August 15, 2025 • 36 mins
Polling in the U.S. Senate race between Roy Cooper and Michael Whatley shows the contest is shaping up to be competitive. More than 1,000 applications have been submitted to rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Helene. North Carolina has been awarded over $400 million from the EPA to improve drinking water infrastructure statewide.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
It's five oh five and welcome into a Friday edition
of the Carolina Journal News Hour news Stock eleven, ten
ninety nine three WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.
It has been a busy month in North Carolina politics.
Two major US Senate announcements, former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper
and the current head of the Republican National Committee, former
(00:28):
head of the NCGP, Michael Wattley, running on the Republican side.
We'll dive into some details out of our most recent
Carolina Journal poll this morning showing some details into that
race to walk us through it. David Larson joins us
from Carolina Journal dot com. David, a busy three or
four weeks here in North Carolina politics. What is our
Carolina Journal poll show this morning about this race, which
(00:49):
I'll note is all the way in November of next year.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yes, so we got some results in talk to six
hundred likely general election voters from North Carolina, and it
looks like, you know, not too surprising. It's kind of
a preliminary look. So a lot is obviously going to change,
but that preliminary look is probably what a lot of
people expected, which is a fairly well polling governor who
(01:17):
was able to win over a lot of unaffiliated voters
and a middle of the road voters is pulling ahead
of a fairly unknown Republican likely general election challenger is
still you know, primary season, but he's been endorsed by
Trump and it doesn't look like there's any major challenge
to him in the works from another Republican. But I
(01:40):
think maybe the big takeaway, so it's forty seven for
Cooper and thirty nine for Watley, but a big takeaway
there is that when asked about favorability for Cooper and
Whalley Watley, fifty one percent of people said they had
never even heard of Walley. So that's that's a that's
(02:03):
a number that gives opportunity to both sides obviously, because
now it's a race to create either positive name ID
or negative name ID or terms people using politics. But
you know, it's not just about getting their name out there,
but when they when that person first hears it, what
kind of idea are you sticking in their mind about
that person?
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
I think from the Democrat perspective, they're obviously going to
try to tie him really closely to Trump and hope
that Trump's numbers will be bad by you know, midterms,
and I don't know what else there is to really
go negative on him about, because he lives, from all
you know, signs a pretty quiet personal life and not
(02:44):
have run for any major office before. So I'm assuming
a lot of the attack will be, you know, based
around connection to Trump, which which is a close connection,
so he might live rise or fall based on that,
you know. And then Republicans, obviously, we'll try to find
some positive ways to identify them in the public's mind.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Some introduce him with some nice ads.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
But as most political scientists will tell you, negative ads
are more effective.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Than positive ads.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
People if you just say a much nice things about yourself,
they don't always just believe you in the same way
as you know if they hear a few negative things.
So it might be an advantage a little bit to
the Democrats there, just in.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
That if more than half of people haven't heard of them,
they can.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Go really hard negative early and hope that they can
make some things stick against them.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
So looking back at those top line numbers, as you noted,
forty seven point three for Roy Cooper, forty thirty nine
for Michael Wattley, the current head of the RNC. It's
about an eight point spread between the two candidates. David
I saw some chatter on social media on our Carolina
Journal social media, some folks are surprised that Roy Cooper's
(03:55):
numbers weren't a little bit higher, as you just kind
of walked us through. Michael Wattley say, fifty percent of
people haven't even heard of him, so he's a relatively
undefined candidate at this point. Roy Cooper has been in
the public spotlight in North Carolina for well over two decades.
Were you surprised with Cooper's forty seven percent? Did you
think that would be any higher, at least in this
(04:16):
preliminary poll.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I think when you're talking about a US Senate race,
there's a lot of people who have only voted, you know,
are pretty hard you know, conservative voters or liberal voters
for that US Senate seat, and they're used to trying
to get their side to win, and so I think
having him just right there under fifty percent is not
too surprising to me, because when it comes down to it,
(04:43):
not a lot of Republicans that are partisan Republicans for
the US Senate races and congressional races in the past
are probably going to want to vote for him for that,
So I think most of the people basically.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Are going to come home to their party.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
There there's about I think it was nine percent that
were an decided and then another almost four percent that
were saying they might pick somebody else.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I think some of those are maybe people who had.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Had somebody else in mind for the primaries, but those
people are also gonna eventually have to probably come home
to one of the candidates.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Maybe they'll be a third party candidate that jumps in.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
But I think that almost fourteen percent of people, if
it's evenly distributed between the two of them, would would
push Cooper.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Over the top at the moment.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So Wiley's going to have to claim, you know, all
of the outstanding Republican votes and a lot of that
undecided and other vote to whereas Cooper doesn't have far
to go to get that fifty plus one.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, no question about that. As we continue to watch
this race unfold, one of Roy Cooper's strong suits not
only is his name ID, which is incredibly high in
North Carolina. Regardless of whether people like his policies or
dislike his policies, they do know who he is, so
he's got that going for him. But David, when we
look at his past two gubernatorial elections where he was successful,
(06:06):
he was able to bring in some moderate and even
some right leaning unaffiliated voters to vote for him against
Republican candidates, and his two gubernatorial wins, how do you
think something like that plays out? Is now we transition
away from yes, a important statewide race and governor, but
a completely different animal when we talk about a United
States Senate race from a money standpoint, from a media
(06:29):
attention standpoint, how do you think some of that stuff
plays out?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I do think Republicans have a little bit more of
an advantage for federal races, you know, whether it's a
conscious thing or not. They've other than you know, k
Hagen and John Edwards, you know, those were Democrats that
won US Senate. But other than that, for you know,
much of the recent history, it's kind of the Republicans.
(06:55):
Just like, for whatever reason, North Carolinians will attorney general
Republicans pretty much never won that since the Civil.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
War period, and governor very rarely so.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
For whatever reason, North Carolinians tend to favor the swing
voters among people.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Most people have their pretty devoted parties.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
But for federal races, I think even somebody who voted Cooper,
I think, you know, you give maybe a slight edge
to Republicans for these kind of US Senate races.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
We talked about Michael Wattley's favorability versus unfavorability. I want
to dive a little bit more into Roy Cooper's forty
seven point two have a favorable viewpoint of him, while
thirty nine point seven rounding that up almost forty percent,
so they have an unfavorable view. When we talked about
the former governor's announcement back a couple of weeks ago, David,
we talked about some of those issues that could come
(07:47):
back and haunt the governor. One of the big ones
that you've already seen in some online social media advertising
is COVID nineteen. Some of the lockdowns associated with that,
I would imagine that's probably a large portion of those
unfit favorable numbers that the governor is seeing in this
very early preliminary poll.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yes, I think, yeah, some of the uh, they'll be
able to consolidate a lot of conservative.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
You know, that's an issue that really plays.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Well with conservatives, as COVID nineteen, and you know, as
you and I just discussed before, I was always kind
of surprised that it didn't play as well widely when
you when you pull people on you know, Cooper's response
to COVID, he'd actually do fairly well during that whole thing.
