It's 5.06 and welcome in to a Wednesday 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. Representative Sarah Stevens, the Republican from Surrey County, has announced that she will resign from the North Carolina House effective June the 16th. This is as she said she is turning her full attention to her campaign for the North Carolina Supreme Court.
Stevens submitted her resignation letter to the House Principal Clerk James White in part saying that she had decided to quote, devote my full time and energy to this statewide judicial race. The resignation is set to be effective at noon on June the 16th. Stevens wrote it in the letter, I Believe this next step will allow me to continue serving the people of North Carolina and upholding the rule of law in a new capacity. Stevens, an attorney from Mount Erie, represents House District 90, which includes Surrey and Wilkes counties. She is serving her ninth term in the North Carolina House, according to the General Assembly.
She wrote in part in her letter, it has been one of the greatest honors of my life to serve the people of North Carolina in the House of Representatives. During my time in the General Assembly, I have been privileged to work alongside dedicated colleagues in advancing policies that strengthen our courts, improved public safety, supported economic growth, and served the citizens of our state. I am deeply grateful for the trust placed in me by the people of Surrey County and Wilkes County for their friendships and partnerships formed during my legislative service. I am especially proud of the work we accomplished together on judicial reform. Infrastructure improvements, educational initiatives, foster care reform, and efforts to make state government more efficient and accountable to the people we serve.
Stevens is challenging incumbent Democrat Associate Justice Anita Earls. The race is the only North Carolina Supreme Court contest that will be on the ballot coming up later on this year and could very well determine whether Republicans expand their current 5-2 majority on the state's high court. Stevens previously served as House Speaker pro tem and has chaired committees focused on judiciary and education law. Her resignation will trigger the process for filling a vacancy in the General Assembly in Raleigh. Under state law, the governor appoints the replacement recommended by the appropriate political parties' executive committees and must make that appointment within seven days of receiving the recommendation.
With that, that will be the Republican parties of Surrey and Wilkes County that will determine who the next representative is that will sit in that seat. Stephen's resignation follows Stephen's resignation again relates to her running a statewide election for North Carolina Supreme Court. This is one of the many races that we will be keeping a very close eye on as we approach November. Continuing coverage over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. In some other statewide news this morning, nearly two-thirds of North Carolina's opportunity scholarship dollars still flow to the program's lower-income families, according to newly released state data.
This figure arises as Democrat Governor Josh Stein and Democrats in Raleigh pushed a cap who qualifies for vouchers and pass a rollback of the program that would strip eligibility from tens of thousands of students and their families. The new data from the North Carolina's the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority, known as the NCSEAA, which is the state agency responsible for administering the voucher program, shows that the opportunity scholarship program has grown from 1,216 students and $4.16 million in awards in its first year to more than 106,000 students and roughly 580 million. $89 million as of June the 1st, with the average award now standing at $5,512 per year. Much of the surge followed the 24-25 school year when the Republican-led General Assembly opened the program to all families, regardless of incomes. Awards are set on a tiered schedule depending on the household size and income.
For the 25-26 school years, families of four earning up to $59,000 a year qualify for the largest amount, which is just over $7,600 per student per year. That amount shrinks as the household's income jumps to the smallest award of just over $3,400 for households that earn more than $267,000 a year. Despite universal expansion, lower income households, however, continued to benefit the most. The lowest two income tiers account for 58,000 plus students or 54.5% of all recipients. And three hundred and uh ninety point oh two million or sixty six percent of dollars paid.
The highest tier, Tier 4, remains the smallest group at just 18,000 students and draws just under 11% of total state funding. Compared with the same tier counts a year ago, tier 4 expanded about 60%, outpacing every other bracket, while tiers 1 through 3 grew between 21 and 35%. As a result, the lower two tiers share all of the recipients slipped from 57.6% to that new number, that 54.5% that I just mentioned. Dr. Bob Lubke, who is the director of the Center for Effective Education at the John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal, the new data confirms what we have long believed.
Low and moderate income families benefit most from the Opportunity Scholarship Program. Democrat Governor Josh Stein's recommended budget, which was unveiled back in late April, would impose a new moratorium on scholarships and a cap eligibility of 150% of the federal price lunch level. That's roughly $90,000 a year for a family of four. Because that threshold falls within two tiers, every student in tiers three and four would lose eligibility outright, along with tier two families earning above $90,000 a year. Carolina Journal previously reported the change would remove an estimated 60,000 students from the program when factoring in portions of families in the second tier.
