A presentation on low-performing school districts to the North Carolina State Board of Education Wednesday emphasized multiple state leaders’ lack of faith in school accountability data metrics.
According to a presentation from Tammy Howard, senior director of the Office of Accountability and Testing, 23 school districts in the state are categorized as low performing, while more than half the schools in those districts received a grade of D or F. The grades are determined by an accountability model of 80% state exam proficiency and 20% student growth. For the 2023-24 school year, 736 schools across 23 districts were considered low-performing.
Vice Chairman Alan Duncan said the current accountability model is unique and doesn’t align with that of other states.
“It leads to misleading perceptions for our public and misleading levels of encouragement … for our students and our educators,” Duncan said.
In February, state Superintendent Catherine Truitt proposed a new, more holistic accountability model that would give schools four letter grades instead of a single A-F grade based on the 80%/20% model. It would also address career readiness and chronic absenteeism along with student growth and proficiency. HB 1057, which would establish a pilot program incorporating this school performance grade design, received no traction in an education committee.
“No one was more disappointed in the stalling of the school performance grade redesign work than my colleagues and I at DPI and those local superintendents who were along with us on that journey,” Truitt said of the nearly two years of work that went into that plan.
The September meeting of the board of education analyzed the testing results from the previous school year. At that meeting, Truitt said the proficiency rates in some reported categories were “startling.” A presentation examining the underlying measurements that determine school performance grades had been scheduled for the Wednesday meeting but was delayed.
Chairman Eric Davis said the data presented Wednesday was helpful, but noted that because a low-performing district typically contains very few schools, a positive change in just one school’s status can improve the grade of the entire district. Truitt noted that Tyrrell County Schools achieved passing status due to performance at just one school.
“You might have a nice ‘A’ next to the school, but let’s face the facts — we have failed those students,” Duncan said. “An A grade is exalted in a situation where perhaps that’s not really appropriate. And the opposite is true — you’ve got some F schools, which [are] seeing growth. … The system is badly, badly broken.”
Duncan said in states such as Texas and Florida, only 5% to 7% of their schools are reported as low performing. But, he added, their results on nationally normed tests are similar to those of North Carolina.
“Yet we’re sitting here showing a percentage of, quote, ‘low-performing’ schools, that’s extremely high — hundreds of schools more than they have,” Duncan said of the disparity. “Bottom line, it serves as a talking point. … It does not serve as a way to go about ‘how do we increase and enhance the educational opportunities for these students?’”
Board member Catty Moore said that despite the school performance redesign stalling in the General Assembly, there are ways to take multiple measures of success and turn them into instructive school progress reports to build upon. Chairman Davis said members should look to a December planning meeting to think about how the definitions they discussed Wednesday relate to one another and can guide student success.
“The bottom line is that when less than half of students are graduating proficient in reading and proficient in math, that impacts that student’s ability to be successful after high school,” Truitt said. “And we cannot lose sight of that.”
Emergency Vote
Paul Specht, WRAL News, 10/02/24
As a deadly storm system approached the southeastern U.S. last week, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s office asked top state officials to support his call for emergency help.
He needed approval from the other elected officials in North Carolina’s executive branch, a group of nine known as the Council of State, to exercise certain authorities under the N.C. Emergency Management Act. Their blessing would enable the Democratic governor to more easily mobilize rescue vehicles, order evacuations and begin other emergency actions by waiving some of the state’s transportation regulations for heavy vehicles.
Within an hour of making the request on Sept. 24 — before Helene ravaged the western part of the state — most of the council had responded with supporting votes. But come 9 a.m. the next morning, one member had yet to cast a vote: Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor.
Cooper has deployed more than 700 members of the North Carolina National Guard, who have helped rescue more than 400 people and dozens of animals in western North Carolina, where flooding and mudslides have crippled road networks, left more than 1,000 people homeless and dozens dead. Guardsmen and other volunteers have delivered hundreds of pallets of water and food since the storm started. Meanwhile, dozens of shelters are housing more than 1,100 people. And President Joe Biden approved Cooper’s request for expedited federal support.
Council members had 48 hours to vote via email. Robinson’s vote never came. Despite not weighing in, Robinson has spent recent days needling the Democratic governor to do more — a posturing that has drawn criticism from some members of his own party.
Robinson and Cooper have long had a frosty relationship. Robinson’s recent social media posts reflect that. That he didn’t vote to approve the emergency measure could underscore a widening disconnect between Robinson and other members of the Council of State — a chasm that has become more glaring in the wake of the storm, some political observers said.
“It’s inexcusable in a time of crisis,” former Gov. Pat McCrory said of Robinson’s lack of participation in the vote. McCrory, a Republican, led the state in 2016 when Hurricane Matthew caused flooding in southeastern North Carolina. McCrory said he made a point to ensure the Council of State was on board with his decisions in the wake of Matthew.
“This is not a time for criticism,” said McCrory, who has been a critic of Robinson prior to the storm. “This is a time for working together as a team and asking how you can help. I’m sure there are people who feel stranded out there, but right now is not the time to start throwing arrows.”
People should reserve their criticism of emergency response leaders for when they’ve had a chance to review the full scope of the situation and the decisions that were made, he said. “You don’t do that while they’re still in the middle of search and recovery,” McCrory said. “And they are still in search and recovery.”
