ACC cuts 20-game men’s basketball slate to make room for nonconference games in bid to boost sport

ACC cuts 20-game men’s basketball slate to make room for nonconference games in bid to boost sport

By AARON BEARD AP Basketball Writer

The Atlantic Coast Conference is hoping its men’s basketball programs trade two fewer league games for marquee nonconference matchups in an effort to reverse a dwindling haul of NCAA Tournament bids.

The league announced Wednesday it is reducing its 20-game men’s basketball schedule to 18. The change comes after Commissioner Jim Phillips has been vocal about spending the past two seasons examining the conundrum of the ACC getting fewer bids — down to four this year, its fewest since 2013 — despite having teams regularly playing deep into March.

Going to 18 games could make room for schools to add quality nonconference matchups to help their schedule strength — and therefore the ACC’s stature, provided the league wins its share of measuring-stick games, unlike last year. It will shake up the scheduling model, which will mean ACC teams won’t face one league member each year.

In a statement, Phillips said the move — first reported by CBS Sports — is “a direct result of our ongoing strategic review and analysis” and gives them more control of scheduling by freeing up two slots. It also comes as the league implements a new revenue-distribution model that will factor in TV viewership in its payouts to league schools, which could offer even more incentive to schedule marquee opponents that fans want to watch to boost the bottom line.

“This decision reflects our on-going prioritization to do what’s best for ACC Men’s Basketball,” Phillips said, “and we appreciate the thoughtfulness of our membership and the support from our television partners.”

The new model will have the league schedule running from late December into the first Saturday of March. Each team will play one primary partner at home and away every year, with those pairings — such as famed rivals Duke and North Carolina or instate opponents Virginia and Virginia Tech — designed to create some protection for long-running series.

The others primary pairings are Boston College-Notre Dame, Clemson-Georgia Tech, California-Stanford, Florida State-Miami, Louisville-SMU, N.C. State-Wake Forest and Pittsburgh-Syracuse.

Each team also will play a home-and-away series against a partner that will change each year, then play one game against 14 of the remaining 15 teams.

It won’t be perfect. Aside from the fact that some teams won’t play each another, there are hiccups such as no guarantees that neighboring rivals UNC and North Carolina State will have their typical home-and-away meetings; the Tar Heels and Wolfpack have played those every year reaching back to their Southern Conference days long before the ACC’s birth in May 1953.

Still, Phillips had been clear the league had to make changes to address the newfound shakiness in a sport widely and long regarded as its crown jewel.

The ACC had played an 18-game schedule from the 2012-13 season through 2018-19, then moved to a 20-game slate for the 2019-20 season with its ESPN-partnered launch of the ACC Network. At the time, the ACC was coming off a fourth straight season with at least seven NCAA bids — including a record nine in 2018 and 2019 — while having three No. 1 seeds in 2019 and winning three of five national titles (Duke in 2015, North Carolina in 2017 and Virginia in 2019).

Things have been tougher since the pandemic, coinciding with the retirement of big-name coaches like UNC’s Roy Williams, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim. Or last year with the unexpected departure of Virginia’s Tony Bennett weeks before the season began.

The league had seven bids during the “bubble” 2021 tournament in Indiana, then fell to five for three straight seasons before sliding to four this year, its first as an expanded 18-team basketball conference. By comparison, the ACC had 12 teams the last time it got just four bids in 2013.

And yet, the league also had both UNC and Duke in the Final Four in 2022, Miami there in 2023, N.C. State in 2024 and Duke again in April.

The ACC’s move comes after a similar change for the Big 12, which announced in March that it would drop from 20 games to 18 after its coaches had expressed concerns about a grinding schedule with no time for rest. The SEC, which got a record 14 bids from its 16 teams last year, plays 18 games while the Big Ten plays 20.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

The election director in North Carolina, a key swing state, is ousted after a Republican power play

The election director in North Carolina, a key swing state, is ousted after a Republican power play

By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina elections board ousted its widely respected executive director Wednesday in a partisan move that will put Republicans in control of election operations in the political swing state, which includes the certification of results.

