“Ideally, you’d like to keep [increases] as close to zero as possible, but you have to look at the reality.”

Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, on an Oct. 7 hearing on a new proposed homeowners’ insurance rate increase. (The News & Observer, 9/16/24)

Spending Plan

Clifton Dowell, State Affairs Pro, 9/09/24

With the release of a spending plan on Friday and votes in both chambers now scheduled this week, the General Assembly is back in action after two relatively quiet months.

While the official announcement of votes came on Friday, speculation on the September schedule and details of the spending plan itself started well before, culminating Thursday afternoon with a press conference where top Democrats assailed one provision they expected to make up part of the plan — full funding of private school voucher expansion.

They were correct, but the last-minute push to rally opposition against the voucher funding increase had little time to gain momentum. The plan released Friday at 11 a.m. — a conference report for House Bill 10 — contains $463.5 million in increased funding for vouchers.

The money would clear the Opportunity Scholarship waitlist for the current school year and be retroactive, with families being eligible for tuition reimbursement from schools.

“Families across North Carolina made it clear that they want a greater say in their child’s education,”  Senate Leader Phil Berger said in a press release. “Whether you’re a single parent, a young family, or in a military household, educational freedom should be attainable for all.”

[Related Documents: Conference Report for HB 10 | Senate Press Release | House Press Release]

The Senate is expected to vote at noon on Monday, while the House is expected to vote Wednesday.

Other provisions in the plan were also anticipated but not confirmed until Friday’s release of the conference report. A lobbyist outlined parts of the bill — voucher funding, the Medicaid rebase, funds for public schools and community college enrollment increases, infrastructure funds for Chatham County and requiring sheriffs to honor ICE detainers — for State Affairs on Aug. 29.

The same day, a House Democrat confirmed that the caucus was “hearing the same rumors as everyone else,” but that no word had come from the corner offices about voting this week. Both the House and the Senate confirmed that no votes were scheduled at that time. 

By the middle of last week, Republican House members had been told they’d need to be in Raleigh this Wednesday. 

Rep. Dean Arp, R-Union, one of three senior chairs of the House Appropriations Committee, described the report released Friday as a “super-negotiated” document that pulls together provisions upon which the House and Senate agree. 

Other areas, such as university spending, still need attention, he said. “We’re doing the K-12 and we’re doing the community colleges, but we’re not necessarily getting everything that we’re looking at strategically for the university system,” he said. 

There is also unfinished business related to capital improvements, Arp said, but further spending may have to wait until next year. 

“This is a significant step between the House and the Senate coming together,” he said. “I don’t know that there’s going to be another push to do anything else in the budget until next year, but that’s just my speculation.”

Arp doesn’t expect to see a sine die resolution anytime soon. In addition to having to come back to take up an expected veto of HB 10 by Gov. Roy Cooper, the legislature will need to allocate federal broadband funds after they are received, he said. “We’re going to go all the way to the end of the year, I’m sure.”

Cooper, on Thursday, said voucher expansion with no income cap equates to a handout to the state’s wealthiest families. Senate Democratic Leader Dan Blue, of Wake county, called the measure a scam, with 51% of Opportunity Scholarship applicants last year coming from just 10 North Carolina counties.

[Related Videos: Gov. Roy Cooper on voucher component | Sen. Dan Blue on voucher component | Rep. Robert Reives on voucher component | Sen. Michael Garrett on voucher component]

Arp said Republicans believe the voucher program empowers parents to decide what is best for their children. “It’s wildly popular with all income groups,” he said. “I believe that that’s the right philosophy for us to go forward.”

Reached on Friday, Democratic leaders said caucus was reviewing the full plan, but that the inclusion of voucher expansion was a disappointment. 

The conference report for House Bill 10 also includes $24.7 million recurring to clear the North Carolina’s Education Student Accounts program waitlist for children with disabilities, as well as:

• $64 million recurring for Community College enrollment growth
• $95 million recurring for K-12 enrollment increases
• $277 million recurring and $100 million nonrecurring for Medicaid
• $55.1 million for infrastructure improvements to support economic development in Chatham County
• $150 million for major transportation improvements at the Randolph County megasite
• Authorization of  a new program to expand high-speed internet in rural communities
  

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ADDITIONAL REPORTING

Voucher Reaction: (T Keung Hui, The News & Observer, 9/07/24) A state budget deal that will help 55,000 families pay for private school tuition this year is drawing both cheers and anger among North Carolinians. Republican legislative leaders announced Friday that they have reached a deal to provide $463 million in additional taxpayer funding to clear the 55,000-student backlog in the Opportunity Scholarship program. 

It’s welcome news for families who’ve been waiting for months to find out if they’d get any state help to cover private school costs. “This is great news for working class families who are trying to make ends meet given inflation,” Rachel Brady, a Wake County parent on the voucher waiting list, said in an interview Friday. 

