July 28, 2025 • 35 mins
Federal education funds are released to NC after being frozen. Sen. Tillis co-sponsors bipartisan legislation aimed at easing the housing shortage. A new U.S.-EU trade deal is reached. Former Justice Bob Orr seeks oral arguments in an elections lawsuit. And a pivotal week in NC politics looms with possible Senate announcements and veto override votes.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
It's five oh five and good Monday morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Welcome into the Carolina Journal News our Newstock eleven ten
ninety nine three WBT.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
I'm Nick Craig. A good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
The United States Department of Education is releasing a six
point eight billion dollars in education funding that originally froze
on June the thirtieth, including over one hundred and sixty
five million dollars across the state of North Carolina. The
cuts would have made up nearly ten percent of the
state's federal education funding. The agency made the announcement late
(00:43):
in the day on Friday. Back on July the fourteenth,
North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson joined twenty four other
mainly Democratic run states ensuing the federal government to prevent
them from freezing funds from North Carolina public schools. Jackson
joined the lawsuit that was originally filed in Rhode Island
(01:05):
by again the attorney generals of about twenty four states.
Jeff Jackson said in a press release on Friday, quote
national reports indicate that the United States Department of Education
has back down on its freezing all funds of six
point eight billion dollars nationwide. Including one hundred and sixty
(01:25):
five million dollars for North Carolina after we filed suit
last week. This should end weeks of uncertainty. Our schools
can now plan, hire, and prepare for a strong year ahead.
My absolute best wishes to our state's one point five
million students who are ready to make up, who are
ready to make this their best year yet. North Carolina
(01:49):
Superintendent of Public Instruction Moe Green also commented on the
release of the funding, noting it is good to see
that the federal government is honoring its commitment to our students,
our educators, and our schools. I hope this resolution and
release of funds next week marks a return to predictable, predictable,
(02:09):
reliable federal partnerships that our schools need to serve students effectively.
Democrat Governor Josh Stein also commented on this publicly thanking
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, who if you didn't know,
is originally from Newbern, North Carolina, posting on his ex profile,
thank you to Newbern native Education Secretary McMahon for releasing
(02:32):
much needed grant funding to help schools across North Carolina
better serve our kids. We share a candidate we shared
a candid discussion about serving North Carolina children and families.
I look forward to working together to expand the workforce
in public education. In addition to the lawsuit, ten Republican
(02:53):
Senators joined together last week to urge the Trump administration
to reverse this decision to freeze those federal funds. The
congressionally authorized education funding was currently under review by the
Office of Management and Budget that's OMB to determine if
the program's grossly misused government funds to promote a quote
(03:15):
radical left wing agenda. The Wait County Public School System
had instituted a hiring freeze in anticipation of that funding
being no longer available or frozen, and CMS the Charlotte
Mecklenburg School System school Board sent a letter to the
Department of Education asking officials to reverse their decision. Nine
(03:36):
of the ten school districts that would have lost the
most money per student are in rural North Carolina. These
those counties, of course, still reeling with the impacts of
Hurricane Helene, facing a roughly eighteen million dollar cut. Friday's
announcement comes a week after OMB and froze more than
a billion dollars in after school and summer learning funds
(03:58):
that had been under review. A senior Administration official said
that states would have to adhere to new guardrails moving forward,
with many of the programs also being told that they
received the after school in summer learning funding earlier last week.
So the lawsuits, the money being frozen, the changes being
(04:20):
made by the school districts only temporary, as OMB was
going through the process of determining where that money should go.
It is now going back exactly where it was supposed to,
more than six point eight billion dollars back to public education.
You can read those additional details this morning by visiting
our website Carolina Journal dot com. The headline Department of
(04:41):
Education releases frozen education funding to North Carolina and other states.
It's now five to ten. You're listening to the Carolina
Journal News Hour. United States Senator Tom Tillis, of course,
has been in the national spotlight a lot over the
last couple of weeks with his announcement that he is
not running for reelection. However, in the meantime, he is
(05:02):
still a sitting member of the United States Senate and
said he will continue to work not only for people
of North Carolina, but the country as a whole. We
are tracking some details this morning from Senator Tillis and
a litany of other lawmakers up in Washington, d C.
Dealing with housing supplies and high costs in home ownership.
To get some details on that, Teresa Opeka, Carolina Journal
(05:25):
dot com it joins us on the News Hour. Some
pretty bad figures here, Teresa, home sales dropping to their
lowest level in nine months. That's not the sign of
a good economy moving forward.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
No, no, no, it's not. Nick, Thanks so much for
having me. Yeah, take a look at this. But Senator
Tillis issued a press release recently about bipartisan legislation that
he and his fellow senators hope will increase the housing
supply and reduce costs. Yeah, and getting back to what
(05:57):
you just said, home sales dropping to the lowest level.
They're also on track to me being the worse than
thirty years. So yeah, this is why this bill was
so important at a time like now. So it's called
the Housing Supply Expansion Act of twenty twenty five. He
along with the Senators Tim Scott out of South Carolina,
(06:19):
Republican Senator Tim Scott also Democrat Senator Reuben Gallago of Arizona,
Republican Kitty britt Alabama, and then we have got Democrat
Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Republican Mike Crappo of Indiana
and Alex Padilia, Democrat senator from California, all were on
(06:40):
this legislation. Basically, what it does it modernizes the federal
definition of manufactured housing. That's that could be you know,
any in like a the housing you would see maybe
even like a trailer or something like a modular is
a better better word for it, where it would include
(07:02):
modular or prefabricated houses built without a permanent chassis. So
what right now the chassis has to stay on these
types of houses, so they that this would be get
it removed so it has a better chance of being approved.
There's also local zoning laws that don't allow certain ones
(07:24):
like this, so they introduced this build hopefully get the
ball rolling so that more people can buy buy more houses,
you know, have more choices. I think also accessory dwelling
units is another type of a housing that this would
fall under as well.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, and you talk about that litany of senators that
have signed onto this bill all across the country from
California all the way here to North Carolina, but specifically
honing in on our state this morning, Teresa, this is
a major issue, especially in our larger metropolitan areas. You
look at the Charlotte area, the Raleigh area out towards Asheville.
(08:01):
Of course, other situations affecting home ownership out west from
Hurricane Helene, and then to the eastern half of the
state down in southeastern North Carolina. This has been a
big time issue for quite some time now.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
It has, and you said, even before Helene's struck, we're
looking at the Asheville area. A new there was a
housing market tracker was from American Enterprise Institutes at Asheville's
housing shortage is about a little almost five thousand units,
or ten percent of the city's existing units. That's the shortage.