The removal of Karen Brinson Bell, who had held the job for nearly six years during a time when the board had Democratic majorities, came after Republicans took away the authority to appoint election board members from the Democratic governor late last year, overriding a veto while they still held a supermajority in the legislature. Republicans handed that power to the elected state auditor, a Republican.

Meeting for the first time with its new GOP majority, the North Carolina State Board of Elections agreed in a party-line vote to replace Brinson Bell with Sam Hayes, the top lawyer for the Republican House speaker. The board declined to consider her request to speak at the end of the meeting, adjourning instead.

“While I would have liked to have continued to serve the county board of elections and the voters of North Carolina in this capacity, the state board has made a different decision,” Brinson Bell said after the meeting to those remaining in the audience.

Brinson Bell led the board during the voting difficulties of the early COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and through last year’s presidential balloting after a devastating hurricane hit the state.

Democratic board member Siobhan O’Duffy Millen told her Republican colleagues before the 3-2 vote to hire Hayes that how they parted ways with Brinson Bell was “a shabby way to treat a nationally admired executive election director.”

Nonetheless, her removal was not surprising, given that there’s precedent for a new director to get hired with a changing partisan majority, and Republican legislative leaders have clashed over the years with Brinson Bell. Still, the circumstances are extraordinary.

Republicans have sought board changes for years

The board’s partisan composition was altered just last week through the state law enacted by Republican lawmakers in December over the veto of then-Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat. It stripped the governor of his appointment powers not only to the state election board, but also to the chairs of county election boards. Republicans are also expected to install new GOP majorities on the local boards next month.

The GOP has tried several times since 2016 to remove the governor’s authority to choose members of the election board, whose duties include carrying out campaign finance laws, certifying election results and setting rules on a host of voting administration details.

New Democratic Gov. Josh Stein sued over the law, and some trial judges ruled that it had to be blocked. But the appointment switch took effect after a state Court of Appeals panel ruled the law could still be implemented starting May 1. The executive director is chosen for a two-year term set to begin May 15.

Election leaders praise outgoing director

Brinson Bell received high marks from colleagues for helping administer elections during the pandemic and when a photo identification requirement was carried out in the first general election in 2024.

She also oversaw the effort to hold the presidential election in the state last year after Hurricane Helene laid waste to numerous counties when it struck in September. The storm and subsequent flooding knocked out power and damaged water treatment systems across western North Carolina. Nonetheless, election officials managed to open nearly all of the 80 voting sites initially planned for the hardest hit areas on the first day of early in-person voting, just weeks later.

Some Republican officials complained about long lines at early-vote sites in some counties, and with mixed results lobbied to get more open.

Brinson Bell was selected recently to serve as the incoming president of the National Association of State Election Directors — a position Brinson Bell said she can no longer hold after losing her job.

David Becker, a former U.S. Justice Department lawyer who now leads the Center for Election Innovation & Research, said the GOP’s “highly partisan power grab” has “resulted in the removal of one of the most highly respected election officials in the country.”

Justin Roebuck, the chief election official in Ottawa County, Michigan, said Brinson Bell’s “departure will be a significant loss — not only for North Carolina voters but for the entire election administration community that has benefited from her leadership.”

Pandemic litigation built animosity

State Republicans have been unhappy with Brinson Bell going back years. They focused on her role in a legal settlement in 2020. The settlement extended to nine days after the November election the time for mail ballots postmarked by Election Day to be received and counted. State law at the time had set the limit at three days.

Brinson Bell defended her actions and those of the board, saying they helped more mail-in ballots get counted after worries about Postal Service delays during the pandemic.

GOP leaders also have criticized the previous board for what they called errors in how election laws were carried out for the 2024 election. It led to litigation and formal protests in last November’s race for a state Supreme Court seat that dragged on for months.

