September 12, 2025 • 33 mins
The North Carolina General Assembly is preparing to introduce new crime legislation following a high-profile murder, with Speaker Hall and Senator Berger emphasizing tougher enforcement. In western North Carolina, another $12 million in federal recovery funding has been approved to aid Hurricane Helene rebuilding. Nationally, the manhunt continues in Utah for the killer of Charlie Kirk, while the Carolina Panthers have fired a communications staffer over controversial remarks about his assassination. Meanwhile, President Trump has approved $32 million in federal aid to address damage caused by Tropical Storm Chantal.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
It's five oh five and welcome into a Friday edition
of The Carolina Journal News Our Newstalk eleven ten ninety
nine three WBT. I'm Nick Craig, a good morning to you.
On Thursday, lawmakers in North Carolina, including North Carolina Speaker
Deston Hall as well as Senate Leader Phil Berger, held
the press conference at the General Assembly and announced plans
(00:30):
to introduce legislation coming up later this month targeting crime
in North Carolina. This all coming after the recent murder
of Irena Zaruska, a Ukrainian refugee who was living in
a Charlotte which she was brutally murdered back on August
the twenty second. That press conference is opened by House
Speaker Duston Hall.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Another tragic time in our country with the murder of
Charlie Kirk yesterday and for us here in North Carolina,
coming on the heels of a tragedy on the Charlotte
transit system recently with the murder of the Ukrainian refugee
who was on the train that night, and so over
(01:11):
the course of the past really couple of weeks, we
the General Assembly have been thinking about what we can
do to prevent the tragedy that happened in Charlotte from
ever happening again in this state. And so we're still
in the homework stage finding out how this specific case happened.
(01:31):
But from what we can tell so far, this was
largely as a result of somebody being released from a
jail who should not have been released from a jail,
an individual who had a violent history, a convicted felon,
had multiple charges, clearly had mental health issues, had multiple
interactions with Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, and somehow was allowed
(01:55):
to walk out of the jail by a magistrate by
simply signing a written promise to appear again, when all
those facts were known or certainly should have been known
at the time. And so we've got to get to
the bottom of how it happened in this case, and
we're looking at a number of possible legislative actions to
(02:16):
take reforming various issues with our magistrates with pre trial
conditions of release, which we'll talk about more in just
a moment.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
That's how Speaker Destin Hall kind of doing the open there.
He then turned it over to his colleague in the Senate,
in the leader Phil Berger, who said that based on
all of the facts available. Zaruska, well, she should still
be alive.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Arena Zurutzka should still be alive all day, but her
life was tragically cut short because of the atrocious policies
pushed out of touch politicians and court officials that prioritize
a perverted vision or version of equity and politicized social
(02:59):
justice over real and tangible justice. The hard working men
and women in law enforcement go after and catch violent criminals,
but all too often, as soon as the criminals are
brought before a magistrate or a judge, their efforts to
keep our communities safe good down the drain. We cannot
stand by while our cities are held hostage by soft
(03:23):
on crime policies. We must stop the ongoing violence from
overtaking our state and our country.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
That Senate Leader Phil Berger lawmakers will be back in
Raleigh coming up here later this month, and this is
some of the impact and some of the pieces in
that legislation that the Senate Leader hopes to push forward.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
That means we will fight back against soft on crime
policies that permeate our judicial system. When the General Assembly
returns on September the twenty second, we're going to propose
a package of common sense policies to more effectively tackle
crime in our We can start by ensuring that Governor
Stein and other members of the executive branch cannot establish
(04:07):
any future task forces like the one Roy Cooper created
that advanced week on crime policies that kept IRENA's murderer
on the streets. We cannot keep our citizens safe if
our policies favor criminals over public safety. I personally am
looking into ways to restart the death penalty here in
(04:28):
North Carolina. For far too long, there's been a judicially
imposed moratorium on the death penalty by activist judges and
doctors and attorneys general and governors who are more interested
in serving leftist political bosses than justice for victims and
their families and justice for the public as well. Republicans
(04:49):
in the General Assembly have attempted to restart the death
penalty over the past decade and a half, but those
efforts have been stymied at every turn.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
A couple of t to take away from Burger's commentary
there talking about some of the efforts that the General
Assembly will likely go through at the end of this month,
and one of the big things coming out of that
you just heard it. At the end of his commentary
was the Republicans in the General Assembly trying to reinitiate
the death penalty across North Carolina. In the aftermath of
(05:19):
Irena Zaruska's killing, some have taken to social media and
in their comments and talked about funding for law enforcement. However,
Phil Berger says of the law enforcem angle of this worked,
it was a problem with the judiciary.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Here's the thing. Policing doesn't need to be reimagined. It
needs to be respected. It needs to be funded. Our
hard working law enforcement officers are all too often villainized
just for doing the jobs keeping us safe. It's time
for that to end. If we do not respect those
(05:52):
who keep us safe and run towards danger, then we
will descend into chaos. Not the time to sit back
and hope for the best. We need to take bold,
decisive action. President Trump's vision to create a safer America
is something we can replicate here in North Carolina. I
(06:13):
support the President's actions to keep American citizens safe and
commend as leadership in that regard. We need to lock
up by violent thugs who are terrorizing our citizens. We
need to go after drug traffickers who are poisoning our children.
We need to keep repeat offenders in jail. We need
to end cashless bond. We need to hold or cash
(06:37):
less bail. We need to hold activist judges and magistrates accountable.
We must deliver justice for Erna and the countless families
across our state that have fallen victim to a justice
system that does not support them and does not keep
them safe. And the bill we will bring forward later
this month will play a vital role in that, but
(06:58):
it's just the first step.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
As you heard from Senate Leader Phil Berger, cashless bail
has been a major discussion of topic after information has
come out about the alleged to Charlotte killer, the fact
that he had been arrested a total of fourteen times
released as early as January of this year before that
fatal night in August. On the Charlotte light rail House,
(07:20):
Speaker Destin Hall also made some commentary on the cashlest
bail system that is playing out in some North Carolina cities,
touch on a few.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Of the specifics that we're looking at as well, along
with as Senator Berger mentioned, ending cashless bail in this state.
