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21 plus. Terms and conditions apply. It's 5:05 and welcome in to a Monday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.
Hopefully, you had a great 4th of July weekend. Wrapping up the weekend, Tropical Storm Chantell made landfall near Lynchfield Beach in South Carolina. That happened early yesterday morning, bringing with it heavy rains as it moved inland across northeastern South Carolina and into portions of eastern and central North Carolina. As we are on the air this morning, about 17,000 customers across the state are without electrical service, most of them in Chatham and Orange County, where the Eno River, that is in northern Durham, the northern Durham area, is currently peaking. The river there currently peaking at about 25 and a half feet.
That is a new record for that area, causing dozens of water rescues to be underway right now as the fire department and other emergency crews are rescuing individuals off of an area called Rippling Stream Road just north of downtown Durham due to the high flood stages in that water with heavy rains and winds moving into the central part of the state. About half a dozen or so tornado warnings issued yesterday afternoon as well. One confirmed tornado near the Chatham County area as well yesterday afternoon. We will track the progress throughout the day. As Chantel, the first tropical storm affecting the state of North Carolina as part of the Atlantic hurricane season has now dissipated.
It is no longer being tracked.
However, important to note: the hurricane season runs all the way through the end of November. We'll keep an eye on the Atlantic and right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Turning our attention to some statewide news this morning, a Thursday afternoon, just ahead of the 4th of July, Governor Josh Stein vetoed a slew of anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion bills and a gender bill, but did in fact sign a licensure agreement bills and one that protects parents and caregivers from legal consequences for raising a child in alignment with their biological sex. Let's go through some of the details this morning. Among the legislation that the governor did veto Senate Bill 558 that eliminated DEI in public higher education.
The legislation as written and as vetoed by the governor prohibits UNC system schools and community colleges from promoting discriminatory policies and practices under the measure public colleges and universities, those would be any ones that get money through either the UNC or community college system would be required to eliminate offices and staff dedicated to DEI initiatives. The bill prohibits promoting what are known as divisive concepts, such as the idea of systematic racism or moral culpability based on race or gender. Institutions would be barred from requiring faculty, staff, or students to affirm any DEI-based beliefs. Additionally, Senate Bill 558 would eliminate the process for reporting incidents described as quote offensive or unwanted speech. Another piece of legislation that was vetoed, Senate Bill 227, eliminated DEI in public education.
This aimed to remove DEI offices, staff, and divisive concepts instead of at the community college or UNC system level, K-12 public schools, ensuring that education focuses on core curriculum without promoting ideologies deemed inconsistent with equality. This legislation outlines 12 divisive concepts, such as the belief that one race or sex is inherently superior to another and the idea that the meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist, as well as the belief that the United States was founded to oppress certain groups. One of its key sponsors, Republican state senator Michael Lee of New Hanover County, who is now the Senate Majority Leader, addressed examples of DEI-related training in K through 12 schools on the House floor earlier this year that he said perpetrated division and deepened Societal issues. These sessions, he noted, included teachings on whiteness as a proprietary thought, interest convergence, and other concepts suggesting that racial justice is only supported by white individuals when it benefits their interests. That piece of legislation, Senate Bill 227, also vetoed by Governor Josh Stein.
House Bill 171, Equality in State Agencies Prohibiting DEI, similar to the other two, proposed a ban on the promotion, funding, and implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs within state agencies, including hiring practices, training programs, and the establishment of DEI offices in any state agencies. That was also vetoed by the governor on Thursday. His last veto, House Bill 805, which is one that he is drawing some significant fire over this morning, is titled Preventing Sexual Exploitation of Women and Minors. It is a multifaceted piece of legislation passed by the General Assembly aimed at affirming biological definitions of sex, curbing the sexual exploitation of women and minors online, and expanding parental rights and education, as well as restricting the use of state funds for sex transition procedures. The proposed legislation comes in response to President Trump's executive order earlier this year titled Defending Women from Gender Ideological Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.
That executive order out of the Oval Office affirms that the United States recognizes only two sexes, male and female. Stein, a Democrat, commented on all of the vetoes in all of the bills that he vetoed with the following statement, saying, quote, at a time when teachers, law enforcement, and state employees need pay raises and people need shorter lines at the DMV, the legislature failed to pass a budget and instead wants to distract us by stoking culture wars that further divide us. These mean-spirited bills would marginalize vulnerable people and also undermine the quality of public services and public education. Therefore, I am vetoing them. I stand ready to work with the legislature when it gets serious about protecting people and addressing North Carolinians' pressing concerns.
