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 with some local Charlotte news this morning, six months after being re-elected as mayor. That happened back in November of 2025. Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles announced her resignation back a couple of months ago on May the 7th.
And after a busy Charlotte City Council meeting on Monday night, well, we are set to have a new interim mayor for 18 months. The Charlotte City Council officially naming Robert Harrington as Charlotte's intern mayor. He will replace Lyles. That term runs from July the 1st through December of 2027. Harrington, the president of the North Carolina Bar Association and community advocate Carrie Cook, went into a runoff in Charlotte last night after neither received the six council votes required to become the interim mayor.
However, when it was all said and done, Harrington received the most votes in the runoff. We'll be keeping an eye on this throughout the program this morning. We'll have more. Detail coming up just a little bit later on, right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. In some other news this morning, state auditor Dave Bollick joined the Currituck County Board of Commissioners on Monday for a specially called meeting to provide an update on the Mid-Currituck Bridge.
According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the Mid-Curatuck Bridge project would create a second crossing over the Currituck Sound with the goal of alleviating congestion during the peak summer tourism season and improve the flow of evacuation traffic in the event of a hurricane or tropical storm.
However, a new report from the Office of the State Auditor shows that more than $61 million have been spent on the project over the last 30 years, with that money being spent on planning, environmental studies, legal work, engineering, and land acquisition, despite having no construction contract, approved baseline budget, or finalized construction schedule in place, with shovels not officially set to hit the ground sometime before June of 2028. This very damaging report found that the bridge's project cost has more than doubled since federal approval was granted in 2019. With state auditor Dave Bollick saying, The people of Kerr Tuck County following this project have been dragged along for 30 years. What the team at the office of the state auditor found is that despite spending money, no dirt has been moved, and taxpayers are more than $60 million in the hole on a 30-year project that certainty remains far from completion.
Now, the state auditor during this specially called meeting of the Kurtuck County Board of Commissioners said that, well, not all projects and not all bridge projects in North Carolina end up like this and highlighted another one that took place not too many years ago on the East Coast as well. You know, let's go a couple hundred miles south. of here. to Sur City, North Carolina, in Topsa Beach. And let's go to 2016.
And let's go to their swing bridge, which was replaced. I call them the rainbow bridges. It was replaced by a rainbow bridge, a 67-foot bridge to accommodate travel on the waterway. All right. $57.7 million expended on that bridge.
Maybe that's a lot of money, but guess what? I can touch that bridge, I can walk on that bridge, I can ride my bike on that bridge, and I can ride a car over that bridge. And my experience traveling across the state of North Carolina is that taxpayers Don't ask. A lot of questions necessarily about whether the cost of concrete was correct or the cost of steel or the time something took was the right time if they're getting something in return for their tax dollars. And in that instance, They got a bridge.
Here North of $61 million in taxpayer money has been spent on a proposed Mid-Curratuck Bridge. and not a single piece of dirt has been turned. On that project after nearly 30 years of this process. That is not a return on taxpayer dollars. That's state auditor Dave Bollock at that specially called meeting in Currituck County yesterday, the presentation made by Deputy State Auditor Charles Dingy, who pointed to the project's decade-long history, arguing that despite years of planning and spending, similar to what you just heard there from the state auditor, no construction has occurred.
Starting in 1995. Is when the Federal Highway Administration first published a notice regarding this project. Uh so nearly thirty years over thirty years ago now This project was first envisioned to begin. As the auditor said today, there is no bridge. Not a single shovel of dirt has been moved.
Spending on this project is detailed out for you here. Spending to date on this project was heavily involved around legal studies and environmental studies. We detailed this out for you in plain language, so you can clearly see where every penny was spent. One of the top of the line expenses was over $26 million that has been spent on environmental studies and legal defense of the project. Going all the way back to 1995, some big time problems for NCDOT to answer on this bridge project with more than $61 million spent thus far and no bridge in sight.
