It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Friday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. In response to widespread damage caused by Tropical Storm Chantal earlier this month, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein has officially now declared a state of emergency. enabling emergency operation across the affected regions.
The executive order, which was signed yesterday by Wednesday rather, by the governor, enables government officials to take extra measures to protect the public. The storm swept through the central part of the state early last week, causing historic flooding and damages to several central counties throughout the central part of North Carolina. Chantal unloaded more than 10 inches of rain in counties including Alamance, Orange, Chatham, Moore, and others. In the Piedmont region, rivers swelled to record or near record levels. The Haw River crested at 32.5 feet, with the Eno River setting a new crest at 25.6 feet.
The storm surpassed more than the 100-year flood levels in places like the small town of Saxafaw, where the watermarks surpassed those from flooding in both 1945 and, of course, Hurricane Fran in 1996. Additionally, the North Carolina Department of Transportation reported over 120 road closures in the immediate aftermath of the storm, including major arteries such as I-40 and I-85 in Alamance County. Fortunately, those roads are reopened shortly after the storm. At least five deaths have been confirmed and 80 rescues were completed in Chapel Hill and in Durham. In a press release, Governor Stein stated the importance of declaring a state of emergency in order to carry out the proper recovery assistance, with the governor writing, Tropical storm Chantal cost some of our neighbors their lives and others their livelihood and property.
We must do everything we can to support them as they get back on their feet. The governor noted that federal assistance may be needed in the recovery process as well, noting this state of emergency will help get North Carolinians the support that they need and enable the state to seek out potential funding to help communities rebuild. The governor's office emphasized that declaring a state of emergency is a critical step in recovery response to natural disasters. Since July the 5th, the state emergency response team has been actively supporting local emergency managers and first responders in the region with essential services. While the teams can assist during the response phase without a former declaration, issuing a state of emergency enables access to broader state and federal recovery assistance, according to the governor.
That state of emergency is in effect this morning for Alamance, Caswell, Chatham, Davidson, Durham, Forsyth, Guilford, Lee, Moore, Orange, Pearson, Randolph, and Wake counties. We've got a lot more coverage on that over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, including some incredible drone footage that was taken by Jacob Edmonds of Carolina Journal in the immediate aftermath. Of Tropical Storm Chantal. You can find all of those links, all of those details this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. The North Carolina State Board of Elections has officially kicked off a major initiative to collect missing identification numbers from roughly 103,000 plus registered voters who lack required ID information.
The project, known as the Registration Repair Project, aims to bring state voter rolls into compliance with both federal and state laws, as well as recent court rulings and ongoing lawsuits with the United States Department of Justice. The board unanimously approved the three-part plan at a meeting back on June the 24th. Under the federal Help America Vote Act, or HAVA, which took effect all the way back in 2004, all voter registrations must include either a driver's license number or the last four digits of a social security number. The executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Sam Hayes, described the problem that unfolded here in North Carolina during a press conference yesterday. For years, the state used a voter registration application that was not clear about whether voters were required to provide their driver's license number or last four digits of their Social Security number.
The registration form was corrected in January 2024. But that'll That issue led to a small percentage of the state's voters not having this information on file in the voter registration database. This information is required for voters under recent state court decisions, and it was required to be requested initially under federal law, specifically the Help America Vote Act, or HAVA. Since I assumed office in mid May, I've said that we're going to fix this problem and bring North Carolina into compliance with state and federal law. We must put this issue behind us so we can focus our attention squarely on preparations for accurate and secure municipal elections this fall.
That's Sam Hayes, the executive director of the State Board of Elections. Back on July the 11th, Washington, D.C. law firm Wilmer Hale sent a letter on behalf of the Democrat National Committee to the state board, threatening legal action if any voters were removed from the roles.
However, the executive director says, well, that's misinformation. And today, we're launching this comprehensive effort to ensure we collect this information. from roughly 103,000 registered voters across the state. I I want to make it abundantly clear. that this project will not Result in the removal of any eligible voter from the voter rolls, as some have inaccurately suggested.
Instead, it will result in more complete voter rolls and full compliance with state and federal law. We're also hopeful that it will have the added benefit of helping us settle pending litigation on this topic. Of course, that pending litigation coming from the Department of Justice.
So, yesterday with this announcement, the state board has launched an official dedicated webpage with a search tool that allows voters to see if their registration is missing required ID information. Voters have three ways to fix it if it is determined that they've got a problem. They can use the MyNCDMV web portal. That's the portal that you can use to renew your driver's license. They can also visit their local county board of elections in the county in which they are registered to vote, or respond to a letter that the state board will begin sending out in August.
