It's 4.07 A.M. Birds are starting to chirp. And while most people are still counting sheep, you count stock gains, inflation ticks, and quarterly earnings. Because getting ahead in business takes stubborn curiosity and a refusal to log off before the dots connect. The details most scampast you read twice.
Because when the world wakes up, you want to be two steps ahead. Get ahead with WSJ Plus, offering insights from the Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch, and Investors Business Daily. because fortune favors the ambitious. It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Monday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. I'm Nick Craig.
Good morning to you.
Well, House Bill 307, also known as ARENA's Law, has been a topic of discussion over the last couple of weeks. It passed the General Assembly a little less than two weeks ago and was sent on over to Governor Josh Stein's desk. We talked about the deadline for the governor to either sign or veto the legislation or allow it to automatically become law. And on Friday, well, the governor did seemingly what he had no other choice but to do, which was sign House Bill 307 into law. He scolded the General Assembly, however, in a video announcement saying that the bill doesn't go far enough to keep a citizen safe across the state of North Carolina and pleaded for them to come back to Raleigh this month and pass another public safety package that he said that he is proposing.
Here's the announcement from the governor on Friday. It's Josh Stein, your governor. My top priority is to keep people safe. Here in North Carolina, we've recently had two tragic reminders of just how important it is that we do everything in our power to protect people. Our hearts ache for the families of Irina Zarutska and the three people who were killed in Southport.
And we all pray for those injured. to heal. These random murders raise real concerns for people all over the state. Everyone deserves to be and to feel safe in their daily lives. on their way to or from work.
At school, at their place of worship. in a restaurant and in their own home. We can and must do more to keep people safe. When I review public safety legislation that comes to my desk, I use one simple test. Does it make people safer?
House Bill 307 or Arena's Law. Alerts the judiciary to take a special look at people who may pose unusual risks of violence before determining their bail. That's a good thing and why I have signed it into law. The law fails, however, to focus appropriately on the threat that people pose instead of their ability to post bail. And most alarming, The General Assembly sprung a last-minute amendment that aims to bring about execution by firing squad to North Carolina.
It's barbaric. There will be no firing squads in North Carolina during my time as governor. Beyond those specific concerns with the legislation, I'm troubled by its lack of ambition or vision. It simply does not do enough to keep you safe. That's why I'm calling on the legislature to come back and pass my comprehensive public safety package.
A package that includes more cops on the beat.
Well trained and public spirited, building trust in the community and keeping people safe. Violence prevention measures like keeping kids out of gangs and getting people off drugs. And if we're serious about making people safer, we have to acknowledge the role that guns and mental health play in violence that we're seeing all across the country. We can respect people's Second Amendment rights while also ensuring that anyone who is violent or dangerously mentally ill. does not have access to guns.
Let's use comprehensive background checks to keep guns out of the hands of violent criminals and dangerous people. And let's give family members and law enforcement the power to seek to temporarily remove a gun from someone who is a danger to others or themselves. Finally, we must have a well-functioning mental health care system that gets people the treatment that they need. In recent years, on a bipartisan basis, we've made some real progress. But we all know that it's not enough.
As a start, the General Assembly must fully fund Medicaid when they come back to Raleigh this month. And then let's fix our mental health care system for the long haul to help people and to keep us all safe. It's time to get real about the causes of violence and to take meaningful action to address them. Let's roll up our sleeves, actually tackle tough issues head-on, and put in place effective solutions to make North Carolina families safer. Let's get to work.
That's Governor Josh Stein on Friday. As you heard in his own words, very little to say positively about this legislation. Yet, buried in the middle of his three and a half-minute comments was the fact that he, regardless of all of his concerns, did sign the legislation into law.
However, slamming the General Assembly, saying that it does not go far enough. Reaction coming in from Republican lawmakers on Friday. House Speaker Destin Hall posted on X quote: Irena's law has been signed and is now a reality in North Carolina. This is critical legislation that makes our streets safer by ending cashless bail and getting career criminals off the streets. We will never forget Irina Zaruska, and this is the first step to ensuring what happened to her never happens again.
