The State of Things

Updated 1:10 p.m. Officials with the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees have approved a plan to recommend a new on-campus history center to house Silent Sam, the Confederate monument that was toppled by protesters earlier this year.

It has been a bad week for President Donald Trump. Two of his close associates were caught lying as the special counsel’s investigation into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia heats up. Prosecutors for the special counsel say Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort lied repeatedly to federal investigators and breached his plea agreement.

A new in-depth report confirms that a North Carolina-based company “played an absolutely central role in the CIA’s torture program.” After an 18-month investigation, the North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture identified 49 people who were taken on so-called “torture flights” by North Carolina-based aviation company Aero Contractors, Ltd ., a private aviation company operating out of Johnston County.

Growing up, Ellis Dyson loved listening to music on the radio until many of the songs started to sound the same. They had similar beats and were often formulaic. This epiphany led him to old-time jazz and artists like Jelly Roll Morton , and eventually to playing his own music. He began on the fiddle, moved on to the banjo, and started his own band as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill .

A man who was seeking sanctuary in a church in Durham was tackled and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at a routine immigration appointment last week. Samuel Oliver-Bruno arrived at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office in Morrisville, North Carolina when plainclothes ICE agents got to him.

State legislators are working on an implementation bill for the newly-passed constitutional amendment that requires photo identification to vote. The amendment passed in November’s midterm elections with more than 55 percent of the vote.

Tony Brown is a music industry legend who produced 37 number one singles for George Strait . His legacy is large, but his roots are firmly planted in North Carolina. Brown was raised in Walkertown where his family cherished two things: church and gospel music.

Hal Crowther has a fascination with getting people’s stories right, especially after they are gone. It started with the death of his beloved great-grandmother Mary Ann Naylor Crowther. When the 94-year-old passed away, he realized that deceased people are often “defenselessness as others tell their stories and rank their accomplishments.”

A group of migrants, mostly from Central America, clashed with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers on Sunday. Of the thousands of migrants who are seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, hundreds broke off from the group and attempted to illegally cross into the country. Border protection agents fired tear gas into the crowd, which included children in strollers.

A new climate assessment report from the White House forecasts devastating economic and health impacts for the United States. Thirteen federal agencies and the U.S. Global Change Research Program issued the report, which is required by Congress every four years. The report contains a chapter on the Southeast that predicts higher sea levels, coastal flooding, stronger storms, and longer and more frequent heat waves.