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Good morning to you. Late last week, United States Senator Ted Budd, he is one of our two senators here in North Carolina, introduced bipartisan legislation alongside Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto, that she is a Democrat out of Nevada, called the Cybersecurity in Agriculture Act. This piece of legislation would prioritize the recovery of American agriculture through cyber attack readiness and response. Budd said in a press release, quote, America's adversaries are seeking to exploit agricultural technologies and jeopardize our national security. As North Carolina's top industry, I've seen the benefits of the precision technolog that precision technology has on increasing agricultural output and boosting exports.
But it takes just one bad actor to stop our producers from feeding America. I teamed up with Senator Cortez Masto to mitigate cyber vulnerabilities by delivering defense technologies and training our workforce to eliminate threats targeting American agriculture. According to the press release, the legislation seeks to enhance cybersecurity preparedness by creating five regional agricultural cybersecurity centers. Those centers would strengthen national security and safeguard the nation's food supply. And as was noted by Senator Budd in his press release, agriculture is the top business across the state of North Carolina.
The bill reads in part as follows, quote, the Secretary, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall establish a program under which the Secretary shall, on a competitive basis, award grants or enter into cooperative agreements with five eligible entities to establish regional agricultural cybersecurity centers to carry out research, development, and education on agricultural cybersecurity. With respect to seed agriculture, Horticulture, animal agriculture, and the agricultural supply chain. establish a network of these regional agricultural security networks and designate one eligible entity to coordinate the activities of such network. According to James R. Martin I Second, who is the Chancellor of North Carolina, A and T, he writes in a press release, quote, Agriculture and food systems are critical to the well being of families, communities and the nation.
Having centers of excellence that focus on cybersecurity and agriculture would be a tremendous addition to the research, development and collaborative efforts in which our land grant university is already involved in protecting the U.S. agriculture industry and advancing Americans' interests. If passed, this Cybersecurity in Agriculture Act would establish these five centers, which would work together to build a regional research collaboration network. Enabling more efficient and consistent communication between cybersecurity centers and local farming industries. They would also focus on developing technologies for the agricultural sector by creating testbeds to refine tools, conduct attack and defense exercises, and evaluate cybersecurity solutions for field deployment.
In addition, the centers will make education and training programs designed to prepare a skilled workforce capable of developing and installing cyber defense mechanisms within the agricultural industry. A key priority of the initiative will be eliminating threats from foreign adversaries with mitigation efforts focused on countering risks posed by countries of concern, such as the People's Republic of China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, as well as other countries laid out in this piece of legislation, which was introduced rather by United States Senator Ted Budd late last week, also getting some across-the-aisle support. One of the co-sponsors of that bill, Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto, a Democrat out of Nevada, which also has a large amount of agriculture in that state as well. You can read some additional details on this legislation by visiting our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. The story's headline, Budd introduces legislation on cybersecurity in agriculture.
We'll continue to follow that as it works through Washington, D.C. You're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour. There's been a lot of outrage in North Carolina over the last couple of weeks after video emerged showing a horrific murder of a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte light rail. That happened back in late August. Lawmakers are expected to return to the General Assembly this week to potentially pass some pieces of legislation to potentially deal with some of these issues going forward.
Things like bail reform, cashless bail, as well as some other issues. We heard from members of the General Assembly in a press conference on that over the last couple of weeks. To preview what things could look like in Raleigh, it's my pleasure to welcome the editor-in-chief of CarolinaJournal.com, Donna King, to the news hour this morning. Donna, pretty big press conference when you've got the House and the Senate leader convening in Raleigh when they weren't in session about getting the media there to talk about this. This has obviously sparked some sort of fire from lawmakers.
Yes, this is all stemming from the murder on the light rail in Charlotte back in August. A 23-year-old Ukrainian woman murdered right there in front of public in a really nice area. It certainly was a shock to everyone. And the video of this made it spread nationally and even globally. And it really crossed the aisle, bipartisan agreement that we need to do something about it.
