September 18, 2025 • 32 mins
Governor Stein traveled to Washington, D.C., to request $13.5 billion in federal aid for North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Helene, while House Speaker Tim Moore announced $2.5 million in FEMA funding for a bridge in Lake Lure. The U.S. House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a field hearing in Charlotte following the recent light rail murder. Meanwhile, legal challenges continue as Democrats and clients of attorney Marc Elias contest the settlement of a federal NC election dispute, and plaintiffs in a transgender care case are opposing a request to drop an injunction.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
It's five oh five and welcome into a Thursday edition
of the Carolina Journal News Our Newstock eleven, ten ninety
nine three WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. Well.
Governor Josh Stein, as we have been talking about all week,
did make his way to Washington, DC yesterday to advocate
for somewhere in the ballpark of thirteen and a half
(00:29):
billion dollars in additional relief for western North Carolina. This,
of course, all ahead of the one encounter year anniversary
of Hurricane Helene and its impacts across the entire state
of North Carolina, but more predominantly the destruction in the
western half. Posting a variety of pictures to social media
around six pm last night, the governor can be seen
(00:52):
in pictures with both of our US Senators, Tom Tillis
and Ted Budd alongside delegates from North Carolina, which did
include the mayor of Ashville. Other photos show some sort
of working session ongoing between a couple of people in
the room there, including Tim Moore of Virginia Fox Greg Murphy.
Just a couple of the congressmen seen in this picture
(01:14):
shuffling through papers as a debate is ongoing. Between the
state and federal government. As Josh Stein advocates for more.
He did post in that social media post on his
official at NC Underscore Governor x account quote, I am
ready to work with anyone and everyone to rebuild Western
North Carolina. I am in Washington, d C. Today to
(01:36):
continue to advocate for the federal funding for Hurricane Helen recovery.
I applaud the efforts of our congressional delegation to date,
and I look forward to working with them to secure
the resources the people of Western North Carolina deserve. With that,
we are getting some announcements and have over the last
couple of days of additional monies from the federal government
(01:59):
to West North Carolina. Earlier this week, Tim Moore, who represents,
of course, the fourteenth congressional District, announced that more than
two and a half million dollars in funding from the
Federal Emergency Management Agency that's FEMA will be used to
rebuild the Lake Lore Flowering Bridge, which, as many pieces
(02:19):
of infrastructure, was almost completely destroyed by Helene almost one
year ago. The congressman put in a press release quote,
the bridge is a historic and beautiful piece of Lake
Lure that's become part of the area's identity. I am
grateful for the Trump administration and FEMA for stepping up
with the funding needed to rebuild it. This project will
(02:43):
support local tourism and marks another step in rebuilding Western
North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. Funding for this project is
authorized under Section four six of the Robert T. Stafford
Act and will provide for a complete replacement of the
historic three span arch pedestrian bridge which connects the small
(03:05):
towns of Lake Lure and Chimney Rock. Both of those
towns maybe maybe you hadn't heard of or weren't familiar
with up until about a year ago, those two towns
getting an incredible amount of national and statewide media attention
due to the vast amount of destruction left in the
wake of Helene. The scope of the work includes demolition, excavation,
(03:26):
in construction of a new, a nude structure to meet
current codes and standards, with the total project costing somewhere
in the ballpark of two point eight million dollars and
great news for those too local towns in for local
governments in western North Carolina, as ninety percent of that
(03:47):
two point eight million dollars will be financed through the
federal government, according to the According to the website built
in nineteen twenty five, that bridge carried traffic between Lake
Lure and Chimney Rock for some eighty five years. The
Flowering Bridge, completed in twenty ten, connects Lake Lore and
(04:07):
Chimney Rock, and beginning in twenty eleven, it became home
to a garden of more than two thousand species of plants,
both planted and cultivated by community members and volunteers. According
to the a website statement, before the demolition of the bridge,
and before all of of course, Helene rolled through that area,
(04:29):
it reads, quote, our beloved old bridge, as you know,
it will be coming down, but the Lake Lure Flowering
a Bridge of volunteers are dedicated and resilient. We still
plan to create special places on what remains, what will remain,
that will make you proud and excited to visit. Demolition
of what was left of the bridge after Helene did
(04:52):
begin in the month of August. Before Helene, that area,
the bridge itself and some of the gardens around it,
had become a huge hotspot for local tourism. Brian Balfour,
the VP of Research of the John Locke Foundation, told
the Carolina Journal quote. As Helena recovery efforts continue, legislators
(05:12):
should take care to focus funding on the most urgent priorities.
Based on the August monthly report from Homeland Security, the
Federal Disaster Relief Fund is scheduled to be drained and
have one point six billion dollars in unfunded obligations for
various relief efforts across the country in September. Such a
(05:35):
situation will require an additional infusion of tax or borrowed
funds to see that those relief obligations are met. David Diorio,
Mayor pro Temp for Lake Lore, did not respond to
Carolina Journal's request for comment at the time of publication.
As we continue to follow this as next week is
(05:56):
the one year anniversary of Helene and all of the
impacts and devastation, we will continue to follow these projects.
Some of these one off projects that do get announced,
like this bridge between Lakeler and Chimney Rock. Governor Josh
Stein again visiting Washington, d C. Yesterday, posting some photos
(06:17):
on social media indicating he's meeting with lawmakers trying to
advocate for more than thirteen and a half billion dollars.
That is, as you heard in the immediate aftermath of
the storm, and we even mentioned and talked about right
here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. This has always
and was always going to be an incredibly slow recovery process.
(06:40):
Now a lot has been done in the last twelve months,
but a lot more work it does need to be
completed to get the state back to the western half
of the state back to some semblance of normalcy. That
includes a funding for the Department of Transportation as major roadways,
including Interstate forty in the western half of the state,
while they are re opened in some temporary manner, they
(07:02):
are not at full speed. They do not support the
normal throughput of traffic that you would expect a major
US artery like Interstate forty two. House so between that,
some of the small towns that have completely blown through
their budgets trying to get their community back to normal,
all of that continues to be a major topic of discussion.
(07:24):
And those were some of the points that were made
earlier this week by Governor Josh Stein as he held
that Monday press conference at Blue Ridge Community College, where
he did in fact request and put it out publicly
that he was looking for an additional thirteen and a
half billion dollars from the federal government, a lot of
that coming from HUD Housing and Urban Development to continue
(07:46):
to fund housing either complete rebuild or reconstruction or repair
and maintenance grants across the western half of North Carolina.
