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We start off in western North Carolina as we get ever closer to the two-year mark since Hurricane Helene affected the western half of the state. North Carolina is directing more than $122 million in federal disaster recovery funding towards affordable housing in the western half of the state with new programs aimed at both renters and prospective homeowners as communities continue to rebuild from Hurricane Helene. The funding announcement nearly 23 months after the storm on August the 25th includes more than $69 million for 10 multifamily rental projects expected to created the ballpark of 282 affordable rental units in 10 western counties. The state has also opened applications for another $53.3 million program designed to support workforce housing for home ownership across 16 counties out west. The programs are being administered through the North Carolina Department of Commerce's Division of Community Revitalization as part of the group called RenewNC, which is the state's long-term hurricane recovery initiative.
The rental awards will support projects in Ashe, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cleveland, Haywood, Henderson, Rutherford, Transylvania, and Watauga counties. Governor Stein said as part of a press release, getting families back into safe housing that they can afford is critical to the recovery of Hurricane Helene. This program will ensure these 828 apartments remain financially accessible to people living in the 828 area code for the next 30 years. This rental program, it's rather interesting. It combines federal community development block grant disaster recovery funds, that's coming from HUD and the federal government, with North Carolina's Housing Finance Agency's Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program.
The state describes it as a competitive program providing low-cost gap financing loans for multifamily affordable housing projects. Those projects receiving the financing must maintain income limits and rent restrictions for at least 30 years, with the Department of Commerce being the agency that will monitor the projects during that 30-year period to ensure compliance with federal requirements and that the units remain available to eligible low and moderate income households across the western half of the state. The program is limited to communities designated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development as the most impacted and distressed. That is known as the HUD MID program. Those counties include Rutherford and McDowell, along with Ashe, Avery, Buncom, Burke, Caldwell, Cleveland, Haywood, Henderson, Madison, Mitchell, Polk, Transylvania, Watauga, and Yancey, as well as a portion of Mecklenburg County.
Those in the 28214 zip code also qualify. Housing availability has emerged as a significant issue in the region's recovery, particularly workers whose jobs are tied to local communities but face high housing costs with now a relatively limited supply. North Carolina's Commerce Secretary in Lee Lilly said in a recent statement: Housing is a critical building block for Western North Carolina's economic recovery. Our partnership with the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency will help meet the growing needs for housing and for working families in the West. The rental awards are part of a broader state effort that includes temporary housing assistance and programs supporting repairs and rebuilding out west.
Governor Stein signed the state's first full-year budget in more than two years in July. The budget itself includes more than $700 million for Hurricane Helene recovery, according to the governor's office. That package also included $40 million for the Renew NC Temporary Relocation Assistance Program, which intends to help families afford temporary housing while their homes are either being rebuilt or in many cases repaired from significant damage. It also included $35 million for additional grants to volunteer organizations involved in housing repair and construction. With that, the state has also launched a separate initiative focused on home ownership.
What we were just talking about was rental programs. We'll now head on over to home ownership, where the Renew NC Workforce Housing for Ownership program makes $53.3 million available for projects developing homes for sale in 16 western North Carolina counties. That program is intended for households earning up to 80% of the area's median income. Governor commenting on this, saying this $53 million investment will expand access to affordable housing across western North Carolina as the region continues to recover from Hurricane Helene. It is a critical step towards helping our neighbors rebuild in the place that they call home.
Unlike the rental program, the Workforce Housing for Ownership program is focused on housing that can be purchased. Eligible applicants include for-profit and nonprofit housing developers, community land trusts, public housing authorities, local governments, and qualifying joint ventures. Projects will be competitively scored based on factors including the applicant's capacity, community needs, development approached, leveraged resources, and projects' long-term outcomes. Individual awards are expected to range anywhere from $2 to $5 million, with the state of North Carolina saying that eligible homes must be designed for sale and satisfy application construction, accessibility, environmental, zoning, broadband, and energy efficient requirements. Those projects also must have a direct connection to Hurricane Helene recovery and comply with federal HUD regulations.