But the deal is being blasted as a handout to wealthy families that is coming at the expense of supporting students in public schools. The North Carolina Association of Educators launched a digital ad campaign on Friday to urge lawmakers not to approve the voucher expansion. “While the majority of North Carolinians believe in the value of our public schools, some state lawmakers are planning to undermine those schools with a massive expansion of taxpayer-funded private school vouchers,” NCAE President Tamika Walker Kelly said in a statement Friday.

[Related Video: NCAE | Vote NO on vouchers]

Last year, GOP lawmakers created what they called universal school choice by eliminating income eligibility limits for getting a private school voucher. In response, a record total of nearly 72,000 applicants applied in March for the Opportunity Scholarship program. 

“Families and students let their voices be heard, and the legislature is now poised to make good on a promise to expand the scholarship programs and send another clear message that in North Carolina we are committed to funding students over systems,” Mike Long, president for Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina, said in a statement Friday. [Source]

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ICE Cooperation: (Avi Bajpai, Korie Dean, T Keung Hui, Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan, The News & Observer, 9/06/24; Brian Murphy , WRAL News, 9/06/24) The proposed committee substitute for House Bill 10 includes a requirement for sheriffs to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — a longstanding priority for Republicans. State law already requires sheriffs to try to determine the legal status of people they arrest, and to inform ICE if they can’t do so. 

But they don’t have to honor immigration detainers from the federal agency — requests to hold someone who has been arrested and is believed to be in the country illegally, for up to 48 hours, to give ICE agents time to come and take custody. That’s the main change HB 10 would make: requiring sheriffs to comply with those detainer requests.

House Bill 10 was the third iteration of legislation Republicans have been trying to pass since 2019, in response to sheriffs in largely Democratic counties coming into office in 2018 vowing to cut back or end cooperation with ICE. 

Some sheriffs who oppose those ICE detainers say there are troubling constitutional issues with the concept of holding someone in jail after they should’ve been let go, particularly since the vast majority of people in jail have not been convicted of anything. Other sheriffs who oppose the ICE detainers say it’s important to do so to build trust with local Hispanic residents, and that if they don’t have that trust, it’s harder to solve crimes because people won’t work with law enforcement. [Source 1 | Source 2]

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Community Colleges: (Avi Bajpai, Korie Dean, T Keung Hui, Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan, The News & Observer, 9/06/24) The spending deal also includes $64 million in recurring funds to support community colleges experiencing enrollment growth. Community colleges and public universities in North Carolina are funded in arrears, meaning the amount of state funding they receive is tied to enrollment from the previous year. Nearly all of the state’s 58 community colleges experienced enrollment growth last year, creating a need for funding to support the additional students. 

At Durham Technical Community College, for instance, enrollment last year was up 9% — the third-highest growth of any community college in the state. That growth translates into an additional need of more than $3.1 million for the current academic year. 

But without a budget deal passed this summer, the community colleges are using the same level of funding provided in the two-year budget legislators passed last fall, without additional money for enrollment growth. That created a resource squeeze on campuses this fall, Durham Tech President JB Buxton told The N&O Thursday. 

“We’re able to manage the budget right now by not investing in new equipment for classrooms, by really keeping supplies at a bare minimum, by not doing any new hires unless they’re in core instructional areas,” Buxton said. 

The timing of the budget deal is fortunate for the colleges. With it likely to pass in September, the colleges will be able to plan for the spring semester knowing they have additional money coming in. Buxton said the situation would have been more dire if the deal did not come until November — as suggested in the legislature’s June adjournment resolution, which indicated budget bills would not be considered until Nov. 19. 

“We know in September, then we can make good decisions for the spring,” Buxton said. “We know November, December, we’re now behind the eight ball, and we may have already decided not to offer certain sections, and then hope we can build those back later, which is a real challenge for students who are looking for certain courses to continue or finish.” [Source]

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K-12 Enrollment: (Avi Bajpai, Korie Dean, T Keung Hui, Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan, The News & Observer, 9/06/24) The budget deal also provides an additional $95 million for K-12 public school enrollment growth. Just as with the community colleges, the state now funds public schools in arrears. Funding had previously been based on the projected enrollment for the current school year. Since it’s now based on last year’s enrollment, money needs to be set aside to cover enrollment increases.

Earlier this summer, House Speaker Tim Moore told reporters that House Republicans wanted to include public education funding increases with any voucher spending increases. However, this bill does not fund additional raises for teachers and other school personnel. Lawmakers authorized raises for many public school employees earlier this summer, and state employees were already slated to receive additional raises this fiscal year. [Source]

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Deaths

Kyle Ingram and Mary Ramsey, The News & Observer, 9/06/24

North Carolina Rep. Kelly Alexander, who represented Charlotte in the legislature for over a decade and once served as president of the state NAACP, has died at 75. A statement from Alexander’s family was posted on his Facebook page on Friday afternoon.

