Free Republic

There’s a lot of debate that takes place around the idea of open carry. Many argue that open carry is tactically stupid as it makes it clear to any potential bad guy who to take out first during a robbery. Others counter with arguments about how open carry initiates conversations about the Second Amendment and our right to keep and bear arms. Both are good points, but for one open carrier in Fayetteville, NC, open carry isn’t such a grand thing these days. An incident involving a stolen gun caused a commotion at Walmart on Skibo Road on Thursday afternoon....

A prisoner has been arrested and charged after he was accused of performing a sex act on a copy of the Quran. Jonathan Compton was already locked up in Gaston County jail, North Carolina, US, when he allegedly defaced the holy book. The copy reportedly belonged to his Muslim cellmate, whom he also alleged subjected to a racial slur. Compton, 35, was charged with ethnic intimidation following the alleged incident, the Gaston Gazette reports. US media report Abdur Abdulkhafid accused Compton of performing a sex act on his Quran in their cell at around 2am on Friday. It is also...

The live-in boyfriend of Mariah Woods' mother has been arrested in connection to the disappearance of the 3-year-old - and police believe the child is dead. Mariah Woods is believed to be dead, her mother's boyfriend has been arrested +7 Mariah Woods is believed to be dead, her mother's boyfriend has been arrested At 2.30am, WCTI12.com announced that Earl Kimrey had been taken into custody and charged for concealing a death and the obstruction of justice. There is no indication as yet that Mariah's body has been found but police believe she is deceased. The 32-year-old man was taken before...

ASHEVILLE, NC (FOX Carolina) - Asheville Police said they detained a person of interest after an explosive device was found at the Asheville Regional Airport. Michael Christopher Estes, 46, was detained Saturday morning along Airport Road after federal authorities said a tipster recognized him. Authorities told FOX Carolina that a suspicious device was found on a curb outside the airport's baggage claim area Friday morning. Police later confirmed the package was, in fact, explosive and had been rendered safe by the bomb squad. The airport was briefly evacuated, but the terminal reopened just before 9 a.m. The FBI released a statement about...

RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency misused federal money meant to help homeowners rework their mortgages after the recession, according to a government watchdog. The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, commonly known as TARP, found more than $3 million in wasteful spending from the program's "Hardest Hit Fund" in housing agencies nationwide, including more than $107,000 in North Carolina, officials said. The N.C. Housing Finance Agency disputes the findings but has already begun paying the money back, executive director Scott Farmer said Wednesday.

DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — Durham County Sheriff Mike Andrews announced Tuesday morning that the sheriff’s office will be investigating and trying to identify and charge the protesters who took part in the toppling of a Confederate statue outside the old Durham County courthouse Monday evening. --snip He said protesters will face felony charges.

DURHAM, North Carolina (WTVD) -- Durham County Sheriff Mike Andrews said Tuesday his office will seek charges against protestors who pulled down a Confederate statue outside the old courthouse Monday evening. In a statement, Sheriff Andrews said he was grateful that no one was hurt and that county leaders decided to act with restraint towards the demonstrators. "Collectively, we decided that restraint and public safety would be our priority. As the Sheriff, I am not blind to the offensive conduct of some demonstrators nor will I ignore their criminal conduct. With the help of video captured at the scene, my...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WNCT) – North Carolina based Cheerwine will be honored by President Donald Trump during a “Made In America” showcase at the White House Monday. The event will feature products made in America, as part of the president’s message of putting American first. A White House spokesperson said the event is also supposed to encourage other companies to manufacture their products in America.

Make America Happy Again! Totally opposite of stories while Obama was President. ASHEVILLE -- Some Asheville police officers, who responded to a street complaint in the Oakley area on Saturday, are getting some positive attention after they joined in on a 4th of July party. Resident Katlen Joyce Smith told WLOS that her neighborhood has over 20 kids in a four block radius. Story continues at link

North Carolina’s law allowing magistrates to refuse to perform same-sex marriages survived a challenge Wednesday when an appeals court determined that three couples weren’t harmed enough to fight the state’s use of taxpayer money to apply the law. The Richmond-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed their lawsuit, rejecting arguments by the couples that their status as North Carolina taxpayers gives them standing to sue. Because two of the couples are already married and the third is engaged, the law hasn’t hurt their ability to wed, the judges said. “The outcome here is in no way a comment on same-sex...

