September 22, 2025 • 34 mins
Senator Ted Budd has introduced legislation to strengthen cybersecurity protections in agriculture. As the General Assembly returns to session this week, Donna King provided a preview of the agenda, including key bills and debates ahead. Lawmakers will also be considering House Bill 307, known as Iryna’s Law, in response to the Charlotte light rail murder of Iryna Zarutska. Meanwhile, the state’s top court has ruled against deference in the case of a fired DOT employee, and Representative Jarrod Lowery is leaving the legislature to take a new job in Washington, D.C.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
It's five oh five and welcome into a Monday edition
of The Carolina Journal News Hour Newstalk eleven, ten ninety
nine three WBT. I'm Nick Craig, a good morning to you.
Late last week, United States Senator Ted Budd, he is
one of our two senators here in North Carolina, introduced
bipartisan legislative legislation alongside Senator Catherine Cortez Mastow that she
(00:32):
is a Democrat out of Nevada, called the Cyber Security
in Agriculture Act. This piece of legislation would prioritize the
recovery of American agriculture through cyber attack readiness and response.
Bud said in a press release quote, America's adversaries are
seeking to exploit to agricultural technologies and jeopardize our national security.
(00:57):
As North Carolina's top industry, I've seen the benefits of
the precision technology that precision technology has on increasing agricultural
output and boosting exports. But it takes just one bad
actor to stop our producers from feeding America. I teamed
up with Senator Cortes Masto to mitigate cyber vulnerabilities by
(01:20):
delivering defense technologies and training our workforce to eliminate threats
again targeting American agriculture. According to the press release, the
legislation seeks to enhance cybersecurity preparedness by creating a five
regional agricultural cybersecurity centers. Those centers would strengthen national security
(01:42):
and safeguard the nation's food supply, and as was noted
by Senator Budd in his press release, agriculture is the
top business across the state of North Carolina. The bill reads,
in part as follows quote, the Secretary, acting through the
Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and
(02:02):
in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall establish
a program under which the Secretary shall, on a competitive basis,
award grants or enter into cooperative agreements with five eligible
entities to establish regional Agricultural cyber Security centers to carry
out research, development, and education on agricultural cyber security with
(02:27):
respect to seed agriculture, horniculture, animal agriculture, and the agricultural
supply chain. Establish a network of these regional agricultural security networks,
and designate one eligible entity to coordinate the activities of
such network. According to James R. Martin, the sid who
(02:48):
is the Chancellor of North Carolina A.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
And T.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
He writes in a press release, quote, agriculture and food
systems are critical to the well being of families, communities,
and the nation. Having centers of excellence that focus on
cybersecurity and agriculture would be a tremendous addition to the research, development,
and collaborative efforts in which our Land Grant University is
(03:13):
already involved in protecting the US agricultural industry and advancing Americans' interests.
If past, this Cybersecurity in Agriculture Act would establish these
five centers, which would work together to build a regional
research collaboration network, enabling more efficient and consistent communication between
(03:35):
cybersecurity centers and local farming industries. They would also focus
on developing technologies for the agricultural sector by creating test
beds to refine tools, conduct attack and defense exercises, and
evaluate cybersecurity solutions for field deployment. In addition, the centers
will make education and training programs designed to prepare skilled
(03:59):
workfe force capable of developing and installing cyber defense mechanisms
within the agricultural industry. A key priority of the initiative
will be eliminating threats from foreign adversaries, with mitigation efforts
focused on countering risks posed by countries of concern such
as the People's Republic of China, the Democratic People's a
(04:21):
Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, as well as other
countries laid out in this piece of legislation, which was noted,
was introduced rather by United States Senator Ted Budd late
last week, also getting some across the aisle support one
of the co sponsors of that bill, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto,
(04:41):
a Democrat out of Nevada, which also has a large
amount of agriculture in that state as well. You can
read some additional details on this legislation by visiting our
website This morning Carolina Journal dot com. The story's headline
up Bud introduces legislation on cybersecurity in agriculture. We'll continue
to follow that as it works through at Washington, DC.
(05:04):
You're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour. There's been
a lot of outrage in North Carolina over the last
couple of weeks after video merge showing a horrific murder
of a twenty three year old Ukrainian refugee on a
Charlotte light rail that happened back in late August. Lawmakers
are expected to return to the General Assembly this week
to potentially pass some pieces of legislation to potentially deal
(05:25):
with some of these issues going forward, things like bail reform,
cash list bail, as well as some other issues. We
heard from members of the General Assembly and a press
conference on that over the last couple of weeks to
preview what things could look like in Raleigh. It's my
pleasure to welcome the editor in chief of Carolina Journal
dot com, Donna King, to the News Hour this morning.
Don a pretty big press conference when you've got the
(05:47):
House and the Senate leader convening in Raleigh when they
weren't in session, getting the media there to talk about this.
This is obviously sparked some sort of fire from lawmakers.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yes, this is all stemming from the murder on the
light rail in Charlotte back in August. To twenty three
year old Ukrainian woman murdered right there in front in
public in a really nice area. It certainly was a
shock to everyone, and the video of this made it
spread nationally and even globally, and it really crossed the
aisle bipartisan agreement that we need to do something about it.
(06:19):
There's some reforms that need to be made, and that's
what we saw Burger and Hall coming together, and now
they're expected to file piece of legislation on Monday, they
can mean at noon that could address some of these things.
In Carolina Journal's latest pull, something like seventy four percent
of North Carolinian said they would like to see judges
or magistrates held responsible if somebody they let go release
(06:43):
goes on and commits another crime. So there really is
a bipartisan support for that, and I think that's some
of what help may help grease the skids for this
piece of legislation, even hearing from Governor Stein, who said
in Charlotte last week that he is stive of some
changes to the current pre trial detention laws that North
(07:04):
Carolina has, whatever that process might look like before between
the times someone's arrested and the time they go to trial.
So it's good that they're lining up the different branches
of government to support this idea and Democrats and Republicans
on board with some of it. The finer details what
those policies look like. That's one of the questions that
we have going into Monday.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
One of the big discussions that we will probably hear
is something to do with cash list bail. This is
something that you traditionally see in major Democrats cities, at
least on the national stage. A lot of finger pointing
at places like New York City where that's become a
major problem, I'll admit down and we haven't really heard
prior to this situation a lot about that in North Carolina,
but both Berger and Hall made those comments in their
(07:48):
press conference back a couple of weeks. Presumably they'll deal
with something like that as well.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
I would expect something like that in this legislation. Now,
this particular murder in Charlotte made that a super high
profile issue, but it certainly has been happening for quite
some time. In this case, De Carlos Brown, who's the
alleged assailant in this murder, he was out on bail
and had signed a promise to return rather than some
(08:13):
sort of paid bond, and was out on bail. Now
that said, my understanding is that he could have also
been out on bail even if he had paid it.
