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Donald G. Davis, a Democrat from Greene County, was elected in 2022 to represent North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. After the 2020 Census, the NC Supreme Court approved a new redistricting map which added Chowan, Pasquotank, and Perquimans count…

For nearly eight years, ever since he descended the golden escalator at Trump Tower, Donald Trump has prided himself on busting the norms of the U.S. political system. He didn’t talk like any other U.S. politician. And he didn’t act like any other U.S. politician. And for that he was richly …

Liberals have been outraged, and rightly so, over the war on free speech and thought launched by right-wing activists. As I wrote recently, “a nationwide movement is gathering steam to ban books” featuring characters that are not straight white male Christians.

Features

“On the next day the great multitude who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees, and went our to meet Him, and began to cry out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.’” — Joh…

State AP Stories

States are doling out more cash than ever to lure multibillion-dollar microchip, electric vehicle and battery factories, inspiring ever-more competition as they dig deeper into their pockets to attract big employers and capitalize on a wave of huge new projects. Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas have made billion-dollar pledges for a microchip or EV plant, with more state-subsidized plant announcements by profitable automakers and semiconductor giants surely to come. The projects come at a transformative time for the industries, with automakers investing heavily in electrification and chipmakers expanding production in the U.S. following pandemic-related supply chain disruptions that raised economic and national security concerns.

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The military says the service members who died in a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter crash ranged in age from 23 to 36 and were from seven states. A military news release Friday says the service members came from Florida, Texas, Missouri, California, North Carolina, Alabama and New Jersey. Two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters crashed near Fort Campbell on Wednesday night during a medical evacuation training exercise, killing all nine soldiers aboard the two aircrafts. The crash occurred in Trigg County, Kentucky, about 30 miles northwest of the Army post that is home to the 101st Airborne Division.

STATESVILLE, N.C. (AP) — As Len Strozier of Omega Mapping Services makes his way through the Green Street Cemetery to map it out in a ground-penetrating radar survey, the orange flags he places where there aren’t just signs of where someone is buried. He says it’s much more than that.

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Donald Trump is the first former president ever to be indicted, but he’s not the first politician who will have a mug shot taken. Lawmakers arrested on past criminal charges have taken different approaches to their mug shots. While some are somber, others see them as an opportunity to rally supporters who believe the cases against them are politically motivated. New York law discourages the release of mug shots in most cases, though they have leaked in the past. Less clear is whether Trump would seek to have the picture released himself, for political or other reasons.

California and three other states are joining a federal lawsuit against JetBlue over its proposed $3.8 billion purchase of Spirit Airlines. New Jersey, Maryland and North Carolina also joined the case on Friday. The Biden administration argues that the deal will reduce competition and drive up prices by eliminating Spirit, which is known for low fares. The original lawsuit against JetBlue was filed in early March by the U.S. Justice Department, Massachusetts, New York and the District of Columbia. A federal judge has scheduled a trial to begin Oct. 16 in Boston.

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North Carolina state government budgets usually include policy or spending directives that give any sitting governor heartburn, and this year will be no exception. But those provisions will take on new importance given a budget must be passed for the coming year before Medicaid expansion in a law signed this week by Gov. Roy Cooper can be carried out. A House budget proposal debated Thursday contains provisions restricting the Democratic governor or his administration on environmmental policy, oversight of the State Bureau of Investigation and election administration. The competing Senate budget likely will have additional provisions that will give Cooper pause.

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Carl Lentz, the ousted pastor of Hillsong New York City, has landed on staff at Transformation Church. It is a predominantly Black, nondenominational megachurch in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that is led by pastor, author and popular YouTuber Michael Todd. Transformation is a juggernaut in a town replete with megachurches. The church has confirmed that Lentz, who was fired from Hillsong in 2020 when an extramarital affair came to light, has joined its staff. Lentz, 44, was once labeled a “hypepriest” by GQ Magazine for his fashionable attire and ministry to NBA players and celebrities such as Justin Bieber. He has been mostly silent since his firing.

