Delegation Chatter: Speaker may support voting provision

Posted on by Jeremy Alford

— SPEAKER MAY BACK VOTING PROVISION: Via The Hill: “Hard-line conservatives expect Speaker Mike Johnson will embrace their favored tactic by bringing a stopgap bill to the House floor next week that includes a proof-of-citizenship voting bill and would extend government funding into 2025. Such a move would not only grant a win to the House GOP’s conservative wing, but would tee up a showdown with the Democratic-controlled Senate and White House, which both object to the voting bill. Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to prevent a shutdown.”

— JNK KEEPS BEATING INFLATION DRUM: Both locally and nationally, U.S. Sen. John Kennedy can’t stop talking about inflation and the role Vice President Kamala Harris has played. Last week, Kennedy visited his hometown to speak to the Zachary Rotary Club and hit his talking points. “Louisianans get up every day and work hard, but thanks to the Biden-Harris administration’s inflation, the American dream is becoming impossible for families to achieve. Our people deserve better than that,” Kennedy during his Rotary speech. On average, Kennedy told the crowd inflation has cost Louisiana households $23,954 since 2021, and prices for all consumer goods are now 21 percent higher in Louisiana than when the Biden Administration took over. Appearing a few days later on Fox News, Kennedy added, “In America today, it is harder than ever to get ahead. And it is easier than ever to do nothing. I still think the economy, inflation, and this campaign is going to be the main issue. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been inflation machines. What is Ms. Harris’ plan to reduce prices? She doesn’t have one.”

— GRAVES HELPS AIRPORTS SOAR: Congressman Garret Graves, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Aviation, is helping steer $51 million awarded to Louisiana airports by the Federal Aviation Administration. More than 55 percent, or $28 million, is dedicated to airports represented by Graves. “The safety and resilience of Louisiana airports is critical to passenger safety, economic development, business growth, and builds on the billions in federal funding we’ve secured in infrastructure investments,” Graves said. “As I keep saying, we’re running through the tape, and we won’t complete this term without exhausting all our energy on securing wins for our great state.” Funding in the district went to Baton Rouge Metro Airport, Houma-Terrebonne Airport and Harry William Memorial Airport.

— LETLOW MAINTAINING FOCUS ON MILITARY: As federal lawmakers prepare to return to Capitol Hill next week, Congresswoman Julia Letlow said she’s standing by her promise to honor current and former military in this year’s Defense Appropriations Act. The legislation, which Letlow helped mold as an Appropriations member, includes a 4.5 percent pay increase, among other provisions. “I will always work to make sure our veterans are taken care of and shown the respect that they deserve,” said Letlow.

— CARTER DELIVERS FOR NEW ORLEANS EAST: Congressman Troy Carter is finally seeing the fruits of 17 federal awards he has championed for New Orleans East and the 9th Ward. These grants focus on environmental justice, community and economic development, and building stronger, more resilient infrastructure. “Before being elected congressman, I spent a great deal of time listening to the needs of our communities as a state legislator and city councilman. Here in New Orleans East and the Lower 9th Ward, I heard about a lack of recreational activities and infrastructure investment, as well as a feeling that these areas were not prioritized for disaster recovery,” said Carter. “Today is just the beginning, these projects will require ongoing collaboration and commitment from every one of us. We have shown that working together makes incredible things possible.”

— CASSIDY RESPONDS TO WSJ DRILLING OP-ED: Via Fox Business: “Federal courts and the climate lobby are waging ‘war’ on the American oil worker by blocking fracking permits, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy told FOX Business in response to a recent piece from the Wall Street Journal editorial board on Tuesday. The WSJ article homed in on restrictions placed on offshore drilling, emphasizing, in particular, a recent court ruling from Federal Judge Deborah Boardman which could, in their words, ‘stop almost all offshore oil production in the Gulf of Mexico.’ ‘When the courts do these actions. They are against the American worker. They are against the American economy. They’re also, by the way, since U.S. natural gas helps lower global greenhouse gas emissions. They’re against the world environment. And they also say they’re against our allies because our gas supports countries like Germany. It’s overactive courts doing a heck of a lot of damage,’ Cassidy told Stuart Varney.”

— SCALISE UNIMPRESSED WITH ANTI-ISRAEL VOICES: Via Fox News: “House Republican leaders are vowing to push back on anti-Israel protests that are once again taking over college campuses as students return for the fall semester. It comes as activists have already begun defacing property and staging demonstrations at Columbia University in New York City, which was a hotbed of controversial activity in the spring. ‘There should be a zero tolerance policy for antisemitic violence on campus that targets Jewish students. If universities won’t hold protestors accountable, Congress will,’ Majority Leader Steve Scalise told Fox News Digital. ‘Just last month, we subpoenaed several Columbia University officials, and we will continue our investigations and take action on the floor as students return to campus.'”

Investigating the Investigators: Higgins, others taking on the FBI

Posted on by Jeremy Alford

One month ago, Congressman Clay Higgins told the Federal Bureau of Investigation he wanted to personally examine the body of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old who was killed during his attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

As one of seven Republicans on a special House task force looking into the matter, Higgins also visited the site of the shooting in Pennsylvania and is promising a “boots on the ground” approach to his role.

Higgins, however, was denied an inspection of Crooks’ body — because there was no body to inspect. The FBI had already released Crooks for cremation.

Last week, Higgins said he isn’t taking his foot off the gas and he won’t back down from his mission just because it’s the FBI.

“Once again, the FBI is lying,” said Higgins. “It is 100 percent not standard procedure to cremate a body at the center of a major criminal investigation before a following investigative authority has had an opportunity to examine that body, when the FBI is very much aware that a following investigative authority is coming right behind them. Same thing with a crime scene.”

The shooting took place in July, with the initial blame being largely assigned to the Secret Service, but policymakers like Higgins and Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson are becoming increasingly agitated by the FBI’s role and response.

“The FBI is acting like they’re royalty,” Higgins said last week. “They. Are. Not. But that’s all right, it’s cool. Best served cold, actually. I’ll have these oppressors of truth before Congress.”

Howey Daily Wire Sept. 4, 2024

Posted on by Howey Politics Indiana

Welcome!

In a contest that will be decided tonight in Jasper, a top Indiana State Police official and two Dubois County officeholders are among four candidates vying to replace Republican Mark Messmer in the state Senate, State Affairs reports. And Judge Terry A. Crone announced he is retiring from the state appeals court. More news below. — Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs

Today: 4 candidates vie to fill Messmer’s state Senate seat — Republican precinct committee members from Senate District 48 will meet this evening in Jasper to decide who will fill the last two years of Mark Messmer’s Senate term running through the November 2026 election. (Davies, State Affairs)

New Lugar statue debuts in the shadow of a stadium he made safer: Brian Howey of State Affairs reports on the ceremony for the new statue of the late U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, and how the former Indianapolis mayor’s passion — and compassion — made the world a safer place after the fall of the Soviet Union.

STATE

Appeals Court Judge Terry Crone retiring after 20 years: Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Terry A. Crone announced he will retire effective Nov. 5 after 20 years as a member of the court, becoming the second this year to retire among the 15 appeals court judges. (Davies, State Affairs)

Former DCS attorney suspended for forging signatures in CHINS cases: Robert Miller, a former Indiana Department of Child Services staff attorney, has been suspended from the practice of law for forging family case managers’ names to Child in Need of Services petitions while he worked for the state agency. (Shrake, Inside Indiana Business)

‘Anti-vaccine sentiment’ results in less coverage for Indiana toddlers: Doctors are sounding the alarm after more than 40% of Indiana’s toddlers did not get their recommended vaccines last year. (Molloy, MirrorIndy)

IEDC to target semiconductor innovation and launch new Taiwan office: A news release announced Indiana Secretary of Commerce David Rosenberg will lead an economic delegation to Taiwan “to showcase Indiana’s future-focused economy and cultivate partnership opportunities to advance semiconductor R&D, production and applications in advanced manufacturing, technology and AI.” (Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs)

Indiana Farm Bureau president talks water, taxes, internet: Mitzi S. Morris of Inside Indiana Business interviewed Randy Kron, president of the Indiana Farm Bureau.