After last November’s election, Brinson Bell publicly asked that Senate leader Phil Berger -– the state’s most powerful Republican elected official -– to retract a comment suggesting that results were being manipulated during the canvassing period to lead to favorable results for Democrats. She said such words could lead to threats against local election workers. Berger declined to withdraw his comments.

Republican chairman says he seeks trust in elections

Francis De Luca, a Republican who chairs the new elections board, said his goal was that “we get things so we have fair elections, make voting easy and make sure we follow the law. And make sure there is trust in the election system.”

Republican Donald Trump has won the state each of the three times he has run for president.

Hayes, the incoming election director, has been general counsel to previous Speaker Tim Moore and current Speaker Destin Hall. His career has largely been spent working for state agencies, and he has been highly involved with election-related litigation filed against GOP lawmakers.

While she was not allowed to speak during the meeting, Brinson Bell stayed afterward and addressed the audience and the two Democratic members of the election board, who remained after their GOP colleagues had left.

“We have done this work under incredibly difficult circumstances and in a toxic political environment,” she said, adding that she hoped election workers are “supported and rewarded for their work rather than vilified by those who don’t like the outcome.”

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Associated Press writer Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Federal Reserve leaves key rate unchanged as it sees risk of higher prices and higher unemployment

Federal Reserve leaves key rate unchanged as it sees risk of higher prices and higher unemployment

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday, brushing off President Donald Trump’s demands to lower borrowing costs, and said that the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.

The Fed kept its rate at 4.3% for the third straight meeting, after cutting it three times in a row at the end of last year. Many economists and Wall Street investors still expect the Fed will reduce rates two or three times this year, but the sweeping tariffs imposed by Trump have injected a tremendous amount of uncertainty into the U.S. economy and the Fed’s policies.

During a press conference after the release of the policy statement, Powell underscored that the tariffs have dampened consumer and business sentiment but have yet to noticeably harm the economy. At the moment, Powell said, there’s too much uncertainty to say how the Fed should react.

“If the large increases in tariffs that have been announced are sustained, they’re likely to generate a rise in inflation, a slowdown in economic growth, and a rise in unemployment,” Powell said. The impacts could be temporary, or more persistent, he added.

“There’s just so much that we don’t know,” he added. “We’re in a good position to wait and see.”

It is unusual for the Fed to say that the risk of both higher prices and more unemployment have increased. But economists say that is the threat created by Trump’s sweeping tariffs. The import taxes could both lift inflation by making imported parts and finished goods more expensive, while also raising unemployment by causing companies to cut jobs as their costs rise.

As a result, the tariffs have put the Fed in a difficult spot. The Fed’s goals are to keep prices stable and maximize employment. Typically, when inflation rises, the Fed raises rates to slow borrowing and spending and cool inflation, while if layoffs rise, it would reduce rates to spur more spending and growth.

Powell said the Fed’s next moves will depend in part on which indicator worsens the most: inflation or unemployment.

“Depending on how things play out, it could include rate cuts, it could include us holding where we are, we just need to see how things play out before we make those decisions,” he said.

Krishna Guha at EvercoreISI said the Fed’s assessment of current conditions likely pushes back the timetable for a rate cut. “The combination of the two-sided risk assessment and the characterization of the economy as solid suggest the Committee is not looking to tee up a June cut at this juncture.” Many economists think the Fed may not be ready to cut until September.

Trump announced sweeping tariffs against about 60 U.S. trading partners in April, then paused most of them for 90 days, with the exception of duties against China. The administration has subjected goods from China to a 145% tariff. The two sides are scheduled to hold their first high-level talks since Trump launched his trade war this weekend in Switzerland.

The central bank’s caution could lead to more conflict between the Fed and the Trump administration. On Sunday, Trump again urged the Fed to cut rates in a television interview and said Powell “just doesn’t like me because I think he’s a total stiff.”

With inflation not far from the Fed’s 2% target for now, Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argue that the Fed could reduce its rate. The Fed pushed it higher in 2022 and 2023 to fight inflation.