A separate measure, House Bill 1066, filed April the 29th by four House Democrats would cut nearly $400 million from the program over a two-year period of time and redirect it to childcare subsidies while capping the eligibility at 200% of that federal lunch threshold. That cap would eliminate the same upper two tiers and more than 48,000 students would be removed from the program. The Democrat-controlled State Board of Education has separately asked lawmakers to freeze new awards and begin steering money towards the public school system. Based on NC SEAA data, much of the program's population appears to be already locked in. Nearly two-thirds of the year's recipients are renewals, meaning enrollment is also trending to skewing to younger students with students in kindergarten through fifth grade making up 54% of that total number.
Kindergarteners are now double the number of high school seniors that are in the Opportunity Scholarship Program. Hanging over the budget debate is still a coming audit. We mentioned this in just the last couple of weeks. State Auditor Dave Bollock announcing that his office has flagged the program in its risk analysis and hopes to publish some of those fundings, some of those details in his report. Coming up later on this year in the fall, discussions over the state budget do continue in Raleigh as well as lawmakers look to wrap up the business of the General Assembly short session before we get to the end of June or potentially the beginning of July.
There is no likelihood, however, whatsoever that the recommendations from Democrat Governor Josh Stein or Democrat lawmakers in Raleigh will be taken up by the Republican-led majority. No indication at all that there will be any significant changes to the Opportunity Scholarship Program. Republicans have fought very hard over the last couple of years to get this program in place and expand it. And again, I have not heard. Any discussion whatsoever that they are thinking of making a change there.
You can read more on this most recent enrollment data from our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Look for the story with the headline: two-thirds of North Carolina voucher dollars go to lower-income families. It's 5:21. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT State Auditor Dave Bullock says that his office is seeing a growing trend of financial difficulties in municipalities across the state of North Carolina. At the most recent Council of State meeting, which happened last week, June the 2nd, he said our office has been involved with dozens of municipalities of varying sizes that are experiencing financial distress for a lot of the reasons highlighted, but probably the most public of those being Rocky Mount.
In April, the local government commission, also known as the LGC, agreed to postpone a potential state takeover of the city's finances contingent on the city complying with specific requirements. The city was subject to a recent 257-page performance audit released in March by State Auditor Dave Bollick's office. Rocky Mount hired an executive firm and spent $38,000 to recruit the former city manager without conducting any reference checks. The state auditor said back in March when describing this nearly over 250-page audit. What we found was red flag after red flag.
including the fact that he, referring to the uh previous city manager, had been the town manager of Dumfries, Virginia. And during his time there, we found recurring issues of poor management, poor decision-making, including a pattern of unqualified, being unqualified, IRS questionable salary increases without council approval, inadequate segregation of duties, and structurally unsound budgeting. Those deficiencies in the community ultimately resulted in $1 million worth of overspend by the city manager, yet Rocky Mount City Council voted unanimously to hire him. The former city manager was left unchecked from April of 23 to August of 2025. During that time, the city's cash and investment balance declined by approximately $80 million, falling from about $100 million to just over $21 million in a span of just two years.
During that same time, personnel-related expenditures increased 27%, reaching $62.4 million. Citywide salary adjustments added $3.2 million in recurring annual payroll to the budget, and over $621,000 in holiday bonuses were paid despite those declining cash balances. Capital spending also increased 153% from the fiscal year 2023 to 2024, totaling more than $67.4 million, including $17 million spent on land for a proposed casino and entertainment complex that never materialized. $11.2 million spent on redeveloping a fire station, nearly triple the original estimate, and establishing a vehicle lease agreement of more than $6 million for additional equipment purchases, including fire trucks and other heavy machinery. In May, Elton Daniels, the city manager, told the local government commission and its members that they closed out the month of April and reconciled their accounts.
Projections for the summer months are about $1.7 million, with council also voting to increase rates across the board for city utilities to try and make up some of those lost revenues. He said that they were able to submit the city's audit to auditors and they anticipated submitting the final documents. Back to the city and the LGC coming up in late May.
So that was a little bit of the discussion there.
