Category Archives: North Carolina

Hurricane Lee prompts weekend beach warnings on US east coast

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Dangerous surf and rip currents expected along most of Atlantic coast from Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center

Hurricane Lee is making its way through the Atlantic Ocean and is expected to remain a powerful hurricane through early next week, prompting warnings of dangerous beach conditions on the US east coast over the weekend.

Between Wednesday and Thursday night, Lee evolved from a category 1 tropical storm to a category 5 hurricane. It then dropped down to a category 4 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center announced on Friday morning.

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‘This is psychological warfare’: Starbucks workers allege anti-union firings

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The National Labor Relations Board has reinstated 28 of the more than 200 pro-union workers fired since late 2021

Alicia Flores had worked at Starbucks in Portland, Oregon, for seven years until June, when she received a voicemail from a manager – filling in for her usual boss, who was taking a leave of absence – who informed her she was being fired.

Flores is far from alone.

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Weather tracker: Hurricane Idalia leaves trail of damage in Florida

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Category 3 storm causes extensive flooding in south-east US, while heavy rain and winds also hit France and Italy

Hurricane Idalia struck northern Florida on Wednesday, bringing damaging winds and torrential rain. It made landfall near Keaton Beach on Florida’s Big Bend during the morning as a high-end category 3 hurricane, bringing sustained winds speeds near 125mph (200km/h) and a storm surge of 16ft along Florida’s north-west coastline.

Due to very warm sea surface temperatures, the storm strengthened rapidly over the Gulf of Mexico to category 4 status, before weakening to category 3 as it made landfall. It brought extensive flooding as it passed through and damaged power lines, leaving thousands without electricity.

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Hurricane Idalia brings intense flooding to Carolinas as Floridians count cost – live

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More than 50,000 customers in Carolinas still without power despite category 3 tempest weakening to tropical storm

Joe Biden signed a major disaster declaration for Florida following Hurricane Idalia.

The declaration provides the state with federal resources to support clean up, rescue, and more in response to the tropical storm.

The White House shares the following: “This morning, President Biden called Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to convey that he has signed a Major Disaster Declaration and ordered all available federal resources to help with the continued response to Tropical Storm Idalia.

The President reiterated that the people of Florida have his full support as they recover from the storm

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Hurricane Idalia leaves trail of floods and wreckage in south-eastern US

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Tropical storm moves into Atlantic but torrential rain and inland flooding still likely in North Carolina, officials warn

Recovery efforts were under way in four states on Thursday as the remains of Hurricane Idalia, still a tropical storm with 60mph winds, moved into the Atlantic off the coast of the Carolinas.

Crews were sifting through wreckage across North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, where the storm came ashore on Wednesday as a category 3 hurricane with gusts of 160mph and sent a surge of seawater up to 16ft high inland through vulnerable coastal areas.

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Six injured after man drives vehicle into migrant workers in North Carolina

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The police had been searching for the driver of the car, when a person of interest came forward and was taken into custody

A man drove a sport-utility vehicle into six people in North Carolina who were described as migrant workers in what “appears to be an intentional assault”, police have said.

All six victims were taken to hospital after the apparent attack, and have since been released.

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High levels of toxic chemicals in pets living near US manufacturing plant

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Researchers alarmed by results of study of dogs and horses living close to Chemours factory in North Carolina

Pets living near a PFAS manufacturing plant in Fayetteville, North Carolina have concerning levels of the toxic chemicals in their blood, and show evidence of health effects linked to exposure, new research finds.

PFAS were present in all 32 dog and 31 horse blood samples checked, and the findings provide evidence that human and animal exposures to the chemicals impacts their bodies, said Scott Belcher, a North Carolina State University researcher and co-author.

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‘I will never be detained’: Trump defiant in first speech since federal indictment

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Former president, who faces 37 charges related to retention of secret documents, addresses Republican conventions in Georgia and North Carolina

Donald Trump delivered his first public address following the announcement of his federal indictment this week in Columbus, Georgia, on Saturday.

The former president took the stage at state Republican conventions in Georgia and North Carolina where he lashed out against the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Biden administration, called his recent indictment “a travesty of justice” and repeated unsupported conspiratorial claims that Joe Biden had stashed secret documents in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington DC.

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Fort Bragg to drop its Confederate namesake to become Fort Liberty

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Change is part of broad Department of Defense initiative, which includes renaming numerous installations

Fort Bragg shed its Confederate namesake on Friday to become Fort Liberty, in a ceremony some veterans said was a small but important step in making the US Army more welcoming to current and prospective Black service members.

The change was part of a broad Department of Defense initiative, motivated by the 2020 protests over the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer in Minneapolis that sparked a national reckoning on police brutality and enduring systemic racism in American society.

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North Carolina: Mark Robinson attracts scrutiny as extremist in Republican race

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Lieutenant governor has achieved national notoriety over views on LGBTQ+ rights, guns, abortion and more

The Republican lieutenant governor of North Carolina, Mark Robinson, formally entered the race for governor at a rally on Saturday.