There's some reforms that need to be made. And that's what we saw: Berger and Hall coming together. And now they're expected to file a piece of legislation on Monday. They convene at noon that could address some of these things. In Carolina Journal's latest poll, something like 74% of North Carolinians said they would like to see judges or magistrates held responsible if somebody they let go, release, goes on and commits another crime.
So there really is a bipartisan support for that. And I think that's some of what may help sort of grease the skids for this piece of legislation. Even hearing from Governor Stein, who said in Charlotte, Last week, that he is supportive of some changes to the current pre-trial detention laws that North Carolina has, whatever that process might look like between the time someone's arrested and the time they go to trial.
So it's good that they're lining up the different branches of government to support this idea and Democrats and Republicans on board with some of it. The finer details, what those policies look like. That's one of the questions that we have going into Monday. One of the big discussions that we will probably hear is something to do with cashless bail. This is something that you traditionally see in major Democrat cities, at least on the national stage.
A lot of finger-pointing at places like New York City where that's become a major problem. I'll admit, Donna, we haven't really heard prior to this situation a lot about that in North Carolina, but both Berger and Hall made those comments in their press conference back a couple of weeks. Presumably, they'll deal with something like that as well. I would expect something like that in this legislation.
Now, this particular murder in Charlotte made that a super high-profile issue, but it certainly has been happening for quite some time. In this case, De Carlos Brown, who's the alleged assailant in this murder, he was out on bail and had signed a promise to return rather than some sort of paid bond and was out on bail.
Now, that said, my understanding is that he could have also been out on bail, even if he had paid it. But in this case, he was just required to sign something to say that he would return for his trial date in another unrelated crime.
So, you know, these are the things that they want addressed. Those that we've talked to recently who are in law enforcement say that this has been an ongoing issue. And things like the committee, the task force that was started by former Governor Roy Cooper is taking some heat from Senator Berger and others. There's a task force that was formed by former Governor Cooper back in 2020 following the death of George Floyd and protests around the country during COVID. It's called the Task Force for Racial Equity and Criminal Justice.
Its last meeting was in 2024, but certainly it was formed to create some recommendations to build toward equity in the criminal justice system. It was headed by Associate Justice Anita Earls, and there were recommendations in it: things like cashless bail unless someone is a public safety threat. There were miles and miles of recommendations. That's one of them. And that task force is taking some heat.
I would also expect in this bill limits on the task force and recommendations powers that groups like this have or that the governor could make. Also important to note while that task force was created, the now current governor and Josh Stein was the attorney general here in North Carolina. This was under the AG's office.
So some work going on there. And Don, I've seen folks posting on social media some of Stein's commentary when he was the AG around the time that this task force was created.
Some of these words could seemingly come back and haunt him now based on the situation that we're watching in Charlotte. Absolutely. 2020 was only five years ago, but certainly it is a world difference in the approach toward this. Because you may remember that after George Floyd's death, there were protests around the country, and lots of particularly Democratic lawmakers and executive office holders were creating task force just like this and taking on that sort of what now looks like soft on crime policies. And that's exactly what Senate Leader Phil Berger and Speaker Dustin Hall are saying, that they want to put that in history and they want to really start looking at North Carolina's system, particularly the pretrial detention system, and make sure that it is conducive to a safe public in North Carolina.
Lawmakers will be in Raleigh over the next couple of days. We'll continue our coverage over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, and of course right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. We appreciate the preview from the editor and king of CarolinaJournal.com. Donna King joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. You won't see the engineer that slams the Nissan Rogue's door 13,920 times, or the corrosive chamber that simulates 15 years of life in five months, or the rogue heat-baked for over 300 combined hours.
What you will see is a vehicle that can take punch after punch and keep rolling. Nissan. Number one in new vehicle quality among mainstream brands by JD Power. We put it through the worst, so you get its best. For DD Power 2025 U.S.