That's how much they need. And you go down the
(08:34):
line you mentioned Charlotte that's at five point two percent,
Rawley is a five point two percent, and go over
to Fayetteville, like going to the southern have it's a
little less. It' zero point nine percent, but a lot
of these areas are up. Wilmington too is at six percent.
So yeah, and the medium home price in North Carolina
(08:55):
is a little over four hundred and sixty seven thousand dollars,
and that's with basically one hundred and thirty nine thousand
dollars the income needed to qualify for a home at
that price, I mean, and a lot of people they're
not making that. So it's very hard, and it's very
hard in the state to get really good, you know,
housing at a good rate. And you know, the interest
(09:19):
rates have been stuck for so long. A lot of
people were lucky, lucked out at two percent three percent.
Of course that all went up and now we're stuck
at around seven percent or maybe a little bit under.
It fluctuates, so hopefully maybe you know, President Trump we're
talking about this, pushes or nudges Jerome Powell to maybe
(09:39):
cut some of those interest rates to help people along.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, the Federal Reserve does have a meeting coming up
this week. Rumor has it that those rates will at
least stay the same the way that they are right now. However,
the President continues to pressure the Federal Reserve chairman pretty
heavily on that. And Teresa, you look at that new
median home price that's up significantly from where that was
just about five years ago, which happens to also coincide
(10:03):
with the same time that interest rates for mortgages jumped
from that two and a half three percent where they
were twenty twenty into the early parts of twenty twenty
one to where they are right now. It's completely unaffordable
for the vast majority of folks across North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
It is it is. I mean you're seeing houses move.
Of course, it depends what bracket. I know. Basically it
looks like maybe there are you know, people who really
don't have to worry about money, million dollar houses, two
million dollars. I mean, obviously they're still selling. But you
look at houses maybe that are under three hundred thousand,
you know, in that price range right now, that is
(10:42):
the new starter range if you want to get down
to it. I mean, there are some houses that are
at a lower rate, but a lot of them also
are still sitting now. They're sitting longer than they were.
Going back to realtor dot Com, they had their housing
forecast midyear update. They said this year's housing market's going
to look similar to last year's, with affordability concerns weighing
(11:02):
heavily on sales volume and national home price is growing
at a sluggish pace, you know, and everybody's moving to
the state at a rabbit pace. But of course things
have slowed down. In that study or in that update,
it said Rawley had the tenth slowest market, with the
home staying on the market ten days or longer than
last year. And that's a long and this doesn't sound long,
(11:24):
but we remember twenty twenty two when we're coming out
of the pandemic and prices jumped. People are paying like
it was one hundred thousand over asking price sign on
seeing no inspections. Those days are gone, so we'll just
have to keep an eye on that.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
It's a great update this morning. We appreciate the details.
Teresopeka from Carolina Journal dot com joins us on the
Carolina Journal News Hour.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
It's twenty two minutes past the hour.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour news Stock
eleven ten three WBT. We of course have been keeping
a very close eye on tariffs and trade deals over
the last couple of months right here on the Carolina
Journal News Hour, and after months of negotiation, President Donald
Trump announced yesterday in Scotland that he has reached a
(12:17):
trade deal with the European Union, the President announcing that
saying quote, we have good news, we have a deal.
He was sitting alongside European Union Commission President Ursula von
der Leyen in Scotland. In a preview of the deal,
Trump said that the United or rather that the European Union,
(12:38):
will buy seventy five billion dollars worth of energy from
the United States, and that tariffs on EU imports into
the US, including automobiles, will be set at a hard
rate of fifteen percent. The EU will also invest in
additional six hundred billion dollars beyond its current investment in
the United States, and will purchase additional US military equipment.
(13:03):
This agreement comes just days before a looming August the
first deadline, that's Friday, when higher US tariffs on European
goods were set to take into a set to take effect.
Back in May, the President threaten to impose a fifty
percent tariff on nearly all of the EU imports, but
then later reduced that proposed rate to thirty percent. In
(13:25):
a July the twelfth letter to the President of the EU.
After the meeting with the EU president concluded in the
Turnbury Scotland members of both delegations shook hands and clapped
with the announcement of the deal. Now, back in twenty
twenty four, the United States had a good trade deficit
of two hundred and thirty five point six billion dollars
(13:47):
with the European Union, which actually was almost a thirteen
percent increase compared to where that number was just a
year prior. In twenty twenty three, the president of the
ee of the European Union told reporters during a meeting, quote,
the starting point wasn't in balance a surplus on our
side and a deficit on the US side, and we
(14:09):
wanted to rebalance the trade relationship, and we wanted to
do it in a way that trade goes on between
the two of US across the Atlantic. Trump said that
the two sides wanted to make a deal, and that's
exactly what they did, with the President noting this started
months ago, this negotiation, so we knew that we were
(14:29):
going to get into this over the long term period,
adding that the agreement was satisfactory for both the European
Union and the United States. The President noted that this
is a quote giant deal with a lot of different
countries because as it stands right now the EUS twenty
seven member states, with the President acknowledging that it's not
(14:51):
easy to reach a unified agreement with all of those groups.
Trump earlier accused the twenty seven member block of dragging
its feet in the ongoing negotiation projects. Ongoing negotiations which
have been happening for months. His threats to impose higher
tariffs prompted EU officials to schedule emergency talks aiming to
(15:13):
reach a deal with the administration while the President continues
his international visit over in Scotland this morning. In lengthy
reporting a detailing foreign trade barriers in March, the Office
of the US Trade Representative that's here in Washington, d C.
Criticize the EU for imposing tariffs and non tariff barriers
(15:35):
that disadvantage the United States and its exporters into European markets.
Trump called the new EU investments quote substantial, and told
reporters all of the countries will be opened up to
trade with the United States at zero tariff, and they've
agreed to purchase a vast amount of military equipment. We
(15:56):
don't know what that number is just yet, but the
good news is that we make the best military equipment
in the world. So you've just got to sort that
out and until somebody tops us, which is not going
to happen. Now, back to cars, Automobile tariffs will also
be capped at fifteen percent. However, steel and aluminum tariffs
(16:16):
will stay where they are because that's President Donald Trump
and trade advisors noted that that's currently a worldwide rate
and that's where that's going to stay. The European Union
has been subject to US tariffs at ten percent on
most goods, with twenty five percent tariffs on automobiles and
fifty percent on steel and aluminum. Commerce Secretary Howard Ludnick
(16:40):
said that within two weeks the United States will give
an update on its plan with microchip tariffs, suggesting that
that was a key reason for the EU's desire to
negotiate with President Trump. Lutnick said, quote, I'll let you
wait for two weeks until you get to announce this plan,
but re going going to bring back chip manufacturing to
(17:02):
the United States. The US and the twenty seven member
block EU had been negotiating since parts of early July
to strike a trade deal. Trump imposed baseline tariffs on
the EU in April before pausing them for ninety days,
as he did with most other countries to bring forth
that negotiation, but had recently threatened to raise them to
(17:25):
thirty percent if the twenty seven member block did not
reach an agreement with his administration by August the first.
