It’s not a reprint. Why Sacred Harp singers are revamping an iconic pre-Civil War hymnal

It’s not a reprint. Why Sacred Harp singers are revamping an iconic pre-Civil War hymnal

By HOLLY MEYER Associated Press

BREMEN, Ga. (AP) — Singers at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in West Georgia treat their red hymnals like extensions of themselves, never straying far from their copies of “The Sacred Harp” and its music notes shaped like triangles, ovals, squares and diamonds.

In four-part harmony, they sing together for hours, carrying on a more than 180-year-old American folk tradition that is as much about the community as it is the music.

It’s no accident “The Sacred Harp” is still in use today, and a new edition — the first in 34 years — is on its way.

Since the Christian songbook’s pre-Civil War publication, groups of Sacred Harp singers have periodically worked together to revise it, preserving its history and breathing new life into it. It’s a renewal, not a reprint, said David Ivey, a lifelong singer and chair of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company’s revision and music committee.

“That’s credited for keeping our book vibrant and alive,” said Ivey.

First published in 1844 by West Georgia editors and compilers Benjamin F. White and Elisha J. King, revisions of the shape-note hymnal make space for songs by living composers, said Jesse P. Karlsberg, a committee member and expert on the tradition.

“This is a book that was published before my great-grandparents were born and I think people will be singing from it long after I’m dead,” said Karlsberg, who met his wife through the a cappella group practice, which is central to his academic career. It’s also his spiritual community.

“It’s changed my life to become a Sacred Harp singer.”

Cuts, additions and other weighty decision making

The nine-member revision committee feels tremendous responsibility, said Ivey, who also worked on the most recent 1991 edition.

Sacred Harp singers are not historical reenactors, he said. They use their hymnals week after week. Some treat them like scrapbooks or family Bibles, tucking mementos between pages, taking notes in the margins and passing them down. Memories and emotions get attached to specific songs, and favorites in life can become memorials in death.

“The book is precious to people,” said Ivey, on a March afternoon surrounded by songbooks and related materials at the nonprofit publishing company’s museum in Carrollton, Georgia.

Sacred Harp singing is a remarkably well-documented tradition. The small, unassuming museum — about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Atlanta near the Alabama state line — stewards a trove of recordings and meeting minutes of singing events.

The upcoming edition is years in the making. The revision, authorized by the publishing company’s board of directors in October 2018, was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It now will be released in September at the annual convention of the United Sacred Harp Musical Association in Atlanta.

Ivey hopes singers fall in love with it, though he knows there is nervousness in the Sacred Harp community. For now, many of the changes are under wraps.

Assembled to be representative of the community, the committee is being methodical and making decisions through consensus, Ivey said. Though most will remain, some old songs will be cut and new ones added. They invited singer input, holding community meetings and singing events to help evaluate the more than 1,100 new songs submitted for consideration.

Singing unites generations of family and friends

Sarah George, who met her husband through Sacred Harp and included it in their Episcopal wedding, hopes his compositions make the 2025 edition and their son grows up seeing his dad’s name in the songbook they will sing out of most weekends.

More so, George is wishing for a revival.

Her hope for “the revision is that it reminds people and reminds singers that we’re not doing something antiquated and folksy. We’re doing something that is a living, breathing worship tradition and music tradition,” said George, during a weekend of singing at Holly Springs.

Dozens gathered at the church for the Georgia State Sacred Harp Convention. Its back-to-back days of singing were interrupted by little other than potluck lunches and fellowship.

Sharing a pew with her daughter and granddaughter, Sheri Taylor explained that her family has sung from “The Sacred Harp” for generations. Her grandfather built a church specifically for singing events.

“I was raised in it,” said Taylor.

They’ve also known songwriters. Her daughter Laura Wood has fond childhood memories of singing with the late Hugh McGraw, a torchbearer of the tradition who oversaw the 1991 edition. While her mother is wary of the upcoming revision, knowing some songs won’t be included, Wood is excited for it.

At Holly Springs, they joined the chorus of voices bouncing off the church’s floor-to-ceiling wood planks and followed along in their songbooks. Wood felt connected to her family, especially her late grandmother.

