It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Friday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. Earlier this week, we talked about a legal battle between Democrat Governor Josh Stein, the state treasurer, and the state legislature. I should say, we do have an update on that this morning.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals yesterday rejected Governor Josh Stein's request to delay proceedings in a dispute over his authority to make appointments to vacant statewide judicial seats and the state utilities commission. The case's name is Stein v. Hall, and it pits the governor against state treasurer Brad Bryner and the Republican-led General Assembly, the, of course, Stein, the Governor Hall, the Speaker of the North Carolina House. Stein's lawsuit sought to pause the appeal until another related case called Cooper v. Berger is resolved.
Arguing that both involve overlapping constitutional questions about executive appointments in North Carolina.
However, an appealance court, while they had a different thought on this, judges yesterday denied that motion and set a firm schedule requiring briefs by September the 12th, that's a week from today, and having this case wrapped up and concluded a month from now on October the 6th with no extensions. The trial court had ruled in June that lawmakers unconstitutionally restricted the governor's power to fill judicial vacancies.
However, they did upheld changes granting State Treasurer Brad Breiner one of the governor's utility commission appointments and altering the Building Code Council voting rules. Both sides appealed as it was a split decision from the trial court. Bryner's lawyers pressed for an expedient review, arguing that SWIFT resolution was in the public interest while accusing Stein of trying to stall after previously seeking to speed up the case. Legislative attorneys agreed with the treasurer, warning that blocking statute created uncertainty and irreputable harm to state governance. Stein's team, however, countered that waiting for the ruling in another case that is at the Court of Appeals, Cooper v.
Berger, waiting for that decision, would prevent duplicative arguments and streamline the court's work, since both cases questioned legislative changes to executive appointment powers.
However, lawmakers dismissed that reasoning, saying that the issue that this issue in this case was distinct and urgently needed to be resolved.
So, at the debate in all of this is provisions of Senate Bill 382, which was passed over then Democrat Governor Roy Cooper. He did veto that legislation, and the lawmakers came back to Raleigh and dealt with the case and provided the governor his final veto override after his eight years in office. This legislation made structural changes to state government. The law required that Governor Stein select judicial appointments from a party-recommended list and shifts one of the utilities commission seats from the governor's appointment authority to the treasurer's. The change allowed Breiner to appoint Donald Vandervaart, a former McCroy administration official, to the commission as of july first, where he has been sitting since that period of time.
The broader battle touches a long-standing separation of powers dispute that exists in North Carolina, with both parties appealing aspects of the trial court's ruling. The appeals court's expedited schedule ensures that this ongoing debate over the governor's appointment authority will remain front and center over the next month or so. Again, The court's denying the governor's attempt to slow walk this and slow this thing down. All the parties will have to have all of their legal briefs in by next Friday, and then the court will make its final decision on October the 6th. We'll keep an eye on this case and the other one, Cooper v.
Berger. Both of them deal with appointment authorities between the General Assembly and the governor. Continued coverage over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, and right here on the Carolina Journal NewsHour, where it's now 509, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. We have been talking a lot about tariffs over the last couple of months here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, and of course, over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. We've got some new details this morning out of the major tractor and farm appliance manufacturer, John Deere, to walk us through some of those details.
Katie Zender, CarolinaJournal.com, joins us on the news hour. Katie, just in the last couple of days or last week or so, we've seen some legal challenges with tariffs. This continues to be a major story across the United States and, of course, here in North Carolina. Right, Nick.
So last Friday, a federal appeals court did rule that President Trump's, or the majority of his tariffs, are illegal. The court voted 7 to 4 to allow the tariffs to remain in place through the 14th of October, which would give the administration time to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, which they have already done. They did that on Wednesday. And so they are urging the Supreme Court for a quick ruling on this.
So we'll be keeping our eye on that and see what's going to happen with that. There's probably going to be a lot of back and forth with that. This is the same appeals court that actually lifted the block by the Court of International Trade that was instituted earlier in the year.