Representative Tricia Cotham, one of the Republican out of Mecklenburg County, said in a press release, I am thrilled that Arena's Law is now a regality in North Carolina. Finally, we are getting dangerous criminals off of our streets so we can make sure that no one else suffers the heartbreak that Irina Zaruska's family endured. I'm especially proud that through our efforts, this law provides additional prosecutors for Mecklenburg County, giving our local law enforcement the tools that they need to fight violent crime. I thank my colleagues.
Some other reaction, including the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party and Jason Simmons, a press release from the GOP on Friday reads: Governor Stein's reluctance to take action on Arena's Law shows that he cannot be trusted to do the right thing for North Carolina families. As a leader, decisive action was needed. Republican legislators acted immediately, while Governor Stein chose to blatantly act on a Friday afternoon. We also got some national comments on this as well. Congressman Pat Harrigan, who was at that interesting House Judiciary Oversight Committee hearing that happened just one week ago, posted on his ex-account saying, Governor Josh Stein dragged his feet for nine days, but Arena's law is finally signed.
This law protects families from violent repeat offenders and shuts the revolving door that puts criminals back on the streets. North Carolinians demanded action, and today they won. That legislation is a widesweeping House Bill 307, a widesweeping criminal justice bill that was passed by the General Assembly about two weeks ago in immediate response to the horrific, the tragic murder of 23-year-old Irina Zaruska on the Charlotte light rail that happened back on August the 22nd. And some of the details in this legislation that we have been talking about over the last couple of weeks, the top bullet item, of course, of removing and denying cashless bail for individuals that have violent criminal history, those that are violent repeat offenders. It tightens some of those pretrial conditions that would allow the release of those individuals alongside eliminating cashless Cashless bail.
It 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 across the state of North Carolina. One of the other things that we will see with this legislation that is now going forward is that judicial officials must review and consider a defendant's criminal history before setting pretrial release conditions. The important part of that, it requires those judicial officials, whether a judge or a magistrate, to make written findings of fact, explaining the reason for determining the condition of release in each case. Failure by a judge or magistrate to make those required findings in House Bill 307, now officially arena's law, could be grounds and would be grounds for removal from their post as either a magistrate or a judge. This wide-sweeping criminal justice reform bill has been a hot-button political issue over the last couple of weeks.
The governor did sign it into law on Friday. Again, regardless of all of his concerns and all of his additional three and a half minutes worth of commentary, he had very little of a political choice but to sign this into law, and he did so on Friday. You can read some additional coverage, including watching the full video and reading some more of the governor's comments by visiting our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. That headline. Story: Stein signs Arena's Law into law, but says it doesn't go far enough.
Those details over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. This is the story of the one. As a maintenance supervisor at a manufacturing facility, he knows keeping the line up and running is a top priority. That's why he chooses Granger. Because when a drive belt gets damaged, Granger makes it easy to find the exact specs for the replacement product he needs.
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Good Monday morning to you. News Talk 11:10, 99.3 WBT. A busy couple of days in North Carolina politics. On Friday, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police, or FOP, had requested federal assistance over the ongoing crime battle within the city of Charlotte. In a scathing letter addressed to Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, Governor Josh Stein, and as well as President Donald Trump and his administration, the fraternal order of police says that staffing levels within the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department are not sufficient and are leading to more violence and more violent crime across the city.
The letter reads in part: In the past two days, we've witnessed a double homicide and a shooting death of 16 of a 16-year-old. Old in uptown Charlotte, an area with a triple-digit percent increase in homicides. Last weekend, three people were murdered in our city. Additionally, we've experienced multiple shootings resulting in serious injuries. Despite these alarming incidents, leadership continues to downplay the impact of staffing shortages.
