JUDGE GIVES SILENT SAM STATUE TO CONFEDERATE GROUP, ALONG WITH A HEFTY BONUS: Silent Sam, the Confederate statue that stood on UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus before it was torn down by protesters in 2018, is now in the hands of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. And the organization will have access to up to $2.5 million to transport and preserve the monument through a charitable trust set up by the UNC System. The allowed expenses could also include a facility to house and display the monument. The money is coming from accruing interest from the UNC System’s endowment that’s built through donations, not tax-payer money. The agreement came when a judge entered a consent judgment Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by the North Carolina Division Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc. against the UNC System and the UNC Board of Governors over the monument’s placement.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article237809039.html

TRUMP'S ACTING HOMELAND SECURITY CHIEF BRINGS ANTI-IMMIGRANT BIAS TO RALEIGH: President Donald Trump’s top immigration official met Republican officials Monday in Raleigh to talk about how the sheriffs of some of North Carolina’s largest counties are no longer cooperating with federal immigration agents. Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, is in charge of federal agencies like ICE, TSA and FEMA. It was the immigration side of the job that brought him to North Carolina, where he and several conservative politicians criticized Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper for vetoing a bill that would have forced sheriffs to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “There are a handful of sheriffs in North Carolina who have chosen for political reasons — purely political reasons — to shirk their responsibility as law enforcement officers of upholding the law,” said Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, a Republican, who is planning on running against Cooper for the governor’s office next year.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article237750644.html

COOPER'S VETO PEN THWARTS LEGISLATIVE WRECKING CREW: For Cooper, his achievements came most in the wreckage he stopped than any show-piece victories. But don’t think it is without significance. Legislative leaders are unrelenting in their efforts to slash away at state government’s revenue base and leaving it unable to meet its fiduciary responsibility to ALL its citizens – not just corporate taxpayers. That responsibility includes access to a quality education for EVERY child; access to basic health care for EVERY family; a clean and healthy environment for ALL residents and the opportunity for good quality of life for all citizens. Cooper blocked further efforts to slash business taxes – this time reducing and even eliminating – the franchise tax that would have cut state revenues $1 billion over five years.
https://www.wral.com/editorial-cooper-s-veto-pen-thwarts-legislative-wrecking-crew/18776802/

SECRET SERVICE INVESTIGATES NC HIGH SCHOOL IMPROV JOKE ABOUT TRUMP? A complaint about a North Carolina student’s joke went all the way to the Secret Service, officials say. A high school improv club was performing when a student made “inappropriate comments,” Surry County Schools said. “The improvisation was not rehearsed, pre-planned, or meant to be taken seriously, however, the joke was in poor taste,” the school district said in a statement. The comment was forwarded to the Surry County Sheriff’s Office, which teamed up with the Secret Service to review the case, according to the post. Capt. Scott Hudson said his department had received “several complaints” about the performance, the Winston-Salem Journal reported last week. “We will take any appropriate disciplinary action once we have all of the facts,” the district said earlier this week.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article237632269.html

PITTSBORO CONFEDERATE STATUE TAKEN DOWN OVERNIGHT: The Confederate monument outside the Chatham County courthouse was taken down overnight, with crews removing the base early Wednesday. About 50 people who supported and opposed the monument gathered in downtown Pittsboro as the work began Tuesday night. The statue was taken off its base around 2 a.m. Wednesday, and the base was removed around 5:30 a.m. “It’s heartbreaking,” Robert Butler, a supporter of the monument, said as crews worked overnight. “A statue’s never hurt a soul, just like a grave memorial. Do they hurt anybody?” Anderson Ritter disagreed. “It represents stuff that never really should have happened, and it kind of memorializes and makes it seem good,” Ritter said. “I and other people don’t agree with that.”
https://www.wral.com/confederate-monument-is-removed-from-downtown-pittsboro/18779547/