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President Donald Trump and congressional leaders saluted Billy Graham as the plain wooden casket bearing the evangelist’s body arrived in the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday morning to lay in honor. Graham is the first American clergyman – and only the fourth private citizen – to be honored in that way.

“Today we give thanks for this extraordinary life, and it’s very fitting that we do so right here in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, where the memory of the American people is enshrined,” Trump said. “Here in this room we are reminded that America is a nation sustained by prayer.”

A representative of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday that the agency could not guarantee a reimbursement commitment to the city of Fayetteville for the planned Devonwood lower dam reconstruction.

That dam is also known as the McFadyen Drive dam. The city owns the dam and the road over the structure that’s off Morganton Road, to the north end of the Devonwood subdivision.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed by Congress in December created what many referred to as historic tax cuts for both individuals and businesses.

On its surface, the bill appears to favor businesses, instituting a flat tax rate of 21 percent for C corporations with no expiration date. Individual tax rate changes included downward shifts of zero to three percent, with the decrease expiring in ten years.

The Rev. Billy Graham, a North Carolina native who was arguably the country's most famous living evangelist, died Wednesday at age 99.

Graham was born near Charlotte in 1919. He provided religious counsel to presidents and was the first Christian leader from North America to deliver a public sermon behind the Iron Curtain.

U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, whose district includes Moore County, was among the many people who paid tribute to Graham on Wednesday.

Salisbury/Fayetteville — Congressmen Richard Hudson (NC-08) and Ted Budd (NC-13) met with business owners at New Sarum Brewing Company in Salisbury on Tuesday. The stop is part of a tour to talk about legislative priorities and the recent federal tax cut package. In the package, Congress cut the federal excise tax for breweries making less that 2 million barrels per year.

“Our smaller local breweries are huge economic drivers,” said Hudson. “This tax cut will make it easier for them to buy new equipment, expand, hire more people and continue to invest in our community.”

SALISBURY — Edward Moscardini, chief operating officer of New Sarum Brewing Co., says the company’s recent expansions are directly related to tax cuts passed by Congress in December.