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Subject to change. Visit Lowe's.com slash shipping terms for details. it's 5 0 5 and welcome in to a thursday edition of the carolina journal news hour news talk 11 10 99 3 wbt i'm nick craig good morning to you we start off this thursday morning with some very good economic news across the state of north carolina this is all coming from a press release and a press conference, I should say, from Governor Josh Stein on Wednesday as North Carolina continues to be very well positioned for a strong future in terms of economic growth. That's what the governor announced yesterday during a record-year job announcement with over 33,000 new positions and nearly $23 billion in overall project investment. The governor said that the news builds upon the state's recognition as the best state in the U.S.
for business, which has happened, by the way, three times in the past four years, with the latest recognition coming this past July when the governor and CNBC, the media outlet that does that rating each and every year, were in the Wilmington area on the USS North Carolina battleship making that official announcement. The governor also mentioned during the press conference that North Carolina is the third fastest growing state in the country. This is how the governor opened some of his comments at his NC Strong press conference. North Carolina has been winning more jobs and more economic opportunity for our people. In July, we ranked as the top state for business in the entire country.
That's for the third time in the last four years. We're the third fastest growing state in the country by population. Businesses and people across this country see that we've got a good thing going here in North Carolina, and they want to be part of it. Since the 1st of January, we have announced more than 33,000 jobs for North Carolina. 33,000 jobs represents the most ever recruited to North Carolina in a single year, and we still have a month to go.
So I want to repeat that. I want to underscore it. 2025 is now North Carolina's best ever year for job recruitment in the history of this state. We've made particular progress in aerospace, biotech, advanced manufacturing, electric vehicle sectors. And the announcements have been spread across the state.
16,000 jobs in the triad, 8,000 jobs in the greater Charlotte area, 4,000 jobs in the triangle, and more than 1,000 jobs in the East, more than 1,000 jobs in the Sandhills, and more than 1,000 jobs in Western North Carolina. The governor highlighted those 16,000 jobs in the Triad, 8,000 in Charlotte, 4,000 in the Triangle, and 1,000 in the East-West and in the Sandhills. Among the companies noted was Jet Zero, which promises to create more than 14,500 jobs jobs and invest nearly $4 billion. That's going to be in Guilford County at the Piedmont Triad International Airport, which is the largest single job project ever announced in state history. Additionally, another company called Scout Motors is relocating its corporate headquarters to the Charlotte metro area, bringing about 1,200 jobs with it.
And last month, Vulcan Elements announced that it would establish the largest rare earth magnet factory outside of China in Benson, North Carolina, creating nearly a thousand jobs there and investing nearly one billion dollars. In addition, GE Aerospace announced last week that it would expand its sites in West Jefferson, that's in Ashe County, creating an additional 44 jobs there and investing a 53 million dollars And Toyota's first North American electric battery manufacturing plant is in Liberty, North Carolina. That's in Randolph County. It opened last month and spans nearly 1,800 acres and is Toyota's largest investment in the United States at nearly $14 billion. The plant currently has more than 2,500 workers.
But once everything is said and done and they are up to full production at that Toyota plant in Randolph County, they will have more than 5,100 employees once everything is said and done. The governor highlighted that it is important to bring jobs to everywhere in North Carolina. Obviously, there is going to be some emphasis on our larger metro areas, the Raleigh-Charlotte area, with some job creation, but he says it's important to focus on every angle in the state from the mountains to the coast. We cannot, however, rest on our laurels. Other states want what we have.
We've got to keep expanding opportunity. We've got to spread it to every corner of the state so that if you work hard, where you come from never limits how far you can go. That is the promise of North Carolina, and delivering on that promise is what drives my administration. As we keep bringing jobs to North Carolina, we have to be laser focused on ensuring that those opportunities are going to every corner of the state. I am proud that we have brought approximately 5,000 jobs to rural North Carolina and about $12.5 billion in investment.
These new jobs help sustain rural towns and shore up local economies. And we aren't just bringing jobs. We're working to support entire communities. The Rural Infrastructure Authority has awarded 51 grants and more than $26 million to energize rural economies. Especially in western North Carolina, small businesses are the beating heart of their communities.
