Free Republic

Two North Carolina counties left a Zuckerbucks nonprofit — where private money is injected into public election administration — as the 2024 election cycle began, citing time commitment as the reason for leaving. Brunswick and Forsyth counties in North Carolina have left the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence, a project of the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), after joining it last year. The alliance is awarding funds to counties and municipalities under the Centers for Election Excellence program. The alliance will provide $80 million over five years "to envision, support, and celebrate excellence in U.S. election administration," according...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The city of Asheville's purchase of five electric buses in 2018 has turned into a multi-million-dollar loss. The buses have been broken or unable to run because of software and/or mechanical issues, making them an expensive and disappointing purchase, according to city maintenance and transportation staff. ... Currently, three of the five buses are idled, with one that has had a broken double door since July. “We haven’t been able to get new doors,” Asheville's interim transportation director Jessica Morriss said. “There's no third party that makes a door. We'd have to get custom-made doors.” Each of...

ARepublican running for Congress in North Carolina previously compared deporting illegal immigrants to Nazi Germany, and said he was "not opposed" to fast-tracking citizenship for recipients of Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals (DACA), also known as "Dreamers." Pat Harrigan, a candidate running to represent North Carolina's 10th Congressional District, made the comments in an Oct. 2022 interview with WFAE 90.7, a public radio station that services the Charlotte area, while a congressional candidate in a different district ahead of the midterm elections. "There has to be a pathway to citizenship. Look, from my perspective, you look at countries that have rounded...

In recent months, videos and images of migrants boarding U.S. commercial airline flights have flooded social media. This month, North State Journal reported on an American Airlines flight out of Arizona carrying non-U.S. citizens to Charlotte’s Douglas International Airport. Within hours of the article being posted online, a General Assembly staffer who wished to remain anonymous relayed a similar encounter at an Arizona airport while returning from a conference on Dec. 1, 2023. Per the staffer, the individuals all appeared to have brand-new backpacks and were carrying plastic bags with what looked like “snacks.” The staffer said most of them...

House Democrats fighting to flip control of the chamber next year will first have to overcome an expected bloodbath in North Carolina, where Republicans have secured a new map all but guaranteeing a red wave in November. GOP lawmakers in the state legislature approved a redistricting plan in October that sets the stage for Republicans to pick up at least three seats, and maybe four, in the 14-member delegation — a tally that, by itself, would double the GOP’s slender House majority on Capitol Hill.

— A suspect is being charged in the killing of a Greensboro police sergeant, according to the Greensboro Police Department. Jamere Justice Foster, 18, of Winston-Salem, is being charged with felony first-degree murder, misdemeanor larceny and conspiracy to commit larceny.

A parade of diversity, equity, and inclusion officers have departed Quinnipiac University within the past year. A total of five diversity officials have resigned from the Connecticut-based university within an 11-month span ... Wayne Gersie, vice president of equity and inclusion, announced he will leave his position and return to his former post at Michigan Technological University, citing “personal reasons,” ... Gersie’s departure came after only five months on the job. “Four other diversity and inclusion administrators have resigned in the past year,”.. Dennis Kwarteng, Quinnipiac’s former Title IX coordinator, left Quinnipiac in January. Gersie’s predecessor, Don Sawyer, departed Quinnipiac...

Democratic Rep. Wiley Nickel will not run for re-election in his home state of North Carolina in 2024, instead opting to explore a run for U.S. Senate in 2026 after a GOP-led redistricting drastically changed his seat. “Republicans have rigged the system to favor themselves and I don’t have a path to run for re-election in the 13th District,” Nickel said in a statement, referencing redistricting in his state that fundamentally changed the demographic and partisan makeup of the statewide map. “But I’m not giving up and neither should you. Next year, I’m going to be working to elect North...

It appears a small plane was forced to land on Interstate 26 on Thursday evening. Several News 13 viewers have called the newsroom, reporting a crash. And video shows the aircraft on fire. Asheville fire officials have confirmed the forced landing. An airport spokesperson said the aircraft reported problems and said it needed assistance. It then landed on the interstate between Long Shoals and Airport roads. The airport deployed a fire truck for mutual aid, airport officials said. Skyland Fire and Rescue and the North Carolina State Highway Patrol are on scene. According to the NCDOT, I-26 westbound will be...

IREDELL COUNTY, N.C. - Authorities in North Carolina said a traffic stop yielded so much fentanyl it was enough to kill nearly 27 million people, more than twice the state's population. The Iredell County Sheriff’s Office said its Interstate Criminal Enforcement Team (ICE) conducted a traffic stop Sunday when they pulled over a 2014 Freightliner tractor-trailer on Interstate 77. Authorities said, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration website, "One kilogram of Fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people." "This math shows that 53.6 kilos could potentially kill 26,800,000 people," authorities posted on its Facebook page. "North Carolina has a...