However, Daniels did say, however, that cash flow still remains a major problem for Rocky Mount. When asked when he thought the city would be moving out of the crisis management stage, the new city manager and Daniels said that based on current levels of cash flow and fund balance, they will be monitoring it closely, but it could take as long as up to two years, 24 months, depending on where things go in the next couple of months. He said that he feels that it would be years before they can rebuild the fund balance to the level that they previously had, which was over $80 million. All of this tying back to the local government or the Council of State meeting, excuse me, that took place earlier this month. State Auditor Dave Bollock said that he wanted to highlight the work of the Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and State Treasurer Brad Breiner, among others, in taking the the missteps of municipalities very seriously.
With Bollock saying during the meeting, when a municipality the size of Rocky Mountain gets to the point when they're nearly out of money, that causes a fiscal risk to the entire state of North Carolina. Because the city of Rocky Mountain, being the 21st largest municipality in the state, it runs the very real risk of not being able to make a bond payment.
So the commitment from the treasurer, Brian, State Treasurer Brad Bryiner, and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and the rest of the local government commission to prevent that from happening, I cannot underscore the importance of that fiduciary responsibility. That being said, our office is taking a serious approach to fiduciary responsibilities and stewardship of dollars in municipalities. And I would point to the small town of Pilot Mountain. Treasurer Bryiner and I had worked in Pilot Mountain in early 2025, and our teams have not left the site since. And that has resulted, unfortunately, in the indictment.
of the former town manager. Bollock said that it is important for the public to know that when individuals do not uphold their fiduciary responsibilities on behalf of the taxpayers, that they are that there are accountability measures, and he's in his office said that they are committed to that. Bullock ended his comments during the most recent Council of State meeting by saying that he hopes that he and his office will continue to work cooperatively with municipalities in the coming weeks to help them make sure that they do not run into this type of financial distress that places like Rocky Mount is in right now. This is not the first time, unfortunately, that we have talked about municipalities, both big and small, dealing with major financial issues across the state of North Carolina. And in many cases, it is the same story over and over again: a poor decision-making by individuals that are trusted to do the right thing as it relates to their municipalities' finances.
We've got additional coverage on not only what most recently went on in Pilot Mountain with the indictment there of the former town manager, but the very chaotic situation unfolding in Rocky Mount as well. Those details over on our website this morning. CarolinaJournal.com. It's 5.36. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM.
WBT, I'm Nick Craig. Good Wednesday morning to you. The name DeCarlos Brown Jr. has been in the news a lot across the state of North Carolina since last year when surveillance footage showed a gruesome murder on the Charlotte Light Rail, killing a 22-year-old Ukrainian refugee by the name of Irina Zarutska. There have been a couple of different trials that we have been tracking over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, and here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, both state and federal charges.
And most recently, a lot of the question has been, does DeCarlos Brown Jr. have the mental capacity to stand trial? To get an update on that this morning, Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, a story not only receiving a lot of attention in North Carolina nationally and getting some international coverage as well, in large part due to that gruesome surveillance footage that unfortunately I think probably everybody has seen at this point. What's the latest that you're tracking on his mental ability to stand trial?
The short answer to your question about his ability to proceed to trial is no, he can't. We already knew about that in the state murder case against him, that back in April, it was found that he was incapable to proceed to trial. And so his case was bumped off by about six months. And he's next scheduled to come back to a state courtroom on October 27th. It remains to be seen whether that will actually happen or whether there will be some other delay as he undergoes medical treatment.
But in the meantime, there is a federal charge against him that's related to a killing taking place on a transportation system because this killing happened on the Charlotte Light Rail line, which gets federal money. And so the request came from DeCarlos Brown's lawyers around a month ago or so to have a competency hearing, and they wanted him to be declared incompetent to stand trial. And the U.S. attorney Attorney's office, which is prosecuting this case, did not have any objection to having that hearing. The hearing took place, was very short, and U.S.
District Judge Kenneth Bell ruled fairly quickly that yes, DeCarlos Brown is not capable to stay on trial. Later in the day, the judge actually issued a ruling in which he said that he found that by a preponderance of the evidence, the defendant Brown is suffering from a mental disease or defect that renders him unable. to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings or to assist properly in his defense. And when that happens, if you're found to be not be able to work with your lawyers, not to be able to understand what's happening, they're not going to move forward with the trial against you.
Now, some people might hear that and say, wait a minute, does this mean he's not going to pay any kind of penalty for this crime? No, that's not what that means. And in fact, In the court filings from the U.S. Attorney's Office and in the order from Judge Bell, it was fairly clear that that is not what happens. He's been in federal custody.
