The number of new COVID-19 infections in the Twin Counties reported to state health official… Read more
Near the end of the recent Central City Revitalization Panel meeting, Rocky Mount Area Chamb… Read more
An ongoing narcotics investigation resulted in a felon being arrested after a search warrant… Read more
The City Council earlier this week approved awarding a bid of $770,000 by a contractor to re… Read more
A new Dollar Tree store will be opening soon on N.C. 97 near the Halifax Road intersection s… Read more
Multiple events last weekend paired helping hands with helping hearts to provide back to sch… Read more
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High school football is back. Read more
The Rocky Mount High School boys’ soccer team suffered a 4-1 loss at D.H. Conley Wednesday night. Read more
LEGGETT — There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned five-set volleyball match between neighb… Read more
North Carolina Wesleyan University Head Men’s Basketball Coach John Thompson has been named … Read more
The Rocky Mount Academy girls tennis team took Wilson Fike down to the wire before falling 5… Read more
The All-Area Alumni Basketball Explosion will take place at Rocky Mount High School on Satur… Read more
It is time to celebrate President Biden’s impressive host of accomplishments, proof of all t… Read more
Bells are ringing across North Carolina as some 1.5 million children start another school year. Can you remember your back-to-school experiences? There was always a bit of anxiety and excitement to learn who would be your teacher and what friends were in your class. Read more
A central pillar of the just-passed Inflation Reduction Act is $80 billion going to the IRS to hire some 87,000 new agents, doubling the current force, to chase down U.S. taxpayers who allegedly are not meeting their tax obligations. Read more
Salma al-Shehab, the mother of two young children, was studying for a PhD at the University of Leeds and took time off to go home to Saudi Arabia for a vacation. Ms. Shehab is a Shiite Muslim, a persecuted minority in the kingdom, and a women’s rights activist who spoke out on social media for the right of women to drive. Her vacation ended in prison. Read more
As the global pandemic has reminded us with tragic ferocity in recent years, viruses can, despite our best efforts, be enormously destructive and hard to contain — especially as our world has grown ever-more-crowded and interconnected. Read more
It isn’t true that the new subsidies for buying electric vehicles will only benefit the rich. Even if it were, I wouldn’t care. Read more
Q I haven’t interviewed in decades. I’m not kidding. I’ve been at the same company for over … Read more
Representatives from the Golden LEAF Foundation and its Board of Directors recently visited … Read more
A free food truck festival featuring seven vendors will be held from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday… Read more
The fourth of the five summer shows that comprise the Downtown Tarboro Live! Music Series wi… Read more
Your IRA is a great way to save for retirement. Read more
Immaculate Conception Catholic Mission of Rocky Mount hosted its annual Vacation Bible Schoo… Read more
Additional Content
State AP Stories
Bank of America says the revenue it gets from overdrafts has dropped 90% from a year ago, after the bank reduced overdraft fees to $10 from $35 and eliminated fees for bounced checks. The nation’s largest banks are moving away from the practice of charging exorbitant fees on what are mostly small-dollar purchases after years of public pressure. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan told The Associated Press that he expects whatever residual income the bank earns from overdraft fees will come from small businesses using overdraft fees as a convenience. .
Texas has executed a man who fatally stabbed a suburban Dallas real estate agent more than 16 years ago. Kosoul Chanthakoummane was given a lethal injection Wednesday at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for fatally stabbing 40-year-old Sarah Walker in July 2006. She was found stabbed more than 30 times in a model home in McKinney, about 30 miles north of Dallas. Prosecutors say the 41-year-old beat and stabbed Walker before stealing her Rolex watch and a silver ring. The U.S. Supreme Court had declined to delay Chanthakoummane’s execution over claims by his attorneys that challenged the DNA evidence in his case. Chanthakoummane was the second inmate executed in Texas in 2022.
A federal judge has ruled that abortions are no longer legal after 20 weeks of pregnancy in North Carolina. U.S. District Judge William Osteen reinstated the abortion ban Wednesday after he said the June U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade erased the legal foundation for his 2019 ruling that placed an injunction on the 1973 state law. The ruling erodes protections in one of the South’s few remaining safe havens for reproductive freedom. His decision defies the recommendations of all named parties in the 2019 case, including doctors, district attorneys and the attorney general’s office, who earlier this week filed briefs requesting he let the injunction stand.
The CEO of Bank of America said the recent debate over whether the U.S. economy is technically in a recession or not is missing the point. What matters is that current economic conditions are negatively impacting those who are most vulnerable. Brian Moynihan told The Associated Press that higher gas prices and rising rents are of particular concern when he looks at the health of the U.S. consumer. While gas prices have come down a bit recently, rents are still going up. But overall, the BofA CEO said he believes the American consumer is in good shape and able to withstand the economic turbulence.
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National & World AP Stories
The governor of Russia's Belgorod region says residents of two villages on Ukraine’s northeastern border have been evacuated after a munitions depot near the village of Timonovo have gone ablaze. The governor said Friday there were no casualties in the late Thursday blaze. The fire came days after another ammunition depot exploded on Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea. The Russian-occupied territory was seized by Moscow in 2014. Nine Russian warplanes were reported destroyed last week at an airbase on Crimea. It demonstrated both the Russians’ vulnerability and the Ukrainians’ capacity to strike deep behind enemy lines.
An anti-vaccine group that has harassed doctors and public officials in Italy and France is still active on platforms like Facebook despite efforts to rein in their abuse and misinformation. The organization, known as V_V, bombards its victims with dozens, hundreds or even thousands of abusive posts. V_V has also put up bounties for anti-vaccine graffiti, and tried to disrupt vaccine clinics. Facebook took action against the network last year but V_V remains active on that platform and others, showing just how difficult it can be for tech companies to stop coordinated harassment or potentially dangerous claims about vaccines.
Global stock markets and Wall Street futures are lower after unexpectedly good U.S. jobs data left room for more interest rate hikes to cool inflation. London, Shanghai, Tokyo and Frankfurt declined. Oil prices edged lower but stayed above $90 per barrel. Fewer Americans than expected filed unemployment claims last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That might reinforce sentiment at the Federal Reserve that the world's biggest economy can stand more rate hikes. Investors worry the Fed and central banks in Europe and Asia might derail global economic growth as they try to cool inflation that is running at multi-decade highs.
Ships are creeping down the middle of the Yangtze after China’s driest summer in six decades left one of the mightiest rivers barely half its normal width. The drought has set off a scramble to contain damage to a weak economy in a politically sensitive year. Factories in Sichuan province and the adjacent metropolis of Chongqing in the southwest were ordered to shut down after reservoirs that supply hydropower fell to half their typical levels and demand for air conditioning surged in scorching temperatures. River ferries in Chongqing that usually are packed with sightseers were empty and tied to piers beside mudflats that stretched down to the depleted river’s edge.