Back on July the twenty fourth, the EU member states
voted to approve one hundred and nine billion dollars in
counter tariffs on US goods, including soybeans, all men's cars,
and pharmaceutical Soybeans, by the way, is one of the
(17:47):
largest crops that is produced here in North Carolina. Before
the deal that was reached yesterday, those tariffs were scheduled
to take effect on August the seventh. President Trump arrived
in Glasgow, Scotland, back on July the twenty fifth, to
begin a planned five day retreat to discuss trade with
a variety of nations bilateral trade talks with not only
(18:12):
leaders in the United Kingdom, Scotland, and the EU, but
other nations. So that trip does continue for a couple
of more days. The President will make his way back
to the US later this week. As we continue to
watch trade deals, tariffs and the impacts on the United
States economy will continue to bring those details to you
(18:32):
right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, and of
course up to date, we've done a lot of very
in depth reporting on a variety of industries and companies
here in the state of North Carolina that can and
have been affected by some of these trade deals and
some of these ongoing tariff escalations. Those details available over
on our website this morning at Carolina Journal dot com.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
It's five thirty six.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Our News Talk eleven,
ten ninety nine three WBT. I'm Nick Craig. A good
Monday morning to you. With US home sales hitting a
nine month low in June in prices reaching record highs,
North Carolina Republican Senator Tom Tillis has joined a bipartisan
group of senators introducing the Housing Supply Expansion Act of
(19:25):
twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
This piece of.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Legislation is set to address the housing shortage and affordability
crisis that exists in many portions of the United States.
The bill aims to expand access to modular and prefabricated
homes by updating the federal definition of manufactured housing to
include units without a permanent steel chassis. A change expected
(19:50):
to reduce costs and increase design flexibility. Senator Tillis says
that the legislation will help hard working families, especially in
fast growing states like North Carolina, where the housing supply
has been struggling to keep up with ongoing demand. The
state gained over one hundred and sixty five thousand new
(20:11):
residents in twenty twenty four and is projected to face
a housing deficit of over seven hundred and sixty thousand
units by twenty twenty nine. Local shortages are especially severe
in cities like Asheville, Boone, Chapel Hill, Wilmington, and Charlotte. Meanwhile,
high prices continue to hurt affordability, with a median new
(20:34):
home price in the state of North Carolina at more
than four hundred and sixty seven thousand dollars and a
required income of more than one hundred and thirty nine
thousand dollars a year to purchase one and to qualify
for a mortgage. Experts and real estate data suggests that
affordability challenges and supply supply chain constraints will continue to
(20:57):
weigh heavy on the market through the rest of the year.
Senator Tillis said, quote, I'm proud to support this common
sense legislation that expands housing options for hard working families
in North Carolina and across the country. By modernizing the
definition of manufactured homes, we can encourage innovative and affordable
(21:19):
designs and help more Americans achieve their dream of home ownership.
One of the other struggles that the housing market is
seeing right now is continued high interest rates. That's according
to President Donald Trump, who continues to slam the Chairman
of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, as they head into
(21:39):
another meeting coming up this week. Rumor has it that
the rates will stay unchanged as of right now. However,
that meeting is expected to take place Wednesday and Thursday.
We'll have the We watch those details, see if there
is anything as it relates to those interest rates and
the home sales across the United States, and pass those
(22:00):
details along to you right here on the Carolina Journal
News Hour, where it's now five point thirty nine News
Talk eleven, ten ninety nine to three WBT. A former
North Carolina Supreme Court member is continuing his quest for
what he calls fair elections. To give us the latest
this morning, Mitch Koki from the John Locke Foundation joins
us on the Carolina Journal News Hour, Mitch, fair elections.
(22:23):
I don't think many folks would argue with the blanket
phrase fair and free elections. However, there may be a
little bit more nuanced here. What's the lateaster tracking in
the Bob Or case.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Yeah, what happened is Bob Orr, the former state Supreme
Court justice, went to court after the last redistricting process
for new election maps in North Carolina, and representing a
group of nine Democrats and two unaffiliated voters to a
total of eleven plaintiffs. He sued basically saying that some
(22:54):
of the districts in the congressional map and a couple
of districts in the state House and State Senate map
fell short of a constitutional right to fair elections. Now,
this constitutional right to fair elections is spelled out nowhere
in North Carolina's constitution, but Bob Or's lawsuit basically argues
(23:18):
that this is an unenumerated right, that clearly North Carolinians
have a right to fair elections, and that the court
should spell this right out. That is an argument that
he made. A trial court heard this argument last year
and threw it out. Basically, said, no, you've not proven
your case. This is a political question because there's no
(23:40):
way that a court could come up with some sort
of standard to decide what is a fair election and
what is a fair election map. And in fact, the
state Supreme Court has dealt with this issue in the
Harper v. Hall case, one of the last major redistricting
cases in the North Carolina courts. Would basically Chief Justice
(24:00):
Paul Newby said, the idea of trying of a judge
trying to decide what is fair is impossible in the
context of election maps. Yet Bob Or has been pushing
for this, and after losing at the trial court level,
he took this case to the Court of Appeals. So
the latest development in this case is that all of
(24:21):
the briefing has been done in the Court of Appeals
and basically the court could just decide to deal with
the case based on only what's been written about it.
But Bob Orr and his fellow lawyers and the plaintiffs
in the case are seeking an oral argument. They would
like to be able to present a half hour of
arguments in front of the three judges who will decide
(24:41):
this case for the Court of Appeals. And while that
court filing has been made. There has not been a
court filing yet on the other side, but apparently or
court filing suggests that the legislative leaders who are defending
the election maps are against an oral argument. They basically
think that this is kind of an open and shutcase,
(25:02):
the fair elections idea is a bogus concoction from bob Orr,
and that there's no reason for the judges to have
to draw all the attorneys in and sit for an
hour and listen to them haggle back and forth about this,
that this is something that could be decided just based
on what's already been submitted in written briefs. Now, if
(25:23):
bob Orr is successful, this of course could have a
huge impact on elections in North Carolina because if courts
decide that there is some sort of state constitutional right
to fair elections, then, as lawyers for the legislature have argued,
as this case move forward, anytime someone loses an election,
they'll go to court and say it wasn't fair, and
(25:45):
then it'll be up for the courts to decide if
it's fair. Not having any real clear standard about what
is fair and what is not, which the critics say
would basically open this up to the courts then being
the ultimate deciders about election and election maps when it
really should be based on constitutional standards, not what a
(26:06):
bunch of people in robes who happen to be dealing
with a particular case think.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Well, let's take a couple steps back on this, Mitch.