House Speaker Destin Hall, the Republican out of Caldwell County, responded to Governor Stein's veto of House Bill 805. That's the last one we talked about, saying, I am disappointed that the governor has vetoed this bill, preventing sexual exploitation of women and minors. By rejecting this bill, he has sided with radical activists over the overwhelming majority of North Carolinians who believe in parental rights, biological reality, and protecting women and children. Stein did, however, sign eight bills into law on Thursday, including Senate Bill 442. That's the Parents Protection Act, the measure which passed the North Carolina Senate in largely a party-line vote in May and passed through the House Health Committee back on June the 17th, stipulates that parents or caretakers are not guilty of a misdemeanor or felony child abuse charge for raising a child consistent with his or her own biological sex, including related mental health or medical decisions.
This bill would also maintain safeguards against acts that cause serious physical harm or mental harm, such as inflicting serious injury or creating a substantial risk of harm. He also signed House Bill 763. That's the Neighbor State License Recognition Act, which allows individuals licensed in Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, or West Virginia to acquire for an equivalent occupational license in North Carolina without having to start the process from scratch. The law applies to a wide range of professional regulated services by state licensure boards, but excludes certain fields, including health care providers, architects, engineers, lawyers, CPAs, veterinarians, and licensed financial personnel. Those industries will continue to operate under their own licensing standards and reciprocity agreements.
We'll have more on House Bill 763 coming up here in just a few minutes. He also signed House Bill 600, improving health and human services. It allows resident taxpayers to enroll in organ and tissue donation programs via their income tax return, among other minor changes. Stein commented, quote, this bill enables people to sign up to be organ donors while doing their tax returns and keeps patients safe from toxic chemicals. It also helps schools recruit and retain nursing programs and gives schools more tools to quickly treat.
Children with severe allergies. The governor did also sign five other pieces of legislation into law on Thursday. We'll have details on that, plus some additional details on Senate Bill, or excuse me, House Bill 763 coming up here in just a few minutes. As the Carolina Journal News Hour rolls on on a Monday morning, It's Ryan here, and I have a question for you. What do you do when you win?
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Terms and conditions apply. It's 22 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Talk 1110-99.3 WBT. We are continuing our coverage this morning of a couple of vetoes from Governor Josh Stein and some legislation signed into law.
This all happened Thursday afternoon, just ahead of the 4th of July holiday. A couple of bills that he did sign into law: House Bill 357, continuing care for retirement communities, Senate Bill 125, various education changes, Senate Bill 655, extending certain rights to the Catawba Nation, Senate Bill 305, information rights for state death of an LLC member, and Senate Bill 133, which deals with some real estate changes across the state. One of the other big pieces of legislation that he did sign into law. House Bill 763, that's the Neighbor State License Recognition Act, a move that will make it easier for some licensed professionals from neighboring states to work in North Carolina. Though the governor made no public statement upon signing this measure, the law represents a significant step forward towards reducing workforce barriers and expanding labor mobility across state lines.
The legislation, which did pass with bipartisan support in the General Assembly, allows North Carolina to automatically recognize occupational licenses from adjacent states, including South Carolina. Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia, providing applicants are in good standing with no unresolved disciplinary issues in their home state where they originally went through and received that license. The law covers a broad array of professions from electricians and HVAC technicians to cosmetology and real estate. It is designed to address growing worker sorted shortages in critical fields by streamlining the licensure process for qualified professionals who relocate to North Carolina. Supporters of the measure, including lawmakers, business leaders, and public policy advocates, say that the new law will remove unnecessary red tape and help fill jobs in underserved areas, particularly in rural and fast-growing communities.
Donald Bryson, the CEO of the John Locke Foundation, said in response to the governor signing this into law, too often bureaucrat licensing requirements keep skilled people from working in North Carolina, even when they've already proven themselves in another state. This law is a common sense solution and a win for North Carolina economy. The Neighbor State License Recognition Act follows the model of similar reforms adopted in other states and reflects a growing national trend towards universal or regional licensing recognition and requirements.
