August 12, 2025 • 32 mins
Tropical Storm Erin has formed in the Atlantic. Both sides in a lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s ban on gender transition surgeries for minors have agreed to pause proceedings. The full state Appeals Court will not rehear a northeastern NC Certificate of Need case. Senator Tillis is co-sponsoring legislation to help address the housing shortage, while Ellis Boyle has been named U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Back-to-school sales across the state are expected to rise, and there’s renewed discussion on expanding education freedom.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
It's five oh five and welcome into a Tuesday edition
of the Carolina Journal News Hour News Talk eleven, ten
ninety nine three WBT. I'm Nick Craig. A good morning
to you. As we approach the initial peak of the
Atlantic hurricane season. Tropical storm Errant formed in the Atlantic
Ocean yesterday. That's according to the National Hurricane Center out
(00:31):
of Miami, Florida. As of right now, the storm sits
some three thousand miles away from the coast of North Carolina.
As of the most recent update, which was actually just
about five minutes ago out of the National Hurricane Center,
the storm continues moving west excuse me, due west at
twenty two miles an hour, with its maximum sustained wins
(00:54):
at forty five, which has it at that tropical storm
category as of right now. As of the latest prediction
from the National Hurricane Center, this storm is expected to
transition into a hurricane sometime between Wednesday and Thursday, ahead
of it being classified as a major hurricane, which is
a category three or stronger. As we head into the
(01:16):
latter parts of this upcoming weekend, is will this storm
effect North Carolina. It is still very far out to
know that most of the models, at least at this point,
show this storm curving before it meets anywhere on the
continental United States, looking to split the gap between the
United States and Bermuda. However, as we do head into
(01:36):
what is the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, which
is typically around the middle of September, the possibility of
tropical storm and hurricane activity here across the Eastern Seaboard
both North and South Carolina does remain at risk. Will
continue to track those details as they are relevant to
our folks here across North and South Carolina right here
(01:59):
on the Carolina Journal News Hour where it's now five
h seven News Talk eleven, ten ninety nine to three WBT.
Back in twenty twenty three, the North Carolina General Assembly
passed a law banning a transgender surgery for miners across
the state of North Carolina. As you can imagine, immediately,
lawsuits filed that followed that decision, and since then the
(02:21):
legal process has been unfolding. However, as of late, there's
been a ask for a pause from both parties in
this case to walk us through some of the details
this morning on why this is going on. Mitch Koki
of the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina
Journal News Hour A Mitch lawsuits happened pretty regularly, especially
on hot button political topics like transition surgery and things
(02:43):
of that nature. But it looks like both parties are
maybe asking the break to be tapped a little bit.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
What's going on there, Yes, and the reason is because
the US Supreme Court recently dealt with a similar parties
are saying that it's time to kind of take a
pause until some of these issues are worked out. You
reference the fact that in twenty twenty three, the General
Assembly passed House Bill eight eight, which banned transgender surgeries
(03:11):
for miners. Almost immediately, a lawsuit called Vox v. Mansfield
was filed in federal court, and the case has been
playing out over the past couple of years. But now
the parties in the suit, both the plaintiffs who are
challenging the law and the state General Assembly, which is
defending the law, have asked for a pause because of
(03:34):
the US Supreme Court's recent decision in a case called
Scurmetti out of Tennessee. Now, in that case, the Supreme
Court in a split party line vote, you could say
party line, The Conservatives on one side The liberals, on
the other said that Tennessee's law, which banned puberty blockers
and hormone therapies for miners, could stand. In the wake
(03:58):
of that decision, The US Supreme Court then said to
the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals, We're going to
throw out your ruling in a different case, a case
involving North Carolina's state health plan and whether it's going
to cover medical procedures that are typically pursued by transgender patients.
The Fourth Circuit had thrown out the law, saying the
(04:22):
state health plan would not cover those procedures, and ordered
the state health plan to cover them. But now that
decision was thrown out by the US Supreme Court. The
US Supreme Court said to the Fourth Circuit, reevaluate your
decision in that state health plan case based on what
we said in the Tennessee Sucremti case. So now the
people in the vov. Mansfield case are saying, wait a minute,
(04:45):
we shouldn't do anything until we find out what the
Fourth Circuit says in the state health plan case. And
once the state health plan case is resolved, then we
can go back and decide what to do with the v. V.
Mansfield case. I think all parties are saying to the
judge in the v V. Mansfield case, it wouldn't make
sense for us to proceed, for there to be decisions
(05:08):
and then all of a sudden those get thrown out
by what the Fourth Circuit or eventually the Supreme Court
decides in this other case. Let's just pause, wait to
see how the rest of the cases are resolved, and
then we can go back and decide what, if anything,
needs to happen with this case dealing with the House
Bill eightoh eight and the ban on transgender surgeries for
(05:31):
minors in North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
So match, there's a lot of moving parts, pieces and
parts here. You've got court cases from other states having
in a potential impact here on North Carolina. The thing
I find interesting about it is you have multiple states
North Carolina and Tennessee, the two examples that were talking
about here, that have gone forward and pass a variety
of state laws and put things in place, only for
(05:54):
down the line for the court system to catch up
in it. I know dozens of other states have passed
similar legislation and regulations surrounding this same issue. It's an
interesting legal process to watch unfold as the General Assembly
here in North Carolina seemingly was a couple of years
ahead of the curve on what is now a much
more larger national issue that is now being dealt with
(06:15):
by the United States Supreme Court.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
A number of states have been dealing with this issue
over the years, and basically what you're seeing is as
these laws are passed almost immediately, lawsuits follow and it
takes a while for these suits to get to higher
stages of court. And depending on where these cases take place,
various courts of appeals along with district courts, of course,
(06:41):
may have different opinions. In the Fourth Circuit, what happened
was in a very interesting split where the whole circuit
participated in a rare on bank hearing. It was an
interesting split where the Democratic appointed justices on one side,
who make up the majority, ruled one way while the
Republican appointed judges on the other side ruled another way.
