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Book in minutes at vaccassist.com. Sponsored by Pfizer. It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Tuesday 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.
We start off with brutally cold temperatures across the state of North Carolina. Temperatures right now across the state, 10 in Asheville, 15 in Charlotte, 15 in Raleigh, and the warmest spots are on our east coast where temperatures are hovering right around 20 degrees. These brutally cold temperatures are keeping folks alert on the roadways with concerns of flash freezing in the overnight hours due to anything that was able to melt from this weekend's winter storm that affected mostly western and portions of central North Carolina. Anything that was able to melt during the midday heating as much as there was on Monday. Afternoon, the possibility of freezing throughout the day.
Today, DOT officials remind folks to take it slow, especially on some of those side roadways and especially bridges and overpasses where the possibility of ice buildup from any runoff remains at their highest potential. This is something that we'll be tracking for the next couple of days as low temperatures will remain brutally cold for the next couple of days. We'll keep an eye on it right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. In some statewide news this morning, back on January the 22nd, U.S. Representative Greg Murphy, he is the Republican congressman out of Congressional District 3, introduced the Buying American Cotton Act, which would create a tax credit incentive for the purchase of products made with American grown cotton.
Murphy said in a press release, quote, American cotton growers, especially those in eastern North Carolina, play a critical role in our nation's farm. economy. They help supply countless industries with high-quality raw materials to produce clothing, home goods, industrial, and medical products, and much, much more. Global competition has made survival for our cotton growers difficult, straining rural communities and destabilizing our supply chain. I am proud to put Eastern North Carolina first by introducing the Buying American Cotton Act to support its rich tradition of purchasing high-quality cotton from the United States and the world.
Similar legislation was also introduced back in 2025 in the last congressional session.
However, it did not proceed through Congress. It was introduced and unfortunately kind of died on the vine. Chris Sawyer, a cotton farmer from Greenville, said, we need to continue to strengthen our demand for U.S. cotton to keep our farms running and our rural communities strong. The Buying American Cotton Act Advances these goals by ensuring that U.S.-grown fibers remain a top choice for both brands and retailers.
And this is a major business, not only in North Carolina, but across the U.S. According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2024, more than 410,000 acres of all-purpose cotton were planted in North Carolina, and 400,000 of those acres were harvested, producing some 942 pounds an acre. In total, 785,480-pound bales were produced in North Carolina in 2024. And as we remind you every single time we talk about agriculture and farming, It remains the largest sector in North Carolina, the agricultural sector.
Many of the products that we grow and produce are major drivers for North Carolina's economy year in and year out. Steve Troxler, who is the commissioner of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, recently told the Carolina Journal: Cotton is one of the commodities that is in awful shape right now, not because of the weather, because it is one of the crops that has been impacted by the world's economic conditions and U.S. economic policies. I've talked with friends of mine during the harvest season who grow cotton, and he said that he was losing money on every pound of cotton he harvested because the price of cotton was well below the break-even point that it costs to produce it. We certainly thank Congressman Murphy for his offer to help.
Anything that can be done to incentivize the use of U.S. cotton is money. Appreciated. North Carolina is number six in the nation for cotton production with cash receipts at $311 million. That is including the sale of lint and seed, according to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture.
Cotton ranks number 12 in the state's commodities in terms of cash receipts, which accounts for about 2.1% of the total agriculture cash receipts throughout the entire state. 2025's production is 670 bales, which is down 15% from those numbers that I just mentioned in the 2024 production. The top 10 cotton-producing counties in North Carolina are Halifax, Birdie, Martin, Northampton, Edgecombe, Chiwan, Pitt, Gates, Wilson, and Hyde County. Many of those in eastern North Carolina, where that is one of the larger products or one of the larger crops, I should say, that is harvested and produced. Cotton also plays a significant role in North Carolina's rich textile history.
All the way back in 1899, North Carolina State University started a textile education program due to the state's position it had as a major textile producer. Obviously, there have been many changes for generations now in the textile industry. Many of those, many, much of that industry, more accurately to say, unfortunately, has moved out of North Carolina.
