July 24, 2025 • 35 mins
Former NC Governor Roy Cooper is set to announce a run for U.S. Senate. Immigration arrests have surged 162% in North Carolina under the Trump administration. NC drivers now have a two-year grace period for license renewals. Meanwhile, a Charlotte-based home security firm secures a $189 million appeals court win. Advocates push to expand education freedom in the state.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
It's five oh five and welcome into a Thursday edition
of The Carolina Journal News Hour, Newstock eleven ten nine
three WBT. I'm Nick Craig. A good morning to you.
Some major political news is unfolding in North Carolina. According
to multiple media outlets, former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper is
expected to announce his campaign for the North Carolina Senate,
(00:32):
potentially as soon as Monday. According to multiple people directly
familiar with the former governor's decision being reported by both
Politico and Axios, the popular former two term governor is
entrance into the Senate race for the seat that Republican
Senator Tom Tillis is leaving open with his announcement last
(00:53):
month that he will not seek re election. Roy Cooper's
entrance is expected to transform the Senate race into the
most competitive in the United States in twenty twenty six.
Back in May the last Carolina Journal poll, we asked
the voters across the state of North Carolina what was
their image of former Governor Roy Cooper. Forty seven point
(01:14):
five percent said they had a favorable view of the
former governor, while thirty six point six percent said that
they had an unfavorable rating. Important to note in his favorability,
thirty three point two percent said they had a very
favorable view of the governor, while only twenty four point
two percent said their view of the former governor was
(01:35):
very unfavorable. North Carolina represents one of the few offensive
opportunities for Democrats who are looking to take a majority
in the United States Senate next year. Turning our attention
to the GOP side, Laura Trump, President Donald Trump's daughter
in law, is considering her own bid for the seat,
effectively freezing Republican recruitment at this point, as she is
(01:59):
a expected to be the front runner if she decides
to get into the race again. No official announcement has
been made on that. Tom Tillis, who was first elected
to the United States Senate back in twenty fourteen, got
into some controversy over Donald Trump's One Big, Beautiful Bill
right ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, warning about
(02:21):
dramatic cuts to medicaid across the United States. He then
went on to dispel some of those comments against the President,
all culminating in him announcing on a Sunday right before
the turn of the month that he was not going
to seek reelection. North Carolina's Senate. North Carolina Senate seat
(02:45):
is going to be again one of the most important
in the nation, and it is something that we are
going to watch unfold over the coming weeks and months,
and of course as we head towards a primary which
will be in March of next year, all culminating in
that NOVA member general election. Again, while no announcement is official,
according to multiple news outlets, Governor Roy Cooper is expected
(03:08):
to make that announcement sometime next week, could happen as
soon as Monday. We will keep our eye out for
any of those additional details right here on the Carolina
Journal News Hour, and of course on our website, Carolina
Journal dot com, where it's now five oh eight, News
Talk eleven ten ninety nine to three WBT. School choice
(03:29):
and education freedom have been major topics not only across
the state of North Carolina, but nationally over the last
couple of years. We've got a new opinion piece over
on our website this morning, Carolina Journal dot com, the headline,
North Carolina has the chance to double down on education freedom.
The author of that, Donna King, the editor in chief
over at Carolina Journal dot com, joins us on the
(03:49):
News Hour this morning, Donna, tell us a little bit
about this piece that you've got up this morning and
why it's such an important issue for North Carolina families.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Sure, Hi, mech it is interesting.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
So this tax credit was in the One Big Beautiful Bill,
so there's been a lot of focus about all the
different elements of the of the bill, certainly when it
was passed and signed. Now the pieces are starting to
gel and we're seeing now that this tax credit is
interesting because it's really the first federal level tax credit
(04:20):
for school choice families, and you know, that could be
a double edged sword for a lot of families. They
maybe you know, want the idea of more tax credits,
more support for the school of their choice, but they
also don't want the strings that could come with government
money for education. So it is interesting to see and
what it looks like, we're not really sure because the
implementation hasn't started yet, But for the top lines, it's
(04:45):
a federal measure that offers a dollar for dollar tax
credit up to seventeen hundred dollars for individuals who donate
to what they call an SGO, a scholarship granting organization.
So these are nonprofits can use that money to help
families go to the school of their choice for tuition
and tutoring, you know that kind of thing school related expenses.
(05:08):
So it's really an incentive driven model and it lets
it empowers taxpayers to give to these student SGOs, these
scholarship granting organizations, and it could really just bust wide
open access to private school or homeschool or other things
that families who just can't afford a private school and
(05:30):
aren't happy with their local public school or need something different.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
This could really expand the opportunities that they have.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
You touched on something pretty important you talked about, you
know again, federal government program potential strings being attached. That's
the biggest issue or one of the biggest issues with
public schools right now. A lot of mandates coming out
of the Department of Education are being shoved down the
throat of not only folks at the statewide level, but
DONNA in all of our one hundred counties local board
of educations to keep all of that fedal money that's
(06:00):
funding things like free breakfast and after school programs, all
of those things that are tied to a lot of
red tape up at the federal level.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Well, I think that's the concern, and we don't know
what it's going to look like yet. And certainly, if
North Carolina decides to opt in, what kind of rules
will we put on that money and what would we
happen what would happen with those tax credits? But a
dollar for dollar tax credit is really something we have
to look at. You mentioned this, you know, The Reason
Foundation has a really interesting column about this and saying, look,
(06:29):
a federally run tax program could really become a vehicle
for national mandates, testing requirements, curriculum constraints, admission standards, all
these other sort of intrusive things that raise red flags
for families who are really interested in school choice and
why they want to leave public schools in the first place.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
So what is this going to look like? We don't
know yet, but.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
It is really an exciting opportunity to get the chance
to double dips, so to speak, on programs like the
Opportunity Scholarship.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
These innovations come from the states.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
North carol line of Opportunity Scholarship program has been incredibly
popular with waiting lists. So we need to make sure
that those programs like that are still protected because that
kind of innovation used to come from communities and from
the state. So I'm excited to hear what the federal
government has in plant, has in mind to implement this
text credit and what it would mean for North Carolina families.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Donald, would you quickly appinne on this national movement of
school choice. There's been many think tanks and many activists
and third party groups that have been pushing this charge
in many states, including North Carolina. It's getting national attention.
I'm seeing posts from all over the country on x
and Facebook and videos on YouTube about this school choice movement.