Redistricting is something realistically that we're only supposed to be
talking about every ten years or so when you've got
new census data out of the federal government.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Here in North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Over the last five or six years, there's been a
plethora of map redraws, redistricting back and forth in the
court system. But when we get to this term of
fair elections, correct me if I'm wrong on this. But
when the General Assembly is drawing maps, there are things
that they are set to uphold as it deals with population,
trying to keep counties together, contiguous districts. There are a
(26:46):
set number of standards that they do and have followed
in the past when they are drawing maps.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
This whole question over.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
What is a fair election seems a little bit ambiguous
to me, and.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
It seems ambiguous to the judges who've been dealing with
this case and to the legislative leaders who have been
working against Bob Or on this, they're basically saying that
fair is in the eye of the beholder, and what
this lawsuit is asking for is the beholder to be
whatever court is dealing with a particular challenge at one time,
rather than the types of standards that you were talking about.
(27:20):
Districts all have to have about the same number of people.
They have to be as compact as possible. They have
to be contiguous. You can't have districts that are split
in two sections with no connecting point at all. There
are other things that are spelled out. You're not supposed
supposed to cross county lines anymore than you have to,
(27:42):
which is something that has been part of redistricting in
North Carolina for decades. And so one of the things
that this case is saying is that there should be
this additional standard that the maps have to comply with,
some sort of determination of fairness. But there from the
legislative leaders who have defended their handiwork and also to
(28:05):
three judges who initially decided against Bob War at the
trial court level, is this is something that a judge
cannot decide. This is not the type of thing where
you can create a reliable, consistent standard that everyone could
apply equally. If you say that an election has to
be fair, and then that an election map has to
be fair, what you will ultimately be saying is that
(28:28):
whatever judge happens to get this case when a losing
candidate files and says the result was unfair, is that
you will end up having the judges decide this on
an ad hoc basis every time.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Yeah, and of course that brings for the whole other
set of potential problems. Mitch, real quick, any idea when
the court will determine whether they will take these oral
arguments up or a potential decision from them, or is
it just kind of up in the air at this point.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
There's no deadline, but I would suspect that there will
be a fairly quick decision. The bob Or Court filing
this week suggested that legislative leaders were going to file
their own response, and so once that happens, I would
guess that we would probably know about an oral argument
within a matter of weeks. So probably we'll learn within
(29:17):
a few weeks whether there will be an oral argument,
and then if there is an oral argument, that probably
wouldn't be set for maybe another month or two.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
It's definitely an interesting discussion. We appreciate the details. Mitch
Koki from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the
Carolina Journal News Hour. Good morning again. It's five point
fifty two. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour.
News Stock eleven, ten ninety nine three e WBT. It
is shaping up to be a very busy week in
(29:47):
the state of North Carolina. Imminent announcements from both former
Democrat Governor Roy Cooper and current RNC Chairman Michael Wattley.
We could both learn this week whether both of them
are going to jump into the Senate race or not.
Seems highly likely at this point. Those announcements could be
coming up later this week. Plus, the North Carolina General
(30:08):
Assembly returns to Raleigh tomorrow to attempt to override fourteen
of Democrat Governor Josh Stein's vetos. Let's start with the
US Senate this morning. Former Governor Roy Cooper spoke at
a Democrat party at Unity Dinner in Raleigh a Saturday night,
talking about his efforts and talking about the things that
(30:30):
he worked on as governor in North Carolina. Slammed Republicans
in Washington, d C. And made some hints and some
jokes indicating that he is all but just to make
his announcement for the United States Senate, saying quote, look
at what's happening in Washington, D C. They're running up
the debt, they're disrespecting our veterans, they're cutting help for
(30:54):
the Hungary, and they're ripping away healthcare for millions of people.
All of that to give tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
That's not right.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
North Carolina Republican Party spokesman Matt Mercer responded to that, saying, quote,
We've seen enough of elitist Roy Cooper and politicians like
him who make their living off of taxpayers while supporting
policies that make life harder and unaffordable for North Carolina families.
During his speech, Cooper urged all Democrats who were expected
(31:25):
to run for office to stand up, without acknowledging whether
or not he himself would run. Then then the governor
former governor noted, quote, hey, I'm not sitting down, am
I that remark then drew a standing ovation. So that's
the latest from Cooper. We'll keep an eye on his announcement,
potentially sometime later this week. Turning our attention to the
(31:47):
GOP side, a former NCGP chairman now head of the
Republican National Committee, Michael Wattley, has received a key endorsement
from President Donald Trump, with the President posting on truth
so late last week quote, I have a mission for
my friends in North Carolina, and that is to get
Mike Coley's run for US Senate. He is strong on
(32:10):
the border, stopping crime, supporting our military and veterans, cutting
taxes and saving are always under siege second Amendment. I
need him in Washington, and I need him representing you.
Waltley is originally from North Carolina, as I mentioned, former
head of the North Carolina Republican Party. He left that
(32:31):
position in twenty twenty three to lead the RNC and
of course help secure President Donald Trump his election victory
back in November of last year. Now, turning our attention
to the North Carolina General Assembly, what was a for
the most part, a pretty good relationship between Republican lawmakers
(32:52):
and Democrat Governor Josh Stein has soured in recent weeks
as Governor Stein has vetoed fourteen pace of legislation passed
by the Republican led GA that is setting lawmakers up
to deal with those of veto overrides starting tomorrow, as
lawmakers will make their way back to Raleigh after a
(33:12):
couple of weeks July fourth recess that has been ongoing
and going on over the last couple of weeks. Many
pieces of these legislations, many of these pieces of legislation,
I should say, deal with diversity, equity, and inclusion, whether
that be in state government, K through twelve education or
Higher ED three bills there vetoed by Governor Josh Stein.
(33:35):
There's also a couple of pieces of legislation dealing with firearms,
one constitutional carry passed by the General Assembly vetoed by
the governor. Some of the other pieces of legislation also
deal with the border crime in the state of North
Carolina and the Rains Act that's been a popular one
that we've been keeping our eye on over the last
(33:56):
couple of months, which would put greater restrictions on government
agencies to impose burdensome regulations that have a major financial
impact across North Carolina. The math on all of this
is set to be very interesting. In the Senate, Republicans
do have that super majority, meaning if every Republican is
(34:17):
there and votes in favor, they are able to override
a veto. However, in the North Carolina House, Republicans are
just one vote short, meaning that there needs to be
a couple of Democrats absent or voting with all of
the Republican delegation to override those vetos.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Strap in.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
It's going to be a very busy week in North
Carolina politics. We'll keep you up to date with everything
right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
You can also stay up to date.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
With breaking news around the clock by visiting our website,
Carolina Journal dot com.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
That's going to do it for a Monday edition.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning BT. We're
back with you tomorrow morning, five to six right here
on Newstalk eleven, ten and ninety nine to three w
b T
It's five oh five and good Monday morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Welcome into the Carolina Journal News our Newstock eleven ten
ninety nine three WBT.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
I'm Nick Craig. A good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
The United States Department of Education is releasing a six
point eight billion dollars in education funding that originally froze
on June the thirtieth, including over one hundred and sixty
five million dollars across the state of North Carolina. The
cuts would have made up nearly ten percent of the
state's federal education funding. The agency made the announcement late
(00:43):
in the day on Friday. Back on July the fourteenth,
North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson joined twenty four other
mainly Democratic run states ensuing the federal government to prevent
them from freezing funds from North Carolina public schools. Jackson
joined the lawsuit that was originally filed in Rhode Island
(01:05):
by again the attorney generals of about twenty four states.
