Carolina's Greatest Hits

Longtime WRAL anchor Charlie Gaddy dies at 93

RALEIGH, N.C. (WPTF) — Charlie Gaddy, one of North Carolina’s most recognizable broadcasters and a longtime anchor on WRAL-TV, has died at age 93.

Before beginning his television career, Gaddy worked for a time at WPTF, the flagship station of the North Carolina News Network. In a 2024 interview marking WPTF’s 100th anniversary, he recalled the early days of local radio programming, including a show called Ask Your Neighbor.

“It was just something that somebody came up with as an idea, and they tried it to see how it would work,” Gaddy said. “And it worked beautifully. It was a very popular program and lasted a long time. But that’s how it started.”

Gaddy was born in Biscoe, North Carolina, attended Guilford College, and served in the U.S. Army. He became a household name across central North Carolina during his years anchoring WRAL’s evening newscasts, known for his calm demeanor and trusted presence.

Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: Presented by Newcomb and Company, 5/21 & 5/22

This weekend’s Classic American Top 40 shows are presented by Newcomb and Company: Where your comfort is our business.

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs from this week in 1983. You want quirky songs? We’ve got ’em right here! Some of this week’s chart-toppers are “She Blinded Me with Science” by Thomas Dolby, “Der Kommissar” by After the Fire, and “Mr. Roboto” by Styx. It’s the first time we are hearing “Little Red Corvette,” “Flashdance,” and “Rio.” Of course, this is the Golden Age of MTV, so all these tunes have neat videos! Plus, Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” are primed to take the Top Spot. Who will prevail? Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 on KIX this Saturday: from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 8 p.m. to midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem hosts an American Top 40 show that originally aired during this week in 1972. R&B rules the Top 10 with The Chi-Lites, Staple Singers, Roberta Flack, and Al Green. Cat Stevens turns an old hymn, “Morning Has Broken,” into a hit song. And Sammy Davis has a rare appearance on the charts with “Candy Man.” There’s good rockin’ with The Stones’ “Tumbling Dice” and Commander Cody’s “Hot Rod Lincoln!” Enjoy The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon, only on KIX.

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: Presented by Finding Patience at HSCC, 5/14 & 5/19

This weekend’s Classic American Top 40 shows are presented by Holly Springs Cultural Center’s performances of Finding Patience, beginning June 9th.

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs from this week in 1984. Footloose is a hit on the silver screen and three songs from its soundtrack are in the survey: the theme song by Kenny Loggins, “Let’s Hear It for The Boy” by Deniece Williams, and “Dancing in the Sheets” by Shalamar. Also, enjoy more movie music from Phil Collins with “Against All Odds.” Plus, Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson are swoonin’ and croonin’ with “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before.” All are contenders for the #1 Spot, but can they unseat Lionel Richie’s “Hello,” which was in the Top Spot the previous week? Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 on KIX on Saturday: from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. and from 8 p.m. – midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem hosts an American Top 40 show that originally aired this week in 1979. The women are rockin’ the Top 10: Blondie, Donna Summer, and Suzi Quatro. Enjoy a rare appearance by a non-movie or TV show instrumental, “Music Box Dancer” by Frank Mills. The new version of The Doobie Brothers featuring Michael McDonald have their first hit with “What A Fool Believes.” Peaches and Herb had the #1 song the previous week with “Reunited” …and it feels so good. Plus, they’re hoping for a repeat! Listen to The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon, only on KIX.

Holly Springs Cultural Center presents Finding Patience. Patience the 175-year-old ghost of a slave, uncovers the roots of Holly Spring, sharing its sorrows and heralding its hopes, revealing what every person wants most in this life – to be remembered. Performances June 9th through the 26th. Tickets are available now here or call the Holly Springs or call the Holly Springs Cultural Center Box Office.

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: Presented by Pool Scouts, 5/7 & 5/8

This weekend’s Classic American Top 40 shows are presented by Pool Scouts: Our highly trained pool service experts provide reliable, professional pool services that keep your pool crystal clear and swim-ready. Make Pool Scouts your go-to source for a perfect pool, so you can spend your precious free time enjoying your pool instead of cleaning it! We give you the 5-star treatment with all our pool cleaning, maintenance, and specialty services.

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs from this week in 1980! American Gigolo, starring Richard Gere, is in the theaters, and its theme song by Blondie, “Call Me,” is riding high on the charts. Pink Floyd has their only Top 5 hit with “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2.” Newcomer Christopher Cross has his first big song, “Ride Like the Wind.” And a couple of duets round out the Top 10: Kenny Rogers and Kim Carnes’ “Don’t Fall in Love with a Dreamer,” and Billy Preston with Syreeta for “With You, I’m Born Again.” Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 on KIX on Saturday: from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m., and from 8 p.m. – midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem hosts an American Top 40 Show that originally aired this week in 1974. The 70s AT 40s are always so much fun, with a mixed bag of music! This week, three instrumentals grace the Top 10: “The Entertainer” by Marvin Hamlisch, “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)” by MFSB, and Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells.” Solo Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are in the Second 10. Ray Stevens’ wacky “The Streak” makes a play for the top spot, but can it upend Grand Funk and “The Locomotion,” the previous week’s Number One? Enjoy The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9 a.m. – noon, only on KIX.

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: Presented by Horizon Services, 4/30 & 5/1

This weekend’s American Top 40 shows are presented by Horizon Services Cooling, Heating, and Plumbing. Call to get an AC tune up for just $79. Visit www.horizonservices.com/book-online/ to book fast!

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs from this week in 1988! The Top 10 is like a “Whatever Happened To…” VH-1 special as Terence Trent D’Arby, Taylor Dayne, and Pebbles all have their big shot at stardom. We’ll also hear from some regulars to The Countdown: Whitney Houston, INXS, and Gloria Estefan. The Pet Shop Boys remake Willie Nelson’s “Always on My Mind” and mall teen queen Tiffany redoes The Beatles’ “I Saw (Him) Standing There.” Plus, the act Johnny Hates Jazz with “Shattered Dreams” wins for Best Band Name of The Week. Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 on KIX on Saturday: from 6am – 10am and from 8pm – midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem hosts an American Top 40 show that originally aired during this week in 1976! It’s the first time Queen’s mega-hit “Bohemian Rhapsody” is in the Top 10. Dance music is well represented with “Boogie Fever,” “Disco Lady,” and “Get Up and Boogie.” Meanwhile, Welcome Back Kotter is on TV and John Sebastian’s theme song is near the top, but it must contend with Maxine Nightingale’s “Right Back Where We Started From” and The Bellamy Brothers’ “Let Your Love Flow” for the #1 slot! Enjoy The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9am – noon, only on KIX.

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: Presented by North Raleigh Periodontics, 4/23 & 4/24

This weekend’s American Top 40 shows are presented by North Raleigh Periodontics. For a more comfortable and gentle hygiene cleaning experience, we use cutting-edge AIRFLOW ONE technology that offers a vast array of benefits, setting it apart from traditional cleaning devices. Make your next cleaning at North Raleigh Periodontics with AIRFLOW!

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs from this week in 1982! “Chariots of Fire” was popular in the theaters and on the music charts. Newbies Huey Lewis and The News have their first hit, “Do You Believe in Love.” One-hit-wonder Tommy Tutone was on the charts with the phone number that everybody was calling: “867-5309.” Yacht Rockers Bertie Higgins with “Key Largo” and Paul Davis with “65 Love Affair” are making strides in the Top 10, but the women rule the charts with Joan Jett and The Go Gos vying for #1! Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 this Saturday on KIX: from 6am-10am and from 8pm-midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem hosts an American Top 40 show that originally aired this week in 1973! Space exploration is top of mind with the theme from “2001” as well as David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” A brand-new band called Steely Dan premieres with “Reeling in The Years.” Vicki Lawrence tells the lurid story of “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.” And Tony Orlando and Dawn are looking to have their first #1 with a song your parents danced to: “Tie A Yellow Ribbon!” Tune in for The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9am-noon, only on KIX.

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: Presented by Rural Plumbing & Heating, 4/16 & 4/17

This weekend’s American Top 40 shows are presented by Rural Plumbing & Heating. Providing all your Residential and Commercial plumbing and heating needs, no matter how large or small. Visit them at rphnc.com today!

Saturday on AT40 hear the big songs from this week in 1986! Robert Palmer and his Video-Ready Vixens are in the Top Ten with “Addicted to Love.” There are two songs named “I Can’t Wait” in The Countdown–one by Stevie Nicks and the other by Nu Shooz. The Rolling Stones remake a Motown classic, “Harlem Shuffle.” Just for fun, it’s Falco doing “Rock Me Amadeus.” And Prince and The Bangles battle for the top spot, with both songs written by the Purple One! Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 on KIX this Saturday: from 6am-10am and from 8pm-midnight.

Easter Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem hosts an American Top 40 show that originally aired this week in 1974. The 70s AT40 countdowns never fail to entertain. Hear “The Lord’s Prayer” by Sister Janet Mead as well as “Tubular Bells,” the movie theme from “The Exorcist.” Also enjoy country staple Charlie Rich alongside soul favorite Gladys Knight and The Pips, newcomer Billy Joel with his first hit “Piano Man,” and chart-topping piano man Elton John’s “Bennie and The Jets!” Listen to The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9am-noon, only on KIX.

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: Presented by The Butcher’s Market, 4/9 & 4/10

This weekend’s American Top 40 shows are presented by The Butcher’s Market. The Butcher’s Market is known for their great meats but they also have the BEST Salmon in town! Fresh Atlantic Salmon, sustainably raised in the Faroe Islands of the Northern Atlantic. Simple and delicious idea is to just bake it with our House Seasoning or Maple Bourbon Grilling Sauce! Order online and your order will be waiting when you arrive!

