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McCrory defends N.C. and his leadership

Gov. Pat McCrory is defending North Carolina and his leadership, following an editorial in The New York Times last week that criticized the state's Republican leadership and recent legislative actions.

In a July 10 editorial headlined“The Decline of North Carolina,” The Times called North Carolina's current state leadership a “demolition derby tearing down years of progress in public education, tax policy, racial equality” and voting rights. 

But McCrory shot back in a letter to the editor published Friday that he’s leading the state on a “powerful comeback.” He says state reforms and “collaborative leadership” are solving problems and creating thousands of new jobs. 

McCrory said he has "stepped on the toes" of both the political left and the political right. " While it may not be apparent to the very liberal worldview of The Times, North Carolina’s new focus on reform is paying off, McCrory wrote.  You can read his response letter on the Times website

MORAL MONDAYS PROTESTS CONTINUE 

Activists leading the so-called Moral Mondays protests at the North Carolina state capitol for the past two months say they’ll be back again tomorrow. They say this week’s demonstration will focus on the rights and leadership of women. William Barber, head of the state NAACP, said women will be talking about women’s rights, education, unemployment, poverty, Medicaid and voting rights. Hundreds of people have been arrested during the demonstrations against the Republican controlled legislature. 

TARHEELS' HAIRSTON HAD RENTAL SUV

New details are out this weekend about last month’s arrest of UNC Chapel Hill basketball player PJ Hairston. A police report reviewed by the Associated Press says Hairston told police the night he was arrested on drug charges that a man gave him the rental vehicle he was driving to visit friends in Atlanta. The report also says Hairston tried to switch places with one of the passengers in the before arriving at a license checkpoint. Hairston told police he was given the rented SUV two hours before the traffic stop by a man he called “Fatts.” Rental records show Haydn “Fatts” Thomas, a convicted felon facing drug charges, rented 2013 GMC Yukon.    

AIR NATIONAL GUARD UNIT BACK FROM ARIZ.

The North Carolina Air National Guard’s 145th Airlift Wing was due back in Charlotte this weekend, after helping fight wildfires in Arizona for the past couple of weeks. The local unit sent two C-130 planes and about 30 guard members to help with the firefighting. The crew included a local maintenance team that supported both the 145th’s C-130s as well as two from a Wyoming guard unit.  The planes were part of a team flying out of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport that was dropping fire-retardant chemicals on the fires. Authorities in Arizona say the Yarnell Hill fire, where 19 firefighters died June 30, is now 100 percent under control.

GRANT FOR NEW NATIONAL FOREST

A $3 million grant from the U.S. Forest Service will help buy land for a proposed new Headwaters State Forest, in the North Carolina mountains.  Kiernan Roe, the head of the Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy, says the money will help purchase 800 to 1,000 acres for the proposed East Fork of the French Broad Headwaters Project. The group hopes to eventually protect 8,000 acres. The land connects to more than 100,000 acres of existing conservation lands in North Carolina and South Carolina. The forest eventually will be transferred to the state.  

FOXX SPEAKS AT MOM'S GRADUATION    

U.S. Transportation Secretary and former Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx says his mother taught him to never give up on his goals. Foxx spoke Saturday at the 2013 commencement for the University of Phoenix Charlotte campus. His mother, Laura Rose Foxx, received her doctor of management in organizational leadership degree. The Charlotte Observer reports that his mother got her undergraduate and master's degrees, but still wanted one more degree. Foxx says his mother's story is similar to that of many Phoenix graduates who know that success doesn't always come right away.

POLICE INVESTIGATE MURDERS

Police in Charlotte and Concord are investigating murders over the past 24 hours. In Concord, a 30-year-old man was found shot to death on Albert Court at around 12:45 Saturday afternoon. Police say the shooting may have been related to a domestic dispute. And Charlotte Mecklenburg police are investigating the fatal shooting of a man on Lakewood Avenue. That incident was reported around 4:45 this morning.