It's 505 and welcome into a Friday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. Tomorrow, October the 4th, is the deadline for Democrat Governor Josh Stein to sign Arena's Law into legisl sign that legislation into law or veto the legislation. This is how the process works in North Carolina.
10 days, excluding Sundays after a bill is passed by the General Assembly and set to the governor, the governor has three options. He can either sign the legislation into law, veto the legislation, or after that 10-day window, the law will become law, the legislation rather, will become law automatically. Because the legislation passed both chambers and was sent to the governor back last Tuesday, September the 23rd, that marks tomorrow at 11:59 p.m. Sunday for the deadline for the governor. Quick recap: in case you missed it, Irina's law was presented to the governor after it passed the House in an 81 to 31 vote.
The bill number for that, for those keeping track, is House Bill 307. And it is a sweeping criminal justice reform bill that was introduced and advanced after the murder of Irena Zaruska. back on the Charlotte light rail on August the twenty second. The House vote, again, eighty one to thirty one. The Senate vote twenty eight to eight, meaning it does have, in the grand scheme of things, a pretty broad bipartisan support in the North Carolina General Assembly.
House Speaker Destin Hall said, quote, for far too long, activist judges and magistrates have turned dangerous criminals loose, endangered lives and spread chaos in our communities. That ends now. Irina Zaruska's murder is a tragic reminder of what is at stake. That's why we are delivering some of the strongest tough-on-crime reforms in North Carolina history. The legislation, which once again is sitting on the governor's desk this morning, tightens pretrial conditions for release of violent offenders, eliminates cashless bail, and establishes a new protocol for ordering mental health evaluations in the criminal justice system.
It also sets a firmer timeline for appeal in death penalty cases. House Majority Leader Brendan Jones, the Republican out of Columbus County, said very clearly on the House floor, we are sending a clear message. North Carolina will not tolerate allowing violent criminals to walk free on our streets. IRENA's law strengthens protections for our citizens and restores accountability in our courts because the safety of our families and communities come first. Diving in on some of those additional details, the legislation does eliminate cashless bail for certain offenses where it was previously allowed.
It restricts judicial discretion in granting pretrial release and creates a new category of violent offenses that would require either GPS monitoring, house arrest, or a secure bond for those accused and falling under that new violent offense category. It also mandates mental health evaluations in specific cases, tightens deadlines on death penalty appeals, and adds committing A felony on public transportation to the list of factors that can make a defendant eligible for the death penalty. Republican leaders say that the changes are designed to ensure that violent and repeat offenders remain off the streets while holding magistrates accountable for the decisions they make when it comes to release decisions and cashless bail. Representative Tricia Cotham, the Republican out of Mecklenburg County, who introduced the legislation in the House last Tuesday, said, No family should have to endure what Arena's family has suffered. People across Mecklenburg County and North Carolina should never have to fear for their safety in their own neighborhoods.
Arena's law prevents violent offenders from walking free and ensures that those who threaten our community face real consequences before they can harm another soul. The bill also establishes a new protocol requiring judicial officials to order a mental health evaluation if one a defendant is charged with a violent offense and has been involuntarily committed within the last three years. Two, a defendant is charged with any offense and the judicial official has a cause to believe that the defendant is a danger to him or herself. Three, the judicial system, the judicial official must order an evaluation for involuntary commitment. If the examiner determines that the the defendant needs to be committed, commitment pre proceedings must be initiated immediately.
Representative Sarah Stevens, the Republican out of Surrey County, described the legislation by saying, Arena's law is about more than punishment. It's about prevention. By requiring mental health evaluations and stricter pre-trial conditions for violent offenders, we are taking decisive steps to stop tragedies before they happen. House Bill 307 modifies procedures related to capital cases according to a press release from House Speaker Destin Hall's office. The bill sets a timeline for pending appeals and motions in capital cases.
Any filing over 24 months old must be scheduled for a hearing by December of next year, 2026, with a hearing held on or before December of 2027. It also requires that hearings and death penalty cases occur in the county of the original conviction. One of the justifications for that, as we go back to last Tuesday, when that was being debated, is right now it is a very expensive and lengthy process to go through any of the hearings and death penalties as all of them currently have to take place in Wake County. Meaning if somebody in the far east or far western half of the state is going through that process, you have to send the individual prosecutors and a whole bunch of local officials to Raleigh to hear how.
