It's 5.05 and welcome into the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.
Well, we are back to politics here in North Carolina, more than a week now removed from the primary election. As earlier this week, Governor Josh Stein called out the General Assembly once again to pass what he calls a $1.4 billion critical needs budget. This comes on the heels of a recent Council of State meeting where both individuals as members of the Council of State from both major political parties said that their agencies are beginning to reach a breaking point. At a press conference earlier this week, he reminded reporters that North Carolina is the only state in the country that didn't pass a budget in 2025 and is operating a budget. Budget from more than two and a half years ago, saying that things have changed quite substantially in North Carolina since that period of time.
Here is the governor earlier this week in Raleigh. As many of you know, North Carolina is the only state in the country that ended 2025 without a budget. But folks may not fully appreciate that when the General Assembly returns to session next month. It will have been more than two and a half years since the state last passed. a comprehensive budget.
In that time, many things have changed. The State has added more than 300,000 people. the cost of living has increased by more than six per cent. and the Federal Government is abandoning long-held commitments. Yet we have not had a full budget.
So the state keeps operating at a baseline, limping along.
so much so that some things are already breaking. The state faces certain critical needs that require immediate attention. That is why I am proposing, and the General Assembly must pass, a critical needs budget. That critical needs budget is the name that it goes by. Stein, a Democrat, said that his stripped-down critical needs budget would fill the gap until a budget is passed in the short session if that is set to happen.
And however, it's important to note that this is not the first time that he has criticized the legislature in recent months for not passing a full budget or funding the Medicaid rebase, which he did again in his new budget request. The governor pointed out that both the House and Senate agreed it was underfunded but couldn't come to a mutual agreement as it relates to the rebase. About $319 million is needed to fully fund the Medicaid rebase, even though both the House and Senate agreed last fall that only $190 million would be needed in their separate bills based on analysis from the General Assembly's Fiscal Research Division, and that Medicaid would be fully funded through the month of April. With that being the case, Governor Stein said it was now time to fully fund the funding. Fund Medicaid, otherwise, the health care for millions of North Carolinians, according to the governor, would be jeopardized and the health care system would remain weakened.
He said that numbers remain on track to be the same $319 million, which is a very far stretch from the $190 million that lawmakers say is actually needed. A little bit of backstory on this. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services had cut Medicaid provider rates last fall without additional funding. But after it was faced with several lawsuits from both patients and providers, the NCDHHS restored those rates to their full levels before the October the 1st cuts to provide reimbursement rates, before those provider reimbursement rates went into effect. That prompted some pretty significant legal challenges.
And well, for the claims that Medicaid and the rebase was out of money, were not accurate as those full funding rates have been in effect since October the 1st. The governor also called for a 10% raise for correction officers, state troopers, and other state law enforcement, citing the shortages of police officers and correctional officers, and that both rank 49th in the nation for starting pay. He didn't mince many words, saying, This is a damned embarrassment. It should be no surprise. That the State Highway Patrol has now more than 270 vacant positions.
Again, it should surprise no one that the Department of Adult Corrections only has half of the correctional officers needed to safely operate its prisons. We're asking people to put themselves in very demanding, albeit rewarding, jobs, asking their families to sacrifice on behalf so they can earn less money than they could if they worked at Costco. He also noted that there are approximately a thousand more inmates in the Department of Corrections than three years ago, and that health care costs have increased by 10% over the past three years, noting that as a result, the department needs $80 million to get back into the black and has been forced to ask vendors to, quote, float them on their bills.
Some of the other requests from the governor in his $1.4 billion budget request that he made earlier this week, calling on the General Assembly to move forward, includes a 10% raise for state nurses and healthcare workers who treat people with severe mental illness. Starting teachers would get a 13% pay increase. All teachers across the board would receive a 6% raise, and master's pay would be restored and provide more pay increases to those that would be described as veteran teachers. The governor said, we are a bottom ten state when it comes to public school teacher pay. After you've taught for fifteen years, you don't get another salary increase for a decade.
And starting teacher pay is lower in North Carolina than in every one of our neighboring states, yet teachers drive student success. He also added that all other state workers, like those that work for the Department of Transportation, who cleared the roadways this past winter, have also not seen a raise in two years, while costs, including health care insurance premiums for state workers, have continued to rise. With that, he also asked that they be given a raise along with a cost of living or known as a COLA adjustment for state retirees. All raises, he said, would be retroactive, meaning, well, it makes sense why the request is $1.4 billion. Stein also mentioned other urgent needs, including the State Bureau of Investigation, whose operational budget is in the red because its caseload has dramatically increased in recent years, as well as 262 child care programs that have closed since the state last passed a budget, in part due to what he said was inadequate child care subsidies.
