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There is a Christmas tree inside town hall in Cary, North Carolina, but town officials couldn’t bring themselves to call it by its proper name, so they relabeled it the “Community Tree.” They used to have a “Holiday Tree” in Madison, Wisconsin, but even that was deemed too improper this year, so they opted for “The State Capitol Tree.” American Atheists threw a party decorating what they called their “Solstice Tree.” Vineland, New Jersey opted to call their Christmas parade the “Holiday parade,” maintaining that because Urban Enterprise Zone dollars are used to fund the parade, they can’t call it...

12/22/2009 - POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. (AFNS) -- You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. But on Dec. 6 at Pope Air Force Base, it was not a team of reindeer, but Maj. Jeff Dasher, a navigator in the 95th Airlift Squadron who guided the mission for the 440th Airlift Wing's C-130 Hercules that flew a group of Soldier Santas across the morning sky. One might say he was born for this mission. "It's the name," Major Dasher chuckled. "I had to be on this flight." His flight was part of the 12th annual Randy Oler Memorial...

A year-old state law in North Carolina was found by a Superior Court judge to be unconstitutional because it prevents certain registered sex offenders from going to church, according to a ruling Thursday. While Judge Allen Baddour acknowledged the need to protect children, he said "there are less drastic means for achieving the same purpose." Presently, state law prohibits certain sex offenders from being within 300 feet of "any place where minors gather for regularly scheduled educational, recreational or social programs," including areas that are part of a larger facility, though the law doesn't specify whether that 300-foot radius extends...

Much of academia appears to have a disregard of due process and a bias against white males. You might think that a university whose students were victims of the most notorious fraudulent rape claim in recent history, and whose professors -- 88 of them -- signed an ad implicitly presuming guilt, and whose president came close to doing the same would have learned some lessons. The facts are otherwise. They also suggest that Duke University's ugly abuse in 2006 and 2007 of its now-exonerated lacrosse players -- white males accused by a black stripper and hounded by a mob hewing...

Still burning over Rep. Larry Kissell's health care vote, some Democrats in North Carolina's 8th Congressional District are courting a Charlotte attorney to mount a primary challenge. The courtee is Chris Kouri, a former Ivy League football player who ran for the seat in 2002, upsetting a better known Democrat in the primary before losing to Republican Robin Hayes, Jim Morrill of The Charlotte Observer reports. "I think it’s a legitimate groundswell," said Mecklenburg County Democratic chairman Joel Ford. "Chris Kouri is entertaining it. And I believe that if Chris gets enough grassroots support he’ll run." Kouri, general counsel and...

North Carolina's unemployment rate dipped slightly in November but hovered near its historic peak of around 11 percent for a 10th straight month. The state's Employment Security Commission reported Friday that the unemployment rate in November dipped a fraction to 10.8 percent, from 10.9 percent in October. The monthly estimate has yo-yoed slightly above and below 11 percent since February. North Carolina's unemployment rate has been worse than the national average for more than a year. The U.S. jobless rate was 10 percent in November.

Mecklenburg County will offer domestic partner benefits in 2011 to employees in same-sex relationships, under a plan approved Tuesday night by county commissioners. The board vote split 6-3 along party lines to begin offering the benefits during its next open enrollment period, which would start next fall. Democratic commissioners said the change could help the county recruit and retain workers who are in same-sex relationships by offering them the same benefits given to married, heterosexual workers. The board's three Republicans opposed the policy, saying there appeared to be no demonstrated demand among county workers for the benefits and that offering...

Rumors have been circulating for several days through Charlotte’s Eastover neighborhood that former U.S. Sen. John Edwards bought a home here for his admitted former mistress, Rielle Hunter. And now the National Enquirer is reporting in its Dec. 21 issue that Edwards has, in fact, bought a house here that the Charlotte Business Journal has identified as a residence on Providence Road. Edwards, the vice presidential nominee on the 2004 Democratic ticket and a presidential candidate last year, saw his political career derail after details of the affair emerged. In late 2007, the Enquirer first reported claims from an...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- “The lot hereby conveyed shall be used for residential purposes only and shall be owned and occupied by people of the Caucasian race.� That inflammatory statement is the first rule listed on Myers Park’s deed restrictions. Two years ago, Newschannel 36 spotted the wording on a “sample deed� listed on the Myers Park Neighborhood Association website. Now, Charlotte Mecklenburg’s Community Relations Committee (CRC) has formally called that publication “discriminatory� and the NAACP is making demands. “You have to do more than say, ‘Oops I’m sorry.’ We’re tired of people getting caught doing racist things and then just...

