it's 5 0 5 and welcome in to a tuesday edition of the carolina journal news hour news talk 11 10 99 3 wbt i'm nick craig good morning to you well the national attention yesterday on the murder the august the 27th murder of irena zaruska he got even more national attention with president Donald Trump commenting on the situation, many other national and local figures as well. We start off this morning with a new letter from the office of Mayor Vi Lyles, the mayor of the city of Charlotte, reads as follows, to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community. As I reflect on the tragic murder of Irina Zeruska, my heart continues to go out to her family and our community as we try and make sense of this horrific and senseless loss. Over the past several weeks, as our community has worked to understand this, what we know is that this was a tragic failure by the courts and magistrates. Our police officers arrest people only to have them quickly released, which undermines our ability to protect our community and ensure safety.
We need a bipartisan solution to address repeat offenders who do not face consequences for their actions and those who cannot get treatment for their mental illness and are not allowed to be on the streets. We have partnered before on legislation like North Carolina's Pre-Trial Integrity Act, and we stand ready to partner again at the local, state, and federal level. The letter from Bi Liles continues by saying, I want to assure the community that we are taking action and we will continue to take action. Noting last week, CATS leadership presented the Charlotte City Council and the Metropolitan Transit Commission about the ongoing work to address public safety and security on our public transit system. Over the past two years, we have doubled the number of CAT security personnel, tripled the safety and security budget from $5.8 million to nearly $18 million, and are shifting from a corporate security model towards a stronger transit policing model.
effective immediately right reads the letter cat security personnel will be redeployed for a stronger presence on the blue line platforms to increase fair enforcement that being ticket enforcement for folks riding the light rail system the letter goes on to say the charlotte mecklenburg police department will also be increasing patrols at key areas across the transit system. These changes will allow CATS to fully execute the transit system policy plan, including the blue line. Over the next two to three weeks, CATS will be rolling out new safety operations, including bike units and urban terrain vehicles. CATS is actively recruiting and will be adding nearly 30 additional security personnel over the next few months. CATS will also be bringing an agreement for city council to approve at council's next business meeting on september the 22nd which will expand the authority of cats to provide security around the transit system residents across our community and visitors to our region depend on public transit we owe it to them to make our public transit system and city safe and secure signed there by the Charlotte mayor and Vi Lyles.
This is a very different letter than was released by the mayor of Charlotte back just a couple of weeks ago, where she spent very little time talking about the actual issue at hand and spent multiple paragraphs talking about the mental health of the alleged killer in this horrific assault back on August the 22nd. That lead letter released yesterday published on X from the office of Meyer, Mayor Vi Lyles in some other reaction, finally getting some commentary in from North Carolina, Governor Democrat, Governor Josh Stein, who wrote around 10 o'clock yesterday morning on his X account, quote, I am heartbroken for the family of Irina Zeruska, who lost their loved ones to this senseless act of violence. And I am appalled by the footage of her murder. He continued by saying, we need more cops on the beat to keep people safe. That's why my budget calls for more funding to hire more well-trained police officers.
I call upon the legislature to pass my law enforcement recruitment and retention package to address vacancies in our state and local agencies so they can stop horrific crimes and hold violent criminal accountables. The governor getting what is called ratioed on Twitter with his commentary yesterday as the individual who has been alleged in this murder was arrested and has a criminal rap sheet that includes 14 convictions in and around the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County area. Many folks calling out the governor's comments, noting that, well, the police did in fact do their job, And it solely was the fact of the judicial system allowing this individual to consistently get out of jail and some of the other issues surrounding this case. That was the reaction from Governor Josh Stein. President Donald Trump on Sunday indicated that he would learn more information about this situation, telling reporters at Joint Base Andrews Sunday night that he would comment on this situation tomorrow.
That's exactly what he did, noting in a post on Truth Social yesterday afternoon, quote, I have seen the horrific video of a beautiful young Ukrainian refugee who came to America to escape the vicious war in Ukraine and was innocently riding the metro in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she was brutally ambushed by a mentally deranged lunatic. the perpetrator was a well-known career criminal who had been previously arrested and released on cashless bail in january a total of 14 times what the hell was he doing riding the train and walking the streets criminals like this need to be locked up in all caps the blood of this innocent woman can literally be seen dripping from the killer's knife and now her blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail, including former disgraced governor and wannabe Senator Roy Cooper. North Carolina and every state needs law and order, and only Republicans will deliver it. Additionally, where is the outrage from the mainstream media on this horrible tragedy? Vote for Michael Watley for United States Senate.
