Free Republic

A rebel Catholic group has ordained its second woman priest in North Carolina, the first in the 46 counties that constitute the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte. News outlets report that the Association of Roman Catholic Woman Priests ordained 64-year-old Abigail Eltzroth on Sunday at Asheville's Jubilee, a nondenominational faith community. The group is opposed to the Roman Catholic Church's ban on women priests.

<p>Garner, NC – Raleigh police officers got more than they expected when they decided to eat at Smithfield’s Chicken ‘N Bar-B-Q in Garner, when the restaurant employees and manager serenaded them with “F— The Police” as they tried to eat. The song was sung in the 1980s by NWA.</p>

Hundreds Vote Illegally in North Carolina after Court Bans Election Integrity Law FBI Court Filing Reveals Grand Jury Targeted Hillary Clinton JW Goes To Federal Court Monday on Another Obama Administration Email Scandal Hundreds Vote Illegally in North Carolina after Court Bans Election Integrity Law Obama Justice Department holdovers must be pleased with their work. In July 2016, they were successful in undoing North Carolina’s voter integrity laws in order to allow all manner of illegal voters the ability to cast ballots. Our Corruption Chronicles blog tells the story . Less than a year after a federal appellate court...

The North Carolina House of Representatives approved legislation in a lopsided 67-48 vote Thursday that would shield drivers from civil liability if they collide with protesters. Opponents say the legislation is unnecessary and may give drivers the false impression they can maliciously run over activists. One Democrat warned it would make the state the butt of jokes about being full of “dumb rednecks.” But Republican proponents, who sent the measure to the state Senate by a veto-proof margin, say recent encounters between activists and drivers makes the reform both sensible and necessary.

An Army veteran was thrown behind bars Tuesday for allegedly tying her PTSD therapy dog to a tree and shooting him five times at close range — killing the poor pup for no apparent reason while a soldier filmed it. ... Court documents obtained by the Fayetteville Observer describe how she teamed up with her boyfriend, Jarren Heng, 25, for the seemingly random killing earlier this month. The couple allegedly led the white and gray pit bull to a wooded area before tying him to a tree and taking his life. ... ultimately was shot five times with a rifle...

The incident took place on March 26, 2016. It started when officers stopped a car they said was wanted in connection with a string of larcenies. James Yarborough, a passenger in the car, ran from police. Eventually, officers caught up with Yarborough after a foot chase. Once on the ground, officers struggled with Yarborough for roughly four minutes before putting him in handcuffs. It’s what happened during the four-minute-long struggle that Yarborough said should be considered excessive force.

Six anti-free speech Democrats have done the unthinkable in the State of North Carolina. They have voted to prevent HB 527 from passing through the higher education committee and onto the house floor for a full vote. Dubbed as a bill to “Restore and Preserve Campus Free Speech,” it is difficult to understand how anyone could be opposed, regardless of his political persuasion. (For more details on HB 527, click here). The need for HB 527 is clear given that only one UNC campus, UNC-Chapel Hill, has been rated by the non-partisan Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) as...

A former government prosecutor says the gang murders of Doug and Debbie London showed an unprecedented level of “contempt” in Charlotte for the rule of law. This week, the law strikes back. On Tuesday, the two Charlotte gang members who planned and carried out the Oct. 23, 2014 killings will be sentenced to life in federal prison without parole. The punishments for Jamell “Murda Mel” Cureton and Malcolm “Bloody Silent” Hartley were preordained in September when the pair pleaded guilty in the case to avoid a death-penalty trial.

North Carolina elections officials found that about 500 ineligible voters cast ballots in the 2016 general election — but not enough to change the outcome of any race, according to an audit released Friday. The State Board of Elections report said the 508 cases — the vast majority active felons — represented a small fraction of the 4.8 million ballots cast. The report didn’t include any evidence of coordinated fraud, and many of the voters claimed to be confused about their eligibility. The audit’s findings contradict Republican claims that voter fraud runs rampant in North Carolina. […] The audit comes...

Let’s talk toilets—specifically, transgender-designated toilets in Texas. Democrats are messing with Texas, pushing hard against SB 6, the Texas Privacy Act, which makes an individual’s biological sex the determining factor for accessing bathrooms, locker rooms and shower rooms in the Lone Star State.“Essentially what they’re arguing about is, Should trans people be allowed to exist?” 18-year-old Rowan says of politicians looking to pass legislation like SB 6. Rowan seems to be conflating legalized abortion (the only U.S. law condoning murder) with metal placards denoting “male” or “female” outside of bathroom stalls. Clarifying bathroom rules is a pragmatic, loving, and ethical...