Construction not expected to begin at the earliest until June of 2028. And there's a bigger problem as well, a major funding gap for the project moving forward as the size, scope and scale of this project has been blown out of proportion. As we move forward in the timeline, one of the things that you'll notice is the construction cost estimates for this project have significantly increased. The cost estimates for this project originally were roughly around $490 million. To date, that cost estimate has increased to just over $1 billion.
Billion dollars, that leaves a more than seven to potentially $800 million funding gap. Those numbers verified by the NCDOT in the audit produced by State Auditor Dave Bollock and his office, Deputy State Auditor Charles Dingy, giving the report, the presentation to the Curato County Board of Commissioners on Monday. And while during the process and when wrapping up his presentation, Deputy State Auditor Dingy was pretty frank with the county commissioners. The people of this area need to understand that. you know, you you're no longer going to be neglected.
The State Auditor's Office has taken this issue and elevated it to the point that this will now be known across the state. You know, frankly, 30 years to build a bridge with nothing to show for it. There needs to be adults in the room.
Somebody needs to make a decision.
Now it may not be the folks here that have been around the whole time, but ultimately, I think that responsibility rests with the DOT to make a decision to either gain the funding for this Or not? Either way, that is the decision that should rest here with this community. with the folks at the DOT. And hopefully this report In its condensed format, it will help you all to be able to make a decision and go forward in this community. The State Auditor's Office, obviously, we are not the ones who build the bridge.
We don't decide whether a bridge should be built or not be built. What we hope will come from this is ultimately a decision. The people here deserve better. They deserve action. Whether that's to move forward or not, is ultimately up to what happens next.
That is the Deputy State Auditor Charles Dingy providing a briefing to the Curituck County Board of Commissioners at a specially called meeting on Monday. Back to State Auditor Dave Bollick. He said that the audit is part of a broader effort to help identify projects across North Carolina where substantial taxpayer investments have been made, despite little or no tangible results, telling the commissioners.
So, in the coming weeks and months, you'll see a series of these reports about places where taxpayer dollars are being spent in what I believe to be material amounts: $50, $60 million or more at a time where there's no actually no ultimate project completed.
So, this won't be the only report that comes from us. Commissioner Jeanette Rose thanked the auditor for the report and echoed some of the skepticism many Curatuck residents have expressed about the long-delayed topic. In a pretty sad statement, she said to her fellow commissioners and to the auditor staff: I've said all along, and so have many citizens. in Kurtuk regarding the bridge will believe it when we see it. While the North Carolina Department of Transportation did request clarification on some funding details, we'll believe it when we see it.
While the North Carolina Department of Transportation did request clarification on some funding details before the report was finalized, the department ultimately concluded that the auditor's observations were, quote, consistent with the project studies and the events that have taken place over the last 30 plus years that this project has been under study. This is one of many projects that the state auditor's office, according to details that we learned yesterday, are going to be digging into. Where large sums, in some cases, we're talking tens of millions of dollars expensed for major road projects, bridges, and other sorts of major roadway projects across the state of North Carolina. As the state auditor noted, material amounts of taxpayer dollars have been spent with little or no results to show. We've got more details from this meeting yesterday.
They're over on our website this morning. CarolinaJournal.com. Look for the story with the headline: new audit details: $61 million in spending on unbuilt mid-Curatuck Bridge. It's 5:21. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM.
WBT recapping our big news across the city of Charlotte this morning. Rob or Robert Harrington, president of the North Carolina Bar Association, was officially appointed interim mayor of the city of Charlotte Monday night after two votes from the Charlotte City Council. He is set to serve the remainder of current Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles' term, which she is set to vacate coming up next week on June the 30th. With this appointment, Harrington will lead the country's 14th largest city for an 18-month period of time. That is the remainder of Lyles's term.
