Water restored after main break in North Carolina town

MAYSVILLE — Residents in a North Carolina town can drink the water again after a water main break led officials to shut off the supply.

News outlets report the town of Maysville restored service on Thursday evening, and on Friday, town officials lifted a boil water advisory. Tests showed there was no bacteria in the water.

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. The town says an aging pipe was to blame for the broken main.

Maysville is 117 miles (188 kilometers) southeast of Raleigh.

Man dies after stroke while taking down Christmas lights

APEX — Authorities say a North Carolina man died after a stroke while taking down Christmas lights caused him to fall down stairs and land on his cat, fatally breaking the animal’s back.

News outlets report search warrants made public Friday say 56-year-old Frans Oudshoorn was found dead Aug. 9 at home in Apex.

Wake County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Eric Curry says Oudshoorn’s son came to the home Aug. 8 and found the cat dead. The son placed the animal in the freezer, intending to bury it later. He then cut his father loose from the Christmas lights and brought him a pillow and blanket at his father’s request. Curry says the son returned the next afternoon and found his father dead.

No charges will be filed in the case.

College official resigns in wake of Twitter comments

RALEIGH — A North Carolina university official has resigned from his post in the wake of complaints by conservative activists about his Twitter posts that made disparaging comments about Republicans.

News outlets report N.C. State University confirmed that vice chancellor and dean for student affairs Mike Mullen resigned, effective Friday. While the school acknowledged Mullen’s decision, it didn’t say why he resigned. The News & Observer of Raleigh reports Mullen’s resignation came hours after an N.C. State student who has been active in conservative politics wrote for a conservative website TheCollegeFix.com, that Mullen’s tweets made him and other conservative students feel alienated.

An online description says TheCollegeFix.com focuses on higher education.

Mullen was also a professor in the university’s crop sciences department. No one answered the phone at Mullen’s office on Friday.

NC high court: DA can’t repeat dropped murder charge

RALEIGH — North Carolina’s highest court says protections that block prosecutors from repeatedly pursuing criminal charges against someone for the same crime still apply in some cases when prosecutors want to reinstate dropped charges after police find new evidence.

The state Supreme Court on Friday ruled Wake County prosecutors couldn’t make a second try at putting James H. Courtney III in prison for a 2009 murder because they dropped charges after an earlier trial ended with an inconclusive jury.

The jury in a second trial in 2016 convicted Courtney of shooting another man in what prosecutors contended was a disputed drug deal.

The high court said that extra trial was prohibited because prosecutors dropped charges after the earlier mistrial and can’t do it again. Friday’s ruling vacates Courtney’s conviction.

North Carolina man accused of holding woman against her will

BURGAW — Authorities have filed multiple charges, including human trafficking, against a North Carolina man after a woman called 911 to say a man was holding her and her 8-month-old baby against their will.

News outlets report the Pender County Sheriff’s Office says 54-year-old James Bryan Peterson was initially released on a $20,000 secured bond on assault and other charges. Investigators say the unidentified 24-year-old woman made the 911 call on Aug. 9 from a home in the town of Willard.

After deputies searched his home, Peterson was arrested again and jailed on a $2 million bond on charges including human trafficking an adult victim, human trafficking a child victim, first-degree kidnapping, and sexual servitude.

Peterson is being held in the Pender County jail. It’s not known if he has an attorney.

3 charges after emaciated horses found on family’s property

WILMINGTON — Authorities in North Carolina say three members of a family are charged with animal neglect after emaciated horses were found on their property.

WECT reports the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office charged Robert Woody Jr., Judy Wood and Sarah Woody were charged with misdemeanor counts on Friday.

The sheriff’s office says that on July 14, an animal control officer responding to a call of a horse on the loose spotted several emaciated horses on the property, including one that was stuck in the mud.

According to the sheriff’s office, rescue crews pulled the horse from the mud, but it died. A veterinarian’s evaluation determined five other horses were in bad shape and needed emergency attention. They were taken to a rehabilitation ranch for treatment.

Information from: WECT-TV, http://www.wect.com/

17 hospitalized in North Carolina multi-passenger van crash

HENRICO — First responders in North Carolina say 17 people have been brought to the hospital with injuries ranging from critical to nonurgent after a multi-passenger van rolled over and crashed.

Gaston Fire, Rescue and EMS posted in a Facebook news release that agencies responded to a crash report Thursday evening near Henrico, North Carolina, and found more than a dozen injured. It says 11 patients were in nonurgent condition, five were urgent and one was critical.

Officials say one was victim was found trapped inside the van and responders used hydraulic rescue cutters and saws to remove them.

At least five agencies including fire services, rescue squads and sheriff’s deputies responded to the crash, which left much of the road closed for hours.

North Carolina Highway Patrol is investigating.

Authorities: School receptionist sent inappropriate photos

MORGANTON — Authorities in North Carolina have accused a school receptionist of sending inappropriate pictures to a student.

Citing court records, news outlets reported Thursday that 51-year-old Leigh Perkins Greene was indicted Monday on charges including attempted indecent liberties with a child by school personnel other than a teacher.

The indictment says Greene tried to take indecent liberties with a student at Patton High School in Burke County while she worked as a secretary. It says she sent obscene photos to the student through text messaging and Snapchat.

Burke County Public Schools spokeswoman Cheryl Shuffler says Greene was fired July 11. Patton principal Sara LeCroy said Greene had been sending inappropriate pictures for a “couple of months.”

Greene has a $25,000 bond. It’s not known if she has an attorney.

NC legislators supporting Medicaid expansion hold hearing

WINSTON-SALEM — A health policy expert and residents struggling to find affordable insurance are planned speakers for a hearing before North Carolina General Assembly members pressing for passage of Medicaid expansion this year.

Democratic Sen. Paul Lowe is leading a legislative field heading Friday at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem.

The legislature is in the middle of a state budget stalemate, and expansion is a key reason for it. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the Republican budget in large part because it lacked coverage through the 2010 federal health care law. Republicans say Cooper’s Medicaid demand is to blame for final budget delays.

A key speaker Friday will be George Washington University professor Leighton Ku, who wrote recently about the economic and employment benefits of Medicaid expansion in North Carolina.

NC city to consider honoring sit-in leader with street signs

WILMINGTON — A North Carolina street in the hometown of a leader of a Greensboro sit-in leader may be designated in his honor.

The StarNews of Wilmington reports the city council next month will consider a resolution to designate North Third Street in honor of retired Maj. Gen. Joseph McNeil.

McNeil is a Wilmington native and a graduate of Williston High School. He was one of the four North Carolina A&T State University students who sat at the segregated lunch counter in Woolworth department store on Feb. 1, 1960, and refused to leave.

On Sept. 3, the council will consider a resolution calling for signs to be placed along a city-maintained portion of Third Street. The road’s name would stay the same.

A request for the portion of the street that the state maintains could be made later.

Information from: The StarNews, http://starnewsonline.com

North Carolina caretaker gets prison for embezzling $330K

WINSTON-SALEM — A North Carolina woman has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for embezzling more than $330,000 from a man in her care.

News outlets report 52-year-old Teresa Denise Schneider also was sentenced Thursday to five years’ supervised release and ordered to return the stolen cash.

Court records say Schneider cared for a retired doctor from 2010 until his natural death in 2013. It says the man’s family became concerned about Schneider’s hand in the man’s finances during that time and ordered her to provide copies of his bank and credit card statements.

It says they later discovered that Schneider altered the statements to hide cash transfers to herself. It says she used the money for purchases including college tuition and travel. She pleaded to bank and mail fraud.

Associated Press