However, going back to our roots and looking at some of our history, it does remain a major sector and a major portion in North Carolina's economy. Again, this was introduced in Congress, the Buying American Cotton Act, by Representative Greg Murphy. He is the Republican out of the third district in North Carolina, which does cover many of the counties that I just mentioned. Those are his districts or his counties, I should say, in his congressional district up in Washington, D.C. You can read some.
Some additional coverage of that story this morning by visiting our website, CarolinaJournal.com. The headline story there: Murphy introduces legislation to boost American cotton. In some other statewide news this morning, we are, of course, keeping an eye on some of the impacts from a winter weather event that affected the state of North Carolina over the weekend. Fortunately, did not see as many impacts as were originally anticipated due to some drying in the sector, which did not allow as much frozen precipitation to fall from the sky. When we joined you yesterday morning, we were looking at about 30,000 customers that remained offline due to power outages, many of those caused by icing on trees and power lines themselves, causing those lines to either fall down or causing some issues with transformers.
Fortunately, this morning, only 4,800 customers across the state are without power. That is incredibly relevant due to those brutally cold temperatures I mentioned just a few minutes ago. The largest group of outages this morning is 932 in Transylvania. Pennsylvania County, 778 in Davidson. Durham County has about 600 customers without power.
582 out in Guilford. And then Henderson, which was the largest. You had more than half the state's power outages yesterday in Henderson County. Duke Energy crews were in full force yesterday, getting that number down to now just 552 customers as of 5.14 this morning.
So work continues with crews from Duke Energy as the state continues to deal with some of those minor impacts from the weekend winter weather event. Coming up here in just a couple of minutes, Teresa Opeka from CarolinaJournal.com will join us. Even though the impacts weren't that severe, there are already reports of scammers out and about in North Carolina. We'll have some of those details coming up here in just a few minutes on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Let us go!
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Visit unity.edu slash careeredge to get started. I think we're gonna go. It's 520. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. Good Tuesday morning to you on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM, WBT.
I'm Nick Craig. Whether it is tropical storms and hurricanes in the summer or sleet, freezing rain and snow in the winter, there is always the risk in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster or storm that unfortunately scammers make their way into North Carolina to try and take advantage of individuals that are trying to pick up the pieces and recover. And North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Cossey is now sounding the alarm on the warning for that this morning to walk us through some of those details. Teresa Opaca, CarolinaJournal.com, joins us on the news hour. Tereach, unfortunately, this is a big business for those that are less than upfront businessmen and women that we see these scammers not only flood into North Carolina, but many other states after any sort of natural disaster.
Yeah, you're right. Good morning, Nick. Thanks for having me. Yep, there's always going to be somebody, you know, trying to scam people out of their hard-earned money or taking advantage of those who are really vulnerable, like the elderly out there.
So we have North Carolina's insurance commissioner, Mike Causey, warning to be on the lookout for scams now that the weekend winter storm has ended and gone out to sea, thankfully. Not too bad North Carolina didn't get hit, although the western part of the state had the most power outages, maybe had more damage than even central North Carolina.
So he, you know, he advises to keep a lookout for that because you just don't know where they're going to pop up. They wait a few days afterward and they follow storms, right? They call them storm chasers too, in a different respect where they want to see where people may have had some damage. And there's so many things that he did go into. But he says, you know, also to people before the storm even ends, they might get a phone call and saying, hey, you know, there's storms coming.
I think maybe you might need some help. And people are maybe the elderly are more willing to talk to somebody over the phone like that. you know, mainly Like he said, and we're going to get down to that in the article. Legitimate contractors aren't going to go looking door to door for business because they are so busy. I mean, you could try to call somebody and they'll be like, Yeah, I'm weeks out, you'll have to try back.
maybe a call back in another week or so, they're not going to come to your door. They're going to be really busy.
So there are a few tips that we can give on how you can protect yourself against those scammers. Yeah, I've seen this firsthand in the eastern half of North Carolina, Teresa, and the immediate aftermath of tropical storms and hurricanes. You've got many, and it traditionally is roofing or individuals trying to remove trees and brush and limbs from your property. They'll knock on your door. They'll ask in most cases for half of the payment up front.
And regardless of whether it's either shoddy work or sometimes, Teresa, these guys just disappear. You give them five, six hundred bucks to remove some trees from your front yard. They give you a business card with a bogus phone number and you're never to hear from them again. You're out a couple hundred dollars cash and there's really no recourse, nothing you can really do about it. Yeah.