The sharp-spoken social conservative, who has made controversial remarks about LGBTQ+ rights, guns and abortion, said North Carolina needed a leader like him who can relate to the challenges and desires of working people.

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Suspect in shooting of six-year-old over stray basketball arrested in Florida

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Robert Singletary will not resist being transferred back to home state of North Carolina to face four attempted murder charges

The North Carolina man who is accused of shooting a six-year-old girl along with her parents after a basketball with which the child was playing rolled into his yard is not resisting being transferred to his home state after being arrested in Florida.

After his arrest on Thursday in Tampa, Florida, 24-year-old Robert Louis Singletary made a court appearance on Friday during which he was asked whether he would sign the extradition waiver that would allow officials to transport him back to North Carolina, where the shooting occurred two days earlier.

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1,000-year-old Native American canoe retrieved from North Carolina lake

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Elders moved to tears as members of tribe and archaeologists recover canoe discovered in Lake Waccamaw two years ago

Tribal elders were moved to tears by the retrieval of a 1,000-year-old Native American canoe from Lake Waccamaw in North Carolina.

The Waccamaw Siouan chief, Michael Jacobs, told CBC it was emotional to watch the elders “sit on the bank and cry tears of joy, tears of sadness, tears of a future for our youth – how this is going to impact them and help them overcome some of the trauma they’ve experienced through being excluded at times, and even counted as not worthy”.

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Boy trapped inside claw machine after climbing inside to get a prize

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Thirteen-year-old was rescued and banned from North Carolina park for one year for attempted theft

A 13-year-old boy had to be freed from a claw machine after he climbed inside hoping to score a prize, according to an official at a North Carolina amusement park.

Carowinds officials were alerted just before 2pm on Sunday that the boy was inside the Cosmic XL Bonus Game, which contained plush prizes, according to Courtney C McGarry Weber, a spokesperson for the park south of Charlotte.

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Man leads police on low-speed chase with stolen tractor in North Carolina

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When officers attempted to stop Ronnie Hicks, he drove the John Deere tractor down US Highway 421 south, hitting 20mph

Call it a low-speed chase.

“What a day,” wrote Andy LeBeau, the police chief of Boone, North Carolina, in a Facebook post. “So, many of you have heard, or have seen the videos, that we got in a pursuit with a tractor.”

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More than 14,000 in Washington state lose power after energy station attacked

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Christmas Day outages add to an alarming string of incidents with similar power grid vandalism in Oregon and North Carolina

More than 14,000 people suffered power outages in Washington state on Christmas Day following burglaries and a series of vandalisms at different power stations.

The Pierce county sheriff said in two statements that no suspects have yet been identified for the incidents.

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North Carolina sheriff who quit after racist remarks gets re-elected within weeks

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Jody Greene resigned on 24 October after local prosecutors filed petition to remove him

A North Carolina sheriff who resigned in late October following revelations he made racist remarks about Black employees will get his job back after voters re-elected him on Tuesday.

Jody Greene stepped down as sheriff of Columbus county on 24 October, after the local district attorney filed a petition to remove him over “highly inappropriate and racially charged statements” made about Black employees in 2019.

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North Carolina shooting: 15-year-old suspect to be charged as an adult

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Authorities have not commented on what charges teen could face after five people killed and two injured

A 15-year-old boy alleged to have killed five people and injured two in a shooting rampage in Raleigh, North Carolina will be charged as an adult, authorities said.

The Wake county district attorney, Lorrin Freeman, said adult charges would be brought. Authorities have not commented on what charges the teen could face.

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Suspect, 15, in custody after North Carolina shooting leaves five dead

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White juvenile male arrested with one survivor in critical condition after shooter opens fire on walking trail in Raleigh

Five people were killed by a shooter who opened fire along a walking trail in North Carolina’s capital city and eluded officers for hours before he was cornered in a home and arrested, police said.

A 15-year-old white male suspect is in custody and in critical condition, the Raleigh police commissioner, Estella Patterson, told a press conference on Friday.

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Florida man lands plane on North Carolina road after losing engine power

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Vincent Fraser, who aspires to be a commercial pilot, missed cars and power lines as he touched down on the four-lane road

A Florida man who aspires to be a commercial pilot showed his skills in an emergency when he landed a single-engine aircraft on a four-lane North Carolina road, missing cars and power lines as he touched down.

Vincent Fraser was flying the plane 3 July when the aircraft began to lose engine power as he was checking out land he had bought near a lake. Fraser’s father-in-law also was aboard.

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US primary elections: Dr Oz tied with McCormick in test of Trump’s influence on Republicans – live

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Joe Biden will welcome the prime minister of Sweden, Magdalena Andersson, and the president of Finland Sauli Niinistö to Washington tomorrow.

It will be a very visual symbol of US support for those two European, Russia-adjacent nations joining the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato).

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