But 86% of impacted businesses from Hurricane Helene are still earning at or below the pre-storm levels. We have to keep supporting their recovery. And obviously a lot of economic focus on areas in western North Carolina that did see some of those unimaginable levels of destruction and devastation in the wake of Hurricane Helene back in September of 2024. The governor, of course, highlighted that 86% of impacted businesses from Hurricane Helene are still earning at or below those pre-storm levels. That is a very high percentage.
The governor also noted that the Small Business Infrastructure Grant Program has enabled local governments to rebuild their downtowns so that locals and tourists can return to these downtown businesses. With Stein saying, quote, whether it's restoring sidewalks or building sewer systems, these grants help small businesses reopen their doors and serve their customers across the state. Nearly $250 million in broadband recovery grants have also been awarded across North Carolina. and the North Carolina Main Street program has continued to support economic development and historic preservation in small towns across the state. It is important to note that many of the promised jobs come with incentives from the state, including job development investment grants, also known as JDIGs, which unfortunately over the last little bit we have seen do not have a great success rate.
This is because businesses following through on their promises to the state have not come to fruition.
However, the governor pointed out in his Wednesday news conference that the state doesn't give the money up front. With him telling the group, quote, the key thing is when we do comes to incentive packages, the state doesn't outlay money to the companies unless the companies meet their goals, their investment goals and their job goals. If they don't, then they don't get the incentive.
Sometimes we will make an investment in infrastructure to improve a site which the state owns or the county owns or a community college owns so that if for whatever reason doesn't work out with one company, that asset remains attractive for a next company to come down the pike. Brian Balfour, the senior vice president of research at the John Locke Foundation, reacted to this announcement from Governor Stein saying, quote it interesting that Stein addressed the process for what happening when incentive projects don meet their goals Locke research has found that fewer than half of the promised jobs even materialize in programs like JDIGs and the clawback provisions is a no-harm, no-foul situation. Balfour said some of the project clear out sites that end up sitting abandoned while others are only partially finished. With him telling the Carolina Journal, These projects nevertheless divert sacred resources like land, steel, cement, and labor from other uses that could have been profitable. The result is a more stagnant economy.
One area of North Carolina that has fallen off is interest in electric vehicles, and that is in large part due to huge amounts of shrinking demand in the United States and in North Carolina. This includes companies like Vinfast, which is the Vietnamese electric vehicle maker, which has delayed opening its proposed factory in Moncure. That's in Chatham County until 2028. This is irrelevant because the company reported nearly nine hundred and ten million dollars worth of losses in the third quarter of this year.
So some major financial struggles going on there. Still, however, Governor Stein said that they are still bullish on electric plug in hybrids. Tourism was also noted as to be experiencing an upswing in the state, particularly in western North Carolina, which officials at the press conference attributed in part to the rediscovering the unforgettable campaign, which includes television commercials and other marketing that have been running across the state of North Carolina and in other states. They say they hope another year of the campaign will help the area get back to where it was before Hurricane Helene and in some cases even better. I'll note to you that total tourism data for 2025 won't be available for a couple of more months.
That data will come out in early 2026 and the film industry also appears to be experiencing somewhat of a comeback with strong workforces in both Wilmington and Charlotte, according to state officials. You can watch the entire nearly a 50-minute update from Governor Josh Stein and other individuals, including other individuals within his cabinet dealing with the economy and some of these business announcements. All of that is available over on our website this morning, carolinajournal.com. The story headline, Stein, NC poised for strong growth after record year for jobs and investments. Those details at carolinajournal.com.
This is Matt Rogers from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Hey Bowen, it's gift season. Ugh, stressing me out. Why are the people I love so hard to shop for?
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News Talk 1110-993-WBT as we are now in the month of December. That means the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season is officially over. It ended back on November the 30th, and it's incredibly relevant because not a single hurricane made landfall in the United States this year, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. While a hurricane didn't make landfall, some tropical storms, multiple tropical storms, did affect the Carolinas through the calendar year 2025, with the most notable being Tropical Storm Chantal. That affected the state in early July, right around the July 4th weekend.