It seems to have really picked up some wheels really
(07:44):
just over the last couple of years.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Yeah, I mean, I think really since COVID, I mean
that's really when we saw this just you know, come
onto the scene. School choice homeschooling has been around for
a lot of families for decades, but when we when
COVID happened, it became much more prominent, much more to
the fur front. Because parents, one, we're very frustrated with
the lockdowns, particularly here in North Carolina, and we also
(08:06):
have a whole generation of families and parents that for
whom technology and choice and all of these things are
at their fingertips. You know, you've got all of this
stuff right in your house. You can order on a
website and have a product delivered this afternoon. Why shouldn't
education be the same way? And so you have a
mindset shift from one generation to the next, and they
(08:26):
see education very differently. It used to be a very
conservative or Republican even idea. It's not really anymore. You're
seeing a wide spectrum of ideologies, political parties, socioeconomic backgrounds
are really embracing the school choice movement because one, you
get one shot at your child's education. It's not a
(08:47):
trend that you can fix over twenty years because your
child is Nobody wants their child to be the social
experiment of a government beercrat.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
So that is what.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
We're seeing right now, and this kind of tax credit
could create SGOs that are able to make those dreams,
those ideas of a different kind of education a reality
for so many families. Here in North Carolina. We started
the osp program in twenty thirteen, incredibly popular. In the
last two years year and a half or so, the
(09:17):
North Carolina State Legislator has expanded it, lifted caps, has
made it available to all families on a sliding scale
with the poorest families being served first. And that's a
great example of how popular this could be in North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
It's a great opinion piece this morning that get in
the headline is North Carolina has a chance to double
down on education freedom. You can read it by visiting
our website Carolina Journal dot com. Donna King, the editor
in chief of The Carolina Journal, joins us Son the
Carolina Journal News Hour. It's five twenty Welcome back to
(09:54):
the Carolina Journal News Hour, Newstock eleven ten ninety nine
to three. WBT. Immigration arrests in North Carolina are up
one hundred and sixty two percent since President Donald Trump
took office for a second time in January of this year,
with more than fifteen hundred people being arrested. This is
double the number of arrests made by US Immigration and
(10:17):
Customs Enforcement that's ICE during the same time period in
twenty twenty four, According to data collected by the Deportation
Data Project, started by David Houseman, an associate professor at
UC's Berkeley Law School, The Deportation Data Project collects and
posts public US government immigration enforcement data from agencies including
(10:40):
ICE and Customs and Border Protection that's CBP, it gets
its information via Freedom of Information Act or FEOYA requests. Arrests, however,
are being made on an administrative basis, meaning that ICE
is seeking to deport rather than criminally prosecute those arrested
because they don't have a criminal record, and doesn't include
(11:01):
criminal arrests, arrests by ICE's Homeland Security Investigative Division, or
arrests by Customs and Border Protection. The Trump administration has
received some criticism for such arrests, despite saying that the
only only the quote worst of the worst illegal aliens
would be arrested. The Department of Homeland Security release a
(11:23):
statement on Tuesday countering the critics by saying that seventy
percent of ICE arrests have been of illegal aliens convicted
or charged with crimes. According to data from the Transactional
Record Access Clearinghouse or TRACK at Syracuse University, seventy one
percent of the more than fifty seven thousand people held
(11:44):
in iceed attention as of June the twenty ninth had
no criminal convictions, while many detained were for minor offenses
such as traffic violations. Nationally, there have been over ninety
four thousand arrests since January the TI twentieth. That's up
one hundred and twenty four percent from twenty twenty four.
According to multiple reports, more than eight thousand have been
(12:08):
deported to countries since that time. The biggest spike of
arrests came in June, which saw which saw forty two
percent more arrests than May and two hundred and sixty
eight percent more than June of twenty twenty four. Now,
turning our attention back to North Carolina, on average, there
have been eleven people arrested per day across the tar
(12:30):
Heel State, with the most in May, which saw more
than four hundred arrests statewide. Mecklenburg County has seen the
most ice arrests this year, with four hundred and thirty
six people being detained between January and June, followed by
Wait County with ninety eight arrests, Cabaris seventy one, Union
fifty two, New Hanover County forty five, Johnson twenty seven,
(12:54):
Harnett twenty one, Durham fifteen, Forsyth fourteen, and more county
nine arrests. Reports state that forty eight percent of the
seven hundred and ninety eight of the sixteen hundred people
arrested by ICE in the state had criminal records, and
twenty percent were arrested for being undocumented. Over eighty percent
(13:16):
of those arrested were from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and
El Salvador, and close to a thousand of those arrested
were deported by early June. North Carolina has seen its
share of problems created by illegal immigration with criminal records,
including Trende Aragua gang members in both the Raleigh and
(13:37):
Charlotte metro areas. Two brothers from Mexico, the Martin Solito brothers,
were arrested in twenty twenty two after the murder of
Wait County Deputy Sheriff Ned Bird. One of the brothers
then fled to Mexico, where he was extradited in February
and actually pled guilty to the murder in June. He
(13:57):
is scheduled to be sentenced this month.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
Now.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
This has been a very big issue for North Carolinians
and has been a top issue for the North Carolina
General Assembly as well. House Built ten required ICE cooperation
and budget adjustments to take place. It became law in
November of last year after the General Assembly overrode former
(14:21):
Democrat Governor Roy Cooper's veto That piece of legislation requires
sheriffs to cooperate with immigration and customs enforcement under North
Carolina law, rather than allowing every county to decide whether
or whether they will not work with the federal agency
to detain illegal immigrants arrested for major crimes. The legislature
(14:44):
continued to tighten up against illegal immigration this year with
Senate Bill one fifty three that's the North Carolina Border
Protection Act, as well as House Built three eighteen, the
Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act. Senate Bill one fift three
passed in a twenty six to seventeen vote back on
June tenth, and mandates broader cooperation between state agencies and
(15:09):
federal immigration authorities. It also seeks to curb sanctuary city
policies across North Carolina. Beyond law enforcement, Senate Bill one
fifty three instruct state agencies such as the Department of
Health and Human Services and the Division of Employment Security
to review public benefits distributed to unauthorized immigrants and ensure
(15:32):
that those benefits are curtailed where prohibited by law. The
bill also includes a provision to waive local government immunity
for jurisdictions that are deemed sanctuary cities or counties. This
would allow private citizens to sue their city, municipality, county
(15:53):
if they suffer harm as a result of illegal immigration activity. Additionally,
it bars the UNC system campuses from adopting policies that
limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. House Bill three eighteen
compels law enforcement agencies to honor detainer requests from US
Immigration and Customs Enforcement When an undocumented individual is arrested
(16:18):
and ICE issues a detainer, Local officials must hold said
person for up to forty eight hours to allow for
federal pick up. The legislation prohibits local governments from adopting
sanctuary policies and introduces penalties, including potential loss of state funding,
for non compliance. Additionally, it requires jail administrators to notify
(16:41):
ICE when they reasonably believe someone in custody is unlawfully
present in the United States, even if a detainer has
not yet been issued. As you can imagine, both of
those bills were vetoed by Democrat Governor Josh stein Back
on June the twentieth. He said he vetoed Senate Bill
one fifty three because quote at the time when our
(17:04):
law enforcement is already stretched thin, this bill takes state
law enforcement officers away from their existing state duties and
forces them to act as federal immigration agents. Furthermore, under
the current law, people without lawful immigration status are already
being prevented from receiving medicaid snap Section eight and other benefits.
