News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
Passenger jet, small plane nearly collided mid-air at Asheville airport last fall, federal report says • Asheville Watchdog
A passenger jet on its initial approach to the Asheville Regional Airport in October came within seconds of colliding midair with a private plane in a harrowing incident described by the jet’s captain in federal data obtained by Asheville Watchdog.
The private plane was “so close that I could see the occupant in the aircraft,” the jet’s captain reported. “It was approaching almost directly perpendicular to us.”
Shem Malmquist, a Boeing 777 captain and consultant on aviation safety, told The Watchdog the planes likely narrowly averted disaster. “If you’re close enough to see the occupants, that’s really close,” he said.
The account in the Aviation Safety Reporting System, a database maintained by NASA to identify aviation issues, does not include any identifying information such as the names of the airline or pilots, the flight number or departing city, the number of passengers, or the day of the month. The event was described as an “NMAC,” near midair collision and occurred sometime between noon and 6 p.m.
The collision last week between an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter was one of the nation’s deadliest in recent history, killing 67 passengers and crew members, and occurred in the crowded, busy airspace of the U.S. capital. But close calls happen at much smaller airports, including Asheville.
The captain in the October near-miss reported that the airport’s air traffic control tower had informed the flight crew about “traffic.”
“I responded that we were looking,” the captain said. “We were unable to get a visual on the traffic however.”
A few minutes later, “Tower came back and she said it was less than a mile do we have it in sight [sic]. I only responded with no, as we were trying to find the traffic and Tower responded immediately to cancel approach clearance and to climb to 6000.”
Advisory issued when aircraft are 15-35 seconds from colliding
During the ascent, the airliner’s collision avoidance system issued a “resolution advisory” or RA, an urgent warning when two aircraft are 15 to 35 seconds from colliding without a change in course. The advisory instructed the crew to descend.
As the jet leveled off and began the descent, the captain looked out the first officer’s window and spotted the small, single-engine plane and its pilot, within eyesight, perpendicular to the airliner.
“It was slightly lower than us and also descending,” the captain reported. “I saw that our guidance was to continue to descend but using my own judgment of what I’m looking at visually I chose to say to the FO [first officer], no climb instead he’s below us [sic].”
As the jet ascended, the RA switched from descend to climb.
“We complied with the climbing RA guidance and safely maneuvered the aircraft away,” the captain reported. “It was a difficult decision to change the aircraft path by starting a climb when the RA wanted us to descend. Especially because it is supposed to resolve the conflict. But after making visual contact with the aircraft I knew we needed to climb away from it.”
A synopsis of the event said the private plane “was crossing the [airliner’s] final approach course and not in communication with ATC [Air Traffic Control]. Captain took evasive action to avoid a collision.”
Tina Kinsey, a spokeswoman for the Asheville Airport, referred questions from The Watchdog to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA did not respond by deadline to questions, including whether the event was investigated and how close the planes came to a collision.
Malmquist said resolution advisories are “really rare.”
Airliners are equipped with airborne collision avoidance systems that serve as a “last resort” for preventing midair collisions by instructing pilots to perform evasive maneuvers, according to the FAA.
“It’ll first give you just a target advisory,” said Malmquist, a graduate lecturer at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Fla. “It’ll just say, ‘Traffic, traffic,’ and then just address your attention, be paying attention. And that’s already getting pretty close before it does that.
“And then, if it’s predicting collision,” he said, “it will command an immediate response, and response to that we’re trained is mandatory.”
Malmquist, an airline pilot since the 1980s, said he could recall receiving just one RA in all his flights.
“I mostly fly International,” he said. “I would expect airplanes that are flying domestically encounter it more often.”
He said the FAA may have investigated the incident if the private plane “was in the wrong spot.”
Close calls involving commercial airlines have been on the rise and are alarmingly common, occurring multiple times a week, often at or near major airports, a New York Times investigation found.
Frontline aviation workers, including pilots, air traffic controllers, mechanics and flight attendants, are encouraged to report incidents, including near-misses, to the NASA reporting database. The information is used for analysis and safety prevention and is scrubbed of identifying details before being made public.
Four other near-misses have been reported around the Asheville airport since 2003, three involving private planes in close proximity to each other. In the fourth, the pilot of a commercial airliner landing at the airport in January 2023 reported “a drone about 100 ft. below us.”
