VOLUME 146 ISSUE 61 | WEEKEND EDITION, AUG. 1-2, 2026 | STANLYNEWSJOURNAL.COM
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Morning glory The sun just managed to punch through the clouds over Stanly County (and the rest of North Carolina) on Tuesday morning.
WHAT’S HAPPENING Trump says he may pull Blanche’s AG nomination until Tillis, Cornyn leave office President Donald Trump says he may withdraw and delay Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general until Republican senators who are seeking concessions from the top prosecutor leave office. Trump doubled down Thursday on choosing his former personal lawyer as the nation’s top lawman, calling him “a STAR” and saying he will keep him in the role as acting attorney general until Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina leave office. Cornyn and Tillis both leave office next year. Cornyn and Tillis have sought additional assurances in writing spelling a final end to an “Anti-Weaponization Fund” created to resolve Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.
UEFA members to boycott FIFA competitions in protest of World Cup private investors plan UEFA member federations will boycott all FIFA competitions in protest of Gianni Infantino’s plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private equity investors. The European soccer body says it’s a unanimous decision after an urgent online meeting of the 55 members. The strategy meeting was called to counter FIFA President Infantino’s offer of $20 million to each of its 211 global members that has to be accepted by mid-September.
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SCC trustee defends Facebook post on race, ‘black fatigue’ The college says personal posts do not represent the institution By Jesse Deal Stanly News Journal ALBEMARLE — A Stanly Community College trustee’s Facebook post about race and a racial slur — including his subsequent comment that “people are suffering from black fatigue” — prompted the college to say trustees’ personal social media activity does not represent the institution or its board. Kelly Lowder was appointed to the SCC Board of Trustees by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2024 for a term ending in 2028. In a July 23 Facebook post,
Lowder contrasted Shiloh Hendrix’s then-ongoing disorderly conduct trial, arising from an incident in which she used a racial slur, with a first-degree murder case against Decarlos Brown Jr. On Monday, SNJ asked Lowder to confirm that the account was his, that he wrote the post and comments from it, and that displayed “liked” reactions from his account on other users’ comments were his. He answered, “Yes with the exception of ‘liked reactions.’” In a separate follow-up, he said, “My views are that all people should be treated equally — it’s really that simple.” The post remained public that morning, with more than 1,700 comments, before Lowder limited it to his Facebook friends, saying
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Kelly Lowder
he had received death threats. In the post, he described a “double standard” surrounding “the N-word,” citing its use in rap music but writing, “god forbid some a--hole gets on your See FACEBOOK, page A8
Stanly County Schools assistant principals at Albemarle High, Middle The school district announced two leadership hires By Jesse Deal Stanly News Journal ALBEMARLE — Stanly County Schools has named two new assistant principals at Albemarle schools, appointing Erin Gardiner at Albemarle High School and Riley Honeycutt at Albemarle Middle School. Gardiner enters her 23rd year in education and has spent her career serving students
within SCS. She most recently worked for two years as dean of students at Albemarle High, where she will now continue as an assistant principal. Before moving into school administration, Gardiner spent 20 years in the classroom. She also taught at North Stanly Middle School, West Stanly High School and Stanly STEM Early College. Gardiner earned a bachelor’s degree in history and anthropology, teaching licensure and a master’s degree in education from UNC Charlotte. She See SCS, page A5
nerves and your pasty self lets one drop.” He also warned that if white people were to “lose” in the United States, as he wrote had happened in Haiti, Rhodesia — now Zimbabwe — and South Africa, “it’s gonna be really, really bad for the rest of the humans on the planet.” After writing that a growing share of the world’s population could not sustain itself economically, he concluded, “Well, maybe the world needs a good purge. ... You were warned.” Lowder later told SNJ that by “purge,” the term “refers to the likelihood of starvation that historically comes after a genocide against food producers.” In a separate Facebook
“I am excited about continuing to build a positive culture at Albemarle High School.” Erin Gardiner