North Carolina
Newby transforms N.C. courts to playground to settle petty political feuds
CBC Editorial: Friday, Jan. 5, 2024; # 8897
The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company
When North Carolina legislature this year extended the mandatory retirement age for appellate judges from 72 to 76, it was about politics to keep Chief Justice Paul Newby in office at least through the end of his 8-year term instead of being forced to retire in 2027. Susie Sharp, the first woman to serve as the state’s chief justice, was forced to leave the job in 1979, three years before her term ended. The politics hasn’t ended there.
Lest anyone seek proof, they need look no further than the events of this week.
Politics, not justice, is what motivates Newby. It doesn’t take a cartographer to map the political connections. Let’s see the route.
Appeals Court Chief Judge Donna Stroud was the senior judge on that court and its chief judge when she was reelected in 2022. This week Newby stealthily demoted Stroud from her leadership post, replacing her with junior Appeals Court judge Chris Dillon – who also was until this week the chair of the state Judicial Standards Commission.
In a similarly stealthy move, Newby named Appeals Court Judge Jeffrey Carpenter to replace Dillon as the leader of the Judicial Standards Commission.
That’s not all. This week Newby presided at the swearing in of Beth Freshwater Smith as a newly legislatively-appointed (as recommended by state Senate leader Phil Berger) special state Superior Court Judge.
It was Freshwater Smith who in 2020 challenged Stroud in the Republican primary with support from Berger and endorsements from state Supreme Court Justice Phil Berger Jr., the namesake son of powerful state Senate leader, and Judge Carpenter.
In May 2022, Justice Berger Jr., in an unusual action by a sitting judge or justice, directly and publicly worked to defeat Stroud. In a Facebook post, as reported by Business North Carolina, Berger Jr. revealed he opposed hiring Gene Soar as the Appeals Court’s clerk. Berger, disregarding matters of qualification wanted a Republican and not a candidate the court’s Democratic judges also backed for the job. He noted that one of the applicants was his former law clerk.
There were real questions about the appropriateness of sitting judges and justices being so directly involved in political campaigns, particularly when there was a likelihood that they might be called upon to adjudicate issues about those elections.
In March 2022 reported the N.C. Tribune, the state Judicial Standards Commission posted a note on its website leaving the quite distinct impression that candidate endorsements by sitting judges weren’t proper. “Endorsements should only be made when a judge is a bona fide candidate actively engaging in campaigning during his or her election cycle,” it stated. “Otherwise, the rule prohibiting endorsements … would be rendered meaningless except as to special superior court judges and other judges unable to run for re-election.”
A few days later the memo was revised with those sentences deleted. The update gave judges and justices broader latitude for endorsements and other forms of election campaign involvement. The executive director of the commission, Carolyn Dubay, resigned shortly after.
Traveling this trail to its origin – the 2020 elections – makes clear the events of this week are not about the administration of justice. Chief Justice Newby, Justice Berger Jr., Judge Dillion and Judge Carpenter – and who knows who else — manipulated our state’s judicial system to settle a political feud.
Such blatant patronage, reflexive partisanship, manipulation and fealty went out 235 years ago with the American Revolution and the adoption of the Constitution.
North Carolinians must have a judicial system – as well as those who lead it – that settles disputes openly and according to the law.
The latest actions by the leaders of our state courts are clearly to the contrary.
This latest judicial escapade, as this evidence clearly shows, is to the contrary and will only foster distrust and cynicism.
Newby is transforming the courts from a forum for justice into a political playground.
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The North Carolina Tar Heels are entering a monumental 2026 season after being one of the biggest disappointments in 2025, posting a 4-8 record, and finishing 13th in the ACC.
Hiring Bill Belichick as head coach always carried a moderate risk, but the administration could not foresee what would transpire in the coming months. Earlier this offseason, the 74-year-old head coach provided some insight into what led to the team’s struggles last season.
Belichick’s Thoughts
Belichick began by praising this year’s group of players, explaining the goals and how this team will go about business heading into offseason workouts and carrying that momentum into the start of the regular season.
