Tag Archives: North Carolina

NC Gov Candidate Quoted Hitler, Doubted Holocaust

The Jewish Insider reports: Mark Robinson, the lieutenant governor of North Carolina and a leading Republican candidate for governor, found his efforts to declare solidarity with Israel backfiring — by drawing renewed scrutiny to his long history of invoking antisemitic conspiracy theories and casting doubt on the Holocaust. Robinson, while briefly serving as acting governor two weeks ago, sought to …

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NC Gov Sues After Republicans Seize Elections Board

Courthouse News reports: Governor Roy Cooper sued the State of North Carolina, the President Pro Tempore of the North Carolina Senate and the Speaker of the North Carolina House, claiming that the North Carolina General Assembly limited his constitutional duties as governor and violated the constitutional separation of powers. Session Law 2023-139, previously Senate Bill 749, removed Cooper’s ability to …

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NC Republicans Override Vetoes Of Voting Restrictions

The Associated Press reports: North Carolina Republicans enacted vote-count restrictions and weakened the governor’s ability to oversee elections and other state regulatory bodies on Tuesday by overriding Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes. Lawsuits attempting to block the new laws are likely as the 2024 elections approach. In a series of votes, the narrow GOP supermajorities in the House and Senate …

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North Carolina Republicans Create “Secret Police Force”

The Daily Beast reports: Republican state legislators In North Carolina are establishing a new investigative body that Democratic critics have aptly compared to a “secret police force.” This new entity, formally known as the Joint Legislative Committee on Government Operations, or “Gov Ops” for short, will be chaired by Senate Leader Phil Berger (R) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R). …

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NC Lawmakers Exempted From Public Records Requests

Courthouse News reports: North Carolina lawmakers have been exempted from public records requests, through an item in the North Carolina budget which took effect Monday at midnight and was three months late. Buried in the 625-page document allocating $30 billion in funding are provisions that shield legislators from public records requests, even once they’ve left office. Section 27.7 of the …

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NC Radio Station Refuses To Air “Non-Biblical” Opera

NPR reports: A listener-supported radio station in North Carolina, WCPE, is planning to withhold the broadcast of six contemporary operas this season from New York’s Metropolitan Opera, because of the station management’s objections to the operas’ content. It is a classical music controversy that echoes larger, nationwide culture war debates. WCPE’s protest comes at a time when the Metropolitan Opera …

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Charlotte School District Bans “Banned Book Week”

Charlotte’s NPR affiliate reports: The American Library Association celebrates Banned Book Week next week — but it’s been banned in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and could face challenges across North Carolina. The library association uses the week to celebrate freedom to read and to talk about attempts to censor books. But at a time when parents’ rights groups across the country are …

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NC Pastor Gets Four Years On Child Porn Charges

WKHY radio reports: An Iredell County pastor has been sentenced to four years in prison after entering a guilty plea on child pornography charges. 66-year-old Tony Ernest Bunton of Statesville, pleaded guilty Monday (September 25) in Iredell County Superior Court to two counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. By pleading guilty, Bunton admitted that he distributed, transported, exhibited, …

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Tropical Storm Warnings Issued For Eastern Seaboard

The Weather Channel reports: Tropical Storm Ophelia has formed off the Southeast U.S. coast, and it will spread heavy rain, strong wind gusts, high surf, and coastal flooding up the Eastern Seaboard into the weekend. O​phelia became the 16th storm of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, including an unnamed subtropical storm in mid-January. The National Hurricane Center has issued a …

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Google Maps Sued Over Fatality At Collapsed Bridge

The New York Daily News reports: Google is being sued by the family of a North Carolina man who drowned after he drove off a collapsed bridge while following outdated directions from the Maps app. Philip Paxson was driving home from his daughter’s birthday party on Sept. 30, 2022 when his car plunged into Snow Creek in Hickory — about …

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North Carolina Hate Group Pastor Ensnared In 2018 Election Fraud Case Launches Second Bid For US House