(17:27):
Stein said that while he vetoed House Bill one thirty
eight because he believes it's unconstitutional, he does support the
bill's efforts to require sheriffs to contact federal immigration authorities
about people in their custody charged with sexual battery, armed robbery, arson,
assault on a public official or court personnel, and other
(17:49):
dangerous crimes, with the governor saying in his veto message quote,
people who commit these crimes should be held accountable, whether
or not they are here without legal law authorization, and
those charged with serious offenses ought to receive increased scrutiny
from federal immigration officials. However, he said that his oath
(18:10):
to the office requires that he upholds the Constitution of
the United States. He went on to write, Therefore, I
could not sign this bill because it would require sheriffs
to unconstitutionally detain people for up to forty eight hours
after they would have been otherwise released. The Fourth Circuit
is clear that local law enforcement officers cannot keep people
(18:32):
in their custody solely based on suspected immigration violations. But
let me be clear, anyone who commits a serious crime
in North Carolina must be prosecuted and held accountable, regardless
of their immigration status. With those two of veto's coming
out late last month of both chambers, the House and
(18:53):
the Senate are set to reconvene in Raleigh next week
to try and override Stein's veto's of not only those
two pieces of legislation, but twelve other bills that Republicans
have passed in the General Assembly. We will have additional
details and coverage of those veto overrides over on our website,
Carolina Journal dot com, and of course, right here on
(19:16):
the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's five thirty six. Welcome
back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. In an effort
to ease mounting frustrations with the North Carolina Division of
Motor Vehicle that's DMV, Governor Josh Stein recently signed Senate
(19:36):
Bill three ninety one into law, which grants a temporary
two year grace period for North Carolina drivers. Under this legislation,
licenses expired as of July the first will remain valid
for in state driving only through December thirty first of
twenty twenty seven. The measure was enacted in direct response
(19:58):
to backlogs at dm V where residents have encountered extensive
weight times or unavailability for renewal applications. While drivers can
legally operate a vehicle during this two year waiting period,
expired licenses are not valid for anything other than driving privileges. Also,
(20:19):
this extension does not apply to non resident non nor
to commercial, suspended, revoked, or canceled licenses. Officials continued to
urge drivers to renew early despite this relief effort. According
to Paul Time, the Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicle,
he noted, we advise our customers to renew their licenses
(20:41):
to ensure that they remain valid for identification purposes, including
to fly, rent a car, get a bank loan, fill
a prescription, and have documents notarized. As part of the
relief package, ncd and V has also expanded services. The
department has reopened twenty offices on Saturdays through the month
(21:02):
of August and is now accepting walk ins for renewals
and offering online renewals for convenience. However, once your license
is expired, licenses can only be renewed online once every
other time, so every other renewal cycle. In May, Paul
Tyne assumed the position of NCDMV Commissioner, succeeding Wayne Goodwin.
(21:27):
Under Goodwin's leadership, which began in twenty twenty two, there
was a lot of public backlash against the DMV. In
a committee hearing earlier this year. In February, Goodwin faced
harsh criticism from state lawmakers. Representative Brendan Jones, the Republican
out of Columbus County, told Goodwin, under your tenure the
end the NCDMV has one of the been most the
(21:50):
one of the most disfunctional agencies in state government. Time
described the DMV as broken and promised significant noting there
is no shorta no shortage of challenges faced by our division,
and it is critical that we get to work quickly
to reduce wait times, make our website more user friendly,
(22:12):
and empower our frontline staff to ensure the highest level
of service to our citizens. The much anticipated audit of
NCDMV is expected to be released soon, according to State
Auditor Dave Bollock. While appointments remain widely unavailable and frustrations
still remain, advocates hope that this legislation will be a
(22:34):
significant step towards expanding access to DMV services across North Carolina.
We've got some additional details on CENTIPIL three ninety one,
some of the ongoing problems with DMV. All of those
are on our website this morning, Carolina Journal dot com.
The headline NC drivers get two year grace period to
(22:55):
renew licenses again. You can read that over on our website,
Carolina Journal dot com, where it's now five forty News
Talk eleven ten ninety nine to three WBT. There is
a lot of competition in a variety of industries that
consumers deal with day in and day out. One of
them is home security. There's a very interesting legal battle
that's been going on in North Carolina with Charlotte based
(23:17):
CPI and one of their competitors. To walk us through
some of those details, Mitch COKEI with the John Locke Foundation,
joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, it's
pretty cutthroat out there. But I guess when you're a
competitor to CPI and you're actively lying about the company
and your sales pitch, that's not only unethical, but it
turns out it's actually highly illegal.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
And potentially very costly as well. Nick, we're talking about
the competition between CPI and Viviant Smart Home to big
home security companies, and basically what caught my eye as
I was looking through some court opinions was the fact
that this was a very high dollar legal dispute. As
it turns out, the Fourth US Circuit Court Appeals affirming
(24:02):
a ruling that says that Vivit may have to pay
CPI upwards of one hundred and ninety million dollars because
of some unfair competition practices. And basically the story is
that CPI was able to prove to a jury's satisfaction
that Viviant sales reps would go to CPI customers and
(24:25):
misrepresent what was happening with the company. Now, there's nothing
wrong with Viviant trying to go to a CPI customer
and saying, hey, we have a better product, we provide
better service, We're going to give you a better deal.
A better price, better equipment, better service for the equipment
than what CPI provides, so you should go with us.
(24:47):
But what CPI showed in the evidence, according to the
court records, was that VIVIDT sales reps would sales reps
would go to CPI customers and say CPI is going
out of business and we took over the business. So basically,
we already are your providers, and so you should get
this new contract with us while you have the chance.
