It's 502 and welcome in to a Tuesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. Following recent announcements from the Trump administration, August the first will likely be the new deadline for imposing a 50% tariff on the European Union and an additional twenty-five percent tariff on Japan and South Korea. The announcement on the EU tariffs came yesterday from U.
S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessett. Trump also announced yesterday that August the 1st would be the effective date for those additional 25% tariffs on Japan and South Korea. Donald Bryson, the CEO of the John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal, dragging the tariff pause out to August 1st means that North Carolina companies will have endured 114 straight days of guessing what tax rate will hit their supply chain. They're already facing a 30% levy on Chinese inputs and now must price a proposed 25% duty on goods from Japan and South Korea, with no clarity on what Washington might impose on everyone else.
You can't sign contracts, set holiday prices, or commit to new hires when the grounds keep shifting under you. Instead of extending uncertainty, the administration should end the tariff brinkmanship and restore the stability, rules-based trade environment that businesses need to invest. Invest, grow, and keep costs down for their family. Ending quote there from Donald Bryson. The Trump administration also threatened increased tariffs for BRICS nations, that's Brazil, Russia, India, and China, as well as countries aligned with BRICS, which were recently extended to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the UAE, that's the United Arab Emirates.
Trump, the president, has also threatened to impose 10% tariffs on any country aligning with those BRIC nations. The president posted on Truth Social on Sunday, quote, any country aligning themselves with the anti-American policies of BRICS will be charged an additional 10% tariff. There will be no exemptions to this policy, and his new catchphrase, thank you for your attention to this matter. Following the announcement, stocks fell with major indexes opening lower and declining after Trump announced the additional 25% tariff on Japan and North Korea, according to the stock market yesterday. Trade-sensitive companies such as Lululemon and John Deere did decline.
We have been looking at a couple of those stocks, specifically the John Deere stock, over the last couple of months. Bricks wrote in a statement yesterday, quote, The proliferation of trade restriction announcements or actions rather, whether in the form of indiscriminate rising of tariffs and non-tariff measures, or protectionism under the guise of environmental objectives, threaten to further reduce global trade, disrupt global supply chains, and introduce uncertainty into the international economic and trade activities, potentially exacerbating existing economic disparities and affecting prospects for global economic development. Trump originally imposed the 90-day pause on tariffs to give time to negotiate trade deals with various countries, but so far the only deals are with the United Kingdom and Vietnam. The original deadline was set to be tomorrow, July the 9th. We'll likely learn some additional details throughout the day today.
We'll keep you up to date as we continue to track tariffs and it and their impact on the state of North Carolina over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, and right here on the Carolina Journal NewsHour, where it's now 5.06, News Talk 1110, 993, WBT. As many folks were wrapping up their 4th of July weekend, Tropical Storm Chantel made some pretty significant impacts, but not in the areas that you would necessarily expect. The eastern half of the state did see some rain and some wind, some minor damage.
However, as we turn our attention to the triad area this morning, some are calling it a 500 or 1,000-year flood event. To get some details on that, Jacob Edmonds with the Carolina Journal joins us this morning on the news hour. Jacob, you were up in Alamance County yesterday surveying and taking a look at some of this damage. What do you have for us this morning? Hi Nick, thanks for having me.
Yeah, I went out yesterday throughout Alamance County to assess the damage. By the time I went out, a lot of the main floods and the main roads were cleared up. I know Interstate 40 slash 85 was blocked for all through the night in the early morning with the Haw River mainly flooding into the interstate. Did you have the opportunity to speak to anybody when you were out there? 60 said he's never seen anything like it, even with Hurricane Fran.
It was, even though it was just under that. mark of the how high it was he said the damage was even worse from this flood um and so uh and they are expected to be without power for at least a week in some places around there um and i know here in meben uh there are um there is a lake michael that they um are preparing for a possible dam break although now it looks to be hopefully in the clear but if there's any rain in the next couple days that still may fail so people around there are uh precaution to possibly um evacuate if needed um and yeah it's crazy to see i've been around here my whole life i've personally never seen anything like it you know jacob all of this comes on the heels of the big national story over the holiday weekend as well the horrific situation unfolding in south texas with that a camp crystal with over 80 people perishing in some of the floods out there This is a similar situation here in North Carolina. Thankfully, we're not talking about fatalities, but these rushing waters, especially in the middle of the night, seems like people don't even have access to these warnings or don't get them before crews have to come in and start conducting some water rescues. Yes, I did see that in Chapel Hill have around 50 water rescues last night. And I have seen, unfortunately, there were two deaths, one in Alamance County, one in Chatham County related to the flood waters.