Violence in Charlotte, of course, made national headlines in early September after 23-year-old Irina Zaruska was captured on surveillance footage being murdered aboard the city's light rail system. That same attack led to a tense U.S. House Judiciary Committee field hearing in Charlotte back on September the 29th, where CMPD officer Stephen Campbell testified about the lack of accountability for repeat offenders. Since Irina's murder on August the 22nd, the fraternal order of police reports at least 15 additional homicides in the city, along with dozens of other violent crimes in just the past week. And over the last couple of days, a shooting on Friday, a shooting Saturday night just one block from Bank of America Stadium, where the Panthers would go on to play on Sunday, violent crime continuing to...
Be a major topic of discussion in the city of Charlotte. The fraternal order of police letter goes on and says: quote: The current crime-fighting strategies and strained staffing are unsustainable. They place an unacceptable burden on our officers and jeopardize both their safety and the public's. With discussions already underway regarding National Guard and Federal involvement, we believe the time has come to formally request their assistance to relieve pressure on our rank and file members before more of our citizens die and our officers get hurt. Former Democrat North Carolina state senator and current Charlotte City Council member Malcolm Graham called the request nothing more than window dressing, putting a post out on his ex account saying, The last thing the city of Charlotte needs is the National Guards on the streets.
As a local community, we must block outside noise and do the work to ensure all citizens feel safe and secure. Window dressing won't do it. The North Carolina General Assembly, as we just talked about, has passed House Bill 307, known as Arena's Law. That sweeping criminal justice reform bill, according to lawmakers in the North Carolina General Assembly, will do a part in making cities and streets in the city of Charlotte and other places across North Carolina safer. The Governor Josh Stein signed that bill into law on Friday.
The letter from the fraternal order of police concludes with a plea for action from Charlotte officials to stand behind law enforcement, saying in part, As we seek relief through federal and national guard support, I urge Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, City Manager Marcus Jones, and the rest of the council to back our request. I remain open to serious, solution-driven dialogues with each of you.
However, if silence and inaction persist and staffing does not significantly improve quickly, CMPD officers will continue to seek employment with agencies that recognize and represent their service, dedication, and well-being, further worsening the staffing crisis. That is then signed respectfully, Daniel C. Redford, the president of the North Carolina Charlotte Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge Number 9. A scathing letter talking about being the voice of more than 1,600 CMPD officers who are members of the Fraternal Order of Police, slamming lawmakers in Charlotte for their Friday podcast. Press conference saying it just happened too late and noting that too many lives have already been lost.
While the fraternal order of police, Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department officials, and the public, while they sit aside while more violent crime continues to happen through the city of Charlotte, we have seen over the last couple of months National Guard involvement in major United States cities. It started with the District of Columbia, President Donald Trump, back about two months ago deploying the National Guard to clean up crime and homelessness within the District of Columbia. To the president's credit, from a statistical standpoint, violent crime did plummet in our nation's capital in an immediate response to the show of force from National Guard being on the streets over the last couple of weeks. Also, discussions about deploying the National Guard in other major United States cities to deal with issues like crime. Also, deploying the National Guard.
National Guard in places like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, where over the last couple of days immigration and customs enforcement officials, those working with ICE, have been under siege by left-wing activists and protesters outside of their facilities. This is something. That the president has seemingly been willing to do in the past. The question will be: does a similar action take place in the city of Charlotte? I will step aside and note that the likelihood of Mayor Vi Lyles and Governor Josh Stein actually calling President Donald Trump and requesting this federal assistance is a slim to none, as they could not be ideologically more different in how they would like to handle these issues.
So, the likelihood in some of the calls from the fraternal order of police on Governor Stein and Mayor Vi Lyles does seem likely to fall on deaf ears.