I think people were more forgiving maybe at the state level,
their federal mandates.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Whatever it was.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
But I think they might have to pivot to some
other things that play well more broadly.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Obviously they're probably pulling these and finding, you know, doing
interest groups and finding which issues will play the best.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
But I think things like.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
The Hurricane Helene response and also other hurricanes were that
they haven't still built the homes and recovered you know,
that's been encore. The government agency that's responsible for that
under him did not you know, have very good results there.
And then so the d m V maybe that's one
(09:10):
that people have had a lot of complaints about. That's
something under his North Carolina Department of Transportation.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
So maybe they could do ads about that.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
You know, there's all the vetos, maybe immigration, things with
sanctuary cities, crime and things like that. I think they'll
they'll probably have a lot of issues to go on,
because he's he's been in state, you know, either attorney
general or governor. He had four terms attorney general and
to his governor, so there's a long history. There's a
(09:41):
bunch of issues that they can they can pull even
maybe something from his attorney general days. There's sort of
the rate kit issue that people were always saying, Oh,
we've got to solve this, and then somebody get in
and it wouldn't get solved. So yeah, there's there's there's
quite a bit. I don't know if if co it
will be the final one. You know, once once it's
(10:04):
a general election, it might work.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
They probably will have to kind of reassess after running
some ads on that for a while.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Absolutely, and as I knowed at the beginning, this race
is still very far away. The primary is in until
March of next year, and then of course the general
election coming up in November. So again looking at those
top line numbers, we are going to keep a very
close eye on this United States Senate race as we
transition into the fall and into the early parts of
next year. We'll continue the conversation with David Larson on
(10:34):
this more most recent Carolina Journal poll coming up here
in just a few minutes. As you continue and we continue,
you're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's five
twenty Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour news
Stock eleven, ten ninety nine three WBT.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
This week, the.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
North Carolina Department of Commerce announced that it's single family
Housing program, also known as renew and C, has received
more than one thousand applications. This is dealing with Hurricane
Helene recovery in the western half of the state, with
construction expected to begin on the first home supposedly within
(11:15):
the next month. The program is administered through the Department's
Division of Community Revitalization, which is assisting in repairs and
rebuilding of homes that were either completely or partially destroyed
by Hurricane Helene. Governor Josh Stein said in the press release.
Too many families in western North Carolina lost their homes
(11:36):
after Hurricane Helene. This program will help people rebuild their
homes and their lives after the storm. The renew NC
Single Family Housing program is supported by more than eight
hundred and seven million dollars in federal funding and is
designed to meet the remaining long term recovery needs for
(11:56):
homeowners in western North Carolina. That's according to the press RelA.
The program prioritizes low to moderate income families living in
communities that suffered severe storm damage following the most destructive
storm in the state of North Carolina's history. North Carolina
Commerce Secretary Lee Lily said in a press release, getting
(12:18):
people home is where recovery really begins for survivors and
their communities, and renew NC is focused on getting our
most vulnerable families home. We will work closely. We will
continue working closely with our local and state partners to
make sure that recovery reaches every corner of the impacted
(12:39):
areas in western North Carolina. According to press release, Since
its launch, renew NC teams have been working directly in
communities to connect with residents and ensure recovery resources reach
those who need it most, with offices now open in Asheville, Boone,
and Marion. The program is also partner with local governments, nonprofits,
(13:02):
as well as trusted community organizations across the region. To date,
renew NC has conducted assessments on two hundred and seven properties,
including those with unrepaired damage from Hurricane Helene. According to
the release, those evaluations provide critical information for environmental reviews
(13:23):
and form the foundation for approving recovery applications. According it
to the director of renew nc's A Single Family a
Housing program, Maggie Ballenton, She notes, renew NC teams are
working tirelessly to reach families across western North Carolina in
some of the hardest hit areas, from local intake centers
(13:46):
to community events to door to door outreach. We are
committed to ensuring people know that help is on the way.
Applications continue open for homeowners in twenty nine counties. Not
going to read through all of those, but they include
all of the counties in the western half of the
state that were heavily impacted by Hurricane Helena, and I
(14:08):
will note in Mecklenburg County those in ZIP code two
eight two one four. The renew NC program is supported
by the Community Development Block Disaster Recovery Grant that came
from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD.
The eight hundred and seventy eight hundred and seven million
(14:29):
dollars has been allocated to renew NC is also part
of a larger one point four billion dollar grant that
was allocated to the state for recovery and disaster relief.
In the wake of Hurricane Helene. Renew NC plans to
launch two new housing initiatives, a multifamily housing program which
will support small rental projects with seven or fewer units
(14:53):
and large developments with eight or more units, as well
as a Workforce Housing for Ownership program JAMES to create
affordable homeownership opportunities for broader range of working households. The
organization will also roll out an infrastructure and economic revitalization
program in the months. In the months ahead as well.
(15:15):
Homeowners seeking more information about this program can visit renew
NC dot org or visit one of those in person locations.
The links to all of that are on our website
This Morning Carolina Journal dot com, or you can head
on over to renew NC dot org. As many folks
are watching this process unfold. The hurricane recovery in the
(15:38):
eastern half of the state under previous Democrat Governor Roy
Cooper encore with Hurricanes Matthew and Florence. That is still
on a lot of folks minds, hoping that the state
does not repeat some of those same mistakes that took
place with hurricanes at Matthew and Florence. We'll keep an
eye on this program as it does continue to roll
out over on our website, Carolina Journal dot com and
(15:59):
right now here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, where
it's now five twenty six Newstock eleven, ten ninety nine
to three WBT. David, as we continue with some details
on the poll this morning. It wasn't just this Senate
race that we pulled voters on. There's a variety and
the litany of other issues that consumers are dealing with.
Tariffs have been a major topic over at Carolina Journal
(16:20):
dot com and here on the Carolina Journal News Hour
as well. Continued anxiety with increases in prices looming. Did
we ask any questions about pricing and tariffs and what
was some what did some of those responses look like.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, so it's been an issue for a while. You know,
during Biden's term, there's kind of the term Biden inflation.
You know, that was something Republicans were able to kind
of hang on his administration to really good effect. And
I think maybe the Trump administration could have some liability
or you know, risk here around the tariff issue. Just
as we look at some of the polling and we
(16:55):
ask people what kind of issues they're they're concerned about
with their per sol you know, finances and all that debt,
interest rates, all kinds of things. But the ones that
really rose to the top were on the cost of goods,
including healthcare, but also bills, energy, grocery, store costs were
(17:15):
really high. So those are the ones people picked as
their things they're most concerned about. And we had another
question too about whether you know, you know, interest rates
or prices were something that was more affecting them, because
there's been some discussion about that. I think Trump as
at times implied that maybe if the Fed would just
(17:37):
lower interest rates back down, that would be a solution.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
But it looked like, you know, seventy three percent or so.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
If people said a bigger problem was costs than the
interest rates.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
So that was also an issue there.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
And then when we asked people about tariffs, about two
thirds of them said tariffs. You know, we asked if
they raised prices or not, and they said they do
raise price So that's it kind of shows that this
is an issue people are concerned about and in the
general you know, public's perspective, it's something that raises prices.
