VOLUME 146 ISSUE 29 | WEEKEND EDITION, APRIL 11 – APRIL 12, 2026 | STANLYNEWSJOURNAL.COM
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Stanly NewS Journal THE STANLY COUNTY EDITION OF NORTH STATE JOURNAL
COURTESY NASA
Visiting the neighbors NASA’s Orion spacecraft captures the moon and the Earth in one frame as the first humans to fly to the moon in more than 50 years approached on Monday. All three bodies — the spacecraft, a waxing crescent moon and a crescent Earth, tiny compared to the moon — are illuminated by the sun, off to the right, more than 93 million miles away.
WHAT’S HAPPENING Trump complains NATO “wasn’t there when we needed them” after meeting President Donald Trump repeated his complaint about NATO after a private meeting with the alliance’s Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Wednesday. Trump has been angry with the military alliance because member countries ignored his call to help reopen a vital shipping waterway during the war with Iran. Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, sending gas prices soaring. Trump had suggested the U.S. may consider leaving the trans-Atlantic alliance over the issue. Rutte — who has a good working relationship with Trump — had been expected to try to smooth things over. But afterward, Trump issued a social media post saying, “NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM.”
Appeals court rebuffs Anthropic in latest round of its Pentagon dispute A federal appeals court on Wednesday refused to block the Pentagon from blacklisting artificial intelligence laboratory Anthropic in a decision that differed from the conclusions reached in another judge’s ruling on the same issues. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., rejected Anthropic’s request for an order that would shield the company from the fallout stemming from a dispute over how the Pentagon could deploy its AI technology. The ruling followed another judge’s order that forced the Trump administration to remove a label tainting the company as a national security risk.
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Rear-end collision sparks 6-vehicle crash in Locust One was hospitalized after the crash at a Locust intersection
Locust Police Department
By Jesse Deal Stanly News Journal LOCUST — A six-vehicle crash at a busy Locust intersection Monday afternoon sent one driver to the hospital with serious injuries, according to authorities. Officers with the Locust Police Department responded at approximately 4:26 p.m. to a multivehicle collision at the stoplight intersection of West Main Street (N.C. 24/27) and Red Bridge Boulevard. According to a crash update released Wednesday morning by the department, the incident began when a box truck driven by Joshua Chrispin of Gastonia was traveling westbound on West Main Street
COURTESY MIDLAND FIRE DEPARTMENT
Emergency crews respond to a crash on Monday in Locust that left one driver hospitalized. and rear-ended a blue Buick passenger car that was stopped at a red light. The impact triggered a chain-reaction crash involving
four additional vehicles, bringing the total number involved to six. Authorities estimated total damage to the vehicles at approximately $50,000.
Army veteran charged with sharing classified details of elite commando unit A woman is accused of disclosing Delta Force secrets amid sexual harassment allegations By Allen G. Breed and Gary D. Robertson The Associated Press RALEIGH — A North Carolina Army veteran has been charged with sharing classified information about an elite commando unit with a journalist, which one official said put “our nation, our warfighters, and our allies at risk.” Courtney Williams, 40, of Wagram in Scotland County,
“The Locust Police Department is thankful there were not more serious injuries as a result of this crash, and we wish the injured driver a full and quick recovery.”
is accused of violating federal law, as well as multiple nondisclosure agreements by sharing details of her work with a “special military unit” at Fort Bragg. “Anyone divulging information they vowed to protect to a reporter for publication is reckless, self-serving and damages our nation’s security,” Reid Davis, the FBI special agent in charge in North Carolina, said in a U.S. Justice Department news release. Williams “swore an oath to safeguard our nation’s secrets as an employee supporting a See DETAILS, page A5
“This is a vindictive act of retaliation, plain and simple.” Seth Harp, author of “The Fort Bragg Cartel”
The driver of the blue passenger car was transported to Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Main with serious injuries, including facial lacerations, a possible concussion and a broken leg. Officials said the injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. No other injuries were reported at the scene. “The Locust Police Department is thankful there were not more serious injuries as a result of this crash, and we wish the injured driver a full and quick recovery,” the department said in a statement. “We would also point out this type of crash has occurred in many See CRASH, page A8