It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Wednesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Stock 1110-993 WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. A federal audit has uncovered several operational issues at the Charlotte Regional Processing and Distribution Center, which is one of the busiest USPS hubs in the Carolinas. The report by the U.S.
Postal Service Office of the Inspector General shows that the RPDC, that's that regional processing and distribution center, as well as postal facilities in Concord, Charlotte, and Gastonia were responsible for over 74,000 pieces of delayed mail. Delays stemmed from management's failure to report over 74,000 pieces of undelivered mail, combined with staffing shortages, weak policy enforcement, inadequate training, as well as transportation problems and equipment limitations. The audit evaluated how efficiently the Charlotte facility managed mail flow, scanning, staffing, transportation, and security procedures. Of the 13 recommendations in the Office of the Inspector General report made by OIG, only three of them had been fully implemented to date. Among some of the unresolved issues, late-arriving express mail is not being properly flagged by quality control systems.
High rejection rates on package machines are slowing down operations, and staffing schedules don't align with the facility's actual mail flow. That's leading to delays and inefficiencies throughout the system. The report reads, During our observations at the RPDC on April 8th through 10th, 2025, we identified delayed mail totaling more than 54,000 pieces. We identified packages in the express mail operation registry cage and in the manual package operation system that were delayed or at risk of being delayed.
Some of this mail was not properly reported in the mail condition virtualization system. USPS management at the Charlotte facility has already acted on three of the recommendations, including reviewing and optimizing transportation schedules as well as improving employee scanning compliance. These changes are expected to help reduce mail handling errors and improve tracking accuracy. The Postal Service in the area has agreed with all 13 of OIG's recommendations and is in the process of addressing some of those outstanding items. Director of Audit Services Victoria Smith noted in a letter in response to the draft of this audit, management agrees with the five findings in this report on delayed mail, late mail, canceled mail, trip scan compliance, secure of registry items, and safety.
This Charlotte Distribution Center plays a critical role in mail delivery for much of North and South Carolina. It is what the United States Postal Service calls a mega facility. It was officially opened in 2023. As the OIG continues to monitor progress, the report signals that more work is needed to ensure that the facility can meet performance standards and maintain the public trust in the United States Postal Service. We've got some additional details on this audit and report over on our website this morning.
That's CarolinaJournal.com. The headline, Audit Major Delays, Lapses at Charlotte USPS Facility. It's now 509. You're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour. We've been talking about the North Carolina State Board of Elections a lot recently, as they've been, there's been a variety of changes going on there earlier this week, discussing some 103,000 voters across the state of North Carolina that are lacking what are known as a HAVA ID.
The State Board of Elections will be again the process of sending mail to those individuals to make sure they've got everything that they need to be in compliance with not only state but federal law. There's another group of voters, however, that have some issues that merge all the way back to the Supreme Court election: Jefferson Griffin versus Allison Riggs. These are overseas and absentee voters without proper photo identification. To walk us through some details out of a recent state board of elections meeting, Teresa Opaca, CarolinaJournal.com, joins us on the news hour. Teresa, that was a hot story for about six months.
You have Jefferson Griffin challenging election results, claiming some impropriety with voter ID. What's the latest out of the state board of elections? Sure. Good morning, Nick. Thanks for having me.
So, yeah, she mentioned that seemed like it was an ongoing saga for six months. Then it finally came to an end in May when Griffin conceded.
So, he had protests about several thousand votes specifically for military and overseas voters, which the Court of Appeals ruled on, that they must comply with the photo ID requirement when voting absentee and state and local non-federal contests. Also, another thing that came up as well, never residents, which means people have either a family connection, parents were here before moving overseas, and that person was born overseas. They are also not eligible now to vote in state and local elections, but they can still vote in federal elections. That is, according to the Court of Appeals ruling, and the State Board of Elections voted unanimously. In fact, everything they voted on.
