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Some Elizabeth City City Council members want to look into the possibility of selling our sewer system to a private entity. There’s an attractive argument for it: the potential of a ton a new money to spend on programs and infrastructure. The thought of having, say, $50 million under their c…

I do. I want to rule the world. I mean “rule” like Joseph Stalin or Genghis Khan with an iron fist. I would love to make all the decisions and have all that power and control. Would I do good or evil? Would I start out kind and gentle then turn into an oppressor?

Twenty-five years ago, when a powerful state senator quietly and suddenly advanced a bill that would have allowed the leaders of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina to transform the giant and successful health insurance nonprofit into a for-profit company, advocates, consumers, average citizens, and ultimately, the full General Assembly, took a stand.

A decade ago the legislature took a shredder to teacher pay — eliminating salary boosts for longevity and getting advanced degrees. They front-loaded pay scales so teachers with the most experience got the smallest pay increases. Along with it, legislators abolished tenure and eliminated caps on class size and increased teaching workloads.

Generation Z is not the first cohort to face recessions, burdensome debt and a tough time finding a good job. Every generation has gone through this and some much more. The Greatest Generation entered the workforce still bearing the anguish of World War II.

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State AP Stories

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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.

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Mississippi's Republican-led Senate has voted against confirming longtime educator Robert P. Taylor as state superintendent of education, angering some lawmakers. Some Black Democrats say they believe the rejection Wednesday was at least partly because Taylor is Black and because he wrote years ago about Mississippi's racist history. Taylor graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1990. His comments about race came in a 2020 article on the university's Center for Black Studies website. The state education board had announced Taylor as their unanimous choice for superintendent. Taylor told The Associated Press he's disappointed but respects the process. He said senators in the past have confirmed all previous nominees for state superintendent.

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A former longtime North Carolina state senator who led on tax and finance matters when Democrats last controlled the General Assembly has died. The son of David Hoyle confirmed his father died on Wednesday at age 84.  Hoyle served nine terms in the Senate, where he was a longtime co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Hoyle was a small-town Gaston County mayor in his 20s and later served on the state Board of Transportation. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper served briefly with Hoyle in the Senate and said “North Carolina is a better place for his work.” Funeral arrangements were incomplete Wednesday.

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North Carolina residents can now buy a handgun without getting a permit from a local sheriff. The Republican-controlled state House on Wednesday overrode the Democratic governor’s veto. It’s the legislature’s first veto override since 2018. The GOP-led Senate already voted that way Tuesday. The bill scraps the longstanding requirement that sheriffs perform character evaluations and criminal history checks of pistol applicants. Bill supporters say the sheriff screening process is no longer necessary in light of updates to the national background check system. But Gov. Roy Cooper and other opponents say the repeal allows a greater number of dangerous people to obtain weapons through private sales.

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North Carolina House Republicans have unveiled a two-year spending proposal that includes sizeable raises for teachers. Wednesday's unveiling of the House budget plan comes two weeks after Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper offered his own proposal. GOP leaders had dismissed it as spending too much. Cooper’s plan seeks much higher pay raises for teachers. Speaker Tim Moore said a recession threat warrants a more conservative spending approach. House budget committees will consider amendments Thursday. House floor votes are expected next week. Senate Republicans will then advance their own spending plan. The two chambers ultimately will negotiate a final plan to present to Cooper.

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An FBI informant who marched to the U.S. Capitol with fellow Proud Boys members has testified that he didn’t know of any plans for the far-right extremist group to invade the building on Jan. 6. The informant identified himself in court only as “Aaron” when he testified on Wednesday as a defense witness. On trial for seditious conspiracy are former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four lieutenants. The informant was communicating with his FBI handler as a mob of Trump supporters breached police barricades at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He told the handler that the Proud Boys didn't inspire the violence.

