Starting off the list of weird laws, per § 14-309.8, Bingo can only be played twice a week, and you’ve got to wait a full 48 hours between your games. Each session is capped at five hours because, let’s face it, even Bingo needs a nap. The Bingo police, also known as ALE Special Agents and the Bingo Administration, are on patrol to keep everything in check. If you’re a charitable organization itching to shout ‘Bingo!’ you’ll need a Charitable Bingo License. Remember, this isn’t Vegas—it’s Bingo with a conscience! Oh, and no drinking either.
No Singing Off Key
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It isn’t written in the law books, but the North Carolina Supreme Court once had to deal with a case of… bad singing. William Linkhaw, a member of the Methodist church and the Bad Singing Club, was indicted by his church for his musical crimes. Linkhaw, from Lumberton, took his case to the North Carolina Supreme Court, where the judge decided that the price for his singing was a single penny for ‘disturbing the peace.’ The court overturned this ruling a year later after Linkhaw appealed. Even the law has some sympathy for tone-deaf singers!
Stealing $1000 Worth of Grease is a Class H Felony
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As of 2022 if you’re caught stealing a kitchen grease container, you’re in hot oil. For grease worth $1000 or less, it’s a Class 1 misdemeanor—a greasy slap on the wrist. But if you swipe grease valued at over $1000, you’re looking at a Class H felony. It’s also illegal to damage these grease containers or to slap your label on someone else’s container, claiming it as your own. All this falls under § 14-79.2 Waste kitchen grease; unlawful acts and penalties.
Shacking Up? Not So Fast!
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In this neck of the woods, it’s illegal for couples to sneak into the same hotel room under false pretenses! If you’re caught pretending to be husband and wife for ‘immoral purposes,’ it’s a big no-no. The laws in North Carolina state, ‘Any man and woman found occupying the same bedroom in any hotel, public inn, or boardinghouse for any immoral purpose, or any man and woman falsely registering as, or otherwise representing themselves to be husband and wife,’ will be hit with a Class 2 misdemeanor. So, unless you’re legally married, don’t think about pulling a fast one!
Not So Silly (String)
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In Mount Airy, North Carolina, Sec 10-14 of the Code of Ordinances lays down the law on party pranks: Silly String and Snap-N-Pops are strictly off-limits! If you’re caught using or selling these play items within city limits, you could end up with a misdemeanor. So, if you’re planning a party, leave the Silly String and Snap-N-Pops at home.
Sad Hours
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Have you ever noticed that ‘Happy Hour’ in North Carolina just means discounted food? According to North Carolina’s ABC Rule 2S.0232 (b), bars and restaurants can’t offer drink specials unless they’re available all day long. So, your dream of half-price cocktails from 5 to 7 p.m. isn’t happening here. And forget about ‘Ladies’ Nights’. it’s illegal for places to offer special deals to only part of the population.
No Borrowing Your Neighbors’ Dog… Or Mule. Or Horse.
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In North Carolina, if you’re thinking about borrowing your neighbor’s horse, gelding, mare, mule, or even their dog without asking, think again! According to § 14-82, it’s illegal to take someone’s animal without their knowledge. Depriving the owner of their special or temporary use of their pet or livestock will land you a Class 2 misdemeanor. So, unless you want to trot your way to court, always ask before you saddle up or leash up someone else’s friend!
Raking in a Felony
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Finishing off the list of weird laws in North Carolina, keep an eye out for pine straw thieves! It’s illegal to steal or help someone steal pine needles or pine straw from another person’s property, as long as the owner has put up the right signs saying ‘Hands off!’ If you’re caught attempting to swipe some pine straw, you’re looking at a Class H Felony. Unless you want to turn your yard time into a hard time, leave those pine needles where they are!
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Viktor Lakhin scored 22 points, including a season-best four 3-pointers, and No. 23 Clemson rolled past North Carolina 85-65 on Monday night.
Chase Hunter added 19 points with four 3s for the Tigers (20-5, 12-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who followed up their 77-71 win over then-No. 2 Duke on Saturday night with a dominant showing against the Tar Heels (14-11, 7-6).
It’s the first time Clemson has beaten Duke and North Carolina in the same year since the 2019-20 season.
While the Duke game was tight throughout, Clemson took control of this one early. All but two of Lakhin’s points came in the first half, and the 6-foot-11 Cincinnati transfer also finished with five of Clemson’s eight blocks.