He won't let it happen again, accompanied by a photo of Zeruska and the alleged killer. That was the commentary from President Donald Trump yesterday. Again, continuing to follow reaction and coverage. Congressman Tim Moore, who represents North Carolina's 14th Congressional District, which does, of course, include the Charlotte metro area, at least the vast majority of it. He was on the floor of the United States House yesterday, also talking about this situation and commenting on some legislation called Keep Violent Criminals Off Our Streets Act.
Here's the congressman yesterday in Washington, D.C. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise this evening with a heavy heart because Irina Zarutska should still be alive. She fled Ukraine seeking safety and freedom, and instead she was stabbed to death in a Charlotte light rail car by a 14-time criminal who should never have been back on the streets.
In fact, a person who had skipped bond on three occasions in the past. Leftist politicians and judges who have enabled this violent repeat offender to walk have blood on their hands. As a representative of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, I'm not going to stay silent while innocent people pay the price for broken bail policies and soft-on-crime judges. That is why I am proud to co-lead, co-chairwoman Stephanik's Keeping Violent Offenders Off Our Streets Act, which will make it harder for violent criminals to slip through the cracks and walk free without proper review. In fact, it may even hold federal funds away from local governments that refuse to follow the law and allow these soft-on-crime policies.
Folks in Charlotte and folks throughout this entire country deserve to feel safe. The system failed Irina and if we don fix it now it will fail again With that Mr Speaker I yield back That Congressman Tim Moore serving the North Carolina 14th congressional district Of course if you familiar with that name former Speaker of the North Carolina House making his way up to Congress in a successful election back in November of last year, commenting on the horrific situation that unfolded in late August on the Charlotte light rail system. A lot of other reaction, again, coming in from this story as it has exploded on the national news scene over the last 48 to 36 hours or so. We'll continue to track the coverage. We've got a full story this morning on the entire situation, continuing to keep an eye on some of that additional coverage as well.
All of that available this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. We'll also get some more North Carolina reaction coming up here as we roll on on this Tuesday morning edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour. When you bundle renters and auto with Progressive, you can save while protecting your most valuable possessions, like your priceless vinyl collection. Sure, you sleep on a futon because the money most people would have spent on a bed you spent on more records. But forget the fact that you can stream just about any song ever created for a few dollars a month.
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Newstalk 1110-993-WBT. We cover a variety of legal challenges and updates and ongoing lawsuits here across the state of North Carolina on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
However, this morning, we've got a very interesting story. It dates back to votes that people across the state of North Carolina cast in 2018. To bring us up to date on the details this morning, Mitch Kokai with the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, I'm sure some folks listening this morning, they knew enough to the state, they weren't even part of this election back in 2018.
However, this has been an ongoing, lengthy legal battle. What's the latest that you're tracking from the courts? Yes, if people were here in North Carolina and headed to the polls in 2018, they might remember there were six state constitutional amendments on the ballot. North Carolinians approved four of them and rejected two. Two of the ballot amendments that were approved put voter ID into the state constitution saying that we found it so important that people present photo identification at the polls that it should be something that's spelled out not just in law but in the constitution.
And the other amendment that is the source of this litigation lowered an existing state constitutional cap on income tax rates. The old cap was 10%. The amendment dropped the cap from 10% to 7%.
Now, among the four amendments that were passed, there were two others, but among the four, those two attracted special concern from the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP. That group filed suit and said those two amendments were unconstitutional, even though voters approved them, because they would discriminate against black voters and minorities in general. And so the case went to a trial judge in Wake County who agreed, who said, yes, these amendments are unconstitutional and threw them out. The State Court of Appeals then heard the case, reversed that decision, said no, these do not violate the Constitution. The voters voted for them.
The General Assembly was within its power to put these on the ballot. And then the case went to the state Supreme Court, which at the time had a Democratic majority. The Democratic majority court in a series of moves that attracted some controversy in and of itself. And we could get into that in a bit if you'd like. But the Democratic-led state Supreme Court decided not to either say the amendments were fine or to throw them out, but kicked the case back to a trial court and said, it is possible that constitutional amendments voted on by the people of North Carolina and approved to be part of the Constitution.
It is possible that they could be thrown out of the Constitution under some certain circumstances. And so the case went back to a trial court to decide whether those circumstances were met and whether those constitutional amendments could be thrown out. That decision came down in 2022 and it took now several years for the case to wind its way back through the trial court. About 10 months ago, the three judge panel that was overseeing this case, one Democratic judge, two Republicans, so bipartisan, this panel heard arguments about throwing out the lawsuit and roughly 10 months later came out with a decision saying, yes, the lawsuit should end. The amendment should stand.