A Marine stationed at Cherry Point air station restrained a man who had allegedly assaulted a Walmart greeter on Monday until New Bern police could arrive at the scene. Nathan Josial was in the store located at 3105 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. with his wife and four children to buy pajamas for his daughter to wear at her school’s pajama day, said his wife, New Bern resident Melissa Wysong. Wysong said they were greeted by the door greeter, John McLean, 83, who had given stickers fto the children and wished them a merry Christmas. Wysong said they heard...

"The state and local NAACP on Monday blasted the Myers Park Homeowners Association for a discriminatory deed restriction published on its Web site. The dispute could end up in court if the two sides don't reach some sort of agreement -- possibly including a financial payment that some estimate could reach $50,000 -- within 30 days. The NAACP filed a complaint in 2007 against the association for posting a sample deed that included a decades-old clause specifying that "people of the Caucasian race only" could live in or own a Myers Park house."

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Police in Charlotte said 13 Salvation Army donation kettles were stolen at gunpoint late Friday night. Police said two armed men covering their faces entered the business at 4300 Stuart Andrew Blvd. just after 10 p.m. Two employees were held at gunpoint while the property was taken, police said. Jim Price, of the Salvation Army, said the kettles held an estimated total of $4,000.

Sanford’s Wife Files for Divorce ROBBIE BROWN December 11, 2009 Jenny Sanford on Friday filed for divorce from her husband, Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, who confessed in June to an affair with a woman in Argentina. “As so many of us know, the dissolution of any marriage is a sad and painful process,” Ms. Sanford said in a statement. “Because Mark and I are public figures, we have naturally had less privacy with which to deal with our difficulties than do other couples. Indeed, I know it will soon become known, so I choose to release this brief...

Politics, religion, and atheism in North Carolina are coming to a head. Cecil Bothwell, atheist, is soon to be seated as a City Council member in North Carolina. However, there is a problem: Under North Carolina's constitution politicians who deny the existence of God are barred from holding office. Opponents of Cecil Bothwell are using that law to argue.... Federal courts have ruled religious tests for public office are unlawful under the U.S. Constitution. While Article 6, section 8 of the North Carolina state constitution says: "The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny...

GREENVILLE For the dark, depraved nights David Chatham watched obscene images of strangers' children, he will spend the next six years in prison. For admitting his addiction to child pornography and warning others away from his path, Chatham, 43, was spared even more time behind bars. "He's done much to move this horrible thing we keep in secret and open it wide," Joseph Cheshire, Chatham's attorney, told the judge. A year ago, Chatham was an ambitious executive for the Raleigh public relations firm Capstrat whose days were filled with power lunches and board meetings. A knock on the door last...

State senator won't run for re-election, says he'll leave office after 18 years December 09, 2009 1:57 PM Corey Friedman State Sen. David Hoyle has decided not to seek a 10th term in the General Assembly and will leave office next December after representing Gaston County for 18 years. “I didn’t intend to serve for as long as I have,” Hoyle said Wednesday. “I thought I’d serve for 10 or 12 years, but the citizens kept electing me.” Hoyle, D-Gaston, took office in 1993 and was re-elected eight times, fending off Republican challengers in his heavily conservative home county. Of...

A former Duke University employee and adoptive gay father charged with molesting his five-year-old son--and offering the boy as a sex object to pedophiles online--is expected to make a plea bargain, according to a Dec. 1 article in local newspaper the Durham Herald Sun. Frank Lombard faces charges stemming from alleged instances in which he molested his young adopted son and chatted about the deeds online even as he carried them out. It’s thought that the U.S, Attorney’s Office is positioning the case for a plea arrangement because the Office is set to file an "information," which allows the prosecution...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Authorities have charged a North Carolina woman with selling moonshine out of her day care center. The Charlotte Observer reports Tuesday that North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement arrested 57-year-old Gwendolyn Brown-Johnson last week at Parkview Community Center in Charlotte. Agents say children were in the day care center when they sent in an undercover agent to buy two gallons of moonshine. Brown-Johnson told the paper she was set up by a neighbor. She says she was just holding a package for a man in exchange for $80 and didn't even know what was in it. Agents...

