It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Monday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM, WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. It was a busy political weekend over the last couple of days here in North Carolina. We'll get to some of that as we continue through the show this morning.
However, we will be starting off with what could very well be a historic day weather-wise across the state of North Carolina. You've probably seen some rumblings on social media, no pun intended, over the last couple of days. If you've been watching news across the state, you have seen the risk that we are looking at today, looking at a four out of five risk across the central part of North Carolina. This is the most recent forecast from the Severe Storm Prediction Center out of Norman, Oklahoma, just released about 30 minutes ago. Minutes ago, and it still shows that four out of five risk, what is called a moderate risk, of severe weather from areas just to the east of Charlotte.
Over towards portions of southeastern North Carolina, all the way up to the Virginia border. This is a much larger risk area that stretches all the way from the Pennsylvania border to portions of Columbia, South Carolina. A very large, moderate risk of being warned by the Storm Prediction Center out of Norman, Oklahoma. The risk today, well, it is multifaceted, including the strong possibility of tornadoes, especially in that center part of the state from Chapel Hill over towards Greenville. That does include our state capital, Durham, Fayetteville, Raleigh, some of our other places there in North Carolina as well.
Severe wind. We saw that in the overnight hours throughout portions of the Midwest as that storm system marches east. The possibility of straight-line winds, 60, 70, 80, even 90 miles an hour, not beyond the pale of a possibility on this Monday. And just as we were coming on the air, we've got some new information out from the storm prediction. Center, there is a severe thunderstorm watch that has been issued for all of Western North Carolina.
That does include portions of the Charlotte area as well. As that line of storms, currently, for those that are a little bit more geographically interested, there are currently severe thunderstorm warnings all the way from Charleston, West Virginia, all the way down to portions of Montgomery, Alabama, stretching half a dozen, if not more, states right now as these storms, as this line of storms. Continues to march its way east. It was in portions of the Midwest and central United States last night, and the storm system did not give up overnight. Severe thunderstorm warnings, just up to the North Carolina border right now, as some areas out in the western half of the state are likely going to start seeing some of those impacts sooner.
As we get into the latter parts of your day today, the midday heating will allow these storms to regain some energy. That is why that risk profile is so relevant in the western, or I should say, in the more central part of North Carolina.
Some scatter rain showers already being scattered, thunderstorm and rain showers already being felt in that area. The sandhills from Fayetteville over to Sanford, up towards even the Raleigh-Durham area, seeing that broken line of storms for at least as of right now, as of about 5:09 a.m. here, as we conduct the show here on this Monday morning.
So it is going to be a very interesting. Interesting day, could be a very interesting day weather-wise across the state of North Carolina. Governor Josh Stein releasing a press release late last night saying, Unusual severe weather is moving into North Carolina, bringing the risk of damaging wind gusts, thunderstorm hail, and even tornadoes. Please make sure your emergency alerts are enabled on your phone and make a plan to keep yourself and your family safe. North Carolina Emergency Management has activated the state emergency response team and their personnel and resources late Sunday night in anticipation of those severe weather impacts.
The state emergency operations center notes that they are closely monitoring the forecast, and North Carolina Emergency Management is prepared to deploy resources and assist communities across the state should conditions warrant, which unfortunately looks like they will later on through the day today. Residents are advised to have a plan in place in case a tornado warning is issued of which There will likely be plenty across North Carolina today. The difference, tornado watch, which we will see issued for the central and eastern part of our state later today, means that the conditions are possible for a tornado to take place. A tornado warning means that a tornado is either currently in place or is about to. Those are the differences between a watch and warning.
If you are and do find yourself under a tornado warning today, which potentially millions across our state will. That would include going to the lowest floor of the building you're in, whether you're at your office or whether you are at home, and finding an interior room that does not have any external walls, no external windows, as well, and hunker down until that warning passes. This is irrelevant for folks that will be out and about today. Make sure emergency alerts are enabled on your cell phone. If you are listening to the radio today, you'll hear those alerts passed along right here on WBT, many other television and radio stations across the state of North Carolina.