Right, right. Yeah, it's just, you know, that's why they say, well, we're going to give you a cheaper rate or or a reduced rate and and they'll ask for cash, like you say, and maybe ask you to pay up front. Ask you for different forms of payment other than cash. They might ask you for maybe to go on a cash app, maybe something like a PayPal or even Bitcoin they're asking for, believe it or not. Things like that, of that nature.
That's what Commissioner Cosi was telling me when I talked to him for this interview.
So, yeah, you never, ever want to give anybody money up front, never. And also, too, never sign anything without reading everything, especially the fine print. When it comes to, you know, or anything, it has a blank, you know, a blank line on it because the person can come and fill that in afterward, after you signed it.
Some other things, too, about you know, there's a what he calls an assignment of benefit or AOB. It's a form that people will bring to a person's home. The fine print says if you sign this. An insurance company pays a claim. That all the money goes to the contractor.
Now, if you want to come back and say, Hey, I'm not doing this, I want to cancel this. There is a clause in that paperwork that says they owe the scam artists some money because they get a percentage of the total job, whether they do that work or not.
So, you've got to be very, very careful in signing anything and read everything that they give you. Teresa, I'm glad you bring up the insurance angle on this as well. And we've seen cases in the past, even where maybe it's not a fly-by-night or even a scam operation. But if you don't follow and go through the proper procedures that are outlaid in your homeowners' or your renter's insurance policy, you could also be in a situation where you get the work done, but your insurance company is not willing to reimburse you for it. And that being the case, you could be out thousands of dollars, depending on the work that was done, tens of thousands, if you got a major repair done, like a roof replacement or something like that.
Yeah, yeah.
So you got to be very careful when it comes to that. Like you say, you're going to be out even more money when it comes to maybe possibly insurance claims.
So, you know, and definitely check with your insurance agent or insurance company too before signing a contract paying for repairs. As we said, everything, get everything in writing. You also want to ask if you're not sure to see the salesperson or the contractor's driver's license, write that number down, and also take down their license plate number. And basically, some other good tips, of course. You want to ask for references, check with the Better Business Bureau or recommendations from family and friends, and also make sure they have workers' comp insurance.
That's very important, and that they're bonded and insured. And you also want to maybe set up an appointment to get estimates, at least three different estimates from different contractors as well. And Teresa, one of the tactics that are used in this, and not to try and poke fun or make this about the elderly, but they'll use this level of urgency. They'll stress, and we see this with a lot of telephone and text message and even social media scams that do prey, unfortunately, on elderly individuals. They will stress this importance.
Oh, we're leaving town in two days and we'll cut you this great deal, but you've got to sign right now. If not, we're going to be gone. We're going to Asheville.
So we've got to get out of here in the next couple of days. They'll really stress that urgency to put individuals on the hot seat. And unfortunately, when we talk about this, Teresa, in many cases, there is damage, whether it's a roof or trees that have fallen partially on a house. There are immediate needs that need to be done.
So you kind of add all of those elements up. And it's a ripe situation for scam artists and less than ideal businessmen. Right. They create this sense of urgency and people that are vulnerable to believing it. I mean, that's for any scam, right?
We've gotten the DMV scams on your phone. You've gotten any kind of scam. Like, hey, you've got to pay this now or else, you know, and maybe you're you're wise to it, but maybe Your elderly neighbor or your relative or a friend isn't. And they may go ahead and say, Oh, I better do this, I better do this. But yeah, advice is caution.
Slow down. Don't be, there's no sense of urgency. Of course, yes, if you do really have damage, you have that sense of urgency, but there's no sense of urgency to go ahead and sign anything or pay any money out. You really want to take your time, read over everything, make sure you know what you're signing, or ask for help too. Maybe you don't understand what you're looking at.
Ask maybe for a family friend or a relative or even a neighbor to come take a look at what the paperwork that they have. And also, other tips too. If someone does show up in your driveway, as we mentioned, most contractors won't, but if they do, make sure it doesn't have an out-of-state license plate on their vehicle, or if they have a U-Haul or a rented truck, you can almost make sure that that's definitely a scam. Or, like you're talking about having real damage, they actually might say, hey, you know what, we think there might be some damage. Let's go take a look, especially when it comes to a roof.
