North Carolina
Faizon Brandon's mother sues North Carolina Board of Education over NIL
Tennessee LANDS Faizon Brandon! | What’s Next in 2026 for the Volunteers? | Inside Scoop
The mother of Class of 2026 Tennessee five-star quarterback commit Faizon Brandon has brought the fight for NIL rights to the courtroom.
Currently 39 states – through laws or local athletic associations – allow athletes to participate in NIL deals without forfeiting the ability to play high school sports. North Carolina remains one of the 11 that does not allow high schoolers to capitalize on NIL.
Filed by Rolanda Brandon on Friday in Wake County against the North Carolina Board of Education and Department of Public Instruction, the suit states the quarterback was offered life-changing NIL money by a “prominent national trading card company.” The complaint asks for a preliminary and permanent injunction to allow NIL for public high school athletes.
“By imposing a full ban …. has harmed F.B. widely regarded as the nation’s top-rated high school football recruit in his class – by unlawfully restricting his right to freely use his NIL, which he and he alone owns, thereby jeopardizing his ability to capitalize on life-changing opportunities currently available to him and provide himself and his family with financial security,” the complaint states.
Private schools in North Carolina allow NIL
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association Board of Directors approved a proposal in May 2023 that would’ve brought NIL rights to North Carolina public high school student-athletes starting on July 1, 2023. But North Carolina politicians shut the measure down barely a day later with legislation that eventually stripped the state association of much of its power and threatened its very existence.
But private school athletes in North Carolina can profit off NIL. The top North Carolina prospect in the 2025 class, David Sanders Jr., attends Providence Day School, a private school. He’s already signed NIL representation with WME.
“The Board’s NIL Prohibition is not just inconsistent with the overwhelming majority of states nationally, but is inconsistent with NIL policy in North Carolina, itself,” Monday’s filing states.
The filing also states the quarterback has missed out on “potentially millions of dollars that Brandon has no guarantee of ever recouping.”
Trading card companies offering major high school deals
Over the last six months, top high school football prospects have inked exclusive, multi-year deals with Leaf Trading Cards. At least six of the top quarterbacks in the upcoming 2025, 2026 and 2027 classes have inked NIL deals with the company. That doesn’t include Florida freshman quarterback DJ Lagway, who signed with Leaf shortly after enrolling.
Faizon Brandon does not have that opportunity. On April 30, the quarterback was presented with the “life-changing” deal that would have paid him and his family “a substantial sum of money.”
“I definitely feel like that as this process gets started, if the state doesn’t allow the public schools to benefit the same way that the private schools are, that it will become a factor in losing kids to private school,” said Darryl Brown, the coach at Grimsley High School, where Faizon Brandon plays, previously told On3.
The complaint also states that Brandon and his mother, Rolanda, reached out to the Board of Education in July asking for information on the NIL prohibition. Brandon was also denied a meeting.
“F.B. has also been approached by other businesses wishing to license F.B.’s NIL for commercial purposes and have expressed terms to F.B. that would yield him sums similar to or in excess of his proposed agreement with NIL Sponsor 1,” the complaint states. “However, expressly because of the Board’s improper NIL prohibition, those businesses will not engage in any meaningful discussions with F.B.”
North Carolina
2026 primary turnout report released for eastern NC counties; see your county’s numbers
Here are the voter turnout numbers for the 2026 primary election, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
Hyde County had the highest voter turnout, while Onslow County had the lowest turnout. Check out what the voter turnout in your county was below:
BERTIE COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
31.85% (3,911 out of 12,280)
CARTERET COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
29.06% (16,543 out of 56,931)
CRAVEN COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
18.63% (14,119 out of 75,778)
DUPLIN COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
21.93% (6,981 out of 31,832)
EDGECOMBE COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
18.16% (6,428 out of 35,396)
GREENE COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
19.70% (2,147 out of 10,900)
HYDE COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
37.27% (1,123 out of 3,013)
JONES COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
25.91% (1,805 out of 6,966)
LENOIR COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
16.73% (6,251 out of 37,371)
MARTIN COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
17.61% (2,858 out of 16,228)
ONSLOW COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
11.44% (14,816 out of 129,537)
PAMLICO COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
24.03% (2,446 out of 10,180)
PITT COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
15.71% (19,429 out of 123,705)
TYRRELL COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
30.49% (723 out of 2,371)
WASHINGTON COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
28.66% (2,312 out of 8,067)
WAYNE COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
21.49% (16,408 out of 76,358)
North Carolina
Statewide tornado drill has NC schools and workplaces practicing safety
Wednesday, March 4, 2026 6:41PM
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — North Carolina schools and businesses took part in a statewide tornado drill Wednesday morning as part of Severe Weather Awareness Week.
The National Weather Service led the drill at 9:30 a.m., broadcasting it on NOAA Weather Radio and the Emergency Alert System. Schools, workplaces and households across the state were encouraged to join in.
The National Weather Service didn’t issue a follow up alert to mark the end of the drill. Instead, each school or business wrapped up once they felt they had practiced the procedures thoroughly.
Wednesday’s drill also replaced the regular weekly NOAA Weather Radio test.
SEE | New warning for parents amid new ‘fire-breathing’ social media trend
Make sure to download the ABC 11 Mobile App ABC11 North Carolina Apps for Connected TV, Mobile News, Echo
Copyright © 2026 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.
North Carolina
North Carolina Rep. Valerie Foushee holds narrow lead over challenger Nida Allam
Nida Allam in 2022; Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) in 2025.
Jonathan Drake/Reuters; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
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Jonathan Drake/Reuters; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee holds a narrow lead over challenger Nida Allam in the Democratic primary for North Carolina’s 4th Congressional district as ballots continue to be counted.
In a race seen as an early test of whether Democratic voters desire generational change within the party, Foushee holds a lead of just over 1,000 votes with 99% of results in so far, according to the Associated Press.
Under state law, provisional votes will be counted in the coming days in a district that includes Durham and Chapel Hill. If the election results end up within a 1% margin, Allam could request a recount.
Successfully ousting an incumbent lawmaker is often extremely difficult and rare. However, there have been recent upsets in races as some voters are calling for new leaders and several sitting members of Congress face primary challengers this cycle.
Allam, a 32-year-old Durham County Commissioner, is running to the left of Foushee, 69, framing her candidacy as part of a broader rejection of longtime Democratic norms.
On the campaign trail, Allam ran on an anti-establishment message, pledging to be a stronger fighter than Foushee in Congress, both in standing up against President Trump’s agenda and when pushing for more ambitious policy.
“North Carolina is a purple state that often gets labeled red, but we’re not a red state,” she told NPR in an interview last month, emphasizing the need to address affordability concerns. “We are a state of working-class folks who just want their elected officials to champion the issues that are impacting them.”
She drew a contrast with the congresswoman on immigration, voicing support for abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Foushee has declined to go that far, advocating instead for ICE to be defunded and for broader reforms to the federal immigration system.
Allam also clashed with Foushee over U.S. policy towards Israel. As a vocal opponent of Israel’s war in Gaza, Allam swore off campaign donations from pro-Israel lobbying groups, such as AIPAC, and repeatedly criticized Foushee for previously accepting such funds.
Though Foushee announced last year that she would not accept AIPAC donations this cycle, she and Allam continued to spar over the broader role of outside spending in the race.
Their matchup comes four years after the candidates first squared off in 2022, when Allam lost to Foushee in what became the most expensive primary in the state’s history, with outside groups spending more than $3.8 million.
However, this year is poised to break that record. Outside groups have reported spending more than $4.4 million on the primary matchup, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
WUNC’s Colin Campbell contributed to this report.
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