The state board will send letters to individuals who remain on the list of affected voters. The mailing will include a self-addressed postage prepaid return envelope and a simple form for collecting the required information, as well as Is more information about how to provide this information securely online at the MyNCDMV web registration portal where voters can update that information in real time. In future elections, voters who haven't updated their registration will be, rather, those who have not updated their registration with the required ID information will be required to vote using a provisional ballot and provide the missing details at the time of voting. To help with that process, the state board is adding a flag to these voter records so that poll workers know they must vote provisionally and supply that necessary information for their ballot to count. This has been an ongoing discussion in the state of North Carolina over the last couple of years as many individuals brought forward some of these concerns about the voter registration form, the lack of collecting or requiring either a full North Carolina driver's license number or the last four digits of a social security number.
That prompted the Department of Justice to go forward with that lawsuit back earlier. This year, the state board says that they are actively working with the DOJ to get that squared away. Also, other recent court rulings, a lot of them dealing with the Jefferson Griffin Allison Riggs recount in the North Carolina Supreme Court election that took place in November of last year.
Some decisions from not only the Superior Courts, but the North Carolina Supreme Court, as they dealt with that case, also dealt with some of these individuals lacking required ID information, either under HAVA, again, that's the Help America Vote Act, or state statute or state law. We've got some additional details on this backstory, including the June 24th meeting where the board unanimously, which I'll note, three Republicans, two Democrats on the state board of elections approved this plan and a link to the website where you can search and see if you're one of those voters. That website is ncsbe.gov/slash/registration repair. That's ncsbe.gov/slash registration repair. Or you can head on over to our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com.
We've got it linked in our story with the headline: NCSBE launches effort to update missing voter information. Again, that's available on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Yeah. It's 521. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT.
Nine months after Hurricane Helene tore through the southeast, the recovery process is still in some areas just beginning. As communities rebuild their lives and towns, the Carolina Journal continues our coverage of revisiting some of the state's hardest-hit areas to assess what recovery looks like, what's still missing, and how far there is still to go. Asheville is likely the city most known for the devastation and destruction incurred by Hurricane Helene as one of the largest municipalities in the western part of the state. While much has been accomplished since Hurricane Helene struck, much remains to be completed. The mayor of Asheville, speaking with the Carolina Journal, said, quote, We've come a long way in the sense that a lot of the vital services have been restored.
Water, power, power and road rebuilding.
However, we still have a lot of traffic jams all over town because so many roads were still closed. There's still a lot of road work that needs to be done in western North Carolina. But in terms of Asheville's functioning roads, we've made great progress.
Now we're kind of into a period of the longer term recovery rebuilding. Helene decimated Asheville's park system along the French Broad River. The river's park system featured playgrounds, dog parks, trails, fields, and even a golf course. The hurricane also destroyed many of Asheville's recreational facilities, including soccer fields and swimming facilities in East Asheville. For the first six months following Hurricane Helene, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, covered 100% of the recovery costs.
Now FEMA is covering 90% of the recovery, with the state covering the remaining 10%. Mayor Mannheimer said, quote, the way that this works is FEMA pays a kind of like a giant insurance claim. The city has to inventory all of the damage that was done and then figure out the scope of the work to rebuild all of these facilities and get it approved by FEMA before undertaking any of the contracting. there's some ability to get those funds in advance so that we don't so that we don't have to carry all of the expenses on our books even though it will be reimbursed. There's still some lag time in the reimbursement, so the less we carry on us, the better.
Mayor Mannheimer also explained that the city had access to additional federal funding through the Build Back Better Regional Challenge. That was under the American Rescue Plan signed into law by former President Joe Biden. Additionally, federal funding is also accessible through Community development block grants that we have discussed over the last couple of months. The mayor said, That kind of just paints a picture of how all of the funding comes together and how that works. That's what we're looking at.
So, all of these things are kind of gelling up right now. It's a little bit of a race because some of these things do have deadlines.
Some of these funding opportunities have those upcoming deadlines.
So, staff are working hard to get our projects in. We also have a project to connect the Northfolk Reservoir with the B Tree Reservoir in the eastern area that serves the city of Asheville. That will help us create some redundancy between those reservoirs. The cost estimate for the reservoir project is approximately $150 million, according to the mayor, and those kinds of projects will create greater resiliency long-term for Asheville and city officials who are still looking to secure some additional federal funding for those projects. Yeah.