On earlier this week, they voted unanimously. They, you know, they were totally agreement with that. I guess they really didn't have much of a choice, but they did agree to proceed with that ruling. Let's talk about the overseas voters first. From what I remember back from the Jefferson Griffin, Allison Riggs legal battle and court drama that unfolded, state law changed back a couple of years ago, Teresa, to mandate those voting in the state of North Carolina were required to show proper identification.
For the vast majority of folks, of course, that would be a state-issued driver's license.
However, that's a little bit tricky when you look at individuals overseas where they're typically not voting in person. They're doing it either online if they're in the military or through absentee by mail if they're just a resident overseas. How is the state board going to tackle those voters going forward? Sure. So for the military and overseas voters, they have to include a copy of their photo ID.
Maybe it necessarily doesn't have to be a driver's license, but any photo ID with their ballot or a photo ID exception form. They have to have that in with their ballot, just like a civilian voter. And they can upload the document using the online portal or they can mail it in.
However, if they do mail it in, there is a curing process. That would be at least three days after Election Day, the following Friday at noon, which they have to have everything in. And then county boards are going to use the same curing process like they do for civilian voters.
So that's obviously a significant change in that process for some of those overseas and military voters. This group of never residents, Teresa, this has always been an interesting story. You kind of walked us through a little bit. If you parents are from North Carolina, but you were, let's say, born overseas, somehow you're able to vote in North Carolina elections. The whole thing has been rather interesting.
What's going on there? Sure, sure.
So, exactly what you said. State law used to allow them to vote in all elections, regardless it was federal election, state, local election, they used to let them do that. But the Court of Appeals took a look at the state constitution and said, you know, there's a residency requirement in the state constitution for voting in state and local elections.
So that they made that null and void as far as going forward, but they left in place the provision to vote in federal elections. One thing that was discussed at the meeting earlier this week, the officials weren't sure of how many. Never residents were the our actually The exact number. They had anything from 200 to under 1,000.
So we'll just say roughly, you know, a couple hundred people are considered ever residents at this point. But also, board member Jeff Carmen asked. Going back to the military, just want to touch on that for a second. Are you letting people overseas or military know the changes? And General Counsel Paul Cox said, yep, we're in talks with the Department of Defense to let them know.
They put a guide together and they have specific information for each state.
So people overseas and in the military should definitely know what's going on with the changes. Teresa, it's important to note you follow state politics very closely. You mentioned that this was a unanimous decision from the State Board of Elections. The other story that we've been tracking over the last couple of weeks, these HAVA ID numbers, that was also a unanimous decision by the board. There are three Republicans and two Democrats.
Do you read anything into these unanimous decisions? That's not been the case in a lot of decisions that the state board has made. Let's just say over the last 12 or 24 months. Right, right. I think, you know, you know, we did a reversal of how the board used to look, used to be the majority.
Three was Democrat, and then the rest were Republican, the two. But I think. I think maybe the board, as a total, is seeing the writing on the wall. This is the new ruling. You've got to go by the ruling that came up.
Even Jeff Carmen said he prefaced one of his votes the other day saying, Well, you know, based on this ruling, I'm going to vote this way. He actually did say that.
So I think they know that they Begrudgingly, maybe some of them are saying yes. Maybe the Democrats are saying yes, can't say for certain all you know, the two, but I know that statement was made.
So I think things have kind of the tide has kind of turned as far as the way things are going to be going from here on out. Not saying there won't be differences, but I think in this case, they kind of know they had to do this. We've got a lot more details again for those in these specific voting groups. Where can they find those this morning? Sure, they can head on over to CarolinaJournal.com.
Teresa Opeka joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's 521. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993, WBT. The North Carolina House and Senate will reconvene coming up on Tuesday. That's July the 29th, aiming to override multiple vetoes issued by Governor Josh Stein, a Democrat who took office in January.