IU awards its millionth degree: Indiana University announced it has awarded 1 million degrees to students across the globe with degrees conferred during the summer 2024 term. (Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs)

Weakening farm income prospects weigh on farmer sentiment: The August Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer dropped 13 points from July to a reading of 100, echoing levels seen from fall 2015 to winter 2016 during the early stages of a significant downturn in the U.S. farm economy, according to a news release. (Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs)

Condoleezza Rice voices concerns about defense preparedness at Economic Club of Indiana luncheon: Condoleezza Rice, who served as U.S. secretary of state from 2005 to 2009, said she would prioritize her foreign policy efforts on the Middle East and Iran, Venezuela and Russia if she were still in her former position. (Charron, IBJ)

LOCAL

Tippecanoe County extends water moratorium for another year: The Tippecanoe County Commissioners extended the existing water moratorium until September 2025 to give the General Assembly an opportunity to pass related legislation during the upcoming session. (Martorano. WLFI-TV)

St. Joseph County Commissioners fire attorney over alleged assault report: A judge candidate’s alleged assault of his brother has led St. Joseph County Commissioners to effectively fire their attorney. (Parrott, WVPE-FM)

IEDC still looking for buyers for portion of Indy’s GM stamping plant property: The Indiana Economic Development Corp. says it’s keeping options open for the sale of a large chunk of the former General Motors stamping plant site along the White River. (Shuey, IBJ)

Michigan City EDC releases strategic plan: Economic Development Corp. Michigan City released a new strategic action plan that sets goals through 2040 to build on the city’s recent momentum, including a nascent building boom downtown that is raising up several new high-rises. (Pete, NWI Times)

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Davis: ‘Hopefully we can find solutions’ on school discipline concerns — State Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, a member of a summer study committee that will delve further into the increase of disciplinary issues in schools across the state, said “Hopefully we can find solutions that can help and support our schools and the discipline issues that they’re having,” Davis said. (Lehmkuhl, Daily Journal)

Waltz reflects on prison, regrets plea deal: Former state Sen. Brent Waltz, R-Greenwood, claims his conviction for violating campaign finance laws and making false statements to the FBI was due to unfair targeting by the federal government. (Hedrick, WIBC-FM)

Tomorrow: Roads study committee to meet — The Interim Study Committee on Roads and Transportation will meet at 1:30 p.m. in Room 404 at the Statehouse, according to a calendar notice. (Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs)

CONGRESS

Young, Braun among 10 most bipartisan Republicans in Senate: Data from the Lugar Center and McCourt School of Public Policy indicate there was a slight uptick in bipartisanship in 2023, with Indiana U.S. Sens. Todd Young (5th) and Mike Braun (9th) making the list of the ten most bipartisan Republicans in the Senate. (24/7WallSt)

House Foreign Affairs Committee chair subpoenas Blinken over Afghanistan withdrawal: House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul. R-Texas, subpoenaed Secretary of State Antony Blinken for what he described as a “refusal” to testify on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. (The Hill)

Congressional schedule: The Senate and House are out.

CAMPAIGNS

Vanderburgh County Democrats report ‘whole different level of excitement’ for Harris: Cheryl Schultz, chair of the Vanderburgh County Democratic Party, said “We’re having just a ton of requests for Kamala Harris yard signs … It kind of reminds us of 2008, some of that energy.” Barack Obama narrowly defeated John McCain in the county during the 2008 presidential contest. (Langhorne, Courier & Press)

House and Senate Republicans are starting to panic about a huge money gap with Democrats: The leader of House Republicans’ biggest super PAC told donors last month he needed $35 million more to compete with Democrats in the fall. (Politico)

Harris campaign, DNC announce unprecedented down-ballot spending: Kamala Harris’ campaign and the Democratic National Committee are sending nearly $25 million to support down-ballot Democrats — an earlier investment and far more money than the top of the ticket has sent in past election years. (Politico)

PRESIDENTIAL 2024

Biden signals more robust campaign schedule as Trump-Harris race heats up: President Joe Biden is slated to continue a September swing through Rust Belt battleground states, with stops later this week in Wisconsin and Michigan — and signaled he will be on the road more often. (Roll Call)

Poll: Tight race in Michigan — A new WDIV/Detroit News survey conducted between Aug. 26 and Aug. 29 found the presidential race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is a statistical toss-up.

NATION

Stocks decline in broad retreat on fears of slowdown: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 626 points and Nasdaq slumped 3.3% after data showed signs of weakness in the manufacturing sector. (The Wall Street Journal)

US manufacturing activity shrinks for 5th straight month: U.S. manufacturing activity shrank in August for a fifth month, reflecting faster rates of declines in orders and production. (Bloomberg)

White House schedule: President Joe Biden will receive the Daily Brief in the morning. Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Portsmouth, N.H., to deliver remarks at an afternoon campaign event before returning to Washington, D.C.

Opinion: Urban growth dominates US economy — and puts rural places at risk

Posted on by Michael Hicks

MUNCIE, Ind. — About 3% of the land area of the United States lies in cities. However, that area produces more than 91% of the gross domestic product and has absorbed more than 100% of national population growth for a century.

Over 8 out of 10 Americans live in large metropolitan areas. Moreover, the average urban worker produces about 25% more goods and services each year than the average rural worker, making urban workers remarkably more productive and valuable to their employers.

This phenomenon inspires a couple of key questions: Why are urban places so productive, and what could public policy do to extend some urban benefits to more rural places?

On the face of it, cities are an unnatural place to locate a home or business. They are congested and relatively expensive. In the distant past, it might have made sense to cluster together for common defense or to take advantage of ports or other natural resources. In the developed world, at least, these reasons no longer matter.

After a century and a half of serious study, economists have circled around the belief that modern cities exist for two major reasons: Their size provides them with a productivity advantage, and cities attract more productive workers.

Bigger places are more productive because the physical proximity of workers and businesses offers a magic juice to productivity, called “agglomerations.” There are many explanations for this phenomenon. Even with modern video teleconferencing, face-to-face contact provides enormous benefits to most work. That should be unsurprising because we’ve evolutionarily adapted to read facial expressions and body language and communicate in subtle ways that Zoom or a phone cannot capture.

Businesses also benefit from proximity because they can access dense labor markets with more talent and experience. Workers benefit from those same dense labor markets because they offer an opportunity to change jobs more readily.

Agglomerations also result in “spillovers” of innovation. For example, despite the marvels of modern information management, patent citations (secondary innovation) are more likely to occur from within the same city than outside of it. That happens because of human interactions.

Finally, agglomeration economies benefit from public goods and services. They include the availability of transportation, access to advanced telecommunications, the proximity of air service and, most especially, the availability of schools and research universities. Their abundance in urban places is a magnet for talent.

Urban places attract a disproportionate share of highly skilled workers. We call that sorting. Research completed over the past couple of decades suggests sorting has become much more important than agglomerations in explaining wage and productivity differences among regions.

One way to illustrate that is to see how much educational attainment and population density affected wages in 1970 and again 50 years later — note, I use 2019 to dodge pandemic distortions. In both years, about half of wage variation among U.S. counties was explained simply by the share of adults with a bachelor’s degree and how many people were located per square mile in a county.

In 1970 and 2019, population density improved wages of workers. But the difference in educational effects was stunning. In 1970, accounting for inflation, a 5% bump in college completion boosted overall annual wages by roughly $36 per year, or just over 0.5%. But in 2019, a 5% bump in the share of adults with a college degree raised average wages by $2,810, or roughly 5.5%.

That result might stun a few folks because it tells a story that is precisely the opposite of what we often hear about college degrees and wages. It is a paradox that education becomes more important as more people become educated.

In the half-century after 1970, the share of American adults with a bachelor’s degree more than doubled. Yet the wage effects of increasing educational attainment within a county grew by more than twentyfold.

Both for individuals and cities, a college degree is more important today than ever before. The regional benefits from even a modest boost in educational attainment have never been more substantial than they are today. So, what can more rural places do to take advantage of that fact?