Jeff Jackson said in a press release on Friday, quote
national reports indicate that the United States Department of Education
has back down on its freezing all funds of six
point eight billion dollars nationwide. Including one hundred and sixty
(01:25):
five million dollars for North Carolina after we filed suit
last week. This should end weeks of uncertainty. Our schools
can now plan, hire, and prepare for a strong year ahead.
My absolute best wishes to our state's one point five
million students who are ready to make up, who are
ready to make this their best year yet. North Carolina
(01:49):
Superintendent of Public Instruction Moe Green also commented on the
release of the funding, noting it is good to see
that the federal government is honoring its commitment to our students,
our educators, and our schools. I hope this resolution and
release of funds next week marks a return to predictable, predictable,
(02:09):
reliable federal partnerships that our schools need to serve students effectively.
Democrat Governor Josh Stein also commented on this publicly thanking
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, who if you didn't know,
is originally from Newbern, North Carolina, posting on his ex profile,
thank you to Newbern native Education Secretary McMahon for releasing
(02:32):
much needed grant funding to help schools across North Carolina
better serve our kids. We share a candidate we shared
a candid discussion about serving North Carolina children and families.
I look forward to working together to expand the workforce
in public education. In addition to the lawsuit, ten Republican
(02:53):
Senators joined together last week to urge the Trump administration
to reverse this decision to freeze those federal funds. The
congressionally authorized education funding was currently under review by the
Office of Management and Budget that's OMB to determine if
the program's grossly misused government funds to promote a quote
(03:15):
radical left wing agenda. The Wait County Public School System
had instituted a hiring freeze in anticipation of that funding
being no longer available or frozen, and CMS the Charlotte
Mecklenburg School System school Board sent a letter to the
Department of Education asking officials to reverse their decision. Nine
(03:36):
of the ten school districts that would have lost the
most money per student are in rural North Carolina. These
those counties, of course, still reeling with the impacts of
Hurricane Helene, facing a roughly eighteen million dollar cut. Friday's
announcement comes a week after OMB and froze more than
a billion dollars in after school and summer learning funds
(03:58):
that had been under review. A senior Administration official said
that states would have to adhere to new guardrails moving forward,
with many of the programs also being told that they
received the after school in summer learning funding earlier last week.
So the lawsuits, the money being frozen, the changes being
(04:20):
made by the school districts only temporary, as OMB was
going through the process of determining where that money should go.
It is now going back exactly where it was supposed to,
more than six point eight billion dollars back to public education.
You can read those additional details this morning by visiting
our website Carolina Journal dot com. The headline Department of
(04:41):
Education releases frozen education funding to North Carolina and other states.
It's now five to ten. You're listening to the Carolina
Journal News Hour. United States Senator Tom Tillis, of course,
has been in the national spotlight a lot over the
last couple of weeks with his announcement that he is
not running for reelection. However, in the meantime, he is
(05:02):
still a sitting member of the United States Senate and
said he will continue to work not only for people
of North Carolina, but the country as a whole. We
are tracking some details this morning from Senator Tillis and
a litany of other lawmakers up in Washington, d C.
Dealing with housing supplies and high costs in home ownership.
To get some details on that, Teresa Opeka, Carolina Journal
(05:25):
dot com it joins us on the News Hour. Some
pretty bad figures here, Teresa, home sales dropping to their
lowest level in nine months. That's not the sign of
a good economy moving forward.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
No, no, no, it's not. Nick, Thanks so much for
having me. Yeah, take a look at this. But Senator
Tillis issued a press release recently about bipartisan legislation that
he and his fellow senators hope will increase the housing
supply and reduce costs. Yeah, and getting back to what
(05:57):
you just said, home sales dropping to the lowest level.
They're also on track to me being the worse than
thirty years. So yeah, this is why this bill was
so important at a time like now. So it's called
the Housing Supply Expansion Act of twenty twenty five. He
along with the Senators Tim Scott out of South Carolina,
(06:19):
Republican Senator Tim Scott also Democrat Senator Reuben Gallago of Arizona,
Republican Kitty britt Alabama, and then we have got Democrat
Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Republican Mike Crappo of Indiana
and Alex Padilia, Democrat senator from California, all were on
(06:40):
this legislation. Basically, what it does it modernizes the federal
definition of manufactured housing. That's that could be you know,
any in like a the housing you would see maybe
even like a trailer or something like a modular is
a better better word for it, where it would include
(07:02):
modular or prefabricated houses built without a permanent chassis. So
what right now the chassis has to stay on these
types of houses, so they that this would be get
it removed so it has a better chance of being approved.
There's also local zoning laws that don't allow certain ones
(07:24):
like this, so they introduced this build hopefully get the
ball rolling so that more people can buy buy more houses,
you know, have more choices. I think also accessory dwelling
units is another type of a housing that this would
fall under as well.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, and you talk about that litany of senators that
have signed onto this bill all across the country from
California all the way here to North Carolina, but specifically
honing in on our state this morning, Teresa, this is
a major issue, especially in our larger metropolitan areas. You
look at the Charlotte area, the Raleigh area out towards Asheville.
(08:01):
Of course, other situations affecting home ownership out west from
Hurricane Helene, and then to the eastern half of the
state down in southeastern North Carolina. This has been a
big time issue for quite some time now.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
It has, and you said, even before Helene's struck, we're
looking at the Asheville area. A new there was a
housing market tracker was from American Enterprise Institutes at Asheville's
housing shortage is about a little almost five thousand units,
or ten percent of the city's existing units. That's the shortage.
That's how much they need. And you go down the
(08:34):
line you mentioned Charlotte that's at five point two percent,
Rawley is a five point two percent, and go over
to Fayetteville, like going to the southern have it's a
little less. It' zero point nine percent, but a lot
of these areas are up. Wilmington too is at six percent.