Initial Quality Study Award information, visit ddpower.com slash awards. Awards based on 2025 model your normal models may be shown. You won't see the engineer that slams the Nissan rogue's door 13,920 times, or the corrosive chamber that simulates 15 years of life in five months, or the rogue heat-baked for over 300 combined hours. What you will see is a vehicle that can take punch after punch and keep rolling. Nissan, number one in new vehicle quality among mainstream brands by JD Power.
We put it through the worst, so you get its best. For JD Power 2025 US Initial Quality Study Award information, visit JDPower.com/awards. Awards based on 2025 model year, your models may be shown. You won't see the engineer that slams the Nissan rogue's door 13,920 times, or the corrosive chamber that simulates 15 years of life in five months, or the rogue heat-baked for over 300 combined hours. What you will see is a vehicle that can take punch after punch and keep rolling.
Nissan. Number one in new vehicle quality among mainstream brands by JD Power. We put it through the worst, so you get its best. For JD Power 2025 U.S. Initial Quality Study Award information, visit jdpower.com slash awards.
Awards based on 2025 model your newer models may be shown. It's 522. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. Don't forget, if you miss any portion of our show here weekday mornings, you can check out the Carolina Journal News Hour podcast in your favorite podcast app, Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you get your shows. You can also watch the show live and after the fact on our Carolina Journal YouTube channel.
We are getting some more details early this morning on what this piece of legislation that we were just talking about with Donna King about will look like as lawmakers make their way back to Raleigh this week. We have an official bill number and bill name this morning filed by the General Assembly late last night. House Bill 307, that's IRENA's law, and it is a 17-page piece of legislation that has a variety of issues that lawmakers look to crack down upon. Just doing some light reading of that and looking at some of the details. It covers a variety of things, including pretrial release, sentencing enhancements, things dealing with magistrates.
That has been a big discussion in the situation unfolding out of Charlotte as well. And just going through some of those details, limits on pretrial releases for defendants accused of violent crimes, gang activity, serious firearm offenses, and fentanyl trafficking.
So throwing in some of the drug issues. That the state deals with as well. Judges must issue written findings if granting releases in violent cases.
So, judges will have to go on the record as to why they filed any sort of pretrial release motions in those cases. Requiring mental health evaluations when a violent offender has a history of involuntary commitment, and it does authorize house arrest with electronic monitoring or GPS tracking at the defendant's expense. Looking at some of the sentence enhancements, this legislation would add aggravated factors if a crime is committed against a victim using public transportation. That is obviously very much zeroed in and honed in on the murder of Irina Zaruska on the Charlotte Light Rail back on August the 22nd. And that would apply in both standard sentencing and in capital cases.
For magistrates, it would allow suspension by a chief justice as well as local judges of magistrates if it is deemed that they are not doing their job correctly. That would be a major change here in North Carolina. And magistrates may also be removed from their post for failing to make required written findings in some of those pretrial releases and in some of those accused crimes, as we just talked about, violent crimes, gang activity, firearms offenses, drug trafficking, things of that nature. It also directs the North Carolina Collaboratory to study mental health in the judicial system, house arrest capabilities, and alternative execution methods. Those reports are due in by 2026.
Some preliminary details from the collaboratory with a final report in 2027. Donna and I just talked about earlier the governor's task force for racial equality and criminal justice that was started under Democrat governor. Governor Roy Cooper back in 2020. One of the individuals involved in that was our now governor, then attorney general at the time, Josh Stein. That would be ended by this piece of legislation, and it cannot be recreated without legislative approval.
So, lawmakers moving forward on that. And one of the big stories out of that press conference that we covered a couple of weeks ago, which included. The Speaker of the North Carolina House and the head of the North Carolina Senate, Destin Hall and Phil Berger, was talking about reinstating the death penalty in North Carolina. There is some discussion on that in this legislation, including speeding up appeals and post-conviction review in capital cases, setting a 24-month deadline for that, and keeps the venue for death penalty appeals in the county in which the conviction originally took place.
Now, locally, for those in and around the Charlotte metro area, there is some things in here for the Mecklenburg County District Attorney's Office as well. This legislation, if passed as written right now, would add 10 assistant district attorneys and five legal assistants, and will five legal assistants for them and provide a $2 plus million dollars in reoccurring funding. That would be every single year to strengthen prosecution capacity within the Mecklenburg County District Attorney Office.