So that's going on right now. And then, you know, as you mentioned, we've got John Deere, which is one of the nation's largest heavy farm equipment manufacturers in the nation. They're predicting major losses as tariffs settle in. And they have said that they have already seen $300 million in tariff-related costs just in the last recent fiscal quarter, according to their August report. And they said they're down 29% in their net income from a year earlier.
This is according to a New York Times piece. And then they're also predicting an additional $300 million by the end of the year.
So that's a total of $600 million in financial losses just because of the tariffs. In addition to these financial losses, they've also laid off more than 200 employees across Iowa and Illinois, which is where a lot of their factories are.
Now, Katie, this is relevant here in North Carolina for a couple of different reasons. Obviously, some of the more large-scale tariff discussions do have an impact on North Carolina's economy. But as we hone in on John Deere, for some of our new listeners, they may not be familiar with the fact that the agricultural industry continues to be the largest business in the state of North Carolina. I think farming and green tractors from John Deere are kind of synonymous, one and the same there, Katie.
So, this has a major impact on a huge industry, multi-billion dollar industry across North Carolina. That's exactly right, Nick.
So agriculture is the biggest industry here in North Carolina at $111.1 billion. And one of the major crops here in North Carolina is soybeans. And it's a very machinery heavy crop.
So this is something that's going to impact John Deere is, you know, because a lot of these soybean farmers are using tractors and harvesters and whatnot to cultivate their crop and to harvest their crop. And so this is really expected to hit North Carolinian farmers particularly hard. And when crop prices are high, farmers have a lot of extra cash.
So that's when they're purchasing new equipment because they have a surplus of cash. But crop prices have not been high recently. They've actually been down. In fact, according to the New York Times, soybean prices are down 40% from the mid-2022 high. And North Carolina farmers are really kind of getting a double whammy as far as being hit with tariffs because they're getting hit with the tariffs from steel and aluminum at 50%.
And this is one of the tariffs that was actually exempted from The appeals court ruling earlier or later last week is that one is actually going to stay in place no matter what the U.S. Supreme Court rules on Trump's appeal because those were filed under a separate law.
So those steel and aluminum tariffs at 50% are actually going to remain in place, at least right now, until we see something happen with that. And so the farmers are getting hit with that, not only from John Deere, because obviously they're using a lot of steel and aluminum to make the tractors, but farmers use steel and aluminum in parts they order for farm equipment and in different just areas of agriculture and farming. But then they're also getting affected by the retaliatory tariffs that China placed on U.S.
soybeans back in March.
Now, according to the U.S. Office of the Trade Representative, North Carolina exported $446 million worth of soybeans in 2022. And so I spoke with John Sanders, he's the director of our Center for Food, Power, and Life at the John Locke Foundation. He said, we are beginning to feel the unintended negative consequences of tariffs. Two years ago, John Deere enjoyed record profits.
Now the company is seeing tariff-related spikes in steel and aluminum costs and a steep drop in income, and it has begun layoffs. Normal market ins and outs are hard to navigate, but these impacts from policy changes resound throughout the economy. And he goes on, and to speak to those layoffs, you know, I already said, you know, John Deere has laid off more than 200 employees, but they employ more than 30,000 employees across 60 facilities. More than three-quarters of their machines are assembled in the United States. 25% of their components are used in products sourced abroad.
And they also are predicting a 15 to 20% decrease in the sales of large agricultural machines. And they're expecting that decline in sales to continue into 2026.
So, this is something that we're going to continue to feel in the agriculture industry for at least the next year or so, Nick. And then just some general stats on, you know.
Soybeans in North Carolina in the United States. According to the USDA, they reported that approximately 1.63 million acres of soybeans were harvested in North Carolina in 2023, which is a little bit down from 1.68 million in 2022.
Soybeans are the fifth cash crop, fifth in cash crop receipts for North Carolina.
