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Erin Recovery, Stein Launches Gang Task Force

Carolina Journal Radio / Nick Craig
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August 22, 2025 6:17 am

Erin Recovery, Stein Launches Gang Task Force

Carolina Journal Radio / Nick Craig

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August 22, 2025 6:17 am

North Carolina continues to recover from Hurricane Aaron, with Highway 12 remaining closed in the Outer Banks. Governor Josh Stein has signed an executive order to create a gang prevention and intervention task force, continuing the Office of Violence Prevention and reestablishing the Community Violence Advisory Board. The state has also taken over the child welfare services in Birdie County, citing concerns about the local department's administration. Meanwhile, the state is still recovering from previous hurricanes, including Hurricane Helene and Tropical Storm Chantal, with some areas still waiting for relief funds.

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It's 505 and welcome into a Friday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour News Talk 1110-993 WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.

Well, Hurricane Erin continues her movement away from the United States this morning after impacting predominantly the outer banks of the state yesterday. The big news this morning, North Carolina Highway 12, which we've been talking about throughout the entirety of this week, does remain closed in the outer banks as crews work to remove water and sand from the roadway from overwash that came on shore during the storm. Tim Haas, the communication officer for Division One of the North Carolina Department of Transportation, did share an update yesterday with folks in that area, providing some information as to what things are looking like right now. This is what he had to say yesterday. The worst that I saw today, and remember I went out on there about noon, which is about at extreme low tide, but the worst that I saw was just north of Hatteras Village, where the water came up basically halfway up the hubcap of an NCDOT truck.

So that was pretty deep. And that was where the dune breaches were the worst. They are also very bad at the north of Okra Coke. Obviously, I didn't make it there today, but the dune breaches at the north end of Ocher Coke are also fairly serious. And those dune breaches are one of the reasons in which water was able to get onto the roadways in some area.

The DOT communications director was also asked about, well, is there any damage to Highway 12 or is it just water and sand that is on the roadways? We have seen no indication of any actual road damage at this point, but there is road that's still covered with sand and water. And until that is cleared, we won't be able to make a final determination as to whether there's any actual pavement damage. And so that's what crews were working on throughout the afternoon yesterday. They are continuing their work and we'll continue that likely at daybreak this morning.

So Highway 12 does remain closed as they continue to do their assessment, that being DOT, and make sure that it is safe for movement.

So hopefully we'll learn some more details a little bit later on today. Dare County manager Bobby Outen also spoke to the media yesterday talking about some of the impacts on the town as well. This is what he had to say as it relates to some of the impacts from Hurricane Aaron in Dare County.

Well, we've prepared as a regular hurricane as we would do anything else. We've got a large amount of water over the road, did have. DOT has done a wonderful job getting that cleaned up, but we've got another high tide tonight.

So tomorrow morning when the sun Up and we can see, then we can look at where we are with the roads. DOT will get out there and move sand. We'll find out what's going on, and then we'll start looking at what we do to begin the recovery and to get people back on the island. Obviously, getting folks back onto the island, those not only that live there, but those that will be vacationing there over the next couple of weeks. A major point of emphasis for those locally in the outer banks.

You're hearing there the audio from Dare County manager. This is what he also had to say yesterday.

Well, the breach of the dunes is something that we would have expected in that area. And the good news is it looks like it was water and sand. We're hopeful that it's not the pavement because the pavement takes longer to repair, to provide access. It's good news, bad news. There's about three places we could have that problem.

It was the southernmost place, and so that means the northern areas are going to be able to move around in quicker than maybe the southern area. But hopefully that pavement's not breached. And if it's not, then DOT will get the water off, get the sand off. You just saw a bunch of pumps go by. We sent pump trucks down there to get that water off of the road so they can work.

And so we're hopeful to get that stuff going in earnest tomorrow. And so that is going to be the effort over the next couple of days to get that road cleared out, get Highway 12 open, and get folks back onto certain areas or get them back into certain areas there in Dare County. Conditions worsened throughout the Outer Banks late in the day on Wednesday, and really the worst of the storm, which, as you heard from the Dare County manager. And from DOT, the storm did not make an immediate impact, as was predicted to be the case the entire time.

So the direct impacts from the storm were not felt immediately because it did not make landfall.