When asked Tuesday why he didn’t vote to approve the declaration, Robinson’s state office issued a statement that didn’t address last week’s vote. Krishana Polite, Robinson’s chief of staff, said he’s been traveling to some of the areas affected by the storm. Robinson was again on Wednesday why he didn’t vote for the resolution.
“I don’t even need to cover why,” he told reporters. “… That vote was going to pass with or without my vote. So it was absolutely inconsequential.” [Source]
North Carolina’s lieutenant governor continued Wednesday to pursue hurricane relief efforts outside of normal state emergency channels, operating from a sheriff’s office in a rural town 30 miles from the Executive Mansion of Gov. Roy Cooper.
The office of Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson issued a press release following a news conference billed as “a briefing on Hurricane Helene relief efforts.” The briefing was scheduled at the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in Louisburg, which has a population of about 3,000.
“Lt. Gov. Robinson has been on the ground in western North Carolina since Saturday, Sept. 28, traveling with local officials to some of the affected areas and working with state and community leaders, including Franklin County Sheriff Kevin White, and other sheriffs from across North Carolina, to take critical supplies from the east and bring them west to those in need,” the news release said.
It continued, “Since these coordinated efforts began late last week, Lt. Gov. Robinson and Sheriff White’s team has executed dozens of rescue missions via local and privately owned aircraft, and delivered hundreds of thousands of pounds of resources.”
Robinson has denied the allegations, while his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Josh Stein, has described the alleged comments as more of the same from a candidate with highly objectionable views on many topics.
On X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Robinson has been posting regularly about his storm relief efforts. He drew criticism for sharing a post from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis about road crews from his state coming to help North Carolina. Robinson commented, “Florida is going to rebuild the roads in North Carolina.”
Ardis Watkins, executive director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, took exception: “No sir, @NCDOT is going to rebuild the roads in N.C. like they do every time we have a disaster.”
On Wednesday, Robinson wrote on X that Cooper was “too busy [hobnobbing] with rich folks in New York to care about preparing for the storm.”
That post drew a response from Jordan Monaghan, deputy communications director for Cooper: “An online disinformation campaign by the LG during an unprecedented crisis is unhelpful, causes confusion in areas with limited communications and potentially puts lives at risk. State, federal & local partners are leading a massive, coordinated response to a catastrophic storm.”
Storm Recovery
Adam Wagner, The News & Observer, 10/02/24
After taking an aerial tour of damage inflicted by Tropical Storm Helene in Western North Carolina on Wednesday, President Joe Biden visited North Carolina’s Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh to promise that the federal government will continue to help with the state’s recovery.
“The United States, the nation, has your back. The nation has your back. We’re not leaving until you get back on your feet completely,” Biden said to a roomful of emergency management officials and members of the National Guard.
Gov. Roy Cooper told Biden about challenges ranging from washed-out bridges and roads to damaged water systems and electrical grids to lost homes and businesses. “An entire region of our state is still in a dangerous situation,” Cooper said.
Earlier Wednesday, Biden approved additional federal resources for the response, including up to 1,000 active duty U.S. Army soldiers from Fort Liberty and 22 aircraft.
“Simply put, we’ve got the capabilities to get the job done and we’re going to get it done as fast as possible,” Biden said.
Biden also said he’d approved a request Wednesday from Cooper to cover all of the costs of debris removal for the next six months. And 50 StarLink satellite links have been deployed, Biden said, with more on the way.
“Folks, it’s going to cost us billions of dollars. It’s going to cost billions of dollars to deal with this storm and all the communities affected, and Congress has an obligation to ensure that states have the resources they need,” Biden said.
Emergency Management Director Will Ray told Biden that North Carolina still has about 350,000 people without power, five days after Helene barreled through. Ray said 24 North Carolina search-and-rescue teams are working in Western North Carolina, along with 13 from other states and 18 from the federal government. Those teams have had more than 5,000 interactions — from rescues to evacuations to shelter inspections — since Helene response began.
“The teams continue to do really incredible work in some pretty austere conditions,” Ray said. North Carolina is also operating 26 aircraft in Western North Carolina that have airlifted more than 700,000 pounds of supplies, Ray added.
Biden said that since becoming president in 2017, he’d flown over so many downed trees that they would cover an area larger than the state of Maryland, largely from wildfires.
“I’ve seen a lot, but looking at Asheville and just imagining what it must have been like sitting along those rivers and streams as all of that rain came down … You could see homes that were removed clearly from one side of the river, down the river, to the other side of the river,” Biden said.
Biden thanked Cooper and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, for focusing on the response instead of prioritizing politics.
Tuesday, Biden called former President Donald Trump a liar after Trump said he was hearing reports that Cooper and Biden, both Democrats, were not helping parts of the state where large proportions of Republicans live. “In a moment like this, we put politics aside. Or at least we should put it all aside, and we have here. There are no Democrats or Republicans, only Americans,” Biden said.
Biden closed by saying it is clear that the climate crisis is having an impact in the United States, including strengthening storms like Helene. Those storms like Helene are going to get stronger and stronger as oceans continue to warm, he said. “Nobody can deny the impact of the climate crisis anymore,” he said. “At least I hope they don’t. They must be brain-dead if they do.” [Source]
The North Carolina State Board of Education will receive an update Thursday that will help determine legislative requests to help schools recover in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
More than 20 school districts face significant damage due to the storm, Chairman Eric Davis said Wednesday at the board’s meeting.