During a recent Western North Carolina recovery meeting with Governor Josh Stein and state lawmakers, there was a general acknowledgment of how great it was that the North Carolina General Assembly passed another disaster relief funding package. The Disaster Recovery Package of 2025, Part 2, was passed on June the 26th of this year and signed into law the next day, June the 27th, by Governor Stein. Mayor Mannheimer saying, quote, the governor continues to highlight additional needs and others on our committee did as well. There are still funds needed for local governments. I would argue that money is still needed for revenue loss for local governments and small business recovery funds are needed as well.
The Asheville mayor noted that the city's biggest challenge is business recovery. She also noted that funding is still needed for highway and road repairs, telling the Carolina Journal, quote, I think one of the major concerns that I'm hearing is the continuing need to regrow our economy and help it come out of this sort of depression, including by storms even earlier this year. We looked at a lot of job losses and how that's recovering. We looked at the hit to the GDP just getting the message out that Western North Carolina is in fact still open for business and people can come and visit and do their business here. There are many things to do and experiences so we can continue to regrow the region.
The Western North Carolina Recovery Committee is currently in the process of developing a strategic plan on economic recovery in Western North Carolina, as well as diversifying some of those economies across the West. all of that with the goal of creating a more resilient economy in the future, should something like Helene ever happen again. We continue to track details out of what the western half of North Carolina, continuing to check in on some of the towns and municipalities out in that area. As they, of course, were incredibly hard hit by what many call a thousand-year flooding event with the devastation and destruction from Hurricane Helene in September of last year. Of course, still a lot to go on here in North Carolina.
The General Assembly continues to debate funding priorities. They did pass that disaster recovery package up at the federal level, long-term discussions about the future of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and how they can more quickly respond to natural disasters when they unfold and affect cities like Asheville, like many of the others, the much smaller communities in the western half of North Carolina, as many of them continue those recovery processes day in and day out as we get ever closer to the one-year anniversary of the devastation and destruction of Hurricane Helene. We'll continue to not only check in on Asheville. But some of those other towns, this is an ongoing series by our friend Katie Zender over at CarolinaJournal.com. I encourage you to head on over there this morning, check out the stories, some great pictures, and you can also view some of the other recoveries and some of the other towns that we've spoken with over the last couple of months.
All of those details, again, on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. This is the story of the one. He's responsible for keeping a leading healthcare facility clean and safe. And he trusts Granger's high-quality HVAC cleaning and safety products combined with their world-class supply chain to consistently deliver, ensuring he's covered inside and out so he can focus on keeping his facility clean to help protect the health of everyone inside. Call 1-800-GRANGER, ClickRanger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.
It's 5:35. Good Friday morning to you. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 11:10-993WBT. Earlier this week, Representative Mark Harris, he's the Republican out of North Carolina's 8th congressional district, introduced a bill alongside Senator Marsha Blackburn, the Republican out of Tennessee, to repeal the congressional charter of the nation's largest teachers' union. That's the National Education Association, or NEA.
According to a press release from Harris's office, the NEA voted to support LGBTQ-related events in public schools and to cut all ties with the Anti-Defamation League. In a press release from the congressman, he writes: Congress established the NEA in 1906 to support American teachers and strengthen our schools, but it has abandoned that mission in favor of a radical agenda. From branding President Trump a fascist to embracing diverse divisive gender ideology and walking away from efforts to fight anti-Semitism, the NEA has become nothing more than a partisan advocacy group. Since the NEA is clearly not prioritizing students, parents, or even teachers, it's time to remove Congress's seal of approval from this rogue organization. During the NEA's 2025 Representative Assembly meeting, delegates voted to form a recommendation to the NEA and the NEA Executive Committee not to endorse, use, or publicly materialize any information from the Anti-Defamation League or participate in their programs.
NEA President Becky Pringle said in a statement, quote, as educators, we are committed to ensuring students of every race, religion, or natural origin have a safe and welcoming space to learn and grow. The National Education Association and its members are unequivocally committed to the cause of education, organizing against and combating all forms of hate and discrimination, including anti-Semitism and anti-Palestinian bigotry. This is a fundamental principle that we will never abandon. The bill would repeal a federal charter granted to the NEA under U. S.
Code Chapter 115, Title 36. You can read a full copy of that letter from Congressman Mark Harris and Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn. It's available over on our website this morning, including the full release from Harris's office. That is all available over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, where it's now five thirty eight, News Talk eleven ten, ninety nine three, WBT. We have been keeping our eye on a couple of legal situations this year between the North Carolina General Assembly and Democrat Governor Josh Stein, primarily dealing with appointment powers.
