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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 kick off your Tuesday with some pretty good and strong business news across the state of North Carolina. A group known as Business Facilities Magazine has named North Carolina the 2025 state of the year for economic development. This is according to a recent news release from the North Carolina Department of Commerce. The ranking is based on the state's overall business climate as well as its economic development growth in the past year, including a variety of different factors that led Business Facilities magazine ranking the Tar Hill state at the top of the list, including education and workforce opportunities, business incentives, infrastructure, quality of life, as well as business attraction and retention investments. This is the third time in the last six years that North Carolina has been at the top of the list.
It did so in 2020 and 2022.
So it's been a couple year drought from a business facilities magazine.
However, North Carolina back on top. Democrat Governor Josh Stein said in a statement that this recognition underscores the progress North Carolina is making to build a strong, resilient economy that works for all parts of our state. Last year, we had the best year in state for history for job announcements and capital. capital investments. We're the number one state for business in the country and the top state for workforce development.
We've got to keep our foot on the gas to make sure that everyone benefits from the expanding opportunity and growth. The Commerce Department reported more than 35,000 job commitments and more than $24 billion in capital investments from new and expanding companies in the calendar year 2025, which makes it a record-breaking year according to state officials. Those project announcements covered 56 North Carolina counties across a range of industries, including aerospace, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and supply chain operations. Brian Balfour, who is the senior vice president of research at the John Locke Foundation, said that it's an honor for the Tar Heel State to receive the top designation, but noted that it's a bit of a mixed bag. Balfour said, because it includes economic incentives as a positive measure, this ranking is clouded a bit by the crony capitalist metric.
The 35,000 job announcements being crowned by the governor's administration are premature because job announcements are not jobs. And history has shown that roughly half of North Carolina's corporate incentive programs are terminated without living up to their promise. And this has been something that we have been tracking now for years over at CarolinaJournal.com. And we cover really the entire gambit of this from the original announcement that is typically made by the governor or the Commerce Department and a private company here in North Carolina or maybe one that is moving to the Tarhe State. Gill State, many a times we see major promises made, lots of local taxpayer and state taxpayer dollars being doled out through various grant programs.
Unfortunately, to find out that many of the projects do not come to fruition. Unfortunately, sometimes that happens years and years down the road after states and after the state and county, in some cases, have already made massive investments into programs.
Some recent announcements here in North Carolina include Jet Zero's choice of Greensboro for its first commercial airplane manufacturing plant at the Piedmont Triad International Airport, which is expected to bring around 14,500 jobs to the area with a massive investment of about $4 billion, all of that centered in Guilford County. Another company known as Janine Tech is expanding its manufacturing footprint in Wake County, and a company named Vulcan Elements has proposed rare earth magnets. Facilities in Johnston County. An additional 5,000 jobs have been promised to rural areas of the state, along with $12.5 billion worth of investment. North Carolina Commerce Secretary Lee Lilly said in the statement: North Carolina's continued success is rooting its strong partnerships and a focus on long-term growth.
Strategic investments in workforce development, infrastructure, and site readiness, combined with close collaboration with local communities and industry partners, are helping businesses grow while creating good jobs across the state. North Carolina was joined by seven other states in the South who were ranked as opportunity-rich by Business Facilities magazine. Those other states, including North Carolina, were Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. I know some argue whether Virginia is considered in the South. Or not.
Nevertheless, that is the list listed by Business Facilities magazine. You can read some additional coverage of this story this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. The headline there: NC ranked number one for economic development in 2020. In some other statewide news this morning, applications for the Opportunity Scholarship Program open as enrollment surpasses more than 100,000 students in North Carolina. This is relevant as the total number of students enrolled in the Opportunity Scholarship Program has risen above 104,000 students.
And applications are now open for all families across the state to apply for the 26-27 school year. The priority application period runs from February 2nd until March 2nd, according to the North Carolina Education Assistance Authority, which is the state agency that has the responsibility of overseeing the program. Opportunity scholarships are available to all K twelve students and are and are a state voucher program designed to enable families to choose a private education opportunity for their child. The program is available to all families regardless of income.
However, lower income households are prioritized when the state is doling out the scholarship programs. According to the North Carolina Education Assistance Authority, they have announced updated income guidelines and scholarship award amounts as well. Each scholarship is now valued at between $3,500 and between $7,900 each year. That is spread across four income tiers, ranging from $61,000 for a family of four in the first tier to over $274,000 a year for the family in the fourth tier. Those figures are about a 2.6% increase from the previous year number.
