Category Archives: North Carolina

Republican Madison Cawthorn cited for carrying gun in his bag at airport

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North Carolina congressman faces misdemeanor criminal charge after gun spotted at security screening checkpoint

The far-right North Carolina Republican congressman Madison Cawthorn is facing a misdemeanor criminal charge after police at an airport in his home state said they found a gun in his bag Tuesday.

Police at Charlotte Douglas international airport handed Cawthorn, 26, a municipal citation accusing him of possessing a dangerous weapon on city property, officers said in a statement.

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Congressman Madison Cawthorn under fire over claims of DC drugs and orgies

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Republican faces condemnation from House minority leader over podcast remarks but will not face immediate discipline

The North Carolina congressman Madison Cawthorn will not face immediate disciplinary action over his claim to have been invited to orgies and to have seen Washington figures using cocaine.

After meeting Cawthorn on Wednesday, the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, told reporters the comments were “unacceptable”.

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Trump’s ex-chief of staff Mark Meadows investigated for voter registration fraud

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North Carolina authorities are investigating claims Mark Meadows did not reside, visit or own the address he is registered at

Mark Meadows, who served as former President Donald Trump’s final chief of staff and has echoed his false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, is being investigated in North Carolina over his voter registration, state authorities said.

North Carolina’s state bureau of investigation was assigned to lead the inquiry after a district attorney referred the matter to the state department of justice special prosecutions section, a department spokeswoman, Nazneen Ahmed, said in an email.

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Tens of thousands without power as winter storm blasts US south-east

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Dangerous storm with high winds and ice sweeps through as highway patrols report hundreds of vehicle accidents

A dangerous winter storm combining high winds and ice began sweeping through parts of the US south-east on Sunday, knocking out power, felling trees and fences and coating roads with a treacherous frigid glaze.

Tens of thousands of customers were without power in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. Highway patrols were reporting hundreds of vehicle accidents, and a tornado ripped through a trailer park in Florida. More than 1,200 Sunday flights at Charlotte Douglas international were cancelled more than 90% of the airport’s Sunday schedule, according to the flight tracking service flightaware.com.

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Is the US nearing its Covid peak? Experts warn against letting guard down

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Cases seem to be subsiding in states with high vaccination rates, but observers are reluctant to make firm predictions

In February 2021, Dr Craig Spencer wrote in a Medium post that he was as “eager as anyone to see the end of this pandemic. Thankfully, that may be in sight”.

“Covid cases and hospitalizations are dropping,” wrote Spencer, director of Global Health in Emergency Medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. “Vaccines are getting into arms. So, what happens next?”

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‘It’s like hunting aliens’: inside the town besieged by armadillos

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Thanks to climate change, armadillos, native to southern America, are making their way up north. And there’s no sign of them stopping their relentless march

In the pitch dark, Jason Bullard adroitly shoulders his rifle and levels it at the object. “That looks like one!” he mutters. It turns out to be a fuse box. Another candidate, again aimed at with the gun, reveals itself as a rock.

In this town besieged by armadillos, anything with a passing similarity to the armored nemesis is under suspicion.

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North Carolina man wrongfully imprisoned for 24 years pardoned

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Dontae Sharpe, who was given a life sentence at age 19, will be able apply for compensation of up to $750,000

A North Carolina man who spent 24 years behind bars for a murder he has long said he did not commit has been pardoned by the state’s governor.

Dontae Sharpe has been out of prison since 2019 and the pardon allows him to apply for compensation of up to $750,000 for his wrongful conviction.

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Hail, tornadoes and flooded New York subways as stormy weather hits east coast

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Rainstorms drenched New York while Tropical Storm Elsa sparked tornadoes in North Carolina and Virginia

The US east coast was battered by extreme weather on Thursday as heavy thunderstorms brought flooding and travel disruption to the New York City area, while Tropical Storm Elsa dumped heavy rainfall and even sparked tornadoes in North Carolina and Georgia.

Some subway system ya got there. This is the 157th St. 1 line right now. @NYCMayor @BilldeBlasio pic.twitter.com/xyfTAUPPNu

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Nine children die in Alabama crash as tropical storm Claudette sweeps south

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Ten people died in 15-vehicle crash, including eight children from youth home, and two more people died when a tree fell on their house

Eight children travelling in a van from a home for abused or neglected children have been killed in a multi-vehicle crash that also killed a man and his baby in another vehicle as tropical depression Claudette claimed 13 lives in Alabama.

The crash happened on Saturday about 35 miles (55km) south of Montgomery and was likely caused by vehicles hydroplaning in very wet conditions, authorities said.

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Andrew Brown shooting: officers will not face charges, says district attorney

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North Carolina deputies were justified in deadly shooting, says DA, because Brown ‘posed an immediate threat’

A North Carolina district attorney on Tuesday said officers were justified in the fatal shooting of Andrew Brown Jr, a Black man, in April, and that the sheriff’s deputies who fired will not face charges for killing the 42-year-old father of seven.