Commerce Secretary Lee Lilly said retaining a strong workforce depends on access to affordable housing. Through the Workforce Housing for Ownership program, we will help increase the supply of housing available to working families and foster more resilient local economies as these communities continue to recover from Helene. Stephanie McGrar, the Deputy Secretary for Community Revitalization, said that the program is intended to help workers remain in the community where they work, saying in part by supporting affordable home ownership for our workforce, we are ensuring that the people who serve our mountain towns every single day have safe, high-quality places to call home. Applications for the home ownership program opened on August the 25th and are due by 5 p.m. on December the 13th.
So a couple of months a window for that, with the state saying that Renew NC is funded through a $1.4 billion community development block grant for disaster recovery from housing and urban development, all of that at the federal level. In addition to the two housing initiatives announced last week, Renew NC is accepting applications for its community infrastructure program and its multifamily construction and repair program. The infrastructure program provides competitive grants for projects intended to improve community resilience to hazards, while the multifamily program supports affordable rental housing with five or more units in areas affected by Helene. For Western North Carolina, the housing programs represent a shift from immediate disaster response towards long-term rebuilding as the state's approach combines rental housing, home ownership, temporary relocation assistance, housing repair, and infrastructure investments as communities continue to recover from the storm. The rental projects are subject to a 30-year affordability requirement while the state expects the broader Renew NC programs to continue into the next decade.
Non-administrative funds for the rental production program must be committed and require documents submitted by October the 30th, 2030, with program activities completed and all the funds spent by January the 28th, 2031. The funding does not eliminate the region's housing shortage completely, but state officials say increasing the supply of affordable homes is necessary to support both the residents displaced by Helene and workers' needs for regional economic recovery. We do know in the immediate aftermath of Helene, there was a lot of discussion about the lack of property available for individuals to move into temporarily or long term as many of many homes and apartment complexes and other residential areas were so hard hit by Hurricane Helene out in western North Carolina. You can read more on this story by visiting our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. Look for the story with the headline, State Helene Recovery Efforts Target Affordable Housing.
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It's 521. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM. WBT, don't forget if you miss any of our program here live weekday mornings, 5 to 6 a.m. on WBT, you can check out the Carolina Journal News Hour in your favorite podcast app. You can also check out a live and after-the-fact video version of the program by visiting our Carolina Journal YouTube channel.
We've got all those links over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com.
Well, there's been a lot of discussion in the United States over the last couple of months about flock cameras. We've seen this debate play out in a variety of different municipalities across the state of North Carolina. Our latest this morning is that the Greenville, North Carolina Police Department has announced they will not move forward with a planned rollout of flock cameras, citing community feedback and questions about privacy and data access. In a social media post just last week, the department said after discussions with local officials and the public that their decision was made. In the post, the Greenville Police Department said after listening to the feedback from members of our community, city council, and the city manager's office, the decision has been made not to move forward with the planned implementation of the Flock system.
Back in early July, the department announced that it would purchase 10 flock cameras and place them along major roads into and out of the city. The Greenville Police Department said at the time the devices would capture vehicle information such as license plate numbers, vehicle makes and models, colors, and other sorts of information like that. The stated purpose was to help investigators solve crimes, recover stolen vehicles, and locate missing or endangered individuals.
However, none of those 10 cameras were installed. The Greenville Police Department stated in the statement last week, several weeks ago we announced plans to purchase 10 cameras, but those cameras have not been installed. Any flock cameras currently visible in or around Greenville are privately owned or operated by another law enforcement agency. The decision followed a packed Greenville City Council meeting on August the 24th, where dozens of residents showed up and spoke during public comment against the installation of the systems, many of them voicing concerns as it relates to privacy with the use of these automated license plate scanners and camera systems. A lot of discussion about access to the data itself, as we have seen that conversation rise up not only here in North Carolina, but across the rest of the nation as well.
Jeanette Doran, who is the chief legal officer over at the John Locke Foundation, said that the camera's usefulness does not settle the serious question in debate over privacy. She told the Carolina Journal, Greenville made the right call here. Flock cameras can undoubtedly help police solve crimes, but that doesn't end the inquiry. A network that routinely records where thousands of innocent people travel creates a surveillance capability fundamentally different from an officer looking for a particular car in connection with a particular crime. The Greenville Police Department stressed the importance of using modern technology, but acknowledged the significant discussion about privacy and access with the flock system that has been brewing across the nation.