The plaintiffs did not prove that these amendments would be discriminatory in an unconstitutional way against black voters and black residents of North Carolina.
So barring further appeal, this case is over and the 2018 constitutional amendments for voter ID and for lowering the tax cap will stand and will remain part of the North Carolina Constitution. Mitch, this might sound like a stupid question, but I'm sure some folks are scratching their head and saying, well, I just went and voted last November and I had to show either a state issued driver's license or some other form of legal ID. How was that in place while this case was still playing out in the judicial system? It's not a not a stupid question at all, because there were several different tracks in which voter ID challenges were taking. There was this case, which dealt with the voter ID constitutional amendment, and there were two other lawsuits in both state and federal court dealing with the voter ID law that was put in place to comply with the amendment.
We didn't need to have an amendment to have the voter ID law, but once we had the amendment, as long as the amendment stands, then we had to have a law to implement the amendment.
So through various stages, litigation involving both the federal courts and the state courts, the voter ID law itself was blocked. And then eventually the state Supreme Court that succeeded the Democratic led state Supreme Court, the Republican led state Supreme Court that took over after the 2022 election, said that the voter ID law itself was fine. And once that ruling came down, then voter ID took effect first for the 2023 municipal elections and then eventually for all of the elections in 2024.
So there were various lawsuits. This one didn't in and of itself resolve anything about the voter ID law. But what it did say, once this ID amendment remains in effect, is that North Carolina now, if for some reason the voter ID law was thrown out, we'd have to come up with another one because the Constitution says we have to have one. It also has an impact in that the tax cap amendment didn't actually have any impact on tax rates because the tax rates were already below the new cap. But what it does say is if a future General Assembly wants to come back and raise the income tax in the future, there is a limit and it's a lower limit, much lower limit than the old limit.
Let me ask you specifically about voter ID. Of course the General Assembly has all of those seats are up every two years We can we seen in the past just in the last 10 or 15 years how the power can shift pretty dramatically in Raleigh Mitch let just play this out a couple of years down the road Republicans are unsuccessful in holding their majorities Democrats sweep back into power Does that mean that they would no longer be able to change the voter ID law in North Carolina because now it is enshrined in the state constitution they could still change the law as long as there would be a voter id law now our id law compared to others across the country is fairly permissive not only are a bunch of different ids counted but as we all know if you have an id there are ways that you can still vote including by filling out a form that says that there was a reasonable impediment and then your vote is eventually counted if the reasonable impediment checks out.
So I don't know that there's much that Democrats could do to make the law even more permissive or even less restrictive, but they would have to have some kind of voter ID law since it's part of the Constitution. That was one of the reasons why people who were interested in voter ID wanted to put it in the state constitution. They wanted to ensure that North Carolina would have this particular piece of election integrity in place, regardless of who's in power in the future. Mitch, there's a lot of backstory on this. Again, it goes back to votes that happened seven years ago, even before it was added to the statewide ballot in 2018.
There was a lot of discussion on it. We've got all that history and all that background this morning. It's available on our website, carolinajournal.com. We appreciate the update this morning. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal NewsHour.
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Newstalk 1110-993-WBT. WBT keeping our attention this morning on a huge national story that, of course, exists out of the Charlotte metro area. Back on August the 22nd, a Ukrainian refugee was murdered on a Charlotte light rail. Her name, Irina Zeruska, she was allegedly murdered by Carlos Brown Jr., a 34-year-old that has a lengthy criminal rap sheet as the national attention does continue to ratchet up, getting some additional commentary coming in from individuals across the state and the nation. The mayor of Charlotte in Vi Lyles released a lengthy statement from the office of the mayor yesterday, reading in part, quote, over the past several weeks, as our community has worked to understand this, what we know is that this was a tragic failure by the courts and magistrates.
Our police officers arrest people only to have them quickly released, which undermines our ability to protect our community and ensure safety. We need a bipartisan solution to address repeat offenders who do not face consequences for their actions and those who cannot get treatment for their mental illness and are allowed to be on the streets. We have partnered before on legislation like North Carolina's Pre-Trial Integrity Act, and we stand ready to partner again at the local, state, and federal level. That is part of the statement released yesterday by Mayor Vi Lyles. That's a very different statement from the one she released back just a couple of weeks ago where she said, quote, This is a tragic situation that sheds the light on the problems with society's safety nets related to mental health care and the systems that should be in place.
