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Good morning to you.
Well, we know road construction and congestion is a big issue all across our state. The North Carolina Department of Transportation has launched a statewide public comment period to help shape its next infrastructure plan, which will run from 2028 to 2037. This is amid growing concerns over congestion in big parts of our state, including our major metropolitan areas like Charlotte and Raleigh.
Now through Friday, august twenty ninth, residents can offer suggestions via the NCDOT website as well as week long drop in sessions at NCDOT offices throughout the state. Eligible suggestions span all six transportation modes, including highway, rail, transit, ferries, aviation, as well as bicycle and pedestrian facilities, but exclude routine maintenance projects like pothole repairs or resurfacing, which are not handled in a 10-year what is typically called a STIP, the state transportation improvement program. One area that is being highlighted is in the triangle, an area, a 10-mile stretch of US1 from I-540 in Wake Forest in Franklin County, as some work continues there that originally budgeted about $93 million for a project to begin construction in 2018.
However, the project now carries a $1.34 billion price tag and has been delayed multiple times. Public input collected will feed directly into the project's prioritization process under the Strategic Investment Law. That is a formula that balances data driven scoring with community input to guide which projects are selected for funding across the six transportation modes in the state. In addition to public suggestions, NCDOT will consider input from local planning organizations and state staff. Submitting projects will undergo a three-tiered prioritization project, statewide mobility projects, regional impact projects, and division need projects.
Statewide mobility projects are evaluated first and are 100% based on data with scoring results expected by the spring of 2026. We've got some additional details on this, including the link to the DOT website where, again, that public comment runs all the way through August the 29th. You can go on there and check out what division you're in across the state of North Carolina, see where some of these listening and hearing sessions are taking place and where you can go and submit some comments, submit some feedback. That is over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com, the headline, NCDOT's 10-year plan opens amid U.S. one frustrations.
Again, you can read those details at CarolinaJournal.com, where it's now 5.07, News Talk 1110.
So, I'm going to go to the next one. There's been a lot of national news over the last few weeks with the term gerrymandering or partisan gerrymandering, looking at states like Texas and Illinois. It's been a big political battle nationally. While it's not currently a big issue in North Carolina, it has been a big political issue in the past. To get some more information on that and kind of explain this whole process to us this morning, Dr.
Andy Jackson of the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. The bullseye's not on North Carolina now, Andy, so I guess that's a good sign. But over the last 15 or 20 years, redistricting, drawing maps has been a very, very hot-button political issue across North Carolina. Yeah, actually, it goes further than that. We've gone decades since we've had a time where the General Assembly has drawn a set of three maps for the state house, state Senate, and Congress, and all three have survived the entire decade.
We have to go back, I think, to the 1970s, the 80s, 90s, the oughts, 2010s, all of them, 2020s now, every decade has had maps struck down. It's an ongoing process. Cautiously hopeful that we're not going to have to do any more redistricting in North Carolina until the next census in 2032.
So as we look at these discussions federally that are going on and bringing it back here to North Carolina, the concern is in states like Illinois where Democrats have control, they draw maps that are friendly to Democrats. In a state like Texas, where the Republicans control the legislature, they draw maps that favor Republicans. Andy, is this a process that the legislature is supposed to do in these various states and here in North Carolina when maps need to be redrawn? Traditionally, it has been. The legislators draw the maps that's based out of the constitutional order, specifically in North Carolina.
The state house draws house maps that have to be approved by both chambers. The state senate draws senate maps. They also draw or start the rounds on the congressional maps.
So, yeah, it's mandated by the North Carolina Constitution that the General Assembly draw the districts. That's the way it's traditionally been in every state. There are some states that use either advisory commissions or they use commissions that draw the whole maps. I will say, one of the things is the idea is that those would not End up with gerrymandered maps or maps that have other problems. And sometimes that's the case, but just as often as not, those districts drawn by commissions are just as problematic.
