It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Wednesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. We start off with some agricultural news this morning on the program. As we are in the midst of a federal government shutdown, the White House is expected to later this week, any day now, to announce a bailout for American farmers whose livelihoods have been impacted by inflation as well as tariffs imposed by the administration.
Now this is incredibly relevant here in North Carolina as agriculture is the state's number one industry. Generating a whopping $111 plus billion dollars a year in annual revenue. As the Carolina Journal has reported over the past six months, and as we have brought you details here on the Carolina Journal NewsHour, the tariffs have had a significant impact on North Carolina farmers, particularly those that produce and grow things like tobacco, sweet potatoes, and soybeans, which are some of the state's largest agricultural commodities. According to a report out from the New York Times, the President is reportedly going to be doing, quote, some farm stuff this week, that being reported by the Times on October the 6th. Reuters also highlighting reports from U.S.
Treasury Secretary and Scott Bessett that also the administration will announce some farm aid this week. According to the vice president of general economics at the Cato Institute, they told the New York Times that Scott Lincoln, quote, We have an export dependent industry, we've angered its biggest customer, and boom, now we're bailing out an export-dependent industry. Republican lawmakers believe that American farmers could see as much as $50 billion in federal aid, according to the New York Times reporting. Many agricultural experts see this as a repeat of what happened in 2018 when the Trump administration imposed widesweeping and broad tariffs on China. leading to similar blowback.
At that period of time, American farmers were given a $12 billion bailout in response to trade damage from unjustified retaliation by foreign nations, according to data from the USDA.
Now here in North Carolina, Steve Troxler, who is the commissioner of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, he told the Carolina Journal, quote, I am happy to hear that President Trump is considering aid for farmers who have become targets in broader global trade negotiations. The Agriculture Commissioner went on to say, we all depend on farmers to feed us, and we need them to be able to continue to produce food and fiber. Farmers are hurting right now financially, and we could see many go out of business without this assistance. The last time we went through this with trade, President Donald Trump was very good at looking at farmers, and we certainly hope that happens this time as well. The tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on China are primarily blamed for the impact that they have had on the agricultural community, not only in North Carolina but across the state, especially soybean farmers, which is one of North Carolina's top five cash crops.
In 2023, China was the largest importer of American agricultural products, accounting for this is a major number, 17% of the total, 17% of every agricultural product in North Carolina, China was importing into their economy, according to data from the United States Department of Agriculture, a significant percentage and portion there. Kelly Lester, policy analyst for the John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal: Another round of farm bailouts might make for good politics, but it's bad economically. following up that by saying these payments don't solve the problem. They paper over the damage caused by the administration's own tariffs. North Carolina farmers, like growers across the country, don't want handouts.
They want access to markets. The real relief would be ending the trade war and letting farmers compete freely. One of the remaining questions is how the bailout will be funded in the 2018 bailout. It was funded through the Commodity Credit Cooperation, a federal corporation within the USDA that currently is depleted. Trump indicated in a Truth Social post back on October 1st that the bailout would, in fact, be funded in part by revenue from tariffs, saying, We have made so much money on tariffs that we are going to take a small portion of that money and help our farmers.
In all caps, I will never let our farmers down. Again, we are expecting that announcement here in the next day or two from the administration, at least according to reporting from both Reuters and the New York Times. You can read some additional details this morning on our story by visiting our website, CarolinaJournal.com. The headline there, White House to announce bailout for American farmers. In some other agricultural news, the United States Department of Agriculture is soon to roll out its fall regulatory agenda, but reforming the National Environmental Policy Act, also known as NEPA, will likely have the most significant impact on farmers, according to Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. According to the USDA Farm Service Agency website, the NEPA requires all federal agencies to consider the effects of their projects and programs on the environment. The Farm Service Agency complies with NEPA by completing an environmental review prior to approving a project or program. This type of review that is completed depends on the size and the project or program. Carolina Journal recently had the opportunity to ask the Deputy Secretary what regulatory reforms that the USDA is looking at.
And while Vaden indicated that he didn't want to reveal too much ahead of the fall regulatory agenda, he did tell the Carolina Journal that the USDA would be getting out of the way of farmers and highlighted NEPA reforms as one of the key reforms being examined by USDA. Vaden told Carolina Journal: there can be dozens of pages of environmental review that apply to a single loan. to a single farmer and that has seen as legally required. You can imagine with as many loans as USDA issues on an annual basis how many pages of analysis that adds up to. And even worse, for farmers like those involved in livestock here in North Carolina, it has given rise to lawsuits in federal court whereby environmental groups have sought to stop loans to individual animal agricultural operations.
