antonio Burgos Executor of the Estate of Jurita Gayle Barber aka Jurita G. Barber, Deceased c/o Gilliam Law Firm, PLLC J. Duane Gilliam, Jr., Attorney PO Box 53555 Fayetteville, NC 28305 02/26/2026, 03/05/2026, 03/12/2026 and 03/19/2026

NOTICE TO CREDITORS STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF CUMBERLAND

The undersigned, having quali ed as Administrator of the estate of Alice Cope Black, deceased, late of Cumberland County, North Carolina, hereby noti es all persons, rms, and corporations having claims against the estate of said deceased to present them to the undersigned on or before June 5, 2026, (which date is three months after the day of the rst publication of this notice) or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said estate are requested to make immediate payment to the undersigned. This 5 day of March, 2026. Laura C. McIntosh Administrator of the Estate of Alice Cope Black PO Box 65105 Fayetteville, NC 28306

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

ESTATE OF MANOJ CHANDNANI CUMBERLAND County Estate File No. 25E001597-250

All persons, rms and corporations having claims against Manoj Chandnani, deceased, of Cumberland County, North Carolina, are noti ed to present their claims to the Administrator, Davis W. Puryear, 4317 Ramsey St., Fayetteville, NC 28311 on or before the 6th day of June, 2026 (which date is three months after the day of the rst publication of this notice), or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. Debtors of the Decedent are requested to make immediate payment to the Administrator named above. This the 25th day of February, 2026. Davis W. Puryear Administrator of the Estate of Manoj Chandnani Davis W. Puryear Hutchens Law Firm Attorneys for the Estate 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, NC 28311 Run dates: March 5, March 12, March 19 and March 26, 2026

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Having quali ed as Administrator of the Estate of Bayly Ringold Ebner Jr., deceased, late of Cumberland County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, rms, and corporations having claims against the estate of said deceased to present them to the undersigned on or before May 26, 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 26th day of February, 2026. Charlene Morgan, Administrator Estate of Bayly Ringold Ebner Jr. 3731 Laguna Vista Dr. #4 Fayett

NOTICE IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION BEFORE THE CLERK FILE NUMBER: 25E001727-250 NORTH CAROLINA CUMBERLAND COUNTY In the Matter of the Estate of: CHARLOTTE H. COLE Deceased. EXECUTOR’S NOTICE The undersigned, having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of Charlotte H. Cole, deceased, late of Cumberland County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to present them to the undersigned on or before June 12, 2026 (which is three (3) months after the day of the rst publication of this notice), or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons, rms and corporations indebted to said estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. THIS the 3rd day of March, 2026. Johnny E. Cole, Executor of the Estate Charlotte H. Cole, Deceased c/o J. Thomas Neville Yarborough, Winters & Neville, P.A. P.O. Box 705

Fayetteville, NC 28302-0705

Publish: 03/12/2026, 03/19/202, 03/26/2026 and 04/02/2026

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

ESTATE OF JAMES THURSTON FARRELL CUMBERLAND County Estate File No. 25E001967-250

All persons, rms and corporations having claims against James Thurston Farrell deceased, of Cumberland County, North Carolina, are noti ed to present their claims to the Executor, Olga Spivak, 615 Pearl Knoll Circle, Fayetteville, NC 28311, on or before the 27th day of May, 2026 (which date is three months after the day of the rst publication of this notice), or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. Debtors of the Decedent are requested to make immediate payment to the Executor named above. This the 17th day of February, 2026. Olga Spivak Executor of the Estate of James Thurston Farrell Davis W. Puryear Hutchens Law Firm Attorneys for the Estate 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, NC 28311 Run dates: February 26, March 5, March 12 and March 19, 2026

NOTICE

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

In the General Court of Justice County of Cumberland Superior Court Division Estate File # 26E000196-250 EXECUTOR’S NOTICE

The undersigned, having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of Damian Gilberto Gil, deceased, late of Cumberland County, hereby noti es all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said estate to present their claim to the undersigned on or before the 26th day of May, 2026, (which date is three months after the day of the rst publication of this notice) or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All Debtors of the decedent are requested to make immediate payment to the undersigned. This 15th day of February, 2026 Leticia B Sellers 3416 S. River School Rd Wade, NC 28395 Of the Estate of Damian Gilberto Gil, deceased

NOTICE

In The General Court of Justice Superior Court Division Before the Clerk Estate File #26E000319-250 STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA CUMBERLAND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR NOTICE The undersigned having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of Gwendolyn Jean Johnson, Gwendolyn Jean Hudson, Gwendolyn Hudson Johnson, deceased, late of Cumberland County, this is to notify all persons having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned on or before the 5th day of June, 2026, (which date is three months after the day of the rst publication of this notice) or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 5th day of March, 2026. Administrator of the Estate of Gwendolyn Jean Johnson, Gwendolyn Jean Hudson, Gwendolyn Hudson Johnson Leroy Nixon Jr 430 Dunmore Rd. Fayetteville, NC 28303

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

ESTATE

260 Greenville Ave._______________ Address Wilmington, NC, 28403____________ City, State, Zip Of the Estate of Judy Brinkley Knowles, Deceased

NOTICE IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION ESTATE FILE # 26E000210-250 STATE OF NORTH

Former NC State coach

Lou Holtz dies, B3

the Thursday SIDELINE REPORT

MLS Biel scores 2 goals, Toklomati adds 1 to help Charlotte beat 10 -man Austin

Charlotte

Pep Biel scored two goals, Idan Toklomati added his rst of the season, and Charlotte FC beat short-handed Austin FC 3-1. Biel scored his second goal of the season to make it 2-1 in the 68th minute. Tokomati opened the scoring in the 29th minute and Biel’s second goal made it 3-1 in the third minute of stoppage time.

NCAA BASKETBALL

Georgia Tech res Stoudamire following 12-game losing streak to end third season

Georgia Tech red coach

Damon Stoudamire one day after the Yellow Jackets’ season ended with its 12th consecutive loss, nishing 11-20 overall and 2-16 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Yellow Jackets nished last in the conference, failing to qualify for the ACC Tournament. Stoudamire was red after posting a 42-55 record in three seasons, including a 19-39 ACC mark.

NBA

Celtics star Tatum lled with “gratitude” in return to court

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum made his season debut almost 10 months after having surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon. Tatum had 15 points on 6-of-16 shooting, 12 rebounds and seven assists in a rust- lled 27 minutes. He played in ve- and six-minute spurts in his rst game since su ering the injury during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semi nals in May.

Duke nishes o UNC, regular season ACC title

The Blue Devils hobble toward what promises to be a dramatic ACC Tournament

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

DUKE FINISHED o a dominating ACC regular season with a 76-61 win Saturday over UNC, avenging its only league loss of the season. The Blue Devils head into the postseason with an uncertain footing, however, thanks to a pair of protective boots on two members of the starting lineup.

Duke took advantage of a UNC team that received a gut punch two days before game time. Caleb Wilson, the All-ACC freshman, had been

hoping to return from a broken bone in his hand in time for the rematch with the Blue Devils. Instead, he broke the thumb on his other hand, ending his rst — and likely only — season with the Tar Heels prior to tournament play.

The Blue Devils had a 30-6 second-half run, outrebounding the Tar Heels 24-10 after halftime and keeping UNC without an o ensive board in the second half.

Duke completed a 17-1 ACC season and nearly swept the league’s postseason award voting. Freshman Cameron Boozer joined Wilson on the All-ACC rst team and won Player of the Year with 84 of 86 votes. He also won rookie of the year with 82 of 86 votes and was fourth in Defensive Player of

the Year voting, behind teammates Maliq Brown and Dame Sarr, who were 1-2. Brown also won Sixth Man of the Year, and Jon Scheyer was named Coach of the Year. The only individual award not sent to Durham was Most Improved Player,

which went to Wake Forest’s Juke Harris. Despite the team’s accomplishments, Duke enters the ACC Tournament in Charlotte with all eyes on two legs. Big See ACC, page B3

riers in the past, and the Quebec native said he nearly signed with the Hurricanes four years ago. He instead ended up with the Flyers on a contract with a $1.75 million cap hit that will end after this season.

The 35-year-old is one of the few remaining heavyweights in hockey

By Cory Lavalette North State Journal

RALEIGH — Nicolas Deslauriers has never fought at Lenovo Center.

Chances are, that is about to change.

The Hurricanes acquired one of the NHL’s most feared ghters at last week’s trade deadline, acquiring the 35-year-old defenseman-turned-winger from Philadelphia for a conditional seventh round draft pick.

“I thought it wasn’t going to happen, and then practice, and there it is,” Deslauriers said of the trade Monday after his rst practice with his new team.

Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky, speaking with the media following last Friday’s deadline, said the addition of the 6-foot-1,

218-pound Deslauriers can give his team an extra boost.

“It’s easier to have that toughness when you’ve got a guy like

Deslauriers out there with you,” he said.

Coach Rod Brind’Amour has advocated for adding Deslau-

“It’s kind of a reunion, let’s say,” Deslauriers said.

Let’s just say he wasn’t brought to Raleigh to ll the net. Deslauriers has one assist in 24 games this season and 105 points in 701 career games, but he’s best known for his pugilism. In his 13-season NHL career with ve previous teams, he has 90 major penalties — the third most since he entered the league in 2014.

The Hurricanes have ve ghts this year — the same total as Deslauriers, who has four times nished with double-digit scraps in a season. So even though he’s played more than 60 games in a season just ve times in his career, when he’s in the lineup, opponents know why he’s there.

“I wish I was a power play guy, but it’s not what got me to the league,” he said.

Deslauriers also brings physicality beyond dropping the gloves, ranking 11th in hits

THURSDAY 3.12.26

TRENDING

Nolan Smith:

The former All-American at Duke was named Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year after leading Tennessee State to the OVC regular-season title in his rst season as coach.

He’s the seventh coach to win an OVC title and the coach of the year award in his rst season. Smith and Tennessee State went on to win the OVC Tournament as well, earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Kyle Busch:

The two-time Cup Series champion settled with a life insurance company, ending an $8.5 million lawsuit in which the driver said he was misled into purchasing policies marketed as safe retirement plans. A court ling says Kyle and Samantha Busch reached an out-of-court settlement with Paci c Life Insurance Company.

Kara Lawson:

The Duke women’s basketball coach won ACC Coach of the Year, Duke’s rst since 2013.

Duke’s Toby Fournier and Ashlon Jackson, NC State’s Khamil Pierre and Zoe Brooks and UNC’s Nyla Harris were named to the 10-member All-ACC rst team. Duke’s Taina Mair and UNC’s Indya Nivar were second team.

Duke’s Arianna Roberson and UNC’s Nyla Brooks were named All-Freshman.

Beyond the box score

POTENT QUOTABLES

“We

are alive, we are here and we want to play.”

Team Venezuela manager, and 2017 Buies Creek Astros manager, Omar Lopez, declining to discuss politics at the World Baseball Classic.

“The Wolfpack got me, you know? They’ve got long claws.”

Boozer

Duke’s Cameron

on

the deep cuts on his arm following a win over NC State.

PRIME NUMBER 1966

The last year a Japanese emperor attended a baseball game before Naruhito attended Japan’s 4-3 win over Australia in the World Baseball Classic. Hirohito, Naruhito’s grandfather, attended an exhibition game between the Dodgers and Team Japan in November 1966.

NASCAR

Ryan Blaney completed a Team Penske sweep at Phoenix Raceway by winning the Cup Series race, denying Tyler Reddick a fourth consecutive win to start the season. Blaney passed 49 cars to earn his 18th career victory and second at Phoenix. The victory came during a “desert doubleheader” weekend that bundled IndyCar and NASCAR together at Phoenix. Penske’s Josef Newgarden won the IndyCar race, and then Blaney completed the sweep.

The Elon Phoenix pulled o a rare diamond double when the baseball team’s Aidan Stieglitz combined with two relievers for a no-hitter shortly after the softball team’s Anna Dew pitched a perfect game. ESPN reported no school has done that in at least three years.

The Bu alo Bills acquired wide receiver DJ Moore in a trade with the Chicago Bears. Bu alo sent Chicago a second-round pick for a fth-rounder in this year’s draft to get Moore. New Bills coach Joe Brady was Moore’s o ensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers — who drafted Moore in the rst round in 2018 — in 2020 and ’21.

The Arizona Cardinals will take on the Carolina Panthers in the annual Hall of Fame exhibition game on Aug. 6 as part of enshrinement week. Former Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald and Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly (pictured) are part of the ve-person Pro Football Hall of Fame class that will be inducted on Aug. 8. Arizona will be the home team.

Duke women repeats as ACC champs, bracket projections for local teams

North Carolina’s women teams will await their fates Sunday

By Asheebo Rojas North State Journal

FOR THE SECOND straight year, the ACC belongs to Duke.

The Blue Devils, the regular season conference champions, claimed their 10th ACC Tournament title and became the rst team to repeat since NC State in 2020 and 2021.

Clutch moments at the end of regulation and overtime lifted Duke over No. 2 Louisville in the tournament nal 70-65. Down 57-53 with under two minutes left to play in the fourth quarter, a close basket for Delaney Thomas and a 3-pointer from Riley Nelson put the Blue Devils back in front.

But coming out of a timeout, Louisville drew up a layup for Mackenly Randolph. Duke failed to respond on its next possession and sent Imari Berry to the line.

Like the rst meeting on Feb. 5 in which Berry’s misfortune at the line helped the Blue Devils win by one point, Berry missed one of two foul shots. With four seconds left,

Thomas made Louisville pay with a game-tying bucket. Duke outlasted Louisville in overtime, holding the Cardinals to 22% shooting.

On the way to the title, Duke edged a hot Notre Dame squad 65-63 and handled Clemson 60 - 46. Further down the bracket, No. 3 UNC fell short of the tournament nal with a 65-57 loss to Louisville in the semi nal. The Tar Heels struggled to

slow down Berry, who knocked down four 3s on the way to a 22-point night. UNC had four players score in double digits, but it was outscored 17-13 in the third quarter.

In the quarter nal, UNC rode a 29-11 run in the second quarter to dominate No. 6 Virginia Tech 85-68. Lanie Grant, Nyla Harris and Elina Aarnisalo combined for 58 points. Grant knocked down four 3s while shooting 8 for 12 from the eld,

and Harris matched her scoring with 10 rebounds for a double-double. No. 4 NC State was a one and done in the tournament, falling at to Notre Dame 81-63 in the quarter nal. The Wolfpack shot 4 for 19 from 3 and had no answer for ACC Player and Defensive Player of the Year Hannah Hidalgo, who dropped 25 points without making a 3. In the rst round, No. 15 Wake Forest lost to No. 10 California 75-52. As far as bids for the NCAA Tournament, Duke’s performance likely earned itself the opportunity to host the rst two rounds.

After an abysmal start, the Blue Devils have done more than enough to earn recognition as a high seed, especially considering their 17-game win streak in ACC play that included wins over Notre Dame, Louisville, UNC and NC State.

Duke had early chances to prove itself worthy of a top seed but squandered them with blowout losses to South Carolina and UCLA. Looking at how the Blue Devils have played in the last few weeks, those games could go di erently if played now, but that’s now a matter of

Holtz, college football staple who coached Notre Dame to 1988 national title, dies at 89

NC State was his second college head coaching job

By Eric Olson And Tom Coyne The Associated Press

LOU HOLTZ never met an opponent that couldn’t beat him. Somehow, he squeaked out nearly 250 wins and a national title while cementing himself both as one of the most lovable and unlikable characters in college football — a one-of-a-kind iconoclast in a profession brimming with originals.

The pint-sized motivator who restored greatness at Notre Dame and demanded it everywhere else he went died in Orlando, Florida at 89.

“Notre Dame mourns the loss of Lou Holtz, a legendary football coach, a beloved member of the Notre Dame family and devoted husband, father and grandfather,” Notre Dame president the Rev. Robert A. Dowd said in a statement.

“He was successful, but more important he was Signi cant,” Son Skip Holtz wrote.

Holtz went 249-132-7 over a career that spanned 33 seasons and included stops at NC State, Minnesota, Arkansas, South Carolina and, most notably, Notre Dame.

It was there that he won his lone national championship, in 1988, capped with a win over

ACC from page B1

man Patrick Ngongba didn’t play against UNC and donned a protective boot at the half.

“Pat is a tough guy and is having some foot soreness,” Scheyer said. “We have to get him right, you know, that’s just the bottom line. I can’t give you more than that because I don’t know more than that, but his health is the primary concern.”

Junior guard Caleb Foster went down with a foot injury late in the rst half and came out of halftime with a protective boot of his own.

“I’d be shocked if both were available (for the ACC Tournament),” Scheyer said.

Duke will be the top seed and opens play Thursday against the winner of Wednesday’s 8-9 game between FSU and Cal. Duke has not played either team since mid-January but beat both during ACC play, although the Seminoles only lost by four, giving the Blue Devils

if they survive their next few games. The latest ESPN bracket projection released after Sunday’s conference championship games had Duke earning a two seed in a quad with seven-seeded Georgia, 10-seeded Princeton and 15-seeded Jacksonville.

For UNC, hosting the rst two rounds isn’t as certain.

Although the Tar Heels nished third in the ACC, they didn’t pick up many signature wins that screamed worthy of a top four seed. Outside of the Duke win, UNC missed chances at Notre Dame, at Texas, against UCLA, and it fell short to Louisville twice.

UNC has proven it can play and hang with some of the best teams in the country, but its record against the top likely won’t put it above other teams ghting for home court advantage. ESPN’s projection has the Tar Heels earning a fth seed, which sends them on the road, and in ESPN’s case, to Minneapolis.

NC State’s performance in the ACC Tournament likely won’t help its seeding as the Wolfpack could’ve used some good wins for their resume.

The Wolfpack nished fourth in the ACC but failed to take down its peers at the top of the league. At times, NC State looked as if it could compete and beat elite teams, but other times, it has come out at.

NC State likely won’t host the rst two rounds as ESPN’s projection gave it a six seed and a road trip to three-seed Ohio State.

and NC State and also included a one-year stop in the NFL.

West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl but highlighted by a 31-30 victory earlier in the season over Miami — one of the notable meetings in the so-called “Catholics vs. Convicts” rivalry of the ‘80s.

For all the big personalities in college football, none stood bigger than Holtz. He was only 5-foot-10, but commanded the sideline like someone much bigger. The lead-up to the big games were sometimes his best theatre.

Armed with a homespun brand of folksiness that could trickle into corny but always contained a kernel of truth, Holtz lit up bulletin boards and motivational posters with dozens of memorable quotes and pithy observations, virtually all of them constructed to inspire:

• “Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.”

• ”When all is said and done, more is said than done.”

• “You’re never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you’re never as bad as they say when you lose.”

He could make any team — from Akron to Army to Alabama — sound like a world beater on any given week. More often than not, his Fighting Irish gured out a way to scratch out the wins.

Restoring Notre Dame to greatness

Before Holtz arrived in South

Dame’s

Bend, Notre Dame was wallowing in mediocrity — a mere shell of the program built on a foundation of Knute Rockne, Ara Parseghian, the Golden Dome and Touchdown Jesus. Holtz turned things around quickly and had the Irish in the Cotton Bowl in Year 2 and winning the national title the season after that.

His 1988 and 1989 teams won a school-record 23 consecutive games and he beat three teams ranked No. 1 — Miami in 1988, Colorado in 1989 and Florida State in 1993.

The Irish nished No. 2 in the AP poll in 1993. Holtz left South Bend after the 1996 season with a record of 100-30-2.

their closest league game other than the buzzer-beater win by the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill. UNC, the fourth seed, also opens Thursday, and if each team wins, we’ll get a rubber

match rivalry game in the seminals. The Tar Heels will rst have to get past either No. 5 Clemson or the winner of Tuesday’s 12-13 game between Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.

“Lou and I shared a very special relationship,” said current Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman, who led the Irish back to the national title game in 2025 — a contest Holtz attended and spiced up with some trolling of the Ohio State program that beat the Irish that day. “Our relationship meant a lot to me as I admired the values he used to build the foundation of his coaching career: love, trust and commitment.”

Fast start, then detour to the NFL

Notre Dame was the highlight of a head-coaching career that began at William & Mary

UNC beat all three potential foes by single digits in the regular season, two in the nal eight days. Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes appears to have the support of the administration for another season, but the Deacs could certainly use a run in the tournament to remove any doubt. Wake is 16-15, 7-11 in the ACC, the worst season for Wake since Forbes’ rst year in Winston-Salem in 2020-21. Virginia Tech is believed to be on the wrong side of the NCAA bubble. ESPN has the Hokies as one of the rst four out, along with Stanford. Virginia drew the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will open Thursday against either No. 7 NC State, No. 10 Stanford or No. 15 Pitt. The Wolfpack went 1-3 against its potential foes in that leg of the bracket, losing to Virginia and Stanford as part of a four-game skid that ended the regular season and put them on the NCAA bubble. Prior to

Like so many who mastered the college game in his profession, he failed up there, resigning with one game left in a 3-10 campaign with the New York Jets in 1976 and proclaiming “God did not put Lou Holtz on this earth to coach in the pros.”

That opened the door at Arkansas, which was one of the four schools he led into the AP Top 25. His teams made 18 appearances there; eight of those were in the top 10.

After Notre Dame, Holtz transitioned into the TV booth with CBS, promising he would never coach again.

“I said, ‘You could put it in granite.’ I’ve got the granite stone,” Holtz said. “It wasn’t very good granite.”

He took an open job at South Carolina, where he had once served as an assistant coach. Despite posting a career-worst 0-11 mark in his rst season with the Gamecocks, Holtz went 17-7 over the next two seasons, beat then No. 9 Georgia in the second game of 2000 and also beat Ohio State twice in the Outback Bowl.

He left the sideline for good following the 2004 season and returned to the airwaves, working 11 more seasons with ESPN.

In 2008, Holtz was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and Notre Dame placed a statue of him outside its home stadium.

He said numerous times that his plan was to be buried on that campus, as well. He gured it was only tting because, as he said in 2015: “The alumni buried me here every Saturday.”

the ACC tourney, ESPN had the Wolfpack as a 10-seed and one of the last four teams to avoid a trip to Dayton for the First Four. Coach Will Wade could use a win or two in Charlotte to remove all doubt around a bid. He may be facing a Stanford team ghting for its tournament bid life in his rst ACC Tournament game, however. The nal leg of the bracket is headed by No. 3 seed Miami, who opens Thursday against either No. 6 Louisville or the winner of No. 11 SMU and No. 14 Syracuse.

The ACC Tournament is never short on drama, and, as the league heads to Charlotte for this year’s edition, that’s as true as ever — even with the most dominant top seed in recent memory.

“We had some adversity thrown our way, and we talked about weathering the storm,” Scheyer said. “You’re not going to go through March without having storms.”

Queens, High Point earn NCAA tourney bids as three NC mid-major teams remain alive

The Royals and Panthers will discover their next opponents on Selection Sunday

By Jesse Deal North State Journal

CHARLOTTE — With conference tournament play well underway, two of North Carolina’s 15 mid-major men’s basketball programs have secured NCAA Tournament bids, 10 have seen their March Madness hopes end and three remain alive.

Queens and High Point both punched their tickets to the 2026 NCAA Tournament by winning conference tournament championships, while Charlotte, Davidson and North Carolina Central still have a chance to join them.

As Atlantic Sun Tournament champions, the Queens Royals (21-13, 13-5 ASUN) are heading to the NCAA Tournament for the rst time in program history, notching their conference title four years after moving up from Division II in their rst eligible season for the NCAA Tournament.

No. 3 Queens defeated No. 6 West Georgia 71-63 in the quarter nals on Friday, then slipped past No. 2 Austin Peay 90-83 in the semi nals on Saturday before besting No. 1 Central Arkansas 98-93 in overtime in Sunday’s championship game.

“What a weekend and what a ride,” Queens coach Grant Leonard said. “It was an amazing experience for not only our players, but the entire university and Myers Park community in Charlotte.” It took an overtime victory for the Royals to rise above the top-seeded Bears in the title game.

“It wasn’t easy and it never is,” Leonard said. “It was a true testament to our guys’ fortitude, especially late in that game, when they could have given in. Instead, they pushed forward and nished the job. I just

High Point leads way as local women’s mid-majors aim for NCAA Tournament bids

Will the Panthers be the only mid-major N.C. team to capture a conference title?

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

THE WOMEN’S college basketball regular season has come to a close, and now, we’re in tournament season, starting rst with the various conference tournaments.

All 31 conference tournament champions will receive automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament, so a good showing can go a long way for many programs that aren’t amongst the Power 4 schools.

Last year, two programs earned bids through conference titles: High Point and UNC Greensboro

Here’s a look at all of North Carolina’s mid-major conference teams and how they’ve fared in their respective conference tournaments.

AAC

In the American Athletic Conference, the ECU Pirates enter the conference tournament with the second-best record at 14-4. Due to that, the Pirates earned

HURRICANES from page B1

with 2,201 since debuting in the league in 2014, and his 18.43 hits per 60 is fth among players with at least 250 games played since that season.

Brind’Amour has often decried the ghting culture of the past, but that doesn’t mean the coach who played alongside the likes of Dave Brown, Craig Berube and Jesse Boulerice doesn’t know the value of an enforcer.

“We’ve had some communication over the years, and the guy’s

a triple bye to the semi nals and won’t play their rst game until Friday.

They can face any of South Florida, UTSA, Temple or Tulane depending on how the earlier rounds shake out.

For the Charlotte 49ers, they’ll have to make their way through the entire bracket if they want to win a title after nishing with the eighth-best conference record.

The 49ers kicked o with their rst round matchup Tuesday against Florida Atlantic.

If they win there, the bracket is set to the semi nals with the gauntlet containing North Texas, Tulsa and conference-leading Rice.

ATLANTIC 10

The Davidson Wildcats fell in the semi nals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament to top seeded Rhode Island, 55-46. The Wildcats nished fourth in the A10 this season and had earned a bye to the quarter nals. They won their rst game of the tournament, 64-59 over Saint Joseph’s.

ASUN

Entering the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament as the 11th seed, Queens University of

couldn’t be more proud of them.”

For the second year in a row, High Point is heading back to March Madness.

The top-seeded Panthers (30 - 4, 15-1 Big South) locked up a spot in the NCAA Tournament after winning the Big South Tournament with a 91-76 victory over No. 2 Winthrop in Sunday’s championship game.

“It feels like I’m living a dream, and somebody’s going to pinch me and wake me up. I hope they don’t,” High Point coach Flynn Clayman said. “We preached all year that hard work, sacri cing for each other and being a part

of something bigger than yourself is going to lead to something special. This stu is special. It’s more important than any money they can make.”

High Point’s tournament run also ended the seasons of two in-state opponents, taking out the No. 9 Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs (4-29, 1-15 Big South) 81-59 in the quarternals on Friday before topping the No. 4 UNC Asheville Bulldogs (15-17, 8-8 Big South) 75-71 in the semi nals.

In the Southern Conference Tournament, the No. 7 UNC Greensboro Spartans (15-19, 9-9 SoCon) were eliminated in the semi nals on Sunday with an 81-75 loss to No. 6 Furman. The No. 5 Western Carolina Catamounts (15-16, 10-8 SoCon) also saw their season end in the semi nals, losing 69-67 to No. 1 East Tennessee State.

Elsewhere, the No. 4 Appalachian State Mountaineers (19-13, 11-7 Sun Belt) were taken down in the Sun Belt Tournament quarter nals on Saturday after an 86-73 loss to No. 8 Southern Miss.

Four North Carolina programs competed in the Coastal Athletic Association Tournament.

The No. 9 Campbell Fighting Camels (16-18, 8-10 CAA) made a surprising run before being eliminated in the semi nals on Monday night with a 74-64 loss to No. 4 Monmouth. Campbell defeated No. 8 Stony Brook 96-89 in the second round on

Charlotte nearly pulled o an upset over sixth seed North Alabama but ended up falling in the rst round 57-55.

In their fourth year in Division I, Queens nished the year with a 4-15 conference record and a 10-21 record overall.

BIG SOUTH

Top-seeded High Point are back-to-back Big South champions and also earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Panthers opened up tournament play in the quarter nals against USC Upstate and then took down Winthrop and Radford en route to the title.

Despite losing three of its last six games heading into the tournament, including to both Radford and USC Upstate, High Point locked in for that nal stretch and will now get to continue its season.

It’s the third Division I NCAA Tournament appearance for the Panthers.

Last year, High Point lost to William & Mary in the First Four.

As for the other two Big South representatives, the fourth-seeded Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs lost 64-52 to Winthrop in the quarter nals, and sixth seed UNC Asheville also lost in the quarter nals to Longwood by a nal score of 72-58.

CAA

The 2026 Coastal Athletic Association women’s basketball tournament will run from Wednesday through Sunday and is North Carolina’s most well-represented mid-major conference with four di erent teams. The Campbell Camels nished with the second-best conference record and have a bye into the quarter nals. They’ll face the winner of Towson and Hofstra.

a veteran player,” Brind’Amour said of Deslauriers on Monday.

“And I always talk about, when you talk about players, what do you do? We know what he brings.”

While many consider dedicated ghters a dying breed, Deslauriers thinks there’s still space for players who enforce hockey’s unwritten code.

“I’ve said it and I’m not shy about it that I think there’s a place for a role like mine in the league. … I still believe that there’s (a need for) this type of

“I always talk about, when you talk about players, what do you do? We know what he brings.”

Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour on Nicolas Deslauriers

player in the league, and I try to prove myself for that,” he said. The Hurricanes forward corps

Saturday and upset No. 1 UNC Wilmington (26-6, 15-3 CAA) 85-70 in the quarter nals on Sunday.

The No. 11 Elon Phoenix (14 -18, 6-12 CAA) were knocked out in the second round on Saturday with a 72-62 loss to No. 6 William and Mary, while the No. 12 North Carolina A&T Aggies (11-19, 4-14 CAA) were eliminated in the rst round on Friday with an 88-72 loss to No. 13 Northeastern.

Three North Carolina teams remain alive entering conference tournament play this week. In the American Athletic Conference Tournament, the Charlotte 49ers (15-16, 9-9 American) will look to keep their NCAA hopes a oat as the No. 5 seed; Charlotte will challenge either No. 8 Memphis or No. 9 Tulane on Thursday. The East Carolina Pirates (11-20, 6-12 American) did not qualify for the tournament.

In the Atlantic 10 Tournament, the Davidson Wildcats (19-12, 10-8 Atlantic 10) are also still alive for an NCAA bid. As the No. 6 seed, Davidson will face either No. 11 Richmond or No. 14 Loyola Chicago on Thursday. Meanwhile, the North Carolina Central Eagles (12-17, 8-6 MEAC) remain in contention in the MEAC Tournament. The No. 3 Eagles are scheduled to square o with No. 6 Maryland Eastern Shore on Thursday in quarternal action.

Elon enters the tournament as the sixth seed and will face Hampton in the second round, and ninth seed NC A&T will face William & Mary also in the second round.

The conference’s bottom seed is UNC Wilmington, which had a 2-16 conference record this season. The Seahawks will face Northeastern in the lone rst round matchup.

MEAC

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament kicked o on Wednesday, and fth seed NC Central was set to face Coppin State. The winner will advance to face top-seeded Howard or South Carolina State.

SOUTHERN

In the Southern Conference, the two North Carolina teams wound up being the bottom two

is stacked, and it’s doubtful Deslauriers will play in most of Carolina’s remaining regular season games. But on nights when an opponent has their brawler on the opposing bench — circle Scott Sabourin and the pugnacious Lightning on Saturday in Tampa, for example — Brind’Amour now has a card he can play that he didn’t before last Friday.

“I can go 15, 20 games without ghting, and I can get a spurt of like ve or six in two weeks,” Deslauriers said. “So you never know when it happens.”

teams heading into the conference tournament, and the results were about what was expected.

Western Carolina, which didn’t win a conference game all season, lost 66-47 to top-seeded Chattanooga, and UNC Greensboro lost 62-50 to East Tennessee State.

It was de nitely a disappointing season for the Spartans, who were unable to carry over some of their mojo from last season when they were both the Southern Conference’s regular season and tournament champions.

SUN BELT

After a tough year, the Appalachian State Mountaineers entered the Sun Belt Tournament with a 4-14 conference record and as the 13th seed. They subsequently lost in the rst round 68-57 to South Alabama.

He’s also very aware he’s joining a team that’s looking to ll the same void he has on his resume — a Stanley Cup.

“When you look at the big picture, coming here to a team that’s top seed like that, you’re excited,” he said. “And you want to not overthink but think about the things that I can do to bring to this team without touching what’s going on right now. … I’ll stay behind the weeds a little bit to see what happens, and when my name’s called upon, I’ll

ready.”

NC 28305, on or before May 19, 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. Dated this 19th day of February, 2026. Sharon Ann Martinez, Executor of the Estate of Juan Alberto Martinez NICOLE A. CORLEY MURRAY & CORLEY, P.A. N.C. BAR NO. 56459 2517 RAEFORD ROAD FAYETTEVILLE, NC 28305 – 3007 (910) 483 – 4990 COUNSEL FOR EXECUTOR

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of Thomas Landy McDu e, Jr. a/k/a Thomas L. McDu e a/k/a Thomas L. McDu e, Jr. Cumberland County Estate File No. 26E000259-250 All persons, rms and corporations having claims against Thomas Landy McDu e, Jr. a/k/a Thomas L. McDu e a/k/a Thomas L. McDu e, Jr., Deceased, of Cumberland County, North Carolina, are noti ed to present their claims to Sylvia Benner McDu e, Executor of the Estate of Thomas Landy McDu e, Jr. a/k/a Thomas L. McDu e a/k/a Thomas L. McDu e, Jr., at 200 Thorncli Drive, Fayetteville, NC 28303, on or before the 5th day of June, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. Debtors of Thomas Landy McDu e, Jr. a/k/a Thomas L. McDu e a/k/a Thomas L. McDu e, Jr. are requested to make immediate payment to the Executor named above. This the 5th day of March, 2026. Sylvia Benner McDu e, Executor of the Estate of Thomas Landy McDu e, Jr. a/k/a Thomas L. McDu e a/k/a Thomas L. McDu e, Jr. Williford McCauley - Attorney for the Estate of Thomas Landy McDu e, Jr.

a/k/a Thomas L. McDu e a/k/a Thomas L. McDu e, Jr. Mailing address: P. O. Box 53606 Fayetteville, NC 28305 Physical address: 235 Green Street Fayetteville, NC 28301

Executor’s Notice IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION ESTATE FILE 26E000236-250 State of North Carolina Cumberland County NOTICE TO CREDITORS The undersigned, having quali ed as the Executor of the Estate of Jean Zimmerman, late of Cumberland County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms or corporations having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned at 6626 Morning Glory Road, Stedman, North Carolina 28391, on or before May 26, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This the 26th day of February, 2026. John C. Garrity, Jr. Executor of the Estate of Jean Zimmerman, Deceased c/o Gilliam Law Firm, PLLC J. Duane Gilliam, Jr., Attorney PO Box 53555 Fayetteville, NC 28305 02/26/2026, 03/05/2026, 03/12/2026 and 03/19/2026

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA CUMBERLAND IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION 26E000307-250 Having quali ed as Execu Tor of the Estate of Keith Vernell Gilliam, deceased, late Of Cumberland, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the Estate of said Keith Vernell Gilliam to present them to the undersigned on or before the 12th day of June, 2026 or same will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate please make immediate payment. This 9th day of March, 2026 Porshia Cunningham 9000 Sheridan St, Suite 109 Pembroke Pines, FL 33024 Administrator of the Estate of Keith Vernell Gilliam Publication Weeks 3/12, 3/19, 3/26 and 4/2

NOTICE

In The General Court Of Justice Superior Court Division Before the Clerk Estate File #26E000062-250 STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA CUMBERLAND COUNT ADMINISTRATOR

NOTICE The undersigned having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of Joan H. Jackson deceased, late of Cumberland County, this is to notify all persons having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned on or before the 12th day of June, 2026 (which date is three months after the day of the rst publication of this notice) or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This 12 day of March, 2026. Jennifer J. Arno Administrator/Executor 10403 Colliers Chapel Church Road Linden, NC 28356 Of the Estate of Joan H. Jackson, Deceased

NEW HANOVER

NOTICE

NORTH CAROLINA NEW HANOVER COUNTY NOTICE TO CREDITORS THE UNDERSIGNED, Robin B. Wright, having quali ed on the 11th day of February 2026, as Executor of the Estate of Marie Sandyck Ely (25E002572640), deceased, does hereby notify all persons, rms, and corporations having claims against said Estate that they must present them to the undersigned at DAVID E. ANDERSON, PLLC, 9111 Market Street, Suite A, Wilmington, North Carolina, 28411, on or before the 25th day of May, 2026, or the claims will be forever barred thereafter, and this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. All persons, rms, and corporations indebted to said Estate will please make prompt payment to the undersigned at the above address. This 19th day of February 2026. Robin B. Wright

Executor ESTATE OF MARIE SANDYCK ELY

David Anderson Attorney at Law 9111 Market St, Ste A Wilmington, NC 28411

Publish: February 19, 2026

February 26, 2026 March 5, 2026 March 12, 2026

NOTICE

NORTH CAROLINA NEW HANOVER COUNTY NOTICE TO CREDITORS THE UNDERSIGNED, Robert Joe Humphries, Jr., having quali ed on the 26th day of February, 2026, as Ancillary

Executor of the Estate of Robert Joe Humphries, Sr. (26E000051-640), deceased, does hereby notify all persons, rms, and corporations having claims against said Estate that they must present them to the undersigned at DAVID E. ANDERSON, PLLC, 9111 Market Street, Suite A, Wilmington, North Carolina, 28411, on or before the 8th day of June, 2026, or the claims will be forever barred thereafter, and this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. All persons, rms, and corporations indebted to said Estate will please make prompt payment to the undersigned at the above address.

This 5th day of March 2026. Robert Joe Humphries, Jr.

Ancillary Executor ESTATE OF ROBERT JOE HUMPHRIES, SR. David Anderson Attorney at Law 9111 Market St, Ste A Wilmington, NC 28411 Publish: March 5, 2026 March 12, 2026 March 19, 2026 March 26, 2026

NOTICE

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

COUNTY OF NEW HANOVER NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, EDWARD GLEN EXLEY, having quali ed as the Executor of the Estate of GEORGIA ELIZABETH POOLE, Deceased, hereby noti es all persons, rms or corporations having claims against the Decedent to exhibit same to the said EDWARD GLEN EXLEY, at the address set out below, on or before May 25, 2026, or this notice may be pleaded in bar of any payment or recovery of same. All persons indebted to said Decedent will please make immediate payment to the undersigned at the address set out below.

This the 13h day of February.

EDWARD GLEN EXLEY Executor OF ESTATE OF GEORGIA

ELIZABETH POOLE c/o ROBERT H. HOCHULI, JR.

219 RACINE DR., SUITE #A6 Wilmington, NC 28405

NOTICE

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF NEW HANOVER NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, EDWARD GLEN EXLEY, having quali ed as the Executor of the Estate of JAMES IRVIN POOLE, Deceased, hereby noti es all persons, rms or corporations having claims against the Decedent to exhibit same to the said EDWARD GLEN EXLEY, at the address set out below, on or before May 25, 2026, or this notice may be pleaded in bar of any payment or recovery of same. All persons indebted to said Decedent will please make immediate payment to the undersigned at the address set out below. This

EDWARD GLEN EXLEY

Executor OF ESTATE OF JAMES IRVIN

POOLE

ORANGE

RANDOLPH

Eggleston, Attorneys at Law, 111 Worth Street, Asheboro, North Carolina 27203, on or before June 13, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons, rms or corporations indebted to said estate should make immediate payment to the undersigned.

default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the O ce of the Register of Deeds Cumberland

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE

26SP000021-250

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Tania V. Pagan (PRESENT RECORD

OWNER(S): Tania V. Pagan) to F. Stuart Clarke, Trustee(s), dated November 2, 2007, and recorded in Book No. 7740, at Page 0422 in Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the O ce of the Register of Deeds Cumberland County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will o er for sale at the courthouse door in Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:00

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 25SP001301-250 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Kevin Brent Turner (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Kevin Brent Turner) to M Patricia Oliver, Trustee(s), dated April 22, 2008, and recorded in Book No. 7875, at Page 0146 in Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the O ce of the Register of Deeds Cumberland County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will o er for sale at the courthouse door in Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:00 PM on March 16, 2026 and will sell to

PM on March 23, 2026 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Fayetteville in the County of Cumberland, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot 12, Block “B”, Welmar Heights, Section IV, Part II, according to a plat of the same duly recorded in Book of Plats 23, Page 59, Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 1950 Ireland Drive, Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to three hours as provided in N.C.G.S. 45-21.23. Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. 7A-308(a)(1). The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being

the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Fayetteville in the County of Cumberland, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot No. 844 in a subdivision known as ARRAN LAKES WEST, SECTION TWELVE, PART ONE, according to a plat of the same duly recorded in Book of Plats 62, Page 25, Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 2246 Baywater Drive, Fayetteville, North Carolina. Parcel ID Number 0405-07-6238 2246 Baywater Dr Fayetteville North Carolina28304 Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to three hours as provided in N.C.G.S. 45-21.23. Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. 7A-308(a)(1).

11:00AM on March 23, 2026, the following described real estate and any improvements situated thereon, in Cumberland County, North Carolina, and being more particularly described in that certain Deed of Trust executed Leonard Brown, dated October 30, 2009 to secure the original principal amount of $88,000.00, and recorded in Book 8275 at Page 450 of the Cumberland County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modi ed by other instruments appearing in the public record. Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended. Address of property: 1923 Shiloh Drive, Fayetteville, NC 28304 Tax Parcel ID: 0406-51-4691 Present Record Owners: The Heirs of Leonard Brown

25-123848 IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE OF NORTH CAROLINA SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION CUMBERLAND COUNTY 26SP000085-250 IN THE MATTER OF THE FORECLOSURE OF A DEED OF TRUST EXECUTED BY IVAN CARABALLO AND PATRICIA HERNANDEZ DATED AUGUST 19, 2022 AND RECORDED IN BOOK 11553 AT PAGE 20 IN THE CUMBERLAND COUNTY PUBLIC REGISTRY, NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE OF SALE

Under and by virtue of the power and authority contained in the above-referenced deed of trust and because of default in payment of the secured debt and failure to perform the agreements contained therein and, pursuant to demand of the holder of the secured debt, the undersigned will expose for sale at public auction at the usual place of sale at the Cumberland County courthouse at 11:00AM on March 23, 2026, the following described real estate and any improvements situated thereon, in Cumberland County, North Carolina, and being more particularly described in that certain Deed of Trust executed Ivan Caraballo and Patricia Hernandez, dated August 19, 2022 to secure the original principal amount of $190,000.00, and recorded in Book 11553 at Page 20 of the Cumberland County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modi ed by other instruments appearing in the public record. Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended. Address of property: 1946 Paladin Street, Fayetteville, NC 28304 Tax Parcel ID: 0416-82-3695 Present Record Owners: Patricia Hernandez

containing 1.0 acres, more or less, Being a portion of Lot 1 as shown on map recorded in Plat Book 69, Page 59, Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 6094 McDonald Road, Parkton, North Carolina. Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to three hours as provided in N.C.G.S. 45-21.23. Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. 7A-308(a)(1). The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being o ered for sale, and any and

o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance

“AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being o ered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certi ed funds at the time of the sale. If the trustee is unable to convey title to

The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance

“AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being o ered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certi ed funds at the time of the sale.

The record owner(s) of the property, according to the records of the Register of Deeds, is/are The Heirs of Leonard Brown. The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance AS IS, WHERE IS. Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property o ered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the amount of the bid

The record owner(s) of the property, according to the records of the Register of Deeds, is/are Patricia Hernandez. The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance AS IS, WHERE IS. Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property o ered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required from the

all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred

this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the ling of a bankruptcy petition prior to the con rmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the ling of a bankruptcy petition prior to the con rmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy. Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.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

or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required from the highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certi ed funds at the time of the sale. Cash will not be accepted. This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law. After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be frozen pending the outcome of any resale.

highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certi ed funds at the time of the sale. Cash will not be accepted. This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law. After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be frozen pending the outcome of any resale. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the deposit paid. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor, the Mortgagee,

Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the O ce of the Register of Deeds Cumberland County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will o er for sale at the courthouse door in Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:00

PM on March 16, 2026 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Hope Mills in the County of Cumberland, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lots 4, 5 and 6 in a subdivision known as R.C. Chance and J.D. Dove, according to a plat of same being duly recorded in Book of Plats 37, Page 32, Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 4437 Virsalli Loop, Hope Mills, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to three hours as provided in N.C.G.S. 45-21.23. Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. 7A-308(a)(1). The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being

o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being o ered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certi ed funds at the time of the sale. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the ling of a bankruptcy petition prior to the con rmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 25SP001109-250 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Rosalee Brown (Deceased) (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Gary B. McLaurin) to Jamie Faye Newsom, Trustee(s), dated September 11, 2007, and recorded in Book No. 7807, at Page 0371 in Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the O ce of the Register of Deeds Cumberland County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute

25SP001208-250 NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE

NORTH CAROLINA, CUMBERLAND COUNTY

Under and by virtue of a Power of Sale

contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by Theresa Brown to Joel S. Jenkins Jr. And Single Source Real Estate Services Inc., Trustee(s), which was dated July 26, 2017 and recorded on July 27, 2017 in Book 10138 at Page 272, Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina.

Default having been made of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust, and the holder of the note evidencing said default having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee 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 March 25, 2026 at 01:30 PM, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following

25-122974 IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE OF NORTH CAROLINA SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION CUMBERLAND COUNTY 25SP001013-250 IN THE MATTER OF THE FORECLOSURE OF A DEED OF TRUST EXECUTED BY SAM E WOODS AND DARCAS COOK WOODS DATED APRIL 25, 2019 AND RECORDED IN BOOK 10491 AT PAGE 0507 IN THE CUMBERLAND COUNTY PUBLIC REGISTRY, NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE OF SALE

Trustee will o er for sale at the courthouse door in Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:00 PM on March 16, 2026 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Fayetteville in the County of Cumberland, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot 10, Block E, in a subdivision known as Holly Springs, Part Two, and the same being duly recorded in Book of Plats 15, Page 38, Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 509 Spaulding Street, Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to three hours as provided in N.C.G.S. 45-21.23. Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by

described property situated in Cumberland County, North Carolina, to wit: BEING all of Lot 47, in a subdivision known as Robinwood Estates, Section II, and the same being duly recorded in Plat Book 61, Page 13, Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina.

Parcel ID: 9496-42-8339

Property Address: 6700 Sand eld ct, Fayetteville, NC 28304

Save and except any releases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of record.

Said property is commonly known as 6700 Sand eld Court, Fayetteville, NC 28304.

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

Under and by virtue of the power and authority contained in the above-referenced deed of trust and because of default in payment of the secured debt and failure to perform the agreements contained therein and, pursuant to demand of the holder of the secured debt, the undersigned will expose for sale at public auction at the usual place of sale at the Cumberland County courthouse at 11:00AM on March 16, 2026, the following described real estate and any improvements situated thereon, in Cumberland County, North Carolina, and being more particularly described in that certain Deed of Trust executed Sam E Woods and Darcas Cook Woods, dated April 25, 2019 to secure the original principal amount of $51,150.00, and recorded in Book 10491 at Page 0507 of the Cumberland County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modi ed by other instruments appearing in the public record. Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended. Address of property: 1505 Deep Creek Road, Fayetteville, NC 28312 Tax Parcel ID: 0446-44-2240 Present Record Owners:

25-123497

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE OF NORTH CAROLINA SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION CUMBERLAND COUNTY

25SP001225-250

IN THE MATTER OF THE FORECLOSURE OF A DEED OF TRUST EXECUTED BY NICOLE BROOKS AND DON BROOKS DATED SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 AND RECORDED IN BOOK 11579 AT PAGE 0854 IN THE CUMBERLAND COUNTY PUBLIC REGISTRY, NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE OF SALE Under and by virtue of the power and authority contained in the above-referenced deed of trust and because of default in payment of the secured debt and failure to perform the agreements contained therein and, pursuant to demand of the holder of the secured debt, the undersigned will expose for sale at public auction at the usual place of sale at the Cumberland County courthouse at 11:00AM on March 18, 2026, the following described real estate and any improvements situated thereon, in Cumberland County, North Carolina, and being more particularly described in that certain Deed of Trust executed Nicole Brooks and Don Brooks, dated September 23, 2022 to secure the original principal amount of $399,900.00, and recorded in Book 11579 at Page 0854 of the Cumberland County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modi ed by other instruments appearing in the public record. Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended. Address of property: 212 Nairn Street, Fayetteville, NC 28311 Tax Parcel ID: 0532-97-1217 Present Record Owners:

25-123024 IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE OF NORTH CAROLINA SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION CUMBERLAND COUNTY 25SP001239-250

IN THE MATTER OF THE FORECLOSURE OF A DEED OF TRUST EXECUTED BY CORNELL RICHARD LANNING DATED AUGUST 25, 2016 AND RECORDED IN BOOK 9931 AT PAGE 659 IN THE CUMBERLAND COUNTY PUBLIC REGISTRY, NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE OF SALE Under and by virtue of the power and authority contained in the above-referenced deed of trust and because of default in payment of the secured debt and failure to perform the agreements contained therein and, pursuant to demand of the holder of the secured debt, the undersigned will

N.C.G.S. 7A-308(a)(1). The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being o ered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certi ed funds at the time of the sale. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property

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 Theresa Brown.

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 rental agreement prorated to the e ective date of the termination.

Pursuant to NCGS §45-21.25A,

The Heirs of Sam E. Woods The record owner(s) of the property, according to the records of the Register of Deeds, is/are The Heirs of Sam E. Woods. The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance AS IS, WHERE IS. Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property o ered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required from the highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certi ed funds at the time of the sale. Cash will not be accepted. This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law. After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be frozen pending the outcome of any resale. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the deposit paid. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor, the Mortgagee, the Substitute Trustee or the attorney of any of the foregoing. SPECIAL NOTICE FOR LEASEHOLD TENANTS residing at the property: be advised that an Order for Possession of the property may be issued in favor of the purchaser. Also, if your lease began or was renewed on or after October 1, 2007, be

Nicole Brooks and Don Brooks The record owner(s) of the property, according to the records of the Register of Deeds, is/are Nicole Brooks and Don Brooks. The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance AS IS, WHERE IS. Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property o ered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure. A deposit

of ve percent (5%) of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required from the highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certi ed funds at the time of the sale. Cash will not be accepted. This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law. After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be

the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the O ce of the Register of Deeds Cumberland County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will o er for sale at the courthouse door in Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, or the customary location

expose for sale at public auction at the usual place of sale at the Cumberland County courthouse at 11:00AM on March 18, 2026, the following described real estate and any improvements situated thereon, in Cumberland County, North Carolina, and being more particularly described in that certain Deed of Trust executed Cornell Richard Lanning, dated August 25, 2016 to secure the original principal amount of $63,000.00, and recorded in Book 9931 at Page 659 of the Cumberland County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modi ed by other instruments appearing in the public record. Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended. Address of property: 5171 Je erson, Stedman, NC 28391 Tax Parcel ID: 0495-28-5136 Present Record Owners: The Heirs of Cornell Richard Lanning

designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:00 PM on March 16, 2026 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Hope Mills in the County of Cumberland, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING all of Lot 41B in a subdivision known as The Vineyards of John Smith, Section Two, according to a plat of the same recorded in Plat Book 83, Page 81, Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina Together with Improvements located thereon; said property being located at 2588 Gotts Lane, Hope Mills, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to three hours as provided in N.C.G.S. 45-21.23. Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. 7A-308(a)(1). The property to be o ered

The record owner(s) of the property, according to the records of the Register of Deeds, is/are The Heirs of Cornell Richard Lanning. The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance AS IS, WHERE IS. Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property o ered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required from the highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certi ed funds at the time of the sale. Cash will not be accepted. This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law. After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be frozen pending the outcome of any resale. If the sale is set aside

pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being o ered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certi ed funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the ling of a bankruptcy petition prior to the con rmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have

MUST PAY THE EXCISE TAX AND THE RECORDING COSTS FOR THEIR DEED.

auction at the usual place of sale at the Forsyth County courthouse at 11:00AM on March 26, 2026, the following described real estate and any improvements situated thereon, in Forsyth County, North Carolina, and being more particularly described in that certain Deed of Trust executed Newton McBride Jr aka Newton S. McBride Jr. and Jean McBride aka Jean W. McBride, dated June 16, 2005 to secure the original principal amount of $210,000.00, and recorded in Book 2578 at Page 1178 of the Forsyth County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modi ed by other instruments appearing in the public record. Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended. Address of property: 1454 Union Cross Road, Kernersville, NC 27284

Forsyth County, State of NC, as more fully described in Book 1471 Page 1888 ID# 6017-5, being known and designated as Lot No. 5, Block B, Map of Lewis Subdivision, Section III, led in Plat Book 24 at Page 154. Being the same fee simple property conveyed by deed from housing authority of the city of Winston-Salem to Frank Wright and wife, Nelsie M. Wright dated 12/26/1984 recorded on 01/22/1985 in Book 1471, Page 1888 in Forsyth County Records, State of NC. The said Frank Wright having departed this life on or about 12/04/1995, thereby vesting fee simple title in Nelsie M. Wright. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 640 Amanda Place, Winston Salem, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to three hours as provided in N.C.G.S. §45-21.23. Should the property be

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

of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the current owner(s) of the property is/are Georgia J. Richardson.

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

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 Wiley M. Akers.

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,

Tax Parcel ID: 6875-30-1362 Present Record Owners: The Estate of Newton S. McBride Jr. The record owner(s) of the property, according to the records of the Register of Deeds, is/are The Estate of Newton S. McBride Jr. The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance AS IS, WHERE IS. Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property o ered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and

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)].

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)].

assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required from the highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certi ed funds at the time of the sale. Cash will not be accepted. This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law. After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be frozen pending the outcome of any resale. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only

purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1). The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being o ered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever

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

current owner(s) of the property is/are Ms. Sharon Davids.

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)].

AMENDED NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 25SP001228-770

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Dallas Richardson (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Dallas Richardson) to CB Services Corp., Trustee(s), dated February 6, 2008, and recorded in Book No. D 1651, at Page 652 in Robeson County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the O ce of the Register of Deeds Robeson County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will o er for sale at the

per each

or fractional part thereof, and the

courthouse door in Lumberton, Robeson County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 2:30 PM on March 18, 2026 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Lumberton in the County of Robeson, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot No. Eight (8) as shown on a map entitled “TOBEN SUBDIVISION: prepared by Johnny W. Nobles, RLS, duly recorded on April 23, 2004 in Book of O cial Maps No. 40, Page 127, Robeson County Registry, to which map reference is hereby made for a more particular description and the same is incorporated as a part hereof. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 1497 Old Whiteville Road, Lumberton, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to three hours as provided in N.C.G.S. §45-21.23. Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court

County, North Carolina, to wit:

BEGINNINIG at an iron stake located on the northern edge of the right-of-way of Elm Street, a corner of the lot conveyed by W.T. Hill, Jr., et ux to Terry Kevin Cox, et ux by deed recorded in Book of Deeds 343 on page 161, Union County Registry, and runs thence with a line of said lot North 35 degrees 49 minutes East 112.07 feet to an iron stake located in a line of the property conveyed by W.T. Hill, Jr. et ux, to Andrew J. Booth, III, et ux by deed recorded in Book of Deeds 343 on page 163, Union County Registry; thence with a line of said Booth property South 54 degrees 24 minutes 30 seconds East 67.54 feet to a point; thence South 35 degrees 00 minutes 20 seconds West 98.25 feet to an iron stake located on the northern edge of the right-of-way of Elm Street; thence along and with the northern edge of the right-of-way of Elm Street North 65 degrees 41 minutes West 70.36 feet to the point and place of BEGINNING, as shown on survey thereof by William J. Alexander, NCRLS, dated December 6, 1980. Save and except any releases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of record.

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION

25CV006817-890

NORTH CAROLINA UNION COUNTY

LAKEVIEW LOAN SERVICING, LLC, Plainti ,

v. THOMAS DICKERSON, JR. a/k/a THOMAS DICKERSON; JENNIFER DICKERSON; SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT; and SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE

Defendants. NOTICE OF SERVICE OF PROCESS BY

indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will o er for sale at the Wake County Courthouse door, the Salisbury Street entrance in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 1:30 PM on March 23, 2026 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Raleigh in the County of Wake, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot 34, Sauls Ridge Subdivision, as recorded in Book of Maps 2000, Page 1609-1611, Wake County Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 1012 Rockwell Court, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to three hours as provided in N.C.G.S. §45-21.23. Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One

costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1). The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being o ered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required

Said property is commonly known as 1013 Elm Street, Monroe, NC 28112. 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,

PUBLICATION

TO: THOMAS DICKERSON, Jr. a/k/a THOMAS DICKERSON JENNIFER DICKERSON

Take notice that a pleading seeking relief against you has been led in the aboveentitled action. The nature of the relief being sought is as follows: Judicial Foreclosure of a Deed of Trust

Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1). The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being o ered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is

ANY KNOWN SPOUSE OF BRIAN DYLAN JOHNSON; JILLIAN FAITH PARISI; ANY KNOWN SPOUSE OF JILLIAN FAITH PARISI; CHESAPEAKE LANDING CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC.; GODDARD & PETERSON, PLLC; SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT; 25CV043412-910 Party to be served: BRIAN DYLAN JOHNSON; ANY KNOWN SPOUSE OF BRIAN DYLAN JOHNSON; JILLIAN FAITH PARISI; ANY KNOWN SPOUSE OF JILLIAN FAITH PARISI

Moss, Mortgagor(s), in the original amount of $1,036,000.00, to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as bene ciary, as nominee for Change Lending, LLC, Mortgagee, dated March 24th, 2023 and recorded on March 24th,

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 Dylan J Robba.

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 rental agreement prorated to the e ective date of the termination.

Pursuant to NCGS §45-21.25A, this sale may be subject to remote bids placed by bidders not physically present at the place of sale, which may be accepted by the person conducting the sale, or their agent”. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the ling of

encumbering real property

required and must be tendered in the form of certi ed funds at the time of the sale. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is

If

if

Trustee Services of

Substitute

Attorneys

PHONE: (910)

Being

for

of

to

1, Trinity Forest Subdivision as shown on plat recorded in Book of Maps 2021, Pages 1847 and 1848, Wake County Registry. Together with improvements located hereon; said property being located at 8621 Bishop Pine Lane, Wake Forest, NC 27587 Tax ID: 0489438 Third party purchasers must pay the recording costs of the trustee’s deed, any land transfer taxes,

in the amount of Forty- ve Cents (0.45) per each One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) or fractional part thereof with a maximum amount of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00). A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the bid or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00),

NOTICE: An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to North Carolina General Statutes §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

Hot tip

UNC’s Jarin Stevenson (15) jumps against Duke’s Maliq Brown to start the rivalry game that ended the ACC regular season. Stevenson, a Seaforth grad, scored 10 points with nine rebounds as UNC lost 76-61.

Pittsboro’s Tilley honored with court naming at Georgia university

The longtime women’s basketball coach guided Truett McConnell to a national championship in 1980

Americans unite in aggravation over sticker shock at gas pump

It seems that a country divided on many fronts is nding common ground at the gas pumps. The cost of the Iran war is hitting Americans squarely in the wallet and aggravating people across the political spectrum. That was the message from Associated Press interviews Monday with people at gas stations and beyond in ve states. The national average gas price was $3.48 a gallon on Monday, up from $2.90 a month ago, before the war, according to tracking by AAA. But in interviews, some owners of electric vehicles expressed renewed gratitude for their vehicle choice as they sit out the sticker shock.

Anthropic sues

Trump administration seeking to undo “supply chain risk” designation

Anthropic is suing the Trump administration, asking federal courts to reverse the Pentagon’s decision designating the arti cial intelligence company a “supply chain risk” over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its technology. It led two lawsuits Monday, each challenging di erent aspects of the Pentagon’s actions against the company. The Pentagon formally designated the company a supply chain risk after an unusually public dispute over how its AI chatbot Claude could be used in warfare. The lawsuits aim to undo the designation and block its enforcement.

$2.00

By Bob Wachs For Chatham News & Record

THE UNC Tar Heels play their home basketball games on Roy Williams Court. Over in Durham, Duke does the same on Coach K Court.

Now you can add another North Carolina name to the list of university basketball courts honoring retired coaches — and this time, it belongs to a Chatham County native.

Truett McConnell University in Cleveland, Geoirgia., named

its basketball court after Colby Tilley on Feb. 14, honoring the man who led the school’s women’s program to its only national championship in 1980.

Tilley, a member of Pittsboro High School’s Class of 1967, guided what was then Truett-McConnell Junior College to the NJCAA title that year, nishing the season 36-2. Over nine years at the school, he compiled a 234-46 record — an .836 winning percentage — and won ve consecutive Georgia state championships.

The weekend celebration began with a dinner on Feb. 13 attended by former players, colleagues and members of the university community. The court dedication took place the next

Pittsboro approves new major subdivision

The development will contain all single-family, detached houses

By Ryan Henkel Chatham News & Record

PITTSBORO — The Town of Pittsboro continues to see steady growth. At the Town of Pittsboro

Board of Commissioners’ March 9 meeting, the board approved the preliminary plat for the Corbinton development, a 32-acre, 98-lot major subdivision located on Old Graham Road.

The development is projected to be all single-family detached houses, each with a garage and driveway that will provide two parking spaces per unit.

The project also includes 14 acres of open space, a 10-foot multiuse path on the periphery of Robeson Creek and 5-foot sidewalks on both sides of all internal subdivision streets.

The property is currently undeveloped.

The board also held a public hearing for an economic incentive agreement discussed back in 2018 and pertaining to the Mosaic commercial development.

Chapel Hill considering a ordable housing improvements

As bond issuer, the town would carry no legal or nancial risk

By Ryan Henkel

& Record

Chatham News

CHAPEL HILL — The Town of Chapel Hill could soon be seeing the rehabilitation of some of its a ordable housing.

At the Chapel Hill Town Council’s March 4 meeting, the council held a public hearing to consider the issuance of multifamily housing revenue bonds for the acquisition and redevelopment of Chase Park

and Elliott Woods Apartments.

“The town is being asked to consider taking on the role of bond issuer to support the preservation of the Chase Park and Elliott Woods apartments, two a ordable housing rental communities in Chapel Hill,” said Interim Housing and Community Development Director Loryn Clark.

The projects will be developed by Vitus, a company that has specialized in the preservation of affordable properties since 1993.

The two projects, which account for around 80 units on

See CHAPEL HILL, page A3

“The tax credits that they have been awarded will apply to the whole project and add an additional level of a ordability to all units.”

A ordable Housing Manager Emily Holt

“No contract was ever entered into between the town and the hotel developer before the hotel was actually constructed, but now, Mosaic Hospitality LLC has asked that the town honor its commitments from 2018,” said Town Attorney Paul Messick Jr.

CRIME

March 2

• Irvin Uriel De La Rosa Rojas, 24, was arrested for manufacturing, selling, delivering or possessing with intent a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school, possession of methamphetamine, maintaining a vehicle, dwelling or place for a controlled substance, simple possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana paraphernalia.

• Grace Joselyn Godina, 29, was arrested for manufacturing, selling, delivering or possessing with intent a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school, possession of methamphetamine, maintaining a vehicle, dwelling or place for a controlled substance, simple possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana paraphernalia.

• Cameron Christopher Moore, 28, was arrested for assault on a female, communicating threats and misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

• John Mark Ellington, 62, was arrested for indecent liberties with a child.

March 3

• Lorenzo Eavan Nettles, 35, was arrested for possession of methamphetamine, selling or delivering a controlled substance, manufacturing, selling, delivering or possessing with intent a controlled substance at a child care center, maintaining a vehicle, dwelling or place for a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver a controlled substance.

• Grayling Antonio Matthews, 34, was arrested for assault by strangulation, assault on a female, communicating threats and misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

• Tre Jordan Hopper, 33, was arrested for misuse of the 911 system and violation of a domestic violence protective order.

• Calvin Bernard Bragg, 57, was arrested for shoplifting by concealment of goods and misdemeanor larceny.

March 5

• Faith Christian Lynch, 23, was arrested for possession of methamphetamine, manufacturing, selling, delivering or possessing with intent a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school and possession of drug paraphernalia.

• Jose Isaias Martel-Arriaga, 24, was arrested for soliciting a child by computer, extortion, indecent liberties with a child, rst-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and soliciting prostitution of a minor.

• Demetris Christian Goins, 29, was arrested for breaking and entering, misdemeanor larceny, violation of a domestic violence protective order and communicating threats.

Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano activity triggers park, highway closures

The eruption blanketed communities in ash, forcing highway to close

By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher

The Associated Press

HONOLULU — The lat-

est lava fountaining episode of an erupting Hawaii volcano reached 1,000 feet high Tuesday, prompting temporary closures at a national park and part of an important highway because of falling glassy volcanic fragments, including ash.

Kilauea, on Hawaii’s Big Island, has been dazzling residents and visitors for more than year with an on-ando eruption that periodically sends fountains of lava soaring into the sky.

The fountaining that began Tuesday morning marked

HONOR from page A1

day between the women’s and men’s basketball games inside the Benjamin F. Brady Arena.

“We loved him, and we would have run through a brick wall for him,” Martha Moss, a member of the 1980 championship team, said at the dinner.

Tilley, a Pittsboro native, said a coaching career was never part of his plan.

“I was going to come back to Pittsboro High School and teach P.E. and coach football for 30 years,” he says.

That didn’t happen.

A three-sport letterman in high school, Tilley spent his rst year of college at Elon.

“After that year, I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” he said, “but I knew I wasn’t going back to Elon.”

That summer, Billy Joe Willett, pastor at Hanks Chapel Church, was taking his youth group to camp at Piedmont College in north Georgia, where Willett had attended school, and asked Tilley to come along as a counselor.

It was at that camp that what Tilley calls the “Truett-McConnell connection” was born.

“I’ll always think Rev. Willett was behind this,” he said, “because he knew I wasn’t going back to Elon, and one day the Piedmont registrar came by and asked me if I might have any interest in coming to school there. I told him I didn’t have any other plans and asked him if they’d take any of my Elon credits, and he said they’d take them all. So I enrolled.”

Tilley said he was still nding his way when he arrived at Piedmont.

“That was the rst time I’d been away from home, and when I watched my mom and dad and younger brother drive away, if I could have run after the car and caught it, I would have gotten into it and gone home,” he said. “Elon was only 45 minutes from Pittsboro, and here I was hundreds of miles from home and not knowing anybody.”

The loneliness didn’t last long.

“The two years I was there, I was on ‘work-aid’ working two shifts in the cafeteria,” he said.

“When I got paid every month, I took the check straight to the registrar’s o ce.”

Tilley wanted to major in U.S. history, but Piedmont didn’t o er the degree. “So I transferred to Appalachian State, where Jimmy was” — his twin brother — “and changed my degree to P.E.”

After graduating, Tilley was attending graduate school at Georgia Southern University when Merritt Wilson, associate superintendent of Chatham County Schools, called with a job o er. There were two history openings at Chatham Central High School: U.S. and world.

“I wanted the U.S., but the other guy got there rst,” Tilley said. “I had to be the worst world history teacher ever.”

After a year, Central athletic director Ronald Scott told Tilley he could become football coach if he’d come back to teach world history.

“But I just didn’t want to

the eruption’s 43rd episode since it began in December 2024. A livestream showed two fountains of bright-red lava and smoke. It’s unclear how long the fountaining will last. Some episodes have lasted a few days and others a few hours.