For the nomination to challenge Heath Shuler, featuring a whole buncha candidates I've never heard of: Live Stream featuring Twitter 'chat.' Details at Thunder Pig Blog: 'Watch NC 11 Congressional Debate Live; Hosted by WCU Young Americans for Liberty'

Animated former WSOC sportscaster says he'll join the GOP field to compete for the 8th District seat. For more than a quarter-century, thousands of Charlotte-area viewers watched Harold Johnson broadcast nightly sports news with an outsize personality and a ringmaster's zeal. Now "The Big Guy" will put his energy into politics. Johnson, 68, announced Friday that he'll run as a Republican for the 8th District seat held by Democrat Larry Kissell of Montgomery County. "If you ever watched me on the air you know I speak from the heart," he told the Observer. "What I'm seeing here in Washington, this...

RALEIGH, N.C. — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had dinner the other day with the Rev. Billy Graham, which is sort of the Southern equivalent of having an audience with the Protestant pope. Palin's dinner with Graham, not her book signing at Fort Bragg, was her significant event in North Carolina. For decades, presidents and presidential wannabes have sought the blessing of the nation's best-known preacher. EarthShare The evangelist, 91, doesn't endorse any more, having been burned by his close relationship with President Richard Nixon, who was Graham's idea of a Christian statesman until Graham listened to the Watergate tapes....

A would-be armed robber apparently had second thoughts when an employee pulled out his shotgun Monday night. It happened at the Salem & Sons Convenience Store on Sunset Avenue in Rocky Mount around 10:20 p.m. Police say employees were inside cleaning up, and saw a customer at the front door. They let the man inside, but at the same time another man came in as well and showed a black handgun in the direction of an employee. That employee immediately got his shotgun, racked the slide, and pointed it at the would-be robber. The robber then turned around and slowly...

Fort Mill, S.C. – "I'm living the American dream," said Jack Sheppard. "I've got the No. 1 product in America." That would be guns, and the 42-year-old Sheppard, owner of Aim Right Guns & Ammo, is an expert. At his shop on Main Street in this small South Carolina town just over the state line from Charlotte, N.C., business was brisk. It was a Black Friday bonanza. For the second year, the 48 hours starting at 12:01 a.m. the Friday after Thanksgiving marked what's called "Second Amendment Weekend," at least by the Republican state legislator who sponsored the bill. To...

The former president of a publicly traded Raleigh company is accusing Tony Rand, one of the state's most powerful lawmakers, of insider trading and other illegal actions.

LOWELL -- Members of a Gaston county church are vowing to support their pastor after he was accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl. Keith Pettis, pastor of New Life Christian Center, was arrested in August on several charges, including statutory rape, taking indecent liberties with a child, and first-degree sex offense with a child. The girl, now 14 and living in another N.C. town, said the abuse started in August 2006 and continued until March of this year, according to Gaston County Police. Pettis, 42, was surrounded by parishioners and his family Tuesday evening as the church held a...

ASH, N.C. -- Brunswick County Sherriff John Ingram announced in an emailed statement today that he is shifting his political affiliation to the Republican Party. Ingram could not be immediately reached for comment. "Though my career in law enforcement as a Democrat has brought me to this place in time," Ingram said in the statement, "it is my humble choice to live as my conservative principles and discipline desire."

Police are searching for a Gaston County pastor charged with raping and molesting a teen girl. Robert Lee Adams, 46, began sexually abusing the girl when she was younger than 13 and got her pregnant about three years later, according to the Gaston County Police Department. Authorities have been searching for Adams for nine months. The girl gave birth in the summer of 2008, and an investigation led police to Adams, said Gaston County Police Capt. Joe Ramey. Ramey said Adams was pastor of Mount Calvary Tabernacle at the corner of Linwood Road and Camp Rotary Road in west Gastonia....

Private meeting is one thing; cheap photo op is another. I don't mean to begrudge Billy Graham a Sunday afternoon visit from an admirer. I just wish he hadn't been used as a political prop. Picking up the paper Monday morning, I cringed at news of Sarah Palin spending the day with the evangelist at his home in Montreat. Especially cringe-inducing was the picture of Palin holding her special needs child, Trig, on her lap as mother and son shared what looked to be a less-than-spontaneous moment with Graham. It definitely wasn't a private moment, since a photographer had to...