But in this case, he was just required to sign
something to say that he would return for his trial
date in another unrelated crime. So you know, these are
the things that they want addressed. And those that we've
talked to recently who are in law enforcement say that
(08:35):
this has been an ongoing issue and things like this.
The committee, the task force that was started by former
Governor Roy Cooper is taking some heat from Senator Burger
and others. There's a task force that was formed by
former Governor Cooper back in twenty twenty following the death
of George Floyd in protests around the country during COVID.
(08:56):
It's called the Task Force for Racial Equity and Criminal Justice.
Its last meeting was in twenty twenty four, but certainly
it was formed to create some recommendations to build toward
equity in the criminal justice system. It was headed by
Associate Justice Anita Earls, and there were recommendations in it
things like cashless bail unless someone is a public safety threat.
(09:17):
There were miles and miles of recommendations. That's one of them,
and that task force is taking some heat. I would
also expect in this bill limits on the Task Force
and recommendations powers that groups like this have or that
the governor could make.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Also important to note, while that task force was created
the now current governor and Josh Stein was the Attorney
general here in North Carolina. This was under the AG's office,
So some work going on there. And don I've seen
folks posting on social media some of Stein's commentary when
he was the age around the time that this task
force was created. Some of these words are could seemingly
(09:51):
come back and haunt him now based on the situation
that we're watching in Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Absolutely, twenty twenty was only five years ago, but certainly
is world difference in the approach towards this because you
may remember that after George Floyd's death, there were protests
around the country and lots of particularly democratic lawmakers and
executive officeholders. We're creating task force just like this and
taking on that's sort of what now looks like soft
(10:18):
on crime policies, and that's exactly what Senate Leader Phil
Berger and Speaker Destin Hall are saying that they want
to put that in history, and they want to really
start looking at North Carolina's system, particularly the pre trial
detention system, and make sure that it is conducive to
a safe public in North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Lawmakers will be in Raleigh Over the next couple of days,
we'll continue our coverage over on our website, Carolina Journal
dot com, and of course right here on the Carolina
Journal News Hour. We appreciate the preview from the editor
and king of Carolina Journal dot com. Donna King joins
us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
It's five May too.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour news stock eleven,
ten ninety nine three WBT. Don't forget if you miss
any portion of our show here weekday mornings. You can
check out the Carolina Journal News Hour podcast in your
favorite podcast app, Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you
get your shows. You can also watch the show live
and after the fact on our Carolina Journal YouTube channel.
(11:21):
You're getting some more details early this morning on what
this piece of legislation that we were just talking about
with Donna King about will look like as lawmakers make
their way back to Raleigh this week. We have an
official bill number and bill named this morning, filed by
the General Assembly late last night, House Bill three oh seven.
(11:42):
That's IRENA's Law and it is a seventeen page a
piece of legislation that has a variety of issues that
lawmakers look to crack down upon. Just doing some light
reading of that and looking at some of the details.
It covers a variety of things, including pre trial release,
sentencing enhanced ments, things dealing with magistrates that has been
(12:03):
a big discussion in the situation unfolding out of Charlotte
as well, and just going through some of those details.
Limits on pre trial releases for defendants accused of violent crimes,
gang activity, serious firearm offenses, and fentanyl trafficking, so throwing
in some of the drug issues that the state deals
(12:23):
with as well. Judges must issue written findings if granting
releases in a violent cases, so judges will have to
go on the record as to why they filed any
sort of pre trial release motions in those cases, requiring
mental health evaluations when a violent offender has a history
of involuntary commitment, and it does authorize house to arrest
(12:46):
with electronic monitoring or GPS tracking at the defendant's expense.
Looking at some of the sentence enhancements, this legislation would
add aggregated aggravated factors. If a crime is committed against
a victim using public transportation, that is obviously very much
as zeroed in and honed in on the murder of
(13:06):
Irena Zaruska on the Charlotte Light Rail back on August
the twenty second, and that would apply in both standard
sentencing and in capital cases. For magistrates, it would allow
suspension to buy a Chief justice as well as local
judges of the magistrates if it is deemed that they
are not doing their job correctly. That would be a
(13:28):
major change here in North Carolina, and magistrates may also
be removed from their post from failing to make required
written findings in some of those pre trial releases and
in some of those accused crimes, as we just talked
about violent crimes, gang activity, firearms offenses, drug trafficking, things
(13:48):
of that nature. It also directs the North Carolina Collaboratory
to study mental health in the judicial system, house arrest capabilities,
and alternative execution methods. Those reports are due in by
twenty twenty six some preliminary details from the Collaboratory, with
a final report in twenty twenty seven. Don and I
(14:09):
just talked about earlier the Governor's Task Force for Racial
Equality and Criminal Justice that was started to under Democrat
Governor Roy Cooper back in twenty twenty one. Of the
individuals involved in that was are now governor then Attorney
General at the time, Josh Stein. That would be ended
by this piece of legislation, and it cannot be recreated
(14:31):
without legislative approval. So lawmakers moving forward on that. And
one of the big stories out of that press conference
that we covered a couple of weeks ago, which included
the Speaker of the North Carolina House and the head
of the North Carolina Senate, Destin Hall and Phil Berger,
was talking about reinstating the death penalty in North Carolina.
There is some discussion on that in this legislation, including
(14:55):
speeding up appeals and post conviction review in capital cases,
setting a twenty four month deadline for that, and keeps
the venue for death penalty appeals in the county in
which the conviction originally took place now locally for those
in and around the Charlotte metro area. There is some
things in here for the Mecklenburg County District Attorney's office
(15:17):
as well. This legislation, if passed as written right now,
would add ten assistant district attorneys and five legal assistants
and five legal assistants for them and provide a two
plus million dollars in reoccurring funding that would be every
single year to strengthen prosecutionorial capacity within the Mecklenburg County
(15:39):
District Attorney Office. So those are just some of the
highlights of this legislation as we look at how this
process is set to play out, this legislation will likely
get some sort of hearing in committee today where it
could see some votes, where it could see some approvals,
before making its way to the full House and Senate
(16:00):
floor for the legislation to be dealt with. A Senate leader,
Phil Berger, released a press release on Sunday saying, quote,
Irena should still be alive. She should still be thriving
and enjoying time with her family and friends. We cannot
let North Carolina be held hostage by woke week on
(16:20):
crime policies and court officials who prioritize criminals over justice
for victims. We are also taking steps to revive the
death penalty for those who commit the most heinoused acts.
At the same time, lawmakers will take up some of
the pieces in this legislation. There are some additional things
(16:41):
scheduled on the calendar in Raleigh today. There could be
some veto override bills in a variety of issues. Senate
Bill fifty. This is also known as Constitutional Carrie. It
would allow adults eighteen and older who are not otherwise
prohibited to carry a concealed hand gun without a permit.