So those are. Just some of the highlights of this legislation as we look at how this process is set to play out. This legislation will likely get some sort of hearing in committee today where it could see some votes and where it could see some approvals before making its way to the full House and Senate floor for the legislation to be dealt with. Senate leader Phil Berger released a press release on Sunday saying, Irina should still be alive. She should still be thriving and enjoying time with her family and friends.
We cannot let North Carolina be held hostage by woke, weak on crime policies and court officials who prioritize criminals over justice for victims. We are also taking steps to revive the death penalty for those who commit the most heinous acts. At the same time, lawmakers will take up some of the pieces in this legislation. There are some additional things scheduled on. the calendar in Raleigh today.
There could be some veto override bills and a variety of issues. Senate Bill 50, this is also known as constitutional carry. It would allow adults 18 and older who are not otherwise prohibited to carry a concealed handgun without a permit. That would be no prior convictions, no prior felonies. Senate Bill 50 was overridden by the Senate 26 to 18, and we will see if the House has the votes to do that when they do head back to Raleigh today.
It is on the calendar for this morning. I'll note just because it is on the calendar does not guarantee that it will actually be dealt with, but it is listed on the calendar for this morning. Senate Bill 153, that's the North Carolina Border Protection Act. That requires cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and allows residents to sue local governments that adopt sanctuary policies across North Carolina. The Senate overrode the governor's veto on that legislation in June.
July. The House has yet to vote on it yet. A couple of DEI pieces of legislation, Senate Bill 558, House Bill 171, and Senate Bill 277. All of them have been dealt with by the North Carolina Senate, none taken up in the House. And finally, House Bill 87, which enables North Carolina to join a federal tax credit program supporting a scholarships-granting organizations or SSOs to that fund public or rather fund private school expenses.
That legislation cleared the House in March and the Senate in July before Stein vetoed it in August. It would have to make its way back to both chambers for a veto override. We will continue to track that progress on all of those pieces of legislation, plus the brand new House Bill 307, also known as IRENA's Law. It is set to be a very busy day in Raleigh. We'll have coverage throughout the day over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, and of course have the latest coming up for you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6 a.m.
Right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. You won't see the engineer that slams the Nissan Rogue's door 13,920 times, or the corrosive chamber that simulates 15 years of life in five months, or the rogue heat-baked for over 300 combined hours. What you will see is a vehicle that can take punch after punch and keep rolling. Nissan. Number one in new vehicle quality among mainstream brands by JD Power.
We put it through the worst, so you get its best. For JD Power 2025 US Initial Quality Study Award information, visit jdpower.com/awards. Awards based on 2025 model your new models may be shown. You won't see the engineer that slams the Nissan rogue's door 13,920 times, or the corrosive chamber that simulates 15 years of life in five months, or the rogue heat-baked for over 300 combined hours. What you will see is a vehicle that can take punch after punch and keep rolling.
Nissan, number one in new vehicle quality among mainstream brands by JD Power. We put it through the worst, so you get its best. For JD Power 2025 U.S. Initial Quality Study Award information, visit jdpower.com slash awards. Awards based on 2025 model your normal model of the ship.
You won't see the engineer that slams the Nissan rogue's door 13,920 times, or the corrosive chamber that simulates 15 years of life in five months, or the rogue heat-baked for over 300 combined hours. What you will see is a vehicle that can take punch after punch and keep rolling. Nissan. Number one in New Vehicle Quality Among Mainstream Brands by JD Power. We put it through the worst, so you get its best.
For JD Power 2025 year's initial quality study award information, visit jdpower.com slash awards. Awards based on 2025 model year, new models may be shown. It's 536. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. A recent decision by the North Carolina Supreme Court over a fire Department of Transportation employee might not be that interesting of a story.
