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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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Honduras has established diplomatic ties with China after breaking off relations with Taiwan, which is increasingly isolated and now recognized by only 13 sovereign states. Foreign ministers from China and Honduras on Sunday signed a joint communique in Beijing — a decision the Chinese Foreign Ministry hailed as “the right choice.” The diplomatic victory for China comes as Beijing shows increasing assertiveness toward self-ruled Taiwan and signals growing Chinese influence in Latin America. Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu says Honduras had asked Taiwan for billions of dollars of aid and compared its proposals with China's. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said her government would not engage in a "meaningless contest of dollar diplomacy with China.”

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President Joe Biden issued an emergency declaration Sunday for Mississippi, making federal funding available to Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe and Sharkey counties, the areas hardest hit Friday night by a deadly tornado that ripped through the Mississippi Delta. 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. One man was killed after his trailer home flipped several times in Alabama. Search and recovery crews on Sunday resumed digging through debris of homes and buildings after hundreds of people were displaced. The National Weather Service warned of the risk of severe weather moving through eastern Louisiana, south central Mississippi and Southern Central Alabama on Sunday.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is reverberating in a struggle for control of a monastery complex called the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. It's the most revered site in Ukrainian Orthodoxy. The government says it's evicting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the complex as of March 29. Authorities are alleging violations of its lease. Church representatives say this is a pretext for a continued government crackdown on the church which has historic ties to Moscow. The church denies government accusations of pro-Russia actions and ideology. The head of the rival and independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine says monastic life will continue at the Lavra and be free of pro-Russia ideology.

A new campaign is underway this spring across Russia that seeks volunteers to replenish its troops for the war in Ukraine. Advertisements promise cash bonuses and other benefits. Recruiters make cold calls to eligible men. Enlistment offices are working with universities and social service agencies to lure students and the unemployed. The Kremlin’s war machine badly needs new recruits as fighting grinds on in eastern Ukrainian battlegrounds. Both sides prepare anticipated counteroffensives that could mean even more losses A mobilization in September of 300,000 reservists sent panic through the country because most men under 65 are formally part of the reserve.

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An explosion at a chocolate factory in Pennsylvania Friday killed three people and left four missing, but authorities say one person was found alive in the rubble. West Reading Borough officials say a number of people were injured by the explosion at the R.M. Palmer Co. plant just before 5 p.m. Police Chief Wayne Holben says the death toll rose on Saturday with the discovery of a third body in the community about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia. Fire Chief Chad Moyer says four people remain missing as the search for victims continues and fire investigators work to determine a cause. The explosion destroyed one building and damaged a neighboring building with apartments. A spokesperson says eight people were taken to Reading Hospital Friday evening.

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Rescuers raced Saturday to search for survivors and help hundreds of people left homeless after a powerful tornado cut a devastating path through Mississippi, killing at least 25 people and injuring dozens. The tornado flattened entire blocks as it carved a path of destruction for more than an hour. Another person was killed in Alabama. The tornado flattened entire blocks of the small town of Rolling Fork, reducing homes to piles of rubble, flipping cars on their sides and toppling the town's water tower. Residents hunkered down in bath tubs as the tornado struck and later broke into a John Deere store that they converted into a triage center for the wounded.

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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. Majors was taken into custody without incident and the NYPD confirmed he was no longer in custody Saturday night. A representative for the actor said Majors “has done nothing wrong." 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.

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Residents of rural Mississippi have recounted harrowing tales of survival after a deadly tornado tore through the state Friday night. In the tiny town of Silver City in the western part of the state, homes were ripped right off their foundations and left scattered piles of debris. The small town of Rolling Fork was also flattened about 30 miles away. Residents described seeking refuge in bathtubs and hallways and covering loved ones with their bodies as the twister surged around them. Officials say the tornado killed at least 25 people in Mississippi and one person in Alabama as it surged nearly 170 miles across the Deep South.