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North Carolina woman who vanished 24 years ago tearfully reunites with daughter outside court
A North Carolina woman who vanished more than two decades ago, and was found alive earlier this year, tearfully reunited with her daughter on Thursday.
Michele Hundley Smith appeared before a Rockingham, North Carolina County judge on Thursday related to a DWI charge in November 2001.
Following her initial appearance, Smith was seen quickening her pace to tearfully embrace her daughter, Amanda Hundley, outside of court.
The pair had not been together since the now gray-haired 63-year-old vanished from her husband and three children 24 years ago.
MISSING NORTH CAROLINA MOM FOUND ALIVE AFTER 24 YEARS REVEALS WHY SHE LEFT
“Amanda?” Hundley Smith could be heard saying. “Your hair wasn’t this length. We walked right by you. I didn’t recognize you.”
Hundley Smith was located on Feb. 20 in an undisclosed location within North Carolina after detectives received new information about her case, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office previously confirmed to Fox News Digital.
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Sheriff Sam Page said Smith told investigators she left her family of her own accord and cited “ongoing domestic issues” as the reason for her disappearance. Page did not elaborate on those issues, and investigators have said there is no evidence of foul play.
Smith was 38 when she disappeared after leaving her three children at an Eden, North Carolina, home on Dec. 9, 2001, to go Christmas shopping at a K-Mart in Martinsville, Virginia. Her vehicle was never found, and she did not return home. Her husband reported her missing later that month.
Over the ensuing decades, local, state and federal agencies participated in efforts to locate her. Despite periodic appeals and flyers distributed in the region, her whereabouts remained unknown for 24 years.
The New York Post reported it had located Smith in a trailer in a rural community near the South Carolina state line. Smith told the outlet she is trying to make amends with her daughter and the family she walked out on decades ago.
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“My daughter is forgiving me. We are in contact, so leave me alone,” she told the outlet.
Smith’s neighbors said she had “been here for years and years” and mostly keeps to herself.
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Smith appeared in court Thursday to answer to a DWI charge from November 2001.
On Nov. 11, 2001, the Eden Police Department issued a DWI charge. Smith failed to appear in court Dec. 27, 2001, for that charge, the statement said.
On Feb. 25, 2026, Smith was taken into custody by the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office at the request of Rockingham County authorities. She later posted a $2,000 bond. Her next hearing is April 23.
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‘We didn’t cave’: Thune highlights Schumer, Dems’ losses in DHS funding deal
As a Homeland Security shutdown drags on, the top Senate Republican says Democrats are getting “zero” of the reforms they demanded.
Congressional Democrats have taken victory laps, viewing the outcome as a key win in their push for reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). They have also accused congressional Republicans of caving to their demands.
While the Senate’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deal includes funding for ICE and much of CBP, it does not include the structural reforms Democrats spent the last 48 days pushing.
SENATE PASSES BILL TO FUND MOST OF DHS AFTER HOUSE GOP CAVES
When asked whether Republicans gave in, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” “No, we didn’t cave.”
“I mean, ultimately, what the Democrats did, you could say … this was all about ‘reforms,’ restrictions on ICE and CBP agents and what they could or couldn’t do,” Thune said. “They got none of that. They got zero of the reforms they were advocating for.”
Thune was responding to accusations from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who argued that “House Republicans caved” after backing down from their push for a 60-day funding extension for the agency.
HOUSE CONSERVATIVES RAGE AGAINST SENATE DHS SHUTDOWN DEAL
Schumer argued that divisions in the GOP “derailed a bipartisan agreement” and said Democrats were clear in their objectives to “fund critical security, protect Americans, and provide no blank check for reckless ICE and Border Patrol enforcement.”
“We were united, held the line, and refused to let Republican chaos win,” Schumer said.
Thune countered, “In the end, this was all about their left-wing base demanding that no funding be provided.”
HOUSE GOP RAMS THROUGH NEW DHS FUNDING PLAN WITH SHUTDOWN FAR FROM OVER
“The good news for us is we saw this coming, and we pre-funded this last summer, so ICE and CBP are funded through the end of the fiscal year. Then we’ll add to those accounts and make sure they’re funded in future years,” Thune said.
Republicans, now with the backing of President Donald Trump, are eyeing the budget reconciliation process to fund immigration enforcement operations for the foreseeable future. It’s a tricky maneuver that would require full buy-in from Senate Republicans.
Trump lauded Republicans, including Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who originally torpedoed the Senate deal, for coming together to reopen most of DHS. He also noted that he would soon sign an executive order to pay, “ALL of the incredible employees at the Department of Homeland Security,” which comes as the funding plan currently wouldn’t pay immigration enforcement support staff.
“Republicans are UNIFIED, and moving forward on a plan that will reload funding for our FANTASTIC Border Patrol and Immigration Enforcement Officers,” Trump said on Truth Social.
In the meantime, the shutdown is still ongoing. The Senate’s redo of its funding plan Thursday morning sets up another vote in the House, where there is still significant resistance among some hardline Republicans, and the House is not expected to return to Washington, D.C., until April 13.
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Chris Jericho makes surprise AEW return after months of speculation
Chris Jericho made a stunning return to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) on Wednesday night after months of speculation over whether he would come back to the company he joined in 2019.