That would be no prior convictions, no prior felonies. Senate
(17:04):
Bill fifty was overridden by the Senate twenty six to eighteen,
and we will see if the House has the votes
to do that when they do head back to Raleigh today.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Is on the calendar for this morning.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
I'll note just because it is on calendar does not
guarantee that it will actually be dealt with, but it
is listed on the calendar for this morning. Senate Bill
one fifty three. That's the North Carolina Border Protection Act
that requires cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and allows residents
to sue local governments that adopt sanctuary policies across North Carolina.
(17:39):
The Senate overrode to the governor's veto on that legislation
in July. The House has yet to vote on it yet.
A couple of DEI pieces of legislation Senate Bill five
point fifty eight, House Built one seventy one and Senate
Bill two seventy seven. All of them have been dealt
with by the North Carolina Senate, none taken up in
the House, and finally House Bill eighty seven, which enables
(18:02):
North Carolina to join a federal tax credit program supporting
US scholarships granting organizations or SSOs to that fund to
public or rather fund private school expenses. That legislation cleared
the House in March and the Senate in July before
Stein vetoed it in August. It would have to make
its way back to both chambers for a veto override.
(18:26):
We will continue to track that progress on all of
those pieces of legislation, plus the brand new House Built
three oh seven, also known as IRENA's Law. It is
said to be a very busy day in Raleigh. We'll
have a coverage throughout the day over on our website,
Carolina Journal dot com, and of course have the latest
coming up for you tomorrow morning five to six am
(18:47):
right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
It's five thirty six.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. Newstock eleven,
ten ninety nine three. A recent decision by the North
Carolina Supreme Court over a fire Department of Transportation employee
might not be that interesting of a story. However, the
ruling and the decision could have some broader implications across
the state of North Carolina. To walk us through those details,
(19:15):
this morning, Mitch Koki of the John Locke Foundation joins
us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, I guess,
for the fire DOT employee, a lot of weighing here
on this decision, But for the rest of folks in
North Carolina, there could be some additional consequences of the
State Supreme Court's decision.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
What are you tracking?
Speaker 4 (19:33):
That's exactly right, Nick, I'll give you first some of
the specifics of this case. This guy named Thurman Savage
who worked for the DOT and his job was to
certify school bus drivers in North Carolina. Now DOT fired
him some years back after he admitted that he had
re certified some bus drivers without doing the ride alongs
that he was supposed to do. One of the reasons
(19:55):
the DOT said it was firing Savage was that a
particular state law seemed to say, in the Dot's perspective,
that if someone violated this record keeping function that the
person had to be dismissed. So basically their argument was
we don't have any say in this. The law says
(20:16):
we have to fire you because you did what you did,
and so that's the end of the story. Savage, when
he went to court, said that the DOT got it wrong,
that it was applying the law incorrectly, and that once
the Administrative law judge ruled in his favor, then the
(20:37):
State Court of Appeals stepped in and reversed that ruling
and sided with the DOT and its interpretation of the law. Now,
the State Supreme Court decided to take up this case,
and as it turns out in their opinion, they don't
end up resolving the case for mister Savage one way
or another, because the DOT made some other arguments about
(20:59):
why they fired him, and those are going to have
to be addressed again by the Court of Appeals. But
what really stands out is that the State Supreme Court
went out of its way to say that courts in
North Carolina should not use what's called judicial deference. For
people to follow the US Supreme Court. They might remember
that there was a recent case dealing with Chevron deference
(21:22):
and ending Chevron defference after fifty years. This is a
similar issue in North Carolina, and the idea is that judges,
in some respects have taken on this idea that when
there's a dispute about a state law and a government
agency is one of the parties in the case, that
judges should defer to what the government agencies think the
(21:44):
law says. This ruling from the State Supreme Court was
very clear in saying that that is not what is
supposed to happen in North Carolina courts. Justice Richard Diets
wrote the majority opinion, and he basically said that sometime
within the last twenty five years or so, the State
Court of Appeals has allowed deference to creep into its rulings,
(22:06):
but it shouldn't have. And the court specifically expressly disavows
deference and says the judges need to review the case.
They need to give all the party's arguments equal weight.
The government's argument doesn't get any additional weight beyond what
was in the initial of pleadings, and so deference is
(22:30):
thrown out. Justice Tamer Behringer wrote a concurring opinion. She
agreed completely with what Diete said, but wanted to weigh
in herself and say, yes, I completely go along with this.
Judicial difference has no role in the courts. Meanwhile, that
part of the ruling was five to two. The two
Democrats dissented, and Anita Earles wrote that she was concerned
(22:52):
that they were striking so much against deference and that
government agencies should get some sort of consideration for their
expertise when they're looking into a state law. So the
bottom line is this is going to be good news
moving forward for any individual or family or business that
goes to court and is challenging either the actual what
(23:16):
is said in a state law or how it was
applied in their case, and is going up against a
government agency. Judges are not just going to say, oh,
the government agency thinks this is what the law says,
We've got to go along with that. So the government wins. No.
Moving forward to North Carolina, the government will get to
make its arguments, but so will the individual or the business,
(23:39):
and the judges will rule those by looking at it
and deciding which is the better argument, not tipping the
scale in the favor of the government.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Mitch, I'm glad you drew the parallel between the United
States Supreme Court and their decision in the Chevron case,
which predominantly a lot of that dealt with EPA and
various regulations around ocean life, in zoning, and a whole
bunch of different things in which the federal government would
go in front of the courts and say these are
the regulations, these are the rules, essentially, where the subject
(24:09):
matter expert take our word for it. And as you noted,
that was a fifty year decision that had been ongoing
here across the United States. Many conservative groups and others
applauding that change from the United States Supreme Court back
a couple of years ago. Is it accurate to say
that we're seeing a similar thing now taking place in
North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
Yes, it's exactly what we're seeing in North Carolina that
once the Lope or Bright case ended Chevron deference after
about fifty years of it kind of making its way
through the court system, we're now seeing the North Carolina court,
the state Supreme Court, trying to ensure that deference doesn't
play a future role in the state courts. And basically,
(24:53):
Justice Steetz's opinion could have stopped very short. He could
have said, and I think he would have had a
unanimous opinion on this, because the two Democratic justices went
along with it, that the State Court of Appeals read
the state law that was used in firing mister Savage
Thurman Savage read it wrong, and so they could have
just sent it back to the State Court of Appeals
(25:14):
said you got it wrong. Now you got to deal
with the rest of the case. What happened instead was
he said, well, they got the peals court got it wrong.
The case is going to go back to the appeals
court to deal with other issues. But in the meantime,
we're going to go out of our way here to
say that we're not having deference. And any previous State
Court of Appeals ruling that gave the sense that there
(25:36):
was going to be difference, we throw those out. There's
not going to be a difference moving forward, all courts
will have to give what's called a Denovo review, which
means you look at the case fresh, you don't weigh
the scales toward the government in any way, and that
I think is going to be good news for litigants
in the future when they're going up against the government.