They said in a statement, We continue to believe that the use of technology is a valuable public safety tool.
However, we also recognize the broader concerns and ongoing discussions surrounding the specific use of Flock technology at this time. Including questions about privacy, access to information, and how the technology may be used. This has been very relevant. Just this week, further south of Greenville in Brunswick County, a member of the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office resigned after an internal investigation into alleged misuse of the agency's flock camera system. That was according to a video published on Facebook from Sheriff Brian Chisholm of Brunswick County.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation was also notified and they have opened their own investigation into that officer. Back to Jeanette Doran, she says, the concern isn't that police shouldn't use technology. It's that the safeguards haven't kept pace with the technology. There is an important difference between a targeted short-term search tied to a specific investigation and using a database to reconstruct somebody's movement over an extended period of time. The latter raises much more serious privacy and constitutional concerns.
We've already seen examples of this in North Carolina. Two officers across the state have been arrested since July for alleged flock camera misuse in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area. Seth Elliott is accused of running an unauthorized plate search and sharing the results with a drug case target. And in Mooresville, Elizabeth Snowman is accused of accessing the system 31. Times to track her boyfriend's ex-wife.
Both of those cases are still pending additional legal challenges, but those are two examples in just the last couple of months. Jeanette Doran said: Charlotte and Mooresville show what a flock network looks like after something goes wrong. Greenville shows what accountability looks like before anything gets built. Residents and city leaders asking hard questions while a no still means no data has been collected. That's the leverage point that the state safeguards skip entirely.
Everything in current law kicks after the deployment, not before. Doran also said that this is a prime opportunity for the North Carolina legislature to set standards for how these systems may operate in the months and years to come, saying that this should also be a signal to state lawmakers. North Carolina needs clear, enforceable rules regarding or governing access, search, retention, sharing, and auditing of license plate reader data. Those protections shouldn't depend primarily on internal police policies or officers certifying for themselves that a search serves a law enforcement purpose. There's no question about it if you have been following this debate over the last couple of months that a variety of different states and local governments are currently in a period of time where they are trying to debate exactly what these FLOC systems, these automated license plate scanning systems, should look like.
As many communities have seen these camera systems pop up, frankly, overnight. This will remain a very likely a very hot political topic in a variety of our local municipalities. And we could see some movement potentially from the legislature, likely as we head into the 2027 long session. We are continuing our coverage of these FLOC systems across North Carolina. You can read the latest out of Greenville over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com.
Look for the story with the headline, Greenville Peace. PD scraps planned flock camera rollout. Writing should enhance your flow and mental alignment. Elevate your daily notes and planning with a G2 Boost Collection from Pilot. Featuring the legendary Smooth G2 gel ink, comfort grip, and powered by the science of color, with blue for productivity, purple for creativity, and pink for optimism.
They're designed to power your accomplishments and intentions. Get G2 Boost on Amazon today. G2 Boost used to power you. It's 5:36. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT.
On September the 1st, the United States House of Representatives voted 413 to 2 to censure Representative Chuck Edwards, the Republican out of North Carolina's 11th congressional district, following a recent report from the House Ethics Committee finding him in violation of the House Official Code of Conduct prohibiting sexual harassment. The total number of votes to censure Edwards was 207 Republicans, 205 Democrats. Edwards himself and Representative Ralph Norman, the Republican of South Carolina's 5th congressional district, were the only two no votes with 17 abstaining from the vote itself. This has been a very interesting month out in North Carolina's 11th congressional district. It was a month ago that we got the report from the House Ethics Committee detailing some of the relationships between Edwards and two young female staffers within his office.