The single most obvious and oft-repeated advice, which appears in this column about every month, is to develop and fund an educational system that sends more people to college. A big portion of that is naturally how good the K-12 system is in preparing kids for postsecondary education.

Rural places are not especially good at that. In Indiana, about 1 in 5 school corporations, or close to half of rural corporations, fail to offer advanced placement courses in calculus, chemistry or biology. Students graduating from these high schools aren’t fully prepared for most college curriculums.

This shortfall is really a matter of funding. Until rural schools find resources to offer the classes that were routinely available to urban students a half-century ago, rural residents should expect to see population decline over the next century.

The second thing rural places can do is ensure their communities are places where educated people wish to live. This is an especially ripe opportunity now that broadband communications are nearly everywhere and about a quarter of college graduates work from home.

High-performing schools are the No. 1 residential attractor, so well-funded, competitive local schools offer a two-for-one in improving educational attainment.

Urban places, particularly large ones, continue to dominate the American economy. They increasingly do so by attracting a disproportionate share of well-educated workers. This trend has accelerated throughout most of the last half-century and shows some signs of acceleration.

The good news for rural places is that the benefits of density or agglomerations matter a bit less than they used to, while education matters much, much more.

The bad news is that only about a third of states, and very few rural counties, are doing anything serious about this trend.

Michael J. Hicks, Ph.D., is the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research and the George and Frances Ball distinguished professor of economics in the Miller College of Business at Ball State University. Contact him at [email protected].

Insider for September 4, 2024

Posted on by NC Insider

YOU DON’T SAY

“‘Did you come up with the song just to make money?’ Yes. Yes, I did. But it is a true story.”

Louis Money, the lead vocalist of Trailer Park Orchestra, on a song he wrote about time he claims to have spent with Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson decades ago. (WRAL News, 9/03/24)

Flood Blueprint
Matthew Sasser, State Affairs Pro, 9/03/24 

The North Carolina Flood Blueprint Resiliency Tool is in a testing window for an anticipated release to the public this spring.  The tool will better define flood extent and exposure in areas around the state. It will also incorporate improved and updated modeling from hundreds of data points and assess future flooding, precipitation changes and sea level rise.  Local governments, flood plain planners and managers, state agencies, policymakers, soil and water conservation districts and the general public are expected to be the primary users of this tool, which is key to the success of the North Carolina Flood Resiliency Blueprint, according to North Carolina Flood Resiliency Manager Stu Brown.  

“These large-scale events have become more frequent and more damaging over the last decade and are projected again to be even more damaging and more frequent in future years,” Brown said about the impetus of this tool to the Agriculture and Forestry Awareness Study Commission Friday.  The big-picture goals of the blueprint, according to Brown, will reduce cost and complexity for local governments and lead to a set of prioritized projects and funding strategies to implement to prepare for flooding events.

Brown said conversations with other state leaders have indicated North Carolina should look to Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan for inspiration.  Mandated in 2005 and delivered two years later, the Louisiana Coastal Master Plan is “robust and data driven,” according to Brown. It has directed billions of dollars to the state to reduce flood risk. Brown oversaw the 2023 version of that plan when he was Louisiana’s spokesman for that iteration.

Louisiana has a 15-year head start, so there is an urgency to get North Carolina up to speed, Brown said.  “When we talk about resilience, it’s important to point out that we’re not just talking about trying to reduce the extent and severity of flooding,” he said. “We’re also trying to bolster the systems that allow communities to recover more quickly.” 

While the Louisiana plan is focused on risk reduction, Brown said North Carolina’s plan for resilience is much broader.  “Resilience is going to be the result of decisions made by individuals, landowners, local governments up to the state agencies and, of course, our federal partners,” Brown said. 

Phase 1 of the Flood Resiliency Blueprint was completed with the delivery of a draft in March. A gap analysis was conducted to identify the existing information available and the data needed by state agencies.

The ongoing Phase 2 of the blueprint includes the development and implementation of the tool. According to a 2022 study from North Carolina State University, 68% of flood damage reports were outside of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s high-risk flood zones in 2020 and … 16% of damage reports were in unmapped locations. 

“That is because the standard regulatory flood mapping process is limited,” Brown said, noting the tool uses improved methodologies from North Carolina Emergency Management and many other agencies to capture rain-based flooding and other data points.

Brown compared a regulatory floodplain map with a map with the updated North Carolina Emergency Management data during his presentation to the commission.  “If we use that [the regulatory map] to make our decisions, we’re leaving out an awful lot of areas that are exposed to flooding,” Brown said.

The final version of the North Carolina Flood Blueprint Resiliency Tool will integrate forecasted changes, will be scalable from local to statewide and will include new data as it becomes available, Brown concluded.  The presentation also included a list of completed awards totaling $17 million to various river basins.

The list was not displayed in a hierarchical order, so Rep. Jeffrey C. McNeely, R-Iredell, asked if that data would be included in the tool so legislators could identify the areas of greatest need.  “That is absolutely the goal of the tool,” Brown said. “We know there’s a lot of need out there and we’re going to be able to find a lot of good projects without waiting for the tool to be completed. Once we have the tool [in the spring], that is going to be really informative to [the] next set of projects.”  

UNC Power
Adam Wagner, The News & Observer, 9/03/24

UNC-Chapel Hill is seeking an air permit that would allow it to experiment with supplanting coal with pellets made of paper and plastic scraps at its Cogeneration power plant on Cameron Avenue.

University officials want to start the yearlong trial in 2025, burning pellets manufactured by Wisconsin company Convergen Energy. If the trial is deemed successful, the university would burn the pellets instead of coal to generate steam and power.

In an Aug. 14 press release, UNC Energy Services Executive Director Tony Millette said, “As part of our ongoing commitment to the campus Climate Action Plan, we are pleased to take this next step in the process of building a more modern, sustainable fuel portfolio.” But some are wary of the pellet proposal, viewing burning anything to generate the campus’ energy as a half measure that comes with significant potential risks.

UNC has asked DEQ to grant it a construction permit that would allow it to burn the fuel pellets for a 12-month trial period. Then, within a year, the university would seek an updated air quality permit for the power plant.

Kym Meyer, a Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney, said local governments and community members have been meeting with UNC officials for more than a year to discuss the future of the power plant. Community members have gone into those meetings, Meyer said, with the goal of convincing UNC to shutter the plant altogether and reclaim the rail line that runs to it. “This is a moment where we can make a really important, big transition,” Meyer said, “and moving from one thing to something else that’s slightly less bad but still requires use of the rail line just seems really short-sighted.”

In 2010, then-UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp said the school would cease burning coal at the cogeneration facility by 2020. The school experimented with adding wood pellets to its fuel mix shortly after, but did not pursue that as a permanent solution.

UNC leaders publicly moved away from the 2020 target by early 2016. Instead, they said, UNC would seek to be “greenhouse gas neutral” by 2050.

A 2021 update to UNC’s Climate Action Plan moved the target date for net neutrality up to 2040. As part of that, the plan said UNC intends to eliminate coal use “as quickly as is technically and financially feasible.” No target date was given.

The plan also said the university would explore alternative fuels and potentially carbon capture. UNC has said the steam plant plays a critical role for UNC Medical Center and for research on campus. That means the fuel source needs to be reliable, there need to be backup options and fuel must be stored on-site, the school said in the 2021 update.

Convergen Energy’s pellets are made with material from about 100 different companies such as Georgia-Pacific, Hallmark and Waste Management. Convergen’s website says the pellets are made using products like sludge from paper mills, packaging materials and corrugated containers. Without the pellets. the company says, those materials would be sent to landfills.

Burning the pellets allows plants that were using coal or natural gas to achieve lower carbon dioxide emissions, according to a Convergen presentation attached to UNC’s application

Meyer, the SELC attorney, said localized air pollution and potential emissions of forever chemicals would be among her concerns with the proposal. “We do appreciate that the university’s trying to reduce its carbon emissions, but this just doesn’t seem like the way to do that,” Meyer said.