However, critics of occupational licensing say that these practices have long created barriers for military spouses, medical professionals, and workers who often face duplicate requirements when crossing state lines for work. The new law attempts to eliminate those hurdles without sacrificing oversight by requiring license holders to meet minimum education, experience, and criminal background standards. According to the law's language, individual licensing boards in North Carolina do continue to retain the authority to deny recognition if the applicant's training falls short of various state requirements. This is expected to take effect and will now take effect October the 1st of this year.
However, there are some various professions that will still continue to require ongoing licensing in North Carolina. The fields excluded in this legislation include certain health care providers, architects, engineers, lawyers, certified public accountants, CPAs, veterinarians, and licensed financial professionals. Those will continue to operate under their own licensing standards and certain reciprocity agreements that do already exist with some of our neighboring states. But for most other licensing, as we went over, HVAC technicians, those that work in the cosmetology and electrician space, those will now have some level of reciprocity between some of our neighboring states. Is expected to be a big boom for the North Carolina economy and maybe some of our neighboring states' economies as well.
We will track this legislation as we get closer to the October the 1st, 2025 start date. We'll continue to track the coverage not only here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, but of course over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. keeping our thread on state politics this morning. With the governor vetoing a slew of these diversity, equity, and inclusion bills, the General Assembly is expected back later this month. They are on a 4th of July recess, and they, boy, they are going to have a lot on their calendar as they head back towards the latter parts of this month.
Due to the fact that there are now more than half a dozen vetoes that the governor has sent to the legislature that they will attempt to override, they deal with a variety of issues that we have covered over the last couple of weeks, including constitutional carry, the criminal illegal alien enforcement act, North Carolina Border Protection Act, as well. Those three pieces of legislation vetoed a few weeks ago. Also, dealing with charter schools, the Power Bill Reduction Act that we covered last week, right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, and then those three DEI-related bills that he did veto on Thursday.
So you can imagine as the General Assembly is getting ready for what is likely to be the second half of their legislative session coming up here at the end of July. They're not only going to be dealing with ongoing budget debates between the House and the Senate, as it appears that a stallmate has been unfortunately reached between the two chambers over how to fund the state government going forward, but a variety of veto overrides likely to come as we head out of July and into the month of August. We will be keeping a very close eye on those details right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. This is the story of the one. As a quality technician in a food processing center, she knows that making the right call is the best way to avoid a recall.
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It made landfall near Lynchfield Beach early yesterday morning, bringing with it heavy rains as it moved inland across portions of northeastern South Carolina and eastern and central North Carolina. This morning, we are tracking a pretty dire situation in Durham County as first responders are in the process of rescuing dozens of residents from homes and apartments near the Eno River. That's in northern Durham County. Looking at the flood map from the National Weather Service, that river in four hours from From 9 p.m. to 1 o'clock this morning, rose from 2 feet to 25 and a half feet, causing the river to stream over its riverbed there and causing some major flooding in that area.
Crews have been on scene since about 4 o'clock this morning, and they are continuing to conduct some of those water rescues this morning. There are currently about 22,000 individuals without power in the state, most of them located in Chatham and Orange County, that is, between Raleigh and Greensboro, as some of the severe weather from a tropical storm Chantel making its impact in portions of central North Carolina. The National Weather Service did issue about half a dozen tornado warnings yesterday across various portions of the state. Still waiting for some additional details on the National Weather Service on that. And while Chantel was not a major storm for our state, it is a A good reminder to make sure that you are prepared as the Atlantic hurricane season runs all the way through the end of November.
We'll be keeping an eye on the tropics right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. With Chantel being on a lot of folks' minds this morning, it was nine months ago that Hurricane Helene tore through the Southeast and the recovery process in many areas is still ongoing and in some cases is just beginning. As communities rebuild their lives in towns, the Carolina Journal is continuing our coverage, revisiting some of the state's hardest hit areas to assess what recovery looks like, what is still missing, and how far there is left to go. We'll turn our attention this morning first to Black Mountain, North Carolina. Josh Harold, the town manager there, said that the town sustained between $25 and $30 million in damaged assets and infrastructure.
He told the Carolina Journal: It's a slow process, and we're going to keep working through that probably for the next number of years because I think it's going to take that long. At this point, we are continuing to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Harold said that they have a weekly meeting with FEMA officials and noted FEMA is going to be paying for the architectural and engineering services for us, and I think for most towns, not just us.