(25:08):
And CPI said that this was not something that just
happened every once in a while some one rogue sales
were up. This was something that was repeated over and
over as CPI had documented more than five hundred customers
who were affected by this based on their complaints to CPI,
and they estimated, based on all kinds of numbers and
(25:31):
algorithms and everything, that there could have been somewhere in
the neighborhood of eleven thousand customers of CPI that were
affected by this. That's why a jury, after finding in
CPI's favor that it had proved that this had happened,
they awarded something close to fifty million dollars in actual
damages that were done to CPI because of Vivid's practices,
(25:55):
and then the jury award gets so large because of
punitive damages that we're thrown in in the neighborhood of
one hundred and forty million dollars. So, unless Vivint can
can get some sort of other court ruling, take this
to the Supreme Court and get some sort of ruling
for the Supreme Court in its favor, or find some
(26:15):
other way to challenge this in court, it's going to
have to end up paying out nearly one hundred and
ninety million dollars to this competitors, CPI that has its
home in Charlotte.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
So, Mitch, obviously, many folks, regardless of what service that
they're consuming or what provider they have in a litany
of different services, there's often these discussions, maybe a little
white lies, about how we can provide the service better
or we're a better company. Is it the blatant nature
of going to customers and saying, Hi, we're actually your
(26:49):
new provider, we bought the company that you're currently using,
when that was not true at all. Is that what
led them in this much trouble.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Yeah, that's exactly the case. We were talking earlier about
the fact, there's no problem for a representative of Vivid
or ADT or CPI or any of the other home
security companies to go to a customer, even one who's
already a customer of your competitor, and saying, hey, we
can do it better. We can give you a better
price or a better service, better technology, better response if
(27:20):
you have a problem. All of those things are fair game.
That's part of the normal competition for business. But the problem,
as documented in this case and has spelled out in
this Fourth Circuit opinion upholding the ruling and favor of
CPI and against Vivit, was that Vivit sales reps over
(27:40):
and over again, not just in one case or two,
or even more than that, in a handful of cases,
but in a repeated pattern, would go to the CPI
customers and misrepresent what was happening with CPI's business, and
in addition to that, not just saying bad things about
your competitor, but also saying, hey, we're taking over your
(28:02):
business already, so you should just sign a new contract
with us and get the best Vivid contract you can
get since Vivid is taking over CPI, which is going
out of business. That was a misrepresentation of what was happening.
The jury was convinced that that gave CPI almost fifty
million dollars in a judgment of actual damages to its business,
(28:27):
and then the large size of the award, much larger
than the fifty million, approaching one hundred and ninety million,
was because of punitive damages. And the punitive damages would
only be put on there because of the nature of
the offense. I mean, it's one thing for CPI or
for Vivid to have made a mistake and caused these damages,
(28:50):
but the punitive damages are in there because of the
way in which it was done.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
And I guess the question would be this vivit is
a very large company. They operate seemingly across the entire
higher United States. Mitch, There's no question about it. You
can go back to Lass from the nineteen forties. It's
highly illegal to do what they were doing with the
through algorithms. More than eleven thousand customers that could have
been affected. As you noted, this wasn't just a rogue
sales guy that was trying to boost his own numbers.
(29:16):
Presumably this had to be coming down from somewhere high
up in the company for this to be taking place.
What were they thinking.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
Yeah, now, I can't say, based on anything in the
court records that anything was said about the higher ups
that Viviant having some sort of plan about this that
was not necessarily spelled out in the court record. So
we don't want to say anything about Vivit having an
actual plan to do this. I don't think the court
record goes that far. But certainly the court record shows
(29:46):
that Vivant it did not respond to any complaints about
its practices in a way that would suggest that it
was against what was going on with the sales reps.
And in fact, part of what's spelled out of the
the court record is that this is not some one
time thing of Viviant just saying we don't like CPI,
(30:07):
We're going to attack its customers or attack its business
and try to lure its customers in this way with
just CPI. Apparently this has been something that's happened in
other states with other companies, and that state attorneys general
in other states have gone after Vivit because of its
business practices. So while the case doesn't say anything specifically
(30:32):
about Viviant and its executives have any having any sort
of a plan in place that called for these unfair
business practices. It was widespread enough that this has been
something that has been a problem for Viviant over and
over again for years.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
It's not only an interesting legal stories you noted, Mitch,
this is a costly mistake almost one hundred and ninety
million dollars. Folks can read some additional details by checking
out the story over on our website Carolina Journal dot com.
We appreciate the details. Mitch Coki from the John Locke
Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Good
(31:14):
morning again. It's five point fifty four. Welcome back to
the Carolina Journal News Hour. News tak eleven ten ninety
nine three w big WBT. We are tracking a major
at North Carolina political story this morning. According to multiple
media outlets, including Politico and Axios, former Democrat Governor Roy
Cooper is expected to announce his campaign for North Carolina
(31:38):
Senate as soon as Monday of next week. Again, that's
according to a multiple media outlets for the former two
term governor. Back in May, we conducted our Carolina Journal
poll and asked voters if they thought they had a
favorable or unfavorable image of the former governor. Forty seven
point five percent said they viewed Roy Cooper favorably, with
(32:01):
only thirty six point six percent saying they viewed him unfavorably.
Important to note in those categories, thirty three percent said
they viewed the governor very favorably, while only twenty four
percent said they had a very very unfavorable view of
the former governor. So his popularity continues to be very
(32:21):
strong here across the state of North Carolina. Of course,
this discussion is all coming forward after Republican Senator Tom
Tillis announced last month that he would not be seeking reelection.
This is after he sparred publicly and privately with President
Donald Trump over the One Big Beautiful Bill, making claims
(32:42):
on the floor of the United States Senate that Donald
Trump was betraying his voters, betraying their trust by the
drastic cuts to Medicaid and other governmental programs. Trump is
sparring back and fighting back against Tillis, talking about getting
a primary challenger ready, and while that's exactly what happened.
The next day, till Has released a press release and
(33:04):
announced that he would not be running for re election.
With Roy Cooper's seemingly guaranteed entrance into the race again
coming as early as next week, that puts the eye
on the Republican side of the isle as who will
be the front runner in that candidate. One of the
more popular names that has been flung around over the
(33:24):
last couple of weeks continues to be President Donald Trump's
daughter in law, Laura Trump. The Wrightsville Beach, a southeastern
North Carolina native, is reportedly considering her bid for the seat.
With that she would no doubt be the Republican front
runner candidate and probably wouldn't be very hard to get
the endorsement of her father in law in President Donald Trump.
(33:48):
But until a decision is made, there is essentially a
holding pattern for Republican recruitment. There are multiple declared candidates, however,
none of them are rising to any significant level of
prominence as its states right now, as all eyes continue
to wait for Lara Trump to jump into this race. Now,
on the Democrat side, Governor Roy Cooper, as we just recapped,
(34:09):
has an incredibly popular favorability and is a very popular
figure across the state of North Carolina. With his announcement
into the race, that likely boxes out other Democrats that
were potentially looking and vying for that. One of them
was Attorney General Jeff Jackson, who had been rumored to
run for this position. You can imagine that former Governor
(34:30):
Roy Cooper announcing his entrance into the race again sometime
next week will probably guarantee that no other significant Democrats
jump into the race for the United States Senate. This race,
according to Politico, is said to be the most competitive
in the twenty twenty six election cycle. We'll be keeping
an eye on all of the details right here on
(34:52):
the Carolina Journal News Hour. That's going to do it
for a Thursday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour.