Perrin de Jong, the Center for Biological Diversity’s North Carolina staff attorney, called the proposal “very stupid.” The Center for Biological Diversity has unsuccessfully challenged UNC’s power plant in federal court. Moving away from coal to a paper-and-plastic pellet is effectively trading one carbon-intensive energy source for another, de Jong argued, while adding pollutants from plastic.

“If they want to say that they’re going green by burning wood fiber and plastic trash, they’ve got another thing coming,” de Jong said in an interview, also expressing concerns about odor that could come from the plastic that’s being burned.

UNC also raised the possibility of Convergen opening a pellet manufacturing facility in North Carolina if the school switches to the fuel source permanently. The state has ample supplies of the raw materials that go into the pellets, the release said, and a nearby manufacturing facility would ensure “a reliable local supply.”

In order to obtain the permit, UNC needs the Town of Chapel Hill to affirm that the proposal is consistent with existing zoning. [Source]  

Contempt Charge
Gary D. Robertson, The Associated Press, 9/03/24

A North Carolina judge wrongly found a potential juror in criminal contempt for refusing to wear a mask in 2022 due to COVID-19, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday. The three-judge Court of Appeals panel agreed unanimously to reverse the order against Gregory Hahn, saying in part that his actions didn’t interrupt court proceedings. Hahn had received a 24-hour jail sentence from Superior Court Judge Winston Gilchrist in October 2022. He asked that the state’s intermediate-level court hear his case.

The judge in 2022 declared that Hahn had been ordered three times to wear a mask. Gilchrist’s order also found that Hahn “willfully behaved in a contemptuous manner” and his conduct harmed the respect that the court’s authority was due.

According to Tuesday’s opinion, the Harnett County Courthouse at the time was under a mask directive — signed in part by Gilchrist — that said masks were optional in common areas and meeting rooms, but judges had discretion to require masks inside their courtrooms.

Hahn reported for jury duty and was directed to a jury assembly room. When a courthouse worker asked him there to wear a mask, he declined. He was removed from the room and taken to a courtroom where Gilchrist told him about the mask requirement in his courtroom where he’d be a potential juror and in the jury assembly room. Hahn responded that “with all due respect, I will not be wearing a mask, sir.” He was found in contempt after Gilchrist warned him about the potential punishments.

Writing the prevailing opinion, Court of Appeals Judge Michael Stading said the elements of criminal contempt weren’t present in this case. Hahn did not disrupt court, Stading wrote, pointing out that he was not a participant in ongoing proceedings in a courtroom and was respectful to Gilchrist.

The masking directive was also invalid because it came several months after state Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby issued a statewide order revoking all pandemic emergency directives, including those giving discretion to local courts, according to Stading.

Even so, there is nothing sufficient to support findings that Hahn “could have known his discussion with the courthouse employee in the jury assembly room might directly interrupt proceedings or interfere with the court’s order or business,” Stading wrote. Judge April Wood agreed with Stading’s opinion. Judge Jefferson Griffin agreed with the outcome but wrote a separate opinion.

The state Supreme Court could now hear the cause if there are further appeals, but the justices aren’t required to do so. [Source]  

RFK Funding
Will Doran, WRAL News, 9/03/24 

Billionaire investor and television personality Mark Cuban helped fund the legal battle that allowed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy to stay on the ballot in North Carolina, Cuban said Monday, shedding some light on the often-secretive world of political activity by the uber-wealthy. But now that Kennedy is suing a second time, Cuban indicated he’s not interested in helping again with that latest fight. Kennedy is now trying to get off the ballot, just three weeks after winning his battle to get on the ballot. 

Cuban said Kennedy’s campaign organization in North Carolina, the newly formed We The People Party, asked a group called the Center for Competitive Democracy for help in Kennedy’s initial legal battle to stay on the ballot in North Carolina. WRAL previously reported the nonprofit group’s role in backing Kennedy’s lawsuit. But it wasn’t previously known who pays the bills for the group, which like many nonprofits is allowed to keep its donors secret.

“I help fund [the Center for Competitive Democracy],” Cuban wrote on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. “I’m not a fan of the two party system and [the CCD] helps get candidates on ballots. And we are good at it.” The Center for Competitive Democracy also led the successful lawsuit on behalf of another third party presidential candidate, Cornel West, to get on the ballot in North Carolina. 

Cuban added that he continues to support voters having more choices in November, indicating he wouldn’t also now support Kennedy’s efforts to get off the ballot — which come just weeks after Kennedy got onto the ballot in this key swing state. Kennedy won the legal battle to stay on the ballot in North Carolina three weeks ago.

The president of the Center for Competitive Democracy, Oliver B. Hall, represented Kennedy in that fight against the North Carolina Democratic Party, which sought to keep him off the ballot, citing concerns about Kennedy’s party’s eligibility. Hall confirmed on Tuesday that Cuban has helped fund his group’s efforts — and that the Center for Competitive Democracy is not involved in Kennedy’s newest efforts to get off the ballot. A week after winning the lawsuit to stay on the North Carolina ballot in mid-August, Kennedy dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump. He then began his efforts to get off the ballot in North Carolina. Polling showed his campaign was taking more votes away from Republican Donald Trump than from Democrat Kamala Harris. 

The state elections board denied Kennedy’s request to get off the ballot on Thursday in a partisan 3-2 vote. The board’s three Democratic members chose to keep Kennedy on the ballot over the objections of the two Republican members. Kennedy sued the state on Friday to get off the ballot — this time with different lawyers, not from the Cuban-backed Center for Competitive Democracy. In his lawsuit, Kennedy takes issue with the State Election Board’s reasoning that it can’t take him off the ballot because ballots are already being printed. By the end of this week, North Carolina must start sending mail-in ballots to voters who have requested them. 

“I don’t feel bad that he can’t get off the ballot,” Cuban wrote Monday. 

Kennedy’s lawyers in his newest effort include Phil Strach, a Raleigh attorney who frequently represents Republican Party leaders in court, and a New York law firm whose website touts experience in civil rights and anti-vaccine litigation. [Source]  

Video Allegations
Brian Murphy and Paul Specht, WRAL News, 9/03/24 

Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson’s campaign is dismissing as “Democrat activist fan fiction” published reports that Robinson was a regular at multiple Greensboro-area pornographic video stores two decades ago. Online magazine The Assembly first reported the claims about Robinson, citing six men who said Robinson worked at a nearby pizza shop and routinely visited the stores. The Robinson campaign forcefully rejected the claims made in the story.

The Assembly’s article relied heavily on statements from a former Greensboro porn shop worker, Louis Money. Robinson is not accused of doing anything illegal and watching pornography isn’t illegal in North Carolina. “It’s a categorical ‘no’ to all the ridiculous allegations made by The Assembly based on the word of a man with a long history of drug dealing and criminal charges who will do anything for free publicity and free pizza,” Robinson campaign spokesman Mike Lonergan said in a statement.

Robinson’s campaign acknowledged that the men know each other but indicated it’s from Robinson’s former job at a local Papa John’s restaurant, nothing more. “The person making the false and completely unsubstantiated allegations used to loiter at the restaurant and ask for free pizza, and that’s the extent of it,” Lonergan said in his statement.

The latest allegations came to light after a little-known Greensboro-area rock band posted a song called “The Lt. Governor Owes Me Money” earlier this year to YouTube and other websites. Louis Money, the lead vocalist of Trailer Park Orchestra, told WRAL that the song is a “true story about me and Mark Robinson from about 20 years ago.”

“I’m promoting my band,” Money told WRAL on Tuesday. “I’ll be the first to admit because people are asking me, well, ‘Did you come up with the song just to make money?’ Yes. Yes, I did. But it is a true story.” [Source]  

Nurses Strike
Joel Burgess, The Asheville Citizen Times, 9/03/24

Registered nurses at Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C. voted 97% in favor of authorizing their nurse bargaining team to call a strike, should they deem it necessary in bargaining with HCA Healthcare over pay, staffing and safety issues, according to National Nurses United which represents the Mission nurses.

NNU made the announcement Sept. 2. Voting started Aug. 25.

