AP-NC Newswatch

Latest North Carolina News:

OFFICER KILLED-FUNERAL
North Carolina officer killed on duty remembered at funeral
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – Hundreds of law enforcement officers from North Carolina’s largest city gathered for the funeral of a colleague killed last week when she was struck by a semi-truck while responding to an accident. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Mia Goodwin was remembered Wednesday at the service for her dedication to her family, her faith and her job. Authorities say she died when two semi-trucks collided on Interstate 85. She and other officers had been assisting troopers with an earlier wreck. A truck driver faces charges. Goodwin leaves behind her husband and three small children. She had just returned from maternity leave.

CHILD SHOT
Western NC sheriff: 3-year-old shot Christmas Day has died
EDNEYVILLE, N.C. (AP) – A 3-year-old girl flown to a western North Carolina hospital on Christmas Day for treatment of what officials described as an “accidental self-inflicted shooting” has died. The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office announced on Wednesday that Aylee Gordon died late Tuesday at Mission Hospital in Asheville. The sheriff’s office said previously that a 911 caller reported Saturday that a child “had gained access to a firearm and had accidentally been shot.” An investigation is ongoing and it’s unclear if charges will be filed. A spokesperson for the sheriff says the father of the child is a retired captain at the sheriff’s office.

OBIT-BLACK NEWSPAPER PUBLISHER
Black newspaper publisher Mary Alice Jervay Thatch, 78, dies
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) – The third-generation editor and publisher of a historic Black newspaper in North Carolina and a driving force behind the pardons of the Wilmington 10 has died. Mary Alice Jervay Thatch was 78. Cousin Paul R. Jervay Jr., said Thatch died Tuesday. Thatch was the daughter of The Wilmington Journal publisher Thomas C. Jervay Sr. Her grandfather started the newspaper as the Cape Fear Journal in 1927. When Thatch succeeded her father in 1996, she took on the fight for pardons for nine Black men and one white woman who were wrongly convicted of a 1971 firebombing. In 2012, Gov. Beverly Perdue issued pardons for the group, who were known as the Wilmington 10.

NORTH CAROLINA-GOVERNOR
After impasse, N. Carolina politicians make big deals in ’21
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – In politically divided North Carolina, hostilities between Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and majority-Republican lawmakers have eased somewhat as 2021 nears its end. The governor last month signed a $53 billion state spending measure more than three years after the last comprehensive budget was enacted. The two sides also worked together enacting legislation to limit greenhouse gases, reform the police and return more children to class during the coronavirus pandemic. The new budget contained many provisions Cooper didn’t care for, including those that rein in his emergency powers and phase out corporate income taxes. And lawmakers have only promised to study the broad Medicaid expansion he’s sought for years.

CRASH-GOOD SAMARITAN FATALLY STRUCK
Good Samaritan fatally struck at interstate crash scene
JACKSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio (AP) – A North Carolina man who stopped to help at an accident scene on an interstate highway in Ohio was killed when he was struck by a vehicle that was trying to avoid the crash scene. The Ohio State Highway Patrol says the initial crash occurred around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday on southbound Interstate 71 in Jackson when a 28-year-old Mansfield woman lost control of her car while trying to avoid another vehicle. Fifty-three-year-old Richard Ivey, of Shelby, North Carolina, stopped to help the woman, who had an infant in her car. Her car was then struck by another car and a semitrailer, and an SUV driver trying to avoid the crash scene struck Ivey and the woman, who were both standing outside their cars.

SEVERE WEATHER-DEEP SOUTH
Storms could spawn tornadoes in the South on Wednesday
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) – Several southern states are at risk of tornadoes, large hail and high winds from severe storms. Forecasters say that northern portions of Alabama and Mississippi and parts of Tennessee will have an enhanced risk of damaging weather on Wednesday. The national Storm Prediction Center says the risk of severe weather also extends into parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia and the Carolinas. Forecasters say that Huntsville, Alabama, and Tupelo, Mississippi, are among cities at highest risk for severe storms. The Storm Prediction Center says a few tornadic supercells will be possible.

CRASH-GIRL KILLED
Police: Minivan hit deer before crash that killed girl
FABER, Va. (AP) – Virginia State Police say a deer strike on a Virginia highway led to a Christmas Eve crash that killed an 8-year-old North Carolina girl and injured two other children. The Daily Progress reports that police said the crash occurred Saturday on U.S. 29 after a minivan hit a deer. The preliminary investigation shows that the minivan stopped abruptly and was hit by a tractor-trailer traveling behind it. Police say the girl was taken to a hospital and died on Christmas Day. The minivan driver and two passengers were treated at a hospital for minor injuries. A 4-year-old boy secured in a child safety seat was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-NORTH CAROLINA
NC positive tests, hospitalizations soar in holiday weekend
RALEIGH. N.C. (AP) – North Carolina health data shows that positive COVID-19 test rates and hospitalizations soared during the long holiday weekend. The state Department of Health and Human Services released figures on Tuesday following several days away. They show that almost 22% of tests performed on Sunday were positive. News outlets report the rate is a record high for the pandemic. The number of people identified by DHHS as hospitalized COVID-19 patients reached nearly 2,000 as of Monday. There’s been a spike in cases globally, led largely by the contagious omicron variant.