(07:05):
And because the Democrats outnumber Democratic pointed judges outnumber the
Republican appointed judges on the Fourth Circuit, it was the
Democratic position that ruled that is that the state health
plan had to cover these procedures that are covered by
that are sought by transgender patients. So that case was
(07:25):
appealed by the state Treasurer's office because the Treasurer's office
oversees the health ban. That was appealed to the US
Supreme Court. The US Supreme Court basically just sat on
that case for a while. Then once it came out
with this decision in Tennessee, went back to the Fourth
Circuit and said, we're vacating what you did before. Now
you have to reevaluate it based on what we just
(07:46):
said in the Tennessee case. And then it has a
domino effect on these other cases like the one that
we're talking about now on the ban on transgender surgeries
for minors. I think what impresses me most about this
is that both sides in the case realized that they
should have the case paused at this point. That other
(08:07):
cases are going to help decide whether this case can
move forward. And it makes sense from the idea of
judicial economy, saving time and money and expense of having
all kinds of witnesses and depositions just to wait and
see how all of the rest of this plays out
in the courts before deciding what to do next with
this case.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, no question about it. That domino effect is interesting,
and it's likely to come up in other cases in
the state of North Carolina over a variety of other
hot button political issues that are seemingly rising to the
top over the last couple of months. We'll keep an
eye on this and all of those other cases. Mitch
Koki from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the
Carolina Journal News Hour. It's five twenty. Welcome back to
(08:53):
the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Stock eleven, ten ninety nine,
three WBT. Last week we spent some time talking about
certificate of need. We are learning this morning that the
full fifteen member North Carolina Court of Appeals will not
hold a rehearing in a certificate of need to dispute
involving a magnetic resonating image machine in northeastern North Carolina.
(09:17):
We talked about this story back a couple of months ago.
A Virginia based company known as Chesapeake Diagnostic Image Centers
sought the rehearing after a three judge appellate panel ruled
against them in July of this year. That was last month,
and a court order Friday indicated that no Appeals court
judge voted to grant a new on banc hearing, which
(09:39):
would be the entire bench with all fifteen members of
the North Carolina Court of Appeals. The court initially rejected
Chesapeake's complaint over which healthcare provider would get state permission
to add a new MRI scanner to serve for northeastern
North Carolina counties. Chesapeake had sued state regulators over the
(10:00):
decision to award the new MRI scanner to a different
company known as Satara Advanced Image Solutions. The States selected
them over Chesapeake for a government mandated certificate of need.
Chesapeake challenged the con decision on the grounds that the
state allowed Sentara to maintain a monopoly on MRI services
(10:23):
provided in four northeastern counties, including Kuratak County in North Carolina.
The lawsuit labeled the state's decision a case of quote
agency error that caused substantial prejudice against Chesapeake's interests. An
administrative law judge upheld the state's regulation decision, and a
(10:45):
unanimous appeals core panel affirmed the alj's ruling and for
this certificate of need. Debate in the northeast half of
the state over MRI machines, while that is not going
to come to fruition. It does not appear that there
will be any additional court hearings on this as that
full fifteen member North Carolina Court of Appeals panel has
(11:08):
ruled that they will not get involved. They will not
rehear the case over certificate of need. If you missed
any of our coverage on that last week, I'd encourage
you to check on our podcast or visit our Carolina
Journal YouTube channel. As certificate of need continues to be
a major struggle for healthcare providers across North Carolina, has
(11:28):
major impact on citizens across the state, no doubt about
it causes higher prices across the healthcare industry as supply
and demand continues to be a problem in especially more
rural areas of North Carolina. We do have the latest
details on this case, a full rundown on everything that's
gone on over the last couple of months over on
(11:50):
our website Carolina Journal dot com the headline full Appeals
Court will not rehear at Northeast NC con that certificate
of need case. That's available over on our website, Carolina
Journal dot com, where it's now five to twenty three
News Talk eleven ten ninety nine to three WBT. United
States Senator Tom Tillis, of course, has been in the
(12:12):
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 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
(12:33):
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 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 (12:54):
No, no, no, it's not. Nick, Thanks so much for
having me.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Yeah, took a look at this. 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 you just said, home sales
dropping to the lowest level. They're also on track to
(13:19):
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. Basically, what it does it modernizes
the federal definition of manufactured housing. That's that could be
you know, any like a the housing you would see
(13:43):
maybe even like a trailer or something like a modular
is a better better word for it, where it would
include modular or prefabricated houses built without a permanent chassis.
So what right now the chass has to stay on
these types of houses so that this would be get
(14:07):
it removed so it has a better chance of being approved.
There's also local zoning laws that don't allow certain ones
like this, so they introduced this bill 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
(14:29):
fall under as well.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
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.
(14:51):
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 carol This has been a
big time issue for quite some time now.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
It has, and you said even before Helene struck, we're
looking at the Asheville area. A new it was a
housing market tracker was from American Enterprise Institute that Asheville's
housing shortage is about 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 line
(15:26):
you mentioned Charlotte that's at five point two percent, Raleigh
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 is a
(15:47):
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 rates have been
(16:10):
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 cut some of
(16:31):
those interest rates to help people along.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, 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 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
(16:56):
twenty one to where they are right now. It's completely
unaffordable for the majority of folks across North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
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
(17:25):
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 realtare dot com, they had their housing
forecasts midyear update. They said this year's housing market's going
to look similar to last year's, with affordability concerns weighing
(17:46):
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 rapid pace. But of course things
have slowed down. In that study or in that update,
it said Raleigh had the tenth slowest market, with the
home staying on the market ten days or longer than
last year.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
And that's a longer.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
This doesn't sound long, 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 site on seeing no inspections. Those days are gone,
so we'll just have to keep an eye on that.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
It's a great update this morning. We appreciate the details.
