North Carolina
‘Sexiest Collard Farmer’ contest sows drama as competitors wilt under new, strict photo considerations
They’re feeling a little hot under the collard.
Come-hither cultivators vying for the title of North Carolina’s “sexiest collard farmer” are wilting with disappointment because they got down and dirty entering steamy pictures — only to be told they should have put some dressing on that salad.
“I’m a little disappointed that this year they did not post my picture,” said farmer and defending champion Lee Berry, referring to the contest organizer’s Facebook page.
Berry, 54, submitted a photo of himself wearing what he thought any true sex symbol of collard greenery should wear – nothing but collard greens themselves – and was sure he would clinch the crown again.
But the competition’s organizer – who holds voting for the contest on his Facebook page, “The State You’re In” – said he feared Berry’s photo might get flagged by Facebook’s censors and bring the entire contest crashing down.
“You don’t want to lose your account for posting nudity or things like that,” said the organizer, who asked to remain unnamed, to the Telegraph.
“There’s three photos that I didn’t even want to post on social media,” he added.
Though Berry’s photo remains in the running, rather than being featured at the top of the page along with more than 20 other competitors he was asked to post his photo in the comments below the vote.
Since the winner is determined by the photo that get the most “likes,” Berry thinks his chances of reclaiming the crown are seriously limited by his photo’s reduced exposure.
“I’m not whining and b—hing and griping, but I just, I would have loved to have known beforehand that that wasn’t going to be displayed,” he said.
And Berry isn’t the only entrant with a leaf to pick.
David Correll, 50, went all out to take down Berry this year and stripped down for a candle-lit photoshoot in a bathtub full of collard greens.
But his photo was bumped into the comments section, too, over fears it could be flagged by Facebook — leaving him somewhat baffled by the decision.
“My picture showed a lot less skin than a lot of pictures you can find on Facebook, so I’m not really sure why they decided to censor it a little bit, but that’s OK,” he said.
Facebook’s community standards bar sexually explicit or suggestive photos and specifically name “visible genitalia” or sex acts as being banned — none of which Berry, Correll or anybody in the running submitted.
But the organizer said he didn’t want to run the risk and plans to amend the entry rules for next year’s competition to keep things more deliberately PG.
“I think next year we’re going to make it where it’s a little more family friendly,” he said.
With voting due to close by Tuesday, the current favorite to take home the 2024 crown is Patrick Brown, of Brown Family Farms, whose photo of himself looking cool-eyed into the camera alongside a green bushel has garnered a commanding lead of more than 3,500 votes.
A website — http://www.CollardsOnly.com — has been set up to help organize the competition, which will turn the entrants’ photos into a calendar and raise funds to donate to Hurricane Helene victims.
Even though the crown may elude Berry and Correll this year, both know it’s all about fun at the end of the day.
“It’s all for fun, you know, just for laughs, and I’ve had a lot of phone calls from friends and some of my customers that got a real kick out of it, so that’s the main reason to do it, just to have a little fun,” Correll said.
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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