So that process and the paperwork is underway, and we're soliciting right now for those types of companies to put in bids for us. We hope within the next three to four weeks, we'll start making those selections and getting people on the ground beginning to do some designs for us for our different projects. Building reconstruction to road construction to even greenway construction. Just about anything that you can think of, water systems, a lot of different projects. According to the town manager, Black Mountain has received about $800,000 in FEMA funding.
The town also received a $3 million zero interest loan from the Department of Environmental Quality, DEQ, for a water system and a substantial stormwater project. Additionally, Black Mountain received just over $1 million in zero interest loans from the cash flow loan program created in the Disaster Recovery Act of 2024, that money allocated from the General Assembly. the town manager explained that it boils down to funding. The town of Black Mountain has an annual budget of only twenty million dollars a year, and he said, quote, we're looking at the damage inventory of more than our annual budget. I think the biggest struggle that we've had up to this point has just been cash flow.
He explained that the town has spent about $3 million to $4 million from its unassigned funds or savings account, essentially draining it to its fo uh to uh to fund post-Helene recovery, noting as soon as we can get funding, we can start getting things done.
So that is the update in Black Mountain. Turning our attention to Lake Lure, according to the mayor pro tem for Lake Lure, David Dioria, he says, it's just a lot slower than I thought it would be. I mean, it's just the bureaucracy and the process. It's incredibly overwhelming, especially for a particularly small western North Carolina town. The mayor of Lake Lure said that many small towns in western North Carolina are in touch and are all experiencing the same frustration, which includes a lack of infrastructure and staff to keep up with the bureaucratic requirements as things move forward.
According to the mayor, their primary point of contact is FEMA, with the mayor emphasizing that the difference between public assistance and private assistance, and in Lake Lure, they are primarily focused on public assistance. He told the Carolina Journal, the town infrastructure took a major hit, and that's a whole different pillar of FEMA to work through. The mainstay of our problem was that some individuals were affected in Lake Lur, but the problem was the impact on our utilities and infrastructure, particularly our dams.
So that's what we're focused on. Lake Luhr has incurred some $10 million in emergency protective measures, EPMs, the storm's immediate impact cost. This includes the cost of debris removal, access to utilities, and so that people can live where they are. Out of the $10 million received, the town of Lake Luhr has only actually gotten about $2.3 million worth of funds reimbursed by FEMA. The town of Lake Luhr initially spent about $2.3 million from its capital reserve for debris removal and to get utilities back online for their residents.
According to Mayor DiOreo, the much bigger number is hazard mitigation, which is estimated to cost some $300 million, noting that this is a long-term cost of repairing the damage incurred. Diorio said that Lake Lure has about 30 active line in 30 active line items to help the town recover from Hurricane Helene, saying, quote, that's everything from money towards the dam, wastewater collections, bridges that were washed out, as well as other removal from debris in the lake.
However, due to priorities and money from FEMA, only about three to four of those line items are currently progressing at this time. Mayor DiOreo explained that FEMA needs to aggressively pursue the existing project line items in the system. Once those projects are greenlit, there's big serious questions of whether FEMA and do they have enough money to cover the enormous expenses they will incur. Additionally, process improvements are needed for things to move forward. With the mayor of Lake Lure saying that things are moving, it's just a very prolonged process.
Noting, we just need to focus on helping us get to the point where we can normalize our day-to-day lives here, and that has been a significant challenge.
So, as we continue to track the recovery progress out of western North Carolina, looking at Black Rock and Lake Lure right now, we do have some updates on some other areas, including Chimney Rock, which has got the they are continuing with their hurricane recovery as well. We'll have details on them coming up here in. Just a few minutes. It's 5:50. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Good Monday morning to you. News Talk 11:10-99.3WBT. Continuing our coverage this morning of Hurricane Helene's aftermath and recovery, some nine months after that storm tore through portions of western North Carolina, we are going to be talking about Chimney Rock. While it is one of the smaller towns outside of the Asheville area that was hardest hit, Chimney Rock has made significant progress since Hurricane Helene. Town officials told the Carolina Journal that they are about a month away from opening multiple downtown businesses.