Tereso Peka from Carolina Journal dot com joins us on
the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's five thirty six. Welcome
back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Stock eleven ten,
nine three WBT. On Monday, Attorney Ellis Boyle was installed
(18:49):
as the new US Attorney for the Eastern District of
North Carolina, taking over one of the busiest federal prosecutor
prosecutorial offices in the cunt. The oath was administered by
his father, United States District Judge Terrence Boyle at the
Terry Sanford Courthouse in Raleigh. Ellis Boyle, who practiced law
(19:11):
at Ward and Smith and served as an assistant US
Attorney inherits a district facing a significant number of cases
involving violent crime, gang violence, a drug trafficking, and white
collar fraud. Its sprawling jurisdiction covers forty four counties across
the eastern third of North Carolina, from the Virginia border
(19:33):
down to the South Carolina line, stretching from the coastal
plains all the way to the sand Hills. Boyle told
The Carolina Journal yesterday afternoon, quote, It's an incredible responsibility
and honor and privilege to have this position, and I
will take it very seriously and commit myself to keeping
(19:54):
the good citizens of the United States and North Carolina,
the Eastern District, in PARTI ticular, safe and get rid
of crime. Boyle replaces Michael Easley Junior, who stepped down
in early February after more than three years in the role.
Easily had expanded the staff and implemented programs to combat
(20:15):
violent crime throughout the eastern half of North Carolina. Boyle
comes in as the White House and Attorney General Pam
Bondy rollout Operation Take Back America, which is a multi
agency initiative to stop illegal immigration, eliminate cartels, in combat
human and drug trafficking across the US. Bondy appointed Boyle
(20:38):
as the interim US Attorney on August the seventh, with
Boyle noting quote, President Trump and Attorney General BONDI have
given directions to the United States Attorneys and the Department
of Justice to participate and take back America, and we
will do so in the Eastern District of North Carolina
(20:59):
with Dills and vigor. Boyle's appointment brings unique complications. His
father is one of the most senior judges in the
district and as served on the federal bench since nineteen
eighty four. With his son now leading the office that
prosecutes cases in his courtroom, Judge Boyle, his father might
(21:20):
have to recuse himself from a share of cases on
his criminal docket. Elis Boyle is from a northeastern North Carolina.
Born and raised in Edenton. He earned a degree in
history from Davidson College. After graduating, he was commissioned as
a second lieutenant into the Army, where he served as
an infantry officer for four years, eventually rising to the
(21:43):
rank of captain. Following his time in the army, Ellis
Boyle earned a law degree from wake Forest University's Law School.
After graduating, he spent a year as a law clerk
for the US District Judge in the Eastern District of
Virginia before going into private practices. He now has officially
assumed the post and was sworn in as the US
(22:04):
Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, a wide
area forty four counties here in North Carolina. That is
a very busy courtroom. A lot goes on in the
Eastern District. Will continue to track what comes out of
the Eastern District over on our website, Carolina Journal dot
com and right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour,
(22:25):
where it's now five forty, News Talk eleven, ten ninety
nine to three WBT. School choice and education freedom have
been major topics not only across the state of North Carolina,
but nationally over the last couple of years. We've got
a new opinion piece over on our website this morning,
Carolina Journal dot com, the headline, North Carolina has the
chance to double down on education freedom. The author of that,
(22:49):
Donna King, the editor in chief over at Carolina Journal
dot com, joins us on the News Hour this morning. Donna,
tell us a little bit about this piece that you've
got up this morning and why it's such an important
issue for North Carolin, lot of families, Sure, I make it.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
It is interesting. So this tax credit was in the
One Big Beautiful Bill, so there's been a lot of
focus about all the different elements of the of the bill,
certainly when it was passed and signed. Now the pieces
are starting to gel and we're seeing now that this
tax credit is interesting because it's really the first federal
(23:22):
level tax credit for school choice families, and you know,
that could be a double edged sword for a lot
of families. They maybe you know, want the idea of
more tax credits, more support for the school of their choice,
but they also don't want the strings that could come
with government money for education. So it is interesting to
see and what it looks like, we're not really sure
(23:43):
because the implementation hasn't started yet, But for the top lines,
it's a federal measure that offers a dollar for dollar
tax credit up to seventeen hundred dollars for individuals who
donate to what they call an SGO a scholarship granting organizations.
So these are nonprofits that can use that money to
(24:04):
help families go to the school of their choice for
tuition and tutoring, you know that kind of thing. School
related expenses. So it's really an incentive driven model and
it lets it empowers taxpayers to give to these student SGOs,
these scholarship granting organizations, and it could really just fust
wide open access to private school or homeschool or other
(24:29):
things that families who just can't afford a private school
and aren't happy with their local public school or need
something different. This could really expand the opportunities that they have.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
You touched on something pretty important you talked about, you
know again, federal government program potential strings being attached. That's
the biggest, biggest issue, or one of the biggest issues
with public schools right now. A lot of mandates coming
out of the Department of Education are being shoved down
the throat of not only folks at the statewide level,
but Donna in all of our one hundred county these
local board of educations to keep all of that federal
(25:03):
money that's funding things like free breakfast and after school programs,
all of those things that are tied to a lot
of red tape up at the federal level.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Well, I think that's the concern, and we don't know
what it's going to look like yet, and certainly if
North Carolina decides to opt in, what kind of rules
where we put on that money and what would we
happen What would happen with those tax credits. But a
dollar for dollar tax credit is really something we have
to look at. You mentioned this, you know. The Reason
Foundation has a really interesting column about this and saying, look,
(25:33):
a federally run tax program could really become a vehicle
for national mandates, testing requirements, curriculum constraints, submission standards, all
these other sort of intrusive things that raise red flags
for families who are really interested in school choice and
why they want to leave public schools in the first place.