He's going to remain in federal custody. And for up to the next four months, The folks with the Federal Bureau of Prisons with their medical treatment facility will treat him, including medication, including the possibility of forced medication. If he doesn't want to take the medication, he will have to to try to get him to a state where he will be competent for trial. And when he comes back before Judge Bell, the judge will either determine that he is now competent to stay on trial. He's not yet competent, but still could benefit from additional treatment, or that they'll determine that he's not going to be competent and never will be.
But that remains to be seen. That's months away.
Now, one of the other things that's interesting to note here is that DeCarlos Brown's lawyers on the day of the hearing also filed information about a statement that came from DeCarlos Brown. Basically, the lawyers said that they had met with him repeatedly to try to prepare his defense in getting ready for the hearing. And they say that Mr. Brown insists. That counsel provides the court with this following information from him.
And the rest of what I'm about to say is a direct quote. Of what DeCarlos Brown Jr. told his lawyers. I would like to tell the court I have a body emergency.
Someone has full access to my body and they are controlling me wrongfully. And law enforcement refuses to investigate it, and it requires for an investigation. When describing the technology someone was using, I was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia.
So that's the end of the direct quote. And then the rest of the court filing was: when asked what he wants from the court, he advised his counsel that he wants a court order directing law enforcement, and law enforcement was put in quotations, to investigate his body emergency.
So suggestion there from that court filing that Nicaros Brown Jr. doesn't really understand what's going on in these court proceedings, at least at this point.
Well, and Mitch, this unfortunately only highlights the miserable situation that took place late last year, or I should say late summer of last year, as we have talked about in great detail here, and so many other publications have as well. These discussions and questions about DeCarlos Browni with all of these run-ins with law enforcement in years prior, this diagnosis of schizophrenia really, I guess, kind of even builds on to the point even further of why was somebody struggling this severely with a mental health issue allowed to roam the streets, especially with that criminal track record, really just, I think a lot of folks kind of wondering how this thing even began to take place and how totally preventable this could have potentially been. That's been one of the big issues for this case. This would have been a terrible event regardless of what happened. But I think once the information came out that DeCarlos Brown Jr.
had been going in and out of the court system, had had multiple arrests, well over a dozen arrests, but kept going back out on the streets. And even his lawyers, who obviously are trying to get the best situation for them, for him possible, have said that, you know, he at times has said, I'm struggling. I have problems. I need to get some help. But no one has responded to that call.
And I think you alluded to something that's exactly right. And that is at some point in the process before the killing of Arina Zarutska on the Charlotte Light Rail line, something could have and should have been done to get to Carlos Brown Jr. either the help that he needs or to determine. He's not going to be able to be helped and he's a danger to other people. Let's get him off the streets.
It's disappointing that it took that well-publicized murder, killing of Irina Zarutska on the Charlotte Light Rail line to get DeCarlos Brown Jr. and his situation the spotlight and an attention that it probably deserved months, if not years earlier. Yeah, and unfortunately, we see this way too often in government, Mitch. There has been some reaction from lawmakers, Arena's Law dealing with some things there. Also, some other discussions about involuntary commitment.
There was a lot of conversation about that in the immediate aftermath. But unfortunately, once again, it takes a horrific, tragic accident like this for things to change. Let's go back to what's going on in the court system with his competency.
So you said that this is going to be a four-month period of time where I presume that he would be heavily medicated and they'll do another one of these competency hearings, see if he's able to understand truly the charges that he is facing. And then I guess at that point, determine and lay out a timeline as to whether the case moves forward right now or if it is continually delayed, if it does not appear that he is capable to even basically understand what he's dealing with. That's right. That was actually spelled out in the court order, which is not that long. It's about four pages.
But it basically said that now that there is this determination that he's suffering from the mental disease and cannot proceed to trial at this point, he will remain in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. And they have a special medical treatment facility for cases like this. They will treat. To Carlos Brown for no longer than four months.
Now, if they give him some medication and it turns out that he is declared to be competent or is determined by the medical officials to be competent earlier than that, they could bring him back, but no longer than four months. And then he will come back and the judge will look at his situation again, and he's got the three options. He can either say, He is competent now and we will move forward with the proceedings. Or he's not competent, but we think he still can be with additional treatment, additional medication. Or the third option is.