A primary concern now that the storm has passed is keeping teachers and school staff a steady paycheck in the absence of normal school routine, according to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt. “We will have to ask for waivers so that folks can continue to get paid,” Truitt said.
More specific information will be available at Thursday’s meeting in anticipation of the General Assembly returning next week, Truitt said. “We have relied on previous hurricane relief bills to guide our asks,” she said.
Truitt confirmed that all Department of Public Instruction employees in the western part of the state are safe. An online message board has been created to facilitate communication for all affected superintendents and charter school leaders . Truitt said the Department of Insurance has reached out to school leaders to start the system for processing claims.
A message from Haywood County math teacher Heather Smith, the 2024 North Carolina Teacher of the Year, was shared on behalf of her district at the board meeting.
“People in my community have lost everything and it seems like we just rebuilt,” Smith said, referring to the area’s recovery from Tropical Storm Fred in 2021. “Our students who rely on food and love from school are not able to receive that, and we don’t know for sure for how long.”
Davis said he looks forward to the board meeting to determine the storm-recovery requests that will best serve school staff members and students.
“Our schools are not new to this challenge,” Davis said. “Just last month, nearly 70 educators slept overnight in the Brunswick County School buildings when a tropical cyclone swept through their area. …. Our public schools are undeniably good, and they are at their best when challenged.”
Dialysis Shortage: (Kevin Ellis, Business NC, 10/01/24) Flooding from Hurricane Helene forced Baxter International to temporarily shut down production of its McDowell County facility where 2,500 workers produce primarily intravenous and peritoneal dialysis solutions. The plant, near Marion, is the largest manufacturer of these solutions in the United States, and the largest factory operated by the Deerfield, Illinois-based health products company.
“We have confirmed that the majority of our more than 2,500 employees are safe, and we are actively working to confirm the well-being of those we have been unable to reach. Cell phone access continues to be an issue in the area, which is challenging these efforts,” the company responded via email on Tuesday to questions. “We continue to work around the clock to minimize potential disruptions and resume production to help ensure patients and providers have the products they need.”
The company added that it is assessing damage and working on plans to resume production “as soon as we are able.”
Baxter has about 60,000 employees around the globe.
Ahead of the storm, Baxter implemented its hurricane preparedness plan, which included employee evacuation plans, as well as moving products to higher ground or secure storage where feasible. The heavy rain and storm surge triggered a levee breach, which led to water permeating the site. Bridges accessing the site have also been damaged, according to the company.
Baxter is communicating with customers to minimize potential disruptions. That includes managing inventory and implementing a protective allocation process by product line to help support supply continuity and equitable product distribution. The company will leverage Baxter’s global manufacturing network to help mitigate supply chain issues as it continues efforts to fully restore its manufacturing operations.
Wells Fargo analysts wrote in a research note Monday that it was too early to tell whether the shutdown would affect medical procedures in the U.S., and it would likely depend on how long the plant was closed, according to a report in The Chicago Tribune. The analysts expect three other companies that manufacture IV solutions will be able to offset some of the lost supply.
Helene Deployment: (WTVD News, 10/02/24) President Joe Biden has approved the deployment of 1,000 active-duty soldiers from the 18th Airborne Corps and the 82nd Airborne Division that are stationed at Fort Liberty. Those soldiers will help FEMA in creating and stabilizing essential services for communities hit hardest by Hurricane Helene.
Other military equipment already being utilized in North Carolina include:
US Army and US Navy helicopters, Soldiers, and Sailors providing critical capability to move personnel and supplies in areas where access via roads is not available or viable.
US Air Force aircraft, helicopters, and Airmen providing search-and-rescue capabilities.
US Army Soldiers and high-wheeled vehicles moving personnel and supplies over roads and terrain damaged or impassable to normal vehicles.
Army Corps of Engineers Temporary Power Teams and subject matter experts supporting debris removal, water and wastewater management, and bridge inspections.
The National Guard has also activated more than 6,500 Guardsmen as well as hundreds of boats and helicopters.
Unemployment Benefits: (Richard Craver, Winston-Salem Journal, 10/02/24) Residents in western North Carolina counties have been declared eligible for federal disaster unemployment assistance benefits, the N.C. Division of Employment Security said Tuesday. The eligibility is a byproduct of the Biden administration’s declaration of a state of emergency in North Carolina from the devastating rainfall and flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Helene.
The disaster unemployment assistance covers individuals who are unemployed as a direct result of Hurricane Helene. Business owners and self-employed individuals affected by the storm also may qualify for benefits. Benefits would be made retroactive to Sept. 29 and may last for up to 26 weeks.
There are 21 other counties, along with the Cherokee Indians of N.C., that have been approved: Alleghany, Ashe, Watauga, Wilkes, Alexander, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania and Yancey. The division said additional counties may be added at a later date.
Mountain Tourism: (Kevin Ellis, Business NC, 10/01/24) As the mountains’ foliage shows early signs of its autumn splendor, North Carolina tourism chief Wit Tuttell offered a sobering assessment for western North Carolina in Tropical Storm Helene’s aftermath.
“I think it’s safe to say it’s going to be devastating to the fall travel season,” Tuttell said in an interview earlier Tuesday. At risk is an estimated $1.8 billion in visitors’ spending to western North Carolina this fall. By season, the fall contributed 24% of tourism visits in North Carolina in 2023, ranking behind the summer at 26% and ahead of spring at 22% and winter at 14%, he said, citing his organization’s research.