When conducting environmental reviews of its projects or programs, the Farm Service Agency evaluates their impacts on broad ranges of natural resources as well as on areas of special concern, including potential effects on minority and low-income populations, according to USDA.
However, according to the Deputy Secretary and Vaden, under the Supreme Court's recent precedent narrowing the scope of NEPA and through the regulations that the USDA is implementing in coordination with their federal partners, NEPA will now be applied strictly according to statutes as written rather than expanded through the decades of interpretation. In practice, this means that they can deliver funding, loans, and assistance to farmers more quickly without requiring them to wait for extensive paperwork or lengthy legal analysis on single routine loans. John Sanders, who is the director of the Center for Food, Power, and Life at the John Locke Foundation, said, quote, NEPA has long been used as a proxy environmental policy tool. Which is well beyond its original scope of analyzing possible environmental impacts of major projects and considering reasonable alternatives. Through mission creep and judicial expansion, it has become a way to stop or stymie projects that environmental organizations oppose.
It's done that in several ways: through costly, lengthy paperwork requirements, lawsuits, and focusing on remote and speculative environmental impacts as opposed to ones that are easily foreseeable. The impacts not even being closely casual to the projects or substantial for a project to be denied. In addition to NEPA reforms, the USDA's fall agenda will include 19 individual regulatory actions in the food and nutrition space, specifically addressing food stamps, according to Vaden. In addition, reforms will make it easier to access their rural development-leading lending industries.
So some of those individuals will have the opportunity to get some additional funds and access to some of those short-term loans and lending programs. Back in 2020, Donald Vandervaart, who currently serves on the North Carolina Utilities Commission, signed a letter in opposition to NEPA. He had previously served as the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. And at the time of signing the letter, he did work as an energy researcher for the John Locke Foundation. We've got a copy of that over on our website this morning at CarolinaJournal.com.
This fall regulatory National Environmental Policy Act could be a major Win for farmers as we just talked about some of the struggles and issues that they are dealing with as it relates to tariffs in the broader economy. Getting the federal government, getting regulatory bodies and agencies out of the way could be a huge sigh of relief for those, especially many of the small and medium-sized family or community farms that exist throughout the state of North Carolina. We'll keep our eye on the United States Department of Agriculture when this announcement is made. We'll bring you the details right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour and over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. It's 522.
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Talk 1110-993 WBT. The federal government shutdown has officially entered its eighth day this morning on here we are Wednesday, October the 8th. With seemingly no viable signs of a budget deal between Democrats and Republicans yet, early morning press conferences yesterday from House Speaker Mike Johnson and minority leader Hakeem Jefferies indicated that there was no negotiations, no talks going on between the two different parties. President Donald Trump speaking at the White House yesterday threatened that some furloughed federal workers might not receive back pay when Congress eventually agrees on a funding package going forward with the president saying, quote, we're going to take care of our people.
However, there are some people that really don't deserve to be taken care of and we'll take care of them in a different way. As for what's going on on the Democrats' side of the aisle, House of Minority Leader and Hakeem Jeffries has ruled out a potential off-ramp for the shutdown when he told reporters on Tuesday that a one-year extension of American Care Act subsidies was a, quote, non-starter and a, quote, laughable position. Even though President Donald Trump has told people like Jefferies and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that he is willing to negotiate. and willing to negotiate and willing to discuss health care subsidies and everything surrounding the health care industry.
However, the discussion and the willingness for the President to talk does not seem to be enough for the minority leader in the House to move forward.
So as we sit here on day eight, a couple of things that you need to be aware of. The Social Security Administration will continue to issue retirement and disability benefits.
However, it is slated to furlough 12% of its staff and pause marketing campaigns according to the agency shutdown plans that were filed last week. And payments will likewise continue under the Medicare and Medicaid health programs.
So no impacts to Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid from a federal level. The post office that will continue to be operational here on day eight as the USPS is a ratepayer-funded entity of the federal government. They generate their revenue from stamps and shipping packages and things of that nature. They do not depend on congressional funding for their operations.
So everything good there.
However, over to airports, this is where things are starting to get a little bit dicey. More than 13,000 air traffic controllers and about 50,000 TSA transportation security. Security administration officers are still required to show up to work during the shutdown. And according to details from Reuters, controllers are set to receive a partial paycheck on October the 14th. That is for work performed before the shutdown.