The city council's decision came after an initial ballot took place where no applicant received the required six votes, which caused it to go to a runoff vote. With the appointment following May. Mayor Vilisle's decision to resign after serving full four terms, citing a desire to spend more time with her family. Harrington said about the appointment, quote, I think we've got an 18-month-month bridge here that is really important. It is a bridge to the future, and I am excited to be part of that bridge and channel that great energy you see in the room to move us forward.
Harrington brings a background in leadership, having previously served as the chair of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Board of Trustees, as well as some other community projects where he did serve, which were reflected in his qualifications for the position, noting, however, that he has never served in public office. Harrington said, I think we offered what we had to offer, and that's a record of leadership, a record of collaboration, a record of listening, and I think I bring those skills to the council. There's obviously a lot of major discussions and conversations taking place, including the I-77 controversy that the brand new mayor will have to deal with in the interim for that 18-month period of time. We'll be keeping a very close eye on those details as we learn more about this and as Charlotte City Council meetings continue to happen in the months to follow. We'll keep you up to date with all the details right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
In some statewide news this morning, on Monday, Democrat Governor Josh Stein signed six bills into law, including Senate Bill 401, the North Carolina Farm Act of 2026. With the governor saying during a press release, agriculture is a key driver of North Carolina's economy. And I appreciate the General Assembly's collaboration on this law. I'm grateful that it strengthens the preservation of North Carolina's natural and agricultural lands by extending tax credits until 2031. Among the items covered in the bill is updating the strategic plan for protecting agricultural water resources across the state, and as the governor mentioned, extending those tax credits that were set to sunset.
State Senator Brent Jackson, the Republican from Sampson County who chairs the Senate Agricultural Committee, said in a press release, the Farm Act represents a significant investment in the future of North Carolina agriculture. Our farmers face challenges every day, from rising costs and regulatory burdens to unprecedented weather and market conditions. This legislation helped provide certainty and support for the men and women who work tirelessly to keep food on our tables. The governor also signed Senate Bill 695 into law. That's incentive development finance district funding, pretty lengthy name there for a bill, which according to the legislation will grow the property tax base of units for local government by facilitating private developer and Involvement in certain project developments.
The governor said as housing continues to rise, this law encourages partnerships between local governments and developers to increase housing availability and affordability for North Carolinians, allowing some additional public-private partnerships to take place in municipalities across the state. The governor signed House Bill 315, which prohibits litigant investment into law, making North Carolina the first state in the nation to ban third-party litigant investment. Here's how it will take place. It will bar outside investors from funding civil litigation in North Carolina in exchange for a financial stake tied to the outcome of the case. This had very broad bipartisan support.
The measure received 112 yes votes in the House to zero no votes, and in the Senate passed 45 to 1. This bill makes it unlawful for anyone to engage. in litigation investment in North Carolina or to furnish litigation investment to a party or attorney of record in a civil proceeding in the state. As supporters, and obviously there are a lot of them, say that the measure is aimed at stopping hedge funds, private investors, foreign bank entities, or other outside financiers from turning lawsuits into investment vehicles. With the North Carolina chamber backing the bill, urging the General Assembly to support it.
The chamber president in Gary Salamedo said the North Carolina General Assembly made clear that our civil justice system should serve the pursuit of justice, not a function as a marketplace for outside investors. By advancing House Bill 315 to ban third-party litigation investment in the state, lawmakers have taken a landmark step to protect the integrity of our legal system, reduce opportunities for legal system abuse, and strengthen North Carolina's legal and business climate and continue to retain and grow jobs. The chamber describes third-party litigation investment as a growing multi-billion dollar industry in which those outside investors fund lawsuits in exchange for a stake in what the results of the outcome are. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation, who will join us coming up here in just a couple of minutes, says it's interesting to see North Carolina take the lead on this campaign against outside investment. Into lawsuits filed in the state.