Like other times, the molten rock was con ned within Kilauea’s summit crater inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and hasn’t threatened homes or buildings.

But the lava fountains were creating trouble for neighboring communities and a highway where the volcanic fragments and ash, known as tephra, was falling. The tephra prompted temporary closures at the national park around the summit and a partial closure of Highway 11, an important route around the island, on either side of the park.

Hawaii County o cials also

opened a shelter at a district gymnasium for residents and tourists impacted by the road closure or falling tephra. There were no people using the shelter soon after it opened, said Tom Callis, a county spokesperson.

The National Weather Service issued an ashfall warning. Volcanic tephra can irritate eyes, skin and the respiratory system, according to county ofcials. Tephra also can clog and cause other problems with water catchment collection systems, which are common in some parts of the Big Island, ofcials said.

Ash fell so heavily during a previous fountaining episode that some communities needed help from county civil defense workers to clean up ash that coated their homes, Callis said.

Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes.

COURTESY TRUETT MCCONNELL UNIVERSITY

Pittsboro native Colby Tilley, who spent 35 years coaching women’s college basketball, stands on the court bearing his name at Truett McConnell University in Cleveland, Georgia, after the school honored him on Feb. 14.

teach world history,” Tilley said.

He transferred within the county system to teach seventh grade at Horton Middle School.

“At the end of the year, I knew that wasn’t what I was supposed to do,” he said.

It was then that the “Truett-McConnell connection” paid o . Ronald Weitman, who had been academic dean at Piedmont during Tilley’s time there, had since become president of Truett-McConnell.

“He called me and asked me to come there as a P.E. teacher and run the intramural program,” Tilley said. That was 1975. “One day afterwards, he called me into his o ce and asked me if I’d ever coached women’s basketball. I told him ‘no,’ and he said, ‘Well, you’re about to.’”

The school’s student population was growing, and the coach at the time was also an enrollment recruiter who couldn’t continue in both roles. Tilley took over and good things happened quickly. The previous coach, Joe Campbell, had recruited four players who were state all-stars.

“That rst year, the team went 17-10, and the die was cast,” Tilley said. “All I had to do that year was stay out of the way and let them play. I learned a lot from them.”

Four years later, the school won the national championship. That success eventually led to other o ers. After nine years, Auburn University at Montgomery came calling, o ering Tilley the chance to start a women’s program. In nine seasons, his teams compiled a 218-74 record, making six NAIA national tournament appearances. Two teams — 1993-94 and 1994-95 — each had 34-win seasons.

In 1995, Tilley became head coach at Kennesaw State University near Atlanta, the nal leg of his “Truett-McConnell connection.”

“When I was at Truett-McConnell, I needed someone to keep records and statistics,” he said. “Scott Whitlock was a student at the time, and he took it on. After I left, we stayed in touch, and he eventually became softball coach at Kennesaw. One day while I was in Montgomery, he called and said

March 14

there was an opening at Kennesaw State in women’s basketball, and I wound up there.”

In 17 years at the Atlanta-area school, the Owls compiled a 290-207 record as Tilley guided the program through the transition from NCAA Division II to Division I.

Over his 35-year career, Tilley’s teams posted a combined 742-327 record. At each level, his teams won regular-season and tournament championships as well as state, district and regional titles. He coached All-American players and earned more than 15 Coach of the Year honors. He’s also been inducted into four halls of fame: Truett McConnell, Auburn Montgomery, Kennesaw State and the Northeast Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. At the dinner held in his honor, Tilley invoked Lou Gehrig’s famous farewell address at Yankee Stadium.

“I feel like I’m the luckiest man on earth for having come here,” Tilley said. “Although I left Truett-McConnell, Truett-McConnell never left me as a coach and as a person. There are so many people who had so much to do with all this.”

At the court dedication the next day, the school made reference not only to wins and losses but also to Tilley’s legacy “built on grit, determination and standing your ground.”

“Future players will stand on the ground of your integrity that’s heart-woven into the integrity of the school,” the university said. “Naming the court is a small gesture of thanks.”

Today, Tilley is a retired basketball coach — sort of. He’s visiting family in Kentucky, where he’s a volunteer coach for his grandson Jack’s high school team.

“He’s a much better player than I ever was,” Tilley said. “These are great memories, just to be able to do this and be with him.”

But as he looks back to 1967 and how life turned out, Tilley says he sees the bigger picture.

“I had some plans,” he said.

“But I guess the Lord had different plans. I couldn’t have done all this on my own. It had to be God.”

March 17 Baby/Toddler

March 28

Front Porch Bynum General Store 950 Bynum Road Bynum

April 11

Community Yard Sale@BFP 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Community yard sale Front Porch Bynum General Store 950 Bynum Road Bynum

Share with your community! Send us your births, deaths, marriages, graduations and other announcements: community@ chathamnewsrecord. com

Weekly deadline is Monday at noon

Chatham emergency management specialist earns U.S. Army civilian medal

Katie Taggett received the Public Service Commendation Medal

Chatham News & Record sta

CHATHAM COUNTY

Emergency Management Specialist Katie Taggett has received the Public Service Commendation Medal, the fourth-highest public service decoration the U.S. Army can award to a civilian.

The medal was presented by Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne) in recognition of Taggett’s work supporting Army missions and strengthening coordination between Chatham County Emergency Management and military personnel.

“We are incredibly proud of Katie for receiving such a distinguished civilian award from the U.S. Army,” said Mike Reitz, Chatham County Emergency Operations Director. “This honor re ects not only her commitment to supporting our military partners, but also the critical role she plays in strengthening preparedness and response e orts for the residents of Chatham County.”

Taggett earned a Bachelor of Science in meteorology from NC State. Her background helps the county track and anticipate weather-related emergencies, providing leadership with critical information for

Chatham County Emergency Management Specialist Katie Taggett displays her Public Service Commendation Medal and certi cate at the county’s Emergency Operations Center.

decision-making during severe storms, tornadoes, hurricanes and other weather threats.

“Having the meteorological background is quite useful in emergency services, because I have that knowledge of what to look for in anticipation of things especially if there is severe weather coming through,” said Taggett. “I can look at radar images and see early signs of if that storm has the potential for tornadoes. I can alert the Emergency Operations Center, along with those in the eld and key stakeholders across the county. I present information to help save lives.”

The Public Service Commendation Medal is awarded to civilians who are not Army em-

“I can look at radar images and see early signs of if that storm has the potential for tornadoes.”

Katie Taggett, Chatham County Emergency Management specialist

ployees, military personnel or Army contractors. It is often given to community partners, federal o cials involved in policy development and technical experts who assist the Army in advisory or consulting roles.

McMahon calls on Stein to opt into Education Freedom Tax Credit

Rep. Virginia Foxx and U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley joined the Education secretary in High Point

By A.P. Dillon Chatham News & Record

RALEIGH — At a Monday press conference held in High Point, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon urged North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein to enter state into the Trump administration’s Education Freedom Tax Credit program.

The press conference was held at the Phoenix Academy Primary School Library.

As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill, the program o ers a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for individuals contributing to scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs), which must be a 501(c)(3) organization.

“I’m here today because I believe it is unfortunate that North Carolina Gov. Stein is preventing families in the Tarheel State from taking advantage of the support this measure will provide, such as access to scholarships for tuition and tutoring, specialized services, homeschool materials, cutting edge technology, or even after school supports to keep kids on track,” McMahon said.

Joining McMahon at the event were Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-Banner Elk), who sits on the House Education Committee, state Sen. Steve Jarvis (R-Davidson) and Michael Whatley, the Republican candidate for the state’s U.S. Senate seat.

“The Education Freedom Tax Credit isn’t some distant idea,” McMahon said. “It’s a homegrown solution that puts North Carolina families in charge of their children’s education.”

McMahon refuted some of the claims Stein has made about the program.

“Contrary to Gov. Stein’s claims, the tax credit doesn’t take a single dollar away from public schools,” said McMahon.

“It raises additional funding for education by stimulating private donations by federal tax incen-

“Contrary to Gov. Stein’s claims, the tax credit doesn’t take a single dollar away from public schools.”

U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon

tives — including those students who remain in public schools.”

She added the program “builds directly” on the state’s “thriving Opportunity Scholarship program,” which gives funding to students to attend the private school of their choice, with a prioritization on low-income households.

McMahon remarked that the Education Freedom Tax Credit goes beyond the state’s scholarship program, allowing students in traditional public schools to receive scholarship funds without changing schools.

“The Trump administration is your ready partner. Opt In,” McMahon said near the closing of her remarks.

Whatley spoke brie y, saying the tax credit program was important not just for North Carolina but the entire country as well.

“It is ridiculous that the legislature moved immediately to be the rst state to opt into this tremendous program,” he said while blaming former Gov. Roy Cooper, his opponent for U.S. Senate, for rejecting the idea.

Last year, Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) ran House Bill 87, the Educational Choice for Children Act, to opt the state in. The bill quickly passed and was sent to Stein, who vetoed the it a week later.

“Once the federal government issues sound guidance, I intend to opt North Carolina in so we can invest in the public school students most in need of after school programs, tutoring, and other resources,” Stein wrote in his veto message. “Therefore, HB 87 is unnecessary, and I veto it.”

The guidance mentioned by Stein was issued last fall. Stein did not respond to North State Journal’s requests for comment

Church News

OAKLEY BAPTIST CHURCH

As Oakley Baptist Church (2300 Siler City-Glendon 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.

March 15 – Chance Walters

March 22 – John Hill

March 29 – John Strider

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.

PRAISE CHURCH OF DELIVERANCE MINISTRIES

PASTORS: PASTOR JAMES & PROPHETESS PASTOR CALLIE PEOPLES

We are at 525 Culmore Drive, Fuquay-Varina, NC

We are on the Facebook every Sunday at 7 p.m. and every Wednesday at 7 p.m. for Bible Study. We also have service in Carthage, once a month and we’ll let you know when and the time. We will also be working in Siler City as well.

If you are interested in counseling or have another problem that you need to talk to someone about life, call us and make an appointment to set up a meeting.

Phone: 984-368-2942 / 984-270-3011

We are a nondenomination Deliverance Ministry. Be glad to talk to you. You may be interested in fellowshipping. We are state certi ed for a church. We have ordained Bishop Willie Gilmore of 444 Stage Road in Carthage. If we can be of help, please let us know. If you are looking to come to our services, just give us a call. To get us on Facebook, search my name: James Peoples

If you are interested in what we do or when we have church from week to month or day, just give us a call.

Thank you very much, Pastor James & Prophetess Callie Peoples

on his veto claim that he would opt the state in following such guidance.

“The fact is we need Gov. Stein to opt into this,” Whatley said. “Dollars should follow students whether it is to a public school, a private school, a charter school or homeschooling.”

Foxx echoed McMahon’s remarks on the program and education as vital to student success.

“It’s a perfect example of providing opportunity for students and families,” said Foxx. “And it’s truly unfortunate that students and families in our state are being denied that.”

On the same day as her press event, McMahon issued an opinion article on the tax credit in the North State Journal, focusing on Stein’s inaction.

“North Carolina remains on the sidelines while 27 other states have already opted in,” wrote McMahon. “This isn’t leadership; it’s partisan delay dressed up as caution.”

Last month, a coalition of union-linked organizations and nonpro ts ran a campaign urging the remaining governors, including Stein, not to opt into the program. Stein’s o ce did not respond to North State Journal’s request for comment on the campaign.

North State Journal has again reached out to Stein’s o ce for comment about McMahon’s visit, and a spokesperson issued the following statement:

“Governor Stein continues to await nal guidance from the U.S.Treasury and the IRS about the federal tax credit for contributions to Scholarship Granting Organizations that HR1 established. Depending on federal guidance, there could be potential opportunities for the federal tax credit program to bene t North Carolina’s public school students – which would factor into the Governor’s decision.

“The Governor has long supported magnet schools and accountable charter schools because public schools open doors of opportunity for kids in every corner of the state. He believes that school choice is good for students and parents, provided appropriate measures are in place to ensure accountability and prevent discrimination.”

CHAPEL HILL from page A1

about 10 acres of property are over 50 years old and haven’t been rehabilitated since 2011.

If approved, the town would issue $7 million in bonds over 2-3 years that Vitus would pay o . Vitus has also proposed to nance the rehab with 4% low-income housing tax credits, tax exempt bonds and HUD loans.

“Acting as bond issuer does not carry any legal or nancial risk for the town, and the town has no obligation to repay the bonds nor will they affect the town’s debt capacity, limits or ratios,” said A ordable Housing Manager Emily Holt.

In terms of current tenants, the project will extend the current Section 8 contract, which covers nearly half of the units across the two projects for another 20 years, and Vitus has applied for additional vouchers for the remainder of the projects whose rents are not currently restricted by any public subsidy.

“Even without those additional vouchers, the tax credits that they have been awarded will apply to the whole project and add an additional level of a ordability to all units,” Holt said. The developer is also prom-

ising to temporarily relocate current residents into hotels as units are renovated.

The nal decision of the council is expected to be made at its March 25 meeting.

The council also held a second public hearing for an economic development incentive for Eats2Seats, a technology enabled sta ng and concession company.

“It’s a local company that was started by a sophomore at UNC in 2018,” said Economic Development Director David Putnam. “It’s got a really great story behind it and is something that you all should be really proud of.”

According to Putnam, this project is a headquarters investment in downtown and the company is proposing to bring in 41 jobs with an average wage of around $122,000.

The town’s proposed incentive package involves 10 parking spaces for up to ve years, which is valued at around $87,000 of in-kind parking credit and tied to the company’s full-time job creation, relocation and retention goals.

“This is a priority industry, a local business and a high-impact project with a highgrowth opportunity,” Putnam said. Following the hearing, the council approved the request.

The Chapel Hill Town Council will next meet March 18.

JMHS CLASS OF 1971 55TH REUNION

SATURDAY, APRIL 18TH, 2026

CONTACT - JIM SIZEMORE 919-545-5006

THE CONVERSATION

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

Misunderstood truth

We prayed not only for ourselves but also for the su erings of the community, the county and the world.

A CHILD AT CHURCH thought I recently invited people to the front during a worship service to “annoy them with oil.” Of course, I said “anoint,” but truth be told, aren’t we all a little irritating sometimes?

The child’s comment reminded me of a poem by Maggie Smith (the writer, not the actress), who misheard her priest say, “The Earth is a bowl of blood” instead of “full of love.”

But again, I resonate with the truth of the misunderstanding, for our world often feels more like a bloody mess.

The annoying, I mean, anointing oil was during a service for healing and wholeness. People of various denominations and religions came together to sing softly and pray ercely. The oil is an ancient practice for recognizing leaders and is also added to prayers for healing. We prayed not only for ourselves but also for the su erings of the community, the county and the world.

I prayed for the people across the Middle East. Civilians, including children, are dying from bombs, missiles and drone strikes. I realize geopolitics are complex and dangerous, yet I lament any loss of life. My mind recalled the pictures and videos of smoke billowing out of apartments, bloodied men staggering in the streets and children covered in ash.

I continue to pray for the souls of the dead and for all those

COLUMN | BOB WACHS

mourning their loved ones. I pray for leaders to exercise restraint and show mercy, for no child is ever “collateral damage.” Each of us is made of stardust and dreams, and it is love that animates the spiraling galaxies and the whirling planets, and love that lls the Earth and your own unique and wondrous heartbeat.

Later that week, I anointed the forehead of a friend lying semiconscious in a hospital bed. She is under the care of hospice. Her partner of 40 years was there along with their tiny, aged dog, who growled protectively as I approached. I sure was annoying him! Gently, I let the dog sni my ngers. He settled back down on the bed, although I could feel his eyes on me as I prayed and made the sign of the cross on my friend’s forehead.

Having nished my prayer and the anointing, I rose and o ered my ngers once again to the dog again. This time, perhaps because he smelled the oil or maybe because he had come to trust me at least a little, his tiny tail began to wag — a gesture that I understood his blessing.

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.

Ol’ Man Winter reserving right to make return visit

Usually the weather follows this pattern: It’s too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry, too this or too that.

LONG AGO and far away, the late American philosopher and humorist Will Rogers was known to say, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”

That was, of course, his nod to the fact the weather a ects us all in varying degrees, but there’s not a thing we can do to cause it or change it; all we can do is respond to it and how we dress, work or play. That’s why, of course, when the TV weather geeks say “snow” we all run (or drive) to the grocery for milk and bread even if we’ve already got some, don’t particularly like one or the other or rarely consume much of either. We’ve just got to have some on hand.

Usually the weather follows this pattern: It’s too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry, too this or too that. Just like right now, for me it’s too dry; a little shower would do wonders for the chicken byproduct and commercial fertilizer some folks are spreading on their pastures after taking out a mortgage on their rst-born to pay for the stu . Just as an aside, I wonder when folk who can do something about runaway in ation will realize at the rate we’re going that soon pork chops are going to be more costly than gold and the nickel candy bar will cost $11.

I say all that to say the weather is a big deal; so big, in fact, that folks down through the ages have written all sorts of proverbs and sayings about it, particularly this time of year and the month of March. Among them are: “A dry March and a wet May ll barns and bays with corn and hay,” and, “March winds and April showers bring forth May owers.”

Also included is, “As it rains in March so it rains in June.” That one isn’t especially cute and certainly doesn’t rhyme. And don’t forget perhaps the most famous March weather saying, namely, “If March comes in like a lion it will go out like a lamb.”

That, of course, is testimony to the reality that March

can be the forerunner of spring or the dead of winter. It means if March comes in harsh (lion) it will end nicely (lamb). That old saying is often said in reverse, as well.

And the reality now of the weather this third month, as well as the immediate forecast for much of it, shows signs of both spring and summer. At the moment it’s spring — actually more like summer. And great kite- ying winds earlier this week. And somehow, the last few days of February and the rst several of March are more like June or even July, just without the humidity.

But I remember — as do many local folks — the March of 1960, not all that long ago for me but ancient history for this year’s crop of seventh graders. It was in that ancient time that Chatham County, as well as a good chunk of the Piedmont, had snow every Wednesday, at least the rst three, of the month. And I don’t mean a dusting.

It snowed.

Snow fell on top of snow. In some places there was ice on snow on ice on snow; made for great sledding. Even if you didn’t have a fancy store-bought sled you got along very nicely, thank you, on a big round metal Coke sign or one side of a cardboard box that recently was a refrigerator shipping carton.

As I remember, we went to school about ve days that month. We went on Saturdays. The state just simply forgave some days. It snowed so much we got tired of snow.

So are we in for more of that or something similar, or is winter really over? Well, apparently only the Good Lord and the groundhog know. But don’t be surprised if we don’t pay for these last several days of 70-plus degrees with a big ol’ honking blizzard about mid-March.

And, by the way, if you’re looking for a good saying about a month, try this one: “Why is the calendar so tired on April 1? Because it just nished a march of 31 days.”

Bob Wachs is a

Eat your smackerels

The customer service rep didn’t know how to address this problem, revisiting the same questions over and over.

MY BODY’S CHEMISTRY set had a temper tantrum. Excuse me?

Oh, you want more information? Okey- doke.

One of my previously purchased Amazon videos made a totally unexpected metamorphosis. A fave, the funny and uplifting “Hairspray” (2007), morphed into a violent thriller, “Fracture.” (Blood and guts is not my idea of heartwarming entertainment.) Clicking on “Hairspray,” the video “Fracture” played instead, just brimming with all the stu from which I hide my eyes. What happened to “Hairspray?” I want it back!

Emailed Amazon. Received a friendly reply telling me to click on the enclosed link and connect to their digital services. The link did not work.

Determined “Hairspray” groupie that I am, Amazon’s customer service number was in line for a call. I won’t regale you with all (well, maybe just a few) of the grueling 20 minutes of customer service details. My recovering victim addiction doesn’t really need more fuel.

The customer service rep didn’t know how to address this problem, revisiting the same questions over and over. I was left wondering if “I don’t know” is banned from Amazon customer service terminology. Still wondering ... And, me, Ms. Wholly Invested In Civility? Despite my values, and also as a never-to -be-perfected human being, I descended into snarliness. Out of volitional control. Where the heck was my self-appointed internal nastiness censor?

still snowing

This kind of weather is why the great Russian writers were so damn gloomy. You give me another week of this, and I’ll be Dostoevsky.

I’M WRITING IN the worst part of a blizzard.

What a satisfying, heroic way to start a newspaper column.

I’m not kidding, either. Here in Tiverton, Rhode Island, on the shores of Narragansett Bay, hard by the Massachusetts line, we’ve got more than 2 feet of snow on the ground, and we’re supposed to end up with about 36 inches.

To cliche up, it’s wet snow, heavy as lead, and the wind sounds like a freight train.

There’s a driving ban. If you’re not an “essential worker,” you can’t be on the roads. Mayors have pulled the plows o the roads because the drivers can’t see through the blowing snow. In a nearby city of 100,000 people, only two legal marijuana stores remain open. The National Guard is on its way with front-end loaders and dump trucks.

This kind of weather is why the great Russian writers were so damn gloomy. You give me another week of this, and I’ll be Dostoevsky.

There are several ways to write the “horri c act of nature” column.

You can always fall back on the “nature’s fury makes me feel insigni cant” column, but I’ve been married for 16 years, so I feel insigni cant every day. I don’t think anyone believes that kind of column anyway. If I’ve just discovered my own insigni cance, why am I writing about how the storm makes me feel?

I could exhaustively research and write a column about how a blizzard doesn’t mean global warming is a hoax, and how weather isn’t the same as climate, but most people wouldn’t read all the way to the end of that column, and about 40% of you would just call me a communist.

There remains the “most vulnerable” column in which the writer centers on any group of beings who su er the most in extreme weather. Feral cats. The homeless. Any half-bright writer can milk that until he’s got a bucket of tears. If I did that, I’d go for the feral cats angle. People feel a lot worse for homeless cats than they do for homeless people.

Napping? When my nastiness sensor did awake, in no uncertain terms, I was ordered to “Get out of Dodge.” (Vis-à-vis, Marshall Matt Dillon from the 1950s TV show “Gunsmoke.”) Plumbing the dregs of my civility storage tank, I managed to end the conversation.

Then, only then, did I realize how hungry I was. Really, really ravenous. I could almost hear my beloved childhood companion, Winnie the Pooh, intoning, “Time for a smackerel.” Out of respect for both Pooh and, yes, myself, I ingested quite a few smackerels. My feet found the ground again. Hangry, hangry, hangry! Hunger and anger combined become one of my top- ve hellscapes. And there I was. Hellscaping. Completely oblivious to my need for oral sustenance, in conjunction with a poor customer service rep who didn’t know how to say, “I don’t know.”

I’m usually cognizant of my much-valued civility entering a nosedive, as low blood sugar encroaches. However, when a fast approaching cli eludes me, “Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hutton” roar into the picture. It ain’t pretty, and I’m embarrassed.

I owe my body‘s biology an apology, having failed to notice my nemesis, incivility, creeping up on my smackerel-less tummy. Inadvertently, I failed myself and the Amazon customer rep. Had I bene ted from a smackerel- lled stomach, I wonder if there’d be need for this mea culpa you’re now reading (and, geez, I’m having to write!)

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

COLUMN | DAVID HARSANYI

Trump eradicates 47 years of feckless foreign policy

IF ONE OF your national slogans is “Death to America,” you should be living in persistent and paralyzing fear of the United States. Say what you will about President Donald Trump, America’s enemies aren’t making any more demands after Operation Epic Fury. Not after the president shattered nearly ve decades of Washington foreign policy appeasing, legitimizing and emboldening the Iranian regime, one of our most enduring and dangerous enemies.

The U.S. can break Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities and its internal repression machine. It is under no obligation to clean it up.

Trump has already reset American foreign policy by rejecting both the technocratic naivety of neoconservatism and the unfeasible demands of isolationism. He has also shed the convoluted, pseudointellectual foreign policy theories that had congealed as conventional Washington wisdom.

A lot of cities open special shelters for

the homeless during periods of intense cold or blizzards. The bene t to the reporter/ columnist is you can nd the homeless, or at least the less stubborn homeless. You go down to the shelter, and there they are, full of misery and quotes. If you can, nd a homeless veteran. People feel worse for an Iraq War veteran who “turned to drugs” than they do for some clown who started using drugs in junior high and hasn’t done anything since then but use drugs.

The feral cats are harder to nd. They’re dying under snow-caked shrubs, and “meow” is a lousy quote. If you could nd a former military dog, one of those bomb-sni ers, and it was dying under a shrub, a whimper would be a hell of a good quote. If you ran a picture of the dog, and you set up a GoFundMe for the pooch, he’d be adopted and butt-deep in kibble by the end of the week.

A couple of days before the blizzard, my wife Deborah and I prepared. We used the traditional male/female division of labor: She went to the grocery store, I went to the liquor store. We ended up with a big bunch of groceries and a 30-pack of cheap beer.

Standing in line at the liquor store, the day before it hit, I was struck by my own insigni cance in the face of nature’s fury. No matter what kind of horrifying act of God was about to come out of the clouds, I still didn’t have enough money to buy good beer, imported beer, craft beer.

It makes a man think.

We still have power in our house, even though tens of thousands of people in the state are without electricity. If the power goes out, and the outage lasts for several days, and my wife and I freeze to death, when they nd us, I’m going to be clutching a can of beer that costs $20 for a 30-pack. That’s less than a buck a can.

Marc Dion’s latest book, a collection of his best columns, is called “Mean Old Liberal.” (Copyright 2026 Creators.com) COLUMN

You don’t know how big a failure you are until you’re freezing to death under a shrub, being let into the emergency shelter or facing the cold wrath of God with a can of cheap beer in your hand.

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

One of the bogus “norms” propagated by experts, and now “America First” isolationists, is that any military action needs to be contingent on short-term “imminent” threats against the U.S. Why should the U.S. sit around until the breaking point to act in our interests? This is a self-applied, short-sighted limitation. It’s almost surely the case that the landscape would have been far more dangerous had Trump allowed the regime to regain its footing after months of protests and Israel’s summer o ensive. Trump struck the regime when it was at its weakest, before it could stockpile enough ballistic missiles and advanced weaponry to create a quagmire. Preemptively eliminating long-term threats is a way to mitigate harm against the U.S. Iran could have agreed to stop enrichment at any time in the past 47 days, or even 47 years, and avoided con ict. U.S. special envoy Steve Witko claims that the regime’s negotiators in Geneva bragged that they controlled 460 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium for 11 nuclear bombs.

Trump now has clear, achievable objectives: Ensure the mullahs don’t get their blood-stained hands on any nukes, end the regime’s ballistic missile capabilities and destroy the Iranian navy so it can’t threaten world shipping. There are also unstated goals. The U.S. acted to undermine Chinese military expansion into the Middle East. China was about to sell Iran supersonic missiles that would have allowed it to target the American military. The clerics pay for military upgrades in oil. Nearly all of Iran’s crude exports already go to China, virtually its only consumer. As with removing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, weakening the mullahs weakens China.

Another bogus “norm” of the past decades was famously summed up by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who warned then-President George W. Bush before the 2003 Iraq invasion: “You break it, you own it.” The “Pottery Barn rule” contends that the U.S. has a responsibility to reconstruct countries after having beaten them. Sometimes it bene ts us to participate in rebuilding projects to create stability, and sometimes it doesn’t. The U.S. can break Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities and its internal repression machine. It is under no obligation to clean it up.

Over the years, the Washington foreign policy blob has convinced many people that the U.S. has a duty to marshal a large contingent of nations before acting — namely, weak-kneed European countries with signi cant Muslim populations who o er little military value. Similarly, some people are under the impression that the U.S. needs permission from the United Nations, a bastion of strongmen, theocrats and fascists, to act. It does not.

“International law” has done little but hamper our ability to alleviate threats while allowing our enemies to act with impunity.

On the other hand, before Trump, U.S. administrations have refused to openly operate with our most-trusted ally, Israel, in militarily dismantling the Iranian threat. The idea was that Israel’s presence would undermine support from the Arab world. It’s in our interests to embrace Israel’s tech, intel, and military swagger and competence. “Capable partners are good partners,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth said of Israel, “unlike so many of our traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, hemming and hawing about the use of force.”

Moreover, we’re not living in 1973 anymore. The bene ciaries of Israel’s operation in Iran have also been Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom joined the Americans in denouncing the regime.

Making predictions about the outcome of war in the Middle East is foolish. But the unknown shouldn’t paralyze us either. The best-case scenario for Operation Epic Fury is an organic uprising by Iranians that transforms that nation into a nonhostile entity that ceases exporting terrorism and Islamic fanaticism around the world. In the worst-case scenario, a weak, rump Islamic Republic survives.

Right now, no matter what happens, the clerics are gelded. That alone is a win.

David Harsanyi is a senior writer at the Washington Examiner, a nationally syndicated columnist and author of ve books. (Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

obituaries

IN MEMORY

William Harrison Elder

Jan. 13, 1934 –March 5, 2026

William Harrison Elder of Siler City, age 92, passed away Thursday, March 5, 2026. A lifelong resident of Siler City, he was the son of the late Harland H. Elder and Nell Welch Elder.

Bill is survived by his wife, Barbara Meadows Elder; stepdaughter, Lisa Meadows Barbee and her husband, Dale, of Siler City; stepsons, William David Sellers and his wife, Janie, of Burlington, NC and Kendall Ernest Sellers and his wife, Vicki, of Stephens City, VA; step-grandchildren, Whitt Sellers and his wife, Chrissy, Taylor Barbee, Chelsea Barbee, Jameson Sellers, Sasha Sellers Boyd and her husband, Ryan, Kiersten Cohen, Miranda Pirchuski and her husband, T.J.; ve step-greatgrandchildren, Jacqueline, Kinsleigh, Felix, Brady and Ember. He is also survived by his sister, Dorothy Elder Harris; along with eight nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents, his rst wife, Sara Walker Elder; sisters, Jenny Elder Fitch and Ruth Elder Phillips; and his step-granddaughter, Christine Sellers.

Bill achieved numerous milestones throughout his life. He attended public schools in Siler City and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a

member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. After completing his education, he returned to Siler City. During his career, he was President of Elder Oil Company, Elder Heating and Air and Elder Electric. He also served for a time as Communications Director for Chatham County. He later taught computer courses at Central Carolina Community College. Bill was proud of his service to our country. He served many years as Commander of the Army National Guard and then as a member of the Army Reserve. He was assigned to the Signal Corp and was appointed to serve some time at the Pentagon. He retired from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel. Bill was devoted to his community. He was a lifelong member of First United Methodist Church, where he taught an adult Sunday School class for many years. His leadership extended to various organizations. He was a member and former Secretary of the Masonic lodge, member and past Worthy Patron and past Secretary of Eastern Star Chapter, past President of the Jaycees, past President of Lions Club, former Commander of the American Legion, past member of Rotary Club and Chatham County Wildlife Club. He was a charter member of the Siler City Country Club. His hobbies included photography, painting, gourmet cooking, building model ships, reading and working Sudoku puzzles.

A Memorial Service will be held at First United Methodist Church at 1101 W. Raleigh Street, Siler City, NC on Saturday, March 14, at 2:00PM, followed by a visitation and reception in the church fellowship hall. A private family graveside service with military honors will precede the church service. Memorial contributions may be sent to First United Methodist Church or the Randolph Honor Guard.

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.

SCOTT WILLIAM PETERSON

JULY 3, 1983 – FEB. 26, 2026

Scott William Peterson, 42, passed away on Thursday, February 26, 2026, surrounded by his lifelong friends and loving family.

A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date, with details to be announced. Born on July 3, 1983, in Hamilton County, Ohio, Scott was the beloved son of David Scott Peterson and Ruth Ann Taylor Peterson.

From an early age, he was known for his steady kindness, strong work ethic, and willingness to lend a hand to anyone in need, qualities that de ned his life. Scott dedicated his professional career to caring for others as a radiologic technologist with UNC REX Hospital and FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital. He truly loved his work and the opportunity it gave him to be there for others.

Colleagues and patients alike appreciated his calm demeanor, compassion, and sense of humor. His sel ess spirit was evident not only in his career, but also in his choice to be an organ donor, allowing him to continue helping others even after his passing. Outside of work, Scott found joy in woodworking, crafting beautiful pieces for others to cherish. He was passionate about health and tness, enjoyed cooking and trying new recipes, and loved gathering around the table with those he cared about. A devoted sports fan, he faithfully supported Duke Basketball, the Cincinnati Bengals, and the New York Yankees, rarely missing a game and always ready to celebrate a victory.

Above all, Scott cherished his family. He was a loving and devoted husband to Jessica and a proud, engaged father to Ava and Liam. His greatest happiness was found in time spent traveling, riding roller coasters, and hiking together.

Scott is survived by his wife, Jessica, and their children, Ava and Liam; his parents, David and Ruth Ann Peterson; his sister, Marsha Peterson O’Hare and her husband, Aidan; his grandmother, Henrietta Bray Taylor; his niece, Allison O’Hare; his nephew, Sam O’Hare, all of Bear Creek; his devoted dog, Max; and a host of extended family members and dear friends who will miss him deeply.

The family extends their heartfelt gratitude to the rst responders, FirstHealth EMS, Chatham Hospital, the sta of UNC Hospitals, and HonorBridge for their compassionate care and support during this di cult time.

RONALD GEOVANI LOPEZ SANCHEZ

APRIL 16, 1985 – MARCH 2, 2026

Ronald Geovani Lopez Sanchez, 40, of Siler City, passed away on Monday, March 2, 2026 at UNC Hospital.

The visitation and service will begin at 8:00 p.m. at Iglesia de Dios Liero de los Valleson on Sunday, March 8, 2026 with Pastor Rigoberto Zacarias presiding. Burial will be at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, March 9, 2026 at Chatham Memorial Park.

Ronald was born on April 16, 1985 to Andres Isaias Lopez and Erundina Sanchez. He worked with his family in the grocery business. He enjoyed playing and watching soccer, shing and board games. He loved watching movies with his family and cherished their time together.

Ronald is survived by his wife, Teresa Mancilla, of the home; children, Camila Lopez Mancilla, Ileana Isabela Lopez Mancilla, Benjamin Geovani Lopez Mancilla and Joseph Emiliano Lopez Mancilla; parents, Andres Isaias Lopez and Erundina Sanchez, of Siler City, sisters, Flor de Maria Lopez Sanchez (Abel Moreno), of New Jersey, Erica Beatriz Lopez Sanchez, of Siler City, Carmen Iliana Lopez Sanchez (Sergio), of Siler City and a host of family and friends.

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

Alexander Butter eld, Nixon aide who disclosed Watergate tapes, dead at 99

His revelation of the secret taping system ultimately forced Nixon’s resignation

By Douglass K. Daniel The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Alexander Butter eld, the White House aide who inadvertently hastened Richard Nixon’s resignation over the Watergate scandal when he revealed that the president had bugged the Oval O ce and Cabinet Room and routinely recorded his conversations, has died. He was 99.

His death was con rmed to The Associated Press by his wife, Kim, and John Dean, who served as White House counsel to Nixon during the Watergate scandal and went on to, along with Butter eld, help expose the wrongdoing.

“He had the heavy responsibility of revealing something he was sworn to secrecy on, which is the installation of the Nixon taping system,” Dean said. “He stood up and told the truth.”

As a deputy assistant to the president, Butter eld oversaw

the taping system connected to voice-activated listening devices that had been secretly placed in four locations, including Nixon’s o ce in the Executive O ce Building and the presidential retreat at Camp David.

Butter eld later said that, besides himself and the president, he believed that only White House chief of sta H.R. Haldeman, a Haldeman assistant and a handful of Secret Service agents knew about the taping system.

“Everything was taped … as long as the president was in attendance,” Butter eld told Watergate investigators when testifying under oath during a preliminary interview.

The tapes would expose Nixon’s role in the cover-up that followed the burglary in 1972 at the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate building. To avoid impeachment by the House, Nixon resigned on Aug. 9, 1974, less than a month after the Supreme Court had ordered him to surrender the relevant tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor.

Butter eld believed he’d had

a hand in the president’s fate.

“I didn’t like to be the cause of that, but I felt that I was, in a lot of ways,” he said in a 2008 oral history for the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

Butter eld, a college friend of Haldeman’s at UCLA who had contacted his friend to ask about opportunities in the new Nixon administration, served as a deputy assistant to Nixon from 1969 to 1973. In that capacity he worked under Haldeman and, among other duties, was secretary to the Cabinet and helped oversee White House operations.

The Air Force veteran had left the White House to become administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration when Senate committee sta ers privately questioned him on July 13, 1973, during their investigation of the Watergate breakin. A routine question about the possibility of a taping system had been prompted by former White House counsel John Dean’s testimony that he believed a conversation he had had with Nixon may have been recorded.

When Butter eld acknowl-

edged that a taping system indeed existed, he was brought before a public hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. The public revelation on July 16, 1973, of a taping system designed to record all the president’s conversations stunned Nixon friends and foes alike. The tapes promised Watergate investigators a rich vein of evidence in their quest for determining what Nixon and others knew about the break-in — a great deal, as it turned out. E orts by investigators to gain access to the tapes sparked a yearlong legal battle that was resolved in July 1974 when the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Nixon had to give them up.

The thousands of hours of tapes made public over the years — they are now controlled by the National Archives — provide a unique if often un attering view of Nixon. His words exposed a bad temper, vulgar language, bigoted racial and religious views, and unvarnished opinions about national and international gures.

“I just thought, ‘When they hear those tapes …’ I mean, I knew what was on these tapes … they’re dynamite,” Buttereld told the Nixon Library. “I guess I didn’t foresee that the president might be put out of o ce or impeached, but I thought it would be a perilous few years for him. I guess I couldn’t conceive of (Nixon) being forced out of o ce. It had never happened before.”

Alexander Porter Butter eld was born on April 6, 1926, in Pensacola, Florida. He left UCLA to join the Navy and later earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland in 1956 and a master’s degree from George Washington University in 1967. In 1948, he joined the Air Force and served as an instructor at a base near Las Vegas during the Korean War and later served in Germany. In Washington, he was military assistant to the special assistant of the defense secretary in 1965 and 1966 and later served as senior military representative of the U.S. and representative for the commander-in-chief, Pacific Forces, Australia. He retired at the rank of colonel after 20 years in the Air Force. Butter eld was unsparing in his criticism of the former president in later years. He believed that Nixon knew about the Watergate break-in before it occurred and was the architect of the ensuing cover-up.

Man who helped recruit players into sprawling NCAA basketball point-shaving scheme pleads guilty

A Charlotte man became the rst to plead guilty in a scheme that defrauded sportsbooks

By Marc Levy The Associated Press

ONE OF THE SO-CALLED

xers in a sprawling betting scheme that allegedly raked in millions of dollars o of big bets on rigged NCAA basketball games pleaded guilty Monday.

Jalen Smith appeared in federal court in Philadelphia and pleaded guilty to wire fraud and bribery charges, becoming the rst of 26 people charged in the scheme to formally do so. It came a week before the start of March Madness, in which bettors will wager billions legally — and illegally — on the 68 college basketball teams in the tournament.

Smith, of Charlotte, trained and developed local basketball players for professional scouting combines and used those connections with players when he became part of the scheme, according to prosecutors.

The charges against Smith and 25 others were unsealed in January. Smith’s lawyer, Rocco Cipparone, said in an interview that Smith pleaded guilty to get the matter behind him, serve whatever sentence he’ll be given and “move forward in his life in

a positive direction.”

Smith had begun talking to prosecutors about a guilty plea well before he was formally charged, and the possibility that others in the case might plead guilty didn’t have any impact on his decision making, Cipparone said.

Besides the xers who recruited players and placed bets, the charges targeted 17 former college basketball players and four other players who were active with their college teams this season.

More than a dozen players tried to x games as recently as last season and some helped recruit other players, federal prosecutors said.

Two of the players charged were banned by the NCAA after a separate point-shaving inves-

tigation. One of the two, former University of New Orleans player Dae Dae Hunter, said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that he participated in point-shaving to get money to care for his child.

It is the latest gambling scandal to hit the sports world since a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision unleashed a meteoric rise in legal sports betting.

Smith was active in helping x games in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, placing bets and recruiting players with the promise of a big payment in exchange for purposefully underperforming during a game, prosecutors said.

The xers would then bet against the players’ teams in those games, defrauding sportsbooks and other bettors, authorities said.

“(He’s hoping to) move forward in his life in a positive direction.”

Rocco Cipparone, Jalen Smith’s lawyer

Smith often traveled to meet players to deliver cash payments by hand, prosecutors said. In one case, Smith traveled to Louisiana to arrange the delivery of about $32,000 in cash to two of the players charged in the scheme, prosecutors said.

Smith also pleaded guilty to a separate weapons charge, stemming from an FBI search of Smith’s bedroom at a house in North Carolina last May where agents found a loaded handgun in a hamper underneath some clothing.

Smith was prohibited from possessing the weapon as a condition of a drug conviction in 2018, and told agents that he had bought it from a man outside a sneaker store in Charlotte, the plea agreement said. Agents later found that it had been reported stolen.

The point-shaving scheme began with two games in the Chinese Basketball Association in 2023, according to the indictment. Successful there, xers recruited Smith and two other xers and moved on to rigging

NCAA games, and the last game they xed was in January 2025, it said.

Their scheme grew to involve more than 39 players on more than 17 di erent NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams, who then rigged and attempted to rig more than 29 games, prosecutors said.

They wagered millions of dollars, raking in “substantial proceeds” for themselves, and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to players in bribes, prosecutors said. Payments to players typically ranged from $10,000 to $30,000 per game, they said.

Prosecutors named more than 40 schools where games were allegedly targeted by the scheme. Those included Tulane University and DePaul University.

Rigged games included major conferences and some playo s, including the rst round of the Horizon League championship and the second round of the Southland Conference championship, prosecutors said.

Players often recruited teammates to cooperate by playing badly, sitting out or keeping the ball away from players who weren’t in on the scheme to prevent them from scoring. Sometimes the attempted x failed, meaning the xers lost their bets, prosecutors said.

Meta to acquire Moltbook

The acquisition re ects a heated tech race to control AI agent networks

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Meta said Tuesday it is acquiring Moltbook, a social network built exclusively for arti cial intelligence agents to make posts and interact with each other. A takeover of the AI experiment by the parent company of Facebook and Instagram comes weeks after Moltbook attracted viral attention as an unusual Reddit-like hub for AI systems trading gossip.

Meta’s move re ects the tech industry’s ongoing fascination with the promise of AI agents that go beyond a chatbot’s capabilities in being able to act and perform tasks on a person’s behalf.

Meta said in a statement that Moltbook introduced novel ideas in a “rapidly developing space” and will open “new ways for AI agents to work for people and businesses.” Meta said it was hiring Moltbook co-founders Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr. The deal’s nancial terms weren’t disclosed. In a similar move, OpenAI,

PITTSBORO from page A1

The agreement from then was that the town would provide an annual performance-based incentive grant equal to a percentage of the property taxes paid on the hotel.

The incentive would pay annually for up to ve years and range in percentage from 40% up to 53%.

In return, the developers were required to invest at least $14 million in the development of a hotel, employ at least one-third of its full-time sta from local residents, as well as meet other various metrics.

Following the hearing, the board unanimously approved the economic incentive agreement.

Finally, the board selected HH Architecture for the design of the new Town Hall for an amount not to exceed $888,000.

“HH Architecture is a Raleigh based, midsize rm with a very strong project portfolio and extremely good references,” said Project Engineer Ben

maker of ChatGPT, last month hired the creator of AI agent OpenClaw, formerly called Moltbot and the technology upon which Moltbook was built.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said at the time that Peter Steinberger would join OpenAI “to drive the next generation of personal agents” that will interact with each other “to do very useful things for people.”

OpenClaw operates on users’ own hardware and runs locally on their device, meaning it can access and manage les and data directly, and connect with messaging apps like Discord and Signal. Users who create OpenClaw agents then direct them to join Moltbook. OpenAI also earlier this week said it was acquiring Promptfoo, an AI security platform that tests the behaviors and risks of agents.

Questions about the authenticity of content posted on Moltbook swirled in its rst week of operation, when it was at its peak virality. Researchers at Wiz, a cloud security platform, published a report shortly after the platform launched detailing security vulnerabilities on the site, which have since been patched.

Schmadeke. “The evaluation committee really appreciated their project approach and experience.” According to Schmadeke, the current projected budget for the town hall is around $13 million, with a projected completion date around the end of 2028.

“The preliminary engineering study that you all saw was with a $16 million budget and that did not include design, contingency, furnishings and some other things,” said Town Manager Jonathan Franklin. “So to get to this $13 million, with everything included, I think sta has done a really good job of putting together this approach.”

“We will have up to date costs on the design that is being put together throughout the process,” Franklin said. “We’ll have touchpoints throughout the process to know that this design is staying on budget so we don’t get surprised.”

The Town of Pittsboro Board of Commissioners will next meet April 13.

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NOTICE TO CREDITORS

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

NOTICE

TOWN OF SILER CITY, NORTH CAROLINA LEGAL NOTICE – REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RE-ADVERTISEMENT)

The Town of Siler City, North Carolina is issuing a re-advertisement for sealed proposals from quali ed contractors for the Bray Park Recreation Fields Turnkey Construction Project located at Bray Park, 800 Alston Bridge Road, Siler City, North Carolina. Sealed proposals will be received until 4:00 PM on April 10, 2026, at the Town of Siler City O ces, 311 North Second Avenue, Siler City, NC 27344, at which time proposals will be publicly opened and recorded. Proposal documents and construction plans may be obtained by visiting the Town of Siler City website or by contacting the Town Clerk. Town Clerk Contact Information: Briana Martinez Town Clerk Town of Siler City 311 North Second Avenue Siler City, NC 27344 Phone: 919-742-4731 Email: bmartinez@silercity.gov Contractors are encouraged, but not required, to visit the project site prior to submitting proposals. The Town of Siler City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and to waive informalities as permitted by North Carolina law.

NOTICE NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY NOTICE TO CREDITORS The undersigned, having quali ed on the 26th day of February, 2026, as Executor of the Estate of Don Eugene Tucker aka Don E. Tucker, deceased, of Chatham County does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before June 10th, 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 5th day of March, 2026. Janet E. Tucker Executor of the Estate of Don Eugene Tucker aka Don E. Tucker c/o J Alan Campbell Law PO Box 850 Hillsborough, NC 27278 919-451-5441

Notice to Creditors

Having quali ed as Administrator of the Estate of MARGARET KAY HIRSCHMAN HICKS, late of Chatham County, North Carolina (26E000085-180), 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 29th day of May, 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 26th day of February 2026. Charles Hirschman Administrator of the Estate of Margaret Kay Hirschman Hicks c/o Lisa M. Schreiner Attorney at Law P.O. Box 446 114 Raleigh Street Fuquay Varina, NC 27526 (For publication: 02/26, 03/05, 03/12, 03/19/2026)

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

26E000079-180 NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY

The undersigned, James Yuschik, having quali ed as Administrator of the Estate of Elaine Marie Gregg, deceased, late of Chatham County, this is to notify all persons having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned on or before the day of May 27, 2026 or this notice will be plead in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

This the 26th day of February 2026. James Yuschik Administrator Marie H. Hopper Attorney for the Estate Hopper Cummings, PLLC Post O ce Box 1455 Pittsboro, NC 27312

NOTICE OF SERVICE OF PROCESS BY PUBLICATION

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICEDISTRICT COURT DIVISION STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

CHATHAM COUNTY FILE NO: 25CV000653-180

This is an action for Absolute Divorce To the attention of Nanette A.Newton Take notice that a pleading seeking relief against you has been led in the above-entitled. The nature of the relief being sought is as follows: ABSOLUTE DIVORCE You are required to make defense to such pleading not later than Forty (40) days after the date of the rst publication of this notice and upon your failure to do so the party seeking service against you will apply to the court for the relief sought. This, the 5th day of, March 2026. Johnathan Newton 898 Bish Rd Staley, NC 27355

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#26E000097-180

The undersigned RICKY HALL, having quali ed on the 19TH Day of FEBRUARY 2026 as ADMINISTRATOR of the Estate of MICHAEL ALLEN HALL, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 26TH Day OF MAY 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 26TH DAY OF FEBRUARY 2026. RICKY HALL, ADMINISTRATOR 881 BIG PEAK CREEK ROAD LAUREL SPRINGS, NC 28644 Run dates: F26,M5,12,19p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY

FILE#26E000095-180

The undersigned NATALIE HARRIS, having quali ed on the 19TH Day of FEBRUARY 2026 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of SUZANN MARIE MARCLE, 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 5TH Day OF JUNE 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 5TH DAY OF MARCH 2026. NATALIE HARRIS, EXECUTOR 4671 PEACE FOREST LANE CLIMAX, NC 27233 Run dates: M5,12,19,26p

NOTICE

Notice is hereby given that on February 20th, 2026, William J. Vick was appointed Personal Representative of the Estate of Beverly A Vasko, deceased, by the Clerk of Superior Court, Chatham County, North Carolina. All persons having claims against the decedent are required to present their claims to the aforenamed Personal Representative, at 2212 Briland Ct. Fuquay Varina, NC 27526, or le them with the Clerk of the Court, 40 E Chatham St, Pittsboro, NC 27312, within 3 months from the date of the rst publication of this notice, or said claims will be forever barred.

NOTICE

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

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of Sandra G. Funk aka Sandra Gail Funk, 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 Tillman, Whichard & Cagle, PLLC, 501 Eastowne Drive, Suite 130, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, on or before the 19th day of May, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment. This 19th day of February, 2026. SARAH ELIZABETH TILLMAN, EXECUTOR ESTATE OF SANDRA G. FUNK AKA SANDRA GAIL FUNK

NOTICE TO CREDITORS: Chatham County, North Carolina RE: THE ESTATE OF JOHN THOMAS NASH – 25E000476-180

Having quali ed as Administrator of the Estate of John Thomas Nash, 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 20th day of May, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. This the 19th day of February, 2026. Leigh Goodwin, Executrix DSR Legal, PLLC PO Box 51596 Durham, NC 27717

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Having quali ed as Executor/ Administrator of the Estate of Donald G. Cheek, deceased, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, rms, and corporations having claims against the estate to present them to the undersigned on or before May 19, 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 the 19 day of February, 2026. Danis A. Smith

Executor/Administrator of the Estate of Donald G Cheek Jr 3630 Lyle Creek Ave NE Conover, NC 28613 Dates of Publication: February 19, 2026 February 26, 2026 March 5, 2026 March 12, 2026

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY

FILE#26E000033-180

The undersigned KENNETH WARREN

STURDIVANT, having quali ed on the 10TH Day of FEBRUARY 2026 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of LARRY STURDIVANT, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 19TH Day OF MAY 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 19TH DAY OF FEBRUARY 2026. KENNETH WARREN STURDIVANT, EXECUTOR 714 MT. PISGAH CHURCH RD. APEX, NC 27523 Run dates: F19,26,M5,12p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY

FILE#26E000119-180

The undersigned MAX WILEY BUTLER, having quali ed on the 2ND Day of MARCH 2026 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of SYLVIA HOLT BUTLER, 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 5TH Day OF JUNE 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 5TH DAY OF MARCH 2026. MAX WILEY BUTLER, EXECUTOR

616 PALMERA DR. E PONTE VERDE BEACH, FL 32082

MAIL AFFIDAVIT TO: BELLE B. BROOKS C/O SYLVIA BUTLER 475 HENRY WEBSTER RD. PITTSBORO, NC 27312 Run dates: M5,12,19,26p

Notice to Creditors

State of North Carolina Chatham County The General Court of Justice Superior Court Division 25E000584-180 Having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of Frieda Lobe, deceased, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, rms, and corporations having claims against said Estate to present them, duly veri ed, to the undersigned on or before the 12th day of June 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said estate will please make immediate settlement with the undersigned. This the 12th day of March 2026.

Ingrid Maria Rubenacker, Executor 75004 Miller Chapel Hill, NC 27517 Address where claims can be sent: Fidelity Law Group ATTN: John Riordan 8936 Northpointe Executive Park Drive STE 260 Huntersville, NC 28078 File #25E000584-180. ###### Published Mar 12, 19, 26 and Apr 2, 2026

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#26E000120-180 The undersigned JANET DUNN FRANTZ, having quali ed on the 3RD Day of MARCH 2026 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of JOSEPH GLENN DUNN, SR., deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 12TH Day OF JUNE 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 12TH DAY OF MARCH 2026. JANET DUNN FRANTZ, EXECUTOR 1525 RED LANE EXTENSION SALEM, VA 24153 Run dates: M12,19,26,A2p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA Chatham COUNTY 26E000098-180 All persons, rms, and corporations having claims against Frankye Carlene Spiller, deceased, late of Chatham County, NC, are noti ed to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before the 5th day of June, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment. This the 5th day of March, 2026. Patricia Diane Bonvissuto, Executor c/o Hemphill Gelder, PC PO Box 97035 Raleigh, NC 27624-7035 Pub dates: 3/5, 3/12, 3/19, and 3/26/2026

CREDITOR’S NOTICE

Having quali ed on the 3rd day of February 2026, as Administrator of the Estate of Mary Frances Sutton , deceased, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against the decedent to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before the 19th day of May, 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 16th day of February 2026. W. Woods Doster, Administrator of the Estate of Mary Frances Sutton 206 Hawkins Avenue

Sanford, NC 27330

Attorneys: Law O ces of Doster & Brown, P.A. 206 Hawkins Avenue Sanford, NC 27330

Publish On: February 19th, 26th of February & 5th and 12th of March 2026.

Notice to Creditors

All persons, rms and corporations having claims against Patricia C. Dutcher, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, are noti ed to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before June 1, 2026 or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment. This the 26th day of February, 2026. Paul C. Dutcher, Administrator c/o W. Thomas McCuiston 200 Towne Village Drive Cary, NC 27513

NOTICE

ALL PERSONS, rms, and corporations having claims against Frederick R Stagg, Jr., deceased, of Chatham County, N.C., are noti ed to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before May 19th, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment. This the 19th of February, 2026. Ryan Frederick Pamplin, Executor of the Estate of Frederick R Stagg, Jr., c/o Jessica Mantekas, Attorney, 1255 Crescent Green, Suite 200, Cary, NC 27518.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#26E000087-180 The undersigned MARY BETH COOKE, having quali ed on the 17TH Day of FEBRUARY 2026 as ADMINISTRATOR, CTA of the Estate of JAMES FRANKLIN WARFFORD, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 26TH Day OF MAY 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 26TH DAY OF FEBRUARY 2026. MARY BETH COOKE, ADMINISTRATOR CTA 1176 ASHEFORD GREEN AVENUE NW CHARLOTTE, NC 28207 Run dates: F26,M5,12,19p

CREDITOR’S NOTICE

Having quali ed on the 30th day of October 2025, as Administrator of the Estate of Edward Joe Truett, 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 20th day of May, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons, rms and corporations indebted to the estate should make immediate payment. This is the 10th day of February 2026. W. Woods Doster, Administrator of the Estate of Edward Joe Truett 206 Hawkins Ave Sanford, NC 27330 Attorneys: Law O ces of Doster & Brown, P.A. 206 Hawkins Avenue Sanford, NC 27330 Publish On: February 19th, February 26th, March 5th & 12th 2026.

NOTICE

ALL PERSONS, rms and corporations

holding claims against Dorothy H King aka Dorothy King Harris aka Dorothy Herring King, deceased, of Chatham County, NC are noti ed to exhibit same to the undersigned on or before May 29, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment. This 26th day of February 2026. Sandra King McGraw, Exec., c/o Clarity Legal Group, PO Box 2207, Chapel Hill, NC 27515.

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE

A public hearing will be held by the Chatham County Board of Commissioners on Monday, March 16, 2026, beginning at 6:00 p.m. The public hearing will be held in the courtroom of the Historic Courthouse in Pittsboro, North Carolina at 9 Hillsboro Street, Pittsboro NC 27312. Additional information is available at the Chatham County Planning Department o ce. Speakers are requested to sign up at the meeting prior to the hearing. You may also sign up on the county website prior to the meeting at www. chathamcountync.gov by selecting the heading County Government, then Commissioner Meetings, then Public Comment. The public hearing may be continued to another date at the discretion of the Board of Commissioners. The purpose of the Public Hearing is to receive input, both written and oral, on the issues listed below: Legislative Request: A legislative public hearing requested by the Chatham County Planning Department to amend the e ective date of the adopted Uni ed Development Ordinance from June 1st, 2026, to June 1st, 2027, as a result of legislative action S382. A legislative public hearing general use rezoning requested by EC PROPCO, LLC to rezone Parcels 5377, 5376, 78264, 5470 from R-1 Residential to Ind-H Heavy Industrial, on 292.288 acres, located o Christian Chapel Church Rd., Cape Fear Township. A legislative public hearing rezoning requested by Fearrington Property Development, LLC to rezone Parcels 2867, 2868, 2869, 2842, 2807, 2820, 95254, located o 724 Andrews Store Rd, Parker Herndon Rd, and Morris Rd., from R-1 Residential to CD-CC Conditional District Compact Community, being approximately 371.822 acres, Baldwin Township. Substantial changes may be made following the public hearing due to verbal or written comments received or based on the Board’s discussions. Notice to people with special needs: If you have audio or visual impairment, unique accessibility requirements or need language assistance, please call the number listed below prior to the hearing and assistance may be provided. If you have any questions or comments concerning these issues, please call the Chatham County Planning Department at 919-542-8204, or write to P.O. Box 54, Pittsboro N.C. 27312. Please run in your paper: March 5th and 12th, 2026

NOTICE

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE TO CREDITORS COUNTY OF CHATHAM THE UNDERSIGNED, having quali ed on the 17th day of February 2026, as Ancillary Co-Executors of the ESTATE OF HERMON O. LEE, Deceased, hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 6th day of June, 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 5th day of March 2026. Diana Lee & Marzell Lee Ancillary Co-Executors Estate of Hermon O. Lee c/o Shirley M. Diefenbach, Attorney Walker Lambe, PLLC Post O ce Box 51549 Durham, North Carolina 27717

NOTE: For publication in The Chatham News on the following dates: March 5th, March 12th, March 19th, and March 26th. Please send the Statement and Proof of Publication to Walker Lambe, PLLC, Post O ce Box 51549, Durham, North Carolina 27717-1549. 4914-7900-5072, v. 2

Notice to Creditors ALL PERSONS, rms and corporations having claims against Virginia Dare Taylor, deceased, of Chatham County, NC, are noti ed to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before May 22, 2026, or this notice

Chapel Hill, NC 27514

NOTICE TO CREDITORS NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#26E000081-180 The undersigned RHONDA BOONE POE, having quali ed on the 11TH Day of FEBRUARY 2026 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of BARBARA HOLT BOONE, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 19TH Day OF MAY 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 19TH DAY OF FEBRUARY 2026. RHONDA BOONE POE, EXECUTOR 4577 PINEY GROVE CHURCH RD SILER CITY, NC 27344 Run dates: F19,26,M5,12p

NOTICE

NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND DEBTORS OF Frederick Oscar Bowman, Jr. All persons, rms and corporations having claims against Frederick Oscar Bowman, Jr., late of Chatham, North Carolina, are noti ed to exhibit them to Frederick O. Bowman, III or John S. Bowman as Co-Executors of the decedent’s estate on or before May 23, 2026, c/o Janet B. Witchger, Attorney at Law, 1414 Raleigh Rd., Ste. 203, Chapel Hill, NC 27517, or be barred from their recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment to the above-named Executor. This the 19th day of February 2026. Frederick O. Bowman, III, Co-Executor John S. Bowman, Co-Executor c/o Janet B. Witchger, Atty. TrustCounsel 1414 Raleigh Rd., Ste. 203 Chapel Hill, NC 27517

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY

FILE#26E000121-180 The undersigned COURTNEY H. KNOLL, having quali ed on the 9TH Day of MARCH 2026 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of BARBARA DUNNAVANT HEDGEPETH deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 12TH Day OF JUNE 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 12TH DAY OF MARCH 2026. COURTNEY H. KNOLL, EXECUTOR 153 EDGEWOOD DRIVE DURHAM, NC 27713 Walter B. Cates, Attorney HUBBARD, CATES AND GROCE, PC P.O. Box 679 Roxboro, NC 27573 Run dates: M12,19,26,A2p

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#17E000351-180 The undersigned DOBORAH LOFTON AND MAURICE NUNN, having quali ed on the 12TH Day of JANUARY 2026 as CO-EXECUTORS of the Estate of ELSIE ROSETTA HARRIS NUNN deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them on or before the 12TH Day OF JUNE 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This, the 12TH DAY OF MARCH 2026. DEBORAH LOFTON, CO-EXECUTOR 50 NEW HOPE CHURCH RD. APEX, NC 27523 MAURICE NUNN, CO-EXECUTOR 93 NEW HOPE CHURCH RD. APEX, NC 27523 Run dates: M12,19,26,A2p

‘Christ

is king’ becomes loaded phrase in US political debates, especially on the right

A sacred phrase becomes a rallying cry for some extremists targeting Jews

By Peter Smith

The Associated Press

ON ITS OWN, the phrase

“Christ is king” sums up a core tenet of the Christian faith, that Jesus is the divine ruler of the universe. Catholics and many Protestants celebrate a Christ the King Sunday each year.

But the ancient proclamation can morph into something political, controversial or even sinister, depending on who says it and how it’s said.

In recent years, “Christ is king” and similar phrases have been chanted at political rallies, posted on social media and proclaimed in speeches by voices on the right.

At times the phrase is used to support the notion of America as a Christian nation or as one that owes its allegiance specically to the Christian God. Some current Cabinet o cials and recent members of Congress have used the phrase in speeches and on social media.

But other times, political activists have paired “Christ is king” with anti-Zionist statements or negative Jewish stereotypes.

The phrase has gained popularity among far-right gures and their followers. Conservative in uencer Candace Owens, who shares antisemitic conspiracies, sells branded “Christ is King” co ee mugs and T-shirts.

The controversy connects to a larger schism on the right, with some conservatives pushing back against an increasingly vocal faction whose denunciations of Israel, critics say, often combine with blatant antisemitism. Some of the latter group insist they’re not antisemitic, just anti-Zionist. That itself is a sharp break from what was once a near-consensus of pro-Israel sentiment among Republicans.

But there are times when the use of the phrase “Christ is king” is unquestionably hostile toward Jews, said a 2025 report by the Rutgers University-a liated Network Contagion Research Institute.

Analyzing social media postings between 2021 and 2024, the institute reported a dramatic increase of the phrase “Christ is king,” often used as a hate meme targeting Jews. The report lamented this deviation from its historical use as a hopeful, sacred a rmation with biblical roots.

“The weaponization or hijacking of ‘Christ is King’ represents a disturbing inversion of its original intent. Rather than sacralizing shared values, extremists have exploited this religious expression to justify hatred,” the report said.

Controversy spotlighted at religious liberty hearing

A recent meeting of the Religious Liberty Commission, a

group President Donald Trump created and appointed, put the phrase and related controversies in the spotlight.

At a Feb. 9 hearing focused on antisemitism, a witness, Seth Dillon, spoke of often hearing people use the phrase “Christ is king” followed immediately by a highly contemptuous slur toward Jews.

“This should o end every Christian,” said Dillon, the CEO of the conservative satirical site

The Babylon Bee. Commission member Carrie Prejean Boller repeatedly grilled witnesses about whether opposing Zionism could be construed as anti-Jewish. She said that as a Catholic she opposes Zionism but that this is not antisemitic.

She asked Dillon if he thought “saying ‘Christ is king’ is antisemitic.”

Dillon said no and that, as a Christian, he regularly declares that “Christ is my king” — but context matters.

He testi ed that the phrase has been co-opted by Groypers, alluding to the followers of far-right in uencer Nick Fuentes, who has spread antisemitic views.

It’s “using the Lord’s name in an abusive manner,” Dillon said.

Fuentes’ supporters chanted “Christ is king” at the Million MAGA March, a November 2020 rally denying the Republican Trump’s defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in that year’s presidential election.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican who chairs the Religious Liberty Commission, announced Prejean Boller’s removal from the panel after the meeting. He asserted that she tried to “hijack” the hearing for her own agenda.

Following the commission meeting, Prejean Boller has posted proli cally on X, denouncing “Zionist supremacists” and repeatedly using the phrase “Christ is King.” She also has de-

nounced the war launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran.

A recent Catholic convert, she said she opposes a popular evangelical view that modern-day Israel exists in ful llment of biblical prophecy.

A religious phrase “co - opted by extremist gures”

The commission hearing was hardly the rst forum to air controversy over “Christ is king.”

The Network Contagion Research Institute’s 2025 report noted that while many “Christ is king” references on social media are strictly religious, the phrase has been “systematically co-opted by extremist gures.”

The report said Fuentes and other extremists use the phrase as a “white supremacist mantra publicizing their antisemitic beliefs.”

Fuentes has said the Holocaust was exaggerated, and he has denounced “organized Jewry in America.” He has claimed to be in battle with “satanic, globalist elites,” an antisemitic trope.

The religious phrase “Christ is king” is not inherently political, said Brian Kaylor, president and editor-in-chief of Word&Way, a progressive site covering faith and politics.

But that fact provides a “deniability” to those politicizing it, he said.

“We’re at a dangerous point with the phrase ‘Christ is king’ because of the heavy activity and use of it on the far right in very fascist, antisemitic ways,” said Kaylor, a Baptist minister and author of several books on religion and politics. “We’re at the danger of that phrase losing its meaning to where this new antisemitic use is the dominant de nition.”

The phrase has also gained popularity in political settings with some on the Catholic and evangelical right who are strongly pro-Israel and have repeatedly denounced antisemitism, such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Kaylor said the phrase is often used as “a declaration of Christian nationalism ” asserting that “the nation should be brought under the dictates of Christ.”

FBI hunts for clues after 2 men charged with lighting bombs at NYC protest

Two Pennsylvania men told authorities they were inspired by the Islamic State

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Investigators are trying to learn more about two Pennsylvania men accused of bringing homemade bombs to a protest outside the home of New York City’s mayor.

Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, told authorities after their arrests that they were inspired by the Islamic State group, law enforcement o cials said, but much remains undisclosed about their motives and how much they planned.

The FBI said Monday that it had conducted multiple searches in connection with the investigation, including an examination

of a Pennsylvania storage unit. Tests were being performed on some of the devices recovered at the scene.

Balat’s lawyer, meanwhile, portrayed him as a confused teenager who didn’t know what he was doing.

Prosecutors, police and FBI o cials say Balat and Kayumi, who lived in Philadelphia’s suburbs, drove to New York City on Saturday and joined a throng of counter protesters at a small, anti-Muslim rally organized by the far-right Christian nationalist Jake Lang.

Journalists photographed Balat hurling a device, smoking with a lit fuse, that was later found to contain the explosive TATP. The object, which also contained nuts and bolts, extinguished itself without harming anyone.

Balat then dropped a second

A dispute over politics and religion

The controversy has highlighted both religious and political ssures. The Vatican has diplomatic relations with Israel and has also recognized a state of Palestine. Pope Leo XIV has called for a two-state solution while denouncing antisemitism. During the Israel-Hamas war, popes Francis and Leo denounced the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas and Israel’s massive military response, with Leo demanding a halt to Israel’s “collective punishment” of Gaza’s population.

Other Catholics on the Religious Liberty Commission noted that Jesus and his followers were Jews and that a seminal 1965 Vatican document rejects antisemitism and the blaming of all Jews, including those alive today, for Jesus’ cruci xion. Patrick, the commission chairman, said the dispute with Prejean Boller re ects “a real problem with a very small group in our Republican Party.” Antisemitism needs to be repudiated or “this is going to destroy our party,” he said on “The Mark Levin Show,” a podcast.

