The 2026 college football season has introduced a new name to watch as it celebrates an unexpected heavyweight contender, who has overcome significant odds to reach the college football stage.

David Jones, affectionately dubbed ‘Big Dave’, has made a move to Mississippi Valley State as a senior transfer, preparing to bulk up the Delta Devils’ defensive line. Standing at an imposing 6 feet, Jones tips the scales at 425 pounds, a weight confirmed on the team’s official website.

His formidable prowess on the field has sparked comparisons to NFL legend William ‘Refrigerator’ Perry, especially after he ran in three touchdowns as a goal-line back during his stint at a previous school.

Hailing from Augusta, Georgia, Jones showcased his talents as an offensive guard and defensive tackle for Hephzibah High School. His senior year in 2021 was particularly distinguished, as he earned recognition as a First Team All-Region player.

Yet, the journey wasn’t smooth sailing. In the wake of COVID-19, with collegiate rosters packed and slots scarce, Jones found himself competing in a club program against junior college teams, determined to carve out a path to his next opportunity.

When scholarship opportunities fell through with coaches retiring, he went back home and was working a 9-to-5 job with UPS. Yet still he refused to let his dream die. 

‘Every Sunday, [we] emailed every coach starting from Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,’ Jones told HBCU Gameday. ‘All the way from D1 to D3… and we did that every day consistently.’

His film included clips of him being used on offense as a running back. 

‘I put little gems in my highlight tape to see if my coach actually even watch it,’ Jones said. ‘Like I put some of my running plays in the middle of the highlight.’

In the end, Livingstone College assistant coach Mark Williams noticed, and the big man landed in North Carolina. 

‘At the end of his film, man, he had like two or three clips of him running the ball,’ Williams said. ‘Some coaches… might look at that and see, ‘Man, this joker 6-2, 6-3, 360 pounds — why is he running the ball like Refrigerator Perry?’ But you never know when you may need to use that skill set.’

Jones eventually scored three rushing touchdowns last year. They generated attention on social media, and he’s now made the move to a Division 1 (I-AA) program in Mississippi Valley State, leaving Livingstone behind.

‘This will be my third school I’m going to,’ he told HBCU Gameday. ‘All I know is, okay, Dave, you gotta go bet on yourself.

‘I’m just trying to really go feed my family. Football, really a business right now.’

While Jones was listed at 350 pounds at Livingstone, his new school now lists him at 425 pounds, and shared a promotional photo of him in his new uniform holding a sledgehammer. 

The SWAC team begins their season on Thursday against Nicholls State. They will play at Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears, in Week 3 in the Chicago Football Classic against Lincoln. 

Desmond Watson was previously the heaviest player in college football at the University of Florida, weighing 449 pounds at his Pro Day before becoming the heaviest player in NFL history when he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But after being put on a conditioning plan and being forced to practice alone, he was eventually released without ever playing a game. 

‘The door is not closed on him, but if you don’t practice, you’re probably not going to make this team,’ Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said at the time. 

‘We’ll see where we are in a couple weeks and we’ll circle back and we’ll go from there. We’re in the last week of camp. If you’re not practicing, you’re not going to play. He’s been working hard, we had a good talk, and we’ll circle back and see where he’s at.’

Watson himself said during last year’s camp: ‘I feel like my name is etched in history, of course, as being the official heaviest player in the NFL or whatnot.

‘It’s a good story, but at the same time I don’t want that to be my narrative. I want to be known as a football player – and a good football player at that.’

After he was released, Watson’s agent told AP: ‘He’s still working. Job’s not finished.’

But after being signed then released by the DC Defenders of the XFL, he has remained without a team and not appeared on a NFL roster this training camp.  

ELSENBORN, Belgium — A new peril has emerged amidst the wildfires scorching Europe this summer: the perilous remnants of past wars. Hidden beneath the charred earth lie rusty bombs and mines from World War I and II, posing a significant risk to the brave crews battling the relentless flames.

