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STATESVILLE, N.C. (WBTV) - A plane crash at an airport in Iredell County resulted in multiple deaths on Thursday, the sheriff confirmed. The Cessna C550 airplane crashed at Statesville Regional Airport around 10:15 a.m. on Dec. 18. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told CBS News that six people were aboard the plane. It was not immediately clear whether there were any survivors. A picture from the airport showed the plane in a massive ball of flames after it crashed on the runway. Flight tracking records showed a Cessna 550 that took off from Statesville Regional Airport at 10:06 a.m. is...

Multiple people are feared dead after a private jet crashed and exploded into flames on Thursday at a North Carolina airport frequented by NASCAR teams and Fortune 500 companies. The Cessna C550 plane went down at Statesville Regional Airport at about 10:15 a.m, authorities said. Footage shot by WSOC-TV captured the aircraft entirely engulfed in flames as emergency crews rushed onto the runway. It wasn’t immediately clear how many were onboard but the local sheriff’s office said there were a number of fatalities. The airport is owned by the city and “provides corporate aviation facilities for Fortune 500 companies and...

Sharing a meme against President Trump in response to a memorial for assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk cost a Tennessee man his liberty for 37 days, which in turn got him fired. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which is representing Larry Bushart, told Just the News on Tuesday it's still prepping a lawsuit on his behalf. The Alliance Defending Freedom beat FIRE to court in response to another alleged criminal investigation of speech related to Kirk in neighboring North Carolina, alleging a school district known for a Supreme Court precedent on school busing sanctioned an unidentified high school...

The Charlotte City Council is being slammed for approving $3.4 million to hire a PR company to clean up the reputation of their public transportation after a string of recent stabbings. The city’s latest action comes after two widely-publicized stabbings, including one that ended fatally on Charlotte’s train system and sparked a national conversation on rising crime and lax prosecution in urban areas of the country. On Tuesday, Republican North Carolina Rep. Mark Harris called out the “pro-crime Democrats in Charlotte” for spending the cash on “misleading ads” rather than choosing to “invest in REAL safety to prevent another tragedy...

An estimated $3.4 million in funding will go towards improving the public image of Charlotte’s public transportation system following recent violence on the CATS light rail. Monday night, the Charlotte City Council unanimously approved plans to enter into a one-year contract with Sherry Matthews Group for marketing and communication services. Officials started searching for a firm about a month after the death of Iryna Zarutska on the Blue Line. Now days after the most recent light rail stabbing, the city is continuing efforts to improve public perception and encourage people to use public transit. “It is outrageous that rather than...

EXCLUSIVE - A North Carolina high school student said she was accused of vandalism by her school and told she was being investigated by law enforcement after she painted her school's "spirit rock" with a religious and patriotic tribute to slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. According to a new complaint filed Monday and shared first with Fox News Digital, Gabby Stout, a junior at Ardrey Kell High School, called her school's front office on September 12 to ask if she could paint the school spirit rock with a patriotic message honoring Kirk, who was killed two days prior. Stout was...

There has been another unprovoked stabbing on the Charlotte, North Carolina, commuter light rail system. We saw the tragic death of Iryna Zarutska last August in just such an event, but this latest incident is different in two ways: The victim is still alive, although in critical but stable condition, at least as of this writing, and the alleged attacker is an illegal alien, who has been deported at least once and entered the United States illegally again. When will we have had enough of this? Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy weighed in on his official X account:Apparently, the death...

A suspect has been charged in the Friday stabbing on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to police. Oscar Solarzano, 33, has been charged with five counts including attempted first degree murder, assault with deadly weapon serious injury and carrying concealed weapon, according to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department. The male victim was found with a stab wound just before 5 p.m. near North Brevard Street and East 22nd Street, where the train appeared to have stopped between stations, Charlotte ABC affiliate WSOC reported. The victim was transported to Novant Health Presbyterian with serious injuries but is...

President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Michael Whatley in North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race isn’t deterring other Republicans from the race. Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chairman who Trump endorsed this summer, is expected to face Waxhaw lawyer Don Brown and teacher Elizabeth Temple of Smithfield in the GOP primary to replace outgoing Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, who isn’t seeking reelection in next year’s midterms. Whatley filed candidacy paperwork Tuesday, a day after Brown and Temple filed. The Republican field could grow; candidates can file to run until Dec. 19. *** A competitive GOP primary could affect the party’s...

Voters in the Coastal Plains of North Carolina are on track for new congressional maps in the 2026 midterms. The 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts are changed from the 2024 presidential cycle in the map redrawn this fall by the Legislature. On Wednesday, Justices Allison Jones Rushing, Richard Myers and Thomas Schroeder in a 57-page opinion concluded plaintiffs did not make a “clear showing that they are likely to succeed on the merits of any of the claims advanced in their preliminary injunction motions” and denied the request for a preliminary injunction. Filing for the 2026 midterms begins Monday. Rushing...