(25:57):
They can't the government can't just say well, this is
what we think about the law. So it has to stand.
The government can make its case, the litigants can make
their case, the judges will decide who has the stronger case,
and that was spelled out very clearly in this case
in the Savage versus State Dot.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Obviously, state law is one thing traditionally that has to
go through the General Assembly, passed by ball chambers, signed
by the governor. But mentioned another angle of this is regulation,
which does not traditionally go through that same process. Many
agencies and entities are allowed to come up with their
own rules and regulations without them going through the traditional
legislative pathway to be on the books. Here in North Carolina,
(26:39):
I would imagine this is going to have a huge
implication on entities like NCDQ and others that some folks
may believe have a ridiculous amount of overburdensome regulation. Now
maybe individuals can challenge those and get a nice opinion
in the courts.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
It'll be very interesting to see. In fact, there is
another case that's within the state's court that has yet
to be decided that's on that point almost exactly, and
that is this case dealt with how an agency views
a state law and not giving any special treatment there.
But there is another type of deference where you defer
(27:16):
to the agency about how it interprets its own regulation.
And there is a case in front of the State
Supreme Court involving a fired state Winston Salem State University
professor that deals with this idea of deference to how
the agencies view their own regulations, And depending on how
(27:37):
that case comes out, you could see even more protection
for the litigants who challenge something that a government agency does,
saying that not only are they not going to get
deference for the way they view a state law, but
they won't even get deference for the way they view
their own regulations. The judges will look at the regulation,
look at what it says, take the government's argument about
(28:00):
what that regulation means, but also take the argument of
the litigants challenging the regulation, and see which is the
better argument. And that, of course, would open the door
to even more opportunity for litigans to challenge regulations and
laws that they don't think are proper and may be
on constitution.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
It may not sound like it right now, but there
could be some monumental changes in state government as a
result of this case and potentially some others. We appreciate
the update this morning. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke
Foundation joins us Sun the Carolina Journal News Hour. The
sixth annual WBT Little Hero's Blood Drive continues this week Thursday,
(28:42):
September the twenty fifth. WBT and the One Blood, Big
Red Bus will be at the Doghouse in Uptown Charlotte
from ten am to three pm and we're encouraging you
to make a life saving blood donation. The sixth annual
WBT Little Hero's Blood Drive continues this week, Thursday, September
the twenty fifth, at the dog House in Uptown Charlotte.
Visit WBT dot com this morning for a location details
(29:05):
and to register your appointment.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
It's now five point fifty two.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Welcome back to The Carolina Journal News Hour, Newstack eleven,
ten ninety nine to three WBT. On Friday night, Representative
Jared Lowry, who was in the North Carolina House he
serves the forty seventh district across North Carolina, posted a
video on social media announcing that he will be resigning
his post in the North Carolina General Assembly to go
(29:29):
to Washington, DC.
Speaker 5 (29:31):
Hi, everyone, I'm Jared Lowry, representing for North Carolina House
District forty seven, representing Robinson County. The past three years
being in the General Assembly, it has been not only
a pleasure but an honor to serve you the people.
Nearly ninety thousand people live in my district in Robinson
County gave me an opportunity of a lifetime to be
(29:51):
able to come here and advocate for everyone.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Since I've been in the General Assembly, I've.
Speaker 5 (29:56):
Been able to provide a valuable voice for the people.
And not only voice, but it is seated at the
decision making table that had been missing for several years.
My time here in the General Assembling, I've worked with
my delegation mats to secure critical funding needed for important.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Projects across the district.
Speaker 5 (30:13):
Some of those are a new town hall town of Fairmont,
a new police station town of Maxon, downtown revitalization for
Town of Roland, new parks town of Red Springs, a
new park in the town of Rentered, much needed transportation
projects in the town of Pembroke, downtown revitalization for the
City of Lumberton, and even new hangars for the Limbited
(30:35):
Regional Airport. Other projects that are going to be instrumental
in continuing to grow Robinson County is new nursing program
building at old Robinson Community College. More funding for additional
health programs at UNC Pembroke, including the School of Optometric Medicine,
the first in the state, which has been a twenty
year journey. We were finally able to complete continue support
(30:56):
for the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina as they developed the.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Lumbee culture seen in their Department of Agriculture.
Speaker 5 (31:01):
All these projects have been significant impacting in the county
and will be going forward. Also, the Public Schools of
Robinson County is building their first new school since nineteen
eighty three, and one last project that was funded it's
much needed in every corner of Robinson County is a
major cleanup of the Lumber River basin, one of the
largest in US history.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
We're getting sixty million dollars.
Speaker 5 (31:24):
From the federal government, supported by Senator Tom Tillis, matched
with twenty million dollars from the General Assembly. This project
is going to alleviate flooding all across the county from
our major reign events, something that has been desperately needed
since Matthew occurred in twenty sixteen and Florence in twenty eighteen.
But I'm here today to make a spatial announcement to
(31:44):
my family, to my friends, to my community, my supporters
across the state.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
I will be effectively.
Speaker 5 (31:50):
Stepping away from the General Assembly at the beginning of October.
I've been offered a role in Washington, d C. To
where I'll be able to go and take my talents
and loyalty and the same vigor of well work ethic
that I've used here in the General Assembly to support
the country on a larger scale.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
I'm looking forward to this new challenge.
Speaker 5 (32:08):
I'm looking forward to continue to be a public servant
to the people now not just of Robinson County, but
to the state into America. So as I transition to
my new role in Washington, d C, just know that
I will work every single day with the same dedication, loyalty,
and rigor that I do right here in this House
for you. But until then, I want to reaffirm to
(32:29):
you that this lasts few weeks in the General Assembly,
I will continue to work as hard as I can
for every constituent. So please continue to call email my office,
reach out to me with any constituents concerns or anything
that you need. And to be honest with you, I'm
still writing legislation today. Why Because the issues that are
impacting Robinson County and North Carolina are not going to
(32:52):
end just because I'm gone, and I need to make
sure that my successor is well prepared to continue fighting
the fight for Robinson County and rule North Carolina as
your state representative. Thank you, thank you for this opportunity,
and may God continue to bless Robinson County in the
state of North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
That's Representative Jared Lowry releasing a video on his social
media channels on Friday announcing that he will be going
up to Washington, d C. After serving in the General
Assembly over the last couple of years. He has been
in the GA since twenty twenty two and obviously continuing
the work there. Obviously a busy week in Raleigh as
we watch Arena's Law that was announced by the General
(33:34):
Assembly last night. We'll track its progress throughout the day
over on our website, Carolina Journal dot com, and we'll
have the details tomorrow morning right here on the Carolina
Journal News. Alum, that's going to do it for a
Monday edition. WBT News is next, followed by Morning Metam.