“I can feel them with me,” she said.

Fa, sol, la, mi and other peculiarities of shape-note singing

Like all Sacred Harp events, it was not a performance. “The Sacred Harp” is meant to be sung by everyone — loudly.

Anyone can lead a song of their choosing from the hymnal’s 554 options, but a song can only be sung once per event with few exceptions. Also called fa-sol-la singing, the group sight-reads the songs using the book’s unique musical notations, sounding first its shape notes — fa, sol, la and mi — and then its lyrics.

“The whole idea is to make singing accessible to anyone,” said Karlsberg. “For many of us, it’s a moving and spiritual experience. It’s also a chance to see our dear friends.”

The shape-note tradition emerged from New England’s 18th century singing school movement that aimed to improve Protestant church music and expanded into a social activity. Over time, “The Sacred Harp” became synonymous with this choral tradition.

“The Sacred Harp” was designed to be neither denominational nor doctrinal, Karlsberg said. Many of its lyrics were composed by Christian reformers from England, such as Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley, he said. It was rarely used during church services.

Instead, the hymnal was part of the social fabric of the rural South, though racially segregated, Karlsberg said. Before emancipation, enslaved singers were part of white-run Sacred Harp events; post-Reconstruction, Black singers founded their own conventions, he said. “The Sacred Harp” eventually expanded to cities and beyond the South, including other countries.

“The Sacred Harp” is still sung in its hollow square formation. Singers organize into four voice parts: treble, alto, tenor and bass. Each group takes a side, facing an opening in the center where a rotating song leader guides the group and keeps time as dozens of voices come from all sides.

Christian or not, all singers are welcome

“It’s a high. I mean it’s just an almost indescribable feeling,” said Karen Rollins, a longtime singer and committee member.

At the museum, Rollins carefully turned the pages of her first edition copy of “The Sacred Harp,” and explained how the tradition is part of her fiber and faith. She often picks a Sunday singing over church.

“I like the fact that we can all sing — no matter who we are, what color, what religion, whatever — that we can sing with these people and never, never get upset talking about anything that might divide us,” she said.

Though many are Christian, Sacred Harp singers include people of other faiths and no faith, including LGBTQ+ community members who found church uncomfortable but miss congregational singing.

“It’s the good part of church for the people who grew up with it,” said Sam Kleinman, who stepped into the opening at Holly Springs to lead song No. 564 “Zion.” He is part of the vibrant shape-note singing community in New York City, that meets at St. John’s Lutheran Church near the historic Stonewall Inn.

Kleinman, who is Jewish but not observant, said he doesn’t have a religious connection to the lyrics and finds singing in a group cathartic.

Whereas Nathan Rees, a committee member and Sacred Harp museum curator, finds spiritual depth in the often-somber words.

“It just seems transcendent sometimes when you’re singing this, and you’re thinking about the history of the people who wrote these texts, the bigger history of just Christian devotion, and then also the history of music and this community,” he said.

At Holly Springs, Rees took his turn as song leader, choosing No. 374, “Oh, Sing with Me!” The group did as the 1895 song directed — loudly and in harmony like so many Sacred Harp singers before them.

“There’s no other experience to me that feels as elevating,” he said, “like you’re just escaping the world for a little while.”

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Chinese students anxious and angry after Rubio vows to revoke visas

Chinese students anxious and angry after Rubio vows to revoke visas

By FU TING, KANIS LEUNG, and HUIZHONG WU Associated Press

HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese students studying in the U.S. are scrambling to figure out their futures after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday that some students would have their visas revoked.

The U.S. will begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students, including those studying in “critical fields”, and “those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party,” according to the announcement.

China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the United States, behind only India. In the 2023-2024 school year, more than 270,000 international students were from China, making up roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the U.S.

Rubio’s announcement was a “new version of the Chinese Exclusion Act,” said Linqin, a Chinese student at Johns Hopkins University, who asked to be identified only by his first name out of fear of retaliation. He was referring to a 19th-century law that prohibited Chinese from immigrating to the U.S. and banned Chinese people already in the U.S. from getting citizenship. He said Wednesday was the first time he thought about leaving the U.S. after spending a third of his life here.