However, the ruling and the decision could have some broader implications across the state of North Carolina. To walk us through those details, this morning, Mitch Kokai of the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, I guess for the fire DOT employee, a lot weighing here on this decision, but for the rest of folks in North Carolina, there could be some additional consequences of the state Supreme Court's decision. What are you tracking? That's exactly right, Nick.
I'll give you first some of the specifics of this case. This guy named Thurman Savage, who worked for the DOT, and his job was to certify school bus drivers in North Carolina.
Now, DOT fired him some years back after he admitted that he had recertified some bus drivers without doing the right-alongs that he was supposed to do. One of the reasons that DOT said it was firing Savage was that a particular state law seemed to say, in the DOT's perspective, that if someone violated this record-keeping function, that the person had to be dismissed.
So, basically, their argument was: we don't have any say in this. The law says we have to fire you because you did what you did, and so that's the end of the story. Savage, when he went to court, said that the DOT got it wrong, that it was applying the law incorrectly, and that once an administrative law judge ruled in his favor, Then the State Court of Appeals stepped in and reversed that ruling. And sided with the DOT and its interpretation of the law.
Now, the state Supreme Court decided to take up this case, and as it turns out, in their opinion, They don't end up resolving the case for Mr. Savage one way or another because the DOT made some other arguments about why they fired him, and those are going to have to be addressed again by the Court of Appeals. But what really stands out. is that the state Supreme Court went out of its way. To say that courts in North Carolina should not use what's called judicial deference.
For people who follow the U.S. Supreme Court, they might remember that there was a recent case dealing with chevron deference and ending chevron deference after 50 years. This is a similar issue in North Carolina. And the idea is that judges, in some respects, have taken on this idea that when there's a dispute about a state law, And a government agency is one of the parties in the case that judges should defer. to what the government agencies think the law says.
This ruling from the state Supreme Court was very clear in saying that that is not what is supposed to happen in North Carolina courts. Justice Richard Dietz wrote the majority opinion, and he basically said that sometime within the last 25 years or so, the State Court of Appeals has allowed deference to creep into its rulings, but it shouldn't have. And the court specifically expressly disavows deference and says the judges need to review the case. They need to give all the parties' arguments equal weight. The government's argument doesn't get any additional weight beyond what was in the initial pleadings.
And so deference is thrown out. Justice Tamara Berenger wrote a concurring opinion. She agreed completely with what Dietz said, but wanted to weigh in herself and say, yes, I completely go along with this. Judicial deference has no role in the courts.
Meanwhile, that part of the ruling was 5-2. The two Democrats dissented, and Anita Earls wrote that she was concerned that they were striking so much against deference and that government agencies should get some sort of consideration for their expertise when they're looking into a state law.
So the bottom line is: this is going to be good news moving forward for any individual or family or business that goes to court. And is challenging either the actual what is said in a state law or how it was applied in their case, and is going up against a government agency. Judges are not just going to say, oh, the government agency thinks this is what the law says, we've got to go along with that.
So the government wins. No, moving forward in North Carolina, the government will get to make its arguments, but so will the individual or the business, and the judges will rule those by looking at it and deciding which is the better argument, not tipping the scale in the favor of the government. Mitch, I'm glad you drew the parallel between the United States Supreme Court and their decision in the Chevron case, which predominantly a lot of that dealt with EPA and various regulations around ocean life and zoning and a whole bunch of different things in which the federal government would go in front of the courts and say, well, these are the regulations, these are the rules. Essentially, we're the subject matter expert take our word for it. And as you noted, that was a 50-year decision that had been ongoing here across the United States.
Many conservative groups and others applauding that change from the United States Supreme Court back a couple of years ago. Is it accurate to say that we're seeing a similar thing now taking place in North Carolina? Yes, it's exactly what we're seeing in North Carolina. That once the Loperbright case ended Chevron deference after about 50 years of it kind of making its way through the court system, we're now seeing the North Carolina court, the state Supreme Court, trying to ensure that deference doesn't play a future role in the state courts. And basically, Justice Dietz's opinion could have stopped very short.