Make sure you've got a good weather app on your phone as well to get those alerts. Many use GPS to provide information on where those warnings are taking place. Duke Energy also preparing for damaging winds and possible tornadoes. I was just looking at the power outage map here before we jumped on the air here this morning, and there are a lot of power outages across many of the states in which these storms rolled through last night. About 30,000 customers in Alabama without power outage.
Power, 32,000 in Tennessee, 32,000 in Kentucky, 17 in Louisiana, about 16,000 in Arkansas as that storm system moved through in the overnight hours and continues to move east.
So, again, the risk profile for today is very multifaceted for your Monday. It includes pretty much. All of the risks that you would expect with severe weather. I'd say the lowest out of anything is likely hail. Severe wind, we have got that of very high risk there from the Storm Prediction Center across the central part of North Carolina.
The tornado risk is very elevated, and I'll note very unusual for the state. We don't typically see that high of a tornado risk. Most of our tornadoes here in North Carolina are actually from tropical weather. That is normally the severe weather risk that we're talking about, whether it's hurricanes or tropical storms affecting the eastern and central portions. And as we saw back just a couple of years ago in western North Carolina, that is our normal tornado risk, if you want to call it one, here in North Carolina, not typically from these large, widespread severe weather events.
It has happened in the past, but according to some of the National Weather Service offices across the state, They are noting that this is some of the more severe risk profile that the state has seen in years, even referring back to some very damaging storms we had back in 2015, 2011, for those that live in the central part of North Carolina, where we did see some very large, very damaging, very destructive tornadoes across the Tar Heel state.
So make sure. Big takeaway today: make sure you have a way to get alerts. All smartphones will deliver those. Make sure that you've got those emergency alerts turned on. I know many folks turn them off because they are sick of getting the Amber alerts and other various pop-ups.
Today is a day that you are going to want to make sure that on either your iPhone or Android device, those emergency alerts are enabled. Have a plan, whether you're at school, work, or at home. If a tornado warning does get issued, there's a very strong possibility of that for many across our state today. And make sure you are prepared, regardless of where you are. You could very well be out on the road with a tornado warning taking place as well.
You do not want to park under. an overpass that is the worst possible place that you could go during a tornado warning Get to a sturdy structure, gas station, convenience store, a big box store, Lowe's Home Depot, whatever it might be, Walmart. Get inside of those buildings. You do not want to be exposed in a vehicle. For those that live in trailers across the state, even the remote, even the ability of strong straight-line winds to topple mobile homes across the state are very likely today as well.
So make sure you've got a sturdy site-built structure. That's going to be a building that's got some level of a foundation on it. Make sure you have that available through the day today. That line of storms, as I mentioned, is now just starting to move into portions of western North Carolina where there is a severe thunderstorm watch that will remain in effect throughout the day today, at least the earlier part of the day today. That will stay in effect until 11 o'clock this morning, and we will see that line continue to move.
It's 21 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9. WBT. We'll get back to the weather risk across North Carolina here in a couple of minutes. Before that, there was a busy day on Friday.
We've been talking about it over the last two weeks. The county canvas process taking place across North Carolina, making election results unofficial, removing that UN at the beginning and making them official. As August County Board of Elections, all 100 of them hosted their county canvas meetings at 11 o'clock Friday morning to certify election results from that Tuesday, the March the 3rd primary. That county canvas is the official process used by election officials to make those results final after all votes have been counted and is typically held 10 days after an election. County Board of Elections across the state reviewed and certified vote totals, ensuring that all ballots, including absentee by mail, provisional, as well as military and overseas ballots, had been properly processed and counted.
The canvas also allows election officials to reconcile reports, verify precinct totals, and address any outstanding ballot issues before results become official. Dr. Andy Jackson, who is the director of the John Locke Foundation Civitas Center for Public Integrity, told the Carolina Journal, We are always told on election night that the reported vote totals are unofficial. The county canvas is where unofficial vote totals become official. The only exception for that is races subject to a recount.
