A teacher at North Edgecombe High School is jailed under a $100,000 secured bond in the Edge… Read moreNorth Edgecombe High teacher arrested on child sex charges
About 16 months after it was announced that The Crump Group Inc. of Canada was moving into t… Read moreNew pet treat plant fills first order
Near the end of a police department presentation on Thursday night to help make residents mo… Read morePolice sponsor presentation about local gangs
Fire Chief Corey Mercer is going to be retiring at the beginning of March, the City of Rocky… Read moreMercer to retire as fire chief in March
A woman is jailed in the Nash County Detention Center in connection with a report of gunfire… Read morePolice charge woman in shooting at Walmart Supercenter
The Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office has a program it conducts in conjunction with Egecombe… Read moreEdgceombe sheriff's program helps steer youngsters
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FRANKLINTON — Both Rocky Mount High School indoor (winter) track teams finished in second pl… Read moreIndoor track: Gryphons place 2nd in Big East championship meet; NN boys win
The Northern Nash varsity boys basketball team remained undefeated and moved to 20-0 on the … Read moreBoys Basketball Roundup: Knights roll to 20-0
North East Carolina Prep was the only local team out of three to reach the second round of t… Read moreDual Team Wrestling: NECP reaches second round of playoffs
The varsity girls basketball game between Roanoke Rapids and Northern Nash had a foul ending… Read moreGirls Basketball Roundup: A foul ending for Lady Knights in loss to Jackets
There are a few things this week worth mentioning, none more so than Jeff Charles having bro… Read moreSearching for answers for ECU hoops
The Southern Nash girls swim team are champions in the Big East 2A/3A Conference this season. Read moreWAY OF THE WATER: Southern Nash girls swim to Big East title
Even as Black History Month begins, the war on teaching Black history has opened a new front in Florida. That state’s governor, the shamelessly ambitious Ron DeSantis, has banned a proposed high school Advanced Placement (AP) course in African American studies. Read moreCynthia Tucker: Florida ban explained in one word: Racism
In U.S. history there may never have been a time when a sitting president of the United States grossly mishandled or did not properly secure classified documents until President Joe Biden. Read moreGary Franks: One difference in Biden's document handling
Weeks after Elon Musk’s decision to reinstate Donald Trump on Twitter, Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) announced it will allow Trump back on its platforms too. Read moreRobert B. Reich: Should Trump get back his giant megaphones?
Every citizen in the 1st District needs to call Rep. Don Davis to demand that he vote to pas… Read moreLetter: New congressman should support Fair Tax Act
I am a Boy Scout from Troop 587 in West Edgecombe. A merit badge I am taking asks that I wri… Read moreLetter: Climate change most pressing problem facing world
According to the latest-available set of comparable data, North Carolina ranks 33rd in the nation in “deaths of despair” — that is, in the combined rates of suicides, fatal drug overdoses, and alcohol-induced deaths. In 2020 our age-adjusted rate was 55.5 deaths of despair per 100,000 residents, slightly higher than the national average of 54.8. From 2018 to 2020, our rate rose by 26%. Read moreJohn Hood: Deaths of despair need careful analysis
We live in a post-pandemic world, and job seekers have had to adapt to a new way of job sear… Read moreChristy Skojec Taylor: How to avoid costly mistakes in virtual interviews
Nash UNC Health Care has appointed three new members to its Board of Commissioners to fill s… Read moreNash UNC adds new board members
N.C. Wesleyan University has submitted the substantive change application for its new Master… Read moreN.C. Wesleyan launches new master’s degree program
We’ve witnessed an onslaught of cybersecurity threats and ransomware recently. Read moreJeremy Taylor:Tips to help protect your workforce from cyberattacks
Each year, our United Way facilitates the Governor’s Volunteer Service Awards for outstandin… Read moreGinny Mohrbutter: Time to honor our local volunteers
Flag Raising: The Joint Veterans Committee of Nash and Edgecombe Counties will hold a flag r… Read moreCommunity Calendar
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State AP Stories
North Carolina civil rights advocates have denounced a House rule change that could allow Republicans to override vetoes on contentious bills with little notice, saying it subverts democracy and the will of voters. Republicans pushed through temporary operating rules this month that omitted a longstanding requirement that chamber leaders give at least two days’ notice before holding an override vote. The move could allow Republicans to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes while Democrats are absent, even momentarily. Calling the change “a shameful power grab meant to thwart the will of the people,” Jillian Riley of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic said it undermines the functionality of the General Assembly.
