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It’s time to file income tax returns for 2022, so it’s a good time to think about taxes for the current year. And the Inflation Reduction Act provided funding for 87,000 additional IRS employees, so people should brace for the possibility of more tax audits. The important thing is to careful…

We were willing to give Pasquotank County commissioners the benefit of the doubt after they voted the first time against honoring retired U.S. Army Major General Hawthorne “Peet” Proctor, deciding in the face of overwhelming opposition not to name the new Newland Park after him.

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State AP Stories

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North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell says he'll run for governor in 2024. He'll likely be required to best Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson to earn the Republican nomination. Folwell announced his decision at Saturday’s Republican Party convention for Forsyth County. He told The Associated Press he would bring competence to operating government and look out for working people if elected. The state constitution prevents Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper from seeking a third consecutive term. Robinson has scheduled a rally next month to reveal his decision for 2024, but he's been leaning into a gubernatorial bid for some time. Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein announced a campaign for governor in January.

North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed Republican gun legislation that would no longer require sheriff approval before someone can purchase a handgun. His action Friday initiates his first showdown of the session with a GOP majority that is just one seat shy in the House of veto-proof margins. The bill would repeal the state’s long-standing pistol purchase permit requirement that directs sheriffs to evaluate each gun applicant's character. Cooper successfully blocked a similar proposal in 2021. Bill supporters say substantial updates to the national background check system have rendered the requirement duplicative. But Democrats warn that its repeal would create a dangerous loophole.

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The Republican-controlled North Carolina legislature has given final approval to a Medicaid expansion agreement. Thursday's state House vote reverses longstanding opposition to the measure, which now goes to expansion advocate and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper for his signature. GOP legislative leaders reached a deal earlier this month, capping years of debate over whether the politically closely divided state should accept the federal government’s coverage for hundreds of thousands of low-income adults. North Carolina was one of 11 states that hadn't yet adopted expansion. The bill contains one caveat: A state budget law must be passed before expansion can be carried out.

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North Carolina’s elected auditor has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for leaving the scene of a December crash in which she drove her state-owned vehicle into a parked car. Four-term Democratic State Auditor Beth Wood told a Wake County judge on Thursday that she made a “grave mistake” and should have remained at the accident. A judge sentenced Wood to about $300 in court costs and fines in the hit-and-run plea. He pointed out that Wood already had personally paid over $11,000 to cover damages to both cars. Wood said in court that she had drunk two glasses of wine at the party but was not impaired.

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Mexico's president says forensic tests have confirmed that a body found in northern Mexico was that of a drug gang leader accused of murdering two Jesuit priests last year. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador did not say Thursday whether the tests involved a DNA match or fingerprints. The sister of accused killer José Noriel Portillo Gil, alias “El Chueco,” or “The Crooked One,” had earlier identified his body by sight.  The murder of the two beloved Jesuit priests in June 2022 had shocked Mexico. The Jesuits said the suspect’s death proves the government can’t catch criminals and has lost control of parts of the country.

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Proposals in several states would allow or require schools to deadname transgender students or out them to their parents without consent. Transgender kids and their families say the proposals could eliminate K-12 public schools as one of the last remaining havens to explore their identities. The stated aim of the bills is to give parents greater control over their childrens' education. Some parents and teachers argue they have a right to know. But others warn the proposals could jeopardize children's health and safety. And some teachers say the reporting requirements force educators to betray the trust of their students or risk losing their job.

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An agreement to expand Medicaid in North Carolina has reached the cusp of final legislative approval following a state House vote. The House chamber voted 95-21 on Wednesday for legislation that would direct state health officials to accept Medicaid coverage for potentially 600,000 low-income adults. One more affirmative House vote is needed Thursday before it goes to the desk of longtime expansion advocate Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. The Senate voted last week for the agreement reached between Republican lawmakers three weeks ago. GOP lawmakers had been skeptical for nearly a decade about accepting expansion, which originated from the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act.