(18:10):
I mean, it's almost by definition because it's it's an
added tax on top of goods that you're buying. So
it doesn't necessarily mean everybody was against it. Because we
had another question about for foreign trade policy.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
You know, would you rather have something that's more.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Free trade and encourages you know, low tariffs and low
regulations on trade, or would you like something more protects
American industries with subsidies and tariffs. And it was it
was I believe forty six to thirty five something like that,
So there was a good chunk of it was closer
at least when you ask them to pick between the
(18:48):
two strategies.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
But I think people are weighing that there's a few
issues there.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
You know that this might raise prices, but it also
might bring back manufacturing jobs, or it might do something else,
I like protecting industry. So I think sometimes these polls
it's tough to get at, you know, all those various
angles of things people are weighing when they answer the question.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
One of the interesting things I took away, Obviously, you
look at prices, and you talk about grocery stores, David
and some of the other inflated prices in the sector.
There's not a whole lot that local really even state
government can do about that. That's more directives out of Washington,
d C. But as you talked about a few minutes ago, housing, yes,
interest rates are not controlled locally, but zoning and construction
(19:33):
and housing affordability is a big topic predominantly in some
of our larger and medium sized metropolitan areas across North Carolina.
Many of them have elections coming up later this year
in twenty twenty five. You'll see a lot of city
and town councils that will be voted on coming up
later this year. Seems like this affordable housing discussion here
(19:54):
in North Carolina. As the state continues to be the
number one state for business, a lot of folks flocking
to North Carolina from around the rest of the country.
This is a major issue that actually local governments, David,
are going to have to deal with less about what's
going on at the federal level in DC and maybe
even less as to what's going on in Raleigh up
at the General Assembly.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Yeah, this is this is an interesting issue housing because
you get so many different views even within parties, so
you get kind of strange bedfellows where you get on
the conservative side on the right, you'll get kind of
your yimbie free market kind of people allying with a
lot of urban you know, progressives who want you know,
(20:35):
they want more housing available and all that.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
But then you also get people on the.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Left who are you know, they want more regulations, they
don't like gentrification, or they don't whatever, they don't want
as many building, and those people kind of allig with
you might call nimbi's on the right that want suburban
protect suburban areas protected, and their their value of their
home and their neighborhood kind of locked in stone a
little bit. So it's interesting because it's hard to really
(21:02):
pin down a particular partisan divide on this issue.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
But you know, John Locke.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Foundation being more free market, we would like to see,
as you said, zoning and regulations, those kind of things
loosened because a lot of times when people move to
an area, their job might be in a big city,
and things young people want to do might be in
a city, and so they want to live kind of close.
And if you make the zoning very rigid and you
don't allow a lot of building, the city just expands
(21:29):
further and further out and eats up a bunch of countryside.
You know that people in the rural areas start not
liking that, because then all of a sudden, there's big
developments popping up in rural areas, and traffic is worse
because more people have to spend more time in their
cars and have to extend roads and services further and
further out. So from a more free market perspective, we'd
like to allow the cities to or you know, have
(21:53):
more density in the city so people could live where
they kind of want to live and then it doesn't
sprawl out and cause more chaos further out.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah, we'll see how that plays out in these local elections.
With a lot of those zoning and regulations for new
construction and permit permits across the state of North Carolina,
there's a lot more that we didn't have a chance
to get into you this morning. You can read the
full poll by visiting our website this morning, Carolina Journal
dot com. We've got a nice little poll tab right
there on the navigation bar. We appreciate the update this morning.
(22:22):
David Larson joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour
five point thirty nine. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal
News Hour. New Stock eleven, ten ninety nine three WBT.
I'm Nick Craig, A good Friday morning to you. Earlier
this week, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, also known as
(22:42):
EPA announced a four hundred and nine point four million
dollar grant to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
that's NCDEQ, with its goal to improve local drinking water
utility infrastructures so that public water syms may better withstand
natural disasters. United States Senator Ted Budd, one of our
(23:06):
two senators here in North Carolina, set in a press
release quote, since Hurricane Helene struck last September, repairing Western
North Carolina's damage infrastructure to be stronger and more reliable
in the future has been a key component of all
of the ongoing recovery efforts as Western North Carolina rebuilds.
(23:27):
I am grateful to President Trump and EPA Administrator Lee
Zelden for their efforts to ensure North Carolina receives critical
grant funding to reconstruct and reinforce the quality of our
water systems, enabling our recovering communities to build more durable infrastructure.
This is a step in the right direction to aid
(23:49):
reconstruction efforts and to mitigate future natural disasters, also getting
some commentary coming in from individuals on the ground. Russell
Fox is the may of Burnsville, a small town in
western North Carolina. He said in the press release quote
Helene completely destroyed the town of Burnsville's raw water intakes,
(24:10):
leaving residents, businesses, schools, medical facilities, and government agencies without water.
The town is still running on a temporary pumping system
until the primary intake system can be rebuilt. The cost
of providing water services to users has increased dramatically since
the storm. The need for funding is always an issue,
(24:33):
but even more so now. We need to strengthen our
systems against disasters, and the EPA funding has given us
the opportunity to do that. The town of Burnsville is
very grateful. According to EPA, these funds are provided through
the twenty twenty five Supplemental Appropriations for Hurricane Helene, Milton
(24:53):
and Hawaii wildfires, and is being administered and here locally
by the North Carolina Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. They
may be used for projects to enhance drinking water treatment,
improve water distribution systems, upgrade water supply sources, rebuild or
replace or build finished water storage tanks, and complete other
(25:16):
infrastructure improvements necessary to safeguarding public health through better drinking
water systems. EPA Administrator Lee Zelden talked about the importance, noting,
in February, I visited communities in Asheville to witness first
hand the crucial role drinking water utilities have in responding
(25:36):
to natural disasters. This funding to the North Carolina Department
of Environmental Quality will help secure the infrastructure of these
systems to ensure that EPA can fulfill its core mission
to protect human health and the environment. End quote there
from EPA Administrator Lee Zelden. US Senator Tom Tillis commenting
(25:59):
on this on social media, saying, as western North Carolina
continues to recover from Helene, the EPA's funding is an
important investment in building stronger, more resilient water infrastructure. I
appreciate Lee Zelden's commitment to supporting our state as we
work to rebuild critical infrastructure and make communities whole again.
(26:21):
Those comments again coming in from Senator Tillis. Some other
comments coming in from Pam Snipes. This is the mayor
of Old Forts, saying, quote, the town of old Ford's
water system was destroyed by Hurricane Helene. Fortunately, our citizens
were provided water as quickly as possible, but it was
provided with band aid repairs. Over the last ten months,
(26:44):
the town has been working to make those repairs more efficient,
and as we know, repairs are very expensive. The availability
of these funds will provide a way to ensure going
forward that our water system will be a stable system
in the event of another natural disaster. According to the
press release, under section fourteen fifty two of the Safe
(27:07):
Water Drinking Act, states may use these funds to advance
the Act's public health protection goals. The allocation will capitalize
on that, and it is also set to provide potential
low interest loans, particularly with principal forgiveness, to support the planning, design,
and construction of qualified drinking water improvement projects. The North
(27:31):
Carolina DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson set in a press release
Hurricane Helene severely damaged drinking water systems throughout western North Carolina,
and thousands of people were without safe drinking water for weeks.