The Piedmont region of the state saw significant damage, hundreds of road closures, rivers cresting at record highs, and loss of life as a result of Chantal killing three people across North Carolina. Dr. Neil Jackson, who is the Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmospheres, as well as the NOAA administrator, said, For the first time in a decade, not a single hurricane struck the U.S. this season, and that was a much-needed break. Still, a tropical storm caused damage and casualties in the Carolinas.
Distant hurricanes created rough ocean waters that caused property damage along the East Coast, and neighboring countries experienced direct hits from hurricanes. The Atlantic Basin produced 13 named storms, those of which have a 39-mile-an-hour wind gusts or greater, of which five became hurricanes. That's 74 miles an hour or greater, including four major hurricanes, which reached at least 111 miles an hour or more. An average season has 14 named storms, seven hurricanes, and three major hurricanes, with NOAA having, before the season began, predicted a slightly above average season. And so it would look like even though those storms did not affect the United States, their above or close to average season did come to fruition here in the Atlantic Basin in 2025.
Ken Graham, who is the director of NOAA's National Weather Service, said in a recent press release, throughout the hurricane season and all year long, the National Weather Service works around the clock to meet our mission of saving lives, protecting property, and enhancing the national economy. I'm grateful to this talented team for their steadfast dedication to the safety of the American public. Multiple hurricanes and tropical storms that did not immediately impact the state did also cause some significant beach erosion across eastern North Carolina. And since September of this year, 16 homes in the Outer Banks have collapsed. That has prompted state officials, including Governor Josh Stein and the Commissioner of Insurance, Mike Causey, to call on Congress to pass House Resolution 3161.
That is Preventing Environmental Hazard Act of 2025 to try and bolster some of these homes in the Outer Banks that literally have just been collapsing, falling into the Atlantic Ocean. And for the first time ever, NOAA incorporated artificial intelligence as part of their forecasting for 2025 as the use of AI continues in many sectors and industries across the globe. According to Dr. Neil Jacobs, he says the 2025 season was the first year that NOAA's National Hurricane Center incorporated artificial intelligence models into their forecasting. He also highlighted that the NHC, that's the Hurricane Center, performed exceedingly well when it came to forecasting rapid intensification for some of the impactful storms and provided critical decision support for some of their partners in the Caribbean.
The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season will run June 1st through November 30th of 2026. And it is important to note that while the hurricane season's calendar dates are June 1st to November 30th at any point throughout the year, there can be a tropical weather that does affect the state of North Carolina or the greater continental United States. But the official season, again, is June 1st through November 30th. You can read some additional details and check out a press conference earlier this week from NOAA that is available over on our website, carolinajournal.com. I've actually got the story, the headline.
2025 saw Chantal, but no hurricanes as official season ends. In some other statewide news this morning, as we get ever closer to the Christmas holiday, Duke Energy is giving folks tips to manage high holiday electrical bills. as those bills will, of course, start rolling out over the next couple of weeks and into the first few weeks of January. Duke Energy, the state's largest electrical company, is offering tips to help customers reduce their usage and minimize the impact on their monthly bills. The Duke Energy already offers a holiday lights calendar that helps customers plan ahead and estimate the additional cost of their holiday light displays on their utility bills by identifying the type of lights, the number of bulbs per strand, and the number of hours used during the day.
Customers can estimate the additional cost that will be added to their monthly bill. Large incandescent bulbs, which add much more than much more energy efficient LED bulbs. Six strands of 100 incandescent bulbs, each turned on for six hours would add approximately $80 to a monthly bill.
So a huge increase there for those still loving on those larger incandescent bulbs while six strands of LEDs would only add about For an even more cost option Duke Energy says that the same amount of mini LED bulbs would only increase a monthly bill by about a buck. While holidays come with cooking and baking, which like holiday lights will also add to your electric bill, Duke Energy is offering a holiday cooking calendar as well. This will help customers estimate the cost of holiday cooking based on appliances, wattages, cooking time, and average kilowatt per hour that is offered by Duke Energy if you are a Duke customer. And the company is also offering other money-saving tips for the cold holiday months as they note that thermostats can be one of the largest factors in monthly power bills. Duke Energy says to set your thermostat to the lowest comfortable temperature and lower it a degree or two when you are leaving for an extended period.