You know what happened in this situation was an individual
who could have been given a secured bond. I mean,
they would have had to have paid some amount of
money in order or get a bond to get out
of jail. And this person, instead of being required to
(07:50):
do that, was allowed to sign a piece of paper
and walk out of that jail. And again we're talking
about an individual who had a prior violent felony conviction,
who had served time in prison, who had been charged
at least thirteen times before that latest charge, when he
was allowed to walk out. An individual who obviously had
(08:15):
some form of mental health issues, again allowed to walk
out of that jail. So when folks come in and
before a magistrate and they've been charged with a serious crime,
if they're a por they have a prior violent felony
on their record, it simply should not even be an
option to allow that person to have some sort of
(08:35):
cash list bail. They should be held in the jail
under a secured bond. And if that had happened here,
then most likely the victim in Charlotte would still be
alive today.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
That's how Speaker Destin Hall, commenting on that press conference
that took place in the General Assembly yesterday a lot
of focus also on the magistrate judges. How Speaker Dustin
All had plenty to say about that as well.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
We've also got to look at the way that we
handle magistrates in this state. You know, Charlotte has had
a problem, Melcklimbore County has had a problem with its
magistrates for a long time now. And I'll remind most
of you all that we had a bipartisan bill that
I worked on personally dealing with the pre trial integrity,
called it the Pre Trial Integrity Act, and it basically said,
(09:23):
if you're out already on a you've got a charge already,
and you're out on bail and you get charged again,
we're going to make it much more difficult for you
to get out pre trial. And you know, we worked
with the Melcklabore County DA, we worked with the city
leaders in Charlotte, worked with the Chief of CMPD on
that bill, and they agreed with that and we were
able to get that bill done, but it obviously was
(09:44):
not enough. And so when we have magistrates who were
asleep at the wheel like this one obviously was we've
got to make a change. And so we're going to
be looking at some oversight of magistrates, looking at the
way that we select magistrates, looking at ethical issue with magistrates,
and making sure that the folks are making these decisions,
(10:05):
are paying attention to what they're doing, and that they're
trying to serve the public safety and not some whatever
left wing interest or whatever other interests they have other
than public safety. That's what a magistrate should be doing.
So we're going to look very closely at that. We're
also going to look at dealing with issues when folks
are charged with crimes who have obvious mental health issues,
(10:27):
making sure that magistrates are taking that into consideration. You know,
in jails, we had we expanded medicaid the state, and
one of the justifications for that, and we heard from
sheriffs was we have folks in the jails who need
mental health care, they need health care in general, and
so we have options available under current law for these
folks who were in jails to have some of that treatment.
(10:49):
In fact, you know, we're told that CMPD apparently interacted
with this guy four times in the prior year on
well checks and that he was offered services. It's not
been clear what services this person was actually offered we've
not been given answers to those questions. We will find
out and we'll get to the bottom of exactly what
(11:11):
was going on there. But we're going to increase training
for magistrates and make sure that they understand that their
role again is to keep the public safe.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
That's wrapping up the press conference in the General Assembly
on Thursday Senate Leader Phil Berger Junior House Speaker at
Destin Hall, talking about some of the legislative action that
they are set to take later this month. We'll have
some additional coverage on that coming up as we continue
this morning, and we've got a full link in story
over on our website this morning at Carolina Journal dot com.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
It's twenty two minutes past the hour.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk eleven,
ten ninety nine to three WBT. As we get into
the later parts of this month, a lot of attention
will be focused on western North Carolina as we approach
the one year anniversary of the unimaginable amount of devastation
and destruction left in the western half of our state
(12:12):
after Hurricane Helene last year, and as that one year
anniversary approaches, some great news coming out this morning the
United States Department of Homeland Security DHS has announced that
Western North Carolina has been approved for an additional twelve
million dollars in FEMA grant disbursements. This comes just weeks
after the federal government approved an additional twenty eight million
(12:35):
dollars in similar funding. DHS Secretary Christi Nome announced in
a press release that the grants are for reimbursements for
critical infrastructure repairs to restore essential services and fortify North
Carolina and our cities and towns against future disasters, including
millions of dollars in infrastructure and upgrades, as well as
(12:59):
much needed resources to replace and rebuild critical community projects
across our state. United States Senator Ted Budd, who has
over the last couple of weeks put some pressure on
the President, Christy Nome and others within the federal government
about the timeline and the swiftness in reimbursing or allowing
(13:21):
and allocating these funds, said on exit he was glad
President Trump was able to fast track this funding. The
senator wrote, quote, I'm grateful to at POTUS for weighing
in to fast track twelve million dollars to reimburse Western
North Carolina communities for cleanup and recovery efforts. Following Helene,
I look forward to hearing from Secretary Nome on how
(13:44):
we can work together to ensure that western North Carolina
projects quickly received promise at federal funds. Nome said in
the press release quote, the American people deserve a government
that fights for their survival and prosperity, not one that
kneels to bureaucratic elites. With the leadership of President Trump,
(14:05):
Senator Budd and Chairman Michael Wattley, DHS and FEMA are
delivering for North Carolina under President Trump's leadership, DHS is
not restoring our nate, is not only restoring our nation's
strength and securing communities, but ensuring that no Americans are
left behind. DHS said that the disbursement of that money
(14:28):
is a broader effort of more than three hundred and
twenty two million dollars where at the FEMA commitments to
North Carolina from the Trump administration and brings that total
amount of reimbursement and recovery to over one hundred and
sixty one million dollars since July the fourteenth. As we
(14:50):
look at those again, in some cases very lengthy dollar amounts.
That funding includes about sixty five million dollars to the
North Carolina Department of Transportation that's for vital road repair
projects in Buncombe County, McDowell County, Mitchell, Wilkes, and Yancey County.
About six million dollars to the North Carolina Department of
(15:11):
Cultural Resources to restore some of the Chimney Rock Parks
of bridges and roads, and some of the other things
in and around the Chimney Rock area and the state
park area around there. Five point eight million dollars to
the Town of Beach Mountain that for repairs to washed
out sections of Buckeye Creek Road and Charter Hill Road,
(15:33):
as well as additional money for power grid distribution systems
and fortifying that as well. Last month, it was announced
that renew and C North Carolina's long term Disaster Recovery
Initiative finished making storm related repairs to the first home
approved through assistance from a renew ncas in North Carolina
(15:55):
single family home housing project. Maline Waters was the first
applicant approved for assistance through that program, where new NC
is funded by in part by a federal Community Development
Block grant for disaster recovery also known as a CDBGDR.
That money coming from the Department of Housing and Urban
(16:18):
Development or HUD, and of the total one point four
billion dollars in that federal block grant funding was allocated
to the state for western North Carolina recovery needs, and
out of that, eight hundred and seven million dollars is
allocated specifically for this single family host housing program. The
program is the first of a series of recovery initiatives
(16:41):
to be offered by the North Carolina Commerce Departments Division
of Community Right Revitalization under the program name renew and C.