We're back with you tomorrow morning five to six Right
Here on News Talk, eleven, ten and ninety nine three
WBT
It's five oh five and welcome into a Monday edition
of The Carolina Journal News Hour Newstalk eleven, ten ninety
nine three WBT. I'm Nick Craig, a good morning to you.
Late last week, United States Senator Ted Budd, he is
one of our two senators here in North Carolina, introduced
bipartisan legislative legislation alongside Senator Catherine Cortez Mastow that she
(00:32):
is a Democrat out of Nevada, called the Cyber Security
in Agriculture Act. This piece of legislation would prioritize the
recovery of American agriculture through cyber attack readiness and response.
Bud said in a press release quote, America's adversaries are
seeking to exploit to agricultural technologies and jeopardize our national security.
(00:57):
As North Carolina's top industry, I've seen the benefits of
the precision technology that precision technology has on increasing agricultural
output and boosting exports. But it takes just one bad
actor to stop our producers from feeding America. I teamed
up with Senator Cortes Masto to mitigate cyber vulnerabilities by
(01:20):
delivering defense technologies and training our workforce to eliminate threats
again targeting American agriculture. According to the press release, the
legislation seeks to enhance cybersecurity preparedness by creating a five
regional agricultural cybersecurity centers. Those centers would strengthen national security
(01:42):
and safeguard the nation's food supply, and as was noted
by Senator Budd in his press release, agriculture is the
top business across the state of North Carolina. The bill reads,
in part as follows quote, the Secretary, acting through the
Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and
(02:02):
in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall establish
a program under which the Secretary shall, on a competitive basis,
award grants or enter into cooperative agreements with five eligible
entities to establish regional Agricultural cyber Security centers to carry
out research, development, and education on agricultural cyber security with
(02:27):
respect to seed agriculture, horniculture, animal agriculture, and the agricultural
supply chain. Establish a network of these regional agricultural security networks,
and designate one eligible entity to coordinate the activities of
such network. According to James R. Martin, the sid who
(02:48):
is the Chancellor of North Carolina A.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
And T.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
He writes in a press release, quote, agriculture and food
systems are critical to the well being of families, communities,
and the nation. Having centers of excellence that focus on
cybersecurity and agriculture would be a tremendous addition to the research, development,
and collaborative efforts in which our Land Grant University is
(03:13):
already involved in protecting the US agricultural industry and advancing Americans' interests.
If past, this Cybersecurity in Agriculture Act would establish these
five centers, which would work together to build a regional
research collaboration network, enabling more efficient and consistent communication between
(03:35):
cybersecurity centers and local farming industries. They would also focus
on developing technologies for the agricultural sector by creating test
beds to refine tools, conduct attack and defense exercises, and
evaluate cybersecurity solutions for field deployment. In addition, the centers
will make education and training programs designed to prepare skilled
(03:59):
workfe force capable of developing and installing cyber defense mechanisms
within the agricultural industry. A key priority of the initiative
will be eliminating threats from foreign adversaries, with mitigation efforts
focused on countering risks posed by countries of concern such
as the People's Republic of China, the Democratic People's a
(04:21):
Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, as well as other
countries laid out in this piece of legislation, which was noted,
was introduced rather by United States Senator Ted Budd late
last week, also getting some across the aisle support one
of the co sponsors of that bill, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto,
(04:41):
a Democrat out of Nevada, which also has a large
amount of agriculture in that state as well. You can
read some additional details on this legislation by visiting our
website This morning Carolina Journal dot com. The story's headline
up Bud introduces legislation on cybersecurity in agriculture. We'll continue
to follow that as it works through at Washington, DC.
(05:04):
You're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour. There's been
a lot of outrage in North Carolina over the last
couple of weeks after video merge showing a horrific murder
of a twenty three year old Ukrainian refugee on a
Charlotte light rail that happened back in late August. Lawmakers
are expected to return to the General Assembly this week
to potentially pass some pieces of legislation to potentially deal
(05:25):
with some of these issues going forward, things like bail reform,
cash list bail, as well as some other issues. We
heard from members of the General Assembly and a press
conference on that over the last couple of weeks to
preview what things could look like in Raleigh. It's my
pleasure to welcome the editor in chief of Carolina Journal
dot com, Donna King, to the News Hour this morning.
Don a pretty big press conference when you've got the
(05:47):
House and the Senate leader convening in Raleigh when they
weren't in session, getting the media there to talk about this.
This is obviously sparked some sort of fire from lawmakers.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yes, this is all stemming from the murder on the
light rail in Charlotte back in August. To twenty three
year old Ukrainian woman murdered right there in front in
public in a really nice area. It certainly was a
shock to everyone, and the video of this made it
spread nationally and even globally, and it really crossed the
aisle bipartisan agreement that we need to do something about it.
(06:19):
There's some reforms that need to be made, and that's
what we saw Burger and Hall coming together, and now
they're expected to file piece of legislation on Monday, they
can mean at noon that could address some of these things.
In Carolina Journal's latest pull, something like seventy four percent
of North Carolinian said they would like to see judges
or magistrates held responsible if somebody they let go release
(06:43):
goes on and commits another crime. So there really is
a bipartisan support for that, and I think that's some
of what help may help grease the skids for this
piece of legislation, even hearing from Governor Stein, who said
in Charlotte last week that he is stive of some
changes to the current pre trial detention laws that North
(07:04):
Carolina has, whatever that process might look like before between
the times someone's arrested and the time they go to trial.
So it's good that they're lining up the different branches
of government to support this idea and Democrats and Republicans
on board with some of it. The finer details what
those policies look like. That's one of the questions that
we have going into Monday.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
One of the big discussions that we will probably hear
is something to do with cash list bail. This is
something that you traditionally see in major Democrats cities, at
least on the national stage. A lot of finger pointing
at places like New York City where that's become a
major problem, I'll admit down and we haven't really heard
prior to this situation a lot about that in North Carolina,
but both Berger and Hall made those comments in their
(07:48):
press conference back a couple of weeks. Presumably they'll deal
with something like that as well.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
I would expect something like that in this legislation. Now,
this particular murder in Charlotte made that a super high
profile issue, but it certainly has been happening for quite
some time. In this case, De Carlos Brown, who's the
alleged assailant in this murder, he was out on bail
and had signed a promise to return rather than some
(08:13):
sort of paid bond, and was out on bail. Now
that said, my understanding is that he could have also
been out on bail even if he had paid it.
But in this case, he was just required to sign
something to say that he would return for his trial
date in another unrelated crime. So you know, these are
the things that they want addressed. And those that we've
talked to recently who are in law enforcement say that
(08:35):
this has been an ongoing issue and things like this.
