Receive the morning news briefs delivered to your email inbox every morning. Click here to sign-up.
Winston-Salem Officials Gather To Discuss Fatal Police Shooting
Winston-Salem officials say they're looking into what happened after a white police officer shot and killed a 60-year-old black man on Friday.
During a traffic stop on Friday night, Winston-Salem Police Department Officer D.E. McGuire shot and killed 60-year-old Edward Van McCrae.
According to the police report, McCrae was reaching in areas of the car that the officer couldn't see. Officer McGuire ordered McCrae to exit the vehicle. After McCrae was removed from the vehicle, a physical struggle ensued. Officer McGuire says he saw a handgun. McGuire ordered McCrae to "stop reaching," and when those calls were ignored, McGuire shot McCrae.
The officer did activate his body camera at the beginning of the stop. But it's still unknown when the public will get to see the footage.
Local ministry groups are asking for peace in the aftermath of the shooting.
The State Bureau of Investigation is overseeing Officer McGuire's case.
New Video Shows Aftermath Of Asheville Police Beating
Weeks after a North Carolina police beating became public, new footage is revealing what was said in the aftermath of the black pedestrian being punched and choked by the white officer.
City officials in Asheville released nine body camera videos Monday of the August 2017 encounter — most of it made public for the first time. Earlier this year, a shorter clip obtained by a newspaper sparked anger in the community and helped lead to assault charges against the former officer, Christopher Hickman.
After being punched, choked and shocked with a stun gun, pedestrian Johnnie Jermaine Rush asks Hickman's supervisor why she appears to find the officer's account more believable than his explanation of events.
Newborn Deaths At Birth Center Prompt Calls For Investigation, Oversight
North Carolina lawmakers are calling for a state investigation of a natural birthing center where three newborns died in the past three months. Officials would also like to see more oversight of the state's birth facilities.
Representative Nelson Dollar is asking the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to investigate the Cary location of Baby+Company, which also operates birth centers in Winston-Salem and Charlotte.
The Cary site has reported four newborn deaths since opening in 2014.
Representative Dollar tells the News and Observer he wants Baby+Company to cooperate with DHHS, even though the agency has no legal authority to inspect or review birth centers.
The deaths in Cary have prompted some officials to reconsider regulations for natural birthing facilities in North Carolina.
Judge: Jury Won't Take Smell Tour Of North Carolina Hog Farm
A federal judge says he won't send jurors for a see-and-sniff tour of a North Carolina hog-growing operation at the center of a lawsuit claiming industrial-scale pork production causes ugly conditions.
Judge W. Earl Britt ruled Monday that jurors would not get a true feel for conditions with one quick visit to a Bladen County farm growing animals for Virginia's Smithfield Foods.
Britt's decision came as jurors were being selected for a trial that could shake the profits and change production methods of pork producers after a generation of raising hogs in confined conditions. The trial could take six weeks.
North Carolina "Oz" Theme Park Reopening For Summer Tours
A failed North Carolina theme park based on "The Wizard of Oz" will be reopening for tours in June.
The Charlotte Observer reports the "Land of Oz" park in Beech Mountain will open for six days in June, offering one-hour guided tours every Friday as well as Saturday, June 30.
The park says the tours will involve role playing. Dorothy will guide guests down the yellow brick road. Some guests will be chosen to play the roles of the Scarecrow, Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, the Wicked Witch and Glinda, the good witch.
The park opened in 1970 and closed in the 1980s. Since then, it's opened only occasionally, including for an annual Autumn at Oz Festival.
The park gained attention recently as trespassers stole bricks from its yellow brick road.