“It is with deep regret that the Alexander family shares the passing of our brother, brother-in-law, friend, and community leader, North Carolina Representative Kelly Alexander Jr., who left us this morning,” the post said.

“Kelly’s unwavering commitment to his city, district, state, and this nation has been both profound and heartfelt throughout the years. This loss has come as a shock to us, and we kindly ask the public for privacy as we process this and plan to celebrate his life in the coming days. We will share more details in the near future. We are truly grateful for the outpouring of love, support, and condolences we have already received from family, friends, and the community.”

Alexander, a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, served in the state legislature for over 15 years as a Democrat. He previously was president of the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP and spent 12 years on the organization’s national board of directors. Alexander’s father also was a leader in the NAACP.

Leaders across the state shared messages of condolence on Friday.

“Today I lost a friend & mentor, Rep. Kelly Alexander, Jr. As a civil rights icon and a tireless advocate for justice, his legacy resonates deeply within our community,” Charlotte City Council Member Malcolm Graham said on Twitter. “Kelly was more than just a lawmaker — he was a beacon of hope, and a relentless fighter for equality.”

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles also spoke about Alexander’s passing. “Kelly was a civil rights leader, following in his father’s footsteps as NC NAACP president, and a tireless advocate for equality,” Lyles said on X, formerly Twitter. “His legacy of service, compassion, and fighting for justice will forever inspire our city. My heart goes out to his loved ones and all whose lives he touched.”

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis mourned Alexander as well, writing on X, “So saddened by the passing of Rep. Kelly Alexander. It was a pleasure to work with him in the NCGA, and he was instrumental in the effort to make North Carolina the first state in the nation to provide compensation to eugenics victims. Susan and I are praying for his family during this difficult time.” [Source]

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New Hire

Clifton Dowell, State Affairs Pro, 9/09/24

Cody Hill, a name familiar to many in North Carolina’s government affairs community, is joining the State Affairs team today to help manage sales and strategic partnerships in North Carolina and the southeast.

For the past four years, Hill has worked as head of partnerships at UpState, a North Carolina legislative tracking service based in Durham. Hill grew up just outside of Washington, D.C. in northern Virginia. He studied Public Policy and Spanish at The College of William & Mary and earned an MBA at UNC Chapel Hill. Before joining UpState, he worked for Amazon and as a Product Operations leader for Facebook in San Francisco.

“We’re thrilled to have Cody join the team bringing best-in-class legislative news and information to North Carolina and beyond,” said Scott Miller, VP of State Affairs Pro. “State Affairs and the NC Insider are on the verge of deploying new resources to serve the needs of legislative professionals, policy leaders, elected officials and others who know how impactful the operations of state government are.”

Hill can be reached at [email protected].

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Ballot Lawsuit

Kyle Ingram, The News & Observer, 9/06/24

The North Carolina Court of Appeals on Friday blocked the state from sending out absentee ballots, siding with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in his effort to be removed from the state’s presidential ballot. In an order released Friday, the court granted Kennedy’s petition to stay a decision from a lower court on Thursday, which had denied his request to be removed from the ballot.

“This cause is remanded to the Superior Court of Wake County for entry of order directing the State Board of Elections to disseminate ballots without the name of petitioner Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. appearing as a candidate for President of the United States,” the order, which did not specify which judges were on the panel, said.

The court’s decision will force the state to miss its Sept. 6 deadline for sending out absentee ballots.

The state board has directed county boards of elections not to send out any ballots and hold them until further notice.

Friday evening, the state board informed local election officials that it is appealing the ruling to the North Carolina Supreme Court. Over 130,000 voters have requested absentee ballots so far, which were supposed to be sent out Friday morning.

The names of Court of Appeals judges ruling on petitions are confidential for 90 days, according to the clerk of court, so they won’t become public before the election.

Chris Cooper, a political scientist at Western Carolina University, said the court’s decision was unprecedented. “We’ve delayed elections, we’ve moved back elections, absolutely we’ve done that,” he said. “But we’ve not done that because of a candidate trying to get off the ballot — who fought to get on the ballot.“

If the board does reprint ballots without Kennedy’s name, it is unclear how much longer voters will have to wait.

Karen Brinson Bell, the executive director of the State Board of Elections, estimated last month that it could take around two weeks to reprint ballots. While the board awaits action from the Supreme Court, it is directing local election officials to hold onto the existing ballots, but begin coding new ballots without Kennedy’s name or his party, “We The People.”

“Preserve any coding, ballots, or other materials that include We The People in the presidential contest,” Brinson Bell said in an email to election workers. “If the State Supreme Court reverses the order, then we will revert back to the coding, ballots, and materials that have been prepared through today.”