As mass shootings are again drawing public attention, states across the U.S. seem to be deepening their political divide on gun policies. A series of recent mass shootings in California come after a third straight year in which U.S. states recorded more than 600 mass shootings involving at least four deaths or injuries. Democratic-led states that already have restrictive gun laws have responded to home-state tragedies by enacting or proposing even more limits on guns. Many states with Republican-led legislatures appear unlikely to adopt any new gun policies after last year's local mass shootings. They're pinning the problem on violent individuals, not their weapons.
The families of five passengers killed in a plane crash off the North Carolina coast have settled wrongful death lawsuits for $15 million. Their attorneys told the court the companies that owned the plane and employed the pilot paid the money. The suits claimed the pilot failed to properly fly the single-engine plane in weather conditions with limited visibility. All eight people aboard died off the Outer Banks. The passengers included four teenagers and two adults, returning from a hunting trip. The founder of the company that owned the plane was killed, and his family wasn't involved in the lawsuits.
A man who caused evacuations and an hourslong standoff with police on Capitol Hill when he claimed he had a bomb in his pickup truck outside the Library of Congress has pleaded guilty to a charge of threatening to use an explosive. Floyd Ray Roseberry, of Grover, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to the felony charge in Washington federal court. He faces up to 10 years behind bars and is scheduled to be sentenced in June. An email seeking comment was sent to his attorney on Friday. Roseberry drove a black pickup truck onto the sidewalk outside the Library of Congress in August 2021 and began shouting to people in the street that he had a bomb.
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National & World AP Stories
On his trip to Congo, Pope Francis has heard first-hand accounts of atrocities some people have endured during years of fighting in the eastern part of the country. A young woman told him she was “raped like an animal” for months. A young man watched as his father was decapitated. A former sex slave told Francis her captors forced her into cannibalism. Francis sat in silence as victim after victim come forward to tell their stories, and he urged them to use their pain to sow peace and reconciliation. It was a message he delivered earlier in the day at a Mass to an estimated 1 million people at Kinshasa’s Ndolo airport.
Missy Elliott, Willie Nelson, Kate Bush, Iron Maiden, Cyndi Lauper, Soundgarden, Sheryl Crow and the late George Michael are nominees for 2023 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a list that includes a mix of country, soul, hip-hop, metal, pop, rap-rock and grunge. The Cleveland-based institution announced Wednesday the 14 artists and groups being considered for Rock Hall induction, also including Rage Against the Machine, The Spinners, A Tribe Called Quest, The White Stripes, Warren Zevon and Joy Division/New Order. Artists must have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years before they’re eligible for induction.
A deadly storm system is lashing a large swath of the southern U.S. with bands of sleet and snow for a third day. The storm grounded an additional 2,200 flights on Wednesday, including the majority to and from the Dallas area's two major airports, which are major hubs for American Airlines and Southwest Airlines. It has also cut power to hundreds of thousands customers, forced school closures and made already treacherous driving conditions worse. Watches and warnings about wintry conditions have been issued for an area stretching West Texas’ border with Mexico through Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, and into western Tennessee and northern Mississippi. The slick conditions have been blamed for at least six traffic deaths in Texas.
Local climate activists in Congo are hoping Pope Francis' visit will help spur action to protect the country's rainforest from oil and gas interests.