Edwards had the ability on the House floor earlier this week to talk about this situation, started off with an apology to the two young female staffers and his family. Sincerely, I want to say something directly and publicly to the two women who have been at the center of all of this. I am sorry. I'm sorry that my actions, my judgment, or the way that I expressed a friendship ever put either of you in an uncomfortable position. My intentions were only grounded in what I understood our friendship to be.
and in genuine admiration and respect that I had for each of you. Not only as professionals, but as people. People who are willing to share so much of your stories and your backgrounds with me. I recognize now that my understanding of those relationships may not have always matched yours. You didn't ask to have your names, your friendships, your work.
or your private lives subjected to public speculation. You deserve better than to be caught in the middle of a controversy involving me. You're both talented, intelligent, strong women who serve the people of Western North Carolina with dedication. Nothing about this episode should diminish that service. or your accomplishments.
But most importantly, I want to apologize to my wife, Teresa, and to my family. You are the people that I love most in this world. And yet you're the ones. who have had to carry a burden that you did not create. and did not deserve.
Teresa, you stood beside me through a lifetime of challenges, sacrifices, successes, and disappointments. You supported my public service and endured the demands that came with it. I'm deeply sorry that my judgment and my actions put you in a position where you had to endure embarrassment. Hurt. public scrutiny and questions.
that no wife should ever have to f That is Chuck Edwards on the floor of the United States House earlier this week ahead of the vote to officially censure him. That was the recommendation from the House Ethics Committee. That has been the big story that we have been following over the last month, according to the final vote tally, 413 to 2 to vote in favor of censuring Edwards on the floor of the United States House. It was a month ago on August the 4th at 3.32 a.m. that Edwards took to social media and a post on X and Facebook announcing that he would not be seeking re-election in the upcoming November midterm election, causing a very quick turnaround process for the 11th Congressional District Republican Executive Committee to find a replacement candidate.
In his place, it will be State Representative Jennifer Bulkham, the Republican from Henderson County, who was chosen by that organization as the GOP nominee to replace Edwards on the ballot. As we are watching absentee ballots go out here in just a couple of days, she will battle against Democrat Jamie Ager. While Edwards did open most of his commentary, as you just heard there, apologizing to the two young female staffers in his office, apologizing to his wife, it wasn't long after that that he went into a defense of what he did, in fact, actually do as it relates to these relationships. Mr. Speaker.
Regret is not an admission of sexual harassment. I can acknowledge poor judgment, regret the discomfort that some of my actions may have caused. and apologize to those who were hurt by this episode. while still disputing a conclusion that the evidence just simply does not support. I've detailed most of that in a letter to my colleagues.
Some will read it.
Some have. and some will simply cast judgment. I'm going to spare this body the time to review all of those details. But a few points bear discussing. The committee concluded that I engaged in no sexual.
Activity. The committee concluded that I did not explicitly proposition any staff member. The committee concluded that the allegations in this matter do not implicate, quid pro quo, sexual harassment. And the committee concluded that I did not violate. federal sexual harassment law.
That law, by the way. was very specifically defined by Congress. Those findings matter. Yet, despite those findings, the committee bridged a substantial evidentiary gap. Called That gap sexual harassment.
My colleagues should ask themselves whether the evidence truly supports that inclusion. That conclusion and whether it justifies one of the most serious punishments that this House can impose. on one of its members. I provided the committee approximately 186,000 emails, text messages, voicemails, and other documents. That enormous record told the story of a long-standing Relationship.
With those women that began years before we entered Congress. The two co-workers. at issue and I worked together in my North Carolina Senate office. We worked on campaigns together. We came to Congress together.
We traveled together on official business. We exchanged gifts. reciprocally. We helped one another professionally. and personally.
These were not one-sided relationships manufactured after the fact as a defense. The committee had evidence of that history. And they ignored it. Even the communications selected by the committee showed reciprocity. staff initiating dinners and activities, expressing Affection, complimenting me, making future plans, and maintaining relationships after their employment ended.
That context matters. Because selective totality is not totality at all. as the committee itself would have you believe. I'm not asking anyone in this chamber to approve of every interaction that I had. every compliment that I gave or every gift that I purchased.
Looking back, I don't approve of all of them either. I'm asking you to distinguish between conduct that you might personally have handled differently and conduct that warrants the solemn judgment of censure. by the United States House of Representatives. Friendship doesn't excuse misconduct. But neither can friendship be erased from the analysis when the committee asked what conduct meant.