I'll note that many of those child care facilities closed due to federal monies disappearing. pretty hard to pin that exclusively on the North Carolina General Assembly. The governor also noted that more than 1,400 children of veterans who were injured or killed either had their scholarships reduced or were denied applying due to lack of funding. According to Demi Dowdy, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Destin Hall, who is the Republican from Caldwell County, responded in a press release that Stein's budget proposal continues to raise serious concerns with the legislature. She told the Carolina Journal: His health care plan refuses to include basic cost controls and guardrails to protect taxpayer dollars.
Instead, he proposes direct funding towards high-cost initiatives like GLP-1 drugs and programs with a history of fraud and abuse. The House has committed to making necessary investments in health care, but it must be done in a way that ensures transparency and responsible stewardship of taxpayer funds. She also stated that the governor's proposed raises for teachers in law enforcement are less than those already passed in the House version of the North Carolina budget, which includes an average 8.7% pay raise for teachers compared to the governor's 6% proposal, an average of 13% raise for law enforcement officers plus additional bonuses exceeding the governor's proposed 10%, and a 2.5% raise for state employees, which matches the level proposed by the government. by the governor. Dowdy said that these critical investments cannot wait and we urge the Senate to join us in passing these raises for all of our state employees.
Stein would later add that he would like to see more in raises but blamed tax cuts that may hinder that. And noted that more of those cuts will be coming in recent years. The governor is saying we are not a poor state, but we are making ourselves a poor state by feckless pre-programmed tax cuts, and that will be a topic for additional conversations. But we are looking at $900 million less in the coming year if tax cuts go forward for the next year, then $3.5 billion for the year after that. On the subject of funding the Medicaid rebase, Dowdy said that House Speaker Destin Hall has publicly committed to ensuring that additional Medicaid funding is provided, if necessary, to maintain access in care for North Carolinians.
Other Council of State members like Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler have voiced their concerns about not having a new budget. That happened a couple of weeks ago at the Council of State meeting. That's where Stein also told reporters that he is confident. Confident in the election process regarding the tight race between Senate leader Phil Berger, the Republican from Rockingham County, and Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. Stein saying during the press conference: The fact of the matter remains is Senator Berger is the senator for his district, and he cares deeply about his constituents.
And whatever happens in that election is truly irrelevant to the work of the day, which is a legislature that needs to deliver for its people. And I know he wants to do right by his people. He wants to do right by the people of the state of North Carolina. This is not the first time that we have seen the back and forth between the governor and the Republican-led General Assembly over the lack of a state budget, which was set to go into effect July the 1st of last year. We are expecting lawmakers back in Raleigh over the next couple of weeks.
It will be very interesting to see how they take this up. Obviously, the Medicaid rebase is reaching its finish line position at the month of April.
So it's going to be interesting to see what they do there. Do lawmakers go forth with a full state budget? Is it a series of mini budgets over the remainder of 2026? Many of those questions remain unanswered this morning.
However, we will keep a close eye on the work of the legislature when they are back. You can keep an eye on that over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. And of course, we'll keep you up to date with the latest as soon as we get it right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. I think It's 22 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 WBT. Turning our attention to some international news this morning. U.S. Senator Ted Budd, one of our two senators here in North Carolina, continues to voice his strong support for President Donald Trump's approach towards Iran. This happened during a virtual press conference last week.
He argued that the regime's decade-long history of terrorism and the pursuit of nuclear weapons justifies the administration's actions. During the press conference, Budd framed Iran as a long-standing global security threat, with him pointing to what he described as more than 50 years of Iranian-backed terrorism. the regime's oppression of its own people and its continued pursuit of a nuclear weapons program. Budd described regime change in Iran and the elimination of its nuclear weapons capability as a necessary long-term objective to maintain peace and stability in the region. With Senator Budd posting recently on social media, for decades, Iran and its terror proxies have repeatedly targeted American service members and stoked violence and unrest in the region.
President Trump knows well that the American people do not favor prolonged conflict, but there is also little doubt that Iran's reckless ambition to obtain nuclear weapons and long-range missiles represents a grave threat to our safety and security. A nuclear Iran has always been an unacceptable outcome. He said these factors justified the president's actions towards the country in the Middle East. Bud said he supports maintaining a maximum pressure strategy against the Iranian government, with him describing the administration's actions as Trump having drawn a, quote, solid red line in launching Operation Epic Fury. The North Carolina senator also defended the president's authority to take military action, arguing that President Trump has operated within his powers as the commander-in-chief under Article 2.