A recent example in Michigan, they had a series of maps that were thrown out, or a series of districts that were thrown out as racial gerrymanders drawn by a commission.
So drawn by a commission is no protection from a potential lawsuit. I hear this term thrown around all the time. I've seen it here in North Carolina as well. Andy, the maps need to be fair. And I hear this term.
I see a lot of chatter on social media, talking heads on cable news, talking about fair maps. But as you just kind of walked us through the process, this is inherently a political thing that goes on when you've got an elected group of individuals in a legit state legislature that are the ones that are responsible for drawing these maps, no?
Well, yeah. Definition of fair is in the eye of the beholder, and it's probably unremarkable that one side will decide on a definition of fair that benefits them the most.
So, for example, in North Carolina, Democrats would want to look at, say, look at the statewide average, where Democrats generally are pulling around 48% give or take, you know, on the election. And so, you would say, well, by that measure, Democrats should have about half of the seats. But if you look at it in the local communities, you know, different parts of the state, the political geography of the state, it doesn't really Come out that way. For example, there were a couple of plaintiffs on a lawsuit, Harper v. Hall, the one that overturned maps a couple of years ago.
And even the experts for the plaintiffs who were given their testimony said that the most likely congressional map in North Carolina is a 9-5 Republican map. No Democrats would think that is fair, but that's what you usually get if you just draw maps, not considering politics, just geography, just where people live. And that's a lot closer to the 10-4 map that we have now than, say, a 7-7 that Democrats would like. Could we get to a 9-5 map? We could.
Probably not under the existing rules because it's in the nature of the beast that the party in control will want to draw maps that favor their side.
Well, and I'm glad you bring up the geography on this because this is relevant not only in congressional races and the seats that you're talking about, but in the legislature now, where Republicans have a supermajority in the Senate, one vote shy of that in the House, majorities in both chambers. It's geography, Andy. And we see in North Carolina and many of these other states, you've got these more Democrat strongholds in urban areas. And as you get further out from those areas, it tends to lean more red. That's not necessarily a new phenomenon, though, is it?
It's not. It's been going on for a while. The urban areas in North Carolina have been going more and more Democratic. Rural areas, especially in the eastern part of the state, have been going more Republican. Those areas are changing rapidly.
And so, for example, if you're running a race in Durham or in the middle of Greensboro and you're running for state house, those districts... Really, the only competitive part is going to be in the Democratic primary. That's the nature of the district. It doesn't really make any sense to say, well, this community is this way, but since they're so Democratic, we're going to string out a long district that goes from downtown Durham to, say, Harnett County somewhere where it's more Republican in order to make it more competitive. Districts should really represent their communities.
And it would be great if legislators would. Do it that way, and then we wouldn't have to worry about which side benefits more than the other. Unfortunately, that's not the nature of the beast. I'd like it to get closer to that ideal, but certainly trying to artificially change areas by teaming them up with vastly different areas. And the idea of making it more fair or more competitive is not what you should be doing.
Andy, we appreciate the analysis and the information. This morning, Dr. Andy Jackson from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. It is Ryan Seacrest here. There was a recent social media trend, which consisted of flying on a plane with no music, no movies, no entertainment.
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Checking out some statewide news this morning, the North Carolina Auditor's Office in the news once again. After receiving numerous allegations on its tip line, the auditor conducted an investigation into the town of Mount Olive, that's in Wayne County, as well as its water department and its municipal airport, among other reviews, according to a report released by state auditor Dave Bollick. Among the findings, the town's water department lost a whopping $210,000 plus dollars in revenue due to negligent data entry. The auditor's office received an allegation that a sitting town commissioner received water service despite failing to pay for it, and that the town's water department employees committed fraud by failing to pay for their own water bills and voiding late charges for themselves and others. Auditors found that the town lacked formal policies and procedures for utility billing, data entry was performed in a very negligent nature, and oversight during the implementation of utility rate increases was inadequate.
