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Military veterans with traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder are finding relief in North Carolina through hyperbaric oxygen therapy, with efforts underway to vastly expand the program.

Local Events

As I sat down to write a tribute to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who turned 100 last week, I was distracted by “very disturbing” news I will address at the end of this article (it’s not about Kissinger).

The North Carolina General Assembly is about to make all children eligible for the state’s Opportunity Scholarship program. They won’t all receive the same amounts — poor and middle-income families will be eligible for vouchers in the range of $6,500 to $7,200 per student, while upper-income…

I am a transgender woman and I feel the need to express my opinion regarding the current state of our rights. I am concerned with recent government overreach regarding the rights of people like myself to live our own lives as we see fit. This is a worry that we should all have as we have the…

We all know the story of “The Little Mermaid” — that fairy tale about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea to gain a human soul. It was written by Hans Christian Anderson in 1837. Other tales by him include “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” “The Princess and the Pea,” “The Ugly …

Poll

Do you support action by the N.C. General Assembly to ban access to abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy?

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State AP Stories

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As the Supreme Court decides the fate of affirmative action, most people in the U.S. say the court should allow consideration of race as part of the admissions process. Yet few believe students’ race should play a significant role in those decisions. A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 63% say the Supreme Court should not stop colleges from considering race or ethnicity in their admission systems. The poll shows little divide along political or racial lines. People are more likely to say grades and standardized test scores should be significant factors. Lawsuits are challenging admissions systems at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

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Two North Carolina state House Republicans have lost their caucus leadership positions following recent comments directed at Democratic colleagues questioning their religion and educational attainment. A top House GOP leader announced on Thursday that Reps. Keith Kidwell and Jeff McNeely, who are both white, are no longer deputy majority whips after their resignations were sought by other GOP leaders. The Democrats who were the subject of the comments are both Black. McNeely took criticism during debate last week on legislation to expand the state’s private-school voucher system when he asked a question about a colleague's time at Harvard University. A television station reported that Kidwell disparaged a colleague's religion as she debated a bill restricting abortion.

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Thousands of United Methodist congregations have been voting on whether to stay or quit one of the nation’s largest denominations amid intractable debates over theology and the role of LGBTQ people. The dividing line isn’t just running between congregations. It’s running right through the pews of individual churches, separating people who had long worshipped together. Those who come up on the short end of a disaffiliation vote face the dilemma of whether to stay or go. Some United Methodist regional conferences have begun designating what they call “Lighthouse” congregations – ones that actively welcome people who wanted to stay United Methodist but whose former churches voted to leave.

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A wave of newly approved abortion restrictions in the Southeastern United States has sent providers scrambling to reconfigure their services for a region with already severely limited access.  South Carolina’s governor signed a bill Thursday banning most abortions around six weeks of pregnancy, setting up an anticipated legal challenge from providers. The law Thursday goes into effect immediately. Pending bans at varying stages of pregnancy in North Carolina and Florida are threatening to further delay abortions for patients as appointments pile up and doctors work to understand the new limitations. The states had been holdouts providing wider access to the procedure in the region.

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Guam residents facing down the strongest typhoon to hit their remote U.S. Pacific island territory in decades had identical twin meteorologists helping them get ready and stay safe this week. The National Weather Service’s Guam office employs Landon Aydlett as its warning coordination meteorologist. His brother Brandon Aydlett is the science and operations officer. The 41-year-olds tag-teamed Facebook live broadcasts watched by thousands as Typhoon Mawar approached. Landon Aydlett said Thursday morning that working with his brother is like working with his best friend. He says they never planned to work together but the jobs fell in their laps and they followed their heart and passion for the work.

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are turning to a select group of negotiators to help broker a deal to increase the nation’s borrowing authority and avoid the economic carnage that would ensue if a deal is not reached soon. Republican Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana and Patrick McHenry of North Carolina will represent House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Those representing Biden are presidential counselor Steve Ricchetti, legislative director Louisa Terrell and Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget. The five have been tapped as the hopeful closers on a debt-limit deal.

