This holiday season reached for the one butter that never disappoints Kerry Gold. made with milk from grass fed cows on Irish family farms, it's rich, creamy, and perfect for baking. whether browning butter for cookies or crafting the flakiest pie crust, Kerry Gold's high butterfat content makes all the difference in flavor and texture. Holiday treats will taste extraordinary. 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. Homeowners impacted by Hurricane Helene have until December the 31st, so the end of the calendar year, to apply for the Renew NC's Housing Recovery Assistance Program through the system's single-family housing program, or SFHP. Governor Josh Stein said in a press release this week, quote, Renew NC wants to help as many Western North Carolina homeowners recover from Hurricane Helene as possible. But folks need to raise their hand so that we can get it done.
Please spread the word so that your family, friends, and neighbors know a Renew NC may be an option to help them repair, reconstruct, or even replace their storm-damaged home and get their application in this month. The single-family housing program is administered by the North Carolina Department of Commerce's Division of Community Revitalization, or DCR, and provides the four R's to owners of home damaged by Helene. Those four R's are reimbursement, replacement, reconstruction, and rehabilitation. Since its launch in June of this year, the program has received over 6,000 applications, with five homes completed and several other projects underway in areas like Hendersonville, Black Mountain, and other communities in western North Carolina. Of the five completed projects, two are mobile home replacements in the Mill Springs area, and the other three are home rehabilitations in Fairview, Fletcher, and Hendersonville.
Three additional home reconstruction projects are projected to be completed by mid-December.
So here over the next couple of weeks as we continue to watch this program play out. Low to moderate income families, including seniors 62 and older, children 18 and younger, and or disabled household members are prioritized by the single-family housing program system. The program is open to 28 counties in western North Carolina. I'm not going to read through all of them this morning, but they are the 28 counties that you would expect that saw some of the most immediate and extreme devastation from Hurricane Helene. I will note.
That portions of even Mecklenburg County are relevant for this grant. Those living in the 28214 zip code, we've got a full list of all 28 of those counties and some of the subcounties like Mecklenburg over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. The DCR deputy secretary in Stephanie McGrab said in a press release: Our priority is to make sure every eligible homeowner knows that help is available and that applying is simple, accessible, and supported every step of the way. From our intake centers to door-to-door teams, RenewNC is committed to helping families rebuild after Helene. That program is open to homeowners who have already received assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA or have a home insurance policy.
The single-family housing program is designed to address needs that remain when all other forms of aid have either been exhausted or are not eligible, depending on your situation for the storm. The single-family housing program reports steady progress across its application intake workflow. As of December 1, 68 signed grant agreements, 63 project assignments, 63 projects have been assigned to general contractors, and 13 projects have issued notices to proceed with eight projects currently under construction. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD, funds the RENUNC programs through what is known as a Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery, also known as a CBDGDR grant. $1.4 billion was appropriated for recovery needs in western North Carolina, out of which $107 million.
800 rather, and 7 million was reported and set aside for the renew NC program. Homeowners can receive in-person assistance in English or Spanish at the Renew NC Intake Centers that continue to operate in Asheville, Boone, and Marion, where case managers are available Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Renew NC also runs more than a dozen other sites across western North Carolina with various schedules. Those individuals can also apply online and find out additional information about their eligibility by visiting renewnc.org.
That's renewnc.org. Again, the deadline for that is the end of this month, the end of the calendar year, December the 31st, as that program heads into 2026. You can get some additional details and coverage of that, including checking out all of the 28 counties that are eligible over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. The story's headline: housing recovery applications for Helene victims close December 31st. In some other statewide news this morning in public comments on Monday, North Carolina State Treasurer Brad Breiner has disputed activist group claims that the sale of $6.4 million in Israeli government international bonds were related to their pro-Palestinian divestment pressure campaign that has been building across the state.