The federal deadline for sending absentee ballots is Sept. 21.

A Wake County Superior Court judge initially denied Kennedy’s request to be removed from the ballot on Thursday, but granted a 24-hour stay of her decision to allow him to appeal.

Less than one month ago, Kennedy was in court defending his right to be on the state’s ballot. But after suspending his campaign and endorsing former President Donald Trump, he launched a hasty effort to withdraw his candidacy in North Carolina while remaining on the ballot in less competitive states. His request was initially denied by the State Board of Elections’ Democratic majority, which said it would be impractical to remove him with so little notice and would cause the state to miss its deadline for sending absentee ballots. Kennedy sued shortly after.

Brinson Bell said the cost of reprinting ballots could be in the “high six-figure range.” [Source]

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Auditor Campaign

Jack Hagel, WRAL News, 9/08/24

State Auditor Jessica Holmes is punching back at critics, saying she was deserving of her appointment to the position and that she is the most qualified candidate to win the general election in November.
In an interview with WRAL and in a series of news conferences this week, the Democrat sought to underscore her record in the office following recent criticism from Beth Wood, the longtime state auditor who resigned from the post last year.

Wood, who is also a Democrat, has said experience matters in a highly specialized role, and she questioned Holmes’s leadership, competency and output. The former auditor endorsed Republican David Boliek over Holmes, who was appointed to the position by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and took over the office in December.

Holmes says she’s working to put her own stamp on the office and says she has a leg up in the race: “I have more experience as state auditor than anyone else that will be on the ballot,” Holmes told reporters Thursday during a news conference in support of her campaign at the North Carolina Democratic Headquarters.

Holmes was joined by the state party’s top officials, including Chairwoman Anderson Clayton. Such press conferences are typically reserved for top-of-the-ticket races. But this year’s race has garnered more attention because of how the seat became available — and because of the criticism from Wood, which came during an interview with WRAL.

Wood, who served in the position for almost 15 years, stepped down after she pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges that she used a state vehicle for personal errands. Cooper picked Holmes over people Wood had recommended.

“The reason I’m running for this office is that there’s a need,” Holmes said. “There’s a need for North Carolinians, but there’s also a need within that office. The staff that I inherited are incredibly competent, but they are also demoralized. They have experienced a lot of changes. They have questioned the integrity of their leader, and I have been working diligently to rebuild that trust — not just across North Carolina, but within the office itself.”

Holmes, a labor lawyer by training, will have spent almost a year in the position by November, and she leaned into that during her press conference on Thursday. Holmes served as the chair of the Wake County Board of Commissioners, experience she says is vital because the state auditor serves on the Local Government Commission. A law enacted last year allows the commission to withhold sales tax revenue from municipalities that fail to file financial audits.

That could have a disproportionate impact on rural communities that don’t have the resources for big finance teams, Holmes said. “It’s important to have someone who understands how local government works, and also the challenges they face, and also the challenges that smaller communities feel and experience that are very different from the challenges that are experienced from within our urban communities,” she said.

Holmes said she’s qualified in other ways, too. She says her mission to protect dollars that go to vulnerable communities comes from personal experience. Holmes grew up poor in Pender County. “Making sure that hurricane relief dollars get to the people and places that need it is important to me,” she said. “As someone who grew up with food stamps and SNAP benefits, it’s important to me.”

Holmes is the first Black woman to serve in the auditor position. She’s also the first Black woman on the Council of State, the body of executive-branch statewide elected officials. Wood told The News & Observer last week that she thought Holmes was appointed to the position “because of race and gender, hoping to make her more electable.”

Holmes pushed back Wednesday during a press conference with leaders of political action committees that advocate for Black North Carolinians. “I own that I am black, and I own that I am a woman, and I carry that on my shoulder,” she said. “That said, I am here because I am qualified. I am here because I earned it. I am here because I have integrity.”

During Thursday’s news conference, she added: “Government should look like and reflect the people that it serves, and that extends well beyond race. That extends to diversity of thought, the rule versus the urban divide, people with disabilities and the 99% of us that weren’t born with the silver spoon in our mouths. … While my race and gender is not the reason I’m on this ballot, my hope is that, in the future, it’s the reason why other women and people of color end up on the ballot, because they know that they belong at the table.” [Source]

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Trump Endorsement

Meg Kinnard and Bill Barrow, The Associated Press, 9/07/24

Donald Trump accepted a key endorsement from one of the nation’s most influential law enforcement lobbies on Friday by offering a sweeping indictment of the U.S. legal system that has convicted him of almost three dozen felony counts and indicted him in three other pending cases.

The Fraternal Order of Police convention in the battleground state of North Carolina was billed as a way for Trump to pitch himself as a law-and-order figure and cast his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor and California attorney general, as weak.

