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Buttigieg, Cooper break ground on new Raleigh-to-Richmond high speed rail line • NC Newsline

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Buttigieg, Cooper break ground on new Raleigh-to-Richmond high speed rail line • NC Newsline


U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Gov. Roy Cooper broke ground Monday on a new high-speed rail line that will link Raleigh to Richmond, marking the project’s first phase, which includes constructing a bridge to carry Durant Road over a railroad line.  

The $1.3 billion project funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is the largest grant ever received by the NC Department of Transportation. It will provide passenger service between downtown Raleigh and Wake Forest by 2030 and is the first leg of a planned high-speed rail connection between Raleigh, Richmond, Virginia, and the Northeast.  

“This is the beginning of a new chapter in passenger rail in North Carolina and really one of the biggest projects that we’re supporting anywhere in the country,” Buttigieg told reporters.  

The stop marked the first on Buttigieg’s national summer construction tour. He will visit Winston-Salem on Tuesday where he will participate in a groundbreaking ceremony for the Salem Parkway multi-use path. Buttigieg will then return to Durham, which recently received a $12 million federal grant to improve 33 downtown intersections.  

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Cooper highlighted the role of passenger rail in improving connectivity and reducing carbon emissions during Monday’s ceremony. “It helps reduce carbon emissions and helps us to save our planet as well as providing a great opportunity for people to get from one place to the next in a better way,” said Cooper.  

“We know cutting down travel times in that arena is going to make it even better for our economy and make it better for the people in North Carolina,” Cooper said.   

The Raleigh-to-Richmond rail project will use the existing S-Line rail corridor, a freight rail corridor currently owned by CSX. Virginia has already acquired its portion of the line, and North Carolina officials are finalizing a deal to purchase the corridor in our state. 

In May, the White House announced that it has allocated nearly $454 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to over 56,000 projects around the country since the passage of the $1 trillion bill in 2021. 

North Carolina is set to receive $9.4 billion in funding from the law for 512 projects, according to the White House. The funding includes about $633 million for clean water projects, with $175 million going toward replacing toxic lead pipes, according to a fact sheet released by the White House in May.   

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“North Carolina has done very well in investments from the federal government with this bipartisan infrastructure legislation,” said Cooper. “I’m so grateful that President Biden got this and other major pieces of legislation through that really are generational investments that will help our children and our children’s children.”  



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North Carolina

One-on-one with North Carolina QB commit Bryce Baker at the Elite 11 Finals

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One-on-one with North Carolina QB commit Bryce Baker at the Elite 11 Finals



The 2024 Elite 11 Finals are in the books. 20 of the nation’s premier class of 2025 prospects took take part in the prestigious event. Kernersville (NC) East Forsyth class of 2025 three-star quarterback Bryce Baker committed to North Carolina back on June 27, 2023. The 6-3, 195-pounder chose the Tar Heels over offers from Duke, Louisville, Penn State, and others.
(247 Sports)

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North Carolina man charged after shooting in Danville road rage incident

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North Carolina man charged after shooting in Danville road rage incident


DANVILLE, Va. – A North Carolina man is facing multiple felony charges connected to a road rage incident in Danville Tuesday, according to the Danville Police Department.

Police said at around 4 p.m. Tuesday, officers responded to a report of shots fired in the area of the 700 block of Halifax Road. A short time later, a victim reported that his vehicle had been shot into during a road rage incident.

Through information gathered at the scene, the suspect vehicle and driver, 28-year-old Marlowe Cobbs, of Milton, North Carolina, were identified and found in Caswell County, North Carolina.

Cobbs has been extradited back to Virginia, and was charged with the following:

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  • Shooting from a vehicle

  • Attempted aggravated malicious wounding

  • Use of a firearm in commission of a felony

  • Discharging a firearm in public

  • Child endangerment

  • Shooting at an occupied vehicle

He’s being held in the Danville City Jail without bond.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Danville Police Department by either calling patrol at 434-799-6510 option 4, investigations at 434-799-6508 option 1, and option 1 again, calling 911, contacting Crime Stoppers at 434-793-0000, approach any officer you see, through social media, via email crimetips@danvilleva.gov, or use our crime tips app CARE at www.p3tips.com/tipform.aspx?ID=818#.

Copyright 2024 by WSLS 10 – All rights reserved.