Sarah Palin drew a crowd of over 4,000 on Monday to her book signing at Fort Bragg, though the former Alaska governor kept her appearance from turning into the kind of "political platform" that some military officials were concerned about. Palin did not give a speech during her three-hour stop at the North Carolina Army base, apparently living up to her pledge to tone down the event after Fort Bragg officials expressed concern that the visit could prompt grandstanding against the Obama administration. "It was just a peaceful crowd -- orderly, no one making any strange comments that I know...

RALEIGH -- North Carolina's unemployment rate rose slightly to 11 percent in October, a fraction off its historic peak earlier this year and the ninth straight month in double digits.

Sarah Palin, the hottest name in the Republican Party, took a detour from her book-signing tour Sunday to dine with Billy Graham at his mountaintop home in Montreat."He's followed her career and likes her strong stand on faith," said son Franklin Graham, who was present for the 2 1/2-hour get-together. "Daddy feels God was using her to wake America up."The former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate told Billy Graham about how she came to faith in God as a girl in Bible camp.She quizzed him on the presidents he's known and wanted his take on what the...

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Thousands of people braved a cold, drizzly Monday for a chance to meet former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who was signing copies of her memoir at a Fort Bragg store. Some people camped out overnight, and the line snaked around the North Post-Exchange by the time Palin arrived at 11:15 a.m. The crowd chanted Palin's name when her "Going Rogue" tour bus pulled up outside the PX. "We love Sarah because she's a woman and she's smart," Sandra Harvath said. "She loves this country. I voted for her last time, and I'd vote for...

Sarah Palin arrived at Fort Bragg this morning to a media mob and cheers from more than 1,000 people lined up for her book-signing event. About a dozen people had been waiting since Sunday. Palin's bus pulled up to the North Post Exchange just after 11:15 a.m. and the former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate emerged in a black suit to cheers and whistles. As she passed the collected media, Palin was asked what she was thankful for this holiday season. "I'm thankful for the U.S. military, the best in the world," she said. The line to see Palin extended...

FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- Hundreds of people are lined up at an Army base in North Carolina where former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is signing books. Palin arrived a little after 11 a.m. Monday, waved and went inside the store where she quickly started signing copies of her new memoir. She did not make any statement.

Sarah Palin comes to Asheville NC to have Dinner with Billy Graham & Family from richard bernier on Vimeo. Sarah Palin arrives in Asheville NC to have Dinner with Billy Graham & Family. 22 Nov 2009 - On a very short notice, Space Mountain Productions was advised that Mrs.Palin would be coming to Asheville to have dinner with Billy Graham & Familly. Mrs. Palin is on her book tour & will be in Fayetteville the next day to promote her book. Mrs.Palin arrived at 3:10pm & took a few questions & meet some supporters who had time to come to...

Sarah Palin, who will sign books Monday at Fort Bragg, plans a stopover in Montreat today to have dinner with 91-year-old Billy Graham and his son, Franklin Graham, who issued the invitation. "He just saw that she was going to be in the area and he said to come by," said Jeremy Blume, a spokesman for Franklin Graham. Former Alaska Gov. Palin, who was the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008, will fly into Asheville this afternoon, Blume said, and then go to Billy Graham's mountaintop home in Montreat for dinner. The Charlotte-born evangelist has never met Palin, who is...

4 at Duke get drug-resistant H1N1 By KEITH UPCHURCH DURHAM -- Four patients at Duke University Medical Center, all from North Carolina, have tested positive for a type of swine flu that's resistant to the antiviral drug Tamiflu, and three have died, health officials announced Friday at a news conference in Raleigh. The fourth patient, a woman, is still a patient at Duke and ''is doing much better,'' they said. Although the four had the H1N1 virus, they all had other medical problems, so it's uncertain if the swine flu caused their deaths, they said. All four were in an...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The U.S. Army has reversed its position and now says it will open Sarah Palin's appearance on Fort Bragg to media despite fears the event will turn into political grandstanding against President Barack Obama. Fort Bragg officials said Friday in a news advisory that any interested media will be able to attend. A day earlier, a spokesman said media would be prevented from attending so the Palin book signing would not become a political platform to express opinions "directed against the commander in chief."

