TV Ads About Cheri Beasley’s Record on Violent Crime Lack Context

Democrat Cheri Beasley’s record in North Carolina Supreme Court cases involving violent crime is the subject of competing TV ads in the state’s U.S. Senate race. But neither ad gives viewers all of the necessary contexts for the claims portraying Beasley, a former state chief justice, as either weak or tough on crime.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is spending over $1 million on an ad that claims Beasley “failed to protect” victims of murder and molestation.

“The murderer who shot a boy in the face. Beasley vacated his death sentence,” the ad’s narrator says. “The man convicted of sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl. She threw out the indictment. And that’s just the beginning.”

The Senate Majority PAC has responded with its own seven-figure ad buy defending Beasley and calling the NRSC’s attack inaccurate.

“‘Disgraceful.’ ‘Horrible.’ That’s what North Carolina sheriffs are calling this false ad attacking Cheri Beasley,” the Democratic super PAC’s ad says of the NRSC commercial. The narrator goes on to say: “Truth is, Judge Beasley’s cracked down on violent criminals her entire career. When a man killed a child, she gave him the death penalty.”

Here we review the facts of each case for readers to have a fuller picture.

For instance, the convicted murderer mentioned in the NRSC ad is still in prison, serving a life sentence, and is not eligible for parole. Also, the man whose indictment for sexual assault was thrown out due to an error by state prosecutors will be retried this summer.

Beasley served on the North Carolina Supreme Court from 2012 to 2020 and was chief justice for her last two years. She will face Republican Rep. Ted Budd in the general election.

‘WHO Has No Authority to Dictate U.S. Health Policy’

The International Health Regulations make up a legally binding agreement signed by 196 countries, including the United States, defining countries’ rights and obligations in handling health events and emergencies of international concern. 

The regulations were first adopted by the World Health Assembly in 1969 in response to deadly epidemics in Europe, and revisions were adopted in 2005. 

The International Health Regulations require that all members have health system capacities to detect, assess and respond to dangerous public health emergencies and that they notify the WHO of emergencies that may be of international concern. The agreement is legally binding, meaning the member states must report these events. Still, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only about a third of the countries in the world “have the ability to assess, detect, and respond to public health emergencies.” 

“It has no control over national health policy, and no enforcement mechanisms,” Lawrence O. Gostin, a global health law professor at Georgetown University, told us about the IHR in an email.

Austin Tells Air Force Academy Grads to Be Honorable Following School's Cheating, Vaccine Scandals

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told students at the Air Force Academy graduation Wednesday to serve their community and be honorable, a message that comes as the service academy deals with the aftermath of a widespread cheating scandal and vaccine refusals among cadets.

During his speech in Colorado Springs, Austin said the country will expect a lot of the new airmen and Guardians.

"We're here to defend America's security and win America's wars," Austin said. "But we're also here to safeguard America's values. So that means a love of service to your classmates, to your community, and to your country. It means that you will never lie, cheat or steal."

New Commander for US Forces in Europe Sailing to Senate Confirmation Amid Ukraine War

A new commander for U.S. military and NATO forces in Europe is cruising toward an easy confirmation by the Senate amid U.S. efforts to support Ukraine's war against Russian invaders.

At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday to consider Gen. Christopher Cavoli's nomination to be the next head of U.S. European Command and NATO's supreme allied commander, senators from both parties lined up to praise his record as exactly what's needed during Europe's largest ground war since World War II.

Loan Company and Utah-Based Bank Allegedly Charged Military Borrowers Illegally High Interest Rates

A company that provides loans for car repairs, furniture, and pets to consumers, including U.S. service members, is charging up to 189% interest in some areas, working with a Utah-based bank to sidestep federal laws that limit predatory loans, a new report alleges.

EasyPay Finance, a Carlsbad, California, company behind repair loans offered at places like AAMCO, Jiffy Lube, Midas and Meineke, and pet and furniture stores near military bases, has teamed with Ogden, Utah-based Transportation Alliance Bank to make loans with annual interest charges of 96% to 189%.

Such rates are illegal in most states for lenders that aren't banks, but EasyPay issues the loans through Transportation Alliance, allowing them to be classified as bank loans, a practice known as "rent-a-bank," according to a coalition of advocacy groups, including the National Consumer Law Center, the Center for Responsible Lending and the National Military Family Association.

Complaints from military borrowers to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau seem to show that the companies are violating or circumventing the 2006 Military Lending Act, which limits annual interest on loans to active-duty service members or their families to 36%.

Alabama Volleyball Welcomes Outside Hitter Maddy McCormick

The Crystal Lake, Ill., native spent her 2021 freshman campaign at Colorado State

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. | Rising sophomore outside hitter Maddy McCormick will join the Alabama volleyball team for the upcoming 2022 fall season.