These investments will make drinking water systems more resilient for
future storms, helping to ensure that communities have uninterrupted access
(27:55):
to healthy water even though it has taken some time
as a Helene affected our state eight back in September
of last year, we are beginning to see this process
unfold and roll out here as this money and more
than four hundred and nine million dollars being granted to
ncd EQ from the EPA. We've got some additional details
(28:16):
and quotes on this story this morning over on our website,
Carolina Journal dot com, well as we have covered on
and off throughout the week. Tropical Storm Erin continues her
progress west across the Atlantic Ocean. This morning, the National
Hurricane Center noting as of their five am advisory about
forty five minutes or so ago, that the storm is
(28:39):
continuing to grow with maximum sustained winds now it's seventy
miles an hour. Aaron is expected to become a hurricane.
That is expected probably within the next couple of hours.
As we progress through your Friday, its movement continues west
northwest at seventeen miles an hour, and all eyes are
on the final track of the storm or many of
(29:00):
the computer models do have the storm splitting the gap
between the coast of North Carolina and a Bermuda. As
we head into the middle and ladder parts of next
week is when we would expect that to take place.
Those models seem to be pretty consistent in showing the
storm recurving around the United States and Bermuda and heading
(29:20):
back out to see as it is now expected to
become a major Category four hurricane. The National Hurricane Center
Project Projects projects that to be the case coming up
next Wednesday. So a major Category four hurricane, some likely
increased rip current and high surf in our coastal communities.
As we watch the modeling in those computer systems continuing
(29:42):
to show that track, if anything dramatically changes in that
if that track looks like it could put any part
of our state or South Carolina in the risk, we'll
keep you up to date with all those details right
here on the Carolina Journal News Hour and of course
on our website. If anything real breaking happens, you'll find
those details over at Carolina Journal dot com. Good morning again,
(30:09):
it's five poin fifty one. Welcome back to the Carolina
Journal News Hour, Newstock eleven ten ninety nine three WBT
recapping our big story this morning. Our most recent Carolina
Journal poll out yesterday shows some interesting details as we
look ahead to the twenty twenty six Senate race here
in North Carolina. Of course, a lot of news over
(30:29):
the last six weeks, Senator Tom Tillis announcing that he
would not be seeking reelection, causing a huge vacuum to
take place in that race. Since then, former Democrat Governor
Roy Cooper has announced his intention to serve in that position,
and current head of the RNC, former head of the
North Carolina Republican Party Michael Wattley has thrown hit at
(30:50):
his hat into the race on the Republican side, picking
up the endorsement from President Donald Trump. Our poll shows
that forty seven point three percent of voters would support
Roy Cooper in that race if it were held today.
Forty percent say they would definitely vote for Cooper, while
seven point three percent say they probably would. Turning our
(31:10):
attention to the Republican candidate in Michael Wattley, thirty nine
point one percent of voters say they would support him,
about an eight percent difference between Cooper and Watley. Twenty
four point seven definitely supporting the RNC chairman, while fourteen
point four percent say they would probably support him. About
ten percent of the voters do remain unsure or undecided
(31:33):
in that race, and around four percent say they plan
on voting for somebody else, potentially a third party candidate.
Diving into some additional details, the favorability for both candidates,
Roy Cooper's favorability sits at forty seven point two percent,
his unfavorability rounding up to forty percent thirty nine point
seven There nine percent of people said they had no
(31:55):
opinion of the former Democrat governor and four point two
percent said they had never heard heard of him, So
he's got a very high name idea and very high
approval for that. On the other side, with Michael Wattley,
his favorability sits at fourteen point nine percent, unfavorable eleven
point three percent. In the largest group, fifty one point
(32:15):
three percent of voters say they have never heard of
the current RNC former NCGOP chairman, while an additional twenty
two percent said that they had no opinion on Michael Wattley.
His unknown name definitely playing out in this early poll.
We did ask a variety of other questions at dealing
(32:36):
with the economy, dealing with inflation, and crime. All of
those details are on our poll tab this morning. Carolina
Journal dot com you'll see it at the top of
the page. It says news, Opinion, then polls. You can
click on that and read through all of the details.
Donald Bryson, the CEO of the John Locke Foundation, said, quote,
(32:56):
North Carolina's race for Senate has only just begun, but
the Wattley campaign appears to have a lot of legwork
in front of them if they want to be competitive.
Cooper certainly has an advantage in this race, having held
statewide office for twenty four consecutive years. The name id
figures that should not give either party heartburn or confidence.
(33:18):
We will continue to attract this race as it continues
to play out in the coming months and of course
all the way through November of next year, with additional
polling and additional coverage of this race over on our
website to Carolina Journal dot com. In some statewide news
this morning, the North Carolina Department of Commerce has announced
(33:39):
that its single family housing program, also known as Renew
and Seed, has received more than one thousand applications, and
some of the positive news that they are reporting is
that construction is expected to begin on the first homes
within the next month. Renew NC rather is tasked with
(33:59):
rebuilding and reconstructing and repairing homes in western North Carolina
that were destroyed by Hurricane Helene. In September of last year,
Governor Josh Stein saying in a press release, too many
families in western North Carolina lost their homes after Helene.
This program will help people rebuild their homes and their
(34:19):
lives after the storm. The renew NC Single Family Housing
program is supported by more than eight hundred and seven
million dollars in federal funding and is designed to meet
the remaining long term recovery needs of homeowners in Western
North Carolina. The program prioritizes low to moderate income families
(34:40):
living in communities that suffered severe storm damage following the
most destructive storm in state history. Commerce Secretary Lee Lilly said,
getting people home is where recovery really begins for survivors
and their communities, and renew NC is focused on getting
our most vuln perable families home. We will continue working
(35:03):
closely with our local and state partners to make sure
that recovery reaches every corner of the impacted areas in
North Carolina. To date, renew NC has conducted assessments on
two hundred and seven properties across western North Carolina, many
of those remaining unrepaired from damage with Hurricane Helene, and
(35:23):
the applications do remain open to homeowners in twenty nine
counties spread across the central and western half of the state.
This money is coming from HUD the Housing and Urban
Development or the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
More than eight hundred and seventy eight hundred and seven
rather million dollars being allocated to renew NC is part
(35:46):
of a larger one point four billion dollar Community Development
Block grant for disaster recovery. This program is a remaining
ongoing Again the positive news, it looks like some construction
or repairs could begin as soon as next month. That
would be less than a year after the storm hit
our state, and the program does remain open. Folks can
(36:08):
visit renew NC dot org this morning to find out
additional details, including some in person locations. Offices set up
in western North Carolina to help determine if a homeowner
qualifies for assistance. Well that's going to do it. For
a Friday edition of The Carolina Journal News Hour WBT
News is next, followed by Good Morning BT, We're back
(36:29):
with You Monday 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 Friday edition
of the Carolina Journal News Hour news Stock eleven, ten
ninety nine three WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.