And they'll go up there and create damage. Commissioner Cossey said they've known to take hammers bang on the roof. They've had golf balls put in socks and bang on roof shingles to dent them.
So they're very clever, very methodical in what they do.
So there's a lot of great tips to be aware of when it comes to looking out for these scam artists posing as contractors. And Teresa, one of the interesting things that we want to pass along this morning as well for individuals going through some of those tips, taking down a driver's license number or license plate number, or maybe it's a business card that looks maybe like there's something a little off about it, you are actually encouraged to report some of that fraud to the insurance department and make sure here that they get that on record and maybe can help other people out in the future. Yes, that's correct. You can go on to the Insurance Department's website, and that's ncdoi.gov.gov. or you can call 919.
807-6840, or they have a toll-free number in North Carolina, 888-647. 680-7684. And you can do this all anonymously. You do not have to give your name. We also have the address in the article if you want to mail a letter in or you want just to let them know about it via mail.
Also, too, there's information about if you're having trouble getting a claim paid. Or resolved, you can also call their department's consumer services division Monday through Friday. That's 855-408-1212.
So, a lot of good tips there, as you mentioned, about reporting fraud, or maybe you're having trouble getting your claim paid. We've got all that information in the article as well. Yes, those great tips, the phone numbers, the addresses, all of that information over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. We appreciate the information this morning. Teresa Opeca joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
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WBT, I'm Nick Craig. A good Tuesday morning to you.
Sometimes one legal challenge can run into another. That's what we're tracking this morning on the Carolina Journal News Hour. We've had a couple of stories over the last year or so as it relates to the North Carolina General Assembly, various members of the Council of State, and Democratic Governor Josh Stein as it relates to appointment authorities. One of those cases does deal with the North Carolina State Board of Elections, which is now under the control of state auditor Dave Bullock. To walk us through the latest legal updates on that this morning and how a previous challenge that we talked about just a couple of weeks ago, Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Mitch, if my memory serves me correct, there's three different legal challenges that are currently out in different stages across North Carolina. All of them essentially boil down to the same thing. The General Assembly trying to take appointment authority from the governor and move it to a different member within the executive branch across North Carolina. What's the latest that you're tracking as it relates to the state board?
Well, in this case, you might remember that the state board of elections had been appointed by the governor. He could appoint up to three people from his own party and up to two people from the other major parties.
So, in effect, you had a Democratic leaning board, three to two. And then, as part of Senate Bill 382 in 2024, the General Assembly moved that power from the governor to the state auditor, Dave Bollock, a Republican. And basically, the same rules applied. The auditor could appoint up to three people from a particular party and two members of the other party.
So, because Dave Bollock is a Republican, the board of elections moved from 3-2 Democrat to 3-2 Republican. A trial court would not have allowed that to go forward, but then the state court of appeals stepped in and said, no, this was fine. And the state Supreme Court issued an order without actually hearing the case saying that the state appeals court's decision could stand.
So, Dave Bollock was. Allowed to make the appointments. The Board of Elections did move from being 3-2 Democrat to 3-2 Republican. The case remains at the Court of Appeals, though, and the Court of Appeals. We'll end up hearing arguments in this case and decide whether that change to move the Board of Elections appointments within the executive branch from one member of the Council of State, the governor, to another, the auditor, whether that is constitutional.
Those arguments had been scheduled this week because of the threat of winter weather. They got bumped back, but those arguments will take place in early February. And at some point in the not-too-distant future, we might see a ruling from the Court of Appeals on how that case will play out.
Now, the most interesting development, other than the oral arguments being bumped back from late January to early February, is that Dave Bollock has asked the state Court of Appeals to take note. Of its own ruling in another recent case that pitted the governor against legislative leaders. This was the case, and all of these cases are called Stein v. Berger or Stein v. Hall, depending on which of the legislative leaders you put first on the court document.
But in the other case, called Stein v. Hall. It dealt with a couple of issues. One was appointment of statewide judicial vacancies, or filling statewide judicial vacancies. But the other that had particular interest to Dave Bollick was the movement of one of Governor Josh Stein's utilities commission appointments from the governor to the state treasurer, Brad Briner.