Chinese international students are point of tension between U.S. and China

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, called the U.S. decision unreasonable.

“Such a politicized and discriminatory action lays bare the U.S. lie that it upholds so-called freedom and openness,” she said Thursday, adding that China has lodged a protest with the U.S.

The issue of Chinese students studying overseas has long been a point of tension in the bilateral relationship. In 2019, during Trump’s first term, China’s Ministry of Education warned students about visa issues in the U.S., with rising rejection rates and shortening of visas.

Last year, the Chinese Foreign Ministry protested that a number of Chinese students were unfairly interrogated and sent home upon arrival at U.S. airports.

Chinese state media has long hyped gun violence in the U.S. and violent protests during the pandemic, and portrayed the U.S. as a dangerous place that wasn’t safe for its citizens. The tense bilateral relationship has also meant that some Chinese students are opting to study in the U.K. or other countries over the U.S. after the pandemic.

Zou Renge, a 27-year-old public policy master’s student at the University of Chicago, said she had planned to take some time off and work in humanitarian aid programs abroad after graduating at the end of this year.

But now, she will refrain from leaving the U.S. and will look for jobs in the meantime. “In a very uncertain environment, I’ll try my best to find myself a solution,” she said.

Hong Kong seeks to draw in talent amid uncertainty

Some were eager to capitalize on the uncertainty facing international students in the U.S. Hong Kong’s leader John Lee told lawmakers on Thursday that the city would welcome any students who have been discriminated against by American policies to study in the city.

“The students who face unfair treatment can come from different countries beyond the U.S. I think this is an opportunity for Hong Kong,” he said. “We will work with our universities to provide the best support and assistance.”

That followed a widely shared post by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) inviting Harvard students to “continue their academic pursuits” there after Trump said he would revoke the university’s ability to accept international students.

Other Hong Kong universities including the Chinese University of Hong Kong and City University of Hong Kong also said they would streamline or facilitate applications from international students coming from top universities in the U.S.

Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to China in 1997, is a popular destination for mainland Chinese students to pursue their university degrees because of its international image and relative freedoms.

The city launched a new visa scheme in 2022 to counter the exodus of expatriates and local professionals that occurred after Beijing imposed a national security law to quell dissent and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Will Kwong, managing director at Hong Kong’s AAS Education Consultancy, said his company was helping students with offers from American universities to apply to other institutions, predominantly in Britain and Australia, so that they had alternative choices.

U.S. was known for diversity and this will hurt it, students say

“Having fewer international exchanges is definitely not good for America’s development,” said Zhang Qi, a postdoctoral fellow in Beijing. “This could be a positive change for China’s development. More talented individuals may choose to stay at Tsinghua or Peking University, or with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other top institutions in China, which would benefit the development of domestic science and technology.”

For many, there is little they can do as they now wait for the fallout from the move.

Chen, an incoming Chinese student at Purdue University who only gave his last name out of concern for retaliation by the Trump administration, has been waiting anxiously in China for his visa approval. But he was also angry, and said this was the exact opposite of what he thought the U.S. stood for.

“I was expecting freedom and tolerance. The U.S. was known for its diversity which allows international students to fit in, but it is a pity to see such change,” he said.

—-

Fu Ting reported from Washington, Wu from Bangkok. Associated Press researcher Shihuan Chen and video producer Olivia Zhang contributed to this report from Beijing.

KIX Kitties and K9s: Meet Cavatappi!

KIX Kitties and K9s: Meet Cavatappi!

