AP-NC Newswatch

Latest North Carolina News:

THE AP INTERVIEW-NIKOLE HANNAH-JONES
The AP Interview: Nikole Hannah-Jones’ warning on democracy
NEW YORK (AP) – In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Pulitzer Prize-winning Black journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones said she is clear-eyed about her mission to force a reckoning around the nation’s self-image. But she said intense backlash to her work shows the nation is in “a very frightening time.” Hannah-Jones is creator of the much-scrutinized 1619 Project, a groundbreaking collection of essays on race that first appeared in a special issue of The New York Times Magazine in 2019. Now in book form, “The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story” and “Born on the Water,” a picture storybook collaboration, each have spent consecutive weeks atop the Times bestseller list since their Nov. 16 release.

AP-US-AWOL-WEAPONS-BROTHERS’-BETRAYAL
How brothers in arms plotted theft, sale of US Army weaponry
An Associated Press investigation has shown how U.S. troops have stolen guns and explosives from the military – and the weapons of war ended up on America’s streets. One insider theft case involves two men who’d forged a deep bond on the battlefields of Afghanistan. Several years later, they were arrested in a scheme to plunder an armory at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. After stealing the weapons, they tried to sell them at the Texas-Mexico border. Their story reveals another kind of threat: How determined insiders can take advantage of security weaknesses within the military to make fast money.

BOY SCOUTS-NORTH CAROLINA-LAWSUIT
Lawsuit: North Carolina Boy Scouts chapter ignored abuse
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) – A lawsuit filed in a North Carolina county says officials with a local Boy Scouts of America chapter in North Carolina did nothing to prevent Scout leaders from sexually abusing 21 children over a half-century. The Winston-Salem Journal reports that the lawsuit was filed in Forsyth County Superior Court against Old Hickory Council of Boy Scouts of America Inc. The lawsuit will be added to a list of similar cases that have been filed in various states recently but which have been put on hold during the national organization’s ongoing bankruptcy case. The Old Hickory Council’s executive director says the chapter has instituted numerous protections to prevent future abuse.

AP-US-CAPITOL-BREACH-MEADOWS
House votes to hold Mark Meadows in contempt in Jan. 6 probe
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House has voted to hold former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress after he ceased to cooperate with the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol insurrection. It is the first time the House has voted to hold a former member in contempt since the 1830s. The House vote sends the matter to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, where it will be up to prosecutors to decide whether to present the case against the former Republican congressman to a grand jury for possible criminal charges.

STATE TROOPER SHOT
Trooper wounded, suspect who led chase fatally shot
BURNSVILLE, N.C. (AP) – Authorities say a man shot and wounded a North Carolina trooper during a chase before later being killed in a shootout with authorities. It was not immediately clear what prompted Tuesday’s chase. A Mitchell County sheriff’s deputy alerted Yancey County authorities while it was ongoing, saying that the suspect was entering the county and had been firing his gun at the pursuing officer. Trooper Kevin Glenn was shot while trying to deploy a tire deflation device in Yancey County. Officials say 40-year-old suspect Bobby Lee Byrd Jr. later crashed his vehicle and was killed after firing upon responding officers. The trooper’s injuries are serious but not life-threatening.

I-26 CLOSURES
Closures planned for parts of I-26 in North Carolina
HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. (AP) – State transportation officials say three sections of Interstate 26 in North Carolina will be closed three different nights this week. The N.C. Department of Transportation says in a news release that traffic will detoured off the interstate and onto local routes with longer green lights. No sections will close before 8 p.m., and all sections of I-26 will reopen by 6 a.m. the following day. This closures stem from construction designed to widen I-26 from U.S. 64 in Henderson County to Brevard Road in Buncombe County.

DEPUTIES-FATAL SHOOTING
North Carolina man shot, killed by sheriff’s deputies
BURGAW, N.C. (AP) – A North Carolina sheriff’s office says man was shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies trying to serve a domestic violence protective order. News outlets report Pender County Sheriff Alan Cutler said the deputies were attempting to serve the order in the Canetuck community around 10 a.m. on Tuesday when they encountered an armed person identified on Wednesday as 45-year-old Kevin Glenn Swinson. Cutler says a shooting followed but provided no additional details. Deputies Grant Simme and John Dragocastano will be placed on leave as the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation looks into the shooting.

MEDICAID-FREE LUNCH PROGRAM
Medicaid now certifies kids for free lunch in 8 more states
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has added eight states to the 19 where students receiving Medicaid coverage will be automatically added to the program offering free or reduced-price school lunches. A news release Tuesday says those states are Alabama, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The department says this expands demonstration projects that have certified more than 1 million students for free means and nearly 260,000 for reduced-price meals since the 2012-2013 school year. It says the 27 states now involved represent about 75% of students nationwide.