The intense heat has already triggered some explosives, sending blasts echoing through France, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. In one incident, a bomb-disposal team rushed to a forest in Limburg province, close to a historic 1944 battle site, as flames threatened the area.

Raging fires, exacerbated by climate change, are signalling the end of Europe’s long-standing “climatic luck,” according to Sarah Njeri, a peace and conflict expert at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. Historically, stable temperatures and regular rainfall kept these buried wartime relics dormant.

“Climate change is now unearthing and reactivating what was once stable,” Njeri explained. Wildfires not only ignite old munitions but also strip away the natural cover that hides them, making detection even more challenging.

This year’s fire season has been exacerbated by January’s heavy rains, which promoted lush vegetation that quickly turned into tinder as summer’s heat arrived. Paired with drought, low humidity, and strong winds, these conditions have created a perfect storm for wildfires, as highlighted in a recent study by the World Weather Attribution group.

Flames chewed up old battlefields and set off buried explosives

As they advanced, the flames moved over territory that has long been known to hold unexploded weapons, a lethal legacy that lingered long after the guns fell silent.

In a forest in tinder-dry France, a massive wildfire outside the southwestern city of Bordeaux uncovered a cache of what is believed to be World War II-era ammunition.

In the eastern Belgian province of Liege, Gov. Hervé Jamar said “a few sporadic detonations” were recently heard and that emergency services were adapting to account for munitions buried in a fire area. He said no fire crews were in danger, but local media published photos of a firefighter handling a rusted bomb.

During World War II, booby traps, bombs and mines were sprinkled throughout the province’s dense peat-bog forest known as the High Fens. In the first four years after Germany’s surrender in 1945, the munitions killed six civilians, said Bernard Collard, a local historian who runs the Truschbaum Museum near Belgium’s border with Germany that houses a collection of found objects from the war.

“When you go into a forest like this, you are not sure where the explosives are,” he said. He remembers his father detonating a found bomb in a quarry.

The fire in the High Fens, which stretches across the border with Germany, is smoldering atop a much-bloodied battlefield where Nazis fought Allied troops. The Battle of the Bulge was fought in and around the High Fens.

The fire is even closer to the sites of two lesser-known skirmishes along Elsenborn Ridge and in the Hurtgen Forest, which lasted 88 days and killed about 33,000 American and 28,000 German troops.

Every year, Belgium responds to thousands of calls about explosives

Collard is authorized to scan with a metal detector the former battlefields, now forests, pastures and farmland. He has found mortar shells, machine guns, helmets, cigarette cases, and once, a human skeleton.

“You never know what you might come across, and you shouldn’t take it lightly,” Collard said while standing in a field that was once a blood-soaked site. Nearby, blueberry bushes cover old foxholes, trenches and deep craters from artillery fire.

He frequently works with the Belgian demining squad. “It’s part of our history. We live with it,” Collard said.

Unexploded ordnance is even more dangerous around wildfires because heat can trigger the explosives, said Jonas Tepe, a spokesperson for North Rhine-Westphalia, just across the border in Germany.

The Belgian Ministry of Defense said it receives requests from the region about every week to assist in disarming explosives, yet it does not consider the area a “hot spot” compared to elsewhere in Belgium. Such requests are even more common in the west, where farmers in towns such as Ypres – infamous for harrowing trench warfare in World War I – call the annual tilling of the soil ” the iron harvest ” because it turns up so many war remnants.

Every year across the nation, Belgium’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Destruction Service responds to more than 3,000 calls and disposes of 200 to 250 tons of munitions left over from both world wars.

Flames are not the only threat

Drought has also helped to lay the past bare by shrinking rivers and lakes to reveal old weapons.

In Slovakia, the Danube River fell and exposed two naval mines that police pulled out of the water and buried in a trench for a controlled demolition. Authorities in Hungary closed Budapest’s Margaret Bridge after a bomb dating from World War II emerged at its base in receding water.