But Prejean Boller has galvanized supporters from a staunchly conservative group called Catholics for Catholics, a lay-led, self-described “militant organization dedicated to the evangelization of this great country.”

It plans to honor Prejean Boller at a March 19 event with a Catholic Champion Award in Washington featuring speakers such as Owens.

Prejean Boller has reposted announcements of the event on X, including one post that shared a Spanish-language statement that translates to “We will not rest until we convert the USA into a Catholic nation.” The post concluded in English with “Christ is King!”

object near some police o cers and tried to run, but was tackled and arrested, according to a court complaint.

Balat and Kayumi were being held without bail after a court appearance Monday on charges that include attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction.

Balat’s lawyer, Mehdi Essmidi, said outside court that his client, a high school senior, had “complicated stu going on” in his personal life.

“I believe he’s 18 and he doesn’t have any idea what he’s doing,” Essmidi said. He added that he didn’t believe Balat and Kayumi had known each other long.

New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said there were no indications Monday that the attack was connected to the ongoing war in Iran.

After Balat was arrested, police o cers asked him whether he was aiming to accomplish something akin to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people.

“No, even bigger,” Balat replied, according to a criminal complaint.

CHATHAM SPORTS

“I could not be more proud of the e ort that they established and displayed in today’s game.”

The Chargers fell to Goldsboro 54-44

By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record

GREENVILLE — The Northwood girls basketball team’s beeline sprint from the turn of 2026 to the state playo s ended one game short of the nish line Friday at ECU.

Trailing No. 2 Goldsboro 26-20 at halftime of the 3A East regional nal, the fourth-seeded Chargers got outscored 11-3 in the third quarter and couldn’t overcome the

expanded de cit in a 54-44 loss.

Goldsboro senior Aziyah Boyer led all scorers with 20 points to go along with nine rebounds. Her teammate, freshman Kennedy Barbour, scored most of her 18 points during the Cougars’ game-changing burst out of the break.

“Unfortunately, the ball didn’t fall in the basket as much as we’re used to and as we would have liked,” Northwood coach Kerri Stubbs said. “But I could not be more proud of the e ort that they established and displayed in today’s game.”

The night began as a tug-of-war with possession as

both teams combined for 12 turnovers in the rst quarter.

Boyer broke the ice with the game’s rst two points over two minutes into the opening period. After Northwood took its rst and only lead of the night at 4-2 minutes later, Boyer caught re with eight straight points to help Goldsboro take a 16-9 advantage.

Northwood punched back in the second quarter, though, as its multiple trips to the free throw line turned into foul trouble for the Cougars. Barbour and junior guard Nieirah Smith, two of Goldsboro’s starters, had three fouls each, and Boyer n-

ished the rst half with two. Senior guard Neah Henry got to the line three times and led the Chargers with seven points at halftime.

“After the rst quarter, we just were making sure that they knew that we just need to play our game and to settle down, and to start to run our o ense and just take a breath” Stubbs said. “I think we did a better job after that rst quarter of doing that.”

Coming out of the break, Goldsboro held the Chargers scoreless for the rst ve minutes of the third quarter. After Boyer carried the load in

Kerri Stubbs

the rst half, Barbour came alive in the second. She scored 12 straight points in a ve-minute stretch from the end of the third to the beginning of the fourth quarter, helping Goldsboro reach its largest lead of the night (14 points). Northwood kept ghting in the nal minutes, but the Cougars had a response to almost every inch of progress it made. The Chargers shaved the de cit to nine with under a minute left

The Jets came close but fell short of snapping their skid

By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record

SILER CITY — Jordan-Matthews was arms-length away from its rst win in over a season, but Wheatmore scored six runs in the top of the seventh inning to deny the Jets in a 10-4 decision on March 4.

With the game tied at four runs apiece, Wheatmore’s decisive batting turn started with a groundout. Then, three straight walks and a wild pitch allowed junior Nathan Oxendine to score the go-ahead run, and a sacri ce bunt by Shannon McCauley scored Jackson Gallimore to put the Warriors ahead 6-4.

Facing two outs and a 3-1 count, freshman Grayson Stewart singled to score freshman Christian Tuttle.

Jordan-Matthews then switched out sophomore pitcher Elijah Rodriguez for sophomore Austin Morgan. Morgan walked his rst two batters, and an error on a ground ball hit by Wheatmore’s Greyson Atkinson scored two more runs. Wheatmore landed itsnal blow in the next at-bat as another error committed by the Jets’ defense on a ground ball from Gavin McPherson

By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record Baseball

Seaforth extended its win streak to three with a 5-4 win over Leesville Road on March 3 and a 2-1 win over Cleveland on Friday. Junior pitcher Jaedyn Rader closed both games with zero hits and zero runs allowed in the nal inning. After losses to Trinity (11-1) and Southern Alamance (6- 4), Northwood avoided a three-game skid with a 3-2 win over Southeast Alamance on March 5. Junior Campbell Parks singled and scored sophomore Brody Zsuppan for the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth. Freshman pitcher Mason Lutterloh closed the win with a three up, three down inning, including two strikeouts. Chatham Charter bounced back from its 3-1 season-opening loss to Southern Alamance with an 8-4 win over Cornerstone Charter on Friday. The Knights built a 6-0 lead through the fth inning, and Jax Young went 2 for 3 with one run and two RBIs. Chatham Central started the season with back-to-back losses to South Stokes, losing 4-0 on March 3 and 11-1 Friday. Jordan-Matthews fell to R.J. Reynolds 6-1 Friday.

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

Jordan-Matthews senior pitcher Lilli Hicks threw a no-hitter in the season-opening 4-0 win over Carrboro on March 3. Hicks then went 2 for 3 and gave up zero runs in the last four innings of Jordan-Matthews’ 4-3 win over Providence Grove on March 4. The Jets notched 12 hits, and Ella Parks recorded three RBIs in their 10-0 win over Wheatmore on Friday. Seaforth’s Emma Grace Hill sent the Hawks over Middle Creek in the season opener 3-2 on March 4 with a walk- o RBI. Caroline Cook scored the winning run. Hill recorded four RBIs and struck out 11 batters in the Hawks’ 12-2 win over Holly Springs on Friday.

Former locals take on postseason tournaments

10

Jordan-Matthews, softball

Jordan-Matthews senior Lilli Hicks earns athlete of the week honors for the week of March 2.

In the Jets’ 4-0 win over Carrboro on March 3, Hicks pitched a no-hitter and struck out nine batters in a full seven innings. She also scored two runs. On the very next night, Hicks came up huge once again in a 4-3 win over Providence Grove. With the Jets holding on to a one-run lead, Hicks allowed one hit and gave up zero runs in the nal four innings.

Hicks capped o her week with nine strikeouts and two hits allowed in a 10-0, ve-inning win over Wheatmore on Friday.

NORTHWOOD from page B1

to play, but they couldn’t complete a comeback.

Henry nished the night as Northwood’s leading scorer with 16 points. Senior Alyia Roberts and sophomore Noelle Whitaker poured in eight points each, while senior Shaylah Glover recorded six points a team-high seven rebounds.

Northwood made the regional nal for the rst time since the 2022 state title run and nished the season 21-6 overall and 10-0 in Four Rivers 3A/4A conference play.

The 2026 senior class of Henry, Roberts, Glover, Mikaylah Glover and Amari Bullett completed three 20-win seasons, including two regular season conference titles and a conference tournament title in 2024.

After the game, a few of the seniors shared that the friendships formed with each other are one of their biggest takeaways from their high school careers.

“These girls, they’ve given me something that I’ve craved in life, while also playing the sport that I love, which is sisterhood,” Henry said.

By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record

IT’S BRACKET SEASON, and Chatham County’s past standout hoopers are taking part across numerous levels of college basketball.

Here’s a rundown of how the former local athletes have already fared in conference or national tournaments and where to watch them in upcoming tournament action.

Women

Former Seaforth standout

Gabby White made her debut in the ACC Women’s Tournament last week as eighth-seeded Virginia fell to No. 9 Clemson 63 -50 in the second round. White played 17 minutes o the bench and recorded ve points and two rebounds. White’s status on making her NCAA Tournament debut isn’t certain as multiple projections have the Cavaliers as a double-digit seed and on the bubble as either one of the last four in or one of the rst four out. Virginia’s fate will be determined Sunday during the Women’s Tournament selection show at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

McKenna Snively, who played at Northwood, helped lead Christopher Newport to the second round of the NCAA Division III Women’s Tournament. Snively scored 10 points in the Captains’ 74-62 rst round win over Gettysburg College. Christopher Newport fell

to Washington and Lee 61-55 in Saturday’s second round, and Snively, a senior, scored eight points. Prior to the NCAA Tournament, Snively helped the Captains win their seventh straight conference championship with a 73-57 win over Salisbury in the Coast-To-Coast Women’s Tournament nal.

Skylar Adams, the former Northwood guard, made her second appearance in the CIAA Women’s Tournament with Shaw. The Bears fell to Blue eld State 82-56 in the rst round on Feb. 24. Adams was in the starting lineup, but she didn’t take a shot attempt in her six minutes of play. She averaged 3.6 points this season.

Former Seaforth guard Hannah Ajayi and fth-seeded Guilford fell to No. 4 Shenandoah 61-60 in the rst round of the Women’s ODAC Tournament. Ajayi scored four points and went 2 for 2 from the eld in 12 minutes of play. In her sophomore season, Ajayi averaged 2.3 points and 1.7 rebounds.

Men

Former Northwood standout Max Frazier and Central Connecticut State fell to Wagner

70 - 60 in the quarter nals of the Northeast Conference Tournament on March 4. Frazier, a junior, nished the game as Blue Devils’ second leading scorer with 10 points.

Colby Burleson, the former Northwood guard, helped Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts to the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament semi nals after a 76-73 win over Salem State in the quarter nals. The Trailblazers fell to West eld State 95-68 in the semi nal on Feb. 27, and Burleson scored three points.

Former Chatham Central forward Brennen Oldham helped Catawba Valley CC to the NJCAA Region 10 Division II seminal Friday. Catawba Valley fell to the eventual region runner ups Bryant & Stratton College 108-84, and Oldham scored three points in the loss. In the quarter nal win against Cleveland CC, Oldham shot 4 for 4 from the oor for eight points, and he grabbed six rebounds. In that same bracket, Oldham’s Chatham Central teammate Reid Albright helped Central Carolina CC reach the semi nal. Central Carolina fell to the eventual region champions Davidson-Davie CC 90-70. In the quarter nal, Central Carolina defeated Fayetteville Tech 75-66.

Former Seaforth star Jarin Stevenson will make his ACC Tournament debut with North Carolina Thursday at 9:30 p.m. Kenan Parrish, the former Northwood 7-footer, will face Penn in the Ivy League Tournament semi nals Saturday at 2 p.m.

Three local teams eld boys’ volleyball teams

Chatham Charter will play for the rst time

By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record

ANOTHER SEASON of boys’ volleyball has begun in Chatham County.

This year, Seaforth, Jordan-Matthews and Chatham Charter will participate in the club sport. Chatham Charter will play for the rst time this season.

Seaforth and Jordan-Matthews have already started their regular seasons. The Hawks opened the year with a 3-2 loss to Millbrook on March 2, but they bounced back with a 3-0 win over Carrboro on March 5.

Junior Zach Evans led the way with 6 kills, junior Lucas Ferri logged a team-high 17 assists and junior Kleber Corzo recorded 18 digs.

Jordan-Matthews started the season with a 3-1 loss to Phoenix Academy on March 2.

Last year, Seaforth went 15-10 and made it to the NC Boys’ Volleyball Association 1-3A Elite Eight, falling to the eventual state champions Triangle Math and Science Academy. Class of 2025 outside hitter Broden Jones earned First Team All-State honors, and Ferri made Second Team All-State.

In 2025, Jordan-Matthews went 8-10 and fell to Seaforth in the rst round of the state playo s.

Boys’ volleyball is not sanctioned by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, but it’s status could change soon.

The NCHSAA requires at least 25% of its membership to participate in a sport before it gets sanctioned and culminates in a state championship.

Last year, HighSchoolOT reported that 105 NCHSAA

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Northwood started 3-0 for the rst time since 2020, taking down Chapel Hill (5-2), Felton Grove (18-3) and Carrboro (16 - 0). The Chargers scored 16 runs in two innings, and freshman Logan Thompson allowed zero hits and struck out eight batters in the three innings needed to beat the Jaguars.

Chatham Charter recorded 10 hits, including a home run by junior Allie McLeod, to defeat Ascend Leadership 15-0 in three innings Friday. Before that game, the Knights fell to Providence Grove 10-0 and beat Central Carolina 6-0.

Chatham Central started the week with big wins over Overhills (16-1) and Lee Coun-

Seaforth players earned all-state honors in 2025

members (135 schools in total across North Carolina) elded boys’ volleyball teams. With there being 447 total NCHSAA members, last year’s participation comes out to 23%. More teams have been added for the 2026 season.

During the NCHSAA Regional Meetings, commissioner Que Tucker said it “won’t be long” until the Board of Directors forms a committee for boys’ volleyball. “Boys’ volleyball is gaining momentum,” Tucker said.

Here’s a look at the remaining schedules for local boys’ volleyball teams.

Seaforth: March 11 — vs. Southeast Alamance; March 13 — vs. NCSSM: Durham; March 17 — at Triangle Math and Science; March 18 — vs. Durham School of the Arts; March 23 — vs. Cary Academy; March 25 — at Chapel Hill; March 26 — at Jordan-Matthews; April 9 — vs. Eno River; April 11 — at Hillside; April 11 — TBD; April 14 — vs. Triangle Math and Science; April 15 — vs. Carrboro; April 17 — at Riverside-Durham; April 17 — TBD; April 21 — at Durham School of the Arts; April 22 — vs. Panther Creek; April 27 — at NCSSM: Durham; April 30 — vs. Jordan Jordan-Matthews: March 13 — at Southeast Alamance; March 16 — vs. Ben L. Smith; March 19 — at Asheboro; March 23 — at Triad Math and Science; March 26 — vs. Seaforth; April 8 — vs. Southwest Guilford; April 10 — at Cary

ty (9 -3), but it fell to Falls Lake 10-9 Friday despite a 4-for-4, three-RBI night from junior Maddie Kaczmarczyk.

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

Girls’ lacrosse

Seaforth picked up big wins over St. Mary’s (21-10) and Jordan (14-0) to start the season last week.

Boys’ lacrosse

Seaforth defeated Jordan 13-7 on March 3.

Northwood fell to Southern Alamance 10-4 and East Chap -

Seaforth and Jordan-Matthews compete in a 2025

Academy; April 13 — at Page; April 15 — vs. Chatham Charter; April 17 — at Eastern Alamance; April 20 — vs. Southeast Alamance; April 22 — vs. Ashe-

el Hill 10-9 to start the season.

Girls’ soccer

Seaforth posted back-to-back 9-0 wins over South Granville and Webb to start the season.

Senior So a Viana scored four goals in the season opener and recorded a hat trick in the win over the Warriors. Following a 2-1 loss to Cedar Ridge, Northwood defeated Northern Durham 9-0 to notch its best four-game start since 2019 (3-1). Jordan-Matthews snapped its three-game losing streak with a 9-0 win over Phoenix Academy on March 5.

Chatham Charter lost its season opener to Cornerstone Charter 6-0 on March 5.

boro; April 24 — vs. Carrboro; April 29 — at Ben L. Smith; May 1 — vs. Eastern Alamance Chatham Charter: March 16 — at Carrboro; April 11 — vs.

Central Carolina; April 15 — at Jordan-Matthews; April 18 — vs. Carrboro; April 25 — at Triangle Math and Science; May 2 — vs. Central Carolina

Blaney ends Reddick’s streak to give Team Penske weekend sweep at Phoenix

Reddick nished eighth, while Blaney took the lead with 10 laps left

By Jenna Fryer

The Associated Press

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Ryan

Blaney completed a Team Penske sweep at Phoenix Raceway by winning the Cup Series race, denying Tyler Reddick a fourth consecutive win to start the Cup Series season.

Blaney was the race favorite after winning last November in the season- nale on the mile oval but he had to overcome at least three tire problems that cost him track position. He chased down Ty Gibbs — the 49th car he passed Sunday — to take the lead with 10 laps remaining and seal his 18th career victory.

“Just perseverance,” Blaney said. “We had a couple mistakes that we learned from, got better, had to come from the back a couple times. It’s cool to win, especially after a day like that. Can’t say enough about the (team) for keeping their head down and doing what they do.”

As he celebrated on the frontstretch, his parked Ford began to roll away and Blaney had to chase after it to ensure it was in park.

The victory came during a weekend celebration of Team Penske’s 60th season of competition and during a “desert doubleheader” that bundled IndyCar and NASCAR together at Phoenix. David Malukas won the IndyCar pole for Roger Penske and then Josef Newgarden won Saturday’s race; Joey Logano won the pole for the Cup race and then Blaney completed the sweep.

“Really proud of everybody at Team Penske,” Blaney said.

“We swept the weekend, Newgarden winning yesterday, us winning today. Can’t wait to see Roger.” Christopher Bell nished second in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson was third in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports and Gibbs dropped to fourth.

Denny Hamlin, who lost the championship last November at this track, was fth as JGR drivers took three of the top ve positions. Bell dominated the race the same way Hamlin did in November and, just like Hamlin, lost because of the wrong pit strategy.

Hamlin in November took four tires on the nal stop and

Iran soccer team exits Women’s Asian Cup, faces prospect of return home

It’s unclear if the women’s players will return to Iran

The Associated Press

GOLD COAST, Australia — Iran’s soccer team lost its last group match at the Women’s Asian Cup on Sunday and had to contemplate returning home to a country embroiled in war.

The Iranian women’s squad arrived in Australia for the continental championship last month, before the war that began with the U.S. and Israel Feb. 28 strikes on Iran. Teams ousted during the group stage usually leave within days but organizers have not announced details for the departure of the Iran delegation.

Their silence during the anthem before an opening loss to South Korea last Monday was viewed by some as an act of resistance and others as a show of mourning. The team hasn’t clari ed. But the players sang the anthem and saluted during the national anthem ahead of their 4-0 loss to Australia last Thursday and a 2-0

BASEBALL from page B1

put the game comfortably in the Warriors’ control.

“We felt like we were going to make a necessary change, and it didn’t work out the way we thought it would,” Jordan-Matthews coach Will Felder said.

“That’s something to kind of just rediscover as we move on with the season.”

After the inning ended with a y out, the Jets entered their last stand with the middle of their lineup, but only one batter reached a base before Tuttle clinched the win on the mound with a strikeout.

Prior to the late-game explo -

“I

want to be with my country and home ... We are eager to come back.”

Marziyeh Jafari , Iranian head coach

loss to Philippines on Sunday.

Amid concerns for player welfare following reported criticism in the Iranian media, the Australian Iranian Council wrote to Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke urging the government to protect the squad members while they’re in Australia.

It launched an online petition, which had more than 50,000 electronic signatures before kick-o Sunday, urging Australian authorities to “ensure that no member of Iran’s women’s national football team is to depart Australia while credible fears for their safety remain” and also to provide independent legal advice, support and interpreters.

Iran team management and players have mostly declined

sion, Wheatmore jumped out to a 4-1 lead through the top of the fth inning.

The Warriors opened the game with a walk from senior Lukas Usterbowski and a single from Atkinson, and McPherson singled to third base to score Usterbowski for the first run. In the top of the second inning, Usterbowski scored McCauley on a ground out, and in the next at-bat, Stewart scored on a wild pitch to put the Warriors ahead 3-0. The Jets didn’t score until the bottom of the fourth in which junior Omar Sanford stole third and home

to comment on the situation at home during more than a week preparing for and playing games on Australia’s Gold Coast, although Iran forward Sara Didar choked back tears in a news conference last Wednesday as she shared their concerns for their families, friends and all Iranians during the con ict.

The Australian Associated Press reported late Sunday that protestors chanting “let them go” slightly delayed the departure of the Iran squad from the stadium.

Australia’s national news agency quoted Iran’s head coach Marziyeh Jafari saying the squad “want to come back to Iran as soon as we can.”

“I want to be with my country and home ... We are eager to come back,” AAP quoted Jafari as saying.

The Australian Iranian Council’s online petition asked local authorities to ensure any player seeking protection “can do so safely, privately, and without interference” and to “make clear that Australia will uphold its … humanitarian protection obligations in relation to any

base during junior Elvis Nino-Chay’s at-bat. McPherson returned the Wheatmore lead to three runs with another RBI single in the next inning.

With Jordan-Matthews still near the top of its lineup entering the bottom of the fifth inning and Tuttle coming onto the mound for the first time, senior Landon Moser started the Jets’ rally with a single. He advanced to third base, and freshman Will Murchison reached first on a Wheatmore error. Then, another error by the Warriors allowed Moser to reach home. Morgan followed the score

“It’s cool to win, especially after a day like that.”

Ryan Blaney

It was a day that we needed.”

Bubba Wallace was sixth for 23XI, William Byron was seventh for Hendrick, and Reddick was eighth. Toyota drivers took six of the top 10 spots.

“It would have been nice to make it four,” Reddick said. “Scored the fourth-most amount of points on the day ... solid day. If we’re not going to win, these are the kind of days we need to have.”

The race was slowed by a record-tying 12 cautions, most caused by a rash of tire failures.

Gibbs responds

Ty Gibbs has chosen not to comment on the federal lawsuit his grandfather’s race team led against its former competition director, even after court declarations from Chris Gabehart claimed he left Joe Gibbs Racing in part because of the young driver.

Ty Gibbs said ahead of the race Sunday he’d let his performance on track speak for him and then delivered with his second consecutive fourth-place nish.

“Very happy with my team. All the guys, I’m with the right guys. That makes a di erence,” Gibbs said. “So we’re running good because of that. It shows.”

was beat for the championship by Larson, who took two tires.

On Sunday, Blaney took two tires while Bell and Hamlin each took four.

“You win some, you lose some,” said Bell, who led 176 of the 312 laps. “This one stings, but on the positive side, I’m really proud of our entire team. It’s something to build on.

Ty Gibbs is in his fourth full Cup season driving for his grandfather. Ty Gibbs was successful in NASCAR’s second-level series, where he won 12 races and the 2022 championship by winning the nale at Phoenix. His father, Coy, was found dead in his Phoenix hotel room the morning after the championship.

Ty Gibbs moved to the Cup Series in 2023 and is winless in 127 starts. The 23-year-old nished a career-best 15th in the 2024 Cup standings.

player at risk of persecution or serious harm.

“Where credible evidence exists that visiting athletes may face persecution, imprisonment, coercion, or worse upon return, silence is not a neutral position,” it said. “The current wartime environment has intensi ed repression, fear, and the risks faced by anyone publicly perceived by the Islamic Republic as disloyal.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong declined to comment on whether the Australian government had made contact with individuals but told domestic media Australia stood in solidarity with the Iranian women’s team.

“It has been really moving for Australians to see them in Australia, and (Australia’s women’s team) swapping jerseys with them was a very evocative mo -

“We’ve got a young team, and they were the better group tonight. It happens.”

Will Felder

with a single to left field, sending Murchison home. Sophomore Dylan Leysath kept the hot streak going with a single immediately after that, allowing freshman Eliel Tomas to score the tying run. Morgan reached third during the next at-bat, but the Jets were

ment,” Wong told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Sunday. “We know this regime has brutally oppressed many Iranian women.”

Iranian Australian activist

Tina Kordrostami, a local government member in Sydney’s Ryde Council, told The Australian newspaper the Iranian players “need an opportunity, a safe space, a chance to actually speak up about what their needs are and what their requirements are.”

“We can’t give them that space without the government helping us,” she said.

The Iranian women’s team needed to beat Philippines to maintain any chance of advancing to the Asian Cup quarternals, which would have extended its stay in Australia for more than another week.

unable to bring him home for the lead.

“I think really it’s more of just seeing pitches,” Felder said about the fifth inning spark. “Both of (McCauley and Tuttle) were very similar in their delivery and their velocity. Coach Byrd does a good job with those guys. He’s got a young team. We’ve got a young team, and they were the better group tonight. It happens.” With the loss, Jordan-Matthews fell to 0-2 on the season. The Jets are still looking for their first win since 2024. Wheatmore picked up its first win of the year and improved to 1-2.

SIDELINE REPORT

MLB Doubles, triples dwindling in MLB; blame better positioning, ballpark layout

Glendale, Ariz.

The number of doubles and triples in the major leagues went down again last year. There were 7,745 doubles, down from 7,771 in 2024 and 8,254 a decade ago in 2016, according to Sportradar. Triples dropped to 628, compared to 697 in 2024 and 873 in 2016. Defensive positioning and ballpark dimensions are two of the biggest factors in the decline.

WNBA

Ogunbowale arrested after allegedly punching man at club

Miami Dallas Wings star Arike

Ogunbowale was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery after police say she punched a man in the face at a Miami nightclub. Ogunbowale was celebrating at club E11EVEN after winning the Unrivaled championship with the Mist. According to police, Ogunbowale punched the man in the face, knocking him to the ground, and security cameras captured the act.

NHL Penguins’ Malkin suspended 5 games for slashing Sabres’ Dahlin Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin was suspended for ve games for slashing Bu alo defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. The punishment will cost the Penguins forward nearly $160,000. The NHL announced that Malkin was assessed a minor penalty for cross- checking, a major penalty for slashing and a game misconduct. Pittsburgh is already without captain Sidney Crosby for a minimum of four weeks because of a lower-body injury.

NFL

Ravens nix trade for Raiders’ Crosby after pass rusher reportedly fails physical

Baltimore The blockbuster trade sending star pash rusher Maxx Crosby to the Baltimore Ravens is o — and the fallout from that reversal could have a ripple e ect throughout the NFL on the eve of the new league year. The Las Vegas Raiders said Tuesday night that Baltimore backed out of the trade that was supposed to send Crosby to the Ravens for two rst-round draft picks. The deal was agreed to last Friday but couldn’t be nalized until Wednesday.

NCAA BASKETBALL

UConn’s Hurley bee ng with o cials again, draws $25K ne from Big East Milwaukee Add another chapter to UConn coach Dan Hurley’s combative history with o cials just as March Madness is approaching. Hurley was ejected from the fourth-ranked Huskies’ 68- 62 loss to Marquette after picking up two technical fouls with one second remaining. Hurley argued that UConn’s Silas Demary Jr. was fouled by Marquette’s Ben Gold while driving to the basket with the Huskies trailing 64 - 62. Hurley approached John Ga ney and got his chest next to the o cial’s right shoulder while voicing his displeasure. The Big East ned Hurley $25,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Team Venezuela expects WBC to be celebration, even on US soil

Venezuela’s players and sta are avoiding comments on the U.S. invasion in January

By Tim Reynolds The Associated Press

MIAMI — A Venezuelan ag was stitched on the right side of Omar López’s cap. And an American ag was positioned a few feet to his left.

Baseball, meet politics. Politics, meet baseball. Like it or not, it’s happening.

The World Baseball Classic started pool play in four locations, including Miami. And, to no surprise, Venezuela’s team is a top attraction for the games in Latin-centric South Florida.

Sporting events having geopolitical ties is nothing new, but the situation the Venezuelan team — managed by López — faces in this tournament is unusual. These games come two months after the U.S. executed a military operation in Venezuela to capture deposed leader Nicolás Maduro and bring him to New York to face drug tra cking charges.

“I’m going to be honest with you,” López insisted Thursday. “I’ve been working in baseball for 28 years and I don’t talk about political stu , to be honest. I’m here to talk about our Venezuelan team. I’m not here to talk about anything about political situations around the world, around my country. We are alive, we are here and we want to play for our team to win every single game here.”

When news of Maduro’s capture seeped out in the early morning hours of Jan. 3, many Venezuelans — it’s believed, based on U.S. Census estimates, that about 200,000 people who identify as being from that country live in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area — took to the streets in celebration. Much of that was centered in the Miami suburb of Doral, which has the largest Venezuelan population in South Florida and also is where

“I can control what I can control. The rest, God has control of that.”

Team Venezuela’s Salvador Perez

President Donald Trump owns a golf resort that will host the G20 Summit later this year.

And based on just the numbers of tickets that are available and their resale prices online, Venezuela’s four games at loanDepot Park — the home of the Miami Marlins — between Friday and Wednesday will draw large crowds.

“I’m super happy, super happy to be here in my city,” Marlins utilityman Javier Sanoja said. “I love Miami because it’s the closest we have to our country, and seeing it full of Venezuelans lls me with pride.”

That won’t just be the case for Venezuelans, of course. Events like the WBC — not unlike the Olympics, the Ryder Cup and more — are designed to stoke national pride, even in

unusual times both in the U.S. and abroad.

The tournament is beginning less than a week after the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran to start a new war in the Middle East. At the WBC, the U.S. is playing its pool play games in Houston; Israel has its pool games in Miami. Cuba — a longtime political adversary of the U.S. — is opening in San Juan but could get to Miami if it advances out of pool play. And all of this, plus soccer’s World Cup later this year, is happening amid an immigration crackdown that has some wondering if it’s safe to even try and visit the U.S. There were no noticeable protests outside the ballpark in Miami on Thursday when teams worked out, and

it’s unknown if there will be any sort of politically charged events either inside or outside the stadium when games happen over the next few days.

“To put it mildly, it’s interesting times right now,” Israel manager Brad Ausmus said. “So, I hope there is that kind of unifying joy that all these players, coaches, they’re representing their heritage, but they all have one thing in common and that’s baseball. I hope the fans enjoy it.”

Venezuela’s players all say some version of the same thing, that they’re here to play baseball — even with the country’s deposed leader in a jail cell in New York. The political times, to those players, don’t make the games any more or less signi cant.

“I don’t try to pay attention to that, you know,” Venezuela captain Salvador Perez said. “I understand when fans buy a ticket, they want to see the team win. Win or lose, it’s part of the game. ... I can control what I can control. The rest, God has control of that.”

Braves’ Profar suspended for 2026 season following second positive drug test

The punishment leaves a hole at DH for Atlanta

By Rondald Blum The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Atlanta Braves out elder Jurickson Profar was suspended for the 2026 season by Major League Baseball on Tuesday following his second positive test for a performance-enhancing drug.

Profar tested positive for exogenous testosterone and its metabolites, the commissioner’s o ce said, which means testosterone that was not produced by his body. Because it was a second o ense, the length of Profar’s suspension was 162 games.

The players’ association led a grievance at Profar’s request to appeal to baseball’s independent arbitrator, Martin F. Scheinman, a person familiar with the process told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity, because no announcement had been made.

An All-Star in 2024, Profar was suspended for 80 games last March 31 following a positive test for Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG), a hormone that helps production of testosterone. He issued a statement then saying: “I would never willingly take a banned substance, but I take full responsibility and accept MLB’s decision.”

His agent, Dan Lozano, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Braves released a statement that they “were incredibly disappointed” about the failed drug test.

last September.

“Our players are consistently educated about the (MLB Drug Prevention and Treatment) Program and the consequences if they are found to be in violation,” the club said. “The Atlanta Braves fully support the Program.”

Profar homered in his return from suspension on July 2 and nished with a .245 average, 14 homers, 43 RBIs and a .787 OPS in 80 games. He batted .280 in 2024, when he set career highs with 24 homers, 85 RBIs and an .839 OPS.

Profar said at the start of spring training that he had sports hernia surgery in November, requiring a six-week recovery time. He has appeared in four spring training games this year, going 3 for 10 with three RBIs.

Under the suspension, he is ineligible for the postseason

and the World Baseball Classic. A native of Curaçao, Profar had been set to play for the Netherlands. Profar will lose his $15 million salary for this year as part of a $42 million, three-year contract through 2027. He lost half his $12 million salary in 2025 due to the initial suspension. He became the seventh player suspended 162 games for a second PED infraction after New York Mets pitcher Jenrry Mejia (July 2015), Cleveland out elder Marlon Byrd (June 2016), free agent catcher Cody Stanley (July 2016), Houston pitcher Francis Martes (February 2020), Mets second baseman Robinson Canó (November 2020) and Milwaukee pitcher J.C. Mejia (September 2023). Mejia received a lifetime ban

7

in February 2016 after a third positive test, the only player to be given a permanent ban since drug testing with penalties started in 2004.

Four players had been suspended previously this year for positive tests, including free agent out elder Max Kepler for 80 games under the major league program following a positive test for Epitrenbolone. Following the o season signing of left elder Mike Yastrzemski to a $23 million, two-year deal, Profar had been targeted to be the Braves’ primary designated hitter. When catcher Sean Murphy returns from a hip injury, perhaps in May, 2025 NL Rookie of the Year Drake Baldwin could ll in at DH when not behind the plate. With Yastrzemski, Michael Harris and Ronald Acuña Jr. in the out eld, Eli White could be a DH option. The Braves also are without projected starting shortstop Ha- seong Kim due to a nger injury. Mauricio Dubon, expected to serve a utility role, is scheduled to open the season as the starting shortstop.

The loss of Profar could create an opportunity for Dominic Smith, who signed a minor league deal on Feb. 17.

this week in history

Uranus discovered, Einstein born, “The Godfather” premieres, My Lai massacre in Vietnam

The Associated Press

MARCH 12

1912: Juliette Gordon Low of Savannah, Georgia, founded the rst American troop of the Girl Guides, the beginning of the Girl Scouts of the USA.

1928: The St. Francis Dam north of Los Angeles failed, sending more than 12 billion gallons of water into San Francisquito Canyon and killing more than 400 people.

1930: Mohandas Gandhi began his 24-day, 240-mile Salt March to the Indian village of Dandi, launching a campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience against Britain’s salt tax.

MARCH 13

1781: The seventh planet of the solar system, Uranus, was discovered in 1781 by astronomer William Herschel.

1925: The Tennessee General Assembly approved the Butler Act, banning the teaching of evolution in public schools. The law was challenged later that year in the Scopes “Monkey Trial” and repealed in 1967.

1954: The pivotal Battle of Dien Bien Phu began during the First Indochina War as Viet Minh forces attacked French troops.

MARCH 14

1794: Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, an invention that transformed the American cotton industry.

Mohandas Gandhi, right, stands with Manilal Kothari at the start of a march to protest British salt laws during Gandhi’s Civil Disobedience Campaign, which began March 12, 1930.

1879: Albert Einstein, who would revolutionize physics and the human understanding of the universe, was born in 1879 in Ulm, Germany.

1964: A Dallas jury found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, and sentenced him to death. The conviction and sentence were later overturned.

MARCH 15

44 B.C: Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated in on the “Ides of March” by senators including Brutus and Cassius.

1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson, addressing a joint session of Congress, called for federal legislation guaranteeing every American’s right to vote, leading to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

1972: “The Godfather,” Francis Ford Coppola’s lm based on the Mario Puzo novel and star-

ring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, premiered in New York.

MARCH 16

1802: President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation authorizing the establishment of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

1935: Adolf Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles by ordering Germany to rearm and resume military conscription.

1968: During the Vietnam War, U.S. Army troops searching for Viet Cong ghters killed as many as 500 unarmed villagers in the hamlets of Son My village in 1968, in what became known as the My Lai massacre.

MARCH 17

1762: New York held its rst St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 1762.

1776: The Revolutionary War Siege of Boston ended as British forces evacuated the city.

1959: The nuclear-powered USS Skate became the rst submarine to break through the ice and surface at the North Pole.

MARCH 18

1922: Mohandas Gandhi was sentenced in India to six years in prison for civil disobedience. 1925: Nearly 700 people were killed in 1925 when the Tri-State Tornado tore through southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois and southwestern Indiana, the deadliest single tornado in U.S. history.

1942: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order authorizing the War Relocation Authority, which forced Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II.

J Balvin collaborates on remake of Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ as World Cup anthem

The song also features virtuoso guitarist Steve Vai, Travis Barker and Amber Mark

By Maria Sherman The Associated Press

NEW YORK — In need of a global superstar for a sports anthem? Colombian singer J Balvin is the right man for the job.

“Our biggest moments in history, of happiness, surround sports,” he says of Colombia. “Of course, music, but sport has this power (to) unite a whole country and vibe in a really positive way. So that’s part of my DNA.”

Balvin is one-fourth of Coca-Cola’s o cial anthem for the FIFA World Cup 2026, a reimagination of Van Halen’s “Jump” that also features drummer Travis Barker, pop/ R&B singer Amber Mark and guitarist Steve Vai.

Last year, Joshua Burke, head of global music and culture marketing at The Coca-Cola Company, approached Balvin with the idea. The sing-

Before his return to Academy Awards, Lanthimos nds still moment in Athens

The exhibition at the Onassis Foundation runs through May 17

By Derek Gatopoulos and Thanassis Stavrakis

The Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece — Oscar-nominated lmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos paused his lmmaking and promotion schedule this week to celebrate a quieter creative pursuit: photography.

The 52-year-old Greek director on Friday inaugurated an exhibition of his photographs in his hometown of Athens, presenting images he has taken over the past ve years — many captured while making his lms, wandering through movie sets and nearby neighborhoods, or on trips back to Greece.

The exhibition gathers 182 still photographs, in color and in black and white, from the lmmaker known for his distinctive — and often disturbing — cine-

“In lm school you learn that cinema is basically 24 photographs per second. So photography is where it all begins.”

Yorgos Lanthimos

matic style. It opens days before Lanthimos returns to Hollywood for the March 15 Academy Awards ceremony. In his latest lm, “Bugonia,” a pair of conspiracy-obsessed men kidnap a powerful female executive they accuse of being an alien.

The movie received four Oscar nominations, including best picture and best actress for Emma Stone, along with nods for adapted screenplay and original score. The photos, all shot with a lm camera, features several portraits of Stone, a frequent star in his lms.

Lanthimos on Friday said he was happy to dive into some -

J Balvin arrives at the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 1 in Los Angeles. The Colombian singer has recreated Van Halen’s 1984 hit “Jump” as Coca Cola’s o cial FIFA World Cup 2026 anthem.

er initially felt trepidation.

“I’m really precautious when it comes to songs like this one,” Balvin said. “It’s like touching the Mona Lisa.”

“I have so much respect for anthems like that,” he said. So he had to take “a totally di erent approach” to make it work; he wanted to avoid straightforward comparisons to the original recording.

“It was like a puzzle,” he says.

Mark’s rich, crystalline

voice is the rst heard on the track; she sings the song’s original English lyrics. Vai transforms its iconic guitar; Barker ampli es its percussion.

The greatest di erence is found in Balvin’s contributions. He wrote a new verse — in Spanish — atop production courtesy his collaborator L.E.X.V.Z, a sound he describes as “Brazilian funk with hard strings, kind of like hip-hop.”

“’Jump’ is not a fútbol song,” he said of the original, using the Spanish word for soccer. “So that’s why I had to put the Latin love and passion for fútbol (in the lyrics).”

“El fútbol es nuestro idioma / Aquí todos somos mi gente,” he raps. In English: “Football is our language / Here, we’re all my people.”

“Fútbol is about bringing everyone together,” he says. It’s a particularly resonant message as sports fans and organizers alike are considering the ways in which President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown may impact the tournament.

“I wish this administration

open their mind and see, like, this is a world event. This is for all of us,” he said. “Let the people really have fun and enjoy and show that the United States can de nitely pull o a World Cup.”

Coca-Cola has been an ofcial sponsor for the FIFA World Cup since 1978 and has produced a number of its own anthems for the event, including Jason Derulo’s “Colors” in 2018 and a reimagining of Queen’s “A Kind of Magic” in 2022 featuring Mexican singer Danna Paola, Egyptian rapper Felukah and Saudi Arabian singer TamTam.

“Reimagining a song as iconic as Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ came with a real sense of responsibility,” Burke wrote to The Associated Press in an exclusive statement. “All four artists leaned into the process as if this was their own single. Our goal was to create an anthem that celebrates the full spectrum of emotions of the tournament and feels just as powerful in a stadium as it does blasting from a car with your friends. We were able to do exactly that.”

thing di erent. Photography, he said, began for him as a technical foundation for lmmaking but gradually became something more personal.

“In lm school you learn that cinema is basically 24 photographs per second,” he said. “So photography is where it all begins.”

Over time, working with still images opened a creative outlet separate from the complex machinery of movie production, he added.

“You can be alone with a

camera, walking without having something speci c in mind,” Lanthimos said. “A photograph can have value on its own, but many photographs together can create another kind of value.” For Lanthimos, photography also o ers something cinema rarely can: immediacy.

“You create something and almost immediately it exists,” he said, describing the process of shooting and developing lm in a darkroom. “You can take a photograph, print it and hold it

in your hands. That satisfaction is very direct.”

While Lanthimos remains one of contemporary cinema’s most distinctive lmmakers, he said photography will play a growing role in his creative life.

Unlike movies, he said, photographs are free to evolve long after they are taken.

“You can present them in a book, in an exhibition, combine them in di erent ways,” Lanthimos said. “There’s a freedom in photography that is very exciting.”

famous birthdays this week

Liza Minnelli turns 80, Billy Crystal turns 78, Judd Hirsch is 91, Queen Latifah turns 56

The Associated Press THESE CELEBRITIES have birthdays this week.

MARCH 12

Politician and civil rights activist Andrew Young is 94. Actor Barbara Feldon (“Get Smart”) is 93. Actor-singer Liza Minnelli is 80. Politician Mitt Romney is 79. Singer-songwriter James Taylor is 78. Singer Marlon Jackson (The Jackson Five) is 69.

MARCH 13

Songwriter Mike Stoller is 93. Actor William H. Macy is 76. Actor Dana Delany is 70. Republican U.S. Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota is 69. Jazz musician Terence Blanchard is 64. Tennis star Coco Gau is 22.

MARCH 14

Actor Michael Caine is 93. Country musician Michael Martin Murphey is 81. Actor-comedian Billy Crystal is 78. Country singer Kristian Bush is 56. Actor Corey Stoll is 50. Actor Chris Klein is 47. Actor Jamie Bell is 40. NBA star Stephen Curry is 38. Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Simone Biles is 29.

MARCH 15

Actor Judd Hirsch is 91. Singer Mike Love (The Beach Boys) is 85. Filmmaker David Cronenberg is 83. Musician Ry Cooder is 79. Actor Frances Conroy is 73. Rock singer Bret Michaels (Poison) is 63. Singer-TV host Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray) is 58.

MARCH 16

Business executive Sanford Weill is 93. Actor Erik Estrada is 77. Football Hall of Famer Joe DeLamielleure is 75. Rock musician Nancy Wilson (Heart) is 72. Football Hall of Famer Ozzie Newsome is 70. Rapper-actor Flavor Flav is 67. Folk musician Patty Gri n is 62.

MARCH 17

Civil rights activist Myr-

lie Evers-Williams is 93. Singer-songwriter John Sebastian (The Lovin’ Spoonful) is 82. Actor Kurt Russell is 75. Actor Gary Sinise is 71. NBA executive Danny Ainge is 67. Actor Rob Lowe is 62. Rock musician Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) is 59.

MARCH 18

Composer John Kander is 99. Actor Brad Dourif is 76. Jazz musician Bill Frisell is 75. Filmmaker Luc Besson is 67. TV personality Mike Rowe is 64. Singer-actor Vanessa L. Williams is 63. Olympic speed skating gold medalist Bonnie Blair is 62. Rapper-actor Queen Latifah is 56.

‘Zootopia 2,’ Oscars, Kim Gordon, ‘One Piece’

“Sesame Street” comes to Net ix

The Associated Press

TAYLOR SHERIDAN’S

neo-Western family drama series “The Madison” debuting on Paramount+ and the animated smash “Zootopia 2” landing on Disney+ are some of the new television, lms, music and games headed to a device near you. Also, among the streaming o erings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: The Academy Awards streaming on Hulu, Nicole Kidman bringing crime writer Patricia Cornwell’s famed forensic pathologist character Kay Scarpetta to life in a new series and Kim Gordon’s third solo album, “Play Me.”

MOVIES TO STREAM

After collecting $1.85 billion in box o ce, the Disney animated smash hit “Zootopia 2” has come to Disney+. The lm, a sequel to 2016’s “Zootopia,” follows the continuing adventures of rabbit police o cer Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and her partner fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). In their new case, the arrival of a mysterious viper (Key Huy Quan) leads to new revelations about the animal metropolis. In his review, AP Film Writer Jake Coyle called it “a timider and tamer movie that leans largely on the (still winning) duo of Hopps and Wilde.” For the rst time, the Oscars will be streamed. In addition to the live broadcast on ABC beginning at 7 p.m. EDT Sunday, the 97th Academy Awards will be streamed on Hulu. The show will be available to all subscribers and not require a cable subscription. (The Oscars are moving to YouTube, but not until 2029.) That also means this week is your last chance to catch up on the nominees, most of which are streaming. That includes: “Sinners,” “One Battle After Another,” “Weapons” and “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” on HBO Max; “Frankenstein,” “Train Dreams,” “KPop Demon Hunters” and “Blue Moon” on Net ix; “Bugonia,” “Hamnet” and “Song Sung Blue” on Peacock; “F1” on Apple TV+; and “The Secret Agent” and “It Was Just an Accident” on Hulu.

sess a keen ability to process and re ect the world. Start with the castigation of convenience culture and passive listening on its title track. Stay for “Subcon,” an examination of the world’s growing billionaire class and their fascination with space colonialization in a period of economic insecurity. To call them veterans almost feels like too slight a word. Giants of the American heavy metal Lamb of God will release their 10th studio album, “Into Oblivion,” on Friday. The title re ects how frontman Randy Blythe sees the current state of the a airs — an appropriate launchpad for 10 tracks of ferocity.

SERIES TO STREAM

MUSIC TO STREAM

On Friday, Gordon — a revolutionary force in the alternative rock band Sonic Youth, the ’80s New York no wave scene and the space between art and noise — will release her third solo album, “Play Me,” as The Associated Press exclusively announced back in January. It follows the Grammy nominated “The Collective,” her beat-heavy 2024 album that surprised and delighted audiences with its oddball trap blasts. “Play Me” shares in that spirit. It’s full of propulsive production and confrontational songs that pos-

“Sesame Street” has four new episodes on Net ix. The legacy preschool show found a new home on the streamer ahead of its current 56th season. Net ix’s live-action-adventure series “One Piece” returns for its second season. It’s based on a massively popular Japanese manga series by Eiichiro Oda. The show follows a young man named Monkey D. Lu y whose dream in life is to be a

“Zootopia 2” is a tamer, more timid lm that leans largely on the still-winning duo of Hopps and Wilde.

Jake Coyle, AP Film Writer

pirate. In Season One, Lu y recruited his fellow pirates called the Straw Hats. In Season Two, Lu y and his crew set out to nd treasure in a dangerous stretch of water called the Grand Line. There are eight episodes in “One Piece: Into the Grand Line.”

Kidman brings crime writer Cornwell’s famed forensic pathologist character Kay Scarpetta to life in a new series. The story unfolds over two timelines: Scarpetta as a younger woman played by Rosy McEwen and in present day, played by Kidman. Jamie Lee Curtis, Bobby Cannavale, Simon Baker, Ariana DeBose, Jake Cannavale and Hunter Parrish also star. Sheridan’s neo-Western family drama “The Madison” debuts on Paramount+ on Saturday. At its center is the Clyburn family of New York, led by matriarch Stacy Clyburn (Michelle Pfei er) who moves her family to Montana after a tragedy. Kurt Russell, Patrick J. Adams, Matthew Fox and Beau Garrett also have roles. A second season has already lmed.

GAMES TO PLAY

VIDEO

When you want to hunt monsters, there’s Monster Hunter. When you want to team up with monsters, there’s Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Re ection, the new chapter in Capcom’s spino series. Once you join forces with a beast, you can y around on it and ght other creatures — though you might want to think twice before tackling the “Calamitous Elder Dragons.” The story itself revolves around two warring kingdoms on the verge of apocalypse, and the gameplay is the kind of turn-based combat you’d expect in a classic role-playing adventure. Take ight Friday, March 13, on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S, Switch 2 or PC.

Duplin Journal

Local leader joins workforce board

Kenansville James Sprunt Community College President Shannon Hair has been appointed to ll Jay Carraway’s unexpired term on the Eastern Carolina Workforce Development Board to help shape regional workforce priorities. The term runs through June 30, 2027.

Great Colon Tour, wellness screenings

Duplin County

The nal stops of the Great Colon Tour are at the Duplin County Health Department on March 18, from 9 to 11 a.m. and WAGES Senior Nutrition Center on March 26, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free adult wellness screenings will be available.

Library Saturdays adjusted

Kenansville

The Kenansville Library Branch will now close on Saturdays whenever a holiday falls on the Friday before or Monday after, giving sta and visitors a predictable schedule around holidays.

GriefShare Support Group o ered

Kenansville

Duplin County Senior Services hosts GriefShare, a grief support group, on the fourth Tuesday of each month from 2-3 p.m. Facilitated by Dr. Ray Kenedy. For more information, call 910 -296 -2140.

Americans unite in aggravation over sticker shock at the gas pump

A country divided on many fronts is nding common ground at the gas pumps. The cost of the Iran war is hitting Americans squarely in the wallet and aggravating people across the political spectrum. That was the message from Associated Press interviews Monday with people at gas stations and beyond in ve states. The national average gas price was $3.48 a gallon on Monday, up from $2.90 a month ago, before the war, according to tracking by AAA.

Anthropic sues

Trump administration seeking to undo “supply chain risk” designation

Anthropic is suing the Trump administration, asking federal courts to reverse the Pentagon’s decision designating the arti cial intelligence company a “supply chain risk” over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its technology. The Pentagon designated the San Francisco tech company a supply chain risk after an unusually public dispute over how its AI chatbot Claude could be used in warfare.

$2.00

Student artists, musicians shine at Friends of the Arts event

Kaelyn Castillo, an eighth grade student at Duplin Music Academy, performs in the foyer at the River Landing Clubhouse, greeting guests arriving for the Friends of the Arts Supporter Appreciation Night. Turn to A6 for more.

Wallace re chief retires suddenly, volunteers resign

The town turned to the Teachey Fire Department while rebuilding the volunteer ranks

By Mark Grady For Duplin Journal

WALLACE — Members of the Wallace Town Council gathered in the Wallace Woman’s Club for

speci cs. However, a social media post by the town after the meeting referenced “low morale” in the department.

As Wells stated in his continued opening remarks, this development left the town at risk.

an emergency meeting on Monday afternoon after Wallace Fire Chief Sammy Marshburn and several volunteers of the Wallace Fire Department abruptly resigned.

In an opening statement, Mayor Jason Wells said, “On Thursday, March 5, 2026, the re chief of the Wallace Fire Department tendered his retirement e ective immediately. Following that announcement, several members of the volunteer re department resigned that same evening.”

While Marshburn’s departure was referred to as a retirement, it appeared to have been tendered without advance notice to the town. There was no reason stated for either the chief’s abrupt departure or the volunteers’ resignations. Under personnel laws, the town could not discuss any

Public records dispute leads to court complaint in Warsaw

Jessica Thomas said a months-long wait for wastewater documents prompted legal action

By Ena Sellers Duplin Journal

WARSAW — After months of unanswered public records requests, Jessica Thomas, environ-

mental justice chair for the Duplin County NAACP, has led a complaint in Duplin County Superior Court seeking the release of public records from the Town of Warsaw.

According to the complaint, Thomas submitted a public records request to Town Manager Crystal Lea Turner on Oct. 20, 2025 seeking communications between town o cials, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality Villari Foods, C2NC, and state and federal representatives regarding the town’s wastewa-

County backs Villari wastewater upgrade with $200K loan

O cials say the $3.27 million upgrade will reduce treatment strain on Warsaw system and allow room for growth

By Ena Sellers Duplin Journal

KENANSVILLE — During the March meeting of the Duplin County Board of Commissioners, one of the key items focused on a proposed $200,000 loan from the county’s revolving loan fund to support a project by Villari Food Group LLC in Warsaw. The loan request was presented by Economic Development Director Scotty Summerlin during a public hearing. The funding would help nance a

$3.27 million project aimed at improving the company’s wastewater pretreatment system before its discharge enters the Town of Warsaw’s wastewater treatment plant. The project includes two phases: installing upgraded pretreatment equipment and developing a land application system to manage processed wastewater more effectively. The improvements are intended to reduce the burden on the town’s treatment facility and address past challenges with wastewater discharge.

“The project demonstrates the company’s strong desire to address their treatment deciencies and challenges,” said Summerlin.

He noted that the revolv-

“Villari cannot grow without the project.”

Scotty Summerlin

“These developments have created signi cant and immediate concerns regarding the department’s sta ng levels, leadership structure and its ability to e ectively respond to emergencies and provide reliable re protection services,” Wells continued. “Because the re department is a critical public safety function of the town, any disruptions to its operational capacity present

ter treatment system, environmental compliance and related issues.

Thomas told Duplin Journal she hoped the information would clarify e orts to secure funding and address the town’s aging infrastructure.

“I wanted to understand what was going on with the wastewater treatment plant and whether the town had been communicating with state and federal ocials about funding or solutions,” Thomas said.

Thomas alleges the town

Ena Sellers

Michael Jaenicke Sports Editor

Patsy Teachey Advertising Representative

Loretta Carey

O ce Manager

CONTACT US

O ce Phone: 910 463-1240

To place a legal ad: 919 663-3232; Fax: 919 663-4042

Southerland emerges as presumptive sheri

Two will face o in the District 2 commissioner contest

By Ena Sellers Duplin Journal

VOTERS IN DUPLIN

County delivered decisive results in local primaries last week, with Eric Southerland leading the Republican race for sheri . Southerland captured 48% of the vote, emerging as the presumptive next sheri .

“I am humbled by all of the support and forever grateful for everyone that supported and voted for me,” Southerland told Duplin Journal. With no opponent in the general election, Southerland said he is asking for continued voter support, and pledges to serve all citizens impartially.

Incumbent Dexter Edwards won the Republican primary for District 2 county commissioner with 74% of the vote, setting up a November showdown with una liated candidate Jessica Thomas, who gathered 271 signatures earn-

“I am humbled by all of the support and forever grateful for everyone that supported and voted for me.”

Eric Southerland

ing her a spot in the November ballot. Thomas expressed gratitude for the community members who helped her circulate petitions.

“I feel good about it,” said Thomas. “I just want a change for our community, however that needs to happen … As a commissioner, you’re only one vote, but making the information accessible to the people matters.”

In the race for clerk of Superior Court, Amy Price secured the nomination with 56% of the vote. At the state legislative level, Republican incumbents maintained commanding leads. Brent Jackson won the N.C. State Senate District 9 primary with 3,868 votes over

William Barbour’s 694, while Jimmy Dixon captured N.C. House District 4 with 3,726 votes against Marcella Barbour’s 901.

Duplin County Board of Elections Director Carrie Sullivan, told Duplin Journal the turnout was better for this primary than the county’s 2022 midterm primary, with about 22% of registered voters casting ballots — more than 1,000 additional voters.

“This election showed similar turnout as the 2024 Presidential Primary, which saw 7,033 voters which was 22.32% of the registered voters in the county,” said Sullivan.

The county will certify its results at Friday’s canvass meeting.

In the U.S. Senate Republican primary, Michael Whatley led the eld with 59.9% of the vote. He will face incumbent Governor Roy Cooper who dominated the Democratic primary race with 88% of the vote.

Judicial races saw Matt Smith win the Republican N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Seat 1 with 57.7%. In the 3rd Congressional District Democratic primary, Raymond Smith received 52.8% of the vote. For the N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Seat 3, Christine Marie Walczyk secured the nomination with 62.7% of the vote.

Mount Olive board schedules RFP for town legal services

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an immediate risk to the safety and welfare of Wallace residents, businesses and visitors. The loss of key leadership and multiple trained volunteers in a short period of time requires prompt action by the town council to stabilize the department’s command structure and ensure continuity of emergency response services.”

After Wells’ statement, the council voted to allow the town manager and town attorney to negotiate an immediate re protection contract with the Teachey Fire Department. In addition, the council agreed to dismiss all current Wallace Fire Department volunteers, rescind all policies, bylaws and standard operating procedures currently in place for the re department, and adopt a new volunteer policy for the town.

In addition, the town appointed two former members of the re department to ll roles during the restructuring. Wayne Rich was appointed chief and Archie Carter was appointed assistant chief. Both men have a long

The board also addressed the town clerk’s contract renewal and town manager position in closed session

By Mark Grady Duplin Journal

WHEN THE Mount Olive Board of Commissioners emerged from a closed session at the end of their regular meeting on March 3, they announced that three items of business had been discussed. The board did not provide details on the matters, which are understood to involve personnel issues.

The board voted to create a request for proposals (RFP) for legal services to the town. Attempts to determine whether the RFP a ects longtime town attorney Carroll Turner pro-

duced no comment from board members.

A phone message to Mount Olive Mayor Jerome Newton was not returned. Mayor ProTem Delreese Simmons returned a call but declined to answer questions about Turner’s status.

“I can’t tell you about that, it was a closed session,” Simmons said. Turner did not respond to a request for comment.

The RFP for legal services released by the town states in part: “The Town of Mount Olive, North Carolina, is requesting proposals from quali ed attorneys and/or law rms to provide municipal legal services to the Mayor, Board of Commissioners, administration and sta of the Town related to the operations of the Town. Proposals must be received by the Town of Mount Olive by 5:00 P.M. on March 31, 2026.”

history with the department. After voting unanimously to approve the changes, the board went into closed session.

told

Mount Olive Town Clerk Sherry Davis responded to an email question regarding the RFP and asking if Turner was no longer the town attorney. Her response read, “No, Mr. Turner is still here. The vote was unanimous (on the RFP).”

Another item voted on during the closed session involved renewing the contract of the town clerk. Simmons conrmed that Davis will remain in that position.

A third matter reported by the board as o ering a permanent town manager position remains unresolved. Simmons and Davis said the o er is still being negotiated, and the board has not disclosed whether the interim town manager, Glenn Holland, or another candidate is involved. The board has announced a special-called meeting on March 12. The agenda indicates the session will be closed.

“From what I understand, we will be the primary re department for the town of Wallace,” Williams said.

The proposed contract between Wallace and the Teachey Fire Department would last two weeks.

While all current volunteers with the Wallace Fire Department have been dismissed, volunteers interested in being involved with the department are being asked to reapply under the new volunteer policy of the town.

After the emergency meeting, Wallace Town Council member Glenn Price told Duplin Journal the developments last week in the re department came unexpectedly.

“I never thought I would have to deal with this when I was running for council,” Price said. “I thought the re department was pretty self-su cient and had a history of doing really great things in Wallace. It’s always had a great reputation.”

Price added that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the Wallace Fire Department.

Here’s a quick look at what’s coming up in Duplin County:

March 14

Faison Farmers’ Parade & Festival

10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Join the Faison Farmers’ Parade & Festival and enjoy a parade along West Main to Southwest Center Street. The one-mile-long parade will begin at 11 a.m. The parade will feature vendors, food trucks, entertainment, ra e drawings, family activities and a vintage farm equipment display at Faison Baptist Church.

W. Main Street, Downtown Faison

Prom Dress Glam Giveaway

1-4 p.m.

Get ready for prom at Linzzie’s Event Center this Saturday. This community prom dress giveaway o ers free formal dresses to local high school students. Enjoy a fun, supportive environment to nd the perfect out t and get glammed up for the big night.

120 North East Railroad St., Wallace

March 15

The Call of the Drums – A Night of Belly Dance for a Cause 7 p.m.

Join The Country Squire Restaurant & Inn as Heartsong Tribal presents The Call of the Drums, a belly dance performance bene ting Sarah’s Refuge. Tickets are $15.

748 N.C. Highway 24-B/50, Warsaw

March 20

“When God Is in the Building” dinner theater 7 p.m.

Cista Lueeeze’s Brunch House Theatre Inc. will present the VIP Dinner Theater production of “When God Is in the Building” at The Sampson County Expo Center. Written by local playwright Jacqueline Gathers, the gospel dramedy follows Pastor Lutha and his stepdaughter as their choices lead to unexpected consequences and redemption. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., dinner begins at 6 p.m., and a live preshow starts at 6:15 p.m. 414 Warsaw Road, Clinton

Commissioners discuss courthouse events, re lane enforcement

Board approves rally date and hears plans for Gold Star memorial dedication

By Mark Grady For Duplin Journal

KENANSVILLE — Two organizations appeared before the Kenansville Board of Commissioners meeting on March 3 seeking permits to assemble for upcoming events around the Duplin County Courthouse grounds.

An organization called Duplin County People First plans to hold a “No Kings Rally” at the courthouse on March 28 at noon. Doug Walter, chairman of the Duplin County Democrat Party, appeared before the board on behalf of Robert Gumpright, the organizer of the event. The group’s permit-to-assemble application requested a blanket approval for rallies on various Saturdays. The board voted to approve the March 28 date but advised Walter that a separate permit application would have to be submitted for each event.

Prior to Walter’s request, Earl Hardy, treasurer of the Duplin County Historical Society, spoke during the public comment period about plans to dedicate a Gold Star Memorial on the courthouse square at noon on May 22. The Gold Star Memorial honors families who have lost loved ones while serv-

Doug Walter, right, chairman of the Duplin County Democratic Party,

the Kenansville Board of Commissioners about a “No Kings Rally” planned for March 28 at the Duplin County Courthouse square.

ing in the U.S. armed forces. The marker will be placed beside four existing monuments dedicated to service members killed in action.

Hardy was advised to meet with the Kenansville Police Department to help plan the event and that he would have to complete a permit-to-assemble application.

Iris Wellman appeared be-

fore the board expressing concern over how parking enforcement is handled in the re lane in front of NAPA Auto Parts in Liberty Square Shopping Center. Wellman, manager of the store, said she had a customer receive a ticket for parking in the re lane while entering the store to receive a heavy car battery he had purchased. She said she felt it was unfair since deliv-

ery services, such as UPS, park in the re lane to make deliveries all the time. The issue generated a long discussion between Wellman, board members, Kenansville Police Lt. Kirk Tripp and town attorney Joseph Ezzell. The town attorney read from both state statutes and town ordinances stating that vehicles can only be in the re lane while actively

loading and unloading and cannot be left unattended. Wellman pointed out that commercial delivery vehicles are left unattended in re lanes while making deliveries and argued it would only be fair to allow customers to park there brie y to load heavy purchases such as car batteries.

According to Wellman, she contacted the Kenansville Police Department to request that the ticket issued to her customer be withdrawn, but after originally being told it would be, it was not.

Kenansville Mayor Pro Tem Milta King suggested Wellman ask the shopping center owners to designate a parking space near the front of her store for deliveries and pickups.

In other business, Town Manager Anna West reported that Police Chief Jackie Benton had requested funds be transferred from speci c budget line items so the department could purchase a Dodge Durango for $32,000.

West also said she was arranging a date and time for the auditor completing the 2024-25 town audit to make a presentation to the board on its ndings. She said she would request a special-called meeting when the time is nalized.

During department reports, Tripp told the board the Duplin County Safety Committee had recommended installing a four-way stop at the intersection of Seminary and Cooper streets after a county employee had been injured in an accident there. However, Tripp said he did not believe the four-way stop was necessary after his research revealed only two accidents had occurred at the intersection in the past three years.

New state-of-the-art playground debuts in

The playground includes ramps, soft surfaces and accommodations for all ages and abilities

By Mark Grady For Duplin Journal

WALLACE TOWN o cials, representatives of Trillium Health Resources, and a group of excited children gathered in Clement Park on March 5 to o cially open a new inclusive and accessible playground. The large facility marks the 42nd playground of its type, made possible thanks to funds from Trillium Health Resources.

“To my knowledge, the closest type of playground like this is in Wrightsville Beach,” Mayor Jason Wells told Duplin Journal at the ribbon-cutting.

“Everyday playground equipment just doesn’t allow certain kids with certain disabilities to be able to play. This will allow one place for everybody to come play and have a good time, and feel a part of something special. This is state-of-the-art, as hightech as it gets,” said Wells.

Mayor Pro-Tem Francisco Rivas-Diaz said the playground is a major addition to the area.

“It just shows how open and progressive Wallace is by making the facility available to kids of all types,” he said. “It’s a great thing for the region, the county, and for Wallace.”

Haley Sink, director of health

Jason

equity at Trillium Health Resources, told Duplin Journal in an interview that helping construct 42 of these playgrounds is in line with the health plan’s mission.

“We serve individuals with mental health, intellectual and developmental disabilities, physical disabilities and traumatic brain injuries,” Sink said. “We want our members to be able to play beside any of their neighbors.”

Sink added that seeing these playgrounds become reality has a personal e ect on her.

“My sister uses a wheelchair and there was nowhere for us to play together when we were growing up,” she said. “So, every time we do this, it really is a dream come true.

Wallace

THE CONVERSATION

Trip Ho end, publisher | Frank Hill,

senior opinion editor

VISUAL VOICES

Trump eradicates 47 years of feckless foreign policy

The U.S. can break Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities and its internal repression machine. It is under no obligation to clean it up.

IF ONE OF your national slogans is “Death to America,” you should be living in persistent and paralyzing fear of the United States. Say what you will about President Donald Trump, America’s enemies aren’t making any more demands after Operation Epic Fury. Not after the president shattered nearly ve decades of Washington foreign policy appeasing, legitimizing and emboldening the Iranian regime, one of our most enduring and dangerous enemies.

Trump has already reset American foreign policy by rejecting both the technocratic naivety of neoconservatism and the unfeasible demands of isolationism. He has also shed the convoluted, pseudointellectual foreign policy theories that had congealed as conventional Washington wisdom.

One of the bogus “norms” propagated by experts, and now “America First” isolationists, is that any military action needs to be contingent on short-term “imminent” threats against the U.S. Why should the U.S. sit around until the breaking point to act in our interests? This is a self-applied, short-sighted limitation. It’s almost surely the case that the landscape would have been far more dangerous had Trump allowed the regime to regain its footing after months of protests and Israel’s summer o ensive. Trump struck the regime when it was at its weakest, before it could stockpile enough ballistic missiles and advanced weaponry to create a quagmire.

Preemptively eliminating long-term threats is a way to mitigate harm against the U.S. Iran could have agreed to stop enrichment at any time in the past 47 days, or even 47 years, and avoided con ict. U.S. special envoy Steve Witko claims that the regime’s negotiators in Geneva bragged that they controlled 460

kilograms of 60% enriched uranium for 11 nuclear bombs.

Trump now has clear, achievable objectives: Ensure the mullahs don’t get their blood-stained hands on any nukes, end the regime’s ballistic missile capabilities and destroy the Iranian navy so it can’t threaten world shipping.

There are also unstated goals. The U.S. acted to undermine Chinese military expansion into the Middle East. China was about to sell Iran supersonic missiles that would have allowed it to target the American military. The clerics pay for military upgrades in oil. Nearly all of Iran’s crude exports already go to China, virtually its only consumer. As with removing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, weakening the mullahs weakens China.

Another bogus “norm” of the past decades was famously summed up by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who warned then-President George W. Bush before the 2003 Iraq invasion: “You break it, you own it.” The “Pottery Barn rule” contends that the U.S. has a responsibility to reconstruct countries after having beaten them. Sometimes it bene ts us to participate in rebuilding projects to create stability, and sometimes it doesn’t. The U.S. can break Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities and its internal repression machine. It is under no obligation to clean it up.

Over the years, the Washington foreign policy blob has convinced many people that the U.S. has a duty to marshal a large contingent of nations before acting — namely, weak-kneed European countries with signi cant Muslim populations who o er little military value. Similarly, some people are under the impression that the U.S. needs permission from the United Nations, a bastion

of strongmen, theocrats and fascists, to act. It does not.

“International law” has done little but hamper our ability to alleviate threats while allowing our enemies to act with impunity.