So yeah, and the medium home price in North Carolina
(08:55):
is a little over four hundred and sixty seven thousand dollars,
and that's with basically one hundred and thirty nine thousand
dollars the income needed to qualify for a home at
that price, I mean, and a lot of people they're
not making that. So it's very hard, and it's very
hard in the state to get really good, you know,
housing at a good rate. And you know, the interest
(09:19):
rates have been stuck for so long. A lot of
people were lucky, lucked out at two percent three percent.
Of course that all went up and now we're stuck
at around seven percent or maybe a little bit under.
It fluctuates, so hopefully maybe you know, President Trump we're
talking about this, pushes or nudges Jerome Powell to maybe
(09:39):
cut some of those interest rates to help people along.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, the Federal Reserve does have a meeting coming up
this week. Rumor has it that those rates will at
least stay the same the way that they are right now. However,
the President continues to pressure the Federal Reserve chairman pretty
heavily on that. And Teresa, you look at that new
median home price that's up significantly from where that was
just about five years ago, which happens to also coincide
(10:03):
with the same time that interest rates for mortgages jumped
from that two and a half three percent where they
were twenty twenty into the early parts of twenty twenty
one to where they are right now. It's completely unaffordable
for the vast majority of folks across North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
It is it is. I mean you're seeing houses move.
Of course, it depends what bracket. I know. Basically it
looks like maybe there are you know, people who really
don't have to worry about money, million dollar houses, two
million dollars. I mean, obviously they're still selling. But you
look at houses maybe that are under three hundred thousand,
you know, in that price range right now, that is
(10:42):
the new starter range if you want to get down
to it. I mean, there are some houses that are
at a lower rate, but a lot of them also
are still sitting now. They're sitting longer than they were.
Going back to realtor dot Com, they had their housing
forecast midyear update. They said this year's housing market's going
to look similar to last year's, with affordability concerns weighing
(11:02):
heavily on sales volume and national home price is growing
at a sluggish pace, you know, and everybody's moving to
the state at a rabbit pace. But of course things
have slowed down. In that study or in that update,
it said Rawley had the tenth slowest market, with the
home staying on the market ten days or longer than
last year. And that's a long and this doesn't sound long,
(11:24):
but we remember twenty twenty two when we're coming out
of the pandemic and prices jumped. People are paying like
it was one hundred thousand over asking price sign on
seeing no inspections. Those days are gone, so we'll just
have to keep an eye on that.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
It's a great update this morning. We appreciate the details.
Teresopeka from Carolina Journal dot com joins us on the
Carolina Journal News Hour.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
It's twenty two minutes past the hour.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour news Stock
eleven ten three WBT. We of course have been keeping
a very close eye on tariffs and trade deals over
the last couple of months right here on the Carolina
Journal News Hour, and after months of negotiation, President Donald
Trump announced yesterday in Scotland that he has reached a
(12:17):
trade deal with the European Union, the President announcing that
saying quote, we have good news, we have a deal.
He was sitting alongside European Union Commission President Ursula von
der Leyen in Scotland. In a preview of the deal,
Trump said that the United or rather that the European Union,
(12:38):
will buy seventy five billion dollars worth of energy from
the United States, and that tariffs on EU imports into
the US, including automobiles, will be set at a hard
rate of fifteen percent. The EU will also invest in
additional six hundred billion dollars beyond its current investment in
the United States, and will purchase additional US military equipment.
(13:03):
This agreement comes just days before a looming August the
first deadline, that's Friday, when higher US tariffs on European
goods were set to take into a set to take effect.
Back in May, the President threaten to impose a fifty
percent tariff on nearly all of the EU imports, but
then later reduced that proposed rate to thirty percent. In
(13:25):
a July the twelfth letter to the President of the EU.
After the meeting with the EU president concluded in the
Turnbury Scotland members of both delegations shook hands and clapped
with the announcement of the deal. Now, back in twenty
twenty four, the United States had a good trade deficit
of two hundred and thirty five point six billion dollars
(13:47):
with the European Union, which actually was almost a thirteen
percent increase compared to where that number was just a
year prior. In twenty twenty three, the president of the
ee of the European Union told reporters during a meeting, quote,
the starting point wasn't in balance a surplus on our
side and a deficit on the US side, and we
(14:09):
wanted to rebalance the trade relationship, and we wanted to
do it in a way that trade goes on between
the two of US across the Atlantic. Trump said that
the two sides wanted to make a deal, and that's
exactly what they did, with the President noting this started
months ago, this negotiation, so we knew that we were
(14:29):
going to get into this over the long term period,
adding that the agreement was satisfactory for both the European
Union and the United States. The President noted that this
is a quote giant deal with a lot of different
countries because as it stands right now the EUS twenty
seven member states, with the President acknowledging that it's not
(14:51):
easy to reach a unified agreement with all of those groups.
Trump earlier accused the twenty seven member block of dragging
its feet in the ongoing negotiation projects. Ongoing negotiations which
have been happening for months. His threats to impose higher
tariffs prompted EU officials to schedule emergency talks aiming to
(15:13):
reach a deal with the administration while the President continues
his international visit over in Scotland this morning. In lengthy
reporting a detailing foreign trade barriers in March, the Office
of the US Trade Representative that's here in Washington, d C.
Criticize the EU for imposing tariffs and non tariff barriers
(15:35):
that disadvantage the United States and its exporters into European markets.
Trump called the new EU investments quote substantial, and told
reporters all of the countries will be opened up to
trade with the United States at zero tariff, and they've
agreed to purchase a vast amount of military equipment. We
(15:56):
don't know what that number is just yet, but the
good news is that we make the best military equipment
in the world. So you've just got to sort that
out and until somebody tops us, which is not going
to happen. Now, back to cars, Automobile tariffs will also
be capped at fifteen percent. However, steel and aluminum tariffs
(16:16):
will stay where they are because that's President Donald Trump
and trade advisors noted that that's currently a worldwide rate
and that's where that's going to stay. The European Union
has been subject to US tariffs at ten percent on
most goods, with twenty five percent tariffs on automobiles and
fifty percent on steel and aluminum. Commerce Secretary Howard Ludnick
(16:40):
said that within two weeks the United States will give
an update on its plan with microchip tariffs, suggesting that
that was a key reason for the EU's desire to
negotiate with President Trump. Lutnick said, quote, I'll let you
wait for two weeks until you get to announce this plan,
but re going going to bring back chip manufacturing to
(17:02):
the United States. The US and the twenty seven member
block EU had been negotiating since parts of early July
to strike a trade deal. Trump imposed baseline tariffs on
the EU in April before pausing them for ninety days,
as he did with most other countries to bring forth
that negotiation, but had recently threatened to raise them to
(17:25):
thirty percent if the twenty seven member block did not
reach an agreement with his administration by August the first.
