It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Thursday 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. In North Carolina's most high-profile race, former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper has outraged his opponent, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, and the North Carolina Republican Party, Michael Watley, by more than double, according to first quarter campaign finance reports. Cooper raised more than $13.8 million in the first quarter, with more than 95% of the donations of $100 or less coming from supporters in all 100 counties, according to the Cooper campaign. Cooper's first quarter fundraising numbers are just shy of Watley's total cash on hand of $16 million, with Watley pulling in $5 million in the first quarter, according to the campaign finance reports.
Jeff Allen, who is the Cooper for North Carolina campaign manager, said, quote, Roy Cooper is running because stuff just costs too much and the big oil lobbyists and DC insiders like Michael Watley are the problem. North Carolinians know Roy will put them not special interests or well connected or those that are well connected first in the United States Senate. This fundraising reflects the campaign's growing momentum as the most competitive race in the country. Our team will work to earn every vote and make sure that North Carolina has a senator who will fight for them. According to G.J.
Griffin, who is a spokesperson for the Watley campaign, they told the Carolina Journal, for decades, North Carolina Democrats have been setting fundraising records just to lose in the general election. It turns out that all of the money in the world cannot overcome a record of failure. Roy Cooper is no different. Cooper is a career politician relying on elites from New York and California to bankroll his campaign so he can do their bidding. We look forward to history repeating itself again this November.
Cooper does currently lead Watley not only in fundraising, but in polling. According to the most recent Carolina Journal poll, a survey of some 600 likely North Carolina voters, 48.9% said that they would vote for Cooper if the election were held today. That was at the time of the survey back just a couple of weeks ago. Whereas only 41.1% said they would vote for Watley. This puts Cooper almost eight points up in the race among registered independents.
Watley falls behind further with 32% of support from those independents, while Cooper sits at 52%. Donald Bryson, the CEO of the John Locke Foundation, said public opinion polls are snapshots in a time. It is not a crystal ball. They can be useful for showing us where voters stand at any given moment and for trends and for tracking trends over time. But a poll taken in March of 2026 should not be treated as a prediction of what will happen in November 2026.
Campaigns change, events intervene, and voters will continue to make up their minds. Regardless of what you think of the polling and the situation, a very impressive fundraising haul for the former Democrat governor here in North Carolina and Roy Cooper. We, of course, will continue to follow this race very closely as we approach November. You can read more on the fundraising battle between the two by visiting our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com, the story's headline, Cooper outraises Watley in Q1, 13.8 million to 5 million. In some other statewide news this morning, yesterday, April 15th, tax day, yesterday, Wednesday, U.S.
Small Business Administrators reached. Regional Administrator Tyler Terrasa visited Little Richards Barbecue in Winston-Salem to highlight the Trump administration's working family tax cuts, as well as their impact on small businesses during the height of filing season. The small business administrator, regional administrator, said that the tax provisions have reduced tax burdens for roughly 12 million small businesses by an average of about $7,000 this tax season, framing the relief as a driver of hiring, reinvestment, and broader growth along Main Street. With Teresa saying, this bill is super helpful for all small businesses across America, especially in North Carolina. His stop is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to highlight how tax changes are translating into real-world economic activity, particularly in states like North Carolina, where small businesses play a significant role.
Role in job creation and local economic development. The Small Business Administration, I thought this was interesting, defines a small business as any company having fewer than 500 employees. And by that definition, the North Carolina economy is overwhelmingly supported by small businesses. The U.S. Business Administrator's Office of Advocacy reports that small business, again, those under 500 employees, make up 99.6% of all companies in North Carolina and employ about 44% of the state's private sector workforce.
With Terrace saying the working family tax cuts is the largest tax cut in American history and it has been tremendous. We have already delivered $220 billion in tax returns from this bill alone. He continued by saying it stopped the largest tax hike in American history and actually brought in the largest tax savings in American history. history. Referencing the scheduled expiration of tax cuts and job act of 2017, that measure included income taxes that were set to expire in 2025 without extension.