Rather, the state treasurer notes that the bonds were sold in early October due to a larger fixed income portfolio rebalancing exercise that sold bonds with shorter remaining maturities than the portfolio typically holds. The Breaking the Bonds NC Coalition presented a petition to the state treasurer's office back on October the 29th. urging him and the state to divest state assets in Israeli government bonds.
However, state treasurer Brad Breiner noted earlier this week, quote, we received a petition from that divestment coalition at the end of October. We had sold the bonds before we received that, so it would be hard for it to be about investment when we had already sold them by the time that we were asked to. The Israeli government bonds in questions were held in the teachers and state employees retirement system. Breiner pointed out that the state still does hold Israeli sovereign bonds and other investment pools, just not in the retirement system. He added on by saying, We have a state law that we must obey about what factors we can and cannot consider when making an investment.
All academic research would tell you that divestment campaigns of any kind, and you know each side has different flavors of these things, are expensive. They cost taxpayers. We are in the business of making our state wealthier, not less wealthy. We're not going to engage in either direction, but I think you don't have to take our word for it. The timeline speaks for itself.
State holdings can be found on the North Carolina Treasurer's website. They've got a list of the various treasuries, bonds, all the different things that they hold throughout the retirement and other index funds and things of that nature throughout the state. All of that, we've got links to that available at CarolinaJournal.com. The Breaking the Bond Coalition held an October the 19th rally celebrating the bond sale and petition delivery. With one of the group members saying in a press release, I know Brad Briner inherited these bonds and doesn't think the risk is worth the minimal return.
I agree with him and urge him to divest. I earned this pension while protecting North Carolinians' well-being and do not want to be complicit in genocide.
Some, of course, interesting commentary there from that individual. The Breaking the Bond Coalition lists groups including Muslims for Social Justice, Democratic Socialists of the Triangle, the Charlotte Unite for Palestine, Progressive Democrats of Bunkham County, Palestinians and Arabs Youth of the RTP, and the North Carolina Green Party as endorsing or partnering organizations in this request. The final press release from that group reads: Israel has destroyed homes, hospitals, schools, refugee tents, and places of worship in Gaza and the West Bank. Our tax money here at home, we want to invest our tax money in stable, financially robust, and ethical funds that support life, not death. That was some of the comments from the Palestinian and Arab youth in the RTP.
One of the individuals there, Samir, said that in their press release.
So, regardless of these left-wing Active radical left-wing groups in their calls for state treasurer Brad Bryner to divest from some of these Israeli bonds, government bonds, I should say, that was done weeks before the protest, weeks before the petition was presented to the state treasurer's office as a regular portfolio rebalancing exercise. There has been a lot of work that has been ongoing in the state treasurer's office over the last couple of months, so this is no surprise or shock. You can read some additional details on this story this morning by visiting our website, CarolinaJournal.com. That story's headline: State Treasurer Disputes Activists' Divestment Claims. Again, those details at CarolinaJournal.com.
This is Matt Rogers from Lost Culture East. That's with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Lost Culture East. Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Hey, Bowen, it's gift season.
Stressing me out. Why are the people I love so hard to shop for? Probably because they only make boring gift guides that are totally uninspired. Yeah. Except for the guide we made.
In partnership with Marshalls, where premium gifts meet incredible value, it's giving gifts! With categories like best gifts for the mom whose idea of a sensible walking shoe is a stiletto, or best gifts for me that were so thoughtful I really shouldn't have. Check out the guide on marshalls.com and gift the good stuff at Marshalls. It's 522. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110, 993 WBT.
We've got some good news this morning about the financial status of the state health plan. After facing a substantial deficit for 2026 and 2027, the North Carolina State Health Plan, also known as the SHP, now has a surplus. This is thanks to an increase in premiums, funding from the General Assembly, and other cost-cutting measures. The executive administrator of the state health plan said in a Monday live stream QA, his name is Thomas Friedman, quote, following the changes by the SHP board and the action by the North Carolina General Assembly, we are not going to be in a deficit for 2026 or 2027. We will still have work to do, though.
