North Carolina transgender inmate moved to women’s prison

RALEIGH — North Carolina officials have transferred a transgender inmate to a women’s prison.

News outlets report the state Department of Public Safety announced Thursday that Kanautica Zayre-Brown was moved to Anson Correctional Institution in Polkton. The move comes after months of review by prison officials and the threat of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The state had classified Zayre-Brown as a man and placed her in a men’s prison, where she said she constantly feared assault. The state still lists her by her birth name, Kevin Chestnut, but she is believed to be the state’s only post-operative transgender prisoner.

Zayre-Brown has been serving a sentence of up to nearly 10 years since 2017 after being convicted as a habitual offender on insurance fraud charges.

Records: Land taxes went unpaid by Rep. Meadows’ business

RALEIGH — Thousands of dollars in property taxes on land owned by Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows’ business went unpaid because the western North Carolina congressman says he didn’t know about the bills.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reports the Bertie County tax office began recording nonpayments on two parcels starting in 2013 and on a third in beginning in 2016. Meadows spokesman Ben Williamson said in a text message Tuesday that the bills of roughly $6,200 were being paid that day.

Williamson says the business called Sound Investments of WNC hadn’t paid the taxes because the notices were sent to an old address for Meadows. Bertie County is hundreds of miles from the 11th District that Meadows represents.

Meadows is a four-term congressman who leads the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

New publisher named for GateHouse newspaper in NC

FAYETTEVILLE — The group publisher of four Gatehouse Media newspapers in eastern North Carolina is adding a fifth publication to his responsibilities.

The Fayetteville Observer reports that Mike Distelhorst was named its publisher on Wednesday as part of a consolidation effort by GateHouse. He also works as group publisher of the StarNews in Wilmington, the Jacksonville Daily News, the New Bern Sun Journal and the Kinston Free Press.

He replaces Bob Gruber, who has been the Observer’s publisher since August 2016. Gruber’s last day at the newspaper will be Sept. 3.

Lucy Talley, the regional vice president of GateHouse Media’s South Atlantic Publishing Group, said Gruber’s position is being eliminated.

GateHouse Media is buying USA Today owner Gannett in a deal worth roughly $1.4 billion.

Professor, coach, among 14 arrested in prostitution raid

BURLINGTON — A North Carolina university professor and a coach for a girls’ softball team are among 14 people arrested for soliciting for prostitution.

The Alamance County Sheriff’s Office tells local news sources that one of the men arrested on Wednesday was Jason Fine, a professor in the department of biostatics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Also arrested was Jesse Carty, a coach for a girls’ fast-pitch travel softball team in Reidsville.

The sheriff’s office says in a news release that “Operation Summer Special” targeted individuals who were potential customers who wanted to pay for sex. The charges filed against the men are misdemeanors, and it wasn’t known if Fine, Carty or the other 12 men had attorneys.

Residents purr-turbed over cat’s ouster from police force

MOCKSVILLE — A North Carolina police department is evicting its pet cat named Sgt. Butters, and some residents are mounting a campaign to bring him back.

The Winston-Salem Journal reports the Mocksville Police Department’s resident feline needed a new home after concerns were raised about a pregnant woman who worked in the building and said she couldn’t be around cats. Officers had rescued the cat last year after it was seen hanging around the department.

A Save Sarge Butters Facebook page had nearly 600 members by Thursday afternoon.

Sgt. Butters has been credited with helping to restore the department’s tarnished image after a jury awarded $4.1 million in damages to three former officers who said two town officials fired them in 2011 for reporting allegations of corruptions to state officials.

Information from: Winston-Salem Journal, http://www.journalnow.com

North Carolina town without water after main break

MAYSVILLE — A broken main means a North Carolina town is completely without water.

News sources report all restaurants were closed and other businesses were impacted in the town of Maysville on Thursday. Maysville is 117 miles (188 kilometers) southeast of Raleigh, and has a population of 959 as of 2017.

The break occurred in a water main at the intersection of Main Street and N.C. Highway 58 that supports most of the town’s water system.

Town Manager Schumata Brown told WITN that workers couldn’t isolate the problem and had shut down the entire town.

Residents are being told to boil any water collected before the system was shut down, and to continue boiling it once service is restored until tests confirm it’s safe to drink.

NC historic marker to honor African American tennis club

DURHAM — A tennis club for African American players that hosted International Tennis Hall of Famers Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe is being honored with a historic marker.

The North Carolina Highway Historical Marker will be dedicated Thursday at the site of the Algonquin Tennis Club, which was created in 1922 by the American Tennis Association. The association was formed to support African American players who were then banned from the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association.

The members met in private homes for 12 years before the Algonquin Tennis Club House was purchased in 1934.

The club closed in 1964, and its historic clubhouse burned down several years later. The ceremony will be held at the W.D. Hill Recreation Center, located in the same area.

The Durham Committee on Negro Affairs was formed at the club in 1935 and remains active today as the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People.

NC schools to get iPads that have been sitting in warehouse

RALEIGH — North Carolina’s schools superintendent says more than 3,200 iPads sitting in a state warehouse will be delivered during the upcoming school year.

WRAL reports some 2,400 of the devices have been sitting in the warehouse for more than a year. Johnson bought 24,000 iPads for North Carolina’s K-3 teachers last year, but schools returned about 2,400 of them because they preferred other devices.

Last month, Johnson bought 800 more iPads with his superintendent’s budget. He said on Wednesday he decided to buy more iPads and hold onto those that were returned as part of “extensive, strategic work” his office is doing to help K-3 students.

Johnson said the 2,400 iPads have been in the warehouse longer than expected because of Hurricane Florence and the impact of its aftermath on schools.

Information from: WRAL-TV, http://www.wral.com

Associated Press