As the Rhine dried up, German authorities also found a WWII-era bomb.

Christina Greene, a researcher at the University of Arizona who, with Njeri, wrote an article on Europe’s wildfires and unexploded ordnance risk, said “the legacy of war keeps creeping up” because of climate change.

“It’s reliving the legacies of war and conflict in a way that we haven’t had to deal with in a while in certain places.”

___ Associated Press writers Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands; Sylvain Plazy in Brussels; Angela Charlton in Paris; Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin; and Stanislav Hodina in Prague contributed to this report.

In a life-altering moment in 2022, Sophia Maddox answered a phone call that shattered her perception of her family’s history and launched her on a quest for truth about an infamous figure in American crime.

At the age of 22, Maddox was based in Los Angeles, chasing her dreams of becoming a filmmaker and actress while balancing a variety of odd jobs to cover her living expenses. Meanwhile, her father, Daniel Arguelles, was deep in his own journey of self-discovery, determined to uncover details about his biological father. Raised by his mother and stepfather, Arguelles had finally found a clue about his real dad’s identity, leading him to make an unexpected revelation to Maddox.

“He revealed he might have discovered his father’s identity, and warned that if true, it was extremely dark,” Maddox shared with News Media. “My dad hesitated, questioning if I was ready to hear it. He’s never been a person prone to darkness. So his warning meant it had to be something significantly dark. I asked him to just spill the beans.”

“‘Is it Ted Bundy?'” Maddox remembered wondering aloud during the conversation. “He replied, ‘No, think bigger. Think of a major movie and its renowned director.’ My mind flashed to ‘Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,’ and then it clicked. The name that echoed in both the film and reality: Charles Manson.”

Maddox immediately Googled Manson’s name. The resemblance, she said, was uncanny.

“I thought to myself, ‘That’s my dad,'” Maddox said. “It was a really devastating day.”

Maddox’s journey after learning that Manson was her grandfather is chronicled in the Hulu documentary “My Grandfather Charles Manson.” In it, she meets people who had direct connections to Manson, including some of his former followers, to better understand her family history.

“It was cathartic,” Maddox said. “I’m a filmmaker before I found out who my grandfather is. And my life got uprooted from this. I had something to say at that moment, and I couldn’t bottle it up.”

Arguelles submitted his DNA to Ancestry in 2015, hoping to identify his father and finally answer a question that had followed him for decades. He had long suspected the man who raised him was not his biological father and confronted his mother about his paternity when he was 21.

Years passed, and Arguelles had nearly given up when he matched with Michael Brunner. DNA testing confirmed they were half-brothers. Brunner is Manson’s son with Mary Brunner, one of Manson’s earliest followers, People magazine reported.

Maddox described herself and her father as “normal, working-class citizens.”

“We have no prior records or anything criminal,” Maddox said. “We grew up as artists. My dad showed me the movies he made and his modeling photos of him photographed by Richard Avedon. So of course, when you learn that someone like Manson is your grandfather, it’s normal to wonder, ‘Am I that too?’ People have asked me, ‘Were you afraid that you inherited evil, that you were evil?’ But my dad and I are very normal, hardworking people.”

Manson, who was convicted of orchestrating the 1969 murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others in Los Angeles, died in 2017. He was 83 and serving a life sentence.

A petty criminal who had been in and out of jail since childhood, the charismatic, guru-like Manson surrounded himself in the 1960s with runaways and other lost souls, The Associated Press reported. According to the outlet, he then sent his disciples to butcher some of the rich and famous in what prosecutors said was a bid to trigger a race war — an idea he got from a twisted reading of the Beatles song “Helter Skelter.”

Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, Manson maintained that he was innocent and that society itself was guilty.

A horrified Arguelles resisted learning more about his biological father. Maddox wanted to dig deeper into her grandfather’s past. She said she was less interested in the mythology surrounding Manson and more interested in how he became the man America came to fear.

