Are the decks you're building today crafted for tomorrow? Only Envision Composite Decking is compression molded, making our boards stronger, easier to install, and easier to get referrals in the years to come. Envision Composite Decking, find it at EnvisionOutdoor Living.com. It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Tuesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT, I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.
We start off with some statewide news out of the auditor's office this morning with North Carolina's latest statewide audit of federal spending, identifying some questionable costs as well as some significant reporting failures across multiple agencies. This is even as auditors reported no material noncompliance for the first time in more than two decades. The North Carolina state auditor, North Carolina Office of the State Auditor released its 2025 statewide single audit this week, examining $28 billion in federal grants administered by state entities during the fiscal year, which ended on June the 30th, 2025. Overall, North Carolina spent $43.9 billion in federal awards during that period with Medicaid accounting for more than half of the total expenditures from the state. The audit resulted in 19 findings, including 18 related to federal awards and one tied to financial statement reporting.
While the absence of material noncompliance marks a significant and a pretty notable milestone within North Carolina's history, auditors pointed to persistent weaknesses within internal controls, financial oversights, and federal reporting compliance. According to state auditor Dave Bullock, who said in a statement which came with the report, the federal government administers a massive amount of funding. Look no further than the $24.7 billion flowing through Medicaid. This annual audit gives us a chance to examine at a high level how federal grants are used in North Carolina and where there may be questionable expenditures. Bullock added that the findings will help guide future oversight efforts as that has been a main topic of conversation from the legislature in recent months, talking about continued oversight.
within North Carolina government, making sure that there is not large amounts of waste, fraud and abuse, with the state auditor saying it is our duty at the state level to make sure any funds directed to North Carolina are used properly and responsibly. While the single audit provides a high level financial overview, the work done by our team and the findings and questioned costs will help steer us towards deeper dives into Medicaid and other areas of government spending. Let's start with the Department of Health and Human Services. The North Carolina DHHS accounted for eight of the federal findings, the most of any agency that was reviewed in this single statewide audit. Among the most significant issues were failures to comply with federal transparency requirements under the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act.
Auditors found that DHHS did not complete required reporting for sub-awards issued through the social services block grant and the temporary assistance for needy family programs. According to the report, none of the sub-awards reviewed during the audit period were reported through that Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act system and their sub-reporting system as required. Specifically, all 228 sub-awards to counties under that program, totaling more than $39.4 million, were not reported. Similarly, all 179 sub-awards under the TANF program, that's the Temporary Assistance for Needy program, which totaled nearly $100 million at $999.4 million, were also not reported. Auditors classified the issue as a significant deficiency, indicating a breakdown in internal controls that could affect compliance with federal requirements and transparency standards.
In separate findings, auditors also determined that DHHS failed to report additional sub-awards to counties totaling $138.8 million, further compounding concerns about oversight and accountability with this federal money. In response to the findings, the Department of Health and Human Services says that they are implementing corrective actions on varying levels and schedules according to the report. Moving on from that, The audit identified some $342,000 in questionable costs, which would include expenditures that may be unallowable, unsupported, or improperly documented. One of the largest involved a $113,000 improper payment made by the Department of Health and Human Services. The report indicates that the payments have since been recovered by the agency following the audit.
Other questioned costs were referred to federal oversight agencies, which will determine whether to pursue recovery, meaning taking back, clawing back those funds. Auditors noted that while the total amount of questionable costs is relatively small compared to overall federal spending, which the math would very much check out on that, the findings point to broader weaknesses within internal controls and financial management practices. The audit's sole fiduciary statement finding involving the North Carolina Department of Commerce also took place where auditors identified a material weakness in internal controls over financial reporting. According to the report, Commerce lacked adequate review procedures and oversight to ensure accurate financial statements. As a result, auditors identified significant misstatements, including approximately $873 million in overstatements and more than $260 million in understatements across various accounts.
Additional audit adjustments were required to correct errors in the state financial statements, including those misstatements affecting cash flow reporting and net position balances within the state financial system. Auditors warned that without correction, the inaccuracies could have misled users of the state's financial reports. The audit also identified deficiencies at several universities and community colleges across the state of North Carolina, particularly in administration of federal student aid programs. Common issues include failures to establish adequate internal controls, errors in reporting student enrollment status, and instances in which financial aid was dispersed in excess of the students' eligibility, meaning giving out more money to students that they were not necessarily eligible for through federal financial aid programs. Auditors emphasize the importance of accurate reporting in maintaining compliance with federal requirements and ensuring a proper allocation of aid funding.