So what is this going to look like? We don't
know yet, but it is really an exciting opportunity to
(25:55):
get the chance to double dips, so to speak, on
programs like the Opportunity scholarship. These innovations come from the states.
North Carolina's Opportunity scholarship program has been incredibly popular with
waiting lists. So we need to make sure that those
programs like that are still protected because that kind of
innovation needs to come from communities and from the state.
(26:15):
So I'm excited to hear what the federal government has
in plant has in mind to implement this text credit
and what it would mean for North Carolina families.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Donald, would you quickly appine on this national movement of
school choice. There's been many think tanks and many activists
and third party groups that have been pushing this charge
in many states, including North Carolina. It's getting national attention.
I'm seeing posts from all over the country on x
and Facebook and videos on YouTube about this school choice movement.
It seems to have really picked up some wheels really
(26:47):
just over the last couple of years.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Yeah, I mean, I think really since COVID, I mean,
that's really when we saw this just come onto the scene.
School choice homeschooling has been around for a lot of
families for decades, but COVID happened, it became much more prominent,
much more to the forefront. Because parents, one, we're very
frustrated with the lockdowns, particularly here in North Carolina, and
(27:09):
we also have a whole generation of families and parents
that for whom technology and choice and all of these
things are at their fingertips. You've got all of the
stuff right in your house. You can order on a
website and have a product delivered this afternoon. Why shouldn't
education be the same way, And so you have a
mindset shift from one generation to the next and they
(27:30):
see education very differently. It used to be a very
conservative or Republican even idea, it's not really anymore. You're
seeing a wide spectrum of ideologies, political parties, socioeconomic backgrounds
are really embracing the school choice movement because one, you
get one shot at your child's education. It's not a
(27:50):
trend that you can fix over twenty years because your
child is Nobody wants their child to be the social
experiment of a government beercraf. So that is what we're
seeing right now, and this kind of tax credit could
create SGOs that are able to make those dreams, those
ideas of a different kind of education a reality for
(28:10):
so many families. Here in North Carolina, we started the
osp program in twenty thirteen, incredibly popular. In the last
two years year and a half or so, the North
Carolina State Legislature has expanded it, lifted caps, has made
it available to all families on a sliding scale, with
the poorest families being served first. And that's a great
(28:31):
example of how popular this could be in North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
It's a great opinion piece this morning again in the
headline is North Carolina has a chance to double down
on education freedom. You can read it by visiting our
website Carolina Journal dot com. Donna King, the editor in
chief of the Carolina Journal, joins us some the Carolina
Journal News Hour. It's five fifty four. Welcome back to
(28:56):
the Carolina Journal news Our News Talk eleven ten ninety
nine three WBT. Back to school shopping is projected to
increase across North Carolina, according to a new study by
the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association that's the NCRMA. It
was conducted by Appalachian State University Center for Economic Research
(29:17):
and Policy Analysis. The forecast included projections for the months
of June through September of this year to capture consumers
who buy for year round school and early shoppers. Overall
retail sales in the twenty twenty five back to school
season are projected to total more than eighty four point
five four billion dollars. That's up almost three and a
(29:41):
half billion, or four point three percent, from where those
numbers were in twenty twenty four. Andy Allen, who is
the President and General Counsel of the North Carolina Retail
Merchants Association says quote the forecast for the twenty twenty
five back to school sales season shows the continued volatility
of North Carolina's retail industry and the trust that North
(30:04):
Carolina consumers have in our retailers to find what they
need for their students. We are encouraged by the strong
pet projections as we head towards the fall. Retail is
an integral component of North Carolina's economy, meaning that it
is important to all of us that North Carolina retailers
have a strong back to school season. Economic uncertainty and
(30:28):
market volatility remain high as the Trump Administration's tariffs continue
to kick in. According to Ellen, he says, generally retailers
order their goods six months in advance, and so some
of them have already made purchases for back to school
items before tariffs started getting applied. We are seeing projections
(30:48):
for items like shoes and clothing, which are often items
that often are items bought for back to school that
those will likely be increasing when tear with tariffs as
we go forward, and while uncertainty over tariffs remain, falling
inflation is welcome news for North Carolina consumers, with Andy
Ellen noting this is a win win on the inflation
(31:12):
dropping on a number of items, noting, I think that
you will also see as you've seen, reduction and gas
prices as well, if you're filling up your tank or
you're buying other things for your children, that's a big
piece of the economic equation. Over the last couple of weeks,
North Carolina's neighbors of Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia have all
(31:34):
held sales tax holidays, giving shoppers a break on back
to school essentials. The North Carolina General Assembly's House budget
proposal did include reinstating that sales tax holiday for back
to school, which the state did offer until twenty thirteen. However,
as we've been covering over the last couple of months,
(31:54):
budget negotiations continue to be stalled in Raleigh as the
General Assembly of the House and Senate cannot get together
on final numbers for that budget. So as of right now,
that budget proposal is not moving forward. You can read
some additional details and check out the full study from
the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association by visiting our website
(32:15):
Carolina Journal dot com. That's gonna do it for a
Monday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour. We're back
with you tomorrow morning, five to six, right here on
Newstock eleven ten and ninety nine to three wbtwo
It's five oh five and welcome into a Tuesday edition
of the Carolina Journal News Hour News Talk eleven, ten
ninety nine three WBT. I'm Nick Craig. A good morning
to you. As we approach the initial peak of the
Atlantic hurricane season. Tropical storm Errant formed in the Atlantic
Ocean yesterday. That's according to the National Hurricane Center out
(00:31):
of Miami, Florida. As of right now, the storm sits
some three thousand miles away from the coast of North Carolina.