Meet Cavatappi! She’s just like the pasta — a little twisty, delightfully fancy, and 100% comforting. With her luxurious black fluff and elegant style, she may look like a queen (and, well, she kind of is), but she’s also playful, sweet, and full of love. She needs a little extra time to adjust to new surroundings, but once she settles in, she’ll be your shadow — following you around the house, lounging on your lap, or curling up on your chest or at your feet while you relax. She’s not a fan of being picked up, but she *is* a fan of heating pads, head kisses, and “snackers” (Temptations are her fave). She shines during laser pointer sessions, loves batting balls back to you, and even likes joining in when kids are playing with their toys. If you’re looking for a companion with grace, charm, and a little pasta-shaped personality, she’s your girl! Visit the Second Chance website to learn more about Cavatappi: secondchancenc.org/adopt-a-pet

Second Chance Pet Adoptions
6003 Chapel Hill Rd., Ste. 133
Raleigh, NC 27607
(919) 851-8404

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Tapatio Hot Sauce™ Beef Tamales

Tapatio Hot Sauce™ Beef Tamales

Tapatio Hot Sauce™ Beef Tamales

Photo Courtesy of BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com

Tapatio Hot Sauce™ Beef Tamales Recipe from Beef It’s What’s For Dinner

Prep time: 30-45 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour

Serving size: 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 beef Chuck Roast (about 2-1/2 to 3 pounds), cut into 2-inch pieces
  • 24 large corn husks
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Chile Sauce:

  • 6 dried chile peppers, such as ancho or guajillo, stems and seeds removed, cut into small pieces (about 1 ounce)
  • 1 cup beef broth
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin

Masa Dough:

  • 1-1/2 cups lard
  • 1 cup beef broth
  • 1/4 cup Tapatio Hot Sauce™
  • 2-1/2 cups masa harina
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

  1. Place broth and chile peppers in small sauce pan. Bring to a boil then remove from heat. Cover and steep 20 minutes. Place broth and peppers in blender or food processor container; add garlic and cumin. Process 1 minute until smooth.
  2. Place beef Chuck Roast pieces in 6-quart pressure cooker, add prepared Chile Sauce. Close and lock pressure cooker lid. Use beef, stew or high pressure setting on pressure cooker; program 60 minutes on pressure cooker timer. Use quick-release feature to release pressure; carefully remove lid. Remove beef and reserve cooking liquid. Cook 15 minutes. Shred beef using 2 forks. Combine beef, 1 cup reserved cooking liquid and salt, as desired in medium mixing bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. (This recipe was tested in an electric pressure cooker at high altitude. Cooking at an attitude of less than 3000 feet may require slightly less cooking time. Refer to the manufacturer’s instructions.)
  3. Place corn husks into large bowl; completely cover with boiling water. Soak husks 30 to 45 minutes. Remove one husk and cut into 24 thin strips. 
  4. Place lard in standing mixer bowl with paddle attachment; beat 5 minutes on medium high speed until light and smooth. Add broth or 1 cup reserved cooking liquid and Tapatio Hot Sauce™. Beat until just combined. Slowly add masa harina, baking powder and salt. Reduce speed to medium; beat 5 minutes until combined and smooth; dough should be wet. Cover and let stand 20 minutes to 1 hour.
  5. Place steamer basket in 6 quart pot with 1 inch of water; bring water to a simmer. Place 2 to 3 tablespoons dough in center of each prepared husk. Spread dough with back of a spoon. Top with 2 to 3 tablespoons shredded beef mixture. Fold in sides of husks then fold bottom up towards the center. Using one of the thin strips of corn husk, tie tamale so the husk stay in place. Place tamales vertically in steamer basket; cover. Steam tamales 2-1/2 hours, adding more water, as needed. 
  6. Check tamales for doneness. Remove one from steamer. If husk can easily be removed from dough, tamales are thoroughly cooked. If dough sticks to husk, steam for 15 minutes.

Cook’s Tip:

  1. You may steam tamales in the pressure cooker. Place steamer tray and 1 cup water in pressure cooker insert. Place tamales vertically on steam tray. Using the manual function, steam for 1-1/2 hours.
  2. Tamales can be prepared and fully cooked ahead of time and frozen. From frozen, steam tamales on cooktop in steamer basket for 15 minutes until internal temperature reaches 165°F.
Defending champion Panthers head back to Stanley Cup Final with 5-3 Game 5 win over Hurricanes

Defending champion Panthers head back to Stanley Cup Final with 5-3 Game 5 win over Hurricanes

By AARON BEARD AP Sports Writer

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Carter Verhaeghe broke a tie off a feed from Aleksander Barkov with 7:39 left and the defending champion Florida Panthers advanced to their third straight Stanley Cup Final, beating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 on Wednesday night in Game 5.

