Share This Episode
Carolina Journal Radio Nick Craig Logo

Lawmakers Seek Guard in Charlotte, Bishop to Be U.S. Attorney, $155M Helene Aid

Carolina Journal Radio / Nick Craig
The Truth Network Radio
November 7, 2025 6:42 am

Lawmakers Seek Guard in Charlotte, Bishop to Be U.S. Attorney, $155M Helene Aid

Carolina Journal Radio / Nick Craig

00:00 / 00:00
On-Demand Podcasts NEW!

This broadcaster has 159 podcast archives available on-demand.

Broadcaster's Links

Keep up-to-date with this broadcaster on social media and their website.


November 7, 2025 6:42 am

Lawmakers urge deployment of the National Guard to Charlotte due to rising crime rates, while Governor Josh Stein's office responds with a statement opposing the measure. Meanwhile, FEMA relief funds are being distributed to Western North Carolina communities affected by Hurricane Helene, and a new congressional map is being challenged in court.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

Save over two hundred dollars when you book weekly stays with Verbo this winter, if you haven't seen your college besties since well, college. You need a week to catch up in a snowy cabin. Take a week-long vacation and save over $200. Book now at Verbo.com. It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Friday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT.

I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. Pressure continues to grow for local and state officials amid growing concerns over public safety and rising crime across the Queen City in Charlotte. Congressman Mark Harris, who represents North Carolina's 8th congressional district, Congressman Pat Harrigan, who represents NC 10, and Congressman Chuck Edwards, who represents NC 11, authored a letter to Democrat Governor Josh Stein calling on him to deploy the North Carolina National Guard to the state's largest city. The letter cites an alarming growth in violence across the city and violent crime across the city, which of course gained national attention earlier this year after 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Irina Zaruska was brutally murdered on the Charlotte light rail.

The letter is addressed to Governor Josh Stein and it reads, Dear Governor Stein, We are deeply concerned regarding your consistent refusal to grant the Charlotte Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police or FOP's request to deploy the North Carolina National Guard to assist law enforcement in addressing the growing violence crisis in Charlotte. As you know, the situation in our state's largest city has become increasingly dire. Recently, the city faced eight homicides in seven days. The murder rate in uptown Charlotte is now 200% higher than it was just one year ago. According to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police, aggressive assaults involving knives and guns have risen from 86 in 2024 to 111 in 2025, and personal strong-arm robberies have increased from 26 to 31 in the same period.

These are not just numbers, they represent North Carolinians whose lives have been lost or shattered by violent crime. The fraternal order of police has made clear that local officers are stretched dangerously thin. That reality is reflected in cases like DeCarlos Brown Jr., who had been arrested 14 times. DeCarlos Brown Jr. is the man, I'll note, that has been charged both locally and federally in the murder of Irina Zaruska.

The letter also says, and Herbert Jordan, arrested 50 times in and around Charlotte, as well as a Charlotte teen arrested 111 times in two years and is still walking free. It is no wonder that our officers feel overextended. Until our judicial system ensures criminals are held accountable, there is a compelling case to deter violence through a visible, stabilizing presence such as the National Guard. The letter goes on and says, while calling upon the National Guard is not a long-term solution to Charlotte's law enforcement staffing challenges, it is an emergency measure designed to stabilize a crisis situation and protect innocent lives. As the commander-in-chief of the North Carolina National Guard, you have both the authority and the responsibility to secure the safety of persons and properties when local resources are overwhelmed.

And the lawmakers point to North Carolina General Statute 127A-16A. Other cities have deployed the National Guard and seen positive results. In Washington, D.C., when President Donald Trump deployed troops under his lawful authority, the city promptly saw a reduction in crime. including twelve consecutive days without a single murder. Similarly, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee partnered with the National Guard to protect the citizens of Memphis and saw a remarkable outcome.

850 violent criminals arrested, 175 illegal firearms confiscated, and forty four missing children returned safely to their families. These examples demonstrate that leadership and swift action can restore safety and stability when local resources are strained. The men and women who wear the badge in Charlotte have sounded an unmistakable cry for help, yet you have rejected their cry. The people of North Carolina deserve to know why their governor has refused to help while the officers sworn to protect them plead for immediate assistance. We look forward to your prompt response.