The committee, the task force that was started by former
Governor Roy Cooper is taking some heat from Senator Burger
and others. There's a task force that was formed by
former Governor Cooper back in twenty twenty following the death
of George Floyd in protests around the country during COVID.
(08:56):
It's called the Task Force for Racial Equity and Criminal Justice.
Its last meeting was in twenty twenty four, but certainly
it was formed to create some recommendations to build toward
equity in the criminal justice system. It was headed by
Associate Justice Anita Earls, and there were recommendations in it
things like cashless bail unless someone is a public safety threat.
(09:17):
There were miles and miles of recommendations. That's one of them,
and that task force is taking some heat. I would
also expect in this bill limits on the Task Force
and recommendations powers that groups like this have or that
the governor could make.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Also important to note, while that task force was created
the now current governor and Josh Stein was the Attorney
general here in North Carolina. This was under the AG's office,
So some work going on there. And don I've seen
folks posting on social media some of Stein's commentary when
he was the age around the time that this task
force was created. Some of these words are could seemingly
(09:51):
come back and haunt him now based on the situation
that we're watching in Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Absolutely, twenty twenty was only five years ago, but certainly
is world difference in the approach towards this because you
may remember that after George Floyd's death, there were protests
around the country and lots of particularly democratic lawmakers and
executive officeholders. We're creating task force just like this and
taking on that's sort of what now looks like soft
(10:18):
on crime policies, and that's exactly what Senate Leader Phil
Berger and Speaker Destin Hall are saying that they want
to put that in history, and they want to really
start looking at North Carolina's system, particularly the pre trial
detention system, and make sure that it is conducive to
a safe public in North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Lawmakers will be in Raleigh Over the next couple of days,
we'll continue our coverage over on our website, Carolina Journal
dot com, and of course right here on the Carolina
Journal News Hour. We appreciate the preview from the editor
and king of Carolina Journal dot com. Donna King joins
us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
It's five May too.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour news stock eleven,
ten ninety nine three WBT. Don't forget if you miss
any portion of our show here weekday mornings. You can
check out the Carolina Journal News Hour podcast in your
favorite podcast app, Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you
get your shows. You can also watch the show live
and after the fact on our Carolina Journal YouTube channel.
(11:21):
You're getting some more details early this morning on what
this piece of legislation that we were just talking about
with Donna King about will look like as lawmakers make
their way back to Raleigh this week. We have an
official bill number and bill named this morning, filed by
the General Assembly late last night, House Bill three oh seven.
(11:42):
That's IRENA's Law and it is a seventeen page a
piece of legislation that has a variety of issues that
lawmakers look to crack down upon. Just doing some light
reading of that and looking at some of the details.
It covers a variety of things, including pre trial release,
sentencing enhanced ments, things dealing with magistrates that has been
(12:03):
a big discussion in the situation unfolding out of Charlotte
as well, and just going through some of those details.
Limits on pre trial releases for defendants accused of violent crimes,
gang activity, serious firearm offenses, and fentanyl trafficking, so throwing
in some of the drug issues that the state deals
(12:23):
with as well. Judges must issue written findings if granting
releases in a violent cases, so judges will have to
go on the record as to why they filed any
sort of pre trial release motions in those cases, requiring
mental health evaluations when a violent offender has a history
of involuntary commitment, and it does authorize house to arrest
(12:46):
with electronic monitoring or GPS tracking at the defendant's expense.
Looking at some of the sentence enhancements, this legislation would
add aggregated aggravated factors. If a crime is committed against
a victim using public transportation, that is obviously very much
as zeroed in and honed in on the murder of
(13:06):
Irena Zaruska on the Charlotte Light Rail back on August
the twenty second, and that would apply in both standard
sentencing and in capital cases. For magistrates, it would allow
suspension to buy a Chief justice as well as local
judges of the magistrates if it is deemed that they
are not doing their job correctly. That would be a
(13:28):
major change here in North Carolina, and magistrates may also
be removed from their post from failing to make required
written findings in some of those pre trial releases and
in some of those accused crimes, as we just talked
about violent crimes, gang activity, firearms offenses, drug trafficking, things
(13:48):
of that nature. It also directs the North Carolina Collaboratory
to study mental health in the judicial system, house arrest capabilities,
and alternative execution methods. Those reports are due in by
twenty twenty six some preliminary details from the Collaboratory, with
a final report in twenty twenty seven. Don and I
(14:09):
just talked about earlier the Governor's Task Force for Racial
Equality and Criminal Justice that was started to under Democrat
Governor Roy Cooper back in twenty twenty one. Of the
individuals involved in that was are now governor then Attorney
General at the time, Josh Stein. That would be ended
by this piece of legislation, and it cannot be recreated
(14:31):
without legislative approval. So lawmakers moving forward on that. And
one of the big stories out of that press conference
that we covered a couple of weeks ago, which included
the Speaker of the North Carolina House and the head
of the North Carolina Senate, Destin Hall and Phil Berger,
was talking about reinstating the death penalty in North Carolina.
There is some discussion on that in this legislation, including
(14:55):
speeding up appeals and post conviction review in capital cases,
setting a twenty four month deadline for that, and keeps
the venue for death penalty appeals in the county in
which the conviction originally took place now locally for those
in and around the Charlotte metro area. There is some
things in here for the Mecklenburg County District Attorney's office
(15:17):
as well. This legislation, if passed as written right now,
would add ten assistant district attorneys and five legal assistants
and five legal assistants for them and provide a two
plus million dollars in reoccurring funding that would be every
single year to strengthen prosecutionorial capacity within the Mecklenburg County
(15:39):
District Attorney Office. So those are just some of the
highlights of this legislation as we look at how this
process is set to play out, this legislation will likely
get some sort of hearing in committee today where it
could see some votes, where it could see some approvals,
before making its way to the full House and Senate
(16:00):
floor for the legislation to be dealt with. A Senate leader,
Phil Berger, released a press release on Sunday saying, quote,
Irena should still be alive. She should still be thriving
and enjoying time with her family and friends. We cannot
let North Carolina be held hostage by woke week on
(16:20):
crime policies and court officials who prioritize criminals over justice
for victims. We are also taking steps to revive the
death penalty for those who commit the most heinoused acts.
At the same time, lawmakers will take up some of
the pieces in this legislation. There are some additional things
(16:41):
scheduled on the calendar in Raleigh today. There could be
some veto override bills in a variety of issues. Senate
Bill fifty. This is also known as Constitutional Carrie. It
would allow adults eighteen and older who are not otherwise
prohibited to carry a concealed hand gun without a permit.
