It's five oh five, and welcome into a Friday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk one and seven point nine FM WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good Friday morning to you. We have got a major story we are tracking this morning over on our website carolinajournal.com. It deals with a whistleblower lawsuit in North Carolina's Medicaid program.
The suit was filed years ago up in Maryland. There's a lot of very interesting detail here and a lot of money involved as well. To walk us through some of the details this morning, Teresa Opekka, carolinajournal.com, joins us on the News Hour. Teresa, let's start back a couple of years ago when a husband and wife filed a lawsuit. Up in Maryland, information is now just become public.
This all deals with North Carolina's Medicaid system. What exactly is going on here? Sure. Thanks, Nick, for having me. Good morning to you.
So, yeah, it was a recently unsealed whistleblower lawsuit. It was later dismissed, but we'll get to. We might actually have a new one coming up. It accuses an NZD HHS, the Health and Human Services, to misrepresent misrepresent information to the federal government as the state sought federal funding for the overhaul of its Medicare. Technology, which was long overdue, so the lawsuit again, as you said, was filed in Maryland in August of 2024.
It's by a former project manager for the Health and Human Services Department, Rob Moorhead. He is identified as William in the legal legal papers, and also his wife, who is a former consultant for Health and Human Services, Rhonda Keys Moorhead.
So they allege that there was years of mismanagement, non-compliance, and Misrepresentation by officials at NC DHHS, and also for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, known as CMS.
So, the complaint named you know many many people that worked at the Health and Human Services Department in North Carolina, CMS, other former state and federal officials. That also includes. Former and Health and Human Health and Human Services Secretaries Mandy Cohen, who went on to I believe Centers for Disease Control and Cody Kinsley, also the current Deputy Secretary for NC DHHS Melanie Bush, and at the time she was a former. She had another role in the in that agency, so all those people are named in there. The lawsuit alleges state officials were conspiring together to falsify applications to get federal funding, to get payments for that technology to administer Medicaid in the state, and that resulted in fraudulently inflated.
Federal financial participation payments from CMS to and CDHHS. They also say that CMS allegedly conspired with the other defendants to defraud itself.
So there's a lot going on in this lawsuit. Unfortunately, like I said, it was dismissed a little while ago, about a week or so ago. But the couple said they are going to actually file a new lawsuit, which we could talk about. But it's a huge mess. Yeah, unfortunately, that would appear to be the case.
And so, Teresa, the crux of the issue here, understanding some of the details in the lawsuit, is that the state of North Carolina, as it was going through the process of updating this, I guess, computer or database system as it relates to Medicaid, was essentially lying, or at least the allegation is lying, to the federal government exactly as to how that process was going and collecting potentially tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars. Is that the the general gist of the Yeah, I would say that's about correct. Yeah, that that basically is like they're trying to get you know funding, and basically we're you know the lawsuit alleges that they were lying about that, and that CMS, you know, centers for Medicaid, or you know, the federal federal agency said you know you should have done a better job in checking all this.
So yeah, it was basically they're saying they're everybody was lying according this lawsuit. Yeah, and it's it's an interesting one to follow.
Now, the state of North Carolina through DHHS was supposed to have this new system online back, I believe it was what in 2024. That still has not happened. It's cost the taxpayers not only here in North Carolina, but presumably throughout the rest of the United States, because again, a lot of this money coming from the federal government. What six hundred million dollars to keep this old system operational, and the timeline has been pushed back. What?
Five plus years. Yeah, that that old system is called NC Tracks Medicaid system. You're correct. It's they're paying a contractor more than six hundred million to continue operating it, and also more. Yeah, more costs can be building up to keep it running beyond summer 2027.
Like that, they're supposed to be like you know. Transitioning to a different whole different system, but yeah, all that taxpayer money again. Trust us, this is taxpayer money. This isn't money just coming out of the blue or coming from the federal government. This is North Carolina North Carolinians' money that's being used right now for propping up the system where the system should have been fixed years ago.
Well, and that's a very good point here.
Now, let's be clear: six hundred million dollars, Teresa, is an obscene amount of money. But if you were to say we're going to spend six hundred million dollars and we're going to totally revamp a system or service that's very complex, well, I don't think most people would love the idea of spending that much money. You'd say, "All right, it's going to do all these great things." If that's what needs to be done, so be it. This system will eventually be turned off. That money will have been gone; will be completely gone, and the system literally won't even exist anymore.