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs from this week in 1983! Michael Jackson ’s “Thriller” album rules MTV and radio, and posts two songs in the Top 10. A whole lot of AquaNet and mascara went into video hits from Duran Duran, Culture Club, and Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Frida of Abba has a song in the survey, “I Know There’s Something Going On,” featuring Phil Collins. And, if you like your music quirky, you’ll love the inclusion of “She Blinded Me with Science” by Thomas Dolby and “Der Kommisar” by After the Fire. Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 on KIX this Saturday: from 6am – 10am and from 8pm – midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back a show that originally aired this week in 1975. NC’s own Sammy Johns enters the Top 10 with “Chevy Van.” LaBelle’s first hit, “Lady Marmalade,” had everybody learning a little racy French. Minnie Riperton’s “Lovin You” is a big mover and will challenge Elton John’s “Philadelphia Freedom” for the #1 spot. Also, early in The Countdown, hear Sugarloaf’s song about the music and radio business, “Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You.” Listen to The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9am – noon, only on KIX.

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: Presented By SMOKEY at Koka Booth Amphitheatre

This weekend’s American Top 40 shows are presented by SMOKEY: Music and Memories at Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary. Don’t miss a night with one of the greats! Legendary singer-songwriter William “Smokey” Robinson is coming to Koka Booth on August 19th! Purchase tickets now here.

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs from this week in 1984! It’s all about music from movies and videos. The themes from “Footloose” and “Against All Odds” are Top Five hits. MTV mainstays Hall & Oates, Cyndi Lauper, Huey Lewis, Culture Club, and Van Halen dominate. First -timer and one-hit-wonder, Nena, is in with “99 Luftballons.” And… just for fun, Weird Al scores with “Eat It!” Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 this Saturday on KIX: from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. and from 8 p.m. – midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back a show that originally aired this week in 1977. The Eagles are fast movers with their new single “Hotel California.” It’s a mixed bag in the Top 20 as Glen Campbell plays alongside Abba, Paul McCartney and Wings, and Atlanta Rhythm Section. While Hall & Oates ruled the roost during the previous week with “Rich Girl,” can they do it again? Enjoy The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9 am – noon, only on KIX.

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: Presented by Sunrise Dental, 3/26 & 3/27

This weekend’s American Top 40 Shows are brought to you by Sunrise Dental.

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs from this week in 1985! Madonna is on fire with two entries in the top twenty: “Material Girl” and “Crazy for You.” ”We are the World” continues its presence after four weeks on the charts. Young Julian Lennon has a fast mover with “Too Late for Goodbyes.” And it’s a tight race for #1 this week between REO Speedwagon’s “I Can’t Fight This Feeling” and Phil Collins’ “One More Night.” Who will prevail? Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 on KIX this Saturday: from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. and from 8 p.m. – midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back a show that originally aired this week in 1979. Dance music is king with rhythmic hits from Gloria Gaynor, Rod Stewart, and Amii Stewart. It’s the first time we heard “Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits and the Michael McDonald version of The Doobie Brothers’ “What A Fool Believes.” It would be a “Tragedy” without The Bee Gees chart-topping a late 70s AT40, and this week is no exception! Listen early in The Countdown and hear the just-for-fun “Rubber Biscuit” by The Blues Brothers. Enjoy The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9 a.m. – noon, only on KIX!

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: Presented by Habitat for Humanity ReStore, 3/19 & 3/20

This weekend’s Classic American Top 40 shows on KIX are brought to you by Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs from this week in 1987! Bruce Hornsby has two songs that he wrote in the Top 10: “Mandolin Rain,” with his band The Range, and “Jacob’s Ladder,” which is performed by Huey Lewis and The News. Bruce Willis was on TV in “Moonlighting” and on the radio with “Respect Yourself.” Get your “big hair” rock on with Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” and Europe’s “The Final Countdown,” which are back-to-back in The Countdown. Also, first-timers Club Nouveau have a monster hit with their remake of 70s classic “Lean on Me,” which may headed to the top spot! Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 on KIX this Saturday: from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. and from 8 p.m. – midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back a show that originally aired this week in 1972. Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” is heading toward the top and Neil Young sound-alike, America, is right behind him with “Horse with No Name.” Donny Osmond has back-to-back hits in the Top 10: his solo “Puppy Love” and “Down by the Lazy River” with The Osmonds. Get funky with “Jungle Fever” by The Chakachas and “I Gotcha” by Joe Tex. Also enjoy a modern-day classic as newcomer Don McLean debuts his epic “American Pie.” Enjoy The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9 a.m. – noon, only on KIX.

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: Presented By NC Seafood, 3/12 & 3/13

Get your fish North Carolina fresh! In season now, clams, oysters, tuna and sea trout, all harvested by your North Carolina neighbors. Brought to you by the NC Seafood Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services and the “Got to be NC” Seafood Program.

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs from this week in 1980! Pink Floyd is in the survey with their only Top Five hit, “Another Brick in the Wall.” First-timer Christopher Cross is riding high with “Ride Like the Wind.” Donna Summer is on the radio with “On the Radio.” ”American Gigolo” is in theaters and its theme, “Call Me” by Blondie, is on the charts. Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” has held the top spot for the past three weeks and is primed to make it four! Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 on KIX this Saturday: from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. and from 8 p.m. – midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back a show that originally aired this week in 1976. “S.W.A.T” is a popular TV show and the theme song by Rhythm Heritage is in the Top 10. The CB radio craze brings Cledus Maggard’s “White Knight” to the countdown. The Eagles are establishing themselves as a serious musical force with “Take It to The Limit.” And, just for fun, it’s Larry Groce with “Junk Food Junkie.” Enjoy the Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9 a.m. – noon, only on KIX.

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: Presented by ARS Rescue Rooter, 3/5 & 3/6

This week’s Classic American Top 40 shows on KIX are brought to you by A.R.S. Rescue Rooter… who are “making it work, making it right.”

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs from this week in 1988. It’s a case of when-movie-stars-sing as “Dirty Dancing” star Patrick Swayze refuses to “put Baby in a corner” in his hit single” She’s Like the Wind,” which is at #2. David Lee Roth finds success away from Van Halen with his solo hit “Just Like Paradise,” which is in the Top 10. Sports arena classics “Pump Up the Volume” by M.A.R.R.S. and “Push It” by Salt-N-Pepa are first heard. And George Michael and Rick Astley have big hair and big hits with “Father Figure” and “Never Gonna Give You Up” — which are battling for the #1 position. Who will prevail? You’ll find out during two chances to listen to AT40 this Saturday on KIX: from 6am -10am and during an encore presentation from 8pm – midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back a show that originally aired during this week in 1974. Oh, what a fun mixed bag of music! It’s the first time we hear Barbra Streisand’s signature “The Way We Were.” We’ll also get to “Boogie Down” with Eddie Kendricks and do the “Jungle Boogie” with Kool and The Gang. Couple-of-the-week James Taylor and Carly Simon team for “Mockingbird.” Just for kicks, it’s “Spiders and Snakes” by Jim Stafford. And, just for cheese, enjoy “Seasons in the Sun” by Terry Jacks — which was the previous week’s #1 song. Enjoy the Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9am – noon, only on KIX.

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: Presented by Fairway Green, 2/26 & 2/27

American Top 40 is brought to you by Fairway Green: If you want the best property in the neighborhood nothing beats a Fairway Green lawn. For a free estimate on seeding, fertilizer, weed prevention and more, go to FairwayGreen.com.

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs from this week in 1981. They have a real country flavor with Eddie Rabbitt, Dolly Parton, and Delbert McClinton in the Top 10. A perennial holiday favorite by Dan Fogelberg, “Same Auld Lang Syne,” makes its first chart appearance. Blondie scores with two songs in the Top 20: “The Tide is High” and “Rapture.” And… John Lennon does the same with “Woman” and “Just Like Starting Over.” Early in the Countdown, rockers will enjoy the inclusion of AC/DC’s “Back in Black” and The Outlaws’ “Ghost Riders in the Sky.” Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 this Saturday on KIX: from 6am – 10am and an encore presentation from 8pm to midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back a show that originally aired this week in 1977. Barbra Streisand is on the big screen in “A Star is Born” and has a hit with the movie’s theme song. TV’s David Soul from “Starsky and Hutch” sings “Don’t Give Up On Us” and it’s really good! This is also the first time we hear modern-day classics like “Dancing Queen,” “Fly Like An Eagle,” “Night Moves,” and “New Kid in Town” — which is a fast mover for The Eagles and on its way to #1! Enjoy the Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9am – noon… only on KIX 102.9FM!

AT40 with Casey Kasem: Presented by Red Roof Inn, 2/19 & 2/20

Classic American Top 40 shows on KIX 102.9FM are brought to you by Red Roof Inn, offering travelers a high-quality experience at an affordable price.

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs from this week in 1986. “Rocky IV” is a knockout in theaters and on the charts, with two songs in the survey: “Burning Heart” by Survivor and “Living in America” by James Brown. Also included in the Countdown is more movie music from Billy Ocean, “When The Going Gets Tough,” from “Jewel of the Nile” and Paul McCartney’s theme from “Spies Like Us.” Dionne Warwick and friends’ ”That’s What Friends Are For” is vying for the top spot with Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know.” Tune in to see who will prevail. Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 this Saturday on KIX: from 6am – 10am and from 8pm – midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back a show that originally aired during this week in 1978. It’s total domination by the Bee Gees: three songs from “Saturday Night Fever” are in the Top 20, brother Andy Gibb is in the top five, and the Brothers Gibb sing on Samantha Sang’s smash hit “Emotion!” It’s the first time we hear Queen’s epic “We Will Rock You/ We Are The Champions” as well as Player’s “Baby Come Back.” Plus, there’s even music to summon the aliens with two versions of the theme from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind!” Enjoy the Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications, every Sunday from 9am – noon, only on KIX.