However, some of those high-breaking waves did push water and sand onto some roadways in that area, predominantly North Carolina Highway 12. That work does continue this morning.

Some other information from DOT shows that throughout the vast majority of the Highway 12 span, the road is reopened.

However, there are still some certain areas that are closed. According to drivenc.gov, which is the official website that tracks road closures from DOT across North Carolina, they do indicate that near Hatteras, there is a possibility that Highway 12 could reopen. They say 8 a.m. this morning. Obviously, that is going to be reliant on crews surveying the damage, checking out all those additions.

Details. We'll continue to track that throughout the weekend and provide any additional updates coming up Monday morning as we get them right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Taking a look at some other statewide news this morning, earlier this week, Governor Josh Stein signed an executive order to create a gang prevention and intervention task force, continuing the Office of Violence Prevention and reestablishing the Community Violence Advisory Board within that office. With the governor saying in a press release earlier this week, to keep people safe, we need to do everything we can to prevent violence from occurring in the first place. I am proud to advance these initiatives to seek out the root causes of violence, including gang violence across our state.

We must bring law enforcement, health professionals, and community organizers to the table to create safer communities. In March of 2023, former Governor Robert Roy Cooper established the OVP, that's the Office of Violence Prevention, through an executive order within the Department of Public Safety, which at the time was the first of its kind anywhere in the southern portion of the United States. Stein reestablishing the office's advisory board comprised of health professionals, government leaders, law enforcement officers, and community-based organizations after it expired on March 31st of this year. The office will highlight initiatives to strengthen firearm safety, expand cross-sector partnerships across the state, and provide training and education to empower local communities to implement holistic, evidence-informed strategies to address and prevent violence in the long term. Gang activity has also become a major issue across North Carolina.

In the governor's executive order, he says that there are approximately 4,000 validated gang members across North Carolina. And one alarming statistic is the rise in youth gang activity, with suspected juvenile gang crime increasing nearly 50 percent over the past five years. The 2025 gang prevention legislative report from the governor's crime commission, as well as the state bureau of investigation and state highway patrol, noted that gang-involved at-risk youth have more mental health problems than other at-risk youth and are twice as likely to have negative peer relationships as others and are nearly twice as likely to have a family with criminal behavioral history. The report recommended the creation of a task force focused on gang prevention. As a result, Governor Josh Stein also established the gang prevention and intervention task force within the new governor's crime commission or the governor's crime commission there, co-chaired by the Department of Adult Corrections Secretary and the Director of the North Carolina Office of Violence Prevention.

The task force membership will consist of law enforcement, education leaders, legal representatives, mental or substance abuse use organizations, and people who have successfully uh divorced themselves and left the gang activity throughout North Carolina. The task force will focus on reducing the presence and impact of gang activity across the state, including keeping young people out of gangs. That has been a big time discussion and conversation throughout the state of North Carolina. Over the last couple of years, with that increase in gang activity, you've seen the news reports across North Carolina. You've also seen some of those numbers, some of those statistics coming out showing some of the increases there as well.

We've got some additional details on this story this morning over on our website. That's CarolinaJournal.com, the headline story there. Stein creates a gang prevention and intervention task force. We'll also get some more details on that with Teresa Opeka from CarolinaJournal.com coming up here in just a few minutes. At Blinds.com, it's not just about window treatments.

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Rules and restrictions apply. It's 520. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. Don't forget, if you miss any portion of our show, weekday mornings, 5-6, right here on WBT, you can check out the Carolina Journal News Hour podcast. It's available in Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you get your shows.

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. A lot of the talk this week across the state of North Carolina surrounded Hurricane Aaron, relatively limited impacts across the eastern half of our state, some minor flooding and some beach erosion in the outer banks. Thankfully, it didn't end up being a huge major storm affecting the coastal portions of North Carolina.

However, there are a couple of natural disasters over the last year that are still on folks' minds. They include, of course, Hurricane Helene out in the western half of the state and Tropical Storm Chantal, which affected the central area of North Carolina earlier this year. It continues to be a long road to recovery. Teresa Opeka with CarolinaJournal.com joins us on the news hour. Teresa, of course, Helene is still with everybody's mind.