Those deficiencies increased the risk of billing errors, reduced accountability and hindered and hindered the town's ability to ensure accurate utility revenue tracking. They reviewed the mayor and current town commissioners' utility payment history for the calendar year twenty twenty four. And under this investigation, it revealed that one commissioner had his one hundred dollar cutoff fee voided nine times throughout the year. Further, he did not make a single payment on his utility bill until August of 2024 when the office of the state auditor received the initial allegation. At which point, his outstanding balance was $942, yet that $100 cutoff fee when service should have been stopped was voided, and he was continuing to receive water and sewer services.
The commissioner paid the utility bill in full after receiving the allegation in August of 2024, but auditors say his payment history did remain inconsistent through March of 2025. During the investigation, the same commissioner was found to have another utility account for a different address, which was closed in January of last year.
However, the account had an unpaid balance of more than three hundred forty dollars as of March of twenty twenty. While reviewing this allegation, auditors discovered that the town's water department voided hundreds of cutoff fees each month. In 2024, the department supervisor voided 1,838 cutoff fees and only charged 291, meaning that 86% of the cutoff fees were voided in the town with no valid reason documented. Also in 2024, the supervisor fraudulently voided cutoff fees for 11 months for her own utility account and for 9 months for the Water Department's billing clerk. The supervisor didn't make a payment on her utility account until that same time period, August of 2024, when the auditor's office began and got these allegations when she paid $100, despite her account balance exceeding $1,000 at the time.
By the end of the calendar year 2024, her balance had increased to $1,381. With this, the town suspended her in January of this year and terminated her in March. She paid her utility bills in full in the month of February. The town also suspended the billing clerk in January and terminated her as well in March after her balance had grown to $920. She, like the supervisor, paid her full utility bill in February as well.
The North Carolina State Auditor's Office also found that due to negligent data entry and lack of oversight, the town grossly undercharged customers for water and sewer usage and lost significant amounts of revenue. This negligence and lack of oversight continued in March when an attempt to correct the data entry errors resulted in some customers being grossly overcharged. Back in October of 2023, the town's board increased utility rates, including water and sewer rates, for both residential and commercial accounts. The minimum and maximum water charges were set at the exact same rate, meaning that commercial customers were billed the minimum base charge regardless of their actual water usage. The same issue continued in August of 2024 when the town improved yet another rate increase.
There were other utility issues as well, which continue to be documented in the report. Auditors recommended that the town develop and implement policies and procedures regarding avoiding cutoff fees and proper segregation of duties. They also recommend that the town should develop and implement proper controls to ensure that rate information is correctly entered into the town's utility system. And again, it was not just the water system that was being looked at, some other allegations being levied against Mount Olive, including some issues ongoing at the airport. Problems with the town bearing the financial burden of providing fuel at the airport as well, even though the airport operator is contractually obligated to purchase and sell the fuel.
The airport operator extends a credit on the town on behalf of themselves for fuel purchases, some big time issues ongoing there. State Auditor Dave Bollick said in a press release, quote, Proper management at the local level is incredibly important to ensuring resources are not abused and protocol is followed. Our investigation division took a deep dive into Mount Olive's finances and undercovered several concerning issues. Local officials agreed with the findings in our report.
Now it's time for our recommendations to be put into action. Interim town manager Glenn Holland wrote in a response saying, quote, the town of Mount Olive takes these allegations seriously and accepts all findings and recommendations made in this report. Again, looking at some of those other allegations and issues, the town's finance manager lacked a proper process to verify monthly fuel consumption invoices at the airport, creating a major risk for overpayment. All checks were not necessarily included in the town's accounting system, as well as the town lacking policies and procedures governing the authorization of timesheets for hourly employees. Looks like a real mess over in Mount Olive.