According to NNU, the nurses have not reached an agreement with HCA on key nurse proposals regarding nurse retention and ensuring meal and rest breaks. RNs say those demands are essential to safe, high-quality patient care at their hospital.

HCA/Mission spokesperson Nancy Lindell said it was “fully expected that the union would claim overwhelming support” for a strike, saying it was a “common bargaining tactic.”

“The union has seemed intent on striking long before bargaining began,” Lindell said.

But Kerri Wilson, a registered nurse at Mission, said the nurses have one goal when they come to the bargaining table: “to ensure a strong contract so that every patient gets the highest quality of care. “But it is clear that HCA is more invested in maximizing profits than ensuring we have the staff and the resources to protect our patients’ safety. With this strike authorization vote, we are making it clear to HCA that we will do whatever needs to be done to improve patient care,” Wilson said.

A strike vote does not mean that a strike is currently scheduled. But the vote authorizes the bargaining team of nurse representatives to call a strike, which could happen during negotiations. If nurses decide to move forward with a strike, federal law requires they give hospital management 10 days’ notice to allow time for planning for patient care. At any time in the process, the nurses have the option of calling off the strike if an agreement with HCA is reached. [Source]
Blue Cross NCSave 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.
Affordable Housing
DJ Simmons, 9/03/24 

Federal tax credits and other financial awards will help to create more than $1.1 billion dollars in affordable apartments across 25 counties in North Carolina this year. The funding will help produce more than 4,000 privately owned and managed attainable units, including more than 3,000 apartments for families and around 400 targeted for people with disabilities. 

North Carolina Housing Finance Agency Executive Director Scott Farmer says these are important investments in local communities but still a drop in the bucket for what the state needs. “We’re celebrating this year’s accomplishments, and recognizing the hard work of the folks that are putting this housing on the ground, but also acknowledging that, you know, this is but one piece of the puzzle,” Farmer says. “And we’ve all got to work together to try and figure out other ways that we can increase the housing stock, improve our existing housing stock, to keep pace with the growing need.” Fifty projects across the state were approved for tax credits or tax-exempt bonds including three developments in Winston-Salem and two in Greensboro. [Source]  

Charlotte Rail
Steve Harrison, WFAE Radio, 9/03/24 

The Charlotte City Council voted 10-1 Tuesday night in favor of two major transit initiatives. Council members voted to spend $91 million buying the disused Norfolk Southern freight railroad from uptown to the Iredell County line. Having possession of those tracks is a key step toward building the long-delayed Red Line, a commuter train to Lake Norman.

The rail company’s refusal to sell or share the tracks has held up the Red Line for years. But to actually build the train, the city needs an influx of money. Council members also voted to ask state legislators in Raleigh for permission to place a 1-cent sales tax increase on the ballot to pay for a multi-billion dollar transportation plan. If Raleigh says yes, a referendum could be on the ballot in Novemer 2025. The current draft legislation calls for no more than 40% of new sales tax revenue to be spent on rail transit.

That’s down from about 80% to 90% in previous plans. Having less money for rail transit led city of Charlotte officials to tell the town of Matthews they wouldn’t have enough money to build the Silver Line light rail to the town. The city has said it could build bus rapid transit in the Independence Boulevard corridor instead, That’s been a controversial decision. Council member Lawana Mayfield, who voted yes on both measures, said the city needs a transparent process for deciding how the money would be spent.

“I just want to make sure that it’s very clear that in this decision tonight we are not making any commitments of what the final ask is going to be,” she said. Council member Marjorie Molina represents east Charlotte, which would lose out if the Silver Line was not built. She backed the plan and stressed that east Charlotte would get better bus service under the plan. Council member Tariq Bokhari was the lone no vote. He has questioned the governing structure of a new transit authority that would replace the city-run Charlotte Area Transit System. [Source]  

Broadband Needs
News Release, 9/03/24 

Tuesday, Gov. Roy Cooper urged North Carolina local and tribal governments, nonprofits and broadband service providers to help identify areas across the state that need better access to high-speed internet. These organizations are encouraged to submit data challenging eligible locations for inclusion in the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, which launches in early 2025.

The program provides $1.53 billion to North Carolina to bring high-speed internet infrastructure to unserved and underserved locations across the state. The BEAD Challenge Process allows entities defined by the National Telecommunications and Information Association to provide input to ensure that the BEAD program’s eligible locations map accurately represents residents’ and businesses’ high-speed internet access needs.

Individuals may submit data via the Consumer Input website at register.broadband.nc.gov/map-correction to eligible challenging organizations that can submit location challenges on their behalf. “All North Carolinians need access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet so they can work remotely, access online learning opportunities, benefit from telehealth services and build a stronger digital economy for our state,” said Cooper. “I encourage everyone to share feedback to help us achieve internet for all.” 

The N.C. Department of Information Technology’s Division of Broadband and Digital Equity officially launched the BEAD Challenge Process today, and the deadline to submit challenges is Thursday, Oct. 3. Local governments, tribal governments, nonprofits and broadband service providers may register on the division’s website at ncbroadband.gov/BEADchallenge. The site also includes a user guide and downloadable data files that provide current broadband serviceable locations classified as unserved, underserved or served, as well as community anchor institutions.  

FreeEnterprise Rating
The Jacksonville Daily News, 9/03/24

Sen. Michael Lazzara, R-Onslow, has been awarded an objective score of 100% by the North Carolina FreeEnterprise Foundation (NCFREE) in their annual Legislative Business Ratings. Lazzara’s score highlights his unwavering commitment to promoting a pro-business environment in North Carolina, advocating for policies that support free enterprise, job creation, and economic growth, according to a Tuesday press release from his office.

NCFREE’s Legislative Business Ratings are a resource for business leaders, the media, and the public, offering insights into whether lawmakers are supportive of a free-market economy and minimal government intervention in business the release said.

“I’m honored to receive a 100% score from the NC FreeEnterprise Foundation,” Lazzara said in the release. “By supporting our businesses, we’re not just promoting a strong, free-market economy. We’re also driving job creation and opportunity for everyone in our community.” [Source]  

Mall Redevelopment
Mary Ramsey, The Charlotte Observer, 9/03/24

Charlotte is moving toward putting more public money into Eastland Yards. The City Council’s economic development committee voted unanimously Tuesday to support paying an additional $11.3 million for the redevelopment of the former Eastland Mall site.

The City Council voted last year to contribute $30 million to the project. The full City Council will vote on the new investment on Monday.

City leaders in October approved a plan for the 29 acres sitting empty on the site, and staff warned about potential price increases at the time. Construction is underway on a portion of the former Eastland site, but the fate of the remaining land was thrown into question when Tepper Sports and Entertainment pulled out of plans to build a youth academy and soccer fields at the site in July 2022.

The latest plan — led by EDGE Sports Global, Charlotte Soccer Academy and Southern Entertainment — includes indoor and outdoor sports facilities, dining, a fieldhouse, a fitness center and a community learning center.

The city’s $41.3 million investment will come from its capital improvement plan and revenue from hospitality taxes. The total estimated costs, which include private investments, include $18.9 million in infrastructure costs, $15.5 million for the outdoor facility and $32.6 million for the indoor facility, according to Tuesday’s presentation.

Council member Marjorie Molina, whose District 5 includes the site, said she was a “resounding hell yes.” “From my perspective, it’s a no-brainer … We can see the finish line,” she said. The city is “highly confident” the latest numbers will hold, said Assistant Director for Economic Development Todd Delong. He estimated work will begin on the new facilities in early 2025 and take 24 to 36 months to complete. [Source]  

Appointed
News Release, 9/03/24 

Tuesday, Gov. Roy Cooper announced the appointment of Rebecca Zimmer Donaldson as District Attorney to replace retiring District Attorney Ben David in Prosecutorial District 6, serving New Hanover and Pender counties.

“Rebecca is a talented, diligent attorney and prosecutor with years of experience under her belt serving the people of New Hanover and Pender Counties,” said Cooper. “I’m grateful for her commitment to serving our state and I’m confident she’ll continue to serve her community with distinction as District Attorney. I am deeply grateful for Ben David’s many years of outstanding service to the people of North Carolina as District Attorney.”

