North Carolina
NC has some of the most dangerous roads in the US: See how Wilmington-area counties rank
With a recent study revealing North Carolina as one of the states with the riskiest roads to travel, some may wonder how safe the roads are here in the Cape Fear region.
MarketWatch Guides, a site that provides “reviews of consumer products and services to help readers make educated purchasing decisions,” focuses in part on car insurance comparisons, vehicle safety and more.
A recent study by the site analyzed factors including annual miles driven per 100,000 system miles, percentage of rough roads and fatal injuries per 100,000 licensed drivers. States were given a rating out of 10 points, with 10 being the most dangerous.
More: Distracted driving in Wilmington: How big of a problem is it?
North Carolina’s ranking among the most dangerous
According to the study, the states with the most dangerous drivers based on the factors studied are:
- Louisiana – 7.55/10
- California – 7.21/10
- New Mexico – 6.74/10
- Hawaii – 6.73/10
- Delaware – 6.67/10
- New Jersey – 6.53/10
- Mississippi – 6.47/10
- North Carolina – 6.39/10
- Massachusetts – 6.33/10
- Maryland and Texas – 6.26/10
According to the study, North Carolina had 32.5 fatal injuries per 100,000 licensed drivers, but only 2.1% of rough roads, which was the lowest percentage out of the other ranked states.
For a more localized perspective, the North Carolina Department of Transportation releases annual traffic crash facts data. The most recent 2022 report includes a ranking of counties based on several factors, including reported crashes, crash severity, crash rates based on population, registered vehicles and estimated vehicle miles traveled.
The most dangerous county for drivers, ranked at No. 1 for the past five years, was Robeson County. The county had 60 fatal crashes in 2022 with 1,136 non-fatal injury crashes. The rest of the total 4,056 crashes were property-damage-only. The county with the best ranking was Hyde County, coming in at No. 100. The county had one fatal crash in 2022 and 10 non-fatal injury crashes. The county had a total of 45 crashes, the rest of which were property damage only.
More: MyReporter: Which intersections see the most red-light camera violations in Wilmington?
Here’s where the Cape Fear region counties ranked.
Brunswick County
Ranked No. 76 in 2022, Brunswick County had 25 fatal crashes and 715 non-fatal injury crashes. The total crashes for that year were 3,146. The remainder of the crashes were property damage only.
New Hanover County
Ranked No. 58, New Hanover had 19 fatal crashes and 1,313 non-fatal injury crashes, both of which went down from 2021. The total crashes in New Hanover were 5,617. The remainder of the crashes were property damage only.
Pender County
Ranked No. 47, Pender County had the worst ranking despite having the lowest number of crashes. The county had 12 fatal crashes and 374 non-fatal injury crashes, and a total of 1,156 crashes. The rest of the crashes were property damage only.
Iris Seaton, USA Today Network, contributed to this report.
North Carolina
Bill Belichick's girlfriend seemingly shuts down rumors coach will leave North Carolina for NFL
Bill Belichick’s girlfriend on Thursday seemingly shut down any talk of her boyfriend leaving the North Carolina Tar Heels football program for a job in the NFL.
Jordon Hudson responded to rumors that suggested Belichick had one foot out the door when it came to his Tar Heels gig. Belichick had been rumored to be interest in coaching the Dallas Cowboys, but the head coaching job wasn’t open until he had already committed to North Carolina. CBS Sports reported that Belichick didn’t sign his contract with the school.
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She posted a photo on her Instagram showing the two posing with a football and Belichick dressed in Carolina blue.
“Pictured: two people who are overtly committed to @uncfootball,” she wrote as the caption.
Michael Lombardi, who is the general manager of the North Carolina football program, also threw cold water on the rumors of Belichick jumping back to the pros.
EX-NFL COACH JON GRUDEN RIPS STATE OF COLLEGE SPORTS
“Bill is recruiting in DC today, and Baltimore tomorrow. His focus is on North Carolina football, hiring staff members and developing the team. The NFL isnt a option so please stop making it one. Thank you,” he wrote on X in response to the CBS Sports report.
“The reception towards UNC and Coach Belichick has been amazing from every school we visit. We are going to fight to keep North Carolina players here and bring the best to Chapel Hill,” he added.
Belichick was hired as the Tar Heels’ coach in December. He called the job a “dream come true.”
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“I’ve always wanted to coach in college football,” Belichick said in his introductory press conference. “It just never really worked out. Had some good years in the NFL, so that was OK. But this is really a dream come true.”
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North Carolina
North Carolina man arrested for pandering – The Tribune
North Carolina man arrested for pandering
Published 2:19 pm Friday, January 17, 2025
Met up with Scioto County juvenile
A North Carolina man is in the Scioto County jail after he traveled by to Scioto County to meet up with a with a minor and then allegedly took videos of them participating in sexual acts.
Scioto County Sheriff David Thoroughman said in a press release that his office was contacted on Jan. 13 by a female wanting to report a juvenile runaway. A deputy responded and obtained information and the preliminary investigation revealed the juvenile had been in contact with Braceon Madison, 18, of Laurinburg, North Carolina.
Two days later, deputies got information that the runaway juvenile and Madison were seen at Burger King in Wheelersburg. Deputies found them and the juvenile female was taken to the Southern Ohio Medical Center for evaluation. The initial contact with Madison revealed no probable cause for an arrest.
Deputies obtained all the needed information to continue their investigation and released Madison. The investigation was then turned over to detectives.
As this was occurring, the detectives were contacted and advised that the Madison had shown up at the hospital requesting to see the juvenile. Detectives responded to the hospital and observed Madison walking away as they were nearing the hospital and he was detained.
Detectives interviewed the juvenile and her guardians and they learned that Madison and juvenile met through Facebook on Dec. 24, 2024.