As of the most recent update, which was actually just
about five minutes ago out of the National Hurricane Center,
the storm continues moving west excuse me, due west at
twenty two miles an hour, with its maximum sustained wins
(00:54):
at forty five, which has it at that tropical storm
category as of right now. As of the latest prediction
from the National Hurricane Center, this storm is expected to
transition into a hurricane sometime between Wednesday and Thursday, ahead
of it being classified as a major hurricane, which is
a category three or stronger. As we head into the
(01:16):
latter parts of this upcoming weekend, is will this storm
effect North Carolina. It is still very far out to
know that most of the models, at least at this point,
show this storm curving before it meets anywhere on the
continental United States, looking to split the gap between the
United States and Bermuda. However, as we do head into
(01:36):
what is the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, which
is typically around the middle of September, the possibility of
tropical storm and hurricane activity here across the Eastern Seaboard
both North and South Carolina does remain at risk. Will
continue to track those details as they are relevant to
our folks here across North and South Carolina right here
(01:59):
on the Carolina Journal News Hour where it's now five
h seven News Talk eleven, ten ninety nine to three WBT.
Back in twenty twenty three, the North Carolina General Assembly
passed a law banning a transgender surgery for miners across
the state of North Carolina. As you can imagine, immediately,
lawsuits filed that followed that decision, and since then the
(02:21):
legal process has been unfolding. However, as of late, there's
been a ask for a pause from both parties in
this case to walk us through some of the details
this morning on why this is going on. Mitch Koki
of the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina
Journal News Hour A Mitch lawsuits happened pretty regularly, especially
on hot button political topics like transition surgery and things
(02:43):
of that nature. But it looks like both parties are
maybe asking the break to be tapped a little bit.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
What's going on there, Yes, and the reason is because
the US Supreme Court recently dealt with a similar parties
are saying that it's time to kind of take a
pause until some of these issues are worked out. You
reference the fact that in twenty twenty three, the General
Assembly passed House Bill eight eight, which banned transgender surgeries
(03:11):
for miners. Almost immediately, a lawsuit called Vox v. Mansfield
was filed in federal court, and the case has been
playing out over the past couple of years. But now
the parties in the suit, both the plaintiffs who are
challenging the law and the state General Assembly, which is
defending the law, have asked for a pause because of
(03:34):
the US Supreme Court's recent decision in a case called
Scurmetti out of Tennessee. Now, in that case, the Supreme
Court in a split party line vote, you could say
party line, The Conservatives on one side The liberals, on
the other said that Tennessee's law, which banned puberty blockers
and hormone therapies for miners, could stand. In the wake
(03:58):
of that decision, The US Supreme Court then said to
the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals, We're going to
throw out your ruling in a different case, a case
involving North Carolina's state health plan and whether it's going
to cover medical procedures that are typically pursued by transgender patients.
The Fourth Circuit had thrown out the law, saying the
(04:22):
state health plan would not cover those procedures, and ordered
the state health plan to cover them. But now that
decision was thrown out by the US Supreme Court. The
US Supreme Court said to the Fourth Circuit, reevaluate your
decision in that state health plan case based on what
we said in the Tennessee Sucremti case. So now the
people in the vov. Mansfield case are saying, wait a minute,
(04:45):
we shouldn't do anything until we find out what the
Fourth Circuit says in the state health plan case. And
once the state health plan case is resolved, then we
can go back and decide what to do with the v. V.
Mansfield case. I think all parties are saying to the
judge in the v V. Mansfield case, it wouldn't make
sense for us to proceed, for there to be decisions
(05:08):
and then all of a sudden those get thrown out
by what the Fourth Circuit or eventually the Supreme Court
decides in this other case. Let's just pause, wait to
see how the rest of the cases are resolved, and
then we can go back and decide what, if anything,
needs to happen with this case dealing with the House
Bill eightoh eight and the ban on transgender surgeries for
(05:31):
minors in North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
So match, there's a lot of moving parts, pieces and
parts here. You've got court cases from other states having
in a potential impact here on North Carolina. The thing
I find interesting about it is you have multiple states
North Carolina and Tennessee, the two examples that were talking
about here, that have gone forward and pass a variety
of state laws and put things in place, only for
(05:54):
down the line for the court system to catch up
in it. I know dozens of other states have passed
similar legislation and regulations surrounding this same issue. It's an
interesting legal process to watch unfold as the General Assembly
here in North Carolina seemingly was a couple of years
ahead of the curve on what is now a much
more larger national issue that is now being dealt with
(06:15):
by the United States Supreme Court.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
A number of states have been dealing with this issue
over the years, and basically what you're seeing is as
these laws are passed almost immediately, lawsuits follow and it
takes a while for these suits to get to higher
stages of court. And depending on where these cases take place,
various courts of appeals along with district courts, of course,
(06:41):
may have different opinions. In the Fourth Circuit, what happened
was in a very interesting split where the whole circuit
participated in a rare on bank hearing. It was an
interesting split where the Democratic appointed justices on one side,
who make up the majority, ruled one way while the
Republican appointed judges on the other side ruled another way.