While it has not necessarily been as quick as everybody
would have hoped in terms of some of that money
being allocated and doled out from the federal government or
even parts of the North Carolina General Assembly, as we
(17:04):
approach that one year mark, it is remarkable to see
that any significant amount of money has begun to flow
from the federal government and again to this point, one
hundred and sixty one million dollars just from FEMA. That
does not include the one point four billion dollars from HUD.
The more than almost over a billion dollars or two
billion dollars I should say that has been allocated by
(17:26):
the North Carolina General Assembly. Adding all of that up,
it is serious dollars that are making a serious impact
and trying to get the western half of our state
recovered and reopened after the devastation from Hurricane Helene in September.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
We've got some additional coverage on some of those moneies
where it is being spent. It's available over on our
website this morning, Carolina Journal dot com that headline story
another twelve million plus dollars in federal recovery funds headed
to western North Carolina after Helene. You can read those
details at Carolina Journal dot com.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
It's five thirty five.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Newstock eleven,
ten ninety nine to three WBT. Turning our attention back
to Utah this morning and the assassination of Charlie Kirk
earlier in the week. A law enforcement officials, both local, state,
and federal, continue the manhunt this morning as they are
still working to track down the shooter that they believe
(18:30):
is responsible for shooting Kirk in the neck Wednesday afternoon
while he was hosting one of his Turning Point USA
college tour events leading to his death, and as of
a last night, a late night press conference, the FBI,
alongside a state and local officials, released new photos of
a person of interest in the assassination of Kirk. The
(18:52):
images show a male wearing jean's longsleeve black shirt with
an American flag, black sunglasses, and a hat. The FBI
also noted that they are offering one hundred thousand dollars
bounty for information that helps crack that case. They also
did release some surveillance footage in that press conference last
night showing the said individual running off of a roof
(19:16):
and jumping off of a rooftop before escaping into a
wooded area near the campus of Utah Valley University. Yesterday,
we did learn that law enforcement officials, I'm not immediately
clear which entities, but they did recover a firearm that
they did believe was used in that attack. As that
manhunt and intensifies, they are asking the public or anybody
(19:40):
in the area that might have ring doorbell cameras or
any other sort of surveillance cameras outside of their property
to provide that information and noted that they have gotten
more than seven thousand tips digital photos and videos submitted
to the FBI, the largest since the Boston bombing, the
Boston Marria On bombing, which, of course you had tens
(20:02):
of thousands of people in the vicinity of that event.
As that manhunt does continue, will continue to keep our
eyes on the details.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Again.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
A horrific situation unfolding earlier this week in Utah where
a conservative commentator, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated in cold blood
while doing a college tour event having a free spirited
debate with college students and others at Utah Valley University.
Will continue the coverage right here on the Carolina Journal
(20:31):
News Hour with that a member of the Carolina Panthers team,
not not a player, but somebody in the back office
has been fired after remarks made on social media in
the wake of Kirk's assassination. Football Communication, a football communications
coordinator for the Panthers, reportedly wrote just hours after the assassination,
(20:55):
why are you sad? Your man said it was worth it,
including a photo of Kirk. Those details coming in from
the Charlotte Observer. A source familiar with the team's decision
told the Post Millennial that an individual by the name
of Charlie Rock was fired Thursday morning. He had interned
with the team's communication department in twenty twenty four and
(21:18):
had recently been promoted to a full time job in
the department. This caused the Carolina Panthers to put out
a public statement on their ex account yesterday saying, quote,
the views expressed by our employees are their own and
do not represent those of the Carolina Panthers. We do
not condone violence of any kind, and we are taking
(21:38):
this matter very seriously and have accordingly addressed it with
the individual. As the reports are this morning that that
individual by the name of Charlie Rock has been fired
from his position at the Carolina Panthers. Other individuals being
put under the spotlight as well for some of their
really what only can be described as evil comments after
(22:01):
Kirk was gonned down Wednesday afternoon in Utah. Interesting to
see the Panthers that they did come out, come forward
and speak about it publicly, posting that on their x
account yesterday after noon. Turning our attention back to North
Carolina this morning and some of the ongoings in the
General Assembly. A press conference taking place yesterday in Raleigh.
(22:23):
House Speaker Destin Hall Senate Leader Phil Berger announced that
later this month, when the General Assembly will be back
in Raleigh, that they planned to introduce legislation targeting crime
in North Carolina in light of the recent murder of
Irena Zaruska, a Ukrainian immigrant from Charlotte who was killed
while riding the Charlotte Light Rail. Back on August the
(22:47):
twenty second, Senate Leader Phil Berger described what some of
that legislation could in fact look like.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
That means we will fight back against soft on crime
policies that permeate our judicial system. When the General Assembly
returns on September the twenty second, we're going to propose
a package of common sense policies to more effectively tackle
crime in our state. We can start by ensuring that
Governor Stein and other members of the executive branch cannot
(23:16):
establish any future task forces like the one Roy Cooper
created that advanced week on crime policies that kept IRENA's
murderer on the streets. We cannot keep our citizens safe
if our policies favor criminals over public safety. I personally
am looking into ways to restart the death penalty here
(23:37):
in North Carolina. For far too long, there's been a
judicially imposed moratorium on the death penalty by activist judges
and doctors and attorneys general and governors who are more
interested in serving leftist political bosses than justice for victims
and their families and justice for the public as well.
(23:59):
Republicans in the General Assembly have attempted to restart the
death penalty over the past decade and a half, but
those efforts have been stymied at every turn.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Some interesting commentary there from Senate Leader Phil Berger talking
about the death penalty, trying to reinstate that that will
be an interesting process to watch unfolds coming up here.
In just a couple of weeks, House Speaker Destin Hall
talked about one of the big discussions in this case,
the rampant use of cashless bail in major metropolitan areas
(24:30):
across the country.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Touch on a few of the specifics that we're looking
at as well, along with as Senator Berger mentioned, ending
cashless bail in this state. You know what happened in
this situation was an individual who could have been given
a secured bond. I mean they would have had to
have paid some amount of money in order or get
a bond to get out of jail. And this person,
(24:53):
instead of being required to do that, was allowed to
sign a piece of paper and walk out of that jail. Again,
we're talking about an individual who had a prior violent
felony conviction, who had served time in prison, who had
been charged at least thirteen times before that latest charge,
(25:13):
when he was allowed to walk out. An individual who
obviously had some form of mental health issues again allowed
to walk out of that jail. So when folks come
in and before a magistrate and they've been charged with
a serious crime, if they're a they have a prior
violent felony on their record, it simply should not even
(25:35):
be an option to allow that person to have some
sort of cash list bail. They should be held in
the jail under a secured bond. And if that had
happened here, then most likely the victim in Charlotte would
still be alive today.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
A lot of other issues also talked about and could
be potential legislation coming up later in the month of September.