U BT News is next, followed by Good Morning BT.
We're back with you tomorrow morning, five to six right
here on News Talk eleven, ten and ninety nine to
three WBT
It's five oh five and welcome into a Thursday edition
of The Carolina Journal News Hour, Newstock eleven ten nine
three WBT. I'm Nick Craig. A good morning to you.
Some major political news is unfolding in North Carolina. According
to multiple media outlets, former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper is
expected to announce his campaign for the North Carolina Senate,
(00:32):
potentially as soon as Monday. According to multiple people directly
familiar with the former governor's decision being reported by both
Politico and Axios, the popular former two term governor is
entrance into the Senate race for the seat that Republican
Senator Tom Tillis is leaving open with his announcement last
(00:53):
month that he will not seek re election. Roy Cooper's
entrance is expected to transform the Senate race into the
most competitive in the United States in twenty twenty six.
Back in May the last Carolina Journal poll, we asked
the voters across the state of North Carolina what was
their image of former Governor Roy Cooper. Forty seven point
(01:14):
five percent said they had a favorable view of the
former governor, while thirty six point six percent said that
they had an unfavorable rating. Important to note in his favorability,
thirty three point two percent said they had a very
favorable view of the governor, while only twenty four point
two percent said their view of the former governor was
(01:35):
very unfavorable. North Carolina represents one of the few offensive
opportunities for Democrats who are looking to take a majority
in the United States Senate next year. Turning our attention
to the GOP side, Laura Trump, President Donald Trump's daughter
in law, is considering her own bid for the seat,
effectively freezing Republican recruitment at this point, as she is
(01:59):
a expected to be the front runner if she decides
to get into the race again. No official announcement has
been made on that. Tom Tillis, who was first elected
to the United States Senate back in twenty fourteen, got
into some controversy over Donald Trump's One Big, Beautiful Bill
right ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, warning about
(02:21):
dramatic cuts to medicaid across the United States. He then
went on to dispel some of those comments against the President,
all culminating in him announcing on a Sunday right before
the turn of the month that he was not going
to seek reelection. North Carolina's Senate. North Carolina Senate seat
(02:45):
is going to be again one of the most important
in the nation, and it is something that we are
going to watch unfold over the coming weeks and months,
and of course as we head towards a primary which
will be in March of next year, all culminating in
that NOVA member general election. Again, while no announcement is official,
according to multiple news outlets, Governor Roy Cooper is expected
(03:08):
to make that announcement sometime next week, could happen as
soon as Monday. We will keep our eye out for
any of those additional details right here on the Carolina
Journal News Hour, and of course on our website, Carolina
Journal dot com, where it's now five oh eight, News
Talk eleven ten ninety nine to three WBT. School choice
(03:29):
and education freedom have been major topics not only across
the state of North Carolina, but nationally over the last
couple of years. We've got a new opinion piece over
on our website this morning, Carolina Journal dot com, the headline,
North Carolina has the chance to double down on education freedom.
The author of that, Donna King, the editor in chief
over at Carolina Journal dot com, joins us on the
(03:49):
News Hour this morning, Donna, tell us a little bit
about this piece that you've got up this morning and
why it's such an important issue for North Carolina families.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Sure, Hi, mech it is interesting.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
So this tax credit was in the One Big Beautiful Bill,
so there's been a lot of focus about all the
different elements of the of the bill, certainly when it
was passed and signed. Now the pieces are starting to
gel and we're seeing now that this tax credit is
interesting because it's really the first federal level tax credit
(04:20):
for school choice families, and you know, that could be
a double edged sword for a lot of families. They
maybe you know, want the idea of more tax credits,
more support for the school of their choice, but they
also don't want the strings that could come with government
money for education. So it is interesting to see and
what it looks like, we're not really sure because the
implementation hasn't started yet, But for the top lines, it's
(04:45):
a federal measure that offers a dollar for dollar tax
credit up to seventeen hundred dollars for individuals who donate
to what they call an SGO, a scholarship granting organization.
So these are nonprofits can use that money to help
families go to the school of their choice for tuition
and tutoring, you know that kind of thing school related expenses.
(05:08):
So it's really an incentive driven model and it lets
it empowers taxpayers to give to these student SGOs, these
scholarship granting organizations, and it could really just bust wide
open access to private school or homeschool or other things
that families who just can't afford a private school and
(05:30):
aren't happy with their local public school or need something different.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
This could really expand the opportunities that they have.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
You touched on something pretty important you talked about, you
know again, federal government program potential strings being attached. That's
the biggest issue or one of the biggest issues with
public schools right now. A lot of mandates coming out
of the Department of Education are being shoved down the
throat of not only folks at the statewide level, but
DONNA in all of our one hundred counties local board
of educations to keep all of that fedal money that's
(06:00):
funding things like free breakfast and after school programs, all
of those things that are tied to a lot of
red tape up at the federal level.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Well, I think that's the concern, and we don't know
what it's going to look like yet. And certainly, if
North Carolina decides to opt in, what kind of rules
will we put on that money and what would we
happen what would happen with those tax credits? But a
dollar for dollar tax credit is really something we have
to look at. You mentioned this, you know, The Reason
Foundation has a really interesting column about this and saying, look,
(06:29):
a federally run tax program could really become a vehicle
for national mandates, testing requirements, curriculum constraints, admission standards, all
these other sort of intrusive things that raise red flags
for families who are really interested in school choice and
why they want to leave public schools in the first place.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
So what is this going to look like? We don't
know yet, but.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
It is really an exciting opportunity to get the chance
to double dips, so to speak, on programs like the
Opportunity Scholarship.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
These innovations come from the states.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
North carol line of Opportunity Scholarship program has been incredibly
popular with waiting lists. So we need to make sure
that those programs like that are still protected because that
kind of innovation used to come from communities and from
the state. So I'm excited to hear what the federal
government has in plant, has in mind to implement this
text credit and what it would mean for North Carolina families.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Donald, would you quickly appinne on this national movement of
school choice. There's been many think tanks and many activists
and third party groups that have been pushing this charge
in many states, including North Carolina. It's getting national attention.
I'm seeing posts from all over the country on x
and Facebook and videos on YouTube about this school choice movement.