Chantal is a smaller geographic area. What's going on with recovery and relief efforts with those storms? Sure. Thanks, Nick, for having me.

So yeah, so we're still the state's still picking up the pieces, as you will, from last year's Hurricane Helene. I can't believe it's going to be almost a year since that occurred. And also, we've got tropical storms Chantal that were all in the central part of the state. Most people in the Meban area and that those areas are still contending with. And of course, now we had Hurricane Aaron that hit the outer banks.

Maybe not a direct hit, but from the surf and the water, and it just made for the tide. It just made things really, really pretty scary for some people. Highway 12 was covered.

So, yeah, so still recovering from last year and even this year's storms.

So, you know. When Governor Stein had the press conference for Hurricane Aaron preparations earlier this week. We did hear from Emergency Management Director Will Ray. He says, Well, all eyes are on Hurricane Aaron right now, and rightly so. Didn't want anybody to think that they forgot about Western North Carolina.

He said the Joint Recovery Office in Asheville is still open, as also the Multi-agency recovery centers, who he said served over 16,000 survivors of Hurricane Helene. And also, the disaster recovery centers in central North Carolina are also open in local communities that were affected by Tropical Storm Chantel. He did add that state individual assistance is available to Chantel survivors while the state awaits a decision from the federal government on the state's request for a major disaster declaration for public assistance.

Now, what that does is that provides additional recovery resources to those impacted communities and the state, just what Governor Stein did earlier this week with Hurricane Aaron. At first, he didn't declare that. He didn't think it was warranted, but then he took a look at it and said, you know, given the degree and all the destruction that did occur with Tropical Storm Chantel, he did went ahead and declared an emergency on that part. You know, and with a lot of this, Teresa, we're talking about money coming in from the federal government. FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has gained a lot of scrutiny over the last couple of years, not just in North Carolina, but across the United States and even way out to the west in Hawaii, with some natural disasters in the past.

President Donald Trump has called for FEMA to be dissolved essentially sometime later on this year or early next year, because it seems like there's still a lagged and delayed response to a lot of this federal money. Oh, yeah, absolutely. You know, Governor Stein said he did get word that FEMA did approve $85 million in reimbursement for Helene, which was welcome news for that. But he says there's still $100 million for other projects that need to be reimbursed. That causes a strain for local governments and the state.

And he's thankful also for the state's congressional delegation working with him on trying to get those funds for people who definitely need it.

So, like he said, about FEMA, you know, President Trump was adamant about, you know, maybe doing away with it, but there's been some news in the last month that instead of dismantling it, they're going to try to remake it. And Governor Stein said that is welcome news. You know, he said there's a lot of turmoil, obviously, in D.C., but the latest indication is that they're going to try to reform FEMA. And he really welcomed that news because he said they have the resources more so than the states. Do to contend with disasters, natural disasters such as these.

But yeah, some funding is definitely lacking almost a year later for Halleen survivors. We'll obviously continue to watch how that unfolds at the federal level up in Washington, D.C. with FEMA. Teresa, I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up, unfortunately, North Carolina's very checkered past with hurricane relief and recovery. You covered NCOR with a couple of hurricanes back almost a decade ago in North Carolina.

A big major black eye for the Cooper administration as almost 10 years later, there are still folks without homes. There's really nobody else to point a finger at except for state government for that. Yes, yes, correct. I mean, we had numerous state government ops hearings over the last couple of years with the former head of NCOR, Laura Hogshead, where we had the different legislators asking questions. How come it's taking so long?

And again, my It's not to be funny, but it's wash, rinse, repeat, which is what it was. Every time you have a hearing, it's like, well, okay, we know we're not doing good, but we'll fix it. We're going to do better, promise, and we're going to help these people. And it was the same thing every time. How long can the people who are still living in hotels a decade later, almost a decade later, be comforted by that?

So, yeah, I mean, it is definitely a black guy in the Cooper administration. And also, that does not bode well for him for running for state senate or excuse me, U.S. Senate, rather. If you take a look at his track record, I mean, he really hasn't had a lot of contention before, but yeah, that is definitely a mark against him and his whole administration. I mean, On the human side, politics aside, people still do not have a home nearly a decade later.

So with more disasters happening, it's just unfortunate that's just the way it happens. Definitely people are in need now and for the last decade.