Discussion about magistrates rates and some of the policies that
they use to allow people, especially those that are struggling
with a mental health issue, have multiple runnings and multiple
convictions throughout the judicial system putting some accountability on them,
(26:13):
and also talked about the budget in Charlotte and digging
into that as well.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
The other thing that I think it's critical that we
look into is the budget in Macklenborough County and Charlotte
and to see what kind where are they spending money
at where they maybe shouldn't be. I've seen some reports
about some grants that they received from groups that their
purpose is to keep people out of jail. They're opposed
(26:40):
requiring cash bail. We're going to look at some of
those grants and see if maybe that played a role
in this case in Mecklenborough County. And again we're going
to go through the entire budget for the City of
Charlotte and Mecklenborough County to see where these funds are going,
because ultimately we're dealing with a local government really Mecklenberg
(27:01):
County and City of Charlotte, two local governments that, in
my opinion, have lost institutional control of their areas.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Some very strong words there from House Speaker Deston Hall.
They appear to be looking at everything. There was a
quick question and answer period that took place after the
two leaders of both chambers of the General Assembly introduced
or really talked about what they will be introducing over
the next couple of weeks. Indications are that both the
phil Berger and Deston Hall have been in conversation and
(27:32):
in contact with Governor Josh Stein. It's not immediately clear
whether this will work through the General Assembly on a
bipartisan nature, but I'm sure that's something that lawmakers are
looking at. As the schedule looks right now, lawmakers will
be back on Monday the twenty second, or the week
of the twenty second in Raleigh for another at least
(27:53):
a couple of days, as there are still some veto
overrides that continue to be discussed, and now some of
these pieces of legs trying to crack down on repeat
offender criminals, cash lists, bail accountability for magistrates, and even
some discussions about potentially revitalizing the death penalty here in
the state of North Carolina. We will be watching everything
(28:16):
out of the General Assembly very closely, and we'll continue
that coverage. We've got a full story this morning over
on our website, Carolina Journal dot com, the headline NCGA
to introduce crime legislation in the wake of recent murders.
You can read some additional coverage of that, and of course,
as lawmakers make their way back to Raleigh, we'll keep
you up to date with all of the coverage right
(28:37):
here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Good morning again, It's five fifty two.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Newstock eleven
nine nine three WBT. As we are talking about a
little bit earlier this morning, some additional federal funds coming
to the state of North Carolina dealing with hurricanee Helene
as we approach the one year of that devastation and destruction.
But one of the underreported stories earlier this year was
(29:08):
Tropical Storm chan Tal. We talked about it. That storm
affected the central part of our state back in July.
In days after an announcement that western North Carolina would
be receiving more money, President Donald Trump announced yesterday on
Truth's Social that he has approved thirty two million dollars
for damage caused in the central part of North Carolina.
(29:30):
The President, writing on truth Social quote, I am proud
to approve nearly thirty two million dollars in assistance for
the great state of North Carolina, which I won big
all six times including primaries in response to their recent
flooding events in July. Senator Ted Budd and future Senator
Michael Wattley and all of our incredible North Carolina Republicans
(29:53):
have asked for this, and I'm happy to do it.
North Carolinians deserve it. I just notified Governor Steyle and
I fully expect that he will make sure that the
funds are used to help the state recover quickly. He
then went into talking about some of the struggles that
the state of North Carolina has dealt with in the
past with hurricane recovery, including some of the disastrous response
(30:16):
from former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper, who of course is
the leading Democrat candidate in that Senate race that will
be taking place a late next year, a primary coming
up in March of twenty twenty six. Just in case
you are not familiar with Sean tal back. In early July,
that storm unloaded more than ten inches of rain in
(30:38):
some counties in the central part of our state, including Alamance, Orange,
Chatham More Counties, and others in the Piedmont area, rivers
swelled to record or near record levels. The Hall River
crested at thirty two and a half feet, the Eno
River set a new crest at twenty five point six
three feet, and in several areas one hundred year flood
(30:59):
level were well overtaken by the amount of water indation
from that storm. Right in the immediate aftermath, NCDOT it
closed more than one hundred and twenty roads. Major arteries
such as Interstate forty and Interstate eighty five in Alamance
County were closed in the immediate days following, and the
Chantal did lead to five deaths across the state of
(31:23):
North Carolina. More than eighty water rescues completed in both
Chapel Hill and Durham. While it was just a tropical storm,
and many folks kind of brush those off as not
having major impacts when we look at chan Tal, it did.
In fact that storm did in fact leave some major
impacts across the state. Soon after, the Governor and Stein
(31:44):
did declare a state of emergency, which did enable emergency
operations across the affected regions and put North Carolina in
the possibility of receiving some of those federal funds and
some of those federal dollars. The governor posting on his
ex account yet yesterday afternoon, quote great News. I just
got off the phone with President Trump, who pledged his
(32:05):
support for Tropical Storm shan Tal and Hurricane Helene recovery.
It's all hands on deck, and I thank him for
helping North Carolina rebuild. I look forward to working with
the Administration to deliver critical resources to North Carolina. Let's
get this work done. US Senator Ted Budd also commented
(32:25):
on this as well, saying quote, I'm deeply grateful to
at HOTUS for clearing the deck of thirty two million
dollars in public assistance grant reimbursement for Helene recovery and
Helene clean up in recovery and Tropical Storm sean Tal
dramatically addressing the backlog of projects waiting to be funded.
(32:46):
Is great news for North Carolina and especially in the
western North Carolina as those communities approach this storm's one
year anniversary. Homeowners, renters, and business owners affected by that
tropical storm in July are now also eligible to apply
for low interest disaster loans through the US Small Business Administration.
(33:08):
Some of the counties included there Alamance, Coswell, Chatham, Durham, Granville, Orange,
Person and Wake Counties. We've got some additional coverage on
this story and all of the other stories out of
western North Carolina as those relief and recovery efforts do continue.