It seems to have really picked up some wheels really
(07:44):
just over the last couple of years.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Yeah, I mean, I think really since COVID, I mean
that's really when we saw this just you know, come
onto the scene. School choice homeschooling has been around for
a lot of families for decades, but when we when
COVID happened, it became much more prominent, much more to
the fur front. Because parents, one, we're very frustrated with
the lockdowns, particularly here in North Carolina, and we also
(08:06):
have a whole generation of families and parents that for
whom technology and choice and all of these things are
at their fingertips. You know, you've got all of this
stuff right in your house. You can order on a
website and have a product delivered this afternoon. Why shouldn't
education be the same way? And so you have a
mindset shift from one generation to the next, and they
(08:26):
see education very differently. It used to be a very
conservative or Republican even idea. It's not really anymore. You're
seeing a wide spectrum of ideologies, political parties, socioeconomic backgrounds
are really embracing the school choice movement because one, you
get one shot at your child's education. It's not a
(08:47):
trend that you can fix over twenty years because your
child is Nobody wants their child to be the social
experiment of a government beercrat.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
So that is what.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
We're seeing right now, and this kind of tax credit
could create SGOs that are able to make those dreams,
those ideas of a different kind of education a reality
for so many families. Here in North Carolina. We started
the osp program in twenty thirteen, incredibly popular. In the
last two years year and a half or so, the
(09:17):
North Carolina State Legislator has expanded it, lifted caps, has
made it available to all families on a sliding scale
with the poorest families being served first. And that's a
great example of how popular this could be in North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
It's a great opinion piece this morning that get in
the headline is North Carolina has a chance to double
down on education freedom. You can read it by visiting
our website Carolina Journal dot com. Donna King, the editor
in chief of The Carolina Journal, joins us Son the
Carolina Journal News Hour. It's five twenty Welcome back to
(09:54):
the Carolina Journal News Hour, Newstock eleven ten ninety nine
to three. WBT. Immigration arrests in North Carolina are up
one hundred and sixty two percent since President Donald Trump
took office for a second time in January of this year,
with more than fifteen hundred people being arrested. This is
double the number of arrests made by US Immigration and
(10:17):
Customs Enforcement that's ICE during the same time period in
twenty twenty four, According to data collected by the Deportation
Data Project, started by David Houseman, an associate professor at
UC's Berkeley Law School, The Deportation Data Project collects and
posts public US government immigration enforcement data from agencies including
(10:40):
ICE and Customs and Border Protection that's CBP, it gets
its information via Freedom of Information Act or FEOYA requests. Arrests, however,
are being made on an administrative basis, meaning that ICE
is seeking to deport rather than criminally prosecute those arrested
because they don't have a criminal record, and doesn't include
(11:01):
criminal arrests, arrests by ICE's Homeland Security Investigative Division, or
arrests by Customs and Border Protection. The Trump administration has
received some criticism for such arrests, despite saying that the
only only the quote worst of the worst illegal aliens
would be arrested. The Department of Homeland Security release a
(11:23):
statement on Tuesday countering the critics by saying that seventy
percent of ICE arrests have been of illegal aliens convicted
or charged with crimes. According to data from the Transactional
Record Access Clearinghouse or TRACK at Syracuse University, seventy one
percent of the more than fifty seven thousand people held
(11:44):
in iceed attention as of June the twenty ninth had
no criminal convictions, while many detained were for minor offenses
such as traffic violations. Nationally, there have been over ninety
four thousand arrests since January the TI twentieth. That's up
one hundred and twenty four percent from twenty twenty four.
According to multiple reports, more than eight thousand have been
(12:08):
deported to countries since that time. The biggest spike of
arrests came in June, which saw which saw forty two
percent more arrests than May and two hundred and sixty
eight percent more than June of twenty twenty four. Now,
turning our attention back to North Carolina, on average, there
have been eleven people arrested per day across the tar
(12:30):
Heel State, with the most in May, which saw more
than four hundred arrests statewide. Mecklenburg County has seen the
most ice arrests this year, with four hundred and thirty
six people being detained between January and June, followed by
Wait County with ninety eight arrests, Cabaris seventy one, Union
fifty two, New Hanover County forty five, Johnson twenty seven,
(12:54):
Harnett twenty one, Durham fifteen, Forsyth fourteen, and more county
nine arrests. Reports state that forty eight percent of the
seven hundred and ninety eight of the sixteen hundred people
arrested by ICE in the state had criminal records, and
twenty percent were arrested for being undocumented. Over eighty percent
(13:16):
of those arrested were from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and
El Salvador, and close to a thousand of those arrested
were deported by early June. North Carolina has seen its
share of problems created by illegal immigration with criminal records,
including Trende Aragua gang members in both the Raleigh and
(13:37):
Charlotte metro areas. Two brothers from Mexico, the Martin Solito brothers,
were arrested in twenty twenty two after the murder of
Wait County Deputy Sheriff Ned Bird. One of the brothers
then fled to Mexico, where he was extradited in February
and actually pled guilty to the murder in June. He
(13:57):
is scheduled to be sentenced this month.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
Now.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
This has been a very big issue for North Carolinians
and has been a top issue for the North Carolina
General Assembly as well. House Built ten required ICE cooperation
and budget adjustments to take place. It became law in
November of last year after the General Assembly overrode former
(14:21):
Democrat Governor Roy Cooper's veto That piece of legislation requires
sheriffs to cooperate with immigration and customs enforcement under North
Carolina law, rather than allowing every county to decide whether
or whether they will not work with the federal agency
to detain illegal immigrants arrested for major crimes. The legislature
(14:44):
continued to tighten up against illegal immigration this year with
Senate Bill one fifty three that's the North Carolina Border
Protection Act, as well as House Built three eighteen, the
Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act. Senate Bill one fift three
passed in a twenty six to seventeen vote back on
June tenth, and mandates broader cooperation between state agencies and
(15:09):
federal immigration authorities. It also seeks to curb sanctuary city
policies across North Carolina. Beyond law enforcement, Senate Bill one
fifty three instruct state agencies such as the Department of
Health and Human Services and the Division of Employment Security
to review public benefits distributed to unauthorized immigrants and ensure
(15:32):
that those benefits are curtailed where prohibited by law. The
bill also includes a provision to waive local government immunity
for jurisdictions that are deemed sanctuary cities or counties. This
would allow private citizens to sue their city, municipality, county
(15:53):
if they suffer harm as a result of illegal immigration activity. Additionally,
it bars the UNC system campuses from adopting policies that
limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. House Bill three eighteen
compels law enforcement agencies to honor detainer requests from US
Immigration and Customs Enforcement When an undocumented individual is arrested
(16:18):
and ICE issues a detainer, Local officials must hold said
person for up to forty eight hours to allow for
federal pick up. The legislation prohibits local governments from adopting
sanctuary policies and introduces penalties, including potential loss of state funding,
for non compliance. Additionally, it requires jail administrators to notify
(16:41):
ICE when they reasonably believe someone in custody is unlawfully
present in the United States, even if a detainer has
not yet been issued. As you can imagine, both of
those bills were vetoed by Democrat Governor Josh stein Back
on June the twentieth. He said he vetoed Senate Bill
one fifty three because quote at the time when our
(17:04):
law enforcement is already stretched thin, this bill takes state
law enforcement officers away from their existing state duties and
forces them to act as federal immigration agents. Furthermore, under
the current law, people without lawful immigration status are already
being prevented from receiving medicaid snap Section eight and other benefits.