(07:05):
And because the Democrats outnumber Democratic pointed judges outnumber the
Republican appointed judges on the Fourth Circuit, it was the
Democratic position that ruled that is that the state health
plan had to cover these procedures that are covered by
that are sought by transgender patients. So that case was
(07:25):
appealed by the state Treasurer's office because the Treasurer's office
oversees the health ban. That was appealed to the US
Supreme Court. The US Supreme Court basically just sat on
that case for a while. Then once it came out
with this decision in Tennessee, went back to the Fourth
Circuit and said, we're vacating what you did before. Now
you have to reevaluate it based on what we just
(07:46):
said in the Tennessee case. And then it has a
domino effect on these other cases like the one that
we're talking about now on the ban on transgender surgeries
for minors. I think what impresses me most about this
is that both sides in the case realized that they
should have the case paused at this point. That other
(08:07):
cases are going to help decide whether this case can
move forward. And it makes sense from the idea of
judicial economy, saving time and money and expense of having
all kinds of witnesses and depositions just to wait and
see how all of the rest of this plays out
in the courts before deciding what to do next with
this case.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, no question about it. That domino effect is interesting,
and it's likely to come up in other cases in
the state of North Carolina over a variety of other
hot button political issues that are seemingly rising to the
top over the last couple of months. We'll keep an
eye on this and all of those other cases. Mitch
Koki from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the
Carolina Journal News Hour. It's five twenty. Welcome back to
(08:53):
the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Stock eleven, ten ninety nine,
three WBT. Last week we spent some time talking about
certificate of need. We are learning this morning that the
full fifteen member North Carolina Court of Appeals will not
hold a rehearing in a certificate of need to dispute
involving a magnetic resonating image machine in northeastern North Carolina.
(09:17):
We talked about this story back a couple of months ago.
A Virginia based company known as Chesapeake Diagnostic Image Centers
sought the rehearing after a three judge appellate panel ruled
against them in July of this year. That was last month,
and a court order Friday indicated that no Appeals court
judge voted to grant a new on banc hearing, which
(09:39):
would be the entire bench with all fifteen members of
the North Carolina Court of Appeals. The court initially rejected
Chesapeake's complaint over which healthcare provider would get state permission
to add a new MRI scanner to serve for northeastern
North Carolina counties. Chesapeake had sued state regulators over the
(10:00):
decision to award the new MRI scanner to a different
company known as Satara Advanced Image Solutions. The States selected
them over Chesapeake for a government mandated certificate of need.
Chesapeake challenged the con decision on the grounds that the
state allowed Sentara to maintain a monopoly on MRI services
(10:23):
provided in four northeastern counties, including Kuratak County in North Carolina.
The lawsuit labeled the state's decision a case of quote
agency error that caused substantial prejudice against Chesapeake's interests. An
administrative law judge upheld the state's regulation decision, and a
(10:45):
unanimous appeals core panel affirmed the alj's ruling and for
this certificate of need. Debate in the northeast half of
the state over MRI machines, while that is not going
to come to fruition. It does not appear that there
will be any additional court hearings on this as that
full fifteen member North Carolina Court of Appeals panel has
(11:08):
ruled that they will not get involved. They will not
rehear the case over certificate of need. If you missed
any of our coverage on that last week, I'd encourage
you to check on our podcast or visit our Carolina
Journal YouTube channel. As certificate of need continues to be
a major struggle for healthcare providers across North Carolina, has
(11:28):
major impact on citizens across the state, no doubt about
it causes higher prices across the healthcare industry as supply
and demand continues to be a problem in especially more
rural areas of North Carolina. We do have the latest
details on this case, a full rundown on everything that's
gone on over the last couple of months over on
(11:50):
our website Carolina Journal dot com the headline full Appeals
Court will not rehear at Northeast NC con that certificate
of need case. That's available over on our website, Carolina
Journal dot com, where it's now five to twenty three
News Talk eleven ten ninety nine to three WBT. United
States Senator Tom Tillis, of course, has been in the
(12:12):
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 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
(12:33):
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 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 (12:54):
No, no, no, it's not. Nick, Thanks so much for
having me.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Yeah, took a look at this. 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 you just said, home sales
dropping to the lowest level. They're also on track to
(13:19):
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. Basically, what it does it modernizes
the federal definition of manufactured housing. That's that could be
you know, any like a the housing you would see
(13:43):
maybe even like a trailer or something like a modular
is a better better word for it, where it would
include modular or prefabricated houses built without a permanent chassis.
So what right now the chass has to stay on
these types of houses so that this would be get
(14:07):
it removed so it has a better chance of being approved.
There's also local zoning laws that don't allow certain ones
like this, so they introduced this bill 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
(14:29):
fall under as well.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
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.
(14:51):
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 carol This has been a
big time issue for quite some time now.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
It has, and you said even before Helene struck, we're
looking at the Asheville area. A new it was a
housing market tracker was from American Enterprise Institute that Asheville's
housing shortage is about 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 line
(15:26):
you mentioned Charlotte that's at five point two percent, Raleigh
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 is a
(15:47):
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 rates have been
(16:10):
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 cut some of
(16:31):
those interest rates to help people along.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, 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 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
(16:56):
twenty one to where they are right now. It's completely
unaffordable for the majority of folks across North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
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
(17:25):
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 realtare dot com, they had their housing
forecasts midyear update. They said this year's housing market's going
to look similar to last year's, with affordability concerns weighing
(17:46):
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 rapid pace. But of course things
have slowed down. In that study or in that update,
it said Raleigh had the tenth slowest market, with the
home staying on the market ten days or longer than
last year.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
And that's a longer.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
This doesn't sound long, 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 site on seeing no inspections. Those days are gone,
so we'll just have to keep an eye on that.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
It's a great update this morning. We appreciate the details.