Many of us, you are familiar with discussions over the North Carolina State Board of Elections. The other, the State Highway Patrol Commander. We do have an update in that case this morning. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us with details. Mitch, what's the latest that you've got for us?
The latest is that this particular case is essentially over. You mentioned the Board of Elections fight. There was this fight over the appointment of the Highway Patrol Commander. There's also another site, another suit that pits Governor Josh Stein against legislative leaders dealing with an appointment to the Utilities Commission and filling judicial vacancies.
So, several different cases, all of which are tied, at least in some respects, to Senate Bill 382, the bill that was passed in late 2024 that changed government structure in a number of ways, including taking powers away from Josh Stein.
Now, this particular suit that is now resolved said that the Highway Patrol Commander could not be changed by Josh Stein. Basically, the General Assembly said that they were going to elevate the Highway Patrol into its own cabinet-level agency, and the legislation forced Governor Josh Stein to appoint the current Highway Patrol Commander. Freddie Johnson to a new five-year term starting on July 1st. Stein filed suit saying that the Highway Patrol Commander's position is a gubernatorial appointment and the legislature shouldn't be able to dictate who the governor can appoint to this position. A three-judge Superior Court panel that had a mix of Republican and Democratic judges, two Republicans, one Democrat, ruled unanimously against Stein, saying that there was no evidence or proof that what the General Assembly tried to do was unconstitutional in any way, and so that this Law appointing Freddie Johnson to another five-year term was constitutional.
That ruling came out about a month ago, and basically the governor had about a month to decide whether to appeal it or not. And what we learned this week is that he was not going to appeal. Basically, the governor put out a statement explaining that he was not going to appeal, and specifically had a quote in there saying that the governor was worried that this would open the door for the The head of the highway patrol not to be able to be removed for any reason, and he wanted to make sure that the courts would not uphold that.
Well, basically, the court didn't say much of anything in its decision. It basically said that the governor had not put forward enough evidence to prove that there was anything unconstitutional about it, but otherwise didn't say anything.
So, Josh Dine, I think, may be reading a little bit more into what the court said than what it actually said, but the bottom line. Is that the governor and his legal team apparently see no chance that they're going to win at a higher level of court after having lost at the trial level? And so they're basically setting this case to the side. The governor also said that he continues to have trust that Colonel Johnson, the commander of the patrol, is doing a good job and can lead this agency. And he looks forward to working with him.
So it looks as if this particular part of the battle between the governor and legislative leaders over Senate Bill 382 is over. Yeah, it seems like a little bit maybe cutting his losses with some of the commentary in his statement. Mitch, let's zoom out a little bit from this case and look at the three situations. You've got the State Board of Elections, we've got the Utilities Commission, and the State Highway Patrol. With the vast majority of these cases, at least where they stand right now, essentially being in favor of the General Assembly and the changes that they've made, do you think this emboldens the GA to continue doing this with other boards, other commissions throughout the state of North Carolina?
I think there is that potential.
Now, we have some cases that are still in flux that we don't know about. There was a case that dates back to the Cooper era that involved changes to appointments for seven different boards and commissions. The three-judge panel in that case ruled in favor of the General Assembly on five of the boards and ruled in favor of the governor on two of the boards.
Now, that case is sitting at the Court of Appeals.
So, I think once the Court of Appeals comes out with the decision in that case, we could have a better sense of whether the General Assembly is going to have the runway to make any more of these changes. The Highway Patrol Commander suit is basically ruled in favor of the General Assembly. The Board of Elections suit at this point is in favor of the General Assembly, but it's not completely resolved.
So, there's a potential that Governor Josh Stein could end up winning this suit, although it looks unlikely based on what the state Supreme Court said. And then there's this third suit that has both the Utilities Commission appointment, in which the General Assembly has won at this point. But there's also the piece about filling judicial vacancies, in which Josh Stein won at the trial court level, and it was the General Assembly that appealed that decision to the Court of Appeals.
So my guess is that the General Assembly is open to making more of these sorts of changes, but we'll be watching what happens in the appellate courts before it decides to make any other major changes. Remember that what happened was that these changes were made in late 2024 after the election in which Josh Stein was elected, but before Governor Roy Cooper left office. And at that time, Republicans held veto-proof supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. These types of changes that involve changes to the powers of the governor have tended to only work when the Republicans. Republicans have had supermajorities.
They really haven't had much support from Democrats to go along with changing these powers to a Democratic governor.
So my guess is there would be limited opportunity for this particular General Assembly to make these types of changes since they lack a veto-proof supermajority in the state House.