Bud voted against a Senate Joint Resolution 59, which came to fruition last week, which would have invoked the War's Powers Act resolution of 1973. The joint resolution sought to direct the removal of U.S. armed forces from those hostile regions in the Middle East against Iran that were not explicitly authorized by Congress. With Bud saying the decision now is in the hands of Iran, indicating that the regime will determine whether tensions continue to escalate further, which we have seen in the most recent few days. Addressing questions about the possibility of additional troop deployments, including potential involvement from North Carolina base to service members and forces, Bud said that Americans have little appetite for another prolonged conflict involving large-scale ground troop deployments.
He went as far to say that the very last thing people want is a forever war, which I think many folks would agree with. Instead, he said the administration has a range of options available, adding that all options remain unlike. The table. Bud's remarks come as officials in North Carolina are already responding to the potential ripple effects from the conflict. U.S.
Northern Command has ordered heightened security at military installations nationwide with the risk of potential sleeper cell attacks here in the United States, which does include Fort Bragg, Camp Lejeune, the Marine Corps Air Station at New River, and the air station, Marine Air Station, I should say, at Cherry Point. North Carolina Governor Josh Stein has voiced concerns about the conflict and its potential impact on the state's largest military presence, with the governor noting that North Carolina has the fourth largest active duty military population in the country, with more than 100,000 service members, and said that the state's installations play a critical role in U.S. military operations. Stein recently told the Carolina Journal: We just know that given the role that North Carolina military installations play, There are North Carolina folks who are involved, and we pray for them. Anytime American soldiers' lives are at risk, we all have to be very concerned.
And my heart goes out to the families who have already lost loved ones. And we worry that there will be more. Stein also said that the federal government must clearly articulate the objectives of any U.S. military involvement, saying if we are in a foreign war in the Middle East, there needs to be a very clear understanding about why we are there, what we are seeking to achieve, and how we will know when we have achieved it and when we will be done. This remains a relatively dynamic and fluid situation as the president conducted Operation Epic Fury almost to two weeks ago, as the United States and allies, just in the overnight hours, continue to rain down a barrage of munitions on the Iranian regime and the new supreme leader in Iran.
Questions about North Carolina's impact as it relates to our strong and very Large military installations here across North Carolina remain a top question as well. We will keep an eye on the North Carolina connection as the operations do continue in the Middle East. You can read more from U.S. Senator Ted Budd and Democrat Governor Josh Stein. Those details are available over on our website this morning.
CarolinaJournal.com. Look for the story with the headline: Bud backs Trump's approach towards Iran. It's 5:35. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT. I'm Nick Craig.
Good Wednesday morning to you. With an uptick in use of social media, you can spend your entire day scrolling through a social media platform, looking at pictures of people's pets, what they ate, and maybe even their ballot.
However, there is an interesting law in North Carolina that actually makes it illegal to take a picture of your ballot when you are voting, whether that's during the early voting period or on election day, as we saw recently here in North Carolina. That has been the subject of a federal lawsuit over the last couple of years. We've got a pretty major decision on that this morning to walk us through some of the details. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, I'm sure you spend eight hours of your day looking through Instagram and TikTok and all these other great social media apps.
You ever run across any ballots?
Well, one of the nice things, Nick, about being older is that, no, I don't do much of that stuff. I do look at some of these sites, but I'm not as captivated by it as some younger folks. And I would say that the only time I've seen ballots Have been from some of the folks like the ones who were involved in this particular lawsuit. The bottom line decision is it's a loss. For the Libertarian voter who challenged North Carolina's ballot selfie restrictions and a win for those who wanted to uphold the law, and actually, I should say, laws, because this suit was initially filed targeting five different North Carolina state laws that together Make up the ballot selfie ban.
Susan Hogarth, a Libertarian voter, who at the time that she filed this suit was also a candidate for the legislature for the Libertarian Party. She initially went into this litigation after she had posted a ballot selfie on social media after the 2024 primary election and was contacted by Wake County election officials asking for her to take the photo down, saying, Look, there's a ban against this. You shouldn't have a picture of your completed ballot that you took in the voting booth, in the voting enclosure, because that violates state law.
So she went to court. She ended up securing an injunction that allowed her to post her general election ballot online without any problem from the authorities as this litigation moved forward. But now, after she had the chance to do that, and I didn't look, but presumably maybe during a primary, if she, well, of course, she's libertarian, so I'm not sure that she voted in the primary this time, but has not had any problems with her ballot selfies since that initial run-in in the spring of 2024. But now, U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan has issued a final ruling, relatively short, about 15 pages, that said, no, this challenge fails.