Some of those hearings and some of the legal challenges in that case, this legislation would allow those hearings to now take place in the county in which the original conviction took place. Looking at some other comments from lawmakers, according to Representative David Wilson, Willis, rather, the Republican out of Union County, he says: Arena's law puts common sense limits on pretrial releases, ensures violent offenders cannot get out scot-free, and protects our neighborhoods, our children, and our communities from preventable harm. Additionally, the bill would clarify that a judicial official must review and consider the defendant's criminal history before setting pretrial release conditions. It would also require that judicial officials make a written finding of fact. This is important, which would explain the reason for determining the conditions of a release in each individual case.
A failure by a judge or magistrate to make those required findings could very quickly become grounds for removal. That removal process would be taken place by either the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Or a chief district court judge that would be able to initiate those suspension proceedings for magistrates, for example, if they do not follow through on that written fact of explanation for that. And finally, it directs the North Carolina Collaboratory to study the intersection of mental health and the justice system in North Carolina for both adult and juvenile defendants, examine the availability of house arrests as a condition of pre-trial release, and evaluate alternate methods of execution beyond those currently authorized in North Carolina. This is, again, a very widesweeping piece of legislation, for the most part, relatively broad bipartisan support, especially in the North Carolina House, where 81 members voted in favor of it, 31 against, passing 28 to 8 in the North Carolina Senate as well.
As I mentioned, that legislation now sits on the governor's desk. He has until 11. 11:59 tomorrow, Saturday, October the 4th, to either again sign, veto, or the legislation becomes law automatically without the signature of the governor. Over the last week, the governor's had a couple of press appearances, Council of State meeting. He was in Southport after the horrific shooting that happened there last weekend, and he has been asked about arena's law and has continued to say that this is a complicated piece of legislation.
And he has not really hinted one way or the other whether he is set to sign this into law.
So that is something that we will keep our eye on throughout the day today and tomorrow. And of course, we'll have the latest details coming up for you Monday morning right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. As it relates to Charlotte and the death of Irena Zaruska, Mayor Vi Lyles and the city manager are set to hold a press conference coming up later on today to outline some of the immediate security enhancements for cats as it relates to light rail. This in the response of that stabbing, this comes the same week that State Auditor Dave Bollock's office has noted that the security budget for CATS. Has ballooned by some $12 million over the last couple of years, yet the number of armed guards available to protect and to work on the CAT system, and more particularly the light rail, has dropped by over 40%.
This story, which again happened back on August the 22nd, continues to be a major topic in North Carolina. We'll keep our eye on all of the details over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. This goes out to all you finance folks. You're under a lot of pressure to save money, but the best finance leaders focus on more than that. Brex knows you want to drive growth.
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Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. Day three of the 2025 federal government shutdown does continue, as there are very little indication, at least as of this morning, that there is set to be a resolution as Republicans and Democrats continue to remain planted on their variety of issues with this government shutdown. The Senate, once again, will be back again today as they remain divided over a House-passed bill earlier last month, about the middle of last month, a clean, continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded until November the 21st.
However, while that has received a majority, 55 votes in the United States Senate, it has not received the filibuster threshold number of votes, which is 60. At this point, it would require five additional Democrats to cross the aisle and vote in favor of. The House-backed and Trump-backed legislation to restore the government and get things open back up. Those meetings and those votes are expected once again later on today. We will keep an eye on the details right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour throughout the weekend and into early next week.
Again, as both sides seem pretty squared in on what their various policies and issues are. No big discussions, at least publicly, have been taking place between Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, President Trump, Speaker Johnson, and John Thune. Those have not taken place since before the government shut down. We'll keep an eye on all of the details. It's now 524.
You're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour. Earlier this summer, we brought you a story about the USDA. That's the United States Department of Agriculture, and how they were opening up five new agricultural hubs across the United States and moving most of their workforce, if not almost all of it, out of Washington, D.C. and into agricultural communities across the United States. One of those hubs is going to be our state capital in Raleigh, North Carolina.
And a visitor from the USDA was in Raleigh this week to go over some of those details to walk us through that this morning. Katie Zender, CarolinaJournal.com, joins us on the news hour. Katie, when this was first announced, this is a big deal for the state of North Carolina. We had an assistant secretary in town this week. What were some of the details that we learned?
Yeah, good morning, Nick. Thank you for having me on. Yeah, so Deputy Secretary Stephen Vanden of the USDA was in town this week to speak at the NC Chamber of Commerce's annual Ag Allies Conference. He also met with the mayor of Raleigh, Janet Cowell, and he gave her a personal tour of some of the facilities that is going to house the USDA employees that will be relocating here as that hub is kind of, you know, relocated and moved to Raleigh from the DC metro area. And so he said, the positions that we are intending to move here are positions that are not just functionary positions.
They are positions that will indeed have a say-so in agricultural policy nationwide and will be joining officials who were already at Raleigh before the relocation.