Via press release from Family Research Council National Director of Community Impact and pastor Mark Harris: Mark Harris launched his campaign today for the Republican nomination for Congress in North Carolina’s 8th congressional district. This decision follows Congressman Dan Bishop’s announcement to run for Attorney General. Mark stated: “After seeing first hand the manufactured scandal that resulted in the Democrat …

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Youth Pastor Rearrested On More Child Sex Charges

Charlotte’s CBS affiliate reports: According to Burke County Sheriff’s Office Aaron Mirtsching was arrested on several counts of incident liberties with a minor. He was first arrested Aug. 22 after the sheriff’s office say they received a cyber tip. After an investigation, a warrant was issued for three counts of exploitation of a minor. He was given a $20,000 secured …

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North Carolina Pastor Arrested On Child Sex Charge

Asheville’s ABC affiliate reports: A former kindergarten teacher and senior pastor at a North Carolina church was arrested and charged Tuesday with a child sex crime. The Burke County Sheriff’s Office said Aaron Doyle Mirtsching, 41, of Morganton, was charged with three counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor following a cyber-tip that was received from Internet Crimes Against …

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Hate Groups Exult After NC Republicans Override Gov’s Veto Of “Don’t Say Gay” And Two Anti-Transgender Bills

Charlotte’s ABC affiliate reports: The North Carolina Legislature voted to successfully override six vetoes by Gov. Roy Cooper on Wednesday afternoon, putting the measures into law. One of those was Senate Bill 49, the Parents’ Bill of Rights. After the Senate voted to override, the House later overrode the veto of SB 49, enacting the Parents’ Bill of Rights into …

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NC Youth Pastor Arrested On Felony Child Sex Charges

The Shelby Star reports: A Kings Mountain woman who served as a youth leader at a church has been charged with felony child sexual offenses, according to Kings Mountain Police. Amanda Buchanan Justice, of Phifer Road, was arrested Thursday. Justice turned herself in to Kings Mountain Police on Thursday without incident and was transported to the Cleveland County Magistrate’s Office …

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Charlotte Youth Pastor Arrested On Child Sex Charges

Spectrum News reports: A pastor with Camino Church in Charlotte faces 14 charges involving sex crimes against children, dating back to the 2000s, Charlotte police said. Investigators said there may be more victims who have not yet come forward. The children were between 9 and 15 years old at the time, police said. Robert “Bobby” Price, 56, is already a …

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Freedom Caucus Rep To Run For North Carolina AG

The Charlotte Observer reports: U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop, a Charlotte Republican, announced Thursday morning he will run for the N.C. attorney general instead of seeking reelection to the 8th Congressional District seat. “To have the news break that, in fact, I’m going to be a candidate, to come home in North Carolina and seek the spot of attorney general, and …

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North Carolina Pastor Arrested On Child Sex Charges

High Point, North Carolina’s Fox affiliate reports: A former pastor is accused of sex crimes after an incident at the Piedmont Triad Farmer’s Market in Colfax on Sandy Ridge Road. Ivan Hugh-McDonald Peden, 71, is charged with taking indecent liberties with children, indecent exposure to a person under 16, sexual battery, and secret peeping. The crimes allegedly happened on June …

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Cops: Three Marines Died In Car Of Carbon Monoxide

The Messenger reports: The three United States Marines found dead in a car outside a North Carolina convenience store suffered carbon monoxide poisoning, the Pender County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday. The lance corporals, who were found on Sunday, were identified as Tanner J. Kaltenberg, 19, of Madison, Wisconsin; Merax C. Dockery, 23, of Pottawatomie, Oklahoma; and Ivan R. Garcia, 23, …

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Dem NC Gov Vetoes Anti-Trans & “Don’t Say Gay” Bills

The Associated Press reports: North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed Wednesday a trio of bills aimed at LGBTQ+ youth that would ban gender-affirming health care for minors, restrict transgender participation in school sports and limit classroom instruction about gender identity and sexuality. While LGBTQ+ rights advocates say Cooper’s attempt to block the bills demonstrates his support amid what they …

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