- “Well, what I expect is for us and them to get better every day, you know, to get stronger, to get faster, to be more explosive, to be better fundamentally, to be, you know, better technique football players,” Belichick said.
- “That’s what I expect from them. We have a good group of kids, they work hard, they are, you know, they’re pretty smart. I mean, they, you know, go to class, they do well academically, they, you know, they try to do what we ask them to do.”
The longtime NFL head coach then reflected on the team’s struggles last season and how the disconnect between the coaching staff and the players contributed to the poor product on the field.
- “And the group last year, I mean, I wouldn’t say they were, like, disrespectful, that’s not the right word, but it was just different,” Belichick said. “It was like they were recruited by somebody else; they came here for somebody else.”
- “I was new, they were leaving, you know. It wasn’t a bad relationship, but it wasn’t a great one. There wasn’t the same kind of adhesion that there is to guys that you bring in, that come there because of you, because they want to be with you. And then you grow together.”
Why North Carolina Could Bounce Back
As Belichick mentioned, most of the players on last season’s roster were not personally recruited by the polarizing head coach. Belichick inherited the majority of the players from the previous regime, which added another layer of challenge for the newly hired head coach, as he was already making the transition from the NFL to college.
With that being said, North Carolina’s brass, including general manager Michael Lombardi, did a tremendous job of identifying the top weaknesses and acknowledging that major changes were needed before the start of next season.
Yes, the quarterback position leaves much to be desired, and I would argue that the Tar Heels settled on the options they brought in. However, North Carolina improved the other most important position groupings on the field, bolstering both the offensive and defensive lines, which will elevate the entire operation.
Last offseason, Lombardi discussed how the front office would navigate the transfer portal, and those sentiments were fairly reflected in the program’s activity over the last several months.
- “I think every time you can acquire more talent is an important window,” Lombardi said. “I think we obviously have more time to prepare for it, because we wouldn’t have just gotten thrown right into it. So, I think a lot of scouting is preparation. We won’t know the names of those who are in the portal, but we’ll have a better idea about what it takes to be in the portal and who could possibly enter, and then have an ability to evaluate them.”
- “And really to get things the way you want to run a program isn’t to be reactive,” Lombardi continued. “Al Davis used to say this all the time to me, ‘the secret to all organizations and the secret to any great organization lies in the ability to anticipate problems, not react.’ I think when we got in here, we were reacting to the portal. Now we can anticipate the portal, which certainly will help us.”
Throughout the offseason, I have been highly skeptical of my confidence level in the direction of the program under Belichick and this coaching staff, but in terms of roster construction, I think North Carolina has had a solid offseason.
Over the last two weeks, we have counted down the top 30 players on the Tar Heels’ roster heading into this upcoming season. Today, we reveal who ranks No. 22 on North Carolina and what this player means for the program in 2026. Without further ado, here is a deep-dive analysis of a pivotal asset for Belichick and the Tar Heels on a revamped roster.
North Carolina Top 30 Players: No. 22 LT Jordan Hall
The 6-foot-8, 310-pound offensive tackle only appeared in five games for the Tar Heels last season after transferring from UAB last April. While that could be a discouraging sign for Hall, he still has two years of eligibility left, and in a limited snapshot, he demonstrated he can play offensive tackle.
Entering this season, Hall is projected to be North Carolina’s starting left tackle on a much-improved offensive line. Being given that responsibility would show the coaching staff’s confidence in Hall holding up as the blindside blocker for whichever quarterback establishes himself as the starter in Week 1.
Hall’s Importance
As we have said on multiple occasions, North Carolina’s offense will be a work in progress, especially with major question marks at quarterback. The offensive line will be a major factor in the team’s success next season, and with several moving parts on that unit, cohesion must be established quickly.
In 2025, the Tar Heels’ offensive line was one of the several glaring holes on the roster. This season, that should not be the case, as the front office invested heavily in the offensive line, ensuring a clean pocket for the quarterback and supplying the running backs with open rushing lanes. As the left tackle, Hall will be the most important piece on the offensive line, acting as the blindside blocker for any of the three between Travis Burgess, Billy Edwards Jr., and Miles O’Neill.
