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DURHAM – A panel of top scientistsconcluded Thursday that the endangeredred wolf of the southeastern U.S. is a spe-cies unto itself, giving the beleaguered ca-nine a scientific and political boost as itsnumbers plummet in the wild.

The government-funded study by theNational Academy of Sciences alsofound that the Mexican gray wolf ofNew Mexico and Arizona is a subspe-cies, which advocates say should sup-port conservation efforts.

Another wolf species, the Westerngray wolf, is thriving in the NorthernRockies and Great Lakes and could losefederal protections under a proposal re-leased earlier this month.

For red wolves, the affirmation oftheir genetic uniqueness comes aftersome North Carolina officials and asmall but vocal group of landownerspushed the government to abandon re-

covery efforts, arguing the animal is acoyote hybrid.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Servicespokeswoman Laury Parramore de-clined to comment on the agency-funded study beyond a statement say-ing it was under review.

An estimated 35 wild red wolves re-mained as of late 2018, down fromabout 120 a decade ago. Their range iscurrently limited to five North Carolinacounties.

An additional 200 live in captivebreeding programs.

Acknowledging longstanding ques-tions among some scientists about redwolf ancestry, federal wildlife officialssaid last year they would treat it as a

Red wolves are distinctspecies, scientists decide

A government-funded study by the National Academy of Sciences found that the red wolf is unique based on its DNA, itssize and its behavior. GERRY BROOME/AP

Found in only 5 NC counties, just 35 or so remain in wildJonathan Drew and Matthew Brown ASSOCIATED PRESS

See WOLVES, Page 4A

“That should be a kick inthe butt for the Fish andWildlife Service to stopthe quiet negligence ofletting the species goextinct in the wild.”Ron SutherlandA biologist with the nonprofit Wildlands Network

RALEIGH – A North Carolina charterschool promoting traditional values en-gaged in unconstitutional sex discrimi-nation by requiring girls to wear skirts, afederal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Malcolm Howardruled that Charter Day School can’t en-force the skirts-only rule as part of itsdress code that punishes violations

with suspensions and even expulsion.No child has been expelled for violatingthe dress code since the school openedin 2000, Howard said in a decision filedon Thursday.

But girls are clearly treated different-ly than boys at the kindergarten through8th grade school in Leland, about 10miles west of Wilmington, Howardruled. That’s a violation of the U.S. Con-stitution’s equal protection require-ments.

The guardians of three girls attend-ing the school sued the school in 2016.They said the dress code forces girls tobe colder in the winter and “forces themto pay constant attention to the posi-tioning of their legs during class, dis-tracting them from learning, and has ledthem to avoid certain activities alto-gether, such as climbing or playingsports during recess, all for fear of ex-posing their undergarments and beingreprimanded by teachers or teased by

boys,” the judge said in summarizing theplaintiffs’ arguments.

One of the mothers suing with theAmerican Civil Liberties Union on be-half of their daughters said the judge’sdecision means a girl’s comfort andfreedom to move is on par with theirmale classmates.

“All I wanted was for my daughterand every other girl at school to have the

US judge: School’s rule for girls to wear skirts unlawfulEmery P. Dalesio ASSOCIATED PRESS

See SKIRTS, Page 4A

ASHEVILLE – The successor foun-dation borne from the $1.5 billion Mis-sion Health sale to HCA Healthcarehas its sight set on funding “bold” and“audacious” grant requests when it be-gins its first cycle next year.

Now in its second full month of op-eration, the Dogwood Health Trustcontinues to build capacity ahead oflaunching an annual cycle that couldaward up to $70 million to organiza-tions in Western North Carolina, its

board chair Janice Bru-mit told the Council ofIndependent BusinessOwners this week. Partof that involves findingits first chief executive— a process it began byhiring a search firm lastmonth — as well as

identifying an independent monitor tohold HCA to the terms of its sale agree-ment.

Brumit, of Brumit Restaurant Groupand formerly a Mission board member,said Dogwood ultimately favors cre-ativity in grant applications in serviceof funding something “so compelling itwill change the face of the region.”

But as needs — and abilities to carryout grants — differ in Buncombe Coun-ty from much of the 17 other counties itserves, she said DHT wants to workwith applicants to use funding as ef-fectively as possible.

Outside of Buncombe, Brumit saidDogwood wants to provide grant op-portunities, but acknowledged somecounties like Clay don’t have the samevolume of nonprofits as Buncombeand need additional help.

“We don’t want to leave anyone out,but we also want them to be success-ful,” she said.

“We want people to be healthy andlive their best lives, fulfill their

Dogwoodlooking for ‘bold’projectsChair: Trust favorscreative, compellinggrant applicationsDillon Davis Asheville Citizen TimesUSA TODAY NETWORK

See DOGWOOD, Page 4A

Brumit

4A ❚ SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 2019 ❚ ASHEVILLE CITIZEN TIMES

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distinct species while awaiting Thursday’s report.The study found that the red wolf is unique based

on its DNA, its size and its behavior.“Some might argue that the red wolf could be des-

ignated as a subspecies of coyotes. However … a spe-cies designation is more appropriate,” the scientistswrote.

