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US Rep. Walter Jones Of North Carolina Enters Hospice Care
A Republican congressman who has represented North Carolina for over two decades has entered hospice care.
A news release issued Saturday on the official government page for U.S. Rep. Walter Jones Jr. says that his health has declined since he recently broke his hip and that he's in hospice care.
He had been battling ailments in recent months. He was granted a leave of absence from Congress in late 2018 after missing a number of votes.
Jones was re-elected to the U.S. House in November after running unopposed in a district that includes Kinston, Greenville and New Bern. He has served in Congress since 1995.
Legislator Announces US Senate Bid; Goodwin Re-Elected Chair
A North Carolina Democratic legislator is running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican incumbent Thom Tillis.
State Sen. Erica Smith, from Northampton County in the northeast, announced her 2020 bid to unseat Tillis on Saturday through social media and at a Democratic Party gathering in Charlotte. Smith is a math instructor and ordained minister first elected to the legislature in 2014.
Mecklenburg County Commissioner Trevor Fuller also announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination last week.
Smith's announcement came as 500 members of the Democrats' executive committee met. Their current party Chair Wayne Goodwin was re-elected for another two-year term.
North Carolina Chief Justice To Resign Next Month
North Carolina Chief Justice Mark Martin is leaving the state's Supreme Court after 20 years to become a Virginia law school dean.
The resignation means Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper gets to decide who fills the Republican's seat on the court and who the next chief justice will be. Five of the seven current Supreme Court members are registered Democrats.
Martin told The Associated Press on Friday of his decision to resign the chief justice's post at the end of February. He's held the post since 2014 and will become dean of Regent University law school in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Duke Medical School Apologizes Over Complaint About Chinese
Duke University's medical school dean has apologized after an administrator admonished students over speaking Chinese in a school building.
Megan Neely, a professor and administrator in the biostatistics master's program, wrote an email Friday urging students to "commit to using English" in the building housing the program and professional settings. She said two faculty members complained about students loudly speaking Chinese in a common area and wanted to know their names.
In response, Dr. Mary Klotman, the medical school dean, wrote a letter to students in the program saying there was no restriction on using foreign languages in conversations with one another.
Klotman said Neely has stepped down as the program's director of graduate studies.
North Carolina Judge Takes Precautions After Juror Threats
A judge in Greensboro has taken safety precautions after jurors reported intimidating behavior including a man following them from a parking area.
The News & Record reports Judge David Hall, who's overseeing a murder trial, was upset to hear the news on Friday. He's now limiting who can attend the trial and ordering juror names to be kept secret.
The newspaper reported four jurors said they were followed from a parking area into the courthouse by a man wearing colors associated with the same gang as the defendant.
The trial is for Chauncey Slade on charges he killed a gang member and another man in 2015.
The newspaper reports that courthouse security found the man who jurors accused of threatening behavior, and he was charged with obstruction of justice.
North Carolina Accepting Individual Tax Returns Starting Monday
North Carolina tax officials are ready to start accepting individual tax returns from residents.
The North Carolina Department of Revenue said it will open the 2019 individual income tax season Monday. That's the same day that federal tax filing season is scheduled to start.
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