ECU men's basketball: Pirates suffer blowout loss at South Florida

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.

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 furry critter in a western Pennsylvania town has predicted six more weeks of winter during an annual Groundhog Day celebration. People gathered Thursday at Gobbler’s Knob as members of Punxsutawney Phil’s “inner circle” summoned the groundhog from his tree stump at dawn to learn if he has seen his shadow — and they say he did. According to folklore, if he sees his shadow there will be six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t, spring comes early. The annual event in Punxsutawney originated from a German legend about a furry rodent. Meanwhile, New York City’s Staten Island Chuck made his prediction for an early spring during an event Thursday at the Staten Island Zoo.

Ayahuasca is a psychedelic tea whose roots go back hundreds of years to ceremonial use by Indigenous groups in the Amazon rainforest. Ayahuasca supporters found a foothold in the United States in the 1980s and interest has intensified more recently as celebrities like NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Hollywood star Will Smith talked about attending ceremonies. Many people who take the tea claim that ayahuasca brings them closer to God and thus have formed churches to celebrate it. Many believe it helps treat a range of mental health problems but others caution there haven’t been large-scale studies to support those claims.

Growing numbers of people are flocking to U.S. churches that center their practice around a bitter psychedelic tea known as ayahuasca. Organizers and their legal advisers argue a 2006 Supreme Court ruling protects them from prosecution and participants say they are taking part in a religious service. Some experts raise concerns that the benefits of ayahuasca haven’t been well studied. Many who attend the ceremonies, which can last for days, argue their experience on the illegal substance brings them closer to God than they ever felt at traditional religious services. Surveys have also found many come away feeling better afterwards, with some saying it helped with depression and problems with risky substance use.

A protracted legal fight over how city council districts were drawn in Jacksonville, Florida, reflects an aspect of redistricting that often remains in the shadows. Political map-drawing for congressional and state legislative seats captures wide attention after new census numbers are released every 10 years. No less fierce are the battles over the way voting lines are drawn in local governments, for city councils, county commissions and even school boards. A group of Jacksonville residents and civil rights organizations successfully sued the city last year, alleging the council’s redistricting plan amounted to racial gerrymandering by packing Black communities into a handful of districts.

Growing numbers of people are flocking to U.S. churches that center their practice around a psychedelic tea known as ayahuasca. Organizers and their legal advisers argue a 2006 Supreme Court ruling protects them from prosecution and participants say they are taking part in a religious service. Some experts raise concerns that the benefits of ayahuasca haven’t been well studied. Many who attend the ceremonies, which can last for days, argue their experience on the illegal substance brings them closer to God than they ever felt at traditional religious services. Surveys have also found many come away feeling better afterwards, with some saying it helped with depression and problems with risky substance use.

A mess of ice, sleet and snow is lingering across much of the southern U.S. as thousands in Texas endure freezing temperatures with no power. A warming trend is forecast to bring relief from the deadly storm Thursday. But an Arctic cold front is expected to enter the northern U.S. with snow and windchills of more than 50 below. More than 400,000 customers in Texas lack power. At least eight people have died on slick roads since Monday. Winter watches and warnings extend from The Texas-Mexico border through Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana and into western Tennessee and northern Mississippi.