While the red wolf does appear to be more closelyrelated to coyotes than to gray wolves, the scientistssay red wolves diverged as their own species longago.

Ron Sutherland, a biologist with the nonprofitWildlands Network, said he had been waiting on“pins and needles” to see what the panel decided.

“That should be a kick in the butt for the Fish andWildlife Service to stop the quiet negligence of lettingthe species go extinct in the wild,” he said in an in-terview.

A government plan to further shrink the territorywhere red wolves roam stalled last year when a judgeruled officials were neglecting their duty to protectthe animals under the Endangered Species Act. Thatsame plan would have allowed landowners to kill anywolves that strayed from the proposed smaller terri-tory consisting of federal land in two counties.

Conservationists accused the federal agency ofneglecting the animals under political pressure andabandoning proven conservation techniques, suchas releasing captive- bred pups.

In 2015, North Carolina’s Wildlife Resources Com-mission passed a resolution urging an end to the fed-eral program, saying “the purity of the red wolf ge-nome is questionable” after hybridization withcoyotes. Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis has alsourged its end.

The study released Thursday had been ordered byCongress as part of a 2018 appropriations bill.

WolvesContinued from Page 1A

potential and getting jobs, helping to support theirfamilies,” she said. “All of these things are things wecan do to upstream that don’t impact your health caredollars.”

Throughout the sale process that began roughly ayear ago, Dogwood was billed by Mission leaders, in-cluding Brumit, as a major benefit of the acquisition ofthe Asheville-based, not-for-profit system by HCA, afor-profit headquartered in Nashville. Mission’s boardof directors launched the beginnings of the foundationin July after formally incorporating it in May.

Brumit and early DHT organizers tasked the organi-zation with funding initiatives addressing social de-terminants of health, a broad set of conditions in a per-son’s life such as food insecurity, transportation orpoverty that impact their health.

It has operated in its infancy with a small board, pri-marily made up past members of Mission’s board andother community notables. That board drew heat in itsearliest days for its racial, gender and geographicmakeup critics say was not representative of the pop-ulation in the region. It has 12 members — seven menand five women, most of whom are white. It soon mayadd another member from the eastern part of the re-gion, Brumit said.

She remarked in her March 28 presentation that thelocal press “has not been particularly kind to us gettingstarted,” which she attributed to nondisclosure agree-ments signed by Mission employees involved in thesale.

“The information that was getting out in the com-munity was not all we wanted to be out there,” shesaid. “Also, it led to an urban legend that talked abouta lot of things that weren’t true or were misconstruedin the media.

“Now we’re in existence and we can talk transpar-ently and freely and we can tell you what’s going on.”

She addressed CIBO for about a half hour, takingmore than a dozen questions at the meeting at EliadaHome, a nonprofit organization off New LeicesterHighway.

Among the topics of discussion:❚ On the organization’s first CEO, Brumit said

DHT wants a leader with experience working on so-cial determinants of health and someone comfort-able discussing the foundation’s work with manydifferent audiences. Dogwood hired Oak Brook, Illi-nois-based Witt/Kieffer to assist in the nationalsearch.

❚ Brumit estimates DHT will have some 50 em-ployees, many of which will be “grant officers.” Shesaid it is operating now with a “skeletal” staff, includ-ing one such officer. Many of the hires will fall to thenew chief executive.

❚ The organization is looking to fulfill a number ofitems agreed upon in HCA’s bid for Mission. They in-clude working with Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary ofthe N.C. Department of Health and Human Services,to spend $25 million over a five-year period to helpcombat the opioid crisis.

❚ Asked if the creation of Dogwood lessens thelegislature’s need to fund health care initiatives inthe region, she said, “No. This is not instead of thestate’s obligation to the citizens of Western NorthCarolina.”

DogwoodContinued from Page 1A

option to wear pants so she could play outside, sitcomfortably, and stay warm in the winter,” BonniePeltier said in a statement provided by the ACLU.“But it’s disappointing that it took a court order toforce the school to accept the simple fact that, in2019, girls should have the choice to wear pants.”

Charter schools are public schools – funded bystate taxpayers – that are allowed to do many thingsdifferently than traditional public schools. In thecase of Charter Day School, it is run by a nonprofitorganization but contracts with a for-profit companyto run business and academic operations.

Howard ruled that though North Carolina charterschools and their non-profit board members arenot the state’s agents inevery respect, CharterDay School’s leaders wereacting under color ofstate law when theyadopted a disciplinarycode that included pun-ishing children whodidn’t wear the pre-scribed uniforms.

Roger Bacon Academy,which runs the schooland three other chartersin the Wilmington area,

and its founder, Baker Mitchell, did not respond tomessages seeking comment.