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ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — The Party for Socialism and Liberation has organized a petition calling on legislators to pass a statewide ban on new data center construction.
“We see that they pollute these communities, they use a lot of water, and ultimately the cost of these data centers are passed on to working-class consumers,” said Cody Cogdell with the Party for Socialism and Liberation Western North Carolina.
According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a large data center can use up to 5 million gallons of water per day. That’s equivalent to the use of a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
ASHEVILLE CITY COUNCIL APPROVES 1-YEAR PAUSE ON NEW DATA CENTER DEVELOPMENT
“I don’t support them at all. I think it’s terrible for the environment,” said Asheville resident Madeline Boltinghouse.
She says a statewide ban would be nice.
But Ken Brame, with the environmental organization Sierra Club, says the ban is unlikely to happen.
JULY 1, 2026 – A flyer protesting data centers in Asheville, N.C. (Photo credit: WLOS Staff)
“Banning them all is probably a stretch and I’m just not sure I see our North Carolina legislature going that far,” said Brame.
The petition also calls on the state to repeal the state’s tax incentives for data centers.
“There should be no debate about that. We should not be subsidizing something that hurts our environment,” said Brame.
WEAVERVILLE COUNCIL VOTES TO BLOCK DATA CENTERS IN TOWN, CITING LIMITED RESOURCES
It’s also calling on the legislature to stop Duke Energy from raising rates to pay for more data centers.
Duke Energy sent News 13 a statement saying in part:
Duke Energy does not develop or select data center projects, but we do have an obligation to serve customers in our territory while protecting reliability and keeping costs as low as possible. That’s why we require large-load customers to make significant financial commitments and pay the costs associated with serving them, while their additional revenue helps support grid investments and reduce pressure on future customer bills.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers are working to pass a bill that would require data centers to pay for their own expansion and regulate how much water data centers can use.
A man kidnapped and killed a U.S. Postal Service worker while she was delivering mail in North Carolina last week, police said, orphaning her two daughters, who lost their father just a few months before.
Brandi Reynolds, 35, was found dead following a call for help to authorities in Hays, North Carolina, Friday afternoon, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.
“I can confirm that Brandi Reynolds was delivering mail on her route when the incident occurred,” U.S. Postal Inspector Michael Martel said by email.
Prosecutors in Wilkes County charged William Craig Durham, 56, of the community of Roaring River, with first-degree kidnapping and murder, according to court records.
The defendant, arrested the day of the murder, remained in Wilkes County Jail on Tuesday, according to a third-party inmate information service used by the county. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
A warrant filed in district court alleged Durham committed kidnapping “by unlawfully restraining the victim, removing the victim from one place to another without the consent of the victim.”
It said Durham carried out the alleged kidnapping “for the purpose of terrorizing” Reynolds and “doing serious bodily injury” to her.
It’s unclear how Durham allegedly committed the killing. Any weapons that may have been used were not mentioned in the document, and any motive was unavailable.
On Monday, district court Judge Robert J. Crumpton ordered the defendant to remain in custody without bond, citing his “significant criminal record.”
State prison records show Durham has served time for second-degree kidnapping, assault on a female and possession of a gun by a felon, among other offenses.
An investigation into the killing was being conducted jointly by the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the bureau said.
Reynolds was the mother of two girls, according to her obituary. She lost her husband, Brent Reynolds, on Dec. 23, 2025, when the pickup he was driving veered off a road in Rhonda, North Carolina, and struck a tree, according to NBC affiliate WXII of Winston-Salem.
His obituary stated at the time that he was the father of the couple’s two girls — “the light of his life.”
Reynolds’ obituary, likewise, stated that her daughters “were her whole world.”
She left behind her mother, two sisters and several nieces and nephews, it said.
“The U.S. Postal Service is deeply saddened about the death of our colleague, Brandi Byrd Reynolds,” Postal Service spokesperson Martha Johnson said by email. “We extend our heartfelt sympathies to her family, friends, and co-workers at the Hays Post Office.”
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