Free Republic

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Award-winning author, renowned poet and civil rights activist Dr. Maya Angelou has died. She was 86. Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines confirmed Angelou was found by her caretaker on Wednesday morning.

BLADEN COUNTY, NC - Not every school district in southeastern North Carolina is out for the Memorial Day holiday. Bladen County is open for students and staff today. ... [Separate report from WBTV ... Students and staff at Cleveland County School reported for school Monday morning . School leaders also told WBTV that Memorial Day that the calendar committee decided to preserve spring break and designate Memorial Day as a snow make-up day. Students and staff in the Clover School District, in South Carolina, were also in class on Memorial Day. ]

Updated 2:41 p.m. May 25 | The Veterans of Foreign Wars leadership blistered Sen. Richard Burr after the North Carolina Republican penned an open letter late Friday impugning the staff of veterans groups for not calling for new leadership at the Department of Veterans Affairs. In his letter, Burr, the ranking Republican on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee praised the American Legion, which has called for Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign, and suggested that the leadership staff of other veterans’ groups — without naming them — care more about access to Shinseki than they do about veterans. “Last week’s hearing...

It’s only a small matter of time until the Obama administration finally, rapturously releases what its hopes will be the crown jewel of its rise-of-the-oceans-slowing climate-change agenda: Regulations capping the emissions from existing power plants, a.k.a., stamping out coal plants across the country. This set of regs is going to be even more complicated and controversial than the regulations for only new power plants the administration released last year, and as the AP obliquely explains, we’re likely to start seeing those “necessarily skyrocketing” energy prices Obama once mentioned pretty quickly here: Electricity prices are probably on their way up...

Crossroads GPS has begun airing an ad critical of U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan's support for the Affordable Care Act, part of a $3.6 million buy that will be on broadcast and cable through most of June and July. The commercial begins with footage of President Barack Obama and Hagan promising that, under the law, what some call "Obamacare," people would be able to keep their existing health insurance plans and doctors. Those promises, which were inaccurate, have been the centerpiece of GOP strategy aimed at unseating Democrats like Hagan who are running for re-election this year.

North Carolina restaurant The Pit was robbed at gunpoint on Sunday. Normally, local crime stories like this wouldn't merit a Townhall post, but this one is different: The Pit has a "no weapons" sign displayed prominently on its door declaring the restaurant a gun-free zone, and bans patrons from carrying concealed weapons. Authorities said just before 9 p.m. Sunday, three men wearing hoodies entered the restaurant through the back doors with pistols, and forced several staff members to lie on the floor. The bandits assaulted two employees during the crime, but they were not seriously injured. What groups like Everytown...

Recently, there have been two shootings at Jack in the Box restaurant less than 10 days after they decided to ask law abiding gun owners to leave their guns at home. Now we have yet another “gun free” restaurant who has been the victim of criminals with… you guessed it, guns. According to local media reports, The Pit in Durham, NC was robbed at gunpoint after just recently opening up the restaurant. According to ABC11, Authorities said just before 9 p.m. Sunday, three men wearing hoodies entered the restaurant through the back doors with pistols, and forced several staff members to...

IREDELL COUNTY, N.C. -- A man charged with multiple sex crimes involving a teenage girl he met online has turned himself in. Investigators arrested 27-year-old Jarred Ashley Workman late Monday afternoon. He’s charged with 11 counts of statutory rape and five counts of statutory sex offense. Iredell County authorities say Workman met a 14-year-old girl on social media. They chatted for about a month, and then agreed to meet in the woods near the teen’s home in the Love Valley area of Iredell County. Investigators say the teen invited Workman inside the house where he set up residence in the...

North Carolina Democratic Congressional candidate Clay Aiken declined to say whether Secretary of the Veterans Administration Eric Shinseki should resign Tuesday on NBC.The former American Idol runner-up offered a somewhat bizarre rationale, telling the Today Show because he was not in the publicly broadcasted Senate hearing and “hasn’t paid attention to those details” he could not say whether Shinseki should go.“I think we have a lot of people who are making decisions without being in the room,” he said. “I’m not going to be one of those folks who wasn’t in the hearing and hasn’t paid attention to those details...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who survived a recall in 2012 largely due to the tea party, said Sunday that the tea party movement should target Democrats, not Republicans. "The answer is not to take it out on House Republicans in primaries, it's to go to Louisiana, Arkansas and North Carolina," the Republican governor said on CNN's "State of the Union," referring to Senate Democrats who are facing tough reelection campaigns in red states. Walker offered his assessment in the wake of House Speaker John Boehner's recent criticism of some conservative outside groups.