By tourism spending, autumn may be the biggest season, Tuttell explained, because “I think the rates are probably typically higher in the fall because it’s sort of a more concentrated season when people will come. So that’s a lot of money to lose and a lot of tax revenue and a lot of jobs.”
Court Pause: (Sarah Johnson, The Hickory Daily Record, 10/02/24) Courts in at least 22 counties in western North Carolina — including Caldwell, Catawba and McDowell — have canceled court, according to the N.C. Judicial Branch. Court filing deadlines for 28 counties were extended by N.C. Chief Justice Paul Newby on Sunday. Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba and McDowell counties were included in the order. Newby ordered that all pleadings, motions, notices and other documents that were due to be filed between Sept. 26 and Oct. 14 shall be deemed timely if filed by the end of business on Oct. 14. That includes documents for civil actions, criminal actions, estates and special proceedings.
The counties included in the order are Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey.
Grandfather Mountain: (Cassidy Johncox, WBTV News, 10/02/24) Grandfather Mountain, a state park located in northwestern North Carolina, was closed indefinitely due to Hurricane Helene’s devastating impact, officials said Wednesday. Staff members at the state park were all safe, Grandfather Mountain officials reported on Wednesday, Oct. 2. The park itself was damaged by the storm, but officials said the damage was “nothing that can’t be cleaned up with time.” Still, the park was to remain closed until further notice.
“We’ve been working tirelessly — through communication challenges, minimal or no cell signal and poor road conditions — to confirm that every employee is accounted for,” the state park reported Wednesday. “The mountain’s habitat animals are also all doing well and being cared for by their dedicated team of keepers.”
Blue Ridge Parkway: (WFAE Radio, 10/02/24) The Blue Ridge Parkway remains closed in North Carolina as storm recovery continues, officials said Wednesday. It’s the start of the busiest season along the parkway, with fall underway and leaves beginning to change color. The economic impact is likely to fall most heavily on mountain towns that are dealing with the dual blow of physical destruction and the loss of tourist revenue this fall. “There is no date for reopening any parts of the road,” the NPS said in a statement.
Lake Closures: (WFAE Radio, 10/02/24) Mecklenburg County officials said Wednesday that all lake access remains closed on Wednesday. The area is still dealing with stormwater runoff, debris and bacteria from sewage overflows caused by Hurricane Helene’s historic rainfall and flooding.
Emergency Landing: (Sarah Johnson, The Hickory Daily Record, 10/02/24) An airplane that was returning from Avery County made an emergency landing at the Hickory Regional Airport on Wednesday. At 12:45 p.m., the N.C. State Highway Patrol responded to an airplane crash in Catawba County at the Hickory Regional Airport, Trooper Christopher Casey said in a news release. The pilot, Jorden Seth Faught, 41, of Lenoir, was not injured, Casey said.
A single-engine Cessna experienced a mechanical failure, resulting in an emergency landing on the runway. The plane was returning from Avery County after delivering supplies to areas impacted by Hurricane Helene, Casey said. The N.C. Highway Patrol secured the scene. The FAA will conduct an investigation, Casey said.
Starlink Systems
Brian Gordon and Emily Vespa, The News & Observer, 10/02/24
To reconnect emergency responders and residents after Hurricane Helene, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has shipped dozens of Starlink satellite systems to rural Western North Carolina. On Monday, FEMA announced 40 Starlink systems were in the region to assist emergency communications, with plans to deploy one system to each county affected by the storm.
Another 140 systems will be sent to aid “with communications infrastructure restoration,” the White House said in a Sept. 30 statement on relief efforts.
A subsidiary of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Starlink has positioned more than 6,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit to beam broadband internet service to on-the-ground terminals. The first North Carolina households installed Starlink in 2021, and since then, the system has been used in the aftermaths of natural disasters and war worldwide where traditional internet infrastructure faltered.
Outside the region, the deployment of Starlink to North Carolina became politicized after false claims spread that former President Donald Trump had arranged the deployment of Starlink systems to storm-affected areas after the current administration failed or refused to do the same. Trump said Monday during a speech in Valdosta, Georgia, that he had spoken to Musk about delivering Starlink systems to storm-affected areas.
Early the next morning, Musk, who has endorsed Trump’s reelection bid, announced his coordination with the Republican candidate. On the platform X, which Musk also owns, the SpaceX founder wrote “Earlier today, @realDonaldTrump alerted me to additional people who need Starlink Internet in North Carolina. We are sending them terminals right away.”
On Tuesday, North Carolina state Sen. Danny Britt posted on X that he had asked Trump “for help restoring communications to Western NC, and he delivered.”
However, the White House says the Starlink systems were on their way before these conversations occurred. FEMA announced Starlink’s presence in North Carolina on Sept. 30, the same day Trump spoke in Valdosta.
On X, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates commented on the Starlink deployment chronology, responding to an article about Trump and Musk’s conversations by stating, “This is already happening.”
Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, visited Hickory on Wednesday to deliver 300 Starlink systems in a visit coordinated by Medic Corps, a group running relief operations out of the Hickory Regional Airport. Ivanka Trump took photos with pilots, airport staff and volunteers. [Source]
Port Strike
Madison Lipe, Wilmington StarNews, 10/01/24
“Profit over people is unacceptable, support ILA workers,” read multiple signs Tuesday at the Port of Wilmington as longshoremen and other workers gathered to strike.
