RALEIGH — The vehicle of a missing 39-year-old man who grew up in Gastonia, but went missing Saturday in Raleigh was found in Danville, Virginia, on Monday, police said.William Anderson Banks Jr., known as "Andy" to his friends, was last heard from in just before he was to meet two men in Raleigh to sell a Range Rover in a deal set up through Craigslist.Banks grew up in Gaston County. He graduated from Ashbrook High School in 1999. He has lived in the Raleigh area ..read more

There were many changes as members of the Class of 2021 began their final year of high school with social distancing and COVID-19 precautions but some things never change: those college applications waiting to be filled out.It’s a task some seniors may have started early but with the Fall semester underway, a final push is on for the many seniors now seeking admission to colleges or universities of interest.School guidance counselors and advisors from school ..read more

The Lenoir County Board of Education met Monday night and voted 5 to 2 for in-person instruction for all grades.Less than two months after the board voted for remote learning, members decided during a Zoom meeting to offer classroom instruction for Lenoir County Public Schools beginning on Monday, September 28.Board Vice Chair Bruce Hill said the decision on July 27 for remote learning was the most difficult decision he has ever made in his 16 years on the board of ..read more

Democrat Cunningham expresses reservations about a fast-tracking effort to develop a coronavirus vaccine ..read more

A former Gastonia man who has lived the past several years in Raleigh has been reported missing ever since agreeing to meet two people on Saturday to try and sell his 2011 Range Rover.Friends fear the worse, saying the 39-year-old Andy Banks would not be the type to just stop contacting family and friends."All we really know is he met two guys, and I’m presuming they are guys, at a shopping center (Cameron Village) to sell a vehicle," said lifelong friend Cliff ..read more

Parents have complained about technology glitches, lost student learning, and the threats to students’ mental health during isolated school days ..read more

$1 billion to be spent as state copes with the human and economic cost of the pandemic ..read more

WASHINGTON — Bernie Sanders is warning that if onetime rival Joe Biden doesn't do more to promote his policies and reach out to Latino voters, the Democratic presidential nominee is at risk of falling short to President Donald Trump this November.Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who left the primary race in the spring and has worked to shift Biden to the left on key issues, has made the warnings in public and private in recent days. Most recently, he went on ..read more

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — With many teachers opting out of returning to the classroom because of the coronavirus, schools around the U.S. are scrambling to find replacements and in some places lowering certification requirements to help get substitutes in the door.Several states have seen surges in educators filing for retirement or taking leaves of absence. The departures are straining staff in places that were dealing with shortages of teachers and substitutes even before the ..read more

LONDON — Oxford University announced Saturday it was resuming a trial for a coronavirus vaccine it is developing with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, a move that comes days after the study was suspended following a reported side-effect in a U.K. patient.In a statement, the university confirmed the restart across all of its U.K. clinical trial sites after regulators gave the go-ahead following the pause on Sunday."The independent review process has concluded ..read more