But in between remarks about crime and law enforcement, the former president and Republican nominee celebrated a New York judge’s decision earlier in the day to postpone his sentencing on 34 felony counts in a business fraud case until after Election Day. He repeated his false assertions that the U.S. election system is rife with massive voter fraud and that his 2020 defeat was rigged — arguments rejected in dozens of state and federal courts. He promised to crack down on “Marxist prosecutors,” and he seemed to suggest that domestic police forces could more actively prevent voter fraud because people are scared of them.

Patrick Yoes, the FOP’s national president, said Trump had tamped down the “defund the police” movement and supported law enforcement in the summer of 2020 during nationwide protests against police brutality after the murder of George Floyd.

“During his time in the White House, we had a partner and a leader,” Yoes said. “We have your back.”

Despite Trump’s status as the only U.S. president in history to be charged or convicted with a felony, the former president used the room of law enforcement officers as a backdrop to attack Harris over crime. “American cities, suburbs and towns are totally under siege. Kamala Harris and the communist left have unleashed a brutal plague of bloodshed, crime, chaos, misery and death upon their land,” Trump said, adding that police are “not allowed to do your jobs.”

Ahead of Trump’s North Carolina trip, the Harris campaign organized a press call with current and former law enforcement officials, including former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who said Trump only supports police when they’re loyal to him. “He put my life and the lives of my fellow Capitol Police officers in danger,” he said.

The Harris campaign also issued a letter signed by more than 100 law enforcement officials across the country, lauding Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as “the only candidates we trust to keep our communities safe” and arguing that Trump “will sow chaos, defund critical law enforcement agencies, and put all Americans at risk.”

The FOP joins other police groups that have already lined up behind Trump, including the National Association of Police Organizations and International Union of Police Associations. [Source]

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Robinson Nonprofit

Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan, The News & Observer, 9/08/24

For the past several months, public records from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services have shown the ongoing scrutiny of the since-closed nonprofit run by Yolanda Hill, the wife of Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.

Robinson is running for governor against Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein. Now new documents obtained by The News & Observer show the federal government may be scrutinizing Balanced Nutrition Inc., too.

Robinson previously worked for Balanced Nutrition, the nonprofit Hill closed in April. DHHS and Balanced Nutrition attorneys have exchanged letters for months about completing annual reports of the nonprofit, which served as the intermediary between childcare centers and government nutrition programs.

In July, the state ordered Balanced Nutrition to pay more than $132,000 for spending related to items without receipts or duplicate receipts, or undocumented spending. DHHS also told The N&O in July that some administrative labor costs, including Hill’s salary, were disallowed due to lack of supporting documentation.

A DHHS spokesperson said the agency had been asked by the Southeast Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service “to provide documentation associated with the Notice of Serious Deficiency and the OIG (Office of Inspector General) complaint received related to Balanced Nutrition, Inc.”

The federal government has not issued subpoenas or requested interviews of N.C. DHHS about Balanced Nutrition.

Robinson and Hill have previously characterized the scrutiny of Balanced Nutrition as being politically motivated because of his candidacy.

Robinson’s campaign spokesperson said previously that Balanced Nutrition would appeal the state’s order to pay $132,000, and that DHHS’ findings were “politically motivated at the core.”

Robinson campaign spokesperson Mike Lonergan confirmed again to The N&O on Friday afternoon that Balanced Nutrition has initiated the appeal process, and pointed to their previous statements. [Source]

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Harris Events

WTVD News, 9/08/24

Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz will hit the campaign trail in key battleground states just days after the ABC News presidential debate. VP Harris’ first stop is planned for North Carolina on Thursday, September 12 and Gov. Walz will be in Michigan on the same day as part of their ‘New Way Forward’ tour. The campaign headquarters hasn’t revealed where in NC that stop will be. The next stop is scheduled for Pennsylvania on Friday.

The visit to the Tar Heel state comes two days after she and former President Donald Trump face off in their first debate of the 2024 election, moderated by ABC News. The debate will take place in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center on Tuesday, Sept. 10. [Source]

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Save the Date

Please plan to be our guest as NC Insider / State Affairs Pro welcomes subscribers to Caffe Luna once more for delicious food and drink, great company and an interesting political conversation. Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, from 5:30-7 p.m. Caffe Luna, 136 E. Hargett St., Raleigh. Registration details to follow.

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Foster Lawsuits

Jennifer Fernandez, Rose Hoban and Taylor Knopf, NC Health News, 9/09/24

A teenaged boy was moved around 18 times in one year, with some placements lasting no more than a day or two. A 7-year-old girl left unsupervised with a 17-year-old boy at a Department of Social Services office was sexually abused. A teenage girl spent nine months in an emergency room, essentially in isolation. A 14-year-old Lumbee boy spent at least three years in a psychiatric residential treatment facility where he said he was bullied and felt unsafe.