Asked at the press conference whether Trump’s calls for lower rates has any influence on the Fed, Powell said, ”(It) doesn’t affect doing our job at all. We’re always going to consider only the economic data, the outlook, the balance of risks, and that’s it.”

If the Fed were to cut rates, it could lower other borrowing costs, such as for mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards, though that is not guaranteed.

Trump also said he wouldn’t fire Powell because the chair’s term ends next May and he will be able to appoint a new chair then. Yet if the economy stumbles in the coming months, Trump could renew his threats to remove Powell.

A big issue facing the Fed is how tariffs will impact inflation. Nearly all economists and Fed officials expect the import taxes will lift prices, but it’s not clear by how much or for how long.

Tariffs typically cause a one-time increase in prices, but not necessarily ongoing inflation. Yet if Trump announces further tariffs — as he has threatened to do on pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and copper — or if Americans worry that inflation will get worse, that could send prices higher in a more persistent way.

Economists and the Fed are closely watching inflation expectations, which are essentially a measure of how much consumers are concerned that inflation will worsen. Higher inflation expectations can be self-fulfilling, because it Americans think prices will rise, they can take steps that push up costs, such as asking for higher wages.

For now, the U.S. economy is mostly in solid shape, and inflation has cooled considerably from its peak in 2022. Consumers are spending at a healthy pace, though some of that may reflect buying things like cars ahead of tariffs. Businesses are still adding workers at a steady pace, and unemployment is low.

Still, there are signs inflation will worsen in the coming months. Surveys of both manufacturing and services firms show that they are seeing higher prices from their suppliers. And a survey by the Federal Reserve’s Dallas branch found that nearly 55% of manufacturing firms expect to pass on the impact of tariff increases to their customers.

“The bottom line is that inflation will be rising significantly over the next six months,” Torsten Slok, chief economist at the Apollo Group, said in an email.

Yet the tariffs could also weigh heavily on the economy, particularly because of the uncertainty they have created. Business surveys show that firms are postponing investment decisions until they have greater clarity. Many companies have withdrawn their financial forecasts for 2025 due to the uncertainty around tariffs.

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AP Writer Alex Veiga contributed to this report.

Republican concedes long-unsettled North Carolina court election to Democratic incumbent

Republican concedes long-unsettled North Carolina court election to Democratic incumbent

By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Republican challenger for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat conceded last November’s election on Wednesday to Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs, two days after a federal judge ruled that potentially thousands of disputed ballots challenged by Jefferson Griffin must remain in the final tally.

In a statement provided by his campaign to The Associated Press, Griffin said he would not appeal Monday’s decision by U.S. District Judge Richard Myers, who also ordered that the State Board of Elections certify results that show Riggs is the winner by 734 votes from over 5.5 million ballots cast in the race.

Griffin’s decision sets the stage for Riggs to be officially elected to an eight-year term as an associate justice.

“While I do not fully agree with the District Court’s analysis, I respect the court’s holding — just as I have respected every judicial tribunal that has heard this case,” Griffin said. “I will not appeal the court’s decision.”

Myers delayed carrying out his order for seven days in case Griffin wanted to ask the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review his decision. Democrats, meanwhile, had called on Griffin to accept defeat.

Riggs is one of two Democrats on the seven-member state Supreme Court, and winning improved the party’s efforts to retake a court majority later in the decade. Griffin is a state Court of Appeals judge whose term ends in 2028.

“I wish my opponent the best and will continue to pray for her and all the members of our court system here in North Carolina. I look forward to continuing to serve the people of North Carolina,” Griffin said.

While the Associated Press declared over 4,400 winners in the 2024 general election, the North Carolina Supreme Court election was the last race nationally that was undecided.

Myers ruled that Griffin’s efforts after the Nov. 5 election to remove from the election total ballots that state appeals courts agreed were ineligible under state law would have damaged federal due process or equal protection rights of affected voters had they been implemented.

