There’s nothing little about the production behind the Little League Softball World Series. One could even venture to call it a big hit for Greenville, according to local economic, league and city leaders.
Fans waved and cheered at Friday’s sendoff for the Pitt County Girls Softball League’s All-Star team as members boarded a bus to set out on their journey to the Little League Softball World Series, a trip that was expected to take no more than 15 minutes, depending on traffic.
Eleven girls from Pitt County plus one from Beaufort County will carry the home team banner during the Little League Softball World Series, starting its second year in Greenville on Tuesday. The Pitt County Girls Softball League All-Stars, playing under the North Carolina moniker, will be am…
FARMVILLE — A summer camp that served underprivileged children since 2014 ceased operations recently with a final leadership program and hope that someone new will pick up the torch.
The Pitt County Board of Commissioners on Monday will consider an agreement that will allow the City of Greenville to house all of its stray dogs and cats at the animal shelter on County Home Road.
ELIZABETH CITY — Gov. Roy Cooper told the N.C. Taskforce for Offshore Wind Economic Resource Strategies that projects off the state’s coast will put money in the pockets of North Carolinians.
WASHINGTON — America’s employers added a stunning 528,000 jobs last month despite raging inflation and anxiety about a possible recession, restoring all of the positions lost in the coronavirus recession. Unemployment fell to 3.5%, the lowest level since the pandemic struck in early 2020.
East Carolina University’s College of Allied Health Sciences is set to offer a doctoral degree program in occupational therapy — the first at any public university in the state.
WINTERVILLE — A program created last year to spur North Carolina’s economic recovery from the pandemic has been extended to give the state’s 2022 high school graduates a chance to attend Pitt Community College tuition-free.
Email announcements to community@reflector.com.
Local Events
It took a mere two years for the Pitt County Girls Softball League to infiltrate and rise up the Little League ranks and rocket straight into the World Series.
Pitt County Girls Softball League head coach Gentry Coward has had to juggle a handful of responsibilities over the past several weeks as he prepares his team for the Little League World Series.
The Little League Softball World Series gets under way Tuesday, as 12 teams will begin play in the double-elimination bracket.
WHO’S PLAYING
The East Carolina football team was riding a wave of excitement and confidence when it opened preseason camp on Wednesday. Optimism can often be found at the start of a season and alarm bells would sound if Wednesday sunk into a glum affair.
The Greenville Babe Ruth 15U baseball team continued its summer-long run with by claiming the title on Sunday at the Southeast Regional played in Williamsburg, Va.
BMH, I truly don't see how anything in the Inflation Reduction bill is going to do anything to reduce inflation. If anything it will enhance inflation. But Sen. Manchin says the bill is "laser-focused on solving our nation's major economic, energy and climate problems." I think he meant his …
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point in order to battle inflation, even as the economy has begun to slow. This follows a quarter-point move in March, another half a point in May, and three-quarters of a point in June. The Fed also signaled in its …
As a Greenville resident with 37 years at my current address four streets from downtown, I am very concerned about the potential revocation of the “500-foot rule” for bar locations.
BYH, I didn’t even have Monkey Pox on my apocalypse bingo card. The modern day is an argument for celibacy or monogamy. The days of free love of the 1960s and ‘70s is over. Look for the sex robot industry to boom in the future. Follow me for more stock tips.
You have probably heard about the sideshow put on by Alabama prison officials just before a scheduled execution late last month: A female reporter was hounded and humiliated over her skirt and her shoes. But you may have heard less about the main event, the execution, which was carried out d…
For many people, reaching a certain age causes them to think more about their past life. For me, that age was 70. Since attaining that milestone, I find myself thinking more about my seven decades, particularly the early ones.
Against a backdrop of soaring ornate wood and pipes, each member of the recorder group raises an instrument to her lips.
The North Carolina Literary Review, produced at East Carolina University, begins its fourth decade in print featuring “Writers Who Teach, Teachers Who Write.”
What North Carolina cookbook has sold the most copies?
Lost and found pets
Animal Services
I could easily imagine myself in this new Brad Pitt movie called “Bullet Train.” I’ve ridden the Shinkansen, the high-speed railway from Kyoto to Tokyo that’s featured in the movie. It was quite a trip, clipping along at close to 200 mph.
State AP Stories
CARRBORO, N.C. (AP) — Nora El-Khouri Spencer sometimes tells people that she started her nonprofit Hope Renovations because she got mad.
KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. (AP) — A natural hair school will be opening in Kings Mountain and is the first of its kind in Cleveland County.
North Carolina Democrats have asked a state court to overturn an elections board vote granting the Green Party official recognition despite allegations of fraud. Democrats have been accused by the Green Party of meddling in its petitioning process to qualify candidates for the November ballot. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Wake County Superior Court, precedes the first hearing next Monday in a Green Party lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections, when the newly certified party will fight for an extension to a statutory deadline preventing its candidates from appearing on the ballot.
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein is pushing back against Republican General Assembly leaders’ allegations that he neglected his duty to defend state law by refusing to seek enforcement of a blocked 20-week abortion ban after the fall of Roe v. Wade. Attorneys for Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore filed a brief last week asking U.S. District Judge William Osteen to lift an injunction on a 1973 state law banning nearly all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Stein, an abortion rights supporter, says he will continue to recuse himself from the case, drawing criticisms from Republicans who say he is refusing to do his job.
The remains of two children killed in the 1985 bombing of a Philadelphia home used as the headquarters of a Black radical group have been returned to their brother. Lionell Dotson told reporters Wednesday that the remains of 14-year-old Katricia and 12-year-old Zanetta Dotson will be cremated and taken to North Carolina to be buried. Dotson told WCAU-TV it was a “momentous occasion.” He said he could finally give his relatives “a resting place permanently." They were among five children killed when police bombed the MOVE organization’s headquarters and caused a fire that spread to more than 60 row homes.
