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Two weeks after a Nashville Dominican nun spoke to students at one of North Carolina’s largest Catholic schools and delivered a presentation critical of homosexuality, diocesan and school officials offered apologies at a meeting attended by an estimated 900 parents. “Many said that” the first part of Sister Jane Dominic Laurel’s presentation at Charlotte Catholic High School “was excellent and fully in line with the Catholic faith,” said Father Roger Arnsparger, the Diocese of Charlotte’s vicar of education, as quoted on the diocesan newspaper’s website. “There was unfortunately a misunderstanding about the content of the last part of the presentation,”...

HIGH POINT, NC - Stanley Furniture Company, Inc. today reported it will cease domestic furniture production in the factory that supports its Young America brand. “We have a healthy Stanley business that is making money. It is supported by a wonderful heritage, strong product in the field and future pipeline, and we are looking forward to the prospects of focusing our team solely on the growth and profitability of this brand in the short-term” “We have decided to cease manufacturing operations in Robbinsville,” said Glenn Prillaman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “After a thorough review of both our own operations...

North Carolina’s Board of Elections found that tens of thousands of registered voters from the state have personal information matching that of registered voters in other states, and appear to have voted in states other than North Carolina in 2012. In some cases, votes were cast under names of individuals who had passed away before Election Day.

CHARLOTTE, NC, April 2, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A North Carolina Roman Catholic school is holding a meeting today to address the concerns of parents and students who say they are outraged about remarks a visiting nun made criticizing homosexuality, divorce, and sex outside of marriage during a recent speech. Dominican Sister Jane Dominic Laurel, who often speaks to high school and college-age students on matters of sexuality, gave an hour-long presentation to students at Charlotte Catholic High School on March 21 called “Masculinity and Femininity: Difference and Gift.” School officials told the Catholic News Herald she spent about half her...

The North Carolina State Board of Elections has found thousands of instances of voter fraud in the state, thanks to a 28-state crosscheck of voter rolls. Initial findings suggest widespread election fraud. 765 voters with an exact match of first and last name, DOB and last four digits of SSN were registered in N.C. and another state and voted in N.C. and the other state in the 2012 general election. 35,750 voters with the same first and last name and DOB were registered in N.C. and another state and voted in both states in the 2012 general election. 155,692 voters...

House Speaker Thom Tillis continues to lead the list of Repubican candidates for U.S. Senate, a new poll shows, though a month before the primary election one third of likely voters remain undecided. The SurveyUSA poll for Time Warner Cable News puts Tillis at 23 percent. His next closest challenger is Greg Brannon at 15 percent. It's essentially a reflection of another recent SurveyUSA poll and fits within other polling numbers. The margin of error on the latest poll is plus-or-minus 4.8 percent. The other headline: all Republican candidates beat or tie Democrat Kay Hagan in a hypothetical November matchup...

A tea party Senate candidate is going after one of his Republican primary competitors over a supporting ad that does not include the phrase "repeal Obamacare." North Carolina Senate candidate Greg Brannon's (R) campaign is attacking North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis (R-NC) Senate campaign over a new ad by American Crossroads in support of the state House Speaker, establishment Republicans' preferred candidate in the race. The narrator in the ad said Tillis has the "conservative guts" to replace Obamacare with "honest healthcare reforms." The ad however does not say Tillis wants to repeal Obamacare and that's where the Brannon...

Several youth gathered together in the center city and hatched a plan for a crime spree, police said. During an eight-hour period Sunday morning, the teens pulled up beside random victims at traffic signals or stopped them on the street, police say. They followed one man to his home and carjacked him. In total, the teens are suspected in crimes in five separate incidents in north, east and west Charlotte. The final crime, around 10 a.m., left a 44-year-old man dead in the Derita neighborhood, police say. “They just were driving around the city and saw people that they thought...

Sister Jane Dominic Laurel The faithful across America are growing increasingly disturbed after a faction of students and parents of a Catholic High School in Charlotte, North Carolina initiated an online petition condemning a popular speaker for enunciating the Church’s position on homosexuality, divorce and single parenting during a recent assembly.According to the Catholic News Herald, the incident occurred on March 21 when Sister Jane Dominic Laurel, a Dominican nun based in Nashville, Tennessee addressed a student assembly at the school.Her talk, entitled “Masculinity and Femininity: Difference and Gift,” is based on the teachings of Blessed John Paul II’s Theology...

The White House on Friday touted the story of a “staunch Republican” who says he’s getting the best coverage he’s ever had under ObamaCare. “I am a staunch Republican, a self-proclaimed Fox News addict, and I didn't vote for the President,” Mark Beard, a retired psychologist from North Carolina, wrote in a letter posted on the White House website. “And I'm here to tell you that ObamaCare works. I'm living proof.” Beard said he was paying $428 a month for chemotherapy treatment and was upset when he got a notice from his insurer saying his plan would be canceled. But...

