North Carolina
Days after CrowdStrike outage, North Carolina woman still stuck at MSP Airport
MINNEAPOLIS — A North Carolina woman is still trying to get home after last week’s CrowdStrike outage waylaid her at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Melissa Vestal is from Raleigh, North Carolina, and went with a group of 16 other travelers to Anchorage, Alaska, for a cruise. On their way home, they got stuck at MSP due to widespread tech issues caused by a technical problem with global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
“We would like to go back to Raleigh, but we are open for whatever flight that we can actually fly home,” Vestal said.
Vestal said she actually got on a plane Sunday night and was on the tarmac, but they had to leave the plane after the crew announced the pilots could not fly.
“I’m hoping that we can find some luck today,” she said.
Vestal has a flight booked Monday, but others in her party have not been so lucky. She’s hoping to get home as soon as possible because she needs medications refilled, and she wants to see her family.
Vestal said her experience with airport employees has been very positive — including with one worker who had been on the clock for 48 hours.
“We are just very appreciative, we’re calling them essential workers,” she said.
As of 7:30 a.m. Monday, more than 100 arriving and departing flights had been canceled at MSP.
CrowdStrike provides antivirus software to Microsoft for its Windows devices, and many industries globally — from banking to retail to health care — use the company’s software to protect against breaches and hackers. CrowdStrike said it has since identified the problem in its software and stressed this was not a cyber attack.
North Carolina
Oregon Ducks’ Dan Lanning Compliments ‘Brilliant’ North Carolina Coach Bill Belichick
The No. 1 Oregon Ducks are the only undefeated team left in college football. At 13-0 and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff, Oregon earned a first-round bye. The Ducks are Big Ten Champions in their inaugural season in the conference. Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel was a Heisman Trophy finalist.
…. In short, the 2024-25 college football season has been Duck domination by coach Dan Lanning.
However, another coach is grabbing headlines while the Ducks prepare to face either theOhio State Buckeyes or Tennessee Volunteers in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.
Legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick will coach at the collegiate level for the first time as he takes over the University of North Carolina football program. Belichick takes over for Mack Brown in a stunning move.
Lanning and Belichick are familiar with each other and Lanning complimented the new Tar Heels coach.
“I got an opportunity to go visit OTAs (NFL organized team activities) before and visit with him on the phone a few times,” Lanning said. “Obviously, a brilliant football coach and there’s a reason he’s had all the success he’s had. Extremely organized, deep thinker, and certainly he can coach football. So I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him have success there at UNC.”
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Belichick holds the NFL record for most Super Bowls with six as the New England Patriots head coach. Widely regarded as one of the best NFL coaches of all time, Belichick is 72-years-old and a descendant of the Bill Parcells coaching tree.
How Belichick transitions to college and the new transfer portal, Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) era will be under much scrutiny. In 2024, North Carolina finished 6-6 and in 10th place in the ACC conference.
In his introductory press conference in Chapel Hill, Belichick said he “always wanted to coach in college football and it just never really worked out. I had some good years in the NFL, so that was OK. But this is really kind of a dream come true.”
His dad, Steve, served as an assistant coach for the Tar Heels from 1953 to 1955. Belichick doesn’t have vivid memories of his family’s time at UNC but said he was always told, “Billy’s first words were ‘Beat Duke.’ … So, full circle.”
Belichick and Lanning won’t meet in the regular season as members of difference conferences. The two could meet on the recruiting trail and in the transfer portal, as many prospects are excited about the idea of playing with the legendary Belichick.
Also, with the College Football Playoff expanding to 12-team, the ACC could have a larger presence in the postseason, moving forward. Meaning, Oregon and UNC could meet in the playoffs.
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North Carolina
North Carolina joins mystery drone conversation – Washington Examiner
(The Center Square) – White House dismissal notwithstanding, mysterious drones are the talk of the nation. And North Carolina has entered the chat.
“We are actively communicating with federal and local agencies about residents’ reports of drones spotted in eastern North Carolina and are working to find answers,” said U.S. Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C.
The federal government, said national security spokesman John Kirby, hasn’t identified public safety or national security risks. Sightings started in the northeast last month, speculation has intensified, and there’s been little to no explanation.
Reaction has ranged from marvel and wonder to the paraphrase of a number of both Democratic and Republican politicians to “shoot first, ask questions later.”
“There are more than 1 million drones that are lawfully registered with the Federal Aviation Administration,” Kirby said. “And there are thousands of commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones that are lawfully in the sky on any given day. That is the ecosystem that we are dealing with.”
That said, federal probes have been started. There have been more than 5,000 reports to the FBI, with roughly 100 drawing investigations, says a joint statement put out by the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Department of Defense.
Published reports of similar sightings exist to the west in California, the Midwest in Minnesota, and even across the Atlantic in England.
North Carolina
North Carolina parent arrested for strangling student inside school in caught-on-video attack: police
A North Carolina father was arrested Monday after allegedly storming into a high school and strangling a teenage student in a caught-on-video attack.
Quinton Lofton, 43, was charged with felony assault by strangulation and disorderly conduct for allegedly jumping a 17-year-old inside the halls of Fike High School in Wilson the same morning, CBS 17 reported.
Lofton, who has a child at the school, was supposed to report to the high school’s office but instead targeted the student — allegedly over a prior dispute outside its halls.
“The parent did not report to the office and instead assaulted a student in the hallway,” Fike Principal Ross Renfrow said in the statement to families obtained by the local station.
The attack was an escalation of a “situation that happened outside of school,” Renfrow added without providing further details on the said situation.
The Wilson County Sheriff also said the assault was over “an isolated incident that occurred outside of school.”
Disturbing footage of the beat-down obtained by WRAL News shows Lofton allegedly grabbing the student by the neck and tossing him down onto a staircase.
The teen appears to seize as his body lies on the stairs but is able to slowly get up and walk away shortly after, according to the clip.
Staffers then separated the grown man from the student, “diffused the situation and escorted the parent out of the building,” Renfrow said.
The student’s family questioned how Lofton was allowed inside the school and able to attack the teenage boy without any intervention.
His older sister said he was “traumatized” by the assault.
“He’s very shaken up by the whole event that took place this morning,” his sister Shaniqua told WRAL. “He’s pushing through. He’s trying to, you know, remain positive through the whole situation.”
School officials called authorities and the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office arrested Lofton. He is no longer permitted at the high school.
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