Free Republic

*Primary elections will take place Tuesday in Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and North Carolina. *Voters will choose challengers to vulnerable Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Joe Donnelly in West Virginia and Indiana, respectively. *Parties will set their nominees for multiple competitive House races in Ohio and North Carolina. *In Ohio, both Republican and Democratic primaries for governor are competitive. A string of 2018 primary elections take place Tuesday, shaping elections that will help to determine which party holds the House and Senate after November's midterms. Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia will hold primaries Tuesday. Both West Virginia and...

A North Carolina jury awarded $50 million to neighbors of a 15,000-hog farm in Eastern North Carolina in a case being closely watched across the country by environmentalists and the hog farm industry. The verdict, revealed late Thursday after a jury deliberated less than two days, is the first to come in a series of federal lawsuits filed against Murphy-Brown/Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer. In this case decided in a federal courtroom in Raleigh, 10 neighbors contended that industrial-scale hog operations have known for decades that the open-air sewage pits on their properties were the source of noxious,...

A rare form of eye cancer has struck a group of people in two locations in North Carolina and Alabama, confounding medical experts who are trying to determine whether the cases are linked. Ocular melanoma typically affects 6 out of every 1 million people, but doctors have found dozens of cases where those affected have ties to either Huntersville, N.C., or Auburn, Ala. Many of those diagnosed attended Auburn University between 1983 and 2001 — at least three of them were friends. At least 38 people who went to Auburn have reported being diagnosed with the disease, according to a...

CHARLOTTE — Congressman Robert Pittenger said Friday that he wants U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to look into reports that schools are indoctrinating students with an anti-gun political agenda. His prime example: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ reaction to a principal’s videotaped remarks about gun culture, delivered during a student “walkout” at Collinswood Language Academy to demand safer schools. Student organizers and several parents said the comments, which interrupted a guest speaker, were inappropriate. In response to a Charlotte Observer query, CMS said that “appropriate actions have and will be taken to address concerns regarding this incident.” “Incident? An educator shared a different...

Durham The Durham Police Department arrested a 28-year-old man Friday in the fatal shooting of Durham restaurant owner Hong Zheng. Police charged Maurice Owen Wiley Jr. in the 600 block of East Ellerbee Street on Friday morning. He is charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, attempted first-degree-burglary, and six counts of discharging a weapon into an occupied vehicle/residence. In addition, Wiley was charged with five offenses from a domestic-violence case in Durham last year and assault by strangulation in connection with a domestic-violence case in Wake County. He was also charged with two...

The fatal shooting of Chinese restaurant owner Hong Zheng in Durham last weekend resonated with Lawrence Yoo, the son of first-generation Korean immigrants, whose parents were robbed numerous times in Philadelphia. “This hits home for me,” he said. Yoo, pastor of Durham County's Waypoint Church, says many Asian immigrants keep a low profile in America and don't want to be seen as stirring up or getting mixed up in trouble. But trouble seeks them out, Yoo said. “I can walk into any largely Asian church … and easily find businessmen and women who have robbed before, in minutes.” After Zheng,...

The shooting, the family said, was an attempted robbery that unfolded as Shirley Chan and Hong Zheng returned home from work. It was the fifth time that someone had tried to rob or break into their home since 2015. The family believes they are among a group of Asians who are being targeted because they own restaurants and people think they have money, they said. ... It was pouring rain on Sunday night when Chan and Zheng pulled into their driveway. There two children, Jade and Eastern, 16, were watching in the house for them to return, a routine they...

Harry Anderson, best known for his leading role in the “Night Court” sitcom in the ‘80s, died Monday morning at his home in Asheville, police officials said. Police were called to Anderson’s home before 8 a.m., according to Christina Hallingse, Asheville police public information officer.

A white North Carolina Democratic candidate brushed aside questions earlier this week about ensuring diversity in his state by saying he is a member of the black community. House of Representatives candidate Gary Shipman said he doesn’t need to worry about diversity because he has already experienced it as a member of the African-American community, reported The News & Observer Wednesday.

**SNIP** At the same time, the fourth generation law enforcement officer with 23 years experience carries a badge and a gun. "My mindset is first and foremost the safety of these children," he said. Dare County is one of just four districts among North Carolina's 115 to have a resource officer in every school, said Michael Anderson, community development and training manager for the N.C. Center for Safer Schools, part of the state's Department of Public Instruction. Expense, district size and lack of resources often prevent placing officers in elementary schools, he said.

..at free speech event in Texas found GUILTY of recruiting for the Islamic StateErick Jamal Hendricks plotted to kill Pamela Geller and hundreds who attended AFDI’s free speech event in Garland, Texas. He was found guilty of aiding and abetting ISIS. Once again, the family covers and sanctions jihad and blames islamophobia (in other words, the victims). His mother told the Observer in 2016 that her son was “patriotic,” and was facing trumped-up charges because he is a converted Muslim. Hendricks had contacted Al-Ghazi over social media to recruit him months earlier. Al-Ghazi said Hendricks tested his religious knowledge...

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Greensboro City Council members are considering canceling the annual Gun and Knife Show in light of the recent mass shooting at a Florida high school. Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughn told NBC affiliate WXII that the entire City Council is in support of canceling the show, scheduled for Aug. 25 through Aug. 26 at the Greensboro Coliseum. Vaughn, who describes herself as a gun owner, said the idea came about in response to a conversation she had with her daughter, a high school student, about the Florida shooting that left 17 people dead. “As a council, we thought...

WINSTON SALEM (AP/WNCN) - Authorities say a man accused of drunken driving in a fatal ambulance crash in North Carolina is subject to deportation pending the criminal case’s outcome. **SNIP** Police say Romero’s car hit the ambulance carrying a 3-year-old boy and his mother, causing it to overturn. Police found the ambulance overturned on the curb of U.S. 52 southbound near the Liberty Street exit around 1:15 a.m. Sunday, WFMY reported. The boy later died in a hospital. Three adults on the ambulance had minor injuries, according to the TV station.

On the 7th of February, 2018, three young men approached a home in Catawba County at about 6 p.m. One of the young men, a 17-year-old, shot at the intended victim.  The intended victim, also 17, was armed and fired back, hitting the attacker several times, killing him. Shane Cauthen, Masked 17-Year-Old Shot and Killed in Self Defense Gunfight The other two masked men have been arrested, and the incident investigated. The two remaining suspects are 22 and 16 years old.  The investigators met with the District Attorney on Thursday morning. A determination was made the shooting was in...

<p>RALEIGH, N.C. -- A man pretending to be a three-star U.S. Army general wanted to impress a woman when he unexpectedly landed a helicopter at the headquarters of a North Carolina technology company last year, a federal agent testified Monday. Details about the strange case of Christian Desgroux emerged at a hearing before a federal magistrate, who ordered that the defendant remain in jail pending his upcoming arraignment.</p>

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.