The Tigers were up 49-33 at the break, and North Carolina never made a second-half charge.
R.J. Davis led UNC with 18 points.
Takeaways
North Carolina: The Tar Heels were hoping to begin a late push for an NCAA bid. Instead, they struggled from long distance and at the foul line.
Clemson: The Tigers have lost just once in their past nine games — in double overtime to Georgia Tech at home last week — and appear a legitimate threat to win the program’s second ACC regular-season title.
Key moment
Davis’ 3-pointer put North Carolina ahead 23-21 midway through the first half. That’s when Lakhin followed with a 3 to start a 28-10 burst to end the half.
Key stat
Clemson reached 20 wins for a third straight season and the seventh time in coach Brad Brownell’s 15 seasons.
Up next
North Carolina plays at Syracuse on Saturday night.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — New North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein says more recent laws enacted by state Republicans that erode some gubernatorial appointment powers are “partisan power grabs that thwart North Carolina voters’ decisions at the ballot box.”
The Democratic governor sued House Speaker Destin Hall and Senate leader Phil Berger in Wake County court on Friday, aiming to strike down provisions within wide-ranging legislation that removed his power to fill court vacancies and name members of a commission that regulates electricity and natural gas. The Republican-controlled General Assembly enacted the omnibus law in December over then-Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto.
The lawsuit also seeks to throw out state Building Code Council appointment changes that were approved last September.
In a news release provided by his office Monday, Stein said that his comfortable gubernatorial election victory in November signals the public wants him to retain powers.
“I filed this lawsuit to ensure that their vote is respected, to restore balance to our state’s branches of government, and to put our Constitution ahead of power grabs,” he said.
Cooper and Stein had filed two similar lawsuits in December challenging other provisions in the omnibus legislation that took away powers to appoint State Board of Elections members and name a state Highway Patrol commander. Cooper, also a Democrat, filed several lawsuits against GOP leaders over challenges to his powers during his eight years as governor, with mixed results.
In the latest lawsuit, Stein seeks to have declared unconstitutional the law that places conditions on whom he can appoint to fill vacancies on the seven-member state Supreme Court and 15-member intermediate-level Court of Appeals.
The state constitution says the governor fills judicial vacancies, and based on the language the state’s founders “intended the Governor to hold exclusive, unfettered authority to fill appellate judicial vacancies,” the lawsuit said.
The new law directs the governor to fill an appellate court vacancy from a list of three people offered by the political party with which the departing judge or justice was affiliated. A sitting governor has otherwise filled vacancies with someone from a different party than the departing judge.
The current seven-member Utilities Commission already will soon decrease to five members. Without the December law, the retooled commission would be composed of three members appointed by the governor and two by the General Assembly. The December law, however, would give starting this summer one of the governor’s three appointments to the state treasurer, who is currently Republican Brad Briner.
The law, which also takes away the governor’s authority to pick the commission chairman, violates the constitutional separation of powers doctrine and fails to ensure a governor has enough control over a panel to ensure that “the laws be faithfully executed,” the lawsuit said.
Stein uses similar arguments to challenge changes to the Building Code Council. While the governor would appoint seven of the 13 members, Stein’s lawyers contend he’ll still lack sufficient control over the board because code changes can’t be approved unless nine members agree.
Spokespersons for Hall and Berger didn’t immediately respond Monday to an email seeking comment on the lawsuit. With similar laws, Republicans have argued that the legislature has historically been the most powerful of the three branches, and that executive branch power doesn’t rest with the governor alone.
Action continues for other pending power-shifting lawsuits filed by Cooper, Stein or both. A judge agreed Monday that the lawsuits challenging the Highway Patrol commander and State Board of Elections changes will be heard by panels of three trial judges. And the state Court of Appeals will hear arguments next week in a Cooper lawsuit that challenged the composition of seven state boards and commissions in a 2023 law.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge found Monday that the Trump administration hasn’t fully followed his order to unfreeze federal spending and told the White House to release all the money.
U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell ruled that continued struggles to get federal money for things like early childhood education, pollution reduction and HIV prevention research violated his Jan. 31 order. He ordered the Trump administration to “immediately take every step necessary” to follow his temporary restraining over halting its plans for a sweeping freeze of federal funding.
The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The judge said his temporary restraining order also blocks the administration from cutting billions of dollars in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health.