A mass walkout of air traffic controllers and TSA officers could cripple domestic travel and international travel here in the United States. And as we get ever closer to the October 15th deadline, one week from today, when the next paychecks are set to be delivered for federal employees, which would include those air traffic controllers and TSA agents, that is going to be something to keep a very close eye on. We've already seen, at least at some airports, some ongoing issues with air traffic controllers walking off the job, calling in sick and causing shortages there, meaning that flights and various travel plans are being delayed. For the military, The 2 million active duty military members do remain on duty and without pay until the budget impasse is resolved. Roughly 55% of the Defense Department's 740-plus thousand civilian employees have been furloughed, including those involved in training, procurement, and administrative support.
Civilians working in cybersecurity, medical care, weapons system maintenance, and intelligence and logistics are deemed essential employees and are continuing their operation this morning. Only 5% of the Department of Homeland Security's 271,000 workers have been furloughed, including those involved in research, planning, training, and auditing. Secret Service agents, immigration and border official airport security screeners, Coast Guard personnel, and Federal Emergency Management Agency members are all deemed and considered essential employees. They all remain on the Job. This shutdown is the 15th since 1981 and is currently on track to become the fourth longest in U.S.
history, elapsing a six-day government shutdown that happened back in 1995.
However, I'll remind you that the longest shutdown lasted 35 days during Trump's first term from 2018 to 2019.
So There is some precedent with this administration for a lengthy government shutdown. Again, as we sit here a week before paychecks are set to go out to those federal employees, it is something that we are keeping a close eye on. As we heard yesterday, as I mentioned from House Minority Leader and Hakeem Jeffries, that he has called and said that the White House has been radio silent since the government shutdown last week. The White House press secretary and Caroline Levitt clapped back on that in a White House press briefing yesterday, noting that the administration is open to discussions.
However, there's really not a whole lot to discuss as what is on the table is a clean, continuing resolution that has been passed by Republicans. It first met the United States House back in mid-September. The Republicans with the majority there were able to pass it through, and it has been stalled in the Senate. Votes not exactly clear this morning whether more votes are expected to take place in the United States Senate today. As the impasse continues, the votes have been pretty clear: 55 in favor, 45 against.
That has been the vote since last Tuesday. We'll keep our eye on all those details and the impacts here across North Carolina, especially looking at some of our major airports, looking at Charlotte and Raleigh. If there start to become some issues there, we'll keep an eye on it and pass the details along to you as soon as we get them right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Success isn't guaranteed. It's earned through unwavering commitment.
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Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Talk 11:10-99.3 WBT. Good Wednesday morning to you. While the North Carolina General Assembly is not slated to be fully back in session until October the 20th, there is an interesting House committee hearing that is meeting today. Earlier this year, the North Carolina House established the Committee on Government Efficiency.
If that sounds familiar to you, of course, earlier this year, a lot of discussion at the federal level about Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency. And with that, we had North Carolina lawmakers act on a similar body. It is a bipartisan group of lawmakers. The chair of that entity, the two chairs, are Representative Keith Kidwell and Representative John Torbett. Those are the two individuals that are leading it.
However, there is a bipartisan group of individuals that are on that, both Democrats and Republicans, including somebody like Representative Carla Cunningham out of Mecklenburg County, who are set to be meeting in Raleigh today. Their meeting is scheduled at 1 p.m. Back in January when the group first met, Representative Torbett said, quote, North Carolinians deserve a state government that works for them. Unfortunately, our government agencies and public universities have been bogged down by bad policies and programs like DEI, limiting their ability to enact their core purpose, which is serving citizens. Governor Josh Stein commented on this entity back earlier this year as well, saying in a speech, people should know that their tax dollars are being spent well, but let's get it right.
Let's use a scalpel, not a chainsaw.
So as the House Committee is scheduled to meet at one o'clock today, It is going to be interesting to see what exactly is going to be discussed. It's not immediately clear what is on the agenda for that meeting this morning.
However, it is happening in Raleigh today.
So, as the vast majority of the General Assembly is not in town, we are going to be keeping an eye on that committee hearing meeting. We'll have details coming up later on today over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. And of course, we'll have the latest for you coming up tomorrow morning right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, where it's now 5:38, News Talk 11:10, 99.3 WBT. A situation just north of the Charlotte Metro dating back to at least 2021 has been the subject of litigation over the last couple of years. To walk us through some of those details this morning, Mitch Kokai with the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Mitch, a hate crime conviction back a couple of years ago, an appeal over the last 12 months or so. What are you tracking in the Concord area?