AT 40 with Casey Kasem: Presented by North Raleigh Periodontics, 2/12 & 2/13

American Top 40 is brought to you by North Raleigh Periodontics. North Raleigh Periodontics and Dr. Singletary bring you the new podcast The GUM GURU! This is a show about keeping your teeth and gums healthy and how a healthy smile effects your overall health. New episodes each month on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs from this week in 1982. It’s the usual 80s suspects in the Top 10: Hall & Oates, Journey, and Olivia Newton-John — with what would become the top song of the decade. For Valentine’s weekend, the Countdown is chock full of love songs by Air Supply, George Benson, and Foreigner. Just for fun, we’ll hear Buckner and Garcia with “Pac Man Fever.” And The J.Geils Band begins a l-o-n-g stay at #1 with “Centerfold.” Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 on KIX this Saturday: from 6am – 10am or during an encore presentation from 8pm – midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back a show that originally aired on Valentine’s Day 1976. Paul Simon’s “love” song “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” was #1 the previous week and hopes to repeat. Just in time for the Valentine’s weekend, the hits are hot and bothered this week — from Donna Summer’s “Love to Love You, Baby” and “You Sexy Thing” by Hot Chocolate to “Love Machine” by The Miracles. Elsewhere in the Countdown, it’s a mixed bag of tunes: the theme from TV hit “S.W.A.T” to The Who with “Squeeze Box” and CW McCall with “Convoy.” Enjoy the Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications… every Sunday from 9am – noon, only on KIX.

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: Presented by ARS Rescue Rooter, 2/5 & 2/6

This weekend’s Classic American Top 40 shows on KIX are brought to you by ARS Rescue Rooter Heating and Cooling. Making it work, making it right!

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs from this week in 1983. Patti Austin and James Ingram have a big hit with “Baby Come to Me,” after it was featured in daytime drama’s “General Hospital.” For the first time, we were hearing The Stray Cats’ “Stray Cat Strut” and Adam Ant’s “Goody Two Shoes.” Duets from Crystal Gayle and Eddie Rabbitt as well as Michael Jackson with Paul McCartney are in the Top 10. And the AT40 Travelogue takes you to the chart-topping land “Down Under” and “Africa!” Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 on KIX; on Saturday from 6am – 10am, as well as an encore presentation from 8pm – midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back the favorite tunes from this week in 1979. It’s all about the dance music with Rod Stewart, Gloria Gaynor, and Earth, Wind & Fire in the Top 10. Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton add some country flavor to the Countdown. The Village People are fast movers with “YMCA,” but Chic has had a hold on the #1 spot for the past five weeks with “Le Freak!” Enjoy the Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9am – noon, only on KIX.

KIX AT 40: 1/29 & 1/30

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs from this week in 1987. The ladies rule the Top 10: Madonna’s “Open Your Heart,” Janet Jackson with “Control,” and Cyndi Lauper’s “Change of Heart.” Rock out Southern-style from The Georgia Satellites with “Keep Your Hands To Yourself.” Early in the countdown, hear Bruce Willis’s only Top 40 hit, “Respect Yourself.” And, if you’re going to have a one-hit wonder, might as well take it to the top — that’s the case of Billy Vera’s “At This Moment!” Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 on KIX this Saturday: from 6am – 10am, with an encore presentation from 8pm – midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back the favorite tunes from this week in 1971. What a fun mixed bag: Country sensation Lynn Anderson with “Rose Garden” plays back to back with Soul’s King Floyd “Groove Me”. The Osmond’s share the Top 10 with new artist Elton John, as do George Harrison and Barbra Streisand. Can these superstars upend Tony Orlando and Dawn’s “Knock Three Times,” which was last week’s Number One? Enjoy The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and The Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9am – noon, only on KIX!

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: 1/22 & 1/23

Classic AT40 is brought to you by MassageLuXe in Raleigh and Apex. Win someone’s heart for Valentine’s Day with a MassageLuxe gift card!

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs from this week in 1985. Soap star Jack Wagner was heating up TV and radio with his smash “All I Need.” A couple of Eagles have solo hits: Don Henley with “The Boys of Summer” and Glenn Frey with “The Heat is On.” Robert Plant’s and The Honeydrippers’ only two hits are both in this countdown with “Sea of Love” and “Rockin’ at Midnight.” That’s all good and well, but can anybody top the Queen of Controversy, Madonna, who has been at #1 for a whopping five weeks with “Like A Virgin”? Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 on Saturday on KIX: from 6am – 10am and with an encore presentation from 8pm to midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back the favorite tunes from this week in 1978! It’s a mixed bag where Dolly Parton, Queen, The Bee Gees and Styx all live harmoniously in the Top 10 and where we first hear modern standards like “Baby Come Back,” “You’re in My Heart,” and “How Deep is Your Love.” And if you listen to the countdown at the beginning, you’ll hear two versions of the theme from “Close Encounters of The Third Kind” — one by John Williams and the other by Meco. Enjoy The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9am – noon, only on KIX.

KIX Cares: Keep the Shelves Stocked

KIX Cares and The Carolina Junior Hurricanes have huddled up to help Keep the Shelves Stocked for The Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina!

Although the season of giving is over, hunger is happening year-round. There’s an even greater need as more folks continue to navigate through the challenges of the pandemic.

There are a few ways to help, including:

Volunteering
Donating to the virtual food drive
Donate at the Food Drive-Thru!

Food Drive-Thru on Feb 12th from 10 AM – 12 PM:

We are teaming up with the Carolina Junior Hurricanes for KIX Cares this month… helping out the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina!

Where: Wake Competition Center
When: Saturday, February 12, from 10am to Noon
What: A Drive-Thru style food drive

How can you help?

The Food Bank is taking anything that they can get, but here are a few items they will need:

Boxed Pasta
Canned Fruits/Vegetables
Rice
Hygiene Products (Soaps, toothpaste, toilet paper, paper towels, etc)
Baby Essentials (Diapers, Wipes, etc).

About Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina:

The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina (the Food Bank) is a nonprofit organization that has provided food for our friends and neighbors facing hunger in 34 counties in central and eastern North Carolina for 40 years. The Food Bank is an affiliate member of Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity. Simply put, the Food Bank works every day to provide food to people in need while building solutions to end hunger in our communities.

About the Carolina Junior Hurricanes Hockey Association:

The Carolina Junior Hurricanes Hockey Association (CJHHA) is a not-for-profit organization founded in May of 1987. CJHHA has served the Raleigh and Triangle area for 25 years. CJHHA is the largest USA Hockey travel-based association in the Carolinas with nearly 550 members ranging in age from 8 to 18. The Junior Hurricanes work collaboratively with area House/Recreational programs to develop youth hockey player’s skills and provide additional competitive playing opportunities.

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: Presented by Newcomb and Company, 1/15 & 1/16

Classic American Top 40 on KIX is brought to you by Newcomb and Company, “Where your comfort is our business.”

Saturday on AT 40, hear the big songs from this week in 1984. Progressive rock band, Yes, has their only Top Five hit with “Owner of A Lonely Heart.” Regular residents of the Top 10, Hall & Oates, are in with “Say It Isn’t So.” Lionel Richie has back-to-back chart favorites. They are all worthy contenders for the top spot, but Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson have a monster hit with “Say, Say, Say,” which has been at #1 for the past five weeks! Enjoy two chances to hear AT40 on KIX on Saturday: from 6am – 10am, with an encore presentation from 8pm to midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back the favorite tunes from this week in 1977! R&B rules the roost with Top 10 entries by Stevie Wonder, Rose Royce, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr., and Brick. Listen early in the countdown for an appearance by Lynyrd Skynyrd and their signature “Free Bird” and listen later on for Leo Sayer making a case at #1 with “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing!” Enjoy The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9am – Noon, only on KIX!

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: Presented by ARS Rescue Rooter, 1/8 & 1/9

This weekend KIX wraps up our American Top 40 Holiday Specials. Saturday Casey Kasem is your host for the Top 100 Songs of 1981 part 2, and Sunday morning it’s the Top 100 of 1979 part 2. Brought to you by ARS Rescue Rooter: Making it work, making it right! For all your Heating, Cooling, and Plumbing needs. Go to www.arsraleighdurham.com/specials.aspx and see online specials.

AT 40 with Casey Kasem: Presented by North Carolina Symphony, 1/1 & 1/2

It’s the Original American Top 40 with Casey Kasem featuring the Top 100 Hits of 1981 and 1979 part 1! Presented by North Carolina Symphony: Join us for North Carolina Symphony’s “Best of Broadway” January 21st and 22nd at Raleigh’s Meymandi Hall. Enjoy an exciting evening with music from The Phantom of the Opera, Little Shop of Horrors, Chicago, and more! For tickets visit NCSymphony.org or click here.

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: Presented by ARS Rescue Rooter, 12/18 and 12/19

It’s the Original American Top 40 with Casey Kasem featuring hits from this week in 1980 and 1973! Presented by ARS Rescue Rooter. For all your Heating, Cooling, and Plumbing needs. Go to www.arsraleighdurham.com/specials.aspx and see online specials.

Saturday on AT 40, hear the big songs this week in 1980! With only days until Christmas now, good girls and boys are dreaming about these under the tree: the latest albums by Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Blondie, Pat Benatar, and The Police. The loss of John Lennon is only a couple of weeks old, and John’s “Just Like Starting Over” continues to rise. Kenny Rogers’ “Lady” has spent an astounding five weeks at #1! Can he go another round? Classic 80s AT 40 on KIX, Saturday 6-10am, with an encore presentation from 8 to midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back the favorite tunes this week in 1973! Santa’s list was full of 8-track tapes, albums, and 45s by these artists: The Carpenters are on “Top of The World” and near the top of the heap, Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” album was just out in October and in the top five, and the top ten is rounded out nicely with The Staple Singers, Chicago, and Jim Croce, but they’re up against a worthy contender: Charlie Rich’s “The Most Beautiful Girl”! The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications, every Sunday from 9-noon, only on KIX!