The statewide single audit does serve as a key accountability tool for monitoring how federal funds are managed at a state level. Agencies identified in the report are required to implement corrective action plans, which will be evaluated in future audits. Despite avoiding a material non-compliance, North Carolina was not classified as a low-risk audity, signaling that concerns remain. about some of these internal controls and compliance practices across the state. The report ultimately presents a mixed picture.
While the state has improved its overall compliance standing, reoccurring issues in reporting, oversight, and financial management continue to raise concerns about how billions of dollars in federal dollars are administered across the state. As federal funding continues to play a major role in North Carolina's budget, particularly through programs like Medicaid, auditors and policymakers say sustained attention will be necessary to ensure accountability and proper stewardship of those public funds. We have got a full copy of the report from state auditor Dave Bollick's office, the statewide audit of federal spending. That is available this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Look for the story with the headline, North Carolina, or NC Audit of Federal Grants Flag Costs, reporting concerns.
In some other statewide news this morning, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen is visiting Western North Carolina coming up a little bit later on in the day today. Mullen was just confirmed to the position by the Senate just a few weeks ago and will be in the Asheville area today. He'll be participating in events focused on the Department of Homeland Security and federal emergency management agencies' disaster relief efforts following Hurricane Helene. The Secretary previously represented Oklahoma in the United States Senate from 2023 to 2026.
And before that, the United States House of Representatives from 2013 to 2023. After Mullen's confirmation, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein wrote a letter sending congratulations to the new secretary and asking for help with Hurricane Helene recovery. And well, it would appear that the new secretary is taking what the governor said at face value. And visiting the state of North Carolina. He'll be with a group of lawmakers, including U.S.
Senator Ted Budd, Representatives Chuck Edwards, and Tim Moore. We'll be making their way to North Carolina. We'll be keeping an eye on the busy activity out in the western half of the state throughout the day today. We'll have the latest over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, and of course, coming up for you here tomorrow morning on the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's 5:21.
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 WBT. As I was mentioning in the previous segment, we are expecting a visit from the new Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Mark Wayne Mullen, to North Carolina. Today, he'll be in the Asheville area with a group of elected officials, including Ted Budd, Chuck Edwards, Tim Moore, as well as the budget director, Russ Voigt. According to news releases, he, as the secretary of DHS, is also responsible for FEMA, and we continue to track recovery and relief efforts in Western North Carolina. Our news this morning takes us to Rutherford County, where they have been allocated $9.39 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funding to reimburse for debris removal and emergency response work in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
The funding has been Earmarked to support cleanup projects across the county, including debris removal and clearing waterways. Representative Tim Moore, who is the Republican from the North Carolina, out of North Carolina's 14th congressional district, said Rutherford County worked quickly to remove debris in the wake of Hurricane Helene to keep folks safe and increase vehicle access to areas that were hit the hardest. It's great news that they'll be reimbursed more than $9 million for the work that they've already done to help their community recover. Of that almost $9.5 million, $1.6 million has been allocated for debris removal in waterways across the county with more than 19,000 cubic yards of vegetation debris, as well as limbs from trees, waterways, ditches, and canals. The work restored flow in critical water channels and addressed initial safety concerns following the storm.
That project is getting a 100% Federal reimbursement, meaning that the local county will not have to, even though they've already expensed the money, they will get 100% reimbursed and will not have to spend any of their money for that project. An additional $3.7 million was allocated for the removal of debris across roads, public property, and right-of-ways, with more than 75,000 cubic yards of limbs, trees, and vegetation debris supporting ongoing recovery efforts and restoring access through various critical parts of the county.
Now, that project is funded at a 90% federal cost share, with the total cost now being $4.16 million. And finally, a little over $4 million is being allocated for the continued removal of debris in waterways during the later phases of hurricane recovery. That project is being funded at a 90% federal cost share.
So the county picking up the 10% tab on that. This announcement, as I just mentioned, follows a March 25th letter sent from the North Carolina Republican congressional delegation to U.S. Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen of the Department of Homeland Security, urging him to release pending FEMA funding designations for Haleen recovery. We unfortunately have watched a very slow process take place between the FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security, and recovery efforts here in North Carolina. And I'll say on average, we are seeing more money continuing to flow.
For many, it is still not quick enough as the federal government, unfortunately, continues to drag its feet. In a large amount of these FEMA projects that are taking place across the state of North Carolina, obviously, most prominently, predominantly in the western half of the state. This is, as I mentioned yesterday, North Carolina leaders, including Matt Calabria, who is the director of the governor's office for recovery for western North Carolina, and others, provided updates to the legislature last week talking about how federal dollars, more than $7 billion that have been awarded thus far, remains tied up in lengthy approval processes or restricted program requirements, which has, in some cases, caused recovery efforts to grind to a halt. As an example given by Calabria to lawmakers, more than $1.5 billion has been designated for public assistance reimbursement. But local governments, as we just talked about with the situation in Rutherford County, are waiting.