You can read that coverage over on our website, Carolina
(33:28):
Journal dot com. That's gonna do it for a Friday edition.
WBT News is next followed by Good Morning BT. We're
back with you Monday morning, five to six right here
on Newstalk eleven, ten and ninety nine to three WBT
It's five oh five and welcome into a Friday edition
of The Carolina Journal News Our Newstalk eleven ten ninety
nine three WBT. I'm Nick Craig, a good morning to you.
On Thursday, lawmakers in North Carolina, including North Carolina Speaker
Deston Hall as well as Senate Leader Phil Berger, held
the press conference at the General Assembly and announced plans
(00:30):
to introduce legislation coming up later this month targeting crime
in North Carolina. This all coming after the recent murder
of Irena Zaruska, a Ukrainian refugee who was living in
a Charlotte which she was brutally murdered back on August
the twenty second. That press conference is opened by House
Speaker Duston Hall.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Another tragic time in our country with the murder of
Charlie Kirk yesterday and for us here in North Carolina,
coming on the heels of a tragedy on the Charlotte
transit system recently with the murder of the Ukrainian refugee
who was on the train that night, and so over
(01:11):
the course of the past really couple of weeks, we
the General Assembly have been thinking about what we can
do to prevent the tragedy that happened in Charlotte from
ever happening again in this state. And so we're still
in the homework stage finding out how this specific case happened.
(01:31):
But from what we can tell so far, this was
largely as a result of somebody being released from a
jail who should not have been released from a jail,
an individual who had a violent history, a convicted felon,
had multiple charges, clearly had mental health issues, had multiple
interactions with Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, and somehow was allowed
(01:55):
to walk out of the jail by a magistrate by
simply signing a written promise to appear again, when all
those facts were known or certainly should have been known
at the time. And so we've got to get to
the bottom of how it happened in this case, and
we're looking at a number of possible legislative actions to
(02:16):
take reforming various issues with our magistrates with pre trial
conditions of release, which we'll talk about more in just
a moment.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
That's how Speaker Destin Hall kind of doing the open there.
He then turned it over to his colleague in the Senate,
in the leader Phil Berger, who said that based on
all of the facts available. Zaruska, well, she should still
be alive.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Arena Zurutzka should still be alive all day, but her
life was tragically cut short because of the atrocious policies
pushed out of touch politicians and court officials that prioritize
a perverted vision or version of equity and politicized social
(02:59):
justice over real and tangible justice. The hard working men
and women in law enforcement go after and catch violent criminals,
but all too often, as soon as the criminals are
brought before a magistrate or a judge, their efforts to
keep our communities safe good down the drain. We cannot
stand by while our cities are held hostage by soft
(03:23):
on crime policies. We must stop the ongoing violence from
overtaking our state and our country.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
That Senate Leader Phil Berger lawmakers will be back in
Raleigh coming up here later this month, and this is
some of the impact and some of the pieces in
that legislation that the Senate Leader hopes to push forward.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
That means we will fight back against soft on crime
policies that permeate our judicial system. When the General Assembly
returns on September the twenty second, we're going to propose
a package of common sense policies to more effectively tackle
crime in our We can start by ensuring that Governor
Stein and other members of the executive branch cannot establish
(04:07):
any future task forces like the one Roy Cooper created
that advanced week on crime policies that kept IRENA's murderer
on the streets. We cannot keep our citizens safe if
our policies favor criminals over public safety. I personally am
looking into ways to restart the death penalty here in
(04:28):
North Carolina. For far too long, there's been a judicially
imposed moratorium on the death penalty by activist judges and
doctors and attorneys general and governors who are more interested
in serving leftist political bosses than justice for victims and
their families and justice for the public as well. Republicans
(04:49):
in the General Assembly have attempted to restart the death
penalty over the past decade and a half, but those
efforts have been stymied at every turn.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
A couple of t to take away from Burger's commentary
there talking about some of the efforts that the General
Assembly will likely go through at the end of this month,
and one of the big things coming out of that
you just heard it. At the end of his commentary
was the Republicans in the General Assembly trying to reinitiate
the death penalty across North Carolina. In the aftermath of
(05:19):
Irena Zaruska's killing, some have taken to social media and
in their comments and talked about funding for law enforcement. However,
Phil Berger says of the law enforcem angle of this worked,
it was a problem with the judiciary.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Here's the thing. Policing doesn't need to be reimagined. It
needs to be respected. It needs to be funded. Our
hard working law enforcement officers are all too often villainized
just for doing the jobs keeping us safe. It's time
for that to end. If we do not respect those
(05:52):
who keep us safe and run towards danger, then we
will descend into chaos. Not the time to sit back
and hope for the best. We need to take bold,
decisive action. President Trump's vision to create a safer America
is something we can replicate here in North Carolina. I
(06:13):
support the President's actions to keep American citizens safe and
commend as leadership in that regard. We need to lock
up by violent thugs who are terrorizing our citizens. We
need to go after drug traffickers who are poisoning our children.
We need to keep repeat offenders in jail. We need
to end cashless bond. We need to hold or cash
(06:37):
less bail. We need to hold activist judges and magistrates accountable.
We must deliver justice for Erna and the countless families
across our state that have fallen victim to a justice
system that does not support them and does not keep
them safe. And the bill we will bring forward later
this month will play a vital role in that, but
(06:58):
it's just the first step.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
As you heard from Senate Leader Phil Berger, cashless bail
has been a major discussion of topic after information has
come out about the alleged to Charlotte killer, the fact
that he had been arrested a total of fourteen times
released as early as January of this year before that
fatal night in August. On the Charlotte light rail House,
(07:20):
Speaker Destin Hall also made some commentary on the cashlest
bail system that is playing out in some North Carolina cities,
touch on a few.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Of the specifics that we're looking at as well, along
with as Senator Berger mentioned, ending cashless bail in this state.