If that had gone through, those tax rates would have automatically gone back up to their previous level, and you'd be paying for that this year. According to estimates released by the White House on April the 15th, the average refund this filing season is more than $3,400, which is about 11% higher than it was in 2025 and 19% higher than the average running over the previous four years.
So folks, getting a lot of money back from the IRS. According to the Internal Revenue Service, taxpayers who are unable to file by April the 15th were able to request and still can request an automatic extension until October.
However, if you have waited so long to do so, you may be dealing with some penalties. Tax Day has also become a broader policy marketer with organizations like the Tax Foundation using the date to highlight the scale of tax compliance and how tax policy changes affect households and businesses alike across the United States. Against that backdrop, Terrissa used Winston-Salem's visit in Winston-Salem to highlight provisions of the One Big Beautiful bill, including a 100% expensing for factory and equipment purchases, a permanent 20% small business deduction, and the elimination of tax on tips and overtime pay. Administration officials argue that those measures are designed to increase liquidity for all small firms and encourage more capital investments, aka businesses spending more money. Teresa said in an interview with CarolinaJournal.com, the small business administration is putting in programs and internet services to help these small businesses.
We're creating new MARC programs, which is the manufacturing access to revolving credit, which is really going to help these manufacturing companies. That MARC program, M-A-R-C, is a loan program was launched by the Small Business Administration in September of last year with its goal to offer working capital for small businesses that are engaged in the manufacturing sector. The Tax Foundation, back to them, also released a tax calculator last year for taxpayers to estimate their one big beautiful bill impact on their return, plus an interactive map to check North Carolina. Carolina's tax rate against other states, with North Carolina currently ranked 33rd as it has a flat income tax across the United States. The federal discussion on tax day also comes as North Carolina continues its own long-term shift in tax policy.
According to the John Locke Foundation, the state began a sweeping income tax overhaul in 2013 that replaced a three-bracket system with a flatter structure and set in motion a series of gradual rate reductions. Since then, the personal income tax rate has fallen from where it was at 5.8% to 4.75% in 2023. With current loss scheduled to further decline by 3.99% by 2026, that will be your tax bill next year, with the foundation arguing that changes have improved North Carolina's competitiveness and contributed to stronger economic performance relative to the pre-reform period, while broadening tax relief across income levels. Supporters of the state's approach say that the sustained cuts have helped position North Carolina more favorably in regional business rankings and supported a more pro-growth environment for investment and job creation, as well as reducing the state's debt even as the tax base has expanded over time. Brian Balfour, who is the vice president of research at the John Locke Foundation, says, quote, North Carolina's tax reforms since 2013 have vastly improved our state's competitiveness and have helped provide billions of dollars in tax relief for workers over the years.
North Carolina's job and economic growth have improved since the reforms and have made us a regional leader outpacing national trends. In contrast to critics, revenue surpluses have been the norm over the past dozen years, reaching into the billions sometimes throughout the calendar years as revenue is bolstered by increased economic activity. Such positive results should encourage lawmakers to keep the current scheduled rate reductions in place moving forward. This discussion over these tax rates and the already pre-scheduled triggers as it relates to those rates has been a major topic of discussion between lawmakers in the North Carolina House and Senate. We did officially get the calendar from the North Carolina legislature yesterday.
Lawmakers will be back in Raleigh on Tuesday, where they could be taking their first votes of the North Carolina short session. There are 27 voting days in total. We will be having and keeping a very close eye on Raleigh over the next about two and a half, three months or so. We'll bring you the latest right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. If you work in university maintenance, Granger considers you an MVP because your playbook ensures your arena is always ready for tip-off.
And Granger is your trusted partner, offering the products you need, all in one place from HVAC. And plumbing supplies to lighting and more, and all delivered with plenty of time left on the clock so your team always gets the win. Call 1-800-GRANGER, visit Granger.com, or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. It's 22 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT.
I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. I mentioned in the first segment here a major fundraising goal for former Democrat governor Roy Cooper. He raised more than $13.8 million in the first quarter, according to federal filings with the FEC. With that, we learned that Michael Watley has total cash on hand of $16 million, with Watley pulling in $5 million during the first quarter.