He could have said, And I think he would have had a unanimous opinion on this because the two Democratic justices went along with it, that the State Court of Appeals. Red. The state law that was used in firing Mr. Savage, Thurman Savage, read it wrong. And so they could have just sent it back to the State Court of Appeals, said, you got it wrong.
Now you got a deal with the rest of the case. What happened instead was Diet said, Well, they got the appeals court got it wrong. The case is going to go back to the appeals court to deal with other issues. But in the meantime, we're going to go out of our way here to say that we're not having deference. And any previous State Court of Appeals ruling that Gave the sense that there was going to be difference.
We throw those out. There's not going to be any difference moving forward. All courts will have to give what's called a de novo review, which means you look at the case fresh, you don't weigh the scales toward the government in any way. And that, I think, is going to be good news for litigants in the future when they're going up against the government. The government can't just say, well, this is what we think about the law, so it has to stand.
The government can make its case. The litigants can make their case. The judges will decide who has the stronger case. And that was spelled out very clearly in this case in the Savage versus State DOT. Obviously, state law is one thing traditionally that has to go through the General Assembly, passed by both chambers, signed by the governor.
But Mitch, another angle of this is regulation, which does not traditionally go through that same process. Many agencies and entities are allowed to come up with their own rules and regulations without them going through the traditional legislative pathway to beyond the books here in North Carolina. I would imagine this is going to have a huge implication on entities like NCDEQ and others that some folks may believe have a ridiculous amount of overburdensome regulation.
Now maybe individuals can challenge those and get a nice opinion in the courts. It'll be very interesting to see. In fact, there is another case that's within the state Supreme Court that has yet to be decided that's on that point almost exactly, and that is. This case dealt with how an agency Fuse a state law and not giving any special treatment there. But there is another type of deference where you defer to the agency.
About how it interprets its own regulation. And there is a case in front of the state Supreme Court involving a fired state, Winston-Salem State University professor that deals with this idea of. deference to how the agencies View their own regulations. And depending on how that case comes out, you could see even more protection for the litigants who challenge something that a government agency does, saying that not only are they not going to get deference for the way they view a state law, but they won't even get deference for the way they view their own regulations. The judges will look at the regulation, look at what it says, take the government's argument about what that regulation means, but also take the argument of the litigants challenging the regulation and see which is the better argument.
And that, of course, would open the door to even more opportunity for litigants to challenge regulations and laws that they don't think are proper and may be unconstitutional. It may not sound like it right now, but there could be some monumental changes in state government as a result of this case and potentially some others. We appreciate the update this morning. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. You won't see the engineer that slams the Nissan Rogue's door 13,920 times, or the corrosive chamber that simulates 15 years of life in five months, or the rogue heat-baked for over 300 combined hours.
What you will see is a vehicle that can take punch after punch and keep rolling. Nissan. Number one in new vehicle quality among mainstream brands by JD Power. We put it through the worst, so you get its best. For JD Power 2025 US initial quality steady award information, visit jdpower.com slash awards.
Awards based on 2025 model your newer models may be shopped. You won't see the engineer that slams the Nissan rogue's door 13,920 times, or the corrosive chamber that simulates 15 years of life in five months, or the rogue heat-baked for over 300 combined hours. What you will see is a vehicle that can take punch after punch and keep rolling. Nissan, number one in new vehicle quality among mainstream brands by JD Power. We put it through the worst, so you get its best.
For JD Power 2025 US Initial Quality Study Award information, visit JDPower.com slash awards. Awards based on 2025 model year norms, maybe show. You won't see the engineer that slams the Nissan rogue's door 13,920 times, or the corrosive chamber that simulates 15 years of life in five months, or the rogue heat-baked for over 300 combined hours. What you will see is a vehicle that can take punch after punch and keep rolling. Nissan.
Number one in new vehicle quality among mainstream brands by JD Power. We put it through the worst, so you get its best. For JD Power 2025 US Initial Quality Study Award information, visit JDPower.com/awards. Awards based on 2025 model year, your models may be shown. The sixth annual WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive continues this week, Thursday, September the 25th.