Months for approval through FEMA's standard review process. That is why all eyes are on Western North Carolina and Mark Wayne Mullen's visit coming up a little bit later on throughout the day today to hear if he will announce addition not only additional projects for Western North Carolina, but will announce a process in which there will be an expedited review of these projects to continue to get more and more money flowing out of the federal government. Federal policy decisions have compounded these delays with the Department of Homeland Security slowing reviews of temporary projects and halting permanent recovery work during what was happening just over the last couple of weeks, the recent federal government shutdown. That shutdown delayed approvals for debris removal, infrastructure repairs, and rebuilding efforts. FEMA's layered approval approach requirement and thresholds have created further bottlenecks according.
To state officials, delaying not only reimbursements, but other dependent recovery programs. Federal bottlenecks are also affecting hazard mitigation efforts. Although North Carolina secured its first FEMA approval for home buyouts earlier this year, most of those applications unfortunately remain pending and have not yet been approved after nearly a year of federal review. Despite delays in federal funding, state leaders say that additional federal funds will be necessary to close the gap, with Governor Josh Stein requesting some $13.5 billion in new federal funding and policy changes to speed up those approvals and expand support for housing, infrastructure, and local governments. This is unfortunately not the first time that we have talked about delayed and slow response, both state and federal, to natural disasters across the state of North Carolina.
You can go back almost to Decade to Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Florence, those storms wreaking havoc and causing an incredible amount of devastation and destruction in eastern North Carolina. Under the previous Governor Roy Cooper's NCOR, the North Carolina Office of Resiliency and Recovery, individuals have been waiting, in some cases, more than 10 years to be back in their homes.
So, unfortunately, whether it's federal delays or statewide delays, this is an all too common problem that individuals continue to face here in North Carolina. As I mentioned, we'll be keeping a close eye on the DHS secretary and Mark Wayne Mullen and his visit to the Asheville area today. We'll bring you the latest over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, and right here on the Carolina Journal NewsHour. Mm-hmm. 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. A good Tuesday morning to you. For months now, we've been talking about the United States Senate race coming to the state of North Carolina later this year. Former RNC chairman and North Carolina Republican Party chair Michael Watley versus the former Democrat governor of the state, Roy Cooper, and how that is expected to be an incredibly expensive race across the Tar Heel State.
It walks through a major announcement from the Senate Leadership Fund this morning. The editor-in-chief of CarolinaJournal.com, Donna King, joins us on the news hour. Donna, it would appear that Republicans are not waiting long and getting into the battle here. A $71 million investment announced from the Senate Leadership Fund. That is an insane amount of money this early into a race.
What do you make of this? Absolutely. I mean, we've been saying for some time that this is going to be an incredibly expensive Senate race here for to represent North Carolina in the U.S. Senate. Tom Tellis, of course, announcing he was not going to run again.
Now we've got former Governor Roy Cooper and Michael Watley, former head of the RMC. I'm hearing numbers like $750 million for this race in total.
So this $71 million shows that it really is going to be steaming in that same direction. The Senate Leadership Fund is a super PAC and will be supporting Republicans in major states like Ohio, North Carolina, Maine, Iowa, Alaska. But they're also targeting some Democrat seats. And that's an important one because it shows that they're not just going to be on defense, they're going to be on offense in this race too. They're going to be looking at Democrat-held seats in Michigan, Georgia, New Hampshire.
So I think what they saw in 2024 is that maybe there is some weakness in some of those Democrat seats, and they're identifying it as places to really dump some money. This total campaign is $350 million that the Senate Leadership Fund is putting in. And of course, that is being announced in early April. And as you know, Dadonna, this is PAC money coming from the Senate Leadership Fund. This does not include any other PACs that will absolutely jump into the race.
The candidates themselves that could easily raise hundreds of millions of dollars if they put their minds to it.
So very much expensive contests. From this vantage point, obviously it's a midterm election that typically does not fare well for the party in charge. That is currently the Republicans controlling the United States House, the United States Senate, and the Oval Office. It would appear that Republicans are probably going to try their best to hold on to those seats that they've got in the Senate and the House and break the trend that is the opposite party doing very, very well in these heated midterms. Sure, sure.
I mean, I think one of the important things is that they are going to be putting money in across the board. And, like, for example, Susan Collins in Maine, they're putting $42 million behind her. And there's been some intra-party conflict over some of her decisions.