Context cannot matter only when it supports an accusation and then disappear when it points the other way. Generosity is not sexual harassment. Caring deeply about the people with whom you've worked for years is not sexual harassment. And conduct that is otherwise permissible does not automatically become misconduct simply because enough individual moments are assembled together and viewed through the darkest possible lens. Possibility is not proof.
Inference is not evidence. And selective context is not totality. Regardless of the defense put on there, you were just listening to Chuck Edwards on the floor of the United States House of Representatives earlier this week on September the 1st, as a motion and was brought forth to censure him. That came after that House Ethics Committee report that we've been talking about over the last month. Regardless of his defense, regardless of his plea to his fellow lawmakers, when the rubber met the road, the final vote, 413 to 2 to censure Representative Chuck Edwards, he becomes just the 29th member of Congress to be censured in the history of the United States House.
He already announced back on August the 4th that he would not be running for re-election. He will not appear on a November ballot for those living in North Carolina's 11th congressional district. It will be Representative Jennifer Bulcombe, the current member of the North Carolina House from Henderson County. She will battle against Democrat Jamie Ager, who has got some very strong fundraising numbers as Republicans look to maintain a majority in the United States House. Democrats looking to flip that majority here in the midterm election.
This will be one of the very close races that we keep an eye on in the weeks and months to come. You can read more on this censure over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. The headline, U.S. House votes to censure Edwards following ethics report. Writing should enhance your flow and mental alignment.
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I'm not sure if I can do it. 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 going to be watching the absentee ballot process, which officially kicks off tomorrow here in North Carolina, where absentee ballots will be sent to voters that have requested them.
This as the North Carolina State Board of Election is weighing guidance for county election officials on how to handle returned absentee ballots after its new absentee ballot rules were delayed from taking effect. The board postponed consideration of the guidance on Wednesday, saying that members needed more time to review drafts that they had received the night before. We flash back to the month of July when the board adopted several sets of new election rules, including a set of absentee ballot rules, which were approved three to two along party lines detailing how county officials must handle problems with returned absentee ballots. The rules would allow voters to correct some problems, such as a missing voter signature or a defective photo identification form without casting a new ballot.
However, other problems, including missing a witness signature or certain issues involving unsealed or reopened ballot envelopes, would require officials to spoil or toss the original ballot and issue a replacement ballot if enough time remains in the voting process. Republican board members argue that the rule would improve ballot security, while Democrat members warn it could reduce voter access. The State Rules Review Commission approved these rules in August just last week or two weeks ago, and the rules were set to take effect September the 1st. But at least 10 people submitted written objections requesting legislative review, and now it remains unclear when those rules might actually take effect. The board planned to discuss numbered memos regarding the absentee ballots during its meeting on Wednesday morning according to its agenda.
The board routinely issues these numbered memos, which is essentially guidance to County Board of Elections as it relates to administrative procedures for running elections.
However, it is noted by Dr. Andy Jackson from the John Locke Foundation that numbered memos carry less legal weight than administrative rules. Board Secretary Stacey Foragers, IV, one of the three Republicans on the five-member board, said that members did not receive drafts of the memo until Tuesday night and said during the meeting, quote, we will need some additional time with these before deciding whether to adopt them. Sam Hayes, who is the executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said that he and his staff did their best to pull this together and have it in a form where they could move forward. But he also said, quote, I believe we are going to have to take a pause.
The Democrat members of the board that did not rule or did not vote, I should say, in favor of these new rules taking place back in the month of July agreed and said that the board and staff needed more time to review these memos. As we are now expecting a meeting to take place very early on Friday morning, 9 a.m. on Friday, September the 4th, is where the North Carolina State Board of Elections will meet again. That also is the day in which absentee ballots will begin the process of being mailed out to voters across North Carolina's 100 counties that have gone through the process of approving or allowing or accepting rather absentee balloting.
So we will watch that process play out in the coming weeks. We'll be keeping a very close eye on this 9 a.m. meeting for the North Carolina State Board of Elections, and we'll have a very extensive coverage of all of the procedures, all the process as it relates to elections over the next couple of months right here on the Carolina. Journal News Hour. 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.