Now, this brings us to portions of Northern North Carolina, the 26th Senate District in a very tight race between the longest-serving Senate president in Phil Berger and Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. As of two weeks ago, not last Friday, the Friday before, Page had a 23-vote advantage going into the county canvas, and the margin in the race after the Tuesday night primary was just two votes.
However, it was expanded to that 23 votes as additional provisional, military, and overseas ballots were added to the vote totals in many counties across North Carolina.
However, after the county canvas on Friday, that 23-vote margin remained unchanged. In Rockingham County, no votes were added or removed during the canvas, with the final vote total standing there at 9,065. Votes for Page, 4,526 for Berger. That was just Rockingham County. In Guilford County, which the northern half of that county does include the 26th Senate District in North Carolina, seven votes were removed from the final count.
Those included voters who have died before Election Day and from individuals who were still felons and ineligible to vote yet were able to register and cast ballots either on Election Day or during early voting.
However, data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections shows that none of those seven ballots were removed in the northern portion of the county, with the final vote total there being 4,071 for Page, 8,587 for Berger. That brings the final results for the entire contest: 13,136 for Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, 13,113 for Phil Berger. While the results are now official, I should say, in both counties, the margin in the race remains well under 1% of the total vote, with North Carolina law allowing the trailing candidate to request a recount when the race is within 1%, which must be filed in the State Board of Elections. That has to be done by noon coming up today, or excuse me, tomorrow, I should say, March the 17th. Dr.
Andy Jackson from the John Locke Foundation said, Those losing candidates can request a recount if the vote total is close enough: half a percent for statewide races and 1% for other races. We fully expect that Phil Berger will demand a recount in his race against Sam Page. Those are the words of Dr. Andy Jackson from the John Locke Foundation. And as of very early on this Monday morning, Phil Berger has not announced whether he will officially request a recount or not.
He has all through the day today and half of the day tomorrow to request that official recount, which could begin as early as sometime later this week. All eyes across North Carolina politics remain on this race in Rockingham and northern portions of Guilford County. We'll keep you up to date with our details, with those details as they change over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. We'll also bring you the latest updates as we get them right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. And some other interesting statewide news this morning, take a listen to this.
North Carolina has been selected for a first-of-its-kind program that will create a network of electric air taxis that proponents say will improve access to health care in rural areas across our state. The North Carolina Department of Transportation, that is NCDOT, and its Division of Aviation. Has been selected to participate in a Federal Aviation Administration's Advanced Air Mobility and Electric Vehicle Takeoff and Landing Program. According to the United States Department of Transportation, it states that those EVTOLSs are futuristic aircrafts with the potential to create new jobs, connect communities, and strengthen American leadership in aviation. The department said that the program outlined in President Trump's Unleashing Drone Dominance Executive Order is accelerating the safe integration of next-generation advanced air mobility aircrafts into the national airspace and ensuring that the United States leads the way in aviation innovation.
Sean Duffy, who is the Transportation Secretary across the country, said thanks to President Trump, the future of aviation is here and it's going to dramatically improve how people and products move. Congratulations to the great American innovators behind. Behind each of these exciting pilot programs. Working together, we will ensure that America leads the way in safety, leveraging next-generation aircrafts that radically redefine personal travel, regional transportation, cargo logistics, emergency medicine, and so much more. As part of this federal program, DOT's aviation division will work closely with the FAA.
That's the federal group that deals with any sort of different air travel planes, drones, things like this that we're talking about, to explore the potential of next-generation aircraft. The program supports real-world testing of electric aircrafts while helping shape future regulations and safety standards. The federal partnership, its proponents, hope that this position will continue to make North Carolina a leader in advanced air mobility. This is a very interesting program. We've got some cool images and videos of this over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com.