So there are some already some USDA employees here in Raleigh, but from what he said, you know, there are going to be hundreds more moved here and the facilities that the USDA has here in Raleigh has room for hundreds more USDA employees.
So they're going to be moving here, you know, probably within the next couple.
Next year, a couple of years, as they move this hub to Raleigh, North Carolina. And so we he got into some of the reasons for, you know, why they chose Raleigh as one of the hubs. And he said what attracted us to Raleigh is the same thing that attracts, you know, everyone else to Raleigh is it's one of the most affordable areas in the country. There's a lower cost of living here. According to the Forbes cost of living calculator, the cost of living in Raleigh is almost 45% lower than that of Washington, D.C.
metro area.
So that's almost, you know, almost a 50% difference.
So that means that someone on a, yeah, exactly.
So it's a huge difference. And that means that someone on a government salary can buy a home with a yard and start a family and live the American dream, said Vandon. In order for a government employee on a government salary to be able to do that in the DC metro area, they're going to have at least an hour commute into the city, if not more. And that's if they want, you know, the house, the yard, the family, all those things. In Raleigh, they can have all those same things with an average commute of 20 to 25 minutes.
So again, almost half commute time and half the cost of living.
So that's really one of the things that Is attracting them to the Raleigh area from DC. He said when he was down here, you know. Meeting with USDA officials, most of the USDA officials that are already here are transplants for that very reason. But he did say. That he met one DC native who left DC and moved to Raleigh by choice, and they have never looked back.
So, you know, same thing that's attracting a lot of Americans to North Carolina and to Raleigh. North Carolina has been one of the most moved to states for Americans in the last couple of years. And it's because of the affordable cost of living and the policies that we have here.
So that's really one of the things that they're looking at, Nick.
Well, and Katie, we talk about this, and obviously, you go up to the District of Columbia, you hang out in the Washington, D.C. area. There's not a lot of agriculture immediately in the direct D.C. area. As you get to some of the suburbs and out into portions of Virginia, sure, there's an agricultural community.
But to me, one of the big things that stood out with this announcement earlier this summer is that they are bringing USD employees, USDA employees, to states like North Carolina, which, for folks that haven't heard our show in the past and haven't heard us talk about it, Agriculture is the largest business in the state of North Carolina. It only makes sense to have USDA boots on the ground, or at least more of them on the ground in a state like North Carolina and four others across the country. That's exactly right, Nick, and that's exactly what Deputy Secretary Vanden said. He said, you know, there's not a lot of farming going on in Washington, D.C. But it is our number one industry here.
It contributes more than $111 billion annually to the GDP. It's one-sixth of the state's overall income. It employs at least 16% of the state's population. And our agricultural products are ranked ninth in the nation for their value. Yeah, there's obviously a lot of great facts and figures as it relates to that.
You can read some additional coverage on this visit this week and the original announcement from earlier this summer by visiting our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. We appreciate the update. Katie Zender joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. This is the story of the one. As a custodial supervisor at a high school, he knows that during cold and flu season, germs spread fast.
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Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. A search warrant gone wrong back in 2019 has been in the news over the last couple of years on a variety of legal challenges. We do have an update this morning to walk us through some of those details. Mitch Kokai of the John Locke Foundation. Joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour 2019.
Mitch, six years or so ago, a story out of Mecklenburg County, including a search warrant. Law enforcement officers being shot. A lot of information going on here. What's the latest that you're tracking out of the courts? Yes, this was an incident that really arose out of a law operation that certainly went sideways.
A task force involving multiple law enforcement officers from multiple departments was trying to serve a search warrant on a suspect who was accused of trafficking methamphetamine. But what happened was when the law officers arrived, there was some cases. Chaos that ensued, some shooting that took place, and one of the officers, a fellow named Clarence Belton, who was a Gastonia police officer, got shot as he was trying to get away. He got shot some more. And though he survived, he suffered some very long-lasting serious injuries that prevented him from continuing his work in law enforcement.
And so he sued one of the fellow officers, a woman named Heather Loveridge from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, along with the city of Charlotte, saying that there was a legal liability for his injuries.
So This case has been moving through federal courts now for several years, and there was a ruling back in February. From the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, that said that the trial judge was going to have to take another look at whether Heather Loveridge would get immunity in the case. The judge had said no immunity, that the case could go forward, but the Fourth Circuit, in a unanimous ruling earlier this year, said the judge didn't go through the specific analysis that's required to ensure whether immunity is or is not possible in this case.
So the judge in the case, Max Cogburn, has to go back. And do the analysis to decide whether there's going to be immunity.