Jericho hadn’t been seen on AEW programming in nearly a year. He was last with The Learning Tree faction, but it disbanded soon after he lost the Ring of Honor World Heavyweight Championship to Bandido at last year’s AEW Dynasty pay-per-view.
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As fans geared up for “Dynamite” in Winnipeg, Canada, Jericho’s music hit before the contract signing between Maxwell Jacob Friedman and Kenny Omega.
“Winnipeg … AEW … I’m home,” he said before walking out of the ring.
Jericho didn’t make any other declarations or call out anyone on the AEW roster. But his presence was felt in the city where he grew up.
AEW REVOLUTION FEATURES BRUTAL TEXAS DEATH MATCH, CLASSIC TAG TEAM WAR AND MAJOR RETURNS
There were months of speculation over Jericho’s future after he had been off AEW programming. Some pro wrestling fans were hoping he’d make a surprise WWE return at the Royal Rumble or another premium live event for the company.
But that didn’t turn out to be the case.
Jericho joined AEW in January 2019 and was a part of the company’s inaugural event, Double or Nothing. He is the first AEW world champion in the company’s history. He also held the FTW Championship and is a two-time Ring of Honor world champion.
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Restaurants warn tipped wage changes could raise prices, cut jobs, reshape dining experience
The restaurant industry in a major city is pushing back hard on a key issue.
Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago last week vetoed a City Council effort to freeze the city’s tipped wage system — and leaders in the restaurant sector are warning the decision could lead to job losses, higher prices and lasting damage to one of its most visible economic indicators.
Gina Barge-Farmer, who owns Chicago’s Wax Vinyl Bar and Ramen Shop with her husband, said the tip credit system supports the traditional full-service dining model.
“The tip credit is the reason full-service restaurants exist as they do,” she told Fox News Digital. “It’s what allows a server to earn real money and a guest to have a real experience — not a number on a screen and a counter to pick up from.”
AMERICANS ARE FED UP WITH TIPPING CULTURE AS NEARLY 9 IN 10 SAY IT’S COMPLETELY ‘OUT OF CONTROL’
Without it, she warned, the math quickly breaks down.
“Prices go up, service thins out or both,” she said, noting that customers are unlikely to absorb higher costs without changing their behavior.
“They go out less often, which is not just one restaurant losing a table here and there,” she said. “That’s an entire dining ecosystem gradually contracting.”
Supporters argue the model sustains full-service dining and higher earning potential for workers — while critics say it leaves wages too dependent on tips.
RESTAURANTS MAY BE QUIETLY INFLATING YOUR TIP — AND DINERS ARE STARTING TO NOTICE
Industry leaders say the mayor’s move ignores economic realities already facing restaurants.
“Every restaurant worker is already mandated by law to make the minimum wage in Chicago and across Illinois. This veto is completely misguided,” Sam Toia, president and CEO of the Illinois Restaurant Association, told Fox News Digital in a statement.
“It will eliminate jobs, reduce take-home pay for restaurant workers and cause irreparable damage to the vibrant restaurant industry in each of Chicago’s 77 communities.”
Toia and others had supported the council’s effort to halt the phase out of the tip credit, arguing it would give restaurants time to adjust amid rising costs.
FORMER NFL STAR SPARKS VIRAL DEBATE OVER TIPPING PRACTICES AT SELF-SERVICE RESTAURANTS
Mike Whatley, vice president of state affairs and grassroots advocacy for the Washington, D.C.-based National Restaurant Association, told Fox News Digital that the City Council’s earlier vote to stop the process “continues the national bipartisan momentum in support of the tip wage.”
Said Whatley in a statement, “We are disappointed that Mayor Brandon Johnson is threatening to continue the policy that is causing his city so much pain.”
Johnson said at a news conference last week that his veto “is really about us keeping our commitment to working people,” FOX 32 in Chicago reported.
He also said he was proud “to stand here to resist every single attempt to undermine workers in this city,” Chicago’s PBS affiliate WTTW reported.
Fox News Digital reached out to the mayor’s office for further comment.
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Chicago passed the One Fair Wage ordinance in 2023, designed to eliminate the tipped wage structure gradually until it matches the city’s full minimum wage by 2028.
The city’s current minimum wage is $12.62. It’s set to increase to the city minimum of $16.60 by 2028, FOX 32 reported.
Raise the Floor Alliance, a Chicago nonprofit that advocates for lower-wage workers, said in a March 18 news release that keeping the sub-minimum wage “sets a dangerous precedent that when labor groups come to the table and make good-faith compromises with business groups — including a gradual phase-out plan — corporate interests will take advantage and renege on their word.”
Barge-Farmer, the restaurant owner, said restaurants operate on thin margins with little room to absorb sudden labor cost increases.
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“When labor costs rise significantly, something gives — shifts get cut, roles get eliminated or the entire model gets reconsidered,” she said.
Most tipped employees aren’t asking for a change, Barge-Farmer said.
“Some hear ‘higher minimum wage’ and think it sounds like a win, and honestly, on the surface, it does,” she said.
“But the people who are truly great at this job — the ones who hustle, remember names, build regulars and carry a section like it’s their own small business — chose this system precisely because it rewards that kind of effort. They’re betting on themselves.”
She also said top performers could wind up earning less under a higher base-wage model.
“Wage floors don’t always lift everyone up. More often, they compress the ceiling,” she said.
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It will take 34 votes for the City Council to override Johnson’s veto, WTTW reported.
That effort is expected to take place April 15.
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