No, he's not competent and is not going to be competent. And then, based on what happens at that next hearing, then you will see the process play out from there.
Meanwhile, all of this is happening, remember, at the same time as the state case, which is the actual murder charge against him. And the next hearing in that case is set for late October. And my guess is. That hearing either will take place in late October or get bumped back, depending on what happens with this federal court proceeding.
Well, that's what I was going to ask you. You mentioned a couple of minutes ago that he is currently in federal custody, which doesn't mean he still can't face those state charges, which he is. But now that the feds are going to be the ones giving him whatever sort of medication, constantly working with him, presumably on a multi-time a week basis, does the state kind of piggyback on some of that stuff and get that information from the federal court system as he's not in the state of North Carolina's current judicial system? Yes, I'm guessing that I don't know all of the details, but I'm guessing that the prosecutors working on this will be working with the defense attorneys at both the state level and federal level to coordinate when hearings are going to take place, what is happening with him. Obviously, his attorneys are going to want to look out for his best interests and make sure that while he's in federal custody, nothing happens to him that violates his constitutional rights.
Because even though he's accused of murder and accused of this federal charge, which could potentially lead to the death penalty, that he does have constitutional rights while he's incarcerated.
So, all of this will be taking place in a coordinated way, and no one will proceed with the case before he's adjudicated to be competent to stand trial. And since that's playing out in the federal system, my guess is the state folks kind of wait to see how that plays out at the federal system before they move. Forward with their charges. Remember, the murder charge, which is the one you'd expect in a case like this, that's taking place in state court. The federal case comes about because of the nature and the location of the killing.
If this had happened on a Charlotte Street, you probably would not have had the feds involved since it took place on the light rail line, which has a tie to the federal government. That's why the feds can get involved. Yeah, it is interesting to watch this playing out again. Two different charges, but both playing out in both the federal and state judicial system. We've got extensive coverage, as we have now, for many, many months on this story over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com.
We appreciate the update this morning. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Granger knows when you're a procurement manager for an office park, you're not managing one building, you're managing all of them. And to stay ahead, you need to see through walls and around corners. Lights about to fail, filters ready to clog, HVAC on its last leg?
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It's 554. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT tracking some business news on this Wednesday morning. Amazon, the very large online retailer, and Corning have entered into a multi-billion dollar agreement to produce optical fiber for data centers and create more than a thousand jobs at Corning facilities in North Carolina. The agreement involves a new program to expand the Catawba Valley Community College's fiber optic technician training program, which prepares students for careers in fiber optic manufacturing and technical roles. Corning is the leading manufacturer, a leading manufacturer of advanced glass and fiber optic technology, including optical fiber cable and connectivity solutions.
According to the president and CEO of Corning, Wednesday, Weeks, she said this agreement with Amazon represents a significant milestone for Corning and for American manufacturing. For 175 years, Corning has pioneered the technologies that connect people and transform industries. Amazon's investment will help us expand production, create a thousand new advanced manufacturing jobs at our facilities, and lead the way towards building a resilient U.S. manufacturing base. More than a thousand highly skilled positions across Corning's manufacturing facilities are promised to be created through the agreement, as well as the support of hundreds of construction jobs for the expansion of those physical facilities themselves, according to a press release.
The program creates a pathway to high-paying tech roles by providing practical training that is set to increase the talent pool. Also, according to the release, this training promises to strengthen the domestic supply chain and the U.S. manufacturing base serving not only the state, but also the region, and expanding efforts to densify residential and commercial fiber. Brian Valfour, the vice president of research at the John Locke Foundation, said this announcement is in no small part a reflection of North Carolina being a hospitable destination for investment and job creation. A decade plus of tax reforms have helped turn North Carolina.
Into the nation's top state for doing business multiple years in a row. It's also a reflection of the massive investment being directed towards data centers and how data center projects can create downstream benefits in this economy. This suggests that data centers shouldn't be demonized, but should be treated in a way that ensures that their large-scale energy needs not place undue strain on the grid nor compel current energy customers to foot those bills. Since 2010, Amazon has invested more than $20 billion and created more than 26,000 jobs across logistics, cloud infrastructure, and a variety of other industries and sectors across the state. We are keeping a close eye on this.
We've got continued coverage this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. That's going to do it for a Wednesday 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