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A funeral will be held this weekend for former Democratic U.S. Rep. Nick Galifianakis, who represented central North Carolina for several years before two unsuccessful Senate bids. An obituary from a funeral home said Galifianakis died on Monday at age 94. A family spokesman told a newspaper that Galifianakis died at a Raleigh retirement community. He served in the General Assembly and in Congress for over a decade. He unseated the Democratic incumbent in the 1972 Democratic primary but lost to archconservative Jesse Helms in the general election. Galifianakis also lost in the 1974 U.S. Senate primary to then-Attorney General Robert Morgan.

National & World AP Stories

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Tornadoes that tore through parts of the South and Midwest have killed at least 11 people. The storms collapsed a theater roof during a heavy metal concert in Illinois. Possibly dozens of tornadoes touched down into the night across at least seven states. They were part of a sprawling system that also brought wildfires to the southern Plains and blizzard conditions to the Upper Midwest. A coroner says the dead included four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas. Other deaths were reported in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi and the Little Rock area.

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Vice President Kamala Harris has visited a farm outside Zambia’s capital that’s using new techniques and technology to boost its vegetable crop as she highlighted ways to secure food supplies in an age of global warming. She walked past rows of peppers and inspected a drip irrigation system and called it ““an example of what can be done around the world.” In the United States, conversations about climate change usually revolve around replacing fossil fuels with clean energy. In Africa, the focus is on expanding access to food. Rising prices stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine have been damaging to poor countries, and global warming is expected to bring more challenges in the coming years.

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Pope Francis has been discharged from the Rome hospital where he was treated for bronchitis. The 86-year-old pope was hospitalized Wednesday and received antibiotics intravenously. Asked how he felt Saturday, Francis quipped to reporters: “Still alive." Outside the hospital, the pope hugged a couple whose daughter died at Gemelli Polyclinic the previous night and autographed a boy's cast. In a sign of his improved health, the Vatican released details of Francis’ Holy Week schedule. It said he would preside at this weekend’s Palm Sunday Mass and at Easter Mass on April 9, both in St. Peter's Square. Francis is vulnerable to respiratory illnesses because he had part of a lung removed as a young man.

Control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and likely the future of abortion access, Republican-drawn legislative maps and years of GOP policies, rests with the outcome of Tuesday’s election in the key swing state. The race has shattered national spending records because of what’s at stake. The winner of the heated contest between Republican-backed Dan Kelly and Democratic-supported Janet Protasiewicz will determine majority control of the court headed into the 2024 presidential election. The court came within one vote of overturning President Joe Biden’s narrow win in 2020. Democrats are trying to flip control of the court, which has had a majority of conservative justices the past 15 years.

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For this year’s Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Target rolled out its first dedicated Ramadan and Eid, or feast, collection, including decorations. It’s one of the latest signs of big U.S. retailers catering to American Muslims. Many Muslim Americans welcome the recognition and applaud those retailers that are making it easier for them to bring home the cheer that publicly marks some other faiths’ holidays. Still, the issue of Ramadan decorations has in recent years sparked debates about inclusivity and representation versus supporting small, Muslim-owned businesses and commercialization concerns. Ramadan is a month of fasting, increased worship and charity. It’s also often a time for festive gatherings. Ramadan is followed by the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

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The military says the service members who died in a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter crash ranged in age from 23 to 36 and were from seven states. A military news release Friday says the service members came from Florida, Texas, Missouri, California, North Carolina, Alabama and New Jersey. Two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters crashed near Fort Campbell on Wednesday night during a medical evacuation training exercise, killing all nine soldiers aboard the two aircrafts. The crash occurred in Trigg County, Kentucky, about 30 miles northwest of the Army post that is home to the 101st Airborne Division.

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Caitlin Clark had another sensational game with 41 points to help Iowa spoil South Carolina’s perfect season with a 77-73 victory in the Final Four. The spectacular junior guard set a record for the highest-scoring semifinal game and became the first women’s player to post back-to-back 40-point games in the NCAA Tournament. She now has the Hawkeyes in a spot they’ve never been in before — one victory away from a national championship. They’ll have to beat another SEC team to do that as Iowa will face LSU in the title game on Sunday afternoon after the Tigers beat Virginia Tech in the other national semifinal. The loss ended a tremendous season for the defending champion Gamecocks. They finished 36-1.