A top official says the Justice Department has charged five people for making threats of violence against election workers amid a rising wave of harassment and intimidation tied to the 2020 presidential election. Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite tells a Senate committee that one charge has led to a conviction so far through a task force launched last year as reports of threats to election officials, workers and volunteers raised concerns about safety and the security of future elections. threatening messages directed at election workers since launching a task force a year ago. Overall, the department has investigated more than 1,000 harassing and threatening messages directed at election workers.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals has ruled that Gov. Roy Cooper’s secretary of health and human services is not immune from a lawsuit over the administration’s restrictions on large gatherings in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. The Department of Health and Human Services temporarily shut down Ace Speedway in June 2020 after it repeatedly defied Cooper’s executive order limiting outdoor crowds to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The racetrack filed counterclaims that August, alleging the department unlawfully singled out the business and violated its employees’ constitutional right to earn a living. The court unanimously voted Tuesday to uphold a January 2021 trial court ruling denying a DHHS motion to dismiss Ace Speedway’s claims.
Officials say a single-engine plane made an emergency landing on a North Carolina highway, but no injuries were reported. News outlets report that the Washington County Sheriff’s Office says the plane had a problem and landed on Highway 64 west of Creswell on Monday. Lt. Charles Arnold says the pilot heading from Dare County to Plymouth experienced a loss of power and when he set the Piper Turbo Arrow down without landing gear, it skidded across the highway. Arnold says the pilot was, “The calmest I’ve ever seen,” after such an emergency. The Federal Aviation Administration was called in to investigate.
{{summary}}
National & World AP Stories
Authorities investigating the killings of four Muslim men said they are looking for help finding a vehicle believed to be connected to the deaths in New Mexico’s largest city. A Muslim man was killed Friday night in Albuquerque, and ambush shootings killed three other Muslim men over the past nine months. Police are trying to determine if the slayings are linked. Investigators say the common elements in all the deaths were the victims’ race and religion. The same vehicle is suspected of being used in all four homicides — a dark gray or silver four-door Volkswagen that appears to be a Jetta with dark tinted windows.
A new study finds climate hazards aggravate 58% of known infection diseases in people. Monday's study shows how widespread the influence of extreme weather such as flooding, heat waves and drought is on human illnesses. The study looks at cases that already happened. Researchers calculate 286 unique sicknesses connected to what they call climate hazards. And of those illnesses, extreme weather made it worse in 223 maladies. The study doesn't do the calculations to formally attribute the diseases to climate change. But several scientists call it a terrifying illustration of climate change's effect on human health.
Stocks are rising broadly on Wall Street as investors prepare for a busy week of updates on inflation. The S&P 500 rose 0.8% in morning trading Monday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq also gained ground. Small-company stocks outpaced the broader market’s gains in a sign of investors' confidence in the economy. Retailers and technology stocks were among the biggest winners. Clean energy companies, including First Solar, are rising following Senate approval of Democrats’ big election-year economic package. The government will release its July report for consumer prices and wholesale prices later this week.
Russia and Ukraine are trading accusations that each side is shelling Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine. Russia claimed that Ukrainian shelling caused a power surge and fire and forced staff to lower output from two reactors, while Ukraine has blamed Russian troops for storing weapons there and launching attacks. Nuclear experts have warned that fighting around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station is fraught with danger. On the high seas, a ship loaded with corn from Ukraine has reached Turkey under a deal to stave off a global food crisis. But another ship carrying Ukraine corn found that its buyer in Lebanon is refusing the shipment, so it's looking for another customer.
A lack of running water in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk means that residents must fill bottles by hand at public pumps throughout the city. The city's remaining population has adapted to this new way of life. But local officials warn that the coming of winter could set the stage for a humanitarian crisis. Most of the eastern Donetsk region is without gas for heating and public wells and municipal water pipes are likely to freeze in winter. The head of the city military administration in nearby Kramatorsk said that this lack of utilities would prompt people to use other means to heat and light their houses. And that raises the risk of fires.
Former Manchester United star Ryan Giggs is set to go on trial on charges of assault and use of coercive behavior against a former girlfriend. Giggs, 48, is accused of assaulting Kate Greville, 36, causing her actual bodily harm, on Nov. 1, 2020, at his home in Worsley, greater Manchester. He is also charged with common assault of her younger sister, Emma Greville, during the same incident. Giggs is also charged with using controlling and coercive behavior against his former girlfriend between August 2017 and November 2020. His trial in Manchester that starts Monday is expected to last up to 10 days.
China says it is extending threatening military exercises surrounding Taiwan that have disrupted shipping and air traffic and substantially raised concerns about the potential for conflict. Military leaders say the exercises will include anti-submarine drills, apparently targeting U.S. support for Taiwan in the event of a potential Chinese invasion. China has said the exercises involving missile strikes, warplanes and ship movements crossing the midline of the Taiwan Strait are a response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the self-ruled island last week. China has ignored calls to calm the tensions, and there was no immediate indication when it would end what amounts to a blockade.
The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers are central arms of California's water system. But they are becoming too salty to use for some farmers and cities that rely on them as the state's punishing drought drags on. In dry times, less fresh water flows from the mountains through California's rivers and into an estuary known as the Delta. That means saltier water from the Pacific Ocean is able to push further into the system, which supplies water to millions of people and acres of farmland. The Delta's challenges foreshadow the risks to come for key water supplies from drought and sea level rise made worse by climate change.
{{summary}}