AP-US-NEWTOWN-SHOOTING-GUN-MAKER

Gun maker offers $33M to settle suit by Sandy Hook families

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The maker of the rifle used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting has offered some of the victims’ families nearly $33 million to settle their lawsuit over how the company marketed the firearm to the public. Lawyers for now-bankrupt Remington filed the proposals late Tuesday in a Connecticut court, offering the nine families suing the company nearly $3.7 million apiece. The families’ lawyers say they are considering the proposals. A lawyer for Remington declined to comment. Remington made the Bushmaster rifle used to kill 20 first-graders and six educations at the Newtown, Connecticut, school in 2012. The families say the company shouldn’t have marketed such a dangerous weapon to the public.

COURTHOUSE-GUN DETECTED

Gun, ammo found in man’s backpack at N. Carolina courthouse

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina sheriff’s office says a man accompanying his wife to a courthouse for a traffic ticket tried to enter the building with a pistol and ammunition. The Charlotte Observer reports the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office says 35-year-old Anthony S. Donte of Huntersville entered the county courthouse in downtown Charlotte on Tuesday with a bookbag. The sheriff’s office says when two deputies put the bag through an x-ray scanner, they saw a gun, seized it and placed Donte under arrest. Deputies found a pistol and 27 rounds of ammunition in the bag. Donte is charged with possession of a deadly weapon on a state property or courthouse.

AP-US-RACIAL-INJUSTICE-PROPERTY-COVENANTS

State lawmakers work to strip old ‘whites only’ covenants

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The nation’s reckoning on race has given new momentum to efforts to help U.S. homeowners somehow disassociate their properties with historic, racially restrictive property covenants. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 10 states this year passed or are currently considering a wide range of bills concerning restrictive covenants that are based upon race or religion. Three states passed such legislation in 2020. Even though the U.S. Supreme Court in 1948 ruled that racially restrictive housing covenants were unenforceable under the U.S. Constitution, many still remain today, often to the surprise of homeowners.

STICKERS-MEXICAN RESTAURANTS

Police: Man placed racist stickers at Mexican restaurants

CARY, N.C. (AP) — Police have charged a man with ethnic intimidation after he placed stickers in and around two Mexican restaurants in North Carolina. The News & Observer of Raleigh reports Cary Police Capt. John Reeves arrested 60-year-old John Kantz on Monday after stickers were placed on cars outside one restaurant and in the restroom of two other restaurants. The stickers read “I love white people” with a heart replacing the word “love.” According to police, the incidents occurred on Saturday. Reeves didn’t say whether there were additional suspects. Ethnic intimidation is a misdemeanor offense in North Carolina.

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY-FATAL CRASH

North Carolina teen dies in Blue Ridge Parkway crash

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — The National Park Service says a North Carolina teenager has died after the vehicle she was riding in crashed on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The park service says in a news release that 18-year-old Alexis Bolduc of Mocksville died at the scene. Blue Ridge Parkway dispatchers received a report shortly after 11 a.m. Monday of a single-vehicle crash near parkway milepost 441 in Haywood County. Before U.S. park rangers arrived at the scene, Bolduc had died from her injuries. The vehicle’s driver suffered minor injuries and was taken to Haywood Regional Medical Center in Clyde for treatment, but the park service didn’t identify the driver.

NORTH CAROLINA

WakeMed to require all workers get COVID-19 vaccine

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — WakeMed Health & Hospitals has told workers it will require them to get a COVID-19 vaccine if they wish to remain employed. The Raleigh-area hospital system is the leading provider in the state’s second largest county. It has three acute care hospitals and one physical rehabilitation hospital. The timeline for when the vaccine requirement will take effect has not yet been determined. The move comes amid growing concern of the more contagious delta variant. Several other North Carolina hospital systems have announced plans to compel workers to come in get vaccinated. WakeMed’s vaccine requirement will apply to all employees, providers and volunteers in the “near future.”

FATAL CRASH-LIGHT RAIL

Police: Driver killed, passenger hurt in train, truck crash

CHARLOTTE , N.C. (AP) — Police in North Carolina say the driver of a pickup truck was killed and his passenger was seriously injured in a crash with a light rail train when the truck drove around the crossing arms and into the train’s path on Monday night. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say officers called to a report of a crash in Charlotte found a Toyota Tundra and a blue line train damaged from the collision. Police say the driver of the truck, Baltazar Tiquiram Us, was pronounced dead and his passenger was taken to a hospital with serious injuries. None of the four light rail passengers was injured. Police say it’s suspected that the pickup driver was impaired and toxicology results are pending.

STOLEN TRUCK-HOMEOWNER DRAGGED

Sheriff: N. Carolina man drags homeowner with stolen truck

LEXINGTON, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina sheriff’s office has arrested a man who they say dragged a homeowner with a stolen truck. The High Point Enterprise reports deputies with the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call on Sunday about a break-in at a home near the Silver Valley community, The sheriff’s office says that during the break-in, a man tried to steal a truck and one of the homeowners was dragged by the vehicle. The truck wrecked and the man fled. Deputies captured 28-year-old Christopher Dunning of Thomasville and filed multiple charges, including assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. Dunning is jailed on a $75,000 bond.