(17:27):
Stein said that while he vetoed House Bill one thirty
eight because he believes it's unconstitutional, he does support the
bill's efforts to require sheriffs to contact federal immigration authorities
about people in their custody charged with sexual battery, armed robbery, arson,
assault on a public official or court personnel, and other
(17:49):
dangerous crimes, with the governor saying in his veto message quote,
people who commit these crimes should be held accountable, whether
or not they are here without legal law authorization, and
those charged with serious offenses ought to receive increased scrutiny
from federal immigration officials. However, he said that his oath
(18:10):
to the office requires that he upholds the Constitution of
the United States. He went on to write, Therefore, I
could not sign this bill because it would require sheriffs
to unconstitutionally detain people for up to forty eight hours
after they would have been otherwise released. The Fourth Circuit
is clear that local law enforcement officers cannot keep people
(18:32):
in their custody solely based on suspected immigration violations. But
let me be clear, anyone who commits a serious crime
in North Carolina must be prosecuted and held accountable, regardless
of their immigration status. With those two of veto's coming
out late last month of both chambers, the House and
(18:53):
the Senate are set to reconvene in Raleigh next week
to try and override Stein's veto's of not only those
two pieces of legislation, but twelve other bills that Republicans
have passed in the General Assembly. We will have additional
details and coverage of those veto overrides over on our website,
Carolina Journal dot com, and of course, right here on
(19:16):
the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's five thirty six. Welcome
back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. In an effort
to ease mounting frustrations with the North Carolina Division of
Motor Vehicle that's DMV, Governor Josh Stein recently signed Senate
(19:36):
Bill three ninety one into law, which grants a temporary
two year grace period for North Carolina drivers. Under this legislation,
licenses expired as of July the first will remain valid
for in state driving only through December thirty first of
twenty twenty seven. The measure was enacted in direct response
(19:58):
to backlogs at dm V where residents have encountered extensive
weight times or unavailability for renewal applications. While drivers can
legally operate a vehicle during this two year waiting period,
expired licenses are not valid for anything other than driving privileges. Also,
(20:19):
this extension does not apply to non resident non nor
to commercial, suspended, revoked, or canceled licenses. Officials continued to
urge drivers to renew early despite this relief effort. According
to Paul Time, the Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicle,
he noted, we advise our customers to renew their licenses
(20:41):
to ensure that they remain valid for identification purposes, including
to fly, rent a car, get a bank loan, fill
a prescription, and have documents notarized. As part of the
relief package, ncd and V has also expanded services. The
department has reopened twenty offices on Saturdays through the month
(21:02):
of August and is now accepting walk ins for renewals
and offering online renewals for convenience. However, once your license
is expired, licenses can only be renewed online once every
other time, so every other renewal cycle. In May, Paul
Tyne assumed the position of NCDMV Commissioner, succeeding Wayne Goodwin.
(21:27):
Under Goodwin's leadership, which began in twenty twenty two, there
was a lot of public backlash against the DMV. In
a committee hearing earlier this year. In February, Goodwin faced
harsh criticism from state lawmakers. Representative Brendan Jones, the Republican
out of Columbus County, told Goodwin, under your tenure the
end the NCDMV has one of the been most the
(21:50):
one of the most disfunctional agencies in state government. Time
described the DMV as broken and promised significant noting there
is no shorta no shortage of challenges faced by our division,
and it is critical that we get to work quickly
to reduce wait times, make our website more user friendly,
(22:12):
and empower our frontline staff to ensure the highest level
of service to our citizens. The much anticipated audit of
NCDMV is expected to be released soon, according to State
Auditor Dave Bollock. While appointments remain widely unavailable and frustrations
still remain, advocates hope that this legislation will be a
(22:34):
significant step towards expanding access to DMV services across North Carolina.
We've got some additional details on CENTIPIL three ninety one,
some of the ongoing problems with DMV. All of those
are on our website this morning, Carolina Journal dot com.
The headline NC drivers get two year grace period to
(22:55):
renew licenses again. You can read that over on our website,
Carolina Journal dot com, where it's now five forty News
Talk eleven ten ninety nine to three WBT. There is
a lot of competition in a variety of industries that
consumers deal with day in and day out. One of
them is home security. There's a very interesting legal battle
that's been going on in North Carolina with Charlotte based
(23:17):
CPI and one of their competitors. To walk us through
some of those details, Mitch COKEI with the John Locke Foundation,
joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, it's
pretty cutthroat out there. But I guess when you're a
competitor to CPI and you're actively lying about the company
and your sales pitch, that's not only unethical, but it
turns out it's actually highly illegal.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
And potentially very costly as well. Nick, we're talking about
the competition between CPI and Viviant Smart Home to big
home security companies, and basically what caught my eye as
I was looking through some court opinions was the fact
that this was a very high dollar legal dispute. As
it turns out, the Fourth US Circuit Court Appeals affirming
(24:02):
a ruling that says that Vivit may have to pay
CPI upwards of one hundred and ninety million dollars because
of some unfair competition practices. And basically the story is
that CPI was able to prove to a jury's satisfaction
that Viviant sales reps would go to CPI customers and
(24:25):
misrepresent what was happening with the company. Now, there's nothing
wrong with Viviant trying to go to a CPI customer
and saying, hey, we have a better product, we provide
better service, We're going to give you a better deal.
A better price, better equipment, better service for the equipment
than what CPI provides, so you should go with us.
(24:47):
But what CPI showed in the evidence, according to the
court records, was that VIVIDT sales reps would sales reps
would go to CPI customers and say CPI is going
out of business and we took over the business. So basically,
we already are your providers, and so you should get
this new contract with us while you have the chance.
(25:08):
And CPI said that this was not something that just
happened every once in a while some one rogue sales
were up. This was something that was repeated over and
over as CPI had documented more than five hundred customers
who were affected by this based on their complaints to CPI,
and they estimated, based on all kinds of numbers and
(25:31):
algorithms and everything, that there could have been somewhere in
the neighborhood of eleven thousand customers of CPI that were
affected by this. That's why a jury, after finding in
CPI's favor that it had proved that this had happened,
they awarded something close to fifty million dollars in actual
damages that were done to CPI because of Vivid's practices,
(25:55):
and then the jury award gets so large because of
punitive damages that we're thrown in in the neighborhood of
one hundred and forty million dollars. So, unless Vivint can
can get some sort of other court ruling, take this
to the Supreme Court and get some sort of ruling
for the Supreme Court in its favor, or find some
(26:15):
other way to challenge this in court, it's going to
have to end up paying out nearly one hundred and
ninety million dollars to this competitors, CPI that has its
home in Charlotte.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
So, Mitch, obviously, many folks, regardless of what service that
they're consuming or what provider they have in a litany
of different services, there's often these discussions, maybe a little
white lies, about how we can provide the service better
or we're a better company. Is it the blatant nature
of going to customers and saying, Hi, we're actually your
(26:49):
new provider, we bought the company that you're currently using,
when that was not true at all. Is that what
led them in this much trouble.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Yeah, that's exactly the case. We were talking earlier about
the fact, there's no problem for a representative of Vivid
or ADT or CPI or any of the other home
security companies to go to a customer, even one who's
already a customer of your competitor, and saying, hey, we
can do it better. We can give you a better
price or a better service, better technology, better response if
(27:20):
you have a problem. All of those things are fair game.
