RALEIGH -- North Carolina agriculture leaders urged farmers yesterday to have their wheat tested after officials found high levels of a toxin in wheat samples from central and northeastern North Carolina.
Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said vomitoxin is a byproduct of a fungus often caused by wet weather during the early April pollenation stage.
Troxler said that testing, which the state will provide for free, is urgent because farmers harvesting their wheat now may not know that the fungus is there. If it is, it could taint other wheat as it moves into storage bins.
Couple charged with injuring a child
King police arrested a woman and her boyfriend Friday on charges in connection with the beating of a 3-year-old child, department officials said yesterday in a news release.
Sandra Leacall Brewer, 22, of 205 N. Main St., King and Shawn Stanton Brinegar, 29 of Antioch Church Road, Sparta, were both charged with felony conspiracy to abuse a child, felony intentional child abuse inflicting serious injury, assault on a child under the age of 12, and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.
They were both being held yesterday in the Stokes County Jail and are both scheduled to appear in court Aug. 18 in Stokes County. Brewer's bond is set at $350,000. Brinegar's bond is set at $250,000.
Police officials did not release information on the nature of the child's injuries but said the child is expected to recover.
Former Gov. Martin to plead for Black
CHARLOTTE -- A former Republican governor plans to be among those asking that former N.C. House speaker Jim Black's prison sentence be commuted or that he be moved closer to home.
The Charlotte Observer reported yesterday that 150 people have written federal officials on Black's behalf and that former Gov. Jim Martin plans to do so. Black, 74, has been incarcerated since July 2007 at the federal prison in Lewisburg, Pa.
Black was sentenced for accepting thousands of dollars in illegal payments while speaker.
Black's attorney says his client is in poor health, as is his wife.
Supporters also say that if Black's sentence isn't commuted he should be moved to a prison in North Carolina or South Carolina.
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