These cases and others make for some difficult reading in lawsuits filed as recently as last month against individual counties and North Carolina alleging that the state is failing children, especially those with disabilities, who wind up in the child welfare system.

Not only is the state failing these children, the lawsuits argue that by allowing these conditions to continue and fester, North Carolina is in violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, which outlaws discrimination against people with disabilities, including kids with mental health issues.

Beyond that, the state is in violation of the 1999 U.S. Supreme Court Olmstead decision, which affirmed the Americans with Disabilities Act and went further, saying that people with disabilities have a right to be fully integrated into society, into their communities.

“It is a well-studied problem. It is a well-documented problem,” said Corye Dunn, director of public policy for Disability Rights North Carolina, which filed lawsuits against the state in 2017 and 2022. “It is a problem that many policymakers have expressed concern over, and yet kids are still suffering.”

State officials, lawmakers and advocates all say that North Carolina has been working on improving the system. In an emailed statement to NC Health News on Friday, staff with the state Department of Health and Human Services noted that those efforts range from increasing foster care spaces so children won’t end up in emergency rooms or the offices of county Departments of Social Services, to improving training for new workers.

There’s no easy fix, said Karen McLeod, who runs Benchmarks, an umbrella nonprofit organization that advocates for groups that provide care for children and families. “It is a combination of things that are going to need to be lifted and looked at holistically to be able to move this system to a different place where we don’t have the crisis that you currently see,” she said.

North Carolina landed in this quandary in part because it is one of only nine states in the country with a child welfare system that’s state-supervised, but where the activities of child welfare get performed by agencies in the state’s 100 counties. She noted that of those nine states, North Carolina’s funding is at the very bottom of the heap.

“There is — and will continue to be — tremendous challenges in our foster care system because it is very underfunded,” McLeod said. 

And there are wide disparities between what wealthy counties and their poorer neighboring counties can offer.

After the neglect death of 23-month-old Rylan Ott in early 2016, the 2017 General Assembly passed a child welfare reform bill which included a directive to create a regional supervisory system to offer more support to counties.

The idea behind Rylan’s Law is that regional advisers could provide training, technical assistance and — importantly — more oversight of a smaller number of counties under their purview. But seven years later, that regional system is still being put into place. A lead regional director began work in January this year, and all but one of seven regional director positions has been filled, according to information DHHS shared Friday in an emailed statement.

“County partners are already benefiting from the wealth of knowledge our regional directors bring to these critical positions,” DHHS said in the statement.

But other efforts to continue making changes to the child welfare system have struggled to make headway in the General Assembly.

“With the political will, the General Assembly could fix this,” said Dunn, from Disability Rights NC. “There have been very high-quality proposals in recent years, in the Senate in particular, that could dramatically improve the administration of child welfare services.”

The two legislative chambers have not been able to come together on a plan. Case in point: Senate Bill 625, which received unanimous support in the Senate before getting a complete overhaul in a House committee. The new version sits in the House’s rules committee.

DHHS said in the statement to NC Health News that it supported the version that was passed by the Senate in April 2023 as an “important opportunity to further improve the system by granting NCDHHS additional authority in child welfare cases.” [Source]

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Charter Closure

WFAE Radio, 9/05/24

The school year has just began in Union County but one charter school abruptly closed just before classes started, leaving students and parents in limbo. On Saturday evening, parents learned that Apprentice Academy in Monroe would close its doors before the school year even began. Now 161 students have to find a new home for the 2024-25 school year.

According to a message posted on the school’s website, the number of students dropped sharply, from 201 to 161, between August 26 to August 29. Things continued to get worse for the charter school after the Monore fire marshal informed Apprentice Academy that its certificate of occupancy had expired. The school held an emergency board meeting and determined that the reduced number of students wouldn’t cover the expense of the school year. Board members voted to give up their charter and close the school permanently.

However, the school also noted that Apprentice Academy hadn’t reached its academic goals, and said the school’s poor academic performance was also a factor in closing. [Source]

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Groundwater Rules

Peter Castagno, Port City Daily, 9/06/24

A North Carolina couple is requesting the Department of Environmental Quality set interim rules for eight PFAS compounds to aid groundwater remediation after finding high concentrations of the contaminants in nearby wells. Some New Hanover County residents supported the action due to similar findings.
The Department of Environmental Quality announced it is accepting public comments for proposed interim groundwater limits for eight PFAS compounds Wednesday. The rules — Interim Maximum Allowable Concentrations or “IMACs” — are generally used to set cleanup levels for remediation.