With one of the main focuses improving access to a rule for, I should say, rural health care access in portions of North Carolina. Our friend Teresa Opaca's got the story over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. You can look for the story with the headline: North Carolina chosen for electric air taxi pilot to aid rural health care. With VerboCare, help is always ready before, during, and after your stay. We've planned for the plot twists, so support is always available.
because a great trip starts with peace of mind. Yeah. It's 5:36. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 WBT. It was a busy Friday in North Carolina.
We just talked about the county canvas process that took place certifying election results. A little bit later on in the day, the vice president in JD Vance made his way to Rocky Mountain, North Carolina. That is in North Carolina's first congressional district, where Republicans are seeking to unseat Democrat Don Davis, who currently represents that district. Lori Buckout was successful in her primary election back a couple of weeks ago to gain the Republican Party nomination for that race. And we will be looking at a rematch of a similar contest we saw in 2024 between Buckout and Davis.
However, the district was changed pretty dramatically by state lawmakers late last year as part of a redistricting effort within the first congressional district across the state of North Carolina. Carolina. Republicans not only in the state but at the national level will be putting a lot of emphasis on this race. And well, with the vice president visiting on Friday, it would appear that that work has already begun. He started off with comparing and contrasting the previous administration in Washington, D.C.
to that leadership under Donald Trump. In just a very brief time, we've seen new home purchases rise to their highest level in five years since the last time Donald Trump was president. We've seen the cost of rents drop for six months in a row. We've seen the average tax refund that's going to come to the people of North Carolina about $3,700 per family. And we see interest rates that are the lowest they've been since the last time that Donald J.
Trump was president. My friends, the president is impatient. He's the most impatient person I have ever met, in fact. He constantly is pressing on the gas. He wants us to do more, but I stand here proud to say that after the first year of President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans' leadership, we are rebuilding the American dream and we are taking back this country for the people of this state.
It wasn't long into J.D. Vance's comments that he turned his attention to Don Davis talking about the Save America Act and Davis's lack of support. The crazy thing about a guy like Don Davis is: you know, sometimes you meet a Democrat in a red district. And you know, I don't agree with them on everything. Of course, Democrats and Republicans disagree on politics from time to time, but you at least have some people out there, or maybe you used to, who would vote their conscience or vote the interests of their district.
What makes Don so unusual is that we are in a common sense district here in the state of North Carolina, and this guy still votes every single time with Nancy Pelosi. In fact, I asked my team, I said, find a major piece of legislation. Find something easy where Don Davis could vote against the Democrats and vote with his district, the moderates, the independents, even the conservative Democrats. Find me one example where this guy defied the leadership of his own party. He has never done that on any major issue that we could find.
And here's just an easy, a layup, Don. An easy layup that we gave you. Frankly, it would have been bad for poor Lori's campaign chances, but he couldn't even take the bait on the Save America Act.
Now, if you know anything about this legislation, what the Save America Act does. is that it makes it impossible for illegal aliens to vote in our elections. Bertie Commonston. Pretty common sense, says Vice President J.D. Vance, as he was in portions of North Carolina, northeast of North Carolina on Friday in portions of Rocky Mount, speaking to voters.
Obviously, the race there in the first congressional district will be gaining a lot of national attention. But another major race also taking place in North Carolina later this year, that will be the United States Senate replacing retiring Senator Tom Tillis. It will be the race between former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper and the former head of the North Carolina Republican Party and RNC Michael Watley.
Well, J.D. Vance did not hold back on Roy Cooper and his tenure in North Carolina.
So, first of all, on every single thing, now Roy wasn't in Washington, D.C., but on every single one of these critical wins for the Trump administration to have gotten for the people of this district, the people of this state, Roy Cooper would have voted against all that. That's reason number one, we can't send a guy to the Senate. We want a senator who represents you. We want a senator who doesn't represent illegal aliens and fraud, but who represents hard work and the good people of the state of North Carolina. And because we want those things, we need Michael Watley in the United States Senate, not Roy Cooper.