That would be no prior convictions, no prior felonies. Senate
(17:04):
Bill fifty was overridden by the Senate twenty six to eighteen,
and we will see if the House has the votes
to do that when they do head back to Raleigh today.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Is on the calendar for this morning.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
I'll note just because it is on calendar does not
guarantee that it will actually be dealt with, but it
is listed on the calendar for this morning. Senate Bill
one fifty three. That's the North Carolina Border Protection Act
that requires cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and allows residents
to sue local governments that adopt sanctuary policies across North Carolina.
(17:39):
The Senate overrode to the governor's veto on that legislation
in July. The House has yet to vote on it yet.
A couple of DEI pieces of legislation Senate Bill five
point fifty eight, House Built one seventy one and Senate
Bill two seventy seven. All of them have been dealt
with by the North Carolina Senate, none taken up in
the House, and finally House Bill eighty seven, which enables
(18:02):
North Carolina to join a federal tax credit program supporting
US scholarships granting organizations or SSOs to that fund to
public or rather fund private school expenses. That legislation cleared
the House in March and the Senate in July before
Stein vetoed it in August. It would have to make
its way back to both chambers for a veto override.
(18:26):
We will continue to track that progress on all of
those pieces of legislation, plus the brand new House Built
three oh seven, also known as IRENA's Law. It is
said to be a very busy day in Raleigh. We'll
have a coverage throughout the day over on our website,
Carolina Journal dot com, and of course have the latest
coming up for you tomorrow morning five to six am
(18:47):
right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
It's five thirty six.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. Newstock eleven,
ten ninety nine three. A recent decision by the North
Carolina Supreme Court over a fire Department of Transportation employee
might not be that interesting of a story. However, the
ruling and the decision could have some broader implications across
the state of North Carolina. To walk us through those details,
(19:15):
this morning, Mitch Koki of the John Locke Foundation joins
us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, I guess,
for the fire DOT employee, a lot of weighing here
on this decision, But for the rest of folks in
North Carolina, there could be some additional consequences of the
State Supreme Court's decision.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
What are you tracking?
Speaker 4 (19:33):
That's exactly right, Nick, I'll give you first some of
the specifics of this case. This guy named Thurman Savage
who worked for the DOT and his job was to
certify school bus drivers in North Carolina. Now DOT fired
him some years back after he admitted that he had
re certified some bus drivers without doing the ride alongs
that he was supposed to do. One of the reasons
(19:55):
the DOT said it was firing Savage was that a
particular state law seemed to say, in the Dot's perspective,
that if someone violated this record keeping function that the
person had to be dismissed. So basically their argument was
we don't have any say in this. The law says
(20:16):
we have to fire you because you did what you did,
and so that's the end of the story. Savage, when
he went to court, said that the DOT got it wrong,
that it was applying the law incorrectly, and that once
the Administrative law judge ruled in his favor, then the
(20:37):
State Court of Appeals stepped in and reversed that ruling
and sided with the DOT and its interpretation of the law. Now,
the State Supreme Court decided to take up this case,
and as it turns out in their opinion, they don't
end up resolving the case for mister Savage one way
or another, because the DOT made some other arguments about
(20:59):
why they fired him, and those are going to have
to be addressed again by the Court of Appeals. But
what really stands out is that the State Supreme Court
went out of its way to say that courts in
North Carolina should not use what's called judicial deference. For
people to follow the US Supreme Court. They might remember
that there was a recent case dealing with Chevron deference
(21:22):
and ending Chevron defference after fifty years. This is a
similar issue in North Carolina, and the idea is that judges,
in some respects have taken on this idea that when
there's a dispute about a state law and a government
agency is one of the parties in the case, that
judges should defer to what the government agencies think the
(21:44):
law says. This ruling from the State Supreme Court was
very clear in saying that that is not what is
supposed to happen in North Carolina courts. Justice Richard Diets
wrote the majority opinion, and he basically said that sometime
within the last twenty five years or so, the State
Court of Appeals has allowed deference to creep into its rulings,
(22:06):
but it shouldn't have. And the court specifically expressly disavows
deference and says the judges need to review the case.
They need to give all the party's arguments equal weight.
The government's argument doesn't get any additional weight beyond what
was in the initial of pleadings, and so deference is
(22:30):
thrown out. Justice Tamer Behringer wrote a concurring opinion. She
agreed completely with what Diete said, but wanted to weigh
in herself and say, yes, I completely go along with this.
Judicial difference has no role in the courts. Meanwhile, that
part of the ruling was five to two. The two
Democrats dissented, and Anita Earles wrote that she was concerned
(22:52):
that they were striking so much against deference and that
government agencies should get some sort of consideration for their
expertise when they're looking into a state law. So the
bottom line is this is going to be good news
moving forward for any individual or family or business that
goes to court and is challenging either the actual what
(23:16):
is said in a state law or how it was
applied in their case, and is going up against a
government agency. Judges are not just going to say, oh,
the government agency thinks this is what the law says,
We've got to go along with that. So the government wins. No.
Moving forward to North Carolina, the government will get to
make its arguments, but so will the individual or the business,
(23:39):
and the judges will rule those by looking at it
and deciding which is the better argument, not tipping the
scale in the favor of the government.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Mitch, I'm glad you drew the parallel between the United
States Supreme Court and their decision in the Chevron case,
which predominantly a lot of that dealt with EPA and
various regulations around ocean life, in zoning, and a whole
bunch of different things in which the federal government would
go in front of the courts and say these are
the regulations, these are the rules, essentially, where the subject
(24:09):
matter expert take our word for it. And as you noted,
that was a fifty year decision that had been ongoing
here across the United States. Many conservative groups and others
applauding that change from the United States Supreme Court back
a couple of years ago. Is it accurate to say
that we're seeing a similar thing now taking place in
North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
Yes, it's exactly what we're seeing in North Carolina that
once the Lope or Bright case ended Chevron deference after
about fifty years of it kind of making its way
through the court system, we're now seeing the North Carolina court,
the state Supreme Court, trying to ensure that deference doesn't
play a future role in the state courts. And basically,
(24:53):
Justice Steetz's opinion could have stopped very short. He could
have said, and I think he would have had a
unanimous opinion on this, because the two Democratic justices went
along with it, that the State Court of Appeals read
the state law that was used in firing mister Savage
Thurman Savage read it wrong, and so they could have
just sent it back to the State Court of Appeals
(25:14):
said you got it wrong. Now you got to deal
with the rest of the case. What happened instead was
he said, well, they got the peals court got it wrong.
The case is going to go back to the appeals
court to deal with other issues. But in the meantime,
we're going to go out of our way here to
say that we're not having deference. And any previous State
Court of Appeals ruling that gave the sense that there
(25:36):
was going to be difference, we throw those out. There's
not going to be a difference moving forward, all courts
will have to give what's called a Denovo review, which
means you look at the case fresh, you don't weigh
the scales toward the government in any way, and that
I think is going to be good news for litigants
in the future when they're going up against the government.
(25:57):
They can't the government can't just say well, this is
what we think about the law. So it has to stand.