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — It looked like a bank so it must have had money a robber could take, right? No Police say a man walked into the First National Bank training center in Greensboro on Tuesday afternoon and demanded cash. Police spokeswoman Susan Danielsen said the suspect thought the training facility was a real bank and used real money. It doesn't.

DURHAM, N.C. — The driver of a large pickup truck who ignored protesters in a Durham street on Monday afternoon and drove through the crowd will not be cited, police confirmed. No one was hurt, but several protesters outside the Durham County Jail tried to stop the truck from driving through their rally. The protesters said they did not have a permit to close the road.

DURHAM, North Carolina -- A Durham woman was arrested after throwing lighter fluid on her son's Eno Valley Elementary School kindergarten teacher and threatening to burn the building down, according to an arrest warrant. Durham police said that teacher Megan Jones had arranged a parent-teacher conference with Shequella Sheala Leonard, who became irate at accusations of her son's behavior. About five minutes into the meeting, the school principal told Leonard that she needed to leave the building, and the group, which included Leonard's son, exited into a hallway, police said. Once in the hallway, Jones told police that Leonard pulled...

North Carolina church leaders have told a Boy Scout troop and Cub Scout pack they’re no longer welcome to use their facilities as a home base after the Boy Scouts of America decided in January to allow transgender boys. The Charlotte Observer reports Coddle Creek Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Mooresville booted both Troop 169 and Pack 169. Mooresville is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Charlotte. …

Raleigh, N.C. — A Republican North Carolina lawmaker is calling on Democratic Secretary of State Elaine Marshall to resign or face impeachment over her handling of notary public licenses, but Marshall says the move is politically motivated. Rep. Chris Millis, R-Pender, held a press conference Tuesday at the Legislative Building. "If the secretary chooses not to resign, I will proceed with all legislative actions, including a resolution for impeachment," Millis said. Millis said his investigation began last September, when he "came across an article that reported that the North Carolina secretary of state may have commissioned illegal immigrants as notaries...

Raleigh, N.C. — The state NAACP will ask the national leaders of the civil rights group next month for a nationwide economic boycott of North Carolina to protest the actions of the General Assembly, state NAACP President Rev. William Barber said Thursday. "This legislature is trying to raise a new Confederacy in policy," Barber said at a news conference. "This group doesn't respect the Constitution. They do not respect the voices of the people. They do not respect the will of the people. They do not respect the vote, and it seems in some ways they do not respect just...

The next step in the 2016 presidential election isn’t happening without controversy as North Carolina’s presidential electors are gearing up to cast their votes in the Electoral College. Several groups, including Unite America, are calling on electors to vote their conscience after President elect Donald Trump won North Carolina. A spokesman for the state Republican Party ... press conference began that there would be no mystery in the outcome Monday. There will be 15 votes for Trump, but that didn't stop protesters from gathering to urge electors to change their mind. "We have decided that the electoral college will serve...

N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory will meet with President-elect Donald Trump in New York on Wednesday, according to The Hill.The Trump transition team said the meeting will happen after a transition fundraising breakfast.

Roxboro, N.C. — A caravan of about 20 vehicles organized by the Ku Klux Klan celebrated President-Elect Donald Trump's win with Confederate and American flags Saturday afternoon in Roxboro. Officers blocked several intersections along U.S. Highway 501, so the convoy would move and exit the city quickly. “We learned late this afternoon the group wanted to come to Roxboro. I want to thank our law enforcement partners who helped us close intersections so the group could enter and leave the city as fast as possible,” Roxboro Police Chief David Hess said in a statement. He said the group posted the...

Raleigh, N.C. — As counties across the state continue to tally provisional ballots, Gov. Pat McCrory on Tuesday formally requested a statewide recount in his contested gubernatorial race with Attorney General Roy Cooper. McCrory's campaign said the recount was filed to "meet the original date statutorily specified, although the formal recount will not occur until after the county boards of election certify their results." "With many outstanding votes yet to be counted for the first time, legal challenges, ballot protests and voter fraud allegations, we must keep open the ability to allow the established recount process to ensure every legal...