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NC Republicans call on election officials to testify about treatment of third-party candidates

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NC Republicans call on election officials to testify about treatment of third-party candidates


North Carolina elections officials are being called to testify before a legislative committee to talk about their treatment of third-party candidates.

The North Carolina State Elections Board on June 26 blocked requests by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West, and Constitution Party candidate Randall Terry to be listed as presidential candidates on the November ballot. Democrats who control the board said they want more time to review each candidate’s petition before making a final decision at a later date.

On Tuesday, leaders of North Carolina’s House Oversight and Reform Committee sent a letter to Alan Hirsch, chairman of the state elections board, asking him to testify before their committee on July 9. State Reps. Jake Johnson and Harry Warren, co-chairs of the committee, wrote to Hirsch:

“At the hearing, please be prepared to address this information, including:

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  • The grounds by which the Board denied the petitions of these political parties, even after timely submission.
  • Anticipated schedule to resolve questions on the submitted petitions.
  • Any communications the Board has had with third-party organizations concerning its decision to leave these political parties off the ballot.
  • Any underlying or perceived political motivations the Board may have to exclude these names from the ballot.”

Johnson and Warren also invited other board members and Karen Brinson Bell, the board’s executive director. Paul Cox, the state board’s general counsel, told WRAL Wednesday that the hearing is still up in the air.

The state elections board plans to meet on July 9 and continue reviewing the third-party petitions, Cox said.

“My understanding is that the committee is looking to reschedule, because they weren’t aware that the State Board was planning to meet next Tuesday to consider petitions,” Cox said in an email. The board is scheduled to meet at 1:30 p.m. on July 9.

Staff for the legislative committee leaders didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The legislators’ request comes a day after Republican members of Congress also inquired about the board’s decision. On Monday, Republican chairmen of the House Administration and House Judiciary committees asked the state elections board to provide them with documents and other information related to the board’s decision.

The committees “are concerned that the NCSBE’s decision was politically motivated and may have been done to influence the 2024 presidential election by limiting the candidates for which voters may cast their ballots,” Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Bryan Steil, R-Wisconsin, wrote in a letter to the state elections board. Jordan chairs the judiciary committee and Steil chairs the administration committee.

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The board intends to provide the committees with the documents they seek, Cox confirmed earlier this week. Many of them are already publicly available on the state board’s website.

North Carolina voters have signaled that they’d like to have options for president besides Republican Donald Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden. The board’s review of third-party candidates comes as Democrats have raised concerns about Biden’s ability to defeat Trump following his heavily-scrutinized performance in a recent debate.

The three candidates petitioning to get their names on North Carolina’s ballot are hoping to do so by having their political parties formally recognized by the elections board. Kennedy would represent the We The People Party, West would represent the Justice For All Party, and Terry would represent the Constitution Party.

Board members raised different issues with each petition.

Democrats on the state elections board expressed concern that Kennedy is using the We the People Party to circumvent state law — and that the proposed party doesn’t represent a group of voters with a specific set of policy beliefs.

In North Carolina, state law makes it harder for individual candidates to get ballot access than for new political parties. Board members asked We The People representatives about a script they provided to volunteers, which said the purpose of the petition was to create a new political party and get Kennedy’s name on the North Carolina ballot.

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As for the Justice For All petition, board members said they worried that volunteers misled signatories about the purpose of the group, which espouses liberal ideals. West is a former honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Italo Medelius, chair of Justice For All Party of North Carolina, told the board at its June 26 meeting that its petition materials may have been accessed by Trump supporters. The party’s petition, board members noted, should be signed by people who want to advocate for a common set of beliefs.

The Constitution Party’s petition, meanwhile, is hung up on a technical issue.

State law requires party petitions to include a legitimate address. The group’s petition listed the address of a former residence for Al Pisano, chair of the state party.

Pisano told board members that he wasn’t sure if he needed to change the address. The party was on North Carolina’s ballot in 2020. Its presidential nominee, Don Blankenship, received 7,549 votes of the 5.5 million cast.

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Pisano said that he had previously reached out to elections board staff about the address issue and didn’t receive an answer. Board members delayed their decision on the Constitution Party to review records exchanged by Pisano and board staff.

Democratic board member Siobhan Millen said that, before the address issue came up, she had expected the party’s petition to be “probably a slam dunk.”



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