“We alerted tower about the drone and subsequently had an uneventful landing,” the pilot reported. “The drone appeared to be a personal quadcopter that was not of commercial nature.”
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Sally Kestin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter. Email skestin@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
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The post Passenger jet, small plane nearly collided mid-air at Asheville airport last fall, federal report says • Asheville Watchdog appeared first on avlwatchdog.org
News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
PETA sues American Kennel Club over standards for French bulldogs, other breeds
SUMMARY: PETA is suing the American Kennel Club (AKC) over breeding standards for popular dog breeds like French bulldogs, pugs, and dachshunds. PETA argues these standards promote unhealthy traits causing lifelong suffering, such as bulldogs’ large skulls and shortened faces that impede breathing. The lawsuit cites UK research showing French bulldogs have poorer health, and notes the Netherlands banned breeding short-nosed dogs. Dachshunds’ long backs and short legs also lead to painful conditions. The AKC rejects PETA’s claims, stating it is committed to dogs’ health and well-being. This lawsuit continues a long-standing conflict between PETA and the AKC.
The animal rights group PETA sued Tuesday to try to force the American Kennel Club to abandon the standards it backs for hyper-popular French bulldogs and some other breeds, contending that the influential club is promoting unhealthy physical features.
More: https://abc11.com/post/peta-sues-american-kennel-club-breeding-standards-french-bulldogs-other-breeds/17038437/
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News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
Cellphone use in schools to be regulated under new NC law
Public school regulation of cellphone use is now law in North Carolina after Gov. Josh Stein signed House Bill 959 last week.
The new law prompts public schools to develop a wireless device policy that will limit students’ access to their cellphones and other wireless electronic devices throughout the school day. It will require the Department of Public Instruction to submit a yearly compliance report to legislators.
This completes the legislature’s mission to effectively ban cellphones in schools. This particular legislation was once a social media literacy bill aiming to “protect students in a digital age,” but previous failed attempts at cellphone regulation this session forced lawmakers to adapt.
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The signed bill calls on schools to require the regulation of students’ use of wireless communication devices during instructional time, as well as education on the dangers of social media, as was intended in the original legislation sponsored by state Rep. Hugh Blackwell, R-Burke.
Wireless communication devices are defined in the bill as “any portable wireless device that has the capability to provide voice, messaging, or other data communication between two or more parties,” and includes cellphones, tablets, laptops, gaming devices, two-way radios and pagers.
While the bill does not establish a policy itself, it requires public schools to develop their own and specifies that it shall “prohibit students from using, displaying, or having a wireless communication device turned on during instructional time.”
It allows the schools to determine the consequences for violating the cellphone policy, including confiscation and further disciplinary measures as permitted by the school’s code of conduct.
President of the North Carolina Association of Educators Tamika Walker Kelly told Carolina Public Press educators are overwhelmingly concerned about the impact of cellphones and social media on the learning environment. Students are technology consumers, and that doesn’t just stop because they are at school, she said.
“It does cause disruptions that are unrelated to the learning of our students, but more so peer-to-peer relationships in the classroom that spill over because of something that happened on social media,” Kelly said.
“Educators do welcome the level of protecting the learning environment, not only for them as the facilitators of teaching in that space, but also especially for the students, so that they have a chance to engage with one another more authentically through person-to-person relationships, but also that they are able to have that focus on the academics.”
While each school will determine its own policy, the legislation will help maintain consistency in enforcement and potential consequences, Kelly said. It also removes a burden from teachers, who have tended to be responsible for setting and enforcing device policies on a classroom-by-classroom basis.
“This actually takes one more task out of the realm of the educator, gives it to the school district to not only train and equip their school leaders, principals, assistant principals across the board, but also school district staff on how to encourage that enforcement because it allows the educator in the room to teach and not have to worry about policing cellphones in the classroom,” Kelly said.
The bill leaves room for exceptions to the cellphone law, including if a device is needed in accordance with a student’s individualized education plan or to manage a student’s health care and for educational purposes or in the event of an emergency if authorized by the teacher.
Some lawmakers raised concerns about the bill’s restrictions. Prior to the Senate’s vote, state Sen. Terence Everitt, D-Wake, said while he was generally on board with the bill, requiring students turn their phones off gave him pause.
“We’ve spent a lot of time in the last 15 years making sure that we promote the proliferation of handguns and firearms,” Everitt said.
