You're still grooving, still connecting, still loving, still turning up, still thriving. You still got it, but your immune system, it weakens as you age. That's where vaccines come in. They help train and strengthen your immune response to fight off respiratory illnesses like flu, pneumococcal pneumonia, RSV, or COVID-19. Ask your doctor or pharmacist which vaccines you need.
Book in minutes at vaccassist.com. Sponsored by Pfizer. It's 5.05, and welcome in to a Monday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.
A pretty major international story with a North Carolina connection that we're tracking this morning as FBI agents captured one of the 10 most wanted fugitives on their list. That individual is Alex Rosales-Castillo. He is from Mexico and captured him in Mexico on Friday, ending a nearly decades-long manhunt for the man that is accused of murdering a Charlotte woman back in 2016. Castillos was arrested in Mexico on January the 16th, according to FBI special agent in charge, James C. Barnacle Jr., as well as the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department.
He is currently detained in Mexico City as he is awaiting current extradition proceedings to get him not only back to the United States, but to North Carolina, where there are some pretty significant charges that have been levied over his head. The FBI's law enforcement office in Mexico City coordinated with Mexican authorities to make the arrest. Alex was seen on surveillance video crossing the border into portions of Arizona on August 16th, 2016. He is charged with murdering 23-year-old Sandy Lai Lee in Charlotte back in 2016. The Charlotte woman's body was unfortunately found in mid-August of 2016 in a wooded area in Cabarris County.
A state arrest warrant was issued in Mecklenburg County on November the 2nd, 2016, charging him with first-degree murder. A federal arrest warrant was issued February 10th, 2017.
So just a couple of months after that, that was issued in the Western District of North Carolina, charging him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. He was then also added to the top 10 most wanted fugitive list on October the 24th, 2017. FBI Director Cash Patel commenting on this big break for the FBI and this idea of getting justice, even on a case that, again, at this point is almost 10 years old, with the FBI director saying Castillo's arrest is the fifth 10 most wanted fugitive capture under this administration and the FBI since last year, more than the entire previous four years combined. The FBI's 10 most wanted fugitive list was established all the way back in 19. Since then, 537 fugitives have been placed on the list, and 499 of them in total have been apprehended or located, with this story being the 516th person to be placed on the list.
So justice will play out, unfortunately, about 10 years later.
However, due to the good law enforcement work of the men and women of the FBI, able to get this Mexican national back in custody and extradition proceedings are taking place right now to get him in the United States where he does face state charges, state murder charges, as well as some federal charges as well. We will watch this legal process as it begins to play out now. Again, about 10 years later, we'll have continued coverage of that over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, and we'll bring you the latest. Not immediately clear how long some of those extradition hearings will take.
However, as soon as we get additional details, we'll bring... To you right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. In some other statewide news this morning, a new UNC system policy is requiring a syllabus and course material to be posted online, and that officially takes effect as the University of North Carolina System President Peter Hans is implementing this brand new policy that requires instructors to post course descriptions and a syllabus to an online searchable database. The move and the reason for this happening is designed to increase public transparency as recent polling shows growing skepticism towards institutions of higher learning across the United States. Under the directive directly from the president of the UNC system, Peter Hans, this took effect January the 15th, and that online syllabus must include the course name, a prefix and description, goals, objectives, and student learning outcomes, an explanation of assignments, what the grading scale is, assignment breakdowns, and the impact of attendance/slash participation.
in various elements of the class, a list of all required course materials, and a statement affirming the course engages diverse scholarly perspectives for critical thinking and that reading inclusion does not imply endorsement. The directive also mandates that the syllabus be posted online to a searchable database no later than one week prior to the first day of classes for application for applicable semesters or sessions. If the material is not available due to a quote operational limit, then it must be posted by the first day of class. Hans recently speaking with the News and Observer said, quote, there is no question that making course syllabuses publicly available will mean hearing feedback and criticism from people who may disagree with what's being taught or how it's being presented. That is a normal fact of life at a public institution.
And we should expect a vibrant and open society to have a debate that extends beyond the walls of the campus. The move also garnered opposition from the North Carolina American Association of University Professors with the president of that entity, President Todd Wolfson, in a statement saying, quote, this policy will stifle academic freedom, chill free inquiry, and expose educators and students to politically motivated attacks and targeted harassment. At its core, the new directive is an effort to intimidate instructors whose research and teaching delves into subject matters that some politicians don't want explored. It's an interesting statement there from the American Association of University Professors. According to Wolfson, he said, dark money-funded right-wing activists and their allies in the UNC system leadership are attempting to strangle critical thought and the free exchange of academic thought by harassing faculty, disturbing student learning, and threatening.
