Defense Chief Carter Visiting Fort Bragg As Troop Cuts Loom

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is visiting troops at Fort Bragg as the Army is downsizing.

Carter visits the sprawling Cumberland County post on Friday for a town hall-style discussion. He's spending the day with soldiers training for their job as the country's global military response force.

The Army announced plans Thursday to cut about 840 slots for soldiers at Fort Bragg, one of the lightest blows for a U.S. installation.

Poll Shows Trump Leads GOP Field In North Carolina 

A new poll shows Donald Trump leading the field of Republican presidential candidates in North Carolina, despite his controversial remarks about immigration. Trump has the support of 16 percent of registered Republican voters, compared to 12 percent for Jeb Bush and Scott Walker.

The latest numbers from Public Policy Polling show Mike Huckabee with support from 12 percent of voters, and 9 percent showing confidence in Ben Carson and Marco Rubio.

Triad Hospitals Earn High Marks

A new nationwide survey give high marks to Triad-area hospitals.

The Leapfrog Group handed out good-to-excellent scores to Cone Health in four of five measures of general quality.

The News and Record reports that Cone Health's facilities in Greensboro and Reidville earned the top score  in staffing their intensive care units and in managing serious error. They earned the next-best status  in preventing medication errors and in taking adequate steps to avoid patient harm.

High Point Regional Health System and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center also scored highly in the survey by the Washingon-based non-profit.

Arrests Lead To Decline In Heroin Use In High Point

High Point has seen a significant drop in heroin overdoses from a year ago.

The News and Record reports that from Jan. 1 through June 30, 35 heroin overdoses and one heroin-related death were reported. For the same time period in 2014, there were 64 heroin overdoses and eight heroin-related deaths.

Police Chief Marty Sumner said the drop in overdoses and deaths is closely connected to the downfall of a High Point-based street gang know as the “Bando Boys”. A number of gang members have been arrested in the last year.

Small Number of Register Of Deeds Employees Won't Perform Marriages

Four Guilford County register of deeds employees are among a small number of state workers who have opted out of performing marriages for religious reasons.

Government employees in North Carolina have this option under a controversial law enacted in June.

According to the Greensboro News and Record, five of the state's 100 counties, including Guilford, have already had register of deeds employees opt out of issuing marriage licenses, according to media reports citing the N.C. Association of Registers of Deeds.

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