Correct? That is correct. Yes, yes. And and so, what about the timeline for this new system? That's that was supposed to be in in place a couple years ago.
It's still continually pushed back, right? It is pushed back.
So the new system was was supposed to be fully installed by the end of June 2024. But now they're looking at it, and state officials said it probably won't be finished until the end of 2029.
So that's way off. Yeah. Yeah, so you're talking about a five-year delay in getting this system online. This is a large amount of money, Teresa. I think a lot of folks would begin the process of asking: Was anybody looking into this here in the state of North Carolina?
Was anybody looking into this at the federal government? What did you uncover there? Yeah, so it really didn't look like the federal government had much. You know oversight on this, but we did have a a state audit that was being generated and and worked on back in 2022.
So they were the audit began in that that year, but it was never completed.
So it was terminated by then state auditor Jessica Holmes, who was appointed by former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, who was running for states for a U.S. Senate and. November that in twenty December of twenty twenty three he appointed her when former state auditor Beth Wood resigned from office did contact state auditor Dave Bolick's office who confirmed that the audit of the project was terminated during the prior administration citing a lack of resources and a desire to pursue other priorities and that auditor Bolick has directed the relaunch of an audit examining the. The North Carolina Medicaid Enterprise System or MES modernization program.
So that's what NC Tracks is going to. It's going to be modernized to the North Carolina Medicaid Enterprise System.
So it looks like you know Auditor Bolick is reopening that audit. That's as far as we know right now. But yeah, that audit was canceled by former Auditor Jessica Holmes.
Well, maybe to be a little blunt about it, if maybe if six hundred million dollars wasn't spent on keeping this whole system up and running, Teresa, maybe there would have been some would have been some more resources for the auditor's office to take a look at exactly what was going on here. What do you say about that? Oh, yeah, I definitely agree with you on that one. Absolutely.
So, so obviously, there's a lot going on here. There's been a lot of discussion on Medicaid here in North Carolina over the last couple of years. We saw Medicaid expansion that was a big push by the former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper, as you already noted, who is running for United States Senate. We've been talking a lot about that. What about any other reaction that we've seen across state?
Again, this has kind of gone a little bit under the radar in terms of a reported story. We're talking about a major dollar figure here, potential major. Scandal, depending on what ends up coming forward in the months and years to come, and a system that has now been delayed at least five more years in North Carolina. Yeah, so we did reach out to various people, including spokesperson for NC DHHS, who you know basically said that the department's knowledge. To their knowledge, nobody in that department and other defendants affiliated with the Health and Human Services Department were ever formally notified or served with notice of that lawsuit.
That's what they told us, and they also said they have addressed concerns from five years ago regarding the transition from NC Tracks to the Medicaid Enterprise System, and the department made consistent and regular process or progress, excuse me, transitioning between the two systems with a phased approach. And that was recommended and approved by CMS, and funded in stages by the General Assembly. And they said they're basically committed to delivering high quality care while they're public. They're responsibly managing their public resources.
So we also reached out to lawmakers about the allegations in this lawsuit, including the millions of taxpayer dollars that are being used right to continue operating the existing NC treks Medicaid system. Did hear from a spokesperson from House Speaker Destin Hall said they they're really concerned about it and they're going to be taking a closer. Look, had more of a comment from State Senator Benton Zari from Johnston County, Republican, and co-chair of the Senate's Health Care Committee. He basically said we're going to be reviewing these allegations very closely, and he thinks there's a lot more information they need to gather and work through. And with Medicaid budgets exploding, it's more important than ever to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and make sure patients are receiving the benefit.
We also reached out to CMS and DCS. Washington, and they did not respond for request for comment before we published the article.
So, you know, this could be an interesting situation. We know lawmakers are not set to be back in Raleigh before the November the third midterm election, but we've been hearing some rumblings, hearing through the grapevines over the last couple of weeks that there could be some interesting things that take place in the month of November after the election and potentially into early December.
So, Teresa, wonder if we'll see some reaction from lawmakers, maybe a hearing or something.