The Master Contract between the International Longshoreman’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance expired, and both parties have not reached a new agreement. Longshoremen across the East Coast and Gulf Coast are fighting for higher pay and fair treatment and at Wilmington’s port the situation is no different.
Just days after Helene left widespread devastation in western North Carolina, U.S. Rep. David Rouzer, whose district includes the Port of Wilmington, posted on X that the strike could cripple response and recovery efforts, as well as have disastrous effects on the local economy. According to USA TODAY, each day of the strikes across the East and Gulf coasts could cost the U.S. economy up to $5 billion as imports and exports are blocked, some economists estimated.
The strike began Tuesday, and the Port of Wilmington has developed a contingency plan to recognize the strike. The port’s South Container Gate will remain closed for pickup or delivery of cargo until an agreement is reached, according to North Carolina Ports.
The North Carolina Ports is not a party to the agreement and therefore is not a participant in the negotiations. “North Carolina Ports is hopeful that both parties will return to the negotiating table and reach an agreement that allows all the ports of the East and Gulf Coast to resume operations,” the statement said.
According to USA TODAY, Wilmington is just one of the 36 ports that has shut down as 45,000 union workers walked off the job.
The state-run Port of Wilmington is the largest and busiest of the two deepwater ports in North Carolina, the other being in Morehead City. Container traffic makes up a big chunk of the local port’s business, with the U.S. Department of Transportation ranking Wilmington the 21st busiest container port in the country. [Source]
Juvenile Detention
Virginia Bridges, The News & Observer, 10/02/24
The moment the 17-year-old walked into a state juvenile detention center, guards placed him in a closet-size room with concrete walls and a metal door that automatically locks when closed. There, he remained for more than 23 hours a day for much of his stay, the teenager reported in a new court filing. It claims North Carolina is harming detained youth by confining them in their rooms to cope with administrative challenges.
“The guards told me and other kids that they had to keep us in our cells because they did not have enough staffing,” the unnamed Mecklenburg County minor, held at Cabarrus Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Concord, said in his statement.
The filing seeks class-action status for a federal lawsuit filed in January by three teens that demanded the North Carolina Department of Public Safety stop holding them in solitary confinement conditions amid staffing shortages and other administrative challenges. If a judge grants class-action status, plaintiffs in the case could expand to include thousands of minors ordered to juvenile detention.
State juvenile justice officials have said solitary confinement for youth was banned in North Carolina years ago. And that keeping detained youth in their rooms for most of a day isn’t ideal nor the goal, but it’s not solitary confinement, William Lassiter, deputy secretary of North Carolina’s Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, has said. That’s because youth in custody aren’t being punished or assigned to an isolated unit, Lassiter has said. But at times, youth were not allowed to leave their rooms, which the lawsuit calls cells, after a severe staffing shortage.
North Carolina has taken a number of steps in recent years to address challenges with an increase in the youth detention population amid staffing shortages. Those steps include increasing wages and the number of recruiting events, juvenile justice officials have said in interviews and emails. But the department declined to comment on the latest court filing, according to spokesperson Matthew Dubnam, who cited the pending litigation as the reason. Nor did it respond to a request for more current isolation and staffing numbers. [Source]
Insurance Rates
Gareth McGrath, USA Today Network, 10/01/24
Negotiations between state regulators and insurance companies over a potentially massive rate increases for North Carolina homeowners are going down to the wire. In January the N.C. Rate Bureau, a 14-member board that represents the industry, submitted a proposal to raise homeowner insurance premiums by 42% statewide and an eyewatering 99% in beach and coastal areas around Wilmington.
The proposal, after a public hearing, was swiftly and vocally rejected by N.C. Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey.
“I heard from more people on this rate filing than any other while I’ve been commissioner,” Causey, who has been in office since 2017, said on Thursday, adding his agency received more than 25,000 comments − almost all of which were against it. “And I agreed with them.”
The commissioner’s action triggered a judicial hearing, which is scheduled for Oct. 7.
The N.C. Rate Bureau cited two main factors for the surprisingly large rate increase proposal. First, is the rising cost of pretty much everything, including labor and potential repairs, driven by inflation and the lingering impacts of labor and material shortages tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. The other is climate change, which is causing more frequent and widespread property destruction, particularly tied to bigger and stronger hurricanes, as the warming climate fuels more severe weather events. Damages in North Carolina tied to 2018’s Hurricane Florence, for example, were estimated to top $22 billion, with much of that hitting inland areas.
Other factors that are playing a role in the proposed substantial increase include the moratorium that was put into place during the pandemic on any rate increases and the cost of reinsurance − basically insurance for the insurance companies themselves in case a large-scale disaster stretches their financial ability to respond.