So, I think what they're really looking at is trying to preserve those seats and move forward, even in a time where statistically, whoever's in the White House, their party doesn't do quite as well. But we've also seen in these races that, particularly in North Carolina, Trump voters are very committed to him. And even if they disagree on individual policies, overall, they're going to be supportive of him. The question is: will those coattails help or hurt folks that like Michael Watley who have his endorsement? We saw in our Carolina Journal's poll just a few weeks ago that he's trailing Roy Cooper, former Governor Cooper, by about seven points, 48.9% for Roy Cooper, 41%.
For Michael Watley. That's actually pretty impressive for Watley right now because for the most part, he's never, people are going to have to learn who he is. He's going to have to introduce himself to North Carolinians. Everybody knows who Roy Cooper is. He spent 40 years in statewide public office.
So Watley is really only trailing by 7%, 8% points in our poll.
So it shows he's going to have to introduce himself, but he's starting off strong. Yeah, and we're seeing a little bit of a larger margin in some other polling. Catawba College releasing a poll last week as well, showing a little bit of a larger margin. But, Donna, both of the polls, the Carolina Journal and the Catawba College poll, show something similar that Michael Watley still has not really introduced himself to a lot of voters across the state of North Carolina. I would assume that this large infusion of cash over the next few months from the Senate Leadership Fund, plus all of the money that Michael Watley has raised himself, is probably going to hit that message pretty hard and bring Michael Watley to these people's households via mail, text message, television, all the fun political advertisements that we are going to see coming up later on this year.
You're really going to get sick of hearing them from all from both candidates in this. I would just expect to be bombarded. The Senate Leadership Fund said that they're going to be focused on digital and streaming ads. It's going to be a lot of mail and a lot of get out the vote operations. You can't discount how important it is to get people to show up.
It's not just about introducing Michael Watley. It's about saying, hey, look, we know there's no president, presidential race on this ballot, but we want you to turn out anyway. That's a midterm election.
So getting people to the polls, making sure that Republicans aren't complacent in North Carolina because Trump has won this state for every time he's run in the last, you know, Two or three times he's run.
So, you know, one of the things they've really got to make sure is that Republicans turn out. And you can't also discount Roy Cooper. He's got a high approval rating. He is running about right now at the same level that his approval rating was when he was governor. And he's an expert fundraiser.
So he is going to be a tough one to beat, but it looks like Michael Watley's on his way. Don, I want to get your reaction on this. The Senate Majority PAC, this is the Democrat equivalent to the Senate Leadership Fund that we're talking about, released a statement in the immediate aftermath of this over $300 million investment that we're talking about. And they write in part, the Senate Leadership Fund's announcement is a sign that Republicans are nervous. Their battleground map has extended substantially into deep red states, and we're seeing the telltale signs of weakness with bad candidates, uninspiring messages, and an approval rating in the pit.
So it would appear that Democrats are trying to pounce on this and say, hey, they're putting money into races, a lot of money into races that they shouldn't necessarily have to. How do you react to those comments from the alternative pack? No, of course. I mean, of course they're nervous. Who isn't nervous walking into an election?
And I think that that's not a bad sign necessarily. I think it's a sign that a party, regardless of who it is, Republicans or Democrats, are taking it seriously. And they do have a challenge because there's been a lot of conflict even among Republicans over policies like tariffs. Will Michael Watley bear whatever fallout there might be among business owners that are impacted by tariffs? That's something to think about right now.
But overall, we're seeing that President Trump's approval rating in North Carolina is lower than it was. It's not, I'm not sure I'd call it in the pits, but certainly it was lower than it was. It looks like he's got about 44.8%.
So, you know, that's something that's down from what he was in September or so.
So I do think it's something they've got to be thinking about as they go into this. But I also think it means that you're going to see the president and surrogates for him coming. in and campaigning for Michael Watley nonstop. One of the things that we've talked about a lot as it relates to this Senate race is not only Michael Watley identifying himself, but also identifying some of the strategic failures of the Cooper administration. One of the benefits that, from my vantage point, that Michael Watley has is he has not spent his entire career as a politician and in public service.
So the amount of controversy, the scandals surrounding Watley are nowhere near the same those in Cooper with 40-plus years of public service. Donna, do you think some of this money that the Senate Leadership Fund and other groups are going to be pumping into North Carolina are going to be going on the attack against some of the failures of the Cooper administration? I think they're going to have to. I mean, that is going to be the big weakness that we see for Governor Cooper because he has had fairly high approval ratings, usually in the 40s. I mean, he doesn't quite break 50 in most cases, but when he was governor, he usually had approval rating in the 40s.