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President Joe Biden says Republicans’ budget plans could undermine U.S. manufacturing and help China dominate the world economy. Being tough on China has been a core part of the identity of former President Donald Trump, who is seeking to return to the White House in 2024. Biden says the GOP push to cut his incentives for clean energy “would mean ceding the future of innovation and technology to China.” He spoke Tuesday at a semiconductor maker in North Carolina. Biden is trying to shape public sentiment as he faces off with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy about whether the federal government should raise its legal borrowing capacity.

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North Carolina House Republicans have approved a measure that would require sheriffs to help federal agents interested in picking up jail inmates they believe are in the country illegally. Similar measures have passed the General Assembly in 2019 and 2022. But each of them was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. Now Republicans hold more seats so it's easier to override a Cooper veto. The bill passed Tuesday now goes to the Senate. The bill stemmed from several sheriffs who declined to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Opponents say sheriffs should be allowed to set their own enforcement priorities and that some people who fear deportation won't report crimes.

National & World AP Stories

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Hundreds of people protested at the Tennessee Capitol on Thursday in favor of tighter gun controls, haranguing the Republican-led Legislature to take action following this week's mass shooting at a Christian school in Nashville in which three children and three adults…

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The Vatican has formally repudiated the “Doctrine of Discovery.” That is the theory backed by 15th century papal bulls that legitimized the colonial-era seizure of Native lands and form the basis of some property law today. Indigenous groups have been demanding such a statement for decades. A Vatican statement Thursday said the papal bulls, or decrees, “did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of Indigenous peoples” and have never been considered expressions of the Catholic faith. It said the documents had been “manipulated” for political purposes by colonial powers “to justify immoral acts against Indigenous peoples that were carried out, at times, without opposition from ecclesial authorities.”

A public inquiry has found widespread failures in how Canada’s federal police force responded to the country’s worst mass shooting. It recommends that the government rethink the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s central role in Canadian policing. The Mass Casualty Commission also says the RCMP missed red flags in the years leading up to the Nova Scotia rampage that resulted in 22 people being slain April 18-19, 2020, by a denture maker disguised as a RCMP officer and driving a replica police vehicle. The assailant, Gabriel Wortman, was killed by two Mounties at a gas station in Enfield, Nova Scotia, 13 hours into his rampage.  Disguised as a police officer, Wortman shot people in their homes and set fires in a rampage across Nova Scotia.

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Stocks are rising again as more fear evaporates from Wall Street. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% Thursday. It's on pace for its fifth gain in the last six days and a positive March after struggling in earlier weeks on worries about whether the banking system was cracking under the weight of higher interest rates. Forceful actions by regulators worldwide have helped restore confidence. Also boosting stocks have been big bets that the Federal Reserve may cut rates in coming months. But such expectations are also raising concerns of their own for some professionals on Wall Street.

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Russia’s top security agency says an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal has been arrested on espionage charges. The Federal Security Service said Thursday that Evan Gershkovich was detained in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg while allegedly trying to obtain classified information. The Wall Street Journal said it “vehemently denies the allegations” and is seeking Gershkovich’s immediate release. The FSB didn’t say when the arrest took place. Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of espionage. He is the first American reporter to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War. A Moscow court quickly ruled to keep Gershkovich behind bars pending the investigation.

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Authorities say a train hauling ethanol and corn syrup derailed around 1 a.m. Thursday and caught fire in Minnesota. Hundreds of residents within 1/2 mile of the crash were ordered to evacuate from their homes in Raymond, about 100 miles west of Minneapolis. BNSF said 22 cars derailed, including about 10 carrying ethanol, and four caught fire, but there were no injuries. BNSF CEO Katie Farmer apologized for the derailment and said the cleanup would begin as soon as the fire is extinguished. Gov. Tim Walz and railroad officials said they weren't especially concerned about groundwater contamination because much of the ethanol will burn off and the ground remains frozen. Rail safety has been a key concern nationwide since last month's fiery Norfolk Southern derailment in Ohio.

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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.