Back on July the twenty fourth, the EU member states
voted to approve one hundred and nine billion dollars in
counter tariffs on US goods, including soybeans, all men's cars,
and pharmaceutical Soybeans, by the way, is one of the
(17:47):
largest crops that is produced here in North Carolina. Before
the deal that was reached yesterday, those tariffs were scheduled
to take effect on August the seventh. President Trump arrived
in Glasgow, Scotland, back on July the twenty fifth, to
begin a planned five day retreat to discuss trade with
a variety of nations bilateral trade talks with not only
(18:12):
leaders in the United Kingdom, Scotland, and the EU, but
other nations. So that trip does continue for a couple
of more days. The President will make his way back
to the US later this week. As we continue to
watch trade deals, tariffs and the impacts on the United
States economy will continue to bring those details to you
(18:32):
right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, and of
course up to date, we've done a lot of very
in depth reporting on a variety of industries and companies
here in the state of North Carolina that can and
have been affected by some of these trade deals and
some of these ongoing tariff escalations. Those details available over
on our website this morning at Carolina Journal dot com.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
It's five thirty six.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Our News Talk eleven,
ten ninety nine three WBT. I'm Nick Craig. A good
Monday morning to you. With US home sales hitting a
nine month low in June in prices reaching record highs,
North Carolina Republican Senator Tom Tillis has joined a bipartisan
group of senators introducing the Housing Supply Expansion Act of
(19:25):
twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
This piece of.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Legislation is set to address the housing shortage and affordability
crisis that exists in many portions of the United States.
The bill aims to expand access to modular and prefabricated
homes by updating the federal definition of manufactured housing to
include units without a permanent steel chassis. A change expected
(19:50):
to reduce costs and increase design flexibility. Senator Tillis says
that the legislation will help hard working families, especially in
fast growing states like North Carolina, where the housing supply
has been struggling to keep up with ongoing demand. The
state gained over one hundred and sixty five thousand new
(20:11):
residents in twenty twenty four and is projected to face
a housing deficit of over seven hundred and sixty thousand
units by twenty twenty nine. Local shortages are especially severe
in cities like Asheville, Boone, Chapel Hill, Wilmington, and Charlotte. Meanwhile,
high prices continue to hurt affordability, with a median new
(20:34):
home price in the state of North Carolina at more
than four hundred and sixty seven thousand dollars and a
required income of more than one hundred and thirty nine
thousand dollars a year to purchase one and to qualify
for a mortgage. Experts and real estate data suggests that
affordability challenges and supply supply chain constraints will continue to
(20:57):
weigh heavy on the market through the rest of the year.
Senator Tillis said, quote, I'm proud to support this common
sense legislation that expands housing options for hard working families
in North Carolina and across the country. By modernizing the
definition of manufactured homes, we can encourage innovative and affordable
(21:19):
designs and help more Americans achieve their dream of home ownership.
One of the other struggles that the housing market is
seeing right now is continued high interest rates. That's according
to President Donald Trump, who continues to slam the Chairman
of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, as they head into
(21:39):
another meeting coming up this week. Rumor has it that
the rates will stay unchanged as of right now. However,
that meeting is expected to take place Wednesday and Thursday.
We'll have the We watch those details, see if there
is anything as it relates to those interest rates and
the home sales across the United States, and pass those
(22:00):
details along to you right here on the Carolina Journal
News Hour, where it's now five point thirty nine News
Talk eleven, ten ninety nine to three WBT. A former
North Carolina Supreme Court member is continuing his quest for
what he calls fair elections. To give us the latest
this morning, Mitch Koki from the John Locke Foundation joins
us on the Carolina Journal News Hour, Mitch, fair elections.
(22:23):
I don't think many folks would argue with the blanket
phrase fair and free elections. However, there may be a
little bit more nuanced here. What's the lateaster tracking in
the Bob Or case.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Yeah, what happened is Bob Orr, the former state Supreme
Court justice, went to court after the last redistricting process
for new election maps in North Carolina, and representing a
group of nine Democrats and two unaffiliated voters to a
total of eleven plaintiffs. He sued basically saying that some
(22:54):
of the districts in the congressional map and a couple
of districts in the state House and State Senate map
fell short of a constitutional right to fair elections. Now,
this constitutional right to fair elections is spelled out nowhere
in North Carolina's constitution, but Bob Or's lawsuit basically argues
(23:18):
that this is an unenumerated right, that clearly North Carolinians
have a right to fair elections, and that the court
should spell this right out. That is an argument that
he made. A trial court heard this argument last year
and threw it out. Basically, said, no, you've not proven
your case. This is a political question because there's no
(23:40):
way that a court could come up with some sort
of standard to decide what is a fair election and
what is a fair election map. And in fact, the
state Supreme Court has dealt with this issue in the
Harper v. Hall case, one of the last major redistricting
cases in the North Carolina courts. Would basically Chief Justice
(24:00):
Paul Newby said, the idea of trying of a judge
trying to decide what is fair is impossible in the
context of election maps. Yet Bob Or has been pushing
for this, and after losing at the trial court level,
he took this case to the Court of Appeals. So
the latest development in this case is that all of
(24:21):
the briefing has been done in the Court of Appeals
and basically the court could just decide to deal with
the case based on only what's been written about it.
But Bob Orr and his fellow lawyers and the plaintiffs
in the case are seeking an oral argument. They would
like to be able to present a half hour of
arguments in front of the three judges who will decide
(24:41):
this case for the Court of Appeals. And while that
court filing has been made. There has not been a
court filing yet on the other side, but apparently or
court filing suggests that the legislative leaders who are defending
the election maps are against an oral argument. They basically
think that this is kind of an open and shutcase,
(25:02):
the fair elections idea is a bogus concoction from bob Orr,
and that there's no reason for the judges to have
to draw all the attorneys in and sit for an
hour and listen to them haggle back and forth about this,
that this is something that could be decided just based
on what's already been submitted in written briefs. Now, if
(25:23):
bob Orr is successful, this of course could have a
huge impact on elections in North Carolina because if courts
decide that there is some sort of state constitutional right
to fair elections, then, as lawyers for the legislature have argued,
as this case move forward, anytime someone loses an election,
they'll go to court and say it wasn't fair, and
(25:45):
then it'll be up for the courts to decide if
it's fair. Not having any real clear standard about what
is fair and what is not, which the critics say
would basically open this up to the courts then being
the ultimate deciders about election and election maps when it
really should be based on constitutional standards, not what a
(26:06):
bunch of people in robes who happen to be dealing
with a particular case think.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Well, let's take a couple steps back on this, Mitch.