Most of us have probably heard little about this issue, but it's a major priority for the North Carolina Chamber and its members. Supporting the measure appears to fall in line with Republican legislative leaders' continuing effort to make this state as business-friendly as possible. The governor also signed a couple of other pieces of legislation, House Bill 258, the Worker Safety Act of 2026, House Bill 536, Physical Therapy Practice Act modifications, and Senate Bill 484, which clarifies tourism-related expenses. That will clarify appropriate uses of proceeds for room occupancy taxes into law. That is very common in more tourism-driven areas of the state, as room occupancy taxes are exactly what they sound like for individuals staying at hotels or other sorts of short-term stays.
You can read more on these six different pieces of legislation that are now law here in North Carolina as the governor officially signed them on Monday. Those details over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Look for the story with the headline, Stein signed six bills, including Farm Act, Nation's first litigation ban. Those details, CarolinaJournal.com. You can never have too many tools.
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Selection varies by location. Uh 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.
Over the last year here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, we've talked about a couple of high-profile situations coming out of the North Carolina legislature where new laws passed by the General Assembly took appointment authorities away from state governor Josh Stein and moved it to other members of the Council of State, most particularly the treasurer and the state auditor. That has been the concept of plenty of legal challenges since the General Assembly moved forward with those pieces of legislation. We've got an update this morning from the state's high court to walks through those details. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, we've talked about some of these legal challenges in recent months.
Seemed like the courts really weren't playing a whole lot of big role in this, kind of slapping down a lot of what the governor's team was making as it relates to some of this appointment authority. But the state high court says, hey, we're going to jump into this. What's the latest that you're following? Yes, the state Supreme Court, Nick, has agreed to take two of the cases that pit Governor Josh Dine against the Republican legislative leaders. There's another case, you mentioned the state auditor, and that was over the changes to the state board of elections, both the oversight of the state board and appointment authority.
That case is not before the state Supreme Court. We're still awaiting word from the North Carolina Court of Appeals about whether that shift of appointment authority was okay. A trial court said yes. The state court of appeals has not said anything yet in that case, although we are awaiting that ruling, which could come down really any time because it was heard earlier in the year. But the two cases that the state Supreme Court has now come out and said that it does want to hear also involve the shift of appointment authority and taking away authority from Governor Josh Stein and giving that authority to other people.
One of the cases deals with seven different state boards and commissions. We're talking about the Environmental Management Commission, Wildlife Resources Commission, and groups like that. At the State Court of Appeals level, A unanimous all-Republican, three-judge panel basically split the baby. They said in four cases, What the General Assembly did was fine, shifting appointment authority from Governor Josh Stein elsewhere, and that was fine. In three other cases, the Court of Appeals said that what the General Assembly did was unconstitutional and overstepped its bounds.
So basically, both the Republican General Assembly. And the governor would like to see the state Supreme Court come in and say either from the Republican's vantage point, everything the General Assembly did was fine, or from the governor's vantage point, everything the General Assembly did was an unconstitutional overreach.
So the state Supreme Court has agreed to hear that case and will presumably rule either all for one side, all for the other side, or like the Court of Appeals, split the difference and say some of these changes were fine, some were not. A second case, That's related, but deals with different organizations, has to do with an appointment to the State Utilities Commission, which the General Assembly moved one of the governor's appointments to the state treasurer, Brad Briner. Breiner appointed former State Environmental Secretary Don Vandervaard to take that job, and he's been in that job now for quite some time. But the State Court of Appeals said that was fine. The governor has appealed that, and so the state Supreme Court's going to look at whether that appointment shift is fine.
But probably even more consequentially than any of the boards we've already talked about is another piece of that same second suit, and that deals with. The appointments that fill statewide judicial vacancies. We vote. For all the members of the Court of Appeals and the state Supreme Court. And right now, if one of those jobs becomes vacant, The governor has, under old law, been able to appoint anyone who's otherwise qualified who he wants.
