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District 5 state Sen. Kandie Smith is continuing a series of public forums with an event tonight at Pitt Community College.

The ECU Pirate Club on Wednesday announced a second leadership donation to its $60 million Pirates Unite Campaign to support athletics facilities and programs.

Local Events

East Carolina trailed early after Campbell scored one run in both the first and third innings of Wednesday’s neutral-site game, and the Pirates couldn’t claw back in a 2-1 loss in Fayetteville at Segra Stadium that featured two top-20-pranked programs.

Do you know what it feels like to be hungry? Do you know what it’s like to worry about how you will get your next meal? If not, consider yourself very fortunate, because there are more than 30,000 people experiencing food insecurity in Pitt County. Do you know who’s making a difference for t…

The California governor has no business “canceling” Walgreens. But I could. The Florida governor has no business punishing Disney for disagreeing with him over his state’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. But people who agree with Ron DeSantis here can boycott Disney World.

The Supreme Court has successfully been captured by the ultra-ideological GOP and turned into nothing more than a political arm of the Republican Party. Ed Meese and Robert Bork’s Federalist Society have taken over what once was a revered non-partisan branch of government.

The legislature’s bill to ban limitations on gas stoves is little more than a juvenile exercise in Berkeley-bashing. Following 20 other red states, the General Assembly has peevishly introduced a proposal to preempt our state’s local governments from requiring clean-powered appliances in new…

It’s easy to be greedy with citrus when summer fruits are a mere warm weather promise. Early spring is high season for lemons, and these bars will bring a warming ray of sunshine to your plate.

“Food and nutrition is the determinant of health,” said Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, a mover and shaker in the Nutrition Is Medicine movement. He is a cardiologist from Tufts University and opened the Nutrition in Medical Education Summit I was invited to attend this month. His bold statement, w…

State AP Stories

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The Republican-controlled North Carolina legislature has given final approval to a Medicaid expansion agreement. Thursday's state House vote reverses longstanding opposition to the measure, which now goes to expansion advocate and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper for his signature. GOP legislative leaders reached a deal earlier this month, capping years of debate over whether the politically closely divided state should accept the federal government’s coverage for hundreds of thousands of low-income adults. North Carolina was one of 11 states that hadn't yet adopted expansion. The bill contains one caveat: A state budget law must be passed before expansion can be carried out.

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Proposals in several states would allow or require schools to deadname transgender students or out them to their parents without consent. Transgender kids and their families say the proposals could eliminate K-12 public schools as one of the last remaining havens to explore their identities. The stated aim of the bills is to give parents greater control over their childrens' education. Some parents and teachers argue they have a right to know. But others warn the proposals could jeopardize children's health and safety. And some teachers say the reporting requirements force educators to betray the trust of their students or risk losing their job.

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An agreement to expand Medicaid in North Carolina has reached the cusp of final legislative approval following a state House vote. The House chamber voted 95-21 on Wednesday for legislation that would direct state health officials to accept Medicaid coverage for potentially 600,000 low-income adults. One more affirmative House vote is needed Thursday before it goes to the desk of longtime expansion advocate Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. The Senate voted last week for the agreement reached between Republican lawmakers three weeks ago. GOP lawmakers had been skeptical for nearly a decade about accepting expansion, which originated from the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act.

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North Carolina’s Republican-controlled House has advanced a previously vetoed proposal to restrict how teachers can discuss certain racial topics that some lawmakers equate to “critical race theory.” The House voted 68-49 along party lines Wednesday for legislation banning public school teachers from compelling students to believe they should feel guilty or responsible for past actions committed by people of the same race or sex. House Democrats challenged Republican claims that the bill would reduce discrimination and argued that a comprehensive history education should make students uncomfortable. Republicans are one seat short of a veto-proof supermajority and will likely need some Democratic support for the measure to become law.

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Authorities in South Carolina say a former soldier shot and killed three children as they slept in their home while their mother frantically sought help. The ex-soldier then killed himself. Sumter Police Chief Russell Roark says Charles Slacks Jr. also killed an Army solider who worked with the children’s mother and happened to be at the home. Slacks and the woman were divorced, but he still had a key and let himself in around 10 p.m. Tuesday. Slacks shot the co-worker in the backyard, pushed past the mother and shot the children upstairs. They were a 5-year-old, 6-year-old and an 11-year-old.