And looking at some of the details in this, we've got a full link to this chart describing the various award mounts, the tiers, the income levels based on how many individuals are in your household, all of that available. over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Dr. Bob Lubke, who is the director of the Center for Effective Education at the John Locke Foundation, said the new number for the Opportunity Scholarship suggests demand for the program is as strong as ever. Families want educational options.
On educational options, and North Carolinians should be thankful for a program and lawmakers who have supported it and helped it grow. Never take a good thing for granted. The application period for the ESA Plus program, designed for students with special needs, will also be open during that same timeframe, which runs all the way through March the 2nd. Awards for the ESA Plus may be used at eligible private schools or approved educational expenses, including families who decide to homeschool. North Carolina lawmakers have also been working to make a new federal tax credit scholarship a reality.
The tax credit program was part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act enacted by Congress in July and signed into law by President Donald Trump July 4th of last year. It would allow North Carolina taxpayers to make deductible contributions to designated scholarship-granting organizations known as SSOs. Which in turn would issue stipends to students for private school expenses, including things like tuition and other allowable costs. The measure was unfortunately vetoed by Democrat Governor Josh Stein and is pending an override vote in the North Carolina House. A recent Carolina Journal poll that we went over in great detail last week of likely voters puts the support for the Opportunity Scholarship Program at 64% compared to just 29% who oppose the program across the state.
You can check out again the various income levels and award amounts through the four tiers that the state of North Carolina has made available. You can view those details as well as encourage you to check out our most recent Carolina Journal poll in which we jump into a variety of education topics and issues. All of that available this morning 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. It's 521. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good Tuesday morning to you.
Primary election day is March 3rd across the state of North Carolina.
However, early voting opens next week, February the 12th, in most counties across the state of North Carolina. We are following some legal challenges this morning from college students at multiple universities across the state of North Carolina as it relates to certain early voting locations. To walk through some of those details and to preview a legal challenge and court hearing later this week, Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, back a couple of weeks ago, there was a lengthy board of elections meeting up in Raleigh in which various counties, all of them, presented some level of their plans for early voting locations to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
Some were approved, some were denied, some changed. Changes were made at the meeting. And then this legal challenge popped up. What is the latest that you're following on that? Yes, this is a legal challenge that was filed by the College Democrats of North Carolina along with four individual students who are at the affected schools.
And the demand by these group of students who are working with Democratic operative Mark Elias' law firm is that election officials open early voting sites on campus. Two of them in Guilford County at UNC Greensboro and North Carolina AT State University, and then in Jackson County at Western Carolina University. And the argument from the students is that by not having these accessible early voting sites for students right there in their own backyard, that there's a suppression of vote or an attempt to deny young people the same right to vote that others have.
Now, the justification for not having these early voting sites is that they are among the least used in the counties, and that we're talking about primary elections, not the general election, and that the idea is to try to limit the number of early voting sites to those that have been used very well in the past and also to save a little money because all of these early voting sites cost the counties money.
So, what's happening is a lawsuit was filed in late January, and as of the This weekend, it was an order that came out on Sunday. The U.S. District Judge William Osteen set a hearing for Thursday afternoon at his courtroom in Greensboro to deal with the request for an injunction that would force the state to set up these early voting sites on the college campuses, UNCG, NCANT, and Western Carolina.
Now, the timing is interesting. You already referenced the fact that early voting starts on February 12th. This hearing is scheduled for late in the afternoon of February 5th. And Judge Osteen indicated in his order that it could be possible that the hearing would be continued. from February 5th.
to February 11th. The day before early voting starts, and not the morning of February 11th, but 3:30 in the afternoon of February 11th.
So it could be really cutting it close to get some sort of ruling on this before early voting is supposed to start on the 12th. Mitch, why is this being played out in federal court and not state court? Yes, I guess maybe the fact that there are some congressionals, senate races, there's some federal elections, but there's also a lot of local ones. Is there a reason that we're dealing and talking about the feds this morning and not the judicial system here throughout the state of North Carolina?
Well, I think there are a couple of factors at play. One is that the rights that are alleged to have been violated are your federal constitutional rights.