Tereso Peka from Carolina Journal dot com joins us on
the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's five thirty six. Welcome
back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Stock eleven ten,
nine three WBT. On Monday, Attorney Ellis Boyle was installed
(18:49):
as the new US Attorney for the Eastern District of
North Carolina, taking over one of the busiest federal prosecutor
prosecutorial offices in the cunt. The oath was administered by
his father, United States District Judge Terrence Boyle at the
Terry Sanford Courthouse in Raleigh. Ellis Boyle, who practiced law
(19:11):
at Ward and Smith and served as an assistant US
Attorney inherits a district facing a significant number of cases
involving violent crime, gang violence, a drug trafficking, and white
collar fraud. Its sprawling jurisdiction covers forty four counties across
the eastern third of North Carolina, from the Virginia border
(19:33):
down to the South Carolina line, stretching from the coastal
plains all the way to the sand Hills. Boyle told
The Carolina Journal yesterday afternoon, quote, It's an incredible responsibility
and honor and privilege to have this position, and I
will take it very seriously and commit myself to keeping
(19:54):
the good citizens of the United States and North Carolina,
the Eastern District, in PARTI ticular, safe and get rid
of crime. Boyle replaces Michael Easley Junior, who stepped down
in early February after more than three years in the role.
Easily had expanded the staff and implemented programs to combat
(20:15):
violent crime throughout the eastern half of North Carolina. Boyle
comes in as the White House and Attorney General Pam
Bondy rollout Operation Take Back America, which is a multi
agency initiative to stop illegal immigration, eliminate cartels, in combat
human and drug trafficking across the US. Bondy appointed Boyle
(20:38):
as the interim US Attorney on August the seventh, with
Boyle noting quote, President Trump and Attorney General BONDI have
given directions to the United States Attorneys and the Department
of Justice to participate and take back America, and we
will do so in the Eastern District of North Carolina
(20:59):
with Dills and vigor. Boyle's appointment brings unique complications. His
father is one of the most senior judges in the
district and as served on the federal bench since nineteen
eighty four. With his son now leading the office that
prosecutes cases in his courtroom, Judge Boyle, his father might
(21:20):
have to recuse himself from a share of cases on
his criminal docket. Elis Boyle is from a northeastern North Carolina.
Born and raised in Edenton. He earned a degree in
history from Davidson College. After graduating, he was commissioned as
a second lieutenant into the Army, where he served as
an infantry officer for four years, eventually rising to the
(21:43):
rank of captain. Following his time in the army, Ellis
Boyle earned a law degree from wake Forest University's Law School.
After graduating, he spent a year as a law clerk
for the US District Judge in the Eastern District of
Virginia before going into private practices. He now has officially
assumed the post and was sworn in as the US
(22:04):
Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, a wide
area forty four counties here in North Carolina. That is
a very busy courtroom. A lot goes on in the
Eastern District. Will continue to track what comes out of
the Eastern District over on our website, Carolina Journal dot
com and right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour,
(22:25):
where it's now five forty, News Talk eleven, ten ninety
nine to three WBT. School choice and education freedom have
been major topics not only across the state of North Carolina,
but nationally over the last couple of years. We've got
a new opinion piece over on our website this morning,
Carolina Journal dot com, the headline, North Carolina has the
chance to double down on education freedom. The author of that,
(22:49):
Donna King, the editor in chief over at Carolina Journal
dot com, joins us on the News Hour this morning. Donna,
tell us a little bit about this piece that you've
got up this morning and why it's such an important
issue for North Carolin, lot of families, Sure, I make it.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
It is interesting. So this tax credit was in the
One Big Beautiful Bill, so there's been a lot of
focus about all the different elements of the of the bill,
certainly when it was passed and signed. Now the pieces
are starting to gel and we're seeing now that this
tax credit is interesting because it's really the first federal
(23:22):
level tax credit for school choice families, and you know,
that could be a double edged sword for a lot
of families. They maybe you know, want the idea of
more tax credits, more support for the school of their choice,
but they also don't want the strings that could come
with government money for education. So it is interesting to
see and what it looks like, we're not really sure
(23:43):
because the implementation hasn't started yet, But for the top lines,
it's a federal measure that offers a dollar for dollar
tax credit up to seventeen hundred dollars for individuals who
donate to what they call an SGO a scholarship granting organizations.
So these are nonprofits that can use that money to
(24:04):
help families go to the school of their choice for
tuition and tutoring, you know that kind of thing. School
related expenses. So it's really an incentive driven model and
it lets it empowers taxpayers to give to these student SGOs,
these scholarship granting organizations, and it could really just fust
wide open access to private school or homeschool or other
(24:29):
things that families who just can't afford a private school
and aren't happy with their local public school or need
something different. This could really expand the opportunities that they have.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
You touched on something pretty important you talked about, you
know again, federal government program potential strings being attached. That's
the biggest, biggest issue, or one of the biggest issues
with public schools right now. A lot of mandates coming
out of the Department of Education are being shoved down
the throat of not only folks at the statewide level,
but Donna in all of our one hundred county these
local board of educations to keep all of that federal
(25:03):
money that's funding things like free breakfast and after school programs,
all of those things that are tied to a lot
of red tape up at the federal level.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Well, I think that's the concern, and we don't know
what it's going to look like yet, and certainly if
North Carolina decides to opt in, what kind of rules
where we put on that money and what would we
happen What would happen with those tax credits. But a
dollar for dollar tax credit is really something we have
to look at. You mentioned this, you know. The Reason
Foundation has a really interesting column about this and saying, look,
(25:33):
a federally run tax program could really become a vehicle
for national mandates, testing requirements, curriculum constraints, submission standards, all
these other sort of intrusive things that raise red flags
for families who are really interested in school choice and
why they want to leave public schools in the first place.