However, the auditor's office doing its job of researching and doing its investigation into the town, it is a 29-page audit that goes through all of the issues of the town, which is located and over Wayne located in Wayne County, which only has a pro a population of about 4,200 residents. It's not a super large town. All of that information is in that full 29-page audit. You can get a link to that full report as well as our article this morning by visiting our website, CarolinaJournal.com. The headline, auditor at Mount Olive lost over $210,000 due to negligent data entries.
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VGW Group void where prohibited by law 21 plus. Terms and conditions apply. It's 535. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110, 993 WBT. The North Carolina State Board of Elections has a meeting scheduled coming up a little bit later on today to discuss a variety of issues ahead of municipal elections coming up later on this year.
As some counties have experienced disagreements on how to handle early voting, any of those disagreements in an individual county will have to be sorted out by the State Board of Elections. At their meeting today, however, the board will take less controversial voting plans for counties like Mecklenburg, Forsyth, and Lee counties. All of those plans were approved unanimously by local leaders ahead of the state board meeting. The twenty twenty five municipal elections actually are staggered.
Some individuals vote in September, some in October, and the final group in November, with some counties and cities having multiple election dates throughout the remainder of this year. The board today plans to vote on early voting plans for September races and debate extending the deadline for counties to submit their plans for October and November. Regardless of when people vote later this year, they will have to show a valid photo ID or have an acceptable excuse for lacking one to fill out an ID exemption form. Another item on the state board's agenda today is to finalize a lawsuit settlement with the National Republican Party, which kept many UNC Chapel Hill students and employees barred from being allowed to use their university-issued ID to vote. Other university IDs were allowed in the 2024 elections, but those were all physical ID cards.
UNC Chapel Hill offers a digital ID by default. The state board of elections had voted to allow those digital IDs when the board was under Democrat control, and various Republican groups, including the Republican Party, sued trying to stop it. They won their case for the 2024 elections, but there has still been remained an open question on how to handle this issue in the future. The election board recently was switched to Republican control, and one of the new board's first actions was to agree with the Republican Party and not allow any form of digital identification to be used as a valid form of ID when voting. That meeting will be coming up a little bit later on today.
We'll have coverage of it on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, and if any relevant news comes forward, anything big, we'll pass it along to you. Coming up Monday morning, right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, where it's now 5:38, News Talk 1110-99.3 WBT. There has been growing concern across the United States over foreign entities and ownership of farmland. That has especially played out as it relates to China. To go over some details out of a new poll this morning, Katie Zender, CarolinaJournal.com, joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Katie, as we already know, agriculture and farming is the biggest business here in the state of North Carolina.
So I'm sure this is on the minds of a lot of North Carolina farmers, but it seems like pretty much across the board there is huge concern over foreign investment into agricultural land here in the continental United States. Yeah, that's exactly right, Nick. This is something that we've been, you know, kind of watching for over a year now here at the Carolina Journal. But there's a new poll out from the Vandenberg Coalition, and they are a polling group that polls voters, largely the Trump-based, so kind of those Trump voters, on different issues. But really, what they focused on in this particular poll was like a lot of foreign policy issues, especially related to China.
And really, what we're looking at specifically here is, you know, how they feel about initiatives that would block or restrict China from owning land in the United States. And so 88% of respondents said that they would support efforts to prevent China from acquiring U.S. land, with 70% expressing strong support. And they also said that concern over China's control of pharmaceutical ingredients is widespread, with 96% worried that China could weaponize this control by cutting off medication supplies. And the pharmaceutical industry is another huge industry here in North Carolina.
We've got a lot of Pharmaceutical manufacturers here, so that's another industry. And then 68% said that there were concerns describing the level of worry as extremely high or very high. This concern is particularly prominent among the demographics that rely high on the pharmaceuticals.
So we won't get into that too much right now, but there's a lot of concern, especially among the Trump base, concerning Chinese ownership of United States land. And so when we look at these poll results, 70% said that they would strongly support these initiatives. 18% said that they would somewhat support them. And then, if you look at the data even further and you kind of break it down a little further, 73% of traditional conservatives said they would strongly support it. 14% said they would somewhat support it, and 8% would totally oppose it.