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Conservationists want South Carolina to make the Venus fly trap the state’s official carnivorous plant. Supporters say honoring the Venus fly trap isn’t about one extra thing students see on an elementary school worksheet. Instead, it’s to protect and increase awareness of an interesting species found only in the upper part of the South Carolina coast and a small sliver of southeast North Carolina. In all, South Carolina has about five dozen different official state things, such as the state bird, state opera and even a state snack, which is boiled peanuts.

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A Virginia man who assaulted police with a stolen baton and used a flashing strobe light to disorient officers trying to defend the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 has been sentenced to more than four years in prison. Geoffrey Sills was convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon, obstruction of Congress and robbery. He has already served a year and a half behind bars since his June 2021 arrest. Prosecutors say Sills threw several pole-like objects at police, stole a police baton from an officer and used that baton to repeatedly strike officers. His lawyer said he didn’t come to Washington on Jan. 6 with any intention to commit violence.

A bill named for a woman fatally stabbed outside a southeastern North Carolina grocery store a few months ago would allow victims of alleged domestic violence to testify remotely. The measure cleared a state Senate committee on Tuesday. Family members of Kayla Hammonds came to Raleigh to lobby for the bill. Her ex-boyfriend has been charged in her death. Her family says some previous criminal cases against the defendant had been dismissed because Hammonds was scared to appear or testify against him. The bill also would expand the statute of limitations on misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence from two years to 10.

National & World AP Stories

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The Republican-controlled North Carolina legislature has given final approval to a Medicaid expansion agreement. Thursday's state House vote reverses longstanding opposition to the measure, which now goes to expansion advocate and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper for his signature. GOP legislative leaders reached a deal earlier this month, capping years of debate over whether the politically closely divided state should accept the federal government’s coverage for hundreds of thousands of low-income adults. North Carolina was one of 11 states that hadn't yet adopted expansion. The bill contains one caveat: A state budget law must be passed before expansion can be carried out.

A top Russian security official has declared that the risk of a nuclear war has risen and blasted a German minister for threatening Russian President Vladimir Putin with arrest. Russian Security Council deputy secretary Dmitry Medvedev warned Thursday that such action would amount to a declaration of war and trigger a strike by Moscow on Germany. Medvedev told Russian journalists that Moscow's relations with the West have hit an all-time low. He was asked whether the threat of a nuclear conflict has eased Medvedev responded: “No, it hasn’t decreased. It has grown. Every day when they provide Ukraine with foreign weapons brings the nuclear apocalypse closer.”

Embattled South Carolina Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom will resign next month after a $3.5 billion accounting error in the year-end financial report he oversaw. The state’s chief accountant will leave the elected post he has held for 20 years on April 30, according to a copy of the resignation letter obtained by The Associated Press. The blunder’s revelation last month brought mounting scrutiny. House lawmakers called for an impeachment inquiry. The Senate panel investigating the error issued a damning report last week that suggested Eckstrom resign or face removal “for willful neglect of duty.” Senators' report rested responsibility for the mapping error that began during the state’s transition to a new internal information system solely with Eckstrom.

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Stocks are rallying to recover almost all their steep loss from a day before, when markets tumbled into the close. The S&P 500 was up 1.5% Thursday. The Dow and the Nasdaq also jumped, while short-term Treasury yields kept sinking. A day earlier, stocks tumbled after the Federal Reserve indicated that while the end may be near for its market-rattling interest rate hikes, it doesn’t expect to cut rates this year. Many investors still think the Fed will, however. The high rates are meant to fight inflation, but they also put pressure on banks and risk tipping the economy into a recession.

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Ford’s electric vehicle business has lost $3 billion before taxes during the past two years and will lose a similar amount this year as the company invests heavily in the new technology. The figures were released Thursday as Ford rolled out a new way of reporting its financial results. The new business structure separates electric vehicles, the profitable internal combustion and commercial vehicle operations into three operating units. Company officials said the electric vehicle unit will be profitable before taxes by late 2026 with an 8% profit margin. Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said Model e should be viewed as a startup company within Ford.

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Unrest in France is tarnishing the sheen of King Charles III’s first overseas trip as monarch. Striking workers have refused to provide red carpets and critics are calling for the British king's visit to be canceled altogether amid pension reform protests. The British king is scheduled to undertake the trip beginning Sunday on behalf of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government, which hoped a royal tour would underscore efforts to rebuild Anglo-French ties. But anger over French President Emmanuel Macron’s resolve to increase the retirement age by two years are clouding what was meant to be a show of bonhomie and friendship. Instead, Charles’ visit is being seen as an unnecessary display of privilege.