The Panthers beat the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final for the second time in three seasons. The Panthers will face the winner of the Western final between Dallas and Edmonton, with the Oilers up 3-1 in that best-of-seven series to put them within a win of a rematch with Florida for the Cup.

Sam Bennett added an empty-net goal with 54 seconds left by skating down a loose puck straight out of the penalty box after Florida had held up against a critical late power play for the Hurricanes.

That capped a wild night that saw the Hurricanes jump to a 2-0 lead, then Florida answer with three second-period goals, only to see Carolina’s Seth Jarvis beat Sergei Bobrovsky midway through the third to tie it at 3.

North Carolina revenue predictions fall with recession risk

North Carolina revenue predictions fall with recession risk

By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina officials on Wednesday downgraded anticipated state revenue collections compared to their recent forecast, largely over rising economic uncertainty and the risks of a U.S. recession.

The adjustments agreed upon by economists working in Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s budget office and at the General Assembly keep front and center competing tax-cutting plans passed by the Republican-controlled House and Senate. The plans are contained in rival budget bills that will soon be subject to negotiations.

A small revenue surplus predicted for the year ending June 30 in February’s consensus revenue forecast is now more modest thanks to lower-than-expected corporate income tax collections in April. General Fund collections now are expected to outpace revenue levels agreed on last year by $364 million — a $180 million decline compared to February predictions — to a total of over $34.5 billion.

The Office of State Budget and Management said that expectations of lower profits and higher input costs from President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs likely led businesses to make reduced estimated tax payments this spring.

The downgrade drifts into the upcoming two-year forecast, which reduces anticipated revenue collections by another $218 million during the fiscal year starting July 1 and by $222 million for the year starting July 1, 2026. That’s because the overall economic outlook has declined and “the probability of a recession has increased,” Nick Clerkin, an economist with the General Assembly’s Fiscal Research Division, wrote to legislators and staff.

Lower estimated wage and employment growth will place pressure on corporate and individual income tax collections and slow growth in sales taxes as consumers shift away from goods affected by tariffs, state economists warned.

These downgrades still follow a February forecast that estimated planned and potential tax cuts would lead to only slight year-over-year revenue growth for the 2025-26 fiscal year and an actual year-over-year reduction for the 2026-27 fiscal year. Wednesday’s consensus now calculates that reduction for the 2026-27 fiscal year at $827 million.

The predicted revenues reflect a 2023 law that will reduce the state individual income tax rate of 4.25% this year to 3.99% in 2026 and also likely decrease it to 3.49% in 2027 if a revenue threshold is met. Both Stein’s administration and legislative staff agree that anticipated collections will exceed the fiscal “trigger” for the 3.49% rate to be enacted.

Stein has criticized the triggers as needlessly creating a “fiscal cliff” of large gaps between revenues and spending needs in the coming years. Stein’s budget proposa l asked that the individual income tax rate be frozen at 4.25%

Both the Senate budget plan approved by the chamber in April and the House plan approved in May allow the rate to fall to 3.99% next year as scheduled. While the House proposal would raise the revenue thresholds contained in current law before rates could fall even lower, the Senate plan creates a more aggressive series of triggers that could reduce the rate one day to 1.99%.

Senate leader Phil Berger said last week the House plan appears to renegotiate the 2023 tax law and argues it would result in an income tax increase. But House Speaker Destin Hall disagreed, saying the chamber’s proposal adjusts the revenue thresholds for inflation and is more fiscally conservative.

House and Senate differences within their competing budgets on taxes, teacher pay raises and the elimination of vacant state government positions would have to be worked out before they could present a final plan to Stein, who could use the threat of his veto stamp to wield influence. Republicans are one seat short of a veto-proof majority.

Although the House budget plan contained many provisions opposed by Democrats, over half of their members in the chamber voted last week for the proposal, in part because of how it slowed down the income tax cuts.