And basically, what the State Court of Appeals said in that Stein v. Hall ruling was that was fine. The General Assembly had within its power to move. A utilities commission appointment from the governor to the state treasurer. That was a movement within the executive branch.
It was not a case of the legislature taking one of the governor's appointments for itself. And so the legal issue here is that Dave Bollock's attorneys filed a document in the State Court of Appeals saying that this is a subsequent authority, is the official rule title of it. And basically, they're saying, hey, look at what you just said in this Steinb. Hall case about it being okay to move a utilities commission appointment from the governor to the treasurer. And it should apply to what you're going to say about this case: moving the elections board appointments from the governor to the auditor.
It'll be very interesting to see whether the appeals court does, in fact, look at that and say, yes, that's what we should do. Do the same thing that we said in the initial Stein v. Hall case to this other. Stein v. Berger or Stein v.
Hall case. I'm glad you bring up some of that backstory, Mitch. And while the Utilities Commission is not necessarily as high-profile as the North Carolina State Board of Elections, obviously we have elections that roll through every year in North Carolina, whether we're talking about municipals or general elections. They are both very important boards that exist across the state of North Carolina. Just because one gets more news coverage than the other, I don't think diminishes the responsibility of the Utilities Commission.
Is there anything materially different in these cases, Mitch, as the argument is being made by the lawyers for the auditor's office and Dave Bullock? Is there anything truly different about those two cases? Or do you see this as, okay, if you rule this way on the Utilities Commission, you seemingly have to rule the same way as it relates to the State Board of Elections?
Well, that's certainly the argument that the auditors' lawyers are making: that, hey, you've said that it was okay. To move an appointment within the executive branch from one elected council of state member, the governor, to another, the treasurer. And so the same principle ought to apply. And one of the reasons that he's filing the document that he did is that both of these cases are at the state court of appeals.
So the argument from the auditor is: if you would somehow say that this movement of the elections board appointments to the auditor is wrong, you would be contradicting what you just said in this other case at this same court. And the court of appeals, even though it hears cases in three judge panels and they aren't always the same panel, and in fact, the case, the panel that's hearing the elections board case is not the same as the panel that heard the utilities commission case. The appeals court is not supposed to contradict itself, even if you have judges who aren't the The same on the two panels. And so that's basically Bollock's argument: you've already basically decided this issue when you decided that the Utilities Commission appointment was fine. And so it follows logically that you should say that what happened with the Elections Board is fine.
Now, another interesting wrinkle in the Elections Board case, remember, is that the state Supreme Court has already weighed in. This case didn't go to the state Supreme Court in the normal way of you file the briefs and then you have an oral argument and then there's a lengthy decision and you get a majority decision and maybe some concurrences and a dissent or multiple dissents. In this case, The Court of Appeals issued an order blocking what the trial court had said in favor of Governor Stein. And the state Supreme Court stepped in and basically just issued an order saying, The state appeals court had a good reason to do what it did. The trial court obviously got this wrong.
No one signed that opinion, but the majority agreed to it. And the only real lengthy discussion we got was from the dissenters, the Democratic justices, who said, This was done wrong procedurally, and the trial court's order should have stood. But the Supreme Court has already stepped in.
So, in addition to what Dave Bollock has said. The Court of Appeals has to look at what the state Supreme Court has already said and make sure that its ruling doesn't contradict what the state Supreme Court has already said about this case. And obviously this would be down the road, Mitch. You mentioned that these arguments are going to be heard in early February, but it seemingly would bolster the ability, if this does not go the way of the state auditor when it makes its way in front of the appeals court. If this doesn't go his way, it seemingly would bolster his argument in potentially appealing this to the state's highest court, which would be the final decision maker one way or the other when this thing is all said and done.
Yeah, that's right. And I suspect that the state Supreme Court will at some point have to step in and weigh in on at least one of these cases. And because you mentioned that there's, in addition to these two, there's another appointments case in which the legislative leaders who've got a mixed ruling in that case have asked the state Supreme Court to step in. Governor Josh Stein doesn't actually want the state Supreme Court to take that case. He has said, if you do take this case, I'd like you to rule in my favor.