However, we have seen the president jump in the fold on crime in Charlotte, talking about the murder of Irina Zaruska back about four weeks ago. Vice President JD Vance, just north of the Charlotte metro area, last week, also discussing some of the ongoing issues with violent crime in major cities across the United States, which on Unfortunately, it would include the city of Charlotte as well.
So, that letter has been sent. We will wait to see if the White House reacts. Have not seen any immediate reaction from Governor Josh Stein or Mayor Vi Lyles. Just some of the commentary coming in from other members of the Charlotte City Council. You can check out some additional coverage of that story by visiting our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com.
The headline there: National Guard requested by FOP to tackle Charlotte crime. Again, those details over at CarolinaJournal.com. It's 535. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110, 99.3 WBT, some big political news that we are tracking this morning and watched all throughout last week, the deadline. For Governor Josh Stein to sign or veto House Bill 307, the name of that legislation, Arena's Law, and the governor did act on Friday, officially signing the legislation into law after releasing about a three and a half minute video.
He scolded the General Assembly and had very little positive to say about the legislation, yet he did sign it into law as it has become a major political dividing factor between Republicans and Democrats over the last couple of weeks. Republicans claiming Democrats are soft on crime, pinning the death of Irina Zaruska and other tragic murders across the country on weak, soft on crime policies from those on the political left, things like cashless bail. Democrats on the other side claiming that this is a mental health issue that needs to be dealt with and Republicans aren't doing enough to fund the mental health care system. The governor said in part, quote, when I review public safety legislation that comes to my desk, I use one simple test. Does this make people safer?
He said in that video statement, this legislation, House Bill 307, alerts the judiciary to take a special look at people who may pose unusual risks of violence before determining their bail. That's a good thing, and that is why I have signed it into law. The bill was presented to the governor after the North Carolina House of Representatives approved it back on September the 23rd in a vote of 81 to 31. House Bill 307 is a sweeping criminal justice reform bill introduced and advanced after the murder of Irina Zaruska a month earlier on a Charlotte light rail train car. The House vote came only a day after the measure swiftly cleared the North Carolina Senate and passed the Senate in a 28-8 vote.
It also tightens pretrial conditions for the release of violent offenders, eliminates cashless bail, and establishes a new protocol for ordering mental health evaluations in the criminal justice system, as well as setting a firmer timeline for appeals in death penalty cases. In addition, that legislation also would allow death by firing squad if the death penalty is used in a case.
However, the governor noted that on his watch, there will not be a single firing squad in North, one single firing squad death in North Carolina, at least while he's in the government. Governor's mansion.
So, regardless of the governor's concerns with the legislation, he determined that he was, from a political standpoint, going to sign it into law. He did so on Friday. You can read some additional coverage and details of this story by visiting our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. The headline there: Stein signs Arena's Law into Law, but says it doesn't go far enough. It's now 538.
You're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour. For those that follow North Carolina politics pretty closely, over the last five years or so, you've probably heard a lot about redistricting. This has been a major political discussion in the state of North Carolina. Over the last couple of years, two, three, things have settled down, but there are still some lingering lawsuits from some maps drawn back in 2023. We do have an update on one of those legal challenges this morning.
Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, there was some progress last week in a suit going back to maps from 2023. What are you tracking this morning on it?
Well, first of all, you talked about redistricting being in the news for the last few years for the really hardcore politicos. This goes back decades. I mean, we know about them. Redistricting cases going back to the 80s, 90s. Every decade, there's been some sort of redistricting fight.
But the case that had the recent resolution involved a challenge to two state Senate districts in northeastern North Carolina. A couple of plaintiffs, two black men, one of whom during the course of this litigation, actually got elected to the state House of Representatives. But he and his colleague challenged these two state Senate districts in Northeastern North Carolina and said that they were examples of racial gerrymandering.
Now, that claim is important because both the federal courts and North Carolina's highest court, the Supreme Court here, have said that they're not going to deal anymore with so-called partisan gerrymandering cases where you say that an election district or an election map is too partisan. Those cases don't fly anymore.