Something like that of what we've seen with previous other issues, as it relates to a funding here in North Carolina. We encourage our audience to go and read the insane story we've got over on our website this morning, carolinajournal. dot com. We'll be keeping a close track on that. We appreciate the update.
Teresa Opaka joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's 5:22. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT Caterpillar, the manufacturer of a lot of heavy machinery and equipment, most of it being used in the construction field, plans to invest approximately one billion dollars to expand its manufacturing operations in Sanford. That is down in Lee County. The company Which is already one of Lee County's largest employers has already hired at least 600 workers this year and already employs about 2,000 people at its existing Sanford location.
They plan to build an additional facility to increase production of their compact track loaders and telehandlers, according to local reports. North Carolina Commerce Secretary Lee Lilly said in a statement, "Caterpillar's $1 billion investment in North Carolina is putting down even deeper roots in Sanford. Their investment is a powerful reflection of the manufacturing excellence, innovation, and opportunities that have become synonymous with North Carolina." Caterpillar is evaluating the purchase of the Regional Crossroad Park, which is a 500-acre site off of U.S. 1, which is just north of U.S. 421 in Lee County.
The investment is expected to be one of the largest corporate investments in Lee County history, according to a press release. The Caterpillar Construction Industrial Group president, Rob Sherman, said, "As demand for compact equipment continues to Increase. We're investing to better serve this growing segment of customers. This investment is another way that we are solving our customers' toughest challenges by expanding access to the products, solutions, and services that they need to be more efficient. We appreciate the partnership and support of the state of North Carolina, Lee County, and the city of Sanford as we continue investing in the future of manufacturing and.
The customers that we serve. The project supports Caterpillar's Cat Compact strategy to create a more streamlined and convenient experience for growing businesses and small contractors. Compact track loaders and telehandlers are described as multi-purpose machines commonly used in construction, landscaping, agricultural, material, and material handling, according to the press release. The investment will establish a modern manufacturing operation equipped with advanced technology to enhance safety, product quality, and overall efficiency for Caterpillar, while positioning the facility for future growth. Plans call for advanced manufacturing equipment, automation, digital production systems, and integrated logistics technology to streamline those operations and create a more connected production process.
Back to Commerce Secretary Lee Lily, saying in part, "As a major employer in Lee County, Caterpillar understands the lasting success is built through a strong community and meaningful partnerships." Their leadership is creating pathways for the next generation through apprenticeship opportunities, and is helping prepare our workforce for the future. We're proud to celebrate this exciting new chapter with Caterpillar, and look forward to supporting their continued growth and success for many years to come. The Lee County Board of Commissioners approved $46 million in tax rebates and a $39.5 million incentive plan. Received approval from the Sanford City Council. When all is said and done, we're talking about $85.5 million in incentives, according to WRAL News, who crunched the numbers.
Companies must meet investment and employment commitments, however, to receive the full economic and Incentives, which are typically paid in annual installments, to receive the full amount, Caterpillar must invest at least a billion dollars and maintain at least one thousand nine hundred and fifty full-time jobs with an average annual salary of sixty-five thousand five hundred dollars per year. The county expects to make twelve annual payments totaling approximately eighty percent of the property taxes that the company pays, provided that Caterpillar again meets those required targets. Sanford officials also expect to pay out incentives over the same twelve-year period of time, so the county and the town. Economic incentives are paid out in annual installments, as we just went through, according to Brian Balfour, the vice president of research at the John Locke Foundation. He told the Carolina Journal at a time when county governments are objecting to a potential state amendment enabling the state legislature to place limits on the rate at which local governments can increase property tax collections.
Lee County has no problem offering up. Massive property tax breaks to a huge corporation. Interestingly, to receive these breaks, Caterpillar doesn't even need to create any new jobs. It just needs to maintain its current employment levels. Counties can't complain that they won't be able to fund essential services if the state creates limits to how much their property tax collections can grow, while simultaneously offering up tens of millions of dollars in property tax rebates to global companies, according to WRA.
News: The state's industrial development fund utility account has committed two point six million dollars, and another five hundred thousand dollars is coming from the North Carolina Department of Transportation's rail division.