So there is an opportunity to go to a federal court on this. I think also there is a chance that you could sue under the state constitution in state court. But I think the plaintiffs in this case are looking at it as a much more likely opportunity that they could win either at the trial court level in federal court or probably even more likely than that, perhaps at the Fourth Circuit. where you have a much more left of center judicial establishment there, many more Democrat appointed judges sitting on the Fourth Circuit than you would find looking at either our state appellate courts or even the state trial court level. Mitch, there were some significant changes made to the North Carolina State Board of Elections last year.
We have been tracking some of the legal challenges surrounding that that have continued to play out here across North Carolina. To summarize it for our audience, the appointment authority for the state board changed from the governor now to the state auditor. There's a difference in political party there. Governor Stein is a Democrat. Dave Bullock, the state auditor, is a Republican.
That kind of trickled down to all 100 county board of elections. There's now a 3-2 Republican majority on all of those boards.
So there's been a major shift. A lot of new people that are first time on the board, new chairmen, new chairwomen across the state of North Carolina. And as I watched this meeting that took place at the state a couple of weeks ago, in which many of the counties that we're talking about were making their case in front of the state board of elections as to why certain locations are not going to be relevant in this election, something you mentioned, Mitch, these things are pretty expensive to operate, especially when you have very low voter participation, which whether Whether we like it or not is the case in these midterm elections, especially in the primary, in many cases, in some more rural counties. You could be talking about just hundreds of people that vote at a single voting location for the nearly three weeks that early voting takes place. That's exactly right.
And remember when the State Board of Elections was dealing with this issue, it was only 12 of the 100 counties. In 88 of our 100 counties, the Republicans and Democrats on the local boards of elections agreed about what the early voting sites were. It was only in 12 counties where there was disagreement. And in this case, what happened was the majority, which is now a 3-2 Republican majority, the majority decided that it made the most sense in terms of getting the polling sites where people were likely to vote and trying to be economical about it not to have these early voting sites on campus. Another factor that we should mention is this is being described as taking away voter sites.
North Carolina ANT has never had an early voting site in a primary. They had one, or I should say in a midterm. They had an early voting site in the presidential election. They have never had one in a midterm election. And that was one of the factors that weighed into the Republican majority saying this is not necessarily the time to have a midterm primary early voting site at NCAT.
They also looked at the 2024 data, which showed that the voting site. On the North Carolina ANT campus was the least used site in 2024 early voting for Guilford County.
So if you're looking at a place to cut, that was an obvious source. In the Western Carolina case, there are five early voting sites in Jackson County, which is a western mountainous county. Two of them are in Culliwee, including the Western Carolina site, and then three others dispersed across the county. And so, what the majority on the board said, well, we'll keep. The one other Culliwee site, which is a very well-used site, and not have the site at Western Carolina.
The Democrats on that board suggested having the site at Western Carolina, which has been one of the lesser used ones, and getting rid of the other Culliwie site, which is one of the sites used most. In fact, it was the site that was used most beyond the local county board of elections itself. And so you're seeing some partisan differences of opinion with the Democrats being more likely to try to make it as easy as possible for younger. Likely Democratic-leaning voters to vote, while Republicans are saying, look, in these sites that aren't really particularly well used. Let's save some money and our resources at the county level and have early voting sites where people are likely to turn out and vote, not just trying to make it easier for voters who are the Democrats see as part of their major base.
We'll continue the conversation with Mitch Coke from the John Locke Foundation coming up after this. You're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour. Oh, 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. It's 537. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM. WBT, I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.
Early voting kicks off next week across the state of North Carolina.
However, there is a legal challenge by a group of college Democrats challenging voting locations in the primary election. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us. Money obviously is a major factor in this. The other is some of the man hours that it takes to operate these sites. And again, this is a larger issue in more rural areas of North Carolina where you do not have necessarily the population that you would see in a Raleigh, a Charlotte, a Wilmington, a Nashev's, a Greenville, cities like that.
These sites are incredibly spread out across many of these counties. You've got over two weeks of early voting plus election day. Many of these voting locations are open from either 7.30 or 8 o'clock in the morning, all the way until 5, 6, 7, maybe even 8 p.m. as well.
Well, this is a very interesting kind of work. And your regular nine to fiver is not able to work and operate these early voting locations.
So there's also a resource, a man hour issue here as well. That's definitely true. And North Carolina has one of the most generous early voting periods of any of the states, having so many days and so many hours of early voting. And that factors into these decisions as well. It's costly to operate these early voting sites.