So, basically, to win a gerrymandering case, you either have to say that the districts have malapportionment, where there are too many or too few people in districts for everyone to have about the same amount of impact with his or her vote, or you have to say there's racial gerrymandering. And this case was a case of racial gerrymandering. Back in February of 2024, The judge in the case, James Dever, refused to grant a preliminary injunction.
So these are the maps. that were used for those state Senate districts in the 2024 election.
Now after the election, Judge Dever held a five-day trial in the case because all he had done was said no preliminary injunction, but he hadn't thrown out the case. He held a trial in February, and now months later, he came out with his final decision, more than 120 pages. And he basically said, plaintiffs, you didn't prove your case. You didn't prove there's any racial gerrymandering. You did not prove that there's.
The racially polarized voting that you would need to show to be able to get this.
So the plaintiffs lose, the General Assembly wins, the districts will remain in place. That's not the final word because the day after that ruling, The two plaintiffs in the case appealed to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Fourth Circuit has been a little less kind. To Republican legislative leaders than district court-level judges in North Carolina.
So it's entirely possible the Fourth Circuit may issue a different sort of ruling. But at this point, in this particular redistricting case, it's a win for the General Assembly and a loss for those who are challenging the maps. I should mention that this is just one of several redistricting cases that are out there right now. There is another case that actually combines two different lawsuits that deal with both congressional districts and legislative districts across the state, not just in the northeastern corner of the state. There was a trial in that case earlier this year, and we're still awaiting.
a ruling from a three-judge panel in that case. And then there's another case. All of the ones we've been talking about so far are federal court. There's another case in state court that's in the Court of Appeals right now, in which former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr has asked the North Carolina courts to declare that there is a Right, constitutional right to fair elections, and that if you based on that constitutional right to fair elections, it should throw out some state and legislative and congressional districts.
So, all of those other cases are still percolating out there, but in this one case, we've had at least. One stage of resolution where a district court judge at the federal level has said, no. Plaintiffs lose, General Assembly wins, these districts are fine, and they're not racial gerrymandering. Mitch, you used that term gerrymandering. That kind of goes as swells in and out of the news.
It was in the news back just a couple of weeks ago, and it still remains as some other states across the country look at redrawing their congressional maps. Gerrymandering has been in the news a lot over the last couple of months as it relates to that. But a lot of that deals with partisan gerrymandering, which you just noted the courts are really not taking a look at. For this other claim, though, of racial gerrymandering, what was the argument that was originally made in this case back in 2023 that the maps were drawn in a way to split up racial demographics throughout some of these North Carolina state legislative districts? Yes, remember the case was dealing with northeastern North Carolina and two particular state senate districts out of the 50 total districts.
That area of the state has a high African-American population, and the argument was that at least one of these districts should have been drawn. To enable African Americans to elect the candidate of their choice. The response from the General Assembly was: first of all, we didn't take race into account at all. Unless we show that there is racially polarized voting, we can't take race into account. The Constitution bars us from doing that.
They also said that all of the other redistricting criteria that have been spelled out by the courts in the past have guaranteed that these two districts were going to be drawn in a way that encompassed the same number of counties. And there are only a handful of ways to draw the districts. And the way that was drawn was constitutional.
Now, remember, I said earlier, there are no longer in federal and state courts any partisan gerrymandering cases. And so the argument can't be made, oh, you made these districts too Republican. The argument too. To win, the lawsuit has to be that you use race in a way that is unconstitutional. And the General Assembly says, we didn't even use race at all.
We didn't take race into account. We used the normal standard criteria for drawing districts, and we draw it in a way, drew the districts in a way that was helpful to Republicans. But that's okay. The courts have said that's a political question, not that one they're going to deal with. And so it'll be interesting to see whether the Fourth Circuit takes a different view of that.
