'It's a big help': 32nd Watts Thanksgiving meal feeds 450

A helicopter pilot and a meteorologist who worked for a North Carolina television station died following the crash of the station’s helicopter next to an interstate highway in the Charlotte area. WBTV broadcasters who had been reporting on the crash identified their colleagues on air Tuesday about three hours following the deadly incident. The men were identified as meteorologist Jason Myers and pilot Chip Tayag. The crash occurred along Interstate 77. Johnny Jennings, chief of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, said no vehicles were involved in the incident. The chief said preliminary witness accounts indicate that the pilot made some “diversionary” maneuvers and “probably saved some lives."

A historically Black university in North Carolina says it has filed a complaint with the Department of Justice seeking a review of a search of a bus carrying students during a traffic stop in South Carolina last month. Shaw University President Paulette Dillard has accused law enforcement officers of racially profiling students traveling to a conference in Atlanta. Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright called the accusations false, saying officers stopped the bus because it was swerving. Dillard says the issue is how the alleged minor violation turned into a drug search. The complaint states that a lane violation would be insufficient justification for a search and students’ privacy was violated because they didn’t consent to a luggage search.

Police say a vehicle towing a float for a holiday parade in North Carolina crashed, killing a girl participating in the event. A Raleigh Police Department news release says the driver who lost control of the vehicle and struck the child was charged with reckless driving and other offenses. Witnesses told WTVD-TV that people attending the Raleigh Christmas Parade heard the truck’s driver screaming that he had lost control of the vehicle and couldn’t stop it before the crash. Nobody else at the parade was injured in the collision.

Democrats celebrated winning North Carolina's lone toss-up race for the U.S. House this month as Wiley Nickel won the 13th District seat. The victory creates a 7-7 split in the state’s delegation — the best showing for Democrats in a decade. But there’s a good chance Nickel’s district and others will be altered for the 2024 elections, returning the advantage to Republicans. The current lines are only being used for these elections. New lines will be drawn by Republicans, who still control the General Assembly. And a new GOP majority on the state Supreme Court likely will be more skeptical of legal challenges that scuttled previous boundaries.

A mass shooting at a popular gay club in Colorado Springs has resurfaced questions about the city's past and future among its residents. Though the suspect facing possible murder and hate crime charges is not from Colorado Springs, the targeting of LGBTQ people has reminded some of the 1990s, when the city was known as an epicenter of religion-infused, family-values conservatism unfriendly to the LGBTQ community. Colorado Springs has increasingly become a diverse and vibrant city, and, like anywhere a mass shooting occurs, the shocking act of violence in a space considered a refuge for LGBTQ people has sent residents reeling.

Shoppers eager to start holiday shopping but weighed down by inflation are hunting for the best deals at stores and online this Black Friday. Retailers that had offered mostly lackluster discounts earlier in the season responded this week with new bargains. Elevated prices for food, rent, gasoline and other household costs have taken a toll on shoppers. As a result, many are reluctant to spend unless there is a big sale and are being more selective with what they will buy — in many cases, trading down to cheaper stuff and less expensive stores. Shoppers are also dipping more into their savings, turning increasingly to “buy now, pay later” services that allow users to pay for items in installments. They are also running up their credit cards.