Scientists Warn El Niño Could Bring Extreme Weather Disasters This Year

WASHINGTON (AP) - El Nino, Nature's chaotic climate agent, has formed in a warmed-up Pacific Ocean and is expected to grow to historic strength, meteorologists announced Thursday. Experts said the El Nino, a natural warming cycle, should further heat a globe already warming from fossil fuel pollution and will likely turbocharge extreme weather across the planet. Meteorologists forecast it will rival - or exceed - a record El Nino that

Crypto ATM Regulations Move Forward In North Carolina despite pushback from industry 

NC NEWSLINE - A proposal to regulate the growing cryptocurrency ATM industry in North Carolina is moving forward in the state House - but not without some concessions to the industry. Crypto kiosks are ATMs that allow a user to convert currency to blockchain cryptocurrency. They're currently unregulated in North Carolina, and they're often used in criminal scams because cash converted to crypto can't be traced or retrieved. For example,

Could New Tax Credit Scholarships Help Public Schools?

WUNC - In the first successful veto override of this year's legislative session, North Carolina lawmakers are opting the state into a new federal tax credit program. The federal program lets taxpayers get a dollar-for-dollar tax credit up to $1,700 for making a donation to North Carolina non-profits that grant scholarships to K-12 students. The federal bill that originally proposed the tax credit was designed to support scholarships for private

Cisco Connected Black Professionals For AI Ready Summit

Raleigh, NC - Cisco Connected Black Professionals (CBP) RTP, in partnership with the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) Raleigh-Durham Chapter, proudly hosted the "AI Readiness Summit", bringing together more than 165 professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, educators, and emerging leaders for a day of learning, collaboration, and future-focused conversations centered on artificial intelligence. The summit was designed to move beyond the headlines and hype surrounding AI, equipping attendees with practical insights on how

Duke Energy Offers $500,000 To Support Small Businesses In NC

CHARLOTTE, N.C.- The Duke Energy Foundation today announced $500,000 in grants to support nonprofit-led programs that help small businesses start, grow and thrive across North Carolina. Zoom in: Nonprofit organizations can apply for $25,000 grants, which will then fund microgrants of up to $5,000 to individual small businesses. Funding can be used by local businesses like restaurants and retail stores to complete renovations, buy equipment or technology, purchase inventory or

For Black women in abusive relationships, gun‑control loopholes can engender deadly disparities

The Conversation - In April 2026, Dr. Cerina Wanzer Fairfax was shot and killed by her husband while their divorce was pending. She had done what she was supposed to do. She had initiated the legal process to leave Justin Fairfax, the former lieutenant governor of Virginia. It didn't save her. What happened to Wanzer Fairfax has a name: femicide. Femicide is the intentional killing of women on the basis

Fela’s Legendary ‘Zombie’ Album Fifty Years Later

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - When in 1976 teenager Yunusa Yau and his friends grew tired of Nigerian soldiers' high-handedness in their school, they turned to a satirical song - "Zombie," by Fela Kuti, the title track of his album released that year. By then, the military had been in power for a decade, following a coup. A brutal civil war killed at least three million people, rocking the fledgling democracy

The Squabbles Over Early Voting Sites Are Déjà Vu For Several North Carolina Counties

CAROLINA PUBLIC PRESS - When history repeats itself, it's usually not so quickly. During the lead up to the primary election, students at Western Carolina University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and University of North Carolina-Greensboro raised alarms about the exclusion of campus early voting sites from county plans. At WCU, it was a break from longstanding tradition. NC A&T and UNCG hadn't hosted midterm primary early voting

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth Removes All Women & Some Black Service Members From Navy Promotion List

[caption id="attachment_18188" align="alignnone" width="1231"] Screenshot[/caption] Richard Luscombe, Joseph Gedeon and Aram Roston The Guardian The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, stripped nine navy officers including women and Black service members from a promotion list last month, according to a person familiar with the matter, resulting in an all-male, overwhelmingly white slate of 22 advancing as nominees to become one-star admirals. Hegseth's unusual intervention violated promotion rules designed to be merit-based

The ‘Black Church’ responds to acquittal of store owner in shooting death of Black teen

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="880"] The mother of 14-year-old Cyrus Carmike-Belton stands with her attorney Todd Rutherford, National Action Network, NAACP and Richland County pastors opposed to the not guilty verdict.[/caption] South Carolina Public Radio | By Rochelle Dean National and local civil rights activists and preachers speak out on the not guilty verdict for Rick Chow. The Richland County store owner was acquitted Monday in the 2023 shooting death of a