But overall, it was tough to go to sleep, just kind of unknowing what you'll wake up to in the morning. And I know some people had to be warned, like knocked on their, people knocked on their doors to have to let them know that they need to get out of their house. And it's just, I would say night flooding is. like extra scary just not knowing what's happening out there. One of the other things I think is relevant as we get deeper into the Atlantic hurricane season, there's often this fascination with how strong the storm is.
A lot of folks say, ah, it's just a tropical storm. It won't have an impact. They're looking for category two, three, four hurricanes to cause significant damage. Jacob, I'd say this morning it's a good reminder that regardless of whether we're talking about a devastating hurricane like Helene or what many describe as a run-of-the-mill tropical storm, being prepared and making sure that you've got a way to get access to some of these warnings from the National Weather Service and local officials is paramount, regardless of how strong the storm is or isn't. It is, absolutely.
And personally, I'm just in my 20s, but I've. Personally, never been more scared almost of any, like even hurricane in my area here with just several actual tornado warnings and having to really take cover and just the flooding, not knowing what's going to happen. And even like a mile or two from my house that some people are going through that I've seen in pictures is crazy.
So, I especially now am taking cover and making sure I'm prepared for even tropical storms. around here. No question about that. We'll continue to track the progress through the Atlantic hurricane season. Jacob, you've got a lot of pictures and videos that you're going to be publishing.
You'll be throwing those up on some of our Carolina Journal social media handles in the next couple of days. Yes, I will. I got some drone footage around Lake Michael and Beben and around Saxvajal and the damage around that town and the cleanup efforts that have already started there. We appreciate the update. Jacob Emmons with CarolinaJournal.com joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
And as we continue our coverage with that, the North Carolina Department of Transportation had closed more than 120 roads due to some of that flooding through Alamance County. Portions of I-40 closed and 85 closed throughout the day yesterday. Coming up a little bit later on today, Governor Josh Stein is scheduled to visit areas to survey damage. Alamance, Pearson, Moore, and Orange counties have all declared a state of emergency. With that, various bodies of water rose to historic levels across the Piedmont, causing extensive damage in Alamance County.
The Haw River, which we were just talking about with Jacob, crested at 32.5 feet, the second highest level on record just below Hurricane Fran, which happened all the way back in 1996 when it crested at 32.8 feet. The Eno River in Orange County reached a new record as well, cresting at 25.5 feet. That caused some of those water rescues that Jacob was talking about. About, and with that, we continue to track some of that progress this morning. We'll have some more details as we continue through the program right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
It's 520. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. Of course, one of the big political stories that we have been tracking and will continue to track over the coming weeks and months was the announcement that U.S. Senator Tom Tillis announced last week that he would not be seeking re-election in 2026. And while a Republican, a strong runner, frontrunner candidate has yet to come forward, we are learning details about some possible Democrat candidates for that Senate seat.
U.S. Representative Don Davis out of North Carolina's first congressional district might be eyeing a run for that seat. It's now set to be vacated by Senator Tillis. Hannah Spellinger, Davis's chief of staff, told Politico that he is, quote, looking at all options and not ruling anything out. Would a U.
S. would a run for U. S. Senate be a smart move for Davis? Once a safe Democrat seat, Republicans are getting closer to winning each cycle, with Laurie Buckout in the twenty twenty four election for Congressional District One only losing by one point seven percent.
Demographic trends are also favoring continuing Republican momentum in that area. Davis, who got his start in politics as a state senator from Snow Hill, also tends not to make too many waves with Republicans. A ranking uh being ranked the most politically right compared to House Democrats by govtrack.us based on his voting record. Rocky Mountain Mayor Sandy Robertson announced in April that he is seeking the 2026 Republican nomination for NC1, which at this point in time is considered to be the state's only true swing congressional district across North Carolina. He ran for office in the May 2022 Republican primary, but lost to Smith.
She would go on to lose to Davis in the November election back in 2022. If Robertson were to win the primary, what would his chances look like to beat Davis in that election? According to Andy Jackson, the director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity, he said the first, meaning the first congressional district, is North Carolina's only toss-up congressional district. Our analysis rated it a D plus zero in 2024, meaning that a Democrat is less than half a percentage point advantage in a generic race. Davis won the district by less than 10% of the 10% Than two percentage points last time around, and northeastern North Carolina is trending more to the right.