As the governor noted, more than seventy four thousand homes
were damaged by the storm, and very few of them
not only didn't have but many were not eligible for
(08:06):
flood insurance based on the area in which they lived.
There was no insurance carrier that would provide flood insurance
as the many of those folks did not live in
an area that was prone or there was even a
thought would be prone to flooding. As Helena absolutely a
one thousand year storm, dumping us so much rain across
western North Carolina. We'll continue to track all of that coverage.
(08:30):
We've got a lot of great articles and have had
many over the last year over on our website Carolina
Journal dot com. More, particularly, you can read about that bridge.
The headline story more announces two point five million dollars
in FEMA funding for Lakelore Bridge. Get those details at
Carolina Journal dot com. It's five point twenty welcome back
(08:57):
to The Carolina Journal News Hour, Newstock eleven ten nine
three WBT. One of the legal stories that we've been
keeping tabs on over the last couple of months surrounds
legal action taken from the United States Department of Justice
against the North Carolina State Board of Elections. This has
to deal with voter rolls and voter registration forms have
IDs to deal with things like the last four of
(09:19):
your Social Security number or a full driver's license number,
and over the last couple of weeks, it looked like
that lawsuit would be in its process of winding down. However,
not everybody is necessarily in favor of that. To walk
us through some of those details, this morning, Mitch Koki,
the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal
News Hour. Mitch State Board the DOJ said, all right,
looks like things are headed in the right direction. We
(09:41):
can probably wind this thing up, but it looks like
some Democrat groups are now trying to insert themselves into
the process.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
That's exactly right, and in fact, these groups have been
trying for a while to insert themselves into the process.
Remember that back in May, the US Justice Department filed
a lawsuit against the North Carolin State Board of Elections
over alleged non compliance with the federal Help America Vote
Actor HAAVA, saying that North Carolina's voter roles were not
(10:10):
in compliance because too many people did not have either
a driver's license number or the last four digits of
the social Security number. As soon as the suit was filed,
the State Board of Elections, which was under new leadership
at that point, responded saying, look, we know this is
an issue. We're going to address it. They came up
(10:31):
with the plan to address it, and after several months
of back and forth, the US Justice Department and State
Board of Elections basically came to a deal saying that
the State Board will move forward with this process to
get this information. In the meantime, anyone who doesn't have
this information on their voter rules will have to cast
(10:52):
provisional ballot. No voter will be dropped from the voter roles.
It would just be that they would have to take
this additional step to vote the provisional ballot. US Chief
District Judge Richard Myers saw the deal, signed off on it,
said this is fine. You're going to have to report
back to me. Board of Elections basically every couple of
(11:14):
months for the rest of the year, and then on
an annual basis after that until this deal is finalized
midway through twenty twenty seven, so basically after the twenty
twenty six election cycle. But then about a week after
that decision from the Judge Myers in this case, we
saw that the Democratic National Committee and a group called
(11:37):
the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans, which is basically
a client for Mark Elias, the Democratic operative who's been
involved in election lawsuits on the national level and state
level for a number of years, they filed paperwork this
week saying that, look, Judge, you should go back and
(11:58):
revisit this and allow us to intervene in this case.
As defendants. They had asked us before, and the judge
did not allow them to intervene. He basically did not rule,
kind of just set their motions aside and didn't do
anything about them. Now they're saying, look, we should be
involved in this process and there should be an adversarial
case here because the state board and the US Justice
(12:21):
Department are on the same side, and they're not on
the side of the voters that we represent, and we
would like to raise some complaints about this process the
State Board of Elections is using. So we have yet
to see whether Chief Chief Judge Myers is going to respond.
He has already basically said the deal is fine. The
deal's finalized, and I'm going to keep jurisdiction of this case.
(12:45):
But the deal is fine with me, and we'll see
how it plays out. The court filings from the Elias
clients and the DNC are asking him to revisit that decision,
but there's no word yet that he will. Will be
interesting to see is if he makes no decision about
the intervention by these democratic and left leaning groups, will
(13:08):
they try to appeal to the Fourth Circuit and say
the fact that he doesn't that he didn't say anything,
means that he's denying us in Fourth Circuit, you should
step in and make him insert us into this case
so we could try to fight what the State Board
of Elections is doing.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
It might make sense, Mitch to kind of go through
some more of this process. It's unfortunate that everything now
pretty much in our society turns into a political battle.
That's unfortunately what the discussion over. These have ID numbers
and some of the voter registration forms and old data
that the State Board of Elections has had now for
going on the better part of ten or fifteen years.
(13:45):
No voters are getting kicked off the roles. As this
ongoing lawsuit has taken place, the state Board has been
sending out letters to individuals giving them multiple free i'll
note options to make sure that their information is all
squared away and once and again in compliance with that
federal Help America Vote Act, which I'll also note goes
(14:05):
back to the early two thousands that's been enshrined in
federal law for the better part of two decades. Now,
nobody's getting kicked off. The state Board is doing i
think probably going above and beyond what you would expect
to make sure all of these voters have the required
information so their votes do count, and make sure that
there is no ability for voter fraud. Mitch, what's the
issue here? Why is this turning into a knockout, drag
(14:28):
out political a fight trying to filew the federal law here?
Why is that so controversial?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Well, part of the concern from the groups on the
left is that this is going to be used in
some way to eventually drop voters from the roles that's
something that they've been raising ever since the Republican Party
first filed a lawsuit on this issue in the summer
of twenty twenty four. Remember that was a case that
we talked about because they had a lot of interest.
(14:54):
And then this was a major issue once again in
the Jefferson Griffin versus Alison Rigg State Supreme Court never
ending case that went on for months and months before
Jefferson Griffin finally conceded and allowed Alison Riggs to take
her eight year term on the State Supreme Court. So,
throughout this process, as first the Republican Party, then Jefferson Griffin,
(15:17):
then the US Justice Department raised concerns about this incomplete information.
Democrats and their allies have said that this is a
way for Republicans to strike people from the roles, and
they say that even if they aren't being removed from
the roles, having to cast a provisional ballot is a
step that makes them sort of a second class citizen
(15:38):
because they aren't being able to vote the same way
everyone else is. Now, it remains to be seen whether
that legal argument's going to hold any water with anyone.