They also recommend changing air filters regularly and keeping up to date with maintenance and regular service of heating and cooling systems. On sunny days, they note to let the sunlight in by opening drapes or blinds, and of course, wear warm clothing indoor to not keep the heat and the temperature on your thermostat, the heat, up as high. In 2022, Duke Energy implemented rolling blackouts to stabilize the energy grid during bitter cold temperatures of the holiday season. And in many cases, folks across the state on Christmas Eve and even Christmas Day saw no electricity in their house. And experts say a repeat of the 2022 blackout season is hopefully highly unlikely.
With John Sanders, the director of the Center for Food, Power and Life at the John Locke Foundation, telling Carolina Journal dot com. Fortunately, the risk of another holiday blackout is quite low, saying what happened in 2022 was a perfect storm. of equipment failures, loss of expanded power purchases, and the fact that the cold snap affected so much of the East Coast.
Furthermore, North Carolinians were able to avoid a blackout during a heat wave last summer when U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright granted Duke Energy an emergency order to exceed emission levels if needed to keep the power on. Thanks to that order, Duke Energy was able to keep the power on with 30% more coal generation than the previous day. By utilizing energy efficient options, planning cost efficiency does not need to be sacrificed during holiday festivities. You can read some of those tips and check out the two different calculators from Duke Energy, the holiday lights and holiday cooking calculator that is over on our website this morning, carolinajournal.com.
That story's headline, Duke Energy gives tips to manage high holiday electric bills. at Blinds.com it's not just about window treatments it's about you your style your space your way whether you diy or want the pros to handle it all you'll have the confidence of knowing it's done right from free expert design help to our 100 satisfaction guarantee everything we do is made to fit your life and your windows because at Blinds.com the only thing we treat better than windows is you it's your last chance to score cyber monday mega deals shop up to 50 off plus a free professional measure right now at blinds.com. Rules and restrictions apply. This is Matt Rogers from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang.
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It's 538. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Talk 1110-993-WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.
It has now been six months without a budget in the state of North Carolina as Republicans who are in control of both the North Carolina House and Senate still cannot come to an agreement on how to move forward with a full budget in the state. To walk us through a new interesting op-ed from House Speaker Destin Hall, Donna King, CarolinaJournal.com, joins us on the NewsHour. Donna, we've been talking about this since the summer. The General Assembly gaveled in, what, in January of this year and presumably began the process of working through a budget. We got through the end of June, no budget.
Here we are in December. It's a messy situation. It really is. It really is. Speaker Dustin Hall had this op-ed that published in the local Raleigh paper, and it really lays the gauntlet down on this budget negotiation process.
It kind of came as a surprise to most of us who had to some degree written off this budget because they've been passing so many budgets. They're supposed to come back in December. And lawmakers said just a few weeks ago, we're not coming back. We can't reach an agreement. But then you saw one candidate filing happened on Monday.
And so you start to see, you know, who's coming back, who's got primaries, all those things adds that sort of layer of drama, political drama to the top of this. But what this basically says, this op-ed that the speaker has put out there, laying down that gauntlet, drawing a line in the sand, however you want to phrase it, is he says that, well, with revenue predictions, revenue forecasts, North Carolina can't afford to keep the revenue triggers that passed in 2023.
So he does point out that this isn't necessarily just about the original revenue triggers that we've passed as part of this march toward lower and lower taxes in North Carolina. He says that in 2023, the General Assembly adopted a new policy that says when the state hit certain revenue triggers, that income taxes already automatically drop another half percent.
So what he's referring to is in 2026, North Carolina's income tax is scheduled to go to 3.99%. Great news for taxpayers, certainly. What he's saying is, look, two years ago, we passed another bill that said it's going to drop another half a percent. And that's the part that he says the House just can't come to that. They can't agree with the House, with the Senate's sticking to that, that drop in revenue.
And he's saying that that doesn't leave us enough for raises. It doesn't leave enough to cover our operations. all of those things.
So there's two things to this that we got to point out. One is that if both chambers would just agree to spend less, they could come to an agreement. And that's one of the things, you know, everybody wants to spend all the money coming in. And that's one of the challenges that they have. If everybody would just spend less, they would have a deal in place.