It doesn't matter what the party is. And so essentially, the governor has appointed someone who's an ideological ally to fill any vacancy until the next election. What the state law that is being challenged by the governor does is say that if The person who leaves office for any reason before the end of his or her term, the appointment. Cannot just be whoever the governor wants to put in there. The appointment has to be from among three names submitted by the political party of the departing judge or justice.
So, if a Republican leaves, the Democratic governor would have to appoint a Republican nominated by the state Republican Party. And if a Democrat leaves, you'd have to appoint a Democrat nominated by the state Democratic Party.
So, that is being challenged by Governor Josh Stein. We haven't had any one of those vacancies crop up since this legislation was passed, but the State Court of Appeals said that change was fine. And the state Supreme Court is now going to weigh in on that issue as well.
So, a number of things that are in front of the state Supreme Court that presumably in Some months down the road, maybe even a year or more down the road, the state Supreme Court will decide whether it was okay for the General Assembly to make these changes or whether it was unconstitutional and that they overreached into the governor's authority. Mitch, there's a lot to unpack there. Let's kind of start on one of the things you brought up towards the latter half of your opening there, dealing with some of these vacancies. This is something that we've talked about pretty regularly here on the Carolina Journal News Hour just in the last couple of weeks. We learned that current Representative Sarah Stevens, who is running for the North Carolina Supreme Court, is resigning her position within the North Carolina General Assembly.
That process is similar to what folks may see in their local communities because Sarah Stevens was elected as a Republican. It will be the Republican executive committee of the counties in which she serves that will make the recommendation to the governor. Presumably, it would be a Republican that would fill that seat. And that process, I think, is what you were just describing for those judicial vacancies, which I'll note for folks that are maybe new to the state of North Carolina and have not voted in those statewide elections, those individuals are elected with a partisan label next to their name. They're not unpartisan seats.
They're not random individuals. There are R's and D's next to these judicial vacancies. Judicial races.
So we'll keep an eye on that. But, Mitch, I think we need to take a little bit of a step back on this because a lot of the discussion here really revolves around what is the executive branch here in North Carolina. I think when you look up at Washington, D.C., you say the executive branch, of course, you think the president of the United States. Here in North Carolina, when you say the executive branch, you're not just talking about the governor, you're talking about the entirety of the Council of State. And from a lot of the research and reading that I've done, North Carolina's got one of the weakest governors in the entire United States.
And that is in large part due to he is not the sole person responsible for the executive branch. Yeah, that's exactly right. And that's one of the things that makes the governor one of the weakest in the country. Our governor was the last to get the gubernatorial veto for another example of that. But the governor has become stronger over the years.
Years and years ago, our governor served one four-year term, and that was it. It was only under Democratic Governor Jim Hunt in the 70s that the governor got the power to serve multiple terms. And even then, you could only serve two consecutive terms and would have to take four years off before running again. But yes, because we have a council of state and we elect 10 statewide executive branch officials, a lot of executive power is split. We have a council of state and we elect 10 statewide executive branch officials.
A lot of executive power is split. And does not reside completely within the governor. It's not a unitary executive like you have at the federal level. Of course, we've seen a lot of federal court cases where you try to determine what are the limits of President Donald Trump's power in terms of appointing and taking out different people within positions within the federal government. In the state government, there are a number of departments that are not at all under the governor's control.
They are completely under the control of someone else who is elected by the populace. And that's one of the reasons why these cases have produced some interesting results, the ones that we're talking about that the state Supreme Court is taking now, because some of the changes that have been made have taken an appointment or multiple appointments away from the governor. And then given them to another member of the Council of State.
Now, of course, Republican legislators have made these changes and they're moving these appointments to other Republicans, whether it's the treasurer Brad Briner, or we talked about the Elections Board and the auditor Dave Bollock. But there also have been moves to the Insurance Commissioner, Mike Cossey, or the Ag Commissioner Steve Troxler, all of them Republicans. And the argument from the Stein camp has been: wait a minute, they're basically the General Assembly is just giving themselves more votes by moving these appointments to Republicans who will be on the same page as they are. But the courts have said, For the most part, when the appointment has been moved from the governor to another member of the Council of State, at least at the appeals court, they have said, no, that's actually fine because the executive branch has continued power, not just in the governor, and the governor is not the entirety of the executive branch.