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North Carolina’s Republican-controlled House has advanced a previously vetoed proposal to restrict how teachers can discuss certain racial topics that some lawmakers equate to “critical race theory.” The House voted 68-49 along party lines Wednesday for legislation banning public school teachers from compelling students to believe they should feel guilty or responsible for past actions committed by people of the same race or sex. House Democrats challenged Republican claims that the bill would reduce discrimination and argued that a comprehensive history education should make students uncomfortable. Republicans are one seat short of a veto-proof supermajority and will likely need some Democratic support for the measure to become law.

National & World AP Stories

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Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired his defense minister who called on the Israeli leader to halt plans for the overhaul of Israel’s judiciary. The plans have sparked widespread opposition and protests, and prompted outgoing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday to speak out against the changes. In a brief statement Sunday, Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister had dismissed Gallant. Netanyahu’s government is pushing ahead for a parliamentary vote this week on a centerpiece of the overhaul — a law that would give the governing coalition the final say over all judicial appointments. The standoff has threatened to spill over into a broader constitutional crisis.

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A Florence museum and the city's mayor are inviting parents and students from a Florida charter school to visit and see Michelangelo’s sculpture of David. The invitation comes after the school principal was forced to resign following parental complaints that an image of the nude Renaissance masterpiece was shown to a sixth-grade art class. The Italian response has been incredulous and highlights how the U.S. culture wars are often perceived in Europe. Even amid a rise in right-wing sentiment and governance on the continent, the Renaissance and its masterpieces are generally above the fray. Former Principal Hope Carrasquilla said she is honored by the mayor's invitation and she might take him up on it.

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Help began pouring into one of the poorest regions of the U.S. after a deadly tornado tore a path of destruction in Mississippi  even as furious new storms struck Georgia. At least 25 people were killed and dozens of others were injured in Mississippi as the massive storm ripped through several towns on its hour-long path Friday night. On Sunday, search and recovery crews resumed the daunting task of digging through the debris of flattened and battered homes, commercial buildings and municipal offices after hundreds of people were displaced.

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In drought-stricken Spain, around 250 villagers brought back the faded practice of a special Mass and procession to pray for rain. It's been years since they reached out to Our Lady of the Torrents, a local virgin associated with rainfall in L'Espunyola. Some farmers in this mountain village north of Barcelona say they can’t remember a time of such widespread drought. One farmer fears that if there's no rain in the next two weeks, the harvest might be ruined. Very low rainfall and high temperatures over the past three years have officially put Spain into long-term drought.

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Ukraine’s government has called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to “counter the Kremlin’s nuclear blackmail” after Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed plans to station tactical atomic weapons in Belarus. One Ukrainian official said Sunday that Russia “took Belarus as a nuclear hostage.” But Moscow said it was making the move in response to the West’s increasing military support for Ukraine. Putin announced the plan in a television interview that aired on Saturday. He said it was triggered by a U.K. decision this past week to provide Ukraine with armor-piercing rounds containing depleted uranium.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific has become the second major freight railroad in the past week to back away from the industry's longstanding push to cut train crews down to one person as lawmakers and regulators increasingly focus on rail safety following last month's fiery derailment in Ohio.

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The actor Jonathan Majors was arrested Saturday in New York on charges of strangulation, assault and harassment after a domestic dispute. New York police said in a statement that the victim was a 30-year-old woman who was hospitalized with minor injuries to her head and neck. The NYPD confirmed he was no longer in custody Saturday night. Majors is the star of the recently released “Creed III” and “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" and considered one of Hollywood's fastest rising stars. A lawyer for Majors contended Sunday that there was evidence showing that he was “entirely innocent.”

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An Associated Press review of dozens of legal filings shows that President Joe Biden’s Justice Department is fighting just as vigorously as Donald Trump's did to uphold death row inmates' sentences, despite Biden's opposition to capital punishment. Lawyers for some of the over 40 death row inmates who had hoped that Attorney General Merrick Garland may be more open to their clients’ claims of racial bias and other errors say they’ve seen no meaningful change. Garland put a temporary pause on federal executions in 2021 and has reversed decisions by previous administrations to seek it in 27 cases. But the Justice Department continues to fight to uphold the sentences of death row inmates tried under previous presidents.