Redistricting is something realistically that we're only supposed to be
talking about every ten years or so when you've got
new census data out of the federal government.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Here in North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Over the last five or six years, there's been a
plethora of map redraws, redistricting back and forth in the
court system. But when we get to this term of
fair elections, correct me if I'm wrong on this. But
when the General Assembly is drawing maps, there are things
that they are set to uphold as it deals with population,
trying to keep counties together, contiguous districts. There are a
(26:46):
set number of standards that they do and have followed
in the past when they are drawing maps.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
This whole question over.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
What is a fair election seems a little bit ambiguous
to me, and.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
It seems ambiguous to the judges who've been dealing with
this case and to the legislative leaders who have been
working against Bob Or on this, they're basically saying that
fair is in the eye of the beholder, and what
this lawsuit is asking for is the beholder to be
whatever court is dealing with a particular challenge at one time,
rather than the types of standards that you were talking about.
(27:20):
Districts all have to have about the same number of people.
They have to be as compact as possible. They have
to be contiguous. You can't have districts that are split
in two sections with no connecting point at all. There
are other things that are spelled out. You're not supposed
supposed to cross county lines anymore than you have to,
(27:42):
which is something that has been part of redistricting in
North Carolina for decades. And so one of the things
that this case is saying is that there should be
this additional standard that the maps have to comply with,
some sort of determination of fairness. But there from the
legislative leaders who have defended their handiwork and also to
(28:05):
three judges who initially decided against Bob War at the
trial court level, is this is something that a judge
cannot decide. This is not the type of thing where
you can create a reliable, consistent standard that everyone could
apply equally. If you say that an election has to
be fair, and then that an election map has to
be fair, what you will ultimately be saying is that
(28:28):
whatever judge happens to get this case when a losing
candidate files and says the result was unfair, is that
you will end up having the judges decide this on
an ad hoc basis every time.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Yeah, and of course that brings for the whole other
set of potential problems. Mitch, real quick, any idea when
the court will determine whether they will take these oral
arguments up or a potential decision from them, or is
it just kind of up in the air at this point.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
There's no deadline, but I would suspect that there will
be a fairly quick decision. The bob Or Court filing
this week suggested that legislative leaders were going to file
their own response, and so once that happens, I would
guess that we would probably know about an oral argument
within a matter of weeks. So probably we'll learn within
(29:17):
a few weeks whether there will be an oral argument,
and then if there is an oral argument, that probably
wouldn't be set for maybe another month or two.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
It's definitely an interesting discussion. We appreciate the details. Mitch
Koki from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the
Carolina Journal News Hour. Good morning again. It's five point
fifty two. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour.
News Stock eleven, ten ninety nine three e WBT. It
is shaping up to be a very busy week in
(29:47):
the state of North Carolina. Imminent announcements from both former
Democrat Governor Roy Cooper and current RNC Chairman Michael Wattley.
We could both learn this week whether both of them
are going to jump into the Senate race or not.
Seems highly likely at this point. Those announcements could be
coming up later this week. Plus, the North Carolina General
(30:08):
Assembly returns to Raleigh tomorrow to attempt to override fourteen
of Democrat Governor Josh Stein's vetos. Let's start with the
US Senate this morning. Former Governor Roy Cooper spoke at
a Democrat party at Unity Dinner in Raleigh a Saturday night,
talking about his efforts and talking about the things that
(30:30):
he worked on as governor in North Carolina. Slammed Republicans
in Washington, d C. And made some hints and some
jokes indicating that he is all but just to make
his announcement for the United States Senate, saying quote, look
at what's happening in Washington, D C. They're running up
the debt, they're disrespecting our veterans, they're cutting help for
(30:54):
the Hungary, and they're ripping away healthcare for millions of people.
All of that to give tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
That's not right.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
North Carolina Republican Party spokesman Matt Mercer responded to that, saying, quote,
We've seen enough of elitist Roy Cooper and politicians like
him who make their living off of taxpayers while supporting
policies that make life harder and unaffordable for North Carolina families.
During his speech, Cooper urged all Democrats who were expected
(31:25):
to run for office to stand up, without acknowledging whether
or not he himself would run. Then then the governor
former governor noted, quote, hey, I'm not sitting down, am
I that remark then drew a standing ovation. So that's
the latest from Cooper. We'll keep an eye on his announcement,
potentially sometime later this week. Turning our attention to the
(31:47):
GOP side, a former NCGP chairman now head of the
Republican National Committee, Michael Wattley, has received a key endorsement
from President Donald Trump, with the President posting on truth
so late last week quote, I have a mission for
my friends in North Carolina, and that is to get
Mike Coley's run for US Senate. He is strong on
(32:10):
the border, stopping crime, supporting our military and veterans, cutting
taxes and saving are always under siege second Amendment. I
need him in Washington, and I need him representing you.
Waltley is originally from North Carolina, as I mentioned, former
head of the North Carolina Republican Party. He left that
(32:31):
position in twenty twenty three to lead the RNC and
of course help secure President Donald Trump his election victory
back in November of last year. Now, turning our attention
to the North Carolina General Assembly, what was a for
the most part, a pretty good relationship between Republican lawmakers
(32:52):
and Democrat Governor Josh Stein has soured in recent weeks
as Governor Stein has vetoed fourteen pace of legislation passed
by the Republican led GA that is setting lawmakers up
to deal with those of veto overrides starting tomorrow, as
lawmakers will make their way back to Raleigh after a
(33:12):
couple of weeks July fourth recess that has been ongoing
and going on over the last couple of weeks. Many
pieces of these legislations, many of these pieces of legislation,
I should say, deal with diversity, equity, and inclusion, whether
that be in state government, K through twelve education or
Higher ED three bills there vetoed by Governor Josh Stein.
(33:35):
There's also a couple of pieces of legislation dealing with firearms,
one constitutional carry passed by the General Assembly vetoed by
the governor. Some of the other pieces of legislation also
deal with the border crime in the state of North
Carolina and the Rains Act that's been a popular one
that we've been keeping our eye on over the last
(33:56):
couple of months, which would put greater restrictions on government
agencies to impose burdensome regulations that have a major financial
impact across North Carolina. The math on all of this
is set to be very interesting. In the Senate, Republicans
do have that super majority, meaning if every Republican is
(34:17):
there and votes in favor, they are able to override
a veto. However, in the North Carolina House, Republicans are
just one vote short, meaning that there needs to be
a couple of Democrats absent or voting with all of
the Republican delegation to override those vetos.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Strap in.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
It's going to be a very busy week in North
Carolina politics. We'll keep you up to date with everything
right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
You can also stay up to date.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
With breaking news around the clock by visiting our website,
Carolina Journal dot com.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
That's going to do it for a Monday edition.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning BT. We're
back with you tomorrow morning, five to six right here
on Newstalk eleven, ten and ninety nine to three w
b T
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