Well, this is a story that people in the Concord area are probably aware of. A fellow named Marion Hudak, who was convicted of a federal hate crime in 2024 and sentenced to 41 months in prison, along with several years of supervised release afterward. And the latest development is that the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a unanimous opinion from a three-judge panel, has affirmed that conviction. What happened on the appeal?
Was that Hudak said that the trial judge in the case made a couple of mistakes. One of them, Was not allowing evidence into the case saying that the problem was not. The racial animus of Mr. Hudak, but the fact that he suffered from mental illness, that information was not allowed to be used in the trial. And the second was that the judge.
Did allow into the trial the fact that Hudak owned a bunch of Nazi memorabilia. Originally, the trial judge in this case Decided not to allow that into evidence, but then changed his mind when Hudak, when talking about this memorabilia, described himself as a military collector. And the judge decided: well, you know, this is something that the jury should decide: whether this is something that he just collected because he has a history buff, or because this is something that's a symbol of hate and that symbolizes his desire to act out against people of other races.
Now, some of the facts of the case are of interest as well. The initial incident that led to a hate crime charge, and there were two for which he was convicted, but the initial incident was from 2021. The next door neighbor. For this defendant in the case is a Hispanic man, and apparently there's a long a train of instances of insults and racial epithets and threats. But at one point in 2021, Hudak, according to the court records, actually beat the man and threatened to kill him.
And then in 2022 The second incident involved Houdak and a black man. They were next to each other in stopped-in traffic. And Hudak opens up his car, which is covered up in Confederate symbols, and hurls a racial epithet at the man, threatens to beat him up, and then gets out of his car, punches on the other guy's car window several times, and then when the When the other man drives off, Hudak chases him back to his home, says he knows where he lives, he's going to shoot him and shoot his girlfriend too.
So that was the second hate crime charge. Hudak was convicted of both. And the latest development is that the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says the judge did not abuse his discretion in this case, meaning that those convictions could stand and that Hudak will have to spend 41 months total in prison on these federal hate crimes. You mentioned mental illness in the original appeal, going back to the ongoing litigation that we're covering this morning.
Mitch, we do see that pretty often in it typically tends to be more major cases where you've got individuals that can clearly point to severe mental illness, deranged nature that drove them to make a horrendous decision. Most of the time, it's murdering somebody else or committing a heinous act against them. In this case, what did the appeals court have to say about the mental illness? Why was that not sufficient enough to enter into evidence and used during the trial?
Well, there were a couple of actually three reasons. The first reason was that Hudak did not. Attempt to have an insanity defense. He didn't try to excuse his behavior based on the fact that he was insane.
So that kind of threw that under the bus. The other thing there are some technical issues. There's something called Rule 702 in the rules that were contemplated. And the federal appeals court said that the trial judge got that right as well, that that was not something that Hudak could use to try to get this evidence in. But I think one of the main things that was of issue here is that the evidence that was entered help The defendant in this case really didn't say anything about his mental state at the time of these attacks in 2021 and 2022.
This was evidence that came to light about the state. that he was in when he was examined. Much later, much after the fact. And so that was one of the things that the original judge decided and that the appeals court affirmed was that there didn't seem to be any tie-in. Between the mental health evidence that was presented and the mental health state.
that Mr. Hudak was in. When he actually was alleged to have committed these crimes. And so that's what you really would have wanted to know. And one of the things that Judge Harvey Wilkinson wrote for the appeals court was: you know, for this particular crime, It doesn't necessarily matter that there were some mental health issues or even mental illness.
And in fact, he wrote that the fact that you would attack your next-door neighbor probably shows that you do have some sort of mental illness, but that doesn't. Yeah, but Erase the fact that it seems to be that this attack happened because of racial animus. That if The next-door neighbor had been white, that he would not have been attacked. The reason that he was attacked was that he was Hispanic, and that is entirely why this case is out there. In fact, at one point, Judge Wilkins had said the hate crime laws in the United States are written just for the circumstances like these: that because of the person's race, there is an attack of this sort, and that's what the hate crimes are designed to address.
He said, and in terms of talking about the Nazi memorabilia, he said this is not a First Amendment case. There is no Law that would prevent the defendant in this case from owning Nazi memorabilia and expressing views, however odious they might be. But this is a case about action, about an attack. And the reason that you would put that evidence into play is that it would help the jury decide whether there was racial animus based on the fact that he owned the Nazi memorabilia. And as I said, it was a close call.