In the outpouring of praise for William D. Cohan's new book "The Price of Silence"—a work, remarkably enough, being celebrated as a model of evenhandedness, scrupulous objectivity, etc.—one essential has gone overlooked. Namely, the central point of this tale about the Duke lacrosse case and accusations against three players of rape and assault at a house party. It takes no close reading to see that the book is meant to recast the story so as to nullify the outcome Americans thought they knew—

Just spoke with a rep from the North Carolina State Board of Elections. Citizens of any state where less than 15% of its population votes gets Exactly what it deserves. But No citizens of Any state deserve state-wide "glitches," with very little information about them, other than their Executive Director saying that she "regretted" that they happened—and then saying that all of the glitches were "fixed," but does not say how. So the morning after the NC Primary, I sent the Executive Director, Kim Strach an email--and cc'd the message to 14 other high-ranking officials throughout the NC Board, asking...

ASHEBORO, N.C. – A memorial has been finalized for a Congressional candidate from Asheboro who died suddenly Monday. A public visitation for friends will be held for Keith Crisco at Pugh Funeral Home, on Sunset Avenue in Asheboro, Thursday from 6-8 p.m. Funeral services will be Friday at 2 p.m. at First United Methodist. ... An official cause of death has not been released, but a campaign insider told ABC 11 in Raleigh that Crisco tripped on a rug and fell backwards, hitting his head.

The North Carolina Senate race is now almost dead even. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely North Carolina Voters finds that State House Speaker Thom Tillis, the winner of Tuesday’s Republican primary, earns 45% support to incumbent Democratic Senator Kay Hagan’s 44%. Five percent (5%) prefer some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided.(To see survey question wording, click here.)

“American Idol” runner-up Clay Aiken was declared the winner of his tight House Democratic primary in North Carolina on Tuesday, a day after his opponent suddenly died. Aiken and Keith Crisco had been vying for the Democratic nomination to take on Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) She is favored to keep the seat. Aiken was leading Crisco by fewer than 400 votes, and both candidates had been hovering around the 40-percent mark needed to avoid a runoff. The 71-year-old Crisco died Monday after suffering from injuries from a fall. Aiken’s team said they’d received word he’d been planning to concede Tuesday.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are investigating after they said a robbery suspect was shot and killed by the man he was trying to rob Monday night in northwest Charlotte. Officers told Channel 9 that around 9 p.m. they received an armed robbery call in the 1100 block of Jordans Pond Lane. When police arrived, the robbery victim told them that while he was outside his house, a man with a gun -- who police have identified as 22-year-old Darlanski Sherrill -- approached him and forced him into his house and demanded money from him. Officers said that during the...

Keith Crisco, who was locked in a battle with former "American Idol" contestant Clay Aiken in a Democratic primary race for North Carolina's 2nd House district, died suddenly at his home Monday. Aiken, who was ahead of 71-year-old Crisco by 369 votes at the time of his death, said on Facebook Monday afternoon that he was suspending all campaign activities "as we pray for his family and friends." "I am stunned and deeply saddened by Keith Crisco’s death. Keith came from humble beginnings," Aiken said. "No matter how high he rose –- to Harvard, to the White House and to...

A hotly contested Democratic congressional primary in North Carolina ended in a standoff last week when the race between former American Idol contestant Clay Aiken and Asheboro businessman Keith Crisco resulted in a draw. With just 369 votes separating the two candidates, the race was slated to head to a runoff. On Monday, however, it was confirmed that Crisco suddenly passed away. “Information is incomplete,” the Asheboro Courier-Tribune reported on Monday. “However, early information indicates he suffered injuries from a fall around 1 p.m. at his home at 1263 Thayer Drive in Asheboro. He was reported dead at the scene...

Clay Aiken’s opponent in the Democratic primary for North Carolina’s Second Congressional District seat, Keith Crisco, died today, according to the company he owned, Asheboro Elastics Corporation. The textile entrepreneur and former state commerce secretary died at his home around 1:30 p.m., the company said. He had fallen, a spokesperson for the company told ABC News, but no other information was immediately available. At the time of his death, the race was still too close to call. Aiken was leading Crisco by just 369 votes

Keith Crisco died suddenly on MondayBy Craig Jarvis Keith Crisco, former state Commerce secretary and a Democratic candidate for the 2nd Congressional District, died on Monday. Details were not immediately available, but the Courier-Tribune in Asheboro reported that he died suddenly at his home from a fall. . . . Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/05/12/3856392/keith-crisco-dead-at-71.html#storylink=cpy Aiken has won by default.