Sincerely, Mark Harris, Pat Harrigan, and Chuck Edwards, three members of North Carolina's congressional delegation. I will note that this letter that was just recently sent from lawmakers follows a similar letter that the Charlotte Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police sent to Stein in early October. That also was sent to Vi Lyles, as I mentioned, Governor Stein, as well as President Donald Trump. And in their letter, they pointed to some of the same statistics and requested National Guard assistance over staffing shortages within CMPD. Governor Stein did, and his office did officially respond to the letter Tuesday afternoon saying, Local, well-trained law enforcement officers who live in and know their communities are the best equipped.

To keep North Carolina neighborhoods safe, not military service members. That is why Governor Stein has been working to expand our ranks of well-trained law enforcement officers. He has called on the General Assembly to fund his plan to extend raises and recruitment and retention bonuses to law enforcement and make investments in mental health to keep everyone safe. That is an emailed statement that we received from Governor Stein's office over at CarolinaJournal.com.

So even as the Fraternal order of police sends a letter.

Now you've got Congressman Mark Harris, Pat Harrigan, and Chuck Edwards sending a pretty similar letter as well, calling on the deployment of the North Carolina National Guard to Charlotte. Governor Stein not seemingly biting on some of the arguments that are being made by lawmakers. You can read that entire letter this morning and the reaction from Governor Josh Stein's office over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. The headline story there: lawmakers urge National Guard deployment in Charlotte. In some other statewide news this morning, Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Dan Bishop, who formerly represented North Carolina in Congress and in the state House and Senate, is set to be taking on a new role as a U.S.

Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina, which covers areas like Durham, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem. According to the online media publication, The Federalist. President Donald Trump is set to appoint him sometime in the next week or so, and he could start serving as early as potentially next week on an interim basis while awaiting Senate confirmation. Former Congressman Dan Bishop did confirm the news on social media in a back-and-forth exchange with Sean Davis, who is the founder of the Federalist, saying, Thank you, Sean, referring to Sean Davis's post, I'm honored and eager to serve. He would be replacing Clifton, rather, T.

Barnett, who was appointed to the office on June the 21st by Attorney General Pam Bondi. The Senate confirmed Bishop to OMB in March in a vote of 53 to 45. Dan Bishop's political career started in Mecklenburg County as a commissioner where he served from 2005 to 2009. He then served in the North Carolina General Assembly as a state representative from 2015 to 2017 and moved over to the state senate from 2017 to 2019. He won a special election in September of 2019 to represent North Carolina's 9th congressional district in Congress, serving until 2023 when the district changed to North Carolina's 8th congressional district.

While in Congress, Dan Bishop served on the Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. And so those are some of the some of the work that he did. The subcommittee discussed the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal by many media and social media sources and purported FBI documents that were reported to target Catholics who attended Latin masses as potential dangerous radicals. Dan Bishop said in the debate over big tech and social media platforms that they have content moderation policies that are narrower than the First Amendment, and they take down speech as a matter of practice that the First Amendment would protect if they were the government. He has said many times that people have the right to do that because they are private businesses.

So, we are going to keep an eye on some of this information coming out of a report from the Federalist that a former congressman, former AG candidate, now current deputy director at OMB, the Office of Management and Budget at the federal level, Dan Bishop, could be moving into a role as a U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina. We've got some additional coverage and details on that this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. The story headline there: Bishop to be appointed U.S. Attorney for Middle District of NC.

Yeah. Lowe's knows that saving is always top of mind, especially this season. That's why we've picked some great deals for early Black Friday. Get free select Dewalt, Cobalt, or Craftsman tools when you buy a select battery or combo kit. More tools?

Why not? Plus, we've got select pre-lit artificial Christmas trees starting at $59.98 because it's never too early to think Christmas. Get Black Friday prices without the crowds. Lowe's, we help. You save.