Griffin filed formal protests that initially appeared to cover more than 65,000 ballots. Ensuing state court rulings whittled the total to votes from two categories, covering from as few as 1,675 ballots to as many as 7,000, according to court filings. Griffin hoped that removing ballots he said were unlawfully cast would flip the outcome to him.

Democrats and voting rights groups had raised alarm about Griffin’s efforts, which in one category of ballots had only targeted six Democratic-leaning counties. They called it an attack on democracy that would serve as a road map for the GOP to reverse election results in other states. Griffin said Wednesday that his legal efforts were always “about upholding the rule of law and making sure that every legal vote in an election is counted.”

Most of the ballots that state appeals courts found ineligible came from military or overseas voters who didn’t provide copies of photo identification or an ID exception form with their absentee ballots. The appeals courts had permitted a 30-day “cure” process for those voters so their ballots could still count if they provided ID information.

Myers, who was nominated to the bench by President Donald Trump, agreed with Riggs and her allied litigants that the “retroactive invalidation” of those ballots violated the rights of service members, missionaries, or others working or studying abroad who cast their ballots under the rules for the 2024 election.

“You establish the rules before the game. You don’t change them after the game is done,” Myers wrote in his order.

The other category of ballots was cast by overseas voters who have never lived in the U.S. but whose parents were declared North Carolina residents. A state law had authorized those people to vote in state elections, but state appeals courts said it violated the state Constitution. Myers wrote that there was no process for people mistakenly on the list to contest their ineligibility, representing “an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote.”

Griffin said Wednesday the rulings of state appeals judges still recognized that the state election board failed to follow laws and the state constitution.

“These holdings are very significant for securing our state’s elections,” he said.

Beef Sausage and Cheddar Monkey Bread

Beef Sausage and Cheddar Monkey Bread

Beef Sausage and Cheddar Monkey Bread

Photo Courtesy of BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com

Beef Sausage and Cheddar Monkey Bread Recipe from Beef It’s What’s For Dinner

Prep time: 25-30 minutes

Cooking time: 30-35 minutes

Serving size: 12 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 recipe Mexican-Style Beef Sausage
  • 2 cans (7-1/2 ounces each) refrigerated buttermilk flavored biscuits
  • 1-1/2 cups reduced-fat shredded Cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup chopped green onion
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup Mexican crema or dairy sour cream

Directions

  1. Prepare Mexican-Style Beef Sausage. Set aside.

Mexican-Style Beef Sausage: Combine 1 pound Ground Beef, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves, 1-1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika, 1-1/2 teaspoons chile powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chile powder in large bowl, mixing lightly but thoroughly. Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Add sausage mixture; cook 8 to 10 minutes, breaking into 1/2-inch crumbles and stirring occasionally. (Cooking times are for fresh or thoroughly thawed Ground Beef. Ground beef should be cooked to an internal temperature of 160°F. Color is not a reliable indicator of ground beef doneness.)

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
  2. Open biscuit cans; cut each biscuit into quarters. Place biscuits into large bowl. Add sausage mixture, cheese, onion and oil; gently toss until well combined.
  3. Generously coat Bundt pan with cooking spray. Place sausage and biscuit mixture in prepared pan. Bake in 350°F oven 30 to 35 minutes until top is golden brown and biscuits are set. Remove from oven; immediately invert onto serving plate. Let rest for 10 minutes. Drizzle with crema, as desired. 
KIX Kitties and K9s: Meet Colman!

KIX Kitties and K9s: Meet Colman!

Meet Colman! He’s an all-around good boy, tennis ball enthusiast, and your future best friend.

Colman is a 10-year-old hound mix with a heart full of love and a mouth full of tennis balls (seriously — he likes to keep one on standby at all times). His happy place? A big fenced yard where he can zoom around playing fetch and show off his speed. He also enjoys walks and jogs on-leash, especially with a harness that helps him remember not to pull — though he sometimes gets a little too excited to get back home… to his ball.