So I think the biggest things that they're going to have to really go after him on is public safety. That issue has been huge this year, particularly with what we're seeing with border enforcement and things like that. And people are still reeling from COVID and they're still angry. about it.
So while I think there's a lot of people that want to put it behind them, pretend like it didn't happen, you've still got parents out there whose kids were negatively impacted, college students who lost their college experience or once-in-a-lifetime college experience, or perhaps their job was lost because of COVID, their business was lost because of COVID. They're going to look at Governor Roy Cooper, who shut the state down longer than our neighboring states and took a lot of those businesses and educational experiences down with it.
So I think that we're probably going to see a lot of focus on that. Him keeping North Carolina in a state of an extended state of emergency. But you're also going to see things like go back, dig back into history, and talk about those untested rape kits when he was attorney general that just sort of haunted into Governor Stein's stint as attorney general. That wasn't resolved until Stein was in there.
So that'll be probably something we hear a lot about. And certainly hurricane recovery, the disaster that NCOR was under Cooper, Matthew, and Florence, people still living in hotels a decade later. All of these things are going to be brought up, I think, a lot during this. And you're right. I think Michael Watley has an advantage in this way because he's not been in office and they're going to have a hard time finding things like that to go after him.
So I think you're going to see that Democrats and Governor Cooper are going to really go after Trump as a way to get to Watley. It is going to be an interesting next couple of months here in North Carolina. We'll keep you up to date with this Senate race as it continues to unfold over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. We appreciate the information and insight this morning. The editor-in-chief of CarolinaJournal.com, Donna King, joins us 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 FM, WBT. We've got some news out of the Queen City this morning as North Carolina State Auditor Dave Bollock and the State Auditor's Office is set to oversee Charlotte's $650 million stadium renovation. The North Carolina Office of the State Auditor has announced that it will provide oversight for the planned Bank of America Stadium major renovation project.
The $650 million subsidy for the privately owned stadium was approved in a 7-3 vote by the Charlotte City Council back in 2024. And recently, as the North Carolina Local Government Commission, that's the LGC, they voted unanimously to approve the city's financial request.
Now, obviously, the stadium is part of the iconic. Charlotte Skyline. It is home to the Carolina Panthers and the Charlotte Football Club and hosts over 40 ticketed events every year. It is owned and operated by Tepper Sports and Entertainment. And after undergoing minor work from 2017 to 2024, the stadium is set to receive its first major renovation since it opened back in 1996.
The partnership between Tepper Sports Entertainment and the City of Charlotte includes an update to the stadium seating, restrooms, exterior accessibility, among interior improvements as well. In late February of 2026, Tepper Sports and Entertainment unveiled further plans for the stadium renovation, including an immersive experience center, and announced that Lowe's Home Improvement would be the stadium's official renovation partner.
Now, this project has faced some level of backlash, including earning the 2024 worst economic development deal of the year. That was given out by the Center for Economic Accountability. Much of the criticism of the deal comes from a lack of transparency and high cost of the project. With the entirety of this renovation expected to cost somewhere in the ballpark of $800 million, with city taxpayers funding some $650 million of that.
However, the $650 million Million allocated currently exceeds the Charlotte City Council government's entire fiscal year 2025 general fund budget for public safety services. State Auditor Dave Bollick addressed the project at the local government commission meeting, saying, Under the authority of the state auditor's office, we're going to provide additional oversight for the expenditure of that $650 million. For context, this is the largest expense of public dollars in the history of the state of North Carolina. The project comes in the wake of low sport rankings for the Queen City. A recent study from Rotowire ranked Charlotte as the worst sport city in America.
The city called the city's two big four men's professional teams, quote, mediocre, and accredited it to a lack of post and regular season success. The Carolina Panthers that call Bank of America Stadium their home have appeared twice in the Super Bowl, once in 2004 and again in 2016, but have never brought home the winning trophy. The project commits Tepper Sports and Entertainment to a non-relocation agreement with the Carolina Panthers and the Charlotte Football Club through April 1st of 2046, with the renovation project seeking to secure a position for Charlotte as a premier entertainment destination and boost economic impact across the Queen City. In 2023, stadium events generated approximately $1.1 billion in economic impact, and the approved renovations are intended to further strengthen Charlotte's economy, according to a statement from those involved in the process. This is an important project for Charlotte with $650 million being spent in public funds, and it is incumbent on the North Carolina State Auditor's Office.
To provide regular financial oversight updates on the Bank of America Stadium upgrade through this innovative effort. And as the financial watchdogs of the states continue, they will keep an eye on how the public's money is being spent, wrote state auditor Dave Bollick. That's going to do it for a Tuesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning, BT. We're back for you tomorrow morning, 5-6, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT.
