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Jefferson Griffin Concedes Defeat in N.C. Supreme Court Race
A six-month battle over a North Carolina Supreme Court seat ended on Wednesday when the Republican challenger, who had embarked on an extraordinary effort to throw out thousands of votes, conceded the race.
The challenger, Judge Jefferson Griffin, said in a statement that he would not appeal a federal court ruling issued on Monday that ordered the state elections board to certify the victory of the Democratic incumbent, Justice Allison Riggs.
“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,” Mr. Griffin said. “I will not appeal the court’s decision.”
Two recounts affirmed that Justice Riggs won the race by a margin of 734 votes, out of the more than 5.5 million ballots that were cast. The results of the race are the last in the nation to be certified from the 2024 election.
“After millions of dollars spent, more than 68,000 voters at risk of losing their votes, thousands of volunteers mobilized, hundreds of legal documents filed, and immeasurable damage done to our democracy, I’m glad the will of the voters was finally heard, six months and two days after Election Day,” Justice Riggs said in a statement.
Judge Griffin, who currently sits on the North Carolina Court of Appeals, said on Wednesday that “as a judge, I believe everybody, myself included, has a right to their day in court.”
“This effort,” he added, “has always been about upholding the rule of law and making sure that every legal vote in an election is counted.”
The case tested the boundaries of post-election litigation, and drew criticism from democracy watchdog groups, liberals and even some conservatives across the state, who worried about setting a dangerous precedent.
Voting rights experts have said that regardless of the outcome, the unusual series of challenges from Judge Griffin, and the courts’ openness to entertaining them, may have paved the way for similar challenges in future close elections, as President Trump and his supporters try to erode confidence in the integrity of American elections.
Judge Griffin began his fight by arguing that more than 65,000 ballots that were cast in the election should not be counted because of eligibility issues. He filed a protest with the State Board of Elections after the board twice certified Judge Riggs’s victory. (The total number of ballots in question fluctuated over time as the case wound its way through the election board and the courts.)
Among the ballots he challenged were those cast by thousands of military and overseas voters, on the grounds that they had not submitted a photo ID or an ID exception form with their absentee ballots — even though the voters were exempted from those requirements before the election.
Judge Griffin also challenged the ballots of nearly 300 voters who he said were “Never Residents,” meaning they did not live in North Carolina but were registered to vote there. The “Never Residents” category typically includes North Carolinians who are working overseas and children of military parents from North Carolina who turn 18 while their family is stationed abroad. North Carolina passed a law in 2011 allowing such people to vote in the state’s elections.
In April, the State Supreme Court partially agreed with Judge Griffin, ruling that the eligibility of military and overseas voters who cast ballots in the election should be verified, and that the votes from “Never Residents” should be thrown out. Justice Riggs, who has recused herself from the case, appealed the ruling to the federal courts.
Lawyers for Judge Griffin said they were trying to enforce laws that the Board of Elections had failed to apply. The North Carolina Republican Party supported Judge Griffin’s challenge. Matt Mercer, a spokesman for the state party, said in a statement that “Judge Griffin deserves the appreciation of every North Carolinian for highlighting the appalling mismanagement” of the state elections board.
Judge Griffin’s critics noted that the ballots in question were included in certified counts for every other race in the state last November, and likened his challenge to trying to change the rules after the game has been played. The federal judge — a Trump appointee — who ordered the elections board on Monday to certify the race agreed with that argument, ruling that the “retroactive invalidation” of military and overseas ballots would be a violation of those voters’ due process rights.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
new video loaded: Singer D4vd Is Charged With Murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez
transcript
transcript
Singer D4vd Is Charged With Murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez
The musician D4vd was charged with murder on Monday, seven months after the police said that the body of a teenage girl, Celeste Rivas Hernandez, had been found in the trunk of his Tesla. D4vd, whose real name is David Burke, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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“On April 23, 2025, as has been alleged by the complaint, Celeste, a 14-year-old at that time, went to Mr. Burke’s house in the Hollywood Hills. She was never heard from again.” “These charges include the most serious charges that a D.A.‘s office can bring. That is first-degree murder with special circumstances. The special circumstances being lying in wait, committing this crime for financial gain or murdering a witness in an investigation. These special circumstances carry with it, along with the first-degree murder charge, a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty.” “We believe the actual evidence will show David Burke did not murder Celeste Revis Hernandez nor was he the cause of her death.”
By Jackeline Luna
April 20, 2026
In this photo illustration, The Onion website is displayed on a computer screen, showing a satirical story titled Here’s Why I Decided To Buy ‘InfoWars’, on November 14, 2024 in Pasadena, California.
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The satirical website, The Onion, has a new deal to take over Infowars, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s far-right media company. If approved by a Texas judge, the deal would take away his Infowars microphone, and allow The Onion to resume its plans to turn the website into a parody of itself.