Cops: Girl Raped, Killed On Day She Was Taken 29-year-old man faces sexual assault, murder charges in 5-year-old’s death Police say Shaniya Davis was raped and asphyxiated Nov. 10, the day her mom reported her missing from the trailer park. FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - A 5-year-old North Carolina girl was raped and killed the same day she was taken from her home, according to an arrest warrant released Friday. Shaniya Davis was sexually assaulted and asphyxiated Nov. 10, the day her mother reported her missing from the trailer park where she was staying, according to the warrant. Authorities embarked on a...

RALEIGH -- Dr. Earl Sunderhaus, an Asheville eye doctor, has what might charitably be described as a brusque bedside manner. That much is not in dispute. But the N.C. Medical Board may decide Sunderhaus overstepped the bounds of decency when he recently told a patient she was irresponsible for being unemployed, on Medicaid, and relying on taxpayers to cover another pregnancy after giving birth less than a year earlier. What really galled her, the patient complained, is that Sunderhaus poked her thigh and told her she is fat. Quantcast "When I got home I was very upset about the way...

RALEIGH — The Army now says it will allow media limited access to Sarah Palin's appearance at Fort Bragg. Army officials had said they would prohibit coverage of Palin's on-post event, saying it would turn into political grandstanding against President Obama. The Associated Press and The Fayetteville Observer objected, and the military changed its position slightly Thursday night. It will grant a pool of reporters restricted access to Monday's appearance. Fort Bragg spokesman Col. Billy Buckner said members of the media will not be allowed to interview the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and will be barred from talking to...

Breaking news! The Shaniya Davis cause of death is asphyxiation and the autopsy revealed that the little five year old girl was raped. Mario Andrette McNeill has been charged with rape and first degree murder in addition to first degree kidnapping charges. A live press conference was held tonight at 8:00 p.m. and the additional charges were made public. (click here to view a slideshow from the Shaniya Davis case) Reports state that Mario McNeill has remained in isolation since he surrendered to authorities on November 13, 2009, after being seen carrying Shaniya Davis in his arms in a hotel....

The U.S. Army now says it will allow media limited access to Sarah Palin's appearance at Fort Bragg. The Associated Press and The Fayetteville Observer objected and the military changed its position slightly on Thursday night. It will grant a pool of reporters restricted access to Monday's appearance. Buckner said the setup will allow reporters their right to access .

| The formal introduction: Mike Adams is a professor at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington and a syndicated columnist. The informal: He is probably the most outspoken Christian conservative professor in the United States now teaching at a state university. He's gone from passive writing to fiery prose, and from an incendiary lifestyle to one centered on true ideas. Q: Tell us about your 1.8 GPA in high school. I can't believe you brought that up! That was off limits! Q: How hard did you have to work to get a 1.8? My goal was to graduate with a 1.0,...

Nearly two weeks after U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell bucked his party and voted against health care legislation, June Mabry's phone line is still burning up with calls from angry Democrats. [...] Kissell, of Montgomery County, was one of 39 Democrats who voted against the health care bill that passed the House by five votes this month. He was one of just eight from a district that President Barack Obama carried last year. It didn't take long for the backlash to begin. The liberal group MoveOn.org has been running a TV ad in his district that applauds congressmen who "stood tall"...

<p>Contact your Senators and let them know what you think!</p> <p>U.S. veterans or subsidies for United Nations (U.N.) bureaucracy.</p>

Body of Shaniya Davis found along the side of a road in rural N.C. Mother sold the child last week into underground slavery. Last seen on a hotel video camera.

AIP Reagan List member Bill Randall, who is running for Congress in North Carolina's 13th District: Watch video HERE

Fayetteville, N.C. — The mother of a 5-year-old girl, who has been missing since Tuesday, was charged late Saturday in connection with her disappearance, Fayetteville police said. Antoinette Nicole Davis was charged with human trafficking; felony child abuse – prostitution; filing a false police report; and resist, delay, or obstruct an officer, police said. Shaniya Nicole Davis was reported missing from her home, at 1116-A Sleepy Hollow Drive in Fayetteville, on Tuesday morning.

On opposite sides of town, two local groups with opposing viewpoints on health care reform set out to have their opinions heard. The Onslow County Democratic Party held a march in support of President Barack Obama’s health care initiative along Western Boulevard Saturday morning, where about 50 supporters walked Several hours later, the Onslow County Republican Party held a rally at the Marina Café on U.S. 17 in opposition of the president’s health care reform with nearly 200 people in attendance