And that's what the Vandenberg Coalition describes as traditional conservatives. If you look at what they call MAGA conservatives, 80% would strongly support it, 12% would somewhat support it, and 6% would totally oppose it. And then the last grouping is moderates. 57% would strongly support it. 27% would somewhat support it.
And 14% would totally oppose it.
So even in that moderate group, there, still over 50% strongly support these initiatives. And then, if you kind of break it down in a different way, if you look at urban versus rural voters, the urban voters, 59% strongly support it, 27% somewhat support it, and 11%. Totally oppose it. And then, of course, out of the rural voters, those numbers are higher. 72% strongly support it, 15% somewhat support it, and 10% totally oppose it.
You know, Katie, going back to those moderate numbers, there's not too much of a disparity there between what either traditional conservatives or what this poll calls MAGA voters, Trump, predominantly Trump supporters, and those moderates. You're only looking at a difference between 8% and 14%. That's not typically the case when you look at the difference between what many would call very actively involved individuals on the MAGA or conservative side and those that may be more middle of the road and may vote for some Democrats on certain issues and so on and so forth. I guess it's pretty fair to say that this is a pretty bipartisan issue, at least when we look across this more right-leaning base of individuals on an issue like foreign ownership of farmland. Right, that's exactly right, Nick.
So, you know, these poll numbers really kind of show it to you: is, you know, this is an issue that a lot of people are very, very concerned about, especially, you know, in the Republican Party, whether you're, you know, a MAGA voter or not, you're probably going to be, you know, strongly concerned about foreign ownership, especially Chinese ownership of United States land. And a lot of this is specifically, you know, related to and targeting, you know, land that tends to be near or around sensitive military bases and stuff like that. But yeah, there are people that are very concerned, as they should be, about these foreign entities owning so much land here in the United States. And when we look at this here in North Carolina, turning it back home this morning, there have been pushes by the General Assembly, both this legislative session and in years past, Katie, to deal with this. We've also seen some discussion out of the federal level over putting a ban and block on this.
So not only are regular individuals that are responding to this poll concerned, seems like legislators here in North Carolina and then, of course, those up in Washington, D.C., have some of those similar concerns about it as well. That's right, Nick.
So like I said at the beginning, this is something we've been following here at CJ for over a year now. And back in January of 2024, 3.5% of farmland in North Carolina, or upwards of 700,000 acres, was foreign-owned.
Now, that's not specifically Chinese-owned, so it could be China, Russia, you know, a lot of those, you know, Eastern countries, but 3.5% is foreign-owned in the state of North Carolina alone. And in 2024, the Government Accountability Office released a report to Congress that found that foreign holdings of U.S. agricultural land has really been growing. And so we've had a couple of bills introduced in this session in the General Assembly, kind of targeting these issues. One was HB 133, which was sponsored by Representative Jennifer Bauccomb, Representative John Bell, Representative Jeff Sanger, and Representative Neil Jackson.
And Representative Jeff Zanger, who's strongly concerned about this issue, he said, I think folks are starting to understand that even though we have a global economy, we can't. Can also create vulnerabilities if we're not wise. And that's where people get a little bit rightfully concerned. And then there's also another bill that was introduced this session, a Senate bill, called the Prohibit Foreign Ownership of North Carolina Land. And so with this Senate bill specifically, these bills are very similar.
There are some differences, but with the Senate bill specifically, it targeted specific countries that would be barred from owning U.S. land. But when they were discussing this, I think in the House Rules Committee, they specifically said that they could go back and add countries to that list if they needed to do so at a later time.
So yeah, this is definitely something that is Of concern, not only here at the state level, but at the federal level as well, and should be. Katie, we went over a lot of different numbers and different groups and details. Folks might want to go and maybe look at this on a screen. Where can they go and do that this morning? Sure, they can read the full article with all the quotes and all the charts and everything at CarolinaJournal.com.