You know what happened in this situation was an individual
who could have been given a secured bond. I mean,
they would have had to have paid some amount of
money in order or get a bond to get out
of jail. And this person, instead of being required to
(07:50):
do that, was allowed to sign a piece of paper
and walk out of that jail. And again we're talking
about an individual who had a prior violent felony conviction,
who had served time in prison, who had been charged
at least thirteen times before that latest charge, when he
was allowed to walk out. An individual who obviously had
(08:15):
some form of mental health issues, again allowed to walk
out of that jail. So when folks come in and
before a magistrate and they've been charged with a serious crime,
if they're a por they have a prior violent felony
on their record, it simply should not even be an
option to allow that person to have some sort of
(08:35):
cash list bail. They should be held in the jail
under a secured bond. And if that had happened here,
then most likely the victim in Charlotte would still be
alive today.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
That's how Speaker Destin Hall, commenting on that press conference
that took place in the General Assembly yesterday a lot
of focus also on the magistrate judges. How Speaker Dustin
All had plenty to say about that as well.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
We've also got to look at the way that we
handle magistrates in this state. You know, Charlotte has had
a problem, Melcklimbore County has had a problem with its
magistrates for a long time now. And I'll remind most
of you all that we had a bipartisan bill that
I worked on personally dealing with the pre trial integrity,
called it the Pre Trial Integrity Act, and it basically said,
(09:23):
if you're out already on a you've got a charge already,
and you're out on bail and you get charged again,
we're going to make it much more difficult for you
to get out pre trial. And you know, we worked
with the Melcklabore County DA, we worked with the city
leaders in Charlotte, worked with the Chief of CMPD on
that bill, and they agreed with that and we were
able to get that bill done, but it obviously was
(09:44):
not enough. And so when we have magistrates who were
asleep at the wheel like this one obviously was we've
got to make a change. And so we're going to
be looking at some oversight of magistrates, looking at the
way that we select magistrates, looking at ethical issue with magistrates,
and making sure that the folks are making these decisions,
(10:05):
are paying attention to what they're doing, and that they're
trying to serve the public safety and not some whatever
left wing interest or whatever other interests they have other
than public safety. That's what a magistrate should be doing.
So we're going to look very closely at that. We're
also going to look at dealing with issues when folks
are charged with crimes who have obvious mental health issues,
(10:27):
making sure that magistrates are taking that into consideration. You know,
in jails, we had we expanded medicaid the state, and
one of the justifications for that, and we heard from
sheriffs was we have folks in the jails who need
mental health care, they need health care in general, and
so we have options available under current law for these
folks who were in jails to have some of that treatment.
(10:49):
In fact, you know, we're told that CMPD apparently interacted
with this guy four times in the prior year on
well checks and that he was offered services. It's not
been clear what services this person was actually offered we've
not been given answers to those questions. We will find
out and we'll get to the bottom of exactly what
(11:11):
was going on there. But we're going to increase training
for magistrates and make sure that they understand that their
role again is to keep the public safe.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
That's wrapping up the press conference in the General Assembly
on Thursday Senate Leader Phil Berger Junior House Speaker at
Destin Hall, talking about some of the legislative action that
they are set to take later this month. We'll have
some additional coverage on that coming up as we continue
this morning, and we've got a full link in story
over on our website this morning at Carolina Journal dot com.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
It's twenty two minutes past the hour.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk eleven,
ten ninety nine to three WBT. As we get into
the later parts of this month, a lot of attention
will be focused on western North Carolina as we approach
the one year anniversary of the unimaginable amount of devastation
and destruction left in the western half of our state
(12:12):
after Hurricane Helene last year, and as that one year
anniversary approaches, some great news coming out this morning the
United States Department of Homeland Security DHS has announced that
Western North Carolina has been approved for an additional twelve
million dollars in FEMA grant disbursements. This comes just weeks
after the federal government approved an additional twenty eight million
(12:35):
dollars in similar funding. DHS Secretary Christi Nome announced in
a press release that the grants are for reimbursements for
critical infrastructure repairs to restore essential services and fortify North
Carolina and our cities and towns against future disasters, including
millions of dollars in infrastructure and upgrades, as well as
(12:59):
much needed resources to replace and rebuild critical community projects
across our state. United States Senator Ted Budd, who has
over the last couple of weeks put some pressure on
the President, Christy Nome and others within the federal government
about the timeline and the swiftness in reimbursing or allowing
(13:21):
and allocating these funds, said on exit he was glad
President Trump was able to fast track this funding. The
senator wrote, quote, I'm grateful to at POTUS for weighing
in to fast track twelve million dollars to reimburse Western
North Carolina communities for cleanup and recovery efforts. Following Helene,
I look forward to hearing from Secretary Nome on how
(13:44):
we can work together to ensure that western North Carolina
projects quickly received promise at federal funds. Nome said in
the press release quote, the American people deserve a government
that fights for their survival and prosperity, not one that
kneels to bureaucratic elites. With the leadership of President Trump,
(14:05):
Senator Budd and Chairman Michael Wattley, DHS and FEMA are
delivering for North Carolina under President Trump's leadership, DHS is
not restoring our nate, is not only restoring our nation's
strength and securing communities, but ensuring that no Americans are
left behind. DHS said that the disbursement of that money
(14:28):
is a broader effort of more than three hundred and
twenty two million dollars where at the FEMA commitments to
North Carolina from the Trump administration and brings that total
amount of reimbursement and recovery to over one hundred and
sixty one million dollars since July the fourteenth. As we
(14:50):
look at those again, in some cases very lengthy dollar amounts.
That funding includes about sixty five million dollars to the
North Carolina Department of Transportation that's for vital road repair
projects in Buncombe County, McDowell County, Mitchell, Wilkes, and Yancey County.
About six million dollars to the North Carolina Department of
(15:11):
Cultural Resources to restore some of the Chimney Rock Parks
of bridges and roads, and some of the other things
in and around the Chimney Rock area and the state
park area around there. Five point eight million dollars to
the Town of Beach Mountain that for repairs to washed
out sections of Buckeye Creek Road and Charter Hill Road,
(15:33):
as well as additional money for power grid distribution systems
and fortifying that as well. Last month, it was announced
that renew and C North Carolina's long term Disaster Recovery
Initiative finished making storm related repairs to the first home
approved through assistance from a renew ncas in North Carolina
(15:55):
single family home housing project. Maline Waters was the first
applicant approved for assistance through that program, where new NC
is funded by in part by a federal Community Development
Block grant for disaster recovery also known as a CDBGDR.
That money coming from the Department of Housing and Urban
(16:18):
Development or HUD, and of the total one point four
billion dollars in that federal block grant funding was allocated
to the state for western North Carolina recovery needs, and
out of that, eight hundred and seven million dollars is
allocated specifically for this single family host housing program. The
program is the first of a series of recovery initiatives
(16:41):
to be offered by the North Carolina Commerce Departments Division
of Community Right Revitalization under the program name renew and C.