The two remained in contact and Madison traveled by bus from North Carolina to Portsmouth.
Upon his arrival, he obtained a ride to Wheelersburg and was snuck into the juvenile’s residence. The two then took off on foot and they located a building on Ohio River Road where they stayed for a few nights before being found.
Thoroughman said the detectives learned through the investigation that Madison had taken videos and pictures on his phone of a juvenile participating in sexual acts.
On Jan. 15, deputies arrested was Madison and charged him with eight counts of second-degree felony pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and is currently being held in the Scioto County Jail on a $250,000 bond.
Thoroughman stated that this is still an ongoing investigation that will result in more charges being presented to the Scioto County Grand Jury on a later date.
Anyone with information should contact Detective Sergeant Jodi Conkel at 740-351-1091.
North Carolina
North Carolina fans should embrace the Bill Belichick experience and not worry how long it lasts
Bill Belichick’s longevity at UNC doesn’t matter. He was hired to get the Tar Heels really good, really fast, and he might pull it off.
Bill Belichick introduced as new UNC head football coach
Bill Belichick is officially the new head coach at UNC and addressed the media where he discussed his deep roots in college football.
Sports Pulse
By any measure, Bill Belichick’s first five weeks as North Carolina’s football coach have been unusual.
The way he got the job practically out of nowhere was weird.
The justification for taking the job — largely because he believed NFL teams were no longer interested in him — was weird.
Seeing him on the road recruiting, meeting with kids in high schools and embracing social media has been kinda weird.
Watching him every week on the Pat McAfee Show, where he’s still asked about everything going on in the NFL, is also pretty weird.
And even as he hires assistant coaches and insists North Carolina is where he’s going to be next season, the speculation that he might bail if the right NFL offer comes along — spurred on by his murky contract status — is extremely weird.
You know it has been frustrating for North Carolina and Belichick’s new staff that every day during the NFL’s silly season seems to come with a new report that one team or the other might gauge his interest. Michael Lombardi, Belichick’s right-hand man and general manager, has twice this week gone on social media to shoot down the chatter, going so far as to say, “The NFL isn’t a option so please stop making it one.” And Belichick’s girlfriend posted an Instagram picture of the two of them Thursday with the caption: “Two people who are overtly committed to @uncfootball.”
For better or worse, this is going to be the Belichick experience as long as he stays at North Carolina. Every month, maybe even every week, is going to bring a new rumor. Every chatty agent or NFL general manager is going to whisper his name to reporters who know that his potential return to the league would be a massive story. And every mention of his contract, which apparently isn’t signed yet, is going to emphasize how easy it would be for him to abandon college football should he be tempted by one last shot in the NFL.
For better or worse, that’s what North Carolina signed up for. It’s what Belichick signed up for, too. The narrative that he’s only doing this until something better comes along is mostly the product of his own history and the strangeness of taking on a college program for the first time at age 72.
Belichick almost certainly understood that better than anyone going into this, and it’s not going to change as long as he’s wearing that Carolina baby blue.
At this point, we have to take Belichick’s people at their word that his entire focus right now is building a roster and getting the Tar Heels ready for the 2025 season. Despite the reports and rumors, the odds of him bailing on North Carolina before he even gets started seem remarkably low.
But because of how unconventional all of this is, you have to at least allow for the possibility that North Carolina’s administration will wake up one day and feel used by a coach who never really unpacked his suitcase. Maybe in a year, maybe in a month. Who knows.
Rather than worry about how long Belichick will stay, though, or the potentially devastating circumstances under which he might leave, North Carolina and its fan base should lean into the experimental nature of this pairing. Embrace the uncertainty of how long it might last.
Every athletics director hopes the football coach they hire stays 10 years. But Belichick’s tenure has to be judged by a different standard.
His longevity just doesn’t matter. He was hired to get North Carolina really good, really fast — and when you consider how weak the ACC has been, there’s a chance he might just pull it off.
If SMU and 41-year-old coach Rhett Lashlee can come directly from the American Athletic Conference to the ACC and make the College Football Playoff right away, a similar leap is not outside the capability of a six-time Super Bowl champion.
Maybe Belichick is exactly where he needs to be. Sure, the idea of Belichick working for Jerry Jones or coaching the Raiders is media catnip. The narrative that he longs for 15 more coaching wins to overtake Don Shula as the NFL’s all-time leader is easy and obvious.
But think of it this way. What would actually enhance Belichick’s coaching legacy more: Doing something he’s already done a whole bunch of times or coming into a situation where he has no history or experience and elevating a college program to a place it’s never been before?
The answer is easy. For all Belichick has accomplished in the game of football, even getting North Carolina to the CFP just once would add more to his legend than another Super Bowl ever could.
So why do so many people think he isn’t serious about North Carolina? Why is the NFL rumor mill working overtime to pull him back after rejecting him completely as a coaching candidate last year?
Belichick may not have envisioned himself on a college sideline a few months ago, but he’s there now. And his tenure will be judged by quality, not quantity.
North Carolina had nothing to lose here. It was an underachieving program stuck in the middle of the ACC without the kind of financial backing it needed to compete at the highest level. Even if Belichick bounces back to the NFL next year, the entire mentality of North Carolina has changed. It’s gone all-in on football in a way it never did before.
Sure, every time an NFL job opens, Tar Heel fans are going to be nervous because Belichick’s name is going to get thrown in the mix. Get used to it. It’s better than the comfortable alternative North Carolina had under Mack Brown and most of its previous coaches: Irrelevant and ignored.
As long as Belichick is there, that’s not going to be the case. And even if it doesn’t last a long time, this is still an experiment without a downside — NFL rumors and all.
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