$1M settlement after 2 patients drowned in transport van

A manufacturer of cages for inmate transport vans has agreed to pay $1 million to the family of a South Carolina mental health patient who drowned during 2018′s Hurricane Florence while trapped inside a sheriff’s department van outfitted by the company. A court on Monday approved the agreement between American Aluminum Accessories and Linda Green, the mother of drowning victim Nicolette Green, according to WBTW-TV. Deputies were driving Green, 43, and

North Carolina seeks origin of chemical spill on creek

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — State officials are for the second time in slightly more than a year trying to determine the source of potentially harmful compounds found in foam floating on a North Carolina creek. In both instances, the man-made chemicals found in the Gray’s Creek area don’t appear to be connected to the Chemours plant, which is in the same area and makes a similar compound, The Fayetteville Observer reported.  The

Feds sue North Carolina county over 911 operator’s firing

A North Carolina county’s emergency communications unit engaged in unlawful retaliation when it terminated a worker after she told supervisors that she had been sexually harassed while on the job, according to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice. According to a department news releaseWednesday, Jennifer Riddle began working as a trainee for Wilson County Emergency Communications in 2017 and was soon sexually harassed by the agency’s assistant director.

CDC Reverses Course on Masks, Again.

By DR. JOY MARTINEZ, Staff Writer In May, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced fully vaccinated people didn’t need to wear masks in most settings, whether indoors or outdoors. This week, the agency recommended that fully vaccinated people begin wearing masks indoors again in places with high COVID-19 transmission rates. Nearly two-thirds of US counties have high or substantial transmission of COVID-19, according to most recent CDC

Wu-Tang Clan album sale pays off Martin Shkreli’s court debt

By LARRY NEUMEISTER FILE - This April 21, 2013, file photo shows Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, aka RZA, left, and Clifford Smith, aka Method Man, of Wu-Tang Clan, right, performing at the second weekend of the 2013 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. An unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album forfeited by Martin Shkreli after his securities fraud conviction was sold Tuesday, July 27, 2021, for an undisclosed sum, though

Dealership apologizes for derogatory term for Black customer

LUMBERTON, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina car dealership has apologized for a derogatory term posted to its social media to identify a Black woman who bought a car from the business. Lumberton Honda posted a picture Thursday on its Facebook page of Trinity Bethune standing in front of a car outside of the dealership and a comment congratulating her on buying her first car, news outlets reported. But instead

Biden says getting vaccinated ‘gigantically important’

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE and AAMER MADHANI President Joe Biden expressed pointed frustration over the slowing COVID-19 vaccination rate in the U.S. and pleaded that it’s “gigantically important” for Americans to step up and get inoculated against the virus as it surges once again. Biden, speaking Wednesday night at a televised town hall in Cincinnati, said the public health crisis has turned largely into a plight of the unvaccinated as the spread of the delta

Jeff Bezos blasts into space on own rocket: ‘Best day ever!’

By MARCIA DUNN Oliver Daemen, from left, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and space tourism company Blue Origin, Wally Funk and Bezos' brother Mark pose for photos in front of the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket, derby, after their launch from the spaceport near Van Horn, Texas, Tuesday, July 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) Jeff Bezos blasted into space Tuesday on his rocket company’s first flight with people on board,

US life expectancy in 2020 saw biggest drop since WWII

By MIKE STOBBE NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. life expectancy fell by a year and a half in 2020, the largest one-year decline since World War II, public health officials said Wednesday. The decrease for both Black Americans and Hispanic Americans was even worse: three years. The drop spelled out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is due mainly to the COVID-19 pandemic, which health officials said is