Trump pledges to endorse Mark Robinson for North Carolina governor

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - Former President Donald Trump said Saturday night in North Carolina that he would endorse Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson for governor in a move many delegates expect will cement Robinson's place as the front-runner in a competitive GOP primary and propel him to the governor's office. Trump threw his support behind the similarly sharp-spoken Robinson at the state GOP convention in Greensboro during one of his

Supreme Court won’t review North Carolina’s decision to nix license plates with Confederate flag

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court said Monday it won't review North Carolina's decision to stop issuing specialty license plates with the Confederate flag. As is typical, the court did not comment in declining to hear the case, which challenged the state's decision. The dispute was one of many the court said Monday it would not hear. It was similar to a case originating in Texas that the court heard

The Great Grift: How billions in COVID-19 relief aid was stolen or wasted

WASHINGTON (AP) - Much of the theft was brazen, even simple. Fraudsters used the Social Security numbers of dead people and federal prisoners to get unemployment checks. Cheaters collected those benefits in multiple states. And federal loan applicants weren't cross-checked against a Treasury Department database that would have raised red flags about sketchy borrowers. Criminals and gangs grabbed the money. But so did a U.S. soldier in Georgia, the pastors

Voting rights marcher recalls being clubbed, hearing fatal gunshot during pivotal day of protests

Civil Rights foot soldier Della Simpson Maynor poses for a photo on May 19, 2023, at Zion Church in Marion, Ala. On Feb. 18, 1965, the 14-year-old Maynor was part of a group planning to march to the Perry County jail where a local SCLC field secretary was being held for registering voters. State and local police met the protestors with violence just outside the church where Maynor was clubbed

Andrew Young was at Martin Luther King’s side throughout often violent struggle for civil rights

ATLANTA (AP) - Andrew Young's first thought when he heard the Voting Rights Acthad been signed into law was not celebratory. It was strategic. "Where are we going to get the money to get the country mobilized to register these voters?" he recalled thinking at that momentous time nearly 60 years ago. Now 91, Young is one of the last surviving members of Martin Luther King Jr.'s inner circle. The

CNN ousts CEO Chris Licht after a brief, tumultuous tenure

NEW YORK (AP) - CNN ousted chief executive Chris Licht after a tumultuous year leading the struggling news network that culminated in a damning magazine profile and the growing realization that he'd lost the confidence of the network's journalists. The change was announced at CNN's editorial meeting Wednesday morning and came just two days after Licht said he would "fight like hell" to earn the trust of those around him.

2 dead in shooting after high school graduation ceremony in Virginia capital

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Seven people were shot, two fatally, when gunfire rang out Tuesday outside a downtown theater in Richmond, Virginia, where a high school graduation ceremony had just ended, causing hundreds of attendees to flee in panic, weep and clutch their children, authorities and witnesses said. A 19-year-old suspect tried to escape on foot but was arrested and will be charged with two counts of second-degree murder, Interim

For many Southern Baptists, the only campaign question is which Republican candidate to support

Southern Baptists form a core part of the white evangelical Christian bloc that has reliably and overwhelmingly voted Republican in recent elections, and is expected to again in 2024. But Southern Baptists are weighing their options in the GOP presidential primary field - some already lining up behind Donald Trump, others wary of the former president, whom most evangelical voters supported in previous elections despite his vulgar language, serial marriages

White woman who fatally shot Black neighbor is arrested in Florida

OCALA, Fla. (AP) - A Florida woman accused of fatally shooting her neighbor last week in the violent culmination of what the sheriff described as a 2½-year feud was arrested Tuesday, the Marion County Sheriff's Office said. Susan Louise Lorincz, 58, who is white, was arrested on charges of manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault in the death of Ajike Owens, a Black mother

Plane that crashed in Virginia lost contact with air traffic controllers during ascent, feds say

Only minutes into a doomed journey that ended on a remote Virginia mountain, the pilot of a business jet was not responding to air traffic control instructions and the situation was soon reported to a network that includes military, security and law enforcement agencies, according to federal aviation officials. Despite being out of contact on its ascent Sunday afternoon, the jet that had just taken off from a Tennessee airport