Triangle/Local
How to watch two meteor showers peak together in late July
By CHRISTINA LARSON AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s almost time for summer’s meteor shower duet. The Southern Delta Aquariid and the Alpha Capricornid meteor showers peak at the same time — in the early morning of July 30. Without too much interference from moonlight — the waxing moon…
Livingstone student dragged from his car and punched by Florida officers says he was scared and confused
By JEFF MARTIN Associated Press A Black college student shown on video being punched and dragged from his car by Florida law officers during a traffic stop faces a long recovery from injuries that include a concussion and a broken tooth that pierced his lip and led…
Black-Eyed Susan: A Cheerful Bloom From North Carolina to Norway
MIKE RALEY WPTF Weekend Gardener Melissa and I just returned from a trip to Norway where we traveled as far north as Myrdal, which is 3,000 feet above sea level and about 350 miles south of the Arctic Circle. It was like a North Carolina…
North Carolina’s first standalone children’s hospital set to bring 8,000 jobs to Apex
APEX, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s first standalone children’s hospital will be built in a bedroom community near the state capital, the project’s health systems announced Thursday, creating a campus estimated to bring 8,000 jobs to the area. UNC Health and Duke Health announced in January an…
State/Regional
Education Department says it will release billions in remaining withheld grant money for schools
By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is releasing billions of dollars in grants to schools for adult literacy, English language instruction and other programs, the Education Department said Friday. President Donald Trump’s administration had withheld $6 billion in funding…
RNC Chairman Michael Whatley plans to run for Senate in North Carolina, with Trump’s backing
By JILL COLVIN Associated Press Michael Whatley, chairman of the national Republican Party, plans to run for an open Senate seat in North Carolina in 2026 with the blessing of President Donald Trump after Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara, passed on the seat. Democrats see the race as their top chance to flip…
Prodded by lawsuits, North Carolina seeks to tighten voter ID records for roughly 200,000 people
By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina election officials on Thursday launched an online database of voter registration records for 103,000 people who need to add their driver’s license numbers or partial Social Security numbers to the state’s records, a…
Severe weather in tropical storm’s wake triggers North Carolina state of emergency
By MAKIYA SEMINERA Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina can seek federal funding to help its overloaded response efforts to Tropical Storm Chantal, which killed at least six people and left damage from flooding in its wake, as Gov. Josh Stein announced a state…
World/National
In Epstein furor, Trump struggles to shake off a controversy his allies once stoked
By CHRIS MEGERIAN and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite the sun bearing down on him and the sweat beading across his face, President Donald Trump still lingered with reporters lined up outside the White House on Friday. He was leaving on a trip to…
Trump’s USDA to scatter half its Washington staff to field offices. Critics see a ploy to cut jobs
By JOHN O’CONNOR and SARAH RAZA Associated Press SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture will move thousands of employees out of the nation’s capital in a reorganization the agency says will put them closer to customers while saving money, Agriculture Secretary Brooke…
Justice Department will meet with Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s imprisoned girlfriend
By ERIC TUCKER and COREY WILLIAMS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Department officials were set to meet on Thursday with Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned girlfriend of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a person familiar with the matter. The meeting in Florida, which…
US stocks hit more records following US-Japan trade deal
By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks set more records on Wednesday following a trade deal between the world’s No. 1 and No. 4 economies, one that would lower proposed tariffs on Japanese imports coming to the United States. The S&P 500 added 0.8% to its…
Entertainment
Teens say they are turning to AI for friendship
By JOCELYN GECKER AP Education Writer No question is too small when Kayla Chege, a high school student in Kansas, is using artificial intelligence. The 15-year-old asks ChatGPT for guidance on back-to-school shopping, makeup colors, low-calorie choices at Smoothie King, plus ideas for her Sweet 16 and…
Ozzy Osbourne, who led Black Sabbath and became the godfather of heavy metal, dies at 76
By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer Ozzy Osbourne, the gloomy, demon-invoking lead singer of the pioneering band Black Sabbath who became the throaty, growling voice — and drug-and-alcohol ravaged id — of heavy metal, died Tuesday, just weeks after his farewell show. He was 76. “It is with…
Hunter Biden lashes out at George Clooney, other Democrats, over Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign
By MEG KINNARD and DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, seen by some as the problem child of the Democratic Party for legal and drug-related woes that brought negative attention to his father, is lashing out against Democratic “elites”…
D-Day veteran and TikTok star ‘Papa Jake’ Larson dies at 102
By ANGELA CHARLTON Associated Press PARIS (AP) — D-Day veteran ″Papa Jake″ Larson, who survived German gunfire on Normandy’s bluffs in 1944 and then garnered 1.2 million followers on TikTok late in life by sharing stories to commemorate World War II and his fallen comrades, has died…
Sports
American Conference deserves fair shot at College Football Playoff, commissioner says
By STEVE REED AP Sports Writer CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Commissioner Tim Pernetti wants to be sure the newly rebranded American Conference isn’t left out of the College Football Playoff conversation. His solution for that — a playoff that includes a large number of at-large teams in…
Clemson returns most experienced team in football in search of 3rd national title in 10 years
By STEVE REED AP Sports Writer CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Clemson Tigers have all of the pieces in place to win another national championship. Now it’s just a matter of executing. The Tigers return the most experienced team in college football, and will be…
Hulk Hogan, icon in professional wrestling, dies at age 71
CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — Hulk Hogan, the mustachioed, headscarf-wearing icon in the world of professional wrestling, has died at the age of 71, Florida police and WWE said Thursday. In Clearwater, Florida, authorities responded to a call Thursday morning about a cardiac arrest. Hogan was…
US Olympic and Paralympic officials bar transgender women from competing in Olympic women’s sports
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has effectively barred transgender women from competing in women’s sports, telling the federations overseeing swimming, athletics and other sports it has an “obligation to comply” with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump. The new…