AT 40 with Casey Kasem: 12/11 & 12/12

It’s the Original American Top 40 with Casey Kasem featuring hits this week in 1981 and 1976! Presented by Got To Be NC Seafood: This holiday serve the freshest and best seafood raised and harvested right here in North Carolina. Get inspired by the flavors, colors, seasons and sounds of North Carolina with recipes and ideas for exploring our state’s agricultural offerings. Discover how to experience North Carolina agriculture and recipes from both our members and Local Dish host and Got To Be NC partner Lisa Prince: gottobenc.com/inspiration/

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs this week in 1981! New albums by The Police, Foreigner, and The Go Go’s were on the Christmas wish list of good girls and boys. Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham have solo hits in the Top Ten. Hall & Oates were red hot with two songs in the top twenty and Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical” has been parked at #1 for 3 weeks…will it be four? Classic 80s AT 40 on KIX, Saturday 6-10am, with an encore presentation 8pm to midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back the favorite tunes this week in 1976! “Nadia’s Theme” from “The Young and The Restless” is a big hit. It’s the first time we heard Boston’s “More Than a Feeling”, “Beth” by Kiss, and the silly “Muskrat Love” by The Captain and Tennille. Rod Stewart has held the top spot for the last four weeks with “Tonight’s The Night”, but The Spinners’ “Rubberband Man” and Bee Gees’ “Love So Right” are worthy challengers! The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications, every Sunday 9-noon, only on KIX!

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: 12/4 & 12/5

It’s the Original American Top 40 with Casey Kasem featuring hits this week in 1984 and 1977! Presented by Rolesville Furniture: Having a going out of business forever sale, with total liquidation at sacrifice prices! All in stock and ready to bring home now.

Saturday on AT 40, hear the big songs this week in 1984! CDs by these artists were likely to end up under the tree: newcomers Wham, veterans Hall & Oates, and video darlings Cyndi Lauper and Duran Duran, they all have songs in the Top Ten! MTV favorites Prince, Madonna, and Huey Lewis round out the second ten and first-timer Billy Ocean has two entries in the countdown this week. Classic 80s AT 40 on KIX, Saturday 6-10am, with an encore presentation 8pm to midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back the favorite tunes this week in 1977! Modern Day Classics were heard for the first time: “We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions”, “You Make Lovin Fun”, and “How Deep is Your Love”. Linda Ronstadt is red-hot with two Top Ten hits! Paul Nicholas has his One Hit Wonder with “Heaven On The 7th Floor” and the eternally sappy “You Light Up My Life” just won’t go away, having spent 8 weeks at #1! The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications every Sunday from 9 to noon, only on KIX.

AT40 With Casey Kasem: ARS Rescue Rooter 11/20 & 11/21

It’s the Original American Top 40 with Casey Kasem featuring hits from this week in 1978 and 1983! Presented by ARS Rescue Rooter. For all your Heating, Cooling, and Plumbing needs. Go to www.ars.com/raleigh and see online specials. Or call 919-865-7777.

Saturday on AT40 hear the big songs this week in 1983! The top five includes famous duets: Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers with “Islands in The Stream” and Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson with “Say Say Say”. Michael is also just outside the top ten with “PYT”. Prepare to have your world rocked from Quiet Riot “Cum on Feel The Noize” followed by the ultra-melancholy “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler. We’re mixing it up for you on this classic AT40 show on KIX, Saturday 6-10am, with an encore presentation 8 to midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back the favorite tunes this week in 1978! Barbra Streisand teams with Neil Diamond for “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers”. Kenny Loggins gets a vocal assist from Stevie Nicks on “Whenever I Call You Friend”. Ballads from Ambrosia, Anne Murray, and Gino Vanelli dominate the top ten, but Foreigner is ready to rock with “Double Vision”. Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park” held the #1 spot last week and is hoping for a repeat! The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications, every Sunday 9-noon, only on KIX!

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: 11/13 & 11/14

It’s the Original American Top 40 with Casey Kasem, featuring hits from this week in 1970 and 1982!

Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs this week in 1982! Rockers Rush make their only AT40 appearance with “New World Man”. It’s the first of many entries for newcomers Men at Work with “Who Can It Be Now”, Lionel Ritchie with “Truly” and Michael McDonald with “I Keep Forgettin” are finding great solo success outside The Commodores and The Doobie Brothers. An Officer and A Gentleman is top at the box office and it’s theme “Up Where We Belong” is making a strong case for #1! Hear the complete 80s classic American Top 40 shows on KIX, Saturday 6-10am, with an encore presentation 8 to midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back the favorite tunes this week in 1970! These acts were brand spankin’ new: The Partridge Family with “I Think I Love You”, James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain”, and The Carpenters’ “We’ve Only Just Begun”. The Top Ten is shared by rockers Sugarloaf with “Green Eyed Lady”, along with One Hit Wonders R. Dean Taylor with “Indiana Wants Me” and Brian Hyland with “Gypsy Woman”, but the Jackson Five is looking mighty-mighty at #1 for the past four weeks with “I’ll Be There”! The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications, every Sunday 9-noon, only on KIX!

Presented by NC Theatre’s Lady Day about the life and music of Billie Holiday. Showing through this Sunday, in downtown Raleigh. Learn more at NCTheatre.com

AT40 With Casey Kasem: 11/6 – 11/7

It’s the Original American Top 40 with Casey Kasem, featuring hits from this week in 1977 and 1980! Presented by Newcomb and Company! Turn to the experts at Newcomb and Company. Your comfort is our business www.newcombandcompany.com

Saturday on AT40 hear the big songs this week in 1980! The Divas rule the Top Ten with Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, and Donna Summer all registering hits. Rounding out the Top Ten are soft rockers by Kenny Rogers and The Pointer Sisters. It’s up to songs by Queen, Pat Benatar, and Stevie Wonder to rock things up a bit. And get ready to pogo with your flower-pot-hats on! Devo is in the countdown with “Whip It”! Hear the complete 80s classic AT40 shows on KIX, Saturday 6-10AM, with an encore presentation 8PM to midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back the favorite tunes this week in 1977! Dance music is King, with hits by Heatwave, The Commodores, and the disco “Star Wars” medley in the Top Ten. You’ll hear Country/Pop crossover artists Crystal Gayle with “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” and Rita Coolidge with “We’re All Alone”. A tribute to Elvis Presley “The King Is Gone” by Ronnie McDowell. Prepare for a Sugar Coma – the sweet and sappy “You Light Up My Life” by Debby Boone has been at #1 for the past three weeks! The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications, every Sunday 9AM-noon, only on KIX.

AT 40 With Casey Kasem: 10/30 & 10/31

It’s the Original American Top 40 with Casey Kasem featuring hits from 1976 and 1985!

This Saturday on AT40, hear the big songs this week in 1985! Miami Vice was huge on TV… it was like watching an hour-long music video, and you’ll hear its theme song plus “You Belong To The City” by Glenn Frey, as heard on the show…the 8 minute ad for MTV “Money For Nothing” is included. PLUS two songs from the St. Elmo’s Fire soundtrack. Video music rules the charts, but can these hits upend fast riser “Part Time Lover” by Stevie Wonder? Hear the complete 80s classic AT40 shows on KIX, Saturday 6-10am, with an encore presentation 8 to midnight.

Sunday morning on KIX, Casey Kasem plays back the favorite tunes this week in 1976! In the top ten you’ll hear newcomer, fast mover, and former KIX-AM DJ, Rick Dees with the silly “Disco Duck”. First timers Wild Cherry with “Play That Funky Music” plus Hall & Oates with “She’s Gone”. Also included is from TV’s The Young and The Restless, the beautiful instrumental “Nadia’s Theme”. Peter Frampton and Boz Scaggs from their now classic albums “Frampton Comes Alive” and “Silk Degrees”. Veterans Chicago are making a strong case for the second week at #1 with “If You Leave Me Now”. The Countdown, Casey’s stories, and the Long Distance Dedications, every Sunday 9AM-noon, only on KIX.

Presented by North Carolina Opera featuring Fidelio! On Sunday, November 14, 2021 at 2:00 PM at Meymandi Concert Hall, Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts FIDELIO is generously sponsored by Ross Lampe, Jr. FIDELIO is Beethoven’s only opera, based on a true story from the French Revolution about a woman who, disguised as a man, freed her husband from prison. The original version of the opera received its premiere in 1805 in Vienna, but thanks to Napoleonic invasion and French occupation, it attracted little notice at first. Beethoven took the opportunity to rewrite the piece – including several versions of the overture – and it was successful in its final version in 1814. The inspired music, the vigor and excitement of the rescue scene, the great chorus, the beauty of the Act I quartet (that has the same feel of a slow movement from one of Beethoven’s symphonies) won over the Viennese public and subsequent audiences. At the same time, the opera’s message of hope, and of liberation from tyranny has made the piece resonate with audiences around the world even beyond its musical impact. Arthur Fagen conducts the NCO Orchestra and Chorus. Alexandra LoBianco (previously seen here in Tosca and Siegfried) sings Leonore, and Carl Tanner (previously seen here in Pagliacci and Samson et Dalila) sings Florestan. Other returning artists include Kenneth Kellogg as Rocco and Takaoki Onishi as Don Fernando.

FIDELIO lasts approximately 2h30m, including one intermission. Sung in German with English supertitles Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven Librettist: Joseph Sonnleithner Premiere: 1814, Theater am Kärntnertor, Vienna, Austria

American Top 40: 10/23 & 10/24

It’s the Original American Top 40 with Casey Kasem featuring hits from 1970 and 1984. Presented by ARS Rescue Rooter! For all your Heating, Cooling, and Plumbing needs. Go to www.arsraleighdurham.com and see online specials.

AT40 With Casey Kasem: 10/16 & 10/17

It’s the Original American Top 40 with Casey Kasem, featuring hits from this week in 1975 and 1987! Presented by Rolesville Furniture and Affordable Dentures!