So, Robertson would have a real chance to win next election. According to commentary from National Republican Congress Committee spokesman Maureen O'Toole, quote, Don Davis showed up to Congress and made a mess of things for North Carolina and now is trying to run for the Hills because he knows his voters are ready to hold him accountable. Continuing the very strong commentary from the NRCC: Davis is a coward, and whether he runs for House or Senate, his days in Congress are numbered. O'Toole criticized Davis for voting present in January on the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, saying he thereby refused to ban biological men from women's sports and also voted no in December for the American Relief Act. Which would have provided disaster relief funding, particularly for hurricane recovery, including western North Carolina, by addressing both immediate disaster relief needs and longer-term recovery efforts.
Most recently, he voted against President Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill Act, which makes individual and business tax breaks, including President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts and jobs acts, permanent, as well as incorporates new tax deductions on tips and overtime pay. It also establishes new Medicaid reform, including a new eighty hour a month work requirement for Medicaid recipients and expands work requirements for those on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP. On June the twenty eighth, Tillis publicly rebuked Tillis over his vote against the Big Beautiful bill in the Senate, hinting at backing a 2026 primary challenger. The clash added pressure to Tillis, who announced shortly after, just a day later, that he would not seek reelection. Former Congressman Wiley Nicol has already announced his run on the Democrat ticket for the U.S.
Senate seat. Other names that have been floated for the Democrat nomination include former Congressional candidate Dan McCready, current Lieutenant Governor Rachel Hunt, and former Governor Roy Cooper, who is supposed to announce his intentions sometime this summer as to whether he will seek the Democrat nomination. Strategists on both sides agree that Tillis' retirement blows open the 2026 Senate race here in North Carolina. Democrat consultant Brad Crohn described the shift tone in one word by saying, opportunity. He told the Carolina Journal, the Democrats are salivating.
They see an opportunity to win an open seat in which they can compete.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ticket, the Republican primary field in North Carolina is rapidly taking shape among the base that is fiercely loyal to President Donald Trump, which, of course, is a process that started well before Tillis' announcement. Prominent figures reportedly considering bids include former RNC co-chair and daughter-in-law, Laura Trump, former. Former NCGOP chairman, now head of the RNC, Michael Watley, as well as individuals including former Representative Dan Bishop, Pat Harrigan, Tim Moore, Richard Hudson, and Brad Knott. The primary race is expected to be highly competitive, and really the process that we are going to watch unfold is essentially set to get kicked off right around Labor Day, where we'll likely see the two front-running candidates for both the Democrat and the Republican Party go out throughout the state and make their pitch and pledges to voters. That will continue from Labor Day all the way through the end of the year and will all culminate on March the 3rd of 2026, with voters from across the state of North Carolina heading to ballot boxes, heading to various voting locations, and choosing the Republican or Democrat that they want in that race after that March primary.
It will be full steam ahead to November of next year when All eyes, literally all eyes across the country, will be looking at the state of North Carolina and potentially the Senate seat that does decide power in the United States Senate. Are Republicans able to hold on to the majorities there working with President Donald Trump? Or are Democrats able to surge into that open seat, surge into power, and cause some big-time frustrations and struggles for the president during his remaining two years of his presidency? This is set to be a whopper of a North Carolina story. We will keep an eye on the details right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
And of course, we'll have continuing coverage throughout this election cycle over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. It's 5:35. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Talk 1110-99-3 WBT, the third storm of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season and the first to make landfall in the United States, Tropical Storm Chantal, caused significant damage in North Carolina over the holiday weekend, leaving lasting remnants throughout the central portion of the state, the Piedmont and Triad area. The storm made landfall in South Carolina early Sunday morning, and although it was soon downgraded to a tropical depression, the storm remained powerful.
Some parts of Alamance, Orange, and Chatham counties received more than 10 inches of rain, resulting in major flooding and widespread power outages. Coming up a little bit later on today, Governor Josh Stein is scheduled to visit some of those areas to survey damage. As we come on the air this morning, Alamance, Pearson, Moore, and Orange counties are currently under states of emergency. Flooding was a major issue throughout some of those areas. The Haw River crested at 32.5 feet.
That's the second highest level on record. During Hurricane Fran in 1996. In Membane, residents were warned of voluntary evacuations due to a possible dam failure at Lake Michael.