It doesn't seem likely that it would with Chief Judge Myers.
But if this case ends up getting back to the
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, depending on the panel that
here's the case, there might be some interest in saying
(16:00):
that having to cast a provisional ballot somehow makes a
voter a second class voter or a second class citizen,
and so they can't be required to have to do this.
But basically the argument from the Democrats and their allies
is that this is a way to try to disenfranchise
voters that Republicans would like to get off the voting rolls.
(16:23):
They've also raised in some recent court filings concerns that
this settlement would somehow give the federal government access to
all of this information about drivers license numbers and social
Security numbers the federal Justice Department shouldn't have. I'm not
sure whether that argument's going to hold much water either,
(16:45):
but that's one of the latest things that's being claimed
by the Democrats and their allies. Now. Of course, this
is only because it's the Trump administration running the Justice Department.
If it were still the Biden administration running the Justice Department,
Crats and their allies would almost certainly be on the
same side as what the Justice Department wanted to do
(17:05):
in that instance.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, definitely seemed to be grasping at straws at least
with some of those arguments made in those court filings.
A story that we thought was going to probably be
in the rearview mirror does continue to be relevant here
across the state. We'll keep an eye on the details
over on our website, Carolina Journal dot com. Mitch Koki
from the John Locke Foundation joins us Sun the Carolina
Journal News Hour. It's five thirty six. Welcome back to
(17:34):
the Carolina Journal News Hour, Newstock eleven, ten ninety nine
three WBT. An interesting story that we're tracking over on
our website this morning, Carolina Journal dot com. The United
States House Judiciary Committee is set to hold a field
hearing in Charlotte coming up in just a couple of
weeks on September the twenty ninth. This is in relation
(17:55):
to the August the twenty second murder of twenty three
year old Ukrainian refugee Irena Zaruska, who was fatally stabbed
on a Charlotte light rail. Authorities have charged thirty four
year old to Carlos Brown Junior with that crime. He
is a repeat offender. He has been arrested in charge
somewhere in the ballpark of fourteen times with prior convictions
(18:16):
including armed robbery, larceny, breaking and entering. He allegedly stabbed
the twenty three year old three times in the neck
back on August the twenty second on the Charlotte light Rail.
Representative Jeff Van Drew, the Republican out of New Jersey,
who is the chair of the oversight subcommittee, confirmed the hearing,
while Representative Mark Harris, who represents North Carolina's eighth congressional district,
(18:41):
called it a step towards justice. North Carolina Legislative Leader
Speaker Deston House Speaker Deston Hall, and Senate Leader Phil
Berger announced have announced a new anti crime measures or
set of those, including efforts to end cash bail and
reinstate the death penalty, arguing that the soft on crime
(19:03):
policies by many Democrat run cities across North Carolina have
allowed individuals like de Carlos Brown Junior to continue to
commit offenses and continually be released from jail. So it
is going to be interesting to see as the essentially
a field trip is going to be happening for the
United States House Judiciary Committee. That field hearing will happen
(19:26):
in the Queen City on September the twenty ninth. As
we get closer to that, I'm sure we will get
some additional details about where that meeting is going to
take place and who all will be involved. And as
I noted, the North Carolina General Assembly is set to
be back in Raleigh next week, starting on Tuesday, where
they are likely and could potentially pass some additional legislation
(19:49):
in Raleigh to put some more penalties in place for
places across the state that do have issues with repeat
offenders and have issues with some of these on crime
policies that are being described by lawmakers. Will continue to
follow the details on both of those stories and the
broader story as a whole, as justice for Arenasaruska does
(20:12):
continue to be demanded by not only folks in North
Carolina but across the country. That continued coverage over on
our website this morning at Carolina Journal dot com. It's
now five thirty eight. You're listening to the Carolina Journal
News Hour. We've got some new details this morning in
a legal case surrounding the North Carolina State Health Plan,
that is the Health Service that teachers, firefighters, police officers,
(20:34):
and many other public employees across the North Carolina the
state of North Carolina utilize for their health insurance. All
of this deals with transgender payments in dealing with some
of these transgender surgeries here in the state of North Carolina.
To get us up to speed this morning, Mitch Coki
with the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina
Journal News Hour. Mitch, we chatted about this a month
(20:56):
or so ago. It was a big case from the
United States Supreme Court last year dealing with some similar
things in a different state, Tennessee. It's now having some
ramifications here in North Carolina. Things have been moving over
the last couple of weeks. Get us up to speed
there if you would, yes.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
First, a little bit of background. North Carolina's state health
plan has an exclusion that blocks coverage of treatments that
are that are suggested and requested, mostly by transgender patients,
and so that exclusion has existed for most of the
health plan's existence in recent years, and a lawsuit challenged
(21:35):
the exclusion, saying that this was a violation of constitutional rights.
In a very close ruling, the full Fourth US Circuit
Court of Appeals voted eight to six to force the
state health plan to provide this coverage. And so the
state health plan has been providing this coverage these disputed
treatments that are generally requested only by transgender patients. And
(21:59):
the case went up on appeal to the US Supreme Court,
and the Supreme Court hasn't tackled the merits of this case.
But what it did do was after it ruled in
that Tennessee case that we're talking about called Scurmetti, which
upheld a Tennessee law that banned hormone therapy and other
(22:19):
treatments for transgender teams. After that ruling came out, the
US Supreme Court issued in order in the North Carolina
case and it vacated or threw out that Fourth US
Circuit Court of Appeals ruling and said, Okay, now it's
time for you to revisit this case in light of
what we just said in this Tennessee case SCURMTI case.
(22:41):
So the most recent development is that decision came down
in late June. Nothing had happened really at the Fourth
Circuit since then, and so verily recently, the lawyer for
the state health plan sent a letter to the clerk
of the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals and said, look,
based on what the US Supreme Court said, you should
(23:04):
vacate this injunction that has forced the North Carolina State
Health Plan to provide this coverage. Vacate that injunction and
send the case back to the federal trial judge and
force the trial judge to rule in our favor, in
the State Health Plan's favor, basically arguing that what the
Supreme Court said in the Scurmetti case is going to
(23:26):
be just on point with what the North Carolina dispute
is all about, and the Supreme Court would rule in
exactly the same way such that the State Health Plan
would win. So about a week after that letter, the
plaintiffs in this case, who are represented by the group
Land Illegal, they sent their own letter to the Fourth
(23:48):
Circuit saying, not so fast. You shouldn't drop this injunction.