After a speech on energy in Raleigh, Stein told reporters Wednesday that while he “wasn’t thrilled” with the House position on taxes, “it is much more fiscally prudent than the Senate position, which is to just further erode our revenue sources.”

Tiger’s son, Charlie Woods, wins Team TaylorMade Invitational in claiming 1st AJGA event

Tiger’s son, Charlie Woods, wins Team TaylorMade Invitational in claiming 1st AJGA event

BOWLING GREEN, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods needs to make room on his trophy shelf for son Charlie.

The 16-year-old finished with a three-round score of 15-under 201 at the Team TaylorMade Invitational on Wednesday in winning his first American Junior Golf Association event at the Streamsong Resort Black Course. Woods began the day tied at 9-under 135 and finished with a final round of 6-under 66 to top a 71-player field that included four of the top-five ranked AJGA’s players.

Woods’ final round featured eight birdies and two bogeys, and he closed with four straight pars. He won the event by three strokes ahead of a three-way tie between fifth-ranked player Luke Colton, Willie Gordon and Phillip Dunham.

Woods opened the tournament with a first round score of 70 and followed with a 65 on Tuesday. He was competing in just his fifth AJGA event, with his previous best finish a tie for 25th at the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley in March.

Woods already counted several wins on his resume, with his first coming in the 14-15-year-old category at the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour’s Major Championship in June 2023. Later that year, he won the Last Chance Regional golf tournament.

Last summer, he qualified to compete at the U.S. Junior Amateur but failed to make the cut.

Judge quickly rejects mistrial request at Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial

Judge quickly rejects mistrial request at Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge immediately rejected a defense request for a mistrial on Wednesday at the sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, after his attorneys said prosecutors tried to imply to a jury that the music mogul interfered with the investigation into rapper Kid Cudi’s firebombed Porsche in 2012.

Although such mistrial requests are common during lengthy federal trials involving hundreds of pieces of evidence and dozens of witnesses, this was the first request at Combs’ trial, which is in its third week of testimony in Manhattan. Combs has been active in his defense, regularly writing notes to his lawyers, and they have consulted with him as they questioned witnesses.

Judge Arun Subramanian instructed the jury to disregard testimony about the destruction of fingerprint cards that occurred months after Cudi’s car was set ablaze. Weeks before that firebombing, Combs became enraged when he learned that Cudi was dating Cassie, the singer who had a nearly 11-year relationship with Combs from 2007 to 2018.

The Molotov cocktail used to burn Cudi’s car in his Hollywood Hills driveway was fashioned out of a 40-ounce Old English 800 malt liquor bottle and a designer handkerchief, according to Lance Jimenez, an arson investigator for the Los Angeles Fire Department, and photographs shown in court.

The defense’s mistrial request came after Jimenez testified that fingerprints taken from Cudi’s burned up Porsche 911 were destroyed in August 2012, about eight months after the fire. Jimenez said someone in the Los Angeles Police Department who was not involved in the investigation ordered the fingerprint cards destroyed. He said that was not normal protocol.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he led a racketeering conspiracy for 20 years that relied on fear and violence to get what he wanted. If convicted, he could face 15 years to life in prison. Cassie and other witnesses have testified that she was repeatedly beaten by Combs, and she said she was frequently coerced to engage in unwanted sex acts.

Defense attorney Alexandra Shapiro asked for the mistrial during a morning break with the jury out of the room. She told Subramanian that “prosecutorial misconduct” had occurred and said “there’s no way to un-ring this bell.”

She said prosecutors were on notice during jury selection that some prospective jurors had to be eliminated from consideration for the jury because they believed Combs could buy his way out of the racketeering conspiracy he’s charged with.

“These questions were designed to play right into that,” she said.

Defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo called the prosecution’s conduct “outrageous.”

Combs’ lawyers argued that the prosecution’s questions and Jimenez’s resulting testimony was highly prejudicial because prosecutors were suggesting that Combs had something to do with the destruction of the records.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik said “a mistrial is absolutely unwarranted here.” She said the subject of fingerprints was raised to counter defense suggestions through questions posed to other witnesses that the car firebombing was poorly investigated and that the area was not canvassed for fingerprints.