However, the dam remains intact, but residents remain on alert in case more rain arrives in the coming days. In Saxafaw, also in Alamance County, a main bridge was completely covered by the overflowing Haw River. Although the water has now receded slightly, flooding impacts flooding is continuing to impact some of those areas. As of last night, most of the village remained without power, and some residents are being told it could take as long as a week for service to be restored. We are continuing to track progress out of Davidson County, North Carolina, a situation with a student being suspended over what many are calling free speech.
To get an update on the legal battle side this morning, Donna King, the editor-in-chief of CarolinaJournal.com, joined us. Joins us on the news hour. Donna, last time we talked about this, and actually goes back to last year, a student was suspended for saying illegal alien in his classroom. What's the latest that you've got? Sure.
Well, it looks like they've got a settlement. It's been approved by a federal judge.
So, Judge Schroeder, U.S. District Judge Schroeder, on July 1st, says the settlement over the lawsuit between the McGee family and the Davidson County School Board seems fair. He's approved that settlement. The last step there remaining is that the Davidson County School Board has to approve it on their end, but it looks like it is the McGee family is going to get some justice for Christian. You know, there's part of the settlement, all the details of the settlement remain under seal, which means the details really aren't out.
We had a sense of what they would be back in June, but they may be changing.
So it looks like he's going to get some sort of financial settlement and an apology from the Davidson County School Board. All of this happened for the McGee family that week of 4th of July, Independence Day. That's really kind of symbolic. I had a chance to talk with Christian's mother, Leah McGee, who has kind of become almost an International figure championing her son's rights, and she said it's been a huge lesson for them. You know, and Donna, the context of all of this is important.
This student was not, from all accounts and every record, was not running around the school pointing at individuals and calling them illegal immigrants. This was a situation where the student asked, Are you talking about illegal aliens or are you talking about space aliens? And for that, he was suspended from school. It's a pretty wild situation. Sure, sure.
Yeah, it was in an English class, is my understanding. It was a study of mice and men, and there was a spelling test. The English teacher gave the word aliens, and Christian raised his hand to try and clarify what kind of aliens she meant, space aliens or illegal aliens, as in those who don't have a green card. And it was interpreted to be derogatory. And so he was suspended for five days, and racial bias was put in his record.
And that's the point that his family wanted to clarify because as he goes to apply on to college, you know, any kind of indication that he had disciplinary action for racial bias could really hurt him down the road. And they're saying that this is just ridiculous. That trying to clarify and use the term illegal alien in a classroom is not derogatory. And they wanted to make sure that that was removed from his record.
So under this settlement, it looks like that will be removed from his record as he now goes on to apply for colleges. But a few things that really came out of this. Leah McGee said that he has really learned. Learned how to stand up for his rights, that you don't give them up as soon as you walk into a schoolhouse. And it's also highlighted.
I think sort of the disarray that we're seeing in the messaging for young teachers as they go into the classroom that now it's a fragile situation. They don't know exactly how to handle it. They're being guided by progressive or far-left guidance from organizations like the Library Association and the National Educators Association and groups like that, who are creating this hypersensitive environment that really, in the end, hurts the kids when they're in that classroom. Christian's a perfect example of that. Would you walk us through this process?
I'm sure most of our audience this morning is not in high school and working on their way to get towards college, but this process of applying for a college, Donna, and having something like this on your permanent record, is that very substantial? Oh, absolutely, no question about it.
Well, first of all, we have so many more kids applying to the exact same number of schools that we did 30 years ago because a lot of new universities aren't popping up, and we have a lot more kids applying.
So it's much more competitive than it used to be. And those kind of things, any kind of indication that there might be a cultural misfit or any sort of questionable disciplinary record that travels with you into college can really be risky because the university doesn't know the details. They don't know the context of what happened. And that's what the McGees wanted to make sure was clear when Christian started applying to colleges because they didn't want him to have an unfair disadvantage because of what happened on this day in 2023. And it is a challenge.
I've had three kids now go through the process and it's never what you think it's going to be. And often it doesn't come down to the grades. It comes down to something simple like this. One of the things that the McGee family was excited to have as he Goes into college is that because of this story, the story about the illegal alien comment and the suspension, he now has a personal letter of recommendation from President Donald Trump for college, which not many kids are going to have that going into the application process.
So he was invited to meet with President Trump. He gave him a personal letter of recommendation for college. And he was also invited by the Faith and Family Foundation to tour the Capitol and meet lawmakers.