So that's something that we heard a lot from Brian Balfour. You've spoken to him at the John Locke Foundation, who said that, you know, this is an easily fixable problem if they would just spend less money. But right now, this debate back and forth between the Senate and the House over these revenue triggers is causing this impasse, which is tightening the budgets of all these state operations. Because here in North Carolina, the state government continues operating. Not like Washington, where you have a shutdown, everybody goes home, we furlough people, or we stop paychecks, all of those things.
We keep going with the old budget that was in place. And that's one of the reasons that Hall felt like he needed to put this out and say, look, we're still spending, things are still operating, and it's a great thing that we don't stop our government when this happens, but it means that we need to come up with a deal.
Well, Donna, that's what I was just going to ask you. It's kind of almost a blessing in disguise. In some cases, you can see the pros and the cons. Teachers aren't furloughed like they were back in 2008 when the state ran out of money and there was no budget. Things continue to operate at the exact same time.
That's not a whole hell of a lot of incentive for lawmakers. If things just kind of keep chugging along at their current rate, what's the incentive to get back down to the table, really dig your knuckles in and make this thing happen? Right.
So one of the things that Hall says is that there's about $549 million in recurring funds left to cover a bunch of priorities going forward into the next year. And then without a deal, we're going to be looking at the next budget process to do it.
Now, they have passed many budgets that keep things moving along. We've also had this impasse with Medicaid. There's enough money in Medicaid to last until, I think, April.
So we've got a little bit of a runway, but it's definitely shortening, and they are scheduled to come back on December 15th. We, at Carolina Journal, have tried to get comment out of, and have requested comment from the Senate to see where they are after this op-ed published today. But, you know, so far we've not gotten a response. It's entirely possible that the Senate could say, look, we're not coming back. Good luck to you.
But what we've said over and over is just agree to spend less, and then you would have a deal. Donna, from a political standpoint, you've got the leader of the North Carolina House in Destin Hall. This is his first term as speaker. He's not a freshman in politics. He's been involved in the process for some time, but he's just stepping into that speaker position Then in the Senate side you got the longest tenured president pro tem of the Senate in North Carolina history Is this almost a little bit of a power struggle do you think between these two individuals as they try and get both of their various colleagues in the House and the Senate on the same page Sure, sure.
Well, I mean, it's always going to be wrangling cats in the House. You've got lots of different members. You've got a lot more members first. And they're representing a lot of different types of communities. The Senate, as is true at the federal level, the Senate has fewer members to deal with.
And Berger's been in charge and been running that as the Senate leader since Republicans took over. He's largely the architect of how North Carolina recovered from a century of overspending and high taxes and all of those.
So he came in as the leader in the Senate early when they won in 2010 and really shaped the economic successes that we see today.
So what's happening now is we've got a new generation coming in. We have Speaker Hall, a young man under 40 years old, you know, wrangling a large house with lots of different competing priorities and some concern over there about revenue forecasts.
Now, there is an issue there. Revenue forecasts are historically incorrect. And that's something that a lot of this is based on. But he does say that they would have to be more incorrect than they have ever been before for this not to be a problem.
So, you know, he's right in some ways, wrong in some ways. It really is going to be tough. But you're right. You are seeing a power struggle between, you know, a new younger member and certainly Berger who has kept a tight rein on the Senate and really shaped what we've seen over the last decade as this march toward lower taxes, more economic growth and all of the successes that the Republicans have enjoyed over the last decade. And Don, I'm glad you bring up that revenue forecast.
We chatted with Brian Balfour about that probably six months ago. How about they use some static model to determine revenues going forward, and it's highly inaccurate. It's always way under in terms of expectations as to what is actually generated in the state.
So there's no question about it that there should be some caution when you're looking at these projected revenues, not the fault of the people that are doing them. It's a fault in the formula that they're using to generate those forecasts. Absolutely. And that's something we've been saying for a long time as, you know, forecasts come out and they're proven to be wrong. And this that is what the basis of rejecting these new triggers actually has been.
That's the concern that they've had on the House side is saying, well, this is what the revenue forecasts say. We're going to be in deficit much sooner. They're historically incorrect. Hall is saying they have to be more incorrect now than they ever have been in order for us to really be successful. But, you know, what he's also saying is that we've got we're in a time of economic uncertainty nationally, too.
