Free Republic

Fayetteville, N.C. — Cumberland County investigators have arrested a woman accused of breaking into tractor-trailer trucks parked at rest areas and truck stops along Interstate 95.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Still working toward substantial victories at the ballot box and the legislature, demonstrators opposed to Republican policies within North Carolina demanded again Saturday that laws be repealed that they say harm the sick, the poor and minorities. Thousands of people joined the state NAACP and other advocacy groups that helped stage the 9th annual "Moral March on Raleigh," which led through downtown streets before ending in front of the old Capitol building. The terminus is deliberate, since their unhappiness rests with the laws passed by the GOP-led legislature and Republican Gov. Pat McCrory since 2013. Those...

The Group Accusing ‘an American Extremist and Hateful Racist’ of ‘Terrorism’ in Chapel Hill Might Strike You as Ironic…and It Wants to Be Part of Investigation. Feb. 15, 2015 7:35am Sharona Schwartz The Palestinian Authority – which grants monthly salaries to terrorists – has called last week’s deadly shooting of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, N.C. “terrorism” and would like the U.S. government to include Palestinian investigators in the official probe. The Palestinian foreign ministry Saturday described Tuesday’s shooting as a “heinous crime” and “terrorism which targets civilians based on their religion.” “We consider it a serious indication of...

Look if you want to get all wired up about Muslim students being killed start with Syria, or Iraq, or anywhere in practically ANY of the predominantly Islamic countries around the world where murder is rampant. Just don’t start in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where police say Craig Hicks killed three students, who just happened to be Muslim. It’s a terrible tragedy that this man, Hicks-- who by accounts in the New York Times and other media outlets dealt poorly with anger issues in his life—would kill anyone. But that they were Muslim had nothing to do with the shooting....

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has made his first comments about the three young Muslims who were shot to death in North Carolina — saying no one in America should ever be targeted "because of who they are, what they look like or how they worship." Obama says in a statement that the FBI will determine whether federal laws were violated in what he calls "the brutal and outrageous murders."

Concord pediatrician Hal Levin has notified patients he is “going through a gender transition” and, after taking some time off, he will return to work March 23 as Dr. Laura Levin. In a letter dated Feb. 4, Levin, who has worked at Piedmont Pediatrics for 20 years, said the change will mean he can “begin living my life more authentically as Laura Levin, a transgender woman.” Carolinas HealthCare System, which owns the Concord practice, also sent letters to patients explaining the change and expressing support for Levin, the group’s medical director. “We can assure you that Dr. Levin will continue...

Muslim Students' Slayings Investigated As Possible Hate Crime, FBI Says By DAVID ZUCCHINO AND MATT PEARCE 5,000 Muslims and non-Muslims turn out to mourn 3 students shot to death in N.C. The FBI announced late Thursday that it had opened a preliminary hate-crime investigation into the slayings of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, N.C. "The FBI is continuing to provide assistance to the Chapel Hill Police Department to process evidence related to a triple-homicide investigation," the federal agency said in a statement. "The FBI has also opened a parallel preliminary inquiry to determine whether or not any federal laws...

WASHINGTON—Highway funding, tax reform and tire registration were the big issues tire dealers, repair shop owners and association officials discussed with Capitol Hill staffers during the Tire Industry Association’s Federal Lobby Day on Feb. 5. Approximately 55 representatives of the tire retailing and auto repair industries participated in the event, which began with speeches from current and former members of Congress and progressed to one-on-one meetings with key staff persons in the offices of several top Washington lawmakers. With the Highway Trust Fund set to run out of money in May, passage of a multi-year transportation funding bill was the...

.... two women called 911 to report multiple gunshots and screams...near the University of North Carolina.... ... three people were dead...Muslims of Arab descent... The victims’ families described it as a hate crime. The police said that the shooting appeared to have been motivated by “an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking,”.... In the afternoon, Ripley Rand, the United States attorney for the region, said the shooting appeared to have been “an isolated incident” and “not part of a targeted campaign against Muslims.”

Yesterday an angry leftist supporter of the Ground Zero Mosque shot three Muslims in Chapel Hill, North Carolina over a parking dispute. Jibril Hough, the spokesman for the Islamic Center of Charlotte, called the parking space shooting “domestic terrorism.”

A horrific act of domestic terror was committed yesterday in Chapel Hill, NC, as three Muslim students were apparently targeted by a deranged anti-religion progressive. The News & Observer reports: Police charged a Chapel Hill man Wednesday with first-degree murder in the deaths of three Muslim students in a quiet neighborhood near Meadowmont just south of N.C. 54.Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, is being held in the Durham County Jail on three counts of first-degree murder. Hicks is accused of shooting his Finley Forest neighbors, Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, and his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and Abu-Salha’s sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19,...