So she said, in the end, this has been much more good than bad in this experience, but she wants to make sure other kids after Christian are treated more fairly when they go into a disciplinary situation. Don, how does this tie in with a veto that we saw last week from Governor Josh Stein as it related to diversity, equity and inclusion, not only in the college system, but the K through 12 education system? You mentioned some of these library associations and the teacher associations that are pushing some of these narratives and honestly putting young first or second year teachers in a very tough position. Does all of this stuff tie together? It really does.
I think it's a cultural shift that we're seeing because, remember, now some of the young teachers and some of the mid-career teachers that are in schools are now kids when these sort of DEI and diversity movements started happening. They were in high school and college during that time, sometimes even younger, that we've seen over the last 15 or 20 years. It's created this cultural shift that is one, not merit-based, not a meritocracy in public education. And that's what you're talking about. This piece of legislation that passed the North Carolina General Assembly, it said that state funds and public universities and colleges cannot have DEI-based programming, that they can't use state funds for it, and that these programs should be merit-based because it creates an artificial division and it doesn't recognize personal achievements.
That it creates, it chooses one race over another in ideology and events and research. Resources and things like that, and these race-based benefits were not in line with one, the spirit or the letter of the law in the Constitution, in the state constitution.
So, certainly, that piece of legislation passed the North Carolina General Assembly, was then vetoed by Governor Stein, Josh Stein, and it now goes back. I'm hearing that they do have the votes to override his veto of this, but we probably won't hear much until the end of July or so. You can read more details this morning, not only on the situation out of Davidson County, but also some of these vetoes that we've been talking about over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Donna King joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's 552.
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. The Democrat-controlled North Carolina Board of Education is calling a new bill which would expand the authority of charter school review boards to approve rules and policies for charter schools unconstitutional. Senate Bill 254 passed the state Senate back on June the 25th in a party-line vote. The same day, it cleared the state House with eight Democrats joining all Republicans in support. And as we have been tracking over the last couple of weeks, it has now been one of Governor Josh Stein's 11 vetoes thus far this legislative session.
He vetoed the law back on July the 2nd. Senate Bill 254 would transfer more oversight authority from the State Board of Education to the Charter School Review Board, empowering the latter to approve, renew, and revoke the charters of public schools operating independently of traditional school districts. It also minimizes the State Board of Education's role in charter school operations. In reaction, Democrats are questioning the measure's alignment with the state constitution. Back on July the 2nd, State Board of Education Chair Eric Davis and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Democrat Mo Green, issued a joint statement calling the bill, quote, unconstitutional.
The joint statement reads as follows, charter schools are public schools. Several provisions in Senate Bill 254 unconstitutionally propose to transfer core responsibilities of oversight, accountability, and rulemaking for charter schools from the North Carolina State Board of Education and the North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction. The constitutionality establishes authorities entrusted with the responsibilities to supervise and administer our state's public school system. Ending the quote there from Davis and Green. Their primary concern centers on what they see as an improper delegation of constitutional authority to what they call a non-constitutional body, which is the Charter School Review Board.
The constitutional argument hinges on specific language in the North Carolina state constitution regarding education oversight. As written, the Constitution assigns responsibility for supervising and administering the public school system to the State Board of Education and the duly elected State Superintendent. Davis and Greene both argue that transferring these duties to the Charter School Review Board would severely hinder their ability to fulfill their constitutional mandates. They worry that this could compromise their responsibility to ensure that all public school students receive the education guaranteed by the Constitution as well. They both stated these provisions threaten the State Board of Education and the state superintendent's ability to ensure that all public school students, regardless of setting, receive the education to which they are constitutionally entitled.
Republicans, as it would seem right now, have enough Democrat support and enough Democrat votes in the House to override that veto. That would likely be coming up later this month. The General Assembly created the Charter School Review Board back in 2023 to address ongoing conflicts with the State Board of Education over charter school. Approvals under the previous system, new public charters did require authorization from the Charter School Advisory Board and a majority vote on the State Board of Education. This new charter school review board, composed of 11 voting members, including representatives from the Senate, House, and State Board of Education, as well as the Lieutenant Governor, was established to evaluate and approve new charters with its decisions subject to appeal to the State Board of Education.
Charter schools in North Carolina continue to experience significant growth and diversification. They remain the fastest growing segments of the K through 12 education system with a 5% enrollment between 2023 and 2024, while traditional public schools saw a slight decline.
Meanwhile, over 74,000 students are on the wait list to join charters.
Well, that's going to do it for a Tuesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning, BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5-6, right here on News Talk 1110 and 99.3 WBT.