Soybeans accounted for 5.7% of farm cash receipts in 2023 in North Carolina. And then a couple months ago, I spoke with Charles Hall. He's the executive director of the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association. And he said that in 2022, across more than 5,000 farms produced soybeans across all 100 counties. But that's predominantly in the Piedmont and coastal plains regions.
And he also said that most soybean farmers grow other crops such as corn, cotton, tobacco, and sweet potatoes, some of our other major North Carolina crops.
Now, Katie, this morning, of course, we're talking about the economy, talking about some of the economic impact on John Deere and some of the farms as it relates to that. But we're not even talking, of course, about the weather and the impacts that storms have had on the state of North Carolina as we approach the one-year unfortunate anniversary of Hurricane Helene out in the western half of the state, eastern flooding from tropical storms and subtropical systems. The farmers just seemingly can't get a break on any direction with everything going on, as you noted. Low prices, farm equipment costs going up. Of course, Mother Nature.
I mean, it's just such an unfortunate situation for such a big business across our state. That's exactly right, Nick.
And earlier in the year, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture actually opened applications for a kind of a grant program for farmers that had sustained crop losses in 2024 because of Hurricane Helene. You know, we had a drought last year, like all of these different things.
So yeah, it's definitely been a very difficult time for farmers between tariffs and all the natural disasters that we've had in the last year. You can read some additional details this morning on our John Deere story as well as some of the other economic impacts on tariffs across various industries in North Carolina, all those available over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. We appreciate the time this morning. Katie Zender joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. At blinds.com, it's not just about window treatments.
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Rules and restrictions apply. We all know that feeling. You finally manage to get away on vacation and the worrying starts. Will that bogus beware of dogs sign keep your homes safe? What about that fake camera you set up?
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You finally manage to get away on vacation and the worrying starts. Will that bogus beware of dogs sign keep your homes safe? What about that fake camera you set up? And will someone finally find your old hide and key rock? That's where ADT comes in.
All that stuff? It's safe-ish. It seems fine when you don't really think about it, but you know it truly doesn't work. Instead, ADT provides security solutions that keep you actually safe, giving you real peace of mind. Because vacation is supposed to be, you know, relaxing.
Don't settle for safe-ish. Visit ADT.com today to learn more. It's 523. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News. Hour news talk 1110-993 WBT, the North Carolina Department of Transportation will soon name bridges across the state in honor of 23 fallen state troopers, including one who died in the line of duty back in 1937.
Colonel Freddie Johnson, the commander of the North Carolina Highway Patrol, had initiated the effort after hearing from several family members who lost loved ones but did not receive bridge dedications. The commander of SHP said in a press release, quote, we felt that it was very important to get everyone recognized for the sacrifice that they made. To the families, it's like it happened yesterday, and to see the heartfelt thanks from many of them has made this project so worthwhile. The State Highway Patrol partnered with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, which is the agency responsible for road and bridge dedications, after discovering that the names of fallen soldiers were somehow fallen officers rather, were somehow overlooked. NCDOT Secretary Joey Hopkins said in a press release, quote, For many years, North Carolina has been naming bridges to honor law enforcement officers killed on the job.
But for many different reasons, twenty three officers were never honored.
So we've been working with the State Highway Patrol since last spring to make sure that these officers are properly recognized for their sacrifice.
Now normally when a law enforcement officer or emergency responder is killed in the line of duty, a family member or friend completes an application and petitions their local government to pass a resolution requesting that the state name a bridge to honor said fallen officer or first responder. The resolution is then referred to NCDOT and they work with the Highway Patrol to research the officer and the circumstances around the death. Following state policy, NCDOT staffers must ensure that the request has strong support from a local community and the family if they so want that dedication to take place. NCDOT's staff then drafts a resolution, which the North Carolina Board of Transportation considers, and when it is approved, NCDOT staff coordinates an event with officials to dedicate the bridge. This project was a major undertaking due to extensive research that was needed.