On the other hand, before Trump, U.S. administrations have refused to openly operate with our most-trusted ally, Israel, in militarily dismantling the Iranian threat. The idea was that Israel’s presence would undermine support from the Arab world. It’s in our interests to embrace Israel’s tech, intel, and military swagger and competence. “Capable partners are good partners,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth said of Israel, “unlike so many of our traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, hemming and hawing about the use of force.”

Moreover, we’re not living in 1973 anymore. The bene ciaries of Israel’s operation in Iran have also been Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom joined the Americans in denouncing the regime.

Making predictions about the outcome of war in the Middle East is foolish. But the unknown shouldn’t paralyze us either. The best-case scenario for Operation Epic Fury is an organic uprising by Iranians that transforms that nation into a nonhostile entity that ceases exporting terrorism and Islamic fanaticism around the world. In the worst- case scenario, a weak, rump Islamic Republic survives.

Right now, no matter what happens, the clerics are gelded. That alone is a win.

David Harsanyi is a senior writer at the Washington Examiner, a nationally syndicated columnist and author of ve books.

(Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

This kind of weather is why the great Russian writers were so damn gloomy. You give me another week of this, and I’ll be Dostoevsky.

I’M WRITING IN the worst part of a blizzard. What a satisfying, heroic way to start a newspaper column.

I’m not kidding, either. Here in Tiverton, Rhode Island, on the shores of Narragansett Bay, hard by the Massachusetts line, we’ve got more than 2 feet of snow on the ground, and we’re supposed to end up with about 36 inches.

To cliche up, it’s wet snow, heavy as lead, and the wind sounds like a freight train.

There’s a driving ban. If you’re not an “essential worker,” you can’t be on the roads. Mayors have pulled the plows o the roads because the drivers can’t see through the blowing snow. In a nearby city of 100,000 people, only two legal marijuana stores remain open. The National Guard is on its way with front-end loaders and dump trucks.

This kind of weather is why the great Russian writers were so damn gloomy. You give me another week of this, and I’ll be Dostoevsky. There are several ways to write the “horri c act of nature” column.

You can always fall back on the “nature’s fury makes me feel insigni cant” column, but I’ve been married for 16 years, so I feel insigni cant every day. I don’t think anyone believes that kind of column anyway. If I’ve just discovered my own insigni cance, why am I writing about how the storm makes me feel?

I could exhaustively research and write a column about how a blizzard doesn’t mean global warming is a hoax, and how weather isn’t the same as climate, but most people wouldn’t read all the way to the end of that column, and about 40% of you would just call me a communist.

There remains the “most vulnerable” column in which the writer centers on any group of beings who su er the most in extreme weather. Feral cats. The homeless. Any half-bright writer can milk that until he’s got a bucket of tears. If I did that, I’d go for the feral cats angle. People feel a lot worse for homeless cats than they do for homeless people.

A lot of cities open special shelters for the homeless during periods of intense cold or blizzards. The bene t to the reporter/columnist is you can nd the homeless, or at least the less stubborn homeless. You go down to the shelter, and there they are, full of misery and quotes. If you can, nd a homeless veteran. People feel worse for an Iraq War veteran who “turned to drugs” than they do for some clown who started using drugs in junior high and hasn’t done anything since then but use drugs.

The feral cats are harder to nd. They’re dying under snow-caked shrubs, and “meow” is a lousy quote. If you could nd a former military dog, one of those bomb-sni ers, and it was dying under a shrub, a whimper would be a hell of a good quote. If you ran a picture of the dog, and you set up a GoFundMe for the pooch,

he’d be adopted and butt-deep in kibble by the end of the week.

A couple of days before the blizzard, my wife Deborah and I prepared. We used the traditional male/female division of labor: She went to the grocery store, I went to the liquor store. We ended up with a big bunch of groceries and a 30-pack of cheap beer. Standing in line at the liquor store, the day before it hit, I was struck by my own insigni cance in the face of nature’s fury. No matter what kind of horrifying act of God was about to come out of the clouds, I still didn’t have enough money to buy good beer, imported beer, craft beer. It makes a man think.

We still have power in our house, even though tens of thousands of people in the state are without electricity. If the power goes out, and the outage lasts for several days, and my wife and I freeze to death, when they nd us, I’m going to be clutching a can of beer that costs $20 for a 30-pack. That’s less than a buck a can. You don’t know how big a failure you are until you’re freezing to death under a shrub, being let into the emergency shelter or facing the cold wrath of God with a can of cheap beer in your hand.

Marc Dion’s latest book, a collection of his best columns, is called “Mean Old Liberal.” (Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

Beulaville board reviews stormwater, plans for future repairs

Waterline replacement project funds will be used to x a leak on Brown Road

By Rebecca Whitman Cooke Duplin Journal

BEULAVILLE OFFICIALS

report progress on water projects, town cleanup, and upcoming plans at the March board meeting.

Town Manager Lori Williams and Public Works Director Ricky Raynor reported that 2.7 inches of rainfall was recorded in February, and daily water use averaged 195,000 gallons. They also shared that available funding from the Waterline Replacement Project will close out the available funding repairing a leak

on Brown Road. On March 27, bids will be accepted on engineering services for USDA grant projects. The Stormwater Project closed out and a Capital Improvement Plan has been submitted with primary concerns for future repairs listed. The board will review the plan in the upcoming months.

Police Chief Karl Mobley had no major issues to report since returning to a four-person schedule. He shared that a new parlor opened in town and received letters to remove electronic gaming systems under the town ordinance. Code Enforcement O cer Jamie Rogers reported piles of trash and debris cleared throughout town. In some cases, residents were given ve days to clean up their collec-

tions of cans or construction debris.

The board approved a Tree Board Ordinance formalizing the town’s plans for the board and how it will be used to better the town as a whole.

The board also approved a 2026 auditing contract with Thompson, Price, Scott, Adams & Company in Wilmington. The contract will allow for individual assessments as needed for grants.

Williams reported a successful town shredding event at the end of February with 2,000 pounds of material shredded. A bulk trash day will be held on March 25.

The town board scheduled a meeting for March 19 for a virtual review of last year’s scal audit. The meeting will be followed by a budget workshop.

School board recognizes STEAMA winners, approves campus improvements

East Duplin renovation preparations and campus upgrades move forward

By Rebecca Whitman Cooke For Duplin Journal

KENANSVILLE — Awards and recognitions were acknowledged at the March school board meeting. Nicole Murray, chief ofcer for STEAMA curriculum and instruction professional development recognized district STEAMA gold medal winners who represented Duplin County at the Southeast Regional Science and Engineering Fair at UNC Wilmington last month.

“These students represent through their work inside and outside the classroom the very best of Duplin County Schools,” Murray said. Though most students were not present to be recognized, 11 were named from Wallace Elementary, Warsaw Elementary, Beulaville Elementary, North Duplin Elementary, East Duplin High School, and Duplin Early College. Ronald Moore and Sandra Gurganus then recognized the winner of the Clean School Award: North Duplin High School.

“These students represent through their work inside and outside the classroom the very best of Duplin County Schools.”

Nicole Murray

purchase two new 72-passenger Thomas buses.

The board discussed where students would meet when their classrooms — seven modular units — are removed as construction begins at East Duplin High School. Plans were explained to show how students will be reassigned throughout the campus to use di erent spaces temporarily.

ing loan fund has existed for about 40 years and was originally created using Community Development Block Grant funds, meaning local tax dollars were not used to establish it. Loan applications are reviewed by a committee consisting of a county commissioner, a business owner, a certi ed public accountant and a banking professional. After reviewing Villari’s proposal, the committee recommended approval of the loan under terms including a 10-year repayment period and an interest rate based on the U.S. prime rate of 6.75%, with no deferred payments or early-payment penalties.

During discussion, Summerlin emphasized that the funding would support both repairs and improvements to address existing wastewater issues. Chairman Dexter Edwards, who sits on the committee, said he initially “was very concerned” when the proposal was rst presented and

wanted to ensure the project would not negatively a ect the Town of Warsaw nancially.

“I asked a question to make sure it was not going to be a loss of income for the town of Warsaw,” he said. “It does appear to me this is gonna be a bene t to Warsaw. It’s gonna free up some sewer opportunities for Warsaw, and I’m very much believing that this is going to help the citizens of Warsaw, not just Villari.”

Edwards explained that the improvements would reduce solids and other materials entering the treatment system, lowering operational strain and costs for the facility. In addition, the upgrades could free up capacity in the town’s wastewater system, potentially allowing for future growth and development.

Commissioners Jesse Dowe and Wayne Branch raised questions about whether town leaders had been consulted and whether the project could a ect Warsaw’s treatment capacity or nances. In response, Summerlin said he was not

aware whether Villari had presented the project to the Warsaw Town Board but said he had spoken with the Warsaw town manager.

Summerlin described the project as a way to protect existing employment while supporting long-term economic growth in the community. He explained that expected outcomes of the project include the ability for the company to grow in Duplin County, protect 1,000 existing jobs, and create 75 new jobs.

“Villari cannot grow without the project,” said Summerlin.

Several commissioners expressed that the project appeared to be a “win-win” situation for both the company and the town of Warsaw. They noted that the company had demonstrated a willingness to invest millions of dollars in infrastructure improvements and address environmental concerns. After discussion, the board voted unanimously to approve the loan request, allowing the project to move forward with county support.

The board approved several contract agreements, school calendars, eld trips and fundraising requests in its consent agenda. Some small improvements to schools districtwide were approved in the consent agenda as well. For example, the purchase of 154 security cameras for all schools using lottery funds was approved. A proposal from Hite Associates was approved to complete the work on the East Duplin High School renovation and addition project. The board approved $69,200 for a new awning at Chinquapin Elementary. It also approved $325,184 to

“There are approximately 11 classrooms that we have to relocate, and we have found 11 areas,” said Scott Ballard, East Duplin principal. The board approved selling the units through Floyd’s Auction after the end of the 2025-26 school year at a scheduled time before the start of the 2026-27 school year. The board moved into a closed session to discuss con dential student information and personnel. When members returned to open session, they approved the Superintendent’s recommendations concerning personnel.

Duplin County Schools Superintendent Daren Tyndall shared that the North Carolina School Boards Association requested that a Duplin County board member be selected to serve on its legislative committee. Board member David Jones was nominated and approved by the board to ll the position. Tyndall also shared dates for upcoming activities across the county. The meeting adjourned thereafter.

and the town manager.

WARSAW from page A1

failed to provide the requested records as required under the North Carolina Public Records Act despite multiple follow-ups over four months. The complaint asks a judge to order the town of Warsaw and Turner to produce the requested records and to review any withheld records to determine if exemptions under the law apply.

Thomas also seeks reimbursement of $266 she spent ling the complaint. She said she led the complaint after attending a Feb. 9 town board meeting and publicly urging the release of records that had still not been provided after four months.

“I requested public records months ago, and I still haven’t received everything. That’s why I led a complaint in superior court — to get the information I’m legally entitled to and have my costs reimbursed,” said Thomas. “If she did her job in the rst place, we wouldn’t be here.”

The request comes amid ongoing concerns about Warsaw’s wastewater infrastructure and environmental impacts in the area.

The records request comes amid concerns about Warsaw’s wastewater system after millions of gallons of “partially” treated wastewater were discharged into Stewarts Creek in August 2025 when the town’s treatment plant

became unstable as sludge production surged far beyond normal levels, forcing operators to shut down portions of the treatment process and discharge wastewater into the creek during a system restart. The spill was reported to state regulators, but the public was not noti ed until several days later through a notice posted on the town’s website. Stewarts Creek ows into Six Runs Creek and eventually the Black River, which is part of the Cape Fear River watershed.

“The wastewater treatment plant is in an area of Warsaw that has the most minorities. It’s behind an elementary school, a church, and a rest home. There are complaints that people can smell it, and that creek ows through the rest of Duplin County until it dumps into the Black River,” said Thomas.

“If the town manager needs help contacting elected o cials, I feel like that would be a good way for Duplin County to step in, because we have contacts with our representatives, senators, and congressmen.”

Town o cials contacted Thomas after the complaint was led and provided access to records electronically, she said, though she reported di culty accessing the les and while the town later a ash drive with 69 pages, 22 of those were blank. Turner did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Faison board tackles residential water cuto compliance

Many residents do not have cuto s outside the town meter

By Rebecca Whitman Cooke For Duplin Journal

FAISON — Bishop T.D. Powell asked the Faison board on March 4 for help nding a permanent home for the community church he pastors at the Faison Park and Recreation Center.

“We want to be a more vital part of the community,” Powell said. “We do have a goodnancial base and have funds for renovation of a space. We are not just here to be here every other weekend for services; we want to be a bene t to the community. It’s important for us to move forward and have a building so we can do more food drives and things for the community.”

Commissioner Carolyn Kenyon said she attended the weekend the church distributed school supplies.

“It turned out very well; a lot of children got bags with all kinds of things to help them. [Powell’s church] is a bene t to the community,” Kenyon said.

“We know ya’ll need a building, but we are thankful that you rent our Rec Center and take care of it on the rst and third Sundays,” Mayor Billy Ward said.

Ward noted that the end of the scal year is near and it is time to plan for the next budget. Outgoing Town Clerk Sha-

ron Lee scheduled two budget workshops for March 11 and 16 to help establish the new budget before she retires at the end of March. The new town clerk, Kelly Parks, was present but still learning. Several motions were passed to enable Parks to act on the town’s behalf innancial matters going forward, such as opening and renewing certi cates of deposit at United Bank, purchasing bonds, and holding credit cards at Sam’s Club and PNC.

The board said Parks’ education does not yet meet the quali cations needed to serve with a nance o cer bond in the same way Lee did. They will decide later whether to hire a nance o cer or assign a board member to that role.

The board also approved transferring 26.5 hours of sick leave Parks accrued at Wayne County Schools.

Faison Parks and Recre

ation shared that basketball season has concluded, and volleyball and soccer will start mid-March through April. The afterschool program is going strong. The approved buses have been purchased, and town employees are enrolled in courses for CDL endorsements. They will continue using town vehicles to transport children until their endorsements are completed.

One full-time employee at the Recreation Center, Jean Wright, has resigned to pursue her own business. The board approved hiring Mi-

Bishop T.D. Powell speaks to the Faison board about the need for his community church to nd a permanent building.

chael Albertson at $12 an hour to work part-time in her place.

Complaints about roosters have increased, prompting the town to send out notices giving the owners time to resolve the issue.

The request for bids to mow Faison Cemetery returned with 12 bids ranging from $13,000–$50,000 for the year. Executive Administrator Jimmy Tyndall presented the options with a spreadsheet to show what each o ered, including the needed additions of spraying pesticides for ants and Bahia grass. The board approved a contract for $13,750 to First Choice Lawn Care of Benson, who came highly recommended and will per -

form all the needed services.

The board approved a budget amendment to cover the new sidewalks at the Faison Cemetery and appropriating $50,000 from savings to pull and rehabilitate the pump at Well #4 on Church Street. The pump was last serviced in 2009.

The board also approved updating the ve-year Hazard Mitigation Emergency Plan and a $16,000–$25,000 2026 auditing contract with Thompson, Price, Scott, Adams & Company of Wilmington. Additionally, the board approved a policy de ning what can and cannot be done in town vehicles.

Tyndall shared an ongoing problem with water cuto s at residential locations. Tyndall explained that each time a town employee is called out, the town loses water and incurs labor costs. The ordinance requires property owners to have their own cuto s outside the town meter, but many do not.

“A person in violation of the ordinance shouldn’t get special treatment — but they do all the time,” Tyndall said. “We help our people. Part of helping our people is educating them on how to help themselves.”

The board agreed the town should focus on helping residents, not doing work for them, but tabled a decision until further research is completed.

The board adjourned with light refreshments celebrating Lee’s retirement.

Friends of the Arts supporters treated to visual art, music

Lovers of the arts gathered at the River Landing Clubhouse on March 5 to attend the Friends of the Arts of Wallace and Rose Hill Supporter Appreciation Night.

Guests arriving in the upstairs foyer were welcomed with hors d’oeuvres, piano music by students from Duplin Music Academy and a display of paintings created by local teen artists.

Inside the ballroom, music from the Wallace Rose-Hill High School Jazz Band greeted guests with music and vocals from Olivia Spring eld. Later in the evening, Spring eld was awarded the Charles Schae er Scholarship from Friends of the Arts in recognition of her musical accomplishments. She plans to continue her education as a music major.

After the comments and presentations, attendees were treated to big-band music from the ensemble Speakeasy 7, from Wilmington.

DUPLIN SPORTS

Ava Noble is back from a knee injury as ED seeks to ex its muscles in new ECC

By Michael Jaenicke Duplin Journal

BEULAVILLE — The return of Ava Noble should be of great concern to East Central Conference softball teams.

Noble, who hit .538 with eight doubles, seven triples and two home runs as a freshman in 2023, is playing a sport for the rst time since hurting her knee early in the 2024 -24 basketball season.

But her arrival came after junior Kinsey Cave decided to concentrate on basketball for her senior season in 2026-25. Cave, an all-Duplin selection, was third in hitting on ED

(.362, four doubles, four triples, 12 RBIs) last spring.

The Panthers return ve players with extensive experience, including leado hitter Karsyn Parker (.408, six doubles, two homers, 16 RBIs), who was also an all-Duplin pick. Parker will play second base.

Third baseman Leighton Davis (.283) is back at the third as a sophomore, while freshman Blair Howards is at rst base.

Senior Rebecca Beach (.391, ve doubles, four triples, 19 RBIs) will catch for the third consecutive season, though she’s working through a knee injury.

Callie Mewborn (.65, 20 RBIs) will likely be her replacement. ED’s other big loss from last spring was left-handed pitcher Morgan Brown (11-7 in 104 innings, .324 average).

That void will be lled by Sophie Jones, who mostly played rst base in 2025. She went 3-1 with a 2.93 ERA in 28.2 innings. And there’s every reason to believe her bat (.201) will improve from her freshman season.

Look for Parker or senior Zoe Turner to get a little time in the circle, but the job is certainly Jones’ to begin the season. Jenkins thinks the ED defense will support Panther pitching.

“We have a really strong defense and that’s how we’ll win games,” he said. “We don’t have a dominate strikeout pitcher, so they will need to throw strikes and we’ll make plays. We have four freshmen in the lineup who are good athletes and good softball players. But they are adjusting

Pitching and defense will be a stronghold for East Duplin

By Michael Jaenicke Duplin Journal

BEULAVILLE — With the exception of veteran Gavin Holmes, the East Duplin baseball team is shaded with seniors in the in eld and in center eld. And the Panthers started the season with freshmen in the out eld corners.

Manager Brandon Thigpen’s likes the prospects of his 10th Panther team, which plays solid baseball programs at South

Jourdan Joe, Shylah Sloan, Ava Jones look to carry JK to new heights

By Michael Jaenicke Duplin Journal

WARSAW — Several James Kenan softball players have made a name for themselves the past four seasons.

First-year coach Brian Casteen thinks forecasts a breakout for the Tigers, who were 17-47 that past three seasons while building up their hitting attack, but have started 2-0 this season.

“We have a chance to be the best softball team James Kenan has ever had,” Casteen said. “We’ve got a proven senior class and a great freshman class, and we only lost one starter from last season.

“We’ve really focused on pitching during the summer and in winter workouts. Walks really hurt us last year. Pitchers and catchers start 30 minutes before the rest of the team gets there.”

Ava Jones and Shylah Sloan will be key to JK’s success with their play inside the circle.

“We gave up four walks in our rst two games after averaging eight last year,” Casteen said. “And

Lenoir, Southwest Onslow and Clinton in the newly constructed East Central 3A/4A Conference, which also includes Trask and Pender.

“Everyone lost their top pitcher and we’re all in the same boat,” said Thigpen, who is 121-59 in Beulaville since 2017. “It’s going to be about who makes the fewest mistakes night in and night out. We’re all very similar.”

ED graduated one of its best hurlers ever in Kyle Kern (5-2, 1.75 ERA, 225 strikeouts), who led the state in whi s in 2025, but Thigpen said he still expects big things from his pitching sta .

“I still see it as one of our strong suits,” he said. “We have to go out and be scrappy, throw strikes and compete. Our players can do that. Our pitching gave us a chance in both of our rst two games (7-2 and 12-0 wins over Richlands and Wallace-Rose Hill, respectively).”

Holmes (.352, 14 RBI) and Kern were all-state 2A players last spring.

The junior right-hander will play center eld when he’s on the mound, trading places with classmate and southpaw JP Murphy.

ATHLETE

Gracie Higginbotham

North Duplin, softball

Gracie Higginbotham didn’t waste a minute in making her presence known.

The North Duplin freshman bashed two hits and picked up the win in the circle as the Rebels routed Rosewood 12-0 on opening day in Goldsboro.

Higginbotham is the younger sister of Addy Higginbotham, an all-state in elder last season who, through 19 games, is hitting .393 at Wingate University.

Gracie limited the Eagles to four hits in ve innings, striking out eight and walking four.

Unlike her sister, Gracie is a southpaw pitcher.

The siblings’ mom is Rebels head coach Jaimie Kylis Higginbotham.

Read a preview on ND in next week’s Duplin Journal.

Freshman Brayden Jones will also get time on the hill and away from his regular spot in right eld, opposite classmate Hayes Lanier in left.

ED lost out elders Austin Rouse (.246) and Calvin Harper (.271, 11 RBIs), who were both timely hitters when last season when the Panthers went 13-9 and nished second in the ECC.

Colton Holmes may also get a turn in the rotation but will otherwise play second base and the expectation is he will improve his hitting stroke from last season (.214, 9 RBIs).

Jack Tuck (.339, 16 RBIs) returns at shortstop with Luke Hall at third after missing last

season with an injury, while junior Brady Blizzard and sophomore Silas Jarman are splitting time at rst base. Both are rstyear varsity players.

Four-year starter Sawyer Marshburn (.318) will catch.

“It’s a senior-heavy in eld and I think that helps our pitchers,” said Thigpen, who was Duplin County’s Coach of the Year for the sixth time last season.

“We have enough pieces of the puzzle to put together a very competitive team. It’s early, and our hitting has to improve and the margin for error is slim. We have 12 players on varsity and 12 on junior varsity. But I have high-character kids that are winners, regardless of the outcome of a game.”

Warren, Williams, Price lead Rebels into new era

Garris Warren, Holden Williams and Noah Price are the Rebels’ top hurlers in the new-look Carolina Conference

By Michael Jaenicke Duplin Journal

CALYPSO — The ball came

o the cover late last season for the North Duplin baseball team.

First-year head coach and longtime top football assistant Brad Rhodes thinks the Rebels can avoid long slumps this spring and be competitive in the newly formed seven-school Carolina Conference.

ND lost three of its rst four games to start 2025 and then ve in a row to end its season at 9-11, its rst losing campaign since 2016-17.

Five seniors and a handful of underclassmen look to turn back the hands of time behind its leader, Garris Warren, who paced ND in hitting and was the team’s No. 1 hurler.

“He’s been a great leader for four years,” said Rhodes, a 2008 ND grad who played baseball and football. “He comes to work every day and does all that is asked of him. He’s a competitor who plays the game the way it is supposed to be played.”

Warren (.298 in 2025) was a rst-team all-Duplin selection a season ago.

Joining him on the pitching sta is classmates Holden Williams and Kayden Bowden and underclassmen Noah Price, Keiz Brock and Garrett Stevens, who will also play rst base.

Graduation took Wesley Holmes (.346) and Hunt Pate (.306), but several other Reb -

els stepped up last season to show they can contribute.

In elders Bowden (.273), Price (.293) and catcher Noa Quintanilla (.300, 15 RBIs) are expected to be front-line producers this spring.

Ben Kelly, Vance Carter and Brock will roam the out eld and also be o ensive threats.

“We have ve seniors and four of them played two or more years,” Rhodes said. “So, there is talent and leadership there to perform and teach those around them. We’re happy to have Holden back and want to see what Vance can do following his football injury.”

ND is 1-1 after a 10-1 loss to Rosewood and an 11-0 triumph over Spring Creek and 12 of its next 13 games are

against Carolina Conference schools.

The Rebels square o against the Eagles on April 22 in Calypso, but the remaining 12 games are against league foes.

“We have to play a clean brand of baseball defensively,” Rhodes said. “The three new schools (East Bladen, West Columbus, East Columbus) are pretty solid, and Hobbton and Lakewood are both really scrappy and tough outs.”

ND’s football and basketball teams fared well in the new Carolina Conference that only lacks the presence of Rosewood and Princeton. Rhodes, who is the Rebels’ o ensive coordinator in football, has Thomas Brickhouse, Colton Chrisman and Holden Taylor as bench coaches.

WALLACE-ROSE HILL BASEBALL PREVIEW 2026

Bulldogs regroup in hopes of returning to state playo s

Wallace-Rose Hill wants to forget about a disappointing 2025 and work to compete against heavyweights in Swine Valley Conference

By Michael Jaenicke Duplin Journal

TEACHEY — Midway and Rosewood have a strong tradition in baseball. The Raiders were a 2A power, while the Eagles ew high in the 1A classi cation.

Both are favorites in the Swine Valley 2A/3A Conference this spring, with Rosewood being the lone 2A school in the league.

Conventional wisdom says the other four schools – Goldsboro, Spring Creek, James Kenan and Wallace-Rose Hill –will be ghting for third place.

“It’s a good baseball conference,” said Logan Kissner, WRH’s third-year coach. “We must do what we have to do to win games. I have a team that is very sel ess. They don’t mind doing the little things like bunt, go the opposite way or take pitches.

“We’re not the most athletic

but our kids are very coachable and that’s our advantage.”

WRH underachieved last season by going 7-14 and will play without the services of Kaiden Lui (.434), Caden Gavin (.313) Khalil Mathis (.372), Devon Sloan (who moved) and Logan Marks (surgery after football season).

That team lost three of itsnal ve games before taking down JK 16-14 to end its season without a visit to the state playo s, while competing against ECC baseball powers South Lenoir, North Lenoir and East Duplin.

The Bulldogs regroup this spring around shortstop Reese Buckner, Will Brooks, Hayden Lovette and Luke Jackson.

Buckner, who hit .328 and was an all-Duplin rst-team player, is back for his sophomore season at shortstop. He had 12 walks and made just four errors and was involved in ve double plays at one of the toughest positions.

He’s had two doubles and two singles in eight trips to the plate this season and is without a doubt WRH’s next star on the diamond.

Senior Hayden Lovette (.275) returns to third base for

the third season, while junior Luke Jackson (.226), a defensive specialist, trots out to rst base.

“He’s the best rst baseman I’ve coached,” Kissner said. “And Lovette’s been solid over there for three-plus years.” Second base will be lled by either juniors Gray James or Jerman Ayllon or senior Zachary Fisher.

Senior Will Brooks (.226) is once again behind the plate. He can play third base when Lovette is on the mound. Ayllon is also able to ll in at catcher. Lovette, Buckner, Jackson and James will do the bulk of the pitching for WRH.

Sophomore center elder Christian Smith has surprised Kissner. Fisher could play a lot in left eld, while Jacob Davis is holding down right eld.

Smith hit .278 in 25 atbats last season. Davis was at .240, while Fisher played in six games.

“Christian has great potential,” Kissner said. “He listens well and makes adjustments.”

WRH (2-2) lost to two 4A power schools (19-0 to Whiteville and 12-0 to East Duplin) and whipped Wayne Prep (100) and Pender (15-5).

WRH’s Reese Buckner tags ED’s Hayes Lanier during last week’s loss to the Panthers.

Crusader hurlers set tone under new ‘manager’ Rackley

Jesse Smith, Drake Smith and Reid Strickland are HCA’s top three hurlers, but as many as ve others Crusaders are on call for mound duty

By Michael Jaenicke Duplin Journal

HARRELLS — Given the talent he has, rst-year Harrells Christian Academy baseball coach Joshua Rackley feels like he’s a manager in the professional ranks.

“We’re going to be really good defensively and we have a ton of talent with good arms,” said Rackley, who coached at Union and Hobbton for 16 years. “I’ll have some tough decisions to make, but in baseball there’s a reason you are called a manager and not a coach.”

As many as seven Crusaders will work on the hill this spring, but top spots are reserved for seniors Jesse Smith, Drake Smith and Reid Strickland.

But at any time, Rackley can go to senior submariner hurler Colten Harrell or classmate

Collin Cole for an inning or a hitter.

Or he can raise his hand to summoned in sophomore righthanders Luke Weeks or Holden Cline or freshman southpaw Avery Hall.

“We’re very senior-heavy,” Rackley said. “But we have talent and potential everywhere.”

Jesse Smith (.315), a righthander who will play shortstop when he’s not on the mound, is cool under pressure, according to his coach. He played third base last spring.

“He’s got a nose for the ball and just nds ways to get it done,” Rackley said. “He makes the routine plays and makes the hard plays look routine.”

Strickland, who was the school’s quarterback for the past three seasons, will be at rst base when he’s not on the bump.

“He’s so relaxed on the

mound, and he’s the kind of pitcher that want the ball with the bases loaded,” Rackley said.

Lefty-throwing Drake Smith (.328) will play in center eld when he’s not on the hill and hit in the cleanup spot.

“He’s a weight-room warrior with Division 1 prospect talent,” said Rackley of his senior who will play at the ECA baseball developmental academy in Goldsboro next season.

The threesome and all other Crusader hurlers will work with senior catcher Peyton Gomez, who is HCA’s leado hitter.

“He’s solid behind the plate and has a very consistent bat,” Rackley said.

That might also be said of senior second baseman Cole and possibly third baseman Luke Weeks, a sophomore.

Rackley calls sophomore center elder Avery Hall, his best two-strike hitter.

“He’s got a bright future, and I can also see him closing out a few games.” Harrell will play in right, while sophomore Davis Rogers takes control in center. Rogers is also HCA’s backup catcher. The Crusaders went 8-14 in head coach Raymond Spells’nal season, which featured an NCISAA playo win over Rocky Mount and a second-round loss to the Burlington Christian Academy, which went on to capture the 2A crown.

HCA lost its rst four games in 2025 and eight of its rst nine outings. Spell went 2534 in three seasons after replacing Winfred Johnson, an

Blaney ends Reddick’s streak to give Team Penske weekend sweep at Phoenix

Reddick nished eighth, while Blaney took the lead with 10 laps left

By Jenna Fryer The Associated Press

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Ryan

Blaney completed a Team Penske sweep at Phoenix Raceway by winning the Cup Series race, denying Tyler Reddick a fourth consecutive win to start the Cup Series season.

Blaney was the race favorite after winning last November in the season- nale on the mile oval but he had to overcome at least three tire problems that cost him track position. He chased down Ty Gibbs — the 49th car he passed Sunday — to take the lead with 10 laps remaining and seal his 18th career victory.

“Just perseverance,” Blaney said. “We had a couple mistakes that we learned from, got better, had to come from the back a couple times. It’s cool to win, especially after a day like that. Can’t say enough about the (team) for keeping their head down and doing what they do.”

As he celebrated on the frontstretch, his parked Ford began to roll away and Blaney had to chase after it to ensure it was in park.

The victory came during a weekend celebration of Team Penske’s 60th season of competition and during a “desert doubleheader” that bundled IndyCar and NASCAR together at Phoenix. David Malukas won the IndyCar pole for Roger Penske and then Josef Newgarden won Saturday’s race; Joey Logano won the pole for the Cup race and then Blaney completed the sweep.

“Really proud of everybody at Team Penske,” Blaney said.

“We swept the weekend, Newgarden winning yesterday, us winning today. Can’t wait to see Roger.” Christopher Bell nished second in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson was third in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports and Gibbs dropped to fourth.

Denny Hamlin, who lost the championship last November at this track, was fth as JGR drivers took three of the top ve positions. Bell dominated the race the same way Hamlin did in November and, just like Hamlin, lost because of the wrong pit strategy.

Hamlin in November took four tires on the nal stop and

was beat for the championship by Larson, who took two tires.

On Sunday, Blaney took two tires while Bell and Hamlin each took four.

“You win some, you lose some,” said Bell, who led 176 of the 312 laps. “This one stings, but on the positive side, I’m really proud of our entire team. It’s something to build on.

Visit richsheatandairnc.com

All-American and Hall of Fame player at ECU.

HCA will be pushed this season by Coastal Plain Conference schools Wayne Country Day (Goldsboro), Parrott (Kinston) and John Paul II Catholic (Greenville). The 11-team conference features a mix of 2A and 3A schools that play two-game series in the space of few days, a model used by college and professional leagues.

Will Rumbold, Fernando Gomez and Terry Smith are assistants under Rackley, whose Crusaders will play three games in the Clinton Easter Tournament March 6-8.

“It’s cool to win, especially after a day like that.”

Ryan Blaney

It was a day that we needed.”

Bubba Wallace was sixth for 23XI, William Byron was seventh for Hendrick, and Reddick was eighth. Toyota drivers took six of the top 10 spots.

“It would have been nice to make it four,” Reddick said. “Scored the fourth-most amount of points on the day... solid day. If we’re not going to win, these are the kind of days we need to have.”

The race was slowed by a record-tying 12 cautions, most caused by a rash of tire failures.

Gibbs responds

Ty Gibbs has chosen not to comment on the federal lawsuit his grandfather’s race team led against its former competition director, even after court declarations from Chris Gabehart claimed he left Joe Gibbs Racing in part because of the young driver.

Ty Gibbs said ahead of the race Sunday he’d let his performance on track speak for him and then delivered with his second consecutive fourth-place nish.

“Very happy with my team. All the guys, I’m with the right guys. That makes a di erence,” Gibbs said. “So we’re running good because of that. It shows.”

Ty Gibbs is in his fourth full Cup season driving for his grandfather. Ty Gibbs was successful in NASCAR’s second-level series, where he won 12 races and the 2022 championship by winning the nale at Phoenix. His father, Coy, was found dead in his Phoenix hotel room the morning after the championship.

Ty Gibbs moved to the Cup Series in 2023 and is winless in 127 starts. The 23-year-old nished a career-best 15th in the 2024 Cup standings.

obituaries

Elizabeth McElmore

June 12, 1958 – Feb. 21, 2026

Elizebeth Baker McLemore, 67, passed from her earthly life Saturday, February 21, 2026, at Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

She was born June 12, 1958, in Wilmington, the daughter of Robert R. Baker and Lenora Caddell Baker. In addition to her parents Elizebeth was preceded in death by her sister, Jennette Baker.

Elizebeth is survived by her husband of 36 years, Bennie “Mack” Julian McLemore; sisters, Maria Register, Lynn Pruitt and her husband, Rev. Dan Pruitt, and Denise Vermeulen and her husband, Rev. Peter Vermeulen; many nieces, nephews, and extended family members.

Elizebeth graduated from Miller Mott Business School and went on to work for PPD in Wilmington, retiring after working 33 years.

Elizebeth was musically gifted and talented, always willingly sharing her God-given love of music with family and friends. Not only did she play the piano and organ, but she also had an outstanding singing voice. For relaxation and fun at home, Elizebeth enjoyed watching Westerns on TV – Gunsmoke being her favorite. Elizebeth’s joy in life and radiant smile will be truly missed.

With heartfelt appreciation to loyal and loving cousins, Toni Long, Kaye Knowles, Rita Nance, Rev. Jerry Green, and Linda Batchelor, all of whom spent many hours with Elizebeth.

A memorial service will be at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Quinn McGowen Funeral Home, Burgaw Chapel, with a visitation at the funeral home to follow.

Penny Lynn Gomes

Sept. 1, 1971 – Feb. 27, 2026

Penny Lynn Gomes of Harrells (NC) departed her earthly life on the early morning of Friday, February 27, 2026. Born on September 1, 1971, in Missouri, she is the daughter of Larry and the late Linda Gentiles Adams. Also preceding her in death are daughter—Victoria Lynn Deaver; brother—James Adams; and Poppie—Alford Carl Deaver.

Left to cherish her memory are her husband—Kevin Gomes of Harrells; son—Michael Anthony Deaver of Richlands; granddaughter—Elenor Mae Martin; siblings—Samuel Chisenall of (PA) and Eva Wippich of Jacksonville (NC); Phyllis Ann Deaver; and mother-in-law— Tamara Herbstritt.

A great part of Penny’s work career involved caring for the elderly in sitting with them, taking them to appointments, encouraging them, and just loving them. “She was full of GOD’s love! She WAS God’s love! She always made anyone she came in contact with feel better! She was a true angel on earth!”

Services will be held at Crossroads Church in Harrell’s, NC, at 11 a.m. on March 8, 2026. Padgett Funeral Home is assisting the Gomes family. In the event you cannot make it but would like to send anything, 116 Core Road, Richlands, NC 28574, Harrell’s Hwy., Harrell’s, NC 28444

Beatrice Guy Whaley

Jan. 5, 1937 – March 4, 2026

Beatrice Guy Whaley, 89, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, March 4, 2026

A funeral service will be held Sunday, March 8, 2026, at 2 p.m. with visitation at 1 p.m. at Community Funeral Home in Beulaville, NC. Interment will be at East Duplin Memorial Gardens in Beulaville, NC

She is survived by her husband, Mervin “Monk” Whaley of Beulaville, NC; son Kenny Whaley (Emily) of Beulaville, NC; daughters Ginger Mobley (Lynn) and Gina Brown (Greg), both of Beulaville, NC; grandchildren Kendra Whaley (Joey), Brittany Rich (Devin), John Whaley (Stephanie), Nick Mobley, Lindsay Manning (Shane) and Zach Brown; great-grandchildren Carson Outlaw, Carlee Outlaw, Collin Whaley, Tanner Whaley, Audrey Whaley, Charlotte Whaley and Walker Manning.

Harold Vann Blake

April 29, 1949 –March 4, 2026

Harold Vann Blake, 76, a man of great courage and thoughtfulness, passed from his earthly life on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center. He was born April 29, 1949, in Wilmington, the son of James Gordon Blake, Jr., and Clara Vann Freeman Blake. In addition to his parents, Vann was preceded in death by his stepson, Frederick Dean Taylor, Jr.

Vann is survived by his beloved wife, Pamela “Pam” Burgess Blake; son, Harold “Hal” Vann Blake, Jr., and his wife, Ginger; daughter, Andrea Blake; granddaughter, Harper Vann Blake; brothers, James “Jim” Gordon Blake III and Neil Freeman Blake and his wife, Mary; many nieces, nephews, and friends. The Celebration of Life will be held at a later date. What a blessing Vann was to so many during his many years in Public Education, especially in Pender County. While remembering Vann, keep Pam and the entire family in your prayers, thoughts, and hearts.

SPONSORED BY

QUINN MCGOWEN FUNERAL HOME

Donald Lawrence

Oct. 2, 1972 – March 4, 2026

Some people pass quietly through life, but Donny lived boldly, embracing every adventure, every challenge, and every moment with a fearless spirit that inspired everyone who knew him.

Donald “Donny” Lee Lawrence, 53, of Burgaw, North Carolina, passed away peacefully at home on March 4, 2026, after a courageous and resilient battle with cancer. His faith carried him through his journey and gave him comfort in knowing he would one day be home, free from worry and pain, with his Maker.

Donny was born on October 2, 1972, in Hornell, New York. He found his way to Wilmington, North Carolina as a young boy after his parents relocated, where the Intracoastal Waterway and island life perfectly suited his adventurous spirit.

Donny worked with General Electric Aircraft Engines for many years, where his mechanical mind, mathematical gift, and creative hands made him a natural problem solver. During his time there, he proudly volunteered as a re ghter with the company’s Emergency Response Team (ERT), a role he embraced wholeheartedly and often said he enjoyed as much as, if not more than, his regular work.

Outside of work, Donny lived life exactly the way he believed it should be lived: fully, boldly, and without fear. Nothing intimidated him. He faced life head-on and rarely worried about tomorrow, believing instead that today was meant to be lived to the absolute fullest.

Donny was known for his love of tinkering and guring things out. He had a natural mechanical talent and especially loved restoring and working on his cars. Whether turning a wrench in the garage, xing something that others thought couldn’t be repaired, or bringing an old machine back to life, Donny found joy in creating, rebuilding, and making things better than they were before.

He loved boating, shing, and spending long days on the waterway. No one could throw a cast net like him, always pulling up a net full of bait. He had many secret shing holes, each tied to a memory and a story he loved to share.

Above all else, Donny was most proud of his children and the lives they are building. His daughter, Blair Lacik (Nick) of Wilmington, North Carolina, and his son, Austin Lawrence of Asheville, North Carolina, were his greatest joy and proudest accomplishment.

He is also survived by his loving mother, Sandra Layton, and bonus father, Jerry Layton; his sister and best friend, Sherry Bordeaux (Allen); his sister Tammy Criss (Jim); his brothers Jim Lawrence (Melissa) and Larry Lawrence Jr. (Tammy); along with many aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and friends.

Donny was preceded in death by his father, Larry Lawrence Sr. The family will announce a celebration of life at a later date.

Though he has cast his nal net, the tide of his memory will continue to rise in the hearts of all who loved him. One of Donny’s wishes was that his name live on. May we remember him whenever we see a quiet stretch of water, a sky full of stars, or the simple joy of exploring the wonders of the world.

Joy Annette (Holleman) Kinser

Jan. 29, 1938 – March 2, 2026 Joy Annette Holleman Kinser, 88, of Atkinson, North Carolina, left her earthly life for her eternal rest on Monday, March 2, 2026. She was born on January 29, 1938, in Salisbury, North Carolina, the daughter of the late Norman R. and Emma Kendrick Holleman. Joy was also preceded in death by her beloved husband, Ronald B. Kinser, in 2005, and her sister, Iva Kepley. Joy served the Wallace and surrounding areas for 35 years as a Title Clerk for the NC Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in the Wallace o ce. She acquired many friends and acquaintances during those years. Surviving to cherish her memory are her children, Tony Kinser and wife, Misty, of Atkinson, Karen King and husband, Thurman, of Wilmington, Je Kinser and wife, Heather, of Cary, and Jeannie Kinser of Atkinson. Joy was also blessed with eleven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, as well as numerous nieces, nephews, extended family, and friends who loved her dearly. Joy was a loving mother and caring grandmother who loved her family with all her heart. She was a simple woman who enjoyed doing simple things such as shopping, going to the beach, and having her nails done. Joy loved going to church at Shiloh Baptist when her health permitted, and she loved her work at DMV along with her dedicated work family. Joy worked with her friend and employer, Gladys Sikes, for many years at DMV, and they developed a great friendship that will last forever.

After Gladys’s sickness and retirement, Joy continued to work at DMV under the management of Jessica Straughn. The sta continued to have a true, lasting bond of love and friendship, and they are missing Joy very much.

Above all, Joy loved her children and especially her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She enjoyed spending time with each of them. Joy will surely be missed, but she will never be forgotten.

Funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, March 6, 2026, at Quinn-McGowen Funeral Home

Wallace Chapel with Pastor James Scharder o ciating.

The family will receive friends from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday evening, March 5, 2026, at QuinnMcGowen Funeral Home in Wallace.

Burial will be held following the funeral service at Murphy Cemetery in Greenevers, NC.

Memorial gifts may be sent in honor of Joy Kinser to help our veterans, DAV – Disabled American Veterans, PO Box 14301, Cincinnati, OH 45250-0301, or online https://help.dav.org.

MARRIAGES

Anita Marie Savage, Duplin County Register of Deeds issued 20 marriage licenses for the month ending on Feb. 28, 2026.

• Jahir Bahena Lopez, Warsaw, and Alondra Lopez Castillo, Magnolia;

• Wayne Wise, Warsaw, and Marchella Ann Frederick, Warsaw;

• Hannah Page Pendley, Raleigh, and Jeb Stuart Cameron Smith, Albertson;

• Alyssa Gayle Knowles, Beulaville, and Josiah Nathaniel Keller, Beulaville;

• Gorden Ezra Miller, Warsaw, and Yolanda Smith Royal, Mt. Olive;

• Vanessa Reyes, Mount Olive, and Milton Eliel Castro Chavez, Garland;

• Sonya Hill Eubanks, Pink Hill, and Andy Dell Pittman, Pink Hill;

• Victoria Haley Cavenaugh, Wallace, and Durwood Allen Raynor Jr, Wallace;

• Jacinto Salvador Mendoza Valdez, Warsaw, and Keidy Yesenia Mejia Escobar, Warsaw;

• Krystin Turlington Donaldson, Clinton, and Gregory Elliott Smitman, Ohio;

• Esdras Aroldo MarroquinAleman, Warsaw, and Keylin Andrea Aceituno Zelaya Rose Hill;

• Hannah Rose Mcintyre, Warsaw, and Jacob Matthew Culbreth, Warsaw;

• Edwin Adalio Alvarenga Alvarenga, Rose Hill, and Xiomara Lizeth Zepeda Ramos, Rose Hill;

• Corey J Bonnevie, Maine, and Ann E Harrison-Billiat, Maine;

• Cameron Grace Blue, Rose Hill, and Cody Lane Whaley, Rose Hill;

• Danielle Vivian Dunham, Beulaville, and Cody Alan Bailey, Beulaville;

• Trent Alexander Gainus, Beulaville, and Emily Mae Tawes, Raleigh;

• Kendy Anahy Rangel, Calypso, and Aaron Brett Rose, Mount Olive;

• Deisy Isela Guzman Franco, Newton Grove, Kevin Arias-Alvarado, Newton Grove;

• Fausto Y Garcia Leiva, Florida, and Alberta Renteria Garcia, Beulaville.

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS

TOWN OF WALLACE

McMahon calls on Stein to opt into Education Freedom Tax Credit

students who remain in public schools.”

She added the program

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — At a Monday press conference held in High Point, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon urged North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein to enter state into the Trump administration’s Education Freedom Tax Credit program.

The press conference was held at the Phoenix Academy Primary School Library.

As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill, the program o ers a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for individuals contributing to scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs), which must be a 501(c)(3) organization.

“I’m here today because I believe it is unfortunate that North Carolina Gov. Stein is preventing families in the Tarheel State from taking advantage of the support this measure will provide, such as access to scholarships for tuition and tutoring, specialized services, homeschool materials, cutting edge technology, or even after school supports to keep kids on track,” McMahon said.

Joining McMahon at the event were Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-Banner Elk), who sits on the House Education Committee, state Sen. Steve Jarvis (R-Davidson) and Michael Whatley, the Republican candidate for the state’s U.S. Senate seat.

North Carolina law requires any contractor bidding on work in the State which costs $30,000.00 or more to show evidence that he is licensed under the “Act to Regulate the Practice of General Contracting.” Bidders shall be properly licensed under Chapter 87, General Statues of North Carolina. Other Requirements:

No consideration will be given any request for Plans and Speci cations within the ve (5) day period immediately prior to the date for receiving bids. No bid may be withdrawn for a period of sixty (60) days after the scheduled closing time for receiving bids. The Owner reserves

Bids must be

or

Bids

Wallace, and plainly marked “Bid, Town of Wallace Sewer System Expansion”. The name, address and license number of the bidder shall be plainly marked on the outside of the envelope. Small, under-utilized, minority, or women-owned businesses are encouraged to submit Bids. All bidders are required to make positive e orts to use small and minority-owned businesses and comply with GS 143-128 and the MBE/WBE goals established by The Town of Wallace. Bidders shall have a veri able ten percent (10%) goal for participation by minority businesses

“The Education Freedom Tax Credit isn’t some distant idea,” McMahon said. “It’s a homegrown solution that puts North Carolina families in charge of their children’s education.” McMahon refuted some of the claims Stein has made about the program.

“Contrary to Gov. Stein’s claims, the tax credit doesn’t take a single dollar away from public schools,” said McMahon. “It raises additional funding for education by stimulating private donations by federal tax incentives — including those

“builds directly” on the state’s “thriving Opportunity Scholarship program,” which gives funding to students to attend the private school of their choice, with a prioritization on low-income households.

McMahon remarked that the Education Freedom Tax Credit goes beyond the state’s scholarship program, allowing students in traditional public schools to receive scholarship funds without changing schools.

“The Trump administration is your ready partner. Opt In,” McMahon said near the closing of her remarks.

Whatley spoke brie y, saying the tax credit program was important not just for North Carolina but the entire country as well.

“It is ridiculous that the legislature moved immediately to be the rst state to opt into this tremendous program,” he said while blaming former Gov. Roy Cooper, his opponent for U.S. Senate, for rejecting the idea.

Last year, Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) ran House Bill 87, the Educational Choice for Children Act, to opt the state in. The bill quickly passed and was sent to Stein, who vetoed the it a week later.

“Once the federal government issues sound guidance, I intend to opt North Carolina in so we can invest in the public school students most in need of after school programs, tutoring, and other resources,” Stein wrote in his veto message. “Therefore, HB 87 is unnecessary, and I veto it.”

The guidance mentioned by Stein was issued last fall. Stein did not respond to North State Journal’s requests for comment on his veto claim that he would opt the state in following such guidance.

“The fact is we need Gov. Stein to opt into this,” Whatley said. “Dollars should follow students whether it is to a public school, a private school, a charter school or homeschooling.”

Foxx echoed McMahon’s remarks on the program and education as vital to student success.

“Contrary to Gov. Stein’s claims, the tax credit doesn’t take a single dollar away from public schools.”

U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon

“It’s a perfect example of providing opportunity for students and families,” said Foxx. “And it’s truly unfortunate that students and families in our state are being denied that.”

On the same day as her press event, McMahon issued an opinion article on the tax credit in the North State Journal, focusing on Stein’s inaction.

“North Carolina remains on the sidelines while 27 other states have already opted in,” wrote McMahon. “This isn’t leadership; it’s partisan delay dressed up as caution.”

Last month, a coalition of union-linked organizations and nonpro ts ran a campaign urging the remaining governors, including Stein, not to opt into the program. Stein’s o ce did not respond to North State Journal’s request for comment on the campaign.

North State Journal has again reached out to Stein’s ofce for comment about McMahon’s visit, and a spokesperson issued the following statement:

“Governor Stein continues to await nal guidance from the U.S.Treasury and the IRS about the federal tax credit for contributions to Scholarship Granting Organizations that HR1 established. Depending on federal guidance, there could be potential opportunities for the federal tax credit program to bene t North Carolina’s public school students – which would factor into the Governor’s decision.

“The Governor has long supported magnet schools and accountable charter schools because public schools open doors of opportunity for kids in every corner of the state. He believes that school choice is good for students and parents, provided appropriate measures are in place to ensure accountability and prevent discrimination.”

Braves’ Profar suspended for season following second positive drug test

The

punishment leaves a hole at DH for Atlanta

By Rondald Blum The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Atlan-

ta Braves out elder Jurickson Profar was suspended for the 2026 season by Major League Baseball on Tuesday following his second positive test for a performance-enhancing drug.

Profar tested positive for exogenous testosterone and its metabolites, the commissioner’s o ce said, which means testosterone that was not produced by his body. Because it was a second o ense, the length of Profar’s suspension was 162 games.

The players’ association led a grievance at Profar’s request to appeal to baseball’s independent arbitrator, Martin F. Scheinman, a person familiar with the process told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity, because no announcement had been made.

An All-Star in 2024, Profar was suspended for 80 games last March 31 following a positive test for Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG), a hormone that helps production of testosterone. He issued a statement then saying: “I would never willingly take a banned substance, but I take full responsibility and accept MLB’s decision.”

His agent, Dan Lozano, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Braves released a statement that they “were incredibly disappointed” about the failed drug test.

ED from page B1

to the speed and pressures that are di erent from what they’ve seen in the past.” Jenkins said he’s still formulating his out eld con guration, but that Turner, Mewborn,

7Number of MLB players to receive a 162-game suspension for steroids. Profar is the rst since 2023.

“Our players are consistently educated about the (MLB Drug Prevention and Treatment) Program and the consequences if they are found to be in violation,” the club said. “The Atlanta Braves fully support the Program.”

Profar homered in his return from suspension on July 2 and nished with a .245 average, 14 homers, 43 RBIs and a .787 OPS in 80 games. He batted .280 in 2024, when he set career highs with 24 homers, 85 RBIs and an .839 OPS.

Profar said at the start of spring training that he had sports hernia surgery in November, requiring a six-week recovery time. He has appeared in four spring training games this year, going 3 for 10 with three RBIs.

Under the suspension, he is ineligible for the postseason and the World Baseball Classic. A native of Curaçao, Profar had been set to play for the Netherlands.

Profar will lose his $15 million salary for this year as part of a $42 million, three-year contract through 2027. He lost half his $12 million salary in 2025 due to the initial suspension.

He became the seventh player suspended 162 games for a second PED infraction after

Kennedy Jones, Ansley Hunter, Olivia Di endorfer and Bennett Holley are all in the mix. Jenkins has guided ED to a 364-171 mark since 2002 and has never posted a losing record. Look for South Lenoir (15-7

New York Mets pitcher Jenrry Mejia (July 2015), Cleveland out elder Marlon Byrd (June 2016), free agent catcher Cody Stanley (July 2016), Houston pitcher Francis Martes (February 2020), Mets second baseman Robinson Canó (November 2020) and Milwaukee pitcher J.C. Mejia (September 2023).

Mejia received a lifetime ban in February 2016 after a third positive test, the only player to be given a permanent ban since drug testing with penalties started in 2004.

Four players had been suspended previously this year for positive tests, including free agent out elder Max Kepler for 80 games under the major league program following a positive test for Epitrenbolone.

Following the o season signing of left elder Mike Yastrzemski to a $23 million, two -year deal, Profar had been targeted to be the Braves’ primary designated hitter.

When catcher Sean Murphy returns from a hip injury, perhaps in May, 2025 NL Rookie of the Year Drake Baldwin could ll in at DH when not behind the plate.

With Yastrzemski, Michael Harris and Ronald Acuña Jr. in the out eld, Eli White could be a DH option. The Braves also are without projected starting shortstop Ha-seong Kim due to a nger injury. Mauricio Dubon, expected to serve a utility role, is scheduled to open the season as the starting shortstop.

The loss of Profar could create an opportunity for Dominic Smith, who signed a minor league deal on Feb. 17.

last season) and Trask (16-9) to be ED’s biggest competition in the ECC.

“We’ve got a pretty good mix now of younger and older players, but we’re still looking for that perfect formula,” Jenkins said.

ED’s Karsyn Parker was one of the best players in Duplin last season and a 2A all-state player.

from page B1

we’ve had just two strikeouts o ensively in 70 at-bats. Those are the kind of numbers that will help us be in and win games.”

Casteen is expecting big things from slugger Jourdan Joe (.480, nine extra-base hits, 8 RBIs) and Shylah Sloan (.323), who will play college softball next spring at Elizabeth City State. Joe will be at the hot corner, while Shylah Sloan will be at shortstop when not pitching. While not being related, Kinzley Sloan (.552, four doubles, three triples and a HR), a sophomore, will provide pop from her spot as the team’s catcher. Junior Kenadi Gideons (.516) showed promise last season and will play second base.

NOTICES

NORTH CAROLINA DUPLIN COUNTY

FILE#26E000086-300

Casteen’s daughter Sadie is one of three freshman starters for the Tigers. She plays rst base.

Classmates Jovi Hall and Peyton Ezzell are in centereld and left eld, respectively, with junior Scarlett Deluca and sophomore Carmen Mahoney splitting time in right eld.

“Jourdan, Shylah and Ava are great senior leaders,” Casteen said. “I like our chances this season.”

JK won two of its rst four games last spring before nishing 5-11 and will be pressed by Swine Valley Conference foes Midway, Princeton and Rosewood, though favorites in games against Goldsboro, Wallace-Rose Hill and Spring Creek.

The Tigers were 12-9 in 2022 but have only been over .500 one other time since 2012.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, BARBARA SMITH ASHLEY AND BELINDA SMITH MAY having quali ed on the 24TH DAY of FEBRUARY 2026, as CO-ADMINISTRATORS of the Estate of BOBBY GLENN SMITH, deceased, of DUPLIN 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 5TH Day of JUNE 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This the 5TH Day of MARCH 2026.

BARBARA SMITH ASHLEY, CO-ADMINISTRATOR

7228 LEDFORD GROVE LANE WAKE FOREST, NC 27587

BELINDA SMITH MAY, CO-ADMINISTRATOR

1909 AMETHYST RIDGE DRIVE RALEIGH, NC 27604

Run dates:M5,12,19,26p

NORTH CAROLINA DUPLIN COUNTY

FILE#26E000068-300

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, MICHELE M. THOMPSON, having quali ed on the 24TH DAY of FEBRUARY 2026, as ADMINISTRATOR of the Estate of WILLIAM DWIGHT THOMPSON, deceased, of DUPLIN 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 5TH Day of JUNE 2026, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This the 5TH Day of MARCH 2026.

MICHELE M. THOMPSON, ADMINISTRATOR 4660 E. NC HWY 24 BEULAVILLE, NC 28518

Run dates:M5,12,19,26p

NOTICE TO BIDDERS

all labor and materials and performing all work connected with New AirPark, EastPark, SouthPark and WestPark Entrance Road Signage as

indicated in the plans and speci cations dated March 2026. The project shall consist of furnishing all labor, materials, and equipment and performing all work required to satisfactorily complete the project. Items of work include demolition and disposal of existing signs, permitting and construction of new entrance road signs to include; site lighting, and landscaping improvements for all locations. Bid Forms, Plans, Speci cations, and Contract Documents will be available on Thursday, March 10, 2026 and will be available through the Duplin County website: www. duplinnc.gov. Duplin County reserves the right

to reject any and all bids and to waive any and all technical defects in the execution of the submission of any bid. Duplin County reserves the right to reject any subcontractors. Duplin County is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This information is available in Spanish or any other language upon request. Please contact the Economic Development Commission at 910-296-2180 for accommodations for this request. Esta información está disponible en español o en cualquier otro idioma bajo petición. Por favor, póngase en contacto con Economic Development Commission al 910-296-2180 de alojamiento para esta solicitud.

Stanly NewS Journal

THE STANLY COUNTY EDITION OF NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Those who got up early

School board approves driveway, sewer contracts for Endy Elementary

Americans unite in aggravation over sticker shock at the gas pump

A country divided on many fronts is nding common ground at the gas pumps. The cost of the Iran war is hitting Americans squarely in the wallet and aggravating people across the political spectrum. That was the message from Associated Press interviews Monday with people at gas stations and beyond in ve states. The national average gas price was $3.48 a gallon on Monday, up from $2.90 a month ago, before the war, according to tracking by AAA.

Anthropic sues Trump administration seeking to undo “supply chain risk” designation

Anthropic is suing the Trump administration, asking federal courts to reverse the Pentagon’s decision designating the arti cial intelligence company a “supply chain risk” over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its technology. The Pentagon designated the San Francisco tech company a supply chain risk after an unusually public dispute over how its AI chatbot Claude could be used in warfare.

The bidding process for the projects has completed

By Jesse Deal Stanly News Journal

ALBEMARLE — The Stanly County Board of Education approved nearly $1.3 million in projects tied to the expansion of Endy Elementary School

during its March 3 meeting.

The approvals for a new driveway installation and a sewer system replacement came during a Capital Improvement Planning Committee presentation from Board Member Dustin Lisk.

Stanly County Schools Maintenance Director Keith Benton told board members the North Carolina Department of Transportation wants the school sys-

tem to construct a driveway lot on school property to assist with moving tra c o N.C. Highway 24/27 during student pickup and drop-o . Out of six bidders, NJR Contractors submitted the lowest responsive bid at $770,250; the board approved the contract with a 4-2 vote.

Board members Dustin Lisk, Glenda Gibson, Robin Whittaker and Vicky Watson vot-

Stanly Chamber of Commerce announces 2025 award winners

Awards were given to residents and businesses of Stanly County

By Jesse Deal Stanly News Journal

ALBEMARLE

Larry Baucom

— The Stanly County Chamber of Commerce celebrated community leadership and its own history during its 2026 Annual Meeting and Awards ceremony on March 5.

Held inside Atrium Health Stanly’s Magnolia Room in Albemarle, the event marked

the chamber’s 90th year serving the community while recognizing several local leaders and organizations for their contributions during the 2025 calendar year.

Five major awards were presented during the evening: Citizen of the Year, Ambassador of the Year, Business of the Year, Small Business of the Year and Nonpro t Organization of the Year.

The keynote speaker for the ceremony was William R. “Bill” Webb Jr., chairman of

ed in favor, while Carla Poplin and Meghan Almond voted against. Board member Bill Sorenson abstained. Some members raised concerns about the cost and the fact the project was not included in the initial expansion plans.

“It seems to me that we’re building things on shifting sand

Historian Charles Coble will present the history of Oakboro

By Melinda Burris Stanly News Journal

OAKBORO— Local historian Charles Coble will present a special lecture, “Highlights of the History of Big Lick and Oakboro,” on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. The event, sponsored by the Stanly County Historical Society, will be held at Oakboro First Baptist Church’s Fellowship Hall, 322 North Main St., Oakboro. The event is free to attend, but advance registration can be completed online at historicstanly.org.

Coble’s PowerPoint presentation will focus on the once-thriving communities of Big Lick and Oakboro, exploring how the changes brought by the establish-

the North Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority and a board member of the Golden LEAF Foundation.

Larry Baucom, founder of Tarheel Auto Sales of Locust Inc., received the chamber’s Citizen of the Year Award, as presented by Duke Energy representative Joe Crapster.

“It’s very humbling, and I’d like to thank the people of the chamber,” Baucom said.

“I’ll give you one line to remember, and I guarantee it will help you because I’ve used it for a very long time. Everything that you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. If you get over that fear, it’s amazing what you can accomplish. With deep gratitude and humbleness in my heart, thank you.”

The Ambassador of the Year Award was presented to author and poet Renee McRae.

Uwharrie Bank received the chamber’s Business of the Year Award, while Albemarle Sweet Shop was named Small Business of the Year.

“Thank you very much for this honor,” Albemarle Sweet Shop owner Shawn Oke said.

“We made substantial investments in our new building, and we could not have done that had it not been for thenancial backing and trust in our family to do that.”

The chamber also introduced a new award category

ment of the railroad and the discovery of electricity transformed society and the perception of daily life in smalltown America.

An Oakboro native, Coble has long been a vocal proponent of preserving the local landscape, and he has recently put those words into action by dedicating a conservation easement on his 52-acre farm. This gift ensures that almost 2,500 feet of river frontage will be protected for future generations. His work has taken him

many places, yet he has never lost his love for his home county and the family farm.

Coble’s ties to the University of North Carolina run deep as he served as dean of the School of Education at East Carolina University for thirteen years before joining the UNC-NC O ce of the President in the mid-1990s. He has maintained a strong connection to Carolina’s 15 schools of education and has been instrumental in securing more than $12 million in grants. He has authored and co-authored 10 books and 70 published articles. He remains dedicated to shedding light on the unique history of his birthplace and is a sought-after speaker and historian. Saturday’s event is the latest in the local celebrations in honor of America’s 250th anniversary this year.

March 13

March 14

March 15

this year, recognizing Tillery Compassionate Care as the rst recipient of the Nonprofit Organization of the Year Award.

The category was open to chamber member nonpro ts that were founded in Stanly County and carry out their missions with local programming while addressing community needs.

In recognition of the chamber’s 90th anniversary, special Legacy Recognition honors were also pre -

sented by Wil Huneycutt to several longtime local businesses and organizations, including Hartsell Funeral Home, Brown and Senter PLLC, Starnes Bramlett Jewelers, B.E. Holbrooks Co. and Dun-Rite Cleaners.

Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas served as presenting sponsors for the 2026 Annual Meeting and Awards. Additional sponsors included Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Company, Atrium Health and Uwharrie Bank.

THE CONVERSATION

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

VISUAL VOICES

Trump eradicates 47 years of feckless foreign policy

The U.S. can break Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities and its internal repression machine. It is under no obligation to clean it up.

IF ONE OF your national slogans is “Death to America,” you should be living in persistent and paralyzing fear of the United States. Say what you will about President Donald Trump, America’s enemies aren’t making any more demands after Operation Epic Fury. Not after the president shattered nearly ve decades of Washington foreign policy appeasing, legitimizing and emboldening the Iranian regime, one of our most enduring and dangerous enemies.

Trump has already reset American foreign policy by rejecting both the technocratic naivety of neoconservatism and the unfeasible demands of isolationism. He has also shed the convoluted, pseudointellectual foreign policy theories that had congealed as conventional Washington wisdom.

One of the bogus “norms” propagated by experts, and now “America First” isolationists, is that any military action needs to be contingent on short-term “imminent” threats against the U.S. Why should the U.S. sit around until the breaking point to act in our interests? This is a self-applied, short-sighted limitation. It’s almost surely the case that the landscape would have been far more dangerous had Trump allowed the regime to regain its footing after months of protests and Israel’s summer o ensive. Trump struck the regime when it was at its weakest, before it could stockpile enough ballistic missiles and advanced weaponry to create a quagmire.

Preemptively eliminating long-term threats is a way to mitigate harm against the U.S. Iran could have agreed to stop enrichment at any time in the past 47 days, or even 47 years, and avoided con ict. U.S. special envoy Steve Witko claims that the regime’s negotiators in Geneva bragged that they controlled 460

kilograms of 60% enriched uranium for 11 nuclear bombs.

Trump now has clear, achievable objectives: Ensure the mullahs don’t get their blood-stained hands on any nukes, end the regime’s ballistic missile capabilities and destroy the Iranian navy so it can’t threaten world shipping.

There are also unstated goals. The U.S. acted to undermine Chinese military expansion into the Middle East. China was about to sell Iran supersonic missiles that would have allowed it to target the American military. The clerics pay for military upgrades in oil. Nearly all of Iran’s crude exports already go to China, virtually its only consumer. As with removing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, weakening the mullahs weakens China.

Another bogus “norm” of the past decades was famously summed up by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who warned then-President George W. Bush before the 2003 Iraq invasion: “You break it, you own it.” The “Pottery Barn rule” contends that the U.S. has a responsibility to reconstruct countries after having beaten them. Sometimes it bene ts us to participate in rebuilding projects to create stability, and sometimes it doesn’t. The U.S. can break Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities and its internal repression machine. It is under no obligation to clean it up.

Over the years, the Washington foreign policy blob has convinced many people that the U.S. has a duty to marshal a large contingent of nations before acting — namely, weak-kneed European countries with signi cant Muslim populations who o er little military value. Similarly, some people are under the impression that the U.S. needs permission from the United Nations, a bastion

of strongmen, theocrats and fascists, to act. It does not.

“International law” has done little but hamper our ability to alleviate threats while allowing our enemies to act with impunity.

On the other hand, before Trump, U.S. administrations have refused to openly operate with our most-trusted ally, Israel, in militarily dismantling the Iranian threat. The idea was that Israel’s presence would undermine support from the Arab world. It’s in our interests to embrace Israel’s tech, intel, and military swagger and competence. “Capable partners are good partners,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth said of Israel, “unlike so many of our traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, hemming and hawing about the use of force.”

Moreover, we’re not living in 1973 anymore. The bene ciaries of Israel’s operation in Iran have also been Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom joined the Americans in denouncing the regime.

Making predictions about the outcome of war in the Middle East is foolish. But the unknown shouldn’t paralyze us either. The best-case scenario for Operation Epic Fury is an organic uprising by Iranians that transforms that nation into a nonhostile entity that ceases exporting terrorism and Islamic fanaticism around the world. In the worst- case scenario, a weak, rump Islamic Republic survives.

Right now, no matter what happens, the clerics are gelded. That alone is a win.

David Harsanyi is a senior writer at the Washington Examiner, a nationally syndicated columnist and author of ve books.

(Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

This kind of weather is why the great Russian writers were so damn gloomy. You give me another week of this, and I’ll be Dostoevsky.

I’M WRITING IN the worst part of a blizzard. What a satisfying, heroic way to start a newspaper column.

I’m not kidding, either. Here in Tiverton, Rhode Island, on the shores of Narragansett Bay, hard by the Massachusetts line, we’ve got more than 2 feet of snow on the ground, and we’re supposed to end up with about 36 inches.

