CHILD FATALLY SHOT
North Carolina man charged with fatally shooting 7-year-old
FOREST CITY, N.C. (AP) — Authorities in North Carolina say a man fatally shot a 7-year-old girl three hours after he was released from jail on a different gun charge. News outlets report 26-year-old Shaquille Francis was charged with murder in the death of Aaliyah Norris, who was shot in the head while in a car on Tuesday. She died Thursday. Forest City Police Chief Chris LeRoy says investigators don’t think she was the intended target. LeRoy says that that three hours before Aaliyah was shot, Francis was released from jail on a charge of assault by pointing a gun. It’s unclear if Francis has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
SESSION ENDS
NC lawmakers done with most of year’s work after marathon
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina lawmakers have finished most of their work for the year. House and Senate members began a marathon meeting Thursday that didn’t get done until early Friday morning. They passed laws setting another Medicaid overhaul date, funding a monument to honor African Americans and trying again to reopen businesses shuttered by Gov. Roy Cooper due to COVID-19. Cooper must act upon dozens of bills on his desk before early July. After any veto override votes, the General Assembly won’t return to work until early September, during which Republican leaders have agreed to a limited, two-day agenda.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NORTH CAROLINA
N Carolina lieutenant governor to sue over COVID-19 orders
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest informed Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper Thursday he intends to sue over the way Cooper has imposed business restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Forest wrote a letter arguing the governor has violated state law by issuing executive orders curtailing business without seeking concurrence from a group of elected officials known as the Council of State. Forest, who’s running against Cooper in the November gubernatorial election, cites multiple times during the pandemic that Cooper issued executive orders without formal assent from a majority of the council. Cooper’s office accused Forest of playing politics.
CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS-NORTH CAROLINA
Coastal North Carolina city removes Confederate monuments
WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina city along the coast has removed two Confederate statues located in public spaces near downtown. Wilmington officials said on Twitter early Thursday that they removed a statue of former Confederate politician George Davis and a statue at another Confederate memorial that didn’t depict a particular historical figure. News outlets reported that the bases of the monuments remained in place. City officials characterized the moves as temporary moves to protect public safety in accordance with a state law that generally prohibits permanent removals of Confederate monuments. They city is storing the two statues at an undisclosed location.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-NORTH CAROLINA
4 arrested for blocking street in front of police department
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Police in North Carolina arrested four people and removed wooden pallets blocking the street at a protest in front of a police department. News outlets report a group has been camping outside the Durham Police Department since June 16 and used wooden pallets to block the street early Thursday morning. Police ended the demonstration and cleared the barricades created by protesters late Thursday morning. Police Chief C.J. Davis would not say whether the campout would be allowed to continue, but she said in a statement that blocking and impeding traffic was unacceptable.
CONCEALED WEAPONS
More options where to carry handgun OK’d by N.C. legislature
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — More people in North Carolina could carry their concealed weapons while working and while attending church in a measure given final legislative approval. The House and Senate voted Thursday for the compromise bill, sending it to Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk. The bill allows people with concealed permits to carry their handgun at a religious place of worship that is also the location of a private school. A permit holder could only carry the gun outside the school’s operating hours. Two more categories of workers also would be allowed to wear their concealed weapons in some situations.
MEDIA-LOCAL NEWS
Even before virus, communities feeling loss of newspapers
NEW YORK (AP) — North Carolina journalism professor Penelope Muse Abernathy has a grim job, compiling statistics that chronicle the decline of local news across the country. That picture isn’t getting any brighter in her latest report, out this week. But she can take some solace in the fact that people — politicians, community activists and regular citizens — are noticing the consequences of closed local newspapers and laid-off journalists. The closure of newspapers has accelerated this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Abernathy says an influx of public money will likely be necessary to ensure Americans stay informed about what’s going on in their communities.
SPEEDWAY OWNER-ROPE AD
North Carolina speedway owner offers ‘Bubba Rope’ for sale
DANBURY, N.C. (AP) — The owner of a North Carolina speedway advertised “Bubba Rope” for sale on a social media marketplace page days after NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace announced a noose had been found in his garage at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Wallace is the only Black driver in NASCAR’s top series. Mike Fulp, the owner of the half-mile 311 Speedway in Stokes County, advertised the rope in a pitch Wednesday on Facebook Marketplace that read: “Buy your Bubba Rope today for only $9.99 each, they come with a lifetime warranty and work great.’’ The post was removed by midday Thursday.
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