The upbeat, Spanish music still floats through the aisles of Sav/Way Foods, the Latino supermarket in the heart of the bustling and boisterous Plaza Midwood neighborhood. But at 8:30 on a chilly morning this week, the songs on the loudspeakers are about all the Spanish you hear. “It’s been really, really slow,” says employee Bella Duran as a half-dozen shoppers silently mill about the store. “A lot of our customers have been scared to come out.” Some patrons now afraid to leave their homes are taking Sav/Way up on its offer of free home delivery. Inside the store, rows of...

A southern city, Charlotte N.C., is emerging as a human trafficking hotspot due to its convergence of highways, demand for cheap agricultural labor and gang activity. Data found 106 minors were trafficked in Charlotte last year, about half of whom were aged 15 or younger. This was nearly double the 45 to 60 children identified annually between 2018 and 2022, figures from the city's Metro Human Trafficking Task Force showed. Statewide, the National Human Trafficking Hotline (NCTH) recorded 301 human‑trafficking cases in North Carolina in 2024, involving 580 victims. The vast majority of last year’s cases were sex trafficking, but...

Federal law enforcement officials were sent to North Carolina’s largest city, while many National Guard members deployed to Chicago and Portland are being sent home.The Department of Homeland Security has begun law enforcement operations in Charlotte, federal officials said Saturday, the latest Democratic-run city to brace for the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.“We are surging DHS law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed,” Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokesperson, said in an email. “There have been too many victims of criminal illegal aliens, and President Trump and Secretary Noem will step up to protect...

When the show’s over, what federal agents will leave behind is predictable. All the president’s men are coming to Charlotte. After several days of rumors, federal officials confirmed to local leaders in North Carolina that, indeed, Border Patrol agents will be conducting operations in the state’s largest city. I used to live in Charlotte. I still have a lot of friends and family there. I’m told Donald Trump is coming to save them, but from what? We don’t know. If Charlotte residents are living in terror — other than the terror President Trump has created by frightening the city’s...

Scout Motors, an emerging automotive manufacturer, is bringing its headquarters to Charlotte, employing 1,200 workers by 2030. The headquarters, which will be located in the Commonwealth development in Plaza Midwood, will serve as the central hub for leadership and innovation. The move announced Wednesday represents a capital investment of nearly $207 million. The Charlotte headquarters will serve as the home base for executive leadership, research and development, finance, IT, sales, marketing and other key corporate functions. The average salary is $172,878, well above the market average.

The New North Carolina plant is aimed at selling more hybrid cars and trucks to AmericansLIBERTY, N.C.—Toyota, a longtime hybrid car and truck promoter, is making one of the industry’s biggest bets on green transportation and opening a $14 billion battery plant here. For years, Toyota held out against electric vehicles while rivals retrofitted factories and launched models in preparation for an all-electric future. Now that the EV market in the U.S. is vanishing as tax credits expire and sales disappoint, Toyota is doubling down on its hybrid strategy. The Japanese automaker’s gamble: that American consumers—many of whom won’t touch...

The US Coast Guard dramatically pulled five sailors to safety after their boat went down in choppy waters hundreds of miles off the coast of North Carolina. The five men, who were aboard the sailboat 'Magic Bus', issued a mayday call on Thursday after their boat began sinking. The North Carolina Command Center scrambled an immediate response to the group some 260 nautical miles off Cape Hatteras as the sailors abandoned their boat. The cutter Angela McShan (WPC 1135), along with an HC-130 Hercules aircraft and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter were deployed from Air Station Elizabeth City as part of...

A North Carolina kart racing national champion was murdered in front of his fiancée during a violent home invasion by two suspected career criminals who were captured 10 days after the “targeted” attack. Tyler Weaver, 25, was found dead on the floor of his Forest City home on Oct. 24, when police responded to the rural house following reports of a break-in just before 10 a.m., officials said. Weaver and his fiancée, Nevaeh Quintero, were inside when the suspects allegedly broke in and opened fire, according to WLOS. Weaver, who twice won the 2018 Maxxis Kart Racing National Championship, was...

A North Carolina home invasion left a national kart racing champion dead — gunned down in front of his fiancée in a late-morning break-in last month, according to authorities. Tyler Weaver, 25, suffered fatal gunshot wounds in what the local police chief called a "targeted" robbery that took place around 10 a.m. on Oct. 24, according to the Forest City Police Department. Weaver's fiancée, Nevaeh Quintero, was held at gunpoint but managed to escape and call 911, according to court documents. The suspects are both repeat offenders who avoided capture for 10 days before authorities caught up with them. They...

Citing frustrations with persistent crime, a trio of North Carolina lawmakers is urging Democratic Gov. Josh Stein to deploy the National Guard in Charlotte, saying the state of the city has become "increasingly dire." "Recently, the city faced eight homicides in seven days. The murder rate in uptown Charlotte is now 200% higher than it was a year ago," the letter states. "According to the Fraternal Order of Police, aggravated assaults involving knives or guns have risen from 86 in 2024 to 111 in 2025, and personal strong-arm robberies have increased from 26 to 31 in the same period." Rep....