By the end of 2027, we will be getting close to our state. stabilization rate. Remember that we were projecting a $1.3 billion deficit in 2027, and now we're about $30 million above our reserve rate.
So an astronomical change, but that doesn't mean that there isn't still work that needs to be done. Friedman said that their trend this year is running higher than in previous years, and part of that is due to the fact of how the plan's third-party administrator, Aetna, pays its claims.
Now, remember, this was said to be a very bleak situation. The plan originally projected a deficit of $507 million in 2026 and between $800 and $900 million in 2027. Back in August, that prompted the board to agree to raise plan premiums for the first time on a sliding scale based on income, with the smallest increases going to the lowest paid state employees. That scale was broken down into four income brackets, those making under $50,000 a year. Year, between 50 and 65,000, 65,000 to 90,000, and those making over $90,000 a year.
For employees earning under $50,000, the lowest paid in the state from a state employee standpoint, monthly premiums for single subscribers rose by either $10 or $16 a month, depending on the plan. In the top income tier, those over $90,000, those increases were between $30,000 and $110 per month for a single subscriber. Former state treasurer Dale Falwell maintained a policy of not increasing premiums, but using cash reserves to offset increases. And current state treasurer Brad Briner did not hesitate to point out how that decision contributed to the dire financial situation that the plan was facing. He told the board in August when this decision was being made, quote, Simply put, we're here because of short-sighted decisions of my predecessor.
Premiums were frozen for years and members were made to believe that it could be that way forever. But the plan was actually spending more than it took in each and every year. Brad Briner agreed with Freeman on Monday that although they have made a very good progress in digging out of the hole that the state health plan was in, more work will continue to need to be done. He said, quote, we have been on a medical cost trend of about almost 6% increase and a revenue trend to the state health plan of about 3% a year. It's a basic business problem.
If your expenses are going up faster than your revenues, you're going to be in trouble sooner rather than later. And so we've got to get that 6% down to the 3% in central tasks. Breiner said that for the foreseeable future, premiums will continue to be set as a percentage of income, as it is important for people budgeting that they know how much of their paycheck will go to health care. Friedman said that benefit changes for the plan will be voted on in March and premium changes in August of next year, both, he said, will be significantly smaller in terms of the magnitude and scope compared to the ones That we've looked at over the last couple of months. That's not to say that there wasn't any pushback against increases in premiums, especially among those in higher income brackets, because according to the treasurer, they argue that they are receiving the same health care as people in the lower income brackets.
However, the treasurer said he believes that the plan is now in a good place and that members in lower income brackets appreciate some of the higher increased premiums for those making in the ballpark of $90,000 a year or more from the state of North Carolina. Friedman said that they were surprised by a couple of things during the open enrollment period, which continues this morning, including a slight increase in members enrolling their children in the plans and more people opting for the plus plan, which he attributes to the economy and people wanting more security in their health care. They were also surprised that fewer people left the Medicare 70-30 plan to go into the Medicare industry. Advantage plan. As Freeman said that they are continuing to explore ways to save both members and plan the plan money, including offering members incentives to use freestanding facilities for things like MRIs or CT scans at a significantly lower cost.
He said during the Q ⁇ A, quote, when you think about the triangle area in imaging, which is something a lot of people get done every year, there are places right now where you are paying two times as much for an MRI. two times as much. for a CT scan and it's a relatively cost agnostic for the members. Friedman stressed that future cost growth will be contingent on how successful they are at steering people to lower cost settings of care and noted that that will take some time. One of those resources is already in place by using the platform called Lantern.
Available through members of the state health plan, it is a digital specialty care platform. The agreement approved by the board earlier this year with Lantern offers members no-cost access to vetted networks of surgeons and specialists. Lantern also provides specialized support through dedicated care advocates and nurse navigators while helping control costs for both members and the plan itself. He told reporters, the more folks that get surgeries through Lantern, the lower future cost growth increases are going to be because we're paying less money for it. And I would tell you that state employees have been a fantastic partner.
in helping us do that. We already have over 200 cases before the program even starts in earnest in January.