Michael. It was a continued conversation during J.D. Vice President J.D. Vance's comments on Friday talking about former Democrat governor Roy Cooper also highlighting some of the big-time issues that took place under his administration, also talking about the brutal murder of Irina Zarutska and Roy Cooper's track record of being soft on crime. There's been a lot of debate about what exactly our foreign policy should be with regards to Russia and Ukraine.
The President of the United States has been very clear. He wants the killing to stop. He wants to get back to commerce. He wants to stop the innocent people who are losing their lives in that conflict. I happen to admire that.
Of course, I think it's unbiased, but I think that's the right idea.
Now here's the crazy thing though about Roy Cooper. Roy Cooper is one of these people who clearly cares way more for foreign countries than he does the United States of America. You see the passion in his voice when he talks about protecting illegal aliens? You'll never hear that passion when he's talking about the people in this room. You hear the passion in his voice when he talks about sending hundreds of billions of dollars to the war in Ukraine.
And yet, And yet The one Ukrainian Roy Cooper didn't care about was this innocent girl, Irina, who had her throat slashed. by a person who should have never been on the streets of this country to begin with.
So ask yourself.
So ask yourself: why did he spend his entire career making it hard to lock up violent criminals? Why did he spend his entire career going after our brave police officers who were trying to keep our streets safe? Why does he care so much about the war in Ukraine 6,000 miles away, but doesn't give a damn about an innocent Ukrainian girl who lost her life in our backyard because he wouldn't do his job? And the simple fact is that Roy Cooper doesn't stand for you. He doesn't fight for you.
He will never fight for you, but Michael Watley will.
Some very strong commentary there from Vice President J.D. Vance in Rocky Mount on Friday. The Vice President has a trend as he's continued to do these events across the nation to take questions from local media wherever he is visiting. And he did that as well on Friday and was asked about some of the conflicts between U.S. Senator Tom Tillis and the Department of Homeland Security, particularly over the Charlotte's web operations that took place last year across North Carolina, in which DHS Immigration and Customs Enforcement swarmed forces into Charlotte, the Queen City here across our state, to conduct these operations.
This was the answer that J.D. Vance gave to local media.
Well, look, Operation Charlotte's Web is fundamentally an operation to try to make our country safe. By getting violent criminals off the streets of the United States of America.
Now, I was not aware that Tom Tillis, who's a friend of mine, he and I have had our disagreements, but Tom Tillis and I know each other. I'll go back and offer to speak with Tom about this. I didn't know that he said his questions had been unanswered by DHS.
Now, that may be because he asked those questions a week ago and they haven't had time to answer them. You may have seen we've had a little bit of turnover in the Department of Homeland Security. But we're going to keep on using the Department of Homeland Security to do the very simple thing of making the homeland more secure. That's why it exists, and we're going to keep on doing that. One of the other questions asked by media outlets across North Carolina was the lack or the very slow amount of federal funding that continues to push into North Carolina, more particularly the western half of our state, as they get ready to hit the two-year anniversary mark of the devastation and destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
J.D. Vance was pressed on that question as well and said, well, it's not the first time he's heard this criticism.
So, one of the things I love about Michael Watley is: look, he obviously. Is a Republican. He's committed to the conservative agenda. He's a great guy, and obviously, I'm aligned with him politically, but he's not afraid. To say to me or to the President of the United States or anybody else, we've got to get these resources out faster to protect the people of North Carolina.
So, I actually, before you asked that question, I heard that from Michael Watley, and I actually talked to the Secretary of the Treasury because I knew Michael was going to ask me about it again when I saw him here today. The simple fact is, we have made this a priority. We are going to get the resources to the people of North Carolina that are necessary. We recognize, frankly, that we needed the new leadership to hasten that delivery of resources to the people of North Carolina.
