Moderna seeks FDA authorization for 4th dose of COVID shot

By ZEKE MILLER Drugmaker Moderna asked the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday to authorize a fourth shot of its COVID-19 vaccine as a booster dose for all adults. The request is broader than rival pharmaceutical company Pfizer’s request earlier this week for the regulator to approve a booster shot for all seniors. In a press release, the company said its request for approval for all adults was made “to

Blacks Are Getting Lost In A Sea Of Yellow

By DR. JOYNICOLE MARTINEZ, Staff Writer By Moroccan Artist M’Barek Bouhchichi In the last 20 years, Ukraine has emerged as a choice destination for African and other international students due to the high-quality education offered and relatively low tuition and fees. Ukraine was home to over 76,000 foreign students, according to government data from 2020. Nearly a quarter of the students were from Africa, with the largest numbers coming from

NC superintendent apologizes after mock slave auction

A North Carolina schools superintendent has apologized for a mock “slave auction” in which white middle-schoolers pretended to sell their Black classmates. “Actions such as these, they just do not reflect who we are as a school system,” Chatham County Schools Superintendent Anthony Jackson said after parents raised an outcry. “And I say, unapologetically, will not be tolerated in the school system.”  The school board adopted some policy changes and

US Black population: The biggest growth is in smaller cities

By MIKE SCHNEIDER David Jones stands outside his home in Columbus, Ohio on Feb. 16, 2022. Jones moved to Columbus two years ago. The city saw some of the biggest Black population growth in the U.S. during the last decade, according to 2020 census figures. (AP Photo/Andrew Welsh-Huggins) Brandon Manning and his wife were both born in the U.S. South and had been itching to return, but Manning didn’t want

Jussie Smollett starts 150-day jail term in protected status

By DON BABWIN and KATHLEEN FOODY Jussie Smollett began a 150-day jail sentence for staging a hate crime against himself in protective custody, separated from other detainees and watched by security cameras and an officer, jail authorities said Friday. Sheriff’s deputies immediately took Smollett to the Cook County Jail on Thursday night after Judge James Linn sentenced the Black and gay actor to 30 months of felony probation — starting with a

‘Bounty’ offered on invasive Bradford pear trees in NC

FILE - Bradford pear trees bloom as traffic moves along Lejeune Boulevard in Jacksonville, N.C., near the main gate entrance to Camp Lejeune, Monday, March 12, 2012. A new program in North Carolina is placing a “bounty” on invasive Bradford pear trees as they spread through forests in the state. The initiative is set to start with an April 23, 2022 event in Greensboro and could expand to more locations

SC Senate unanimously passes income tax cut and rebate

By JEFFREY COLLINS South Carolina Sens. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, left, and Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, right, talk about a bill that would cut and rebate income taxes by $2 billion on Thursday, March 10, 2022, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins) The South Carolina Senate unanimously passed a $2 billion income tax cut and rebate bill, setting up what will likely be intense negotiations with the House over the $1 billion tax cut it passed

Cooper sides against NC Senate incumbent deViere in primary

North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has endorsed the challenger of a sitting state senator in the May 17 primary -- an unusual public intervention by Cooper in intraparty politics. The second-term governor is backing Val Applewhite for the Cumberland County seat currently held by Sen. Kirk deViere, who at times has voted with the Republican majority on some measures Cooper opposed. In his endorsement, released Tuesday and affirmed by

Wildfire covers 1,000 acres on North Carolina’s Outer Banks

This photo provided by The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows an active wildland fire at Dare County Bombing Range, in eastern North Carolina on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in North Carolina said Tuesday afternoon that the fire had slightly spread to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, which is one of the only places in the world where endangered red wolves can be

Court rejects GOP redistricting plans in NC, Pennsylvania

By MARK SHERMAN In a victory for Democrats, the Supreme Court has turned away efforts from Republicans in North Carolina and Pennsylvania to block state court-ordered congressional districting plans. In separate orders late Monday, the justices are allowing maps selected by each state’s Supreme Court to be in effect for the 2022 elections. Those maps are more favorable to Democrats than the ones drawn by the states’ legislatures. In North Carolina,