In total, the governor has vetoed 14 bills from the state legislature this year, and each chamber will review seven of those vetoes, sending them across to the other chamber if overridden. Senate Leader Phil Berger, the Republican out of Rockingham County, sharply criticized Stein's vetoes in a press release this week, saying, By vetoing these common sense bills, Governor Stein confirms that he is out of touch with the people of North Carolina. He tolerates criminal, illegal aliens roaming our streets, divisive DEI concepts in our schools, and government infringements on our Second Amendment rights. I look forward to leading Senate Republicans in overriding these harmful vetoes and putting North Carolina families first. With Republicans currently holding a super majority in the North Carolina Senate and being just one vote short in the House, overriding Stein's vetoes will require full attendance and support from at least one House Democrat.
The following bills are on the Senate calendar for next week. We'll start with Senate Bill 50. That's the Freedom to Carry NC Act, which allows permitless concealed carry of handguns for adults aged 18 and over. It passed the Senate in a 26 to 18 vote. Then the House followed suit, passing it 107 to 59, with no House Democrats voting in favor.
We then moved to Senate Bill 153. That's the North Carolina Border Protection Act. That piece of legislation mandates cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and empowers residents to sue local governments that adopt, quote, sanctuary policies. It passed the Senate in a 26 to 17 vote, and the House voted in favor 106 to 48, with no House Democrats voting in favor of that legislation either. Senate Bill 227 eliminating DEI in public K-12 education.
That legislation would prohibit DEI offices and diversity training in public schools by targeting divisive concepts like race-based meritocracy. No House Democrats voted on that legislation either. Senate Bill 558 eliminating DEI in public higher education, similar to the last bill.
However, this prohibits DEI offices and statements within the UNC system, campuses, and community colleges. It passed the Senate on a party-line votes, with opponents arguing it, quote, chills free speech, while supporters say it combats divisive campus policies. Once again, no House Democrats voted in favor. Senate Bill 254, Charter School Changes, expands charter school authority by empowering the Charter School Review Board. The Board of Education criticized the measure as unconstitutional.
However, this piece of legislation did pass both chambers with eight House Democrats voting in favor.
So Senate Bill 254 is going to be an interesting one to keep an eye on. Senate Bill 266, that's the Power Bill Reduction Act. It repeals North Carolina's interim 2030 carbon reduction mandate, projected to save consumers across North Carolina some $15 billion by eliminating costly compliance measures. It passed the Senate in a 29 to 11 vote. The House also approved it with three House Democrats voting in favor.
And the final piece of legislation on the Senate calendar for next week, Senate Bill 416, the Personal Privacy Protection Act, bars state agencies from collecting or disclosing nonprofit donor data, imposing penalties on officials who disclose that information. The Senate passed it, but the governor did veto it, citing unrelated amendments. GOP lawmakers argues it protects free speech, and three House Democrats once again voted in favor of that legislation.
So those Seven pieces will be taken up by the North Carolina Senate sometime next Tuesday. On the House side, lawmakers will consider the following vetoes for an override, following bills for a veto override, starting with House Bill 193. That's the firearms law revision. This bill passed both chambers with the House concurring with changes made by the Senate. The final House vote was 6146, with one Democrat voting in favor.
House Bill 96, the Expedited Removal of Unauthorized Persons Act, the governor vetoed this legislation, stating that while he generally supported its core provisions, he opposed an amendment that increased regulation of pet stores. The bill received bipartisan support, with 17 House Democrats joining Republicans to pass the measure. House Bill 805, preventing sexual exploitation of women and minors, defines sex in state law based on biological attributes and bars K through 12 schools from placing male and female students in the same sleeping quarters. It also prohibits state funds for gender transition procedures in correction facilities, as well as increases the statute of limitation on lawsuits for transition surgeries for up to 10 years. Only one House Democrat voted in favor of House Bill 805.
House Bill one hundred seventy one, equality in state agencies slash prohibition on diversity, equity and inclusion bans DEI initiatives in state government agencies. No House Democrats voted to support that legislation. The North Carolina House will also look at overriding House Bill five hundred forty nine. That clarifies powers of the state auditor, which would give State Auditor Dave Bullick broader access to state agency databases, digital records, facilities and property. One Democrat voted for that legislation.