Presented by Rolesville Furniture: For everyday guaranteed lowest prices on brand name furniture, including Ashley, you can bring home today. Stop in Rolesville Furniture’s huge showroom just ten minutes north of Raleigh! Visit us online at rolesvillefurniture.com

Presented by Affordable Dentures and Implants. Everyone deserves to love their smile. Now open at Plantation Point Shopping Center near Capital Boulevard and 5-40 in Raleigh. Or go to affordabledentures.com

Twisted Trivia: Win Tickets to See Elvis Costello & The Imposters

Get Ready to Pump it Up! Play Twisted Trivia just after 8am with Jenn LuMaye for your chance to win tickets to see Elvis Costello and the Imposters. Stopping here on Elvis’s “Hello Again” tour for one night only, October 18th, at the Duke Energy Center in downtown Raleigh.

Click HERE to buy tickets now through Ticketmaster.com

AT40 With Casey Kasem: 10/9 & 10/10

It’s the Original American Top 40 with Casey Kasem … featuring hits from 1972 and 1982. Presented by Habitat for Humanity Restores and Affordable Dentures and Implants!

Twisted Trivia: Listen To Win Tickets To Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Kick on the holiday lights … the Christmas Bells … the … guitars?

Apple Strudel

Apple Strudel Recipe from Real Food by Dad

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 12 minutes

Serving size: 6 servings

Ingredients

1 puff pastry sheet, thawed according to instructions
4 cups honeycrisp apples (about 5 medium apples), peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon flour
Topping
egg wash
4 tablespoons cinnamon sugar (4 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon combined)

Directions

Preparation: Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Remove one sheet of puff pastry from freezer and thaw according to instructions. In the meantime, add apples, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract in a bowl and toss to combine; set aside for minutes 15 minutes to sweat. Add in flour and toss to combine.
Roll out puff pastry to a 12×16 rectangle on top of a sheet of parchment paper, Lightly score puff pastry into three vertical columns, with the middle column being 7 inches wide and the two outer columns at 21/2 inches. Cut slits on either side of the center column to 1 inch wide and 2 1/2 inches long.
Place apple mixture in the center and fold top of puff pastry down. Begin to pull alternating slits from one side to the other, making sure ends reach the edge of filling. Brush egg wash on top and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. For extra crunch, finish with a sprinkling of coarse sugar.
Transfer strudel on top of parchment paper to the oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before slicing into it.

Could you eat this much ice cream after walking 1,100 miles? Some Appalachian Trail hikers try

GARDNERS, Pa. (AP) — Sam Cooper had just trekked 7 miles (11 kilometers) through a rain-sodden stretch of the Appalachian Trail when he sat down outside a little country store in Pennsylvania to take on its ice cream challenge.

Nearly 40 minutes and 2,500 calories later, the dairy farmer from Chapel Hill, Tennessee, was polishing off the final titanium sporkful of chocolate chip cookie dough on Tuesday and adding his name to the list of “thru-hikers” who have celebrated the trail’s halfway point by downing a half-gallon of ice cream.

By the end Cooper, 32, whose trail name is Pie Top, was calling the experience “pure misery.”

“I don’t think anybody should be doing this,” Cooper said cheerfully. “This is not healthy at all.”

The ice cream challenge is thought to have begun more than four decades ago at the Pine Grove Furnace General Store in Gardners, a few miles north of the current true halfway point on the 2,197-mile (3,536-kilometer) trail. Thru-hikers, as they’re known, are the fraction of the trail’s 3 million annual visitors who attempt to walk its entire length in a single, continuous trip.

As they slog their way north through Virginia and Maryland, the ice cream challenge is a regular topic of conversation among thru-hikers at shelters and campfires, said Stephan Berens, 49, a psychiatric nurse from Nuremberg, Germany.

Berens, whose trail name is Speedy, polished off his black cherry and vanilla in about 25 minutes after completing 17 miles (27 kilometers) on the trail that day — and with seven (11 kilometers) more to go that afternoon.

‘The most free I’ve ever felt’

Trail experts say hikers can need up to 6,000 calories a day, a practical challenge when food needs to be carried up and down rocky terrain. The slender Berens figures he’s lost about 20 pounds (9 kilograms) since starting April 8.

“I thought it would be worse, but it’s OK,” said Berens, smiling and patting his stomach after finishing the half-gallon. “Such a crazy idea.”

Zeke Meddock, trail name Petroglyph, didn’t bother timing himself but finished his choice of a quart and a half carton of chocolate chip cookie dough and a pint of strawberry. The diesel mechanic from North Amarillo, Texas, began his hike on March 27, two months after finishing a stint in the U.S. Army.

“You’re basically walking away from life,” said Meddock, 31. “It’s the most free I’ve ever felt.”

So far this year, about 50 thru-hikers have finished the challenge, earning the honor of having their photos posted on a store bulletin board. In a notebook to record their thoughts, Chicken Louise wrote on May 24: “Life choices?” The next day, Seagull weighed in with, “I feel bad,” and Hyena issued a cry for help: “It was very fun for the first 15 minutes. Now, I (and my family) want to die.”

The ice cream challenge record, less than 4 minutes, was set two years ago by a man with the trail name Squirt. Two decades ago, the mark to beat was about 9 minutes.

Thru-hikers who want to attempt the record may only allow the $12 worth of ice cream to start to melt in the sun for a few minutes. They must be timed by a store employee.

“It’s called the half-gallon challenge,” Cooper said. “Very appropriately named.”

Bragging rights and a spoon

Bruce Thomas, a 41-year-old disability support worker from Medicine Hat in Alberta, Canada, passed on the ice cream challenge, opting instead for a breakfast sandwich and another one for the road.

“It’s early morning and I’m pretty sure I cannot do it,” said Thomas, trail name Not Lazy.

Those who do finish in a single sitting are awarded a commemorative wooden spoon — and bragging rights for the rest of their hike. Some people get sick. Others wash down the ice cream with a hamburger.

The ice cream challenge is one of several quirky traditions and places along the trail. There’s a shelter in Virginia where hikers confess their sins in a logbook, a two-hole outhouse in Maine with a cribbage board between the seats and a free canoe ferry across the Kennebec River that’s considered an official part of the trail. And at Harriman State Park in Tuxedo, New York, hikers encounter the renowned “Lemon Squeezer,” a narrow rock formation.

About one in three people who launch a thru hike take the roughly 5 million steps required to go the distance. They most often walk from south to north, starting in Springer Mountain, Georgia, and wrapping up 13 states later at Maine’s Mount Katahdin.

The trek typically takes six months but the current speed record is about 40 days, according to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. Meddock said there’s talk that a man on the trail behind him may be on pace to break it.

There’s also been a lot of discussion among hikers about the extensive damage along the trail in southern states from September’s Hurricane Helene. But mostly they think and talk about walking.

“It’s always hard,” Thomas said. “It’s going to be hard. I never think about quitting. I only think about how I can do it.”

North Carolina judges side with GOP lawmakers for who gets say on highway patrol commander

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A panel of North Carolina judges dismissed one of Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s cases against Republican legislative leaders Monday, upholding part of a power-shifting law that prevents Stein from selecting the State Highway Patrol commander.

Three Superior Court judges made the decision unanimously. The judges’ decision means that the dispute won’t go to trial, but it can be appealed.

The lawsuit focuses on a portion of a more sweeping law passed by the GOP-dominated General Assembly that eroded the governor’s powers, as well as the abilities of other top Democrats that hold statewide offices, last year. A day after its final passage, Stein and former Gov. Roy Cooper filed the legal challenge that the judges dismissed Monday.

The law says Stein cannot select his own commander to the State Highway Patrol and, instead, State Highway Patrol Commander Col. Freddy Johnson will keep the job until 2030. Johnson was appointed by Cooper in 2021 and is a defendant in the lawsuit.

In the order that sided with legislative leaders and Johnson, the judges wrote there were “no genuine issues of material fact” and that the plaintiff — Stein — did not prove that the provision was unconstitutional.

An attorney for Stein, Eric Fletcher, had argued in Wake County court Monday that the provision guts the governor’s abilities and violates the separation of powers. The commander would not be “directly accountable” to the governor, Fletcher said, but rather “indirectly accountable” to the General Assembly.

Fletcher insisted that the lawsuit was not a reflection of Johnson’s character and ability to do his job.

Lawyers representing Republican legislative leaders Destin Hall and Phil Berger argued the case should be thrown out because Stein hasn’t publicly contended that he wants to remove Johnson from his post and the governor’s arguments were largely hypothetical.

Johnson’s lawyer, William Boyle, further affirmed that there is “no crisis here” between the governor and the State Highway Patrol commander and that they aren’t “at odds with each other.” Granting the governor the ability to appoint a new commander as the suit makes its way through the courts would also cause “lasting detrimental harm,” Boyle said.

Stein is separately fighting another provision in the same state law passed last year that transferred the power to appoint State Board of Elections members from the governor to the state auditor, who is a Republican. Appointments have stayed in placeas the provision’s constitutionality continues to be debated in courts. They shifted the state elections board from a Democratic to Republican majority.

Another three-judge panel scheduled a hearing for next week in a separate Stein lawsuit challenging in part new laws that limit his powers to choose appellate court vacancies and that would take from the governor the authority to fill a seat on the state Utilities Commission and give it to the state treasurer, who is a Republican.

North Carolina redistricting trial begins, with racial gerrymandering allegations the focus

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina congressional and legislative districts drawn by Republicans that helped them retain majorities in Raleigh and Washington are in court, as federal lawsuits accuse mapmakers of illegally eroding Black voting power in the process.

A three-judge panel convened Monday in Winston-Salem for a trial over allegations that GOP legislative leaders violated federal law and the U.S. Constitution when they enacted new electoral maps in the ninth-largest state in October 2023. Republican leaders counter that lawfully partisan — and not racial — considerations helped inform their decision-making.

The lines were used in the 2024 elections, after which Republicans kept General Assembly majorities and flipped three U.S. House seats held by Democratic incumbents who didn’t seek reelection because they decided the recast district made winning impossible. Those seat flips, which turned a 7-7 delegation into one with a 10-4 Republican advantage, helped the GOP keep narrow control of the House, which has helped advance President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Favorable rulings for the plaintiffs could force Republicans to redraw maps for the 2026 elections, making it harder to retain their partisan advantage. Otherwise, the districts could be used through the 2030 elections.