"I'm super excited to get to Tuscaloosa and be a part of this team and Alabama athletics," McCormick said. "I am so grateful to Coach Reed for giving me this opportunity. Roll Tide!"

McCormick spent her freshman season at Colorado State, appearing in 20 sets across 12 matches. She finished the season with 33 kills, including 10 in her season debut against Fresno State on Sept. 30. The 6'0" outside hitter originally hails from Crystal Lake, Ill., earning AVCA All-Region, First Team All-Area, and All-Conference honors at Crystal Lake Central High School.

McCormick and the Crimson Tide will begin the season with new head coach Rashinda Reed Aug. 26-27 in Foster Auditorium hosting the Crimson Tide Invitational.

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-- James Thomas can be reached at JThomas.1300WTLS@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @1300wtlsJthomas. 

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Anna Foster, Megan Schofill named WGCA All-Americans

AUBURN, Ala. | Auburn teammates Anna Foster and Megan Schofill were both selected by the Women's Golf Coaches Association as Honorable Mention All-Americans following the 2021-22 season, the organization announced Thursday.  

Foster and Schofill each played a part in the Tigers' Final Four run at the NCAA Championship earlier this week at Grayhawk Golf Club. 

Schofill was the team's top individual player in stroke play, finishing tied for 27th overall, and also won both of her matches against UCLA and Stanford in the matchplay portion. Foster placed in a tie for 40th individually and scored a point in match play vs. Stanford. 

For the season, Schofill finished tops on the team with a 72.35 stroke average – just edging out Foster at 72.36. The duo ranks fifth and sixth respectively in single-season history at Auburn in stroke average. They're also top five all-time in most rounds under par in a season. Schofill is tied for second with 14 while Foster is fourth with 13. 

In April, Schofill set the Auburn 54-hole record at the SEC Championship (207) where she finished as the individual runner-up. It was one of two top-five finishes for the junior and one of five tournaments she placed in the top 20.

Smalls, Bolden, and Gunnarsson Secure Bids To NCAA Outdoor Championships

Bloomington, Ind.  |  Morgan Smalls, Serena Bolden, and Lisa Gunnarsson of LSU track and field all secured their spots at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships on day two of the NCAA East Preliminaries at the Robert C. Haugh Complex Thursday. Smalls and Bolden competed in the long jump, while Gunnarsson locked up her spot in the pole vault.

Gunnarsson, the reigning NCAA outdoor champion in the pole vault, cleared a bar of 14’ 1.75” (4.31 meters) on her third attempt at the height to finish inside the top 12. Her season-best clearance of 15’3” (4.65 meters) is the highest in the NCAA this season.

Justin Timberlake Sells Song Catalog to Hipgnosis for ‘Just Above’ $100 Million

Justin Timberlake, one of the most successful pop singers of the past 20 years, has sold a song catalog to Hipgnosis Song Management, the company has announced.

Hipgnosis has acquired 100% of all of Justin Timberlake’s copyright, ownership, and financial interests of the writer and publisher’s share of public performance income, and the catalog of musical compositions written by Justin Timberlake, according to the announcement. Also included in the sale to Hipgnosis are the worldwide administration rights to the compositions, subject to the remaining term of Universal Music’s administration rights, which expire in 2025.

Ellen DeGeneres’ Finale Is a Fitting End to a Show Without Perspective (Column)

Near the beginning of the final episode of Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show, the host found herself sadly, solemnly dancing.

Wiping away tears, DeGeneres stomped up the steps of her stage’s audience section, embracing members of the crowd wearily, mouthing the lyrics “you’ve got the best of my love” — even as it seemed evident from her demeanor that her guests had what was left of it. This was an admirable concession to routine from a host who has made her name through nimble footwork: Redefining herself as a broadcast-ready daytime host after the 1990s sitcom “Ellen” was canceled shortly after her public coming-out, DeGeneres embraced cute rubber-soled jiving as a way to express her desire to seem relatable. But it seemed, too, like a summation of what DeGeneres had been through, and what she is now giving up. For one last time, she was going through the motions.

DeGeneres’ daytime talk show, which was to air its last episode May 26, cemented the star’s legacy. It turned her from a pop-culture casualty — the woman who came out as a lesbian on her sitcom and landed the cover of Time, only to see doors shut in her face throughout the industry — into a person with the voltage to meet presidents, host the Oscars twice, and have a presence in American households each day. It also has worked against her. DeGeneres’ dry and cutting ‘90s comic persona may have been a more natural fit than her attempts to channel Oprah in urging her audience to be kind, not least because reporting about the climate on her set suggests kindness has not always been paramount at DeGeneres’ show. DeGeneres’ impact on the LGBTQ rights movement in this country is real; the movement of kindness she attempted to launch in her second act has been facing a new wave of legitimate skepticism.