Manson was born in 1934 to teenage Kathleen Maddox. His biological father was absent, and his mother married William Manson, whose surname Charles took. After that marriage ended, his mother was sent to prison for her role in a robbery, and Manson went to live with relatives. By his teens, he was stealing, running away and bouncing through juvenile institutions.

He eventually was sent to the Indiana Boys School. Manson later said he was beaten and sexually assaulted while locked up as a juvenile. His troubles continued into adulthood, with repeated prison sentences for crimes including theft and forgery.

By the time Manson was released from federal prison in 1967 at age 32, he had spent roughly half his life behind bars or in juvenile institutions.

In the film, Maddox examined previously unreleased records that shed light on Manson’s troubled childhood.

“I heard about my dad’s abuse as a child from a reform school and from his own parents,” she explained. “My dad’s was really bad, but that was the ’70s. Imagine what it was like back in the ’40s or ’50s. It was shocking how bad they treated boys in these reform schools. the juvenile justice expert we spoke to said that Manson’s experience at Indiana was not singular. Manson’s story was not exceptional. That’s how they learned their lessons in survival.”

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“I think the biggest shock for me was how Manson’s decision-making as an adult in his 30s can really stem from the survival mechanisms he learned from his childhood in these prisons,” she added.

Maddox said she was disturbed to learn that Manson, who had been institutionalized for offenses including running away and theft, was housed alongside older juveniles with violent records.

“I was shocked to read that he was imprisoned with kids who had murdered people,” Maddox said. “And he was there for running away from home, stealing a bike or stealing a car. But so many boys, older kids with violent records, were placed there. And what does a kid have to do to survive a place like that? It breaks my heart.”

Arguelles, born in 1959, learned that he was the result of a brief relationship between his mother, Darlene Arguelles, and Manson, who was using the alias “Charlie Dear” at the time, People magazine reported.

But as Maddox dug deeper into the family’s past, the search that initially brought father and daughter together began pulling them apart.

Maddox said she and her father had a falling out one week before production on the documentary began. Arguelles had previously sat for an interview and encouraged his daughter to make the film, but she said confronting his biological father’s past ultimately became too painful.

“I have a little more distance from Manson because I am the grandchild, but that’s his father,” Maddox said. “And he’s shared similar experiences in childhood as him. And my dad is a very sensitive person. [But] he was curious. He wanted answers. He wanted me to make this film. But then at the same time, it was all too much.”

“I don’t know if he’s seen the film,” Maddox said. “He hasn’t reached out. So I’m just sitting back and respecting his wishes until he reaches back out.”

“I still support Sophia and I’m very proud of her,” Arguelles told News Media. “I believe the falling out between us came from a difference of opinion on the overall narrative. That’s really all I can say at this point.”

The Manson Family slaughtered five of its victims on Aug. 9, 1969, at Tate’s home: the actress, who was 8½ months pregnant, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring, Polish screenwriter Wojciech (Voityck) Frykowski and Steven Parent, a friend of the estate’s caretaker. Tate’s husband, “Rosemary’s Baby” director Roman Polanski, was out of the country at the time.

The next night, a wealthy grocer and his wife, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, were stabbed to death in their home across town.

After a trial that lasted nearly a year, Manson and three followers — Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten — were convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Another defendant, Charles “Tex” Watson, was convicted and sentenced to death later. Their sentences were commuted to life in prison after the California Supreme Court struck down the state’s death penalty in 1972.

Atkins died of cancer in prison in 2009 at age 61. Van Houten was released on parole in 2023. Krenwinkel and Watson are still behind bars.

Maddox said she reached out to the victims’ loved ones during filming.

“I’m in talks with two relatives at the moment,” Maddox said. “And I’ll just say every experience I’ve had with them has been very lovely. They were very kind to me. They understood why I am telling this story. … I’m not the only person looking for answers.”

