Wind, jazz ensembles: East Carolina University School of Music will host the ECU Symphonic Wind Ensemble and ECU Jazz Ensemble at 6:30 p.m. Friday in Wright Auditorium. Free. Call 252-328-6851. Live stream available at youtube.com/ecuschoolofmusiclive.
Despite all the complaints about skyrocketing prices, people will gladly pay $2.50 apiece for these eggs.
An economist said there is a 60 percent chance of a recession in 2023 but North Carolina and Greenville’s labor markets likely will keep them in a good position to weather economic uncertainty.
Inflation has been worse than expected for more than half of North Carolinians, according to a recent High Point University poll.
Piano concert: East Carolina University School of Music will host guest artist Sookkyung Cho, associate professor of piano at Grand Valley State University, at 7:30 p.m. Monday in A.J. Fletcher Recital Hall. Free. Call 28-6851. Live stream available at youtube.com/ecuschoolofmusiclive.
Greenville law enforcement said parents could expect an added law enforcement presence at the area’s schools in light of a threatening social media post that named schools in Pitt, Wayne and other North Carolina counties.
The end of federal funding for its Food and Nutrition Services program will see more than 19,000 households in Pitt County with about $100 fewer in monthly food assistance beginning March 1.
Authorities are asking for help identifying three suspects they say stole a Children’s Miracle Network donation box from a gas station on Old Tar Road.
North Carolina students of teachers with higher effectiveness ratings fared better during the pandemic in terms of learning loss than students with less effective teachers, according to new research.
The Board of Education is expected next week to OK spending more than $600,000 as part of an effort to help make school library collections more diverse, but one district official acknowledged that some titles could be viewed as divisive.
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- Edgecombe County student named Distinguished Young Woman of North Carolina
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East Carolina football coach Mike Houston announced the signing of three more athletes to the 2023 recruiting class.
BETHEL — Despite a strong night from team champion Washington, eight area wrestlers were able to claim Eastern Plains 2A Conference individual titles Wednesday night at North Pitt.
Jacob Crump is a junior on the North Pitt wrestling team.
The East Carolina men’s basketball team found itself in a tailspin that spoiled a strong start on Wednesday against host South Florida.
East Carolina was ice cold from the floor for long stretches on Tuesday night in Tampa, Fla., particularly in the second half of a 72-48 blowout loss to South Florida.
The D.H. Conley boys’ basketball team, having already won the first two meetings this season against rival J.H. Rose, was making a run in the fourth quarter with an eye on a third victory.
Once again, the nation is traumatized by horrible video of police brutally beating to death a Black man. Need I note the victim was Black? Would we be less or more traumatized if the victim were white?
Rural North Carolina has some of the most beautiful scenery in America, as documented by the growing numbers of tourists. Almost 40 percent of our 10.5 million residents live in the 80 counties considered rural, defined as having a population density of 250 people or fewer per square mile. D…
There’s a reason longtime State Auditor Beth Wood commands respect (some might say deference) from Democrats and Republicans alike.
Are North Carolina policymakers thinking big enough about the future of post-secondary education and training? I’m not convinced they are.
I feel sure that many citizens who know basic right/wrong are wondering why Trump, plus many of his enablers, aren’t in jail. The lip service from Attorney General Merrick Garland that “no one is above the law” is a crock full of it. Talk is cheap. If we want to, we can take our heads out of…
January was yet another warm month in North Carolina and across much of the rest of the nation. After a brief and sharp holiday week plunge, temperatures have consistently felt more like mid-March — or, at least, what mid-March used to feel like.
You’ve seen the TV commercials encouraging you to be vaccinated and boosted. Act now, please. Eating healthy helps your immune system but can’t replace vaccinations.
Q I have shared my home with pets my whole life. I am now a 76-year-old widow, and my menagerie is down to two small dogs. I just saw on the news that pets keep you mentally sharp. Is that true? I’d like to be able to reassure my sons that my furry companions are a boon and not a burden.
It may be the middle of winter and cold outside, but anytime you want to visit the warm, sunny Caribbean, you can head over to the new Simply Caribbean Cuisine at 3150 Evans St., Suite P, in Greenville.
When it comes to flavor, say yes to bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts. Chicken breasts often get a bad rap for their dryness and lack of flavor. Leaving the bones and skin on the breast helps to solve this problem.