So we have to keep our eyes on this as well.

Now, Josh Stein made a change. He did not decide to continue NCOR for Western North Carolina relief from Helene. He started a brand new office called Grow NC. They have been working since earlier this year when the governor was sworn in and got those efforts kicked off. Reports are, Teresa, that they could begin some home construction or repairs within the next couple of months.

But as you noted, we're almost a year out from the storm as it stands right now. And I'm sure some folks are relatively anxious, wondering how that response is going to be in the western half of the state. That's right. That's right. And, you know, some legislators were critical.

They've had a couple hearings for that agency as well over the past year to see how things were moving. You want to give them the benefit of the doubt because obviously it's a new agency and trying to separate themselves from NCORE. But if you're going to have the same issues cropping up as you did with NCORE, I mean, you really have to have a really, really good watchdog eyes, eagle eyes on the recovery process for Helene that was severely lacking for the storms Matthew and Florence in eastern North Carolina.

So it's a time will tell situation, but hopefully they do learn their lessons from all the foibles from the Cooper administration. No question about that. You can read some additional coverage from the governor and from Will Rae earlier this week at a press briefing for Hurricane Aaron. That article is available over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. We appreciate the update this morning.

Teresa Opeka joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's 5:36. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 11:10-993WBT. We've got some concerning news out of Northeastern North Carolina this morning. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is set to temporarily assume leadership of the child welfare services in Birdie County at their Department of Social Services.

That began last Friday, according to a press release from DHHS. This is just the fifth time in state history that the Department of Health and Human Services has taken over a county social service department and the first time that any county, county's DSS, has been taken over twice by the state. Birdie County is in northeast North Carolina, just north of the Greenville area, relatively remote area of the state, but some concerning information this morning. State officials said. In a press release, that the actions follow months of intervention and oversight, which were prompted by the December 2024 death of a child who had prior involvement with the Birdie County Department of Social Services.

The release notes that after reviewing the facility and additional cases, the Department of Health and Human Services at the state level placed the local Department of Social Service Board on a corrective action plan that happened earlier this year in March due to quote serious concerns about its administration of child welfare services. In an August the 14th letter to county leaders, the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services detailed multiple failures in local leadership to follow state directives, manage a critical case appropriately, or present to the court how their actions have contributed to the ongoing safety risks for children. The letter also cited, quote, serious concerns about the accuracy, integrity, and transparency of information provided by staff at all levels of the organization. The letter reads in part, quote, the mismanagement of this case and failure of the Birdie County Department of Social Services to adhere to the directives of NCDHS has magnified our concerns about Birdie County's ability to adequately assess child safety and risk. The conclusion of the letter notes this poses a substantial threat to the safety and welfare of children in Birdie County.

According to the letter effective upon a state takeover, which again was last Friday, the county DSS director will be stripped of all of service delivery powers responsibilities related to child welfare under North Carolina general statute. The press release also states that DHHS staff will be on site during the interim period to stabilize operations, manage services, and develop a compliance plan for the local county office. The Secretary of DHHS emphasized in the press release the urgency of the intervention, saying, We take very seriously our responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of every child in North Carolina. By taking this urgent action, we will work collaboratively with the Birdie County leadership to strengthen the county's practice, delivery, and administration of child welfare services. Birdie County leaders have voiced support for the move.

The chair of the county's board of commissions said in a press release, quote, we care greatly for the safety of children and families in Birdie and across the state. We are grateful for this work. The takeover is, in fact, authorized under state law, North Carolina General Statute 108A-74, which allows the state to assume direct control of a county's Department of Social Services operations when local agencies fail to comply with child welfare laws and policies. This is the second time that the state has come in and taken over those local Department of Social Services operations in Birdie County, and only the fifth time in the history of the state since that has been.

Something enshrined in state law and general statute. We've got some additional details, including that full letter to officials in Birdie County over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. The headline on that story: state takes control of Birdie County child welfare services after fatality. A sad string of events up there. Those additional details are available over at CarolinaJournal.com, where it's now 5:41, News Talk 1110-993, WBT.