While supplies last, selection varies by location. Yeah. It's 521. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Talk 1110-993WBT.

Following up on a story we talked about yesterday morning, the Federal Aviation Administration or the FAA is forcing airlines to cut 10% of their flights at 40 of the nation's busiest airports. And while we were on the air yesterday morning, the list was not yet published. Right as we were getting off the air, those 40 airports were announced. And Charlotte Douglas International in Charlotte is the only North Carolina airport affected by this.

However, looking through the list from the FAA of those 40 airports, a lot of major hubs.

So, even for individuals flying out of other airports across North Carolina that are not directly traveling from Charlotte Douglas, many connections there from smaller airports, backlogs at other major airports for final destinations. This is all part of the ongoing government. Shutdown, which there are some rumors could be resolved as early as today, as senators are staying in Washington, D.C. At least that's what some of the social media reports and rumors are. We'll be staying in Washington, D.C.

through the weekend, which is not typical for the United States Senate to potentially hammer out some of that additional work. And get the federal government reopened as we are now in the longest period of a full government shutdown.

So, if you have got any flights today, maybe you're heading on over to the airport now. Be advised that there could be some lengthy delays or even cancellations due to some of the ongoing struggles of the federal government shutdown in Washington, D.C., now permeating across the rest of the country. We'll keep you up to date on the details throughout the day right here on News Talk 11:10 and 99.3 WBT, where it's now 5:23. You're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour.

Now, more than a year removed from Hurricane Helene and all of the devastation and destruction left in the wake of Western North Carolina, there's been a lot of criticism, and rightfully so thrown at FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, over lagging funds making their way into Western North Carolina.

However, we do have some good news this morning coming out of the federal government as it relates to Helene relief. To walk us through that, Teresa Opeka CarolinaJournal.com joins us on the news hour. Teresa, it's been anything but quick, but money does continue to flow. What's the latest that you're following? Sure, good morning, Nick.

Thanks for having me. Yes, so got word that U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam has announced $155 million in public assistance reimbursements for Western North Carolina will be coming to those folks out there due to the devastation from Hurricane Helene that occurred over a year ago in September of 2024. Got word of that through Ted Budd, U.S. Senator from North Carolina, in a press release.

He said he was grateful for that. That's going to reimburse those Western North Carolina communities following Hurricane Helene, and that the funds are vital to ensuring cleanup and rebuilding efforts don't continue to strain local government budgets more than a year later.

So that is some great news. And Teresa, in your story over at Carolinajournal.com, it seems like pretty much everything is political. It's unfortunate to say that, but it is the fact of the matter. It looks like as it relates to getting some additional relief out west, Senator Ted Budd is also going to work through getting some DHS general counsel approved as well. Yeah.

Yeah, that's correct. Like he stated in his press release that He has agreed to lift his hold on DH General Counsel nominee James Percival and allow a Senate vote as soon as those communities receive those funds. I believe there's two others that they still have a hold on. He mentioned that ensuring DHS has strong legal representation is critical. But he remains very willing to use every level of power he has as a U.

S. Senator to ensure that Western North Carolina is made whole and that federal funds are approved and dispersed on a rolling basis into the future. That's from a quote that he gave in that press release. And, Teresa, not everybody, of course, is going to be a fan of Senator Ted Butt. I'm sure if you asked a lot of Democrats across North Carolina, they would say they're not in favor of what he's doing.

But it's hard to argue looking at what you've got over in the article at CarolinaJournal.com. To me, this is exactly what you would want members of North Carolina's either congressional delegation or Senate delegation doing, saying, hey, get this money for the home state that I represent, and then we'll move forward with some of the things that you want. Right, right. And it's regardless of party, right? I mean, it doesn't matter.

It's for people and their lives, their livelihoods. One, in fact, was Democratic Governor Josh Stein. He said he was pleased that that much-needed funding was coming to North Carolina and said he appreciated North Carolina's federal delegation for their continuing advocacy. And every dollar moves us one step closer in making sure Western North Carolina recovers stronger than ever.