So there's the commentary there from J.D. Vance saying that the administration is well aware of some of the lack of funding, some of the big-time delays coming from a DHS of which FEMA sits as an entity of the Department of Homeland Security, highlighting that maybe some of the leadership changes there with Mark Wayne Mullins from Oklahoma taking over that entity will be a help for those in western North Carolina that are still desperately awaiting resources and additional funding from the federal government. J.D. Vance wrapping up his comments in Rocky Mount on Friday. It will likely not be the last time that he will be in North Carolina over the next couple of months.
Would not be surprised as well to see the president visiting this state, not only for the United States Senate race between Democrat Governor, former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper and the former head of the RNC Michael Watley, but also really highlighting this first congressional district in which Republicans are looking to unseat Democrat. Don Davis and replace him with Lori Buckout. That is going to be one of the more interesting congressional races to watch anywhere in the United States during these midterm elections as we head deeper into 2026. We'll keep an eye on these visits and have continued coverage over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, and of course, bring you the latest right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Good morning again.
It's 5:53. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 WBT as all eyes are on Mother Nature on this Monday across North Carolina as a line, a squall line of severe storms will continue moving across our state throughout the day today. The latest from the Storm Prediction Center out of Norman, Oklahoma has portions of central North Carolina under a four out of five, also known as a moderate risk. That includes some of our major cities, Durham, our state capital in Raleigh, Fayetteville, over towards Rocky Mountain. This very high risk, this moderate risk stretches all the way from portions of South Carolina up to the Pennsylvania border.
So it is a very large area of strong to severe storms that we will see throughout the day today. A severe thunderstorm watch is already in effect for portions of western North Carolina, including the Charlotte Metro. It goes just up. Into about the Charlotte Metro right now, as a line of broken showers and storms continues to trek from west to east, leaving some very strong destruction and devastation throughout portions of Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama in the overnight hours. We will see those storms continue to move through the United States today.
There are severe thunderstorm warnings all the way from portions of southern Alabama, all the way up to portions of West Virginia this morning as well. A couple of tornado warnings down in Georgia. Today is a good day to make sure that you have a way to get your emergency weather alerts. The best way, most accessible way for most people to do that is with a smartphone. Make sure you have wireless emergency alerts enabled.
That is the system that you get amber alerts on.
So if you've turned them off so that your phone is not giving you amber alerts, today is a day you absolutely need to turn those back on so that you can get those severe storm warnings and bulletins as they are published by National Weather Service offices here across the state of North. North and South Carolina. The risk is very multifaceted, very strong winds, straight line winds, 70, 80, even 90 miles an hour possible, according to the Storm Prediction Center. The possibility of a few strong tornadoes also in question as well, as those storms will again move west to east and move out of the state of North Carolina around 9 or 10 o'clock tonight is when they will clear the coastal areas of our state. We'll be keeping an eye on it throughout the day.
Of course, stay here with the Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM WBT for the latest throughout the day. We're also watching a very close deadline less about a little over 24 hours from now. Senate leader Phil Berger will have to decide if he is going to request a recount in the race in North Carolina's 26th Senate District. After the county canvas process took place on Friday, the vote margin remained the same with Sam Page leading Phil Berger by just 23 votes. That contest is well within the 1% margin for threshold to request a recount.
Phil Berger and his team have until noon tomorrow to officially request that. It is not immediately clear whether they will or will not do so.
However, Dr. Andy Jackson, who is the director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity at the John Locke Foundation, told Carolina Journal, quote, We fully expect that Phil Berger will demand a recount in his race against Sam Page. If he is going to do so, again, he's got until noon tomorrow. After the canvas process, the margin remained the same. On Friday, I should say, in Rockingham County, no votes were added or removed.
In Guilford County, seven votes over. Were removed.
However, none of them were in the northern portion of the county that does include the state's 26th, the Senate District. This is going to be a very interesting process to watch unfold. We've got a full rundown of that county canvas process that took place across the entirety of North Carolina on Friday. Those details this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. That's going to do it for a Monday edition.
Make sure you stay weather aware today. And we'll be back with you tomorrow morning right here. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning BT. We'll chat with you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9, WBT.