It has been a busy month in North Carolina politics.
Two major US Senate announcements, former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper
and the current head of the Republican National Committee, former
(00:28):
head of the NCGP, Michael Wattley, running on the Republican side.
We'll dive into some details out of our most recent
Carolina Journal poll this morning showing some details into that
race to walk us through it. David Larson joins us
from Carolina Journal dot com. David, a busy three or
four weeks here in North Carolina politics. What is our
Carolina Journal poll show this morning about this race, which
(00:49):
I'll note is all the way in November of next year.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yes, so we got some results in talk to six
hundred likely general election voters from North Carolina, and it
looks like, you know, not too surprising. It's kind of
a preliminary look. So a lot is obviously going to change,
but that preliminary look is probably what a lot of
people expected, which is a fairly well polling governor who
(01:17):
was able to win over a lot of unaffiliated voters
and a middle of the road voters is pulling ahead
of a fairly unknown Republican likely general election challenger is
still you know, primary season, but he's been endorsed by
Trump and it doesn't look like there's any major challenge
to him in the works from another Republican. But I
(01:40):
think maybe the big takeaway, so it's forty seven for
Cooper and thirty nine for Watley, but a big takeaway
there is that when asked about favorability for Cooper and
Whalley Watley, fifty one percent of people said they had
never even heard of Walley. So that's that's a that's
(02:03):
a number that gives opportunity to both sides obviously, because
now it's a race to create either positive name ID
or negative name ID or terms people using politics. But
you know, it's not just about getting their name out there,
but when they when that person first hears it, what
kind of idea are you sticking in their mind about
that person?
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
I think from the Democrat perspective, they're obviously going to
try to tie him really closely to Trump and hope
that Trump's numbers will be bad by you know, midterms,
and I don't know what else there is to really
go negative on him about, because he lives, from all
you know, signs a pretty quiet personal life and not
(02:44):
have run for any major office before. So I'm assuming
a lot of the attack will be, you know, based
around connection to Trump, which which is a close connection,
so he might live rise or fall based on that,
you know. And then Republicans, obviously, we'll try to find
some positive ways to identify them in the public's mind.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Some introduce him with some nice ads.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
But as most political scientists will tell you, negative ads
are more effective.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Than positive ads.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
People if you just say a much nice things about yourself,
they don't always just believe you in the same way
as you know if they hear a few negative things.
So it might be an advantage a little bit to
the Democrats there, just in.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
That if more than half of people haven't heard of them,
they can.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Go really hard negative early and hope that they can
make some things stick against them.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
So looking back at those top line numbers, as you noted,
forty seven point three for Roy Cooper, forty thirty nine
for Michael Wattley, the current head of the RNC. It's
about an eight point spread between the two candidates. David
I saw some chatter on social media on our Carolina
Journal social media, some folks are surprised that Roy Cooper's
(03:55):
numbers weren't a little bit higher, as you just kind
of walked us through. Michael Wattley say, fifty percent of
people haven't even heard of him, so he's a relatively
undefined candidate at this point. Roy Cooper has been in
the public spotlight in North Carolina for well over two decades.
Were you surprised with Cooper's forty seven percent? Did you
think that would be any higher, at least in this
(04:16):
preliminary poll.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I think when you're talking about a US Senate race,
there's a lot of people who have only voted, you know,
are pretty hard you know, conservative voters or liberal voters
for that US Senate seat, and they're used to trying
to get their side to win, and so I think
having him just right there under fifty percent is not
too surprising to me, because when it comes down to it,
(04:43):
not a lot of Republicans that are partisan Republicans for
the US Senate races and congressional races in the past
are probably going to want to vote for him for that,
So I think most of the people basically.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Are going to come home to their party.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
There there's about I think it was nine percent that
were an decided and then another almost four percent that
were saying they might pick somebody else.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I think some of those are maybe people who had.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Had somebody else in mind for the primaries, but those
people are also gonna eventually have to probably come home
to one of the candidates.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Maybe they'll be a third party candidate that jumps in.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
But I think that almost fourteen percent of people, if
it's evenly distributed between the two of them, would would
push Cooper.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Over the top at the moment.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So Wiley's going to have to claim, you know, all
of the outstanding Republican votes and a lot of that
undecided and other vote to whereas Cooper doesn't have far
to go to get that fifty plus one.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, no question about that. As we continue to watch
this race unfold, one of Roy Cooper's strong suits not
only is his name ID, which is incredibly high in
North Carolina. Regardless of whether people like his policies or
dislike his policies, they do know who he is, so
he's got that going for him. But David, when we
look at his past two gubernatorial elections where he was successful,
(06:06):
he was able to bring in some moderate and even
some right leaning unaffiliated voters to vote for him against
Republican candidates, and his two gubernatorial wins, how do you
think something like that plays out? Is now we transition
away from yes, a important statewide race and governor, but
a completely different animal when we talk about a United
States Senate race from a money standpoint, from a media
(06:29):
attention standpoint, how do you think some of that stuff
plays out?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I do think Republicans have a little bit more of
an advantage for federal races, you know, whether it's a
conscious thing or not. They've other than you know, k
Hagen and John Edwards, you know, those were Democrats that
won US Senate. But other than that, for you know,
much of the recent history, it's kind of the Republicans.
(06:55):
Just like, for whatever reason, North Carolinians will attorney general
Republicans pretty much never won that since the Civil.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
War period, and governor very rarely so.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
For whatever reason, North Carolinians tend to favor the swing
voters among people.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Most people have their pretty devoted parties.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
But for federal races, I think even somebody who voted Cooper,
I think, you know, you give maybe a slight edge
to Republicans for these kind of US Senate races.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
We talked about Michael Wattley's favorability versus unfavorability. I want
to dive a little bit more into Roy Cooper's forty
seven point two have a favorable viewpoint of him, while
thirty nine point seven rounding that up almost forty percent,
so they have an unfavorable view. When we talked about
the former governor's announcement back a couple of weeks ago, David,
we talked about some of those issues that could come
(07:47):
back and haunt the governor. One of the big ones
that you've already seen in some online social media advertising
is COVID nineteen. Some of the lockdowns associated with that,
I would imagine that's probably a large portion of those
unfit favorable numbers that the governor is seeing in this
very early preliminary poll.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yes, I think, yeah, some of the uh, they'll be
able to consolidate a lot of conservative.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
You know, that's an issue that really plays.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Well with conservatives, as COVID nineteen, and you know, as
you and I just discussed before, I was always kind
of surprised that it didn't play as well widely when
you when you pull people on you know, Cooper's response
to COVID, he'd actually do fairly well during that whole thing.
I think people were more forgiving maybe at the state level,
their federal mandates.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Whatever it was.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
But I think they might have to pivot to some
other things that play well more broadly.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Obviously they're probably pulling these and finding, you know, doing
interest groups and finding which issues will play the best.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
But I think things like.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
The Hurricane Helene response and also other hurricanes were that
they haven't still built the homes and recovered you know,
that's been encore. The government agency that's responsible for that
under him did not you know, have very good results there.