While it has not necessarily been as quick as everybody
would have hoped in terms of some of that money
being allocated and doled out from the federal government or
even parts of the North Carolina General Assembly, as we
(17:04):
approach that one year mark, it is remarkable to see
that any significant amount of money has begun to flow
from the federal government and again to this point, one
hundred and sixty one million dollars just from FEMA. That
does not include the one point four billion dollars from HUD.
The more than almost over a billion dollars or two
billion dollars I should say that has been allocated by
(17:26):
the North Carolina General Assembly. Adding all of that up,
it is serious dollars that are making a serious impact
and trying to get the western half of our state
recovered and reopened after the devastation from Hurricane Helene in September.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
We've got some additional coverage on some of those moneies
where it is being spent. It's available over on our
website this morning, Carolina Journal dot com that headline story
another twelve million plus dollars in federal recovery funds headed
to western North Carolina after Helene. You can read those
details at Carolina Journal dot com.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
It's five thirty five.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Newstock eleven,
ten ninety nine to three WBT. Turning our attention back
to Utah this morning and the assassination of Charlie Kirk
earlier in the week. A law enforcement officials, both local, state,
and federal, continue the manhunt this morning as they are
still working to track down the shooter that they believe
(18:30):
is responsible for shooting Kirk in the neck Wednesday afternoon
while he was hosting one of his Turning Point USA
college tour events leading to his death, and as of
a last night, a late night press conference, the FBI,
alongside a state and local officials, released new photos of
a person of interest in the assassination of Kirk. The
(18:52):
images show a male wearing jean's longsleeve black shirt with
an American flag, black sunglasses, and a hat. The FBI
also noted that they are offering one hundred thousand dollars
bounty for information that helps crack that case. They also
did release some surveillance footage in that press conference last
night showing the said individual running off of a roof
(19:16):
and jumping off of a rooftop before escaping into a
wooded area near the campus of Utah Valley University. Yesterday,
we did learn that law enforcement officials, I'm not immediately
clear which entities, but they did recover a firearm that
they did believe was used in that attack. As that
manhunt and intensifies, they are asking the public or anybody
(19:40):
in the area that might have ring doorbell cameras or
any other sort of surveillance cameras outside of their property
to provide that information and noted that they have gotten
more than seven thousand tips digital photos and videos submitted
to the FBI, the largest since the Boston bombing, the
Boston Marria On bombing, which, of course you had tens
(20:02):
of thousands of people in the vicinity of that event.
As that manhunt does continue, will continue to keep our
eyes on the details.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Again.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
A horrific situation unfolding earlier this week in Utah where
a conservative commentator, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated in cold blood
while doing a college tour event having a free spirited
debate with college students and others at Utah Valley University.
Will continue the coverage right here on the Carolina Journal
(20:31):
News Hour with that a member of the Carolina Panthers team,
not not a player, but somebody in the back office
has been fired after remarks made on social media in
the wake of Kirk's assassination. Football Communication, a football communications
coordinator for the Panthers, reportedly wrote just hours after the assassination,
(20:55):
why are you sad? Your man said it was worth it,
including a photo of Kirk. Those details coming in from
the Charlotte Observer. A source familiar with the team's decision
told the Post Millennial that an individual by the name
of Charlie Rock was fired Thursday morning. He had interned
with the team's communication department in twenty twenty four and
(21:18):
had recently been promoted to a full time job in
the department. This caused the Carolina Panthers to put out
a public statement on their ex account yesterday saying, quote,
the views expressed by our employees are their own and
do not represent those of the Carolina Panthers. We do
not condone violence of any kind, and we are taking
(21:38):
this matter very seriously and have accordingly addressed it with
the individual. As the reports are this morning that that
individual by the name of Charlie Rock has been fired
from his position at the Carolina Panthers. Other individuals being
put under the spotlight as well for some of their
really what only can be described as evil comments after
(22:01):
Kirk was gonned down Wednesday afternoon in Utah. Interesting to
see the Panthers that they did come out, come forward
and speak about it publicly, posting that on their x
account yesterday after noon. Turning our attention back to North
Carolina this morning and some of the ongoings in the
General Assembly. A press conference taking place yesterday in Raleigh.
(22:23):
House Speaker Destin Hall Senate Leader Phil Berger announced that
later this month, when the General Assembly will be back
in Raleigh, that they planned to introduce legislation targeting crime
in North Carolina in light of the recent murder of
Irena Zaruska, a Ukrainian immigrant from Charlotte who was killed
while riding the Charlotte Light Rail. Back on August the
(22:47):
twenty second, Senate Leader Phil Berger described what some of
that legislation could in fact look like.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
That means we will fight back against soft on crime
policies that permeate our judicial system. When the General Assembly
returns on September the twenty second, we're going to propose
a package of common sense policies to more effectively tackle
crime in our state. We can start by ensuring that
Governor Stein and other members of the executive branch cannot
(23:16):
establish any future task forces like the one Roy Cooper
created that advanced week on crime policies that kept IRENA's
murderer on the streets. We cannot keep our citizens safe
if our policies favor criminals over public safety. I personally
am looking into ways to restart the death penalty here
(23:37):
in North Carolina. For far too long, there's been a
judicially imposed moratorium on the death penalty by activist judges
and doctors and attorneys general and governors who are more
interested in serving leftist political bosses than justice for victims
and their families and justice for the public as well.
(23:59):
Republicans in the General Assembly have attempted to restart the
death penalty over the past decade and a half, but
those efforts have been stymied at every turn.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Some interesting commentary there from Senate Leader Phil Berger talking
about the death penalty, trying to reinstate that that will
be an interesting process to watch unfolds coming up here.
In just a couple of weeks, House Speaker Destin Hall
talked about one of the big discussions in this case,
the rampant use of cashless bail in major metropolitan areas
(24:30):
across the country.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Touch on a few of the specifics that we're looking
at as well, along with as Senator Berger mentioned, ending
cashless bail in this state. You know what happened in
this situation was an individual who could have been given
a secured bond. I mean they would have had to
have paid some amount of money in order or get
a bond to get out of jail. And this person,
(24:53):
instead of being required to do that, was allowed to
sign a piece of paper and walk out of that jail. Again,
we're talking about an individual who had a prior violent
felony conviction, who had served time in prison, who had
been charged at least thirteen times before that latest charge,
(25:13):
when he was allowed to walk out. An individual who
obviously had some form of mental health issues again allowed
to walk out of that jail. So when folks come
in and before a magistrate and they've been charged with
a serious crime, if they're a they have a prior
violent felony on their record, it simply should not even
(25:35):
be an option to allow that person to have some
sort of cash list bail. They should be held in
the jail under a secured bond. And if that had
happened here, then most likely the victim in Charlotte would
still be alive today.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
A lot of other issues also talked about and could
be potential legislation coming up later in the month of September.