CHARLOTTE, NC (Steve Harrison/The Charlotte Observer) - Allowing transgender residents to use the bathroom of their choice in restaurants, stores and other places of public accommodation divided the Charlotte City Council on Monday night. The city is considering expanding its existing nondiscrimination ordinance to include protections for people based on their sexual orientation, sexual identity or sexual expression, and familial or marital status. Much of the ordinance – such as adding gay and lesbian residents to a group of protected classes – wasn't controversial. But the bathroom question provoked a sharp exchange between council members. At-large member Michael Barnes, a...

Police charged a Chapel Hill man Wednesday with first-degree murder in the deaths of three Muslim students in a quiet neighborhood near Meadowmont, just south of N.C. 54. Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, is being held in the Durham County Jail on three counts of first-degree murder. Hicks is accused of shooting his Finley Forest neighbors, Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, and his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and Abu-Salha’s sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19, of Raleigh. Police said in a statement Wednesday morning that a dispute about parking in the neighborhood of rented condominiums may have led to the incident. “Our preliminary investigation...

CHAPEL HILL — Police charged a Chapel Hill man Wednesday with first-degree murder in the deaths of three Muslim students in a quiet neighborhood near Meadowmont just south of N.C. 54. Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, is being held in the Durham County Jail on three counts of first-degree murder. Hicks is accused of shooting his Finley Forest neighbors, Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, and his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and Abu-Salha’s sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19, of Raleigh. Barakat was a doctoral student in UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Dentistry. The sisters were N.C. State University students. Chapel Hill police found all three...

(CNN)—A 46-year-old man has been charged with murder in the shooting death of three Muslim students in an apartment near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus. Police haven't said what may have compelled the accused, Craig Stephen Hicks, to allegedly carry out the attack Tuesday evening. He turned himself into police later in the night. But given the victims' religion and comments the alleged shooter apparently left on a Facebook page, many social media users wondered what role, if any, the victims' faith played. The victims were Muslims: Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23; Yusor Mohammad, 21; and Razan...

Authorities say a probation officer caught a Pitt County man raping a six-year-old on Sunday. 47-year-old Martin Vasquez was arrested by the Pitt County Sheriff's Office Sunday night. Vasquez, who lives on Celtic Court outside of Greenville, is charged with rape of a child and indecent liberties with a child. The warrant says the victim was six-years-old, and the rape happened on Sunday. Sheriff Neil Elks says the probation officer was at the home trying to locate Vazquez's son, who is on probation. After knocking on the home's door, the officer went to a shed where he found Vasquez and...

A North Carolina officer shot dead a 74-year-old man whose concerned family had called the police and asked to check on him. Officer Josh Lefevers arrived at the home of James Allen just before midnight on Sunday morning and announced he was entering the residence when Allen approached him with a handgun and refused to put it down, police said. Lefevers then shot and killed him.

Leading members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) are lining up to skip a coming speech by the prime minister of Israel. Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the civil rights icon, and G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), the chairman of the CBC, said they won't attend Benjamin Netanyahu's March 3 speech before Congress to protest Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) decision to invite the prime minister without first consulting President Obama and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill. Butterfield said that move marked an "unprecedented overreach of the Speaker’s authority" that "goes beyond the traditions of his office." "It is baffling that Speaker Boehner, who...

WILMINGTON | As police investigate a spate of recent homicides in Wilmington, the shooter in one incident may not face charges. Saturday evening, the owner of a video poker business at 420 Raleigh St. was walking to his car when men with guns walked toward him, according to police. Bullets were exchanged and one of the alleged robbers, 38-year-old Frankie Stukes of Wilmington, was hit. Police found his body alongside the building about 10 p.m. Wilmington Police Department Detective Kevin Tully said Wednesday the robbery victim ran back inside his business – Bourbon Street Amusement – for safety. Tully said...

Anti-union forces claim UAW ‘stuffed’ ballot box. Workers in Alabama are staging a fourth attempt to kick the United Auto Workers (UAW) out of their plant following claims that stuffed ballot boxes derailed their last vote. Employees at the NTN-Bower Corporation, a ball bearings manufacturer, have unsuccessfully tried to boot the labor giant out of their factory for two years. Workers voted to decertify the UAW in an earlier election, but an Obama-appointed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) panel threw out the election. Another election was held in January of this year. The UAW prevailed, but it was later revealed...