And then so the d m V maybe that's one
(09:10):
that people have had a lot of complaints about. That's
something under his North Carolina Department of Transportation.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
So maybe they could do ads about that.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
You know, there's all the vetos, maybe immigration, things with
sanctuary cities, crime and things like that. I think they'll
they'll probably have a lot of issues to go on,
because he's he's been in state, you know, either attorney
general or governor. He had four terms attorney general and
to his governor, so there's a long history. There's a
(09:41):
bunch of issues that they can they can pull even
maybe something from his attorney general days. There's sort of
the rate kit issue that people were always saying, Oh,
we've got to solve this, and then somebody get in
and it wouldn't get solved. So yeah, there's there's there's
quite a bit. I don't know if if co it
will be the final one. You know, once once it's
(10:04):
a general election, it might work.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
They probably will have to kind of reassess after running
some ads on that for a while.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Absolutely, and as I knowed at the beginning, this race
is still very far away. The primary is in until
March of next year, and then of course the general
election coming up in November. So again looking at those
top line numbers, we are going to keep a very
close eye on this United States Senate race as we
transition into the fall and into the early parts of
next year. We'll continue the conversation with David Larson on
(10:34):
this more most recent Carolina Journal poll coming up here
in just a few minutes. As you continue and we continue,
you're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's five
twenty Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour news
Stock eleven, ten ninety nine three WBT.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
This week, the.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
North Carolina Department of Commerce announced that it's single family
Housing program, also known as renew and C, has received
more than one thousand applications. This is dealing with Hurricane
Helene recovery in the western half of the state, with
construction expected to begin on the first home supposedly within
(11:15):
the next month. The program is administered through the Department's
Division of Community Revitalization, which is assisting in repairs and
rebuilding of homes that were either completely or partially destroyed
by Hurricane Helene. Governor Josh Stein said in the press release.
Too many families in western North Carolina lost their homes
(11:36):
after Hurricane Helene. This program will help people rebuild their
homes and their lives after the storm. The renew NC
Single Family Housing program is supported by more than eight
hundred and seven million dollars in federal funding and is
designed to meet the remaining long term recovery needs for
(11:56):
homeowners in western North Carolina. That's according to the press RelA.
The program prioritizes low to moderate income families living in
communities that suffered severe storm damage following the most destructive
storm in the state of North Carolina's history. North Carolina
Commerce Secretary Lee Lily said in a press release, getting
(12:18):
people home is where recovery really begins for survivors and
their communities, and renew NC is focused on getting our
most vulnerable families home. We will work closely. We will
continue working closely with our local and state partners to
make sure that recovery reaches every corner of the impacted
(12:39):
areas in western North Carolina. According to press release, Since
its launch, renew NC teams have been working directly in
communities to connect with residents and ensure recovery resources reach
those who need it most, with offices now open in Asheville, Boone,
and Marion. The program is also partner with local governments, nonprofits,
(13:02):
as well as trusted community organizations across the region. To date,
renew NC has conducted assessments on two hundred and seven properties,
including those with unrepaired damage from Hurricane Helene. According to
the release, those evaluations provide critical information for environmental reviews
(13:23):
and form the foundation for approving recovery applications. According it
to the director of renew nc's A Single Family a
Housing program, Maggie Ballenton, She notes, renew NC teams are
working tirelessly to reach families across western North Carolina in
some of the hardest hit areas, from local intake centers
(13:46):
to community events to door to door outreach. We are
committed to ensuring people know that help is on the way.
Applications continue open for homeowners in twenty nine counties. Not
going to read through all of those, but they include
all of the counties in the western half of the
state that were heavily impacted by Hurricane Helena, and I
(14:08):
will note in Mecklenburg County those in ZIP code two
eight two one four. The renew NC program is supported
by the Community Development Block Disaster Recovery Grant that came
from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD.
The eight hundred and seventy eight hundred and seven million
(14:29):
dollars has been allocated to renew NC is also part
of a larger one point four billion dollar grant that
was allocated to the state for recovery and disaster relief.
In the wake of Hurricane Helene. Renew NC plans to
launch two new housing initiatives, a multifamily housing program which
will support small rental projects with seven or fewer units
(14:53):
and large developments with eight or more units, as well
as a Workforce Housing for Ownership program JAMES to create
affordable homeownership opportunities for broader range of working households. The
organization will also roll out an infrastructure and economic revitalization
program in the months. In the months ahead as well.
(15:15):
Homeowners seeking more information about this program can visit renew
NC dot org or visit one of those in person locations.
The links to all of that are on our website
This Morning Carolina Journal dot com, or you can head
on over to renew NC dot org. As many folks
are watching this process unfold. The hurricane recovery in the
(15:38):
eastern half of the state under previous Democrat Governor Roy
Cooper encore with Hurricanes Matthew and Florence. That is still
on a lot of folks minds, hoping that the state
does not repeat some of those same mistakes that took
place with hurricanes at Matthew and Florence. We'll keep an
eye on this program as it does continue to roll
out over on our website, Carolina Journal dot com and
(15:59):
right now here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, where
it's now five twenty six Newstock eleven, ten ninety nine
to three WBT. David, as we continue with some details
on the poll this morning. It wasn't just this Senate
race that we pulled voters on. There's a variety and
the litany of other issues that consumers are dealing with.
Tariffs have been a major topic over at Carolina Journal
(16:20):
dot com and here on the Carolina Journal News Hour
as well. Continued anxiety with increases in prices looming. Did
we ask any questions about pricing and tariffs and what
was some what did some of those responses look like.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, so it's been an issue for a while. You know,
during Biden's term, there's kind of the term Biden inflation.
You know, that was something Republicans were able to kind
of hang on his administration to really good effect. And
I think maybe the Trump administration could have some liability
or you know, risk here around the tariff issue. Just
as we look at some of the polling and we
(16:55):
ask people what kind of issues they're they're concerned about
with their per sol you know, finances and all that debt,
interest rates, all kinds of things. But the ones that
really rose to the top were on the cost of goods,
including healthcare, but also bills, energy, grocery, store costs were
(17:15):
really high. So those are the ones people picked as
their things they're most concerned about. And we had another
question too about whether you know, you know, interest rates
or prices were something that was more affecting them, because
there's been some discussion about that. I think Trump as
at times implied that maybe if the Fed would just
(17:37):
lower interest rates back down, that would be a solution.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
But it looked like, you know, seventy three percent or so.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
If people said a bigger problem was costs than the
interest rates.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
So that was also an issue there.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
And then when we asked people about tariffs, about two
thirds of them said tariffs. You know, we asked if
they raised prices or not, and they said they do
raise price So that's it kind of shows that this
is an issue people are concerned about and in the
general you know, public's perspective, it's something that raises prices.