This lines up with some other news that we're tracking over at Carolina Journal as we keep a very close eye on that U.S. Senate race. A leading political ranking model has moved North Carolina's open U.S. Senate race into the Democrat column, citing a national political environment turning against the GOP. The Cook political report earlier this week shifted its rating from North Carolina's seat from toss-up to lean Democrat.
That would put the Tarheel State as a potential net pickup for Democrats in the fall. This move was one of four Senate ranking changes announced by Analyst Jessica Taylor. With her writing in part, with an increasingly sour national environment for Republicans, the Senate battlefield is shifting in the Democrats' favor. The North Carolina race pits former Democrat governor Roy Cooper against former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Watley for the seat being vacated by retiring senator who is a Republican, Tom Tillis. As we talked about, recent Carolina Journal polling shows Cooper with a consistent lead, but his advantage varies depending on what survey you look at.
The most recent Carolina Journal poll shows Cooper leading by eight points.
However, a public policy survey poll conducted March 13th through the 14th shows the race much closer with Cooper ahead 47 to 44, while a Catawba College YouGov poll survey also conducted in March gives Cooper a 14-point advantage, 48% to 30%. 4% among likely voters, including those that are leaning in one category.
So the polling is still very much kind of all over the map, very slim margins to about a 14% advantage. Kind of backing up some of the commentary we heard a little bit earlier from Donald Bryson, the CEO of the John Locke Foundation, about how those polls are just a snapshot of what is going on at any given point in time and not necessarily a true indicator of what is going to come forward, regardless. This race continues to be very closely watched here across North Carolina. Watley's name recognition remains a persistent challenge in most of the political polling, with 44% of North Carolina voters saying that they are simply unfamiliar with the former state party chairman in the Catawba poll, including a significant share of Republicans and Independents. Andy Jackson, who is the director of the Civita Center for Public Integrity at the John Locke Foundation, Says, quote, Cooper has run statewide six times while Watley is relatively unknown.
This essentially gives Cooper the political advantage that an incumbent would enjoy. Cooper never lost any of his six statewide races going back to the year 2000, but Watley's campaign can take some solace in the fact that Cooper underperformed his polling numbers in both his campaigns for governor. Along with North Carolina, the Cook political report moved Georgia Senator John Ossoff's seat from toss-up to lean Democrat, citing a fraction within the GOP primary in Georgia. Ohio shifted from lean Republican to toss-up, where recent polling shows former Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown in a statistical tie with the appointed Republican there, Senator John Husted, while Nebraska moved from solid Republican to likely Republican, where Independent Dan Osborne is challenging GOP Senator Pete Ricketts. Despite the shifts, Cook stopped short of forecasting a Democrat Senate majority, with Taylor, the author of this report, noting that the GOP remains the quote narrowing favorite to retain the upper chamber, with the least likely outcome being a Democrat pickup of one of the three seats, one short of the four needed for a majority in the United States Senate.
That is really highlighted. The importance of the Senate race here in North Carolina and many other races. We just talked about a couple of the other ones across the country, in Georgia, Ohio, as well, that are trending more, seemingly trending more towards the Democrat side in a midterm election, which, as we have talked about, typically favors the party that is not in power, which right now it would be the Republicans controlling the White House, controlling the North Carolina, excuse me, the United States House and Senate. It is going to be fascinating to continue to watch these races play out, including here in North Carolina, where we know that the race is likely to be close at the end. Lots of money flowing in.
We talked about the fundraising numbers for the former Democrat governor and Roy Cooper just back a couple of weeks ago. We talked about how the Senate Leadership Fund is pumping over $70 million into North Carolina alone to secure that seat and hold on to a Republican seat here in the state of North Carolina. A lot of other Outside groups have already, on both sides of the political aisle, have also announced that they are jumping into this race with either volunteer efforts, large sums of money, get out the vote action, a lot of different pieces to this puzzle that will be this race that continues to ramp up seemingly as we go week by week here in the year of 2026. We will keep a very close eye on this race, all of its impacts, all of the fundraising, everything you need to know. We'll have the details over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com.
And of course, you can stay up to date with the latest right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. 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 Thursday morning to you.