What the Supreme Court said does not mean that you
should get rid of this injunction at the trial court
level and rule in favor of the defendants. There are
a number of differences between this scur metic case in
our case, and in fact, the ruling in Scurmetti actually
upholds what we're trying to do to force the state
(24:11):
health plan to provide this coverage. So basically the case
sits in the hands of the Fourth US Circuit Court
of Appeals. It has these competing letters now from the defendant,
which is the state health plan, and the plaintiffs, who
are the ones challenging the exclusion in the state health plan.
It's not clear at this point what, if anything, the
Fourth Circuit is going to do. The only thing that
(24:34):
was clear is that the Supreme Court vacated what the
Fourth Circuit did the first time around, So the Fourth
Circuit could send the case back to the trial court.
The Fourth Circuit could order new briefings, another oral argument,
and say, well, you know, now we're going to reapply
the Scermetic case to this case and see whether that
(24:54):
leads to any kind of different result or not. But
certainly this case is going to be brew for a while,
and the two sides in this case take a very
different attitude about what the US Supreme Court's ruling in
the Tennessee case means for us here in North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
So you mentioned again that close Fourth Circuit Court of
Appeals ruling that the eight to six vote. There then
the decision from the United States Supreme Court to vacate
that that appeals court ruling at least as it stands
right now. But then there's also this injunction involved. So
does the state where we sit here this morning, is
the state required to cover those kinds of medical expenditures
(25:36):
medical coverage that would traditionally fall under what would be
described as gender reaffirming care things of that nature. Are
they legally required the state health plan to do that?
Right now?
Speaker 2 (25:46):
It is? It is, and that has been true ever
since the initial trial court ruling in this case. Once
that came down, the Treasurer's office, which runs the state
Health Plan, issued a news release at the time saying,
we will comply with the court order. We're going to appeal,
but we will apply. We will comply with the court
order as long as it stands. And so the Fourth
(26:09):
US Circuit Court of Appeals, in that very close split
vote with the full court hearing the case, basically affirmed
what the trial judge said. So throughout that time, ever
since the initial trial court ruling, the State Health Plan
has been uncovered for these treatments and will continue to
do so unless the injunction is gone and the US
(26:34):
Trial Court judge in this case is required to rule
in favor of the health plan. Until then, all of
these treatments are covered as was dictated by the initial
trial court ruling and upheld by the Fourth Circuit. And
the debate right now is whether what the US Supreme
Court did in the Tennessee case the Scarmeti case means
(26:58):
that the state health plan should win in North Carolina.
US Supreme Court didn't say so. All it said was
the Fourth Circuit needed to revisit this case based on
what the what the Supreme Court said in skirmety that
doesn't say one way the other whether the state health
Plan or the plaintiffs win. Both sides think that what
was said in scur Meti supports what they want to
(27:21):
see as the ruling in North Carolina, But now it
really sits in the hands of the Fourth Circuit to
decide what to do next.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Obviously, this continues to be a relatively controversial and pretty
hot political topic with some of these treatments and surgeries.
Will continue to track the legal progress. You can get
some additional details over on our website. This Morning Carolina
Journal dot com. Mitchkoki from the John Locke Foundation joins
us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Good morning again,
(27:53):
it's five point fifty three. Welcome back to the Carolina
Journal News Hour news takoleven ten ninety nine three WBT.
If you've been with us all week. We covered details
earlier about how Governor Josh Stein on Monday, he was
out in western North Carolina, specifically at Blue Ridge Community College,
where he was advocating for more money for Western and
North Carolina, announcing that he would be requesting an additional
(28:17):
thirteen and a half billion dollars from the federal government
as the state next week hits the one year mark
of Hurricane Helene's devastation and destruction across western North Carolina.
The storm was estimated to have cost somewhere in the
ballpark of sixty billion dollars worth of damage. The governor
(28:38):
also announced earlier in the week that he would in
fact make his way up to Washington, d C. On
Wednesday to continue that advocacy where and continue to put
the pressure on the federal government to release additional funds.
And it would appear that's exactly what happened yesterday, as
opposed to on the governor's official x account last night
shows him in a couple of different pictures. Along Side
(29:00):
are two United States Senators, Tom Tillis and Ted Budd.
In another picture, the groups can be seen around a
table having a conversation. I see Addison McDowell, former House
Speaker now Congressman Tim Moore, Greg Murphy, Virginia Fox, some
other lawmakers Chuck Edwards also in the room as well,
(29:21):
as they're around some sort of a square table. All
of them have got papers and charts in front of
them as they appear to be discussing some of the
ongoing needs and some of the money that is needed
for western North Carolina. It is a very large ask
from the North Carolina governor again, thirteen and a half
billion dollars from the federal government. A vast majority of
(29:44):
that would come from HUD Housing and Urban Development, as
he as requesting an additional eight billion dollars to fund
the Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery, also known
as a CDBGDR rand. Currently, HUDD has awarded one point
four billion dollars to the state of North Carolina through
(30:06):
that grant program, with the goal with the objective objective
of rebuilding homes, helping small businesses, and repairing some level
of infrastructure without having to deal with the hassle of
cash flow problems with a general reimbursement program where a
local government has to expend all of the money and
wait for a checks to come rolling in from the
(30:28):
federal government. Governor Stein noted earlier in the week that
roughly seventy four thousand homes in the western half of
North Carolina were damaged by the storm, and pointed to
the fact that very few of them were eligible or
even had flood insurance due to the mountainous terrain and
really the general thought by insurance carriers and coverages that
(30:50):
you would not need and would not be eligible for
flood insurance up in the mountains of western North Carolina.
With that, many of those folks are not receiving coverage
from their insurance carriers due to the massive amount of
flooding and water impacts from that storm. We wait to
see exactly what the federal government will do in terms
(31:12):
of this thirteen and a half billion dollar request. We've
seen some commentary over the last couple of days from
President In the last couple of weeks, I should say
from President Donald Trump sending more money to the state
for not only Helene, but tropical Storm Shawn Tall which
affected the central portion of the state. The General Assembly
has appropriated more than a billion dollars at this point.