Members of the school’s nonprofit board said itsstudent uniform requiring all students to wear whiteor navy blue tops tucked into khaki or blue bottoms ispart of its traditional values education known to par-ents when they enroll their children.

Changing any of the school’s specific require-ments risks changing its broader goal and resultsthat have included test scores higher than nearby tra-ditional public schools, the judge summarized theboard as contending.

But school leaders failed to provide “any factsshowing specifically how the skirts requirement fur-thers this success,” Howard wrote.

SkirtsContinued from Page 1A

“All I wanted was formy daughter and everyother girl at school tohave the option towear pants so shecould play outside, sitcomfortably, and staywarm in the winter.”

Bonnie PeltierA mother suing Charter DaySchool on behalf of herdaughters

RALEIGH – The new election in a North Carolinacongressional district required after last year’s contestwas deemed tainted by a Republican political opera-tive’s ballot collection efforts is expected to cost tax-payers more than $1.2 million, the state electionsboard said Friday.

The 9th congressional district contest now headedtoward a 10-candidate Republican primary contest inMay could top $1.7 million if no candidate gets morethan 30 percent of the vote. If that happens, the sec-ond-place finisher could force a second round of head-to-head voting in September by asking for a runoff, de-laying the general election until November.

North Carolina legislators late last year requiredthat if the state elections board ordered a new election,a primary was also required. The elections board de-cided unanimously last month that the operativeworking for Republican Mark Harris collected an un-known number of ballots that could have been alteredand a new contest was needed.

Harris is not running again after what he thoughtwas his narrow win in November’s election. DemocratDan McCready is running again and faces no primaryopponent.

The state elections board collected its total from es-timates by elections directors in the eight counties

that make up the district. The costs are for holdingthe unplanned elections, not employee salariesand other office operations. The projected costs in-clude paying for poll workers, required legal no-tices in newspapers, ballot preparation and print-ing, postage, and polling place supplies and rentalfees.

One Republican candidate said if no one snags 30percent of the GOP vote in the May primary and hefinishes second, he won’t ask for a primary runoff.

“I’ve pledged that I won’t do that because we needto face McCready in September and have a moreequal election throughout the district instead ofwaiting until November where all the municipalitieswill be voting,” said Union County Commissioner andRepublican congressional candidate Stony Rushing.“It will also save some costs.”

Union County would pay $600,000 if a second pri-mary was required, but about $400,000 without one.Rushing said he’s going to ask the state legislature toreimburse his county’s costs for the re-do election.Mecklenburg County, the state’s most populous,would spend about $250,000 because only a portionis included in the congressional district.

The congressional district stretches from subur-ban Charlotte to suburban Fayetteville along theSouth Carolina border. It has been in GOP handssince 1963 and President Donald Trump won it by 12percentage points in 2016.

Dan McCready is seenlast year in Charlotte.The new electionrequired in the districtafter last year’s contestwas deemed tainted bya Republican politicaloperative’s ballotcollection efforts isexpected to costtaxpayers more than$1.2 million, the stateelections board saidFriday. JEFF SINER/THE

CHARLOTTE OBSERVER/AP

Forced congressionalelection to top $1.2MEmery P. Dalesio ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ukrainian man extradited to US to facemoney laundering, defrauding charges

CHARLOTTE – A Ukrainian man has been extradit-ed to the U.S. to face charges that he oversaw a schemeto launder money and defraud victims including aNorth Carolina company.

Aleksandr Musienko faces charges including wirefraud, bank fraud and money laundering. He was ar-rested in South Korea and appeared Friday in court inCharlotte.

Prosecutors say he convinced people to help himwith laundering transactions by offering jobs de-scribed as “financial assistants.” Authorities say thesepeople were in reality making transactions of fundsstolen by cybercriminals. Authorities say the opera-tion laundered at least $2.8 million from 2009 to 2012.

Prosecutors say cybercriminals hacked into com-puters of a Hickory-based company, identified only asVDC, and stole nearly $200,000.

A lawyer representing Musienko didn’t immediate-ly respond to an email seeking comment.

Pipe dream turns nightmare for pit bull chasing opossum

CLAREMONT – A pit bull intent on chasing downan opossum was foiled when he ended up wedgedaround 100 feet into a pipe in North Carolina.

Claremont Rescue Chief Eric Jones said in a Face-book post that his agency was called late Tuesdaynight to the scene, where Rocky the dog’s worriedowner stood. The rescuers dug holes in different lo-cations to try to find Rocky, eventually locating himat a junction between the cast iron and corrugatedpipe.

News outlets reported the rescue took around twohours. Aided by an electric saw, rescuers were even-tually able to free the 2-foot-tall dog from the 1-foot-tall pipe.

City officials said Rocky and his owner were veryhappy to be reunited, and Rocky was instructed hisopossum-chasing days were over.

–Associated Press

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