And we learned just a few weeks ago that Chimney Rock reopened, the Chimney Rock State Park, was set to reopen on June the 27th. During the reopening ceremony, Governor Josh Stein signed the Disaster Recovery Act of 2025, Part II, which allocates another $700 million for Hurricane Helene relief. According Two details. Stephen Duncan, the village administrator for Chimney Rock, told the Carolina Journal, quote, we lost everything. We couldn't even communicate with the outside world, and it took a day or two to even get into the village after the storm.
Duncan described that the hurricane as it forged a destructive path through chimney rock, taking out massive trees and sometimes whole buildings. The hurricane built up a wall of water and debris, taking out multiple bridges. Noting that, quote, it was just like a bulldozer. It was just pushing dirt in trees. In many cases, it undermined the side of the banks.
The houses never got hit with water. It was undermined with the river banks to such an extent that they fell and dropped into the water. He explained what it was like driving through the town for the first time with Mayor Pete O'Leary, noting that in some cases, entire parts of the town were wiped away. Before the hurricane, the Ad Valorem tax base was $93 million in chimney rock and dropped to $69 million, so the town has lost about 25% of its entire value, according to Duncan. The town lost all of its businesses, about 50, and noted that we probably don't even have 50 people living here yet full time.
Now turning our attention to the progress, it includes a 15,000 gallon per day temporary wastewater package plant. Duncan predicts that the town will use this temporary sewer system for about two years, giving time to town officials to rebuild all of the systems. As rebuilding efforts began, a task force began working with various planning consulting groups. Due to the damage caused by Helene, some businesses may have to relocate from their original locations.
However, the relocations are expected to be minor, maybe a few hundred feet east or west from the original spot. Duncan noted as the water came down Main Street it was like a massive water pressure built up on the front doors of all of those businesses. They were all either taken out by the storm or had their doors smashed in and filled with silt and debris. Duncan explained how the village received assistance from multiple sources, including more than 200 troops from the 101st Airborne who camped at Chimney Rock State Park. Additionally, they were connected with Spokes of Hope, which, according to Duncan, brought about 50 to 100 volunteers daily into the town after the storm.
The organization brought in donations, and volunteers worked to dig out the entire downtown, muck it out, mitigate it, and treat it for mold. The Federal Emergency Management Agency to this point has reimbursed Chimney Rock for most of its recovery expenses. These include some $600,000 in security costs and $500,000 worth of distribution to community members. Additionally, almost $3 million in funding from the state legislature was used to rebuild and is being used to rebuild water and sewer systems. The town also received six grants from the North Carolina Department of Commerce, five $1 million grants and one $500,000 grants, totaling more than $5.5 million earmarked for projects such as rebuilding the Central River River Park in the middle of the town, as well as continued rehabilitation for damages to the current streetscape, curb, gutter, and stormwater systems.
According to officials, right now, every downtown business is either nearly fit. Finished or will be finished in the next month and has been completely rebuilt on the inside. This includes all the framing and all of the floors.
However, despite the destruction left at Chimney Rock that left Chimney Rock unrecognizable, officials anticipate reopening many downtown businesses either later this month or early next month. According to Duncan, right now they say that they're making sure that they have display cases and shelving. Noted that they've already connected everybody so they can get back to water in sewer systems, and they've already connected to water to the reservoir.
So they say that they're good to go there. The question is, what is next? Duncan expressed an opportunity for private investors to repurchase some FEMA-acquired land, noting that FEMA has regulations which we believe are not in the best interests of the community. He explained that FEMA's restriction limits the land, the limits on land used to primarily public parks. While they welcome private investment, buyers would need to pay the land's pre-Helene value, which Duncan acknowledged is a pretty risky potential endeavor for an investment.
He explained that while downtown businesses are close to reopening, the town still has needs. One is to raise money to build a new city structure on unused land. A private 501c3 has been set up called the Chimney Rock Economic Development and Investment Team to work on that, noting that we have multiple projects that we would like to run through this group because we don't have to go through all of the hoops that The government goes through, noting that we can partner with private entities and individuals to help them invest. A few buildings and tracts of land have already been sighted that they could become a viable contributing part of rebuilding that downtown area. And with the Chimney Rock State Park reopening just a couple of weeks ago, progress does continue very well in the Chimney Rock area.
It's a little bit slower in some areas as we looked at Black Mountain and Lake Lur. We'll continue to track the progress right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. That's going to do it for a Monday edition. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on News Talk 1110 and 99.3 WBT.