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As more Southern states pass new restrictions on abortion, Virginia is poised to become an outlier in the region for its relatively permissive laws. That could set up Virginia as a destination for women seeking abortions and raise questions about providers’ capacity to meet demand. South Carolina is among the last bastions in the region for those seeking legal abortions, but that status could end soon. Access would be almost entirely banned after about six weeks of pregnancy under a bill expected that passed the House Wednesday but still needs Senate approval. And most abortions after 12 weeks will be banned in North Carolina after the state legislature successfully overrode the Democratic governor’s veto Tuesday.

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Lawmakers in South Carolina have passed an abortion ban while a judge in Montana was weighing restrictions there. Those are the latest developments in the shifting landscape of law since the U.S. Supreme Court last year overturned Roe v. Wade and the nationwide right to abortion. Nebraska on Monday adopted a 12-week ban just weeks after stricter ones narrowly failed in the conservative-dominated state. Last week, North Carolina lawmakers last week overrode the Democratic governor’s veto of a ban on abortion after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Meanwhile, a federal court is deciding whether to uphold a judge’s ruling rescinding approval for a drug used for abortion. The pill, mifepristone, remains on the market for now.

National & World AP Stories

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Global shares are mixed amid concerns over risks to the economic outlook in China and elsewhere. Shares fell in Paris and London but rose in Frankfurt after a mixed day of trading in Asia. U.S. futures advanced while oil prices retreated. News was scant after markets were closed Monday for holidays in the U.S., Britain and South Korea. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy were working to gather votes needed to gain congressional approval of their deal to raise the U.S. national debt ceiling and avert a possibly devastating default. Biden has been calling lawmakers before this week’s votes in Congress.

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Russian air defenses stopped eight drones converging on Moscow, officials said Tuesday, in an attack that authorities blamed on Ukraine, while Russia pursued its relentless bombardment of Kyiv with a third assault on the city in 24 hours. The Russian defense ministry said Tuesday that five drones were shot down and the systems of three others were jammed, causing them to veer off course. It called the incident a “terrorist attack” by the “Kyiv regime.” Moscow's mayor said the attack caused “insignificant damage” to several buildings, and two people received medical attention but did not need hospitalization. Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the wider Moscow region, said some of the drones were “shot down on the approach to Moscow.”

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Dozens of reckless racers have chased a 7-pound (3 kilogram) wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down the near-vertical Cooper’s Hill near Gloucester in southwestern England. The cheese-rolling race has been held at Cooper’s Hill, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London, since at least 1826. The rough-and-tumble event often comes with safety concerns. Few competitors manage to stay on their feet all the way down the hill, and this year several had to be helped, limping, from the course. Canadian contestant Delaney Irving won the women’s race despite being briefly knocked unconscious. Matt Crolla was one of the men's winners, and said the secret to taking part was "just being an idiot.”

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The NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo has raised to 30 the number of its troops injured in fierce clashes with ethnic Serbs who tried to take over the offices of a municipality in the north. A statement on Tuesday said that 11 Italian soldiers and 19 Hungarian ones “sustained multiple injuries, including fractures and burns from improvized explosive incendiary devices.” It added that three Hungarian soldiers were “wounded by the use of firearms,” but their injuries are not life-threatening. The United States and the European Union have stepped up efforts to help solve the Kosovo-Serbia dispute, fearing further instability in Europe as Russia’s war rages in Ukraine.

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Carpenters building a new timber frame for the fire-ravaged roof of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral are using the same tools and techniques as their medieval predecessors. For them, working with hand axes to fashion oak beams has been like stepping back in time. It has given them a new appreciation of their predecessors’ handiwork that was architecturally revolutionary back in the 13th century. The roof reconstruction hit an important milestone in May, when parts of the new frame were assembled and erected at a workshop in the Loire Valley, in western France. Unlike in medieval times, the frame will be trucked to Paris and lifted by mechanical crane into position atop the cathedral.

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Nine people were injured after gunfire erupted along a beach boardwalk in Hollywood, Florida, sending people frantically running for cover along the crowded beach on Memorial Day. A police spokesperson said several of the victims were taken to a children’s hospital. However, authorities have not yet released the ages of the victims or provided details about their conditions. A preliminary investigation shows that an altercation between two groups resulted in gunfire. One person has been detained and another suspect is being still being sought.