As we come to understand what happened and why, we must look at the entire situation. While I do not know the specific of the man's medical records, speaking of the alleged killer, what I have come to understand is that he has long struggled with mental health issues and appears to have suffered a crisis. This was an unfortunate and tragic outcome. The mayor received some pretty significant blowback for that seemingly tone-deaf statement in the immediate aftermath of the killing on the Charlotte light rail system. Governor Josh Stein also jumping in on the conversation 18 days after Irina Zoruska's murder saying, quote, I am heartbroken for the family who lost their loved ones to this senseless act of violence and I am appalled by the footage of her murder.
We need more cops on the beat to keep people safe. That's why my budget calls for more funding to hire more well-trained police officers. I call upon the legislature to pass my law enforcement recruitment and retention package to address vacancies in our state and local agencies so that they can help. They can stop rather these horrific crimes and hold violent criminals accountable. The governor receiving some pretty significant blowback from that post on social media with many folks pointing out the criminal background and history of DeCarlos Brown Jr.
His records show several prior convictions, including armed robbery, felony larceny, breaking and entering shoplifting, some happening as early as earlier this year.
However, DeCarlos Brown Jr. was out on the streets and was riding the Charlotte light rail back on the night of August the 22nd when he allegedly murdered Irina Zeruska.
Some additional commentary coming in across the nation as well. President Donald Trump also jumping in on the phrase saying, quote, I have seen the horrific video of a beautiful young Ukrainian refugee who came to America to escape the vicious war in Ukraine and was innocently riding the metro in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she was brutally ambushed by a mentally deranged lunatic. The perpetrator was a well-known career criminal who had been previously arrested and released on cashless bail in January, a total of 14 times. What the hell was he doing riding the train and walking the streets? Criminals like this need to be locked up.
The blood of this innocent woman can literally be seen dripping from the killer's knife. And now her blood is on the hands of Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail, including former disgraced governor and wannabe senator Roy Cooper of North Carolina. Ending some of the commentary there from President Donald Trump. WBT's News Director Mark Garrison rode the light rail system on Sunday. He filed this report yesterday talking about some of the security that is continuing to lack even after in the wake of this horrific murder back on August the 22nd.
They need more security on here. And as I rode light rail for several hours Sunday afternoon, there was a little more security than normal. Train approaching. I got onto the train in Noda and immediately saw two women in yellow security vests on board. They were ticket checkers, and they checked mine.
Can I just have your ticket out, please? Sure. Thank you so much. Sure. Then at the next stop...
This stop is 7th Street Station. The young ticket checker stood in the doorway, asking everyone entering for a ticket. Dr. Will, sir, can I just have your ticket out, please? One homeless guy with a lot of stuff walked up, But when he saw the woman at the door, he turned away.
But I noticed the ticket checkers weren on here very long Doors are closing Train is about to move Both of the ticket checkers got off But now the train is off and running with no security on it. The next stop will be 3rd Street. And it stayed that way, clear to the end of the line in Pineville. No security, no ticket checks. Which opened the door for a homeless guy named Reginald to ask me for money.
Do you have $2? I think I do, if you'll talk to me. Reginald was drinking, had a beer in a brown paper bag. That's a violation of train policy. And he had no ticket.
Has anybody checked your ticket today? Not today, but yesterday. And you had one?
Well, no, not really. Did they put you off the train? Yeah. But on Sunday, finding a train with no security was no problem. With so many homeless guys like Reginald on light rail, a lot of regulars like Carlos, a passenger I met, told me they always ride with a little bit of fear.
Anytime somebody sits next to me on the links, I just literally get up and sit another seat away from them just because I don't know what their intentions are, if they're drugged up, drunk or something. Once we arrived at the Pineville station, two security guards boarded. One was armed, the other was not. The armed officer stood in the doorway at several stops asking for tickets. You need to have your ticket ready for the train.
Once we were rolling, he found a guy on board who said, I got no ticket. Yeah, no ticket. I'm going to let you go after the next stop. You can get off there, okay?
So at the next stop, the ticketless guy got off. Doors are closing. Train is about to move. Then a few stops later, so did the two security guards.
So as Katz has said, security is hit and miss. You'll see it sometimes, but certainly not all the time. Which is what homeless guys such as Reginald are counting on, as he rides light rail for free.