Charlotte Catholic High School has invited parents to a meeting Wednesday night to air concerns many of them – and their kids – had about a recent speaker's comments about homosexuality, divorce and single parents. Sister Jane Dominic Laurel, a Dominican nun based in Nashville, Tenn., addressed a student assembly on March 21. Days later, some students launched an online petition that called her comments "offensive and unnecessarily derogatory." A record of the comments was not available. But students attending told their parents she criticized gays and lesbians and made inflammatory remarks about single and divorced parents.... Some students told...

LOGANSPORT, Ind. - A fast-moving virus that has infected hogs across half of the nation since it was first detected in the U.S. less than a year ago has become rampant in Indiana, agriculture officials say. Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, or PED, has infected farms in 43 of Indiana's 92 counties, according to March 14 data from the Indiana State Board of Animal Health. Twenty-six other states have reported cases of the virus as of March 12, the National Animal Health Laboratory Network indicates. While the flu-like sickness doesn't affect people and is not a food safety concern, it can...

Today, I write with some good news some of you may have already heard. On March 20, in Greenville, N.C., a federal jury unanimously sided with me in my claims that the University of North Carolina–Wilmington (UNCW) violated federal law in a 2006 promotion decision. Specifically, the jury found that my First Amendment–protected speech was a “substantial or motivating factor” in the defendants’ decision not to promote me to full professor. They also found that defendants could not prove they would have made the same decision in the absence of my speech activity. The case now moves to the judge...

An awful 146-word term paper littered with grammatical errors that is barely even readable has become a potent visual symbol of the University of North Carolina's fake classes scandal. The one-paragraph essay on civil rights icon Rosa Parks earned an A- and was exposed by former UNC professor Mary Willingham, who spent 10 years teaching UNC's athletes before she turned whistleblower on alleged classroom corruption. The shocking essay came to light during an ESPN documentary timed to coincide with the March Madness basketball competition. It contains allegations that UNC athletes in danger of failing were encouraged to sign up for...

Some parents and students at one of North Carolina’s largest Catholic schools are outraged after a Nashville Dominican nun who holds a doctorate in theology criticized homosexuality in a presentation to students, according to the Charlotte Observer. “We the students of Charlotte Catholic High School would like to issue a formal complaint regarding Sr. Jane Dominic [Laurel]’s speech,” according to an online petition. “We believe that same sex couples have the ability to raise happy, well-adjusted and successful children … We believe that homosexual couples are capable of monogamy. As rational people, we know that most homosexual people lead healthy,...

I met Dr. Greg Brannon four years ago and am excited at the prospect of him being our next U.S. senator in the great state of North Carolina. Dr. Brannon has delivered approximately nine thousand babies; read that again it’s not a typo. He is the most ardent pro-life candidate in our state. He has literally been a leader in many state pro-life organizations while running a busy OBGYN practices in Cary, North Carolina. Dr. Brannon has 7 children, including 3 he and his wife adopted from China. He was born to a single mother who was loved this country...

Charlotte Catholic High School is getting backlash from students and parents after a school assembly last week. Students said that a guest speaker discussed offensive material about divorce and homosexuality. Sister Jane Dominic, with Aquinas College in Nashville, has a doctorate in sacred theology. But her message about the influence divorce has on gender identification and homosexuality didn't go over so well.... In an online petition, which now has close to 1,800 signatures, one student wrote "we found some of (the) ideas expressed to be both offensive and unnecessarily derogatory. We are incensed that you knew the content of this...

Less than six months on the job, the mayor of Charlotte was arrested Wednesday and accused of accepting more than $48,000 in bribes from undercover FBI agents posing as businessmen who wanted to do work with North Carolina's largest city. Mayor Patrick Cannon, a 47-year-old Democrat who rose from the city's public housing projects to become a successful businessman and politician, faces federal theft and bribery charges. Cannon accepted more than $48,000 in cash, airline tickets, a hotel room and the use of a luxury apartment as bribes and solicited more than $1 million more, according to a criminal complaint....

A major political scandal unraveled in Charlotte Wednesday as Patrick Cannon resigned as Charlotte’s mayor after federal investigators arrested him on bribery and corruption charges. Documents outline how agents said the mayor abused his power for years.

So, it’s a warm day, and you’re standing in a parking lot, drinking a refreshing can of iced tea. Suddenly, a random dude walks up and demands your beverage. You show him that it is in fact iced tea and that you aren’t publicly intoxicated. He tells you to give him the can and you say no, figuring this stranger can get his own iced tea. This is exactly what happened to rapper Christopher “Xstrav” Beatty, who was handcuffed and arrested by Officer Rick Libero of the Cumberland County Alcoholic Beverage Control Law Enforcement for drinking a can of Arizona...