Foxx warned that other universities should expect to be faced with similar investigations... Rep. Dr. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Chairwoman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, has announced a formal investigation into Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT. This comes after the presidents of all three universities refused to affirm that “calling for the genocide of Jews” is necessarily against the rules at their respective universities. Each of the three university presidents refused to answer “yes,” after being asked multiple times whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” violates their own university policies. All three presidents repeatedly...

One of North Carolina's most influential Republicans is endorsing Bill Graham for governor in 2024, a strong rebuke of Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the GOP frontrunner. In an interview with a conservative magazine, U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis — a Republican who has served in Congress since 2015 and before that was Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives — said Robinson lacks the experience needed to be governor of one of the biggest states in the nation. “Mark Robinson’s a good enough guy. I don’t know him that well,” Tillis told the National Review in an interview Friday. “But...

Kathy Manning, a Greensboro Democrat who is the only Jewish person to ever represent North Carolina in Congress, won't seek reelection in 2024. Her district lines were redrawn earlier this year by Republican state lawmakers, who shifted her seat from a safe Democratic seat to a safe Republican seat. She called it an egregious example of gerrymandering that forced her to step down from Congress rather than run an unwinnable campaign. "As a Greensboro resident of forty years, I am disgusted by the callous disregard of Republican leaders for the citizens of my district," she said Thursday. "Politicians should not...

WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Patrick McHenry, who served as acting speaker of the House during Republicans' bruising leadership fight this year, is expected to announce on Tuesday that he will not seek re-election, multiple media outlets reported.

Muslim American leaders from swing states launched the #AbandonBiden campaign on Saturday, vowing to defeat President Joe Biden in 2024 due to his unwillingness to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. During a press conference in Michigan, about a dozen leaders from swing states Michigan, Minnesota, Arizona, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania vowed not to vote for him, accusing him of abandoning Muslim Americans who helped him win in 2020.

North Carolina trial judges on Thursday blocked portions of a new law that would transfer Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s authority to pick election board members to the Republican-dominated General Assembly. Following a 90-minute hearing, the three state judges agreed unanimously to issue a preliminary injunction sought by Cooper. His lawyers argued that the alterations to the State Board of Elections and county boards in all 100 counties need to be stopped now or his directive in the state constitution to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed” will be harmed irreparably.

The fight that led to a fatal stabbing at Southeast Raleigh High School had a history dating back several weeks, and the mother of the 14-year-old student charged with murder says she warned an official Monday that her son might be attacked. Cherelle McLaughlin of Raleigh said a dispute between students began with her older daughter, who had an earlier altercation with a female Southeast Raleigh High student that snowballed until multiple other juveniles got involved. McLaughlin said her daughter’s original fight led to more than a dozen juveniles, including many shown in videos of Monday’s fatal fight, coming to...

Shocking new footage shows the moment a mass brawl broke out at a North Carolina high school, leaving one student dead and another in hospital. One child, in a gray hoodie with a black jacket, backs another student in a red hoodie into a corner and then punches him repeatedly. The pair run into the school gymnasium, followed by dozens of whooping and cheering students filming on their phones. A brawl ensues, with one student on the ground pulling out a knife and stabbing another in the leg and groin. As the children fled, no one was on the ground....

While Covid-19 has all but disappeared from the national discourse, lawsuits tied to vaccination mandates are hitting courts in North Carolina. Jenna Johlin-Thompson, a former account executive at television station WSFX in Wilmington, is suing the company over her refusal to get vaccinated. Johlin-Thompson, who filed her lawsuit in federal court Nov. 17, relocated to North Carolina from Ohio in 2021 to work at WSFX, which is owned by Charlotte-based American Spirit Media. Within months of her hire, she received an email regarding mandated Covid-19 vaccinations. While she was told to “trust the science,” Johlin-Thompson believed her “body is a...

Law enforcement officials issued an Amber Alert Thursday morning for missing 2-year-old Rayilee Ariyah Rose Coleman. She’s a Black girl, approximately 3 feet tall with black hair and brown eyes, and a mole in her right armpit, according to the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office. Earlier, police said she may have been taken by 37-year-old Dyatsy Oneal Coleman, the child’s father. The two could be headed toward the Grove, Faison or Clinton areas. Rayilee was last seen in a yellow dress with butterflies and flowers on it, with blue tights. Dyatsy was wearing a long-sleeve black shirt and blue jeans, according...