(31:33):
And while a lot of work has been done over
the last twelve months, a lot of work remains and
continues to need to get finished to get western North
Carolina back to some semblance of normalcy. We'll continue tracking
all of that over on our website at Carolina Journal
dot com. Well, that's going to do it for a
Thursday edition to WBT News is next, followed by Good
(31:56):
Morning BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning, five to
six right here on New Talk eleven ten. In ninety nine,
three WBT
It's five oh five and welcome into a Thursday edition
of the Carolina Journal News Our Newstock eleven, ten ninety
nine three WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. Well.
Governor Josh Stein, as we have been talking about all week,
did make his way to Washington, DC yesterday to advocate
for somewhere in the ballpark of thirteen and a half
(00:29):
billion dollars in additional relief for western North Carolina. This,
of course, all ahead of the one encounter year anniversary
of Hurricane Helene and its impacts across the entire state
of North Carolina, but more predominantly the destruction in the
western half. Posting a variety of pictures to social media
around six pm last night, the governor can be seen
(00:52):
in pictures with both of our US Senators, Tom Tillis
and Ted Budd alongside delegates from North Carolina, which did
include the mayor of Ashville. Other photos show some sort
of working session ongoing between a couple of people in
the room there, including Tim Moore of Virginia Fox Greg Murphy.
Just a couple of the congressmen seen in this picture
(01:14):
shuffling through papers as a debate is ongoing. Between the
state and federal government. As Josh Stein advocates for more.
He did post in that social media post on his
official at NC Underscore Governor x account quote, I am
ready to work with anyone and everyone to rebuild Western
North Carolina. I am in Washington, d C. Today to
(01:36):
continue to advocate for the federal funding for Hurricane Helen recovery.
I applaud the efforts of our congressional delegation to date,
and I look forward to working with them to secure
the resources the people of Western North Carolina deserve. With that,
we are getting some announcements and have over the last
couple of days of additional monies from the federal government
(01:59):
to West North Carolina. Earlier this week, Tim Moore, who represents,
of course, the fourteenth congressional District, announced that more than
two and a half million dollars in funding from the
Federal Emergency Management Agency that's FEMA will be used to
rebuild the Lake Lore Flowering Bridge, which, as many pieces
(02:19):
of infrastructure, was almost completely destroyed by Helene almost one
year ago. The congressman put in a press release quote,
the bridge is a historic and beautiful piece of Lake
Lure that's become part of the area's identity. I am
grateful for the Trump administration and FEMA for stepping up
with the funding needed to rebuild it. This project will
(02:43):
support local tourism and marks another step in rebuilding Western
North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. Funding for this project is
authorized under Section four six of the Robert T. Stafford
Act and will provide for a complete replacement of the
historic three span arch pedestrian bridge which connects the small
(03:05):
towns of Lake Lure and Chimney Rock. Both of those
towns maybe maybe you hadn't heard of or weren't familiar
with up until about a year ago, those two towns
getting an incredible amount of national and statewide media attention
due to the vast amount of destruction left in the
wake of Helene. The scope of the work includes demolition, excavation,
(03:26):
in construction of a new, a nude structure to meet
current codes and standards, with the total project costing somewhere
in the ballpark of two point eight million dollars and
great news for those too local towns in for local
governments in western North Carolina, as ninety percent of that
(03:47):
two point eight million dollars will be financed through the
federal government, according to the According to the website built
in nineteen twenty five, that bridge carried traffic between Lake
Lure and Chimney Rock for some eighty five years. The
Flowering Bridge, completed in twenty ten, connects Lake Lore and
(04:07):
Chimney Rock, and beginning in twenty eleven, it became home
to a garden of more than two thousand species of plants,
both planted and cultivated by community members and volunteers. According
to the a website statement, before the demolition of the bridge,
and before all of of course, Helene rolled through that area,
(04:29):
it reads, quote, our beloved old bridge, as you know,
it will be coming down, but the Lake Lure Flowering
a Bridge of volunteers are dedicated and resilient. We still
plan to create special places on what remains, what will remain,
that will make you proud and excited to visit. Demolition
of what was left of the bridge after Helene did
(04:52):
begin in the month of August. Before Helene, that area,
the bridge itself and some of the gardens around it,
had become a huge hotspot for local tourism. Brian Balfour,
the VP of Research of the John Locke Foundation, told
the Carolina Journal quote. As Helena recovery efforts continue, legislators
(05:12):
should take care to focus funding on the most urgent priorities.
Based on the August monthly report from Homeland Security, the
Federal Disaster Relief Fund is scheduled to be drained and
have one point six billion dollars in unfunded obligations for
various relief efforts across the country in September. Such a
(05:35):
situation will require an additional infusion of tax or borrowed
funds to see that those relief obligations are met. David Diorio,
Mayor pro Temp for Lake Lore, did not respond to
Carolina Journal's request for comment at the time of publication.
As we continue to follow this as next week is
(05:56):
the one year anniversary of Helene and all of the
impacts and devastation, we will continue to follow these projects.
Some of these one off projects that do get announced,
like this bridge between Lakeler and Chimney Rock. Governor Josh
Stein again visiting Washington, d C. Yesterday, posting some photos
(06:17):
on social media indicating he's meeting with lawmakers trying to
advocate for more than thirteen and a half billion dollars.
That is, as you heard in the immediate aftermath of
the storm, and we even mentioned and talked about right
here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. This has always
and was always going to be an incredibly slow recovery process.
(06:40):
Now a lot has been done in the last twelve months,
but a lot more work it does need to be
completed to get the state back to the western half
of the state back to some semblance of normalcy. That
includes a funding for the Department of Transportation as major roadways,
including Interstate forty in the western half of the state,
while they are re opened in some temporary manner, they
(07:02):
are not at full speed. They do not support the
normal throughput of traffic that you would expect a major
US artery like Interstate forty two. House so between that,
some of the small towns that have completely blown through
their budgets trying to get their community back to normal,
all of that continues to be a major topic of discussion.
(07:24):
And those were some of the points that were made
earlier this week by Governor Josh Stein as he held
that Monday press conference at Blue Ridge Community College, where
he did in fact request and put it out publicly
that he was looking for an additional thirteen and a
half billion dollars from the federal government, a lot of
that coming from HUD Housing and Urban Development to continue
(07:46):
to fund housing either complete rebuild or reconstruction or repair
and maintenance grants across the western half of North Carolina.
As the governor noted, more than seventy four thousand homes
were damaged by the storm, and very few of them
not only didn't have but many were not eligible for
(08:06):
flood insurance based on the area in which they lived.