So we've got state money, a county money, and a local municipality money all involved in this story over in Lee County as Caterpillar. The you've seen their equipment if you've driven around and seen any construction sites through. Throughout the state, very prominent in that industry, they are expecting to build that facility again. The big difference between this and many of the other projects that we cover these big local and statewide incentive projects is the Caterpillar does not have to hire any additional employees. They already have about two thousand people on working full time for them currently in Lee County.
However, they do have to invest that billion dollar total. Unfortunately. The track record with many of these large incentive projects in North Carolina do not work out, as we learned yesterday from WITN News. A cabinet manufacturing company is set to slash hundreds of jobs in Kinston, North Carolina. The the company known as Master Brand did receive a job development investment grant, a J Day grant, in twenty twenty one for its expansion.
They obviously will not be following. Through on that as they are slashing 400 jobs at that plant in Kinston, and so we are hoping that the Caterpillar project is not the same way. But unfortunately, that has been all too common and all too much the norm here across North Carolina. You can read more on this story. You can head on over to our website carolinajournal.com.
Look for the headline: Caterpillar invests one billion dollars in Sanford expansion. We'll keep an eye on this as it continues to progress, Carolina. Journal dot com. It's five thirty seven. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, one hundred seven point nine FM, WBT.
I'm Nick Craig. Good Friday morning to you. It has been an interesting couple of weeks within one of North Carolina's largest public school districts. That is the Charlotte Mecklenburg School System. We've talked about in great detail here on the Carolina Journal News Hour and over on our website carolinajournal.
dot com. Some of the controversy with the superintendent, some issues ongoing with current and now former board members. A lot going on in a very impactful school district across the Tar Heel State. To walk us through some details this morning and who is actually paying the price for all this, we're Not necessarily talking monetarily either. It's my pleasure to welcome Bryce Fielder.
He is the director of the Carolinas Academic Leadership Network, also known as Callen Bryce. You've got a brand new opinion piece over at CarolinaJournal dot com, and yes, some of the eye popping dollar amounts three hundred thousand dollars for this review into the superintendent is a big deal. But it's really the kids and the students within the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District that have to deal with all this controversy and nonsense. That's that's right, Nick, and thank you for having me.
So, just to back up a little bit, last week here, some of the facts: Superintendent Crystal Hill was terminated for convenience in a five-four vote. Notably, the question of her firing was not on the original agenda; it was added mid-meeting. And backing up even further, she was placed on leave in June and later reinstated after report found no official evidence of wrongdoing or misconduct. And so, really, if you've been following the news cycle, like you alluded to, this is really the latest. Episode and latest turn in a series of concerning developments.
And as we're sort of looking at the spectacle and looking at the drama, unfortunately, that's playing out. My point is, the students in the district are the ones that are suffering the most. And when there is this much perceived or actual controversy at the school board level, I can't imagine how you're able to do the proper job of governing. You know, when they're when you're dealing with a media firestorm, when there is mounting an investigation. Seemingly coming out in board dysfunction, it becomes very difficult to focus on the actual work that our school boards need to be doing, which is how can we improve our schools?
How can we pass and revise policies aimed at improving our schools? And so, I'm really trying to just cut through some of the noise and get back to the point of it's the students in the district that are still going to school there, and we have to get our act together to make sure they get the education they deserve. And we'll continue to talk about the student impact, but this is not necessarily a brand new situation for the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District. It has been a revolving door of superintendents in that district over the last decade. You talk about in your opinion piece that, like any large company, if you had a CEO leaving every year or two, there would probably be some great level of dysfunction.
It's hard to imagine that that's not the case within one of North Carolina's largest public school systems as well. That's exactly right. There was a statistic that I saw on on X, which is that the district since 2012 has had at least eight superintendents.
Some making reappearances, some in interim, and then later on in permanent roles. And look, some turnover at at any level should be predictable, right? But at this at this level, it just becomes hard to function when there's that much turnover at the leadership level. And then the other important thing here, of course, is that the leadership from the school board to the central. Office really sets the culture for the school district, and we don't always talk about that.
And that has a trickle down effect on morale. It trickles down to the principals, down to the teachers, and ultimately down to the kids that are in the classrooms.
So the decisions that are happening at a high level, even if not directly, do have an impact on you know the everyday functions of our classrooms. And maybe for folks that don't follow their local school board, now we of course encourage them to do so. But let's be honest, Bryce. A lot of people don't get into the weeds on this. When what goes on in their local communities, you do have an elected board of education, and those are the individuals that set the policy, they set the procedure.