And so you want to maximize the bang for the buck. Look at places where there have been good turnout for early voting in the past and allow those to remain open. And if the sites haven't had that great a turnout, then you shut them down, especially when we're talking about the primary. Be different for the general election where you're going to have a stronger turnout. It still won't be as strong in this midterm election year, likely, as it would be for a presidential race.
But still, you're going to have much more of a turnout for the general election than you will for the primary. And so, when you're seeing people saying they're trying to suppress the vote, they're trying to hurt young people by taking away their opportunities to vote. Really, it much more comes down to an issue of resources and trying to get the best bang for the local buck in terms of where you're going to put this early primary voting site that could come down to a choice between sites that are fairly close to each other, one of which has a pretty high turnout and one of which does not. Another factor on that Western Carolina vote that has been discussed, Andy Jackson of the John Locke Foundation wrote about this, is that some people had concerns about that Western Carolina site not being accessible to people who aren't associated with the university. Mm-hmm.
If you have another site in Cullawie that's accessible to everyone in Cullawie, and you have a site at Western Carolina that's only really easily accessible to people who live and work at the university, it might make more sense if you're going to have one site in Cullowee to have it at the accessible site rather than the one that has challenges accessibility wise. And Mitch, that was not only an argument that was made out at Western Carolina University. I remember some of that conversation with some of these other college sites as well, talking about how these campuses, the setup, if you're not familiar with it, if you're not a student or you didn't attend the school. traversing all the parking lots and figuring out where you need to go can be a hassle or discussions over the availability for parking. Many of these colleges, they don't even allow freshmen or sometimes even sophomores to park on campus due to the fact that there's just not enough room for everybody to have their cars, discussions over getting into the facilities, the signage.
There are some other concerns with these college setups unless those buildings are right on the main drag where individuals can easily just pull in and start casting their ballots. Yeah, and certainly if you're looking at the case where you've got a site that's on campus and you have an alternative site that's not on campus, that's not that far away. It certainly makes sense and is within the realm of possibility to say, well, this other site. Is accessible to everyone, including the students. And let's use that one rather than one that's really just accessible to students and staff and faculty at the universities.
I think that's also what's weighing into some of these decisions as well. You know, one of the things that's kind of interesting is that you mentioned the Board of Elections site where there are a board of elections meeting in which there are a bunch of students who showed up to complain. And one of my first thoughts was, well, you were able to get to Raleigh from your college to be able to complain about these sites, but you can't drive the or walk or bike or get a ride from a friend the mile and a half or two miles off campus to this other early voting site. It sort of doesn't seem like that's really what's happening here. And Mitch, I don't want to get too far off track here, but kind of backing that up, there was some discussion at that same state board of elections meeting about just that.
These are individuals that are going for a, in some cases, a two, four, maybe even a doctorate degree in college. These individuals have rigorous work that they're completing day in and day out to get a degree. The idea that they can't traverse, as you noted, a mile or two, maybe even three to early vote with many of the municipalities offering some level of public transportation to and from the polls. The idea that these individuals who, again, are enrolled in college are incapable of doing that seems to be nothing more than a fantasy.
Well, and it's one of the arguments that's made in a lot of these lawsuits is that you're suppressing the vote when really it's just making it not quite as convenient. As it would be if you could just roll out of bed and take two steps and cast a ballot. If you have to go a mile and a half to cast your ballot, that's probably not infringing on your constitutional rights. Though, of course, this is something for the courts to decide. And we'll see what the courts do decide.
That hearings coming up on Thursday may get some sort of decision then or fairly soon afterward, or the decision may get closer and closer to February 12th. Mitch, let me ask you about this, and now I'm going to ask you to take your reporter hat off and kind of have this back and forth. I mean, how close can we realistically get to February the 12th, the start of early voting, for a court order that says, hey, you have to open an early voting location? They don't have likely, they don't have the people available to work it. They may not have the equipment needed to be able to be quickly dispatched to that area.
I mean, we're talking about an incredibly short runway here between the hearing Thursday, just one week ahead of the start of early voting, and of course, a weekend in there as well.
Well, if the court tells the local boards of elections and the state board of elections that they have to do it, they'll have to do it.
So they'll have to come up with some way to make it happen. But as you suggested, it's going to be very difficult if the county boards have already been making their plans about This is where the early voting sites are going to be. These are the people we need to staff them. This is the equipment we're going to need, the supplies, and making any alternate arrangements for backups. They have those plans.