He’s still working on his confidence. New people can make him nervous, and he needs a little time and space to warm up. He might approach cautiously at first, but with some tasty treats and a quick game of fetch, he’ll soon be wagging and ready to be your loyal shadow. He’s a devoted watchdog too — he takes his job seriously and will let you know if anyone’s at the door. Because of this, he’d do best in a calmer home without frequent visitors or loud gatherings.

Smart? You bet. He knows tons of tricks like sit, shake, down, roll over, place, and more. He can even balance treats or a tennis ball on his nose and wait for the release command. House-trained? Absolutely. He’ll always let you know when he needs to go out, and he’s kennel-trained too — sleeping peacefully through the night or resting while you’re away.

Colman’s dream home is one without other pets or small kids, a yard to call his own (though he’s flexible as long as he gets his exercise), and most of all — a patient, loving family who’ll help him build confidence and never run out of, you guessed it, tennis balls.

Visit our website to learn more about him: secondchancenc.org/adopt-a-pet

Second Chance Pet Adoptions
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Raleigh, NC 27607
(919) 851-8404

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Key Republican says he won’t back Trump’s pick for top DC prosecutor because of Jan. 6 ties

Key Republican says he won’t back Trump’s pick for top DC prosecutor because of Jan. 6 ties

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Thom Tillis says he’s informed the White House that he won’t support Ed Martin, President Donald Trump’spick for top federal prosecutor in Washington, stalling the nomination in the Senate weeks before the temporary appointment expires.

The North Carolina Republican told reporters Tuesday that he had met with Martin on Monday evening and was opposing his nomination because of his defense of rioters who breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Martin, a leading figure in Trump’s campaign to overturn the 2020 election, spoke at a rally on the eve of the violent riot and represented defendants who were prosecuted for the attack.

“We have to be very, very clear that what happened on January 6th was wrong,” Tillis said. “It was not prompted or created by other people to put those people in trouble. They made a stupid decision, and they disgraced the United States by absolutely destroying the Capitol.”

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington is the country’s largest and prosecuted more than 1,500 riot defendants after the 2021 attack. Trump pardoned most of the rioters the day he was inaugurated, and he later appointed Martin to temporarily lead the office. That appointment expires later this month, and Trump has urged Republican senators to quickly confirm Martin to the job.

“Ed is coming up on the deadline for Voting and, if approved, HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday.

Martin could still be confirmed after his appointment expires. But Tillis’s opposition will prevent the committee from advancing the nomination, for now, and signals that Martin might not have the votes to win confirmation on the Senate floor. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley did not list Martin on this week’s agenda for votes later in the week, suggesting that Republicans are aware there are not enough votes to confirm him.

Speaking to reporters later on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that it is ultimately the Judiciary panel’s decision whether to proceed with Martin’s nomination. “My understanding is they haven’t scheduled anything on that yet, and we will cross that bridge if and when we come to it,” he said.

Martin has roiled the federal prosecutors’ office since his appointment as U.S. attorney in January, including firing or demoting veteran attorneys who prosecuted Trump supporters for storming the U.S. Capitol and interrupting the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.

He has also described federal prosecutors as the “president’s lawyers” and forced the chief of the office’s criminal division to resign after a dispute over a directive to scrutinize the awarding of a government contract during the Biden administration. He also demoted several senior leaders, including prosecutors who handled or oversaw politically sensitive cases involving the Jan. 6 riot and Trump allies Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon.

Tillis said he believes that anyone who broke into the building that day should be prosecuted, a disagreement he said he had with Martin.

“Whether it’s 30 days or three years is debatable, but I have no tolerance for anybody who entered the building on January 6th, and that’s probably where most of the friction was,” Tillis said.

Dozens of former federal prosecutors in the office have raised alarm over Martin’s scant courtroom experience and his actions since taking office. In a letter to the committee, more than 100 veterans of the office described him as “an affront to the singular pursuit of justice for which this Office has stood for more than two centuries.”