“These pauses in funding violate the plain text of the (temporary restraining order),” he wrote. “The broad categorical and sweeping freeze of federal funds is, as the Court found, likely unconstitutional and has caused and continues to cause irreparable harm to a vast portion of this country.”
The administration has said it was making good-faith efforts to comply with the judge’s ruling in a lawsuit filed by nearly two dozen states. But the Justice Department also argued that his ruling only applied to a sweeping spending freeze outlined in a late January memo that has since been rescinded.
The ruling doesn’t apply to other spending pauses outlined in different memos, including funds that were part of President Joe Biden’s signature climate, health care and tax package.
But McConnell, who is based in Rhode Island and was nominated by President Barack Obama, said his order blocked the administration from a wide range of funding cuts.
The Republican administration previously said the sweeping funding pause would bring federal spending in line with the president’s agenda, and the White House press secretary has indicated some spending halts would continue as part of his blitz of executive orders.
Trump has sought to increase fossil fuel production, remove protections for transgender people and end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
A different federal judge in Washington has issued a temporary restraining order against the funding freeze plan and since expressed concern that some nonprofit groups weren’t getting their funding.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha applauded McConnell’s ruling.
“This is a country of laws. We expect the administration to follow the law,” Neronha said in a statement. “We will not hesitate to go back to court if they don’t comply.”
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Associated Press writer Chris Megerian contributed to this story.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he has directed the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies, citing the rising cost of producing the one-cent coin.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Trump wrote in a post Sunday night on his Truth Social site. “I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.”
The move by Trump is the latest in what has been a rapid-fire effort by his new administration to enact sweeping change through executive order and proclamation on issues ranging from immigration, to gender and diversity, to the name of the Gulf of Mexico.
Trump had not discussed his desire to eliminate the penny during his campaign. But Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency raised the prospect in a post on X last month highlighting the penny’s cost.
The U.S. Mint reported losing $85.3 million in the 2024 fiscal year that ended in September on the nearly 3.2 billion pennies it produced. Every penny cost nearly $0.037 — up from $0.031 the year before.
The mint also loses money on the nickel, with each of the $0.05 coins costing nearly $0.14 to make.
It is unclear whether Trump has the power to unilaterally eliminate the lowly one-cent coin. Currency specifications — including the size and metal content of coins — are dictated by Congress.
But Robert K. Triest, an economics professor at Northeastern University, has argued that there might be wiggle room.
“The process of discontinuing the penny in the U.S. is a little unclear. It would likely require an act of Congress, but the Secretary of the Treasury might be able to simply stop the minting of new pennies,” he said last month.
Members of Congress have repeatedly introduced legislation taking aim at the zinc coin with copper plating. Proposals over the years have attempted to temporarily suspend the penny’s production, eliminate it from circulation, or require that prices be rounded to the nearest five cents, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Proponents of eliminating the coin have cited cost savings, speedier checkouts at cash registers, and the fact that a number of countries have already eliminated their one-cent coins. Canada, for instance, stopped minting its penny in 2012.
It wouldn’t be the first time the U.S. eliminated its least valuable coin. The half-cent coin was discontinued by Congress in 1857.
Trump’s new administration has been sharply focused on cutting costs, with Musk, who has been brought on to lead the task, targeting entire agencies and large swaths of the federal workforce as he tries to identify a goal of $2 trillion in savings.
“Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” Trump wrote in his post.
Trump sent the message as he was departing New Orleans after watching the first half of the Super Bowl.
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AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
Humans have discovered and made some of the most delicious foods throughout history and we have shared our delicacies with many cultures around the world. Sadly there are a few things that we cannot share with out furry friends. Here is a short list of some of those “no-no” foods.
Chocolate- This candy has a chemical called theobromine, which is extremely toxic to dogs, depending on the amount eaten and on the size of the dog. Chocolate poisoning can cause vomiting and seizures so if you pooch eats any chocolate, take them to their veterinary immediately.
Grapes – This one surprised me when I found out grapes were toxic and can be fatal to dogs. Though the full reason why it is toxic to dogs is still unknown, the cause of eating grapes is well documented. If they eat grapes they could experience vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pains or in extreme cases some have gone into comas. So it’s best just to keep those yummy fruits to humans only.
Cinnamon – Though not necessarily bad for dogs it can cause dogs to have irritated mouths. It can also lower their blood sugar so it’s a good idea to keep cinnamon and cinnamon oils away from your furry friends.