Shelly Heath, the staff contact for NCDOT's Road and Bridge Naming Committee, and her supervisor, Brian Mayhew, NCDOT's state traffic engineer, have been working with the State Highway Patrol for about a year since this initiative first came along. He said that the bridge naming effort was a major undertaking because of extensive research that was needed to identify the fallen officers and verify their stories with community members and their families. Family and friends of the fallen, she said, were difficult to locate as several officers were killed many decades ago, like Officer Moore, who was shot to death near Goldsboro back in 1937 when questioning two men hauling a load of meat in a stolen vehicle.
Sometimes family or friends start an application, but unfortunately do not complete it, according to DOT. In other cases, people may not have realized that such an honor even existed, like the family of trooper Jackie Daniel. Daniel was killed in 1994 after a tractor trailer hit his cruiser while he was helping a stranded motorist in Charlotte. When Daniel's daughter realized her father could be honored in this way, she said she was very proud in the press release, noting, quote, It means that when people see his name, they'll know he was such a great man who served his community and would do anything for them. It makes me and my family so proud to know that my dad was such a legacy for all of the work he did throughout the community.
In its 96-year history, 70 members of the State Highway Patrol have unfortunately died while on the line of duty. And since this project began in the spring of 2024, NCDOT has completed all but seven of the bridge dedications. DOT expects to have all 23 fallen officers honored across the state of North Carolina. Most of those honorary dedications taking place in the area in which those individuals lived or served. They hope to have that wrapped up here by the end of 2025.
A great story to pass along this morning. You can read some additional details on that and this process, which is, I'll admit, a rather interesting one. Over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. That story's headline: NCDOT to honor 23 fallen state troopers with bridge namings. That's available over at CarolinaJournal.com.
We all know that feeling. You finally managed to get away on vacation, and the worrying starts. Will that bogus beware of dogs sign? keep your homes safe. What about that fake camera you set up?
And will someone finally find your old hide and key rock? That's where ADT comes in. All that stuff? It's safe-ish. It seems fine when you don't really think about it, but you know it truly doesn't work.
Instead, ADT provides security solutions that keep you actually safe, giving you real peace of mind. Because vacation is supposed to be, you know, relaxing. Don't settle for safe-ish. Visit ADT.com today to learn more. We all know that feeling.
You finally manage to get away on vacation and the worrying starts. Will that bogus beware of dogs sign keep your homes safe? What about that fake camera you set up? And will someone finally find your old hide and key rock? That's where ADT comes in.
All that stuff? It's safe-ish. It seems fine when you don't really think about it, but you know it truly doesn't work. Instead, ADT provides security solutions that keep you actually safe, giving you real peace of mind. Because vacation is supposed to be, you know, relaxing.
Don't settle for safe-ish. Visit ADT.com today to learn more. We all know that feeling. You finally manage to get away on vacation and the worrying starts. Will that bogus beware of dogs sign?
Keep your homes safe. What about that fake camera you set up? And will someone finally find your old hide and key rock? That's where ADT comes in. All that stuff?
It's safe-ish. It seems fine when you don't really think about it, but you know it truly doesn't work. Instead, ADT provides security solutions that keep you actually safe, giving you real peace of mind. Because vacation is supposed to be, you know, relaxing. Don't settle for safe-ish.
Visit ADT.com today to learn more. It's 5:35. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Talk 11:10-99.3 WBT. Good Friday morning to you.
Crime has been a big discussion across the United States over the last couple of weeks. President Donald Trump deploying National Guard and taking control, at least in a temporary basis, of the Metropolitan Police Department. That has sparked some interest across the nation on crime in cities. And well, we've got an interesting story this morning. Winston-Salem.
ranks number 14th on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's recently released list of the top 30 cities with the highest crime rates. This list has come under scrutiny following the president's attempt to crack down on crime in Washington, D.C. The cities that made the FBI's top 30 list had at least 100,000 residents and had the highest number of violent crimes per 100,000 people or per capita. John Guzay, a senior fellow of legal studies at the John Locke Foundation, said it's no surprise that crime in the District of Columbia has dropped sharply following Trump's National Guard deployment. He pointed to multiple studies of policing tactics that have shown very clearly that visible law enforcement discourages criminal activity.