“Now we’re waiting on a veto override so we can get guns in the hands of 18 year olds with concealed carry without a permit. We’re making this state more and more dangerous, and more and more dangerous for our kids at school, and what I don’t want is for some child — we’ve all heard the 911 calls, those last moments when they’re calling for help or wanting a kind word from their parents or some sort of comfort — I don’t want their last moments to be spent waiting for their phone to turn on.”
For that reason, it will be important for districts to engage families when crafting its cellphone policy and create it with these safety concerns in mind, Kelly said.
“Parents and caregivers do really have concerns, and one of the reasons why they give their children cellphones is because they have great concerns around school safety,” she said.
“It’s really important to establish guidelines and be overly communicative with parents around their safety concerns so that they understand why we want to have cellphone free learning environments. But it doesn’t mean that students won’t have access to ways to communicate in case there is a school safety emergency on campus.”
Kelly noted that many schools and classrooms have systems like cellphone cubbies or lockers that allow students’ phones to be nearby, but not physically on their persons during instruction time, which could alleviate some parents’ concerns.
State Rep. Neal Jackson, R-Moore, said this very system at Union Pine High School is what gave him inspiration for House Bill 87, one of the first attempts at cellphone regulation earlier this year.
Social media instruction and cellphones
In addition to cellphone regulation, the bill maintained its initial goal of providing social media education.
All districts will be required to include instruction on social media and effects on health at least once during elementary school, once during middle school and twice during high school beginning at the start of the 2026-2027 school year.
Legislators view the instruction as related to cellphone use, as these are a key means by which students access social media.
According to the new law, the instruction must include education on the negative effects of social media on:
- mental health such as addiction
- the distribution of misinformation on social media, methods of manipulating behavior using social media
- the permanency of information shared online, how to maintain personal security
- how to identify cyberbullying
- predatory behavior and human trafficking on the internet
- how to report suspicious behavior encountered on the internet
- personal and interpersonal skills or character education that enhances individual level protective factors and mitigates or reduces risk-taking or harmful behavior
Bipartisanship
The cellphone and social media bill passed unanimously in the House and with just one negative vote in the Senate. Both chambers have strong Republican majorities.
The governor, a Democrat, praised the bill, highlighting its bipartisanship and alignment with a report issued by the Advisory Council on Student Safety and Well-being, a council Stein organized earlier this year with the intention of focusing on student safety and cellphones in classrooms.
“When teachers don’t have to compete with cellphones for student attention, real learning happens,” Stein said in a press release.
“This bipartisan bill gives students a distraction-free learning environment so they can focus on their education, and it provides a seven-hour mental break from the unrelenting pressures of phones and social media.
“Earlier this month, my Advisory Council on Student Safety and Well-being released its first report recommending this step and outlining best practices for creating cellphone-free classrooms.
“It will serve as a resource for our school systems as they implement these common-sense policies. I appreciate the General Assembly’s work here. Let’s keep working together to set up North Carolina students for success.”
This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The post Cellphone use in schools to be regulated under new NC law appeared first on carolinapublicpress.org
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
The article presents the cellphone regulation law in North Carolina in a mostly factual and balanced tone, highlighting bipartisan support and quoting lawmakers from both parties. However, the inclusion of concerns raised by a Democratic senator linking cellphone restrictions with broader gun policy issues, as well as the positive framing of social media education and student mental health, reflects a subtle emphasis on progressive social concerns like student wellbeing and safety. The article’s respectful portrayal of educator and parental perspectives alongside bipartisan cooperation suggests a center-left leaning, supportive of regulatory measures aimed at improving educational environments without strong ideological rhetoric.
News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
North Carolina is hit by yet another climate wake-up call
SUMMARY: Chantal, a tropical depression, unleashed up to 10 inches of rain in North Carolina on July 8, 2025, causing severe flooding and significant damage to roads like Camp Easter Rd. and N.C. 2 in Southern Pines. Scientists warn that climate change intensifies such storms by increasing air moisture, leading to more frequent and severe downpours. Aging infrastructure and inadequate warning systems worsen the impact. Despite this, Republican leaders in Washington and Raleigh oppose renewable energy initiatives, promoting fossil fuel use instead. Urgent public demand is needed to reverse these harmful policies and address the climate crisis.
The post North Carolina is hit by yet another climate wake-up call appeared first on ncnewsline.com
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