The pursuit of truth. He went on by saying, Ultimately, Peter Hans's regulation amounts to a doxing database that will further empower those attempting to censor teaching and learning into the UNC system. Pretty outrageous commentary there, from my vantage point, from the president of the American Association of University Professors.
However, regardless, Peter Hans and the UNC system is moving forward with it. Jenna Robinson, who is the president of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, recently wrote a letter praising the decision by Hans, but cautioned more work needs to be done. In part, the letter reads: The UNC system's decision to make the syllabus public is a significant step towards greater transparency, adding, it's all disappointing that it's not all reading materials that will be listed in the syllabus. I hope that this can be addressed in a subsequent policy revision.
One of the main reasons that all of this is going on is recent surveys, and not just from Pew Research, but from other groups, most particular, or most recently, a Pew Research Center poll from October of last year that found that seven in 10 Americans now say higher education is generally headed in the wrong direction.
So 70% of people in this Pew Research poll have a variety of concerns and issues with higher education. That is an increase from 56% who said the same thing back just six years ago in 2020.
So with that growing concern from parents, with the growing concern from students and other individuals that have a vested interest or stock in the higher education system, is forcing systems like the UNC system, which is responsible. We're not only talking about Chapel Hill, we're talking about the entire UNC system.
So all North Carolina public schools that brand that UNC moniker, all of them are. Are now following and will be following this policy and procedure moving forward. We'll continue to see what this looks like and its implementation. You can read some additional coverage of that this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. That story's headline: new UNC policy requiring a syllabus be posted online takes effect.
Again, those details over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Let's go! You're still grooving, still connecting, still loving, still turning up, still thriving. You still got it, but your immune system, it weakens as you age. That's where vaccines come in.
They help train and strengthen your immune response to fight off respiratory illnesses like flu, pneumococcal pneumonia, RSV, or COVID-19. Ask your doctor or pharmacist which vaccines you need. Book in minutes at vaccassist.com. Sponsored by Pfizer. I've got a great event I want to tell you about coming up next month.
The John Locke Foundation's Carolina Liberty Conference, or CLC as it's known, brings together policymakers, scholars, community leaders, and citizens from across the state of North Carolina to explore the challenges and opportunities of advancing freedom in today's political and cultural climate. CLC 2026 takes place February the 27th and 28th at the Starview Hotel in Raleigh. This year, we'll be celebrating, alongside many other entities, the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution with great guest speakers like Lord Daniel Hannon, Chief Justice Paul Newby, State Auditor Dave Bollick, and more to be announced. You can register for the 2026 Carolina Liberty Conference today by visiting johnlocke.org. That's j-o-h-n-l-o-c-k-e.org.
Get your tickets now for the 2026 Carolina Liberty Conference, February 26th. 27th through 28th in Raleigh, johnlock.org for details. It's now 5:21 on the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT. An interesting story we're tracking this morning over at CarolinaJournal.com. Former U.S.
Senator Kirsten Sinema of Arizona is facing a lawsuit in North Carolina filed by a woman who claims that Cinema broke up her marriage. The plaintiff in this case, Heather Amel, sued Cinema under the state's alienation of afflection law. It was originally filed last September in Moore County Superior Court. And as you can imagine, the suit attracted national attention back when it was filed due to the high level of profile that Kyrsten Cinema had at the times.
However, most recently, Cinema's lawyers have had the case removed from state court to federal court.
So here's a little bit of the background. Heather and Matthew Amel were married and living with their three children in North Carolina in 2022 when Cinema hired Matthew Amel in April of that year to work on her security detail according to the lawsuit. The 15-page complaint offers details of Cinema's alleged interactions with Matthew, reading directly from the suit. In addition to accompanying the defendant to various work events, Mr. Amel accompanied the defendant on several trips and went with her alone to Napa Valley, California in the fall of 2023.