The John Locke Foundation has long argued for putting more police officers in high crime neighborhoods, but staffing levels have unfortunately been moving in the opposite direction in recent years. Especially in the communities that need more officers due to accelerating or increased worth of crime. Guzay told the Carolina Journal, quote, Winston-Salem is a prime example of a community that badly needs more police officers on the streets, but it's not alone. Crime rates in Durham, Fayetteville, and Greensboro are also much higher than the rest of the state. In fact, when it comes to murder, they have generally been worse than Winston Salem.
We need to find a way to put more police officers on the street in all four of those cities. Whether the president can or should send National Guard troops is a different question, according to Gouzay. The District of Columbia falls under federal authority, but North Carolina cities do not. Unless the governor makes a request or there is an extreme situation, such as a natural disaster or other sort of event, the president does not have the authority to deploy National Guard troops into various states. We've seen that battle play out between the governor of Illinois and the mayor of Chicago and President Trump over the last couple of days.
According to a recent Carolina Journal poll, 63.2% of voters say that they are concerned about neighborhood crime and safety. Of those, only 23.8% said they weren't very concerned at all, and 39.5% were somewhat concerned in the crime, dealing with crime in their areas. Other voters across the state of North Carolina also remained heavily concerned about crime in their neighborhoods. According to the poll, nearly sixty eight percent of black voters said that they were concerned about crime. Of those, thirty eight point five percent said they were very concerned.
Voters were also asked to select three types of crime that they thought they were the most concerned about. Traffic safety was number one at 46%, followed by drug-related crime issues at 43.4%, property crime at 36.1%. The list goes on cybersecurity threats, 27.8, violent crime, 25.8, and as well as gang activity at 12%. This has been a very interesting discussion to watch unfold. Earlier in the week, we talked about some of the commentary and played you some audio from representatives of North Carolina, including Congressman Brad Knott, speaking in Washington, D.C.
about the president's attempt to crack down and clean up crime in the District of Columbia. This discussion does continue to be a major national discussion, pinning the president against cities and states like Illinois and others with incredibly high crime rates in cities like Chicago. You can Read some additional details on this FBI report that again does show Winston-Salem as the 14th state court or 14th city rather on the FBI list of high crime across the United States. That full study is available over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. The headline, Winston-Salem among top U.S.
cities for crime. It's now 5:40 on the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993, WBT. Unfortunately, another company that was planning to bring jobs to the state of North Carolina is not coming to fruition. To walk us through some of those details this morning, Teresa Opeka, CarolinaJournal.com, joins us on the news hour. Teresa, this has been a pretty concerning trend.
We've seen a couple of these announcements over the last few months. A lot of jobs promised, some decent salaries. Unfortunately, it's falling by the wayside. What are you tracking out of Edgecombe County this morning? Sure, Nick, thanks for having me.
Natron Energy is the latest company to make that announcement. They're a California-based company that they plan to build the first of its kind US gigawatt scale sodium ion battery plant in Edgecombe County near Rocky Mount. But they ceased operating on Wednesday, gave the notification to their employees in both California and Michigan. But the big story here in North Carolina is that a proposed factory that was supposed to be built. And again, it just seems like we have so many of these announcements coming out each month.
Yeah, of course, this is another company that is in a technology-related field developing this first kind of battery technology as folks look at maybe replacing lithium-ion or other sorts of battery and power delivery that are available.
So, Teresa, I guess it's a relatively risky sector. Earlier last year, they tried going and getting some additional rounds of funding for company expansion, and it just doesn't look like they were able to raise the capital or get enough investors in the door to make something like this a reality. That's right.
