Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

The Carolinas news | Judge: Religious license plates are out

South Carolina

COLUMBIA

Judge: Religious license plates are out

A federal judge says South Carolina can't issue license tags that show the image of a cross in front of a stained glass window along with the phrase "I Believe."

U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie said in her ruling Tuesday that the license plates violate the separation of church and state.

The fight over the "I Believe" license plates started shortly after Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer helped push the legislation through in 2008.

Groups including Americans United for Separation of Church and State and American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee challenged the state's ability to put a religious message on a state license tag.

ANDERSON

2 in hospital after video game spat

Authorities say a mother and her son have been shot and injured in a fight between family members over a video game.

Anderson Independent-Mail reported that 46-year-old Lynette Alexander and her 23-year-old son, Anthony Alexander, were taken to a hospital Monday night. Anthony Alexander was shot in the stomach and his mother was shot in the hand while trying to intervene.

Authorities say at least four people, including a 2-year-old boy, were at the home when a fight started between Anthony Alexander and his uncle over a video game.

Charleston

Coast Guard identifies oil spill source

The Coast Guard says it has identified the source of a recent oil spill in a South Carolina harbor.

Officials said Tuesday that a 600-foot cargo vessel caused the spill that left oil sheen and tar balls in the Charleston Harbor and on surrounding beaches last month.

Witness accounts and forensic tests were used in the investigation. The Coast Guard says the vessel reported a 10-gallon oil spill on Oct. 19. The spill happened as heavy bunker fuel was being transferred from a barge to the ship, and the vessel owners hired a local contractor to clean up the oil.

Witnesses say no oil was seen in the water when the contractor arrived. The spill is still under investigation.

COLUMBIA

Board wants substitute teachers checked

South Carolina education officials want the state to require criminal background checks of substitute teachers in an effort to prevent child abuse.

The State Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday to ask legislators to change the law. Such screening now is required of full-time teachers but not of substitutes.

State schools chief Jim Rex says informal surveys show most school districts already do the checks on substitutes. But he says making them mandatory would emphasize student safety.

By year's end, nearly 20,000 teachers and other school employees will complete training on child abuse prevention.

North Carolina

RALEIGH

Ex-senator drops political bid

A former state senator said Tuesday he won't seek the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr next year despite spending months traveling the state and testing out a campaign.

Cal Cunningham, a Lexington attorney and Army reservist who served in Iraq, confirmed he wrote a Facebook message to supporters saying he had "concluded that this is the wrong race at the wrong time for me and my family."

GREENVILLE

Dozens arrested in sweeping drug raids

Authorities say they arrested more than 50 North Carolina residents as part of drug raids that netted hundreds of arrests across the country.

The Drug Enforcement Administration said Tuesday many arrested in October and November were part of the Mexico-based La Familia Michoacana drug organization.

Officials say La Familia is responsible for the distribution of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine into central and eastern North Carolina.

Federal drug raids in October netted more than 300 suspects across the country. Law enforcement officials say "Project Coronado" is the largest single strike at a Mexican drug cartel in the United States.

FAYETTEVILLE

Police probe lengthy dispatch time

North Carolina police are investigating why it took more than an hour to dispatch officers to the home of a real estate developer who killed his wife, two teenage children and himself last week.

Fayetteville police are reviewing a 911 call placed from a landline phone in the home of William Maxwell, 47, while he was killing his family.

In the call a female can be heard moaning, followed by a gunshot before the line goes dead. Officers were sent to the home just before Maxwell's father-in-law called from the home to report a murder-suicide more than an hour after the first 911 call.

The 911 dispatcher had called the phone back after the line went dead but got a busy signal and later left a message on the answering machine.