The government can make its case, the litigants can make
their case, the judges will decide who has the stronger case,
and that was spelled out very clearly in this case
in the Savage versus State Dot.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Obviously, state law is one thing traditionally that has to
go through the General Assembly, passed by ball chambers, signed
by the governor. But mentioned another angle of this is regulation,
which does not traditionally go through that same process. Many
agencies and entities are allowed to come up with their
own rules and regulations without them going through the traditional
legislative pathway to be on the books. Here in North Carolina,
(26:39):
I would imagine this is going to have a huge
implication on entities like NCDQ and others that some folks
may believe have a ridiculous amount of overburdensome regulation. Now
maybe individuals can challenge those and get a nice opinion
in the courts.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
It'll be very interesting to see. In fact, there is
another case that's within the state's court that has yet
to be decided that's on that point almost exactly, and
that is this case dealt with how an agency views
a state law and not giving any special treatment there.
But there is another type of deference where you defer
(27:16):
to the agency about how it interprets its own regulation.
And there is a case in front of the State
Supreme Court involving a fired state Winston Salem State University
professor that deals with this idea of deference to how
the agencies view their own regulations, And depending on how
(27:37):
that case comes out, you could see even more protection
for the litigants who challenge something that a government agency does,
saying that not only are they not going to get
deference for the way they view a state law, but
they won't even get deference for the way they view
their own regulations. The judges will look at the regulation,
look at what it says, take the government's argument about
(28:00):
what that regulation means, but also take the argument of
the litigants challenging the regulation, and see which is the
better argument. And that, of course, would open the door
to even more opportunity for litigans to challenge regulations and
laws that they don't think are proper and may be
on constitution.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
It may not sound like it right now, but there
could be some monumental changes in state government as a
result of this case and potentially some others. We appreciate
the update this morning. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke
Foundation joins us Sun the Carolina Journal News Hour. The
sixth annual WBT Little Hero's Blood Drive continues this week Thursday,
(28:42):
September the twenty fifth. WBT and the One Blood, Big
Red Bus will be at the Doghouse in Uptown Charlotte
from ten am to three pm and we're encouraging you
to make a life saving blood donation. The sixth annual
WBT Little Hero's Blood Drive continues this week, Thursday, September
the twenty fifth, at the dog House in Uptown Charlotte.
Visit WBT dot com this morning for a location details
(29:05):
and to register your appointment.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
It's now five point fifty two.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Welcome back to The Carolina Journal News Hour, Newstack eleven,
ten ninety nine to three WBT. On Friday night, Representative
Jared Lowry, who was in the North Carolina House he
serves the forty seventh district across North Carolina, posted a
video on social media announcing that he will be resigning
his post in the North Carolina General Assembly to go
(29:29):
to Washington, DC.
Speaker 5 (29:31):
Hi, everyone, I'm Jared Lowry, representing for North Carolina House
District forty seven, representing Robinson County. The past three years
being in the General Assembly, it has been not only
a pleasure but an honor to serve you the people.
Nearly ninety thousand people live in my district in Robinson
County gave me an opportunity of a lifetime to be
(29:51):
able to come here and advocate for everyone.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Since I've been in the General Assembly, I've.
Speaker 5 (29:56):
Been able to provide a valuable voice for the people.
And not only voice, but it is seated at the
decision making table that had been missing for several years.
My time here in the General Assembling, I've worked with
my delegation mats to secure critical funding needed for important.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Projects across the district.
Speaker 5 (30:13):
Some of those are a new town hall town of Fairmont,
a new police station town of Maxon, downtown revitalization for
Town of Roland, new parks town of Red Springs, a
new park in the town of Rentered, much needed transportation
projects in the town of Pembroke, downtown revitalization for the
City of Lumberton, and even new hangars for the Limbited
(30:35):
Regional Airport. Other projects that are going to be instrumental
in continuing to grow Robinson County is new nursing program
building at old Robinson Community College. More funding for additional
health programs at UNC Pembroke, including the School of Optometric Medicine,
the first in the state, which has been a twenty
year journey. We were finally able to complete continue support
(30:56):
for the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina as they developed the.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Lumbee culture seen in their Department of Agriculture.
Speaker 5 (31:01):
All these projects have been significant impacting in the county
and will be going forward. Also, the Public Schools of
Robinson County is building their first new school since nineteen
eighty three, and one last project that was funded it's
much needed in every corner of Robinson County is a
major cleanup of the Lumber River basin, one of the
largest in US history.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
We're getting sixty million dollars.
Speaker 5 (31:24):
From the federal government, supported by Senator Tom Tillis, matched
with twenty million dollars from the General Assembly. This project
is going to alleviate flooding all across the county from
our major reign events, something that has been desperately needed
since Matthew occurred in twenty sixteen and Florence in twenty eighteen.
But I'm here today to make a spatial announcement to
(31:44):
my family, to my friends, to my community, my supporters
across the state.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
I will be effectively.
Speaker 5 (31:50):
Stepping away from the General Assembly at the beginning of October.
I've been offered a role in Washington, d C. To
where I'll be able to go and take my talents
and loyalty and the same vigor of well work ethic
that I've used here in the General Assembly to support
the country on a larger scale.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
I'm looking forward to this new challenge.
Speaker 5 (32:08):
I'm looking forward to continue to be a public servant
to the people now not just of Robinson County, but
to the state into America. So as I transition to
my new role in Washington, d C, just know that
I will work every single day with the same dedication, loyalty,
and rigor that I do right here in this House
for you. But until then, I want to reaffirm to
(32:29):
you that this lasts few weeks in the General Assembly,
I will continue to work as hard as I can
for every constituent. So please continue to call email my office,
reach out to me with any constituents concerns or anything
that you need. And to be honest with you, I'm
still writing legislation today. Why Because the issues that are
impacting Robinson County and North Carolina are not going to
(32:52):
end just because I'm gone, and I need to make
sure that my successor is well prepared to continue fighting
the fight for Robinson County and rule North Carolina as
your state representative. Thank you, thank you for this opportunity,
and may God continue to bless Robinson County in the
state of North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
That's Representative Jared Lowry releasing a video on his social
media channels on Friday announcing that he will be going
up to Washington, d C. After serving in the General
Assembly over the last couple of years. He has been
in the GA since twenty twenty two and obviously continuing
the work there. Obviously a busy week in Raleigh as
we watch Arena's Law that was announced by the General
(33:34):
Assembly last night. We'll track its progress throughout the day
over on our website, Carolina Journal dot com, and we'll
have the details tomorrow morning right here on the Carolina
Journal News. Alum, that's going to do it for a
Monday edition. WBT News is next, followed by Morning Metam.
We're back with you tomorrow morning five to six Right
Here on News Talk, eleven, ten and ninety nine three
WBT
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