Coming up later this year, municipal elections will be taking place across the state of North Carolina. A lot of local issues being discussed across the board. One of those big discussions and conversations is about community safety and community violence. Governor Josh Stein signing an executive order this week dealing with some violence that could exist in communities across North Carolina. To walk us through some of those details, Teresa Opaca, CarolinaJournal.com, joins us on the news hour.

Teresa, what are you following with this new executive order from Josh Stein's office? Sure, Nick, thanks for having me.

So, yeah, so earlier this week, as you mentioned, Governor Stein signed that executive order. It creates a gang prevention and intervention task force, and it also continues the Office of Violence Prevention. And that was started by former Governor Roy Cooper in March of 2023. And within that office, he also, Governor Stein, re-established the Community Violence Advisory Board. That actually expired earlier this year, I believe in March.

So, you know, Governor Stein says to keep people safe, we need to do everything we can to prevent violence from occurring in the first place. And he said he's proud to advance these initiatives to seek out the root causes of violence, and that includes gang violence.

So, as I just mentioned, you know, Governor Cooper created that back in March. And Stein also reestablished that office's advisory board that's comprised of health professionals, government leaders, law enforcement officers, and the like. Office, what it does, it highlights initiatives to strengthen firearms, strengthen firearms safety, expand cross-sector partnerships across the state, and also provides training and education to empower local communities basically to address and prevent violence. Um yeah, because you know We've been doing stories on this. Gang violence is definitely on the rise across North Carolina.

Well, Teresa, I mean, it all sounds good on paper. I hear what you're saying. I hear the comments there from the governor. But if we look at the statistics and look at the numbers, we are seeing in certain crime areas and in certain groups increases of nearly 50% over the last five years while this entity was in place under the previous governor. Again, might sound good on paper.

The real question I'm sure many folks are asking is: does it actually have an impact? Right. We had, like you said, mentioned about those numbers. We had stories from the last couple of years earlier this year in the Raleigh area, and might mispronounce it, Trend de Aragra, a gang member, was arrested in Raleigh. We also had other similar arrests in the Charlotte area.

As she mentioned about municipal elections in particular, Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, has a few coming up in September.

So that might be of some note.

So, yeah, this office was established in 2023, you know, and What are the ramifications? What has truly happened over the last couple of years? It seems like we've had more, more gangs and more violence come to the communities, specifically the urban communities in maybe Mecklenburg County, Charlotte, and also Raleigh-Wake County, certain city centers. And we've also had Democrat lawmakers, not just in North Carolina, but across the U.S., going against these different policies, border policies or immigration bills. We had here in North Carolina, say, maybe they're targeting different people.

But when you look at this and President Trump getting elected, People want safety in their communities. That's one of the number one issues on a lot of people's minds, especially in urban areas.

So getting back to the Cooper administration and their office they created, not sure how well that really panned out over the last couple of years. Yeah, and to highlight that point, of course, the big discussion ongoing, no pun intended, in Washington, D.C. is literally the District of Columbia and the president making some changes there, using some executive authority to try and clean up the streets in D.C. In the executive order, Teresa, the governor noted that there are approximately 4,000 validated gang members across the state. And I think an even more alarming thing in the governor's executive order, youth gang activity with suspected juvenile gang crime increasing 50%.

There's no way you could look at that and say it's a good statistic or number. No, no. I mean, you're hearing news stories all the time, you know, about people, teenagers, maybe. Stealing cars or finding guns, and it doesn't matter about gun laws. If someone wants to find a gun, they're going to find a gun, or they find it, you know, maybe in a family member's home or whatever the case is.

But there are a lot of youth that are now turning to gangs, maybe for acceptance. Who knows what the exact reasoning is, but yet that statistic is really, really alarming. It's that you're hearing the news reports all the time.

So, I mean, give the governor some, you know.

Some credit that he wants to keep people safe, community safe, but it's a wait-and-see approach. Of course, like again, this office was put into place a couple of years ago. But yeah, those statistics are pretty scary. And also, for the youth of the area, it's just another thing that is definitely not helping them. I would imagine that this is probably going to be a pretty major talking point in those municipal elections, predominantly in the larger metropolitan areas coming up later on this year.

You can read more details about the governor's executive order, some of those crime statistics that we are talking about this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. We appreciate the update. Teresa Opaca joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Good morning again. It's 5:52.

Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Newsstalk 1110-993 WBT, as we continue our coverage of Hurricane Aaron and the impacts across North Carolina. Fortunately, that storm not making a direct impact on the state and continuing its movement away from North Carolina this morning. Highway 12, which is one of the roadways we've been talking about all week, does remain closed this morning as crews from the Department of North Carolina, Department of Transportation, were on site yesterday afternoon and will continue on site throughout the day today to check on the status. Tim Has, who is the communications officer for the Division I of NCDOT, spoke to media yesterday. This is what he had to say about some of the impacts from Aaron out in the Outer Banks.

The worst that I saw today, and remember, I went out on there about noon, which is about extreme low tide, but the worst that I saw was just north of Hatteras Village, where the water came up basically halfway up the hubcap of an NCDOT truck.

So that was pretty deep. And that was where the dune breaches were the worst. They are also very bad at the north of Okra Coke. Obviously, I didn't make it there today, but the dune breaches at the north end of Okra Coke are also fairly serious. Yeah, those dune breaches obviously will be a big-time long-term issue for portions of the outer banks.

One of the questions, what needs to be done to get Highway 12 reopened so the folks can begin returning to their homes. We have seen no indication of any actual road damage at this point, but there is road that's still covered with sand and water. And until that is cleared, we won't be able to make a final determination as to whether there's any actual pavement damage. And of course, that is going to be very relevant. If there is no damage, crews just have to work on pumping the water and sand off of the roadways, and then it should be able to reopen.

If there is any pavement damage, some permanent structure damage, obviously that is going to be a longer-term recovery with some probably temporary stopgaps put in place so that folks can begin the process of returning to that area. Dare County, which took the brunt of the storm, a state of emergency issue there earlier this week. The county manager also spoke to media yesterday afternoon. This is what he had to say.

Well, we've prepared as a regular hurricane as we would do anything else. We've got a large amount of water over the road did have. DOT has done a wonderful job getting that cleaned up, but we've got another high tide tonight.

So tomorrow morning when the sun's up and we can see, then we can look at where we are with the roads. DOT will get out there and move sand. We'll find out what's going on and then we'll start looking at what we do to begin the recovery and to get people back on the island. That's Dare County Manager Bobby Outen yesterday speaking to media, also talking about some other impacts from the storm as well.

Well, the breach of the dunes is something that we would have expected in that area. And the good news is it looks like it was water and sand. We're hopeful that it's not the pavement because the pavement takes longer to repair, to provide access. It's good news, bad news. There's about three places we could have that problem.

It was the southernmost place, and so that means the northern areas are going to be able to move around then quicker than maybe the southern area. But hopefully that pavement's not breached. And if it's not, then DOT will get the water off, get the sand off. You just saw a bunch of pumps go by. We've sent pump trucks down there to get that water off of the road so they can work.

And so we're hopeful to get that stuff going in earnest tomorrow. And so they're going to be working on that again throughout the afternoon, yesterday. And once daybreak hits the North Carolina coast this morning, crews will be back out on the scene beginning that process of clearing those roadways. Their assessments and surveys and making sure that it is safe for folks to drive. Just looking at the NCDOT website this morning, drivenc.gov, where they provide some of this traffic information.

It does indicate that Highway 12 could open as early as 8 a.m. this morning. However, I'm of the mindset that that is just kind of a temporary standby number. Crews will still continue the process of assessing some of the damage in that area before they open it back up and let folks drive in this area. This is near Hatteras.

Both directions of Highway 12 do remain closed. They closed back Wednesday ahead of some of the impacts of Hurricane Aaron. Dune breaches and other effects from the storm will continue to be looked at in the coming days and weeks. And then, of course, with some of those dunes, getting the Corps of Engineers and other folks on board to begin the process of repairing and recovering those. It is still the middle of the Atlantic hurricane season.

All eyes do remain on the Tropics, as there are a couple of other areas that the National Hurricane Center is investigating this morning. We'll keep you up to date with any North Carolina impact and recovery from Hurricane Aaron right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.

Well, that's going to do it for a Friday edition. 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. Shop the Sherwin-Williams Labor Day sale and get 35% off paints and stains August 22nd through September 4th. With prices starting at $31.84, it's the perfect time to transform your space with color.

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