Now, obviously, Mitch, all of these cases are unique in the group and the Commission or the State Highway Patrol. They're all a little bit unique and dynamic. But really, I think what this all boils down to from the descriptions that you've given us in the past is that if it doesn't explicitly say in the state constitution that this entity or this group has control, the General Assembly feels that they have the authority to pass legislation to reorganize what exactly is under the governor's control, various boards, appointments, things of that nature. Is that an accurate summation of many of these cases all summed up into one? That's right, and that is exactly the argument that's being made in the judicial vacancies appeal.
Basically, what the state constitution says that the governor gets to make appointments to the state court of appeals, the state Supreme Court, and also to superior court vacancies as well. And there is silence within the state constitution about whether the General Assembly can do anything to limit those appointments.
Now, the governor's legal argument is because the Constitution is silent, that means the General Assembly can't do anything to limit his appointments. The General Assembly, on the other hand, is arguing that the silence in the Constitution means the General Assembly can make laws that would limit the governor's appointments.
So the outcome of that case will probably have a major impact on what the General Assembly can do moving forward. Because the General Assembly's argument in that case and really all of the others that pit the governor against legislative leaders, the General Assembly is the government. Assembly's argument is: if the state constitution doesn't explicitly say that we can't do this, then we can, because the legislature is the voice of the people as the people's body within the state government.
So, if the state constitution doesn't say specifically that we can't do it, then we can do it. And the General Assembly and the governor does not have an argument against that.
So, I think. As these cases play out, the state appellate courts, whether it's the Court of Appeals or State Supreme Court, will eventually say something about whether the General Assembly is right or wrong, that it can move forward unless the state constitution specifically says that it cannot. These are all very interesting situations and legal battles that continue to unfold. We appreciate the update. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Ah. It's 5.53. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-99.3 WBT, the North Carolina State Board of Elections yesterday officially kicked off a major initiative to collect missing identification numbers from roughly 103,000 registered voters across the state who lack that required information. It's known as the Registration Repair Project, and it aims to bring the state's voter rolls into compliance with both federal and state laws, as well as recent court rulings and an ongoing lawsuit from the United States Department of Justice. It is important to note that the board, a unanimous board, three Republicans, two Democrats, approved the three-part plan at a board meeting back on June the 24th.
Under the federal Help America Vote Act, also known as HAVA, which took effect in two thousand four, all voter registrations must include either a driver's license number or the last four digits of a social security number.
However, for nearly a decade, North Carolina's voter registration form lacked clear instructions, resulting in tens of thousands of registrations being submitted without that required information. The Executive Director Sam Hayes of the State Board of Elections described the process that unfolded in years past. For years, the state used a voter registration application that was not clear about whether voters were required to provide their driver's license number or last four digits of their Social Security number. The registration form was corrected in January 2024. But that'll That issue led to a small percentage of the state's voters not having this information on file in the voter registration database.
This information is required for voters under recent state court decisions, and it was required to be requested initially under federal law, specifically the Help America Vote Act, or HAVA. Since I assumed office in mid May, I've said that we're going to fix this problem and bring North Carolina into compliance with state and federal law. We must put this issue behind us so we can focus our attention squarely on preparations for accurate and secure municipal elections this fall. The executive director went on to say that no duly registered voter is going to be removed as this effort continues at the state board level. This is in response to a letter from the Democrat National Committee threatening legal action against the state board of election if any voters were removed from the roles.
With the announcement yesterday, the NCSBE has launched a dedicated webpage with a search tool that allows voters to see if their registration is missing some of that required information. And voters will have three ways to fix their problem: use the MyNCDMV web portal, visit their local county board of election office, or respond to a letter that the state board will send out to those affected voters in August. The state board will send letters to individuals who remain on the list of affected voters. That mailing will include a self-addressed postage prepaid return envelope and a simple form for collecting the information. In future elections, Elections, voters who have not updated their registration with the required ID information will be required to vote using a provisional ballot and provide the missing details at the time that they try and vote.
To help with this process, the state board is adding a flag in their system for these voter records so that poll workers will know that those voters have to vote provisionally and supply the requested information. Again, either a full driver's license number, which the vast majority of people will have with them now with voter ID, or the last four digits of their social security number. We've got a link to that state board of election webpage over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. The story, headline, NCSBE launches effort to update missing voter information. You can find all the details and links over there.
Well that's going to do it for a Friday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning BT. Have a great weekend. We're back with you Monday morning, 5 to 6, right here on News Talk 1110 and 99.3 WBT.
