North Carolina
Biden adds stop to North Carolina trip to visit with families of fallen law enforcement officers
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden, who heads to Wilmington, North Carolina Thursday to talk about the economy, is detouring to Charlotte to meet with the families of law enforcement officers shot to death on the job — just a week after he sat down with the grieving relatives of two cops killed in Upstate New York.
The visit is expected to take place with little fanfare behind closed doors, as the White House aims to respect the privacy of grieving families and avoid the appearance of using their grief for political purposes. The meeting was expected at the airport, an option meant to be the least taxing for local law enforcement still reeling from the deaths but who would have a hand in securing the president’s trip.
Once again, Biden will seek to be an empathetic leader for a community reeling from gun violence, while also calling for stricter rules around firearms and better funding for law enforcement on the front lines.
Four officers were killed earlier this week in North Carolina, when a wanted man opened fire on a joint agency task force that had come to arrest him on a warrant for possession of a firearm as an ex-felon, and fleeing to elude capture. They were: Sam Poloche and William Elliott of the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections; Charlotte-Mecklenburg Officer Joshua Eyer; and Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Weeks.
Four other officers were wounded in the gunfire; the suspect was killed. An AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, a 40-caliber handgun and ammunition were found at the scene.
An AR-15 is among the weapons most often used in mass shootings, and it’s the type of gun Biden is talking about when he says the U.S. should ban “ assault weapons.” Congress passed the most comprehensive gun safety legislation in decades in 2022, after a horrific school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. But it didn’t go far enough, Biden often says.
And as he campaigns for the 2024 election, Biden has made curbing gun violence a major campaign platform, elusive to Democrats even during the Obama era, as he fends off attacks from Republican challenger Donald Trump that he is soft on crime and anti-police.
Biden said this week in a statement after the North Carolina killings that the U.S. must “do more to protect our law enforcement officers. That means funding them — so they have the resources they need to do their jobs and keep us safe.”
The violence came just about two weeks after another fatal shooting of law enforcement officers in Syracuse, New York; Lieutenant Michael Hoosock and Officer Michael Jensen were killed while looking for a driver who fled a traffic stop. After his speech, Biden met with relatives of both of the officers’ families.
Biden had already been scheduled to come to Syracuse to celebrate Micron Technology’s plans to build a campus of computer chip factories, but the local police union said officers were still coming to terms with the deaths and weren’t happy with the president’s trip and had hoped he would delay.
On Thursday, Biden will also travel on to Wilmington, where he’s announcing his administration is providing states an additional $3 billion to replace lead pipes across the country, building on $5.8 billion in federal funds for water infrastructure projects around the country announced in February.
Money for the pipe replacement comes from one of the administration’s key legislative victories, the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law that Biden signed in 2021. The infrastructure law includes over $50 billion to upgrade America’s water infrastructure.
“It’s far past time to get the lead out once and for all,″ Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan said Wednesday. “This is a matter of public health, a matter of environmental justice, and a matter of basic human rights.”
Biden and his administration are committed to using all tools available “to achieve a 100% lead-free future for all Americans,” Regan told reporters at a White House briefing. “Every single day we are one step closer to a future where no child has to suffer from the lasting effects of lead exposure.″
The new round of funding will help pay for projects nationwide as Biden seeks to replace all lead pipes in the country.
EPA estimates that North Carolina has 370,000 lead pipes, and $76 million will go to replace them statewide. Biden also will meet with faculty and students at a Wilmington school that replaced a water fountain with high levels of lead with funding from the law.
___
Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Matthew Daly and Josh Boak contributed to this story.
For the first time in a long time, you can now enjoy a fire, outside, across most of North Carolina The North Carolina Forest Service says 81 counties, including Durham and Wake, have now dropped the open burn ban.
Posted
MOYOCK, N.C. (WAVY) — In North Carolina, Dominion Energy has filed for a rate hike with the North Carolina Utilities Commission that could result in an average $17 increase a month for residential customers.
“I think it’s horrible — it’s high enough,” said North Carolina resident Gina Connor. “Our Dominion Energy bills are high enough. And raising it right now, when the economy is already going through more increases. I just think they need to keep it safe. How about lowering it?”
