CHARLOTTE (AP) — A North Carolina agency has cited a nursing home after live maggots were found in the wound of a dementia patient.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services cited University Place Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in Charlotte on Sept. 20 following an investigation prompted by a complaint from the resident’s grandson, WBTV reported.

Justin Waddell told the television station that he first became aware of his grandmother’s infested wound after a tip from the facility’s staff members. Another staffer sent him video that showed an open wound on his grandmother’s heel with live maggots crawling out. He called regulators to report the incident.

Instead of having Mayes taken to the hospital to have the wound cleaned, staff told inspectors, the nursing home’s director of nursing called in the assistant director of nursing to clean the wound on-site, according to the report.

The nursing home didn’t respond to the television station’s emails seeking comment.

Prior to the latest inspection, records show University Place had been cited 21 times for violations by state inspectors over the past decade.

Campaign aims to steer students away from porn, predators

RALEIGH — Law enforcement and education leaders in North Carolina are joining in a campaign it hopes will keep students from being exposed to online pornography and adult sex predators.

The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation, the state Department of Public Instruction and the nonprofit group The Third Talk have partnered on an internet safety video telling middle school and high school students about the dangers of online pornography, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported. Students will see the video in school.

State leaders say there’s a greater need for the video because online usage has increased, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the SBI have reported a surge in the number of cybertips about child exploitation since the start of the pandemic. For part of the pandemic, students were taking online classes at home instead of getting in-person instruction at school.

John Van Arnam, founder of the The Third Talk, says to supplement the school video, he has created a guide consisting of short videos and a workbook giving parents tools on how to talk with their children about why they shouldn’t watch pornography.

Hundreds rally in Raleigh against anti-abortion laws

RALEIGH (AP) — Hundreds of people in Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina, have rallied against restrictive anti-abortion laws in Texas.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that the protest on Saturday was organized by a coalition of local advocacy groups.

They included the ACLU of North Carolina, El Pueblo Inc., Muslim Women For, NARAL Pro-Choice NC, National Association of Social Workers North Carolina, NC Now, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, PSL Carolinas, SisterSong and Triangle Abortion Access Coalition.

The Texas law, which was passed in May and went into effect in September, prohibits abortions after a fetal “heartbeat” is detected — as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to block the law. The court will hear oral arguments for another major abortion case in December.

North Carolina board passes strict rules for teaching race

RALEIGH — A North Carolina school board has passed a policy preventing critical race theory in its classrooms after county commissioners threatened to withhold nearly $8 million in funding.

The Johnston County school board unanimously approved on Friday an updated policy on how history and racism will be taught, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported. Under the new policy, teachers could be disciplined or fired if they teach that American historical figures weren’t heroes, undermine the U.S. Constitution in lessons or describe racism as a permanent part of American life.

The all-Republican Johnston County Board of Commissioners was withholding $7.9 million until the school board passed a policy preventing critical race theory from local classrooms.

A revised code of ethics policy includes new wording such as “the United States foundational documents shall not be undermined,” and “all people who contributed to American Society will be recognized and presented as reformists, innovators and heroes to our culture.”

April Lee, president of the Johnston County Association of Educators and an eighth-grade social studies teacher, said the school system is “selling our souls to the devil for $7.9 million.” She also said the new policy is “basically extortion.”

Last month, North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a bill that would have limited how public school teachers can discuss certain racial concepts.