And that's one of the things that is really hitting families this holiday season. What does it mean? Gas prices are certainly down. We're seeing some recovery in other prices. But there's still this sort of air of uncertainty in families, in state government, in federal government that I think is unnerving people.
And that's true. You know, people who are lawmakers are still people, too. Everybody is feeling a little economically unstable, regardless of what we're seeing in those hard numbers. Gas prices going down, you know, inflation is coming down and all of those things are happening. But there is a certain uncertainty that I think is driving a lot of us.
Donna, let me wrap this up with a logistical question here. You mentioned that members in the General Assembly could be coming back. There's going to be at least a skeleton session coming up here on December the 15th. Remains unseen whether that will be the full House and Senate. Does the General Assembly have the ability to go forth with a full budget once we flip the calendar into 2026?
Or is that something that has to be in calendar year 2025? Once they leave for the year, I believe that they're gone and we would see something maybe in short session. But we also could really also see something coming in more mini budgets. And that could be. You know, I think in what we're seeing is that what Hall's saying in this op-ed is alarming on one hand, because what he's really saying is we need to figure out a way to spend more money to meet spending increases.
And that should be concerning for all taxpayers, because, you know, if the deal is that Republicans want to figure out how to spend more money, come to a deal to increase what they're spending, that is the real line in the sand. That's the huge red flag we should be watching. You can continue reading our coverage this morning by visiting our website, carolinajournal.com. We appreciate the insight and information this morning. Donna King joins us on the Carolina Journal NewsHour.
This is Matt Rogers from Lost Culture East. That's with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Lost Culture Results with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Hey Bowen, 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. Tomorrow continues the 32nd annual WBT Hancock's Bikes for Kids. It's benefiting Kids First of the Carolinas presented by Garage Door Doctor.
We are asking you to bring a brand new bike to our WBT studios 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. You can get additional details this morning by visiting our website, wbt.com, for event details. It's now 5.54 on the Carolina Journal-NewsHour, News Talk 1110-993-WBT.
Some very good economic news for the state of North Carolina. According to Democrat Governor Josh Stein, he says that the state is well-positioned for strong future economic growth. And this year was a record year in terms of job announcements, according to the governor, with over 33,000 new positions and nearly $23 billion in overall project investment. Stein said that the news builds upon the state's recognition as the best state in the U.S. for business from CNBC.
That's been three out of the last four years, with the latest recognition coming this past July. He also mentioned during a press conference on Wednesday that North Carolina is the third fastest growing state in the country. The governor noted that the state made significant progress in the sectors like aerospace, biotech, advanced manufacturing, and the electric vehicle sector. With 16,000 jobs promised in the Triad, 8,000 in the Greater Charlotte area, 4,000 in the Triangle, and 1,000 jobs in the East, 1,000 jobs in the Sandhills, and 1,000 jobs in the western half of North Carolina. Among the companies noted was Jet Zero, which has promised to create more than 14,500 jobs and invest nearly $4 billion in Guilford County.
They're going to be doing that at the Piedmont Triad International Airport. And according to state officials, this is the largest single job project ever announced in the state's history. Additionally, another company known as Scout Motors is relocating its corporate headquarters to Charlotte. That is set to bring some 1,200 jobs. And last month, Vulcan Elements announced that it will establish the largest rare earth magnet factory outside of China.
That facility is coming to Benson, North Carolina, and is set to create nearly 1,000 jobs with a $1 billion investment. In addition to that, GE Aerospace announced last week that it would expand its site in West Jefferson. That's in Ashe County, 44 new jobs there, a $53 million investment from General Electric Aerospace. and Toyota's first North American electric battery manufacturing plant had a ribbon-cutting ceremony back a couple of weeks ago in Liberty. That's in Randolph County.
It opened last month and spans a whopping 1,800 acres and is Toyota's largest investment in the United States at nearly $14 billion. That plant currently has about 2,500 workers, but it will have 5,000 when it is at full production. You can read some additional details about North Carolina's strong economic future. Those details are available over on our website this morning, carolinajournal.com. That's going to do it for a Thursday 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 1110 and 99.3 WBT. We'll see you next time.