His supporters have touted his record fighting for conservative causes and his efforts to tackle violent crime since his appointment. About two dozen Republican state attorneys general said in a letter to the committee that Martin has “shown conclusively that he has what it takes to serve in that role with integrity and a fearless commitment to do what is right on behalf of the American people.”

It is unclear what will happen if Martin is not confirmed by May 20, the day his appointment expires. Attorney General Pam Bondi could ask the district court to extend Martin’s interim status or the administration could nominate someone else to serve as the interim U.S. attorney while Martin’s nomination is pending.

Tillis said that the White House can “work through that” if they want to extend Martin’s appointment, but “at this point I’ve indicated to the White House I wouldn’t support his nomination.”

In a post on X, White House spokesman Alex Pfeiffer said that “Ed Martin is a fantastic U.S. Attorney for D.C. and will continue to implement the President’s law-and-order agenda in Washington. He is the right man for the job and we look forward to his confirmation.”

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Associated Press writers Michelle Price and Ali Swenson contributed to this report.

Bear sightings rise across North Carolina as breeding season begins

Bear sightings rise across North Carolina as breeding season begins

RALEIGH, N.C. (WPTF) – Black near sightings are on the rise across North Carolina, with reports coming in from both rural and urban areas. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission attributes the increase to seasonal movement patterns, as bears become more active in search of food.

Commission biologist Greg Batts explains that June marks the breeding season for bears, leading to increased activity, especially among young males.

“Typically, the bears that we see are young males. The females stay with their cubs for a year; when they come out of that den after year one, they kick out the male cub,” Batts told the WPTF Afternoon News.

These young bears are then forced to find new territories, which often leads them into more urbanized areas.

“They tell them to go find their own place in the world, so then they start wandering around all over the place. With our bear population being the way that it is—12,000 bears on the coast, 8,000 in the mountains—there’s not a lot of places for them. They move into these more urban areas where it’s a fragmented habitat,” said Batts.

Batts says that Hyde or Carroll county have some of the densest bear populations on the planet.

“We think we have about 12,000 out on the coast and then 8,000 up in the mountains, and then in the middle part of the state we’re just starting to fill in everywhere,” said Batts.

Understanding bear behavior is crucial for coexistence. Batts mentions that examining a bear’s tooth can reveal its age.

“Every bear that we can get our hands on… we go to grab the tooth. We can tell exactly how old the bear is from the tooth because bears have periods where they are feeding very graciously and then they go to lay down (not hibernation) and they have a period of no growth at all which shows up very clearly in the tooth,” said Batts.

Looking at statistics, you’re more likely to be bit by a dog or struck by lightening than be bit by a bear. You’re as much a threat to the bear as it is to you. Batts says it all depends on the landscape if a bear is going to move in.

“Typically if a bear moves into an area and all it’s doing is bumping into people and there’s dog’s barking at it, it’s not going to stay there long it’s going to move on and try to find somewhere quieter,” said Batts.

Despite their size, black bears are generally timid creatures. Batts emphasizes that they are more likely to avoid humans than confront them.

“It’s hard for people to enjoy it. They think ‘oh this bear is going to attack me, it’s going to attack my pets,’ or whatever but in general with a wild bear you can clap your hands at it and it’s going to run in another direction. Just don’t corner it,” said Batts.

To minimize encounters, residents are advised to secure food sources, remove bird feeders, and keep trash in bear-proof containers. For more information on safely coexisting with bears, visit the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission’s website or call their Wildlife Helpline at 866-318-2401.

Supreme Court allows Trump ban on transgender members of the military to take effect, for now

Supreme Court allows Trump ban on transgender members of the military to take effect, for now

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to enforce a ban on transgender people in the military, while legal challenges proceed.

The court acted in the dispute over a policy that presumptively disqualifies transgender people from military service and could lead to the expulsion of experienced, decorated officers.