So that's one piece of this case. But the most recent development. Which should be very interesting to people who are fans of the First Amendment and to media access to public records and documents, is that the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came out with a ringing endorsement. Of the media's access to records because WBTV wanted to get access to the video from law enforcement footage of this incident.
And not only would the law enforcement agencies not turn it over, but the same judge in this case, Judge Cogburn, ruled A that WBTV couldn't intervene in the case, and also B, that the law enforcement footage would not be turned over, even if they could intervene, because it could threaten the right to the fair trial that Heather Loveridge said that she would have threatened if this video were released. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed. It actually agreed with Cogburn that WBTV could not intervene in the case. It had no right to. But the Fourth Circuit also said this video should be put forward, that this is part of the media and the public's right to, under the First Amendment, to have access to public documents.
And public footage of this sort. The Fourth Circuit also said that Loveridge put forward no evidence at all that this would jeopardize her right to a fair trial. And if she was going to prevail on that, she would have to show somehow that this video footage would somehow threaten her right to a fair trial, which is also a constitutional right. And she had put forward no evidence. All she had said was.
This is going to jeopardize my right to a free trial. And the judge had gone along with it.
So, a very interesting development. The decision that came out from Judge Nicole Berner talked quite a bit about the public role of the media and why it's important for accountability and transparency, and basically saying that even if This was something that could have some sort of impact on the trial that. The interests of the public in having access to this were more than the interests of having a fair trial, unless there would be some sort of convincing evidence that the video could taint the trial. Another sort of sideline was so much of the information about the shooting is already in the public documents that it's hard to imagine that anything in the video would would change what people already know about this case. And Mitch, this is not even the first time that we've had discussions about WBTV and their attempts, in this case, going to court to try and get various pieces of video surveillance or information about some law enforcement matters in the Charlotte Metro audience.
Mitch, you've been in the media business for quite some time. Would you opine a little bit more on the importance for folks, as you noted, who are supporters of the First Amendment, folks that want to hold and make sure that their local governments, which law enforcement is an extension of that, at least in some regards, hold them accountable and make sure that this information is available to the public when situations like this unfold? Certainly, much of what government does is available to the public, and that is important because we have to be able to hold them accountable. And if we don't know what they're doing, then that makes it harder. And so there has been debate over the years about this law enforcement video footage and whether it is public, whether it isn't, and who should have access to it.
I think there are some lines that you have to put out there about what should be available, what shouldn't be. And if there is a threat to someone's constitutional right to a fair trial, that would be a key argument that could be made about why you wouldn't release the footage. In this case, though, there wasn't any evidence put forward about why this particular footage would jeopardize the right to a free trial. And I think that's one of the reasons the Fourth Circuit said, no, this is just a case of one party in a lawsuit not wanting this information to be released. That in and of itself, Is not enough of a justification.
We want to make sure that police. Elected officials, city and county, and state bureaucrats are doing the jobs that they're supposed to be doing. And if there is a way for them to be hiding, Things from us by not making public documents and other types of recordings and that sort of thing available, that there need to be strict limits on when that is acceptable, because almost everything that government does ought to be available to the public so that the public can look at it and decide whether the government is doing the right job or not. I'm sure some folks are probably looking at another situation that, of course, has garnered an incredible amount of national attention over the last month or so, Mitch. The murder of Irina Zaruska on the Charlotte Light Rail.
Surveillance footage of that with the accused killer now in custody has been plastered over international television. No claims, at least to this point, being made that there could be no fair trial there.
So I'm sure some folks might call this argument being made in this case from 2019 bogus if some of this other stuff you're seeing with the Charlotte Lightrail situation is unfolding in the public the way that it is.
Well, and remember that one of the reasons this case has attracted so much attention, speaking of the Charlotte Light Rail case, is the release of the video. I mean, the video didn't come out until well after a week of the events. I kind of feel good for the family of Irina Zarutska that they had the funeral and took care of the very private stuff before this really hit the news wheel, because had this Had the funeral taken place while all of the media frenzy was going on, you know, they would not have had any sort of peace. But because of the availability of the video, this escalated from what was at first seen as kind of a minor local crime incident into being a major issue that's attracted certainly attention from our General Assembly and from people all the way up to President Donald Trump. And so that's another reason why you would want to make sure that something that happens.
On public transportation or involving a government agency or government agents gets the scrutiny that it deserves. And this Fourth Circuit opinion, though it is not in the Arena Zarutsky case and probably was not even inspired at all by the Arena Zarutska case, does sort of fit in with this idea of making this information available.