There was no insurance carrier that would provide flood insurance
as the many of those folks did not live in
an area that was prone or there was even a
thought would be prone to flooding. As Helena absolutely a
one thousand year storm, dumping us so much rain across
western North Carolina. We'll continue to track all of that coverage.
(08:30):
We've got a lot of great articles and have had
many over the last year over on our website Carolina
Journal dot com. More, particularly, you can read about that bridge.
The headline story more announces two point five million dollars
in FEMA funding for Lakelore Bridge. Get those details at
Carolina Journal dot com. It's five point twenty welcome back
(08:57):
to The Carolina Journal News Hour, Newstock eleven ten nine
three WBT. One of the legal stories that we've been
keeping tabs on over the last couple of months surrounds
legal action taken from the United States Department of Justice
against the North Carolina State Board of Elections. This has
to deal with voter rolls and voter registration forms have
IDs to deal with things like the last four of
(09:19):
your Social Security number or a full driver's license number,
and over the last couple of weeks, it looked like
that lawsuit would be in its process of winding down. However,
not everybody is necessarily in favor of that. To walk
us through some of those details, this morning, Mitch Koki,
the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal
News Hour. Mitch State Board the DOJ said, all right,
looks like things are headed in the right direction. We
(09:41):
can probably wind this thing up, but it looks like
some Democrat groups are now trying to insert themselves into
the process.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
That's exactly right, and in fact, these groups have been
trying for a while to insert themselves into the process.
Remember that back in May, the US Justice Department filed
a lawsuit against the North Carolin State Board of Elections
over alleged non compliance with the federal Help America Vote
Actor HAAVA, saying that North Carolina's voter roles were not
(10:10):
in compliance because too many people did not have either
a driver's license number or the last four digits of
the social Security number. As soon as the suit was filed,
the State Board of Elections, which was under new leadership
at that point, responded saying, look, we know this is
an issue. We're going to address it. They came up
(10:31):
with the plan to address it, and after several months
of back and forth, the US Justice Department and State
Board of Elections basically came to a deal saying that
the State Board will move forward with this process to
get this information. In the meantime, anyone who doesn't have
this information on their voter rules will have to cast
(10:52):
provisional ballot. No voter will be dropped from the voter roles.
It would just be that they would have to take
this additional step to vote the provisional ballot. US Chief
District Judge Richard Myers saw the deal, signed off on it,
said this is fine. You're going to have to report
back to me. Board of Elections basically every couple of
(11:14):
months for the rest of the year, and then on
an annual basis after that until this deal is finalized
midway through twenty twenty seven, so basically after the twenty
twenty six election cycle. But then about a week after
that decision from the Judge Myers in this case, we
saw that the Democratic National Committee and a group called
(11:37):
the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans, which is basically
a client for Mark Elias, the Democratic operative who's been
involved in election lawsuits on the national level and state
level for a number of years, they filed paperwork this
week saying that, look, Judge, you should go back and
(11:58):
revisit this and allow us to intervene in this case.
As defendants. They had asked us before, and the judge
did not allow them to intervene. He basically did not rule,
kind of just set their motions aside and didn't do
anything about them. Now they're saying, look, we should be
involved in this process and there should be an adversarial
case here because the state board and the US Justice
(12:21):
Department are on the same side, and they're not on
the side of the voters that we represent, and we
would like to raise some complaints about this process the
State Board of Elections is using. So we have yet
to see whether Chief Chief Judge Myers is going to respond.
He has already basically said the deal is fine. The
deal's finalized, and I'm going to keep jurisdiction of this case.
(12:45):
But the deal is fine with me, and we'll see
how it plays out. The court filings from the Elias
clients and the DNC are asking him to revisit that decision,
but there's no word yet that he will. Will be
interesting to see is if he makes no decision about
the intervention by these democratic and left leaning groups, will
(13:08):
they try to appeal to the Fourth Circuit and say
the fact that he doesn't that he didn't say anything,
means that he's denying us in Fourth Circuit, you should
step in and make him insert us into this case
so we could try to fight what the State Board
of Elections is doing.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
It might make sense, Mitch to kind of go through
some more of this process. It's unfortunate that everything now
pretty much in our society turns into a political battle.
That's unfortunately what the discussion over. These have ID numbers
and some of the voter registration forms and old data
that the State Board of Elections has had now for
going on the better part of ten or fifteen years.
(13:45):
No voters are getting kicked off the roles. As this
ongoing lawsuit has taken place, the state Board has been
sending out letters to individuals giving them multiple free i'll
note options to make sure that their information is all
squared away and once and again in compliance with that
federal Help America Vote Act, which I'll also note goes
(14:05):
back to the early two thousands that's been enshrined in
federal law for the better part of two decades. Now,
nobody's getting kicked off. The state Board is doing i
think probably going above and beyond what you would expect
to make sure all of these voters have the required
information so their votes do count, and make sure that
there is no ability for voter fraud. Mitch, what's the
issue here? Why is this turning into a knockout, drag
(14:28):
out political a fight trying to filew the federal law here?
Why is that so controversial?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Well, part of the concern from the groups on the
left is that this is going to be used in
some way to eventually drop voters from the roles that's
something that they've been raising ever since the Republican Party
first filed a lawsuit on this issue in the summer
of twenty twenty four. Remember that was a case that
we talked about because they had a lot of interest.
(14:54):
And then this was a major issue once again in
the Jefferson Griffin versus Alison Rigg State Supreme Court never
ending case that went on for months and months before
Jefferson Griffin finally conceded and allowed Alison Riggs to take
her eight year term on the State Supreme Court. So,
throughout this process, as first the Republican Party, then Jefferson Griffin,
(15:17):
then the US Justice Department raised concerns about this incomplete information.
Democrats and their allies have said that this is a
way for Republicans to strike people from the roles, and
they say that even if they aren't being removed from
the roles, having to cast a provisional ballot is a
step that makes them sort of a second class citizen
(15:38):
because they aren't being able to vote the same way
everyone else is. Now, it remains to be seen whether
that legal argument's going to hold any water with anyone.
It doesn't seem likely that it would with Chief Judge Myers.
But if this case ends up getting back to the
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, depending on the panel that
here's the case, there might be some interest in saying
(16:00):
that having to cast a provisional ballot somehow makes a
voter a second class voter or a second class citizen,
and so they can't be required to have to do this.