So yeah, even, you know, the governor said it too, you know, trying to put differences aside when it comes to people's lives, their businesses, and just get the job done, get that funding rolling. And looking at some of the monies that are going to be doled out from FEMA and from DHS on this, a lot of it, Teresa, is going to small towns and villages. I see some electrical membership co-ops. These are entities that need an incredible amount of money to continue the work. Many of them have had to borrow large sums of money to get power and water turned back on for customers.

Some of these counties are in small cities, Teresa. I mean, we were looking at the numbers earlier this year.

Some of the recovery efforts are three, four, five, six times their yearly budget to get their towns or their communities back whole. I mean, I can only imagine the financial situation that's unfolding up out west. Right. And I mean, they're probably already having you trouble maybe before Helene, you know, trying to get their uh their items and their budget taken care of. And when Helene hit, it just exacerbated it, made it Unimaginably worse.

And so, yeah, you've got a few of them: the village of Sugar Mountain. You also have the town of Boone, other projects for Bunkham County, Henderson County, all these, you know, every dollar adds up.

So, yeah, I'm sure it's a great relief, but there's still more needs to be done as well.

Well, you just mentioned a couple of minutes ago that there are a couple of other large FEMA reimbursement projects that are still kind of outstanding at this point and waiting for Christy Gnome's approval. Yes.

So, you know, the approval process is anything that crosses her desk, I think at a certain point that she has to sign, did have that in the article as well.

So, yeah, there's a few of them that still need to be improved. The amount that she needs to sign for reimbursement, it's over $100,000.

So anything that's over $100,000 needs her signature. But there are still a few more that are out there, of course. As Governor Stein said, we still have a long way to go, which we do. The state does, Western North Carolina still has a long way to go.

So it's great to cut some of this red tape and get all this money flowing in as quickly as possible. Yeah, well and hopefully Senator Budd, Senator Tillis and members of the North Carolina Congressional Delegation can continue beating down the doors at FEMA to get as many of these dollars rolled out as possible. Teresa, you've got a list of all of the various projects and some of the things that are going to be funded through this new reimbursement that we're talking about right now. Where can folks get those details? Sure, they can head on over to CarolinaJournal.com.

Teresa Opeka joins us this morning on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Gain Superflings are here to take your laundry to the next level. It's your birthday. Peace. Supersized laundry packs.

These things are huge. Super fresh, super clean. Gain super flames. Gain Superflames laundry packs have four times the Oxy cleaning power and three times the February's freshness versus Gain Original Liquids. Super fresh, super clean.

Gain super flames. Gain super flames for next level laundry. Every now and then I rinse it out And I need downy rinse tonight And I need it more I can't wait for bed and the smell never me I don't know what to do, I'm always in the dark The sweet deck shore smells like a dark jar Downy rinse fights stubborn odors in just one wash when impossible odors get stuck in Ouch. It's 536. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News.

Our Good Friday morning to you. News Talk 1110-993WBT. We are following a new letter this morning sent from Congressman Mark Harris, Congressman Pat Harrigan, and Congressman Chuck Edwards, three Republican members of North Carolina's congressional delegation. It was sent to Democrat Governor Josh Stein, calling on him to deploy the National Guard to the city of Charlotte. The letter cites an alarming growth in violence and violent crime across the city, which, of course, gained national attention earlier this year after 23-year-old Irina Zaruska, the Ukrainian refugee, was murdered on the Charlotte light rail.

The alleged killer in that, DeCarlos Brown Jr., has been in custody since. Part of the letter reads in part: quote, according to the Charlotte Mecklenburg fraternal order of police, aggravated assaults involving knives and guns have risen. From 86 in 2024 to 111 in 2025, and personal strong-arm robberies have increased from 26 to 31 in the same period. These are not just numbers, they represent North Carolinians whose lives have been lost or shattered by violent crime. The letter goes on to state, the fraternal order of police has made clear that local officers are stretched dangerously thin and pointing to a couple of recent cases, including DeCarlos Brown Jr., who was arrested 14 times, Herbert Jordan, who was arrested 50 times in and around Charlotte, and cite a Charlotte teenager who was arrested 111 times over the span of a two-year period and is still walking the streets.