Currently, Donaldson serves as an Assistant District Attorney for New Hanover and Pender counties.  

Worker Rank
Bill Young, WNCN News, 9/03/24

North Carolina is the worst state in the country for workers. This is from the latest study by Oxfam, a nonprofit whose mission is to quote, “fight inequality to end poverty and injustice.”

It is the third year of the poor ranking for North Carolina.

Three main components of the ranking are wage policies, worker protections, and rights to organize. One of the three things that hurt North Carolina in the ranking is the low minimum wage at $7.25. Despite matching the minimum federal standard, many states have increased the amount. Also, a lack of paid leave laws.

North Carolina is a “right-to-work state,” which is viewed as a law that hinders labor organizing.

The bottom five states are all in the south – South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and North Carolina. The best on the rankings were Washington DC, California, Oregon, New York, and Washington state. [Source]  

Ginseng Harvesting
Asheville Citizen Times, 9/03/24

Picking ginseng in the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests is still off-limits this year. The U.S. Forest Service said that its pause on issuing permits to harvest American ginseng in the Western North Carolina national forests will remain in place for the 2024 season, which usually begins in early September.

Efforts to restore ginseng populations in both national forests are ongoing. However, wild populations of the plant currently remain too low for sustainable harvest for the foreseeable future.

“We stopped issuing permits for ginseng harvesting in 2021 when the data began to show a trend toward lower and lower populations each year,” said Gary Kauffman, botanist for the National Forests in North Carolina. “We’re seeing that trend reversing slightly, but ginseng plants take a long time to mature before they reach the peak age to start bearing seeds.”

Native to WNC forests, wild ginseng is a perennial plant that can live for 60-80 years and is prized by many for its medicinal properties. It can take up to 10 years before a ginseng plant will start producing the most seeds. However, overharvesting in the past has made older plants increasingly rare.

To help revitalize ginseng populations on the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests, the U.S. Forest Service has partnered with the Mountain Horticulture and Research Center to establish seed production beds and propagate individual plants. Seeds and seedlings have been used to augment existing or establish new populations on both national forests. The North Carolina Natural Heritage Program is helping to monitor the wild populations.

To protect ginseng plant populations, anyone removing wild ginseng plants from National Forest lands while the pause is in place may be fined up to $5,000, given up to a six-month sentence in federal prison, or both.

“Harvesting ginseng has a long tradition in western North Carolina, so we owe it to future generations to help keep that tradition alive by doing our part to conserve this treasured resource,” said Kauffman. “Otherwise, it could potentially become the next native species to disappear in these mountains completely.” [Source]  

School Metal Detectors
Amy Diaz, WFDD Radio, 8/30/24

Surry County Schools will be using metal detectors at middle and high school football games starting this week. The announcement comes about eight months after the district implemented a clear bag policy for athletic events. Now, attendees must also pass through metal detectors to enter these venues.

In a press release, Surry County Schools Superintendent Travis Reeves said the new measure reinforces the district’s “commitment to providing a safe and welcoming atmosphere for everyone.”

Attendees are encouraged to arrive early to middle and high school games to make time for the new security screenings. The clear bag policy is still in effect, requiring transparent bags or small clutches that may be subject to searches.

Other districts like Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools and Guilford County Schools also employ metal detectors and clear bag rules at large events. [Source]  

Director Charges
Julian Eure, The Elizabeth City Daily Advance, 9/03/24

The emergency management director for Gates County was placed on administrative leave last month following his arrest on a charge of first-degree statutory rape.

William Mervil Tutwiler Jr., 47, was arrested on Aug. 22 and charged with first-degree felony statutory rape by the Currituck Sheriff’s Office, an arrest report shows. A copy of Tutwiler’s arrest warrant alleges that on June 5, 2020, he “unlawfully, willfully and feloniously did carnally know and abuse” a girl who was younger than 13.

Reached at his government-issued cellphone number on Friday, Tutwiler said he is “not guilty” of the charges.

Tutwiler said he is currently on administrative leave from his job with Gates County Emergency Management. He said he’s been the county’s emergency management director since last fall and that he had worked as interim director before then. He added that he has worked in emergency management since 2000 before saying he was too busy to answer more questions.

Gates County Manager Scott Sauer said Tuesday that the county is “aware of the criminal charges” against its emergency management director. “The case remains under investigation and is pending adjudication in court,” he said.

Sauer confirmed that Tutwiler is on administrative leave but said that he is working remotely from home. He said Tutwiler continues to handle his administrative duties, which include working on grants and attending Zoom meetings as needed. In the case of a mass casualty event or hurricane while Tutwiler is on leave, the county would seek assistance from the state’s regional office for emergency management, he said.

According to court documents, Tutwiler was released from the Currituck Detention Facility the same day he was arrested after posting a $250,000 secured bond. One of the conditions of his release is that he have no contact with the alleged victim. Tutwiler is due back in court for a probable cause hearing in the case on Oct. 2, according to court documents. [Source]  

Traffic Investigators
Kara Fohner, The Gaston Gazette, 9/02/24

New Gastonia Police Department employees won’t wear a badge or carry a gun, but they’ll be responding to 911 calls all the same. The police department announced Friday that it is hiring civilian traffic investigators to investigate wrecks that do not result in injuries. The North Carolina General Assembly passed a law in 2023 that allows police departments to introduce civilian investigators who can respond to minor wrecks, freeing up police officers to do other work.

Jeff Johnson, a retired Florida state trooper, was the first investigator to be hired. After retiring from the Florida State Highway Patrol in September of 2020, Johnson moved to Polk County, North Carolina, retiring to the mountains. He pursued a job at the Gastonia Police Department because he enjoys investigating wrecks.

“I saw that the governor had signed a law last year that they were creating civilian traffic crash investigator positions, that cities could implement. And I’ve been looking for a little while, and then I saw that Gastonia had advertised for it, and I thought, well, I’ve done that for 24 years,” Johnson said.

Johnson started investigating wrecks on his own on Monday, after four weeks of training.

Gastonia Police Sgt. Joe Bain said that there is a nationwide shortage of police officers, and the civilian investigator position takes some of the burden off of patrol officers, allowing them to be more proactive about enforcement, rather than simply reacting to calls.

In 2023, the Gastonia Police Department responded to 4,766 total accidents. Of that 4,766 total, 4,123, or 86.51% of them, were non-injury. So far in 2024, from Jan. 1 to Aug. 29, the Gastonia Police Department has responded to 3,137 total accidents, and 2,690, or 85.75%, were non-injury, according to department data. The police department plans to hire a total of four civilian traffic investigators. [Source]  

School Board Replacement
Cheryl Burke, The Carteret County News-Times, 8/30/24

The Carteret County Republican Party Executive Committee, by secret ballot, selected Stephanie Krzich of Newport, to fill the Board of Education District 1 seat left vacant by Dana Mull. Mull resigned her position as District 1 representative on the board in early August to care for an elderly family member.

State statute requires the Republican Party to select someone to fill the seat and serve out the unexpired term. According to Republican Party Executive Committee Chairman Wanda Fowler, committee members made their pick during their meeting Tuesday night.

Fowler said four candidates submitted applications for the seat. [Source]  

Wastewater Spill
Paul Garber, WFDD Radio, 8/30/24

The Yadkin Riverkeeper organization is monitoring a major spill in Davie County for potentially dangerous levels of wastewater. Town of Mocksville officials announced that nearly a million gallons of untreated wastewater was discharged into Bear Creek on August 27. The waterway is a tributary of the South Yadkin River that flows into the Yadkin.

Nicole Eastman, a riverkeeper assistant, says early testing for E. coli shows water near the break and downstream was right on the borderline of being considered hazardous. Eastman says a pipe 6 feet underground ruptured, leading to the discharge.

“Our biggest concern is that the groundwater is contaminated from this event, since it happened underground,” she says. “And so we’re not sure of the long-term impact on the river.”

