Keith Lusher

A six-year legal battle over the future of North Carolina’s coastal fisheries has ended with a major victory for recreational anglers. Wake County Superior Court has ruled that the State of North Carolina failed in its legal duty to protect coastal fisheries for the public, siding with the Coastal Conservation Association of North Carolina and 86 citizens who sued the state in 2020.

A citizen’s tip about suspicious fishing activity at the Texas City Dike led Texas game wardens to discover 137 fish, four crabs and more than 700 feet of illegal gill nets earlier this month. The report came during the early morning hours in Galveston County. Wardens responded by walking more than a mile along the dike before finding a concealed location where they could watch three people near the water.

A man whose name has not been released by authorities has been cited after a black bear was found decapitated and partially dismembered along a rural road in Arkansas. The bear was discovered just before 10 a.m. Sunday near the intersection of Larue Ridge Road and Williams Ridge Road in Pope County. The animal’s head and lower portions of its legs had been removed, and a strap was reportedly still attached to the carcass.