So the board of directors put out this memo to their employees to let them know that, and also in the war notice, the notice for the employees when they were closing, they could not raise sufficient funding to keep going with their current expenses and proposed expenses for the North Carolina plant.
So they did try that, but unfortunately it didn't come to fruition and They're not going to be able to do it. Cease operations in both California and Michigan, and then that proposed plant that was supposed to. It was supposed to be a $1.4 billion factory at the Kingsborough CSX Select Mega Site. and create one thousand jobs with an average salary of over sixty four thousand dollars. And so that's the second big blow to that area that for proposed jobs.
You talk about that salary. That's almost twenty thousand dollars more, at least on average, than the median income in Edgecombe County, Teresa.
So not only were these thousand jobs coming to the area, of course, bolstering the economy there, but that's a very significant salary for that area of the state. Right, right, correct. It's a mainly rural area, so that would have been a huge boost to the people there and who need some really good paying jobs. You know, costs are going up every day. We see that, you know, whether it's your grocery bill, electric bill.
So, yeah, it's a pretty big loss. In addition, you say they're supposed to have an annual payroll impact of nearly $77 million and just bring so much money into the economy, the state's economy, one point four I believe it was one point four billion dollars or rather excuse me, three point four billion into the state's economy.
So yes, another huge blow to that area and also to the state's economy as well. You mentioned that this was built on one of these mega sites. These are kind of popping up around the state areas that predominantly maybe in the past had large manufacturing or kind of being revitalized and trying to entice new business to move there. That you said this is the second major announcement of a company that was supposed to start some operations outside the Rocky Mountain area and that's no longer happening. Correct.
So Chinese owned Triangle Tire in twenty seventeen announced that they would be building a tire making operation at that same site, promising about eight hundred jobs and roughly five hundred eighty million dollar Investment, but unfortunately, in May of 2022, the company pulled out of the project.
So, you know, it's just you try to be hopeful, especially in a rural area where the economy is lacking as opposed to maybe areas like Charlotte or Raleigh or different areas of that nature.
So, yeah, it was a. Yeah, not not more, not any good news for that area. We've talked about in the past, a couple of weeks ago, Teresa, we were talking about VinFast and some other companies throughout North Carolina that had this fruit dangled in front of them known as a JDIG grant, a job development improvement grant from the state of North Carolina, as well as some other economic incentives, including the state building out infrastructure and roadways. Was this company that we're talking about this morning in Edgecombe County, were they eligible for JDIG grants? Were they approved for any of that?
Yes.
So the state awarded the company $21.7 million JDIG grant for a 12-year term, and also $30 million from the North Carolina Mega Site Readiness Program that would get the site prepared to, you know, get electricity, things of that nature, get it all ready, with the expectation the project would grow the state's economy by with, like we said, $3.4 billion. And of course, they did not receive any of that funding. It was all contingent on providing the jobs that they did agree to. What was noted in many different reports is that this is one of the fastest announcements of a JDIG grant gone bad, if you want to. Go that way.
It just was a short announcement. They just announced last year that they were proposing this factory and then.
Now pulled out this year. Yeah, obviously a pretty quick turnaround time, and that's some unfortunate news for those folks in Edgecombe County and the surrounding areas that could have taken advantage of it. Teresa, we've got some additional details on this company and some other stories related to J Dig and some state investments. Where can folks go and get those details this morning? Sure, they can head on over to CarolinaJournal.com.
We appreciate the update. Teresa Opeka joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. We all know that feeling. You finally manage to get away on vacation and the worrying starts. Will that bogus beware of dogs sign keep your homes safe?
What about that fake camera you set up? And will someone finally find your old hide and key rock? That's where ADT comes in. All that stuff? It's safe-ish.
It seems fine when you don't really think about it, but you know it truly doesn't work. Instead, ADT provides security solutions that keep you actually safe, giving you real peace of mind. Because vacation is supposed to be, you know, relaxing. Don't settle for safe-ish. Visit ADT.com today to learn more.