Port City Java CEO Steve Schnitzler told Port City Daily he favored the move. He said he has been pushing for more groundwater testing after his neighbors’ well tests showed PFAS contamination in recent years. He noted multiple samplings at his residence have given contradictory results. “It’s not just the water you are directly drinking,” he said. “Livestock is fed by wells — nobody uses the public water system to water 10,000 chickens — they use well water for that. And if that’s in the well water, then it’s in those animals. We’re bioaccumulating this stuff.”

Janice Gaines — vice president of Rockhill Community Organization — also spoke in favor of interim standards to help remediation efforts. Residents in Rockhill, an unincorporated community in the Castle Hayne area, have pushed for greater connectivity with Cape Fear Public Utility Authority after finding PFAS contamination in their wells.

“The sad thing is for a long time we were struggling with something we didn’t even know was a problem,” she said. “People were getting sick. We just thought it was age or something unfortunate, not even knowing that we had an underlying issue in our water.”

Gaines said many members of her community have suffered from health conditions associated with PFAS exposure. She underwent treatment for rectal cancer decades ago and was diagnosed with thyroid cancer earlier this year. Studies have linked PFAS with cancer cell migration and higher risk of several types of cancers, including a 2023 Mount Sinai study that associated PFAS exposure with thyroid cancer.

Jonathan and Stephanie Gordon — who live in a rural area between Graham and Swepsonville in Alamance County — submitted a request to establish interim PFAS groundwater limits to the Department of Water Resources on July 22. 

“We have all worked hard throughout our careers to be able to provide for our families and have enjoyed our lives out in the country and the privacy, serenity, and peace this area has offered,” Jonathan Gordon wrote to Division of Water Resources director Richard Rogers. “We no longer feel that peace, as our groundwater has been contaminated beyond safe levels. We have lived in these homes for decades and have raised our kids and grandkids on this land, all while drinking the contaminated groundwater.”

Jonathan Gordon is a firefighter in Greensboro and volunteer deputy chief in Swepsonville, who studied occupational health and technology at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. He told Port City Daily he submitted the request after NC State environmental scientist Detlef Knappe and Pittsboro-based nonprofit Haw River Assembly carried out PFAS testing of his well, in addition to five others in the vicinity.

“We got a permit through the county for a well that was less than 50 feet from a field that the City of Graham uses to spray sludge water,” Gordon said. “They came and tested our wells and they had exponential amounts of PFAS.”

Haw River Assembly riverkeeper Emily Sutton told Port City Daily her organization is currently working to determine the source of contamination. “The fact that North Carolina doesn’t have systems in place to protect private well owners is pretty atrocious,” she said. “We don’t have groundwater standards yet to protect them and thats why we want these IMACs.” [Source]

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Enrollment Numbers

Business NC, 9/05/24

UNC Charlotte and East Carolina University reported higher enrollment for this year’s class. Charlotte enrolled 31,091 students for the fall 2024 semester, surpassing the previous record of 30,488 in the fall 2021 semester. The campus had 30,298 students last year, according to UNC System reports. “These record-breaking numbers reflect the outstanding work of our faculty and staff and our commitment to the success of all students, through rising retention and graduation rates,” Chancellor Sharon Gaber said in a release.

ECU said it had a total enrollment of 26,941 for fall 2024. That compares with 26,785 last year, the UNC System said. Total enrollment at ECU peaked at 29,131 in 2017, and had declined over the past three years.

NC State had the largest enrollment in the UNC System last year, with about 37,323 students. UNC Chapel Hill was second at 32,234. Both campuses have much larger graduate enrollment than the Charlotte and Greenville universities, which rank as third- and fourth-largest in the UNC System. [Source]

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Emhoff Event

WRAL News, 9/06/24

Second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, the husband of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, is scheduled to travel Monday to Raleigh. He will be joined by First Lady of Minnesota Gwen Walz, wife of vice presidential candidate Tim Walz. The two will be discussing the 2024 presidential campaign between Harris and Walz and Republican nominee Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance. The campaign stop will focus on reproductive rights. [Source]

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Landfill Pollution

Celeste Gracia, WUNC Radio, 9/06/24

A constant stream of 18-wheeler trucks file into the Sampson County landfill, located next to a small, historically-Black community named Snow Hill. The front of the facility is adorned with lush landscaping. The landfill has a well documented history of air pollution. However, testing by state environmental officials last year found toxic chemicals known as PFAS in the landfill’s groundwater, surface water and leachate, a liquid that’s formed when rain water draws out chemicals from waste. PFAS was also found in nearby private wells, which provide drinking water for residents.

This week, the Southern Environmental Law Center announced a proposed legal agreement with GFL Environmental, the owner and operator of the landfill. Under the settlement, GFL said it will reduce PFAS discharges, establish an air monitoring system for the landfill’s gas emissions, and create a community fund for Snow Hill.

