Warriors' Wright to have surgery

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Radio host to Fetzer: Sorry for saying you're gay

Wilmington talk radio host Curtis Wright apologized Friday for circulating a letter in May saying that Tom Fetzer, now chairman of the N.C. Republican Party, is gay.

Fetzer released a letter from Wright on Friday that settles a lawsuit that Fetzer filed against Wright and his employer, Sea-Comm Inc., in June. No money was paid by Wright or Sea-Comm.

"I am pleased with the settlement of this issue and with Mr. Wright's clarification and apology," Fetzer said in a prepared statement. "This was never an issue of monetary compensation, but instead the preservation of my good name and reputation. With this settlement, I consider the issue closed."

What really happened to Frank Lloyd Wright's lady?

For a nonfiction account of Mamah Borthwick Cheney's tragic end, see the newly released "Death in a Prairie House: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Murders" by William R. Drennan (University of Wisconsin Press, $29.95, 230 pages).

The ax on the cover of this true-crime tale tells all: The subject is mass murder. And the victims, among others, were Cheney and her two young children. The murderer, a servant in the house, first served the soup and then hacked seven diners to death. Then he set fire to Taliesin, the iconic Wisconsin home that Wright had just finished building for Cheney and himself, though both were still married to others. The date was Aug. 15, 1914.

Drennan, an English professor, promises to answer questions that have long prickled scholars: How could Wright leave his children? Why did the murderer do it? What does this episode mean in the context of Wright's body of work? Despite extensive research, Drennan doesn't come close to the answers. That's because Wright never fully answered

Lawyer: Wright charge was phony

Former state Rep. Thomas Wright's 2008 conviction came on a made-up charge, his lawyer argued before an N.C. Appeals Court panel Monday.

Wright, a Democrat from Wilmington, is appealing his Wake County conviction of obstruction of justice related to campaign finance irregularities. Investigators said he failed to report $150,000 in campaign donations, pocketing most of the money for himself.

Douglas Harris, Wright's lawyer, told the three Appeals Court judges that an obstruction of justice charge must be connected to the judicial branch of government, while the violations that Wright was accused of were related to the executive branch.

A huge mistake

What should I say to parents, educators and various professionals calling in desperation? As admissions coordinator at Wright School, I am the first to hear their exhaustion, sadness and frustration. Wright is the place they turn when all other services are unsuccessful. This program serves children ages 6 through 12 across the state and is proven to be effective. Wright School provides families and children with a hopeful future. The staff works to keep children in their communities and out of more expensive placements.

Governor Purdue and the Senate have recommended that Wright be closed. They say these children can be served in their communities. Do they understand every child referred to Wright must be approved by a local committee, and only after all services have been exhausted?

It's now in the House's hands to allow Wright School to help these troubled children. If Wright is closed, I invite our legislators to inform the families of the children on our waiting list. I want them to hear the desperation

Rev. Wright feistily defends his words

At a moment when Barack Obama is struggling to win over white voters worried about the economy, a series of public appearances by his former pastor is threatening to revive a tempest over race, patriotism and religion that the Democratic presidential front-runner hoped he had quashed.

The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. appeared at the National Press Club on Monday, delivering a defiant address in which he defended and amplified some politically and racially charged remarks from past sermons.

The speech was the third nationally televised appearance Wright has made since Friday, in what Democratic strategists and pollsters described as an unwelcome distraction for an Obama campaign that would prefer to see Wright fade from the scene.