To cliche up, it’s wet snow, heavy as lead, and the wind sounds like a freight train.

There’s a driving ban. If you’re not an “essential worker,” you can’t be on the roads. Mayors have pulled the plows o the roads because the drivers can’t see through the blowing snow. In a nearby city of 100,000 people, only two legal marijuana stores remain open. The National Guard is on its way with front-end loaders and dump trucks.

This kind of weather is why the great Russian writers were so damn gloomy. You give me another week of this, and I’ll be Dostoevsky. There are several ways to write the “horri c act of nature” column.

You can always fall back on the “nature’s fury makes me feel insigni cant” column, but I’ve been married for 16 years, so I feel insigni cant every day. I don’t think anyone believes that kind of column anyway. If I’ve just discovered my own insigni cance, why am I writing about how the storm makes me feel?

I could exhaustively research and write a column about how a blizzard doesn’t mean global warming is a hoax, and how weather isn’t the same as climate, but most people wouldn’t read all the way to the end of that column, and about 40% of you would just call me a communist.

There remains the “most vulnerable” column in which the writer centers on any group of beings who su er the most in extreme weather. Feral cats. The homeless. Any half-bright writer can milk that until he’s got a bucket of tears. If I did that, I’d go for the feral cats angle. People feel a lot worse for homeless cats than they do for homeless people.

A lot of cities open special shelters for the homeless during periods of intense cold or blizzards. The bene t to the reporter/columnist is you can nd the homeless, or at least the less stubborn homeless. You go down to the shelter, and there they are, full of misery and quotes. If you can, nd a homeless veteran. People feel worse for an Iraq War veteran who “turned to drugs” than they do for some clown who started using drugs in junior high and hasn’t done anything since then but use drugs.

The feral cats are harder to nd. They’re dying under snow-caked shrubs, and “meow” is a lousy quote. If you could nd a former military dog, one of those bomb-sni ers, and it was dying under a shrub, a whimper would be a hell of a good quote. If you ran a picture of the dog, and you set up a GoFundMe for the pooch,

he’d be adopted and butt-deep in kibble by the end of the week.

A couple of days before the blizzard, my wife Deborah and I prepared. We used the traditional male/female division of labor: She went to the grocery store, I went to the liquor store. We ended up with a big bunch of groceries and a 30-pack of cheap beer. Standing in line at the liquor store, the day before it hit, I was struck by my own insigni cance in the face of nature’s fury. No matter what kind of horrifying act of God was about to come out of the clouds, I still didn’t have enough money to buy good beer, imported beer, craft beer. It makes a man think.

We still have power in our house, even though tens of thousands of people in the state are without electricity. If the power goes out, and the outage lasts for several days, and my wife and I freeze to death, when they nd us, I’m going to be clutching a can of beer that costs $20 for a 30-pack. That’s less than a buck a can. You don’t know how big a failure you are until you’re freezing to death under a shrub, being let into the emergency shelter or facing the cold wrath of God with a can of cheap beer in your hand.

Marc Dion’s latest book, a collection of his best columns, is called “Mean Old Liberal.” (Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

McMahon calls on Stein to opt into Education Freedom Tax Credit

Rep. Virginia Foxx and U.S. Senate candidate

Point

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — At a Monday press conference held in High Point, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon urged North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein to enter state into the Trump administration’s Education Freedom Tax Credit program.

The press conference was held at the Phoenix Academy Primary School Library.

As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill, the program o ers a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for individuals contributing to scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs), which must be a 501(c)(3) organization.

“I’m here today because I believe it is unfortunate that North Carolina Gov. Stein is preventing families in the Tarheel State from taking advantage of the support this measure will provide, such as access to scholarships for tuition and tutoring, specialized services, homeschool materials, cutting edge technology, or even after school supports to keep kids on track,” McMahon said.

here,” Sorenson said. “When we went to the commissioners for the money for the Endy expansion, it was an oversight that we forgot to do. What I remember was less than a half of a million dollars, but I’m seeing the low bid at $770,000. To me, that di erence in money is alarming.” Poplin also questioned the price of the project and whether NCDOT could contribute funding.

“I think we were told that we would not necessarily need to do it and that we were going to consult with NCDOT,” Poplin said.

“This is a lot of money to put in a driveway.”

Poplin asked Benton whether the district could push NCDOT to help pay for the project.

“The issue with that is getting on their budget, and their budget is going to be ve years down the road more than likely,” Benton said. “That would be the earliest we would have the opportunity to get any funding from them. I feel very condent you’re not going to get 100% of funding from them for this job.”

Following the driveway vote, Lisk presented the second project, which involves replac-

Joining McMahon at the event were Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-Banner Elk), who sits on the House Education Committee, state Sen. Steve Jarvis (R-Davidson) and Michael Whatley, the Republican candidate for the state’s U.S. Senate seat.

“The Education Freedom Tax Credit isn’t some distant idea,” McMahon said. “It’s a homegrown solution that puts North Carolina famiin charge of their children’s education.”

McMahon refuted some of the claims Stein has made about the program.

“Contrary to Gov. Stein’s claims, the tax credit doesn’t take a single dollar away from public schools,” said McMahon. “It raises additional funding for education by stimulating private donations by federal tax incentives — including those

“It

Bill Sorenson, board member

ing the school’s septic system. The board unanimously approved a contract with Creech’s Plumbing and Septic for $487,491.32. The company was the lowest responsive bidder among ve proposals.

The project will involve demolishing the existing septic sys-

students who remain in public schools.”

She added the program “builds directly” on the state’s “thriving Opportunity Scholarship program,” which gives funding to students to attend the private school of their choice, with a prioritization on low-income households.

McMahon remarked that the Education Freedom Tax Credit goes beyond the state’s scholarship program, allowing students in traditional public schools to receive scholarship funds without changing schools.

“The Trump administration is your ready partner. Opt In,” McMahon said near the closing of her remarks.

Whatley spoke brie y, saying the tax credit program was important not just for North Carolina but the entire country as well.

“It is ridiculous that the legislature moved immediately to be the rst state to opt into this tremendous program,” he said while blaming former Gov. Roy Cooper, his opponent for U.S. Senate, for rejecting the idea.

Last year, Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) ran House Bill 87, the Educational Choice for Children Act, to opt the state in. The bill quickly passed and was sent to Stein, who vetoed the it a week later.

“Once the federal government issues sound guidance, I intend to opt North Carolina in so we can invest in the public school students most in need of after school programs, tutoring, and other resources,” Stein wrote in his veto message. “Therefore, HB 87 is unnecessary, and I veto it.”

The guidance mentioned by Stein was issued last fall. Stein did not respond to North State Journal’s requests for comment on his veto claim that he would opt the state in following such guidance.

“The fact is we need Gov. Stein to opt into this,” Whatley said. “Dollars should follow students whether it is to a public school, a private school, a charter school or homeschooling.”

Foxx echoed McMahon’s remarks on the program and education as vital to student success.

tem and installing new AX-Max units, septic tanks, piping and electrical panels, along with completing tie-in work during a scheduled weekend. Endy Elementary is currently the only school in the district operating with a septic system.

Benton told board members the project does not yet have a speci c completion date but is expected to take about 45 days to nish once work begins. Almond said the additional projects highlighted the need for more comprehensive planning when future construction projects are proposed.

“Moving forward with future

“Contrary to Gov. Stein’s claims, the tax credit doesn’t take a single dollar away from public schools.”

U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon

“It’s a perfect example of providing opportunity for students and families,” said Foxx. “And it’s truly unfortunate that students and families in our state are being denied that.”

On the same day as her press event, McMahon issued an opinion article on the tax credit in the North State Journal, focusing on Stein’s inaction.

“North Carolina remains on the sidelines while 27 other states have already opted in,” wrote McMahon. “This isn’t leadership; it’s partisan delay dressed up as caution.”

Last month, a coalition of union-linked organizations and nonpro ts ran a campaign urging the remaining governors, including Stein, not to opt into the program. Stein’s o ce did not respond to North State Journal’s request for comment on the campaign.

North State Journal has again reached out to Stein’s ofce for comment about McMahon’s visit, and a spokesperson issued the following statement:

“Governor Stein continues to await nal guidance from the U.S.Treasury and the IRS about the federal tax credit for contributions to Scholarship Granting Organizations that HR1 established. Depending on federal guidance, there could be potential opportunities for the federal tax credit program to bene t North Carolina’s public school students – which would factor into the Governor’s decision.

“The Governor has long supported magnet schools and accountable charter schools because public schools open doors of opportunity for kids in every corner of the state. He believes that school choice is good for students and parents, provided appropriate measures are in place to ensure accountability and prevent discrimination.”

projects, I hope this board and the CIP committee have learned a lesson to look at the whole picture and to make sure that all of this is included,” Almond said. “We’re looking at almost $1.3 million. That’s $1.3 million that should have been included in that ticket price of what it was going to be to add an addition on to the school. That was what was sold to our commissioners as well.” The Stanly County Board of Education’s next regular meeting is scheduled for April 1 at 6:15 p.m. in the Gene McIntyre Meeting Room at Stanly Coun-

Commons.

A sacred phrase becomes a rallying cry for some extremists targeting Jews

By Peter Smith

The Associated Press

ON ITS OWN, the phrase

“Christ is king” sums up a core tenet of the Christian faith, that Jesus is the divine ruler of the universe. Catholics and many Protestants celebrate a Christ the King Sunday each year.

But the ancient proclamation can morph into something political, controversial or even sinister, depending on who says it and how it’s said.

In recent years, “Christ is king” and similar phrases have been chanted at political rallies, posted on social media and proclaimed in speeches by voices on the right.

At times the phrase is used to support the notion of America as a Christian nation or as one that owes its allegiance speci cally to the Christian God. Some current Cabinet o cials and recent members of Congress have used the phrase in speeches and on social media.

But other times, political activists have paired “Christ is king” with anti-Zionist statements or negative Jewish stereotypes.

The phrase has gained popularity among far-right gures and their followers. Conservative in uencer Candace Owens, who shares antisemitic conspiracies, sells branded “Christ is King” co ee mugs and T-shirts.

The controversy connects to a larger schism on the right, with some conservatives pushing back against an increasingly vocal faction whose denunciations of Israel, critics say, often combine with blatant antisemitism. Some of the latter group insist they’re not antisemitic, just anti-Zionist. That itself is a sharp break from what was once a near-consensus of pro-Israel sentiment among Republicans.

But there are times when the use of the phrase “Christ is king” is unquestionably hostile toward Jews, said a 2025 report by the Rutgers University-a liated Network Contagion Research Institute.

Analyzing social media postings between 2021 and 2024, the institute reported a dramatic increase of the phrase “Christ is king,” often used as a hate meme targeting Jews. The report lamented this deviation from its historical use as a hopeful, sacred a rmation with biblical roots.

“The weaponization or hijacking of ‘Christ is King’ represents a disturbing inversion of its original intent. Rather than sacralizing shared values, extremists have exploited this religious expression to justify hatred,” the report said.

Controversy spotlighted at religious liberty hearing

A recent meeting of the Religious Liberty Commission, a group President Donald Trump

created and appointed, put the phrase and related controversies in the spotlight.

At a Feb. 9 hearing focused on antisemitism, a witness, Seth Dillon, spoke of often hearing people use the phrase “Christ is king” followed immediately by a highly contemptuous slur toward Jews.

“This should o end every Christian,” said Dillon, the CEO of the conservative satirical site The Babylon Bee.

Commission member Carrie Prejean Boller repeatedly grilled witnesses about whether opposing Zionism could be construed as anti-Jewish. She said that as a Catholic she opposes Zionism but that this is not antisemitic. She asked Dillon if he thought “saying ‘Christ is king’ is antisemitic.”

Dillon said no and that, as a Christian, he regularly declares that “Christ is my king” — but context matters.

He testi ed that the phrase has been co-opted by Groypers, alluding to the followers of farright in uencer Nick Fuentes, who has spread antisemitic views.

It’s “using the Lord’s name in an abusive manner,” Dillon said.

Fuentes’ supporters chanted “Christ is king” at the Million MAGA March, a November 2020 rally denying the Republican Trump’s defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in that year’s presidential election.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican who chairs the Religious Liberty Commission, announced Prejean Boller’s removal from the panel after the meeting. He asserted that she tried to “hijack” the hearing for her own agenda.

Following the commission meeting, Prejean Boller has posted proli cally on X, denouncing “Zionist supremacists” and repeatedly using the phrase “Christ is King.” She also has denounced the war launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran.

A recent Catholic convert, she said she opposes a popular evangelical view that modern-day Israel exists in ful llment of biblical prophecy.

A religious phrase ‘co-opted by extremist gures’

The commission hearing was hardly the rst forum to air controversy over “Christ is king.”

The Network Contagion Research Institute’s 2025 report noted that while many “Christ is king” references on social media are strictly religious, the phrase has been “systematically co-opted by extremist gures.”

The report said Fuentes and other extremists use the phrase as a “white supremacist mantra publicizing their antisemitic beliefs.”

Fuentes has said the Holocaust was exaggerated, and he has denounced “organized Jewry in America.” He has claimed to be in battle with “satanic, globalist elites,” an antisemitic trope.

The religious phrase “Christ is king” is not inherently political, said Brian Kaylor, president and editor-in-chief of Word&Way, a progressive

site covering faith and politics.

But that fact provides a “deniability” to those politicizing it, he said.

“We’re at a dangerous point with the phrase ‘Christ is king’ because of the heavy activity and use of it on the far right in very fascist, antisemitic ways,” said Kaylor, a Baptist minister and author of several books on religion and politics. “We’re at the danger of that phrase losing its meaning to where this new antisemitic use is the dominant de nition.”

The phrase has also gained popularity in political settings with some on the Catholic and evangelical right who are strongly pro-Israel and have repeatedly denounced antisemitism, such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Kaylor said the phrase is often used as “a declaration of Christian nationalism ” asserting that “the nation should be brought under the dictates of Christ.”

A dispute over politics and religion

The controversy has highlighted both religious and political ssures.

“This should o end every Christian.”

Seth Dillon, Babylon Bee CEO

The Vatican has diplomatic relations with Israel and has also recognized a state of Palestine. Pope Leo XIV has called for a two-state solution while denouncing antisemitism. During the Israel-Hamas war, popes Francis and Leo denounced the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas and Israel’s massive military response, with Leo demanding a halt to Israel’s “collective punishment” of Gaza’s population.

Other Catholics on the Religious Liberty Commission noted that Jesus and his followers were Jews and that a seminal 1965 Vatican document rejects antisemitism and the blaming of all Jews, including those alive today, for Jesus’ cruci xion.

Patrick, the commission chairman, said the dispute with Prejean Boller re ects “a real problem with a very small group in our Republican Party.” Antisemitism needs to be repudiated or “this is going to destroy our party,” he said on “The Mark Levin Show,” a podcast.

But Prejean Boller has galvanized supporters from a staunchly conservative group called Catholics for Catholics, a lay-led, self-described “militant organization dedicated to the evangelization of this great country.”

It plans to honor Prejean Boller at a March 19 event with a Catholic Champion Award in Washington featuring speakers such as Owens.

Prejean Boller has reposted announcements of the event on X, including one post that shared a Spanish-language statement that translates to “We will not rest until we convert the USA into a Catholic nation.” The post concluded in English with “Christ is King!”

OBITUARIES

VIOLETA ANTONIA VIDAL PEÑA

MAY 13, 1935 – MARCH 5, 2026

Violeta Antonia Vidal Peña, 90, of Albemarle, passed away peacefully on Thursday, March 5, 2026, at Atrium Health Stanly. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, March 9, 2026, in the Stanly Funeral Home Chapel with Father Peter Fitzgibbons o ciating.

Violeta was born May 13, 1935, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to the late Diojenes Iliarion Vidal Suazo and Carmen Nerida Reyes Vidal. She devoted her life to her family as a homemaker and will be remembered as a strong, loving, and vibrant presence in the lives of all who knew her.

Her family lovingly remembers her as authentic and spirited, a woman who knew her own mind and was a ectionately regarded as “the boss.” She had a wonderful sense of humor and a joyful personality. Violeta loved to dance, sing, and enjoy life’s simple pleasures-often with a Corona in hand and a smile on her face. Even during di cult times, she maintained a positive spirit and was known for her constant prayers and deep faith.

She had a warm and generous heart and was always ready to listen to others. Violeta enjoyed sewing, ironing, and cooking when her health allowed. She also loved spending time sitting outside, watching the world go by, and keeping up with her favorite soap operas. Observant and attentive, she could often be found by the window, quietly watching everything happening outside.

Family was the center of her life and the source of her greatest joy. Everyone in the family lovingly called her “Mama.” One cherished memory her family holds dear is watching her dance with her grandchildren, creating moments lled with laughter and love. In earlier years, she hosted lively Saturday night gatherings in her New York apartment, bringing family and friends together in celebration. Her devotion to her family was a de ning part of who she was and one of the reasons she lived such a long and full life.

She is survived by her children, Rafael Ramirez of New York, Ivelisse Peña of Rhode Island, Eridania Giammanco (Jerry) of North Carolina, and Henry Peña (Ana Rosa) of the Dominican Republic; her stepson, Conrad Peña of the Dominican Republic; 11 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her stepdaughter, Virginia Peña.

Violeta’s love, strength and joyful spirit will be deeply missed and forever remembered by her family and all who had the privilege of knowing her.

DOLLY ELAINE TURNER

JAN. 10, 1937 – MARCH 6, 2026

Dolly Elaine Turner, 89, of Albemarle, passed away on Friday, March 6, 2026, at Trinity Place in Albemarle. Her memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 14, 2026, at Stanly Funeral and Cremation Care Chapel with Rev. Daniel Hartness o ciating.

Dolly was born January 10, 1937, in Albemarle and was the daughter of the late Henry J. Turner and Mary Louise Lowder Turner. She was also preceded in death by her sister, Shelvia Turner Rummage; her brother, Jonah Richard Turner; and her longtime companion, Gene McAlister.

Dolly was a graduate of New London High School and retired from First Union National Bank after many years of service as a teller. She was a member of Main Street United Methodist Church.

After her retirement in 1997, Dolly enjoyed traveling with Gene and with her travel ladies group. She loved shopping, cooking delicious meals for her family, watching basketball and westerns, and spending time talking and laughing with her many friends. Known to many as “Granny,” she especially treasured time spent with her family.

She is survived by her daughters, Helen Bujard of Clemmons and Kathryn “Missy” Fields of Albemarle; her son, David L. Burleson and wife Cathy of Albemarle; her grandchildren, Brandon Burleson and wife Anna of New Bern, Jordan Thompson and wife Char of Concord, Kathryn Bujard of Greensboro, and Rachel Hartness and husband Daniel of Newton; her greatgranddaughter, Isabelle Burleson of New Bern; and several nieces and nephews.

The family will receive friends following the service at Stanly Funeral and Cremation Care.

In lieu of owers, memorials may be made to Tilery Compassion Care, 960 North First Street, Albemarle, NC 28001, or Trinity Place, 24724 US52, Albemarle, NC 28001.

CALEB STEPHEN YORK

APRIL 19, 1990 – MARCH 6, 2026

Caleb Stephen York of Oakboro passed away peacefully in his sleep early morning on Friday, March 6, 2026, leaving behind a legacy of love and inspiration.

A celebration of Caleb’s life will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Edwards Funeral Homes’ Chapel, Norwood, NC, where Pastor Buster Green will o ciate and share stories of Caleb’s remarkable journey. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service, and all are welcome to come and pay their respects.

Caleb was born on April 19, 1990, in Stanly County to Lisa Williams Cratty and the late Gary Stephen York.

Caleb showed a deep commitment to his faith and a passion for helping others. He spent the last few years of his life sharing the love of God, working with Miracle House of Hope, volunteering in various capacities, and serving as a beacon of encouragement to all around him.

To know Caleb was to love Caleb, and his infectious smile, laughter, and generosity of spirit touched countless lives.

He is survived by his son Joseph York who he loved more than life, grandmothers Elaine Brooks (maternal) and Geraldine (Banks) Shepherd (paternal), his ‘shining star’ dad Tim Cratty, Jr., two sisters Jessica (Hank) Fowler and Heather York, a brother Jacob (Courtney) Cratty, Uncle Mark Brooks Chen, Uncle Shane and Aunt Michelle Cratty, Uncle Michael and Aunt Barbara York, ve nieces, two nephews, and many cousins. He is preceded in death by Grandpa Buck, grandfathers James Williams (maternal) and Desi York (paternal), Uncle Mark Williams, and Uncle Greg and Aunt Kim York.

In lieu of owers, donations may be made to Edwards Funeral Homes to assist with funeral expenses.

RONALD EUGENE “RONNIE” HARTSELL

MAY 19, 1947 – MARCH 6, 2006

Ronald Eugene “Ronnie” Hartsell, 79 of Mt. Gilead, died Friday Afternoon, March 6, 2026, at Pineville Rehabilitation Hospital.

Funeral Services will be held at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, in Edwards Funeral Home Chapel of Norwood. Pastor Tommy Blackwell and Pastor Mike Lisk will o ciate. The family will receive friends from 3:30-4:45 p.m. on Tuesday at the funeral home.

Ronnie was born May 19, 1947, in Stanly County to the late Helen Hartsell Parker. He was a retiree of Wiscasset Mills and later owned and operated North Stanly Auto in New London. He was a member of Community Full Gospel Church and attended Twin Harbor Worship Center.

He is survived by his wife, Audrey Hartsell. One daughter, Sherry Hartsell Rushing (Tommy) of Stan eld, and one son, Ronnie Ray Hartsell (Jamie) of Oakboro. One step-son, Travis Lisk (Teresa) and one step-daughter, April Lisk Morton (Danny) all of Norwood. Five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Brothers and sister, Tim Parker (Shay) and Sylvia Medlin (Pat) of Albemarle and Neal Parker (Capri) of Lexington, and special aunt Jean Furr.

He was preceded in death by a brother, Wayne Parker.

HILDA OPHELIA SCARBORO

JUNE 21, 1934 – MARCH 8, 2026

Hilda Ophelia Scarboro, 91, of Albemarle, passed away Sunday, March 8, 2026, at Stanly Manor in Albemarle.

Hilda was born June 21, 1934, in North Carolina to the late Arnold William Poplin and the late Nannie Lou Poplin. She was also preceded in death by her brother, Elvin Cladine Poplin, and her sister, Sarah Daphene Lowder. The family will receive friends from 11-11:45 a.m., Monday, March 16, 2026, at Hartsell Funeral Home, located at 522 North Second Street, Albemarle, NC. The funeral service will follow at noon in the Le er Memorial Chapel, o ciated by Pastor Adam Hatley. Burial will follow at Fairview Memorial Park.

Hilda was a devout Christian who loved the Lord with all her heart and her church family. She would often sing cantatas and was a part of the West Albemarle Baptist Church choir. She was an avid seamstress who made pillows, quilts, and blankets for others and often sold her crafts. Hilda enjoyed going to the beach more than anywhere else, but her most cherished memories were the times she spent with her family.

Survivors include son, Danny Lane Scarboro of Albemarle, NC; Son, Bo (Cindy) Scarboro of Matthews, NC; grandchildren, Machelle Scarboro Dick, Eric Marshall Scarboro, Lauren Scarboro Woods, Zachary (Emily) Scarboro; and 10 greatgrandchildren. Donations may be made to West Albemarle Baptist Church. Hartsell Funeral Home of Albemarle is serving the Scarboro family.

Alexander Butter eld, Nixon aide who disclosed Watergate tapes, dead at 99

His revelation of the secret taping system ultimately forced Nixon’s resignation

By Douglass K. Daniel The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Alexander Butter eld, the White House aide who inadvertently hastened Richard Nixon’s resignation over the Watergate scandal when he revealed that the president had bugged the Oval O ce and Cabinet Room and routinely recorded his conversations, has died. He was 99.

His death was con rmed to The Associated Press by his wife, Kim, and John Dean, who served as White House counsel to Nixon during the Watergate scandal and went on to, along with Butter eld, help expose the wrongdoing.

“He had the heavy responsibility of revealing something he was sworn to secrecy on, which is the installation of the Nixon taping system,” Dean said. “He stood up and told the truth.”

As a deputy assistant to the president, Butter eld oversaw the taping system connected to voice-activated listening devices that had been secretly placed in four locations, including Nixon’s o ce in the Executive O ce Building and the presidential retreat at Camp David.

Butter eld later said that, besides himself and the president, he believed that only White House chief of sta H.R. Haldeman, a Haldeman assistant and a handful of Secret Service agents knew about the taping system.

“Everything was taped … as long as the president was in attendance,” Butter eld told Watergate investigators when testifying under oath during a preliminary interview.

The tapes would expose Nixon’s role in the cover-up that followed the burglary in 1972 at the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate building. To avoid impeachment by the House, Nixon resigned on Aug. 9, 1974, less than a month after the Supreme Court had ordered him to surrender the relevant tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor.

Butter eld believed he’d had a hand in the president’s fate. “I didn’t like to be the cause of that, but I felt that I was, in a lot of ways,” he said in a 2008 oral history for the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

Butter eld, a college friend of Haldeman’s at UCLA who had contacted his friend to ask about opportunities in the new Nixon administration, served as a deputy assistant to Nixon from 1969 to 1973. In that capacity he worked under Haldeman and, among other duties, was secretary to the Cabinet and helped oversee White House operations.

The Air Force veteran had left the White House to become administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration when Senate committee sta ers privately questioned him on July 13, 1973, during their investigation of the Watergate break-in. A routine question about the possibility of a taping system had been prompted by former White House counsel John Dean’s testimony that he believed a conversation he had had with Nixon may have been recorded.

When Butter eld acknowledged that a taping system in-

deed existed, he was brought before a public hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. The public revelation on July 16, 1973, of a taping system designed to record all the president’s conversations stunned Nixon friends and foes alike. The tapes promised Watergate investigators a rich vein of evidence in their quest for determining what Nixon and others knew about the break-in — a great deal, as it turned out.

E orts by investigators to gain access to the tapes sparked a yearlong legal battle that was resolved in July 1974 when the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Nixon had to give them up.

The thousands of hours of tapes made public over the years — they are now controlled by the National Archives — provide a unique if often un attering view of Nixon. His words exposed a bad temper, vulgar language, bigoted racial and religious views, and unvarnished opinions about national and international gures.

“I just thought, ‘When they hear those tapes …’ I mean, I knew what was on these tapes … they’re dynamite,” Buttereld told the Nixon Library. “I guess I didn’t foresee that the president might be put out of o ce or impeached, but I thought it would be a perilous few years for him. I guess I couldn’t conceive of (Nixon) being forced out of o ce. It had never happened before.” Butter eld later said that he believed that Nixon’s successor, President Gerald Ford, red him as FAA administrator in 1975 as part of an agreement worked out between the Nixon and Ford sta members. He said he had heard from White House friends that he had been targeted shortly after his testimony to the Senate committee.

After leaving the FAA, Butter eld worked as a business executive in California. He earned a master’s degree from the University of California, San Diego, in 1994.

Alexander Porter Buttereld was born on April 6, 1926, in Pensacola, Florida. He left UCLA to join the Navy and later earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland in 1956 and a master’s degree from George Washington University in 1967.

In 1948, he joined the Air Force and served as an instructor at a base near Las Vegas during the Korean War and later served in Germany. In Washington, he was military assistant to the special assistant of the defense secretary in 1965 and 1966 and later served as senior military representative of the U.S. and representative for the commander-in-chief, Paci c Forces, Australia. He retired at the rank of colonel after 20 years in the Air Force.

Butter eld was unsparing in his criticism of the former president in later years. While he commended Nixon’s achievements in foreign affairs, he considered his former boss “not an honest man” and “a crook” and believed that Nixon knew about the Watergate break-in before it occurred and was the architect of the ensuing cover-up.

Butter eld found himself “cheering … just cheering” the day Nixon resigned, he told the Nixon Library, because “justice had prevailed.”

“I didn’t think that it would for a while,” he said. “This guy was the ringleader.”

STANLY SPORTS

Former North Stanly softball star shines in freshman collegiate season

Sophia Crist has a 0.76 ERA for Gaston College

By Jesse Deal Stanly News Journal

NEW LONDON — Former North Stanly standout Sophia Crist delivered a dominant performance on Saturday, earning Player of the Game honors as the Gaston College Rhinos softball team swept a doubleheader in Shelby. The freshman right-handed pitcher from Rich eld tossed a two-hitter with ve strikeouts as No. 20 Gaston College defeated Cleveland Community College 8-0 in six innings in the opener. The Rhinos (26-3, 2-0 Region 10) followed with a 5-0 victory in the second game to extend their winning streak to 10 games.

pitched, Crist has struck out 48 batters while allowing just ve earned runs, good for a team-best 0.76 ERA. She has also contributed at the plate in limited opportunities, batting .333 with four hits, three runs scored and one RBI in 12 plate appearances.

Steuerwald’s program has built a reputation as one of the top teams in Region 10, winning conference titles in each of the past three seasons. The Rhinos have also made two appearances in the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series.

“Proud to come from such a great community.”

Sophia Crist

“The pitching was really good this weekend,” Rhinos coach Michael Steuerwald said. “Aidan Ledbetter and Savanna Mullins pitched lights out on Friday, and then Sophia Crist set the tone in today’s opener.”

Crist’s performance continued a strong start to her freshman season. Through 16 appearances, she owns a 7-2 record with three complete games. In 46 innings

Pfei er softball looks to extend run of success

The Falcons are 8-4 through their rst dozen games

By Jesse Deal Stanly News Journal

MISENHEIMER — As the 2026 season begins to take shape, the Pfei er softball team is aiming to continue one of its most consistent runs in program history.

The Falcons entered the campaign with 11 consecutive winning seasons and were picked to nish rst in the 2026 USA South Athletic Conference preseason poll. Under 10th-year coach Monte Sherrill, Pfei er — the three-time defending

USA South regular-season and tournament champion — has dominated conference play in recent seasons.

Last year, Pfei er posted a 37-9 overall record and went a perfect 18-0 in league action. After capturing another USA South tournament title, the Falcons advanced to the regional championship round of the 62 -team NCAA Division III Softball Tournament.

The start of the 2026 campaign, however, proved challenging as Pfei er dropped four of its rst seven games before nding its footing. The Falcons (8-4) have since responded with ve consecutive victories, including two wins Sunday to close the NFCA Leado Classic.

Consecutive winning seasons by Pfei er softball

Pfei er defeated the Pacific Lutheran Lutes 3-2 in the opening game before earning a 7-2 comeback victory over the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens.

Junior shortstop Ky Perdue anchored Pfei er at the plate against Paci c Lutheran, going 3 for 3 with three stolen bases and two runs. Freshman sec-

ond baseman Heather Vaughn contributed two hits and an RBI, while junior left elder Brooke Piper doubled in a 2-for-3 performance.

Pfei er pushed across single runs in the second, third and fth innings, with freshman right elder Kylah Shi ett delivering an RBI double in the second and Vaughn adding an RBI single in the fth.

Freshman Abigail Bowman picked up the win in relief after allowing two runs over four innings, while Mollie Bulla secured the save with two scoreless innings.

In Sunday’s second game, Pfei er rallied past Pomona-Pitzer after falling behind early. The Falcons trailed 2-0

Last season, Gaston College nished with a 63-5 overall record and a perfect 22-0 mark in Region 10 play. “We talked on Friday in our Region 10 opener about jumping on teams right away to send a message,” Steuerwald said. “And we responded really well. We tend to be everybody in our conference’s biggest game just because of the success we’ve had. We have to show up with energy and be ready to play.” Crist recently thanked her hometown supporters in a social media statement.

“Forever grateful for the North Stanly Booster Club,” Crist said. “Thank you for all the support and love. Proud to come from such a great community.”

The Rhinos will host East Georgia State in a nonconference doubleheader at CaroMont Health Park on Wednesday before returning to Region 10 play Saturday with a home doubleheader against USC Union.

before scoring seven unanswered runs, plating a run in each of the nal six innings. Sophomore second baseman Natalie Auman went 3 for 3 with two runs and an RBI, while junior center elder Landry Stewart added two hits, two runs, an RBI and two stolen bases.

Perdue also tallied two hits, two runs and two RBIs, including a run-scoring single in the seventh. Pfei er put the game away with a two-run seventh on RBI singles from Perdue and Stewart.

The Falcons will return to the road this week, traveling to North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for the Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic. Pfei er was scheduled to open the two - day event Tuesday against Penn State Scranton and Lycoming before facing King’s College and Pikeville on Wednesday.

MLB Doubles, triples dwindling in MLB; blame better positioning, ballpark layout

Glendale, Ariz. The number of doubles and triples in the major leagues went down again last year. There were 7,745 doubles, down from 7,771 in 2024 and 8,254 a decade ago in 2016, according to Sportradar. Triples dropped to 628, compared to 697 in 2024 and 873 in 2016. Defensive positioning and ballpark dimensions are two of the biggest factors in the decline.

WNBA

Ogunbowale arrested after allegedly punching man at club

Miami Dallas Wings star Arike Ogunbowale was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery after police say she punched a man in the face at a Miami nightclub. Ogunbowale was celebrating at club E11EVEN after winning the Unrivaled championship with the Mist. According to police, Ogunbowale punched the man in the face, knocking him to the ground, and security cameras captured the act.

NHL Penguins’ Malkin suspended 5 games for slashing Sabres’ Dahlin Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin was suspended for ve games for slashing Bu alo defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. The punishment will cost the Penguins forward nearly $160,000. The NHL announced that Malkin was assessed a minor penalty for cross- checking, a major penalty for slashing and a game misconduct. Pittsburgh is already without captain Sidney Crosby for a minimum of four weeks because of a lower-body injury.

NFL Crosby bids emotional farewell to Raiders fans, eyes Super Bowl with Ravens Las Vegas Maxx Crosby said goodbye to Raiders fans and said he has one goal in Baltimore — winning a Super Bowl. He posted an emotional 13-minute video. The Raiders traded the ve-time Pro Bowler to the Ravens on Friday night for two rst-round picks. One pick is No. 14 in next month’s draft. Crosby said he has no regrets. He said Las Vegas will remain his home. Baltimore added him to boost a pass rush that struggled last season.

NCAA BASKETBALL

UConn’s Hurley bee ng with o cials again, draws $25K ne from Big East Milwaukee Add another chapter to UConn coach Dan Hurley’s combative history with o cials just as March Madness is approaching. Hurley was ejected from the fourth-ranked Huskies’ 68- 62 loss to Marquette after picking up two technical fouls with one second remaining. Hurley argued that UConn’s Silas Demary Jr. was fouled by Marquette’s Ben Gold while driving to the basket with the Huskies trailing 64 - 62. Hurley approached John Ga ney and got his chest next to the o cial’s right shoulder while voicing his displeasure. The Big East ned Hurley $25,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct.

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Weekly deadline is Monday at noon

Reddick nished eighth, while Blaney took the lead with 10 laps left

By Jenna Fryer

The Associated Press

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Ryan Blaney completed a Team Penske sweep at Phoenix Raceway by winning the Cup Series race, denying Tyler Reddick a fourth consecutive win to start the Cup Series season.

Blaney was the race favorite after winning last November in the season- nale on the mile oval but he had to overcome at least three tire problems that cost him track position. He chased down Ty Gibbs — the 49th car he passed Sunday — to take the lead with 10 laps remaining and seal his 18th career victory.

“Just perseverance,” Blaney said. “We had a couple mistakes that we learned from, got better, had to come from the back a couple times. It’s cool to win, especially after a day like that. Can’t say enough about the (team) for keeping their head down and doing what they do.”

As he celebrated on the frontstretch, his parked Ford began to roll away and Blaney had to chase after it to ensure it was in park.

The victory came during a weekend celebration of Team Penske’s 60th season of competition and during a “desert doubleheader” that bundled IndyCar and NASCAR together at Phoenix. David Malukas won the IndyCar pole for Roger Penske and then Josef Newgarden won Saturday’s race; Joey Logano won the pole for

“It’s cool to win, especially after a day like that.”

Ryan Blaney

the Cup race and then Blaney completed the sweep.

“Really proud of everybody at Team Penske,” Blaney said. “We swept the weekend, Newgarden winning yesterday, us winning today. Can’t wait to see Roger.”

Christopher Bell nished second in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson was third in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports and Gibbs dropped to fourth.

Denny Hamlin, who lost the championship last November at this track, was fth as JGR drivers took three of the top ve positions. Bell dominated the race the same way Hamlin did in November and, just like Hamlin, lost because of the wrong pit strategy.

Hamlin in November took four tires on the nal stop and was beat for the championship by Larson, who took two tires.

On Sunday, Blaney took two tires while Bell and Hamlin each took four.

“You win some, you lose some,” said Bell, who led 176 of the 312 laps. “This one stings, but on the positive side, I’m really proud of our entire team. It’s something to build on. It was a day that we needed.”

Bubba Wallace was sixth for 23XI, William Byron was seventh for Hendrick, and Red-

dick was eighth. Toyota drivers took six of the top 10 spots.

“It would have been nice to make it four,” Reddick said. “Scored the fourth-most amount of points on the day ... solid day. If we’re not going to win, these are the kind of days we need to have.”

The race was slowed by a record-tying 12 cautions, most caused by a rash of tire failures.

Gibbs responds

Ty Gibbs has chosen not to comment on the federal lawsuit his grandfather’s race team led against its former competition director, even after court declarations from Chris Gabehart claimed he left Joe Gibbs Racing in part because of the young driver.

Ty Gibbs said ahead of the race Sunday he’d let his performance on track speak for him and then delivered with his second consecutive fourth-place nish.

“Very happy with my team. All the guys, I’m with the right guys. That makes a di erence,” Gibbs said. “So we’re running good because of that. It shows.”

Ty Gibbs is in his fourth full Cup season driving for his grandfather. Ty Gibbs was successful in NASCAR’s second-level series, where he won 12 races and the 2022 championship by winning the nale at Phoenix. His father, Coy, was found dead in his Phoenix hotel room the morning after the championship.

Ty Gibbs moved to the Cup Series in 2023 and is winless in 127 starts. The 23-year-old nished a career-best 15th in the 2024 Cup standings.

All of the area boys’ and girls’ basketball teams have completed their high school seasons, which means that we bid farewell to their respective senior classes. Here’s a look at who departs each team’s roster, following successful high school careers.

SOUTH STANLY BOYS

(8-17, advanced to rst round of playo s)

Leading scorer Jasiah Holt, top rebounder Jayden Woods, steal leader Carter Callicutt, Kaleb Richardson, Chance Sasser, Naylen Hetland, Hakeem Jackson, Wyatt Crawford, Tripp Edwards

SOUTH STANLY GIRLS

(7-15, advanced to rst round of playo s)

Assists leader Briley Page, top 3-point shooter Ashelyn Tucker, Ameshia Jackson, Akerria Robinson, Amarianna Snuggs, Piper Huneycutt

NORTH STANLY BOYS

(24-3, advanced to second round of playo s)

Cam Brown, David Tate

NORTH STANLY GIRLS

(22-4, advanced to third round of playo s)

Leading scorer Lexie Brown, Shy’Mani Baskins

WEST STANLY BOYS

(7-18, advanced to rst round of playo s)

Co-captains Cade Hinson, Cooper Crisco, Canaan Carelock, Carter Yow and Drew Hatley, as well as Hudson Snyder

WEST STANLY GIRLS

(14-13, advanced to second round of playo s)

Leading scorer Scarlet Gri n, assists leader Kennedy Foxx, Brynli Huneycutt, Mallory Deaton

ALBEMARLE BOYS

(11-15, advanced to second round of playo s)

JP Brown

ALBEMARLE GIRLS

(14-13, advanced to rst round of playo s)

Leading rebounder Karrington Baldwin

GREY STONE DAY BOYS (1-24)

Co-captains Cameron Thompson, Colt Greer and Gabriel Young, as well as Drayden Plyler, Elijah She eld and Jason Eudy

GREY STONE DAY GIRLS (2-18)

Co-captains Anna Morgan and Seven Boone

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NOTICE OF INTENT TO PERMANENTLY CLOSE AN UNOPENED SECTION OF RIGHT-OFWAY

Notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held on Monday, March 16, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. in the Gene McIntyre Meeting Room at the Stanly County Commons, located at 1000 N. First Street, Albemarle, North Carolina.The purpose of this hearing is to consider the County’s intent to permanently close an unopened, unused, and unconstructed section of the right-of-way known as Kirk Road, located within unincorporated Stanly County.The unopened section of Kird Road is described as follows:Close a 215-foot section of the existing recorded, yet unopened, unused, and unconstructed public roadway known as Kirk Road, originally recorded in Map Book 16, Page 8. The section to be closed extends from the intersection with the existing recorded, yet unopened Diana Road, southward to the property line as identi ed on the plat recorded in Map Book 33, Page 122. All interested persons who wish to be heard on this matter may appear at the time and place stated above and present relevant information.

NOTICE OF INTENT TO PERMANENTLY CLOSE AN UNOPENED SECTION OF RIGHT-OFWAY Notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held on Monday, March 16, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. in the Gene McIntyre Meeting Room at the Stanly County Commons, located at 1000 N. First Street, Albemarle, North Carolina.The purpose of this hearing is to consider the County’s intent

to permanently close an unopened, unused, and unconstructed section of the right-of-way known as Diana Road, located within unincorporated Stanly County.The unopened section of Diana Road is described as follows: Close the entire portion of Diana Road, an existing recorded, yet unopened, unused, and unconstructed public roadway, originally recorded in Map Book 16, Page 8. All interested persons who wish to be heard on this matter may appear at the time and place stated above and present relevant information.

NOTICE OF INTENT TO PERMANENTLY CLOSE AN UNOPENED SECTION OF RIGHT-OFWAY Notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held on Monday, March 16, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. in the Gene McIntyre Meeting Room at the Stanly County Commons, located at 1000 N. First Street, Albemarle, North Carolina.The purpose of this hearing is to consider the County’s intent to permanently close an unopened, unused, and unconstructed section of the right-of-way known as Todd Road, located within unincorporated Stanly County.The unopened section of Todd Road is described as follows: Close a 307-foot section of the existing recorded, yet unopened, unused, and unconstructed public roadway known as Todd Road, originally recorded in Map Book 16, Page 8. The section to be closed extends south from the property line identi ed on the plat recorded in Map Book 33, Page 122, to the adjoining property line at the intersection with Diana Road. All interested persons who wish to be heard on this matter may appear at the time and place stated above and present relevant information.

NORTH CAROLINA STANLY COUNTY IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION BEFORE THE CLERK FILE NO. 26E000036-830

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Having quali ed as Administratrix of the estate of Dennis Ray Aldridge deceased, of Stanly County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons having claims against the Estate of said Dennis Ray Aldridge to present them to the undersigned on or before May 27, 2026 or the same will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate please make immediate payment. This the 25h day of February 2026. Annette Marie Aldridge 31329 Garrett Way Albemarle. NC 28001 Administratrix

NOTICE

NORTH CAROLINA STANLY COUNTY IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION BEFORE THE CLERK FILE NO. 26E000113-830

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Having quali ed as Co-Executor of the estate of Jerry Ronald Aldridge aka Jerry R. Aldridge deceased, of Stanly County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons having claims against the Estate of said Jerry Ronald Aldridge aka Jerry R. Aldridge to present them to the undersigned on or before June 13, 2026 or the same will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate please make immediate payment. This the 11th day of March 2026. Ronald Scott Aldridge 9881 RIchard Sandy Road Oakboro, NC 28129 Co-Executor Nancy Aldridge Murr 5649 Aldridge Road Norwood, NC 28128 Co-Executor

NOTICE

NORTH CAROLINA STANLY COUNTY IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION BEFORE THE CLERK FILE NO. 26E000088-830

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Having quali ed as Executor of the estate of Mae Ward Brooks deceased, of Stanly County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons having claims against the Estate of said Mae Ward Brooks to present them to the undersigned on or before May 27, 2026 or the same will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate please make immediate payment.

This the 25h day of February 2026. Roy Washington Brooks, Jr. 8300 Talley Road Stan eld, North Carolina 28163 Executor

NOTICE

NORTH CAROLINA STANLY COUNTY IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION BEFORE THE CLERK FILE NO. 26E000100-830

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Having quali ed as Administrator of the estate of Edna C. Earnhardt deceased, of Stanly County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons having claims against the Estate of said Edna C. Earnhardt to present them to the undersigned on or before June 6, 2026 or the same will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate please make immediate payment.

This the 4th day of March 2026. David K. Earnhardt 2401 Hobart Court Charlotte, NC 28209

NOTICE

NORTH CAROLINA

STANLY COUNTY IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION BEFORE THE CLERK FILE NO. 26E000102-830

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Having quali ed as Co-Administrator of the estate of Johnny David Gill deceased, of Stanly County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons having claims against the Estate of said Johnny David Gill to present them to the undersigned on or before June 6, 2026 or the same will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate please make immediate payment.

This the 4th day of March 2026. Maddison G. Puckett 5687 Anchor Drive Granite Falls, NC 28630 Co-Administrator Matthew D. Gill 32455 Charlie Road Albemarle, NC 28001 Co-Administrator

NOTICE

NORTH CAROLINA STANLY COUNTY IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION BEFORE THE CLERK FILE NO. 26E000104-830 NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Having quali ed as Administrator of the estate of Donnie Gene Smith deceased, of Stanly County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons having claims against the Estate of said Donnie Gene Smith to present them to the undersigned on or before June 6, 2026 or the same will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate please make immediate payment. This the 4th day of March 2026. Heather Smith 265 Deese Street Rich eld, NC 28137 Administrator

NOTICE

NORTH CAROLINA STANLY COUNTY IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION BEFORE THE CLERK FILE NO. 26E000106-830

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Having quali ed as Executor of the estate of Cathey Vanhoy Wilson deceased, of Stanly County, North Carolina,

present relevant information.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING TO NAME A PRIVATE DRIVE

Notice is hereby given that the Stanly County Board of Commissioners will on Monday, March 16, 2026 at 6 p.m., hold a public hearing in the Gene McIntyre Meeting Room located at 1000 N. First Street, Albemarle, North Carolina to consider naming the following private drive: RODEO ROAD; located o NC 49 HIGHWAY, between Wesley Chapel Rd and Emery Dr. All interested persons who wish to be heard on this matter may appear at the time and place stated above and present relevant information.

Man who helped recruit players into sprawling NCAA basketball point-shaving scheme pleads guilty

A Charlotte man became the rst to plead guilty in a scheme that defrauded sportsbooks

By Marc Levy The Associated Press

ONE OF THE SO-CALLED

xers in a sprawling betting scheme that allegedly raked in millions of dollars o of big bets on rigged NCAA basketball games pleaded guilty Monday.

Jalen Smith appeared in federal court in Philadelphia and pleaded guilty to wire fraud and bribery charges, becoming the rst of 26 people charged in the scheme to formally do so. It came a week before the start of March Madness, in which bettors will wager billions legally — and illegally — on the 68 college basketball teams in the tournament.

Smith, of Charlotte, trained and developed local basketball players for professional scouting combines and used those connections with players when he became part of the scheme, according to prosecutors.

The charges against Smith and 25 others were unsealed in January. Smith’s lawyer, Rocco Cipparone, said in an interview that Smith pleaded guilty to get the matter behind him, serve whatever sentence he’ll be given and “move forward in his life in a positive direction.”

Smith had begun talking to prosecutors about a guilty plea well before he was formally

GARY MCCULLOUGH / AP PHOTO

Jalen Smith, of Charlotte, pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and bribery Monday in a point-shaving case that has entangled more than a dozen college basketball players.

charged, and the possibility that others in the case might plead guilty didn’t have any impact on his decision making, Cipparone said. Besides the xers who recruited players and placed bets, the charges targeted 17 former college basketball players and four other players who were active with their college teams this season.

More than a dozen players tried to x games as recently as last season and some helped recruit other players, federal prosecutors said.

Two of the players charged

were banned by the NCAA after a separate point-shaving investigation. One of the two, former University of New Orleans player Dae Dae Hunter, said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that he participated in point-shaving to get money to care for his child.

It is the latest gambling scandal to hit the sports world since a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision unleashed a meteoric rise in legal sports betting.

Smith was active in helping x games in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, placing bets and recruiting players with the

“Move forward in his life in a positive direction.”

Rocco Cipparone, Jalen Smith’s lawyer

promise of a big payment in exchange for purposefully underperforming during a game, prosecutors said.

The xers would then bet against the players’ teams in those games, defrauding sportsbooks and other bettors, authorities said.

Smith often traveled to meet players to deliver cash payments by hand, prosecutors said. In one case, Smith traveled to Louisiana to arrange the delivery of about $32,000 in cash to two of the players charged in the scheme, prosecutors said.

Smith also pleaded guilty to a separate weapons charge, stemming from an FBI search of Smith’s bedroom at a house in North Carolina last May where agents found a loaded handgun in a hamper underneath some clothing.

Smith was prohibited from possessing the weapon as a condition of a drug conviction in 2018, and told agents that he had bought it from a man outside a sneaker store in Charlotte, the plea agreement said. Agents later found that it had been reported stolen. The point-shaving scheme began with two games in the

Chinese Basketball Association in 2023, according to the indictment. Successful there, xers recruited Smith and two other xers and moved on to rigging NCAA games, and the last game they xed was in January 2025, it said.

Their scheme grew to involve more than 39 players on more than 17 di erent NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams, who then rigged and attempted to rig more than 29 games, prosecutors said.

They wagered millions of dollars, raking in “substantial proceeds” for themselves, and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to players in bribes, prosecutors said. Payments to players typically ranged from $10,000 to $30,000 per game, they said.

Prosecutors named more than 40 schools where games were allegedly targeted by the scheme. Those included Tulane University and DePaul University. Rigged games included major conferences and some playo s, including the rst round of the Horizon League championship and the second round of the Southland Conference championship, prosecutors said.

Players often recruited teammates to cooperate by playing badly, sitting out or keeping the ball away from players who weren’t in on the scheme to prevent them from scoring. Sometimes the attempted x failed, meaning the xers lost their bets, prosecutors said.

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE

26SP000013-830

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Sherry G. Harris and Tracy R. Harris (Deceased) (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Sherry G. Harris) to B. Hill, Trustee(s), dated June 21, 2004, and recorded in Book No. 1005, at Page 0916 in Stanly County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the promissory note secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the O ce of the Register of Deeds Stanly County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will o er for sale at the courthouse door in Albemarle, Stanly County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 11:00 AM on March 25, 2026 and will sell to the

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE NORTH CAROLINA, STANLY COUNTY 25 SP _______

Under and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by Nicholas Elwood, Mortgagor(s), in the original amount of $148,484.00, to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., (“MERS”) as bene ciary, as nominee for CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC, Mortgagee, dated January 19th, 2024 and recorded on January 19th, 2024 in Book 1842, Page 1621, Stanly County Registry. Default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Anchor Trustee Services, LLC having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the O ce of the Register of Deeds of Stanly County, North Carolina, and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will o er for sale at the courthouse door or other usual place of sale in Stanly County, North Carolina, at 10:00AM on March 26th, 2026, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following described property, to wit: Lying and being in Stanly County, State of North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being a 0.346 Acre parcel of property,

highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Norwood in the County of Stanly, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: All that certain parcel of land in E. Center Township, Stanley County, State of North Carolina, as more fully described in Book 642, Page 621, ID#47277, being known and designated as Lot 724, fth addition to Tillery Beach Subdivision, led in Plat Book 1, Page 219. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 1050 Berry Hill Drive, Norwood, North Carolina.

By fee simple Deed from Robert Lee Gallimore, Sr. and wife, Patricia W. Gallimore as set forth in Book 642, Page 621, dated 9-22-1997 and recorded 9-22-97, Stanly County Records, State of North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to three hours as provided in N.C.G.S. §45-21.23.

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court

being a portion of that property described in Deed Book 812, Page 258, BEING all of Lots 118 and 120 of Map No. 2 of West End as recorded in Plat Book 1, Page 125 and being shown on a survey by Dennis Land Surveying, Inc. dated November 29, 2001, entitled “Physical Survey of 1607 West Main Street for Donald Tompkins” and being located in the City of Albemarle, Stanly County, North Carolina, more particularly described as follows: Commencing at a point in the centerline of the intersection of West Main Street and Maple Avenue, thence running S 83-15-50 E 29.80 feet to a found iron pipe on the Southeast right of way line of West Main Street, the Southwest corner of subject property and the Northwest corner of Lot 122 of Plat Book 1, Page 125, the point and place of BEGINNING; Thence from said point of BEGINNING, running with the right of way line of West Main Street N 34-09-00 E 98.07 feet to a found iron pipe on the right of way by a concrete drive, the common corner of subject property and the Southwest corner of Lot 116, Plat Book 1, Page 125; Thence with the line of Lot 116, S 56-45-20 E 150.06 feet to a found iron pipe by a block building, a common corner of subject property, Lot 116, Lot 117 of Plat Book 1, Page 125 and Lot 119 of Plat Book 1, Page 125; Thence turning and running with the Northwest line of Lot 119 and Lot 121 of Plat Book 1, Page 125, S 32-57-02 W 101.61 feet to a found iron pipe by a hedge bush, a common corner of subject property, Lot 121, Lot 123 of Plat Book 1, Page 125 and Lot

costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1). The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being o ered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is

122 of Plat Book 1, Page 125; Thence with the line of Lot 122, N 55-25-00 W 152.17 feet to a found iron pipe on the right of way of West Main Street, the point and place of BEGINNING, containing 0.346 acres, and being shown on a survey entitled “Physical Survey of 1607 West Main Street for Donald Tompkins”, dated November 29, 2001 as surveyed by Terry M. Dennis, Jr., PLS, of Dennis Land Surveying, Inc. For reference, see Deed recorded in Record Book 1835, Page 1404 in the O ce of the Register of Deeds for Stanly County, North Carolina. Together with improvements located hereon; said property being located at 1607 W. Main Street, Albemarle, NC 28001 Tax ID: 653804738356

Third party purchasers must pay the recording costs of the trustee’s deed, any land transfer taxes, the excise tax, pursuant North Carolina General Statutes §105228.30, in the amount of One Dollar ($1.00) per each Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) or fractional part thereof, and the Clerk of Courts fee, pursuant to North Carolina General Statutes §7A-308, in the amount of Forty- ve Cents (0.45) per each One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) or fractional part thereof with a maximum amount of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00). A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the bid or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, will be required at the time of the sale and must be tendered in the form of

required and must be tendered in the form of certi ed funds at the time of the sale. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the ling of a bankruptcy petition prior to the con rmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy. Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be

certi ed funds. Following the expiration of the statutory upset bid period, all the remaining amounts will be immediately due and owing. 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. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, unpaid taxes, special assessments, land transfer taxes, if any, and encumbrances of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the current owner(s) of the property is Nicholas Elwood. PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to North Carolina General Statutes §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

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1). The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the o cers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property

Turkey shoot

Sophomore Sebastian Akins (10) scored 14 points in Wake Forest’s 95-89 overtime win over Virginia Tech in the rst round of the ACC Tournament in Charlotte on Tuesday night.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Americans unite in aggravation over sticker shock at gas pump

It seems that a country divided on many fronts is nding common ground at the gas pumps. The cost of the Iran war is hitting Americans squarely in the wallet and aggravating people across the political spectrum. That was the message from Associated Press interviews Monday with people at gas stations and beyond in ve states. The national average gas price was $3.48 a gallon on Monday, up from $2.90 a month ago, before the war, according to tracking by AAA. But in interviews, some owners of electric vehicles expressed renewed gratitude for their vehicle choice as they sit out the sticker shock.

Anthropic sues Trump administration seeking to undo “supply chain risk” designation

Anthropic is suing the Trump administration, asking federal courts to reverse the Pentagon’s decision designating the arti cial intelligence company a “supply chain risk” over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its technology. It led two lawsuits Monday, each challenging di erent aspects of the Pentagon’s actions against the company. The Pentagon formally designated the company a supply chain risk after an unusually public dispute over how its AI chatbot Claude could be used in warfare. The lawsuits aim to undo the designation.

$2.00

Commissioners approve Transco natural gas pipeline easement

The pipe will pass through part of Triad Park

By Ryan Henkel Twin City Herald

WINSTON-SALEM — The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners has approved an agreement to grant Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company (Transco) the right to place a new natural gas line through Triad Park.

At its March 5 meeting, the board voted 4-3 to grant the easement and purchase and construction agreement to Transco, with board members Dan Besse, Tonya McDaniel and Malishai Woodbury voting against it.

“I don’t want to sound like I’m advocating for Transco or pipelines generally, I’m not,” said Deputy County At-

torney Fred Johnson. “I really care about this stu , and I truly appreciate the board’s unanimous e orts to highlight the safety concerns and the environmental concerns associated with this pipeline. But with that being said, I’ve been asked directly and unambiguously to give my opinion on Transco’s o er, and my honest opinion is that this is a really strong o er.”

Johnson pointed to the o er helping protect Triad Park and helping to keep it open, limiting potential disruptions to the park, and the fact that it is reasonable compensation.

According to the agreement, the county will be paid $180,000, which it will split with Guilford County.

In the end, the county didn’t have much choice on the matter as Transco had already been granted permission for

“They have the authority under federal law to take the property and pay us fair market value.”

Forsyth County Deputy County Attorney Fred Johnson

the pipeline by both state and federal regulators.

“As of today, Transco has all necessary permits and approvals from its regulatory bodies and, speci cally, it has what is called a certi cate of convenience and necessity,” Johnson said, “and that vests in them eminent domain, which means they have the authority, under federal law, to take the property and pay us fair market value.”

The board also recognized

McMahon calls on Stein to opt into Education Freedom Tax Credit

Rep. Virginia Foxx and U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley joined the Education secretary in High Point

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — At a Monday press conference held in High Point, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon urged North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein to enter state into the Trump administration’s Education Freedom Tax Credit program. The press conference was held at the Phoenix Academy Primary School Library.

Anders Family Farm for being a nalist for the 2026 North Carolina Small Farmer of the Year Award.

“Anders Family Farm is in Tobaccoville and they focus on hydroponic growing, and they’ve been honored as the regional nalist for North Carolina’s Small Farmer of the Year,” said Cooperative Extension Director Leslie Rose.

“We are humbled and very, very honored to be nominated for this,” said Anna Anders. “We’ve worked really hard, and we are glad to be a part of the community that we service with schools and restaurants and food hubs across the state. It is a rewarding job, and we are very, very humbled and very, very thankful.”

The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners will next meet March 19.

As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill, the program o ers a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for individuals contributing to scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs), which must be a 501(c)(3) organization.

“I’m here today because I believe it is unfortunate that North Carolina Gov. Stein is preventing families in the Tarheel State from taking advantage of the support this measure will provide, such as access to scholarships for tuition and tutoring, specialized services, homeschool materials, cutting edge technology, or even after school supports to keep kids on track,” McMahon said.

Joining McMahon at the event were Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-Banner Elk), who sits on the House Education Committee, state Sen. Steve Jarvis (R-Davidson) and Michael Whatley, the Republican candidate

EDUCATION, page A2

3.12.26

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THURSDAY

FRIDAY

Democrat Cooper needs to defy North Carolina history to keep winning streak alive in Senate race

The former governor faces Michael Whatley in a race that could reshape the U.S. Senate

By Gary D. Robertson and Bill Barrow The Associated Press

RALEIGH — North Carolina does not mind electing Democrats as governor, but it is a di erent matter when it comes to sending them to the U.S. Senate.

Roy Cooper, who led the state for two terms, is trying to change that with a campaign that could reshape power in Washington. Standing in his way is Michael Whatley, who has Donald Trump’s full backing after previously serving as the president’s chosen Republican National Committee chairman.

Both Cooper and Whatley easily won their party’s primaries this week, solidifying one of this year’s marquee Senate races. The campaign will draw hundreds of millions in spending because North Carolina is critical to Democratic e orts to pick up the four seats necessary to win a Senate majority.

Republicans want to frame Cooper as too far left for a state that Trump won three times. That tried-and-true tactic echoes past victories over Democrats they cast as out-of-step rubber stamps for liberal leaders, and it will test Cooper’s bond with voters established across four decades of winning campaigns as a state lawmaker, attorney general and governor.

Cooper wants to turn that narrative on its head, charging his Republican opponent with being a tool of “well-connected friends in Washington” who cannot e ectively represent the state.

“Look, I’m going to be a strong, independent senator for North Carolina,” Cooper said Wednesday. He said he would work with Trump when it made sense.

Whatley does not shrink from his alliance with the president.

“His leadership has changed

EDUCATION from page A1

for the state’s U.S. Senate seat.

“The Education Freedom Tax Credit isn’t some distant idea,” McMahon said. “It’s a homegrown solution that puts North Carolina families in charge of their children’s education.”

McMahon refuted some of the claims Stein has made about the program.

“Contrary to Gov. Stein’s claims, the tax credit doesn’t take a single dollar away from public schools,” said McMahon. “It raises additional funding for education by stimulating private donations by federal tax incentives — including those students who remain in public schools.”

She added the program

“builds directly” on the state’s “thriving Opportunity Scholarship program,” which gives funding to students to attend the private school of their choice, with a prioritization on low-income households.

McMahon remarked that the Education Freedom Tax Credit goes beyond the state’s scholarship program, allowing students in traditional public schools to receive scholarship funds without changing schools.

“The Trump administration

our country, and I am proud to stand with him in the ght to secure our border, to strengthen our economy and put America rst,” Whatley said.

North Carolina is a perennial political battleground that often renders a split verdict. Democrats have kept their grip on the governor’s o ce for more than a century, ceding it to only three Republicans during that time. Since 1968, Republican presidential candidates have won the state in every election except for 1976 and for 2008 — the same year a Democrat last won a Senate race.

Whatley needs those trends to make up for his lack of name recognition as a rst-time candidate. As a former political sta er, lobbyist and party leader, he has deep ties in Raleigh and Washington, but less exposure to voters.

“It’s one thing to be the party guy, and it’s another to be the guy on the ballot yourself,” said former Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican who narrowly lost to Cooper in 2016. “We’re going to see nd out whether he has it or not.”

Whatley and his supporters began an advertising campaign in the primary even though he did not face a serious challenge for the nomination.

“I went to school, I went to church. I played sports. And I worked. I was able to pay my own way through college, through graduate school and law school,” Whatley said on Tuesday night. “I have lived the American dream right here in North Carolina.”

Martha Goodson, 71, is not so sure. She voted for Cooper in the Democratic primary and has doubts about Whatley’s commitment to the state.

“I’m just very hesitant about people that I haven’t seen be thoroughly invested in North Carolina,” Woodson said. “I know he has served the Republican Party in a leadership role,” but “I don’t know that I had heard his name before it came up for this.”

Republicans in Washington say they are eager to mine Coo-

is your ready partner. Opt In,” McMahon said near the closing of her remarks.

Whatley spoke brie y, saying the tax credit program was important not just for North Carolina but the entire country as well.

“It is ridiculous that the legislature moved immediately to be the rst state to opt into this tremendous program,” he said while blaming former Gov. Roy Cooper, his opponent for U.S. Senate, for rejecting the idea.

Last year, Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) ran House Bill 87, the Educational Choice for Children Act, to opt the state in. The bill quickly passed and was sent to Stein, who vetoed the it a week later.

“Once the federal government issues sound guidance, I intend to opt North Carolina in so we can invest in the public school students most in need of after school programs, tutoring, and other resources,” Stein wrote in his veto message. “Therefore, HB 87 is unnecessary, and I veto it.”

The guidance mentioned by Stein was issued last fall. Stein did not respond to North State Journal’s requests for comment on his veto claim that he would opt the state in following such guidance.

“Look, I’m going to be a strong, independent senator for North Carolina.”

Roy Cooper, former governor

per’s terms as governor, trying to turn his perceived strength into a weakness.

Although Democrats emphasize that Cooper has never lost a campaign for state ofce, McCrory cautioned that he never has faced the kind of negative attacks that he may this year. Looser rules on campaign spending “have changed the game,” he said.

Republicans want to mix national ghts over issues such as immigration and transgender rights with state-speci c matters including crime and how Cooper managed hurricane responses and COVID-19 policy. They have pointed to Cooper’s veto of legislation that would have required sheri s to cooperate with immigration agents seeking to pick up inmates believed to be in the country unlawfully.

“Roy Cooper chose criminal illegal aliens over North Carolina communities,” Whatley said during his nomination acceptance speech.

Republicans have also focused on last summer’s fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light-rail train. The murder suspect had more than a dozen prior criminal arrests before his most recent charges in federal and state court. Trump highlighted the slaying during his State of the Union with Zarutska’s mother in the gallery.

The former governor has countered with a focus on the economy, including health care costs. He notes that he persuaded the Republican-controlled General Assembly to expand Medicaid coverage. The issue is back in the spotlight after Republicans refused to extend pandemic-era subsidies

“Contrary to Gov. Stein’s claims, the tax credit doesn’t take a single dollar away from public schools.”

U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon

“The fact is we need Gov. Stein to opt into this,” Whatley said. “Dollars should follow students whether it is to a public school, a private school, a charter school or homeschooling.”

Foxx echoed McMahon’s remarks on the program and education as vital to student success.

“It’s a perfect example of providing opportunity for students and families,” said Foxx.

“And it’s truly unfortunate that students and families in our state are being denied that.”

On the same day as her press event, McMahon issued an opinion article on the tax credit in the North State Journal, focusing on Stein’s inaction.

“North Carolina remains on the sidelines while 27 other states have already opted in,” wrote McMahon. “This isn’t leadership; it’s partisan delay dressed up as caution.”

for insurance plans purchased through the A ordable Care Act.

Meanwhile, Cooper already is trying to turn discussion of crime and immigration back on Trump and Republicans after two protesters, both U.S. citizens, were killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis.

He said Wednesday that he wants “secure borders” and would “insist on federal resources to deport violent criminals” and “ ght violent crime.”

But, he said, “I think this administration is losing focus on that.”

Cooper is not criticizing Trump in harshly personal terms, as some Democrats are. That is likely recognition that his gubernatorial victories came in part from winning votes from at least some Trump supporters. Rather, Cooper criticizes administration policies that he says hurt the state, especially working-class and middle-class voters, and then hammers Whatley for supporting that agenda.

Democrats see that as a way to capitalize on Trump’s declining public support overall without Cooper risking alienating right-leaning voters he might be able to attract.

For Whatley, there is no option to continue embracing Trump while trying to maximize Republican voters, McCrory said.

“I don’t think he has any choice but to bring him in,” McCrory said. “The president hand-selected him.”

That message is tailored to Republican voters such as Kevin Cattell, 71, who said he wants representatives in Washington who “support and see the value and the vision that President Trump is putting forward.”

McCrory knows rsthand how powerful Trump’s backing can be. In 2022, he unsuccessfully ran against Ted Budd for the Republican Senate nomination.

Once Trump endorsed Budd, McCrory said, “I might as well have been at the beach.”

Last month, a coalition of union-linked organizations and nonpro ts ran a campaign urging the remaining governors, including Stein, not to opt into the program. Stein’s o ce did not respond to North State Journal’s request for comment on the campaign.

North State Journal has again reached out to Stein’s ofce for comment about McMahon’s visit, and a spokesperson issued the following statement:

“Governor Stein continues to await nal guidance from the U.S.Treasury and the IRS about the federal tax credit for contributions to Scholarship Granting Organizations that HR1 established. Depending on federal guidance, there could be potential opportunities for the federal tax credit program to bene t North Carolina’s public school students – which would factor into the Governor’s decision.