But when it comes to rubber meeting the road, it is not the board of education that is actually enforcing those things. That is tasked to the superintendent, and in most cases, central office staff, other high level individuals. Within the district, and so your superintendent is, for all intents and purposes, the one running the district, getting a lot of that direction not only from the state of North Carolina but the local school board. That's exactly right. You can think of your superintendent like a CEO.
They are the manager. They they are the chief executive of the district. The school board sets policy. It governs. It dictates the what.
What must the district do? And the superintendent largely decides how. How are we going to achieve the the priorities that the the school board has selected? And and who are we going to involve as part of that process? And so leadership is important.
Having a strong and collaborative relationship between the board and the superintendent. Matters a lot. That doesn't mean that the school board should always defer to the opinion of the superintendent. There should be a healthy check and balance on both of those. But when both parties are working in sync on a shared vision, that's when you really get the most success at a school district.
Yeah, and it's important to note that while the school board is elected, the superintendent is not. The superintendent is hired by the board of education, so there is kind of a boss-employee relationship there, which is rather interesting, as especially in these much larger school districts, whether we're talking about the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District or the Wake County Public School District here across the state. Bryce, also in your article, you talk about how this level of dysfunction, regardless, you mentioned it a little bit earlier, regardless of whether there was any actual wrong. Doing or not, it starts to sow some level of doubt. And you talk about the high turnover in this district since 2012.
Should it be any surprise that parents and families within the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District begin asking questions? They probably already have been. What do we do with this district going forward? Should I send my kids to CMS? Yeah, look, I can't blame any parent that follows a news cycle and decides to move with their feet.
And look, as we know in education, not just in North Carolina but around the country, enrollment in public education is down. It's down in the vast majority of North Carolina's 115 school districts, and it's a chief concern for many of the decision makers in our schools. And yet, when we see these cycles in the news, I cannot blame parents for a growing level of distrust in the public schools, and that should be frustrating to us. We should want our public schools to be excellent. We should want them to be a great option for to send your kid to the neighborhood school.
But as we know, North Carolina has a very robust, a very competitive public school option for parents. And as we've seen recently, parents are deciding to seize those options and really move with their feet. Yeah, we've seen a lot of that with the continued expansion of the opportunity scholarship program out of the North Carolina legislature. All right, Bryce, it's now it's said and done. The superintendent was fired for convenience, which means they didn't have a cause to fire her because the report they paid three hundred plus thousand dollars for didn't say that she was doing anything illegal or criminally wrong.
She's going to get another massive payout as they breached her contract. There's an interim superintendent, but she is set to retire at the beginning of twenty twenty seven.
So I would imagine that this story is going to continue to tick on for many more months, and definitely well into next year. That is the big question, right? There are a lot of outstanding questions at this point. As if you've been following the news cycle, there are what looks like several pending investigations. Recently, I think the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction announced that it is launching a probe.
It sounds like potentially the superintendent, Mo Green, and the state board of education may engage the district to figure out next steps.
So, for all we know, this might not be the end of it. But look, ultimately, the district needs to ensure a continuity. Of services, so that education in the district, to the extent possible, can go interrupted while leadership figures out what next steps actually look like. In your op-ed over at CarolinaJournal dot com, you make the point and an accurate one that let's not pretend that the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District has failing grades all across the board. All things considered, it does not have some of the worst performing grades across North Carolina's 115 school districts.
But you talked about a neighboring county in Union County as an example of where things are going extremely well. Talk us about talk to us about that. Yeah, I think it's impossible to do a comparison of how CMS is performing without looking across the fence to the southeast, Union County. Union County is North Carolina's number one ranked public school district when it comes to student proficiency. Compared to some of its other neighbors, Charlotte falls somewhere in the middle.
It's actually above average in terms of grade level proficiency and above average in college and career readiness. But again, when you're comparing it to what Charlotte could be under better conditions with more stable leadership, I think that's where you really beg the question. And see what is lost without the stability. And much of the success that we see in our top-performing districts, it comes down to leadership, it comes down to culture, and it comes down to stability.
So, I think Union is, in many ways, a role model for what good governance and good leadership can look like. And I think it's an important comparison to look at when you are evaluating the districts.