Upon returning home from Nampa Valley, Mr. Amel appeared uncomfortable and informed the plaintiffs, his wife, that if anyone had seen them together on the trip, it would have appeared that they were on a, quote, romantic getaway. In January of 2024, Heather discovered that Cinema was, quote, frequently messaging her husband using the signal messaging app, writing in the legal document. The messages exceeded the bounds of a normal work relationship and were of a romantic nature, according to the complaint. Cinema offered to help Matthew Amel deal with the mental health challenges related to his previous military service.
Reading now from the lawyers, the defendant suggested Mr. Amel to bring MDMA drugs on a work trip so that she could guide him through a psychedelic experience. According to the lawyers, they added a defendant messaged Mr. Amel during the State of the Union address. When Mr.
Amel asked why she wasn't attending the State of the Union, the defendant stated she didn't need to listen to some old man, President Biden, talk about legislation that she wrote. Cinema and Matthew Amel attended concerts and other events together. Around May or June of 2024, Mr. Amel stopped wearing his wedding ring, according to the lawyers. He also stated that it was best for public optics, so it wouldn't look like the defendant was putting her hands on a married man when they were out at concerts and other various public events.
In June of 2024, Kirsten Cinema named Matthew Amel a defense and national security fellow on her U.S. Senate staff, as he also worked as Cinema's personal bodyguard, according to the complaint. Heather Amel confronted cinema in October of 2024. The defendant messaged Mr. Amel stating, I miss you putting hands on your heart.
I'll see you soon. The plaintiff responded to the message stating, are you having an affair with my husband? You took a married man away from his family, according to the complaint. That continued to allow the situation to unfold with the Amel separating in November of 2024.
However, according to the complaint, beginning in or prior to 2023, defendant with actual knowledge of the marriage between the plaintiff and Mr. Amel began to willfully and intentionally seduce, entice, and alienate the affections of Mr. Anel and began to wrongfully and maliciously deprive the plaintiff of warmth, companionship, love, affection, as well as financial contributions, services, and the attention of Mr. Amel. The lawsuit alleges that cinema, quote, remains engaged in a romantic and sexual relationship with Matthew Amel.
The complaint includes details of interactions involving Cinema, Matthew Amel, and at least one of Amel's children as recently as September of 2025. The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages of at least $25,000 along with punitive damages for the defendant's willful conduct. North Carolina, and the reason this might sound like a little bit of an odd legal argument here, is North Carolina is one of only six states that has laws on the books and permits lawsuits for alienation of afflection, according to findlaw.com. Those other states are Hawaii, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Utah. Elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 2018, Cinema dropped her party affiliation in 2022 and became an independent.
That is what rose her to an even higher level of national prominence at the time. She continued, however, to caucus with the Democrats when she eventually left the Senate at the end of 2024 after just one term in office. This is not the first time that we have seen a lawsuit of this nature as it relates to high-powered political figures. Across the state of North Carolina.
However, this is one that is very interesting in its nature due to the fact that Kirsten Sinema is not a resident in North Carolina. She has no immediate or direct North Carolina ties in terms of her position as a former member of the United States Senate. You can read some additional coverage on this story over on our website this morning: CarolinaJournal.com, the headline story there: former Arizona senator faces NC suit over role in broken marriage. It's 534. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM.
WBT, I'm Nick Craig. A good Monday morning to you. Over the last couple of months, we've talked a couple of times about the concept known as lapsed salaries here across the state of North Carolina. We've got a brand new 661-page audit from Dave Bollock and the North Carolina State Auditor's Office about those lapsed salaries. To walk us through that report, Teresa Opaca, CarolinaJournal.com, joins us on the news hour.
Teresa, before we get into the details on this report, I was hoping you could explain to me and our audience this morning, what is a lapsed salary and why should we care about it? Sure. Thanks so much for having me this morning, Nick. Elapsed salary is defined, this is according to the press release put up by state editor Dave Bollick, and the definition by state, by the Office of State Budget and Management, as the amount not expended for salary during the entire period in which the position was vacant. In other words, it's just basically the salary or how much money was budgeted.
And it's just, you know, the position is empty at this point. The long-term vacant positions are funded by state appropriations, specific agency-generated receipts. and federal funding and grants.
So, Teresa, a state employee leaves their job and the position sits vacant for 14 months. Whether there's no good candidates forward or the state doesn't do a good job in advertising the position, the agency, as I understand it, is still essentially collecting that money as if that person was working full-time and collecting a salary and benefits. Is that the case? Yeah. That is correct.
Yep.