North Carolina voters could soon be asked through a constitutional amendment what they think about levy limits. It's a very important topic and conversation, and it has a huge impact, not only on your monthly budget, but your year-end taxes and everything that you deal with. To walk us through some of those details on what is a levy limit and a very interesting discussion out of the North Carolina General Assembly. Joseph Harris from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Joe, you joined us about a month ago.
We talked about a report that you had over at the Locke Foundation as it related to a couple of counties that you highlighted that had really increased property tax rates over the last decade or so. Walk us through what a levy limit is and why is this something that lawmakers are actually asking voters if it's something they support or not. Thank you so much for having me on, Nick.
So, a levy limit is going to be a cap. On the annual growth rate of total property taxes within a jurisdiction.
So it is not a budget cut. It's just going to cap revenue growth moving forward. And currently, we have a situation here in North Carolina where property tax revenue collections and growth rates are pretty much up to the complete discretion of elected officials. What a levy limit would do instead would be to tie those property tax increases to economic realities instead of political discretion. And a well-designed levy limit would tie that revenue growth to something like population plus inflation.
Because those two metrics are essentially measuring Um The demand for that local government to need more revenue to provide services. A local government's going to need more money if they have more people moving into their county, or if the cost of providing people, those services that they provide them, goes up.
So, a well-designed levy limit is going to allow a county to grow its revenue with its growth. You know, it's a very interesting discussion, and we have heard from people all across the state of North Carolina, more particularly in some more areas that have been booming as it relates to population growth. Joe, they've seen their property taxes go up 30% since they bought their house, not 30 years ago, but over just the last couple of years. This is turning out to be a major budget buster for a lot of North Carolina families. That's exactly right, Nick, and you make a great point because there has been some pushback.
When it comes to the levy limit, because people are concerned about how local governments are going to be able to. Fund what they need to do, but we forget about how these property tax bills are affecting the personal budgets of every individual household. they are the ones who are currently being strained.
So I think putting the concern on the local governments is a little bit disingenuous. But the reality of it is, is some of these local governments have literally doubled the amount of revenue they're bringing in in just a ten year period. And they made the argument that there's been so much population growth and there's been so much inflation. But we've seen that quite a few counties have went well beyond what they needed to to keep up with those two metrics. And essentially, what they've done is they've grown the role of government within their county.
And Joe, this is very relevant because, yes, while some of these areas, as you note, have seen an explosion in population growth and obviously the money is trickling in and they can, of course, raise that property tax rate and get even more money in. It is very hard to scale that back. We see that going on right now all across North Carolina as counties and municipalities are going through their budget season ahead of the start of the fiscal year on July the 1st. And these conversations are unfolding right now. It is very, very hard to get a county to convince the county commissioners or the city council members that they need to pare back the size of government, meaning that that rate is consistently going to go up, at least from my vantage point.
Yes, and currently as the situation stands, the type of levy limit that we're looking at putting in place would not be a budget cut at all. We would essentially whatever has occurred over the past decade, that would be baked or cooked into the equation, and the baseline would be starting here.
Now, someone could maybe make an argument and say, well, that's not right because there were a lot of counties over the past decade that did a great job not increasing revenue drastically. And it's almost like punishing them and rewarding the ones that took advantage of the situation because they get no punishment and they get to keep that revenue. But in reality, when you start talking about actually cutting those budgets, that's when you do start opening up the can of worms that. Maybe you are gonna put a local government in a tight situation fiscally. Because in some of these situations, even if we just make them revert back to a few years ago, that could be tens or close to $100 million in a big county like Wake, for example.
Um But there is that possibility in theory, you could create a levy limit and then retroactive it, right? You will you actually um make us go back, but what we're talking about now, and you know, this is. What's at least being discussed is that we would just limit future increases going forward.
So it's not actually a budget cut and it's not actually going to reduce funding for schools or reduce funding for police. Whatever amount they brought in this year for that, it's not going to be cut. You're just not going to be able to grow the revenue at the faster rate. But yeah, there's arguments to be made, right, about whether or not that is the appropriate way to do it. But I think that's the cleanest way to do it.