Well, as we approach November, obviously a lot of other big-time political races in North Carolina are sucking a lot of the oxygen out of the room. But across nearly every municipality here in North Carolina, Bryce, there are school board elections that are going to be taking place.
Some of them, there will be enough seats up to potentially flip the majority from one party to the other. Talk about the importance of families and communities being engaged in these ever-important local decisions. Absolutely, we always say, and I believe this is true, that the school boards are the most important decision makers in all of education. Right, it goes up to the president, down to the state house, and everyone plays a role. But when you're talking about decisions that are actually affecting the quality of your schools, that are affecting what's happening in your backyards, the role of the school board is important, and it often goes overlooked in a media cycle that is dominated by headlines as what's happening in Washington.
So I cannot overstate the importance of knowing who is on your school board, understanding. You know the candidates, what their priorities are, and familiarizing yourself with what does the school board actually do, so that regardless of whoever you vote for, you're making an informed decision. Bryce, tell us a little bit about Callen, the group that you're the director of. Yeah. So, Carolina's Academic Leadership Network.
We provide training and professional development for North Carolina school board members as well as South Carolina school board members. And so, one of the things that we're gearing up for right now is after the election, there will be a wave of new, newly elected parents, first-time officeholders taking school board seats in the later part of this year. And so, one of the things that we're preparing and rolling out is a new member education for North Carolina school board members. Whether you're returning or this is your first time on the school board, we've got some great. Programs ready to go for people in the first part of the new year, and we're really excited about that.
Yeah, we'll keep the conversation continued on that. On that, Bryce, a great information and insight this morning. We greatly appreciate it. Bryce Fielder joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Good morning again.
It's five fifty-four. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, one hundred seven point nine FM, WBT. Throughout the program this week, we have been talking about a new lawsuit that was filed over guidance from the North Carolina State Board of Elections to county board of elections as it relates to counting mail-in ballots. We've got some more details on that this morning. That is set to head to a A federal court, or before a federal court judge, on October the fourteenth for a hearing.
The critics are working with Democrat operative Mark Elias's law firm, and they are hoping to block two new mail-in ballot guidelines for the general election in November. It is the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans, the North Carolina Asian Americans Together, Down Home North Carolina, and a few individual voters who filed the lawsuit against the. North Carolina State Board of Elections and local election boards in both Durham and Guilford counties back on September the twenty second. The critics of the new mail-in ballot guidelines followed up Monday with a motion for preliminary injunction. That's what we talked about this week here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, and they asked U.S.
District Judge Thomas Schroeder to set an October the fifth deadline for a response to the motion. With an October the seventh reply deadline for a hearing afterwards, and as the schedule now takes place, the order the orders from the court set an October the ninth deadline for a response to the injunction motion, with a reply due October the twelfth and a hearing set October the fourteenth in Winston Salem. That date is just one day before early voting kicks off here in North Carolina. Hundreds of early voting locations. Across the state, it is important to note that these this guidance, these guidelines that we're talking about as it relates to absentee by mail balloting, does not have any effect on either election day voting or early voting.
And we see both of those very prominent uses of folks getting involved in the civic process here across North Carolina. Also important to note that back on September the fourth is when absentee by mail balloting. Ballots started going out throughout the state of North Carolina, and to this point, we've already seen more than ten thousand of those ballots returned. The latest numbers over at CarolinaElections dot com indicate that there have been more than sixteen thousand individuals that have voted thus far absentee by mail.
Some of them are not here stateside; they may be serving in the military or living temporarily overseas, and then of course those that decide to vote that way. Here in North Carolina, so more than sixteen thousand ballots have already been returned to their local board of election and have gone through the process of being counted. This hearing will not come until just about three weeks ahead of election day, and so it is not immediately clear exactly how this process will play out. As we chatted earlier this week with Mitch Kokei from the John Locke Foundation. He made the point that federal courts are very unlikely to jump into and and set any sort of standards, especially during the election period and the election cycle of which we are in right now.
So we will be keeping an eye on that as we approach the middle of October. Continuing coverage of this lawsuit over on our website, CarolinaJournal dot com. That's going to do it for a Friday edition. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning BT. We are back with you Monday morning, five to six, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk, one hundred seven point nine FM, WBT.