They're making those plans. Those plans should be fairly well in place. But if a court comes along and says, You've got to add these sites at UNCG, NCANT, Western Carolina. They're going to have to do it. They can't say, well, no, court, we don't have the resources to do it.
They'll have to scrounge from other sites, probably stretch people's hours a little bit more thin, maybe make some. Last minute, please, for additional help. And that'll just increase the likelihood that you would have even more problems at the polls. No one wants problems at the polls. They'd rather just have everything work.
According to plan. But this is the type of thing that could throw a monkey wrench into the system. And remember that if. Judge Osteen issues a ruling against the students. At some point before the 12th, it's entirely possible that they could appeal to the Fourth Circuit and try to get some sort of quick action from the Fourth Circuit.
which would also throw another monkey wrench into it because Even if the Fourth Circuit is inclined to go along with them, you would have some sort of period of. having back and forth court filings from the State Board of Elections and the students trying to get that all resolved.
So it's entirely possible that you could have some very late scrambling to get this all resolved. We will be keeping a very close eye on those court proceedings taking place Thursday afternoon. You can read some additional coverage, a preview of that this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. We really appreciate the insight and information this morning. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Oh, 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. Yeah.
The John Locke Foundation's Carolina Liberty Conference is coming your way February the 27th and 28th at the Starview Hotel in Raleigh. The event brings together policymakers, scholars, community leaders, and citizens from across the state to explore the challenges and opportunities of advancing freedom in today's political and cultural climate. CLC 2026, February 27th and 28th in Raleigh, as this year we'll be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution with great speakers like Lord Daniel Hannan, Chief Justice Paul Newby, State Auditor Dave Bollick, and more. Registered today for the 2026 Carolina Liberty Conference at johnlocke.org. That's j-o-h-n-l-o-c-k-e.org.
Looking forward to seeing you at the Starview Hotel in Raleigh, February the 27th and 28th. It's 5.53. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FMWBT.
Some good business news to kick off your Tuesday morning as Business Facility Magazine has named North Carolina the 2025 State of the Year for Economic Development. This is according to a news release from the North Carolina Department of Commerce. The ranking is based on the state's overall business climate as well as economic development growth in the previous year.
Some of the metrics that Business Facility magazine used to come up with their ranking included education and workforce opportunities, business incentives and infrastructure, quality of life, as well as business attractions and retention investment. This is the third time in the last six years that North Carolina has been at the top of the list. It did so in twenty twenty as well as in twenty twenty two. Democrat Governor Josh Stein said in a statement, this recognition underscores the progress North Carolina is making. To build a strong, resilient economy that works for all parts of our state.
Last year, we had the best year in the state's history for job announcements and capital investments. We're the number one state for business in the country and the top state for workforce development. We've got to keep our foot on the gas and make sure that everyone benefits from expanding growth and opportunity. The Commerce Department reported more than 35,000 job commitments and more than $24 billion in capital investments from new and expanding companies in 2025, which I'll note is a record-breaking year. Those project announcements covered some 56 North Carolina counties across a range of industries, including aerospace, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and supply chain operations.
However, Brian Balfour, the senior vice president of research at the John Locke Foundation, notes that this is a bit of a mixed bag, telling CarolinaJournal.com, because it includes Economic incentives as a positive measure, this ranking is clouded a bit by the crony capitalism metric. The 35,000 job announcements being crowned by Governor Josh Stein's administration are premature because job announcements are not jobs. History has shown us that roughly half of North Carolina's corporate incentive programs are terminated without living up to their promise. Recent additional announcements included Jet Zero and an announcement that they would be opening their first commercial airplane manufacturing plant at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro. That project is expected to bring a whopping 1,400,500 jobs across the area with an investment of nearly $4 billion in Guilford County.
An additional 5,000 jobs have also been promised to rural areas across the state, along with $12.5 billion in additional investments. Commerce Secretary Lee Lilly said North Carolina's continued success is rooted in strong partnerships as well as a focus on long-term growth. Strategic investments in workforce development, infrastructure, as well as site readiness combined with close collaboration with local communities and industrial partners are helping businesses grow in North Carolina. You can read some additional coverage of that story this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. That's going to do it for a Tuesday edition of the News Hour.
We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT. Yeah. 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.