It's a great update this morning. We appreciate it. Katie Zender joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest. Life comes at you fast, which is why it's important to find some time to relax.
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21 plus. Terms and conditions apply. Good morning again. It's 5:52. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 11:10-993 WBT.
Don't forget, if you miss any portion of our show, you can check out the Carolina Journal News Hour on demand in our podcast form. It's available on Google Play, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Just search for the Carolina Journal News Hour, tap the subscribe or follow button, and you'll get a new program delivered each and every weekday morning. It's the Carolina Journal News Hour podcast. Download and subscribe now.
Democrat Governor Josh Stein is urging North Carolina's second highest court to reject a proposal from Treasurer Brad Breiner to speed up an appeal in a separation of powers dispute that continues to evolve. The case revolves around a shift of the State Utilities Commission appointment from the governor to the treasurer. Earlier this week, Breiner and his team filed a motion on Tuesday with the North Carolina Court of Appeals as he is seeking an expedited schedule for resolving the case called Stein v. Hall. Stein's lawyers responded yesterday by saying, Despite prevailing on the only issue relevant to his office, the treasurer seeks expedited benefiting on all three issues.
The treasurer cannot establish a good cause to suspend or vary the appellate rules. This court should delay his request. Stein filed a lawsuit against the Republican state legislative leaders to challenge three provisions in a recent state law: one that limits the governor's choice when filling judicial vacancies, a second change in voting requirements for state building code council, and finally, the third shifts one of Stein's three utility appointments to Brad Breiner, the treasurer, who is a Republican. A three judge trial court panel ruled in Stein's favor in June on the judicial vacancies issues.
However, the same panel ruled in favor of the legislature's on the other two. The trial court's decision allowed Breiner to appoint Donald Vandervaart to the Utilities Commission back on July the 1st when the previous board member's term ran out. Stein's lawyers wrote: The treasurer is suffering no harm and has made no showing that the commission's work has been impacted in any way. The appellate court heard oral arguments in the case back on February the 17th. That was a case that was called at the time Cooper v.
Berger, as this dealt with law that was passed in the latter parts of 2024. That has now changed its name to Stein v. Hall, looking at the new governor and the new leader of the Looking at that in the General Assembly.
So that case has now changed its name. Breiner's motion Tuesday indicated that state legislative leaders did allow his proposal for an expedited view, with the treasurer's lawyers writing: quote: The constitutional issue presented in this case are important and should be determined so that the public and regulated entities can have certainty on the state law. Again, this is an ongoing battle between Democrat governors and the Republican-led General Assembly. We saw in the past couple of years under previous governor Roy Cooper, anytime the legislature attempted to change some of these various appointment abilities and authorities away from the governor and into other duly elected council of state members, lawsuits were brought. That's exactly what we saw, for example, with the North Carolina State Board of Elections that we were talking about a little bit earlier this morning.
Legislation changed the power structure on that board by giving state auditor Dave Bollick the ability to appoint those three members instead of the governor. And when you look at that switch going from Stein to Auditor Dave Bollock, you have a Democrat, of course, in the governor's mansion and a Republican in the auditor's office.
So you can see that power shift playing out. That did go through the court system, and it was determined that the General Assembly did, in fact, have the right to reallocate and reauthorize the entity that is responsible for those appointment powers. We are seeing something similar with the Utilities Commission in this case against the state treasurer in Brad Briner. The expedited schedule has been requested by him.
However, Stein's lawyers are not in favor of that, so we will continue to keep an eye on this legal process as it continues to unfold across the state. You can read more information and more details on this story and some of the The background and history over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, the headline: Stein opposes expedited court review in utilities appointment dispute.
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. We're back with you Monday morning, 5 to 6, right here on News Talk 1110 and 99.3 WBT. Step into the world of power.
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