The court’s three liberal justices said they would have kept the policy on hold.

Just after beginning his second term in January, Trump moved aggressively to roll back the rights of transgender people. Among the Republican president’s actions was an executive order that claims the sexual identity of transgender service members “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military readiness.

In response, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a policy that gives the military services 30 days to figure out how they will seek out and identify transgender service members to remove them from the force.

Three federal judges had ruled against the ban.

In the case the justices acted in Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle in Tacoma, Washington, had ruled for seven long-serving transgender military members who say that the ban is insulting and discriminatory and that their firing would cause lasting damage to their careers and reputations. A prospective service member also sued.

The individual service members who challenged the ban together have amassed more than 70 medals in 115 years of service, their lawyers wrote. The lead plaintiff is Emily Shilling, a Navy commander with nearly 20 years of service, including as a combat pilot who flew 60 missions in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The Trump administration offered no explanation as to why transgender troops, who have been able to serve openly over the past four years with no evidence of problems, should suddenly be banned, Settle wrote. The judge is an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush and is a former captain in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Corps.

Settle imposed a nationwide hold on the policy and a federal appeals court rejected the administration’s emergency plea. The Justice Department then turned to the Supreme Court.

The policy also has been blocked by a federal judge in the nation’s capital, but that ruling has been temporarily halted by a federal appeals court, which heard arguments last month. The three-judge panel, which includes two judges appointed by Trump during his first term, appeared to be in favor of the administration’s position.

In a more limited ruling, a judge in New Jersey also has barred the Air Force from removing two transgender men, saying they showed their separation would cause lasting damage to their careers and reputations that no monetary settlement could repair.

The LGBTQ rights group Lambda Legal called the high court order a devastating blow to dedicated and highly qualified service members.

“By allowing this discriminatory ban to take effect while our challenge continues, the court has temporarily sanctioned a policy that has nothing to do with military readiness and everything to do with prejudice. Transgender individuals meet the same standards and demonstrate the same values as all who serve. We remain steadfast in our belief that this ban violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and will ultimately be struck down,” the group said in a statement.

The federal appeals court in San Francisco will hear the administration’s appeal in a process that will play out over several months at least. All the while, though, the transgender ban will remain in place under the Supreme Court order.

In 2016, during Barack Obama’s presidency, a Defense Department policy permitted transgender people to serve openly in the military. During Trump’s first term in the White House, the Republican issued a directive to ban transgender service members, with an exception for some of those who had already started transitioning under more lenient rules that were in effect during Obama’s Democratic administration.

The Supreme Court allowed that ban to take effect. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, scrapped it when he took office.

The rules the Defense Department wants to enforce contain no exceptions.

The policy during Trump’s first term and the new one are “materially indistinguishable,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices, though lawyers for the service members who sued disagreed.

Thousands of transgender people serve in the military, but they represent less than 1% of the total number of active-duty service members.

Mississippi Pot Roast

Mississippi Pot Roast

Mississippi Pot Roast

Photo Courtesy of BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com

Mississippi Pot Roast Recipe from Beef It’s What’s For Dinner

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 8 hours

Serving size: 8 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 beef Cross Rib Roast, Chuck Arm Roast or Chuck Shoulder Roast (about 2-1/2 pounds)
  • 1 packet ranch dressing mix
  • 1 packet dry onion soup mix
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 teaspoon granulated garlic
  • 4 to 6 pickled pepperoncinis
  • 1 cup water

Directions

  1. Place beef Cross Rib Roast in a 4-1/2 to 5-1/2-quart slow cooker. Add ranch dressing mix, onion soup mix, black pepper, garlic, pepperoncinis and water. Cover and cook on HIGH 6 to 7 hours or on LOW 7 to 8 hours or until beef is fork-tender. (No stirring is necessary during cooking.)
  2. Turn off slow cooker and remove roast. Shred roast and return to slow cooker; combine. Serve warm over couscous, mashed potatoes or noodles. 

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