And that's going to be the best way for everyone to understand. And we just. establish this as a new rule moving forward. Yeah, and you bring up a really good point there about what that ground floor would look like for counties that have been very fiscally responsible over the last decade, even 20 plus years, versus those that, and your report shows, have been a little bit loose with their tax rates and consistently jacking that up are at a significant advantage versus some of those other areas. For folks that don't follow government very closely, Joe, the property tax rate is not set by the state of North Carolina.
It is set by your municipality if you live in a city or your county, whether you live in one or the other. In some cases, you're paying both.
So tell me why lawmakers in Raleigh are getting in on this conversation. As I understand it, there's both a House and Senate committee that are both looking at these property tax rates when that's something that typically state government is almost completely removed from. Yes, I think it's a response to their constituents reaching out to them, whether through social media or in person, when they've received their personal property tax bill with concerns and complaints and kind of feeling hopeless. I think everyone has kind of felt that at certain times. When you get your property tax bill, you can complain and you can try to rebut it.
But at the end of the day, you have very little leverage dealing with the county. And I think a lot of people were frustrated with that.
So they started reaching out to their legislators. There's a reality going on as well that there's been some tension between the House and the Senate. You know, we weren't able to actually get an official budget passed this year, and a lot of that had to do with disagreements on. Revenues that are going to be coming into the state over the next few years related to our personal income tax reductions.
So I see this as an opportunity for the General Assembly to provide tax relief or tax reform to their constituents without affecting their bottom line. And it's just the reality. When you're in government, whether you're on the left or the right, it doesn't make a difference. Typically, when you start talking about cutting your revenue, your mind just wants to go to, well, how are we going to replace that revenue with something else? Because we use that money to.
Provide and to please our constituents. That's part of the political system. But in this situation, they can help those constituents, and it doesn't get into the whole. our personal income tax rate, are we bringing enough revenue in at the state level?
So I see that that's probably a big motivating factor as well, that it's something they think they can get done and they'll reap political benefit for it. You led me right down to the next question I was going to ask you. I'm sure there's got to be some frustration from lawmakers in Raleigh that over the last 15 years have consistently worked on reducing that personal income tax rate, have a plan in place right now to phase out the corporate tax rate by 2030. Joe, that should be a good thing. And people should be seeing more money in their paycheck every month and at the end of the year when they're going in or the beginning of the year when they're going through and filing their taxes.
But I would imagine in many of these areas, because the property tax rate has gone up so much, it's completely negating any of the tax savings that these individuals are seeing on their personal income tax rate that they're paying statewide. That's an excellent point, Nick. And that's exactly right. We've seen such great tax reform here in North Carolina since 2013, 2014. But the reality of it is, because of the drastic increase in property tax bills over the past five or six years, really, most of that has been offset to where you don't even notice it.
You don't even feel like you have more disposable income available because you might not, actually, depending on how the math works for every individual. But you're getting a tax cut on the state side, but then you're getting a tax hike at the county level. Yes. There was a hearing in or meeting, I should say, excuse me, in Raleigh this week of the House's version of this committee looking at property tax and a litany of other issues. They are now recommending to the full North Carolina House a constitutional amendment for voters to support a levy limit.
Kind of a two-pronged question here. Why go the route of a constitutional amendment? And how would something like that play out for voters? I think going the route of the constitutional amendment is just to solidify that this is something that the people want and that the General Assembly has the authority to do it. That said, the General Assembly does have the authority to do this.
Cities and counties, they are creatures of the state. The state created them. They did, you know, it's not the other way around. But I think it's to drive home the point that this is something that the people want. And what the constitutional amendment is going to do, it's essentially going to.
Mandate the General Assembly to create a levy limit. It's basically authorizing them. Us as taxpayers will either say, yes, this is something we want you to do, or no, this is something we don't. For that constitutional amendment, it requires a supermajority in the House and the Senate, which is 60% of the votes in each. Um, and then it'll just be a simple majority in the bat if it gets to the ballot box in November.
Um, and then once that is passed, if it does pass. The General Assembly is going to actually need to create accompanying legislation. which will actually define the specific parameters of the levy limit. It will break down the equation and explain how this formula is going to be calculated. And that's when it's going to be very important that they get it right.