Causey, a Republican who is running for re-election this November against Democrat Natasha Marcus, said in most rate disputes his department and the rate bureau have been able to negotiate before a hearing date and reach a mutually acceptable agreement. “We have done that very successfully in the past and get settlements that are mostly favorable to consumers,” he said. That hasn’t happened in this case. “We are at an impasse,” Causey said. “We’re going to court.” [Source]
Wetland Regulations
Peter Castagno, Port City Daily, 10/01/24
A federal ruling and state law last year removed protections for vast expanses of North Carolina’s wetlands, but appropriate enforcement of regulations remains in controversy. The Biden administration’s 2022 Waters of the United States definition gave federal protection to wetlands adjacent to large waterways — including wetlands with a “relatively permanent” surface water connection and those with a “significant” ecological nexus to other water bodies. A year later, the Supreme Court struck down the rule in its landmark decision Sackett v. EPA. The ruling removed federal authority of wetlands without a “continuous surface connection” with other bodies of water — known as “isolated wetlands.”
Adam Gold, director of climate resilient coasts and watersheds with the Environmental Defense Fund, published a study last week finding different interpretations of the Supreme Court ruling that would leave between 17 million to almost 90 million acres of non-tidal wetlands without federal protection. “When you’re using subjective and undefined terminology, there’s a lot of different interpretations,” Gold said, “which leads to extreme uncertainty around what’s fairly protected.”
Gold told Port City Daily the figure ranges from about 500,000 to 3.6 million acres in North Carolina. The Department of Environmental Quality estimated that 2.5 million acres could lose protection after the General Assembly passed SB 582 in June 2023, which barred the state from regulating isolated wetlands that lost federal protection from the Supreme Court ruling.
Gold emphasized the importance of North Carolina wetland protections following Hurricane Helene’s devastation in Florida. It became a tropical storm and left western North Carolina regions, like Asheville and Boone, decimated by landslides due to more than 20 inches of rain. This came only one week after severe flooding caused by potential tropical cyclone eight also dropped 20 inches of rain in Carolina Beach and Brunswick County, causing damaged roadways and flooding. “Wetlands aren’t going to prevent all flooding, but if you get rid of wetlands you’re going to have significantly worse flooding,” Gold said.
Wetlands naturally absorb flood water and filter pollutants through a combination of biological and chemical processes; building impermeable surfaces on former wetlands can contribute to stormwater runoff.
Advocates for less restrictive WOTUS definitions, including the National Home Builders Association and Congressman David Rouzer, have also expressed frustration regarding ambiguity in post-Sackett wetland regulations. Rouzer co-introduced a resolution to overturn the Biden administration’s WOTUS definition months before the Sackett decision in February 2023.
In a Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee meeting last month, Rouzer raised concerns that Novo Nordisk’s $4-billion expansion in Johnston County was being stalled due to delays with the site’s jurisdictional determination for wetlands.
“Novo Nordisk cannot conduct on-site avoidance and minimization analysis before they know what parcel of property must be avoided,” he said. “Nor can they conduct an off-site alternatives analysis without a clear concept of how their site works against other sites that may or may not have similar issues. This is just one example of many instances across the country where economic investment and job creation — and in this case, public health as well — are stalled due to this vague process.”
In a Sept. 19 email, Army Corps of Engineers regulatory specialist Matthew Martin requested more information from Novo Nordisk — which has donated $17,500 to Rouzer’s campaign — before approving its request to permanently fill approximately 17.3 acres of potentially jurisdictional wetlands. Martin said the company would need to show there are no alternative methods of development with less detrimental environmental impacts. [Source]
Emergency Training
Jami McLaughlin, CityView, 10/01/24
Amid ongoing swift water rescues and record-breaking flooding in western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, a training complex in Fayetteville hopes to prepare the state’s emergency responders.
The Dr. J. Larry Keen Regional Fire & Emergency Training Complex is an indoor swift water rescue training facility and a four-story live-burn training tower. A groundbreaking Tuesday for the final phase of construction celebrated plans to increase the training capacity of the 30-acre campus located on Tom Starling Road in Fayetteville.
Fayetteville Technical Community College President Mark Sorrells said at the ceremony that the timing could not have been more apt with the devastation that Hurricane Helene has wreaked in western North Carolina. “What a timely investment that our community has made to enhance our public safety and to enhance our ability for emergency responders to be extremely prepared for whatever scenario they face,” Sorrells said in a press release about the groundbreaking.
Freddy Johnson, president of the Cumberland County Fire Chiefs Association, pointed to a fire department located near Charlotte that received their certification two months ago and underwent training at the Fayetteville complex. “They are now using the training, the skills they have learned in our facility and are saving lives in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene,” Johnson said.
Named for former FTCC President J. Larry Keen, the $45 million complex is the largest of its kind, allowing for specialized training for fire and rescue personnel with the Technical Rescue Training campus, which features the only indoor swift water rescue training facility on the East Coast. [Source]
Mayoral Debate
Gilat Melamed, WNCN News, 10/02/24
Five candidates are vying to become the next mayor of Raleigh. They made their cases to voters Tuesday night during a debate hosted by Omegas of Raleigh. Candidates spoke about everything from crime to green space, but housing and affordability were the biggest topics of discussion.
Janet Cowell pointed to housing, applauding some of the council’s current efforts when it comes to increasing the housing supply, but said more is needed.
“We need additional forms of subsidy, I’ve, just as I’ve said, served as the State Treasurer, tax increment finance is a tool that’s been used in Durham and Charlotte, we have not used it here,” Cowell said. “I think that could help form new kinds of subsidy.”
Terrance Ruth and James Shaughnessy also pointed to affordability as the most pressing issue. Ruth said the solution requires more than housing bonds and loans.