That's part of the normal competition for business. But the problem,
as documented in this case and has spelled out in
this Fourth Circuit opinion upholding the ruling and favor of
CPI and against Vivit, was that Vivit sales reps over
(27:40):
and over again, not just in one case or two,
or even more than that, in a handful of cases,
but in a repeated pattern, would go to the CPI
customers and misrepresent what was happening with CPI's business, and
in addition to that, not just saying bad things about
your competitor, but also saying, hey, we're taking over your
(28:02):
business already, so you should just sign a new contract
with us and get the best Vivid contract you can
get since Vivid is taking over CPI, which is going
out of business. That was a misrepresentation of what was happening.
The jury was convinced that that gave CPI almost fifty
million dollars in a judgment of actual damages to its business,
(28:27):
and then the large size of the award, much larger
than the fifty million, approaching one hundred and ninety million,
was because of punitive damages. And the punitive damages would
only be put on there because of the nature of
the offense. I mean, it's one thing for CPI or
for Vivid to have made a mistake and caused these damages,
(28:50):
but the punitive damages are in there because of the
way in which it was done.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
And I guess the question would be this vivit is
a very large company. They operate seemingly across the entire
higher United States. Mitch, There's no question about it. You
can go back to Lass from the nineteen forties. It's
highly illegal to do what they were doing with the
through algorithms. More than eleven thousand customers that could have
been affected. As you noted, this wasn't just a rogue
sales guy that was trying to boost his own numbers.
(29:16):
Presumably this had to be coming down from somewhere high
up in the company for this to be taking place.
What were they thinking.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
Yeah, now, I can't say, based on anything in the
court records that anything was said about the higher ups
that Viviant having some sort of plan about this that
was not necessarily spelled out in the court record. So
we don't want to say anything about Vivit having an
actual plan to do this. I don't think the court
record goes that far. But certainly the court record shows
(29:46):
that Vivant it did not respond to any complaints about
its practices in a way that would suggest that it
was against what was going on with the sales reps.
And in fact, part of what's spelled out of the
the court record is that this is not some one
time thing of Viviant just saying we don't like CPI,
(30:07):
We're going to attack its customers or attack its business
and try to lure its customers in this way with
just CPI. Apparently this has been something that's happened in
other states with other companies, and that state attorneys general
in other states have gone after Vivit because of its
business practices. So while the case doesn't say anything specifically
(30:32):
about Viviant and its executives have any having any sort
of a plan in place that called for these unfair
business practices. It was widespread enough that this has been
something that has been a problem for Viviant over and
over again for years.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
It's not only an interesting legal stories you noted, Mitch,
this is a costly mistake almost one hundred and ninety
million dollars. Folks can read some additional details by checking
out the story over on our website Carolina Journal dot com.
We appreciate the details. Mitch Coki from the John Locke
Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Good
(31:14):
morning again. It's five point fifty four. Welcome back to
the Carolina Journal News Hour. News tak eleven ten ninety
nine three w big WBT. We are tracking a major
at North Carolina political story this morning. According to multiple
media outlets, including Politico and Axios, former Democrat Governor Roy
Cooper is expected to announce his campaign for North Carolina
(31:38):
Senate as soon as Monday of next week. Again, that's
according to a multiple media outlets for the former two
term governor. Back in May, we conducted our Carolina Journal
poll and asked voters if they thought they had a
favorable or unfavorable image of the former governor. Forty seven
point five percent said they viewed Roy Cooper favorably, with
(32:01):
only thirty six point six percent saying they viewed him unfavorably.
Important to note in those categories, thirty three percent said
they viewed the governor very favorably, while only twenty four
percent said they had a very very unfavorable view of
the former governor. So his popularity continues to be very
(32:21):
strong here across the state of North Carolina. Of course,
this discussion is all coming forward after Republican Senator Tom
Tillis announced last month that he would not be seeking reelection.
This is after he sparred publicly and privately with President
Donald Trump over the One Big Beautiful Bill, making claims
(32:42):
on the floor of the United States Senate that Donald
Trump was betraying his voters, betraying their trust by the
drastic cuts to Medicaid and other governmental programs. Trump is
sparring back and fighting back against Tillis, talking about getting
a primary challenger ready, and while that's exactly what happened.
The next day, till Has released a press release and
(33:04):
announced that he would not be running for re election.
With Roy Cooper's seemingly guaranteed entrance into the race again
coming as early as next week, that puts the eye
on the Republican side of the isle as who will
be the front runner in that candidate. One of the
more popular names that has been flung around over the
(33:24):
last couple of weeks continues to be President Donald Trump's
daughter in law, Laura Trump. The Wrightsville Beach, a southeastern
North Carolina native, is reportedly considering her bid for the seat.
With that she would no doubt be the Republican front
runner candidate and probably wouldn't be very hard to get
the endorsement of her father in law in President Donald Trump.
(33:48):
But until a decision is made, there is essentially a
holding pattern for Republican recruitment. There are multiple declared candidates, however,
none of them are rising to any significant level of
prominence as its states right now, as all eyes continue
to wait for Lara Trump to jump into this race. Now,
on the Democrat side, Governor Roy Cooper, as we just recapped,
(34:09):
has an incredibly popular favorability and is a very popular
figure across the state of North Carolina. With his announcement
into the race, that likely boxes out other Democrats that
were potentially looking and vying for that. One of them
was Attorney General Jeff Jackson, who had been rumored to
run for this position. You can imagine that former Governor
(34:30):
Roy Cooper announcing his entrance into the race again sometime
next week will probably guarantee that no other significant Democrats
jump into the race for the United States Senate. This race,
according to Politico, is said to be the most competitive
in the twenty twenty six election cycle. We'll be keeping
an eye on all of the details right here on
(34:52):
the Carolina Journal News Hour. That's going to do it
for a Thursday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour.
U BT News is next, followed by Good Morning BT.
We're back with you tomorrow morning, five to six right
here on News Talk eleven, ten and ninety nine to
three WBT
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