House Bill 402, limit rules within substantial financial cost. Originally called the Rains Act, this bill would require greater legislative scrutiny for rules that impose high financial costs on state businesses and residents. Important to note, three House Democrats voted in favor of what was the Rains Act at the time. And finally, the last piece of legislation on the House override calendar, House Bill 318, the Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act, that tightens the timeline on law mandating that law enforcement alert ICE before an illegal alien criminal suspect is scheduled to be released. This is one of two bills that House Republican that the House Republican caucus is focused on to target politically vulnerable Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
One House Democrat voted in favor of that piece of legislation. Successful overrides would represent a significant political win for the GOP-led General Assembly. While Governor Stein and the legislature have so far focused on hurricane recovery efforts, the high veto precedent set by Stein's predecessor, Governor Roy Cooper, could reignite partisan tensions as the state looks ahead to the 2026 midterm elections. You can read more details on all of these 14 pieces of legislation that Governor Josh Stein did veto. We've got those over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com.
The headline, state legislature to return July 29th for veto override votes. Again, those details at CarolinaJournal.com. Looking for affordable auto insurance, even with tickets or accidents at the Andrews Insurance Agency in Greensboro, we've got your back. We specialize in non-standard coverage with low down payments, low monthly rates, and excellent options for foreign and inexpensive. Experienced drivers.
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Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Talk 1110-993WBT, a federal judge signed an order Tuesday officially settling a legal dispute between the Davidson County School Board and a former student suspended over his use of the word illegal alien in class. We've had some updates on this story over the last six months or so. U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder's order confirmed that the settlement includes a public apology to Christian McGee, that's the student in discussion, and a $20,000 payment to his family.
Schroeder had announced in court on July the 1st that he'd accepted terms of the settlement for McGee, identified as CM, in the court records. The judge agreed with McGee's parents that the settlement is, quote, fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of their son. Just a little backstory, Christian McGee was suspended in April of 2024 after referencing illegal aliens during a high school class discussion. According to the Liberty Justice Center, which represented the McGee family, Christian asked during an English class: Do you mean space aliens or illegal aliens who need green cards? The school suspended him for three days and added a note of racial insensitivity to his public and permanent record.
The Liberty Justice Center filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the school's actions violated McGee's First Amendment rights. Dean McGee, senior counsel and director of educational freedom at the Liberty Justice Center, called the court's approval a critical step towards finally vindicating Christian's constitutional rights and clearing his record of false allegations. Christian's mother, Leah, told the Carolina Journal earlier this month that the ordeal forced the family into a crash course on student rights. Telling the Carolina Journal at the time, it's really opened our entire family's eyes to the fact that students aren't really being taught their rights. Our son learned more about his constitutional rights through this process than he ever learned from any of his teachers in high school.
She described the case as transformative for Christian and his families. And in the weeks following his suspension, the media attention caught the eye of the White House. Christian received a personal letter of recommendation from President Trump. And Christian also recently visited the United States Capitol to learn more about individual rights. We've got a lengthy piece this morning, including all of the backstory and details and what many are calling a completely ridiculous argument here by the Davidson County School Board and some of the decisions by the school in which Christian was attending at the time.
You can read all of those over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. The headline, judge's order confirms $20,000 payment, public apology in a legal alien case. It's now 5.40. You're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour. If you talk to a vast majority of voters, not only here in North Carolina, but across the United States, they would probably say that they wanted government to have more transparency in what it was doing.
One of the agencies responsible for transparency and bringing information to light in North Carolina is the state auditor's office. That is now controlled by state auditor Dave Bullock after his election win in November of last year. And the auditor's office has rolled out a new internal dashboard so you can keep an eye on what's going on in the auditor's office to walk us through some of those details and tell us exactly what's going on here. Teresa Opeka, CarolinaJournal.com, joins us on the news hour. I guess, Teresa, it'd be accurate to say now the public can see what's going on in the auditor's office.
That's a pretty substantial step from my vantage point. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Thanks, Nick, for having me.