“The Governor has long supported magnet schools and accountable charter schools because public schools open doors of opportunity for kids in every corner of the state. He believes that school choice is good for students and parents, provided appropriate measures are in place to ensure accountability and prevent discrimination.”

THE CONVERSATION

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

VISUAL VOICES

Trump eradicates 47 years of feckless foreign policy

The U.S. can break Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities and its internal repression machine. It is under no obligation to clean it up.

IF ONE OF your national slogans is “Death to America,” you should be living in persistent and paralyzing fear of the United States. Say what you will about President Donald Trump, America’s enemies aren’t making any more demands after Operation Epic Fury. Not after the president shattered nearly ve decades of Washington foreign policy appeasing, legitimizing and emboldening the Iranian regime, one of our most enduring and dangerous enemies.

Trump has already reset American foreign policy by rejecting both the technocratic naivety of neoconservatism and the unfeasible demands of isolationism. He has also shed the convoluted, pseudointellectual foreign policy theories that had congealed as conventional Washington wisdom.

One of the bogus “norms” propagated by experts, and now “America First” isolationists, is that any military action needs to be contingent on short-term “imminent” threats against the U.S. Why should the U.S. sit around until the breaking point to act in our interests? This is a self-applied, short-sighted limitation. It’s almost surely the case that the landscape would have been far more dangerous had Trump allowed the regime to regain its footing after months of protests and Israel’s summer o ensive. Trump struck the regime when it was at its weakest, before it could stockpile enough ballistic missiles and advanced weaponry to create a quagmire.

Preemptively eliminating long-term threats is a way to mitigate harm against the U.S. Iran could have agreed to stop enrichment at any time in the past 47 days, or even 47 years, and avoided con ict. U.S. special envoy Steve Witko claims that the regime’s negotiators in Geneva bragged that they controlled 460

kilograms of 60% enriched uranium for 11 nuclear bombs.

Trump now has clear, achievable objectives: Ensure the mullahs don’t get their blood-stained hands on any nukes, end the regime’s ballistic missile capabilities and destroy the Iranian navy so it can’t threaten world shipping.

There are also unstated goals. The U.S. acted to undermine Chinese military expansion into the Middle East. China was about to sell Iran supersonic missiles that would have allowed it to target the American military. The clerics pay for military upgrades in oil. Nearly all of Iran’s crude exports already go to China, virtually its only consumer. As with removing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, weakening the mullahs weakens China.

Another bogus “norm” of the past decades was famously summed up by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who warned then-President George W. Bush before the 2003 Iraq invasion: “You break it, you own it.” The “Pottery Barn rule” contends that the U.S. has a responsibility to reconstruct countries after having beaten them. Sometimes it bene ts us to participate in rebuilding projects to create stability, and sometimes it doesn’t. The U.S. can break Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities and its internal repression machine. It is under no obligation to clean it up.

Over the years, the Washington foreign policy blob has convinced many people that the U.S. has a duty to marshal a large contingent of nations before acting — namely, weak-kneed European countries with signi cant Muslim populations who o er little military value. Similarly, some people are under the impression that the U.S. needs permission from the United Nations, a bastion

of strongmen, theocrats and fascists, to act. It does not.

“International law” has done little but hamper our ability to alleviate threats while allowing our enemies to act with impunity.

On the other hand, before Trump, U.S. administrations have refused to openly operate with our most-trusted ally, Israel, in militarily dismantling the Iranian threat. The idea was that Israel’s presence would undermine support from the Arab world. It’s in our interests to embrace Israel’s tech, intel, and military swagger and competence. “Capable partners are good partners,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth said of Israel, “unlike so many of our traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, hemming and hawing about the use of force.”

Moreover, we’re not living in 1973 anymore. The bene ciaries of Israel’s operation in Iran have also been Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom joined the Americans in denouncing the regime.

Making predictions about the outcome of war in the Middle East is foolish. But the unknown shouldn’t paralyze us either. The best-case scenario for Operation Epic Fury is an organic uprising by Iranians that transforms that nation into a nonhostile entity that ceases exporting terrorism and Islamic fanaticism around the world. In the worst- case scenario, a weak, rump Islamic Republic survives.

Right now, no matter what happens, the clerics are gelded. That alone is a win.

David Harsanyi is a senior writer at the Washington Examiner, a nationally syndicated columnist and author of ve books.

(Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

This kind of weather is why the great Russian writers were so damn gloomy. You give me another week of this, and I’ll be Dostoevsky.

I’M WRITING IN the worst part of a blizzard. What a satisfying, heroic way to start a newspaper column.

I’m not kidding, either. Here in Tiverton, Rhode Island, on the shores of Narragansett Bay, hard by the Massachusetts line, we’ve got more than 2 feet of snow on the ground, and we’re supposed to end up with about 36 inches.

To cliche up, it’s wet snow, heavy as lead, and the wind sounds like a freight train.

There’s a driving ban. If you’re not an “essential worker,” you can’t be on the roads. Mayors have pulled the plows o the roads because the drivers can’t see through the blowing snow. In a nearby city of 100,000 people, only two legal marijuana stores remain open. The National Guard is on its way with front-end loaders and dump trucks.

This kind of weather is why the great Russian writers were so damn gloomy. You give me another week of this, and I’ll be Dostoevsky. There are several ways to write the “horri c act of nature” column.

You can always fall back on the “nature’s fury makes me feel insigni cant” column, but I’ve been married for 16 years, so I feel insigni cant every day. I don’t think anyone believes that kind of column anyway. If I’ve just discovered my own insigni cance, why am I writing about how the storm makes me feel?

I could exhaustively research and write a column about how a blizzard doesn’t mean global warming is a hoax, and how weather isn’t the same as climate, but most people wouldn’t read all the way to the end of that column, and about 40% of you would just call me a communist.

There remains the “most vulnerable” column in which the writer centers on any group of beings who su er the most in extreme weather. Feral cats. The homeless. Any half-bright writer can milk that until he’s got a bucket of tears. If I did that, I’d go for the feral cats angle. People feel a lot worse for homeless cats than they do for homeless people.

A lot of cities open special shelters for the homeless during periods of intense cold or blizzards. The bene t to the reporter/columnist is you can nd the homeless, or at least the less stubborn homeless. You go down to the shelter, and there they are, full of misery and quotes. If you can, nd a homeless veteran. People feel worse for an Iraq War veteran who “turned to drugs” than they do for some clown who started using drugs in junior high and hasn’t done anything since then but use drugs.

The feral cats are harder to nd. They’re dying under snow-caked shrubs, and “meow” is a lousy quote. If you could nd a former military dog, one of those bomb-sni ers, and it was dying under a shrub, a whimper would be a hell of a good quote. If you ran a picture of the dog, and you set up a GoFundMe for the pooch,

he’d be adopted and butt-deep in kibble by the end of the week.

A couple of days before the blizzard, my wife Deborah and I prepared. We used the traditional male/female division of labor: She went to the grocery store, I went to the liquor store. We ended up with a big bunch of groceries and a 30-pack of cheap beer. Standing in line at the liquor store, the day before it hit, I was struck by my own insigni cance in the face of nature’s fury. No matter what kind of horrifying act of God was about to come out of the clouds, I still didn’t have enough money to buy good beer, imported beer, craft beer. It makes a man think.

We still have power in our house, even though tens of thousands of people in the state are without electricity. If the power goes out, and the outage lasts for several days, and my wife and I freeze to death, when they nd us, I’m going to be clutching a can of beer that costs $20 for a 30-pack. That’s less than a buck a can. You don’t know how big a failure you are until you’re freezing to death under a shrub, being let into the emergency shelter or facing the cold wrath of God with a can of cheap beer in your hand.

Marc Dion’s latest book, a collection of his best columns, is called “Mean Old Liberal.” (Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

operation epic fury

The United States military initiated Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28 at 1:15 a.m. EST, an enormous operation “across every domain — land, air, sea, cyber,” said Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Sta . U.S. forces “delivered synchronized and layered e ects designed to disrupt, degrade, deny and destroy Iran’s ability to conduct and sustain combat operations on the U.S. side.”

The operation, conducted in tandem with the Israel Defense Forces, killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and at least 40 senior Iranian o cials in the rst minutes, and has continued since.

Six American soldiers were killed in an Iranian drone strike on Kuwait last Sunday, while three American ghter jets were shot down over Kuwait in a friendly re incident. All six aviators ejected safely.

Estimates on the length of the operation have ranged from a few weeks to several months — or longer — but Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the U.S. “will take all the time we need to make sure that we succeed.”

Forsyth SPORTS

Iran soccer team exits Women’s Asian Cup, faces prospect of return home

It’s unclear if the women’s players will return to Iran

The Associated Press

GOLD COAST, Australia

— Iran’s soccer team lost its last group match at the Women’s Asian Cup on Sunday and had to contemplate returning home to a country embroiled in war.

The Iranian women’s squad arrived in Australia for the continental championship last month, before the war that began with the U.S. and Israel Feb. 28 strikes on Iran. Teams ousted during the group stage usually leave within days but organizers have not announced details for the departure of the Iran delegation.

Their silence during the anthem before an opening loss to South Korea last Monday was viewed by some as an act of resistance and others as a show of mourning. The team hasn’t clari ed. But the players sang the anthem and saluted during the national anthem ahead of their 4-0 loss to Australia last Thursday and a 2-0 loss to Philippines on Sunday.

Amid concerns for player welfare following reported criticism in the Iranian media, the Australian Iranian Council wrote to Australia’s Home A airs Minister Tony Burke urging the government to protect the squad members while they’re in Australia.

It launched an online petition, which had more than 50,000 electronic signatures before kick-o Sunday, urging Australian authorities to “ensure that no member of Iran’s women’s national football team is to depart Australia while credible fears for their safety remain” and also to provide independent legal advice, support and interpreters.

Asian Cup soccer match.

Iran team management and players have mostly declined to comment on the situation at home during more than a week preparing for and playing games on Australia’s Gold Coast, although Iran forward Sara Didar choked back tears in a news conference last Wednesday as she shared their concerns for their families, friends and all Iranians during the con ict.

The Australian Associated Press reported late Sunday that protestors chanting “let them go” slightly delayed the departure of the Iran squad from the stadium.

Australia’s national news agency quoted Iran’s head coach Marziyeh Jafari saying the squad “want to come back to Iran as soon as we can.”

“I want to be with my country and home ... We are eager to come back,” AAP quoted Jafari as saying.

The Australian Iranian Council’s online petition asked local authorities to ensure any player seeking protec -

tion “can do so safely, privately, and without interference” and to “make clear that Australia will uphold its … humanitarian protection obligations in relation to any player at risk of persecution or serious harm.

“Where credible evidence exists that visiting athletes may face persecution, imprisonment, coercion, or worse upon return, silence is not a neutral position,” it said. “The current wartime environment has intensi ed repression, fear, and the risks faced by anyone publicly perceived by the Islamic Republic as disloyal.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong declined to comment on whether the Australian government had made contact with individuals but told domestic media Australia stood in solidarity with the Iranian women’s team.

“It has been really moving for Australians to see them in Australia, and (Australia’s women’s team) swapping jerseys with them was a very evocative moment,” Wong told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Sunday. “We know this regime has brutally oppressed many Iranian women.”

Iranian Australian activist Tina Kordrostami, a local government member in Sydney’s Ryde Council, told The Australian newspaper the Iranian players “need an opportunity, a safe space, a chance to actually speak up about what their needs are and what their requirements are.”

“We can’t give them that space without the government helping us,” she said.

The Iranian women’s team needed to beat Philippines to maintain any chance of advancing to the Asian Cup quar

ter nals, which would have extended its stay in Australia for more than another week.

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

West Forsyth, softball

Morgan Maxwell is a junior for the West Forsyth softball team. She is committed to continue her playing career at Georgia.

The Titans won three games last week to move to 5-0 on the year. Maxwell pitched in two of the games, earning a win and a save. Against Glenn, she struck out 13 in seven innings, allowing one hit. She followed that with eight strikeouts in three innings, allowing one hit to close out Davie County.

Meanwhile at the plate, she went 4 for 8 in the three games, scoring ve runs, driving in one, hitting a triple and stealing two bases.

Blaney ends Reddick’s streak to give Team Penske weekend sweep at Phoenix

Reddick nished eighth, while Blaney took the lead with 10 laps left

By Jenna Fryer The Associated Press

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Ryan Blaney completed a Team Penske sweep at Phoenix Raceway by winning the Cup Series race, denying Tyler Reddick a fourth consecutive win to start the Cup Series season.

Blaney was the race favorite after winning last November in the season- nale on the mile oval but he had to overcome at least three tire problems that cost him track position. He chased down Ty Gibbs — the 49th car he passed Sunday — to take the lead with 10 laps remaining and seal his 18th career victory.

“Just perseverance,” Blaney said. “We had a couple mistakes that we learned from, got better, had to come from the back a couple times. It’s cool to win, especially after a day like that. Can’t say enough about the (team) for keeping their head down and doing what they do.”

As he celebrated on the frontstretch, his parked Ford began to roll away and Blaney had to chase after it to ensure it was in park.

The victory came during a weekend celebration of Team Penske’s 60th season of competition and during a “desert doubleheader” that bundled IndyCar and NASCAR together at Phoenix. David Malukas won the IndyCar pole for Roger Penske and then Josef Newgarden won Saturday’s race; Joey Logano won the pole for the Cup race and then Blaney completed the sweep.

“Really proud of everybody at Team Penske,” Blaney said.

“We swept the weekend, Newgarden winning yesterday, us winning today. Can’t wait to see Roger.” Christopher Bell nished second in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson was third in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports and Gibbs dropped to fourth.

Denny Hamlin, who lost the championship last November at this track, was fth as JGR drivers took three of the top ve positions. Bell dominated the race the same way Hamlin did in November and, just like Hamlin, lost because of the wrong pit strategy.

Hamlin in November took four tires on the nal stop and

was beat for the championship by Larson, who took two tires.

On Sunday, Blaney took two tires while Bell and Hamlin each took four.

“You win some, you lose some,” said Bell, who led 176 of the 312 laps. “This one stings, but on the positive side, I’m really proud of our entire team.

It’s something to build on. It

“It’s cool to win, especially after a day like that.”

Ryan Blaney

was a day that we needed.”

Bubba Wallace was sixth for 23XI, William Byron was seventh for Hendrick, and Reddick was eighth. Toyota drivers took six of the top 10 spots.

“It would have been nice to make it four,” Reddick said. “Scored the fourth-most amount of points on the day... solid day. If we’re not going to win, these are the kind of days we need to have.”

The race was slowed by a record-tying 12 cautions, most caused by a rash of tire failures.

Gibbs responds

Ty Gibbs has chosen not to comment on the federal lawsuit his grandfather’s race team led against its former competition director, even after court declarations from Chris Gabehart claimed he left Joe Gibbs Racing in part because of the young driver.

Ty Gibbs said ahead of the race Sunday he’d let his performance on track speak for him and then delivered with his second consecutive fourth-place nish.

“Very happy with my team. All the guys, I’m with the right guys. That makes a di erence,” Gibbs said. “So we’re running good because of that. It shows.”

Ty Gibbs is in his fourth full Cup season driving for his grandfather. Ty Gibbs was successful in NASCAR’s second-level series, where he won 12 races and the 2022 championship by winning the nale at Phoenix. His father, Coy, was found dead in his Phoenix hotel room the morning after the championship.

Ty Gibbs moved to the Cup Series in 2023 and is winless in 127 starts. The 23-year-old nished a career-best 15th in the 2024 Cup standings.

SIDELINE REPORT

MLB Doubles, triples dwindling in MLB; blame better positioning, ballpark layout

Glendale, Ariz.

The number of doubles and triples in the major leagues went down again last year. There were 7,745 doubles, down from 7,771 in 2024 and 8,254 a decade ago in 2016, according to Sportradar. Triples dropped to 628, compared to 697 in 2024 and 873 in 2016. Defensive positioning and ballpark dimensions are two of the biggest factors in the decline.

WNBA

Ogunbowale arrested after allegedly punching man at club

Miami Dallas Wings star Arike

Ogunbowale was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery after police say she punched a man in the face at a Miami nightclub. Ogunbowale was celebrating at club E11EVEN after winning the Unrivaled championship with the Mist. According to police, Ogunbowale punched the man in the face, knocking him to the ground, and security cameras captured the act.

NHL Penguins’ Malkin suspended 5 games for slashing Sabres’ Dahlin Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin was suspended for ve games for slashing Bu alo defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. The punishment will cost the Penguins forward nearly $160,000. The NHL announced that Malkin was assessed a minor penalty for cross- checking, a major penalty for slashing and a game misconduct. Pittsburgh is already without captain Sidney Crosby for a minimum of four weeks because of a lower-body injury.

NFL

Ravens nix trade for Raiders’ Crosby after pass rusher reportedly fails physical

Baltimore The blockbuster trade sending star pash rusher Maxx Crosby to the Baltimore Ravens is o — and the fallout from that reversal could have a ripple e ect throughout the NFL on the eve of the new league year. The Las Vegas Raiders said Tuesday night that Baltimore backed out of the trade that was supposed to send Crosby to the Ravens for two rst-round draft picks. The deal was agreed to last Friday but couldn’t be nalized until Wednesday.

NCAA BASKETBALL

Team Venezuela expects the WBC to be a celebration, even on US soil

Venezuela’s players and sta are avoiding comments on the U.S. invasion in January

By Tim Reynolds The Associated Press

MIAMI — A Venezuelan ag was stitched on the right side of Omar López’s cap. And an American ag was positioned a few feet to his left.

Baseball, meet politics. Politics, meet baseball. Like it or not, it’s happening.

The World Baseball Classic started pool play in four locations, including Miami. And, to no surprise, Venezuela’s team is a top attraction for the games in Latin-centric South Florida.

Sporting events having geopolitical ties is nothing new, but the situation the Venezuelan team — managed by López — faces in this tournament is unusual. These games come two months after the U.S. executed a military operation in Venezuela to capture deposed leader Nicolás Maduro and bring him to New York to face drug tra cking charges.

“I’m going to be honest with you,” López insisted Thursday. “I’ve been working in baseball for 28 years and I don’t talk about political stu , to be honest. I’m here to talk about our Venezuelan team. I’m not here to talk about anything about political situations around the world, around my country. We are alive, we are here and we want to play for our team to win every single game here.”

When news of Maduro’s capture seeped out in the early morning hours of Jan. 3, many Venezuelans — it’s believed, based on U.S. Census estimates, that about 200,000 people who identify as being from that country live in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area — took to the streets in celebration. Much of that was centered in the Miami suburb of Doral, which has the largest Venezuelan population in South Florida and also is where

“I can control what I can control. The rest, God has control of that.”

Team Venezuela’s Salvador Perez

President Donald Trump owns a golf resort that will host the G20 Summit later this year.

And based on just the numbers of tickets that are available and their resale prices online, Venezuela’s four games at loanDepot Park — the home of the Miami Marlins — between Friday and Wednesday will draw large crowds.

“I’m super happy, super happy to be here in my city,” Marlins utilityman Javier Sanoja said. “I love Miami because it’s the closest we have to our country, and seeing it full of Venezuelans lls me with pride.”

That won’t just be the case for Venezuelans, of course. Events like the WBC — not unlike the Olympics, the Ryder Cup and more — are designed to stoke national pride, even in

unusual times both in the U.S. and abroad.

The tournament is beginning less than a week after the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran to start a new war in the Middle East. At the WBC, the U.S. is playing its pool play games in Houston; Israel has its pool games in Miami. Cuba — a longtime political adversary of the U.S. — is opening in San Juan but could get to Miami if it advances out of pool play. And all of this, plus soccer’s World Cup later this year, is happening amid an immigration crackdown that has some wondering if it’s safe to even try and visit the U.S. There were no noticeable protests outside the ballpark in Miami on Thursday when teams worked out, and

it’s unknown if there will be any sort of politically charged events either inside or outside the stadium when games happen over the next few days.

“To put it mildly, it’s interesting times right now,” Israel manager Brad Ausmus said. “So, I hope there is that kind of unifying joy that all these players, coaches, they’re representing their heritage, but they all have one thing in common and that’s baseball. I hope the fans enjoy it.”

Venezuela’s players all say some version of the same thing, that they’re here to play baseball — even with the country’s deposed leader in a jail cell in New York. The political times, to those players, don’t make the games any more or less signi cant.

“I don’t try to pay attention to that, you know,” Venezuela captain Salvador Perez said. “I understand when fans buy a ticket, they want to see the team win. Win or lose, it’s part of the game. ... I can control what I can control. The rest, God has control of that.”

Braves’ Profar suspended for 2026 season following second positive drug test

The punishment leaves a hole at DH for Atlanta

By Rondald Blum The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Atlanta Braves out elder Jurickson Profar was suspended for the 2026 season by Major League Baseball on Tuesday following his second positive test for a performance-enhancing drug.

Profar tested positive for exogenous testosterone and its metabolites, the commissioner’s o ce said, which means testosterone that was not produced by his body. Because it was a second o ense, the length of Profar’s suspension was 162 games.

The players’ association led a grievance at Profar’s request to appeal to baseball’s independent arbitrator, Martin F. Scheinman, a person familiar with the process told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity, because no announcement had been made.

An All-Star in 2024, Profar was suspended for 80 games last March 31 following a positive test for Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG), a hormone that helps production of testosterone. He issued a statement then saying: “I would never willingly take a banned substance, but I take full responsibility and accept MLB’s decision.”

His agent, Dan Lozano, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

last September.

“Our players are consistently educated about the (MLB Drug Prevention and Treatment) Program and the consequences if they are found to be in violation,” the club said. “The Atlanta Braves fully support the Program.”

Profar homered in his return from suspension on July 2 and nished with a .245 average, 14 homers, 43 RBIs and a .787 OPS in 80 games. He batted .280 in 2024, when he set career highs with 24 homers, 85 RBIs and an .839 OPS.

UConn’s Hurley bee ng with o cials again, draws $25K ne from Big East Milwaukee Add another chapter to UConn coach Dan Hurley’s combative history with o cials just as March Madness is approaching. Hurley was ejected from the fourth-ranked Huskies’ 68- 62 loss to Marquette after picking up two technical fouls with one second remaining. Hurley argued that UConn’s Silas Demary Jr. was fouled by Marquette’s Ben Gold while driving to the basket with the Huskies trailing 64 - 62. Hurley approached John Ga ney and got his chest next to the o cial’s right shoulder while voicing his displeasure. The Big East ned Hurley $25,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct. 7

The Braves released a statement that they “were incredibly disappointed” about the failed drug test.

Profar said at the start of spring training that he had sports hernia surgery in November, requiring a six-week recovery time. He has appeared in four spring training games this year, going 3 for 10 with three RBIs.

Under the suspension, he is ineligible for the postseason

and the World Baseball Classic. A native of Curaçao, Profar had been set to play for the Netherlands. Profar will lose his $15 million salary for this year as part of a $42 million, three-year contract through 2027. He lost half his $12 million salary in 2025 due to the initial suspension. He became the seventh player suspended 162 games for a second PED infraction after New York Mets pitcher Jenrry Mejia (July 2015), Cleveland out elder Marlon Byrd (June 2016), free agent catcher Cody Stanley (July 2016), Houston pitcher Francis Martes (February 2020), Mets second baseman Robinson Canó (November 2020) and Milwaukee pitcher J.C. Mejia (September 2023). Mejia received a lifetime ban

in February 2016 after a third positive test, the only player to be given a permanent ban since drug testing with penalties started in 2004.

Four players had been suspended previously this year for positive tests, including free agent out elder Max Kepler for 80 games under the major league program following a positive test for Epitrenbolone. Following the o season signing of left elder Mike Yastrzemski to a $23 million, two-year deal, Profar had been targeted to be the Braves’ primary designated hitter. When catcher Sean Murphy returns from a hip injury, perhaps in May, 2025 NL Rookie of the Year Drake Baldwin could ll in at DH when not behind the plate. With Yastrzemski, Michael Harris and Ronald Acuña Jr. in the out eld, Eli White could be a DH option. The Braves also are without projected starting shortstop Ha- seong Kim due to a nger injury. Mauricio Dubon, expected to serve a utility role, is scheduled to open the season as the starting shortstop.

The loss of Profar could create an opportunity for Dominic Smith, who signed a minor league deal on Feb. 17.

the stream

‘Zootopia

“Sesame Street” comes to Net ix

The Associated Press

TAYLOR SHERIDAN’S neo-Western family drama series “The Madison” debuting on Paramount+ and the animated smash “Zootopia 2” landing on Disney+ are some of the new television, lms, music and games headed to a device near you.

Also, among the streaming o erings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: The Academy Awards streaming on Hulu, Nicole Kidman bringing crime writer Patricia Cornwell’s famed forensic pathologist character Kay Scarpetta to life in a new series and Kim Gordon’s third solo album, “Play Me.”

MOVIES TO STREAM

2,’ Oscars, Kim Gordon, ‘One Piece’

After collecting $1.85 billion in box o ce, the Disney animated smash hit “Zootopia 2” has come to Disney+. The lm, a sequel to 2016’s “Zootopia,” follows the continuing adventures of rabbit police o cer Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and her partner fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). In their new case, the arrival of a mysterious viper (Key Huy Quan) leads to new revelations about the animal metropolis. In his review, AP Film Writer Jake Coyle called it “a timider and tamer movie that leans largely on the (still winning) duo of Hopps and Wilde.” For the rst time, the Oscars will be streamed. In addition to the live broadcast on ABC beginning at 7 p.m. EDT Sunday, the 97th Academy Awards will be streamed on Hulu. The show will be available to all subscribers and not require a cable subscription. (The Oscars are moving to YouTube, but not until 2029.) That also means this week is your last chance to catch up on the nominees, most of which are streaming. That includes: “Sinners,” “One Battle After Another,” “Weapons” and “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” on HBO Max; “Frankenstein,” “Train Dreams,” “KPop Demon Hunters” and “Blue Moon” on Net ix; “Bugonia,” “Hamnet” and “Song Sung Blue” on Peacock; “F1” on Apple TV+; and “The Secret Agent” and “It Was Just an Accident” on Hulu.

sess a keen ability to process and re ect the world. Start with the castigation of convenience culture and passive listening on its title track. Stay for “Subcon,” an examination of the world’s growing billionaire class and their fascination with space colonialization in a period of economic insecurity. To call them veterans almost feels like too slight a word. Giants of the American heavy metal Lamb of God will release their 10th studio album, “Into Oblivion,” on Friday. The title re ects how frontman Randy Blythe sees the current state of the a airs — an appropriate launchpad for 10 tracks of ferocity.

SERIES TO STREAM

MUSIC TO STREAM

On Friday, Gordon — a revolutionary force in the alternative rock band Sonic Youth, the ’80s New York no wave scene and the space between art and noise — will release her third solo album, “Play Me,” as The Associated Press exclusively announced back in January. It follows the Grammy nominated “The Collective,” her beat-heavy 2024 album that surprised and delighted audiences with its oddball trap blasts. “Play Me” shares in that spirit. It’s full of propulsive production and confrontational songs that pos-

“Sesame Street” has four new episodes on Net ix. The legacy preschool show found a new home on the streamer ahead of its current 56th season. Net ix’s live-action-adventure series “One Piece” returns for its second season. It’s based on a massively popular Japanese manga series by Eiichiro Oda. The show follows a young man named Monkey D. Lu y whose dream in life is to be a

“Zootopia 2” is a tamer, more timid lm that leans largely on the still-winning duo of Hopps and Wilde.

Jake Coyle, AP Film Writer

pirate. In Season One, Lu y recruited his fellow pirates called the Straw Hats. In Season Two, Lu y and his crew set out to nd treasure in a dangerous stretch of water called the Grand Line. There are eight episodes in “One Piece: Into the Grand Line.” Kidman brings crime writer Cornwell’s famed forensic pathologist character Kay Scarpetta to life in a new series. The story unfolds over two timelines: Scarpetta as a younger woman played by Rosy McEwen and in present day, played by Kidman. Jamie Lee Curtis, Bobby Cannavale, Simon Baker, Ariana DeBose, Jake Cannavale and Hunter Parrish also star. Sheridan’s neo-Western family drama “The Madison” debuts on Paramount+ on Saturday. At its center is the Clyburn family of New York, led by matriarch Stacy Clyburn (Michelle Pfei er) who moves her family to Montana after a tragedy. Kurt Russell, Patrick J. Adams, Matthew Fox and Beau Garrett also have roles. A second season has already lmed.

GAMES TO PLAY

VIDEO

When you want to hunt monsters, there’s Monster Hunter. When you want to team up with monsters, there’s Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Re ection, the new chapter in Capcom’s spino series. Once you join forces with a beast, you can y around on it and ght other creatures — though you might want to think twice before tackling the “Calamitous Elder Dragons.” The story itself revolves around two warring kingdoms on the verge of apocalypse, and the gameplay is the kind of turn-based combat you’d expect in a classic role-playing adventure. Take ight Friday, March 13, on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S, Switch 2 or PC.

STATE & NATION

‘Christ is king’ becomes loaded phrase in US political debates, especially on the right

A sacred phrase becomes a rallying cry for some extremists targeting Jews

By Peter Smith

The Associated Press

ON ITS OWN, the phrase “Christ is king” sums up a core tenet of the Christian faith, that Jesus is the divine ruler of the universe. Catholics and many Protestants celebrate a Christ the King Sunday each year.

But the ancient proclamation can morph into something political, controversial or even sinister, depending on who says it and how it’s said.

In recent years, “Christ is king” and similar phrases have been chanted at political rallies, posted on social media and proclaimed in speeches by voices on the right.

At times the phrase is used to support the notion of America as a Christian nation or as one that owes its allegiance specically to the Christian God. Some current Cabinet o cials and recent members of Congress have used the phrase in speeches and on social media.

But other times, political activists have paired “Christ is king” with anti-Zionist statements or negative Jewish stereotypes.

The phrase has gained popularity among far-right gures and their followers. Conservative in uencer Candace Owens, who shares antisemitic conspiracies, sells branded “Christ is King” co ee mugs and T-shirts.

The controversy connects to a larger schism on the right, with some conservatives pushing back against an increasingly vocal faction whose denunciations of Israel, critics say, often combine with blatant antisemitism. Some of the latter group insist they’re not antisemitic, just anti-Zionist. That itself is a sharp break from what was once a near-consensus of pro-Israel sentiment among Republicans.

But there are times when the use of the phrase “Christ is king” is unquestionably hostile toward Jews, said a 2025 report by the Rutgers University-a liated Network Contagion Research Institute.

Analyzing social media postings between 2021 and 2024, the institute reported a dramatic increase of the phrase “Christ is king,” often used as a hate meme targeting Jews. The report lamented this deviation from its historical use as a hopeful, sacred a rmation with biblical roots.

“The weaponization or hijacking of ‘Christ is King’ represents a disturbing inversion of its original intent. Rather than sacralizing shared values, extremists have exploited this religious expression to justify hatred,” the report said.

Controversy spotlighted at religious liberty hearing

A recent meeting of the Religious Liberty Commission, a group President Donald Trump created and appointed, put the

phrase and related controversies in the spotlight.

At a Feb. 9 hearing focused on antisemitism, a witness, Seth Dillon, spoke of often hearing people use the phrase “Christ is king” followed immediately by a highly contemptuous slur toward Jews.

“This should o end every Christian,” said Dillon, the CEO of the conservative satirical site The Babylon Bee.

Commission member Carrie Prejean Boller repeatedly grilled witnesses about whether opposing Zionism could be construed as anti-Jewish. She said that as a Catholic she opposes Zionism but that this is not antisemitic.

She asked Dillon if he thought “saying ‘Christ is king’ is antisemitic.”

Dillon said no and that, as a Christian, he regularly declares that “Christ is my king” — but context matters.

He testi ed that the phrase has been co-opted by Groypers, alluding to the followers of far-right in uencer Nick Fuentes, who has spread antisemitic views.

It’s “using the Lord’s name in an abusive manner,” Dillon said.

Fuentes’ supporters chanted “Christ is king” at the Million MAGA March, a November 2020 rally denying the Republican Trump’s defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in that year’s presidential election.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican who chairs the Religious Liberty Commission, announced Prejean Boller’s removal from the panel after the meeting. He asserted that she tried to “hijack” the hearing for her own agenda.

Following the commission meeting, Prejean Boller has posted proli cally on X, denouncing “Zionist supremacists” and repeatedly using the phrase “Christ is King.” She also has denounced the war launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran.

A recent Catholic convert, she said she opposes a popular evan-

gelical view that modern-day Israel exists in ful llment of biblical prophecy.

A religious phrase “co-opted by extremist gures”

The commission hearing was hardly the rst forum to air controversy over “Christ is king.”

The Network Contagion Research Institute’s 2025 report noted that while many “Christ is king” references on social media are strictly religious, the phrase has been “systematically co-opted by extremist gures.”

The report said Fuentes and other extremists use the phrase as a “white supremacist mantra publicizing their antisemitic beliefs.”

Fuentes has said the Holocaust was exaggerated, and he has denounced “organized Jewry in America.” He has claimed to be in battle with “satanic, globalist elites,” an antisemitic trope.

The religious phrase “Christ is king” is not inherently political, said Brian Kaylor, president and editor-in-chief of Word&Way, a progressive site covering faith and politics.

But that fact provides a “deniability” to those politicizing it, he said.

“We’re at a dangerous point with the phrase ‘Christ is king’ because of the heavy activity and use of it on the far right in very fascist, antisemitic ways,” said Kaylor, a Baptist minister and author of several books on religion and politics. “We’re at the danger of that phrase losing its meaning to where this new antisemitic use is the dominant de nition.”

The phrase has also gained popularity in political settings with some on the Catholic and evangelical right who are strongly pro-Israel and have repeatedly denounced antisemitism, such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Kaylor said the phrase is often used as “a declaration of Christian nationalism ” asserting that “the nation should be brought under the dictates of Christ.”

A dispute over politics and religion

The controversy has highlighted both religious and political ssures.

The Vatican has diplomat-

“This should o end every Christian.”

Seth

Dillon, Babylon Bee CEO

ic relations with Israel and has also recognized a state of Palestine. Pope Leo XIV has called for a two-state solution while denouncing antisemitism. During the Israel-Hamas war, popes Francis and Leo denounced the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas and Israel’s massive military response, with Leo demanding a halt to Israel’s “collective punishment” of Gaza’s population.

Other Catholics on the Religious Liberty Commission noted that Jesus and his followers were Jews and that a seminal 1965 Vatican document rejects antisemitism and the blaming of all Jews, including those alive today, for Jesus’ cruci xion. Patrick, the commission chairman, said the dispute with Prejean Boller re ects “a real problem with a very small group in our Republican Party.” Antisemitism needs to be repudiated or “this is going to destroy our party,” he said on “The Mark Levin Show,” a podcast.

But Prejean Boller has galvanized supporters from a staunchly conservative group called Catholics for Catholics, a lay-led, self-described “militant organization dedicated to the evangelization of this great country.”

It plans to honor Prejean Boller at a March 19 event with a Catholic Champion Award in Washington featuring speakers such as Owens.

Prejean Boller has reposted announcements of the event on X, including one post that shared a Spanish-language statement that translates to “We will not rest until we convert the USA into a Catholic nation.” The post concluded in English with “Christ is King!”

Randolph record

secretary and New

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Americans unite in aggravation over sticker shock at gas pump

It seems that a country divided on many fronts is nding common ground at the gas pumps. The cost of the Iran war is hitting Americans squarely in the wallet and aggravating people across the political spectrum. That was the message from Associated Press interviews Monday with people at gas stations and beyond in ve states. The national average gas price was $3.48 a gallon on Monday, up from $2.90 a month ago, before the war, according to tracking by AAA. But in interviews, some owners of electric vehicles expressed renewed gratitude for their vehicle choice as they sit out the sticker shock.

Anthropic sues Trump administration seeking to undo “supply chain risk” designation

Anthropic is suing the Trump administration, asking federal courts to reverse the Pentagon’s decision designating the arti cial intelligence company a “supply chain risk” over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its technology. It led two lawsuits Monday, each challenging di erent aspects of the Pentagon’s actions against the company. The Pentagon formally designated the company a supply chain risk after an unusually public dispute over how its AI chatbot Claude could be used in warfare. The lawsuits aim to undo the designation and block its enforcement.

$2.00

McMahon calls on Stein to opt into Education Freedom Tax Credit

Virginia Foxx and U.S.

By A.P. Dillon Randolph Record

RALEIGH — At a Monday press conference held in High Point, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon urged North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein to enter state into the Trump administration’s Education Freedom Tax Credit program.

The press conference was held at the Phoenix Academy Primary School Library.

As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill, the program o ers a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for individuals contributing to scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs), which must

be a 501(c)(3) organization.

“I’m here today because I believe it is unfortunate that North Carolina Gov. Stein is preventing families in the Tarheel State from taking advantage of the support this measure will provide, such as access to scholarships for tuition and tutoring, specialized services, homeschool materials, cutting edge technology, or even after school supports to keep kids on track,” McMahon said.

Joining McMahon at the event were Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-Banner Elk), who sits on the House Education Committee, state Sen. Steve Jarvis (R-Davidson) and Michael Whatley, the Republican candidate for the state’s U.S. Senate seat.

“The Education Freedom Tax Credit isn’t some distant idea,” McMahon said. “It’s a homegrown solution that puts North Carolina families in charge

Asheboro paves way for faith-based rehabilitation facility

The project aims to be up and running within a year of construction

By Ryan Henkel Randolph Record

ASHEBORO — The Ashe-

boro City Council has given the green light for the construction of a faith-based rehabilitation facility for women.

At its March 5 meeting, the council held a public hearing for a rezoning request for 24 acres of property located north of the northern termination of Oakland Avenue for the development of a congregate living facility for those

with drugs and alcohol addiction problems.

The applicant, Pierced Ministries and Rehab Services, is a 501(c)(3) faith-based recovery ministry.

“We have a very strenuous application process,” said Pierced Ministries Executive Director Bob Wilkerson. “We don’t take people o the streets, and we’re not transient.”

The site plan calls for the construction of three dormitories, two multipurpose facilities, an o ce, a kitchen and seven single-family dwellings intended for sta , with an additional single-family dwelling proposed on a separate parcel of land to be subdivided.

“Contrary to Gov. Stein’s claims, the tax credit doesn’t take a single dollar away from public schools.”

Linda McMahon, U.S. Education secretary

of their children’s education.” McMahon refuted some of the claims Stein has made about the program.

“Contrary to Gov. Stein’s claims, the tax credit doesn’t take a single dollar away from public schools,” said McMahon. “It raises additional funding for education by stimulating private donations by federal tax incentives — including those students who remain in public schools.” She added the program

According to the applicant, the plan is to have the o ce and dormitory nished within a year, but the remainder of the project could take between ve to 10 years. The property is currently undeveloped and will have a 50 -foot vegetation bu er. Following the hearing, the council approved the request.

The council also held a quasi-judicial hearing for a special use permit for around 10 acres of property located at 727 Jaeco Caudill Drive for the construction of a 10-foot-by-300-foot LED billboard on the northwest corner of the property.

“There is already manufacturing, processing and assembly use on the property, which will remain,” said Community Development Director John Evans.

The council also swore in newest council member Camden Young Mills, who was appointed last month to ll the vacant seat left by Joey Trogdon after he resigned his seat to be sworn in as the new mayor.

Mills is a lifelong resident of

“builds directly” on the state’s “thriving Opportunity Scholarship program,” which gives funding to students to attend the private school of their choice, with a prioritization on low-income households. McMahon remarked that the Education Freedom Tax Credit goes beyond the state’s scholarship program, allowing students in traditional public schools to receive scholarship funds without changing schools.

“The Trump administration is your ready partner. Opt In,” McMahon said near the closing of her remarks.

Whatley spoke brie y, saying the tax credit program was important not just for North Carolina but the entire country as well.

“It is ridiculous that the legislature moved immediately

See EDUCATION, page A2

“We have a very strenuous application process.”

Bob Wilkerson, Pierced Ministries executive director

Randolph County and was selected by the council after they reviewed all applications for the vacant seat.

“I look forward to serving the citizens of Asheboro and helping guide the city through continued change and growth, while preserving its character, strengthening neighborhoods and supporting a vibrant future for the community,” Mills said in a press release.

Mills is the owner of a public a airs and consulting rm and has experience working in government, having worked in the o ces of Congressmen Dan Bishop and Richard Hudson. “Cam, welcome,” Trogdon said. “We’re glad to have you.” The Asheboro City Council will next meet April 9.

Trip

Dan

THURSDAY 3.12.26

Asheboro reports wastewater over ows

Based on the city reports, drinking water wasn’t impacted

Randolph Record sta

ASHEBORO — The City of Asheboro has reported a couple of wastewater over ows from recent weeks. Drinking water wasn’t affected in either case, based on the city’s notice, though there

CRIME LOG

March 2

• Michael Lee Dixon, 39, of Asheboro, was arrested by Asheboro PD for maintaining a vehicle, dwelling or place for a controlled substance, possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver a controlled substance, possession of methamphetamine, possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver methamphetamine, simple possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and resisting a public o cer.

• Kevin Anthony Pecero, 30, of Asheboro, was arrested by Asheboro PD for failure to heed a light or siren, resisting a public o cer and driving on a revoked license.

March 3

• John Anthony Baez, 51, of Bronx, N.Y., was arrested by Archdale PD for identity theft, attempted obtaining property by false pretenses, conspiracy to obtain property by false pretenses, resisting a public o cer, obtaining property by false pretenses, unauthorized access to computers and possession or manufacture of fraudulent identi cation.

• Christian Ceaser Espinoza, 27, of Archdale, was arrested by Asheboro PD for attempted rst-degree burglary and injury to real property.

THURSDAY MARCH 12

FRIDAY MARCH 13

SATURDAY MARCH 14

SUNDAY MARCH 15

MONDAY MARCH 16

TUESDAY MARCH 17 WEDNESDAY MARCH 18

were apparent environmental impacts.

In late February, there was an over ow of approximately 4,000 gallons from a manhole near 411 Worth St. and the over ow reached Penwood Branch. The listed cause of this was “roots.”

Earlier this month, the city reported another over ow from February of approximately 4,500 gallons from a manhole near 1412 Ridgewood Cir-

driving on a revoked license, no liability insurance, driving with a registration plate not displayed, possession of a stolen motor vehicle, driving without a motorcycle endorsement, failure to stop at a steady red light and failure to yield at a stop sign or ashing red light.

• Steven Richard Kassebaum, 53, of Sophia, was arrested by RCSO for indecent liberties with a child.

• Justin Curtis Pugh, 38, of Asheboro, was arrested by RCSO for carrying a concealed gun, possession of a rearm by a felon, possession of drug paraphernalia, tra cking in opium or heroin, tra cking in methamphetamine, possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver a controlled substance, maintaining a vehicle, dwelling or place for a controlled substance, possession of a stolen rearm, possession of a weapon of mass destruction and possession of marijuana paraphernalia.

March 4

• Santiago Perez Espana, 35, of Randleman, was arrested by RCSO for assault with a deadly weapon in icting serious injury.

• Antwain Darel Soriano, 33, of Asheboro, was arrested by RCSO for tra cking in methamphetamine.

• Matthew David Floyd, 50, of Thomasville, was arrested by RCSO for felony eeing or eluding arrest with a motor vehicle, driving left of center,

EDUCATION from page B1 to be the rst state to opt into this tremendous program,” he said while blaming former Gov. Roy Cooper, his opponent for U.S. Senate, for rejecting the idea.

Last year, Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) ran House Bill 87, the Educational Choice for Children Act, to opt the state in. The bill quickly passed and was sent to Stein, who vetoed the it a week later.

“Once the federal government issues sound guidance, I intend to opt North Carolina in so we can invest in the public school students most in need of after school programs, tutoring, and other resources,” Stein wrote in his veto message. “Therefore, HB 87 is unnecessary, and I veto it.”

The guidance mentioned by Stein was issued last fall. Stein did not respond to North State Journal’s requests for comment on his veto claim that he would opt the state in following such guidance.

“The fact is we need Gov.

• Ziyaire Antonyo Spinks, 19, of Greensboro, was arrested by RCSO for carrying a concealed gun and possession of up to half an ounce of marijuana.

• Bennie Lee Walker, 37, of Trinity, was arrested by Asheboro

Stein to opt into this,” Whatley said. “Dollars should follow students whether it is to a public school, a private school, a charter school or homeschooling.”

Foxx echoed McMahon’s remarks on the program and education as vital to student success.

“It’s a perfect example of providing opportunity for students and families,” said Foxx. “And it’s truly unfortunate that students and families in our state are being denied that.”

On the same day as her press event, McMahon issued an opinion article on the tax credit in the North State Journal, focusing on Stein’s inaction.

“North Carolina remains on the sidelines while 27 other states have already opted in,” wrote McMahon. “This isn’t leadership; it’s partisan delay dressed up as caution.”

Last month, a coalition of union-linked organizations and nonpro ts ran a campaign urging the remaining governors, including Stein, not to opt into the program. Stein’s o ce

8,500

Gallons of wastewater over ow reported in February in Asheboro

cle, with the over ow reaching Penwood Branch. The city attributed the cause of this to “excessive rainfall.”

Municipalities are required to issue a notice when a waste spill of 1,000 gallons or more reaches surface waters.

The Division of Water Quality in Winston-Salem has been noti ed of these over ows.

PD for driving on a revoked license, expired registration, ctitious or altered title, registration card or tag, carrying a concealed gun, carrying a concealed weapon, simple possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, mirror violation, expired or no inspection and possession of a rearm by a felon.

March 5

• Mark Robert Keeney, 63, of Pittsboro, was arrested by Liberty PD for indecent liberties with a child and solicitation by computer.

March 6

• Jordan Lee Forbes, 28, of Snow Camp, was arrested by Liberty PD for statutory rape of a child 15 or younger, statutory sex o ense with a child 15 or younger and indecent liberties with a child.

• Juan Manuel Alarcon Hernandez, 36, of Asheboro, was arrested by Asheboro PD for assault in icting serious bodily injury.

• James Samuel Sams, 49, of Pleasant Garden, was arrested by RCSO for possession of heroin.

March 7

• Joseph Lamont Brower, 42, of Asheboro, was arrested by Asheboro PD for possession of methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance on prison or jail premises, seconddegree trespass, possession of up to half an ounce of marijuana, possession of marijuana paraphernalia and possession of drug paraphernalia.

did not respond to North State Journal’s request for comment on the campaign.

North State Journal has again reached out to Stein’s ofce for comment about McMahon’s visit, and a spokesperson issued the following statement:

“Governor Stein continues to await nal guidance from the U.S.Treasury and the IRS about the federal tax credit for contributions to Scholarship Granting Organizations that HR1 established. Depending on federal guidance, there could be potential opportunities for the federal tax credit program to bene t North Carolina’s public school students – which would factor into the Governor’s decision.

“The Governor has long supported magnet schools and accountable charter schools because public schools open doors of opportunity for kids in every corner of the state. He believes that school choice is good for students and parents, provided appropriate measures are in place to ensure accountability and prevent discrimination.”

Randolph Guide

Here’s a quick look at what’s coming up in Randolph County:

March 13

Hank Williams Jr. Tribute Concert (Family Tradition) 8 p.m.

Rebel Stage Entertainment presents a ticketed tribute concert celebrating the music of Hank Williams Jr. Tickets available by calling 336-626-1240.

Sunset Theatre 234 Sunset Ave. Asheboro

March 14

6th Annual Planter Event at The Triangle Studio 10 a.m.

Potter Erin Younge throws handmade pottery planters on the wheel all day in this free public event, joined by guest vendor Uwharrie Mountain Native Plant Farm specializing in native N.C. plants. Free and open to the public.

The Triangle Studio 1140 N.C. Highway 705 Seagrove

Sunset Signature Series: Temple Grandin

7:30 p.m.

World-renowned animal scientist and autism advocate Temple Grandin presents “Great Minds Are Not All The Same” in a free public lecture presented by Friends of the Randolph County Public Library. The event is sold out, but a waitlist is available by calling 336-626-1240.

Sunset Theatre 234 Sunset Ave. Asheboro

March 16

Pre-Easter Jazz Dinner & Dance

7 p.m.

An evening of dinner and dancing featuring live music by the band Sweet Dreams, with $25 ticket proceeds bene ting Asheboro High School student scholarships.

Randolph Senior Adults Association 347 W. Salisbury St. Asheboro

March 17

Grafting Apple Trees Workshop

3:30 p.m.

Hands-on instruction in fruit tree grafting techniques presented through an N.C. Cooperative Extension and public library partnership.

Randleman Public Library 142 W Academy St, Randleman

Scams & Fraud Prevention Community Program

2 p.m.

The Randolph County Sheri ’s O ce Community Outreach and the county library system’s Digital Services Librarian present a public education program on recognizing and avoiding scams and fraud.

Ramseur Public Library 1512 Main St. Ramseur

THE CONVERSATION

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

Trump eradicates 47 years of feckless foreign policy

The U.S. can break Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities and its internal repression machine. It is under no obligation to clean it up.

IF ONE OF your national slogans is “Death to America,” you should be living in persistent and paralyzing fear of the United States. Say what you will about President Donald Trump, America’s enemies aren’t making any more demands after Operation Epic Fury. Not after the president shattered nearly ve decades of Washington foreign policy appeasing, legitimizing and emboldening the Iranian regime, one of our most enduring and dangerous enemies.

Trump has already reset American foreign policy by rejecting both the technocratic naivety of neoconservatism and the unfeasible demands of isolationism. He has also shed the convoluted, pseudointellectual foreign policy theories that had congealed as conventional Washington wisdom.

One of the bogus “norms” propagated by experts, and now “America First” isolationists, is that any military action needs to be contingent on short-term “imminent” threats against the U.S.

Why should the U.S. sit around until the breaking point to act in our interests? This is a self-applied, short-sighted limitation. It’s almost surely the case that the landscape would have been far more dangerous had Trump allowed the regime to regain its footing after months of protests and Israel’s summer o ensive. Trump struck the regime when it was at its weakest, before it could stockpile enough ballistic missiles and advanced weaponry to create a quagmire.

Preemptively eliminating long-term threats is a way to mitigate harm against the U.S. Iran could have agreed to stop enrichment at any time in the past 47 days, or even 47 years, and avoided con ict. U.S. special envoy Steve Witko claims that the regime’s negotiators in Geneva bragged that they controlled 460

I’M WRITING IN the worst part of a blizzard.

This kind of weather is why the great Russian writers were so damn gloomy. You give me another week of this, and I’ll be Dostoevsky.

What a satisfying, heroic way to start a newspaper column.

I’m not kidding, either. Here in Tiverton, Rhode Island, on the shores of Narragansett Bay, hard by the Massachusetts line, we’ve got more than 2 feet of snow on the ground, and we’re supposed to end up with about 36 inches.

To cliche up, it’s wet snow, heavy as lead, and the wind sounds like a freight train.

There’s a driving ban. If you’re not an “essential worker,” you can’t be on the roads. Mayors have pulled the plows o the roads because the drivers can’t see through the blowing snow. In a nearby city of 100,000 people, only two legal marijuana stores remain open. The National Guard is on its way with front-end loaders and dump trucks.

This kind of weather is why the great Russian writers were so damn gloomy. You give me another week of this, and I’ll be Dostoevsky. There are several ways to write the “horri c act of nature” column.

You can always fall back on the “nature’s fury makes me feel insigni cant” column, but I’ve been married for 16 years, so I feel insigni cant every day. I don’t think anyone believes that kind of column anyway. If I’ve just discovered my own insigni cance, why am I writing about how the storm makes me feel?

kilograms of 60% enriched uranium for 11 nuclear bombs.

Trump now has clear, achievable objectives: Ensure the mullahs don’t get their blood-stained hands on any nukes, end the regime’s ballistic missile capabilities and destroy the Iranian navy so it can’t threaten world shipping.

There are also unstated goals. The U.S. acted to undermine Chinese military expansion into the Middle East. China was about to sell Iran supersonic missiles that would have allowed it to target the American military. The clerics pay for military upgrades in oil. Nearly all of Iran’s crude exports already go to China, virtually its only consumer. As with removing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, weakening the mullahs weakens China.

Another bogus “norm” of the past decades was famously summed up by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who warned then-President George W. Bush before the 2003 Iraq invasion: “You break it, you own it.” The “Pottery Barn rule” contends that the U.S. has a responsibility to reconstruct countries after having beaten them. Sometimes it bene ts us to participate in rebuilding projects to create stability, and sometimes it doesn’t. The U.S. can break Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities and its internal repression machine. It is under no obligation to clean it up.

Over the years, the Washington foreign policy blob has convinced many people that the U.S. has a duty to marshal a large contingent of nations before acting — namely, weak-kneed European countries with signi cant Muslim populations who o er little military value. Similarly, some people are under the impression that the U.S. needs permission from the United Nations, a bastion

of strongmen, theocrats and fascists, to act. It does not.

“International law” has done little but hamper our ability to alleviate threats while allowing our enemies to act with impunity.

On the other hand, before Trump, U.S. administrations have refused to openly operate with our most-trusted ally, Israel, in militarily dismantling the Iranian threat. The idea was that Israel’s presence would undermine support from the Arab world. It’s in our interests to embrace Israel’s tech, intel, and military swagger and competence. “Capable partners are good partners,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth said of Israel, “unlike so many of our traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, hemming and hawing about the use of force.”

Moreover, we’re not living in 1973 anymore.

The bene ciaries of Israel’s operation in Iran have also been Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom joined the Americans in denouncing the regime.

Making predictions about the outcome of war in the Middle East is foolish. But the unknown shouldn’t paralyze us either. The best-case scenario for Operation Epic Fury is an organic uprising by Iranians that transforms that nation into a nonhostile entity that ceases exporting terrorism and Islamic fanaticism around the world. In the worst- case scenario, a weak, rump Islamic Republic survives.

Right now, no matter what happens, the clerics are gelded. That alone is a win.

David Harsanyi is a senior writer at the Washington Examiner, a nationally syndicated columnist and author of ve books.

(Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

I could exhaustively research and write a column about how a blizzard doesn’t mean global warming is a hoax, and how weather isn’t the same as climate, but most people wouldn’t read all the way to the end of that column, and about 40% of you would just call me a communist.

There remains the “most vulnerable” column in which the writer centers on any group of beings who su er the most in extreme weather. Feral cats. The homeless. Any half-bright writer can milk that until he’s got a bucket of tears. If I did that, I’d go for the feral cats angle. People feel a lot worse for homeless cats than they do for homeless people.

A lot of cities open special shelters for the homeless during periods of intense cold or blizzards. The bene t to the reporter/columnist is you can nd the homeless, or at least the less stubborn homeless. You go down to the shelter, and there they are, full of misery and quotes. If you can, nd a homeless veteran. People feel worse for an Iraq War veteran who “turned to drugs” than they do for some clown who started using drugs in junior high and hasn’t done anything since then but use drugs. The feral cats are harder to nd. They’re dying under snow-caked shrubs, and “meow” is a lousy quote. If you could nd a former military dog, one of those bomb-sni ers, and it was dying under a shrub, a whimper would be a hell of a good quote. If you ran a picture of the dog, and you set up a GoFundMe for the pooch,

he’d be adopted and butt-deep in kibble by the end of the week. A couple of days before the blizzard, my wife Deborah and I prepared. We used the traditional male/female division of labor: She went to the grocery store, I went to the liquor store. We ended up with a big bunch of groceries and a 30-pack of cheap beer. Standing in line at the liquor store, the day before it hit, I was struck by my own insigni cance in the face of nature’s fury. No matter what kind of horrifying act of God was about to come out of the clouds, I still didn’t have enough money to buy good beer, imported beer, craft beer. It makes a man think.

We still have power in our house, even though tens of thousands of people in the state are without electricity. If the power goes out, and the outage lasts for several days, and my wife and I freeze to death, when they nd us, I’m going to be clutching a can of beer that costs $20 for a 30-pack. That’s less than a buck a can. You don’t know how big a failure you are until you’re freezing to death under a shrub, being let into the emergency shelter or facing the cold wrath of God with a can of cheap beer in your hand.

Marc Dion’s latest book, a collection of his best columns, is called “Mean Old Liberal.” (Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

The United States military initiated Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28 at 1:15 a.m. EST, an enormous operation “across every domain — land, air, sea, cyber,” said Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Sta . U.S. forces “delivered synchronized and layered e ects designed to disrupt, degrade, deny and destroy Iran’s ability to conduct and sustain combat operations on the U.S. side.”

The operation, conducted in tandem with the Israel Defense Forces, killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and at least 40 senior Iranian o cials in the rst minutes, and has continued since.

Six American soldiers were killed in an Iranian drone strike on Kuwait last Sunday, while three American ghter jets were shot down over Kuwait in a friendly re incident. All six aviators ejected safely.

Estimates on the length of the operation have ranged from a few weeks to several months — or longer — but Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the U.S. “will take all the time we need to make sure that we succeed.”

Betty Howard Reed

Dec. 27, 1938 –March 3, 2026

Betty Howard Reed, a cherished member of the Asheboro community, passed away peacefully on March 3, 2026, at the age of 87. Born on December 27, 1938, in Weldon, North Carolina, she spent her nal days surrounded by loved ones in Asheboro, North Carolina.

Betty was a spirited and devoted individual who led a life full of love, laughter, and service. Her career as a merchandiser for M&M Mars brought her great joy, but her personal passions truly de ned her. An avid reader, gardener, and enthusiastic YMCA attendee, Betty was known for her vibrant energy and zest for life. In fact, when she turned 80, the local paper celebrated her vitality with a full-page feature, highlighting the remarkable octogenarian who continued to inspire those around her with her active lifestyle and positive outlook.

A devout member of the First Baptist Church of Asheboro for over 20 years, Betty’s faith was central to her life. Her unwavering belief that “I am always happy and I don’t worry about a thing because I know God has got me” was a testament to her deep spiritual conviction and served as a guiding principle throughout her life.

Betty’s warm heart extended to all creatures, whether twolegged or four-legged. She never met a stranger, and her compassion for animals was evident in her fondness for her beloved pets: Toby, Annie, TJ, Maddie, Ally, Daisy, and her cat, “Meow Meow/Willow.” Known for stopping to greet every dog she encountered with a gentle “bless it,” Betty’s kindness touched many lives.

She was preceded in death by her father, Harry W. Howard, mother, Roberta Stevenson Carroll, brother, Robert Edwin Carroll, sister, Joy Carroll Thorpe, and her beloved husband, Carl Thomas Reed.

Betty is survived by her brother William Bryant Carroll Sr (Allison), her three children: Derek Reed (Jen) of Wallace, NC; Kirsten Reed (Lee) of Sanford; and Shannon Reed of Graham. Her legacy is further carried on by her three grandchildren: Christian Bennett (Emily) of Yadkinville, Connor Bennett of Yadkinville, and Noah Lanier (Bri) of Graham. She was eagerly anticipating the arrival of her rst great-granddaughter, Lyla Mae, due in April.

In celebrating Betty’s life, the family has decided that no formal services will be held at this time. In lieu of owers, donations may be made to the ASPCA, or you are invited to honor Betty by performing Acts of Random Kindness (ARKs) in your daily life, a re ection of her generous spirit and loving nature.

Betty Lee Reed will be deeply missed by all who knew her, but her memory will forever live on in the hearts of those she touched.

Henry Gustavo Zepeda Lima

May 10, 2005 –March 3, 2026

Henry Gustavo Zepeda Lima, de 20 años, residente de Troy, Carolina del Norte, falleció el 3 de marzo de 2026. Henry nació el 10 de mayo de 2005 en Guatemala, hijo de Rolando Zepeda Barrera y Alma Raquel Zepeda Lima. Fue un joven muy cariñoso, de carácter tranquilo, conocido por su bondad y por la forma en que se preocupaba por los demás. Henry tenía muchos sueños y aspiraciones, y siempre buscaba la manera de perseguirlos. Fue un hijo, hermano, sobrino, primo y amigo muy querido, y siempre estaba dispuesto a ayudar a quien lo necesitara.

Se celebrará una Misa Funeral el Sábado 7 de Marzo de 2026 a las 11 a.m. en la Iglesia Católica San José (St. Joseph Catholic Church), o ciada por el Rvdo. Ramiro R. Tijerino. La familia recibirá a los amigos en una visitación el Sábado 7 de Marzo de 2026, de 3 p.m. a 8 p.m., en Pugh Funeral Home. Henry Gustavo Zepeda Lima, age 20, of Troy, NC, departed this life on March 3, 2026. Henry was born on May 10, 2005, in Guatemala, to Rolando Zepeda Barrera and Alma Raquel Zepeda Lima. He was a loving young man with a calm spirit, known for his kindness and the way he cared for others. Henry had many dreams and aspirations and was always striving to chase them. He was a devoted son, brother, nephew, cousin, and friend, and he would gladly help anyone who needed him.

A Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church, with Rev. Ramiro R. Tijerino o ciating. The family will receive friends during a visitation on Saturday, March 7, 2026, from 3-8 p.m. at Pugh Funeral Home.

Michael “Mike” Duane Mills Sr.

Aug. 22, 1957 –March 5, 2026

Michael “Mike” Duane Mills

Sr. (68) of Ramseur, NC, passed away in his home on March 5. He is survived by his wife, Pamela, mother, Emma Lucas, children, Samantha (James), Michael (Kim), Jesse (Katie), grandchildren, Abigail, Tabitha, Gabrielle, Jaydin, Jack, Nathan, Wyatt, Elliott, greatgrandchildren, Lincoln, Leeland, Calvin, Jaxson, Ayden, Kannon, sisters, Carla, Cindy, brother, Eddie Gibson (Judy), and all his special nieces and nephews.

Born in Roanoke, VA, on August 22, 1957, he provided for his family as a painter, working on various projects across the southern states. Besides spoiling his grandchildren, some of his favorite activities and interests included music, shing, classic Western lms, military history, and visiting with friends. He was a man with a big heart who loved his family above all else, and his hope for them was that they would always stay in touch.

Mike is preceded in death by his father, Posey Mills; sisters, Rebecca Mills, Wendy Mills and Hope Hunter; and his son-in-law, Del T. Waldron.

The family will have a Celebration of Mike’s life on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at 2:30 p.m. at Mike’s home.

Hilda Spencer Bulla

Jan. 27, 1942 – March 4, 2026

Hilda Spencer Bulla, age 84, of Sophia, passed away on March 4, 2026, at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

Mrs. Bulla was born in Randolph County on January 27, 1942, to Charlie and Emma Hoover Spencer. Hilda retired, after 50 years of service, from Caraway/Hughes Furniture Industries. She was faithful to her church, Charlotte Methodist Church. Hilda was a good and giving lady. She liked to cook and enjoyed being involved in her church’s fall festival.

In addition to her parents, Hilda was preceded in death by her husband, Leon Bulla, stepson, Ricky Bulla, and several siblings.

She is survived by her son, Spencer Farlow Bulla of Sophia; stepdaughter, Ellen Bulla of Sophia; 2 step grandchildren; 6 step great grandchildren; sister, Ruby Carr of Sophia; and several nieces and nephews.

The family will receive friends on Sunday, March 8, 2026, from 4-6 p.m. at Pugh Funeral Home, 437 Sunset Avenue in Asheboro. Funeral services will be held on Monday, March 9, 2026, at 11 a.m. at the Glenn ”Mac” Pugh Chapel. Interment will follow in the Charlotte Methodist Church Cemetery.

David Richard “Ricky” Lane

May 30, 1959 –March 6, 2026

David Richard Lane, a ectionately known as Ricky, passed away peacefully on March 6, 2026, in WinstonSalem, North Carolina, at the age of 66. Born on May 30, 1959, in Greensboro, North Carolina, Ricky spent his life in the Triad as a mechanic by trade.

Ricky’s passion for sports, music, racing, and cars was evident in every aspect of his life, from his work to his hobbies.

Known for his free spirit and infectious sense of humor, Ricky never met a stranger. He had a unique ability to make everyone feel like a lifelong friend, and his jokes and easygoing nature brought joy and laughter to all who knew him. Proud of his native roots, Ricky embraced his heritage and shared it with those around him.

Ricky is preceded in death by his father, Johnny Lane, and his mother, Betty Tucker Lane. He is survived by his brother John Lane (Susan), His daughters Kasey Scott (Brandon) and Kristen Wooten (Avery), his son Ryan Lane, his granddaughters Harper Scott, Scarlett Sparks and Magnolia Sparks, his grandson Colton Scott and his partner Michele Williams, who will continue to cherish his memory and carry his spirit forward.

Friends and family are invited to celebrate Ricky’s life on Monday, March 16, 2026, from 5-7 p.m. at Midstate Cremation and Funeral Service, located at 304 Lanier Ave., Asheboro, NC 27203.

Ricky’s legacy of kindness, laughter, and love for those around him will be deeply missed but fondly remembered.

Clara “Betty” Shelton Acquilin

April 1, 1930 – March 6, 2026

Clara “Betty” Shelton Acquilin, a cherished mother, grandmother, and devoted friend, passed away peacefully at the home of her son and daughter-in-law on March 6, 2026, at the age of 95. Born on April 1, 1930, in Chatham County, North Carolina, Betty lived a life rich in love and service.

Betty was a woman of warm hospitality, known for her gracious spirit and nurturing heart. She found joy in the simple beauty of gardening, cultivating not only plants but also fostering a sense of community and togetherness. Her home was always open, and she delighted in hosting family and friends, making everyone feel welcome and cherished.

A dedicated School Cafeteria Manager by profession, Betty nourished both body and soul with her comforting meals and kind words. Her warmth extended beyond her work as

Cathy Jan Marion

Jan. 30, 1956 – March 7, 2026

Cathy Jan Marion, age 70, of Asheboro, NC, passed away peacefully on March 7, 2026, at Randolph Health.

Cathy was born on January 30, 1956, in Pinehurst, North Carolina, to the late Roger T. Marion and Mae Williamson Marion. Cathy enjoyed the simple comforts of life and the people she loved most. She was

Rodney James

Todd

Dec. 22, 1962 –March 4, 2026

Rodney James Todd, 63, of Franklinville, passed away on March 4, 2026, at Randolph Hospital.

Rodney was born on December 22, 1962, to parents Forest Robert and Elizabeth Spicer Todd. Rodney was a simple man and enjoyed shing, working on his cars, woodworking, as well as working at the Salvation Army in Asheboro. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his siblings, Karen Foster and Wayne Todd. Mr. Todd is survived by his siblings, Michael Todd of Franklinville, Cheryl Ladd of Pennsylvania, and Lynn Todd of New York. He is also survived by several nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. No services are scheduled at this time.

she embraced her role in the church nursery, where she cared for and guided young lives with loving patience. Her commitment to her faith in her Lord and Savior and to her church community was profound and unwavering.

Betty was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Charles Joseph Acquilin, whose memory she held dear throughout her days. She is survived by her son, Edgar, and daughter-in-law Carol Acquilin, of Asheboro, who lovingly cared for Betty during the nal years of her life, and her daughter, Karen Swigart, of Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Betty’s legacy of love continues through her ve grandchildren, 24 greatgrandchildren and seven greatgreat-grandchildren, who were a source of immense pride and joy for her.

Funeral services will be held at Lo in Funeral Home Chapel on Monday, March 9, 2026, at 3 p.m., with Reverend Randy Browder o ciating. Following the service, Betty will be laid to rest at Sunset Knoll Cemetery.

Betty’s kindness, gentleness, and love will forever be remembered by all those fortunate enough to have known her. She leaves behind a lasting legacy of love, compassion, and grace that will continue to inspire all who knew her.

Memorial donations may be made to Fayetteville Street Baptist Church at the link below. Lo in Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Ramseur is honored to assist the family of Clara “Betty” Acquilin.

Proverbs 31:29: “Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.”

a devoted fan of the Carolina Tar Heels and loved her dogs, Jazz and Chloe who brought her constant companionship.