The laws will stand. And the reason is that the government, according to Judge Flanagan, put forward a convincing argument that the idea of banning the selfies was to prevent. Vote buying and coercion, that anyone who's trying to engage in those types of illegal activities, this is an easy way to show that their scheme had worked because they would get people who they're paying off or who they're coercing to vote to take a photo of the ballot once it's completed and send it to them. And the argument that convinced Judge Flanagan is that the plaintiff. Susan Hogarth and her legal team, which includes folks from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, had failed to present an argument that what the government put forward as its case failed.
I mean, basically, they were saying, well, there's no proof. That this has ever worked in preventing vote buying or coercion. And the judge is saying, well, that's not necessarily a good argument because the fact that there is no proof may actually show that it works. That by having this law in place, it prevents the vote buying and coercion. And so basically, the argument is that this is a compelling government interest trying to prevent these types of underhanded activities in the elections, and that this type of ban is something that complies with that.
Another important piece of this. Is that we're not talking about something that happens in a public square, in something that's seen as a free speech venue. This is a law or a group of laws that targets activity that takes place. In a voting booth, in a polling place. And that is not seen as being a public forum, it's seen as being a non-public forum.
And so the types of scrutiny that a judge would give to the law would be a little bit different than you would, say, talking about activity that happens in the open air in a public park or as you're walking down a sidewalk or something like that.
Well, and Mitch, for people that have just voted over the last couple of weeks here in North Carolina through the primary, they may have seen some signs even outside of the voting location that says something like electioneering stops here for candidates and those working with candidates. There are some pretty strict rules and regulations around what is deemed the voting location to deal with some of these concerns of maybe not even voter intimidation, but literally walking a voter into a voting location, into a polling booth, and trying to get their vote.
So there are some stricter regulations, as you just noted, specifically around those locations that would not be relevant in that public square that you described. Yes, the voting process and the procedure and the location all have some very interesting qualifications and restrictions tied to them. And one of them are these series of laws that are designed to prevent the photo of a completed ballot. Remember, these laws, as combined, deal with the issue of a photo of a person with a completed ballot. It doesn't ban other types of photos.
Now, you might get in trouble if you walk into a voting place and just stick up your phone and move the phone around and take a bunch of pictures.
So, polling precinct officials might say, wait a minute, you can't do that. But. The real crux of the matter here for the law is not allowing a person to publicize a photo of himself or herself with a completed ballot because the idea is that is something that could easily be tied to a vote buying scheme or some type of coercion where someone says, you know, you better vote this way or we're going to get you. And I want the proof. I want to see a photo of you with your ballot.
And that's the type of thing this law is designed to prevent. I think one of the interesting things about this ruling is. That in as this case had moved forward, Judge Flanagan had actually been fairly cooperative and amenable to the argument that Susan Hogarth had made. She could have said, No, there's no injunction. The State Board of Elections and the County Board of Elections could do what they want and you could continue to pursue your case, but I don't think you have a good chance of winning.
By isjunction, in 2024 that allowed Susan Hogarth to go ahead and post a ballot selfie if she wanted to and not have to take down the earlier one that she had posted from Primary Day in 2024. Basically, that suggested that there was at least a possibility that she might win this case.
Now the judges shut the door on that, saying that this is a legitimate government interest and this challenge fails.
Now, there's some other kind of niceties in here that deal with some of the weeds about whether this was a facial constitutional challenge or an as-applied challenge because the judge. Dealt with it as an as-applied challenge, meaning how the law was applied to Susan Hogarth, rather than an attack on the law in all of its various phases. That also contributed to the ruling. And so I think those who would like to see ballot selfies legalized rather than going to the General Assembly, which would be another way to do it, if they're trying to win through the courts. They might be able to try again in the future, but they would have to spell out the case in a different way because the judge did not see this as an overall attack on the law in general, but just.
As the law applied in the case of Susan Hogarth in Wake County as she was approaching ballot selfies in the 2024 election. Mitch, is there a possibility for an appeal in this case? Can this jump to a higher ladder of the federal judicial system, maybe for some additional relief for this Libertarian candidate and voter? Yes, I think that there is certainly the possibility of an appeal. This is the trial court's ruling, and it's the final trial court ruling, which means if there's going to be an appeal, nothing else has to be resolved before that appeal could start.
And my guess is, as long as Susan Hogarth is still interested in this issue, and we know that the group that she's working with, FIRE, is interested in this issue because they've been pushing to liberalize ballot selfie laws across the country. As long as they're both still interested in pursuing this, I would not be surprised at all to see this go to the Fourth Circuit. And depending on how the Fourth Circuit rules, if it rules against... Susan Hogarth, I would not be surprised if FIRE would want to try to take it to the U.S. Supreme Court because they're saying that this is a First Amendment issue and that this is not something that the state should be limiting or eliminating.
