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There’s been a huge amount of commentary on former President Donald Trump’s big lead over Gov. Ron DeSantis in national polls. In the current RealClearPolitics average of polls, Trump has a 30.8-point lead — 53.2% to DeSantis’ 22.4%. That lead, while enormous, has been shrinking in the last week; on May 20, it was 36.9 points. Now, it’s six points smaller. That is something to watch in the days ahead. Read moreByron York: Pregame is over for Trump vs. DeSantis

For someone living in a rural county like Rutherford where the name of the Republican candidate is the only one on the ballot in most local races, it’s not news that the state Democratic Party has been largely missing in action during the past several election cycles. At the state level in 2022, Republicans were unopposed by a Democrat in one-fourth of House and Senate races. Read moreJoy Franklin: New leadership energizes NC Democratic Party

State AP Stories

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Fort Bragg shed its Confederate namesake Friday to become Fort Liberty in a ceremony some veterans view as a small but important step in making the U.S. Army more welcoming to Black service members. The change is the most prominent in a broad Department of Defense initiative to rename military installations bearing the name of confederate soldiers. It was prompted by the 2020 George Floyd protests. A naming commission estimates the cost of renaming the base will be about $6.37 million. The commission visited the base and met with and members of the surrounding community to solicit their input. The North Carolina base was originally named in 1918 for Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg.

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Toyota will invest another $2.1 billion in an electric and hybrid vehicle battery factory that’s under construction near Greensboro, North Carolina. The plant will supply batteries to Toyota’s huge complex in Georgetown, Kentucky, which will build Toyota’s first U.S.-made electric vehicle, a new SUV with three rows of seats. The plans announced Wednesday won’t immediately create any more jobs at either factory.  Toyota plans to have 2,100 employees at the battery factory. The investment will prepare infrastructure to expand for growth. Production is to start in 2025. It brings the total investment to $5.9 billion. The huge Kentucky complex now employs 9,500 people.  The company says jobs will shift to the new electric vehicle when production starts in 2025.

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The North Carolina General Assembly’s chief advocate for legalizing medical marijuana in the state has revealed how he smoked pot over 20 years ago to withstand intense chemotherapy during his fight with cancer. Sen. Bill Rabon of Brunswick County has previously described himself as a colon cancer survivor. But he had been reticent on details like whether he used marijuana until pitching his legislation on Tuesday to the House Health Committee. The measure passed the Senate three months ago. Rabon recalled how a physician told him to obtain marijuana when he sought a more aggressive form of treatment. Medical pot opponents say marijuana may cause harm to patients.

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As the Supreme Court decides the fate of affirmative action, most people in the U.S. say the court should allow consideration of race as part of the admissions process. Yet few believe students’ race should play a significant role in those decisions. A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 63% say the Supreme Court should not stop colleges from considering race or ethnicity in their admission systems. The poll shows little divide along political or racial lines. People are more likely to say grades and standardized test scores should be significant factors. Lawsuits are challenging admissions systems at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

National & World AP Stories

Asian stocks have followed Wall Street higher after strong U.S. hiring data suggested a possible recession might be further away, while smaller wage gains stoked hopes inflationary pressures are weakening. Tokyo’s benchmark gained almost 2%. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul also rose. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index leaped 1.5%, putting it on the verge of entering what traders call a “bull market” after rising nearly 20% in seven months. Government data showed U.S. employers hired more people than expected in May but wage gains are decelerating. That suggests the economy is strong but upward pressure on inflation might be weakening, reducing the need for the Federal Reserve to cool business activity with more rate hikes.

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Several survivors of the train crash in India that killed 275 people and injured more than 800 said they are still in shock. The passengers included laborers on their way to start new jobs and families traveling to major hospitals. Survivors describe a crash that happened so fast they were hardly aware, and struggles to escape twisted wreckage. Investigators said that a signaling failure might been the cause of the three-train crash in Odisha state Friday. Despite efforts to improve safety, several hundred accidents occur every year on India’s railways, the largest system under one management in the world.

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The U.S. Navy says its sailors and the United Kingdom Royal Navy came to the aid of a ship in the crucial Strait of Hormuz after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard “harassed” it. Three fast-attack Guard vessels with armed troops aboard approached the merchant ship at a close distance on Sunday afternoon. That's according to a U.S. Navy statement. Black-and-white images the Navy said it took from overhead showed three small ships close to the commercial ship. The guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul and the Royal Navy’s frigate HMS Lancaster responded to the incident, with the Lancaster launching a helicopter. Iran did not acknowledge the incident.