So as long as the appointment remains within the executive branch, the appeals court so far has said that that's fine. And that's basically what the state Supreme Court, in most of what we're talking about with these two cases, will be asked to decide.
Now, the judicial vacancies piece is different, and the three boards in which the Court of Appeals ruled against. the the the Republican legislators, those boards did not have this type of appointment change. They were different changes that the General Assembly was looking to do there. But any time that an appointment has been moved from the governor, to another member of the Council of State, so far the Court of Appeals has said that's fine.
Well, and for those that are longtime political observers here in North Carolina, Mitch, this is another attempt by the legislators to move some of these powers around. In years past, they tried giving themselves appointment authority over a variety of boards and commissions and were, for the most part, pretty unanimously struck down by the court system after getting some of those negative rulings from the standpoint of the legislature. They said, all right, well, then, well, I guess we'll just give it to members of the Council of State within that executive branch. And that's where things kind of stand right now. That's right.
And basically, with the seven boards and commissions that were targeted in one of these suits, and these suits are known by either the name Stein v. Hall or Stein v. Berger at this point, depending on who's filing the court documents. But in the case of the seven boards and commissions, some observers have looked at them and said basically the General Assembly was trying to see what types of appointment changes they could make that would take power away from the governor and would withstand the court's scrutiny.
So you had the cases where they take some appointments and move them to another member of the Council of State. There was another case where they took some appointments away from the governor and gave them to an outside board. And so the General Assembly, ever since losing court cases in which the court said the General Assembly could not take over these appointments themselves, they've been looking for other ways that would take some power away from the governor without giving the power directly to themselves. And the governor's argument has been the General Assembly. General Assembly has been trying to get a majority of appointments by proxy by giving them to other groups, whereas the General Assembly is saying, no, the governor does not have unitary authority over the executive branch.
We're just simply moving these powers to other executive branch officials and limiting the power of one particular official to control way too much of state government, which has been something in the history of North Carolina that North Carolinians have been against, consolidating too much power under one person.
Some may call this a little bit of a fishing expedition. Mitch will, of course, keep a close eye on these details. We do have continuing coverage of this this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, as we wait for proceedings to continue within the North Carolina Supreme Court. We appreciate the update this morning. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Good morning again. It's 5:55. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT lawmakers expected to make their way back to Raleigh today, the North Carolina General Assembly, kicking off what we are expecting to be a few final weeks in Raleigh ahead of the end of the legislative short session. A couple of things are going on today, including the Carolina Hurricanes, or certain members, I should say, of the Carolina Hurricanes and the Stanley Cup making its way through the legislature coming up a little bit later on this afternoon. We also have both a House and Senate session, Senate Judiciary, some other committees as well, House, State, and Local Government, House Judiciary One, the rules and operations of the Senate.
There are plenty of pieces of legislation that are set to move through committees today as the clock continues to run in Raleigh. Lawmakers originally. Scheduled to be done with their business for the short session at the latest coming up on Thursday, July the 2nd.
However, with still no state budget on the horizon, at least as of right now, that could potentially be pushed back into the middle and latter parts of July. We will be keeping a close eye on what goes on in our state capitol today to see if lawmakers do announce anything or provide any sort of timetable or timeframe as to how they will move forward with the budget. Once that is officially announced, we will see votes in both the North Carolina House and Senate on the floor. It will then, of course, make its way to Governor Josh Stein's desk for a signature, a veto, or he can allow it to lay on his desk and it will automatically become law after a certain period of time. We'll be keeping a close eye on a very Tuesday, a very busy Tuesday in Raleigh.
We'll bring you the latest right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. That's going to do it for a Tuesday edition. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5-6, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM WBT.