Discussion about magistrates rates and some of the policies that
they use to allow people, especially those that are struggling
with a mental health issue, have multiple runnings and multiple
convictions throughout the judicial system putting some accountability on them,
(26:13):
and also talked about the budget in Charlotte and digging
into that as well.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
The other thing that I think it's critical that we
look into is the budget in Macklenborough County and Charlotte
and to see what kind where are they spending money
at where they maybe shouldn't be. I've seen some reports
about some grants that they received from groups that their
purpose is to keep people out of jail. They're opposed
(26:40):
requiring cash bail. We're going to look at some of
those grants and see if maybe that played a role
in this case in Mecklenborough County. And again we're going
to go through the entire budget for the City of
Charlotte and Mecklenborough County to see where these funds are going,
because ultimately we're dealing with a local government really Mecklenberg
(27:01):
County and City of Charlotte, two local governments that, in
my opinion, have lost institutional control of their areas.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Some very strong words there from House Speaker Deston Hall.
They appear to be looking at everything. There was a
quick question and answer period that took place after the
two leaders of both chambers of the General Assembly introduced
or really talked about what they will be introducing over
the next couple of weeks. Indications are that both the
phil Berger and Deston Hall have been in conversation and
(27:32):
in contact with Governor Josh Stein. It's not immediately clear
whether this will work through the General Assembly on a
bipartisan nature, but I'm sure that's something that lawmakers are
looking at. As the schedule looks right now, lawmakers will
be back on Monday the twenty second, or the week
of the twenty second in Raleigh for another at least
(27:53):
a couple of days, as there are still some veto
overrides that continue to be discussed, and now some of
these pieces of legs trying to crack down on repeat
offender criminals, cash lists, bail accountability for magistrates, and even
some discussions about potentially revitalizing the death penalty here in
the state of North Carolina. We will be watching everything
(28:16):
out of the General Assembly very closely, and we'll continue
that coverage. We've got a full story this morning over
on our website, Carolina Journal dot com, the headline NCGA
to introduce crime legislation in the wake of recent murders.
You can read some additional coverage of that, and of course,
as lawmakers make their way back to Raleigh, we'll keep
you up to date with all of the coverage right
(28:37):
here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Good morning again, It's five fifty two.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Newstock eleven
nine nine three WBT. As we are talking about a
little bit earlier this morning, some additional federal funds coming
to the state of North Carolina dealing with hurricanee Helene
as we approach the one year of that devastation and destruction.
But one of the underreported stories earlier this year was
(29:08):
Tropical Storm chan Tal. We talked about it. That storm
affected the central part of our state back in July.
In days after an announcement that western North Carolina would
be receiving more money, President Donald Trump announced yesterday on
Truth's Social that he has approved thirty two million dollars
for damage caused in the central part of North Carolina.
(29:30):
The President, writing on truth Social quote, I am proud
to approve nearly thirty two million dollars in assistance for
the great state of North Carolina, which I won big
all six times including primaries in response to their recent
flooding events in July. Senator Ted Budd and future Senator
Michael Wattley and all of our incredible North Carolina Republicans
(29:53):
have asked for this, and I'm happy to do it.
North Carolinians deserve it. I just notified Governor Steyle and
I fully expect that he will make sure that the
funds are used to help the state recover quickly. He
then went into talking about some of the struggles that
the state of North Carolina has dealt with in the
past with hurricane recovery, including some of the disastrous response
(30:16):
from former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper, who of course is
the leading Democrat candidate in that Senate race that will
be taking place a late next year, a primary coming
up in March of twenty twenty six. Just in case
you are not familiar with Sean tal back. In early July,
that storm unloaded more than ten inches of rain in
(30:38):
some counties in the central part of our state, including Alamance, Orange,
Chatham More Counties, and others in the Piedmont area, rivers
swelled to record or near record levels. The Hall River
crested at thirty two and a half feet, the Eno
River set a new crest at twenty five point six
three feet, and in several areas one hundred year flood
(30:59):
level were well overtaken by the amount of water indation
from that storm. Right in the immediate aftermath, NCDOT it
closed more than one hundred and twenty roads. Major arteries
such as Interstate forty and Interstate eighty five in Alamance
County were closed in the immediate days following, and the
Chantal did lead to five deaths across the state of
(31:23):
North Carolina. More than eighty water rescues completed in both
Chapel Hill and Durham. While it was just a tropical storm,
and many folks kind of brush those off as not
having major impacts when we look at chan Tal, it did.
In fact that storm did in fact leave some major
impacts across the state. Soon after, the Governor and Stein
(31:44):
did declare a state of emergency, which did enable emergency
operations across the affected regions and put North Carolina in
the possibility of receiving some of those federal funds and
some of those federal dollars. The governor posting on his
ex account yet yesterday afternoon, quote great News. I just
got off the phone with President Trump, who pledged his
(32:05):
support for Tropical Storm shan Tal and Hurricane Helene recovery.
It's all hands on deck, and I thank him for
helping North Carolina rebuild. I look forward to working with
the Administration to deliver critical resources to North Carolina. Let's
get this work done. US Senator Ted Budd also commented
(32:25):
on this as well, saying quote, I'm deeply grateful to
at HOTUS for clearing the deck of thirty two million
dollars in public assistance grant reimbursement for Helene recovery and
Helene clean up in recovery and Tropical Storm sean Tal
dramatically addressing the backlog of projects waiting to be funded.
(32:46):
Is great news for North Carolina and especially in the
western North Carolina as those communities approach this storm's one
year anniversary. Homeowners, renters, and business owners affected by that
tropical storm in July are now also eligible to apply
for low interest disaster loans through the US Small Business Administration.
(33:08):
Some of the counties included there Alamance, Coswell, Chatham, Durham, Granville, Orange,
Person and Wake Counties. We've got some additional coverage on
this story and all of the other stories out of
western North Carolina as those relief and recovery efforts do continue.
You can read that coverage over on our website, Carolina
(33:28):
Journal dot com. That's gonna do it for a Friday edition.
WBT News is next followed by Good Morning BT. We're
back with you Monday morning, five to six right here
on Newstalk eleven, ten and ninety nine to three WBT
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