Associated Press - Randolph Record

05 May

NC judge drops price to cover school plan, omits spend order

Gary D. Robertson, The Associated PressStateDavid Lee, Mike Robinson, NC Supreme Court, Roy Cooper

RALEIGH — A North Carolina judge cut the amount of money needed to comply through the middle of next year with a step-by-step plan to address state educational inequities. But he declined to leave in place the crux of another judge’s order that directed cash from government coffers be sent to state agencies to cover a fiscal gap. Special Superior Court Judge Mike Robinson ruled in long-running public education spending litigation which he began presiding over last month. Judge David Lee had directed in November that $1.75 billion be moved from state coffers to three government agencies to carry out…

28 Apr

Biden’s election year challenge: Blame GOP for nation’s woes

Will Weissart, The Associated PressNationinflation, Joe Biden, Ukraine

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden has an election-year message for frustrated voters: At least he’s trying. For those who think he isn’t doing enough to help Ukraine fend off the Russian invasion, Biden announced $800 million in new military support last Thursday. To ease the pain of high gas prices, he’s tapped the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and reopened onshore sales of oil and natural gas leases on public land. And to address historic inflation, Biden has tried to smooth out supply chain-crimping bottlenecks at the nation’s ports. The president hopes the moves, which are being announced in near-daily rollouts…

27 Apr

Dowless, key figure in NC absentee ballot fraud probe, dies

Gary D. Robertson, The Associated PressStateLeslie Dowless Jr.

RALEIGH — Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr., the key player in a North Carolina absentee ballot fraud probe that led to a do-over congressional election, has died. His daughter, Andrea Dowless Heverly, wrote that her father “passed away peacefully” Sunday morning, according to a social media post. He had been diagnosed with an advanced form of lung cancer and died at his daughter’s home in Bladen County, his friend Jay DeLancy told The Associated Press in a brief interview. Dowless was in his mid-60s. The political operative was set to go on trial this summer on more than a dozen state…

21 Apr

Abortion ban after 15 weeks signed into law in Florida

Associated PressNation, Newsabortion, Florida, Ron DeSantis

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a 15-week abortion ban into law last week as the state joined a growing conservative push to restrict access to the procedure ahead of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that could roll back abortion rights in America. “This will represent the most significant protections for life that have been enacted in this state in a generation,” DeSantis said as he signed the bill at an evangelical church in the city of Kissimmee. Republicans nationwide have moved to place new restrictions on abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court signaled it would uphold a…

20 Apr

For Earth Day, plant native plants, practice benign neglect

Jessica Damiano via The Associated PressFeaturesEarth Day, gardening

Does your idea of the perfect garden include abundant plants that thrive with relatively little human intervention? Do they attract and support all kinds of pollinators? Sounds like a dream. And you can make it real by planting native plants. Native plants don’t need a lot of extra watering or fertilizing because they are already growing in the conditions they’re adapted to. Likewise they provide food for native insects and birds. Planting non-native plants can create a food desert for native pollinators. Check with your county’s cooperative extension office or other online resources to find out which plants are native…

20 Apr

GOP states eye voting system upgrades

Associated PressNation, NewsGOP, voting

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For years, Tennessee Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro’s call to require the state’s voting infrastructure to include a paper record of each ballot cast has been batted down in the Republican-dominated Legislature. But as the fallout around the 2020 presidential election — and some GOP voters’ distrust of voting machines — Tennessee Republican lawmakers who have held off are coming around on a paper-backed mandate. A similar scenario is playing out in some of the five other states -- most of which are Republican-led -- that do not currently have a voting system with a paper…

20 Apr

South Carolina inmate picks firing squad over electric chair

Associated PressNation, Newsdeath penalty, electric chair, execution, firing squad, Richard Bernard Moore, south carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina prisoner scheduled to be the first man executed in the state in more than a decade has decided to die by firing squad rather than in the electric chair later this month, according to court documents filed Friday. Richard Bernard Moore, 57, is the also first state prisoner to face the choice of execution methods after a law went into effect last year making electrocution the default and giving inmates the option to face three prison workers with rifles instead. Moore has spent more than two decades on death row after being convicted of…

20 Apr

Budd, McCrory still close in NC Senate campaign fundraising

Associated PressPolitics, StatePat McCrory, Ted Budd, U.S. Senate

RALEIGH — North Carolina Republican U.S. Senate candidates Ted Budd and Pat McCrory remained neck-and-neck with their campaigns’ own fundraising entering the final full month before the May 17 primary. Campaign finance reports for the first quarter show McCrory, the former governor, and current U.S. House member Budd collecting essentially the same level of contributions and other funds. But Budd is separately benefiting from a political action committee that has already spent several million dollars on ads and mailers praising Budd and attacking McCrory. A pro-McCrory super PAC is trailing. Budd also has received former President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Looking…

19 Jan

White House soft-launches COVID-19 test request website

Associated PressGovernment, NationBiden Administration, covid-19, White House

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden administration on Tuesday quietly launched its website for Americans to request free at-home COVID-19 tests, a day before the site was scheduled to officially go online. The website, COVIDTests.gov, now includes a link for Americans to access an order form run by the U.S. Postal Service. People can order four at-home tests per residential address, to be delivered by the Postal Service. It marks the latest step by President Joe Biden to address criticism of low inventory and long lines for testing during a nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases due to the omicron variant. White…

09 Jan

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has COVID

Associated PressGovernment, Nation, NewsAOC, COVID

WASHINGTON, D.C. — New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has tested positive for COVID-19 and “is experiencing symptoms and recovering at home,” her office said in a statement Sunday evening. The Democratic congresswoman’s office said Ocasio-Cortez received a booster shot last fall. With the nation dealing with another surge of the virus since the emergence of the highly contagious omicron variant, numerous members of Congress have reported breakthrough cases despite being fully vaccinated and boosted.