Maddox said examining the forces that shaped Manson was never about absolving him of his crimes.

“My intention is never to apologize or justify for anybody’s actions,” she said. “I know what my grandfather did.”

Maddox said understanding Manson’s past wasn’t about excusing his crimes but about understanding what shaped him — and potentially preventing future violence.

In the film, Maddox also explained her decision to change her surname.

“My dad and I were always trying to find a last name that resonated with us,” she said. “I spent a year or two investigating my family and re-looked the name ‘Maddox.’ And when I Googled it, it meant ‘goodness.’ My blood name means goodness. I’m going to own it. That’s mine. I’m giving it new life.”

New revelations have emerged concerning a father and son implicated in a significant drug operation at Penn State, as both have tangled with the law prior to these charges, The Post has uncovered.

Thomas Robinson, a 23-year-old student affiliated with Delta Upsilon fraternity, is facing charges alongside several of his peers. His father, 59-year-old Paul Robinson, who has also been indicted, adds another layer to the intricate case.

In a previous incident, Paul Robinson, a well-known attorney from Pittsburgh, faced DUI charges in 2024. According to court documents, he was stopped by law enforcement in May, revealing a blood-alcohol level that exceeded twice the legal threshold.

Although Paul Robinson chose to waive his right to a preliminary hearing, resulting in the closure of the case, the court files remain silent on the final outcome of his legal entanglement.

His son, Thomas, nicknamed “T-Rob,” is no stranger to trouble himself. In the fall of 2024, he was apprehended for defacing property on the university campus. Ultimately, he admitted guilt to the vandalism charges and settled the matter by paying a $480 penalty.

The younger Robinson also faced drug-dealing allegations in December 2024 — a case his father referenced in a since-deleted Facebook post this week while defending his son.

Here is the latest on the Penn State frat cocaine ring:

“I don’t understand why my son who has done everything possible to move on and upward from this terrible mistake almost two years ago now had this re-raised,” he wrote.

“I promise I tried only to do what was right and lawful at all times.”

Now the father himself is charged with felony tampering, hindering apprehension, concealing evidence and obstructing the investigation into the alleged fraternity cocaine ring.

His attorney, Michael DeRiso, has claimed Robinson did not know the safe he allegedly hid contained cocaine and cash.

Robinson maintains that he was given the safe while cleaning out his son’s frat room in December 2024 after he was arrested.

“My client didn’t know what was in the safe,” his lawyer, Michael DeRiso, said. “He did not take cocaine and flush it down the toilet to protect his son.”

In a bold statement, Donald Trump declared that he views the Strait of Hormuz as ‘an American territory,’ even as the Iranian President pleads for an end to the ongoing conflict.

The reopening of this strategic waterway has become a pivotal aspect of Trump’s strategy to conclude the war in Iran, which is fast approaching its six-month milestone.

Trump articulated his stance on the Strait during a rally for Senator Darline Graham in South Carolina, clearly conveying his position.

He recounted how the United States had decisively halted Iran’s nuclear aspirations, asserting that Tehran is now eager to negotiate a pact.

‘They are so keen to strike a deal, and yet, we’re uncertain of our interest because, to me, the Strait of Hormuz is essentially American territory right now. It’s an American territory,’ Trump stated confidently.

Earlier Friday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in public remarks that he believes it would be ‘better to end the war today while we are in a position of strength and dignity.’

Pezeshkian claimed that Tehran made zero ‘concessions’ to the US when it signed a memorandum of understanding with Trump in June. 

However, Iranians are dealing with a worsening cost of living crisis due to the country’s inability to export oil, The Financial Times reported. 

Trump warned Thursday he will launch a campaign to crush Iran’s economy and threatened ‘tremendous’ punishment on any country that does business with Tehran. 

The impact of the US attack that killed Ayatollah Khamenei is still there, as an Iranian Shiite cleric said Friday that they still smell ‘burned flesh’ near the ex-supreme leader’s compound. 