Who is suing and what they allege

The trial involves two lawsuits filed in late 2023.

In one lawsuit, the North Carolina NAACP, Common Cause and several Black residents originally sued over redrawn state House and Senate maps and U.S. House districts. The other lawsuit filed by nearly 20 Black and Latino voters focused on the new congressional districts, four of which they argue are illegal racial gerrymanders.

Pretrial rulings this spring and amended litigation dismissed challenges to the state House map and narrowed state Senate arguments to a handful of districts.

Still, both lawsuits claim that lines are so skewed for GOP candidates that many Black voters cannot elect their preferred candidates, violating the Voting Rights Act. They allege the mapmakers at times submerged or spread out Black voting blocs, which historically have favored Democrats, into surrounding districts with white majorities — benefiting Republicans.

They point to the Piedmont Triad region where the cities of Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem are located. They said Republicans split the region’s concentrated Black voting population within multiple U.S. House districts. Then-Rep. Kathy Manning, a Greensboro Democrat, decided not to run again because her district shifted to the right.

“This was an effort to spread those voters across districts,” said Jonathan Rodden, a Stanford University redistricting expert who testified Monday for some plaintiffs about congressional boundaries. Rodden said the results were less-compact districts that make it harder for voters within them to act collectively toward a common policy goal.

The plaintiffs also allege GOP lawmakers unlawfully packed Black voting-age residents into a Charlotte-area congressional district.

Republicans: Redistricting considered politics, not race

The trial’s lawyers agreed not to give opening statements Monday. But in a pretrial brief, lawyers for Republican leaders said the lawmakers used mapmaking rules that prohibited using data identifying the race of voters, in keeping with rulings on previous North Carolina redistricting maps in which judges chided them for emphasizing race.

Instead, Republicans were able to lawfully use partisan data — like statewide election results — in drawing the new maps, the lawyers said. They cite a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court decision and an April 2023 state Supreme Court decision that neutered legal claims of illegal partisan gerrymandering.

“The General Assembly has striven to end racial politics through race-blind redistricting,” wrote Katherine McKnight and Phil Strach, two lawyers for the GOP legislators, adding that a Voting Rights Act violation “would only return the State to the race-based redistricting it has sought to end.”

Rodden testified Monday the “racial sorting” of voters within challenged congressional districts that he examined can’t be attributed fully to politics alone. On cross-examination, Rodden acknowledged that he didn’t know all of the partisan factors that GOP lawmakers considered in 2023.

Who is hearing the case, and when will there be a ruling

The three judges were all nominated to the bench by Republican presidents: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Allison Rushing (Donald Trump) and District Judges Thomas Schroeder (George W. Bush) and Richard Myers (Trump).

The panel has set aside several days for a trial that won’t end until July 9. Other likely witnesses include individual plaintiffs, state legislators, historians and more mapping experts. No immediate decision is expected — the legal sides have until early August to file additional briefs.

The court’s ruling can be appealed. With candidate filing for the 2026 election starting Dec. 1, any required remapping would have to be completed by late fall to avoid election disruptions.

Redistricting history

North Carolina has a long history of redistricting litigation in federal courts.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in landmark cases in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s involving racial bias and the extent to which racial considerations could be used in forming districts that favored the election of Black candidates. The court’s 2019 decision on partisan gerrymandering stemmed from a North Carolina case.

The current maps were drawn after the state Supreme Court, with a Republican seat majority, essentially struck down rulings the court made in 2022 when it had a Democratic majority.

Two other lawsuits challenging the 2023 district boundaries are pending.

Statewide races in North Carolina are close, and Democrats have held the governor’s mansion for most of the past 30 years. But Republicans have controlled the General Assembly — and thus redistricting — since 2011. Redistricting maps can’t be blocked by a governor’s veto.

Honey Do Service at Home Depot in Cary

Join KIX 102 FM along with the Honey Do Service on Thursday at Home Depot in Cary! Come out to meet the Honey Do Service team and find out what they can do for you. The Honey Do Service is your trusted, local, one-call-does-it-all home repair and improvement team, offering free estimates and a fixed-cost proposal for all your projects. KIX 102 FM and the Honey Do Service will be at Home Depot in Cary at 2031 Walnut St. on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with your chance to win lots of stuff, including a shop vac, free gutter cleaning, and free home inspection. Plus, enter to win tickets to see Bryan Adams and Pat Benatar in Raleigh!

Star Spangled Block Party

It’s a July 4th tradition with Brier Creek Commons and KIX 102 FM, The Annual Star Spangled Block Party and Fireworks at Brier Creek Commons! The fun starts at 8 p.m. at the Clock Tower. Join us for an evening full of excitement, starting with high-energy tunes from DJ McNally, awesome giveaways (while they last!), and a jaw-dropping performance by the Raleigh Rockers. Then, as night falls, grab your spot for the BIGGEST fireworks show in the area, synced to music on KIX 102 FM for the ultimate Independence Day soundtrack. Don’t forget your chairs (B.Y.O.C.) and settle in for an unforgettable night under the stars. This is the celebration your whole crew won’t want to miss. Family, friends, neighbors… everyone’s invited! Visit shopbriercreekcommons.com for info, and for live updates during the show, find us on Facebook. No coolers, sparkers or snappers allowed; lawn chairs welcome.

The Trump family’s next venture, a mobile phone company

By BERNARD CONDON AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump family is licensing its name to a new mobile phone service, the latest in a string of ventures announced while Donald Trump is in the White House despite ethical concerns that the U.S. president could mold public policy for personal gain.

Eric Trump, the president’s son running The Trump Organization in his absence, announced a new venture Monday called Trump Mobile. The plan is to sell phones that will be built in the U.S., and the phone service will maintain a call center in the country as well.

The announcement of the new mobile phone and service, called T1 Mobile, follows several real estate deals for towers and resorts in the Middle East, including a golf development in Qatar announced in April. A $1.5 billion partnership to build golf courses, hotels and real estate projects in Vietnam was approved last month, though the deal was in the works before Trump was elected.

Even oversight of such a company, with the Trump name attached, raises ethical concerns.

Trump has already used the federal government to reward his allies and punish his enemies. The Federal Communications Commission, the primary regulatory body overseeing mobile phone companies, has already launched investigations of media outlets Trump dislikes and, in some cases, is personally suing.

Eric Trump said Monday that consumers deserve a phone that aligns with their values.

“Hard-working Americans deserve a wireless service that’s affordable, reflects their values, and delivers reliable quality they can count on,” he said in a statement.

The company would also enter a highly competitive market that includes companies that have been directly attacked by Donald Trump.

The president criticized Apple last month because it planned to make most of its U.S. iPhones in India, and threatened to slap a 25% tariff on the devices unless the tech giant starts building the phones domestically.

The Trump phone deal comes as a mandatory financial disclosure report just filed with the government shows the president has moved fast in the last year to profit off his celebrity, taking in $3 million in revenue from selling “Save America” coffee table books, $2.8 million from Trump watches and $2.5 million from Trump branded sneakers and fragrances.

The Trump Organization on Monday said the new, gold-colored phone available for $499 in August, called the T1 Phone, won’t be designed or made by Trump Mobile, but by another company.

The Trump Organization did not respond immediately to a request for more details.

In the first term, Trump was blasted by conservative and liberal government ethics experts alike for opening his Washington hotel to lobbyists and diplomats and violating his company’s pledge to avoid even the appearance of a conflict between his private profit and the public interest.

The company is feeling more emboldened now in the second term.

The mobile service is partnering with existing cellular carriers with access to a 5G network, raising questions of how they will be treated by federal regulators now that they have partnered with his company. The Trump Organization said those companies are America’s three biggest mobile network providers, an apparent reference to Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, the latter with a trademarked name that is very similar to Trump’s T1 Mobile.

The name given to the monthly service offer, The 47 Plan, and the monthly fee of $47.45 make reference to Trump’s two terms, the 45th and the 47th. The service will include unlimited calls, texts and data and free roadside assistance and telehealth services.

A mock-up of the planned phone on the company’s website shows Trump’s slogan “Make America Great” on the front and an etched American flag on the back.

By sticking to licensing, the Trump family is limiting its risk. Still, the new service faces big challenges if it hopes to sell beyond the president’s loyal MAGA fans.

The Trump company tried to tap into support among the middle class in the first term with two mid-priced hotel chains. Called American Idea and Scion, and unveiled like the phone service Monday under a giant U.S. flag in the Trump Tower atrium, they flopped.

Despite taking in millions of dollars each year in various licensing deals and a string of new ventures, the Trump brand has taken a series of hits to its brand over the years.

During his first term, the Trump name was stripped off residential buildings and hotels in Toronto, Panama and Manhattan.

The Trump International Hotel in Washington, since sold, lost money even though the family opened its doors to businesses and governments trying to shape U.S. policy.

The average condo in 11 Trump-branded residential towers around the country underperformed the broader market during and immediately after Trump’s first term. More recently, the value of Trump condos in New York City fell in the past two years as similar properties rise in value, according to brokerage CityRealty.

The Trump Organization has had more success with some ventures launched in the first few months of his second term.

Trump Media & Technology Group, a Florida company that operates the Truth Social media platform, filed plans with security regulators Monday to launch an exchange-traded fund tied to the prices of two popular cryptocurrencies.

The ETF is part of the Trump family’s rapidly growing crypto empire, which includes a new stablecoin and launching and promoting meme coins.

The president’s most recent financial disclosure report reveals he made more than $57 million last year from World Liberty Financial, a crypto company he and his sons helped launch in September.

___

AP Business Writer Alan Suderman contributed to this story.

The Latest: Trump attends G7 summit amid his trade war with US allies

By The Associated Press

President Donald Trump has arrived for the G7, or Group of Seven, summit in Canada, a country he’s suggested should be annexed, as he wages a trade war with America’s longstanding allies.

If there’s a shared mission at this year’s G7 summit, which begins Monday in the Rocky Mountains, it’s a desire to minimize any fireworks at a moment of combustible tensions.

