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☀️ In Today’s Edition

1. Tased and Confused
2. The Waiting Game
3. Around Our Network
4. What We’re Reading
5. Our Recent Stories

Dillon Ledford doesn’t remember getting punched and shocked by a trio of police officers in a Walmart parking lot, but security footage tells the story.

Ledford, who has Type I diabetes, was driving home on the evening of February 16, 2024 when he felt his blood sugar dropping. He pulled into the parking lot of the Spruce Pine Walmart Supercenter to buy something to eat.

Minutes later, he was in the throes of hypoglycemic shock when Spruce Pine police   officers removed him from his car, Tased, and cuffed him. They charged him with one count of second-degree trespassing and three counts of resisting arrest. None of the officers administered medical aid or requested assistance. Now Ledford is suing the town, the police chief, and the officers.

Spruce Pine Police Shocked a Diabetic Man. He’s Suing.

Dillon Ledford argues in his lawsuit that the department didn’t maintain adequate policies for the use of Tasers. Other agencies in the state have faced similar claims.

The case joins a growing list of complaints regarding officers’ use of Tasers in North Carolina in recent years, as Kyle Perotti reports.

The Waiting Game

Members of the Lumbee gathered in Pembroke on Tuesday for a celebration in anticipation of a vote that would, after 137 years of trying, grant the tribe full federal recognition.

But the Senate went home last night without passing the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes the provision recognizing the tribe. Senators are set to reconvene at 10 a.m. today.

The mood was still buoyant at the party, which reporters from Border Belt Independent attended. “I saw my grandfather, I saw my great-grandfather and my mother sit and talk about us having full federal recognition,” said Wendy Locklear, 56. “And I can say tonight that I’m positive that we are on the brink of it. We’re closer than we’ve ever been.”

Speaking of waiting, the state Supreme Court released a trove of decisions last Friday. Notably absent? Leandro v. North Carolina, the decades-old legal battle over the right to a “sound, basic education” for North Carolina’s 1.5 million public school students.

The justices held oral arguments in the latest round of legal wrangling over Leandro on February 22, 2024. That was 644 days ago, if anyone is counting, and our headline from October remains evergreen.

Have a news tip for our team? You can reach us at scoops@theassemblync.com.

Around Our Network

The Cary Town Council announced the resignation of its town manager on Monday, per INDY, following concerns about “over-the-top spending and inadequate financial reporting … lack of transparency with the full council, staff, and citizens, [and] an unhealthy work environment.”

Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott’s no-strings-attached gifts of $24 million to Robeson Community College and $12 million to Bladen Community College are the largest in each school’s history, Border Belt Independent reports.

A brouhaha over a botched press release is putting Fayetteville’s spokesperson at odds with a local advocacy group and some council members, as CityView documents.

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What We’re Reading

Mark My Words: President Trump’s nomination of former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker to a State Department post dealing with global religious freedom has been held up in the Senate, per NBC, and some think Sen. Ted Budd is to blame. Sen. Thom Tillis, meanwhile, told The N&O that it may be time to move on to another pick.

‘The Soul of a Great Warrior’: Eva Clayton was the first Black woman to represent North Carolina in the U.S. Congress, and at 91 she’s not done fighting. Civil Eats gets her thoughts on farming, gerrymandering, and other topics of the day.

Is This What the Androids Are Dreaming About? Canary Media reports that N.C. State University launched one of the Southeast’s first training facilities for agrivoltaics last month, a demonstration project where sheep graze beneath ground-mounted solar arrays.

Our Recent Stories

Their Charges Were Dismissed, But These Two Men Are Not Free

A judge said in August that two men incarcerated for 23 years didn’t kill the grandfather of NBA star Chris Paul. So why are they still in prison?

Pining for Something Real At Frosty’s Tree Farm

In the Christmas tree capital of the world, Frosty’s Choose & Cut is a family tradition for those who want memories more than comfort.

Discord on the Massage Board

Some see the state board massage board’s unique legal arrangement as a convenience. Others see it as a potential conflict.