‘Our leader had a frail body, but contrary to reports that seven or eight bombs were dropped on the site, they hit the Supreme Leader’s compound with 110 bombs and missiles,’ he told Iranian media. 

‘Someone told me that when you go near the Supreme Leader’s compound, you can still smell burned flesh. I went there myself and found it was true — you can still smell burned flesh,’ the cleric said at a gathering of supporters in Tehran’s Tajrish Square.

Trump issued his latest threat on Wednesday night, writing on Truth Social: ‘Today, I am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY! This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale.

‘ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences.’

The President did not specify what punishment countries would face, and none other than Iran were mentioned by name.

He listed several activities that he said need to stop immediately: ‘oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries, front companies’.

The intensified economic pressure campaign comes as the war nears its sixth month with no immediate diplomatic or military off-ramp in sight and the vital Strait of Hormuz still significantly choked-off. 

With November elections quickly approaching, the President is facing renewed domestic scrutiny over the war’s costs on US consumers and toll on the military.

Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, said in response that Trump’s plan was simply a ‘diversion’ from the US’ own crisis. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had similarly said last week that the US would soon be ramping up efforts at economically isolating Iran, as part of a two-pronged approach with a US naval blockade. 

‘It will be a combination of economic isolation, like the world has never seen before,’ Bessent told conservative television network Newsmax.

The US Treasury has for months been carrying out an effort, dubbed Operation Economic Fury, aiming to cut off Iran’s funding with targeted sanctions. 

Iran has struck a defiant tone, having survived months of US military operations that failed to bring a decisive end to the war. 

The conflict broke out on February 28 with US-Israeli attacks on the Islamic republic, which retaliated with missile and drone strikes across the region.

Tehran’s missile and drone threat has severely curtailed shipping traffic through the Strait, as a framework US-Iran deal to reopen it collapsed. 

In recent days, both sides have said messages were being exchanged, however Trump on Tuesday insisted talks were off and posted a message on social media suggesting the strait could be a ‘NEW US Territory.’

On Tuesday, the UAE announced that it was suspending all economic dealings with Iran after saying it had been targeted by two ballistic missiles.

The neighbors across the Gulf share deep cultural and historical ties, and the UAE – home to a sizable Iranian community – had been a major trading partner for US-sanctioned Iran, at least before the war.

‘We need all of our Allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat,’ Trump said Wednesday on Truth Social.

One year after the tragic stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a light-rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina, a series of violent incidents involving individuals with lengthy arrest histories has intensified discussions on public safety across the state.

This anniversary coincides with the North Carolina Fraternal Order of Police (NCFOP) endorsing Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Michael Whatley. Their endorsement reflects ongoing concerns about repeat offenders, the effectiveness of bail practices, and broader support for law enforcement initiatives.

Zarutska, who was 23 at the time, was on board Charlotte’s Lynx Blue Line on August 22, 2025, when she was fatally attacked. Authorities reported that Decarlos Brown Jr. approached her from behind, stabbing her three times with a knife before exiting the train.

Decarlos Brown Jr., aged 34, has been deemed mentally unfit to face trial in both state and federal proceedings concerning this case.

Zarutska’s killing helped prompt North Carolina’s Iryna’s Law, which tightened bail rules and increased oversight of defendants considered a risk to public safety.

NCFOP President Chet Effler told News Media the union’s roughly 6,000 members backed Whatley over concerns about repeat offenders, bail policies and support for law enforcement.

“We have lost accountability in this country,” Effler said. “There’s no reason to be soft on crime whenever you have victims who are going to be victims of those crimes for years to come.”

Effler also pointed to the arrest of Charlotte man Di-Quan Schafar Hunt as an example of what he described as a recurring failure to hold repeat offenders accountable.

Hunt, 32, had been arrested on charges at least nine times since 2023, records show. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said they arrested him after officers responding to an attempt-to-locate call were shown a social-media account containing videos detectives had already been investigating.