Here’s the latest:

European G7 leaders held an informal meeting about Middle East

The four European G7 leaders held an informal meeting over glasses of Canadian wine on the eve of the summit Sunday night, without President Donald Trump, who had yet to arrive at the venue in the Canadian Rockies.

It started when British Prime Minister Keir Starmer bumped into German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in a restaurant-bar area of the venue in the resort of Kananaskis. French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni dropped by and it became an hourlong informal meeting during which the conflict between Israel and Iran was discussed.

Efforts to de-escalate that conflict are a main focus of the two-day summit that officially started Monday.

Trump sports US-Canada lapel pin that wasn’t a gift from G7 host

Emily Williams, a spokesperson for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the G7 host, said the lapel pin “was not provided in any welcome gift from us.”

“That’s all him,” Williams said, meaning Trump.

The lapel pin features the flags of the United States and Canada. Lapel pins featuring the American flag and the host country’s flag are often worn by members of the U.S. delegation when the president is traveling abroad.

Trump is also wearing a separate American flag lapel pin.

Anti-domestic violence coalitions sue over anti-DEI requirements to get federal money

Seventeen statewide anti-domestic coalitions against domestic and sexual violence are suing President Donald Trump’s administration over requirements in grant applications that they don’t promote “gender ideology” or run diversity, equity and inclusion programs or prioritize people in the country illegally.

In the filing made in Rhode Island on Monday, the groups say the requirements put them in “an impossible position.”

If they don’t apply for federal money allocated under the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, they might not be able to provide rape crisis centers, battered women’s shelters and other programs to support victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

But if the groups do apply, they said they would have to make statements they called “antithetical to their core values” — and take on legal risk.

Canadian prime minister formally opens G7 summit at ‘turning point in history’

Canada’s leader, Mark Carney, has formally opened the Group of Seven summit by telling fellow leaders they’re meeting at “one of those turning points in history.”

Carney said the world is “more divided and dangerous” than during past summits and other “hinge moments,” citing G7 gatherings after the fall of the Berlin Wall or the 9/11 terrorist attack on the United States.

With the leaders of the U.S., Germany, France, Japan, the United Kingdom and Italy seated before him, Carney said, “the world looks to this table for leadership.”

He predicted they’d have “frank discussions” over the two-day summit and not always agree, but he said that where they do agree it will make a difference for their citizens.

G7 leaders take part in welcoming ceremony

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the host of this year’s leaders meeting, has greeted the leaders at an official welcome ceremony in front of a picturesque pine tree backdrop.

Carney and his wife, Diana Fox Carney, engaged each of the leaders in small talk before posing for photos.

Trump told Carney the setting he chose was “beautiful.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during his turn asked Carney about how his one-on-one with Trump went. The prime minister responded, “fantastic.”

Canadian tribal leader says he was ‘filled with rage’ while speaking with Trump

A Canadian tribal leader tasked with greeting world heads of state arriving for G7 says he considered leaving before Donald Trump arrived, appalled by the U.S. president’s having “caused much pain and suffering in the world.”

Instead, Steven Crowchild, said he prayed to his creator, consulted with his people’s leadership and opted to stay on the tarmac in Calgary, where he spoke at length on Sunday with Trump.

“It was really intense to say the least,” Crowchild told The Associated Press on Monday.

Crowchild wore feathered headgear, spoke in his traditional language and showed Trump tribal medals that he told the president were older than the nation of Canada.

Trump wore a white “Make America Great Again” cap.

“I almost didn’t stay. I was filled with rage,” Crowchild said, adding that he decided to remain “considering that visibility is key and diplomacy is important and there was no indigenous representation there at the time.”

US Air Force moves refueling tanker aircraft to Middle East in response to tensions, strikes

The U.S. is moving tanker aircraft to the Middle East to provide President Donald Trump additional options to defend U.S. bases and personnel in the region in wake of the ongoing ballistic missile attacks by Iran and Israel’s continued air operations against Tehran, two U.S. officials told the Associated Press.

The refueling tankers are vital to supporting any major U.S. air operation, whether it would be evacuations or a potential strike by U.S. fighter jets.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details not announced publicly.

Trump says of immigration crackdown, ‘I want to focus on the cities’

He was talking about his pledge to launch an immigration crackdown targeting Democrat-run areas.

“That’s where the people are,” Trump said in remarks with Canada’s prime minister.

On Sunday night, Trump directed federal officials to prioritize deportations from Democratic-run cities.

Trump on Monday singled out New York and Chicago while pointing to demonstrations in Los Angeles against his administration policies and adding many of “those people weren’t from LA, they we’re from California.”

He blamed Biden administration policies for allowing large numbers of people to cross into the U.S. illegally and said “most of those people are in cities — all blue cities, all Democrat-run cities.”

Trump again claimed non-citizens might be able to vote in U.S. elections, something that’s already illegal, vowing, “It’s not going to happen.”

Trump says he’s focusing on trade at G7 summit

Trump said a trade deal between the US and Canada is achievable, but he and Prime Minister Mark Carney approach it differently.

Trump said, “I have a tariff concept” because “I am a tariff person.”

He said Carney has a “more complex idea but very good.”

Trump demurs on US involvement in Iran

The U.S. president declined to answer what it would take for U.S. to be directly involved in the growing conflict between Israel and Iran, saying he didn’t want to talk about the issue.

Instead, he continued to press Iran on negotiations on its nuclear program.

“They should talk, and they should talk immediately,” Trump said during a bilateral meeting with Carney, the Canadian prime minister.

Trump added: “I’d say Iran is not winning this war.”

Trump complains once again about throwing Russia out of what was once the G-8

Russia was once included in the exclusive club of major economies but was kicked out following its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

“The G7 used to be the G8. Barack Obama and a person named Trudeau didn’t want to have Russia in,” Trump said referring to former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “And I would say that was a mistake, because I think you wouldn’t have a war right now if you had Russia in and you wouldn’t have a war right now if Trump were president four years ago.”

Carney says G7 is ‘nothing’ without U.S. leadership

Carney offered opening remarks by wishing Trump “happy birthday” while noting he was “a few days short” since Trump turned 79 over the weekend.

“I didn’t have chance to see you on the day,” Carney said. He also noted that the G7 “is nothing without U.S. leadership” and also told Trump, “Thank you for your personal leadership.”

Trump to have ‘pull aside’ meeting with Germany’s Merz on sidelines of G7

The U.S. president is expected to meet briefly today with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, according to U.S. officials who requested anonymity to discuss the scheduling plans that haven’t been announced by the White House.

Trump is currently holding talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and the two will also hold a formal meeting alongside their aides.

The president is also expected to have a brief meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer later Monday.

— Aamer Madhani

Trump begins summit by meeting with Canada’s prime minister

Trump has kicked off the G7 summit by meeting with Canada’s prime minister.

A White House aide posted a picture of the president and Canada’s Carney seated and talking without media present as the summit kicked off in the Canadian Rockies.

In an unusual twist, the picture showed Trump seated in a chair in front of the Canadian flag, while Carney was seated in front of a U.S. flag.

Trump ready to meet with Canadian prime minister

President Trump is set to kick off his time at the Group of Seven summit in the Canadian Rockies with talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Trump has repeatedly said he wants to make Canada the 51st state.

The two met last month in the Oval Office for the first time since Carney’s election victory. Carney made clear Canada “is not for sale” after Trump called the border between the U.S. and Canada “artificial.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer due to talk trade with Trump at G7

Starmer says he’ll hold a one-on-one meeting with President Trump on Monday about finalizing the U.K.-U.S. trade deal agreed by the two leaders last month.

Starmer said he’ll meet Trump on the margins of a G7 summit in Canada, “and I’m going to discuss with him our trade deal.”

The British leader said the agreement is “in the final stages now of implementation, and I expect that to be completed very soon.”

The deal agreed in May would slash import taxes on British cars, steel and aluminum in return for greater access to the British market for U.S. products including beef and ethanol. But it has yet to take effect, leaving British businesses uncertain about whether the U.K. could be exposed to any surprise hikes from Trump.

Wisconsin dairy farmer sues Trump administration claiming discrimination against white farmers

The federal lawsuit filed Monday claims the administration is illegally denying financial assistance to white farmers by continuing programs that favor minorities.

The conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture in federal court in Wisconsin on behalf of a white dairy farmer, Adam Faust.

Faust was among several farmers who successfully sued the Biden administration in 2021 for race discrimination in the USDA’s Farmer Loan Forgiveness Plan.

The new lawsuit alleges the government has continued to implement diversity, equity and inclusion programs that were instituted under former President Joe Biden. The Wisconsin Institute wrote to the USDA in April warning of legal action, and six Republican Wisconsin congressmen called on the USDA to investigate and end the programs.

▶ Read more about the lawsuit against the administration

The Trump family’s next venture, a mobile phone company

The Trump family says it’s licensing its name to a new mobile phone service, the latest in a string of ventures that have been announced while Trump is in the White House despite ethical concerns that the U.S. president could mold public policy for personal gain.

Eric Trump, one of President Trump’s sons running The Trump Organization, says the new venture called, Trump Mobile, will sell phones that will be built in the U.S., and the phone service will maintain a call center in the country as well.

▶ Read more about the Trump family’s mobile phone company

Sen. Kaine says he’ll force a vote to give Congress more of a say over military force against Iran

Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is filing a resolution that would require that Congress authorize a declaration of war or any specific use of military force against Iran. Congress passed a similar resolution in 2020 during Trump’s first term.

“It is not in our national security interest to get into a war with Iran unless that war is absolutely necessary to defend the United States. I am deeply concerned that the recent escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran could quickly pull the United States into another endless conflict,” Kaine said.

The resolution requires that any hostilities with Iran must be explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force, but would not prevent the United States from defending itself from imminent attack.

Who’s attending the G7 summit?

The Group of Seven comprises Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan, Germany and Britain. Leaders of each nation will be in attendance.