So yeah, they're still getting that money. That money is still coming in. They can maybe maybe temporarily use some of that money to do something else with it. But yeah, they are still getting that funding.
So that's been a large sum of money. And as I go through the details of this press report, am I reading this correctly? $1.04 billion in lapsed salaries here in North Carolina? Yeah. You are correct.
That's a the big B, 1.04 billion. Yeah, that's a lot of money. And some of these positions, they've been empty for a number of years when you take a look at that. And so what's the relevance in all this? Obviously, $1.04 billion is a large amount of money.
These state agencies, whether we're talking about DHS or any other agency that is receiving appropriations from the General Assembly to have employees when this money sits essentially vacant and dormant, Teresa, what's the relevance here to the taxpayer across North Carolina? Why should they care? Yeah, because it's, you know, the big question comes down to about the transparency of state agency spending.
So your taxpayer dollars are sitting there and they're wondering, okay, as we just mentioned, what are they doing with those dollars that are coming in? And that really should mean a lot to the taxpayer that's out there because it's your money, right? And it should be going toward what it should be going toward instead of just sitting there, you know, maybe I. They're using it for another purpose.
So that is what stayed out of Bolick, you know, why he and his staff took the time to put out this report and go through all that. And just having that many positions sitting dormant for that length of time, you know, raises a lot of questions. And maybe for the taxpayer as well, when obviously they didn't know about this until this report came out. I hate to use the term, but I feel like it might be accurate. It seems like it can turn into somewhat of a slush fund for various agencies across the state of North Carolina.
That money cannot be used to pay for bonuses and raises for already existing employees within the agency.
So it seems like, Teresa, there could be a lot of discretion with what that money is used for. And we're not just talking about finding a $20 bill on the floor. We're talking about hundreds of millions, billions of dollars here across the state. Yeah. Right, right.
And, you know, going back a few months earlier, back in November, the state auditor did release a report on the Department of Health and Human Services, DHHS, with their vacancies. At the time, he reported over 3,000 vacancies or $375 million in lapsed salary.
Now, in this report, he corrected it. We're actually that actually, no, I'll take that back. That is in the new report. The figure is down from 386 million from the November report.
So maybe slightly adjusted, but that's still a lot of money. But the health department said, you know, wait a minute, he's taking things out of context. The proper, you know, the reporting requirements weren't really given to us or whatever the case may be. But he did raise that question back in November. And in this new report that came out last week, you do see the health department is at the top of the list, is having the most six months or more, the most empty positions with the most lapsed salaries.
And, you know, I remember back, we discussed that back in November, and there's been some other coverage of this since the auditor earlier this month was in front of a committee at the North Carolina General Assembly talking about this as well. And Teresa, one of the things he noted is that, yes, sometimes it can take a while to hire a good person, the right candidate for the right position. But there's other cases that the auditors noted where these positions aren't even posted, meaning there's no conceivable way that you would hire somebody for that position, yet that state agency is still collecting that salary month in and month out. Correct, correct. Yeah, like that, that's exactly what he said.
You know, and he also said long-term vacancies muddy the waters of government expenditures. And that's what he was saying. You know, in some agencies, you have those tax dollars meaning to go to a person serving a valuable state need, but that spot sits empty for a number of years. Money goes elsewhere. And, you know, again, Chip mentioned this is all from the DAVE Act that was put into place by the General Assembly, kind of like the North Carolina version of Doge from the federal government that they had that put in.
It was the Division of Accountability, Value, and Efficiency that was created in August.
So, what that does, it enables legislation requiring each state agency to report to the DAVE on how the agency spends taxpayer funds. And instructs the Bollocks Department to put together a report at the end of the year to see how state agencies are spending the money and what jobs can be cut, positions can be eliminated. Yeah, so it's like you said, it money's the waters, right? Because you don't have a clear picture as to what's going on or how the money is being spent.
Well, and I guess kind of taking my news hat off, thinking about this as a taxpayer in North Carolina, Teresa, maybe this is a little bit of a cynical comment, but agency budgets traditionally do never go down, right? They're always increasing, always looking for more. And then you see some of these figures coming out again, not poking at DHHS, but they were at the top of the list. They've got $375 million a year that are sitting in lapsed salaries, yet you would suspect them and many other, if not every other state agency, is asking for some level of increase. The money's there, they just seemingly don't have it allocated correctly.