She says people should keep an eye out for swimming advisories from the local government and the riverkeeper organization. [Source]  

Smokies Wildfire
Iris Seaton, Asheville Citizen Times, 9/03/24

The cause of a wildfire in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park first reported Aug. 26 has been identified by fire officials and investigators, according to a recent news release. On the evening of Aug. 26, a wildfire was reported burning near Hannah Mountain, south of Abrams Creek, on the Tennessee side of the park. It originally was reported as covering 10 acres.

Currently, the Flint Gap Fire is 17 acres in size, according to the Sept. 3 news release, about the same size as was reported Friday, Aug. 30. The news release said that there is low potential for the fire to grow significantly over the course of the next several days due to high humidity, lack of strong winds and shaded terrain.

According to the news release, investigators and officials have determined that the Flint Gap Fire was started by a lightning strike during a recent summer storm.

The news release added that wildfires caused by lightning are relatively rare in the Smokies, with most occurring during August. Though the exact date of the lightning strike is unknown, the fire was originally reported to the park on Aug. 26.

No structures are currently threatened. [Source] 
NC Insider Legislative Report
LB: LEGISLATIVE BUILDING. LOB: LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING

HOUSE CALENDARMonday, Sept. 9, 2024House Convenes at 12 P.M.SENATE CALENDARMonday, Sept. 9, 2024Senate Convenes at 12 P.M.HOUSE & SENATE: Reconvening allowed under provisions of SB 916, if no sine die adjournment previously adopted.Monday, Sept. 9 to Wednesday, Sept. 11Wednesday, Oct. 9Tuesday, Nov. 19 to Friday Nov. 22Wednesday, Dec. 11 to Friday Dec. 13
 
Legislative Studies and Meetings
LB: LEGISLATIVE BUILDING. LOB: LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING
Friday, Sept. 610 a.m. | General Statutes Committee, 544 LOB.
 
N.C. Government Meetings and Hearings
BOLD ITEMS ARE NEW LISTINGS
Friday, Sept. 610 a.m. | The Finance and Audit Committee of The North Carolina Partnership for Children meets, The meeting will be held via Zoom. You may contact Yvonne Huntley at 984.221.1242 or email at [email protected] for additional information.Tuesday, Sept. 108:30 a.m. | The Fund Development Committee of The North Carolina Partnership for Children meets, The meeting will be held via Zoom. You may contact Yvonne Huntley at 984.221.1242 or email at [email protected] for additional information.Tuesday, Sept. 1710 a.m. | The North Carolina Partnership for Children Board of Directors meets. You may contact Yvonne Huntley at 984.221.1242 or email at [email protected] for additional information.
 
UNC Board of Governors
23 S. WEST STREET, SUITE 1800, RALEIGH
Wednesday, Sept. 11Meeting of the Board of Governors, TBA.Thursday, Sept. 12Meeting of the Board of Governors, TBA.Thursday, Oct. 17Meeting of the Board of Governors, TBA.Wednesday, Nov. 13Meeting of the Board of Governors, TBA.Thursday, Nov. 14Meeting of the Board of Governors, TBA.
 N.C. Utilities Commission Hearing Schedule
DOBBS BUILDING, 430 NORTH SALISBURY STREET, RALEIGH
Monday, Sept. 161 p.m. | Public and Expert Witness Hearing – Application Pursuant to G.S. 62-133.2 and Commission Rule R8-55 relating to Fuel and Fuel-related Charge Adjustments for Electric Utilities | E-2 Sub 13411 p.m. | Public and Expert Witness Hearing – Application pursuant to G.S. 62-133.9 and Commission Rule R8-69 for Approval of Demand-Side Management and Energy Efficiency Cost Recovery Rider | E-2 Sub 13421 p.m. | Public and Expert Witness Hearing – Application Pursuant to G.S. 62-133.8 and Commission Rule R8-67 for Approval of CEPS Compliance Report and CEPS Cost Recovery Rider | E-2 Sub 13431 p.m. | Public and Expert Witness Hearing – Application pursuant to G.S. 62-110.8 and Commission Rule R8-71 for Approval of CPRE Compliance Report and CPRE Cost Recovery Rider | E-2 Sub 13441 p.m. | Public and Expert Witness Hearing – Application pursuant to G.S. 62-133.2 and Commission Rule R8-70 relating to Joint Agency Asset Cost Recovery Rider | E-2 Sub 1345Tuesday, Sept. 1710 a.m. | Expert Witness Hearing – Application for General Rate Increase for Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. | G-9 Sub 837
 
Other Meetings and Events of Interest
BOLD ITEMS ARE NEW LISTINGS
Friday, Sept. 6No time given | The 2024 N.C. Mountain State Fair opens at the WNC Agricultural Center in Fletcher. Runs through the 15th, and more information is available at https://www.wncagcenter.org/p/mountainstatefair Friday, Sept. 272024 Lumbee Powwow, Lumbee Tribe Cultural Center, 638 Terry Sanford Drive, Maxton.Wednesday, Oct. 95:30 p.m. | NC Insider / State Affairs Pro subscriber event, Caffe Luna, 136 E. Hargett St, Raleigh.

Flood blueprint in the works to help North Carolina prepare for disaster

Posted on by Matthew Sasser

The North Carolina Flood Blueprint Resiliency Tool is in a testing window for an anticipated release to the public this spring. 

The tool will better define flood extent and exposure in areas around the state. It will also incorporate improved and updated modeling from hundreds of data points and assess future flooding, precipitation changes and sea level rise. 

Local governments, flood plain planners and managers, state agencies, policymakers, soil and water conservation districts and the general public are expected to be the primary users of this tool, which is key to the success of the North Carolina Flood Resiliency Blueprint, according to North Carolina Flood Resiliency Manager Stu Brown. 

“These large-scale events have become more frequent and more damaging over the last decade and are projected again to be even more damaging and more frequent in future years,” Brown said about the impetus of this tool to the Agriculture and Forestry Awareness Study Commission Friday. 

The big-picture goals of the blueprint, according to Brown, will reduce cost and complexity for local governments and lead to a set of prioritized projects and funding strategies to implement to prepare for flooding events. 

Brown said conversations with other state leaders have indicated North Carolina should look to Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan for inspiration. 

Mandated in 2005 and delivered two years later, the Louisiana Coastal Master Plan is “robust and data driven,” according to Brown. It has directed billions of dollars to the state to reduce flood risk. Brown oversaw the 2023 version of that plan when he was Louisiana’s spokesman for that iteration. 

Louisiana has a 15-year head start, so there is an urgency to get North Carolina up to speed, Brown said. 

“When we talk about resilience, it’s important to point out that we’re not just talking about trying to reduce the extent and severity of flooding,” he said. “We’re also trying to bolster the systems that allow communities to recover more quickly.”

While the Louisiana plan is focused on risk reduction, Brown said North Carolina’s plan for resilience is much broader. 

“Resilience is going to be the result of decisions made by individuals, landowners, local governments up to the state agencies and, of course, our federal partners,” Brown said. 

Phase 1 of the Flood Resiliency Blueprint was completed with the delivery of a draft in March. A gap analysis was conducted to identify the existing information available and the data needed by state agencies. 

The ongoing Phase 2 of the blueprint includes the development and implementation of the tool. According to a 2022 study from North Carolina State University, 68% of flood damage reports were outside of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s high-risk flood zones in 2020 and … 16% of damage reports were in unmapped locations.

“That is because the standard regulatory flood mapping process is limited,” Brown said, noting the tool uses improved methodologies from North Carolina Emergency Management and many other agencies to capture rain-based flooding and other data points. 

Brown compared a regulatory floodplain map with a map with the updated North Carolina Emergency Management data during his presentation to the commission. 

“If we use that [the regulatory map] to make our decisions, we’re leaving out an awful lot of areas that are exposed to flooding,” Brown said. 

The final version of the North Carolina Flood Blueprint Resiliency Tool will integrate forecasted changes, will be scalable from local to statewide and will include new data as it becomes available, Brown concluded. 