The European Union also attends, as well as other heads of state who are not part of the G7 but have been invited by Carney. These include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who is expected to have her first in-person meeting with Trump, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, was invited but will not attend.

▶ Read more about the G7 summit

ICE is using no-bid contracts, boosting big firms, to get more detention beds

Leavenworth, Kansas, occupies a mythic space in American crime, its name alone evoking a short hand for serving hard time. The federal penitentiary housed gangsters Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly — in a building so storied that it inspired the term “the big house.”

Now Kansas’ oldest city could soon be detaining far less famous people, migrants swept up in President Trump’s promise of mass deportations of those living in the U.S. illegally.

The federal government has signed a deal with the private prison firm CoreCivic Corp. to reopen a 1,033-bed prison in Leavenworth as part of a surge of contracts U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued without seeking competitive bids.

ICE has cited a “compelling urgency” for thousands more detention beds, and its efforts have sent profit estimates soaring for politically connected private companies, including CoreCivic, based in the Nashville, Tennessee, area and another giant firm, The Geo Group Inc., headquartered in southern Florida.

▶ Read more about new immigration detention centers

Trump’s schedule Monday, according to the White House

Trump is expected to have a busy schedule on the first day of the G7 conference.

9 a.m. — Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney

10 a.m. — Trump will attend the event’s official welcome

10:30 a.m. — Session one

12:30 p.m. — Session two

2:45 p.m. — Session three

5:45 p.m. — Time for a group photo

6:15 p.m. — Session four

9 p.m. — Trump will attend a “cultural event”

Israel strikes state-run Iranian TV during live broadcast after Iranian missiles kill 8 in Israel

By AMI BENTOV and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel struck Iran’s state-run television station Monday during a live broadcast, forcing a reporter to run off camera following an explosion, after Iran fired a new wave of missiles at Israel that killed at least eight people.

In other developments, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli strikes have set Iran’s nuclear program back a “very, very long time.” He added that Israel is not attempting to topple the Iranian government, but said he would not be surprised if that happened as a result of the strikes.

“The regime is very weak,” Netanyahu told a news conference. He added that he is in daily touch with U.S. President Donald Trump. As he spoke, large numbers of explosions were heard in Tehran.

Israel warned hundreds of thousands of people in the middle of Tehran to evacuate ahead of the strike against the TV station, which the military said provided a cover for Iranian military operations.

The warning came on the fourth day of the conflict, when the Israeli military claimed it had achieved air superiority above the Iranian capital and could fly over the city without facing major threats.

The warning affected up to 330,000 people in a part of central Tehran that includes the country’s state TV and police headquarters. The military has issued similar evacuation warnings for civilians in parts of Gaza and Lebanon ahead of strikes.

Iran’s state-run news agency reported that state-run television abruptly stopped a live broadcast after the Israeli strike.

During the broadcast, an Iranian state television reporter said the studio was filling with dust after “the sound of aggression against the homeland.” Suddenly, an explosion occurred, cutting the screen behind her as she hurried off camera. The broadcast quickly switched to prerecorded programs.

“At this time, we can say that we have achieved full aerial superiority over Tehran’s skies,” Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said on Monday. The military said it had destroyed more than 120 surface-to-surface missile launchers in central Iran, a third of Iran’s total, as well as two F-14 planes that Iran used to target Israeli aircraft and multiple launchers just before they launched ballistic missiles towards Israel.

Israeli military officials also said fighter jets had struck 10 command centers in Tehran belonging to Iran’s Quds Force, an elite arm of its Revolutionary Guard that conducts military and intelligence operations outside Iran.

The Israeli strikes “amount to a deep and comprehensive blow to the Iranian threat,” Defrin said.

Iran, meanwhile, announced it had launched some 100 missiles and vowed further retaliation for sweeping attacks on its military and nuclear infrastructure that have killed at least 224 people in the country since Friday.

So far, 24 people have been killed in Israel and more than 500 injured, Israeli officials said, after Iran launched more than 370 missiles and hundreds of drones.

One missile fell near the American consulate in Tel Aviv, with its blast waves causing minor damage, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee said on X. He added that no American personnel were injured.

The latest conflict began when Israel launched an assault on Iran’s top military leaders, uranium enrichment sites and nuclear scientists that it said was necessary to prevent its longtime adversary from getting any closer to building an atomic weapon.

Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful, and the U.S. and others have assessed that Tehran has not pursued a nuclear weapon since 2003. But the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned that the country has enough enriched uranium to make several nuclear bombs if it chooses to do so.

Iran has retaliated by firing waves of ballistic missiles at Israel. The back-and-forth has raised concerns about all-out war between the countries and propelled the region, already on edge, into even greater upheaval.

Explosions rock Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva, and Haifa oil refinery

Powerful explosions rocked Tel Aviv shortly before dawn Monday, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky over the coastal city.

Authorities in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva said Iranian missiles hit a residential building there, charring concrete walls, shattering windows and ripping the walls off multiple apartments.

Iranian missiles also hit an oil refinery in the northern city of Haifa for the second night in a row. The early morning strike killed three workers, ignited a significant fire and damaged a building, Israel’s fire and rescue services said. The workers were sheltering in the building’s safe room when the impact caused a stairwell to collapse, trapping them inside.

Firefighters rushed to extinguish the fire and rescue them, but the three died before rescuers could reach them.

The Israeli Magen David Adom emergency service also reported that five people were killed in the strikes in central Israel.

Petah Tikva resident Yoram Suki rushed with his family to a shelter after hearing an air raid alert, and emerged after it was over to find his apartment destroyed.

Despite losing his home, he urged Netanyahu to keep up the attacks on Iran.

“It’s totally worth it,” the 60-year-old said. “This is for the sake of our children and grandchildren.”

In addition to those killed, the emergency service said paramedics evacuated another 87 wounded people to hospitals, while rescuers were still searching for residents trapped beneath the rubble of their homes.

“When we arrived at the scene of the rocket strike, we saw massive destruction,” said Dr. Gal Rosen, a paramedic with the service who said he rescued a 4-day-old baby as fires blazed from the building.

No sign of conflict letting up

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, appeared to make a veiled outreach Monday for the U.S. to step in and negotiate an end to hostilities between Israel and Iran.

In a post on X, Araghchi wrote that if Trump is “genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential.”

“It takes one phone call from Washington to muzzle someone like Netanyahu,” Iran’s top diplomat wrote. “That may pave the way for a return to diplomacy.”

The message to Washington was sent as the latest talks between the U.S. and Iran were canceled over the weekend after Israel targeted key military and political officials in Tehran.

On Sunday, Araghchi said that Iran will stop its strikes if Israel does the same. But after a day of intensive Israeli aerial attacks that extended targets beyond military installations to hit oil refineries and government buildings, the Revolutionary Guard struck a hard line on Monday, vowing that further rounds of strikes would be “more forceful, severe, precise and destructive than previous ones.”

Health authorities also reported that 1,277 people were wounded in Iran. Iranians also reported fuel rationing.

Rights groups such as the Washington-based Iranian advocacy group Human Rights Activists have suggested that the Iranian government’s death toll is a significant undercount. The group says it has documented more than 400 people killed, among them 197 civilians.

Ahead of Israel’s initial attack, its Mossad spy agency positioned explosive drones and precision weapons inside Iran. Since then, Iran has reportedly detained several people and hanged one on suspicion of espionage.

___

Amir Vahdat and Nasser Karimi contributed from Tehran, Iran. Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv and Isaac Scharf and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem, Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Farnoush Amiri in New York and David Rising in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Vanilla Pudding

Vanilla Pudding Recipe from AllRecipes

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serving size: 5 servings

Ingredients

Milk: This recipe starts with two cups of milk heated on the stove.
Sugar: Sweeten the pudding with ½ cup of white sugar.
Cornstarch: Three tablespoons of cornstarch thickens the vanilla pudding.
Salt: A pinch of salt enhances the flavor, but it won’t make the pudding taste salty.
Vanilla: Of course, you’ll need vanilla extract!
Butter: A tablespoon of butter takes the rich vanilla pudding up a notch.

Directions

Heat the milk until bubbles form at the edges.
Mix the sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in a small bowl.
Add the sugar mixture to the milk, a little at a time, stirring until thick.
Remove the pudding from the heat, then stir in the butter and vanilla.

Apple Strudel

Ingredients

Directions

‘The most free I’ve ever felt’

Bragging rights and a spoon

Who is suing and what they allege

Republicans: Redistricting considered politics, not race

Who is hearing the case, and when will there be a ruling

Redistricting history

European G7 leaders held an informal meeting about Middle East

Trump sports US-Canada lapel pin that wasn’t a gift from G7 host

Anti-domestic violence coalitions sue over anti-DEI requirements to get federal money

Canadian prime minister formally opens G7 summit at ‘turning point in history’

G7 leaders take part in welcoming ceremony

Canadian tribal leader says he was ‘filled with rage’ while speaking with Trump

US Air Force moves refueling tanker aircraft to Middle East in response to tensions, strikes

Trump says of immigration crackdown, ‘I want to focus on the cities’

Trump says he’s focusing on trade at G7 summit

Trump demurs on US involvement in Iran

Trump complains once again about throwing Russia out of what was once the G-8

Carney says G7 is ‘nothing’ without U.S. leadership

Trump to have ‘pull aside’ meeting with Germany’s Merz on sidelines of G7

Trump begins summit by meeting with Canada’s prime minister

Trump ready to meet with Canadian prime minister

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer due to talk trade with Trump at G7

Wisconsin dairy farmer sues Trump administration claiming discrimination against white farmers

The Trump family’s next venture, a mobile phone company

Sen. Kaine says he’ll force a vote to give Congress more of a say over military force against Iran

Who’s attending the G7 summit?

ICE is using no-bid contracts, boosting big firms, to get more detention beds

Trump’s schedule Monday, according to the White House

Explosions rock Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva, and Haifa oil refinery

No sign of conflict letting up

Vanilla Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

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