The Fourth Circuit. has been inclined. Over the last couple of decades, to say North Carolina legislators, especially since Republicans have taken over, you have done things in a way that's racially discriminatory. That's why we originally had voter ID thrown out and some of the other changes to elections that the General Assembly wanted to make.
So the Fourth Circuit may take a different view, but if it does, it's going to have to answer more than 120 pages of arguments that James Dever made about why this wasn't racial gerrymandering. Among his examples were the fact that some of the people who testified at the trial. State Senator Dan Blue. Representative Robert Reeves had major powerful positions in the General Assembly. Even though they were, and they're both black, even though they were elected in districts that have very low percentages of minorities.
And so he's saying, look, these folks got elected without having to have a majority-minority district. There is no need. based on the current Situation in North Carolina to have to have these districts. One of his more famous lines was: this is not 1960, 1965, this is 2025. This is not the same conditions that we had back when there was racially polarized voting that was clear in North Carolina.
You can read some additional details on this original ruling, then the appeal, and we'll of course keep our eye on some of those other legal challenges, Mitch, that you brought up. We appreciate the insight and the details this morning. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Good morning again. It's 5:53.
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 11:10, 99.3 WBT. Taking a look at some statewide news this morning. Despite increases in tariffs across the United States, trade with Canada has remained largely unchanged for North Carolina, with exceptions for certain commodities. This is all according to year-to-date data from the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, also known as EDPNC. According to Joseph Harris, a fiscal policy analyst for the John Locke Foundation, he says year to date through July, trade with Canada has been relatively stable compared to last year, despite a 25% tariff being implemented on most Canadian imports in the spring of this year, and Canada implementing its own retaliatory tariffs later on.
Canada has been the largest purchaser of North Carolina exports in the world for over a decade at this point, and that trend does continue into 2025, with just over $5 billion in North Carolina exports being purchased by Canadians just through the month of July. And while tariffs have had a minimal impact on trade with Canada, certain commodities have experienced significant changes. A couple of them pointed out by EDPNC, animal and vegetable fat exports to Canada have risen 98.4% up until July. Vehicle and meat exports have also posted substantial gains, each increasing by roughly 75%.
However, on the negative side, aircraft and aircraft parts have seen the steepest declines, falling by almost 55% over that same period of time.
Some of the most substantial exports to Canada, measured by total value year to date rather than percentage growth, Are nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery, and mechanical appliances, including some of the parts for them, pharmaceutical products, and vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling stock, along with their associated parts and accessories, according to EDPNC. According to that data, Canadian imports into North Carolina ranked sixth among countries at about $2.8 billion on the import side. The three most substantial are nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery, and some of those appliances. According to Harris, imports of Canadian precious stones and metals have increased a jarring 4,400% year to date from $4.4 million to more than $200 million through the month of July. On the other hand, imports of organic chemicals from Canada have plummeted by ninety three percent year to date as well.
The tariffs impact all steel and aluminum products That are not metal and poured in the United States, including deliverables in downstream goods, automobiles, and auto parts, are subject to a separate 25% tariff, as there are multiple things at discussion here. You've got a general 50% tariffs on certain things, then you've got a separate aluminum and steel tariffs that have already been in place that are not part of those wide-sweeping Liberation Day tariffs.
So, a little confusing when you're going through some of the numbers and seeing what industries are actually affected. As of August the 1st, the tariff rate on most Canadian imports was increased from 25 to 35 percent in an effort by the Trump administration to hold Canada accountable for its alleged continued role in the fentanyl crisis, making it even more vital to continue to monitor the impacts of tariffs on trade with North Carolina's most valuable customer, our neighbors to the north. In Canada. We've got some charts and some more numbers and figures on this story this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. That story's headline: NC trade with Canada remains steady overall, certain commodities impacted.
You can read those details at CarolinaJournal.com. That's going to do it for a Monday edition. WBT News is next. Followed by Good Morning BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on News Talk 1110 and 99.3, WBT.