Cathy enjoyed traveling, especially with her dear friend Linda, and she treasured those trips and memories. She worked as a CMA and took pride in helping others, spending many years caring for patients at High Point Orthopedics. Cathy also loved her sweet tea extra ice, always and in retirement she truly enjoyed slowing down and taking it easy. She was preceded in death by her parents.

Cathy is survived by her cousins, Kris Tutterow (Dina), Kelly Tutterow (Cindy); Cali Tutterow; Andy Horner (Tammi); Erica Lawson (Joey); her aunt, Sybil Williamson; and many loving family members and friends who will miss her dearly.

In lieu of owers, memorial contributions may be made to Cross Road Memory Care Center or Cameron Baptist Church. Services are pending and will be announced at a later date.

James Ronnie Brooks Sr.

June 3, 1950 – March 4, 2026

James Ronnie Brooks Sr., 75, of Bennett, passed away on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at his home. Services will be held at a later date.

Ronnie was born in Chatham County on June 3, 1950, to James William Brooks and Maggie Brown Brooks. He worked for Carolina Stockyards for over 30 years and later retired from Acme McCrary. He enjoyed shing, hunting and riding four-wheelers. He loved cooking hogs for pig pickings. In addition to his parents, Ronnie was preceded in death by his brother Larry Brooks.

Ronnie is survived by his wife of 55 years, Kathy Brooks, of the home; sons, James Ronnie Brooks Jr.., of the home and Ricky Dean Brooks (Dana), of Siler City; brother, Micky Lynn Brooks Sr.. (JoAnne), of Asheboro; grandchildren, Madison Lynn Brooks and Destiny Michelle Brooks and a host of family and friends.

STATE & NATION

‘Christ is king’ becomes loaded phrase in US political debates, especially on the right

A sacred phrase becomes a rallying cry for some extremists targeting Jews

By Peter Smith The Associated Press

ON ITS OWN, the phrase

“Christ is king” sums up a core tenet of the Christian faith, that Jesus is the divine ruler of the universe. Catholics and many Protestants celebrate a Christ the King Sunday each year.

But the ancient proclamation can morph into something political, controversial or even sinister, depending on who says it and how it’s said.

In recent years, “Christ is king” and similar phrases have been chanted at political rallies, posted on social media and proclaimed in speeches by voices on the right.

At times the phrase is used to support the notion of America as a Christian nation or as one that owes its allegiance specically to the Christian God. Some current Cabinet o cials and recent members of Congress have used the phrase in speeches and on social media.

But other times, political activists have paired “Christ is king” with anti-Zionist statements or negative Jewish stereotypes.

The phrase has gained popularity among far-right gures and their followers. Conservative in uencer Candace Owens, who shares antisemitic conspiracies, sells branded “Christ is King” co ee mugs and T-shirts.

The controversy connects to a larger schism on the right, with some conservatives pushing back against an increasingly vocal faction whose denunciations of Israel, critics say, often combine with blatant antisemitism. Some of the latter group insist they’re not antisemitic, just anti-Zionist. That itself is a sharp break from what was once a near-consensus of pro-Israel sentiment among Republicans.

But there are times when the use of the phrase “Christ is king” is unquestionably hostile toward Jews, said a 2025 report by the Rutgers University-a liated Network Contagion Research Institute.

Analyzing social media postings between 2021 and 2024, the institute reported a dramatic increase of the phrase “Christ is king,” often used as a hate meme targeting Jews. The report lamented this deviation from its historical use as a hopeful, sacred a rmation with biblical roots.

“The weaponization or hijacking of ‘Christ is King’ represents a disturbing inversion of its original intent. Rather than sacralizing shared values, extremists have exploited this religious expression to justify hatred,” the report said.

Controversy spotlighted at religious liberty hearing

A recent meeting of the Religious Liberty Commission, a group President Donald Trump created and appointed, put the

phrase and related controversies in the spotlight.

At a Feb. 9 hearing focused on antisemitism, a witness, Seth Dillon, spoke of often hearing people use the phrase “Christ is king” followed immediately by a highly contemptuous slur toward Jews.

“This should o end every Christian,” said Dillon, the CEO of the conservative satirical site

The Babylon Bee.

Commission member Carrie Prejean Boller repeatedly grilled witnesses about whether opposing Zionism could be construed as anti-Jewish. She said that as a Catholic she opposes Zionism but that this is not antisemitic.

She asked Dillon if he thought “saying ‘Christ is king’ is antisemitic.”

Dillon said no and that, as a Christian, he regularly declares that “Christ is my king” — but context matters.

He testi ed that the phrase has been co-opted by Groypers, alluding to the followers of far-right in uencer Nick Fuentes, who has spread antisemitic views.

It’s “using the Lord’s name in an abusive manner,” Dillon said.

Fuentes’ supporters chanted “Christ is king” at the Million MAGA March, a November 2020 rally denying the Republican Trump’s defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in that year’s presidential election.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican who chairs the Religious Liberty Commission, announced Prejean Boller’s removal from the panel after the meeting. He asserted that she tried to “hijack” the hearing for her own agenda.

Following the commission meeting, Prejean Boller has posted proli cally on X, denouncing “Zionist supremacists” and repeatedly using the phrase “Christ is King.” She also has denounced the war launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran.

A recent Catholic convert, she said she opposes a popular evan-

gelical view that modern-day Israel exists in ful llment of biblical prophecy.

A religious phrase “co - opted by extremist gures”

The commission hearing was hardly the rst forum to air controversy over “Christ is king.”

The Network Contagion Research Institute’s 2025 report noted that while many “Christ is king” references on social media are strictly religious, the phrase has been “systematically co-opted by extremist gures.”

The report said Fuentes and other extremists use the phrase as a “white supremacist mantra publicizing their antisemitic beliefs.”

Fuentes has said the Holocaust was exaggerated, and he has denounced “organized Jewry in America.” He has claimed to be in battle with “satanic, globalist elites,” an antisemitic trope.

The religious phrase “Christ is king” is not inherently political, said Brian Kaylor, president and editor-in-chief of Word&Way, a progressive site covering faith and politics.

But that fact provides a “deniability” to those politicizing it, he said.

“We’re at a dangerous point with the phrase ‘Christ is king’ because of the heavy activity and use of it on the far right in very fascist, antisemitic ways,” said Kaylor, a Baptist minister and author of several books on religion and politics. “We’re at the danger of that phrase losing its meaning to where this new antisemitic use is the dominant de nition.”

The phrase has also gained popularity in political settings with some on the Catholic and evangelical right who are strongly pro-Israel and have repeatedly denounced antisemitism, such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Kaylor said the phrase is often used as “a declaration of Christian nationalism ” asserting that “the nation should be brought under the dictates of Christ.”

A dispute over politics and religion

The controversy has highlighted both religious and political ssures.

The Vatican has diplomat-

“This should o end every Christian.”

Seth Dillon, Babylon Bee CEO

ic relations with Israel and has also recognized a state of Palestine. Pope Leo XIV has called for a two-state solution while denouncing antisemitism. During the Israel-Hamas war, popes Francis and Leo denounced the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas and Israel’s massive military response, with Leo demanding a halt to Israel’s “collective punishment” of Gaza’s population.

Other Catholics on the Religious Liberty Commission noted that Jesus and his followers were Jews and that a seminal 1965 Vatican document rejects antisemitism and the blaming of all Jews, including those alive today, for Jesus’ cruci xion.

Patrick, the commission chairman, said the dispute with Prejean Boller re ects “a real problem with a very small group in our Republican Party.” Antisemitism needs to be repudiated or “this is going to destroy our party,” he said on “The Mark Levin Show,” a podcast.

But Prejean Boller has galvanized supporters from a staunchly conservative group called Catholics for Catholics, a lay-led, self-described “militant organization dedicated to the evangelization of this great country.”

It plans to honor Prejean Boller at a March 19 event with a Catholic Champion Award in Washington featuring speakers such as Owens.

Prejean Boller has reposted announcements of the event on X, including one post that shared a Spanish-language statement that translates to “We will not rest until we convert the USA into a Catholic nation.” The post concluded in English with “Christ is King!”

RandolpH SPORTS

Ward claims victory in Caraway opener

The track’s rst racing card of the year included competition in various classes

Randolph Record sta

SOPHIA — Dylan Ward finished with more than a three-second victory on runner-up Lanie Buice in the Limited Late Models on the season-opening race card Sunday at Caraway Speedway. Austin Harris, Clint King

and Michael Fose rounded out the top five among 14 drivers for the scheduled 75-lapper, with Brian Rose in sixth and Stacy Puryear in seventh. Ward qualified for the pole position. Buice was second in qualifying, but moved to the rear because of a tire change before moving back up through the pack.

Throughout the opening day, there were weather-interrupted delays, but the racing was completed.

• Hunter Jordan was the

winner of the nine-car Legends race. Anthony Freedle was the runner-up and Jhett Johnson placed third.

• There were nine drivers entered in Mini Stocks, with AJ Sanders the winner in a tight finish against Brandon Crotts across 20 laps. Crotts led for 13 laps, but Sanders charged hard from the back of the field and eventually caught up. Jason Gallimore claimed third place.

• In UCARs, Tony Price was the winner by a half-sec -

Former Randleman pitcher joins White Sox organization

The left-hander has given a special opportunity during the o season

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record

FORMER RANDLEMAN

baseball player Trey Cooper kept nding avenues to keep his baseball career a oat.

Then came a rewarding development this winter when the pitcher signed with the Chicago White Sox, giving him a spot in a liated professional baseball.

“It’s crazy how it worked and when it worked,” Cooper said. “I didn’t know when it would happen or if it would happen.”

Cooper, 24, is with a pro organization for the rst time. The left-hander reported to spring training in the White Sox minor league camp in Glendale, Arizona, at the beginning of the month.

It has been a winding path.

Since nishing his collegiate eligibility with Liberty last year, he pitched last summer for the West Virginia Black Bears in the MLB Draft League.

“I was thankful for the opportunity that I got,” Cooper said. “Whatever they wanted, I would do.”

“I didn’t know if it was ever going to happen.”

It looked like he would be heading back toward that part of the country when he signed earlier in the winter with the Washington Wild Things, a western Pennsylvania team in the independent Frontier League. In the meantime, he was spending time training in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, area with o season workouts that included time at the nearby Coastal Carolina campus. His connection with former Liberty pitching coach Mike Williams led to more opportunities. Williams, now at Coastal Carolina, was able to guide some of Cooper’s progress. Cooper said Williams provid-

ed guidance and opportunities in scrimmage situations.

“There’s no question he’s one of the best and he helped me get this opportunity,” Cooper said.

By late January, Cooper’s contract with the Wild Things was transferred to the White Sox.

“I’ve been teased a lot ever since I was in college, even when I was in high school,” Cooper said of an opportunity to play a liated ball. “I didn’t know if it was ever going to happen.”

He’ll be on the minor league

ond on Ron Mock, while Justin Smith placed third. There were 22 cars entered in the class.

• Isaac Harris captured the 35-lap Chargers feature, ahead of Matthew Smith and Joseph Ciszek in the 14-driver event. The race had a rain delay and several wrecks.

• For 602 Mods, Ryan Flores led the five-car field across the finish line. David Creed was second.

• For Crown Vics, Brandon Mock took the front spot, fol-

lowed by Christian Morris and TJ Gibson among 10 drivers.

• Mason Williams led the Bandoleros race.

There’s more racing scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday at Caraway Speedway, highlighted by a 75-lap race for Modifieds. Racing for 602 Mods, Chargers, Mini Stocks, UCARs and Pro Late Models are also on the lineup. Legends and Bandoleros won’t compete in this event due to a rescheduled event at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Asheboro’s girls’ team made nifty plays in the o ensive end to pull out a victory

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record

BURLINGTON — Ashe-

boro’s girls’ soccer team produced a couple of goals that looked like they might have been drawn up that way in last Thursday night’s game.

The result was a 2-1 road victory against Burlington Williams at Burlington Memorial Stadium.

The second of the goals came o a corner kick, with Jaira Arellano’s header completing the sequence o a delivery from Grace Bigelow. Bigelow’s intent was to provide the goal for herself when she blasted the corner kick.

“I was trying to curve it in to go in the goal,” Bigelow said. “Jaira was in the perfect spot and put it in.”

The winning goal came with 12:26 remaining. Asheboro coach Emily Ramon said the sequence was another good sign from the Blue Comets.

“We practice nishing, but not necessarily corner kicks speci cally,” Ramon said.

Arellano said it was important to take advantage of the late-game situation.

“We practice nishing, but not necessarily corner kicks speci cally.”

Emily Ramon, Asheboro coach

“It was 1-1 and there was a lot of pressure,” Arellano said. “I just try to put it into the goal.” Bigelow said that Blue Comets captain Penny Smith usually takes corner kicks, but she was out of the game at the time. Bigelow lled in well.

“I enjoy taking them,” she said. Ramon appreciated Asheboro’s rst goal because that stemmed from something she emphasizes in practice. After a ragged rst half when Burlington Williams had an overwhelming edge in possession time, the Blue Comets responded early in the second half. That goal resulted from what the Blue Comets are trained to do. “Straight out of practice,” Ramon said.

Alexis Bautista gained possession and made a long pass to Arellano, who moved into position for a pass to Kimrey Watts. Watts produced her fourth goal of the young season.

Kaelyn Whitehart

Wheatmore, girls’ basketball

Whitehart was a contributor to Wheatmore’s Central Carolina 3-A Conference championship team.

The senior reached the 1,000-point mark for her career during a game in the state playo s. The Warriors put together a 21-6 record for the most victories in program history.

Whitehart signed in the fall to play college basketball for Division II Concord University in West Virginia

Gee posts under-par score

The Eastern Randolph athlete made a quick transition to the golf season

Randolph Record sta

ASHEBORO — Fresh o some high-scoring games in boys’ basketball, Eastern Randolph’s Tyler Gee has been posting low scores in boys’ golf.

That included a 1-under-par 36 in a ve-team Four Rivers

SIDELINE REPORT

Conference match at Tot Hill Farm Golf Club last Thursday.

That gave Gee a four-stroke victory on Southwestern Randolph’s Ben Porter and Northwood teammates Tanner Gilcrist and Jackson Freeman. Eastern Randolph’s Emmitt Frye had the low score with 1-over 37 in a three-team outing at Holly Ridge Golf Links. • Earlier last week, Lee Hooker of Asheboro took medalist honors among three teams with a 37 at Tot Hill Farm.

MLB Doubles, triples dwindling in MLB; blame better positioning, ballpark layout

Glendale, Ariz.

The number of doubles and triples in the major leagues went down again last year. There were 7,745 doubles, down from 7,771 in 2024 and 8,254 a decade ago in 2016, according to Sportradar. Triples dropped to 628, compared to 697 in 2024 and 873 in 2016. Defensive positioning and ballpark dimensions are two of the biggest factors in the decline.

WNBA

Ogunbowale arrested after allegedly punching man at club

Miami Dallas Wings star Arike Ogunbowale was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery after police say she punched a man in the face at a Miami nightclub. Ogunbowale was celebrating at club E11EVEN after winning the Unrivaled championship with the Mist. According to police, Ogunbowale punched the man in the face, knocking him to the ground, and security cameras captured the act.

Randleman, UCA produce strong starts to season

There has been a variety of intracounty matchups across the rst couple weeks of the season

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record

BASEBALL TEAMS from Randleman and Uwharrie Charter Academy entered this week with undefeated records.

Jake Riddle had three hits and pitched ve solid innings as Randleman won 8-3 at North Davidson. Ashton Poe scored two runs.

Earlier in the week, the Tigers won 3-2 vs. visiting Northwest Guilford as John Kirkpatrick and Tate Andrews combined to strike out 10 batters. Kyle Dillow knocked in two Randleman runs.

For UCA, Ty McAuley had three hits and drove in three runs as the Eagles smacked host South Stanly 18-0. Jake Hunter and Grat Dalton combined on a ve-inning one-hitter, with Hunter notching eight of the combined 11 strikeouts.

In a 6-3 home decision vs. South Stanly, UCA’s Keaton Hill struck out 11 batters in ve innings and Jake Hunter scored three runs.

Hunter was the winning pitcher in a 13-2 road trouncing of West Davidson. He also drove in ve runs.

Other results

• Logan Weidman and winning pitcher Elijah Sykes both drove in two runs as Southwestern Randolph defeated visiting Asheboro 8-5 on Friday. Sykes struck out seven batters in ve innings.

Southwestern Randolph’s Brady Arm eld hit a two-run

PREP SOFTBALL

home run and Weidman had three hits earlier in the week in an 8-6 home loss to South Stanly.

• Asheboro fell 5-3 to visiting Bishop McGuinness despite Sam Gore scoring two runs. Nolan Shaw and Grayson Norman combined for the ve-inning shutout as Asheboro defeated visiting Wheatmore 11-0. Justin Guerrero had four hits for the Blue Comets.

• Trinity pitcher Lincoln Coble worked into the seventh inning and recorded 11 strikeouts in a 3-2 escape at Eastern Randolph. Reliever Grayson Fauber notched the nal out. Eastern Randolph’s Cade McCallum worked six innings but took the loss.

To begin last week, Trinity’s Peyton Williams red a complete game in an 11-1 romp past visiting Northwood.

• Eastern Randolph’s 6-0 home victory against Clover Garden came with six innings of pitching from Bryson Marley. Landon Albright scored two runs as the Wildcats won Friday for the rst time in four games this season.

• Wheatmore claimed a 10-4 triumph at Jordan-Matthews as Gavin McPherson knocked in two runs and Shannon McCauley worked four innings on the mound.

Patriots count on pitching

Providence Grove received solid pitching in a pair of games last week, so the Patriots are waiting for the bats to heat up.

“Going into the season, that was kind of our question mark,” Worth said of the overall pitching picture.

Andrew Thomas drew the start on the mound in the Southern Alamance game, working three innings and yielding a pair of runs. Southern Alamance scored on a bases-loaded walk and a elder’s choice groundout. Bryson Arrington worked two innings and Bishop Moore threw one inning in relief.

Providence Grove received doubles from Colin Duvall and Grant Underwood weren’t enough along with drawing three walks and producing four hits total.

Kaden Parker’s ve innings on the mound gave Southern Alamance a boost.

“We’ve seen top-notch pitchers,” Worth said. “If our arms are there, the bats will come around.”

Providence Grove fell to visiting Surry Central by 6-3 in the season opener. Colin Duvall and Trevor Kirkman did most of the Providence Grove pitching along with an inning from Arrington.

Haynes to take team to Eastern Randolph

Former Eastern Randolph coach Brent Haynes will be back in Ramseur on Friday night when his Northwood team visits the Wildcats for a Four Rivers Conference game.

Haynes coached Eastern Randolph for the 2023 season, when the Wildcats reached the Class 1A West Region nals. He left to take the job at Burlington Williams, where he also spent just one season. He’s in his second season at Northwood.

“We didn’t get the hits in the situations that we needed them,” coach Shane Worth said after Friday night’s 3-0 loss at Southern Alamance. Worth said enough offense should surface, while he’s encouraged by the pitching.

Cougars taste early success

Southwestern Randolph’s team will be looking for more victories in conference play

Randolph Record sta

LESS THAN TWO weeks into the season and Southwestern Randolph has the only undefeated softball team in Randolph County.

Alyssa Harris struck out 12 batters as the Cougars topped visiting Mount Pleasant 6-3 on Friday.

Bristol Marine drove in two runs and Kami Dunn and Maddie Strider both scored two runs.

COOPER from page B1

level, with hopes of landing an initial assignment with a Chicago a liate in Kannapolis or Winston-Salem.

Cooper began his collegiate career at North Carolina State before spending the past three years at Liberty. He pitched

from page B1

“Thankful that I got it into the goal,” Watts said.

Burlington Williams tied the score before the midway mark of the second half before the Blue Comets converted o the corner kick.

Southwestern Randolph begins Four Rivers Conference play this week.

• Lilah Covington blasted a grand slam and Kinzie Ivey red a complete game in Randleman’s 6-1 triumph at North Davidson.

• Providence Grove used Callie Lambert’s three-run home run and Campbell Ziemba’s complete game in the pitching circle in a 10-0, ve-inning home rout of Chatham Charter. Adi Johnson hit a two-run homer for the Patriots in a 4-3 setback at Jordan-Matthews.

• Wheatmore’s Adalyn Boles struck out 15 batters and Makenna Lawrence

during the 2022 and 2024 summers with the Appalachian League’s Burlington Sock Puppets, who are a summer college club for players identi ed as potential prospects.

drove in three runs in an 11-7 road victory against Southeast Guilford.

• Uwharrie Charter Academy’s 12-8 victory against visiting North Stanly came with three doubles from Meghan Peters.

• Eastern Randolph’s 20 -10 home loss to Clover Garden came with Hailey Ritter supplying three hits and scoring three runs in defeat.

• Trinity topped host Asheboro 15-9 with Emily Huneycutt supplying three hits and scoring three runs.

• Asheboro split a road doubleheader with Winston-Salem Parkland, winning 21-6 and falling 13-12.

“After I got done at Liberty, I was trying to gure out what’s next,” Cooper said. His recent workouts closer to home included training with Jesse Perry. While Cooper said there were times he wondered if he should step away from baseball, he’s glad he didn’t give up hope.

Other results

“I’ve been fortunate that I’ve oated around,” Cooper said before leaving to go to Arizona for the rst time.

Goalkeeper Rylynn Gaines of Southwestern Randolph was credited with 30 saves across the two games.

• Trinity produced a 7-1 victory against visiting South Davidson.

• Bigelow had the only Asheboro goal in a 4-1 loss earlier in the week to visiting Pinecrest.

• Southwestern Randolph defeated host Eastern Guilford 3-0 with Ashlyn Harbor scoring twice and Kayla Hernandez supplying a goal and an assist.

Earlier in the week, the Cougars had a 3-3 road tie with Trinity with two goals from Harbor and one from Hernandez.

After taking the late-game lead, the Blue Comets still had work to do. Goalkeeper Crystal Castaneda made 11 saves, but she exited the game with 3:18 remaining after one of the Bulldogs stepped on her elbow. So in came Emely Tejeda as Burlington Williams was pressing. Tejeda made a clean play on the one ball she elded and produced a strong clearing boot, and those were enough to complete the task. “She can handle it when she gets in,” Ramon said. The outcome lifted Asheboro to a 2-1 record.

• Wheatmore’s 8-0 romp past host Montgomery Central came with Jocelyn McDowell’s ve goals and two more from Emmie Messner. McDowell had the lone Wheatmore goal in a 4-1 loss at Ledford.

• Uwharrie Charter Academy posted a 6-0 road victory against East Rowan.

• Providence Grove won 1-0 vs. visiting Jordan-Matthews on Natalie Hernandez’s goal.

pen & paper pursuits

this week in history

Uranus discovered, Einstein born, “The Godfather” premieres, My Lai massacre in Vietnam

The Associated Press

MARCH 12

1912: Juliette Gordon Low of Savannah, Georgia, founded the rst American troop of the Girl Guides, the beginning of the Girl Scouts of the USA.

1928: The St. Francis Dam north of Los Angeles failed, sending more than 12 billion gallons of water into San Francisquito Canyon and killing more than 400 people.

1930: Mohandas Gandhi began his 24-day, 240-mile Salt March to the Indian village of Dandi, launching a campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience against Britain’s salt tax.

MARCH 13

1781: The seventh planet of the solar system, Uranus, was discovered in 1781 by astronomer William Herschel.

1925: The Tennessee General Assembly approved the Butler Act, banning the teaching of evolution in public schools. The law was challenged later that year in the Scopes “Monkey Trial” and repealed in 1967.

1954: The pivotal Battle of Dien Bien Phu began during the First Indochina War as Viet Minh forces attacked French troops.

MARCH 14

1794: Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, an invention that transformed the American cotton industry.

1879: Albert Einstein, who

would revolutionize physics and the human understanding of the universe, was born in 1879 in Ulm, Germany.

1964: A Dallas jury found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, and sentenced him to death. The conviction and sentence were later overturned.

MARCH 15

44 B.C: Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated in on the “Ides of March” by senators including Brutus and Cassius.

1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson, addressing a joint session of Congress, called for federal legislation guaranteeing every American’s right to vote, leading to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

1972: “The Godfather,” Francis Ford Coppola’s lm based on the Mario Puzo novel and starring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, premiered in New York.

MARCH 16

1802: President Thomas Je erson signed legislation authorizing the establishment of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

1935: Adolf Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles by ordering Germany to rearm and resume military conscription.

1968: During the Vietnam War, U.S. Army troops searching for Viet Cong ghters killed as many as 500 unarmed villagers in the hamlets of Son My village in 1968, in what became known as the My Lai massacre.

MARCH 17

1762: New York held its rst St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 1762.

1776: The Revolutionary War Siege of Boston ended as British forces evacuated the city.

1959: The nuclear-powered USS Skate became the rst submarine to break through the ice and surface at the North Pole.

MARCH 18

1922: Mohandas Gandhi was sentenced in India to six years in prison for civil disobedience.

1925: Nearly 700 people were killed in 1925 when the Tri-State Tornado tore through southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois and southwestern Indiana, the deadliest single tornado in U.S. history.

1942: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order authorizing the War Relocation Authority, which forced Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II.

J Balvin collaborates on remake of Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ as World Cup anthem

The song also features virtuoso guitarist Steve Vai, Travis Barker and Amber Mark

By Maria Sherman

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — In need of a global superstar for a sports anthem? Colombian singer J Balvin is the right man for the job.

“Our biggest moments in history, of happiness, surround sports,” he says of Colombia. “Of course, music, but sport has this power (to) unite a whole country and vibe in a really positive way. So that’s part of my DNA.”

Balvin is one-fourth of Coca-Cola’s o cial anthem for the FIFA World Cup 2026, a reimagination of Van Halen’s “Jump” that also features drummer Travis Barker, pop/ R&B singer Amber Mark and guitarist Steve Vai.

Last year, Joshua Burke, head of global music and culture marketing at The Coca-Cola Company, approached Balvin with the idea. The singer initially felt trepidation.

“I’m really precautious when it comes to songs like this one,” Balvin said. “It’s like touching the Mona Lisa.”

“I have so much respect for anthems like that,” he said. So he had to take “a totally di erent approach” to make it work; he wanted to avoid straightforward comparisons to the original recording.

“It was like a puzzle,” he says.

Mark’s rich, crystalline voice is the rst heard on the track; she sings the song’s original English lyrics. Vai transforms its iconic guitar; Barker ampli es its percussion.

The greatest di erence is found in Balvin’s contributions. He wrote a new verse — in Spanish — atop production courtesy his collaborator L.E.X.V.Z, a sound he describes as “Brazilian funk

J Balvin arrives at the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 1 in Los Angeles. The Colombian singer has recreated Van Halen’s 1984 hit “Jump” as Coca Cola’s o

FIFA World Cup 2026 anthem.

“I’m really precautious when it comes to songs like this one. It’s like touching the Mona Lisa.”

Balvin

J

with hard strings, kind of like hip-hop.”

“’Jump’ is not a fútbol song,” he said of the original, using the Spanish word for soccer.

“So that’s why I had to put the Latin love and passion for fútbol (in the lyrics).”

“El fútbol es nuestro idioma / Aquí todos somos mi gente,” he raps. In English: “Football is our language / Here, we’re all my people.”

“Fútbol is about bringing everyone together,” he says.

It’s a particularly resonant message as sports fans and organizers alike are considering the ways in which President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown may impact the tournament.

“I wish this administration open their mind and see, like,

this is a world event. This is for all of us,” he said. “Let the people really have fun and enjoy and show that the United States can de nitely pull o a World Cup.”

Coca-Cola has been an ofcial sponsor for the FIFA World Cup since 1978 and has produced a number of its own anthems for the event, including Jason Derulo’s “Colors” in 2018 and a reimagining of Queen’s “A Kind of Magic” in 2022 featuring Mexican singer Danna Paola, Egyptian rapper Felukah and Saudi Arabian singer TamTam.

“Reimagining a song as iconic as Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ came with a real sense of responsibility,” Burke wrote to The Associated Press in an exclusive statement. “All four artists leaned into the process as if this was their own single. Our goal was to create an anthem that celebrates the full spectrum of emotions of the tournament and feels just as powerful in a stadium as it does blasting from a car with your friends. We were able to do exactly that.”

Styles’ latest, ‘Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally,’ swings, sweats, surprises

The British pop star channels Rick James and ’80s post-punk

By Maria Sherman The Associated Press

THERE IS ONE experience Harry Styles will never get to have, though he’s been asked about it ad in nitum: Communing in the crowd at a Harry Styles concert. On “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally,” the superstar’s fourth solo album and rst full-length project in four years, Styles aims to soundtrack the anonymous exhilaration of being in the audience. It’s a bold choice, following 2022’s synth-pop “Harry’s House,” which earned him album of the year at the 2023 Grammy Awards, with bolder reference points. Styles started working on the 12-track album in early 2025 in Berlin, with his longtime producer Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson. The location proved to be a source of inspiration for him: Styles’ listening habits became more electronic, in line with the German capital’s reputation. His running playlists featured acts like Four Tet, Floating Points and Jamie xx as well as techno DJs Ben Klock and Fadi Mohem. Repetitive, physical productions — synths that rumble with arpeggios and bass kicks — get very close to meditation. That’s clear on “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally,” a remarkably consistent album dead-set on evoking

“Kiss

mood without sacri cing music. The rst taste arrived in the form of “Aperture,” a Styles’ opening track if there ever was one, a ve-minute slow burn built of accelerating synths. He said the song was at least partially inspired by seeing LCD Soundsystem live and listening to ‘80s English post-punks The Durutti Column. And it does, with some restraint. Spirited experimentation carries throughout the album, in particular, its stellar back half. The gamble pays o on the funky “Dance No More,” a loose rush of dopamine. (It takes a strong party to press play and not come o wanting to join in the chant, “Gotta get your feet wet / Respect / Respect your mother!” recalling both Rick James’ “Super Freak” and drag culture all in one.)

A familiar Styles, too, emerges in spurts, like in that song’s romance, or the album’s

“Gotta get your feet wet / Respect / Respect your mother!”

Harry Styles

two lyrical references to Simon & Garfunkel on the closer “Carla’s Song” and “Dance No More.” There’s also the late-’60s, early-’70s channeling “Paint By Numbers,” his acoustic guitar, singer-songwriter, “Matilda” moment.

“Oh, what a gift it is to be noticed,” he sings. The simple statement becomes an existential revelation, Styles’ realizing his fame is a conduit for community, not its source: “But it’s nothing to do with me.”

“Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally” takes big swings, but Styles’ approach is often understated — like on “Are You Listening Yet?,” which never really resolves but satiates, or the midtempo “American Girls.”

The freedom Styles appears to have been chasing has built a subversive album, one that doesn’t play into any contemporary pop star rule book. It’ll prove to be divisive for his loyal listeners, or at the very least, unexpected. Still, risk doesn’t mean “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally” is wholly unrestrained, which may be its central hope. Because at the end of the day, even in the early morning haze of a sweaty nightclub, strangers’ bodies holding strangers’ bodies, he is still Harry Styles.

famous birthdays this week

Liza Minnelli turns 80, Billy Crystal turns 78, Judd Hirsch is 91, Queen Latifah turns 56

The Associated Press THESE CELEBRITIES have birthdays this week.

MARCH 12

Politician and civil rights activist Andrew Young is 94. Actor Barbara Feldon (“Get Smart”) is 93. Actor-singer Liza Minnelli is 80. Politician Mitt Romney is 79. Singer-songwriter James Taylor is 78. Singer Marlon Jackson (The Jackson Five) is 69.

MARCH 13

Songwriter Mike Stoller is 93. Actor William H. Macy is 76. Actor Dana Delany is 70. Republican U.S. Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota is 69. Jazz musician Terence Blanchard is 64. Tennis star Coco Gau is 22.

MARCH 14

Actor Michael Caine is 93. Country musician Michael Martin Murphey is 81. Actor-comedian Billy Crystal is 78. Country singer Kristian Bush is 56. Actor Corey Stoll is 50. Actor Chris Klein is 47. Actor Jamie Bell is 40. NBA star Stephen Curry is 38. Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Simone Biles is 29.

MARCH 15

Actor Judd Hirsch is 91. Singer Mike Love (The Beach Boys) is 85. Filmmaker David Cronenberg is 83. Musician Ry Cooder is 79. Actor Frances Conroy is 73. Rock singer Bret Michaels (Poison) is 63. Singer-TV host Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray) is 58.

MARCH 16

Business executive Sanford Weill is 93. Actor Erik Estrada is 77. Football Hall of Famer Joe DeLamielleure is 75. Rock musician Nancy Wilson (Heart) is 72. Football Hall of Famer Ozzie Newsome is 70. Rapper-actor Flavor Flav is 67. Folk musician Patty Gri n is 62.

Thursday.

MARCH 17

Civil rights activist Myrlie Evers-Williams is 93. Singer-songwriter John Sebastian (The Lovin’ Spoonful) is 82. Actor Kurt Russell is 75. Actor Gary Sinise is 71. NBA executive Danny Ainge is 67. Actor Rob Lowe is 62. Rock musician Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) is 59.

MARCH 18

Composer John Kander is 99. Actor Brad Dourif is 76. Jazz musician Bill Frisell is 75. Filmmaker Luc Besson is 67. TV personality Mike Rowe is 64. Singer-actor Vanessa L. Williams is 63. Olympic speed skating gold medalist Bonnie Blair is 62. Rapper-actor Queen Latifah is 56.

the stream

‘Zootopia

“Sesame Street” comes to Net ix

The Associated Press

TAYLOR SHERIDAN’S neo-Western family drama series “The Madison” debuting on Paramount+ and the animated smash “Zootopia 2” landing on Disney+ are some of the new television, lms, music and games headed to a device near you.

Also, among the streaming o erings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: The Academy Awards streaming on Hulu, Nicole Kidman bringing crime writer Patricia Cornwell’s famed forensic pathologist character Kay Scarpetta to life in a new series and Kim Gordon’s third solo album, “Play Me.”

MOVIES TO STREAM

2,’ Oscars, Kim Gordon, ‘One Piece’

After collecting $1.85 billion in box o ce, the Disney animated smash hit “Zootopia 2” has come to Disney+. The lm, a sequel to 2016’s “Zootopia,” follows the continuing adventures of rabbit police o cer Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and her partner fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). In their new case, the arrival of a mysterious viper (Key Huy Quan) leads to new revelations about the animal metropolis. In his review, AP Film Writer Jake Coyle called it “a timider and tamer movie that leans largely on the (still winning) duo of Hopps and Wilde.” For the rst time, the Oscars will be streamed. In addition to the live broadcast on ABC beginning at 7 p.m. EDT Sunday, the 97th Academy Awards will be streamed on Hulu. The show will be available to all subscribers and not require a cable subscription. (The Oscars are moving to YouTube, but not until 2029.) That also means this week is your last chance to catch up on the nominees, most of which are streaming. That includes: “Sinners,” “One Battle After Another,” “Weapons” and “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” on HBO Max; “Frankenstein,” “Train Dreams,” “KPop Demon Hunters” and “Blue Moon” on Net ix; “Bugonia,” “Hamnet” and “Song Sung Blue” on Peacock; “F1” on Apple TV+; and “The Secret Agent” and “It Was Just an Accident” on Hulu.

sess a keen ability to process and re ect the world. Start with the castigation of convenience culture and passive listening on its title track. Stay for “Subcon,” an examination of the world’s growing billionaire class and their fascination with space colonialization in a period of economic insecurity. To call them veterans almost feels like too slight a word. Giants of the American heavy metal Lamb of God will release their 10th studio album, “Into Oblivion,” on Friday. The title re ects how frontman Randy Blythe sees the current state of the a airs — an appropriate launchpad for 10 tracks of ferocity.

SERIES TO STREAM

MUSIC TO STREAM

On Friday, Gordon — a revolutionary force in the alternative rock band Sonic Youth, the ’80s New York no wave scene and the space between art and noise — will release her third solo album, “Play Me,” as The Associated Press exclusively announced back in January. It follows the Grammy nominated “The Collective,” her beat-heavy 2024 album that surprised and delighted audiences with its oddball trap blasts. “Play Me” shares in that spirit. It’s full of propulsive production and confrontational songs that pos-

“Sesame Street” has four new episodes on Net ix. The legacy preschool show found a new home on the streamer ahead of its current 56th season. Net ix’s live-action-adventure series “One Piece” returns for its second season. It’s based on a massively popular Japanese manga series by Eiichiro Oda. The show follows a young man named Monkey D. Lu y whose dream in life is to be a

“Zootopia 2” is a tamer, more timid lm that leans largely on the still-winning duo of Hopps and Wilde.

Jake Coyle, AP Film Writer

pirate. In Season One, Lu y recruited his fellow pirates called the Straw Hats. In Season Two, Lu y and his crew set out to nd treasure in a dangerous stretch of water called the Grand Line. There are eight episodes in “One Piece: Into the Grand Line.” Kidman brings crime writer Cornwell’s famed forensic pathologist character Kay Scarpetta to life in a new series. The story unfolds over two timelines: Scarpetta as a younger woman played by Rosy McEwen and in present day, played by Kidman. Jamie Lee Curtis, Bobby Cannavale, Simon Baker, Ariana DeBose, Jake Cannavale and Hunter Parrish also star.

Sheridan’s neo-Western family drama “The Madison” debuts on Paramount+ on Saturday. At its center is the Clyburn family of New York, led by matriarch Stacy Clyburn (Michelle Pfei er) who moves her family to Montana after a tragedy. Kurt Russell, Patrick J. Adams, Matthew Fox and Beau Garrett also have roles. A second season has already lmed.

GAMES TO PLAY

VIDEO

When you want to hunt monsters, there’s Monster Hunter. When you want to team up with monsters, there’s Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Re ection, the new chapter in Capcom’s spino series. Once you join forces with a beast, you can y around on it and ght other creatures — though you might want to think twice before tackling the “Calamitous Elder Dragons.” The story itself revolves around two warring kingdoms on the verge of apocalypse, and the gameplay is the kind of turn-based combat you’d expect in a classic role-playing adventure. Take ight Friday, March 13, on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S, Switch 2 or PC.

HOKE COUNTY

America 250

“Old Glory” ies above some blossoming Bradford pear trees as spring approaches in Summer eld East near East Hoke Middle School.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Americans unite in aggravation over sticker shock at gas pump

It seems that a country divided on many fronts is nding common ground at the gas pumps. The cost of the Iran war is hitting Americans squarely in the wallet and aggravating people across the political spectrum. That was the message from Associated Press interviews Monday with people at gas stations and beyond in ve states. The national average gas price was $3.48 a gallon on Monday, up from $2.90 a month ago, before the war, according to tracking by AAA. But in interviews, some owners of electric vehicles expressed renewed gratitude for their vehicle choice as they sit out the sticker shock.

Anthropic sues Trump administration seeking to undo “supply chain risk” designation

Deal struck to bring more mental health services for Hoke students

Atrium Health will be providing teletherapy sessions for high school students in the district

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

RAEFORD — Hoke County Schools will soon be gaining greater access to mental health services for the district’s high school students.

At the Hoke County Schools Board of Education’s March 10 meeting, the board was presented with a professional services agreement with Atrium Health for school-based mental health services.

“Atrium Health is a nationally recognized leader in shaping health care outcomes through innovative research, education and compassionate patient care,” said Student Support Ser-

vices Executive Director Peggy Owens.

The contract will take e ect April 1 and will run for one year at no cost to the district, as the funding for the program is coming from a grant that Atrium Health received.

The goal of the partnership is to provide virtual therapy to Hoke County Schools students, increase access to school-based therapy by increasing referral and utilization rates and to decrease the wait time for students to access school-based therapy and begin treating students currently seeking services.

“We will be targeting high school students, and the reason for that is when we look at our mental health data, we have seen a continuous increase for the past three years as it relates to reentry and hospitalization,” Owens said.

The therapy sessions will be virtual.

“Atrium Health is a nationally recognized leader in shaping healthcare outcomes through innovative research, education and compassionate patient care.”

Peggy Owens, Student Support Services executive director

Hoke County Schools will also be hosting a meeting next month to discuss and plan for how to better address disciplinary issues in the school system.

Board chair Ruben Castellon announced that there will be a special-called meet-

ing April 23 to “try and gure out how to take control of the discipline and behavioral issues” that the district is currently experiencing.

According to Castellon, the meeting will include board members, the superintendent, the sheri ’s o ce, Raeford Police, a teacher or sta member from each school, and parents.

The goal of the meeting is to come up with resolutions or new procedures to address the issues that can take e ect starting in the new school year.

“I appreciate all the support and personal time that we are spending,” Castellon said.

Finally, the board also approved a contract renewal with Anderson Smith and Wike for auditing services for an amount not to exceed $62,550.

The Hoke County Schools Board of Education will next meet April 14.

As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill, the program o ers a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for individuals contributing to scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs), which must be a 501(c)(3) organization.

Anthropic is suing the Trump administration, asking federal courts to reverse the Pentagon’s decision designating the arti cial intelligence company a “supply chain risk” over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its technology. It led two lawsuits Monday, each challenging di erent aspects of the Pentagon’s actions against the company. The Pentagon formally designated the company a supply chain risk after an unusually public dispute over how its AI chatbot Claude could be used in warfare. The lawsuits aim to undo the designation and block its enforcement.

Rep. Virginia Foxx and U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley joined the Education secretary in High Point

By A.P. Dillon Chatham News & Record

RALEIGH — At a Monday press conference held in High Point, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon urged North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein to enter state into the Trump administration’s Education Freedom Tax Credit program. The press conference was held at the Phoenix Academy Primary School Library.

“I’m here today because I believe it is unfortunate that North Carolina Gov. Stein is preventing families in the Tarheel State from taking advantage of the support this measure will provide, such as access to scholarships for tuition and tutoring, specialized services, homeschool materials, cutting edge technology, or even after school supports to keep kids on track,” McMahon said.

Joining McMahon at the event were Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-Banner Elk), who sits on the House Education Committee, state Sen. Steve Jarvis (R-Davidson) and Michael Whatley, the

EDUCATION, page A2

“Join the conversation”

North State

(USPS 20451) (ISSN 2471-1365) Trip

THURSDAY

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EDUCATION from page A1

Republican candidate for the state’s U.S. Senate seat.

“The Education Freedom Tax Credit isn’t some distant idea,” McMahon said. “It’s a homegrown solution that puts North Carolina families in charge of their children’s education.”

McMahon refuted some of the claims Stein has made about the program.

“Contrary to Gov. Stein’s claims, the tax credit doesn’t take a single dollar away from public schools,” said McMahon. “It raises additional funding for education by stimulating private donations by federal tax incentives — including those students who remain in public schools.”

She added the program “builds directly” on the state’s “thriving Opportunity Scholarship program,” which gives funding to students to attend the private school of their choice, with a prioritization on low-income households.

McMahon remarked that the Education Freedom Tax Credit goes beyond the state’s scholarship program, allowing students in traditional public schools to receive scholarship funds without changing schools.

“The Trump administration

Family sues ChatGPTmaker OpenAI over school shooting in Canada

The suit alleges the AI company knew of the shooter’s plans

The Associated Press

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The parents of a girl critically wounded in a school shooting in Canada alleged in a civil lawsuit Monday that ChatGPT-maker OpenAI knew the shooter was planning a mass attack.

OpenAI has said it considered but didn’t alert police about the activities of the person who months later committed one of Canada’s worst school shootings in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, on Feb. 10.

OpenAI came forward to police after Jesse Van Roostselaar killed eight people and then herself last month, saying the attacker’s ChatGPT account had been closed but that she evaded the ban by having a second account.

The legal claim led in the British Columbia Supreme Court alleged that OpenAI had “speci c knowledge of the shooter utilizing ChatGPT to plan a mass casualty event like the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting.”

The lawsuit said OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT was used by the shooter as a trusted condante, collaborator and ally, and it behaves willingly to assist users such as the shooter to plan a mass casualty event.

A spokeswoman from OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the lawsuit.

The lawsuit said that as a result of the company’s conduct Maya Gebala was shot three times at close range, with one bullet hitting her head, another her neck and the third grazing her cheek. It said she has a catastrophic brain injury that will leave her with permanent cognitive and physical disabilities.

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is your ready partner. Opt In,” McMahon said near the closing of her remarks.

Whatley spoke brie y, saying the tax credit program was important not just for North Carolina but the entire country as well.

“It is ridiculous that the legislature moved immediately to be the rst state to opt into this tremendous program,” he said while blaming former Gov. Roy Cooper, his opponent for U.S. Senate, for rejecting the idea.

Last year, Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) ran House Bill 87, the Educational Choice for Children Act, to opt the state in. The bill quickly passed and was sent to Stein, who vetoed the it a week later.

“Once the federal government issues sound guidance, I intend to opt North Carolina in so we can invest in the public school students most in need of after school programs, tutoring, and other resources,” Stein wrote in his veto message. “Therefore, HB 87 is unnecessary, and I veto it.”

The guidance mentioned by Stein was issued last fall. Stein did not respond to North State Journal’s requests for comment on his veto claim that he would opt the state in following such guidance.

“Contrary to Gov. Stein’s claims, the tax credit doesn’t take a single dollar away from public schools.”

U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon

“The fact is we need Gov. Stein to opt into this,” Whatley said. “Dollars should follow students whether it is to a public school, a private school, a charter school or homeschooling.”

Foxx echoed McMahon’s remarks on the program and education as vital to student success.

“It’s a perfect example of providing opportunity for students and families,” said Foxx. “And it’s truly unfortunate that students and families in our state are being denied that.”

On the same day as her press event, McMahon issued an opinion article on the tax credit in the North State Journal, focusing on Stein’s inaction.

“North Carolina remains on the sidelines while 27 other states have already opted in,” wrote McMahon. “This isn’t leadership; it’s partisan

delay dressed up as caution.” Last month, a coalition of union-linked organizations and nonpro ts ran a campaign urging the remaining governors, including Stein, not to opt into the program. Stein’s o ce did not respond to North State Journal’s request for comment on the campaign.

North State Journal has again reached out to Stein’s ofce for comment about McMahon’s visit, and a spokesperson issued the following statement:

“Governor Stein continues to await nal guidance from the U.S.Treasury and the IRS about the federal tax credit for contributions to Scholarship Granting Organizations that HR1 established. Depending on federal guidance, there could be potential opportunities for the federal tax credit program to bene t North Carolina’s public school students – which would factor into the Governor’s decision.

“The Governor has long supported magnet schools and accountable charter schools because public schools open doors of opportunity for kids in every corner of the state. He believes that school choice is good for students and parents, provided appropriate measures are in place to ensure accountability and prevent discrimination.”

THE CONVERSATION

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

VISUAL VOICES

Trump eradicates 47 years of feckless foreign policy

The U.S. can break Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities and its internal repression machine. It is under no obligation to clean it up.

IF ONE OF your national slogans is “Death to America,” you should be living in persistent and paralyzing fear of the United States. Say what you will about President Donald Trump, America’s enemies aren’t making any more demands after Operation Epic Fury. Not after the president shattered nearly ve decades of Washington foreign policy appeasing, legitimizing and emboldening the Iranian regime, one of our most enduring and dangerous enemies.

Trump has already reset American foreign policy by rejecting both the technocratic naivety of neoconservatism and the unfeasible demands of isolationism. He has also shed the convoluted, pseudointellectual foreign policy theories that had congealed as conventional Washington wisdom.

One of the bogus “norms” propagated by experts, and now “America First” isolationists, is that any military action needs to be contingent on short-term “imminent” threats against the U.S. Why should the U.S. sit around until the breaking point to act in our interests? This is a self-applied, short-sighted limitation. It’s almost surely the case that the landscape would have been far more dangerous had Trump allowed the regime to regain its footing after months of protests and Israel’s summer o ensive. Trump struck the regime when it was at its weakest, before it could stockpile enough ballistic missiles and advanced weaponry to create a quagmire.

Preemptively eliminating long-term threats is a way to mitigate harm against the U.S. Iran could have agreed to stop enrichment at any time in the past 47 days, or even 47 years, and avoided con ict. U.S. special envoy Steve Witko claims that the regime’s negotiators in Geneva bragged that they controlled 460

kilograms of 60% enriched uranium for 11 nuclear bombs.

Trump now has clear, achievable objectives: Ensure the mullahs don’t get their blood-stained hands on any nukes, end the regime’s ballistic missile capabilities and destroy the Iranian navy so it can’t threaten world shipping.

There are also unstated goals. The U.S. acted to undermine Chinese military expansion into the Middle East. China was about to sell Iran supersonic missiles that would have allowed it to target the American military. The clerics pay for military upgrades in oil. Nearly all of Iran’s crude exports already go to China, virtually its only consumer. As with removing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, weakening the mullahs weakens China.

Another bogus “norm” of the past decades was famously summed up by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who warned then-President George W. Bush before the 2003 Iraq invasion: “You break it, you own it.” The “Pottery Barn rule” contends that the U.S. has a responsibility to reconstruct countries after having beaten them. Sometimes it bene ts us to participate in rebuilding projects to create stability, and sometimes it doesn’t. The U.S. can break Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities and its internal repression machine. It is under no obligation to clean it up.

Over the years, the Washington foreign policy blob has convinced many people that the U.S. has a duty to marshal a large contingent of nations before acting — namely, weak-kneed European countries with signi cant Muslim populations who o er little military value. Similarly, some people are under the impression that the U.S. needs permission from the United Nations, a bastion

of strongmen, theocrats and fascists, to act. It does not.

“International law” has done little but hamper our ability to alleviate threats while allowing our enemies to act with impunity.

On the other hand, before Trump, U.S. administrations have refused to openly operate with our most-trusted ally, Israel, in militarily dismantling the Iranian threat. The idea was that Israel’s presence would undermine support from the Arab world. It’s in our interests to embrace Israel’s tech, intel, and military swagger and competence. “Capable partners are good partners,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth said of Israel, “unlike so many of our traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, hemming and hawing about the use of force.”

Moreover, we’re not living in 1973 anymore. The bene ciaries of Israel’s operation in Iran have also been Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom joined the Americans in denouncing the regime.

Making predictions about the outcome of war in the Middle East is foolish. But the unknown shouldn’t paralyze us either. The best-case scenario for Operation Epic Fury is an organic uprising by Iranians that transforms that nation into a nonhostile entity that ceases exporting terrorism and Islamic fanaticism around the world. In the worst- case scenario, a weak, rump Islamic Republic survives.

Right now, no matter what happens, the clerics are gelded. That alone is a win.

David Harsanyi is a senior writer at the Washington Examiner, a nationally syndicated columnist and author of ve books.

(Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

This kind of weather is why the great Russian writers were so damn gloomy. You give me another week of this, and I’ll be Dostoevsky.

I’M WRITING IN the worst part of a blizzard. What a satisfying, heroic way to start a newspaper column.

I’m not kidding, either. Here in Tiverton, Rhode Island, on the shores of Narragansett Bay, hard by the Massachusetts line, we’ve got more than 2 feet of snow on the ground, and we’re supposed to end up with about 36 inches.

To cliche up, it’s wet snow, heavy as lead, and the wind sounds like a freight train.

There’s a driving ban. If you’re not an “essential worker,” you can’t be on the roads. Mayors have pulled the plows o the roads because the drivers can’t see through the blowing snow. In a nearby city of 100,000 people, only two legal marijuana stores remain open. The National Guard is on its way with front-end loaders and dump trucks.

This kind of weather is why the great Russian writers were so damn gloomy. You give me another week of this, and I’ll be Dostoevsky. There are several ways to write the “horri c act of nature” column.

You can always fall back on the “nature’s fury makes me feel insigni cant” column, but I’ve been married for 16 years, so I feel insigni cant every day. I don’t think anyone believes that kind of column anyway. If I’ve just discovered my own insigni cance, why am I writing about how the storm makes me feel?

I could exhaustively research and write a column about how a blizzard doesn’t mean global warming is a hoax, and how weather isn’t the same as climate, but most people wouldn’t read all the way to the end of that column, and about 40% of you would just call me a communist.

There remains the “most vulnerable” column in which the writer centers on any group of beings who su er the most in extreme weather. Feral cats. The homeless. Any half-bright writer can milk that until he’s got a bucket of tears. If I did that, I’d go for the feral cats angle. People feel a lot worse for homeless cats than they do for homeless people.

A lot of cities open special shelters for the homeless during periods of intense cold or blizzards. The bene t to the reporter/columnist is you can nd the homeless, or at least the less stubborn homeless. You go down to the shelter, and there they are, full of misery and quotes. If you can, nd a homeless veteran. People feel worse for an Iraq War veteran who “turned to drugs” than they do for some clown who started using drugs in junior high and hasn’t done anything since then but use drugs.

The feral cats are harder to nd. They’re dying under snow-caked shrubs, and “meow” is a lousy quote. If you could nd a former military dog, one of those bomb-sni ers, and it was dying under a shrub, a whimper would be a hell of a good quote. If you ran a picture of the dog, and you set up a GoFundMe for the pooch,

he’d be adopted and butt-deep in kibble by the end of the week.

A couple of days before the blizzard, my wife Deborah and I prepared. We used the traditional male/female division of labor: She went to the grocery store, I went to the liquor store. We ended up with a big bunch of groceries and a 30-pack of cheap beer. Standing in line at the liquor store, the day before it hit, I was struck by my own insigni cance in the face of nature’s fury. No matter what kind of horrifying act of God was about to come out of the clouds, I still didn’t have enough money to buy good beer, imported beer, craft beer. It makes a man think.

We still have power in our house, even though tens of thousands of people in the state are without electricity. If the power goes out, and the outage lasts for several days, and my wife and I freeze to death, when they nd us, I’m going to be clutching a can of beer that costs $20 for a 30-pack. That’s less than a buck a can. You don’t know how big a failure you are until you’re freezing to death under a shrub, being let into the emergency shelter or facing the cold wrath of God with a can of cheap beer in your hand.

Marc Dion’s latest book, a collection of his best columns, is called “Mean Old Liberal.” (Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

operation epic fury

The United States military initiated Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28 at 1:15 a.m. EST, an enormous operation “across every domain — land, air, sea, cyber,” said Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Sta . U.S. forces “delivered synchronized and layered e ects designed to disrupt, degrade, deny and destroy Iran’s ability to conduct and sustain combat operations on the U.S. side.”

The operation, conducted in tandem with the Israel Defense Forces, killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and at least 40 senior Iranian o cials in the rst minutes, and has continued since.

Six American soldiers were killed in an Iranian drone strike on Kuwait last Sunday, while three American ghter jets were shot down over Kuwait in a friendly re incident. All six aviators ejected safely.

Estimates on the length of the operation have ranged from a few weeks to several months — or longer — but Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the U.S. “will take all the time we need to make sure that we succeed.”

Integrity Open Arms Residents of the Month

Employee of the Month Resident of the Month

Shawn Palocka

Shawn Palocka is a pca worker that has been with us for over a year that does a great job he enjoys video games on his for all his hard work. Integrity Open Arms would like to thank you for a job well done.

Noell Campbell

Robert General has been a resident at Open Arms since August 2021. He was born in South Carolina, relocated to Richmond Virginia and later moved to North Carolina. Robert enjoys BINGO, church and knitting. He is a joy to have here at Open Arms Retirement Center.

Mrs. Florence Herbert has been a resident here since May 2021. She moved to North Carolina from Pennsylvania to escape the bad weather. Florence enjoys word searches, BINGO, watching TV and spending time with her friends on the Special Care Unit at Integrity Open Arms.

Mrs. Betty Purcell is from Raeford, North Carolina. She moved into our assisted living this past June. Besides being the mother of two, she worked for many years at Burlington Mills. Betty enjoys church, watching youtube and doing word searches.

HOKE SPORTS

SPRING SPORTS ROUNDUP

Hoke gets baseball, softball, girls’ soccer seasons going

North State Journal sta

Baseball

Hoke opened its season with one win in three games last week. The Bucks lost their home opener to Lumberton 5-3. Hoke then won on the road 7-3 at Western Harnett and lost 11-10 at Overhills in the conference opener. Freshman Braylen Newkirk drove in three runs in a two-hit game to help beat Western Harnett. Senior Jayden Hollingsworth homered in the Overhills game.

This week, the Bucks continue conference play with home games against Pine Forest and Richmond, sandwiched around a game at Scotland.

Girls’ soccer

After extending its season-opening win streak to three games, the Bucks su ered back-to-back losses to drop to 3-2 on the year.

Hoke opened the week with a 9-0 home shutout of Red Springs, then had twin 3-1 defeats, at Southern Lee and home against Purnell Swett. Senior Jaelyn Gimenez had three goals and an assist in the win over Red Springs. She also had the only goal against Southern Lee.

This week, Hoke travels to

Clinton before hosting South View. The Bucks close the week with a game at Purnell Swett.

Softball

After entering the week coming o a loss in the opener, Hoke stormed to four straight wins last week. The took a home -and-home with St Pauls,

Braves’ Profar suspended for 2026 season following second positive drug test

The punishment leaves a hole at DH for Atlanta

By Rondald Blum

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Atlanta

Braves out elder Jurickson Profar was suspended for the 2026 season by Major League Baseball on Tuesday following his second positive test for a performance-enhancing drug.

Profar tested positive for exogenous testosterone and its metabolites, the commissioner’s o ce said, which means testosterone that was not produced by his body. Because it was a second o ense, the length of Profar’s suspension was 162 games.

The players’ association led a grievance at Profar’s request to appeal to baseball’s independent arbitrator, Martin F. Scheinman, a person familiar with the process told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity, because no announcement had been made.

An All-Star in 2024, Profar

was suspended for 80 games last March 31 following a positive test for Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG), a hormone that helps production of testosterone. He issued a statement then saying: “I would never willingly take a banned substance, but I take full responsibility and accept MLB’s decision.”

His agent, Dan Lozano, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Braves released a statement that they “were incredibly disappointed” about the failed drug test.

“Our players are consistently educated about the (MLB Drug Prevention and Treatment) Program and the consequences if they are found to be in violation,” the club said. “The Atlanta Braves fully support the Program.”

Profar homered in his return from suspension on July 2 and nished with a .245 average, 14 homers, 43 RBIs and a .787 OPS in 80 games. He batted .280 in 2024, when he set career highs with 24 homers, 85 RBIs and an .839 OPS.

winning 11-1 at home and 18-1 on the road. Hoke rounded out the week with a pair of shutouts, 10-0 at home against Whiteville and 11-0 at Red Springs.

McKenzie Freeman and Shaniya McLean both went deep for Hoke last week.

This week, the Bucks host Scotland, then travel to Seventy-First.

7

Number of MLB players to receive a 162-game suspension for steroids. Profar is the rst since 2023.

Profar said at the start of spring training that he had sports hernia surgery in November, requiring a six-week recovery time. He has appeared in four spring training games this year, going 3 for 10 with three RBIs.

Under the suspension, he is ineligible for the postseason and the World Baseball Classic. A native of Curaçao, Profar had been set to play for the Netherlands.

Profar will lose his $15 million salary for this year as part of a $42 million, three-year contract through 2027. He lost half his $12 million salary in 2025 due to the initial suspension. He became the seventh player suspended 162 games for a second PED infraction after New York Mets pitcher Jenrry Mejia (July 2015), Cleveland out elder Marlon Byrd (June 2016), free agent catcher Cody Stanley (July 2016), Houston pitcher Francis Martes (February

See PROFAR, page B2

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Niya Jones

Hoke County softball

Niya Jones is a junior pitcher on the Hoke County softball team. The Bucks put together a four-game winning streak last week, and Jones turned in a quartet of complete game wins. Jones struck out 10 in ve four-hit innings in a win over St. Pauls. She also drove in a run at the plate. In a shutout win over Whiteville, she struck out seven in ve no-hit innings and went 1 for 3 with a run scored. In a rematch with St. Pauls, she struck out eight in ve innings and doubled in a two-hit, two-RBI day at the plate. She nished the week by striking out six in six one-hit innings to shut out Red Springs. She got a hit in that game as well.

SIDELINE REPORT

WNBA

Ogunbowale arrested after allegedly punching man at club

Miami Dallas Wings star Arike

Ogunbowale was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery after police say she punched a man in the face at a Miami nightclub. Ogunbowale was celebrating at club

E11EVEN after winning the Unrivaled championship with the Mist. According to police, Ogunbowale punched the man in the face, knocking him to the ground, and security cameras captured the act.

NHL Penguins’ Malkin suspended 5 games for slashing Sabres’ Dahlin

Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin was suspended for ve games for slashing Bu alo defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. The punishment will cost the Penguins forward nearly $160,000. The NHL announced that Malkin was assessed a minor penalty for cross- checking, a major penalty for slashing and a game misconduct. Pittsburgh is already without captain Sidney Crosby for a minimum of four weeks because of a lower-body injury.

NHL Ravens nix trade for Raiders’ Crosby after pass rusher reportedly fails physical

Baltimore

The blockbuster trade sending star pash rusher Maxx Crosby to the Baltimore Ravens is o — and the fallout from that reversal could have a ripple e ect throughout the NFL on the eve of the new league year. The Las Vegas Raiders said Tuesday night that Baltimore backed out of the trade that was supposed to send Crosby to the Ravens for two rst-round draft picks. The deal was agreed to last Friday but couldn’t be nalized until Wednesday.

Team Venezuela expects the WBC to be a celebration, even on US soil

Venezuela’s players and sta are avoiding comments on the U.S. invasion in January

By Tim Reynolds The Associated Press

MIAMI — A Venezuelan ag was stitched on the right side of Omar López’s cap. And an American ag was positioned a few feet to his left.

Baseball, meet politics. Politics, meet baseball. Like it or not, it’s happening.

The World Baseball Classic started pool play in four locations, including Miami. And, to no surprise, Venezuela’s team is a top attraction for the games in Latin-centric South Florida.

Sporting events having geopolitical ties is nothing new, but the situation the Venezuelan team — managed by López — faces in this tournament is unusual. These games come two months after the U.S. executed a military operation in Venezuela to capture deposed leader Nicolás Maduro and bring him to New York to face drug tra cking charges.

“I’m going to be honest with you,” López insisted Thursday.

“I’ve been working in baseball for 28 years and I don’t talk about political stu , to be honest. I’m here to talk about our Venezuelan team. I’m not here to talk about anything about political situations around the world, around my country. We are alive, we are here and we want to play for our team to win every single game here.”

When news of Maduro’s capture seeped out in the early morning hours of Jan. 3, many Venezuelans — it’s believed, based on U.S. Census estimates, that about 200,000 people who identify as being from that country live in the

PROFAR from page B1

2020), Mets second baseman Robinson Canó (November 2020) and Milwaukee pitcher J.C. Mejia (September 2023).

Mejia received a lifetime ban in February 2016 after a third positive test, the only player to be given a permanent ban since drug testing with penalties started in 2004.

Four players had been suspended previously this year for positive tests, including free agent out elder Max Kepler for 80 games under the major league program following a positive test for Epitrenbolone.

Following the o season signing of left elder Mike Yastrzemski to a $23 million, two -year deal, Profar had been

Miami-Fort Lauderdale area

— took to the streets in celebration. Much of that was centered in the Miami suburb of Doral, which has the largest Venezuelan population in South Florida and also is where President Donald Trump owns a golf resort that will host the G20 Summit later this year.

And based on just the numbers of tickets that are available and their resale prices online, Venezuela’s four games at loanDepot Park — the home of the Miami Marlins — between Friday and Wednesday will draw large crowds.

“I’m super happy, super happy to be here in my city,” Marlins utilityman Javier Sanoja said. “I love Miami because it’s the closest we have to our country, and seeing it full of Venezuelans lls me with pride.”

That won’t just be the case for Venezuelans, of course. Events like the WBC — not unlike the Olympics, the Ryder

targeted to be the Braves’ primary designated hitter.

When catcher Sean Murphy returns from a hip injury, perhaps in May, 2025 NL Rookie of the Year Drake Baldwin could ll in at DH when not behind the plate. With Yastrzemski, Michael Harris and Ronald Acuña Jr. in the out eld, Eli White could be a DH option. The Braves also are without projected starting shortstop Ha-seong Kim due to a nger injury. Mauricio Dubon, expected to serve a utility role, is scheduled to open the season as the starting shortstop.

The loss of Profar could create an opportunity for Dominic Smith, who signed a minor league deal on Feb. 17.

Cup and more — are designed to stoke national pride, even in unusual times both in the U.S. and abroad. The tournament is beginning less than a week after the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran to start a new war in the Middle East. At the WBC, the U.S. is playing its pool play games in Houston; Israel has its pool games in Miami. Cuba — a longtime political adversary of the U.S. — is opening in San Juan but could get to Miami if it advances out of pool play. And all of this, plus soccer’s World Cup later this year, is happening amid an immigration crackdown that has some wondering if it’s safe to even try and visit the U.S. There were no noticeable protests outside the ballpark in Miami on Thursday when teams worked out, and it’s unknown if there will be any sort of politically charged events either inside or outside

the stadium when games happen over the next few days.

“To put it mildly, it’s interesting times right now,” Israel manager Brad Ausmus said. “So, I hope there is that kind of unifying joy that all these players, coaches, they’re representing their heritage, but they all have one thing in common and that’s baseball. I hope the fans enjoy it.”

Venezuela’s players all say some version of the same thing, that they’re here to play baseball — even with the country’s deposed leader in a jail cell in New York. The political times, to those players, don’t make the games any more or less signi cant.

“I don’t try to pay attention to that, you know,” Venezuela captain Salvador Perez said. “I understand when fans buy a ticket, they want to see the team win. Win or lose, it’s part of the game. ... I can control what I can control. The rest, God has control of that.”

Joe Propst

June 17, 1944 –March 6, 2026

Joe Alexander Propst of Raeford went to be with his Lord and Savior on Friday, March 6, 2026 with his loving wife by his side.

Joe was born on June 17, 1944 in Bertie County, North Carolina to the late Andrew and Ethel Propst.

Alongside his parents Joe was preceded in death by his two brothers, and one sister.

Joe served in the United States Navy. He loved gardening, shing and his 18-wheeler.

He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Judy Propst; and his son, Je Propst.

The family will be receiving visitors at their home Friday, March 13, 2026.

In lieu of owers, please make donations to Antioch First Born Church, 187 Diamond Branch School Road, Whiteville NC, 28472. Services are entrusted to Crumpler Funeral Home.

Pauline P Cummings

Nov. 19, 1945 –March 5, 2026

Mrs. Pauline Pevia Cummings age 80 of Raeford, North Carolina was born on November 19, 1945, to the late Mr. Roderick Bullard and late Mrs. Zular Pevia Bullard Locklear in Robeson County. She departed this life on Thursday, March 05, 2026, at First Health Moore Regional Hospice in Moore County. Along with her parents she is preceded in death by her husband Richard Earl Cummings, one daughter, Angela Cummings, one son, Derbert (Zack) Cummings, three siblings, Roderick Bullard, Brenda Woods, George Bullard.

She leaves to cherish her memories, four children, David Earl Cummings and wife Leslie, Sharlene Cummings, Richard Earl Cummings Jr, and wife Rachel, Brenda McKoy and husband Calvin. three brothers, Joe Gus Bullard, Arnold Bullard, Dexter Bullard, one sister, Barbara Young, fteen grandchildren, fteen greatgrandchildren and a host of other family and friends.

obituaries

Alexander Butter eld, Nixon aide who disclosed Watergate tapes, dead at 99

His revelation of the secret taping system ultimately forced Nixon’s resignation

By Douglass K. Daniel The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Alexander Butter eld, the White House aide who inadvertently hastened Richard Nixon’s resignation over the Watergate scandal when he revealed that the president had bugged the Oval O ce and Cabinet Room and routinely recorded his conversations, has died. He was 99.