We all know that feeling. You finally manage to get away on vacation and the worrying starts. Will that bogus beware of dog sign keep your homes safe? What about that fake camera you set up? And will someone finally find your old hide and key rock?
That's where ADT comes in. All that stuff? It's safe-ish. It seems fine when you don't really think about it, but you know it truly doesn't work. Instead, ADT provides security solutions that keep you actually safe, giving you real peace of mind.
Because vacation is supposed to be, you know, relaxing. Don't settle for safe-ish. Visit ADT.com today to learn more. We all know that feeling. You finally manage to get away on vacation, and the worrying starts.
Will that bogus beware of dogs sign keep your home safe? What about that fake camera you set up? And will someone finally find your old hide and key rock? That's where ADT comes in. All that stuff?
It's safe-ish. It seems fine when you don't really think about it, but you know it truly doesn't work. Instead, ADT provides security solutions that keep you actually safe, giving you real peace of mind. Because vacation is supposed to be, you know, relaxing. Don't settle for safe-ish.
Visit ADT.com today to learn more. The sixth annual WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive continues. Headed your way Thursday, September the 11th. WBT and the One Blood Big Red Bus will be at the brand new Woody's Auto Service Center in Rock Hill from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
We'll be broadcasting live and encouraging you to make a life-saving blood donation. It's the sixth annual WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive, headed your way next Thursday, September the 11th at Woody's Auto Service in Rock Hill. Visit wbt.com this morning for location details and to register your appointment today. It's 553. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT.
Earlier this week, the United States Department of Agriculture announced that it would invest more than $8 million into five new projects, including one in North Carolina. These projects are set to improve forest health by reducing wildfire risk and improving water quality. This is a very relevant and timely issue for North Carolina. As Steve Troxler, the commissioner of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, told lawmakers earlier this year that North Carolina is now the number one state in the nation at risk for wildfires. The state does have two of those primary wildfire seasons: one that passed in the spring and one that's right around the corner in the fall.
According to a press release from USDA, the Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership Program is a collaborative program between USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service and the U.S. Forest Service designed to address conservation challenges across both public and private lands at a very large scale. This year, $8 million will support new projects, completing a $32 million project that has already been invested in 24 ongoing projects. According to Tom Schultz, the Forest Service Chief, wildfires have no boundaries and neither should our prevention work. We need everyone at the table to deliver this kind of active management that will return our forests to health and productivity.
Joint chiefs put local leaders in the driver's seat, enabling cross-boundary work based on shared priorities with states, partners, industries, and forest land owners. It's a win-win. The five new projects include efforts across several states to restore and protect essential landscapes. Those projects are going to be taking place in Alabama, Colorado, Wyoming, as well as other natural forests and natural parks, including here in North Carolina. The project is going to be taking place in the sand hills where that project is set to take place.
It is a Phase II project and it covers more Randolph, Richmond, and Stanley counties, all of that in congressional districts eight and nine across our state. The project aims to reduce wildfire risks to communities and landowners by expanding the use of forestry best practices as well as strengthening the capability and capacity of private landowners to conduct safe and effective prescribed or controlled burns. The natural forest lands that are going to be getting this work done in North Carolina run roughly eighteen thousand acres and are set to be restored and improved through prescribed fires as well as other treatments from forest officials. These efforts will lower fuel loads, enhance public and private safety, and help protect communities from wildfire threats. In addition, the project's forest management practices will boost downstream water yield in critical watersheds as well as helping secure water quality and water quality for residents and industries.
Prescribed burns have proven to be one of the most effective forms for wildfire management, and North Carolina is one of 11 southern states that currently have a full-time burn management certification program. You can read some additional details on these five projects that are going to be taking place across the United States, one of them in North Carolina over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com, the story's headline, NC to be home to new USDA forest project.
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.