Police said one video was tied to a July 30 assault in which Hunt allegedly punched a woman on a Charlotte sidewalk before fleeing. The woman suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

Hunt’s record includes a December 2025 case involving charges of assault with a deadly weapon, communicating threats, second-degree trespass and two counts of carrying a concealed weapon. The booking record does not describe the underlying allegations or identify an alleged victim.

Records also list a September 2025 simple assault charge and a March 2025 charge of assault on a female. In 2024, Hunt was arrested in cases involving alleged violations of a domestic-violence protective order, breaking or entering and injury to personal property. He is a felon with at least six additional misdemeanor convictions in Mecklenburg County.

“You can’t hug your way out of crime,” Effler said. “You have to hold people accountable.”

Brown’s case and Hunt’s arrest are among several recent North Carolina crimes that have sharpened the debate over repeat offenders, bail and law enforcement resources.

In Jacksonville, DoorDash driver and mother of three Christen Phillips suffered skull fractures, brain bleeds and a fractured cheekbone after authorities said a man followed her and attacked her with a bat during an Aug. 1 delivery.

The Onslow County Sheriff’s Office said Phillips had honked at another driver while stopped at an intersection. Authorities said the driver, identified as 44-year-old Stanley Shockley, followed Phillips to a delivery stop and allegedly attacked her as she returned to her car.

Phillips was able to drive herself to a hospital after the attack. Shockley was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.

The public-safety concerns have also reached western North Carolina, where Asheville officials have described a series of deadly incidents involving young people as retaliatory violence but have resisted calling the activity gang-related.

Effler criticized that approach, arguing that officials must be candid about the nature of violent crime before they can address it.

“A criminal gang is a gang, I don’t care how old they are,” Effler said. “You have to address it.”

In Charlotte, another repeat offender, 29-year-old David Simpson, was charged with killing a man hours after his release on bond, renewing scrutiny of pretrial-release decisions.

Effler said people with repeated arrests for violent or assault-related offenses should not be allowed to cycle through the justice system without meaningful consequences.

North Carolina has also faced deadly shootings recently, outside its larger cities. In Winston-Salem, two people were killed and several others were wounded after what police said was a planned fight between juveniles that escalated into a shooting near a middle school.

Authorities said multiple people exchanged gunfire at Leinbach Park, near Jefferson Middle School. Some of those involved were juveniles, police said.

The shooting was not at the school, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said, but it underscored concerns over violent disputes that law-enforcement groups say have spread into communities across the state.

Effler said the cases involve different defendants and circumstances but reflect the same broader failure to hold dangerous offenders accountable before more people are harmed.

Effler also accused former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, Whatley’s opponent in the U.S. Senate race, of supporting cashless bail as governor.

“Cashless bail puts people on the streets that will arbitrarily walk up, like this Charlotte case and women getting assaulted and getting a video done,” Effler said. “You cannot allow a criminal to not be held accountable.”

A Cooper campaign spokesperson disputed Effler’s claim, telling News Media the former governor “oppos[ed] cashless bail while signing stricter bail laws and putting rapists and violent criminals behind bars.”

The campaign cited Cooper’s signing of the Pretrial Integrity Act, which tightened bail requirements for certain violent offenses and repeat defendants. It also said it returned the NCFOP’s endorsement questionnaire on Aug. 10, disputing Effler’s statement that the union had not received a response.

In a news release announcing the endorsement, Whatley said he was “honored” to receive the NCFOP’s backing and pledged to support law enforcement if elected. News Media has reached out to Whatley’s campaign for additional comment.

Effler said Whatley has committed to back the Protect and Serve Act, the HALO Act and other measures the union believes would provide officers with greater protection and resources.

“Michael Whatley has committed to the things that we believe in,” Effler said. “He’ll support actions that doesn’t defund law enforcement from doing the professional job that we need to do.”