Dominion Energy said the proposal reflects the rising cost of critical grid equipment such as utility poles, transformers, wires and cables, and that inflation has increased the cost of generating and delivering electricity.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” said Bill Morse, who lives in North Carolina. “They already overcharge for electricity with all the fees and the extras that they put on the bills. It’s like a never-ending grab.”
Dominion said it did not make the proposal lightly, “and we understand household budgets are feeling the impact of inflation.” It said it was trying to keep costs as low as possible while expanding programs to help customers manage their bills.
“Everything is going up, so your energy costs are going up, your food costs, your fuel costs, everything,” one woman said. “You know, it just snowballs. So yeah, it’s tough. And I don’t see any end in sight. I don’t see it getting better.”
The Commission will review the proposal and host public hearings for the community to voice their opinions.
Connor says lower the bills.
“Leave the prices alone,” Connor said. “Do what you can to decrease the prices and not increase the prices.”
Morse hopes prices will come down.
“It’s continuously increasing,” Morse said. “So there’s never going to be a pullback. They’re never going to reduce it. Once they get it you know they’re going to find a way to keep it.”
Dominion Energy points out that their current residential rate is 25% below the national average. The new rate would go into effect Dec. 1.
RUTHERFORD COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — A groundhog has tested positive for rabies in Western North Carolina.
Rutherford County Animal Control Services posted on social media on May 1 that the North Carolina State Lab of Public Health sent Animal Control Services the notification on April 29.
According to the post, the groundhog was in the vicinity of Oak Springs Baptist Church to the Rutherford County Airport of the Gilkey Township area.
There was no reported human exposure with the groundhog, the post said.
REOPENING DATE SET FOR HELENE-DAMAGED POPLAR BOAT LAUNCH
Animal Control Services said it was the first positive test for rabies in Rutherford County for 2026. The last positive rabies test confirmed by the N.C. State Lab of Public Health was July 3, 2025 That animal was also a groundhog from the city limits of Rutherfordton near the intersection of Alt U.S. 74 and U.S. 64 area.
The Rutherford County Health Director and Rutherford County Animal Control Services is advising residents to be sure that their animals are under their direct control. Animals that are allowed to wander or run loose are at a greater risk of coming into contact with rabid animals, the post said.
Residents’ pets with rabies vaccinations not up to date and that are exposed to a rabid animal will have to be euthanized or placed in a strict supervised quarantine at the owner’s expense for up to four months, Animal Control Services said in the post.
If residents’ pets have up-to-date vaccinations, the pets will need a booster vaccine if exposed to rabies.
RUTHERFORD COUNTY RESIDENTS DEMAND CHANGE AMID RISING ANIMAL CRUELTY CLAIMS
During the next six months anyone living in the Gilkey Township area should watch for animals with unusual behavior and be sure all pets have current rabies vaccinations. North Carolina State law requires that all cats and dogs have rabies vaccines at four months of age, a booster 12 months after the initial rabies vaccine and then a booster vaccine every three years.
All local veterinarians offer rabies vaccines. Rutherford County Animal Control Services also offers rabies vaccines., including low cost rabies vaccine clinics, which are available on the first Tuesday every month from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (no appointment needed) for $5 per vaccine.
Anyone seeing an animal displaying abnormal behaviors should call Animal Control Services at 828-980-0016.
-
Colorado3 minutes agoBraves 9, Rockies 1: Just one wing at Coors Field tonight
-
Connecticut9 minutes agoPAID POST: Connecticut Expands AI Workforce Training Through Charter Oak Partnership
-
Delaware15 minutes agoOn the front lines of protecting Delaware’s nesting piping plovers
-
Florida21 minutes agoCalifornia’s high cost of housing is a warning for Florida | Opinion
-
Georgia27 minutes ago6 Georgia teens injured in high-speed rollover crash on deadly winding road
-
Hawaii33 minutes agoHawaii County Weather Forecast for May 03, 2026 | Big Island Now
-
Idaho39 minutes agoViral Idaho Domino’s pizza driver ‘Dan the Man’ retires after strangers raise $170K for his act of kindness
-
Illinois45 minutes agoNew SNAP work requirements put thousands in Illinois at risk of losing benefits