(18:10):
I mean, it's almost by definition because it's it's an
added tax on top of goods that you're buying. So
it doesn't necessarily mean everybody was against it. Because we
had another question about for foreign trade policy.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
You know, would you rather have something that's more.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Free trade and encourages you know, low tariffs and low
regulations on trade, or would you like something more protects
American industries with subsidies and tariffs. And it was it
was I believe forty six to thirty five something like that,
So there was a good chunk of it was closer
at least when you ask them to pick between the
(18:48):
two strategies.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
But I think people are weighing that there's a few
issues there.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
You know that this might raise prices, but it also
might bring back manufacturing jobs, or it might do something else,
I like protecting industry. So I think sometimes these polls
it's tough to get at, you know, all those various
angles of things people are weighing when they answer the question.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
One of the interesting things I took away, Obviously, you
look at prices, and you talk about grocery stores, David
and some of the other inflated prices in the sector.
There's not a whole lot that local really even state
government can do about that. That's more directives out of Washington,
d C. But as you talked about a few minutes ago, housing, yes,
interest rates are not controlled locally, but zoning and construction
(19:33):
and housing affordability is a big topic predominantly in some
of our larger and medium sized metropolitan areas across North Carolina.
Many of them have elections coming up later this year
in twenty twenty five. You'll see a lot of city
and town councils that will be voted on coming up
later this year. Seems like this affordable housing discussion here
(19:54):
in North Carolina. As the state continues to be the
number one state for business, a lot of folks flocking
to North Carolina from around the rest of the country.
This is a major issue that actually local governments, David,
are going to have to deal with less about what's
going on at the federal level in DC and maybe
even less as to what's going on in Raleigh up
at the General Assembly.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Yeah, this is this is an interesting issue housing because
you get so many different views even within parties, so
you get kind of strange bedfellows where you get on
the conservative side on the right, you'll get kind of
your yimbie free market kind of people allying with a
lot of urban you know, progressives who want you know,
(20:35):
they want more housing available and all that.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
But then you also get people on the.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Left who are you know, they want more regulations, they
don't like gentrification, or they don't whatever, they don't want
as many building, and those people kind of allig with
you might call nimbi's on the right that want suburban
protect suburban areas protected, and their their value of their
home and their neighborhood kind of locked in stone a
little bit. So it's interesting because it's hard to really
(21:02):
pin down a particular partisan divide on this issue.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
But you know, John Locke.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Foundation being more free market, we would like to see,
as you said, zoning and regulations, those kind of things
loosened because a lot of times when people move to
an area, their job might be in a big city,
and things young people want to do might be in
a city, and so they want to live kind of close.
And if you make the zoning very rigid and you
don't allow a lot of building, the city just expands
(21:29):
further and further out and eats up a bunch of countryside.
You know that people in the rural areas start not
liking that, because then all of a sudden, there's big
developments popping up in rural areas, and traffic is worse
because more people have to spend more time in their
cars and have to extend roads and services further and
further out. So from a more free market perspective, we'd
like to allow the cities to or you know, have
(21:53):
more density in the city so people could live where
they kind of want to live and then it doesn't
sprawl out and cause more chaos further out.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah, we'll see how that plays out in these local elections.
With a lot of those zoning and regulations for new
construction and permit permits across the state of North Carolina,
there's a lot more that we didn't have a chance
to get into you this morning. You can read the
full poll by visiting our website this morning, Carolina Journal
dot com. We've got a nice little poll tab right
there on the navigation bar. We appreciate the update this morning.
(22:22):
David Larson joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour
five point thirty nine. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal
News Hour. New Stock eleven, ten ninety nine three WBT.
I'm Nick Craig, A good Friday morning to you. Earlier
this week, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, also known as
(22:42):
EPA announced a four hundred and nine point four million
dollar grant to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
that's NCDEQ, with its goal to improve local drinking water
utility infrastructures so that public water syms may better withstand
natural disasters. United States Senator Ted Budd, one of our
(23:06):
two senators here in North Carolina, set in a press
release quote, since Hurricane Helene struck last September, repairing Western
North Carolina's damage infrastructure to be stronger and more reliable
in the future has been a key component of all
of the ongoing recovery efforts as Western North Carolina rebuilds.
(23:27):
I am grateful to President Trump and EPA Administrator Lee
Zelden for their efforts to ensure North Carolina receives critical
grant funding to reconstruct and reinforce the quality of our
water systems, enabling our recovering communities to build more durable infrastructure.
This is a step in the right direction to aid
(23:49):
reconstruction efforts and to mitigate future natural disasters, also getting
some commentary coming in from individuals on the ground. Russell
Fox is the may of Burnsville, a small town in
western North Carolina. He said in the press release quote
Helene completely destroyed the town of Burnsville's raw water intakes,
(24:10):
leaving residents, businesses, schools, medical facilities, and government agencies without water.
The town is still running on a temporary pumping system
until the primary intake system can be rebuilt. The cost
of providing water services to users has increased dramatically since
the storm. The need for funding is always an issue,
(24:33):
but even more so now. We need to strengthen our
systems against disasters, and the EPA funding has given us
the opportunity to do that. The town of Burnsville is
very grateful. According to EPA, these funds are provided through
the twenty twenty five Supplemental Appropriations for Hurricane Helene, Milton
(24:53):
and Hawaii wildfires, and is being administered and here locally
by the North Carolina Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. They
may be used for projects to enhance drinking water treatment,
improve water distribution systems, upgrade water supply sources, rebuild or
replace or build finished water storage tanks, and complete other
(25:16):
infrastructure improvements necessary to safeguarding public health through better drinking
water systems. EPA Administrator Lee Zelden talked about the importance, noting,
in February, I visited communities in Asheville to witness first
hand the crucial role drinking water utilities have in responding
(25:36):
to natural disasters. This funding to the North Carolina Department
of Environmental Quality will help secure the infrastructure of these
systems to ensure that EPA can fulfill its core mission
to protect human health and the environment. End quote there
from EPA Administrator Lee Zelden. US Senator Tom Tillis commenting
(25:59):
on this on social media, saying, as western North Carolina
continues to recover from Helene, the EPA's funding is an
important investment in building stronger, more resilient water infrastructure. I
appreciate Lee Zelden's commitment to supporting our state as we
work to rebuild critical infrastructure and make communities whole again.
(26:21):
Those comments again coming in from Senator Tillis. Some other
comments coming in from Pam Snipes. This is the mayor
of Old Forts, saying, quote, the town of old Ford's
water system was destroyed by Hurricane Helene. Fortunately, our citizens
were provided water as quickly as possible, but it was
provided with band aid repairs. Over the last ten months,
(26:44):
the town has been working to make those repairs more efficient,
and as we know, repairs are very expensive. The availability
of these funds will provide a way to ensure going
forward that our water system will be a stable system
in the event of another natural disaster. According to the
press release, under section fourteen fifty two of the Safe
(27:07):
Water Drinking Act, states may use these funds to advance
the Act's public health protection goals. The allocation will capitalize
on that, and it is also set to provide potential
low interest loans, particularly with principal forgiveness, to support the planning, design,
and construction of qualified drinking water improvement projects. The North
(27:31):
Carolina DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson set in a press release
Hurricane Helene severely damaged drinking water systems throughout western North Carolina,
and thousands of people were without safe drinking water for weeks.
