South Carolina national championship track and field coach Curtis Frye is retiring after 27 years leading the Gamecocks. Frye led the Gamecocks' women to the NCAA outdoor championship in 2002 for the first team title in school history. He was also an assistant on the United States Olympic track team for Athens in 2004. Frye said he'll step away at the end of the month. South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner said Frye leaving was the end of an era.
Brian Burns has been one of the NFL’s most productive pass rushers over the past four seasons. Now the Carolina Panthers outside linebacker wants to be paid like it. Burns is set to make $16 million in the final year of his five-year rookie contract, but the Panthers are still hoping to sign him to a long-term deal. Whether or not that happens before the season remains to be seen. Burns said the two sides are “having conversations.” Burns has 38 sacks in four seasons with Carolina, 11th most in the NFL. That's still well behind T.J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who has 57 1/2 sacks over that span and remains the league's highest-paid pass rusher at $28 million per year.
Whether it’s been Justin Jefferson or Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen always seemed to have an elite running mate at wide receiver during his tenure with the Minnesota Vikings. That isn’t the case with his new team, the Carolina Panthers. Thielen caught 534 passes for 6,682 yards and 55 touchdowns in 10 seasons with the Vikings, including 30 TDs in the past three seasons. But he joins a Panthers wide receiving group that lacks other star power. But Panthers coach Frank Reich is hopeful that free agent pickups D.J. Chark and Damiere Byrd, second-round draft pick Jonathan Mingo and holdovers Terrace Marshall Jr. and Laviska Shenault will offset the lack of star power opposite the 32-year-old Thielen.
More changes could be coming to voting districts in some states. The 2022 elections marked the first using new districts for Congress and state capitols that were drawn from updated census data. But they could be short-lived in some places. That's because court challenges could force some states to redraw districts again before the 2024 elections. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a ruling that Alabama's congressional districts should be redrawn to enhance Black voting strength. That ruling also could lead to new House districts in Louisiana, and potentially Georgia. Some other places in line for new districts include New York, North Carolina and Ohio.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) The North Carolina General Assembly approved the annual Farm Act on Thursday, a bill containing the usual hodgepodge of agriculture provisions, along with a contentious item involving limiting wetlands protections.