But basically the argument from the Democrats and their allies
is that this is a way to try to disenfranchise
voters that Republicans would like to get off the voting rolls.
(16:23):
They've also raised in some recent court filings concerns that
this settlement would somehow give the federal government access to
all of this information about drivers license numbers and social
Security numbers the federal Justice Department shouldn't have. I'm not
sure whether that argument's going to hold much water either,
(16:45):
but that's one of the latest things that's being claimed
by the Democrats and their allies. Now. Of course, this
is only because it's the Trump administration running the Justice Department.
If it were still the Biden administration running the Justice Department,
Crats and their allies would almost certainly be on the
same side as what the Justice Department wanted to do
(17:05):
in that instance.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, definitely seemed to be grasping at straws at least
with some of those arguments made in those court filings.
A story that we thought was going to probably be
in the rearview mirror does continue to be relevant here
across the state. We'll keep an eye on the details
over on our website, Carolina Journal dot com. Mitch Koki
from the John Locke Foundation joins us Sun the Carolina
Journal News Hour. It's five thirty six. Welcome back to
(17:34):
the Carolina Journal News Hour, Newstock eleven, ten ninety nine
three WBT. An interesting story that we're tracking over on
our website this morning, Carolina Journal dot com. The United
States House Judiciary Committee is set to hold a field
hearing in Charlotte coming up in just a couple of
weeks on September the twenty ninth. This is in relation
(17:55):
to the August the twenty second murder of twenty three
year old Ukrainian refugee Irena Zaruska, who was fatally stabbed
on a Charlotte light rail. Authorities have charged thirty four
year old to Carlos Brown Junior with that crime. He
is a repeat offender. He has been arrested in charge
somewhere in the ballpark of fourteen times with prior convictions
(18:16):
including armed robbery, larceny, breaking and entering. He allegedly stabbed
the twenty three year old three times in the neck
back on August the twenty second on the Charlotte light Rail.
Representative Jeff Van Drew, the Republican out of New Jersey,
who is the chair of the oversight subcommittee, confirmed the hearing,
while Representative Mark Harris, who represents North Carolina's eighth congressional district,
(18:41):
called it a step towards justice. North Carolina Legislative Leader
Speaker Deston House Speaker Deston Hall, and Senate Leader Phil
Berger announced have announced a new anti crime measures or
set of those, including efforts to end cash bail and
reinstate the death penalty, arguing that the soft on crime
(19:03):
policies by many Democrat run cities across North Carolina have
allowed individuals like de Carlos Brown Junior to continue to
commit offenses and continually be released from jail. So it
is going to be interesting to see as the essentially
a field trip is going to be happening for the
United States House Judiciary Committee. That field hearing will happen
(19:26):
in the Queen City on September the twenty ninth. As
we get closer to that, I'm sure we will get
some additional details about where that meeting is going to
take place and who all will be involved. And as
I noted, the North Carolina General Assembly is set to
be back in Raleigh next week, starting on Tuesday, where
they are likely and could potentially pass some additional legislation
(19:49):
in Raleigh to put some more penalties in place for
places across the state that do have issues with repeat
offenders and have issues with some of these on crime
policies that are being described by lawmakers. Will continue to
follow the details on both of those stories and the
broader story as a whole, as justice for Arenasaruska does
(20:12):
continue to be demanded by not only folks in North
Carolina but across the country. That continued coverage over on
our website this morning at Carolina Journal dot com. It's
now five thirty eight. You're listening to the Carolina Journal
News Hour. We've got some new details this morning in
a legal case surrounding the North Carolina State Health Plan,
that is the Health Service that teachers, firefighters, police officers,
(20:34):
and many other public employees across the North Carolina the
state of North Carolina utilize for their health insurance. All
of this deals with transgender payments in dealing with some
of these transgender surgeries here in the state of North Carolina.
To get us up to speed this morning, Mitch Coki
with the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina
Journal News Hour. Mitch, we chatted about this a month
(20:56):
or so ago. It was a big case from the
United States Supreme Court last year dealing with some similar
things in a different state, Tennessee. It's now having some
ramifications here in North Carolina. Things have been moving over
the last couple of weeks. Get us up to speed
there if you would, yes.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
First, a little bit of background. North Carolina's state health
plan has an exclusion that blocks coverage of treatments that
are that are suggested and requested, mostly by transgender patients,
and so that exclusion has existed for most of the
health plan's existence in recent years, and a lawsuit challenged
(21:35):
the exclusion, saying that this was a violation of constitutional rights.
In a very close ruling, the full Fourth US Circuit
Court of Appeals voted eight to six to force the
state health plan to provide this coverage. And so the
state health plan has been providing this coverage these disputed
treatments that are generally requested only by transgender patients. And
(21:59):
the case went up on appeal to the US Supreme Court,
and the Supreme Court hasn't tackled the merits of this case.
But what it did do was after it ruled in
that Tennessee case that we're talking about called Scurmetti, which
upheld a Tennessee law that banned hormone therapy and other
(22:19):
treatments for transgender teams. After that ruling came out, the
US Supreme Court issued in order in the North Carolina
case and it vacated or threw out that Fourth US
Circuit Court of Appeals ruling and said, Okay, now it's
time for you to revisit this case in light of
what we just said in this Tennessee case SCURMTI case.
(22:41):
So the most recent development is that decision came down
in late June. Nothing had happened really at the Fourth
Circuit since then, and so verily recently, the lawyer for
the state health plan sent a letter to the clerk
of the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals and said, look,
based on what the US Supreme Court said, you should
(23:04):
vacate this injunction that has forced the North Carolina State
Health Plan to provide this coverage. Vacate that injunction and
send the case back to the federal trial judge and
force the trial judge to rule in our favor, in
the State Health Plan's favor, basically arguing that what the
Supreme Court said in the Scurmetti case is going to
(23:26):
be just on point with what the North Carolina dispute
is all about, and the Supreme Court would rule in
exactly the same way such that the State Health Plan
would win. So about a week after that letter, the
plaintiffs in this case, who are represented by the group
Land Illegal, they sent their own letter to the Fourth
(23:48):
Circuit saying, not so fast. You shouldn't drop this injunction.