So, yeah, I mean, you know, he's known, or the auditor's office is known as the watchdog, watching over everything, watching the spending of all state agencies and institutions. And now they're kind of flipping the script there with having the public go ahead and watch what they're doing.
So, yeah, auditor Dave Bullock released a This uh Press release yesterday announcing this: that they are going to have a new budget dashboard. It's up and running on the website in a bit to deliver better government transparency. He says, you know, he wanted to have opening access to his office spending. They're leading the charge to create a more transparent government in North Carolina, and it makes it easily accessible to the public. They can take a look at it.
You know, he's been fighting for this since he got into office, actually, before he got into office, is what he said. There's plenty of details when it comes to this. But yeah, he says, basically, they're shining a light on their own office, which is remarkable, right? Because Well, we even have like the General Assembly who want to do in fact did what close up the records. You couldn't look up records now, they they can maybe possibly destroy them.
So this is like the exact opposite.
So it is refreshing to see that for a state agency, especially the one who watches over all the other state agencies. Teresa, you follow the Council of State very closely. The Council of State includes people like the state auditor and other cabinet-level officials that many folks who are voted on every four years here in North Carolina. Do you think this move by state auditor Dave Bullock to say, hey, you know, we're not just going to go around investigating all of these towns and municipalities, but now you're going to be able to go and look and see what we're doing. Do you think he's maybe trying to force the hand of some of these other state agencies to maybe say, it's stopped, and now here's your opportunity, here's your time to offer some of the similar level of transparency to the public as well?
He might be. I think it's a great idea that he's taking charge of the initiative to do this. It's a definite possibility. And I think you are seeing some agencies take a little bit of attack in doing this. I know Department of Labor Luke Farley, he has been more active than I can remember anybody in recent times being active in that department, just as an example, and saying what they're doing and putting more press releases out or going around and doing this and doing that.
I think State Treasurer Brad Briner has been really forthcoming. He's been putting out different videos and announcements and press releases. I mean, we had Dale Falwell who did that as well. But I think you're seeing a new trend as far as transparency is going. And I think Auditor Bullock is definitely leading the way in that.
So hopefully he will rub off on even more and set a good example. I mean, it seems to be a really good thing he's doing. Yeah. Transparency obviously is the key cornerstone and the very important part of this. But Teresa, transparency is great, but the information also has to be digestible.
Regular members of the public and even yourself and me, you look at some of these reports from whether it's the auditor's office in the past or other state agencies, and your eyes just gloss over. It's a 70-page PDF with information all over the place. Yeah, it's great that it's out there, but it's incredibly hard to digest this information.
So, yes, the transparency is important, but making it actually available and readily usable by the public, I think, is also a key step in that. Yeah, were you hearing me talk about my writing a story the other day, taking time to break things down, make it, you know, actually readable for the public and for yourself? You're absolutely correct. And the dashboard is. It's really nice how they have it set up.
They have all the different revenue sources, expenses, spending by vendor for state fiscal year, 2025. They've got it all broken down. It's easily readable, digestible. You can really understand it. Did a really nice job on it.
So you're right. It's not sifting through 70 pages of what is this and what does this mean? Oh, God, I'm getting a headache from reading it all. No, you're right. And it's geared toward the public and public access.
Now, this dashboard, obviously, it's new as it's looking at the spending within the state auditor's office, but these dashboards have been something that Dave Bollock and his team have been pretty diligent with since the early days in his office. They've got a couple of these dashboards out right now tracking similar spending. I know one of the big ones is Hurricane Helene. These have been pretty impactful from everything that I've been able to follow. Oh yeah, yeah.
Again, Transparency, right? He led the way in this as far as I haven't seen anything like this before. Then have Hurricane Helene before, but we haven't really had any different dashboards as far as state auditor's office. Really quickly mentioned the weather one, yes, is the NC Financial Snapshot Dashboard. It's from the Office of the State Controller's NC Cash Watch Report.