His death was con rmed to The Associated Press by his wife, Kim, and John Dean, who served as White House counsel to Nixon during the Watergate scandal and went on to, along with Butter eld, help expose the wrongdoing.

“He had the heavy responsibility of revealing something he was sworn to secrecy on, which is the installation of the Nixon taping system,” Dean said. “He stood up and told the truth.”

As a deputy assistant to the president, Butter eld oversaw the taping system connected to voice-activated listening devices that had been secretly placed in four locations, including Nixon’s o ce in the Executive O ce Building and the presidential retreat at Camp David.

Butter eld later said that, besides himself and the president, he believed that only White House chief of sta H.R. Haldeman, a Haldeman assistant and a handful of Secret Service agents knew about the taping system.

“Everything was taped … as long as the president was in attendance,” Butter eld told Watergate investigators when testifying under oath during a preliminary interview.

The tapes would expose Nixon’s role in the cover-up that followed the burglary in 1972 at the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate building. To avoid impeachment by the House, Nixon resigned on Aug. 9, 1974, less than a month after the Supreme Court had ordered him to surrender the relevant tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor.

Butter eld believed he’d had a hand in the president’s fate.

“I didn’t like to be the cause of that, but I felt that I was, in a lot of ways,” he said in a 2008 oral history for the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

Butter eld, a college friend of Haldeman’s at UCLA who had contacted his friend to ask about opportunities in the new Nixon administration, served as a deputy assistant to Nixon from 1969 to 1973. In that capacity he worked under Haldeman and, among other duties, was secretary to the Cabinet and helped oversee White House operations.

Alexander Butter eld testi es on July 16, 1973, before the Senate Watergate Committee. Butter eld, the White House aide who inadvertently hastened Richard Nixon’s resignation over the Watergate scandal when he revealed that the president had bugged the Oval O ce and Cabinet Room and routinely recorded his conversations, has died. He was 99.

“I didn’t like to be the cause of that, but I felt that I was, in a lot of ways.”

Alexander Butter eld

The Air Force veteran had left the White House to become administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration when Senate committee staers privately questioned him on July 13, 1973, during their investigation of the Watergate break-in. A routine question about the possibility of a taping system had been prompted by former White House counsel John Dean’s testimony that he believed a conversation he had had with Nixon may have been recorded.

When Butter eld acknowledged that a taping system indeed existed, he was brought before a public hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. The public revelation on July 16, 1973, of a taping system designed to record all the president’s conversations stunned Nixon friends and foes alike. The tapes promised Watergate investigators a rich vein of evidence in their quest for determining what Nixon and others knew about the break-in — a great deal, as it turned out.

E orts by investigators to gain access to the tapes

sparked a yearlong legal battle that was resolved in July 1974 when the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Nixon had to give them up.

The thousands of hours of tapes made public over the years — they are now controlled by the National Archives — provide a unique if often un attering view of Nixon. His words exposed a bad temper, vulgar language, bigoted racial and religious views, and unvarnished opinions about national and international gures.

“I just thought, ‘When they hear those tapes …’ I mean, I knew what was on these tapes … they’re dynamite,” Buttereld told the Nixon Library.

“I guess I didn’t foresee that the president might be put out of o ce or impeached, but I thought it would be a perilous few years for him. I guess I couldn’t conceive of (Nixon) being forced out of o ce. It had never happened before.”

Butter eld later said that he believed that Nixon’s successor, President Gerald Ford, red him as FAA administrator in 1975 as part of an agreement worked out between the Nixon and Ford sta members. He said he had heard from White House friends that he had been targeted shortly after his testimony to the Senate committee.

After leaving the FAA, Butter eld worked as a business executive in California. He earned a master’s degree from the University of

California, San Diego, in 1994. Alexander Porter Butter eld was born on April 6, 1926, in Pensacola, Florida. He left UCLA to join the Navy and later earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland in 1956 and a master’s degree from George Washington University in 1967. In 1948, he joined the Air Force and served as an instructor at a base near Las Vegas during the Korean War and later served in Germany. In Washington, he was military assistant to the special assistant of the defense secretary in 1965 and 1966 and later served as senior military representative of the U.S. and representative for the commander-in-chief, Paci c Forces, Australia. He retired at the rank of colonel after 20 years in the Air Force.

Butter eld was unsparing in his criticism of the former president in later years. While he commended Nixon’s achievements in foreign a airs, he considered his former boss “not an honest man” and “a crook” and believed that Nixon knew about the Watergate break-in before it occurred and was the architect of the ensuing cover-up.

Butter eld found himself “cheering … just cheering” the day Nixon resigned, he told the Nixon Library, because “justice had prevailed.”

“I didn’t think that it would for a while,” he said. “This guy was the ringleader.”

Tommy DeCarlo, who became longtime singer of Boston after Myspace tribute, dead at 60

Celebrate the life of your loved ones. Submit obituaries and death notices to be published in NSJ at obits@ northstatejournal.com

The Home Depot worker’s MySpace tribute led to nearly 20 years with the classic rock band

By Andrew Dalton The Associated Press

TOMMY DECARLO, who became the lead singer of classic rockers Boston for nearly 20 years based on a Myspace tribute to the band’s original singer, has died. DeCarlo’s children, Annie, Talia and Tommy Jr., said in

posts on his Facebook and Instagram pages that their father, who had been struggling for months with brain cancer, died Monday. “He fought with incredible strength and courage right up until the very end,” they said. He was 60.

Brad Delp, the original singer of the band that was founded in 1975 and had hits including “More Than a Feeling” and “Peace of Mind,” died in 2007.

DeCarlo, then a 43-year- old working at a Home Depot in North Carolina, wrote, sang and recorded a tribute song

“It

wasn’t like I was trying to sing like Brad, it was just that I loved to sing along with him.”

Tommy DeCarlo, Boston lead singer

to Delp. He posted that song along with a few Boston covers to his Myspace page and sent the link to the band.

DeCarlo initially got a polite rejection, according to Rolling

Stone. But founding guitarist and songwriter Tom Scholz, struck by his voice’s resemblance to Delp, invited DeCarlo to perform at a tribute concert for the late singer. Scholz then asked him to join the band.

“It wasn’t like I was trying to sing like Brad,” DeCarlo said in a bio on the band’s website, “it was just that I loved to sing along with him.”

DeCarlo toured with Boston for nearly 20 years and sang on their 2013 album, “Life, Love and Hope.”

STATE & NATION

‘Christ is king’ becomes loaded phrase in US political debates, especially on the right

A sacred phrase becomes a rallying cry for some extremists targeting Jews

By Peter Smith

The Associated Press

ON ITS OWN, the phrase “Christ is king” sums up a core tenet of the Christian faith, that Jesus is the divine ruler of the universe. Catholics and many Protestants celebrate a Christ the King Sunday each year.

But the ancient proclamation can morph into something political, controversial or even sinister, depending on who says it and how it’s said.

In recent years, “Christ is king” and similar phrases have been chanted at political rallies, posted on social media and proclaimed in speeches by voices on the right.

At times the phrase is used to support the notion of America as a Christian nation or as one that owes its allegiance specically to the Christian God. Some current Cabinet o cials and recent members of Congress have used the phrase in speeches and on social media.

But other times, political activists have paired “Christ is king” with anti-Zionist statements or negative Jewish stereotypes.

The phrase has gained popularity among far-right gures and their followers. Conservative in uencer Candace Owens, who shares antisemitic conspiracies, sells branded “Christ is King” co ee mugs and T-shirts.

The controversy connects to a larger schism on the right, with some conservatives pushing back against an increasingly vocal faction whose denunciations of Israel, critics say, often combine with blatant antisemitism. Some of the latter group insist they’re not antisemitic, just anti-Zionist. That itself is a sharp break from what was once a near-consensus of pro-Israel sentiment among Republicans.

But there are times when the use of the phrase “Christ is king” is unquestionably hostile toward Jews, said a 2025 report by the Rutgers University-a liated Network Contagion Research Institute.

Analyzing social media postings between 2021 and 2024, the institute reported a dramatic increase of the phrase “Christ is king,” often used as a hate meme targeting Jews. The report lamented this deviation from its historical use as a hopeful, sacred a rmation with biblical roots.

“The weaponization or hijacking of ‘Christ is King’ represents a disturbing inversion of its original intent. Rather than sacralizing shared values, extremists have exploited this religious expression to justify hatred,” the report said.

Controversy spotlighted at religious liberty hearing

A recent meeting of the Religious Liberty Commission, a group President Donald Trump created and appointed, put the

phrase and related controversies in the spotlight.

At a Feb. 9 hearing focused on antisemitism, a witness, Seth Dillon, spoke of often hearing people use the phrase “Christ is king” followed immediately by a highly contemptuous slur toward Jews.

“This should o end every Christian,” said Dillon, the CEO of the conservative satirical site The Babylon Bee.

Commission member Carrie Prejean Boller repeatedly grilled witnesses about whether opposing Zionism could be construed as anti-Jewish. She said that as a Catholic she opposes Zionism but that this is not antisemitic. She asked Dillon if he thought “saying ‘Christ is king’ is antisemitic.”

Dillon said no and that, as a Christian, he regularly declares that “Christ is my king” — but context matters.

He testi ed that the phrase has been co-opted by Groypers, alluding to the followers of far-right in uencer Nick Fuentes, who has spread antisemitic views.

It’s “using the Lord’s name in an abusive manner,” Dillon said.

Fuentes’ supporters chanted “Christ is king” at the Million MAGA March, a November 2020 rally denying the Republican Trump’s defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in that year’s presidential election.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican who chairs the Religious Liberty Commission, announced Prejean Boller’s removal from the panel after the meeting. He asserted that she tried to “hijack” the hearing for her own agenda.

Following the commission meeting, Prejean Boller has posted proli cally on X, denouncing “Zionist supremacists” and repeatedly using the phrase “Christ is King.” She also has denounced the war launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran.

A recent Catholic convert, she said she opposes a popular evan-

gelical view that modern-day Israel exists in ful llment of biblical prophecy.

A religious phrase “co-opted by extremist gures”

The commission hearing was hardly the rst forum to air controversy over “Christ is king.”

The Network Contagion Research Institute’s 2025 report noted that while many “Christ is king” references on social media are strictly religious, the phrase has been “systematically co-opted by extremist gures.”

The report said Fuentes and other extremists use the phrase as a “white supremacist mantra publicizing their antisemitic beliefs.”

Fuentes has said the Holocaust was exaggerated, and he has denounced “organized Jewry in America.” He has claimed to be in battle with “satanic, globalist elites,” an antisemitic trope.

The religious phrase “Christ is king” is not inherently political, said Brian Kaylor, president and editor-in-chief of Word&Way, a progressive site covering faith and politics.

But that fact provides a “deniability” to those politicizing it, he said.

“We’re at a dangerous point with the phrase ‘Christ is king’ because of the heavy activity and use of it on the far right in very fascist, antisemitic ways,” said Kaylor, a Baptist minister and author of several books on religion and politics. “We’re at the danger of that phrase losing its meaning to where this new antisemitic use is the dominant de nition.”

The phrase has also gained popularity in political settings with some on the Catholic and evangelical right who are strongly pro-Israel and have repeatedly denounced antisemitism, such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Kaylor said the phrase is often used as “a declaration of Christian nationalism ” asserting that “the nation should be brought under the dictates of Christ.”

A dispute over politics and religion

The controversy has highlighted both religious and political ssures.

The Vatican has diplomat-

“This

should o end every Christian.”

Seth Dillon, Babylon Bee CEO

ic relations with Israel and has also recognized a state of Palestine. Pope Leo XIV has called for a two-state solution while denouncing antisemitism. During the Israel-Hamas war, popes Francis and Leo denounced the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas and Israel’s massive military response, with Leo demanding a halt to Israel’s “collective punishment” of Gaza’s population.

Other Catholics on the Religious Liberty Commission noted that Jesus and his followers were Jews and that a seminal 1965 Vatican document rejects antisemitism and the blaming of all Jews, including those alive today, for Jesus’ cruci xion. Patrick, the commission chairman, said the dispute with Prejean Boller re ects “a real problem with a very small group in our Republican Party.” Antisemitism needs to be repudiated or “this is going to destroy our party,” he said on “The Mark Levin Show,” a podcast.

But Prejean Boller has galvanized supporters from a staunchly conservative group called Catholics for Catholics, a lay-led, self-described “militant organization dedicated to the evangelization of this great country.”

It plans to honor Prejean Boller at a March 19 event with a Catholic Champion Award in Washington featuring speakers such as Owens.

Prejean Boller has reposted announcements of the event on X, including one post that shared a Spanish-language statement that translates to “We will not rest until we convert the USA into a Catholic nation.” The post concluded in English with “Christ is King!”

MOORE COUNTY

Eyes on the prize

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Americans unite in aggravation over sticker shock at gas pump

It seems that a country divided on many fronts is nding common ground at the gas pumps. The cost of the Iran war is hitting Americans squarely in the wallet and aggravating people across the political spectrum. That was the message from Associated Press interviews Monday with people at gas stations and beyond in ve states. The national average gas price was $3.48 a gallon on Monday, up from $2.90 a month ago, before the war, according to tracking by AAA. But in interviews, some owners of electric vehicles expressed renewed gratitude for their vehicle choice as they sit out the sticker shock.

Anthropic sues Trump administration seeking to undo “supply chain risk” designation

Anthropic is suing the Trump administration, asking federal courts to reverse the Pentagon’s decision designating the arti cial intelligence company a “supply chain risk” over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its technology. It led two lawsuits Monday, each challenging di erent aspects of the Pentagon’s actions against the company. The Pentagon formally designated the company a supply chain risk after an unusually public dispute over how its AI chatbot Claude could be used in warfare. The lawsuits aim to undo the designation and block its enforcement.

$2.00

Moore County waiting on legislative changes to implement early start calendar

The district has a calendar ready to go should the law change

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

CARTHAGE — Moore County Schools is prepared to enact an early start calendar, but it seems that the district will continue to wait on legislative changes before they go through with it.

At the Moore County Schools Board of Education’s March 9 meeting, the board was presented with two options for the 2027-28 school calendar, both a traditional start and an early start option. Per North Carolina General Statute 115C-84.2, traditional public schools are required to start classes no earlier than the Monday closest to Aug. 26 in any given year. Due to this, rst semester exams usually occur after the winter break, which many argue is detrimental to students.

“(An early start calendar) is what our families want, this is the best thing for our faculty, this is the best thing for our students, and so I don’t know why we’re sitting back on this,” said board member Pauline Bruno.

Despite this, the traditional calendar was the one recommended by Interim Superintendent Jenny Purvis, as it follows current North Carolina law.

“This is something we’ve needed for a long time, an early start calendar,” Purvis said. “I agree that it’s the best thing for students, for families, and we’ve all wanted it. The reason my recommendation doesn’t share and echo that though is because I swore I was gonna uphold the law. For that reason, I can’t recommend (an early start calendar).”

The board did, however, attempt to once again pass an early start calendar, but it stalled in a 3-3 vote, with Bruno, David Hensley and Steve Johnson voting in favor of it.

“We need to stand up and do what’s right for our students.”

Board Member David Hensley

“We need to stand up and do what’s right for our students,” Hensley said. “I took an oath to do what’s best for the students and parents and what’s best for the education of our students. This calendar law is contrary to the best education of our students and their mental health.”

In the end, the board voted 4-2 to pass the traditional start calendar (Johnson voted in favor of it after the early start calendar failed to pass), although the early start calendar is still available to be implemented should the General Assembly change the school calendar law.

“I cannot go against the current law, although I agree with (the early start calendar), and I want it to happen sooner rath-

Rep. Virginia Foxx and U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley

er than later,” said Board Chair Robin Calcutt.

“We know that it is currently being looked at and so if the state were to come back and allow us to do that, I wanted to make sure we had that ready to go so it would be a quick transition,” Purvis said.

The board also approved an amendment to contract with MGA Homecare for exceptional children nursing services, that was previously approved last summer.

“Since then, we’ve had some new students that have moved into our district that need skilled nursing services,” said Assistant Director for Exceptional Children’s Services Sarah Chapman. “Nothing is changing, we just have some new students, so we’re needing to raise that maximum amount.”

The amendment adds an additional $240,000 to the amount owed for contracted services.

The Moore County Schools Board of Education will next meet April 20.

my Primary School Library.

As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill, the program o ers a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for individuals contributing to scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs), which must be a 501(c)(3) organization.

“I’m here today because I believe it is unfortunate that North Carolina Gov. Stein is preventing families in the Tarheel State from taking advantage of the support this measure will provide, such as access to scholarships for tuition and tutoring, specialized services, homeschool materials, cutting edge technology, or even after school supports to keep kids on track,” McMahon said.

Tax Credit program. The press conference was held at the

Joining McMahon at the event were Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-Banner Elk), who sits on the House Education Committee, state Sen. Steve Jarvis (R-Davidson) and Michael

See EDUCATION, page A2

3.12.26

“Join the conversation”

North State Journal (USPS 20451) (ISSN 2471-1365)

Trip Ho end, Publisher

Jim Sills, VP of Local Newspapers

Cory Lavalette, Senior Editor

Jordan Golson, Local News Editor

Shawn Krest, Sports Editor

Dan Reeves, Features Editor

Ryan Henkel, Reporter PJ Ward-Brown, Photographer

BUSINESS

David Guy, Advertising Manager

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THURSDAY MARCH 12

FRIDAY MARCH 13

Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano activity triggers park, highway closures

By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher The Associated Press

HONOLULU — The latest lava fountaining episode of an erupting Hawaii volcano reached 1,000 feet high Tuesday, prompting temporary closures at a national park and part of an important highway because of falling glassy volcanic fragments, including ash.

Kilauea, on Hawaii’s Big Island, has been dazzling residents and visitors for more than year with an on-and-o eruption that periodically sends fountains of lava soaring into the sky.

The fountaining that began Tuesday morning marked the eruption’s 43rd episode since it began in December 2024. A livestream showed two fountains of bright-red lava and smoke. It’s unclear how long the fountaining will last. Some episodes have lasted a few days and others a few hours.

Like other times, the molten rock was con ned within Kilauea’s summit crater inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and hasn’t threatened homes or buildings.

moore happening

Here’s a quick look at what’s coming up in and around Moore County:

March

12-14

Moore County Historical Association: Shaw House and Property Tours

1-4 p.m.

ing communities and a highway where the volcanic fragments and ash, known as tephra, was falling. The tephra prompted temporary closures at the national park around the summit and a partial closure of Highway 11, an important route around the island, on either side of the park.

March 2

• Tylee Keyshaun Cannady, 21, of Aberdeen, was arrested by Aberdeen PD for rst-degree burglary, breaking or entering with intent to terrorize or injure an occupant, rst-degree trespass and possession of marijuana paraphernalia.

• Javan Luke Overton, 39, of Eagle Springs, was arrested by Robbins PD for driving on a revoked license, ctitious or altered title, registration card or tag, rear lamps violation, driving left of center and expired or no inspection.

March 3

• Nathaniel Dylan Kearns, 31, of Biscoe, was arrested by Aberdeen PD for shoplifting by concealment of goods, possession of stolen goods and possession of marijuana paraphernalia.

• Trevon Daquwn Lance, 28, of Raeford, was arrested by Southern Pines PD for breaking and entering, injury to personal property and attempted larceny.

• David Ray Rye, 58, of Sanford, was arrested by NCHP for driving while impaired, reckless driving with wanton disregard, driving on a revoked license, having an open container after consuming alcohol, failure to comply with license restrictions and impeding tra c by slow speed.

March 4

• Danela Nina Ausby, 23, of Los Angeles, Calif., was arrested by Southern Pines PD for felony possession of cocaine and assault on a government o cial.

• Ray Darryl Patterson, 65, of Raeford, was arrested by MCSO for possession with intent to sell or deliver cocaine, felony possession of cocaine, maintaining a vehicle, dwelling or place for a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

March 6

• Joseph David Cheeks, 71, of Aberdeen, was arrested by Aberdeen PD for communicating threats, assault on a female, assault with a deadly weapon on a government o cial or employee, eeing or eluding arrest with a motor vehicle, resisting a public o cer, failure to heed a light or siren, aggressive driving, eeing the scene of an accident with property damage and failure to maintain lane control.

• John Andrew Newman, 36, of Asheboro, was arrested by MCSO for second-degree trespass. CRIME LOG

But the lava fountains were creating trouble for neighbor-

Hawaii County o cials also opened a shelter at a district gymnasium for residents and tourists impacted by the road closure or falling tephra. There were no people using the shelter soon after it opened, said Tom Callis, a county spokesperson.

The National Weather Ser-

Meta to acquire Moltbook

The acquisition re ects a heated tech race to control AI agent networks

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Meta said Tuesday it is acquiring Moltbook, a social network built exclusively for arti cial intelligence agents to make posts and interact with each other.

A takeover of the AI experiment by the parent company of Facebook and Instagram comes weeks after Moltbook attracted viral attention as an unusual Reddit-like hub for AI systems trading gossip.

Meta’s move re ects the tech industry’s ongoing fascination with the promise of AI agents that go beyond a chatbot’s capa-

EDUCATION from page A1

Whatley, the Republican candidate for the state’s U.S. Senate seat.

“The Education Freedom Tax Credit isn’t some distant idea,” McMahon said. “It’s a homegrown solution that puts North Carolina families in charge of their children’s education.” McMahon refuted some of the claims Stein has made about the program.

“Contrary to Gov. Stein’s claims, the tax credit doesn’t take a single dollar away from public schools,” said McMahon. “It raises additional funding for education by stimulating private donations by federal tax incentives — including those students who remain in public schools.”

She added the program

“builds directly” on the state’s “thriving Opportunity Scholarship program,” which gives funding to students to attend the private school of their choice, with a prioritization on low-income households.

McMahon remarked that the Education Freedom Tax Credit goes beyond the state’s scholarship program, allowing students in traditional

bilities in being able to act and perform tasks on a person’s behalf.

Meta said in a statement that Moltbook introduced novel ideas in a “rapidly developing space” and will open “new ways for AI agents to work for people and businesses.” Meta said it was hiring Moltbook co-founders Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr. The deal’s nancial terms weren’t disclosed.

In a similar move, OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, last month hired the creator of AI agent OpenClaw, formerly called Moltbot and the technology upon which Moltbook was built.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said at the time that Peter Steinberger would join OpenAI “to drive the next generation of

public schools to receive scholarship funds without changing schools.

“The Trump administration is your ready partner. Opt In,” McMahon said near the closing of her remarks.

Whatley spoke brie y, saying the tax credit program was important not just for North Carolina but the entire country as well.

“It is ridiculous that the legislature moved immediately to be the rst state to opt into this tremendous program,” he said while blaming former Gov. Roy Cooper, his opponent for U.S. Senate, for rejecting the idea.

Last year, Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) ran House Bill 87, the Educational Choice for Children Act, to opt the state in. The bill quickly passed and was sent to Stein, who vetoed the it a week later.

“Once the federal government issues sound guidance, I intend to opt North Carolina in so we can invest in the public school students most in need of after school programs, tutoring, and other resources,” Stein wrote in his veto message. “Therefore, HB 87 is unnecessary, and I veto it.”

The guidance mentioned by

vice issued an ashfall warning. Volcanic tephra can irritate eyes, skin and the respiratory system, according to county ofcials. Tephra also can clog and cause other problems with water catchment collection systems, which are common in some parts of the Big Island, ofcials said. Ash fell so heavily during a previous fountaining episode that some communities needed help from county civil defense workers to clean up ash that coated their homes, Callis said. Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes.

personal agents” that will interact with each other “to do very useful things for people.”

OpenClaw operates on users’ own hardware and runs locally on their device, meaning it can access and manage les and data directly, and connect with messaging apps like Discord and Signal. Users who create OpenClaw agents then direct them to join Moltbook.

OpenAI also earlier this week said it was acquiring Promptfoo, an AI security platform that tests the behaviors and risks of agents.

Questions about the authenticity of content posted on Moltbook swirled in its rst week of operation, when it was at its peak virality. Researchers at Wiz, a cloud security platform, published a report shortly after the platform launched detailing security vulnerabilities on the site, which have since been patched.

Stein was issued last fall. Stein did not respond to North State Journal’s requests for comment on his veto claim that he would opt the state in following such guidance.

“The fact is we need Gov. Stein to opt into this,” Whatley said. “Dollars should follow students whether it is to a public school, a private school, a charter school or homeschooling.”

Foxx echoed McMahon’s remarks on the program and education as vital to student success.

“It’s a perfect example of providing opportunity for students and families,” said Foxx. “And it’s truly unfortunate that students and families in our state are being denied that.”

On the same day as her press event, McMahon issued an opinion article on the tax credit in the North State Journal, focusing on Stein’s inaction.

“North Carolina remains on the sidelines while 27 other states have already opted in,” wrote McMahon. “This isn’t leadership; it’s partisan delay dressed up as caution.”

Last month, a coalition of union-linked organizations and nonpro ts ran a campaign urging the remaining governors, in-

The Moore County Historical Association’s grounds and properties are open for tours on Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoons. Tours are free and open to all ages. Enjoy learning about the impressive history of Moore County.

Shaw House 110 Morganton Road Southern Pines

March 13

Movie: “Elvis Presley in Concert” 11 a.m.

Footage from Elvis’s residency in Las Vegas in the 1970s and lost footage of The Elvis in Concert tour.

Sunrise Theater 250 NW Broad St. Southern Pines

Friday Night Jazz at the Sunrise: Part 3: Songs, Stories and Soul 7-9 p.m.

This presentation by the Moore County Arts Council introduces audiences songs from the '60s and '70s that had a profound e ect on generations. Tickets are $34.

Sunrise Theater 250 NW Broad St. Southern Pines

cluding Stein, not to opt into the program. Stein’s o ce did not respond to North State Journal’s request for comment on the campaign.

North State Journal has again reached out to Stein’s ofce for comment about McMahon’s visit, and a spokesperson issued the following statement:

“Governor Stein continues to await nal guidance from the U.S.Treasury and the IRS about the federal tax credit for contributions to Scholarship Granting Organizations that HR1 established. Depending on federal guidance, there could be potential opportunities for the federal tax credit program to bene t North Carolina’s public school students — which would factor into the Governor’s decision.

“The Governor has long supported magnet schools and accountable charter schools because public schools open doors of opportunity for kids in every corner of the state. He believes that school choice is good for students and parents, provided appropriate measures are in place to ensure accountability and prevent discrimination.”

THE CONVERSATION

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

VISUAL VOICES

Trump eradicates 47 years of feckless foreign policy

The U.S. can break Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities and its internal repression machine. It is under no obligation to clean it up.

IF ONE OF your national slogans is “Death to America,” you should be living in persistent and paralyzing fear of the United States. Say what you will about President Donald Trump, America’s enemies aren’t making any more demands after Operation Epic Fury. Not after the president shattered nearly ve decades of Washington foreign policy appeasing, legitimizing and emboldening the Iranian regime, one of our most enduring and dangerous enemies.

Trump has already reset American foreign policy by rejecting both the technocratic naivety of neoconservatism and the unfeasible demands of isolationism. He has also shed the convoluted, pseudointellectual foreign policy theories that had congealed as conventional Washington wisdom.

One of the bogus “norms” propagated by experts, and now “America First” isolationists, is that any military action needs to be contingent on short-term “imminent” threats against the U.S. Why should the U.S. sit around until the breaking point to act in our interests? This is a self-applied, short-sighted limitation. It’s almost surely the case that the landscape would have been far more dangerous had Trump allowed the regime to regain its footing after months of protests and Israel’s summer o ensive. Trump struck the regime when it was at its weakest, before it could stockpile enough ballistic missiles and advanced weaponry to create a quagmire.

Preemptively eliminating long-term threats is a way to mitigate harm against the U.S. Iran could have agreed to stop enrichment at any time in the past 47 days, or even 47 years, and avoided con ict. U.S. special envoy Steve Witko claims that the regime’s negotiators in Geneva bragged that they controlled 460

kilograms of 60% enriched uranium for 11 nuclear bombs.

Trump now has clear, achievable objectives: Ensure the mullahs don’t get their blood-stained hands on any nukes, end the regime’s ballistic missile capabilities and destroy the Iranian navy so it can’t threaten world shipping.

There are also unstated goals. The U.S. acted to undermine Chinese military expansion into the Middle East. China was about to sell Iran supersonic missiles that would have allowed it to target the American military. The clerics pay for military upgrades in oil. Nearly all of Iran’s crude exports already go to China, virtually its only consumer. As with removing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, weakening the mullahs weakens China.

Another bogus “norm” of the past decades was famously summed up by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who warned then-President George W. Bush before the 2003 Iraq invasion: “You break it, you own it.” The “Pottery Barn rule” contends that the U.S. has a responsibility to reconstruct countries after having beaten them. Sometimes it bene ts us to participate in rebuilding projects to create stability, and sometimes it doesn’t. The U.S. can break Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities and its internal repression machine. It is under no obligation to clean it up.

Over the years, the Washington foreign policy blob has convinced many people that the U.S. has a duty to marshal a large contingent of nations before acting — namely, weak-kneed European countries with signi cant Muslim populations who o er little military value. Similarly, some people are under the impression that the U.S. needs permission from the United Nations, a bastion

of strongmen, theocrats and fascists, to act. It does not.

“International law” has done little but hamper our ability to alleviate threats while allowing our enemies to act with impunity.

On the other hand, before Trump, U.S. administrations have refused to openly operate with our most-trusted ally, Israel, in militarily dismantling the Iranian threat. The idea was that Israel’s presence would undermine support from the Arab world. It’s in our interests to embrace Israel’s tech, intel, and military swagger and competence. “Capable partners are good partners,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth said of Israel, “unlike so many of our traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, hemming and hawing about the use of force.”

Moreover, we’re not living in 1973 anymore. The bene ciaries of Israel’s operation in Iran have also been Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom joined the Americans in denouncing the regime.

Making predictions about the outcome of war in the Middle East is foolish. But the unknown shouldn’t paralyze us either. The best-case scenario for Operation Epic Fury is an organic uprising by Iranians that transforms that nation into a nonhostile entity that ceases exporting terrorism and Islamic fanaticism around the world. In the worst- case scenario, a weak, rump Islamic Republic survives.

Right now, no matter what happens, the clerics are gelded. That alone is a win.

David Harsanyi is a senior writer at the Washington Examiner, a nationally syndicated columnist and author of ve books.

(Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

This kind of weather is why the great Russian writers were so damn gloomy. You give me another week of this, and I’ll be Dostoevsky.

I’M WRITING IN the worst part of a blizzard. What a satisfying, heroic way to start a newspaper column.

I’m not kidding, either. Here in Tiverton, Rhode Island, on the shores of Narragansett Bay, hard by the Massachusetts line, we’ve got more than 2 feet of snow on the ground, and we’re supposed to end up with about 36 inches.

To cliche up, it’s wet snow, heavy as lead, and the wind sounds like a freight train.

There’s a driving ban. If you’re not an “essential worker,” you can’t be on the roads. Mayors have pulled the plows o the roads because the drivers can’t see through the blowing snow. In a nearby city of 100,000 people, only two legal marijuana stores remain open. The National Guard is on its way with front-end loaders and dump trucks.

This kind of weather is why the great Russian writers were so damn gloomy. You give me another week of this, and I’ll be Dostoevsky. There are several ways to write the “horri c act of nature” column.

You can always fall back on the “nature’s fury makes me feel insigni cant” column, but I’ve been married for 16 years, so I feel insigni cant every day. I don’t think anyone believes that kind of column anyway. If I’ve just discovered my own insigni cance, why am I writing about how the storm makes me feel?

I could exhaustively research and write a column about how a blizzard doesn’t mean global warming is a hoax, and how weather isn’t the same as climate, but most people wouldn’t read all the way to the end of that column, and about 40% of you would just call me a communist.

There remains the “most vulnerable” column in which the writer centers on any group of beings who su er the most in extreme weather. Feral cats. The homeless. Any half-bright writer can milk that until he’s got a bucket of tears. If I did that, I’d go for the feral cats angle. People feel a lot worse for homeless cats than they do for homeless people.

A lot of cities open special shelters for the homeless during periods of intense cold or blizzards. The bene t to the reporter/columnist is you can nd the homeless, or at least the less stubborn homeless. You go down to the shelter, and there they are, full of misery and quotes. If you can, nd a homeless veteran. People feel worse for an Iraq War veteran who “turned to drugs” than they do for some clown who started using drugs in junior high and hasn’t done anything since then but use drugs.

The feral cats are harder to nd. They’re dying under snow-caked shrubs, and “meow” is a lousy quote. If you could nd a former military dog, one of those bomb-sni ers, and it was dying under a shrub, a whimper would be a hell of a good quote. If you ran a picture of the dog, and you set up a GoFundMe for the pooch,

he’d be adopted and butt-deep in kibble by the end of the week.

A couple of days before the blizzard, my wife Deborah and I prepared. We used the traditional male/female division of labor: She went to the grocery store, I went to the liquor store. We ended up with a big bunch of groceries and a 30-pack of cheap beer. Standing in line at the liquor store, the day before it hit, I was struck by my own insigni cance in the face of nature’s fury. No matter what kind of horrifying act of God was about to come out of the clouds, I still didn’t have enough money to buy good beer, imported beer, craft beer. It makes a man think.

We still have power in our house, even though tens of thousands of people in the state are without electricity. If the power goes out, and the outage lasts for several days, and my wife and I freeze to death, when they nd us, I’m going to be clutching a can of beer that costs $20 for a 30-pack. That’s less than a buck a can. You don’t know how big a failure you are until you’re freezing to death under a shrub, being let into the emergency shelter or facing the cold wrath of God with a can of cheap beer in your hand.

Marc Dion’s latest book, a collection of his best columns, is called “Mean Old Liberal.” (Copyright 2026 Creators.com)

operation epic fury

The United States military initiated Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28 at 1:15 a.m. EST, an enormous operation “across every domain — land, air, sea, cyber,” said Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Sta . U.S. forces “delivered synchronized and layered e ects designed to disrupt, degrade, deny and destroy Iran’s ability to conduct and sustain combat operations on the U.S. side.”

The operation, conducted in tandem with the Israel Defense Forces, killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and at least 40 senior Iranian o cials in the rst minutes, and has continued since.

Six American soldiers were killed in an Iranian drone strike on Kuwait last Sunday, while three American ghter jets were shot down over Kuwait in a friendly re incident. All six aviators ejected safely.

Estimates on the length of the operation have ranged from a few weeks to several months — or longer — but Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the U.S. “will take all the time we need to make sure that we succeed.”

MOORE SPORTS

SPRING SPORTS ROUNDUP

3 area schools get baseball, softball, girls’ soccer seasons underway

North State Journal sta Baseball

Pinecrest won both games last week to move to 3-1 on the season. The Patriots beat Willow Spring 7-2 at home, then won 7-1 at Jack Britt.

This week, Pinecrest has games at home against Overhills and then travels to Pine Forest.

Union Pines won two of three to move to 3-2 on the year. The Vikings lost 5-1 at West Johnston, then won a pair at home to nish the week, beating Trinity 9-2 and West Johnston 2-1.

This week, Union Pines has a home and home with South Johnston.

North Moore opened the season by sweeping a home and home with Fayetteville Christian. The Mustangs won 16-0 on the road and 14-2 in the home opener. This week, North Moore has a home and home with Jordan-Matthews and a road trip at Bartlett Yancey.

Girls’ soccer

Pinecrest is 4-0-1 on the season after winning three games last week. The Patriots won at Asheboro, 4-1, then got a pair of home shutouts, 1-0 over Corinth Holders and 4-0 over Riverside Durham.

This week, Pinecrest starts a road swing with games at Cape Fear and Swansboro.

Union Pines lost two of three last week to fall to 1-2-1 on the year. The Vikings were shut out 3-0 at home by Carrboro. Union Pines then bounced back to win 5-0 at Fike, then fell 5-2 at home to J.H. Rose.

This week, Union Pines has a home and home with South Johnston to open confer-

ence play, then host D.H. Conley. North Moore opened the season by splitting two games. The Mustangs dropped the home opener 3-2 against Sandhills Homeschool, then won 8-2 at Central Carolina Academy.

This week, the Mustangs host Ascend Leadership, then head to Chatham Charter before hosting West Davidson.

Softball

Pinecrest opened the season with two wins in three games.

The Patriots won 25-0 at Seventh-First, then got a 15-0 home shutout over Southern Lee. Pinecrest lost 7-6 at Western Harnett.

This week, the Patriots have a home and home against Cary.

Union Pines won three

games last week to improve to 4-0 on the year. The Vikings swept a home and home with West Johnston, 6-1 on the road and 12-2 at home. In between, Union Pines beat Richmond 17-2.

This week, the Vikings have a home and home against South Johnston and a non-conference tilt against Overhills.

North Moore opened the season by splitting four games. The Mustangs swept Central Carolina Academy at home, winning 11-1 and 10-1. They then hit the road and lost 18-8 to Grace Christian and 5-3 at Montgomery.

This week, North Moore has a home and home with Jordan-Matthews to open conference play.

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Jadyn Lamielle

Pinecrest, girls’ soccer

Jadyn Lamielle is a senior striker on the Pinecrest girls’ soccer team. The Patriots opened the season 4-0-1, including three wins last week.

Lamielle had a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win over Asheboro and had a pair of goals in a 4-0 win over Riverside Durham. Her four goals and nine points on the season both rank in the top three in the Mid-South 7A/8A conference.

Blaney ends Reddick’s streak to give Team Penske weekend sweep at Phoenix

Reddick nished eighth, while Blaney took the lead with 10 laps left

By Jenna Fryer The Associated Press

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Ryan

Blaney completed a Team Penske sweep at Phoenix Raceway by winning the Cup Series race, denying Tyler Reddick a fourth consecutive win to start the Cup Series season.

Blaney was the race favorite after winning last November in the season- nale on the mile oval but he had to overcome at least three tire problems that cost him track position. He chased down Ty Gibbs — the 49th car he passed Sunday — to take the lead with 10 laps remaining and seal his 18th career victory.

“Just perseverance,” Blaney said. “We had a couple mistakes that we learned from, got better, had to come from the back a couple times. It’s cool to win, especially after a day like that. Can’t say enough about the (team) for keeping their head down and doing what they do.”

As he celebrated on the frontstretch, his parked Ford began to roll away and Blaney had to chase after it to ensure it was in park.

The victory came during a weekend celebration of Team Penske’s 60th season of competition and during a “desert doubleheader” that bundled IndyCar and NASCAR together at Phoenix. David Malukas won the IndyCar pole for Roger Penske and then Josef Newgarden won Saturday’s race; Joey Logano won the pole for the Cup race and then Blaney completed the sweep.

“Really proud of everybody at Team Penske,” Blaney said.

“We swept the weekend, Newgarden winning yesterday, us winning today. Can’t wait to see Roger.” Christopher Bell nished second in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson was third in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports and Gibbs dropped to fourth.

Denny Hamlin, who lost the championship last November at this track, was fth as JGR drivers took three of the top ve positions. Bell dominated the race the same way Hamlin did in November and, just like Hamlin, lost because of the wrong pit strategy.

Hamlin in November took four tires on the nal stop and

was beat for the championship by Larson, who took two tires.

On Sunday, Blaney took two tires while Bell and Hamlin each took four.

“You win some, you lose some,” said Bell, who led 176 of the 312 laps. “This one stings, but on the positive side, I’m really proud of our entire team.

It’s something to build on.

“It’s cool to win, especially after a day like that.”

Ryan Blaney

It was a day that we needed.”

Bubba Wallace was sixth for 23XI, William Byron was seventh for Hendrick, and Reddick was eighth. Toyota drivers took six of the top 10 spots.

“It would have been nice to make it four,” Reddick said. “Scored the fourth-most amount of points on the day... solid day. If we’re not going to win, these are the kind of days we need to have.”

The race was slowed by a record-tying 12 cautions, most caused by a rash of tire failures. Gibbs responds

Ty Gibbs has chosen not to comment on the federal lawsuit his grandfather’s race team led against its former competition director, even after court declarations from Chris Gabehart claimed he left Joe Gibbs Racing in part because of the young driver.

Ty Gibbs said ahead of the race Sunday he’d let his performance on track speak for him and then delivered with his second consecutive fourth-place nish.

“Very happy with my team. All the guys, I’m with the right guys. That makes a di erence,” Gibbs said. “So we’re running good because of that. It shows.”

Ty Gibbs is in his fourth full Cup season driving for his grandfather. Ty Gibbs was successful in NASCAR’s second-level series, where he won 12 races and the 2022 championship by winning the nale at Phoenix. His father, Coy, was found dead in his Phoenix hotel room the morning after the championship.

Ty Gibbs moved to the Cup Series in 2023 and is winless in 127 starts. The 23-year-old nished a career-best 15th in the 2024 Cup standings.

Dorothy Hudson

April 12, 1926 –March 6, 2026

Dorothy was born in Mannington, West Virginia, to the late Charles and Lucy Allen Sine. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her beloved husband, James “Jimmy” Hudson, as well as four sisters and one brother. Dorothy dedicated many years of her life to caring for others as a registered nurse. Her career took her to Anchorage, Alaska, Charlotte, and Pinehurst, where she faithfully served her community. She later worked as the in-house nurse for J.P. Stevens, where her compassion and professionalism touched the lives of many.

Outside of her career, Dorothy found great joy in the simple pleasures of life. She loved camping with her family, spending time working in her yard and tending to her garden, and relaxing with a good book. A woman of strong faith, Dorothy especially enjoyed reading her Bible. She also had a keen eye for discovering unique furniture pieces while thrift shopping, a hobby she greatly enjoyed. Dorothy will be remembered for her caring spirit, her deep faith, and the love she shared with her family and friends.

Dorothy is survived by two daughters, Nancy Hudson of Ho man and Joyce Lowery (Thomas) Aberdeen; one son, James Hudson of Salisbury; four grandchildren, Kevin, Brandon, Kali, and Rylie; and seven greatgrandchildren, Josie, Cason, Aaden, Shydamion, Bella, Carlos, and Antonio. Graveside services will be held at noon on Friday, March 13, 2026, at Beulah Hill Baptist Church Cemetery. The care of Ms. Hudson has been entrusted to Boles Funeral Home.

Annemarie Burks

Sept. 10, 1964 –March 4, 2026

Annemarie Burks, age 61, of Vass, NC, passed away at home on March 4, 2026. Annemarie was born in Perth Amboy, NJ, to James and Mary Ann Haney. Annemarie was employed as Assistant Vice President of Collateral Operations at Situs Asset Management.

She was a woman of many talents and a deeply creative spirit. Music lled her life, and she found great joy in playing the violin, guitar, and piano. She was a member of the Moore Philharmonic Orchestra. Her creativity extended far beyond music—she loved crafting, needlepoint, and glassblowing, always nding beauty in making something with her own hands. She was also an avid reader and a wonderful cook and baker. Whether through music, art, or the warmth of her kitchen, she expressed her love through creativity, leaving behind countless memories shaped by her imagination, talent, and generous heart.

Annemarie is survived by her husband, John Wayne Burks; son, John Michael Burks; sisters, Patricia Garner (Robert) and Ellen McNeil (Daniel); sisterin-law, Donna Shine (Joseph); nieces and nephews - Catherine, August, Melanie, Casey, Becca and Jesse, and many extended family members. Annemarie was preceded in death by her parents.

Family will receive friends Tuesday, March 10, 2026, at Boles Funeral Home, Southern Pines, from noon p.m. to 1 p.m. Memorial contributions can be made to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation. https://www. pulmonary brosis.org

Tommy DeCarlo,

Daniel “Poppie” Webster Bennett Jr.

Sept. 30, 1930 –March 4, 2026

Daniel Webster Bennett Jr., a ectionately known as “Poppie” by his grandchildren, age 95, of Pinehurst, NC, passed away at home on March 4, 2026. Daniel was born in Hampton, VA, on September 30, 1930, to Daniel Webster Bennett Sr. and Evelyn Ammons Bennett.

Daniel was a proud graduate of Hampton High School, class of 1947. He was a veteran of the United States Army who served during the Korean War and a graduate of Virginia Tech. Daniel was a longtime member of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Hampton, VA.

Daniel is survived by his wife, Mary Louise Bennett; sons, Daniel W. Bennett III and Garrett Bennett; not just daughters-in-law by law, but daughters by heart, Sally Cummings and Shoshanna Bennett; grandchildren, Brittany, Madison, Paige, Patrick and William; great-grandchildren Nora, Mazie, Waverley, Finley and Bexley. Daniel was preceded in death by his parents.

A graveside service will be held on Friday, March 6, 2026 at St. John’s Cemetery, Hampton, VA. Memorial contributions can be made to St John’s Episcopal Church, 100 W Queens Way, Hampton, VA 23669. Services are entrusted to Boles Funeral Home of Pinehurst.

who became longtime singer of Boston after

Myspace

By Andrew Dalton The Associated Press

tribute, dead at 60

TOMMY DECARLO, who became the lead singer of classic rockers Boston for nearly 20 years based on a Myspace tribute to the band’s original singer, has died.

DeCarlo’s children, Annie, Talia and Tommy Jr., said in posts on his Facebook and Instagram pages that their fa-

ther, who had been struggling for months with brain cancer, died Monday. “He fought with incredible strength and courage right up until the very end,” they said. He was 60. Brad Delp, the original singer of the band that was founded in 1975 and had hits including “More Than a Feeling” and “Peace of Mind,” died in 2007.

DeCarlo, then a 43-year - old working at a Home Depot in

North Carolina, wrote, sang and recorded a tribute song to Delp. He posted that song along with a few Boston covers to his Myspace page and sent the link to the band.

DeCarlo initially got a polite rejection, according to Rolling Stone. But founding guitarist and songwriter Tom Scholz, struck by his voice’s resemblance to Delp, invited DeCarlo to perform at a tribute con-

Mickey Walker

Sept. 26, 1959 –March 3, 2026

Mickey Walker, 67, of Pineblu , passed away on March 3, 2026. Mickey was born on September 26, 1959, in Pinehurst to Norris Bud Walker and Pearl Wallace. He grew up in Vass, NC, and later married Juanita Robertson and moved to Pine Blu , where they raised 3 children together. Mickey worked as an HVAC Tech for Pinehurst Resort for 23 years and continued his work past retirement. He was known for his willingness to always help other people and was a friend to all he met. Outside of work, Mickey loved working on Hot rods, had a passion for drag racing, car shows, and collecting unusual items. He always had a joke to tell you and could make you laugh no matter how you were feeling. His greatest accomplishments were his wife, family and the love he had for them.

Mickey is survived by his wife, Juanita Walker, Children Mickey Walker Jr, Christopher Walker, Ellen Walker, a son, David White, and stepchildren, Juanita Webb, Kathaleen Sullivan, 23 grandchildren, and 17 greatgrandchildren, a brother, Mark Walker of Vass, and other loving family members and friends. He was preceded in death by his father Norris Walker, his mother Pearl Walker and stepson Eddie Sulivan.

A Memorial service will be held on March 7 at 11 a.m. at Summer Hill Baptist Church in Carthage, NC, led by Pastor Joe Carpenter. The family will receive guests in the dining hall for food, drink and to share memories after the service.

In lieu of owers, memorial donations may be made to the American Heart Association.

Helen Fields

March 3, 2026

Lorraine Phillips Fields, age 84, of Carthage, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in High Point. A native of Richmond County, she was the daughter of the late Archie and Helen Scotten Phillips.

Lorraine loved her family and was a caregiver to many. She also loved her cats. She enjoyed gardening, freezing and canning.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Burgwyn Fields, and her daughter, Vickie Edwards.

She is survived by her son, Tony Fields of Carthage; brother Ronald Phillips and wife Carol of Kernersville; grandchildren Elaina Fields and Charles Edwards; son-in-law Don Edwards; and sister-in-law Sarah Jane Fields.

The family will have a private graveside service.

Celebrate the life of your loved ones. Submit obituaries and death notices to be published in NSJ at obits@ northstatejournal.com

cert for the late singer. Scholz then asked him to join the band.

“It wasn’t like I was trying to sing like Brad,” DeCarlo said in a bio on the band’s website, “it

was just that I loved to sing along with him.” DeCarlo toured with Boston for nearly 20 years and sang on their 2013 album, “Life, Love and Hope.”

Mark Lynn Penny

April 1, 1959 – March 3, 2026

If you ever met Mark Lynn Penny, you already know this: he believed in peace and love — and he lived it.

Mark was born on April 1, 1959, in Raleigh, North Carolina, and raised in Cary. (Yes, April Fool’s Day — a fact he appreciated, though he was far more sincere than mischievous.) He was preceded in death by his parents, whose memory he carried quietly and faithfully throughout his life.

Mark is survived by his three extraordinary daughters — Summer Penny, Bailey Penny, and Alanis Penny — who were, without question, the greatest joy and proudest accomplishment of his life. Being their father was his favorite title and his truest calling. He loved his girls with all of his heart — and then, more.

He is also lovingly remembered by Linda Gaster and Patty Trent Duble, who were part of the extended circle of family that surrounded his daughters with care and connection.

And then there was his “family of choice” — Charlene Edwards, April Tew (Michael), Dylan Davis, Katherine Rose, and Joseph Gbedji — who worked beside him, laughed with him, supported him, and loved him dearly. Mark believed family was built not only by blood, but by loyalty, kindness, and shared purpose — and he was rich in all three.

Mark’s life journey was beautifully layered. After high school, he joined the North Carolina Highway Patrol — a detail that later amused many who knew him as the gentle, purple-loving, John Lennonquoting “old hippie” he became. The contrast made him smile. Beneath it all, though, the common thread was service. Whether in uniform or blue jeans, Mark believed in protecting people.

He earned his Bachelor of

Jeanine “Lucille” Wallace

June 5, 1929 – March 6, 2026

Jeannie Lucille Wallace passed away peacefully on Friday, March 6, 2026, three months before her 97th birthday. She was born on June 5, 1929. She was preceded in death by her parents, Ressie and William Overby, and her twelve siblings. She was married to Paul Wallace, the love of her life, who predeceased her in 2000 after 53 years of marriage. She is survived by two daughters, Sylvia Vanore (Richard) and Pam Phillips Dellinger (Mike), ve grandchildren and their spouses (Richard Jr.-Ashley, Amy-Jason, Gina-Eric, Andrew–Riegel & Carli-Justin) and fourteen great grandchildren (Richard III, Luke, Josie, Stella, Anthony, Vince, Maria, Jack, Bo, Dean, Joe, Lola, Carson & Caleb).

Lucille was born and raised in Moore County. She excelled in school academically and in basketball (an avid Tarheel for life) and was always quite the mathematician. She was employed by Moore County Social Services for over 20 years, retiring as supervisor of the nancial aid program. She loved her work and always spoke of it fondly.

Lucille was a great cook, known for her fried chicken, especially her Thanksgiving Day chicken drumsticks she

Arts from Campbell University and went on to graduate from the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law with his Juris Doctor. Mark practiced law in Harnett County, rst with Charlene Edwards Law O ce and later as a solo practitioner in Lillington. He concentrated in criminal defense and was widely regarded as one of the nest defense attorneys in the area. Clients trusted him. Other lawyers respected him. Judges listened when he spoke. His legal career ended earlier than it should have, as Multiple Sclerosis gradually made practice impossible. But if you think MS de ned Mark, you didn’t know him. He refused to let it take his purpose. He continued volunteering at Charlene Edwards Law O ce until his passing — o ering wisdom, encouragement, and that steady, calming presence that so many depended upon.

Mark loved John Lennon and The Beatles. He loved Snoopy. He loved the color purple. He loved animals. He cared deeply about saving the earth. But above all, he loved people — and they loved him right back. Everyone who knew Mark knew this about him: he was unfailingly kind. Not occasionally. Not when it was convenient. Always.

He believed in peace and love not as a slogan, but as a way of moving through the world. And he did so gently, thoughtfully, and without ego.

His legacy is not just in courtrooms or degrees or titles. It is in daughters who know they were cherished. It is in colleagues who were mentored and supported. It is in clients who felt heard and defended. It is in every quiet act of compassion he o ered when no one was watching.

Services will be held on March 8, 2026, at Swann Station Baptist Church, 7592 Hwy 87 South, Sanford, North Carolina. Visitation will begin at 1 p.m., with the service to follow at 2 p.m.

In lieu of owers, Mark and his family ask that donations be made to The Nature Conservancy (nature.org) or the National MS Society (nationalmssociety. org) — causes that re ect both his love of the earth and his courageous journey with Multiple Sclerosis.

If you would like to honor Mark, you don’t need grand gestures. Wear something purple. Play a little Beatles. Show unexpected kindness. Protect someone who needs protecting. And remember: peace and love. Always.

prepared year in and out for her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Thanksgiving Day was one of her favorite meals to prepare with the best ever turkey dressing and candied yams, both of which continue to be on the table each thanksgiving.

She was also a great baker of pies and cakes, especially her German Chocolate cake which was a staple for Syvie and Pam’s birthdays. For decades there was always a big garden planted by family that produced all summer long and provided veggies throughout the year.

Lucille and Paul took many bus tours throughout the United States and Canada which she carried on after Paul’s death.

She also had a deep passion for music, playing with pro ciency, multiple musical instruments, including the piano, organ, guitar, and accordion with excellence. She was pianist for Flint Hill Baptist Church for many decades until declining health in her 80s.

FOX Hollow Assisted Care, where she resided for a few years, asked her to entertain its residents with her piano skills, which led to “Entertainment by Lucille” every Monday evening. First and foremost, Lucille was a devout and faithful Christian throughout her life. She loved Flint Hill Baptist Church and her church family.

The Family is appreciative of the many phone calls and visits from her friends and neighbors during her nal years and wants to express their gratitude to Liberty Hospice, as well as Pinelake and Fox Hollow, for their care!

Charitable donations can be made to Liberty Hospice, Pinehurst, NC.

Funeral service will be 2 p.m., Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at Flint Hill Baptist Church. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends prior to the service, beginning at 1 p.m., and other times at Pam and Mike’s house, 605 Mt. Carmel Road, Carthage, NC 28327.

Earline Cole

Aug. 23, 1947 –March 6, 2026

Earline C. Cole, 78, peacefully passed away on Friday, March 6, 2026, at the Crossroads Retirement Center in Asheboro, surrounded by her loving family.

Earline was born on August 23, 1947, to the late George and Celia Peele Collins in Moore County. She worked for many years at Static Control in manufacturing. She loved her children and grandchildren. She enjoyed gardening owers in her yard.

She is preceded in death by her parents, her loving husband, Robert Cole of 43 years, her daughters, Joan and Heather Cole, her twin, Pauline Collins, her sister, Kathy Lewis, her brothers, Albert and Robert Collins, and her grandson, Jeremiah McDermott.

Earline is survived by her daughter, Wendy Coltrane of Asheboro, her brother, David (Cheryl) Collins of Cameron, her sister, Jean (Hugh) Worrell of Broadway, her grandchildren, Crystal (Billy) Wiker, Justin Jameson, Jim (Connie) McDermott, Jodi (Isaac) Parsons, seven greatgrandchildren, and four nieces and one nephew. A visitation will be on Monday, March 16, 2026, from 4-6 p.m. at Fry & Prickett Funeral Home: 402 E. Saunders Street, Carthage, NC.

Michael Chase Minor

Aug. 21, 1996 –March 3, 2026

Michael Chase Minor, aged 29, of Lakeview, NC, passed away on 3/3/2026.

Born on August 21, 1996, in Moore County, Chase was known for his fun-loving, insanely fearless, genuine, hardworking, ercely loyal, dependable, sel ess, and truly one-of-akind personality. He built STM Construction from the ground up, starting from absolute scratch, but his true passion was being with his friends and family. Whether he was shing at a pond without permission, gol ng, hunting where he wasn’t supposed to, making a business move, grabbing breakfast in Pinehurst, lounging at home, talking junk to his buddies, aggravating his momma, or wrestling with his boy, he did it with joy.

He is survived by his sevenyear-old son, Sterling Minor; his devoted girlfriend, Liza Nance, with whom he was eagerly awaiting the birth of their baby this summer; his mother, Kimberly Renee Minor (Jimmy Patterson); his siblings, Cruse Minor (Katelyne), Charlie Ezzell and Robin Ring (Landon); his nieces and nephews Carson Ring, Avery Ring, Blaison Ezzell, Michael Robertson, River Ezzell, Shepherd Minor, Briggs Minor and Scout Chase Minor. He was a cherished son, brother, father, uncle, grandson, nephew, brother-in-law and friend who was always ready with a joke and a helping hand.

Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, at Calvary United Pentecostal Church, 6416 Lemon Springs Road, Sanford, NC 27332. The family will receive friends from 2:00 p.m. until service time at the church. Burial will follow at Lakeview Cemetery, 4385 US-1, Vass, NC 28394. The care of Chase has been entrusted to Boles Funeral Home.

Alexander Butter eld, Nixon aide who disclosed Watergate tapes, dead at 99

His revelation of the secret taping system ultimately forced Nixon’s resignation

By Douglass K. Daniel The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Alexander Butter eld, the White House aide who inadvertently hastened Richard Nixon’s resignation over the Watergate scandal when he revealed that the president had bugged the Oval O ce and Cabinet Room and routinely recorded his conversations, has died. He was 99.

His death was con rmed to The Associated Press by his wife, Kim, and John Dean, who served as White House counsel to Nixon during the Watergate scandal and went on to, along with Butter eld, help expose the wrongdoing.

“He had the heavy responsibility of revealing something he was sworn to secrecy on, which is the installation of the Nixon taping system,” Dean said. “He stood up and told the truth.”

As a deputy assistant to the president, Butter eld oversaw the taping system connected to voice-activated listening devices that had been secretly placed in four locations, including Nixon’s o ce in the Executive O ce Building and the presidential retreat at Camp David.

Butter eld later said that, besides himself and the president, he believed that only White House chief of sta H.R. Haldeman, a Haldeman assistant and a handful of Secret Service agents knew about the taping system.

“Everything was taped … as long as the president was in attendance,” Butter eld told Watergate investigators when testifying under oath during a preliminary interview.

The tapes would expose Nixon’s role in the cover-up that followed the burglary in 1972 at the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate building. To avoid impeachment by the House, Nixon resigned on Aug. 9, 1974, less than a month after the Supreme Court had ordered him to surrender the relevant tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor.

Butter eld believed he’d had a hand in the president’s fate.

“I didn’t like to be the cause of that, but I felt that I was, in a lot of ways,” he said in a 2008 oral history for the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

Butter eld, a college friend of Haldeman’s at UCLA who had contacted his friend to ask about opportunities in the new Nixon administration, served as a deputy assistant to Nixon from 1969 to 1973. In that capacity he worked under Haldeman and, among other duties, was secretary to the Cabinet and helped oversee White House operations.

The Air Force veteran had left the White House to become administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration when Senate committee staers privately questioned him on July 13, 1973, during their investigation of the Watergate break-in. A routine question about the possibility of a taping system had been prompted by former White House counsel John Dean’s testimony that he believed a conversation he had had with Nixon may have been recorded.

When Butter eld acknowledged that a taping system indeed existed, he was brought before a public hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. The public revelation on July 16, 1973, of a taping system designed to record all the president’s conversations stunned Nixon friends and foes alike. The tapes promised Watergate investigators a rich vein of evidence in their quest for determining what Nixon and others knew about the break-in — a

great deal, as it turned out. E orts by investigators to gain access to the tapes sparked a yearlong legal battle that was resolved in July 1974 when the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Nixon had to give them up.

The thousands of hours of tapes made public over the years — they are now controlled by the National Archives — provide a unique if often un attering view of Nixon. His words exposed a bad temper, vulgar language, bigoted racial and religious views, and unvarnished opinions about national and international gures.

“I just thought, ‘When they hear those tapes …’ I mean, I knew what was on these tapes … they’re dynamite,” Buttereld told the Nixon Library. “I guess I didn’t foresee that the president might be put out of o ce or impeached, but I thought it would be a perilous few years for him. I guess I couldn’t conceive of (Nixon) being forced out of o ce. It had never happened before.”

Butter eld later said that he believed that Nixon’s successor, President Gerald Ford, red him as FAA administrator in 1975 as part of an agreement worked out between the Nixon and Ford sta members. He said he had heard from White House friends that he had been targeted shortly after his testimony to the Senate committee.

After leaving the FAA, Butter eld worked as a business executive in California. He earned a master’s degree from the University of California, San Diego, in 1994.

Alexander Porter Butter eld was born on April 6, 1926, in Pensacola, Florida.

He left UCLA to join the Navy and later earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland in 1956 and a master’s degree from George Washington University in 1967. In 1948, he joined the Air Force and served as an instructor at a base near Las Vegas during the Korean War and later served in Germany. In Washington, he was military assistant to the special assistant of the defense secretary in 1965 and 1966 and later served as senior military representative of the U.S. and representative for the commander-in-chief, Paci c Forces, Australia. He retired at the rank of colonel after 20 years in the Air Force.

Butter eld was unsparing in his criticism of the former president in later years. While he commended Nixon’s achievements in foreign a airs, he considered his former boss “not an honest man” and “a crook” and believed that Nixon knew about the Watergate breakin before it occurred and was the architect of the ensuing cover-up.

Butter eld found himself “cheering … just cheering” the day Nixon resigned, he told the Nixon Library, because “justice had prevailed.”

“I didn’t think that it would for a while,” he said. “This guy was the ringleader.”

STATE & NATION

‘Christ is king’ becomes loaded phrase in US political debates, especially on the right

A sacred phrase becomes a rallying cry for some extremists targeting Jews

By Peter Smith

The Associated Press

ON ITS OWN, the phrase “Christ is king” sums up a core tenet of the Christian faith, that Jesus is the divine ruler of the universe. Catholics and many Protestants celebrate a Christ the King Sunday each year.

But the ancient proclamation can morph into something political, controversial or even sinister, depending on who says it and how it’s said.

In recent years, “Christ is king” and similar phrases have been chanted at political rallies, posted on social media and proclaimed in speeches by voices on the right.

At times the phrase is used to support the notion of America as a Christian nation or as one that owes its allegiance specically to the Christian God. Some current Cabinet o cials and recent members of Congress have used the phrase in speeches and on social media.

But other times, political activists have paired “Christ is king” with anti-Zionist statements or negative Jewish stereotypes.

The phrase has gained popularity among far-right gures and their followers. Conservative in uencer Candace Owens, who shares antisemitic conspiracies, sells branded “Christ is King” co ee mugs and T-shirts.

The controversy connects to a larger schism on the right, with some conservatives pushing back against an increasingly vocal faction whose denunciations of Israel, critics say, often combine with blatant antisemitism. Some of the latter group insist they’re not antisemitic, just anti-Zionist. That itself is a sharp break from what was once a near-consensus of pro-Israel sentiment among Republicans.

But there are times when the use of the phrase “Christ is king” is unquestionably hostile toward Jews, said a 2025 report by the Rutgers University-a liated Network Contagion Research Institute.

Analyzing social media postings between 2021 and 2024, the institute reported a dramatic increase of the phrase “Christ is king,” often used as a hate meme targeting Jews. The report lamented this deviation from its historical use as a hopeful, sacred a rmation with biblical roots.

“The weaponization or hijacking of ‘Christ is King’ represents a disturbing inversion of its original intent. Rather than sacralizing shared values, extremists have exploited this religious expression to justify hatred,” the report said.

Controversy spotlighted at religious liberty hearing

A recent meeting of the Religious Liberty Commission, a group President Donald Trump created and appointed, put the

phrase and related controversies in the spotlight.

At a Feb. 9 hearing focused on antisemitism, a witness, Seth Dillon, spoke of often hearing people use the phrase “Christ is king” followed immediately by a highly contemptuous slur toward Jews.

“This should o end every Christian,” said Dillon, the CEO of the conservative satirical site The Babylon Bee.

Commission member Carrie Prejean Boller repeatedly grilled witnesses about whether opposing Zionism could be construed as anti-Jewish. She said that as a Catholic she opposes Zionism but that this is not antisemitic. She asked Dillon if he thought “saying ‘Christ is king’ is antisemitic.”

Dillon said no and that, as a Christian, he regularly declares that “Christ is my king” — but context matters.

He testi ed that the phrase has been co-opted by Groypers, alluding to the followers of far-right in uencer Nick Fuentes, who has spread antisemitic views.

It’s “using the Lord’s name in an abusive manner,” Dillon said.

Fuentes’ supporters chanted “Christ is king” at the Million MAGA March, a November 2020 rally denying the Republican Trump’s defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in that year’s presidential election.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican who chairs the Religious Liberty Commission, announced Prejean Boller’s removal from the panel after the meeting. He asserted that she tried to “hijack” the hearing for her own agenda.

Following the commission meeting, Prejean Boller has posted proli cally on X, denouncing “Zionist supremacists” and repeatedly using the phrase “Christ is King.” She also has denounced the war launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran.

A recent Catholic convert, she said she opposes a popular evan-

gelical view that modern-day Israel exists in ful llment of biblical prophecy.

A religious phrase “co-opted by extremist gures”

The commission hearing was hardly the rst forum to air controversy over “Christ is king.”

The Network Contagion Research Institute’s 2025 report noted that while many “Christ is king” references on social media are strictly religious, the phrase has been “systematically co-opted by extremist gures.”

The report said Fuentes and other extremists use the phrase as a “white supremacist mantra publicizing their antisemitic beliefs.”

Fuentes has said the Holocaust was exaggerated, and he has denounced “organized Jewry in America.” He has claimed to be in battle with “satanic, globalist elites,” an antisemitic trope.

The religious phrase “Christ is king” is not inherently political, said Brian Kaylor, president and editor-in-chief of Word&Way, a progressive site covering faith and politics.

But that fact provides a “deniability” to those politicizing it, he said.

“We’re at a dangerous point with the phrase ‘Christ is king’ because of the heavy activity and use of it on the far right in very fascist, antisemitic ways,” said Kaylor, a Baptist minister and author of several books on religion and politics. “We’re at the danger of that phrase losing its meaning to where this new antisemitic use is the dominant de nition.”

The phrase has also gained popularity in political settings with some on the Catholic and evangelical right who are strongly pro-Israel and have repeatedly denounced antisemitism, such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Kaylor said the phrase is often used as “a declaration of Christian nationalism ” asserting that “the nation should be brought under the dictates of Christ.”

A dispute over politics and religion

The controversy has highlighted both religious and political ssures.

The Vatican has diplomat-

“This

should o end every Christian.”

Seth Dillon, Babylon Bee CEO

ic relations with Israel and has also recognized a state of Palestine. Pope Leo XIV has called for a two-state solution while denouncing antisemitism. During the Israel-Hamas war, popes Francis and Leo denounced the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas and Israel’s massive military response, with Leo demanding a halt to Israel’s “collective punishment” of Gaza’s population.

Other Catholics on the Religious Liberty Commission noted that Jesus and his followers were Jews and that a seminal 1965 Vatican document rejects antisemitism and the blaming of all Jews, including those alive today, for Jesus’ cruci xion. Patrick, the commission chairman, said the dispute with Prejean Boller re ects “a real problem with a very small group in our Republican Party.” Antisemitism needs to be repudiated or “this is going to destroy our party,” he said on “The Mark Levin Show,” a podcast.

But Prejean Boller has galvanized supporters from a staunchly conservative group called Catholics for Catholics, a lay-led, self-described “militant organization dedicated to the evangelization of this great country.”

It plans to honor Prejean Boller at a March 19 event with a Catholic Champion Award in Washington featuring speakers such as Owens.

Prejean Boller has reposted announcements of the event on X, including one post that shared a Spanish-language statement that translates to “We will not rest until we convert the USA into a Catholic nation.” The post concluded in English with “Christ is King!”