Now, I don't know all the details, but I think in the Arena Zarutska case, there was some talk at the beginning about whether this would be released or not. And had it never been released, I'm certain this case would not have attracted the attention that it did. And so that's a sign for all of us about how. public access to this type of information can make a major difference. Yeah, there was some initial pushback from Katz and the Charlotte City Council on releasing some of the surveillance video from that Charlotte light rail.
Great points and some great information. We appreciate the update this morning. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's 5:51. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 11:10-993 WBT.
A couple of things that we are tracking across North Carolina this morning. If you were with us last week, if not, I encourage you to go check out our Carolina Journal News Hour podcast available in Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you get your shows. We covered some of the details out of the General Assembly as it related to House Bill 307. That is Arena's Law. It did pass the General Assembly last Tuesday.
On Monday, it was in the Senate. A 28-8 vote there moved it over to the North Carolina House, where the final vote there was 81-31. Tuesday evening, that legislation was sent to Democrat Governor Josh Stein, and it has been sitting on his desk ever since. That is relevant because tomorrow night, Saturday, October the 4th, at 11:59 p.m., is the deadline for the governor to do something.
Something with that legislation. This is how the process works in North Carolina. Once a piece of legislation passes both chambers, the House and the Senate, and is sent to the governor, he has 10 days to act on said legislation. His actions can include either signing or vetoing the legislation so it either does become law or is sent back to the General Assembly.
However, after 10 days, which excludes Sundays, the legislation becomes law automatically. That's why that 10-day time period, again, excluding Sundays, is incredibly relevant.
So not immediately clear, at least from some of the governor's public comments this week, as to what he will do with this legislation today. October the 3rd is day 9. Tomorrow will be day 10. The governor has not inherently, has not necessarily said whether he will sign or veto this law. He has told the reporters in a couple of different settings this week that this is complicated legislation and that he and his team are working through some of the details.
So we could potentially see something maybe late in the day today on Friday or something anytime tomorrow on Saturday. If not, when we join you Monday morning, the IRNA's law will be law regardless of the fact that the governor did not do anything with it. Just some quick details on this legislation, House Bill 307. It tightens pretrial conditions for the release of violent offenders, eliminates cashless bail, establishes a new protocol for ordering mental health evaluations in the criminal justice system, and sets a firmer timeline for appeals in death penalty cases. This is, again, a widesweeping piece of legislation, a widesweeping criminal justice reform bill introduced after the horrific murder of Irina Zaruska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee on the Charlotte light rail back on August the 22nd.
That murder has drawn an incredible amount of outrage from not only folks in the Charlotte Metro and the state of North Carolina, but across the country. Earlier this week, you had members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight making their way to Charlotte. To hold an official hearing with witnesses describing some of the issues with cashless bail, some of the issues with repeat offenders that kind of go through a revolving door through the criminal justice system. We covered that Tuesday morning. Again, if you missed any of that coverage, encourage you to check out our Carolina Journal News Hour podcast.
So that is one of the things that we are tracking as we head into the weekend. We'll have the latest details coming up for you Monday morning right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Also this week, Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden of the United States Department of Agriculture, that's the USDA, visited Raleigh and met up with the mayor of Raleigh for a personal tour of one of the facilities that will now house USDA employees relocating from the Washington, D.C. region permanently. This was announced earlier this summer.
It's part of an initiative to relocate USDA employees out of Washington, D.C. and the DC metro area to one of five new USDA hubs across the nation. One of those hubs will be in our state capitol in Raleigh, which is why the Deputy Secretary and Stephen Vaden was in town earlier this week. He said during his address at the North Carolina Chamber's annual Agricultural Allies Conference: quote: The positions that we intend to move here are positions that are not just functionary positions. They are positions that will indeed have a say-so in agricultural policy nationwide, and they will be joining officials who were already at Raleigh before this relocation, who already have some of those same responsibilities.
This is an attempt by the USDA to increase their workforce while also making it more affordable for people to join the United States Department of Agriculture. One of the reasons that Raleigh was picked, according to USDA officials, is due to its relative low cost of living compared to other major metropolitan areas across the country. According to the Forbes cost of living calculator, the cost of living in Raleigh is 45% lower than in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
So some big changes there in terms of the salary and some of the costs of living. This USDA hub will be moving to North Carolina, where our number one business is agriculture. It is at a $111 billion industry added to the state's GDP, and it represents one-sixth of the state's overall income, as well as employing at least 16% of the state's population, either directly in agriculture or agricultural adjacent industries.
So, a big announcement from USDA earlier this year, and now to have the secretary, the deputy secretary in town, is some great news here across North Carolina. 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.