The landfill was established in 1973 despite community outcry. Today, the facility spans nearly 1,000 acres and accepts over 1.8 million tons of waste annually. Trash comes from across North Carolina, which includes business, commercial yard and residential waste.

Last year, the state Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ, began requiring all solid waste sanitary landfills in North Carolina to test for PFAS in their groundwater, surface water and leachate. PFAS are toxic, human-made chemicals highly present in North Carolina waterways. Available research shows PFAS can cause kidney cancer, birth defects and increased cholesterol. [Source]

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Constitution Copy

Jeffrey Collins, The Associated Press, 9/07/24

Historical document appraiser and collector Seth Kaller spreads a broad sheet of paper across a desk. It’s in good enough condition that he can handle it, carefully, with clean, bare hands. There are just a few creases and tiny discolorations, even though it’s just a few weeks shy of 237 years old and has spent who knows how long inside a filing cabinet in North Carolina.

At the top of the first page are familiar words but in regular type, instead of the sweeping Gothic script we’re used to seeing: “WE, the People …”

And the people will get a chance to bid for this copy of the U.S. Constitution – the only of its type thought to be in private hands – at a sale by Brunk Auctions on Sept. 28 in Asheville, North Carolina. The minimum bid for the auction of $1 million has already been made. There is no minimum price that must be reached.

This copy was printed after the Constitutional Convention finished drafting the proposed framework of the nation’s government in 1787 and sent it to the Congress of the ineffective first American government under the Articles of Confederation, requesting they send it to the states to be ratified by the people.

It’s one of about 100 copies printed by the secretary of that Congress, Charles Thomson. Just eight are known to exist and the other seven are publicly owned.

Brunk isn’t sure what the document might go for because there is so little to compare it to. The last time a copy of the Constitution like this sold was for $400 in 1891. In 2021, Sotheby’s of New York sold one of only 14 remaining copies of the Constitution printed for the Continental Congress and delegates to the Constitutional Convention for $43.2 million, a record for a book or document.

The auction listing doesn’t identify the seller, saying it’s part of a collection that is in private hands.

Other items up for auction in Asheville included a 1776 first draft of the Articles of Confederation and a 1788 Journal of the Convention of North Carolina at Hillsborough where representatives spent two weeks debating if ratifying the Constitution would put too much power with the nation instead of the states. [Source]

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Special Forces Rescue

Rachael Riley, The Fayetteville Observer, 9/08/24

The latest round of the Special Forces training exercise, Robin Sage, ended Thursday, with instructors springing into action the week before when an unidentified civilian drove into a pond. Robin Sage is a quarterly unconventional warfare exercise that is the final test for candidates in the Special Forces Qualification Course, spanning multiple North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee counties.

Organized by the Fort Liberty-based Special Warfare Center and School, the exercise involves veterans, volunteers and law enforcement from the communities where the training is held, while candidates are placed in a simulated environment of “political instability characterized by armed conflict,” for “real-world training,” a SWC news release stated last month.

However, members of the cadre, who are instructors and leaders of the course, were faced with a real-world scenario mid-morning Aug. 28 in the Guilford County community of Julian.

Julian resident Mickey Keck, who volunteered his land to be used on the exercise, rapidly approached the cadre of the 1st Special Warfare Training Group on his all-terrain vehicle to tell them the exercise transportation agent was tending to a civilian whose vehicle became submerged in Keck’s pond, an Aug. 28 SWC news release stated. The news release stated that the instructors jumped into the water and pulled the boat and men to shore. The unidentified man was later rushed to a medical facility.

Officials with SWC credited the “quick thinking and actions” of the Robin Sage members and first responders for “saving a life,” while also thanking community partners for providing SWC the space and opportunity to develop future Special Forces soldiers. [Source]

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Home Approval

Renee Spencer, Wilmington StarNews, 9/08/24

A new 10-bedroom home could soon be built on The Point at Oak Island. The Oak Island Town Council approved a special use permit for the home during its regular meeting on August 13, 2024.

Oak Island’s Unified Development Ordinance defines a “large home” as a dwelling with a maximum square footage of 4,000 square feet or greater, and those wishing to build homes of this size must submit an application for a special use permit, a process that includes a quasi-judicial proceeding. An initial application for the property was submitted in 2022.

That application was approved in 2022, but it expired earlier this year. As a result, the property owner, Kuntal Ghandi, had to submit a new application for the project.

Councilmember Bob Ciullo cited his belief that a nearly 5,000-square-foot home would not be in harmony with the island. Councilmember John Bach explained that whether he liked the issue or not, he was required to follow the law. Councilmember Bill Craft agreed with Bach and said he felt the proposed home was “in harmony” with the other properties in the area.

The special-use permit was approved with Bach, Craft, and councilmember Mark Martin voting in favor of the motion to approve, and Ciullo and councilmember Terri Cartner voting against the motion. [Source]