Right, right, yeah. Definitely the request doesn't go down, just like taxes don't go down normally, right? But maybe for the state income tax, that did go down, and I did see that in my paycheck.
So, kudos to the GA for that. But, yeah, normally you see the agencies asking for more money. And, you know, coincidentally, in a way, when I attended the council state meeting earlier this month, you did have Secretary of State Elaine Marshall saying, you know, her agency. Has double the work since 2017, but yet they have the same level of staffing. There's a staffing shortage.
So I'm not sure what's going on there. I guess they can't attract the same people. They need maybe to raise salaries in some respects.
So that was ongoing, but she did agree with the Dave report. She said so at the meeting. But on the flip side, you did have the artist Watkins, who is the executive director of the State Employee Association of North Carolina. She did send a letter to all the state officials, including the governor, Josh Stein, and Dustin Hall and Phil Berger, saying she had some real concerns with Otter Bullock's report. Basically, saying that what went unsaid for nearly seven months, almost 3,000 state positions have been frozen under state law because there hasn't been a new budget in place.
And agencies have been unable to fill these jobs, no matter how critical the public need. And that reality alone skews the vacancy totals and distorts the narrative.
So you have that side as well arguing that, well, wait a minute.
Okay, you're saying all these positions are empty and they're spending money, but yeah, the state budget isn't in place. We're the last state in the country to not pass a budget last year. You tell the whole story. I mean, that's basically what the other side is saying. Yeah, and I mean, there's no question about it.
We've thrown a lot of criticism, and I think justifiably at the General Assembly for not being able to get together on a budget. But Teresa, as you mentioned earlier on in the interview, I mean, some of these positions have been vacant for years. This is not a problem that popped up July the 1st when the new fiscal year started. This would appear to be some sort of long-term problem across North Carolina. Most definitely.
Yeah. When you look through this report, like you say, this didn't happen overnight. Going back to there's been positions that you say five years. That would cut, he recommended, Auditor Bollock cut 140 job vacancies. That would result in an estimated $1.9 million in direct state appropriation savings and allow potential reallocation of $4.5 million in receipts.
That's for those jobs that have been vacant for five years or more. Go through it more. He has more of a breakdown for positions for three years, for a year or more, and we have more of those figures. But you're right, this didn't happen overnight, didn't happen since July. This has been going on for a number of years.
So there's different questions to ask on this scale: like, why are they vacant for so long? And okay, you get it. Maybe you can't fill a position detailed, tailored to the exact person that you want for it.
Well, then maybe you need to start combining some positions and then maybe just eliminating that. But there's a lot of different questions, lots of layers in this story. Yeah, the ideal, Teresa, here, that you could have a critical position not filled for five years. I think anybody with common sense would argue, obviously, that's not a critical position if it could sit vacant for that period of time. This is a very lengthy report, but we have seen pretty consistently now with Dave Bollock, the state auditor here in North Carolina.
He always makes recommendations to the various agencies. He's not just putting them on blast and calling them out. He provides some work that can be done to rectify some of these problems. What is he recommending with these lapsed salaries? Sure.
So, some of those recommendations, he obviously says state agency budgets should accurately reflect the actual expenditures necessary to deliver the services and fulfill the statutory responsibilities to North Carolina. Also, tracking and reporting lap salary usage should be improved. That's a big one. Any position that meets certain criteria should be eliminated, as we just mentioned. North Carolina salary should be competitive with those offered to similar positions in surrounding states.
There's been lots of criticism, especially when it comes to teachers' salaries, that North Carolina has the worst or one of the worst for teachers' salaries across the United States. Also, administrative delays in the hiring process can be reduced by increasing accountability and streamlining workflows. And the last is many state agencies should improve their tracking of hiring and vacancies.
So, they're all really valid points that he has for recommendations. Teresa, this has been a pretty dense interview. A lot of information we've gone through. You've got a link to the full report from the auditor's office if our listeners want to sift through the 600-plus page report. But you've got everything laid out: the quotes from the auditor, the recommendations, and some of the pushback.
Where can folks get those details this morning? Sure, if you need to fall asleep, fall back to sleep, or read that report. At the CarolinaJournal.com. We appreciate the update this morning. Teresa Opaca joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
You're still grooving, still connecting, still loving, still turning up, still thriving. You still got it, but your immune system, it weakens as you age. That's where vaccines come in. They help train and strengthen your immune response to fight off respiratory illnesses like flu, pneumococcal pneumonia, RSV, or COVID-19. Ask your doctor or pharmacist which vaccines you need.