On housing, Paul Fitts emphasized townhomes, row houses and condos as a gateway to home ownership. Eugene Myrick said the city should shift away from Area Median Income (AMI), which is one of the current metrics it uses for assessing affordable housing, and shift to a more neighborhood-specific metric, Neighborhood Median Income.
On the city’s most pressing issue, Fitts said it’s public safety, wanting to add 400 officers to the Raleigh Police Department due to population growth. “The question always comes back how are you going to pay for it,” Fitts said. “For me, it’s a simple task really, it goes back to housing, we have to broaden our tax base.”
Incumbent Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin is not seeking re-election. All other City Council incumbents are seeking re-election in November. [Source]
Deaths
Kyle Ingram, The News & Observer, 10/02/24
Joel Fleishman, the founder of Duke University’s public policy program who spent over half his life working for the school, has died at the age of 90. Duke shared the news of his passing in a Monday release, with university President Vincent Price remembering Fleishman as a “remarkable leader, person and scholar who played a prominent role in Duke University’s growth and development.”
Fleishman began his career at Duke In 1971, when former North Carolina Gov. Terry Sanford, who had then become university president, enlisted him to create what is now known as the Sanford School of Public Policy, one of the first undergraduate programs of its kind in the nation. Fleishman served as director of Duke’s public policy school until 1983, though he continued teaching until May of last year.
Though he is perhaps best known for his role in founding the Sanford School, Fleishman’s former colleague Michael Schoenfeld described him as a “multifaceted diamond” who also had a deep commitment to his Jewish faith, published extensive scholarly work on philanthropy and developed a global network of close friends who cherished his legendary annual holiday cards.
Fleishman grew up in Fayetteville, and maintained deep ties to the area throughout his life, taking his father’s place as cantor of the local Beth Israel Synagogue.
UNC’s current chancellor, Lee Roberts, who attended Duke and later taught at the Sanford School, said Fleishman “changed many lives, including mine.” [Source]
Medical School
Michelle Crouch, NC Health News and The Charlotte Ledger, 10/02/24
For years, Charlotte has been the largest U.S. city without a four-year medical school. By next summer, if all goes according to plan, that is finally set to change.
The Charlotte campus of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine is scheduled to open in 2025, with its first class of 48 students arriving in August. Enrollment is expected to increase to 100 students per class over the next five years. The campus will eventually allow the Wake Forest University School of Medicine to graduate about 245 doctors a year across its campuses in Winston-Salem and Charlotte, with a goal of helping to ease the state’s shortage of health care providers.
But the Charlotte med school campus is just one piece of a larger transformation underway on the 20-acre site known as The Pearl in the Midtown/Dilworth area of Charlotte, just outside of uptown. The Pearl aims to be a bustling medical innovation district — “a Silicon Valley for health care” — to attract not just students, but also researchers, tech startups and biomedical companies.
Atrium Health and Wexford Science & Technology are driving the $1.5 billion development. The first phase includes two buildings: a 10-story research building (the Research 1 Building) and a 14-story education center (The Howard R. Levine Center for Education).
In addition to the med school, the education building will house Wake Forest School of Business programs, its new School for Professional Studies and the Carolinas College of Health Science, which trains nurses and other health care professionals.
Future phases of the project call for more research buildings, a hotel, multifamily housing and street-level retail. [Source]
Sand Plan Trista Talton, Coastal Review, 9/30/24
If everything goes accordingly, Surf City’s ocean shore may begin getting massive sand injections by the end of next year. The town’s federal coastal storm risk management project — more than 20 years in the making — will put a total of 21.8 million cubic yards of sand on the beach over the course of a half-century.
“That’s a lot of sand,” said Kent Tranter, project manager with the Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington district. Tranter kicked off a public meeting in the town Tuesday night in a presentation of the Corps’ draft general reevaluation report and environmental assessment released last month on the project. “I will caution you, this is the draft report. Things will change,” he said in front of an audience of more than 40 people. The draft report is an update on a proposed project that originally included a portion of neighboring North Topsail Beach’s shore. [Source]
UNC Search
Aisha Baiocchi, The Daily Tar Heel, 10/01/24
Friday morning, as UNC student and activist Laura Saavedra was taking a shower in her dorm, she said she heard a knock on her door. When she asked who it was, she was told it was the police, with a search warrant. Three UNC Police officers told Saavedra they had a search warrant for her phone, which was to be seized in relation to the Students for Justice in Palestine walkout on Sept. 19, where protesters vandalized numerous University buildings with spray paint.
Saavedra, who uses a wheelchair, said the officers got “very very physical” with her when she started to turn the phone off, pulling at her arms and reaching for the phone.
In a statement to The DTH from Media Relations, UNC Police Chief Brian James wrote that two UNC Police investigators and a uniformed officer served a student with a search warrant on the morning of Sept. 27. “While the officers were speaking with them, the student attempted to turn off the phone which would have made evidence nearly impossible to obtain,” the statement read. “One officer reached for the phone to prevent the destruction of evidence, a struggle ensued and the student fell down.”
James wrote that the search warrant was part of the ongoing investigation for the significant damage done to University property on Sept. 19. At least 10 University buildings were vandalized.
The warrant includes access to Saavedra’s photos and videos, communications and internet browsing history.