The congressmen acknowledge that deploying the National Guard is not a long-term kind of silver bullet fix for rising crime across the Queen's City, but argue at this point it is a necessary short-term measure to protect innocent lives and bring some level of stability to the crime situation across Charlotte. The letter ends with a direct call to action from Stein for action for supporting local law enforcement and the people of Charlotte. The governor's office did respond to the letter in an emailed statement to Carolina Journal saying, quote, Local, well-trained law enforcement officers who live in and know their communities are the best equipped to keep North Carolina neighborhoods safe, not military service members. That is why Governor Stein has been working to expand our ranks of well-trained law enforcement officers. He has called on the General Assembly to fund his plan to extend raises as well as recruitment and retention bonuses to law enforcement and make investments in mental health to keep everyone safe.

End quote there from a spokesperson for Governor Josh Stein's office. This is now the second letter, the other sent earlier in the month of October, directly from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police. That letter sent to Charlotte Mayor Villes, Governor Stein, and President Trump requesting the same thing, National Guard assistance over some of those staffing shortages. It would appear, at least from the immediate statement from Governor Stein, that he is not biting on the request. You can read the full letter and the governor's response this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com.

That story's headline: Lawmakers Urge National Guard Deployment in Charlotte. It's now 5:39, actually, now 5:40. You're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour.

As we continue to watch the legal battle surrounding a new congressional map drawn by the North Carolina General Assembly, the question has been, what is the timeline going to look like for these challenges ahead of a December the 1st candidate filing period that is set to open across the state of North Carolina? To walk us through the latest this morning, Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, we chatted earlier in the week, both sides and all some of the different parties involved, all kind of making their case to the courts over how this should play out in the coming weeks and months. What are you learning this morning?

Well, we are going to have pretty quick action on this, Nick. The plaintiffs, the challengers who don't like the new congressional map, had asked the three-judge panel that's overseeing two of these redistricting lawsuits to expedite the case, so to come up with some sort of ruling fairly early. And the court has accepted that idea.

So they are going to have a hearing on November 19th in Winston-Salem on a possible preliminary injunction that would block the new congressional map. Basically, there was a court order issued that set out an entire timeline up to even scheduling at some point in May of 2026 or later a trial in this case. No date set for the trial, but some of the court briefing lasts through May, so it certainly wouldn't happen before mid-May at the earliest to have a trial in this case. But there will be a hearing on November 19th in Winston-Salem about a possible preliminary injunction.

Now, along with the plaintiffs, seeking to have a preliminary injunction on the other side. The legislative defendants who are defending this new congressional map have asked for the case to be dismissed. They're saying that the arguments that are being made against this congressional map are the arguments of a partisan gerrymandering case. And they say the federal courts, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a case that came out of North Carolina, has said federal courts can't deal with this issue of partisan gerrymandering anymore.

It's a political question. It's not something that judges are able to handle.

Now, the three-judge panel has not dismissed that idea either. And along with setting up this, This November 19th court date on a preliminary injunction. It's also called on the plaintiffs to respond to the call for the motion to dismiss within a couple of days after that hearing.

So both of these things are moving on a parallel track. One is They push to have an injunction. That would block the map from being used for 2026 elections. And on the other side, What the defendants, the legislators, are trying to get done, and that is to get the entire case thrown out. Both things will be in front of the three-judge panel later this month, and it will be very interesting to see how long after the hearing.

will there be any court any sort of decision made? What comes out of this three-judge panel won't be the end of the story. Whoever loses is likely to appeal to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. And the closer that you get to the opening of candidate filing on December 1st, Courts are going to be very wary about stepping in and changing a process that's already in the works.