Because a levy limit in and of itself is not a solution, and it's not something that's necessarily good in and of itself. Policies are only as good as they are designed. And we need to take into account that Yes, we want to stop local governments from aggressively hiking property taxes during housing booms. But we also don't want to constrain them so much that they're not able to keep up with inflation and population growth.
So it's finding that balance. And it also is going to be very important that the property tax. Levy limit is comprehensive. Meaning, if you're in a jurisdiction and it's a property tax that's being collected, it has to fit under that cap. If there's exceptions for certain spending categories and exclusions for certain funds, we're just going to incentivize local governments to pivot more and more revenue generation in those areas, and the levy limit will have no integrity and it'll be pointless.
Yeah, you could cut your property taxes significantly to stay under the levy limit and then increase your local sales tax by 10X and kind of make up some of those additional funds.
So that would be a very interesting process. Joe's, you just laid out some kind of a multi-pronged or multi-phased situation here. The General Assembly would have to approve adding it to the ballot. Voters would have to support it. And then the General Assembly would have to come in on the backside and actually pass the legislation mandated by those voters.
So not necessarily something that is going to happen right around the corner. We'll keep our eye on some of these movements in the North Carolina General Assembly as lawmakers are expected back next week in both the House and the Senate. We really appreciate the insight and information this morning. Joseph Harris from the John Locke Foundation 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 are following some interesting information this morning out of the state health plan. On Wednesday, a meeting of the North Carolina State Health Plan announced that it has canceled its current request for proposal, known as an RFP, for a third-party administrator of services. This is as they say that none of the bids received met the RFP's or the request for proposals minimum requirements, with the plan issuing those original RFP back on March the 20th.
Tom Friedman, who is the executive director of the state health plan, said at a board of trustees meeting last month that they would have recommendations for the plan's pharmacy benefit manager and third-party administrator sometime in July.
However, according to a press release, the state health plan will issue a new request for proposal in the coming weeks and will remain in a silent period as staff continues to work in issuing that new RFP. The goal remains to have the plan's board of trustees approve a new contract sometime later this summer. Friedman said in the release, quote, the plan is committed to the RFP process, which will ultimately deliver the best value of services for our members. This process is essential to securing a partner who can help us provide strong and sustainable benefits and improved experiences for those that we serve. The state health plan awarded Aetna as its third-party administrator just two years ago, with the new contract scheduled to begin with Aetna January the 1st, 2028.
At the time, Aetna replaced Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina in January of 2025. After it served as that third-party administrator for more than 40 years, the change occurred in 2023 under former state treasurer Dale Falwell, with Loretta Beniti, the director of communications and media relations for state treasurer Brad Breiner saying in an email to Carolina Journal: quote, This administration has different priorities that would prefer a contract that is more in line with those priorities. The plan is seeking a partner who will support the alignment of incentives between members, providers, and the plan. Future partners will assist us with improving health, delivering an excellent member and provider experience, all while fostering financial stability. The state health plan issued the RFP for pharmacy benefit services last month and is currently in a silent period for that as well.
This contract would be effective January the 1st, 2028, with CVS being the current company responsible for those pharmacy benefit services. The Board of Trustees also voted unanimously at last month's meeting to approve the implementation of a three-tier provider network for 2027 that aims to strengthen the preferred provider program known as PPP. The network will steer members towards providers prudently at a cost savings for both the members as well as the state health plan. All of that. While delivering a volume of patients to preferred providers, the final dollar amounts, copays associated with these tiers, will be voted on at a meeting of the state health plan coming up in early June.
As we have been keeping an eye on over the last year or so, there have been some significant changes to the state health plan. As state treasurer Brad Briner has gotten in there, he's the administrator of that program, gotten in there and had to make some very significant changes, increasing those rates for individuals across the state of North Carolina. As the state health plan was looking at hundreds of millions of dollars, potentially billions of dollars worth of deficits in the coming years. And we are now seeing this discussion take place for the third-party administrator and the pharmacy benefit manager. Continued coverage of that over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com.
That's going to do it for a Thursday edition. 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 FM, WBT. Uh