These investments will make drinking water systems more resilient for
future storms, helping to ensure that communities have uninterrupted access
(27:55):
to healthy water even though it has taken some time
as a Helene affected our state eight back in September
of last year, we are beginning to see this process
unfold and roll out here as this money and more
than four hundred and nine million dollars being granted to
ncd EQ from the EPA. We've got some additional details
(28:16):
and quotes on this story this morning over on our website,
Carolina Journal dot com, well as we have covered on
and off throughout the week. Tropical Storm Erin continues her
progress west across the Atlantic Ocean. This morning, the National
Hurricane Center noting as of their five am advisory about
forty five minutes or so ago, that the storm is
(28:39):
continuing to grow with maximum sustained winds now it's seventy
miles an hour. Aaron is expected to become a hurricane.
That is expected probably within the next couple of hours.
As we progress through your Friday, its movement continues west
northwest at seventeen miles an hour, and all eyes are
on the final track of the storm or many of
(29:00):
the computer models do have the storm splitting the gap
between the coast of North Carolina and a Bermuda. As
we head into the middle and ladder parts of next
week is when we would expect that to take place.
Those models seem to be pretty consistent in showing the
storm recurving around the United States and Bermuda and heading
(29:20):
back out to see as it is now expected to
become a major Category four hurricane. The National Hurricane Center
Project Projects projects that to be the case coming up
next Wednesday. So a major Category four hurricane, some likely
increased rip current and high surf in our coastal communities.
As we watch the modeling in those computer systems continuing
(29:42):
to show that track, if anything dramatically changes in that
if that track looks like it could put any part
of our state or South Carolina in the risk, we'll
keep you up to date with all those details right
here on the Carolina Journal News Hour and of course
on our website. If anything real breaking happens, you'll find
those details over at Carolina Journal dot com. Good morning again,
(30:09):
it's five poin fifty one. Welcome back to the Carolina
Journal News Hour, Newstock eleven ten ninety nine three WBT
recapping our big story this morning. Our most recent Carolina
Journal poll out yesterday shows some interesting details as we
look ahead to the twenty twenty six Senate race here
in North Carolina. Of course, a lot of news over
(30:29):
the last six weeks, Senator Tom Tillis announcing that he
would not be seeking reelection, causing a huge vacuum to
take place in that race. Since then, former Democrat Governor
Roy Cooper has announced his intention to serve in that position,
and current head of the RNC, former head of the
North Carolina Republican Party Michael Wattley has thrown hit at
(30:50):
his hat into the race on the Republican side, picking
up the endorsement from President Donald Trump. Our poll shows
that forty seven point three percent of voters would support
Roy Cooper in that race if it were held today.
Forty percent say they would definitely vote for Cooper, while
seven point three percent say they probably would. Turning our
(31:10):
attention to the Republican candidate in Michael Wattley, thirty nine
point one percent of voters say they would support him,
about an eight percent difference between Cooper and Watley. Twenty
four point seven definitely supporting the RNC chairman, while fourteen
point four percent say they would probably support him. About
ten percent of the voters do remain unsure or undecided
(31:33):
in that race, and around four percent say they plan
on voting for somebody else, potentially a third party candidate.
Diving into some additional details, the favorability for both candidates,
Roy Cooper's favorability sits at forty seven point two percent,
his unfavorability rounding up to forty percent thirty nine point
seven There nine percent of people said they had no
(31:55):
opinion of the former Democrat governor and four point two
percent said they had never heard heard of him, So
he's got a very high name idea and very high
approval for that. On the other side, with Michael Wattley,
his favorability sits at fourteen point nine percent, unfavorable eleven
point three percent. In the largest group, fifty one point
(32:15):
three percent of voters say they have never heard of
the current RNC former NCGOP chairman, while an additional twenty
two percent said that they had no opinion on Michael Wattley.
His unknown name definitely playing out in this early poll.
We did ask a variety of other questions at dealing
(32:36):
with the economy, dealing with inflation, and crime. All of
those details are on our poll tab this morning. Carolina
Journal dot com you'll see it at the top of
the page. It says news, Opinion, then polls. You can
click on that and read through all of the details.
Donald Bryson, the CEO of the John Locke Foundation, said, quote,
(32:56):
North Carolina's race for Senate has only just begun, but
the Wattley campaign appears to have a lot of legwork
in front of them if they want to be competitive.
Cooper certainly has an advantage in this race, having held
statewide office for twenty four consecutive years. The name id
figures that should not give either party heartburn or confidence.
(33:18):
We will continue to attract this race as it continues
to play out in the coming months and of course
all the way through November of next year, with additional
polling and additional coverage of this race over on our
website to Carolina Journal dot com. In some statewide news
this morning, the North Carolina Department of Commerce has announced
(33:39):
that its single family housing program, also known as Renew
and Seed, has received more than one thousand applications, and
some of the positive news that they are reporting is
that construction is expected to begin on the first homes
within the next month. Renew NC rather is tasked with
(33:59):
rebuilding and reconstructing and repairing homes in western North Carolina
that were destroyed by Hurricane Helene. In September of last year,
Governor Josh Stein saying in a press release, too many
families in western North Carolina lost their homes after Helene.
This program will help people rebuild their homes and their
(34:19):
lives after the storm. The renew NC Single Family Housing
program is supported by more than eight hundred and seven
million dollars in federal funding and is designed to meet
the remaining long term recovery needs of homeowners in Western
North Carolina. The program prioritizes low to moderate income families
(34:40):
living in communities that suffered severe storm damage following the
most destructive storm in state history. Commerce Secretary Lee Lilly said,
getting people home is where recovery really begins for survivors
and their communities, and renew NC is focused on getting
our most vuln perable families home. We will continue working
(35:03):
closely with our local and state partners to make sure
that recovery reaches every corner of the impacted areas in
North Carolina. To date, renew NC has conducted assessments on
two hundred and seven properties across western North Carolina, many
of those remaining unrepaired from damage with Hurricane Helene, and
(35:23):
the applications do remain open to homeowners in twenty nine
counties spread across the central and western half of the state.
This money is coming from HUD the Housing and Urban
Development or the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
More than eight hundred and seventy eight hundred and seven
rather million dollars being allocated to renew NC is part
(35:46):
of a larger one point four billion dollar Community Development
Block grant for disaster recovery. This program is a remaining
ongoing Again the positive news, it looks like some construction
or repairs could begin as soon as next month. That
would be less than a year after the storm hit
our state, and the program does remain open. Folks can
(36:08):
visit renew NC dot org this morning to find out
additional details, including some in person locations. Offices set up
in western North Carolina to help determine if a homeowner
qualifies for assistance. Well that's going to do it. For
a Friday edition of The Carolina Journal News Hour WBT
News is next, followed by Good Morning BT, We're back
(36:29):
with You Monday morning five to six, right here on
News Talk eleven, ten, and ninety nine to three WBT
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