So we do know that there's going to be. Quick action in terms of having a hearing, dealing with the arguments about having a preliminary injunction. But then the big question will be: how soon does the three-judge panel act? And then the next question after that is whether the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will jump in and reverse or uphold.

what that three-judge panel says. Mitch, you mentioned something earlier that I want to ask you to dig into a little bit deeper. You kind of mentioned that these two things, the motion to dismiss and the preliminary injunction that is being sought in this case, they're both kind of heading on a parallel track right now. I think it's probably safe to assume that's the case due to some of the expedited nature and the timeline in this case. Is that something that we typically see with both of those things happening at the same time?

I mean, just from the layman's standpoint, if the courts were going to dismiss this case, why would you go through the process of having a hearing in Winston-Salem on the 19th, getting everybody involved with this potential preliminary injunction? It just doesn't seem like we normally hear that cases play out like this. This is not something you would see in a case in which there's no sort of time element that has to be taken into consideration of. A normal suit. Both of these things could be happening at the same time, but you might not have the timeline compressed so much.

You might have a motion to dismiss, and then there would be some sort of consideration of that that's taking place over the course of a matter of weeks or months. And then you might have a motion for a preliminary injunction, and that might be taking place. But because you have such a tight timeline on trying to get a final resolution of this issue, I think that's one reason why the courts have decided to push forward on both of these fronts.

Now, part of it is also because of the way that both the challengers of the map and the legislative leaders have moved forward in this case. Remember that when this map came out, one of the legal strategies could have been a brand new lawsuit. If there had been a brand new lawsuit, that would have meant. Time delays, and there still would have been a motion for a preliminary injunction, but you would have had to wait for judges to be appointed and to have sort of a A lot of the logistics work being done ahead of time. Basically, this case has already been fast-tracked to some extent because the congressional map came out, and two sets of existing plaintiffs who have already gone through a week-long trial on maps.

basically had a chance to take the new map and say, okay. Here's what we've already said we don't like about these maps.

Now we're going to say what we don't like about this new map. And you have the existing judges, the existing trial record, all of the same parties in the case who are taking part in it.

So that has already condensed the timeline to some extent. But I think the judges see that there are a couple different ways they could go. They could, if they think the map is something that violates the law, they could put in an injunction. If they put in the injunction, that kind of gives everyone breathing room to say, okay, well, the maps aren't going to be used in 2026, so we don't have to worry about that.

Now we can kind of take our time in dealing with the rest of the case. But if they don't put an injunction in place, one of the other steps could be: all right. Do we resolve the rest of this case, say that we don't think that it could stand at all, throw out the case and give the plaintiffs a chance to appeal and see if they can keep this case going or not? Because we have that December 1st timeline in place for the start of candidate filing, I think the judges are trying to get as much done with this case as possible before we hit the official start of the 2026 election season. Regardless of how much these judges get done and the court gets done in this case or not, Mitch, you already essentially said it.

There's going to be an appeal probably from both sides, regardless of what this decision is.

So we look at this hearing in Winston-Salem on November the 19th. We assume it takes the court maybe the minimum a couple of days to come back with something. At that point, we're less than seven days out from the start of December the 1st. I mean, this discussion of an appeal is going to, nothing is going to be resolved in that before December 1st. I mean, do you see an avenue where that happens?

The only way that would happen is if the judges say no to a preliminary injunction. Oh. With still some time to spare before December 1st, and then there's a quick appeal to the Fourth Circuit, and the Fourth Circuit disagrees. If there's a 19th, within a couple of days, the judges say something about an injunction and they say no to an injunction, or yes, but more likely if they say no to an injunction and the plaintiffs quickly appeal to the Fourth Circuit. If the Fourth Circuit disagrees and thinks there's enough evidence that there's something wrong with this map, there would be a chance for the Fourth Circuit to come in relatively quickly and say, No, you got it wrong, three judge panel, put in the injunction, and then the map couldn't be used for 2026, and then the rest of the court process would play out.

I think. That's really the only way that it could happen quickly. And that does happen at times because you really wouldn't have to have a whole lot of briefing. It basically would just be. Look, look at this map.

You could see based on the map that there's something wrong with it. Put in the injunction. If the Fourth Circuit agrees, there could be time to get this done before December 1st. But the timeline is tight. I mean, between the 19th and the 1st, only 12 days.