So we're making tremendous progress in terms of addressing unit costs, and we're going to continue to push on these things moving forward. Again, this was a very bleak situation for the state health plan just back a couple of months ago, looking at close to a billion-dollar deficit over the next couple of years. Fortunately, due to that state health plan increase, which has been substantial for every single employee within the state of North Carolina.
However, due to that increase, it has brought solvency back to the plan, and they are now running in the black this morning after that major deficit projection. You can get some additional coverage of this story, including some of those meetings, the meeting in August. You can watch the Q ⁇ A that took place with the state treasurer and his team earlier this week. All of that available over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Just search for the story.
With the headline: state health plan back in the black after major deficit. Transform your home during Blinds.com's Cyber Monday Super Sale. Get up to 50% off site-wide, plus huge doorbuster deals on popular styles. Go DIY and do it all 100% online, or choose White Glove Service with expert design help and professional installation. Both backed by Blinds.com's 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.
Blinds.com's Cyber Monday Super Sale is here. Save up to 50% site-wide and get a free professional measure. Limited time offer rules and restrictions apply. See Blinds.com for details. This is Matt Rogers from Los Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang.
This is Boen Yang from Los Culturalists with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Hey, Boen, it's gift season. Ugh, stressing me out. Why are the people I love so hard to shop for? Probably because they only make boring gift guides that are totally uninspired.
Except for the guide we made. In partnership with Marshalls, where premium gifts meet incredible value, it's giving gifts! With categories like best gifts for the mom whose idea of a sensible walking shoe is a stiletto, or best gifts for me that were so thoughtful I really shouldn't have. Check out the guide on marshalls.com and gift the good stuff at Marshalls. Uh It's 5:37.
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 11:10-993 WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. Duke Energy, the state's largest electrical producer and provider, is asking the United States Supreme Court to step in on an ongoing lawsuit facing the company.
However, the federal government is jumping into this.
Some pretty interesting developments that we're following in this case this morning. To walk us through some of those details, Mitch Kokai with the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, we're talking about competition between energy providers. We've got the Fourth Circuit, we've got the Supreme Court, now the Solicitor General's Office. There's a lot of parties involved here.
What's the latest that you're following? Yeah, the latest involves the Solicitor General's office getting involved saying that it's citing against Duke Energy in this case. A little bit of background is probably important here. And what happened is Duke Energy, of course, is the provider for most electricity in most of North Carolina. There are certainly exceptions, but Duke is the big provider.
And one of Duke Energy's biggest customers is the city of Fayetteville. And the contract to provide electricity for the city of Fayetteville was coming up for renewal. And a competitor company based out of Florida called NTE, and specifically it was its branch called NTE Carolinas, was trying to get involved to get the contract to provide electricity for Fayetteville. And in a lawsuit, NTE Carolinas alleges that Duke was engaged in anti-competitive practices to block. The competition and block NTE Carolinas from even being able to get Fayetteville's business.
And so there are a lot of details about what Duke did. Duke, of course, says that it was not doing anything anti-competitive. It was just involved in the normal competitive processes, giving Fant Pill a good deal to re-sign. But the lawsuit alleges that what Duke did was anti-competitive. A trial judge ruled in favor of Duke, but the Fourth U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that said that NTE Carolinas could go forward with its lawsuit because what was alleged in the suit Could to a jury sound like it was anti-competitive and violate the federal laws against anti-monopoly practices.
So, Duke Energy, after that adverse ruling from the Fourth Circuit, went to the U.S. Supreme Court and said, Supreme Court, please step in, overrule what the Fourth Circuit said. Before deciding whether to take the case, the The US Supreme Court in June invited the Solicitor General's Office to submit a brief saying, what is the federal government's response to this case?