WBT and the One Blood Big Red Bus will be at the Doghouse in Uptown Charlotte from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. And we're encouraging you to make a life-saving blood donation. The sixth annual WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive continues this week, Thursday, September the 25th, at the Dog House in Uptown Charlotte. Visit WBT.com this morning for location details and to register your appointment.
It's now 5:52. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-99.3 WBT. On Friday night, Representative Jared Lowry, who is in the North Carolina House, he serves the 47th district across North Carolina, posted a video on social media announcing that he will be resigning his post in the North Carolina General Assembly to go to Washington, D.C. Hi everyone, I'm Jerry Lowry, representative for North Carolina House District 47 representing Robinson County. The past three years being in the General Assembly, it has been not only a pleasure but an honor to serve you.
The people, nearly 90,000 people live in my district in Robbins County gave me an opportunity of a lifetime to be able to come here and advocate for everyone. Since I've been in the General Assembly, I've been able to provide a valuable voice for the people and not only a voice, but a seat at the decision-making table that had been missing for several years. My time here in the General Assembly, I've worked with my delegation mates to secure critical funding needed for important projects across the district.
Some of those are a new town hall, town of Fairmont. A new police station, town of Maxon. Downtown revitalization for Town of Roland. New Parks, Town of Red Springs. A new park in the town of Reynard.
much needed transportation projects in the town of Pembroke, downtown revitalization for the city of Lumberton, and even new hangars for the Lumberton Regional Airport. Other projects that are going to be instrumental in continuing to grow Robinson County is new nursing program building at Old Robinson Community College, more funding for additional health programs at UNC Pembroke, including the School of Optometric Medicine, the first in the state, which has been a 20-year journey we were finally able to complete. Continued support for the Lumby Tribe of North Carolina as they develop the Lumby Culture Center in the Department of Agriculture. All of these projects have been significant impact in the county and will be going forward. Also, the public schools of Robinson County is building their first new school since 1983.
And one last project that was funded is much needed in every corner of Robinson County. is a major cleanup of the Lumber River basin. one of the largest in U.S. history. With getting $60 million from the federal government, supported by Senator Tom Tillis, matched with $20 million from the General Assembly, this project is going to alleviate flooding all across the county from our major rain events, something that has been desperately needed since Matthew occurred in 2016 and Florence in 2018.
But I'm here today to make a spatial announcement. To my family, to my friends, to my community, my supporters across the state. I will be effectively stepping away from the General Assembly at the beginning of October. I've been offered a role in Washington, D.C. to where I'll be able to go and take my talents and loyalty and the same vigor of my work ethic that I've used here in the General Assembly to support the country on a larger scale.
I'm looking forward to this new challenge. I'm looking forward to continue to be a public servant to the people now, not just of Robinson County, but to the state and to America.
So as I transitioned to my new role in Washington, D.C., Just know that I will work every single day with the same dedication, loyalty, and rigor that I do right here in this house for you. But until then, I want to reaffirm to you that this last weeks in the General Assembly, I will continue to work as hard as I can for every constituent.
So please continue to call, email my office, reach out to me with any constituents' concerns or anything that you need. And to be honest with you, I'm still writing legislation today. Why? Because the issues that are impacting Robinson County and North Carolina are not going to end just because I'm gone. And I need to make sure that my successor is well prepared to continue fighting the fight for Rothson County and rural North Carolina.
As your state representative, Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity. And may God continue to bless Robinson County. in the state of North Carolina. Thank you guys.
That's Representative Jared Lowry releasing a video on his social media channels on Friday, announcing that he will be going up to Washington, D.C., after serving in the General Assembly over the last couple of years. He has been in the GA since 2022 and obviously continuing the work there. Obviously, a busy week in Raleigh as we watch Arena's Law that was announced by the General Assembly last night. We'll track its progress throughout the day over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, and we'll have the details tomorrow morning right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. That's going to do it for a Monday edition.
WBT News is next, followed by MorningBT. We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5-6, right here on News Talk 1110 and 99.3, WBT.