Unlike in the search warrant obtained by UNC Police on May 15 — after demonstrators put paint on South Building during SJP’s “People’s Graduation” — there were no time restrictions on when searchable information could come from. Raleigh attorney Trevor Guyton said the lack of temporal restriction was unusual. “They should be restricting it to roughly 72 hours before and maybe after the incident,” he said. “Because this all circles around privacy and probable cause, and when you start getting further from the date of the offense, from the date of vandalism, it starts to evaporate.”
UNC Media Relations did not respond to a request for comment about the time restrictions on the warrant. [Source]
Wake Forest Lecture
Amy Diaz, WFDD Radio, 10/02/24
Wake Forest University’s decision to cancel a campus lecture led by a Palestinian scholar and activist has gained national attention. Rabab Abdulhadi, a professor and founding director of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies Program at San Francisco State University, was scheduled to speak at Wake Forest on Oct. 7, reflecting on one year of the Israel-Hamas war. Last week, Wake Forest University President Susan Wente and Provost Michele Gillespie canceled the lecture, and said the school would not host events deemed “inherently contentious.”
The decision garnered criticism from some students, faculty, and on Monday, the Middle East Studies Association, a nonprofit made up of scholars across the world. The group published a letter urging the university to reverse its decision, stating that the cancellation betrays the institution’s commitment to academic freedom.
WFDD requested comment from Wake Forest University on the matter and was provided an email Provost Gillespie sent to faculty members on Tuesday. In it, she called the cancellation an “exceedingly difficult” decision. Additionally, she said the university plans to release a draft of a statement about free expression and academic freedom in the next few weeks. [Source]
CEO Charges
Andrew Dys, The Charlotte Observer, 10/02/24
Bob Morgan, the former head of the Charlotte Chamber and the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, faces charges of domestic violence in coastal South Carolina after he allegedly hit his wife.
Georgetown County deputies arrested Morgan, 60, in September at a home on Pawleys Island, an incident report obtained by McClatchy newspapers shows. She told deputies who responded to the house she threw Morgan’s phone because she found out Morgan was cheating on her, the report stated. Morgan’s wife told deputies “she was scared” after he hit her as many as five times in the face with his fist on Sept. 4, according to the report.
William McIntosh of the Complete Legal Defense Team based in Myrtle Beach told McClatchy Wednesday the office is representing Morgan, but he declined to discuss the facts of the case. Morgan has no criminal record, McIntosh said. “We look forward to representing his interests and working toward a resolution of the matter through the legal system,” McIntosh said.
Morgan led the Charlotte chamber from 2005 until it merged with another group in 2018 to become the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, the Charlotte Observer reported at the time. He spearheaded efforts to bring in big events such as the 2012 Democratic National Convention, the Observer reported. Morgan later served as CEO of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce from 2021 through June of this year when he resigned, the chamber said in a news release this summer. [Source]
Voter Challenge
Chris Day, The (Elizabeth City) Daily Advance, 10/01/24
A Pasquotank County man has withdrawn his challenge to the county elections board that he is ineligible to vote in the Nov. 5 election because he is a convicted felon. Terrence Warren, 58, of Elizabeth City, notified county officials of his intent to withdraw his challenge, said Pasquotank Attorney Mike Cox. The elections board had scheduled a preliminary hearing for Tuesday to review Warren’s challenge. But the hearing wasn’t necessary because Warren withdrew his challenge, Cox said.
The board originally notified Warren in a letter that his voting rights in North Carolina had been suspended due to a recent felony conviction, according to a copy of the board’s notice. The notice is dated June 26, and within a week Warren responded to the board by indicating his desire to challenge the ruling. [Source]
Animal Control
Ben Gibson, Statesville Record & Landmark, 10/02/24
Iredell County Animal Services and Control wants body armor to protect its officers from people, not just animals. Animal Services Director Kristian Hernandez requested money to buy the armor from the Iredell County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday.
“Over the past year, animal services has had several safety incidences where safety and the lives of the animal control officers were put at risk,” Hernandez said. “Animal control officers have been threatened by individuals, had handguns drawn on them, and most recently (were) assaulted while performing their duties.”
Hernandez said on Wednesday that body armor for 10 animal service officers would be purchased and that each set costs around $1,000.
“It’s a shame we have to discuss something like this, but we do want to take care of our people,” board of commissioners chair Melissa Neader said on Tuesday. [Source]
“It is a traumatic event, and I want you to remember that there is no right or wrong way to feel at this time.” NCDHHS Secretary Kody Kinsley, reminding citizens in the western counties not to underestimate the emotional toll a natural disaster can take. (State Affairs Pro, 10/01/24) Storm Destruction Jeffrey Collins, The Associated …
The adjutant general of the North Carolina National Guard said Tuesday that deployment numbers to storm-damaged Western North Carolina are increasing daily but that every soldier and airman would be sent for a specific reason and with a specific task to accomplish. “That’s what we design our force packages to do,” Maj. Gen. Todd Hunt …
“North Carolina has a healthy savings account that will help us respond to the catastrophic nature of this storm.” Senate leader Phil Berger, on a disaster recovery package being formulated by legislators to respond to the impact of Hurricane Helene. (X, 9/30/24) Legislative Return Will Doran, WRAL News, 9/30/24 State lawmakers will return to Raleigh …
GOP gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson headed for western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Sunday after announcing the day before that he was pausing his campaign schedule to assist in local recovery efforts. Since then, Robinson has been posting a series of updates, videos and photographs to X, the social …