The presentation also included a list of completed awards totaling $17 million to various river basins. The list was not displayed in a hierarchical order, so Rep. Jeffrey C. McNeely, R-Iredell, asked if that data would be included in the tool so legislators could identify the areas of greatest need. 

“That is absolutely the goal of the tool,” Brown said. “We know there’s a lot of need out there and we’re going to be able to find a lot of good projects without waiting for the tool to be completed. Once we have the tool [in the spring], that is going to be really informative to [the] next set of projects.”

For questions or comments, or to pass along story ideas, please write to Matthew Sasser at [email protected] or contact the NC Insider at [email protected] or @StateAffairsNC 

Judicial retention initiative a tossup for voters, polls shows

Posted on by Yellow Sheet Report Staff

Polling on a measure fit to end-term limits for judges, whittle down judicial retention elections and input legislative oversight into judicial performance review showed little support from the overall electorate, though a large swath remains unsure. According to a survey by Noble Predictive Insights, only 31% of voters surveyed supported the measure, while 38% opposed it and about a quarter are unsure of how they plan to vote. Most Republicans and Independents rejected the measure, while more Democrats supported the measure, but only by a small margin. A survey of 1,0003 voters showed 42% of Republicans opposed the measure, while 30% supported it and 21% were unsure. Among Independents, 37% opposed the measure, 25% supported and 29% were unsure. Democrats supported the measure 38% to 35% opposed, with 21% unsure. Mike Noble, CEO and Founder of NPI, said whether the measure passes will come down to the 24% overall who are unsure of how they will vote come November. So far, the measure has seen little, if any, structural support and some organized opposition. Arizonans for an Independent Judiciary, a bipartisan group of attorneys pushing for the retention of all judges and justices who met JPR review standards, took no position on the resolution. Meanwhile, Progress Arizona PAC is organizing to oppose the measure and previously challenged the “Judicial Accountability Act” in court for bearing an alleged misleading title but lost. Cathy Sigmon, co-founder of Civic Engagement Beyond Voting, the organizationly that created Gavel Watch, a guide to the retention election in 2022, said the group would not be formally running a campaign against the measure but strongly opposed the measure in its ballot measure voting guide. Sigmon noted a need to continue educating voters on the measure itself. “It’s a question of how many people we can reach with education about the issue,” Sigmon said.  “Hopefully we’ll be able to reach as many voters as we can before the election … there’s a lot of education yet to do.”

Hearings start about where LD15 Republican candidate calls home

Posted on by Yellow Sheet Report Staff

The evidentiary hearing of a complaint filed against LD15 Republican House candidate Michael Way began Tuesday morning in Maricopa County Superior Court. The hearing started with arguments for the motion to dismiss the case filed by Way’s attorney, Andrew Gould. Judge Rodrick Coffey took the motion under advisement but proceeded with the evidentiary hearing. He said he wanted to proceed with the evidentiary hearing before ruling on the motion to dismiss since both parties were ready to present, and the court needed to move quickly since it’s an election challenge. Both Gould and plaintiff Deborah Kirkland’s attorney, Timothy La Sota, discussed Way’s residency in Arizona, which Way testified dates back to 2009 when his family moved to the state from Utah. Way said his multiple absences from the state were temporary stations away from Arizona, including a church mission in Brazil, law school at the University of Wyoming and his most recent stint in North Carolina helping to establish a southeast division in the state for Charter One, an education management organization for charter schools. He testified that he bought a home while he lived in North Carolina and lived in the state with his wife and children. Way said he and his wife also voted in North Carolina’s 2022 election, but always intended to move back to Arizona, which he considered, adding it was common for employees at Charter One to take assignments out of state. “We left pretty much everything (in Arizona) except for what I needed to work and clothes,” Way said. La Sota argued that Way’s registration to vote in North Carolina is an admission that North Carolina was his residence and his new explanation that he intended to return to Arizona is “self-serving” testimony. The hearing was still ongoing Tuesday afternoon at Yellow Sheet Report’s deadline. Gould also questioned the plaintiff, Deborah Kirkland, and she said her lawsuit against Way was “personal.” Kirkland, a precinct committeewoman in LD15, said she supported Way’s opponent, Peter Anello, during the primary race and only planned on voting for Way during the general election because he was a Republican. After The Arizona Republic published an article in August questioning Way’s candidacy, she said she felt Way had lied to her and other members of the precinct committee. Both parties also questioned Way about an opinion article he wrote published by The Carolina Journal describing him as having “deep roots and an appreciation” for his family’s home in the greater Raleigh area. According to Way, he didn’t write that author’s note that describes him and said it was likely written by someone on Charter One’s marketing team. Way said he believes the lawsuit against him is politically motivated, and cited a news release from North Carolina Rep. Keith Kidwell’s office calling for an investigation of Way’s voting record for “possible voter fraud.” Kidwell leads the Freedom Caucus in the North Carolina House of Representatives, and Way said he believes Kidwell was “tipped off” about the complaint filed against him. Anello was endorsed by Freedom Caucus member J. Parker, and he ran on the same slate with Hoffman and Carter. The Washington Post’s Yvonne Wingett Sanchez posted on X a letter written by Cook to Mayes on Tuesday calling for her office to investigate Way for allegedly voting in both Arizona and North Carolina in 2022. “A number of politicians beat the drums regarding election integrity frequently. This seems to be the poster child for laws ensuring election integrity – we cannot have individuals simply picking and choosing which state they want to vote in depending on the election,” Cook wrote. Way testified he only voted in North Carolina in 2022 but was registered to vote in both states.

Debates among some candidates is, well, debatable

Posted on by Yellow Sheet Report Staff

Debate season is underway for Arizona’s political candidates, but not everyone is agreeing to face off against their opponents. In the race for Maricopa County Recorder, only political newcomer Tim Stringham has agreed to a Sept. 12 debate hosted by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. Heap has not responded to an invitation, according to the commission’s website. Heap participated in the commission’s primary debate for the race in June, but did not respond to our reporter’s question about whether or not he would participate in next week’s debate. Several other candidates – mainly incumbents – won’t be participating in their debates, including U.S. Representatives Crane, Biggs, Grijalva, Stanton, Gosar and Schweikert. Only a few races will have all candidates present, including the debates for Corporation Commission, U.S. Senate, CD 7, LD 18 and LD 12. Some races may not have Clean Elections debates, including LD 13, as no candidates have agreed to debate. Arizona PBS and some local organizations will also host debates that some candidates have agreed to participate in, but not all of those will be televised to broader audiences. This week, voters can watch Clean Elections debates for Corporation Commission, CD 2, Pima County Sheriff, and LDs 18, 22, 23 and 26.

Poll: A majority of voters back the Secure the Border Act initiative

Posted on by Yellow Sheet Report Staff

On the heels of a failed legal challenge to the Secure the Border Act – also known as Prop. 314 or HCR2060 – a new poll found that 63% of Arizona voters plan to vote in favor of the measure in November. The poll, conducted by Noble Predictive Insights, reflects responses from 1,003 registered Arizona voters and has a margin of error of 3.09%, according to a news release. While 6% of voters said they will abstain from voting on the measure and another 16% are still unsure, nearly two-thirds of Arizonans support the GOP-backed measure, according to the polling data. 77% of Republican voters said they plan to support the measure while a slim majority — 52% — of Democrat respondents said they support it. Backers of the measure include “traditionally liberal (voting) blocs,” such as 56% of Hispanic voters, the press release said. The popularity of components of the measure does vary, the release noted. Polling found 77% of supporters in favor of holding drug dealers responsible for the death of a person who consumes a drug containing fentanyl and 75% in favor of e-verify, while just 56% of proposition supporters are in favor of reforming the process in which migrants obtain public benefits. “Opponents will have trouble pushing the argument ‘people are only supporting this because of the fentanyl stuff, they don’t care about the immigration’ – that’s what voters like most about Prop 314,” Noble Predictive Insights founder Mike Noble said in a written statement. “Prop 314 is popular across party lines, and that is a difficult trend to disrupt with only a couple of months until Election Day.”

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