Families of those killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, who sued Jones for defamation, want the sale to happen. They’re still waiting to collect on the nearly $1.3 billion judgement they won against Jones for spreading lies that they faked the deaths of their children in order to boost support for gun control. That prompted Jones’s followers to harass and threaten the families for years.
The families are also eager to take away Jones’s platform for spewing such conspiracy theories. The deal not only would divorce Jones from his Infowars brand, but it would turn the platform against him by allowing The Onion to mock his kind of conspiracy mongering and advocate for gun control.
The families “took on Alex Jones to stop him from inflicting the same harm on others” by using “his corrupt business platform to torment and harass them for profit,” said Chris Mattei, one of the attorneys for the families. “When Infowars finally goes dark, the machinery of lies that Jones built will become a force for social good, thanks to the families’ courage and The Onion’s vision, persistence and stewardship.”
A mourner visits the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial on the 10th anniversary of the school shooting on Dec.14, 2022 in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people were shot and killed, including 20 first graders and 6 educators, in one of the deadliest elementary school shootings in U.S. history.
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For its part The Onion called it a “significant step in an effort to transform one of the internet’s more notorious misinformation platforms into a new comedy network for satire.” The company says it could announce its new rollout of Infowars in a matter of weeks if the judge approves the deal.
“Eight years, almost to the day, after the Sandy Hook parents first filed suit against Alex Jones, they’ll finally get some justice, and even some money,” said Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion. “This is a chance to make something genuinely new out of a very broken piece of media history.”
On its website Monday, The Onion posted a satirical message from the fictional CEO of its parent company, Global Tetrahedron, “Bryce P. Tetraeder,” stating a “dream is finally coming true.”
Jones’s posted on X Monday that “The Onion Has Fraudulently Claimed AGAIN That It Owns Infowars!!!” adding that “The Democrat Party Disinformation Publication Is Publicly Bragging About Its Plan To Silence Alex Jones’ Infowars And Then Steal & Misrepresent His Identity!”
On a podcast in March, Jones alluded to the impending demise of Infowars, saying, “We’re getting shut down. We beat so many attacks. But finally, we’re shutting down like the middle of next month,” before insisting, “We’re going to be fine.”
Jones suggested Monday he would appeal any court decision to approve the leasing deal. And even if he loses control of Infowars, Jones could continue to broadcast from another studio, under another name.
Jones’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.
More than a year ago, a federal bankruptcy judge rejected The Onion’s first attempt to buy Infowars through a bankruptcy auction, saying the process was flawed. Since then, the bankruptcy court clarified that because Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, is not itself in bankruptcy, its property should be handled instead by a Texas state receiver. That cleared the way for the new pending deal to lease Infowars to The Onion, with the hope that a future sale could be approved.
In papers filed in state court, the Texas receiver said he “determined that licensing the Intellectual Property is in the best interest of the receivership estate.”
The deal calls for The Onion to pay $81,000 a month to license the Infowars.com domain and brand name, which the receiver says will “cover carrying costs to preserve and protect the assets of the receivership estate” until an appeal filed by Jones is decided and the path is cleared for a sale.
Jones’s personal bankruptcy case is proceeding in federal bankruptcy court, where a trustee continues to sell off Jones’s personal property, including cars, homes, watches and guns, with proceeds intended for the families.
A memorial to massacre victims stands near the former site of Sandy Hook Elementary on Dec. 14, 2013 in Newtown, Connecticut, one year after Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 first graders and six adults at the school.
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US negotiators to head to Pakistan and Iranian cargo ship seized – a recappublished at 00:37 BST 20 April
Tankers in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday
Here’s a recap of the latest developments.
US negotiators will head to Pakistan on Monday with the intention of holding further talks on ending the war, Trump says – but Iranian state media cites unnamed officials as saying Tehran has “no plans for now to participate”.
The prospect of further high-level negotiations – a White House official says Vice-President JD Vance will attend – comes amid reports of fresh attacks on commercial vessels.
Trump says the navy intercepted and took “custody” of an Iranian tanker attempting to pass through the US blockade, “blowing a hole” in the ship’s engine room in the process.
Earlier, in the same post announcing his representatives would travel for more talks, Trump renewed his threat to destroy Iranian energy sites and bridges if no deal is reached.
Reports in Iranian media over the weekend suggest Iran is continuing to work on plans to potentially apply a toll to ships passing through the strait – although it’s unclear if such a move will be implemented.
Iranian state TV cites unnamed officials as saying that “continuation of the so-called naval blockade, violation of the ceasefire and threatening US rhetoric” are slowing progress in reaching an agreement.
Trump also accused Iran of violating the ceasefire, saying more commercial ships have been attacked by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.
A UK maritime agency reported two commercial ships came under fire in the strait on Saturday.
Iran’s foreign minister had said on Friday that the strait would be opened – which was shortly followed by Trump saying the US naval blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place until a deal is reached. Iran has since said the strait is closed again.
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