So that request went out in June. And basically, six months later, the US Solicitor General's Office under John Sauer issued its brief in the case and basically cited against Duke. What the brief from the Solicitor General's office said is: hey, this is a monopolist acting like a monopolist, and all of the things that are alleged in this lawsuit, from what we know now, Before any discovery and any of the interviewing of witnesses and all of the things that would happen if you'd go to trial. From where things stand now, it looks like Duke is acting as a monopoly in ways that a jury could find would be against the law. And against the monopoly strictures that are in place in the federal government.
It's a significant development and What the Solicitor General's Office also says is, Supreme Court, you don't need to take up this case. The Fourth Circuit seems to have gotten it right in allowing this case to move forward.
So it'll be very interesting to see now whether the Supreme Court will decide to take the case. Duke Energy wants it to take the case. NTE Carolinas, of course, does not because the last ruling was the Fourth Circuit ruling allowing its case to go forward. And now the U.S.
Solicitor General's Office has stepped in and said, Supreme Court, you don't need to take this case. The Fourth Circuit seems to have gotten it right, and the complaint should be able to proceed as it moved forward from the original lawsuit.
So, Mitch, as you mentioned, this is specifically, this legal challenge at least is specifically surrounding the city of Fayetteville and that expiring contract between NTE based in Florida and Duke Energy here in North Carolina. But my question would be to you: if this is to go through to a court, and as the Fourth Circuit noted, you know, maybe a jury could potentially find that Duke was acting in some sort of monopolistic way, would this have a cascading effect, or could it potentially have some sort of cascading effect across the state of North Carolina? Or is this just going to be limited to this one specific instance taking place in the city of Fayetteville?
Well, it certainly could have an impact. It's not clear what impact it will have on the contract for serving Fayetteville, because I'm not certain that things will transpire so that you'd go back and have to redo the contract for the city of Fayetteville. That's a possibility. But if there is an adverse ruling against Duke and saying that what it did in this case was anti-competitive and violated federal law, that could have an impact as other major contracts come up for bid and NTE Carolinas or any other competitor that would like to get into the market in North Carolina sees a ruling against Duke and says, okay, well, maybe now it'll be easier for us to jump into this market and compete for these big contracts.
So it's going to be very interesting to see what happens. If the Supreme Court decides to take up the case, that could lead to an interesting ruling that could have an impact not only. In North Carolina, but across the country, on these monopoly energy providers and what they're able to do. But even if the Supreme Court doesn't step in, And what the Fourth Circuit ruled isn't able to stand and move forward. If NTE Carolinas is able to end up ultimately winning this suit or even getting some sort of favorable ruling that says what Duke did was anti-competitive, that could open up Duke for more competition when these other big energy contracts, like the one with the city of Fayetteville, come up for renewal in the future.
Well, Mitch, you kind of make an interesting point here. Obviously, we're focusing on Duke Energy, which is the largest electrical producer and provider across the state of North Carolina. But Duke operates in plenty of other states, and there's other electrical providers like Duke Energy that operate in states all across the nation.
So you could imagine a situation. Again, we're way far out from this, but imagine a situation where this has a major effect not only on North and South Carolina, not only on Duke Energy, but potentially electrical providers all across the country. Yeah, that's a possibility. At this point, it would certainly affect the rulings as they stand now would affect. probably all of the energy providers in the Fourth Circuit.
So we're talking about North Carolina and many of its surrounding states. If this ruling stands and if ultimately if there's a ruling against Duke Energy, it would affect the places where Duke Energy operates and would likely affect other energy providers that aren't Duke Energy in the states that are within the Fourth Circuit. But if the Supreme Court ultimately decides it would like to jump into this issue and take this case, then it could have an impact on energy providers across the country. Because in most places, you have some sort of monopoly.
Now, it doesn't operate everywhere the same way that it does in North Carolina, but most energy providers are operating in some sort of monopoly or at least long-time standing business. state of affairs and if The U.S. Supreme Court decides that it wants to say either, no, what Duke did was fine. And thus helping longtime businesses and sometimes monopoly providers, that would be one way that the Supreme Court could go. Or the Supreme Court could step in and say, no, the Fourth Circuit got it right.
