POPULAR NC SCHOOL ACCOUNTING FIRM JUST LOST $2 MILLION FRAUD VERDICT: An accountant whose firm audits Durham Public Schools' books, and whose separate consulting company has had contracts with some 50 other school systems, was hit with a $2 million fraud verdict last month and now faces a new lawsuit from his former business partners. Leon L. Rives' accounting company also audited three insurance companies that were taken over last year by the state over liquidity concerns. They're owned by Greg Lindberg, who goes to trial this week on a federal bribery charge. Among other things, Rives' former partners have accused him of pilfering hundreds of thousands of dollars from the firm and using it on trips to the Bahamas, Amsterdam and Disney World, plus private plane rentals, alimony payments and a $10,000 night at a Raleigh strip club. Those accusations, and others, appear in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by Jay Sharpe and Aaron Patel, former small percentage partners at Rives & Associates.
https://www.wral.com/accountant-with-school-contracts-accused-of-fraud-10-000-strip-club-night/18950...

SAMPSON COUNTY DEPUTY PULLS OVER BLACK MAN FOR GOING UNDER SPEED LIMIT: Perry was pulled over, the deputy in the video tells him, because he was driving 65 mph in a 70-mph zone. "You're driving 65, and you know the speed limit is 70. I'm just wondering what's wrong. I mean, are you OK?" the deputy, who is white, asked Perry. "I'm just checking on you. That's all I'm doing," he said. As the deputy continued to question him – about his home address, the length of the car rental and his destination – Perry asked, "I'm trying to understand the relation to the traffic stop. ... I have to identify where I'm traveling to and from during the trip out here? ... I don't understand." The deputy stepped away and returned with a written warning for Perry, for traveling under the speed limit. "Wouldn't you say it is kind of suspicious to travel under the speed limit and when the speed limit is 70?" the deputy asked before he dismissed Perry, telling him, "I've got stuff to do."
https://www.wral.com/run-in-with-sampson-deputy-leaves-driver-feeling-unsafe/18953226/

JUDGE BADDOUR VACATES $2.5 MILLION SILENT SAM SETTLEMENT: A judge on Wednesday threw out a $2.5 million deal to give the controversial "Silent Sam" monument to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, saying the group had no legal right to negotiate the deal with the University of North Carolina system. It's unclear what happens now with Silent Sam, which stood on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus for more than a century before protesters pulled it down in August 2018. The statue had been in storage from the time of the protest until the UNC Board of Governors reached a deal with the SCV on the day before Thanksgiving. Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour gave the Board of Governors until next Monday to figure out what they want to do with the statue. If they don't respond, he said he might hold another hearing on that issue.
https://www.wral.com/judge-throws-out-silent-sam-deal/18948287/

MORE FLOODING LIKELY IN TRIANGLE WITH POSSIBLE TORNADOES: Rain on Tuesday morning in the Triangle could make way for severe weather in the afternoon, less than a week after relentless showers, strong winds and tornadoes tore through North Carolina. Isolated storms are expected to hit central North Carolina between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. “A few of these storms could become strong to severe,” the Raleigh office of the National Weather Service said on Twitter. In the Triangle, “the primary hazards will be damaging wind gusts and the possibility for an isolated tornado or two,” according to forecasters. Storm systems are expected to dump 1 to 2 inches of rain on Orange County and other areas to the west, forecasters say. “The additional rain will likely keep creeks, rivers and streams running fast and above normal,” according to the weather service.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/weather-news/article240164238.html

BURR AND TILLIS DISAPPOINT: Burr and Tillis, jurors who are sworn to “do impartial justice,” voted NOT to hear any witnesses. We’ve been watching, listening and following the Senate impeachment trial – which really has only been opening and closing statements. REAL trials in the United States include the basics: Calling witnesses who testify and are cross-examined under oath along with the introduction of evidence that seek to prove or exonerate the accused. Do Burr and Tillis believe the president is free to repeat his Ukraine caper? Is it that Trump can do anything he wants? Do they agree with the absurd logic of Alan Dershowitz: "If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment." Burr and Tillis have violated their oaths. This is a trial without evidence. November 2020 cannot come soon enough.​​​​
https://www.wral.com/editorial-burr-and-tillis-disappoint/18929496/