So there has to be relatively quick action. And don't be surprised if all of the parties are kind of looking at the timeline and seeing what works best for them, either to allow this map to be used if you're the legislature or to block the map from being used if you're the critics aligned with the Democratic Party who don't like the map. In the short term, over the next couple of weeks, we will, of course, keep an eye on this case over at our website, CarolinaJournal.com. And then, kind of depending on what some of those results look like after the 19th, we'll continue to track it as it likely will go through a much lengthier, long-term court system. We'll keep our eyes on those details as well.

We appreciate the details and information this morning. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. You know that big bargain detergent jug is 80% water, right? It doesn't clean as well. 80% water?

I thought I was getting a better deal because it's so big. If you want a better clean, Tide Pods are only 12% water. The rest is pure concentrated cleaning ingredients. Oh, let me make an announcement. Attention shoppers.

If you want a real deal, try Tide Pods. Stop paying for watered-down detergents. Pay for clean. If it's gotta be clean, it's gotta be Tide Pods. Water content based on the Leading Bargain Liquid Detergent.

Nothing says joy like a kid getting a new bike for Christmas, and it's once again time for Hancock's Bikes for Kids. Please consider bringing a new bike to WBT on Friday, December the 5th, from 5 to 9 p.m. The entire WBT team will be there to thank you for your generous donation. It is the 32nd annual WBT Hancock's Bikes for Kids, benefiting Kids First of the Carolinas. It's also presented by Garage Door Doctor.

Again, put it on your calendar Friday, December 5th, 5 to 9 p.m. You can find out more information this morning by visiting WBT.com for details. It is now 5:54 on the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 11:10, 99.3 WBT. We've got some pretty interesting federal news this morning. Office of Management and Budget Director Dan Bishop, if that name sounds familiar across North Carolina, he was a member of Congress, ran for attorney.

General last year was a member of the North Carolina House and Senate, the Mecklenburg County Commission. He is currently at OMB in Washington, D.C.

However, according to reports from the Federalist, he is set to be taking a new role as the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina. That area would cover Durham, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem. According to the reporting from the Federalist, President Donald Trump is set to appoint him as early as this week, so today, and he could start serving as early as next week on an interim basis while awaiting a full Senate confirmation. The former congressman did confirm the news Wednesday night to Sean Davis, who is the Federalist CEO and co-founder.

Davis was tweeting about the story that they had published over at the Federalist, and Dan Bishop replied from his official rep Dan Bishop X account saying, Thank you, Sean, referring to Sean Davis. I'm honored and eager to serve. He would be replacing Congress. Clifton T. Barnett, who was appointed to the office on June the 21st by Attorney General Pam Bondi.

And it is important to note that the Senate has already confirmed Bishop in his current role at OMB. They did that in March by a vote of 53 to 45. For the former congressman, his political career did start in Mecklenburg County as a commissioner, in which he served there from 2005 to 2009. He then would make his way to the North Carolina General Assembly and serve as a state rep from 2015 to 2017 before transitioning over to the state senate from 2017 to 2019. He then won a special election in September of 2019 to represent North Carolina's 9th congressional district in Congress.

He stayed in that position until 2023, when the district changed to North Carolina's 8th congressional district, and he ran for Attorney General against Jeff Jackson. That election was in November of last year, and Dan Bishop was short in pulling out the win there against Jeff Jackson. While serving in Congress, Bishop served on the Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government. And this appointment could again come. As early as this week, today, maybe potentially early next week, you can read some additional details and find the original source over at the Federalist.

Those links available over on CarolinaJournal.com this morning. The headline: Bishop to be appointed U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of NC.

Well, 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 11.10 and 99.3, WBT. This is the story of the one. As head of maintenance at a concert hall, he knows the show must always go on.

That's why he works behind the scenes, ensuring every light is working, the HVAC is humming, and his facility shines. With Granger's supplies and solutions for every challenge he faces, plus 24-7 customer support, his venue never misses a beat. Call quickgranger.com or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done.

Get The Truth Mobile App and Listen to your Favorite Station Anytime