But he said, I would prefer you don't take this case. But one suspects that the state Supreme Court will at some point take one of these appointments fights between Governor Stein and the legislative leaders and will come up with a ruling one way or another about the things that the General Assembly has done and whether they could stand. Because you've got this issue, moving appointments from one member of the Council of State to another, but you have some other issues as well, whether it's okay.
Okay, to split the appointments between the governor, the legislature, and some outside group, or whether it matters whether the board that's being affected is one that actually has decision-making authority that would be under the executive branch, or whether it's more an advisory group.
So, basically, there are a bunch of different types of appointment changes that the General Assembly has made. The only really common factor is they took away some authority from the governor, and it probably eventually will be up to the Supreme Court to say whether these were valid or whether the General Assembly stepped on the governor's authority in a way that was unconstitutional. And that, of course, would be incredibly relevant if this assuming eventually some one of these cases makes its way to the state's highest court and it gives its final ruling. Mitch, if seemingly if they rule on the side of the governor, that would pretty much chop out the legs of under the General Assembly and they would not be able to do any more of this. They could try, but presumably with losing court.
On the flip side, if the state's highest court does say, yes, General Assembly, you do have the right to shift around some of these appointment authorities within the executive branch. You know, I'm going to see a fire sale going on within the General Assembly where they continue to pick and pluck some of these appointments away from Governor Stein and give it to other members of the executive or the Council of State, rather, like the state treasurer, like the auditor, and other individuals within that entity. Yeah, that definitely could happen. And I think one of the things that we have seen in court filings that has been interesting is that the lawyers for the legislature are basically asking the state Supreme Court to step in and say either that what it said earlier in a couple of precedent cases, McCrory v. Berger in 2016 and Cooper v.
Berger in 2018 or 2019, I can't remember the year at this point, but basically that what the court said in those Cases either has been misinterpreted. Moving forward, or that the court got it wrong. Basically, because those cases were disputes between the General Assembly and the governor in cases in which the governor ended up winning. First, Republican Governor Pat McCrory and then Democratic Governor Roy Cooper won those disputes. And basically, the legislative leaders are inviting the state Supreme Court to come back and either clarify that despite the fact that the governors won in those earlier disputes, that doesn't mean that they're going to win in these future disputes, including the types of cases that we're talking about now, or to go even further and say, we got it wrong in the McCrory and Berger cases, and we never should have stopped the General Assembly from making these types of changes in the first place.
That's what the legislature would really like: to be able to make any type of appointments changes it can. But it certainly, if it can't get that. As the ultimate goal, the next best thing for the General Assembly would be for the court to say, remember what we said in the McCrory and Cooper cases?
Well, they're very limited, and the General Assembly still has a lot of authority to make appointments changes. Yeah, this could be a major case for the state of North Carolina, not only right now, but for years going forward. We'll keep an eye on the details. You can read continued coverage over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. We appreciate the update this morning.
Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Oh. 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.
In an emergency, every second counts. When you have ADT home security, you can count on peace of mind. With 24-7 monitoring, the most company-operated monitoring centers in the industry, and technology that helps first responders verify your alarm, help is there the moment you need it. Whether you have ADT Pros install your system or set it up yourself, ADT will help keep you safe when it matters most. When every second counts, count on ADT.
Visit adt.com to learn more. It's 5.56. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM WBT. Brutally cold temperatures being felt across the state early this Tuesday morning. 10 degrees in Asheville, 15 in Charlotte, 16 in Raleigh.
Our warm spot this morning is 20 degrees in Wilmington, well below freezing. As the concern remains, according to officials with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, of black ice on the roadways due to midday temperatures on Monday, and we'll see a similar situation today in brutally cold overnight lows. They are warning that on side streets, intersections, and especially bridges and overpasses, make sure you are extra cautious if you are out and about this morning. Actually, I just say this. Boone is actually our cold spot.
Excuse me. Seven degrees in Boone. The feel-like temperature up in the mountains is a brisk zero degrees. According to the latest information from the National Weather Service, brutally cold temperatures will persist in overnight lows for the next couple of days. Unfortunately, Duke Energy Crews have gotten more and more folks' power turned back on.
Only 3,000 customers without power this morning. That's down from 30,000, where that number was yesterday. That is going to do it for a Tuesday 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 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.