Andrew Womble said Brown’s death “while tragic, was justified” because three deputies “reasonably” believed deadly force was necessary to protect themselves and others while serving a warrant for Brown’s arrest on felony drug charges.

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North Carolina jury awards $75m to brothers wrongly convicted of 1983 murder

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Henry McCollum and Leon Brown spent decades in jail before DNA evidence cleared them of the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl

A jury in a North Carolina federal civil rights case has awarded $75m to two, intellectually disabled half-brothers who spent decades behind bars after being wrongfully convicted in the 1983 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.

The eight-person jury on Friday decided Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, who are both Black, should received $31m each in compensatory damages, $1m for every year spent in prison, the News & Observer reported. The jury also awarded them $13m in punitive damages.

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Black US high school student forced to cut hair during softball game

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Nicole Pyles from North Carolina says ruling from umpires that the beads in her braids were against the rules was ‘humiliating’

A Black high school student in North Carolina was forced to cut her hair during a softball game last month, after umpires said beads in her braids violated rules set by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFSHS).

Related: Texas police fail to earn stripes as tiger which terrorised suburb goes missing

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Andrew Brown killing: protesters say police will ‘push town into riot mode’

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Community and advocates in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, say police escalating peaceful protests and ‘trying to antagonize city’

Perched on a ladder, Ulysses “Bones” Edwards reached for another can of spray paint, adding a few deft strokes to the mural of Andrew Brown Jr that was slowly starting to take shape on the side of the house where Brown lived in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, a stone’s throw from where he was killed by law enforcement last week.

A crowd of marchers passed Edwards as he worked on Thursday. Dozens also gathered over the weekend, ahead of Brown’s funeral on Monday, with demonstrations on Saturday marking the eleventh straight day of peaceful protests in the coastal city. At least 16 people have been arrested since the city enacted a curfew earlier in the week.

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Andrew Brown shooting: seven North Carolina deputies placed on leave

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Family of 42-year-old said they met with Elizabeth City sheriff but were not shown body-camera footage of his death

After seven North Carolina deputies were placed on leave over the death of Andrew Brown Jr, an African American man shot during the serving of a drug-related warrant, authorities in Elizabeth City added to calls for body camera footage to be released.

Related: Andrew Brown shooting: family describe him as a loving father with a sense of humor

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‘He was like a comedian’: Andrew Brown’s aunt pays tribute after fatal shooting by police – video

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Glenda Brown Thomas has paid tribute to her nephew, Andrew Brown, a day after the 42-year-old was shot dead by police in North Carolina. “He had a good laugh, a nice smile. And he had good dimples ... He did not finish school, but he did encourage his children to get a good education," she said.

Brown, from Elizabeth City, was shot and killed on Wednesday by a deputy sheriff trying to serve a search warrant. An witness said Brown tried to drive away, but was shot dead in his car

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North Carolina: protests after police shooting of Andrew Brown – video

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A sheriff’s deputy in North Carolina shot and killed a black man while serving a search warrant, authorities have said, raising tensions over policing after the Derek Chauvin trial and Ma’Khia Bryant killing. The deputy in Elizabeth City was placed on leave pending a review by the state bureau of investigation. A witness said Brown was shot while trying to drive away

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Bernie Madoff, financier behind largest Ponzi scheme in history, dies in prison

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  • Fraudster sentenced to 150 years in jail dies from natural causes
  • New York financier ran scheme that cheated investors of billions

Bernard Madoff, the one-time Wall Street titan who orchestrated one of the largest frauds in history, has died in prison aged 82.

Madoff, known as Bernie, was a former chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange, and was regarded for years as an investment sage. But unbeknown to his thousands of victims, he was running a Ponzi scheme that wiped out at least $17.5bn in savings.

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Endangered North Atlantic right whales produce most calves since 2015

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  • Scientists caution high death rate is outpacing births
  • Population of whales estimated at around 360

North Atlantic right whales gave birth over the winter in greater numbers than scientists have seen since 2015, an encouraging sign for researchers who became alarmed three years ago when the critically endangered species produced no known offspring at all.

Related: The new humpback? Calf sighting sparks hope for imperilled right whale

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Fauci rebukes Trump Covid claims but offers ‘no excuses’ for vaccine delays

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The pedestrian pace of Covid-19 vaccinations in the US came under new scrutiny on Sunday, as the pandemic death toll passed 350,000 and experts warned of another surge in infections and deaths arising from gatherings at Christmas and New Year.

Related: Larry King, TV chatshow veteran, in hospital with coronavirus – reports

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North Carolina police pepper spray protesters at get-out-the-vote march

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  • ‘We are fed up with this kind of treatment in Alamance county’
  • Police claim protesters blocked roadway without authorization

North Carolina police pepper sprayed and arrested attendees at a get-out-the vote rally because participants blocked the roadway without authorization, authorities said on Saturday.

The “I Am Change” march to the polls was organized by the Reverend Greg Drumwright and began as a march from a local church to the courthouse. Drumwright said the group was permitted to stand in the square outside the Alamance county courthouse and was escorted through the streets by the police. He also said that the group had “no intention” of having the rally in the street.

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