Providers like Duke Energy that act in this way are acting as monopolies and it's against the law. If you had a ruling like that, that certainly would open up energy provision across the country in a way that it's not open now. Mitch, we talk about a litany of legal challenges and issues here. You provide us details and updates on the one is rather complex. There's a lot of major parties involved in this.
Can you ballpark some sort of time line on this? I mean, we're we're talking about the Fourth Circuit right now, an appeal to the to the United States Supreme Court. Is it fair to say that we're likely potentially years down the road from a final set in stone ruling on this case? In this case, yes, we would be a ways away.
Now, I think we'll have. In fairly short order, a decision from the Supreme Court about whether it wants to take this particular version of the case. They asked. Basically, at the end of their last term, for the Solicitor General to say something about this case.
Now, as we're a couple of months into the current Supreme Court term, the Solicitor General has spoken. And so, I'm guessing with that information in mind, we could see. Not in the not too distant future, the Supreme Court decide whether it wants to take this case at all. My guess is if they do want to take the case, they'll decide to take it in this term, and so we can have some sort of ruling from the Supreme Court. before the end of the term at the end of June of next year.
But if the Supreme Court now decides, based on what it heard from the Solicitor General, no, we don't want to take this case, that decision could come fairly soon. And then you would see the case go back to a trial judge. And then It might go another couple of years, and then you could see another appeal to the Fourth Circuit, and even another appeal to the US Supreme Court.
So, my guess is we are far from seeing the end of this case. But at least at the Supreme Court level, we should have a decision in a matter of months rather than years. It's definitely a very interesting legal story that we're discussing this morning. We appreciate the information. You can read more, the back and forth between the Solicitor General and some other quotes this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com.
Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Coming up this Friday, December the 3rd, it's the 32nd annual WBT Hancocks Bikes for Kids. We know that the weather looks a little less than ideal. We hope that the rain and the forecast won't discourage you from coming and making a donation. Also, note that you won't have to get out of your vehicle.
Our volunteers, our WBT team, will make sure to grab all of the bikes, all of the resources out of your vehicle so you don't have to get out into the elements Friday. But we would still encourage you to stop by and donate a new bike for a child for this Christmas as the 32nd annual Hancocks Bikes for Kids takes place, benefiting Kids First of the Carolinas. It's presented by Garage Door Doctor this Friday, December the 5th, 5 to 9 p.m. You can visit WBT.com this morning for additional details. It's now 5:55 on the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 11:10, 99.3 WBT.
Some good news for those that are members of the state health plan. Over the last year or so, we've been covering a variety of stories about the state health plan and some major deficits that the plan was projected to have over the next couple of years, as much as $507 million in the red in 2026 and between $800 and $900 million worth of a deficit in 2027. This prompted the board, which is responsible for the state health plan earlier this year, back in the month of August, to raise premiums for the first time on a sliding scale based on income of state employees. There were four different income brackets from that, ranging from $50,000, those making under $50,000 to those over $90,000. And fortunately, getting some new information out of the state treasurer's office this morning, Brad Briner and his office, they are reporting that things are stabilizing and that.
That the plan is those projected deficits are not going to be the case, at least as we head into 2027, with a new report from Thomas Friedman, who is the executive administrator of the plan, telling reporters during a Q ⁇ A session on Monday that the $1.3 billion deficit that was projected for 2027 now looks like will be $30 million in reserves ahead of the scheduled money to be in the plan.
So, this is great news for those, even though you have seen your health, monthly health premiums increase in some cases pretty substantially over the last couple of months. The plan was to get the state health plan back into the green, and that is what has happened this morning. 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 of the Carolina Journal News Hour. WBT News is next.
Followed by Good Morning, BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on News Talk 11, 10, 99, 3, WBT.