So what is this going to look like? We don't
know yet, but it is really an exciting opportunity to
(25:55):
get the chance to double dips, so to speak, on
programs like the Opportunity scholarship. These innovations come from the states.
North Carolina's Opportunity scholarship program has been incredibly popular with
waiting lists. So we need to make sure that those
programs like that are still protected because that kind of
innovation needs to come from communities and from the state.
(26:15):
So I'm excited to hear what the federal government has
in plant has in mind to implement this text credit
and what it would mean for North Carolina families.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Donald, would you quickly appine on this national movement of
school choice. There's been many think tanks and many activists
and third party groups that have been pushing this charge
in many states, including North Carolina. It's getting national attention.
I'm seeing posts from all over the country on x
and Facebook and videos on YouTube about this school choice movement.
It seems to have really picked up some wheels really
(26:47):
just over the last couple of years.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Yeah, I mean, I think really since COVID, I mean,
that's really when we saw this just come onto the scene.
School choice homeschooling has been around for a lot of
families for decades, but COVID happened, it became much more prominent,
much more to the forefront. Because parents, one, we're very
frustrated with the lockdowns, particularly here in North Carolina, and
(27:09):
we also have a whole generation of families and parents
that for whom technology and choice and all of these
things are at their fingertips. You've got all of the
stuff right in your house. You can order on a
website and have a product delivered this afternoon. Why shouldn't
education be the same way, And so you have a
mindset shift from one generation to the next and they
(27:30):
see education very differently. It used to be a very
conservative or Republican even idea, it's not really anymore. You're
seeing a wide spectrum of ideologies, political parties, socioeconomic backgrounds
are really embracing the school choice movement because one, you
get one shot at your child's education. It's not a
(27:50):
trend that you can fix over twenty years because your
child is Nobody wants their child to be the social
experiment of a government beercraf. So that is what we're
seeing right now, and this kind of tax credit could
create SGOs that are able to make those dreams, those
ideas of a different kind of education a reality for
(28:10):
so many families. Here in North Carolina, we started the
osp program in twenty thirteen, incredibly popular. In the last
two years year and a half or so, the North
Carolina State Legislature has expanded it, lifted caps, has made
it available to all families on a sliding scale, with
the poorest families being served first. And that's a great
(28:31):
example of how popular this could be in North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
It's a great opinion piece this morning again in the
headline is North Carolina has a chance to double down
on education freedom. You can read it by visiting our
website Carolina Journal dot com. Donna King, the editor in
chief of the Carolina Journal, joins us some the Carolina
Journal News Hour. It's five fifty four. Welcome back to
(28:56):
the Carolina Journal news Our News Talk eleven ten ninety
nine three WBT. Back to school shopping is projected to
increase across North Carolina, according to a new study by
the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association that's the NCRMA. It
was conducted by Appalachian State University Center for Economic Research
(29:17):
and Policy Analysis. The forecast included projections for the months
of June through September of this year to capture consumers
who buy for year round school and early shoppers. Overall
retail sales in the twenty twenty five back to school
season are projected to total more than eighty four point
five four billion dollars. That's up almost three and a
(29:41):
half billion, or four point three percent, from where those
numbers were in twenty twenty four. Andy Allen, who is
the President and General Counsel of the North Carolina Retail
Merchants Association says quote the forecast for the twenty twenty
five back to school sales season shows the continued volatility
of North Carolina's retail industry and the trust that North
(30:04):
Carolina consumers have in our retailers to find what they
need for their students. We are encouraged by the strong
pet projections as we head towards the fall. Retail is
an integral component of North Carolina's economy, meaning that it
is important to all of us that North Carolina retailers
have a strong back to school season. Economic uncertainty and
(30:28):
market volatility remain high as the Trump Administration's tariffs continue
to kick in. According to Ellen, he says, generally retailers
order their goods six months in advance, and so some
of them have already made purchases for back to school
items before tariffs started getting applied. We are seeing projections
(30:48):
for items like shoes and clothing, which are often items
that often are items bought for back to school that
those will likely be increasing when tear with tariffs as
we go forward, and while uncertainty over tariffs remain, falling
inflation is welcome news for North Carolina consumers, with Andy
Ellen noting this is a win win on the inflation
(31:12):
dropping on a number of items, noting, I think that
you will also see as you've seen, reduction and gas
prices as well, if you're filling up your tank or
you're buying other things for your children, that's a big
piece of the economic equation. Over the last couple of weeks,
North Carolina's neighbors of Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia have all
(31:34):
held sales tax holidays, giving shoppers a break on back
to school essentials. The North Carolina General Assembly's House budget
proposal did include reinstating that sales tax holiday for back
to school, which the state did offer until twenty thirteen. However,
as we've been covering over the last couple of months,
(31:54):
budget negotiations continue to be stalled in Raleigh as the
General Assembly of the House and Senate cannot get together
on final numbers for that budget. So as of right now,
that budget proposal is not moving forward. You can read
some additional details and check out the full study from
the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association by visiting our website
(32:15):
Carolina Journal dot com. That's gonna do it for a
Monday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour. We're back
with you tomorrow morning, five to six, right here on
Newstock eleven ten and ninety nine to three wbtwo
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