Pittman replied, "And if Hitler had won, should the world just get over it? Lincoln was the same sort of tyrant, and personally responsible for the deaths of over 800,000 Americans in a war that was unnecessary and unconstitutional." Pittman did not respond to request for comment from TIME to clarify his remarks.

Members of the North Carolina General Assembly introduced a bill on Tuesday, citing the 10th Amendment, which affirms that the U.S. Supreme Court exceeded its authority under the Constitution and in relation to the “decree of Almighty God” by legalizing same-sex marriage, and contends that the Obergefell v. Hodges decision “is null and void” in North Carolina and that the Tar Heel state shall only recognize marriages between one man and one woman. The legislation explains that North Carolina seeks to follow the 2012 law that was established in Section 6 of Article XIV of the North Carolina Constitution, which...

Attorney General Xavier Becerra won’t lift a ban on publicly funded travel to North Carolina even though the Southern state repealed the law that California Democrats condemned as discriminatory against gay and transgender people. North Carolina’s repeal of its House Bill 2, the so-called “bathroom bill,” late last month persuaded the NCAA to lift its own ban on sponsoring championship collegiate sporting events there. Becerra found the repeal inadequate, noting that North Carolina’s new law bans local governments and universities from passing their own anti-discrimination laws. A number of civil rights organizations, such as Equality California, denounced North Carolina’s repeal...

North Carolina lawmakers filed a bill on Monday that would pull North Carolina and NC State from the Atlantic Coast Conference if the conference boycotted the state again amid the fallout of House Bill 2. House Bill 728 says that if a college conference boycotts North Carolina, then state schools that are a part of that conference would be prohibited from extending the grant of media rights to that conference. The ACC and NCAA had pulled championship events out of North Carolina until HB2 — known as the “bathroom bill” — was repealed. The bill, which was widely decried as...

A day after North Carolina lawmakers introduced legislation that would outlaw same-sex marriage and defy a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling, a top Republican there said Wednesday that the bill is dead on arrival. North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore released a curt statement Wednesday shooting down the bill known as the “Uphold Historical Marriage Act.” Moore said lawmakers would not hear the bill, which prompted a new round of criticism this week for a state already drawing negative attention for its transgender bathroom law.

University of Maryland President Wallace Loh says he thinks the NCAA's current investigation into former conference rival North Carolina would lead to a shutdown of athletic programs at the university. Loh made the comments last week during a Maryland senate meeting last week.

Police arrested a man who is accused of arson, ethnic intimidation, and committing a hate crime at Central Market in Charlotte on Thursday. Curtis Dwight Flournoy, 32, is charged with burning a building of trade, malicious damage by use of an incendiary material, felony breaking and entering, ethnic intimidation, and anonymous or threatening letters. Police searched for the man seen in surveillance video leaving a racist note, breaking a window at the business, and then setting a fire. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said Friday that they’re working with federal authorities to investigate the incident as a hate crime. […] Officers responded Thursday...

A North Carolina election worker has been charged with illegally altering voter records so hundreds of felons could vote, The News and Observer reports.Joy Yvette Wilkerson, a former temporary election worker in Granville County, N.C., accessed voter registration records and restored the active voting status of 250 convicted felons in the county. The activity, which was initially discovered by the Granville County Board of Elections last June, is a felony."A State Board of Elections spokesman said Wilkerson was hired on a temporary basis in late 2015 through a staffing agency to help Granville County prepare for the presidential election," the...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police arson detectives are investigating after they say someone left a threatening note and started a fire in front of an east Charlotte business. According to CMPD, officers responded to a fire at the Central Market store, located in the 5700 block of Albemarle Road, just before 10 p.m. Thursday. When officers arrived, Charlotte Fire Department crews advised them the fire had been contained to the front door and had already burned itself out when they reached the store. Police say one of the door’s windows was shattered after a suspect threw a rock through it...

Duke University is struggling to find students to serve on a “bias and hate” advisory committee, despite last year’s protests calling for increased transparency within the school’s administration. As Campus Reform reported last April, students had occupied an administrative building on campus, refusing to leave until a series of demands were met, most of which centered around calls for the termination of a controversial school administrator and a hike in the minimum wage for university staff members.