The trial judge originally was not going to allow that evidence in, but only allowed it in after Hudak tried to say that he was not motivated by racial animus, but that he was a history buff and collected military items. And the judge decided, well, this is something the jury should really decide. The jury took all of the evidence and decided he should be convicted. Mitch, has the defendant been in prison since this appeal has been going on? Do you know the status of this individual?
I actually don't know the status. I assume that he has been.
So if so. That would mean that he's probably served about a year of his, what is a three and a half year sentence. I don't know whether he's been out or not, but if not, then that means he would start the three and a half years. If he has been in, he probably has about two and a half years to go, which will be followed then by another three years of supervised release. It's a sad story, Mitch.
Thanks for bringing it to our attention this morning. Unfortunate situation unfolding in Concord over the last three or four years. You can read some additional coverage this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Good morning again.
It's 5:52. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110, 99.3 WBTU. A lot of things that we are keeping an eye on today. Day eight of the federal government shutdown does continue in Washington, D.C. No major impact on services yet.
However, as we talked about earlier this morning, keeping an eye on the calendar one week from today, October the 15th is when paychecks are set to go out to federal employees for their second pay period of the month. They just got paid one week ago back on October the 1st.
So going to be an interesting thing to keep an eye on there.
Some reports across the country of some air traffic controllers calling in sick and walking off the job at least temporarily. Not immediately clear what those impacts are here in North Carolina.
However, that is something we are keeping an eye on. We'll keep you up to date over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com and right here. on the Carolina Journal News Hour. In some statewide news, things that we're going to be tracking today as well, the House Select Committee on Government Efficiency is set to meet in Raleigh today. The full General Assembly is expected to be back on October the 20th, coming up here in just a couple of weeks.
But this government efficiency meeting will be happening at 1 o'clock today in Raleigh. This entity was formed earlier this year by the Republican-led General Assembly. And, well, it's baked right into the name, Committee on Government Efficiency, paralleling some of the work ongoing at the federal level with Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency. This House Select Committee is tasked with overlooking the efficiency of taxpayer dollars that are given to a variety of state entities and agencies. It is important to note that this is a bipartisan group.
There are both Democrats and Republicans that are sitting members on this committee.
So they will be meeting today. We'll be keeping an eye on that coverage as well. Again, CarolinaJournal.com. And right here on the Carolina Journal NewsHour. In some statewide news or a story this morning that could have some major statewide implications in the midst of this ongoing government shutdown, the White House is expected any day to announce a bailout for American farmers.
That's as farmers have been impacted by rising inflation as well as the Trump administration's ongoing tariff war. This is especially important in North Carolina as agriculture is the state's number one industry. It generates a whopping one hundred eleven point one billion dollars in annual revenue. And as we have been walking you through the details over the last six months or so, Some of the ongoing tariff battles have had a significant impact on North Carolina farmers, particularly those that produce tobacco, sweet potatoes, and soybeans, as those are some of the state's largest agricultural commodities, and they are exported to countries all over the globe. The New York Times is reporting that the president is slated to act on some sort of farm bailout this week.
Reuters also reporting something similar. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson also saying that the administration would be announcing some of that farm aid this week.
So two different sources indicating that that is going to be happening as many agricultural experts see what is going on right now as a repeat of what happened in 2018. That's when the Trump administration imposed widesweeping tariffs on China during his first administration, leading to similar blowback in international trade. At that time, American farmers were given a twelve billion dollar bailout, according to the USDA, that was in response to trade damage from unjustified retaliation by foreign nations. Here in North Carolina, the commissioner of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, Steve Troxler, told the Carolina Journal: quote, I am happy to hear that President Trump is considering aid for farmers who have become targets in broader global trade negotiations. He went on to say, we all depend on farmers to feed us, and we need them to be able to continue to produce food and fiber.
Farmers are hurting right now financially, and we could see many go out of business without assistance. The last time we went through this with trade, President Trump was very good at looking after farmers. We certainly hope that happens this time too. Ending the quote there from Commissioner Troxler. The tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on China are primarily blamed for the impacts that they've had on the American agricultural industry, especially soybean farmers, which is one of North Carolina's top cash crops.
In 2023, China was the largest importer of American agricultural products, accounting for a whopping 17% of the total, according to data from the United States Department of Agriculture. Again, that announcement is expected really any day here. You can read some additional coverage on that story by visiting our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. That's going to do it for a Wednesday edition. WBT News is next.
Followed by Good Morning, BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5-6, right here on News Talk 1110 and 99.3 WBT.