So why are you riding the train without a ticket? They go donate some plasma to get some money. And as we approached his stop, Reginald addressed the other riders with a smile. Radio station guys gonna let me hold $10 so I can get something to eat. that's mark garrison wbt news director in his experience riding the charlotte light rail on sunday we've got additional and continued coverage over on our website this morning carolinajournal.com progressive knows we all create validation girl you are not 37 i would have guessed 27 you guys are too sweet sure dewy skin terrific um is something wrong ned why would you ask just because today marks my 10th anniversary without a car accident or even a speeding ticket, but somehow, tonight's all about your skin care.
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Surcharge possible for unsafe driving. When you bundle renters and auto with Progressive, you can save while protecting your most valuable possessions, like your priceless vinyl collection. Sure, you sleep on a futon because the money most people would have spent on a bed you spent ton more records but forget the fact that you can stream just about any song ever created for a few dollars a month no no you need to listen to music in the most difficult way possible so go ahead and get progressive so you can save while protecting the things that matter to you progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates and other insurers not available in all states or situations progressive knows we all create validation girl you are not 37 i would have guessed 27 you guys are too sweet sure dewy skin terrific um is something wrong ned why would you ask just because today marks my 10th anniversary without a car accident or even a speeding ticket, but somehow, tonight's all about your skin care. Wow. With Snapshot from Progressive, you can get a personalized rate based on how you drive.
And that's all the validation you need. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliate. Snapshot not available in California or from all agents. Surcharge possible for unsafe driving. It's 553.
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's time for the 6th Annual WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive. 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 in Rock Hill from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. We'll be broadcasting live and are encouraging you to make a life-saving blood donation.
It's the 6th Annual WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive headed your way Thursday, September the 11th at Woody's Auto Service in Rock Hill. Visit WBT.com for location details and to register your appointment. Again, those details at WBT.com. It's now 5.53. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal NewsHour as we continue to watch reaction unfolding and coming across the United States into the Charlotte metro area after the August the 22nd murder of 23-year-old Irina Zeruska.
Some additional commentary coming in from the Transportation Secretary and Sean Duffy He was on with Sean Hannity's Fox News last night and had this to say about the horrific situation that unfolded on the Charlotte light rail. You know, the president said these are evil people and he's right. But it's also evil politicians like the mayor, the city council, the D.A., the governor in North Carolina, evil people with evil policies that are actually destroying communities.
So the problem, Sean, is a lot of people like the rich liberal does that. They can't ride Uber. They don't have a driver. They don't have a vehicle. they actually have to ride public transportation.
And public transportation has become an epidemic of violence and homelessness across the country. And so we don't have a ton of equities at DOT, but we do have money. Your federal tax dollars go to fund a lot of these transit systems across the country. And we have to look at them and say, well, maybe it's appropriate that we start pulling some of that money back because I don't think the American taxpayer wants to pay for the homelessness and criminal element that harm little 23-year-old girls like this who are going home from work from ordering a pizza, that they're going to get stabbed in the neck, and liberals want to hide that story so you and I don't talk about it, so the American people don't know that their failed policies don't work for the American people. That's Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on the Fox News channel last night getting some reaction in from North Carolina as well.
House Speaker Destin Hall commenting on X yesterday saying, here's a crazy idea. stop coddling violent criminals and actually enforce the damn law. Irina's murder had been Irina's murderer had been arrested 14 times.
Social justice warriors in the judicial system let him back out onto the streets. Time to clean up the courts. And we'll wait and see as the North Carolina General Assembly is expected to be back in Raleigh coming up here at the end of this month. We'll see if there is any legislation that it does come forward after this horrific situation. that unfolded in Charlotte as it continues to get an unbelievable amount of national attention in Politico yesterday as well.
Some additional commentary coming in a spokesperson for the Roy Cooper campaign had this to say, quote, Roy Cooper knows North Carolinians need to be safe in their communities. He spent his career prosecuting violent criminals and drug dealers, increasing the penalty for violence against law enforcement and keeping thousands of criminals off the streets and behind bars. That's the quote there from Kate Smart, who is working with the Roy Cooper campaign. No comment, at least as of this morning, from the former governor turned Senate candidate himself as we continue to watch the reaction unfold across the United States. Again, some of the big story, of course, the big story that we continue to track this morning, a continued national coverage all across the political spectrum on the August the 22nd murder of Irina Zeruska.
She was allegedly murdered by Carlos Brown Jr., a 34-year-old with a lengthy criminal track record on a Charlotte light rail system. We've got some additional coverage and some of that updated reaction over on our website this morning, carolinajournal.com. That headline story, Charlotte light rail murder gets national attention.
Well, that's going to do it for a Tuesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour. Continued coverage as we continue here on WBT. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here, News Talk 1110 and 99.3 WBT. We'll see you next time.