Uncle Rich appreciated time. He would especially appreciate a completed time cycle. He collected stopwatches, he wrote music and he was a systems manager with IBM. In leisure and in business, these are the utensils of modern Eastern Standard time.
I ran across some old columns recently from the years when my daughters and my capacity for coming up with column ideas were similarly small.
State AP Stories
North Carolina’s newly seated Supreme Court has heard arguments on whether people convicted of felonies should be permitted to vote if they aren’t in prison but still are serving probation or parole or have yet to pay fines. The justices listened Thursday to their first high-profile case since the court flipped to Republican control in January. They didn’t immediately rule. The case stems from 2019 litigation that challenged a 1973 state law automatically restoring voting rights only after the “unconditional discharge of an inmate, of a probationer, or of a parolee.” Roughly 56,000 people could be affected by the outcome.
Critics of a North Carolina bill that advanced in the state Senate say it could jeopardize the mental health and physical safety of LGBTQ students who could be outed to their parents without consent. The bill would require schools to alert parents prior to a change in the name or pronouns used for their child. Several mental and behavioral health experts, parents and teachers told the Senate health care committee on Thursday that the bill would force teachers to violate the trust of their students and could create life-threatening situations for students without affirming home environments. The proposal now heads to the Senate rules committee.
Some North Carolina senators want tougher punishments for intentionally damaging utility equipment in light of the December attacks on two Duke Energy substations in Moore County that left 45,000 customers without power. The legislators filed a bill on Wednesday that would make it a high-grade felony to intentionally destroy or damage any “energy facility.” Current state law only makes it a misdemeanor to vandalize equipment that interrupts the transmission of electricity. A perpetrator also would face a $250,000 fine and potential lawsuits. Someone also fired at an electric cooperative's substation in Randolph County two weeks ago, causing damages but no outages. No arrests have been in either attack.
A bill advancing in North Carolina’s Senate would prohibit instruction about sexuality and gender identity in K-4 public school classes. The proposal approved Wednesday by the Senate education committee would require schools in most circumstances to alert parents prior to a change in the name or pronoun used for their child. The measure defies the recommendations of parents, educators and LGBTQ youths who testified against it. The bill now heads to the Senate health care committee. A version passed the state Senate last year but did not get a vote in the House.
North Carolina civil rights advocates have denounced a House rule change that could allow Republicans to override vetoes on contentious bills with little notice, saying it subverts democracy and the will of voters. Republicans pushed through temporary operating rules this month that omitted a longstanding requirement that chamber leaders give at least two days’ notice before holding an override vote. The move could allow Republicans to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes while Democrats are absent, even momentarily. Calling the change “a shameful power grab meant to thwart the will of the people,” Jillian Riley of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic said it undermines the functionality of the General Assembly.
As mass shootings are again drawing public attention, states across the U.S. seem to be deepening their political divide on gun policies. A series of recent mass shootings in California come after a third straight year in which U.S. states recorded more than 600 mass shootings involving at least four deaths or injuries. Democratic-led states that already have restrictive gun laws have responded to home-state tragedies by enacting or proposing even more limits on guns. Many states with Republican-led legislatures appear unlikely to adopt any new gun policies after last year's local mass shootings. They're pinning the problem on violent individuals, not their weapons.
The families of five passengers killed in a plane crash off the North Carolina coast have settled wrongful death lawsuits for $15 million. Their attorneys told the court the companies that owned the plane and employed the pilot paid the money. The suits claimed the pilot failed to properly fly the single-engine plane in weather conditions with limited visibility. All eight people aboard died off the Outer Banks. The passengers included four teenagers and two adults, returning from a hunting trip. The founder of the company that owned the plane was killed, and his family wasn't involved in the lawsuits.
A man who caused evacuations and an hourslong standoff with police on Capitol Hill when he claimed he had a bomb in his pickup truck outside the Library of Congress has pleaded guilty to a charge of threatening to use an explosive. Floyd Ray Roseberry, of Grover, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to the felony charge in Washington federal court. He faces up to 10 years behind bars and is scheduled to be sentenced in June. An email seeking comment was sent to his attorney on Friday. Roseberry drove a black pickup truck onto the sidewalk outside the Library of Congress in August 2021 and began shouting to people in the street that he had a bomb.