Basically, how much money the state has, it's how much is in reserve, how much is available, things of that nature. But the bigger one, of course, you said Helene Recovery Dashboard. And that's showing you how many people were housed. Households seeking assistance, all the different expenditures when it comes to what's being spent as far as the budget, and also taking a look at GROW NC. That was the agency set up by Governor Josh Stein to separate from NCOR, which has done a really horrible job, let's be honest, with Eastern North Carolina under Hurricanes Matthew and Florence.
He set that up as one of his first actions in office when he took office in January.
So there's the GROW NC tab. It shows how many millions of dollars in payroll expenditures and actual operational expenditures they have. You can click through all of them. Again, everything is easily readable and digestible. You understand what's there.
So, sincere kudos to Auditor Bollock for putting this all together, not only on his office, but all of the other dashboards, including Hurricane Helene. Yeah, these are great. And again, really digestible by the public. We've got links to not only this new dashboard, looking at the auditor's office itself, but some of these other dashboards. Those are linked in our story this morning over at CarolinaJournal.com.
We appreciate the update. Teresa Opeka joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's 553. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Newsstalk 1110-993 WBT. Yesterday, President Donald Trump announced that a trade deal pack had been reached with the Philippines.
We've been keeping a very close eye on tariffs and everything related to tariffs here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Philippine imports will be tariffed at 19%. In contrast, U.S. exports to the Philippines will have zero tariffs and the nations will cooperate militarily, according to reports yesterday. President Donald Trump posting on Truth Social wrote, The President Marcos of the Philippines is just leaving the White House with all of his many representatives.
It was a beautiful visit, and we concluded our trade deal, whereby the Philippines is going open market with the United States and zero tariffs. The Philippines will pay a 19% tariff into the United States. In addition, we will work together militarily. It was a great honor to be with the president. He is highly respected in his country as he should be.
He is also a very good and tough negotiator. We extend our warmest regards to the wonderful people of the Philippines. Trump had threatened 20% tariffs before. The deal in a recent letter to the President of the Philippines, according to news reports. He also proposed 17% tariffs on that country during his Liberation Day announcement that happened back in April of this year.
In twenty twenty four, according to a Wall Street Journal report, the United States recorded $4.9 billion worth of trade good deficits with the Philippines, ranking it as its thirty third largest trading partner in total goods traded. Earnings reports from blue chip companies continue to come in, with Coca-Cola, General Motors, and Lockheed Martin among the latest to release results. According to the Wall Street Journal, despite increased sale, many of these companies that do business with the Philippines saw profit declines as some of the tariff pressures do continue. According to data from the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, year to date through May, imports from the Philippines to North Carolina have increased by 34%, from $72 million last year to more than $96.6 million this year. Exports from North Carolina to the Philippines year to date through May have decreased slightly by 0.6%.
from 46.4 million to 46.1 million. According to Joseph Harris, fiscal policy analyst at the John Locke Foundation, he said in 2024 the United States accounted for approximately 17% of all of the Philippines' exports, making it a top destination for goods surpassing Japan at 14% and China at 13%. Given that more than half of all Philippine exports consisted of electrical machinery and equipment, it is highly likely that the Philippines accepted the deal in exchange for guaranteed or enhanced access to the United States market for its most valuable export categories. U.S. Trade Secretary Scott Bessett said that he would soon meet with Chinese officials, noting yesterday, quote, I think trade is in a very good place with China.
We're going to be talking about a lot of other things that our countries can do together. He is expecting a meeting coming up next week, July the 28th, in Stockholm with Chinese officials, leading to extending a trade deal that currently expires on August the 12th. This is following an extension earlier this month to August the 1st for imposing looming tariffs. The administration indicated that there would not be another delay in that tariff deadline. Tariffs have been a major topic of discussion over the last six months or so.
We continue to focus on its impact here on various North Carolina industries. We've got some details on this trade deal between the United States and the Philippines. Additional coverage over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. That's going to do it for a Wednesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour. WBT News is next.
Followed by Good Morning BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on News Talk 11.10 and 99.3 WBT.