High-end beef with local roots: NC ranchers raise Wagyu cattle

High-end beef with local roots: NC ranchers raise Wagyu cattle

RALEIGH, N.C. (WPTF) — May is North Carolina Beef Month, and it’s a time to recognize the people and practices behind some of the finest beef in the country. One of the standout products gaining attention in the region is Wagyu beef, known for its high marbling and rich flavor. Wilder’s Wagyu, a North Carolina-based operation, is among those spotlighting this unique breed.

Jacklyn Smith, one of the founders of Wilder’s Wagyu, says they intentionally entered the Wagyu space to offer something different to beef lovers.

“We felt like it was a very niche market. It was a really cool, fun beef angle; just this high-end product with a very neat palate experience for the consumer. Different than what most people are used to,” said Smith.

Wagyu beef literally means “Japanese cow,” with “wa” meaning Japanese and “gyu” meaning cow or cattle. According to The Wagyu Shop, Wagyu cattle are distinct not just by origin but by the quality of beef they produce, which includes higher levels of monounsaturated fats and essential amino acids.

Smith says the genetic background of Wagyu cattle is one of the most compelling aspects of their work.

“Being able to work with the genetics of the parentage of the cattle allow us to really hone in on what is creating that best beef experience for the American palate,” said Smith.

The cattle used for Wagyu in the U.S. descend from a small group imported in the 1970s, as further imports were later restricted. Smith notes this has made the existing genetic lines especially valuable.

“They are just a special breed of cow that originated in Japan. A few were imported to the U.S. back in the ’70s and then importation of them stopped. We’ve been working with the same genetics within the U.S.,” said Smith.

Wagyu beef in Japan must pass a strict grading system, with A5 being the highest possible rating for yield, marbling, color, and texture. This same emphasis on consistency is part of what makes Wagyu distinctive, according to Smith.

“The consistency of beef with the marbling is very unique to the breed. It’s just hyper-marbles, a very fine marbling, which makes the consumer experience when tasting it very unique and special,” said Smith.

In addition to taste, there are some nutritional differences that set Wagyu apart. According to the American Wagyu Association, Wagyu contains about 30% more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) than other beef breeds. Foods naturally high in CLA are associated with fewer negative health effects.

Raleigh Wide Open Music Festival returns with music, food and community spirit

Raleigh Wide Open Music Festival returns with music, food and community spirit

RALEIGH, N.C. (WPTF) — One of the city’s most anticipated cultural events is making a major return this fall. The 2025 Raleigh Wide Open Music Festival will take over downtown on October 3rd and 4th, bringing live music, food, art and community spirit to the streets.

David Brower, Executive Director of PineCone, the Piedmont Council of Traditional Music, says the event has built such momentum, there was no slowing it down.

“The streets of downtown Raleigh are filled with fiddles and banjos and families all coming together downtown to enjoy the sheer cultural experience,” said Brower. “It’s just such fun that everyone didn’t really want it to stop.”

Festival-goers can expect multiple outdoor stages offering free performances across genres like bluegrass, gospel, folk, Americana and more. Though there will be beer for sale on nearly every corner, organizers emphasize that the festival is more than just a craft beer event—it’s a full cultural celebration.

Alongside the music and beer gardens, there will be food trucks, art vendors and other festivities that span downtown Raleigh.

“I think the beer, the food [and] the art market that’s going to be out on the street is really just part of the day that really celebrates people coming together downtown,” said Brower.

Brower says one of the things he loves about Americana music is that it focuses on authenticity.

“Whether it’s an authentic voice or an authentic story that’s being told through song or a traditional playing style… it’s something that’s played from the heart,” said Brower. “It’s something that’s rooted in community and family.”

This year’s event will also highlight musicians and craftspeople from the 26 North Carolina counties most impacted by Hurricane Helene, offering them a platform and support as recovery continues.

“[It’s about] paying homage to our friends from the west. It’s also just a way of getting some work for the artists that we love that happen to live in Western North Carolina,” said Brower.

The full performer lineup will be released in the coming weeks on the festival’s official website.

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