What the Supreme Court said does not mean that you
should get rid of this injunction at the trial court
level and rule in favor of the defendants. There are
a number of differences between this scur metic case in
our case, and in fact, the ruling in Scurmetti actually
upholds what we're trying to do to force the state
(24:11):
health plan to provide this coverage. So basically the case
sits in the hands of the Fourth US Circuit Court
of Appeals. It has these competing letters now from the defendant,
which is the state health plan, and the plaintiffs, who
are the ones challenging the exclusion in the state health plan.
It's not clear at this point what, if anything, the
Fourth Circuit is going to do. The only thing that
(24:34):
was clear is that the Supreme Court vacated what the
Fourth Circuit did the first time around, So the Fourth
Circuit could send the case back to the trial court.
The Fourth Circuit could order new briefings, another oral argument,
and say, well, you know, now we're going to reapply
the Scermetic case to this case and see whether that
(24:54):
leads to any kind of different result or not. But
certainly this case is going to be brew for a while,
and the two sides in this case take a very
different attitude about what the US Supreme Court's ruling in
the Tennessee case means for us here in North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
So you mentioned again that close Fourth Circuit Court of
Appeals ruling that the eight to six vote. There then
the decision from the United States Supreme Court to vacate
that that appeals court ruling at least as it stands
right now. But then there's also this injunction involved. So
does the state where we sit here this morning, is
the state required to cover those kinds of medical expenditures
(25:36):
medical coverage that would traditionally fall under what would be
described as gender reaffirming care things of that nature. Are
they legally required the state health plan to do that?
Right now?
Speaker 2 (25:46):
It is? It is, and that has been true ever
since the initial trial court ruling in this case. Once
that came down, the Treasurer's office, which runs the state
Health Plan, issued a news release at the time saying,
we will comply with the court order. We're going to appeal,
but we will apply. We will comply with the court
order as long as it stands. And so the Fourth
(26:09):
US Circuit Court of Appeals, in that very close split
vote with the full court hearing the case, basically affirmed
what the trial judge said. So throughout that time, ever
since the initial trial court ruling, the State Health Plan
has been uncovered for these treatments and will continue to
do so unless the injunction is gone and the US
(26:34):
Trial Court judge in this case is required to rule
in favor of the health plan. Until then, all of
these treatments are covered as was dictated by the initial
trial court ruling and upheld by the Fourth Circuit. And
the debate right now is whether what the US Supreme
Court did in the Tennessee case the Scarmeti case means
(26:58):
that the state health plan should win in North Carolina.
US Supreme Court didn't say so. All it said was
the Fourth Circuit needed to revisit this case based on
what the what the Supreme Court said in skirmety that
doesn't say one way the other whether the state health
Plan or the plaintiffs win. Both sides think that what
was said in scur Meti supports what they want to
(27:21):
see as the ruling in North Carolina, But now it
really sits in the hands of the Fourth Circuit to
decide what to do next.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Obviously, this continues to be a relatively controversial and pretty
hot political topic with some of these treatments and surgeries.
Will continue to track the legal progress. You can get
some additional details over on our website. This Morning Carolina
Journal dot com. Mitchkoki from the John Locke Foundation joins
us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Good morning again,
(27:53):
it's five point fifty three. Welcome back to the Carolina
Journal News Hour news takoleven ten ninety nine three WBT.
If you've been with us all week. We covered details
earlier about how Governor Josh Stein on Monday, he was
out in western North Carolina, specifically at Blue Ridge Community College,
where he was advocating for more money for Western and
North Carolina, announcing that he would be requesting an additional
(28:17):
thirteen and a half billion dollars from the federal government
as the state next week hits the one year mark
of Hurricane Helene's devastation and destruction across western North Carolina.
The storm was estimated to have cost somewhere in the
ballpark of sixty billion dollars worth of damage. The governor
(28:38):
also announced earlier in the week that he would in
fact make his way up to Washington, d C. On
Wednesday to continue that advocacy where and continue to put
the pressure on the federal government to release additional funds.
And it would appear that's exactly what happened yesterday, as
opposed to on the governor's official x account last night
shows him in a couple of different pictures. Along Side
(29:00):
are two United States Senators, Tom Tillis and Ted Budd.
In another picture, the groups can be seen around a
table having a conversation. I see Addison McDowell, former House
Speaker now Congressman Tim Moore, Greg Murphy, Virginia Fox, some
other lawmakers Chuck Edwards also in the room as well,
(29:21):
as they're around some sort of a square table. All
of them have got papers and charts in front of
them as they appear to be discussing some of the
ongoing needs and some of the money that is needed
for western North Carolina. It is a very large ask
from the North Carolina governor again, thirteen and a half
billion dollars from the federal government. A vast majority of
(29:44):
that would come from HUD Housing and Urban Development, as
he as requesting an additional eight billion dollars to fund
the Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery, also known
as a CDBGDR rand. Currently, HUDD has awarded one point
four billion dollars to the state of North Carolina through
(30:06):
that grant program, with the goal with the objective objective
of rebuilding homes, helping small businesses, and repairing some level
of infrastructure without having to deal with the hassle of
cash flow problems with a general reimbursement program where a
local government has to expend all of the money and
wait for a checks to come rolling in from the
(30:28):
federal government. Governor Stein noted earlier in the week that
roughly seventy four thousand homes in the western half of
North Carolina were damaged by the storm, and pointed to
the fact that very few of them were eligible or
even had flood insurance due to the mountainous terrain and
really the general thought by insurance carriers and coverages that
(30:50):
you would not need and would not be eligible for
flood insurance up in the mountains of western North Carolina.
With that, many of those folks are not receiving coverage
from their insurance carriers due to the massive amount of
flooding and water impacts from that storm. We wait to
see exactly what the federal government will do in terms
(31:12):
of this thirteen and a half billion dollar request. We've
seen some commentary over the last couple of days from
President In the last couple of weeks, I should say
from President Donald Trump sending more money to the state
for not only Helene, but tropical Storm Shawn Tall which
affected the central portion of the state. The General Assembly
has appropriated more than a billion dollars at this point.
(31:33):
And while a lot of work has been done over
the last twelve months, a lot of work remains and
continues to need to get finished to get western North
Carolina back to some semblance of normalcy. We'll continue tracking
all of that over on our website at Carolina Journal
dot com. Well, that's going to do it for a
Thursday edition to WBT News is next, followed by Good
(31:56):
Morning BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning, five to
six right here on New Talk eleven ten. In ninety nine,
three WBT
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