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National & World AP Stories
China says it is looking into reports that a Chinese spy balloon has been spotted in U.S. airspace and urged calm, adding that it has “no intention of violating the territory and airspace of any sovereign country.” A Foreign Ministry spokesperson says she has no information about whether a planned trip to China by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken next week will proceed as scheduled. She says that politicians and the public should withhold judgment “before we have a clear understanding of the facts." Blinken had been due to arrive in China on Sunday amid a sharp downturn in relations between Beijing and Washington over trade, Taiwan, human rights and China's claims in the South China Sea.
Pope Francis opens the second and final leg of his African pilgrimage by heading to South Sudan. There, he and the Archbishop of Canterbury are hoping to encourage the country’s stalled peace process and draw international attention to its worsening humanitarian crisis. The overwhelmingly Christian country is the world’s youngest nation, having gained independence from the majority Muslim Sudan in 2011, but it has been beset by civil war and conflict. The fighting has displaced some 2 million people and hampered implementation of a 2018 peace deal. But residents said the prospect of Francis' arrival on the first-ever papal visit to South Sudan Friday gave them hope.
Top European Union officials are due to meet in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a show of support for the country as it battles to counter Russia’s invasion and strives to join the EU and NATO. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel, as well as 15 European Commissioners, traveled to the Ukrainian capital for what they described as a summit meeting Friday. The last such summit was held in Kyiv in October 2021 — a few months before the war started. EU assistance for Ukraine has reached almost 50 billion euros ($55 billion) since the fighting started, according to EU officials.
Trading in shares in troubled Adani Enterprises have gyrated as the flagship company of India’s second-largest conglomerate tumbled 30% and then rebounded after more than a week of heavy losses. Adani's listed companies have lost tens of billions of dollars in market value over the past 10 days after a U.S. short-selling firm issued a report claiming the group engages in market manipulation and other fraudulent practices. Adani denies the allegations. Shares in Adani Enterprises fell as much as 30% early Friday but rebounded to trade 1.9% higher by mid-afternoon. The company’s share price has plunged by about 66% since Hindenburg Research issued its report, saying it was betting against Adani shares.
Global shares are trading mixed ahead of a closely watched U.S. jobs report that may affect global interest rates. Benchmarks fell in early trading in France and Germany but rose in Britain. Shares finished higher in Tokyo, Sydney and Seoul, but fell in Hong Kong and Shanghai. U.S. futures drifted lower and oil prices declined. Economists expect the U.S. jobs report to show a slowdown in hiring. Big tech companies have announced high-profile layoffs, but a report has separately suggested job cuts are not that widespread. The job market has largely remained resilient despite the Fed's big rate hikes.
Tennis star Nick Kyrgios has pleaded guilty in an Australian court to assaulting a former girlfriend during an argument in his hometown of Canberra in January 2021. Magistrate Beth Campbell didn't record a conviction against the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up for reasons including that the offense was at the low end of seriousness for a common assault, and was not premeditated. Campbell described it as an act of “stupidity” and “frustration.” A psychologist told the Australian Capital Territory Magistrates Court that Kyrgios had suffered severe depression, suicidal ideation and insomnia in the past but his mental had improved.
After a COVID-imposed hiatus, artisans are again crafting elaborate costumes and floats for the famed Carnival in the Belgian town of Binche. After the economic struggles of the past two years, and amid the pain from energy bills that went through the roof after Russia’s war in Ukraine, locals want to make this year’s festival one for the ages. The earliest records of the Binche Mardi Gras date to the 14th century. Many towns in Belgium hold ebullient carnival processions before Lent. But what makes Binche unique are the “Gilles”— the local men deemed fit to wear the Mardi Gras costumes.
LeBron James is soon going to be in the NBA record books as the most prolific scorer ever. But for all his accomplishments on the basketball court, it is James’ ambitious pursuits off-the-court that may ultimately distinguish his legacy from other superstar athletes’. James co-founded an entertainment company, bought stakes in professional baseball and soccer franchises and, with help from product endorsements, his net worth is estimated to be above $1 billion. The off-court achievement James is most proud of is working to uplift the lives of people in his hometown of Akron. Many athletes have excelled in one or more of these areas. But few have done all of them as well as James.
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