Book in minutes at vaccassist.com. Sponsored by Pfizer. Good morning again. It's 5:52. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM, WBT.
The University of North Carolina System President Peter Hans is implementing a brand new policy that requires instructors to post course descriptions and a syllabus to an online searchable database. This move is designed to increase public transparency, with recent polling showing high levels of growing skepticism towards institutions of higher education. We'll start there. A Pew Research Center poll from October of last year found that seven in 10 Americans, 70%, now say that higher education is generally headed in the wrong direction. That's an increase from 56% who had the same thought in 2020.
So we've seen that number creep up pretty significantly over the span of the last five or six years. Years. Under the directive from the UNC president, which took effect officially on January the 15th, the online syllabus must include the course name, prefix, and description of the class, as well as goals, objectives, and student learning outcomes, explanations of assignments, what the grading scale is, and assignment breakdown, as well as the impact of attendance or participation during class, a list of all the required course materials, and a statement affirming that the course engages in diverse scholarly perspectives for critical thinking and that reading inclusion does not imply an endorsement of whatever the literature may be. The directive also mandates that the syllabus be posted to an online searchable database no later than one week prior to the first day of classes for the applicable semester or session. If those materials are not available due to quote operational limitations, not immediately clear what that is, but if for whatever reason they can't be posted before, they have to be posted.
by the first day of classes. Hans Peter Hans, the UNC president, recently told the News and Observer, there is no question that making the course syllabus publicly available will mean hearing feedback and criticism from people who may disagree with what's being taught or how it's being presented. That's a normal fact of life at a public institution, and we should expect a vibrant and open society to have debates that extend beyond the walls of campus. This move has garnered opposition from the North Carolina American Association of University Professors with the president of that entity, President Todd Wolfson. Releasing a recent statement saying, quote, this policy will stifle academic freedom, chill free inquiry, and expose educators and students to politically motivated attacks and targeted harassment.
At its core, this new directive is an effort to intimidate instructors whose research and teaching delves into subject matter that some politicians don't want to see explored. He continued in the statement going on by saying, dark money-funded right-wing activists and their allies in the UNC system are attempting to strangle critical thought through and the free exchange of academic thought by harassing faculty, disturbing student learning, and threatening the pursuit of truth. Ultimately, Peter Hans's regulation amounts to a doxing database that will further empower those attempting to censor teaching and learning within the UNC system.
Some very strong words there from President, the American, the North Carolina American Association of University Professors, President Todd Wolfson, in his commentary on this new requirement as part of the UNC system. Jenna Robinson, who is the president of the James. G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, recently wrote a letter praising the decision by Hans, but cautioned that more work needs to be done. In part, the letter reads, the UNC system's decision to make the syllabus public is a significant step towards greater transparency.
It's disappointing that not all reading material will be listed in this.
However, I hope that this can be addressed in a subsequent policy revision. Again, what is the background on all of this growing skepticism and criticism of greater Of higher education universities and colleges. As we continue to follow some of the details and coverage there from Pew Research, most recent polling shows that seven in ten people feel that higher education is moving generally in the wrong direction. You can read some additional coverage of that this morning. Over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, the story's headline: new UNC policy requiring the syllabus to be posted online takes effect.
Turning our attention now to the North Carolina General Assembly. There is nothing scheduled this week to take place. Originally, back a couple of weeks ago, we were under the impression, and it was originally scheduled that Mecklenburg County Sheriff Gary McFadden, Charlotte Mayer Vill Isles, and others would be appearing in front of the House Select Committee on Oversight and Reform. That was originally scheduled for this Thursday, January the 22nd.
However, Due to, I believe, scheduling conflicts, that has been pushed back an additional week.
So, that hearing, which again will include McFadden and other Charlotte area officials, will take place Thursday, January the 29th. We'll keep you up to date with the details. That's going to do it for a Monday 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 Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT.
You're still grooving, still connecting, still loving, still turning up, still thriving. You still got it. But your immune system, it weakens as you age. That's where vaccines come in. They help train and strengthen your immune response to fight off respiratory illnesses like flu, pneumococcal pneumonia, RSV, or COVID-19.
Ask your doctor or pharmacist which vaccines you need. Book in minutes at vaxassist.com. Sponsored by Pfizer. Mm-hmm.