And so I think. While they have to be disappointed in this ruling, it's a clear enough ruling that I think they could say, Fourth Circuit. The trial judge got this wrong, reverse it so that ballot selfies can become something that would be protected by the First Amendment.
So I think though they're disappointed at this stage, as long as they're still interested in pursuing this, they've got a very clear ruling against them that they can appeal and say to the Fourth Circuit, the trial judge got it wrong. We hope you will reverse it. Mitch, I think it's important as we round out the discussion, specifically as you mentioned with these vote buying schemes, which is what this legislation or these various pieces of legislation are designed to kind of shy away from. It's important to note that while that might not sound practical in larger state elections that take place, you go down and look at rural North Carolina and some of these very small towns that exist across our state. Mitch, you're talking about 300, 400 people showing up for a municipal election.
If you just got a couple of extra people to show up by giving them $10 or $20 and snapping a ballot selfie or a copy of their ballot, you could very easily be talking about swinging elections with not a whole lot of cash and not a whole lot of voters. Yeah, that's certainly true. We even saw in one of the most high-profile elections this time around, a state Senate race where there were 26,000 votes cast. On election night, it appeared that the race was separated by two votes. That vote total, of course, grew.
But even in a high-profile race like that, it can come down to a handful of votes. And as you mentioned, you've got a lot of races for mayor, city council, school board, in smaller areas that would have a smaller total number of votes, maybe in the hundreds, some of them, maybe even in the dozens of votes. And if a candidate thought they could get away with winning by getting. Three, four, five more votes, and thought that a way to do it would be to buy that vote or to coerce someone, someone who works for you. And you say, hey, I want you to vote for me.
And if you don't, you're going to get in trouble. And here's how you're going to prove it. That's the type of thing that these existing laws that make up the ballot selfie ban are designed to do. We've been following this for a couple of years. We've got extensive coverage of this legal challenge 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. No. You know what they say. Early Bird gets the ultimate vacation home.
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It's 5:53. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 WBT. Turning our attention to some more statewide news this morning, North Carolina's charter school infrastructure is set to get a major boost from a record-breaking $52.9 million worth of federal grants that were awarded to the North Carolina Association for Public Charter Schools. The grant, known as NC Grow, is the largest federal award ever designated for charter schools since they were first legalized in 1996. It also marks the first time such a substantial federal charter school program grant has been awarded to a nonprofit organization in North Carolina.
From 2018 to 2023, the charter school program grant filtered through the Office of Charter Schools. at an amount of $36.6 million.
However, the new grant was originally awarded in September of 2025, but its implementation was delayed due to the federal government shutdown. According to Rhonda Dillingham, who is the executive director of the North Carolina Charter School Program Group, said, we are very pleased and excited about everything that we will be able to do. Applications are available to all charters in the state with the application window opening coming up here in just a couple of weeks on April the 2nd with a full application deadline being May the 21st with award notifications being made in the month of June. Individual grants are valued between $500,000 and $2 million over multiple years, depending on what the grant type is. The charter school program grant aims to establish 28 new charter schools over a five-year period of time with a total of 42 sub-grants awarded, including for expansion and replication.
A significant focus will be placed on schools that emphasize career and technical education, also known as CTE. as well as science, technology, engineering, and math, which is STEM programs, as well as looking into artificial intelligence. The grant mandates the board of governance training for schools that receive the grants, in addition to a one-year finance fellowship, both aspects that Dillingham emphasized in her remarks to the Charter School Review Board. She told the group, one thing that I've noticed is that a unifying theme, anytime you are faced with a school closure, there is an issue with a board of governance somewhere at that school. And then in some cases, there also is major financial issues.
The grant. will also support the implementation of remote charter schools, including a research project to pinpoint best practices, an implementation guide for schools, and a quality instructor's rubric. Dillingham cited another objective of the grant to create a clear pathway to employment in charter school curriculum by pointing to expectations for strong job growth for vocational workers in the coming years. This is a major announcement, a major sum of money, $52.9 million in federal grants being awarded to the North Carolina Association for Public Charter Schools. As folks across the state of North Carolina look away from traditional public education, it is important to note that charter schools are in fact public schools in North Carolina.
They are not private institutions. They are part of the public education system.
However, many of the ways in which they go about education is much different than your traditional K-12. public school. That's going to do it for a Wednesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour. WBT News is next. Followed by Good Morning BT.
We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 WBT.
