YOU DON’T SAY

“I’m Roy Cooper, the last guy standing between you and the moment we’re all waiting for.”

Gov. Roy Cooper, speaking at the Democratic Convention before Vice President Kamala Harris. (The Associated Press, 8/22/24)

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Cooper Speech

Danielle Battaglia, McClatchy, 8/22/24

Gov. Roy Cooper stood on stage surrounded by 50,000 Democrats listening to him make the case for Vice President Kamala Harris to lead the nation. His five-minute speech came moments before Harris took the stage to formally accept Democrats’ nomination of her as president of the United States. And he grinned ear-to-ear as he made his case for her.

Thursday night was all about Harris: who she is and what she will be like as president. But Cooper’s high-profile role, at the first convention he has ever attended, emphasized the importance Democrats are putting on winning North Carolina this campaign cycle. He was joined on the last night of the convention by Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams and Eric Fitts, an educator from Raleigh, and his two sons.

“America, we have a lot of big fights ahead of us, and we’ve got one hell of a fighter ready to take them on,” Cooper said. “I want Americans to know, even if you don’t agree with her on everything, Kamala Harris will fight for you to the very end.”

Tapping Cooper to give the second-to-last speech of the night made sense. Cooper and Harris have known each other since serving together as their states’ attorneys general. During the six years they overlapped as their states’ top legal advisers, they worked together in Washington trying to get money back from banks for homeowners struggling after the mortgage crisis.

Cooper talked about that story in his speech Thursday night. “All the AGs were close to a settlement with the big banks, and it was a pretty good deal,” Cooper said. “It would have meant $4 billion for California families who had been ripped off. I know that sounds like a lot, but Kamala said, ‘Hang on a minute. I’ve met these families. I know what they’ve been through, and they deserve more.’” Cooper said it was a risk, but she succeeded and won those families $20 billion.

Cooper and Harris’ relationship led to his being mentioned on lists of potential running mates for Harris. But Cooper took himself out of the running, saying it wasn’t the right time.

Instead, he’s been by her side, campaigning with her and on her behalf. “Kamala’s ready,” Cooper said, on stage. “The question is, are we? Are we gonna stand up and fight for Kamala?”

He called on North Carolina to stand up if they’re willing to fight for her. Then he called on several other states and encouraged people to get out and vote.

Throughout the week, Cooper has expressed his belief that Harris will win North Carolina. A Democrat running for president hasn’t won the state since 2008: former President Barack Obama. Before Obama, it had been 32 years. But Republican candidates don’t capture the Tar Heel State by a lot. Less than 4%. So a Harris win isn’t out of the realm of possibility. And North Carolina Democrats are fired up to make it happen.

Cooper wasn’t the only North Carolinian to take the stage for Harris on Thursday night. Eric Fitts, an educator from Raleigh, also spoke before the crowd with his two sons, Christian and Carter, and expressed his dissatisfaction in Trump’s rhetoric.

Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams spoke on stage about the struggles he and his wife faced during the Trump administration in trying to open a restaurant. Instead, they would cook for their community and drive around passing out samples. When Biden became president, Williams said they applied for a small business loan. It allowed them to expand their restaurant, Zweli’s, the first Zimbabwean restaurant in the country, to three locations with 30 employees.

Williams and his wife were not alone in wanting to open a business. Under the Biden administration, Williams said, hundreds of thousands of people filed business applications in North Carolina. “Kamala Harris is fighting to create this opportunity economy that can break down barriers for entrepreneurs like us,” Williams said.

Other North Carolinians made cameos at the convention. Charlotte native and Golden State Warriors player Steph Curry endorsed Harris in a video played during the last day of the convention.

Nervahna Crew, a Raleigh resident who once worked as a regional political director for Biden, called into the convention by video conference to talk to “Saturday Night Live” star Kenan Thompson. Thompson was leading a sketch on Project 2025, a set of controversial policies created by the Heritage Foundation for the next Republican president. [Source]

Rally Security

Clifton Dowell, State Affairs Pro, 8/22/24

Increased security measures were evident as Donald J. Trump and a crowd of thousands gathered Wednesday for the former president’s first outdoor rally since he survived an assassination attempt last month.

Much has changed behind the scenes since July 13, when Trump was grazed by a bullet at an outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The attack killed a spectator in the stands behind Trump and seriously wounded two others.

A congressional investigation into security lapses has begun, the U.S. Secret Service detail assigned to Trump has grown in number and the agency’s director, Kimberly A. Cheatle, has since resigned.

“American presidential candidates must be able to campaign as they see fit and choose while remaining safe,” said Dallas Woodhouse, state director of American Majority and a former executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party. “The Secret Service has to make that happen.”

Onstage at the North Carolina Aviation Museum & Hall of Fame in Asheboro, the 45th president spoke from behind a barrier of bulletproof glass. The Washington Post reported on Aug. 15 that the Secret Service had secured ballistic glass to use at future outdoor events as well.

The bolstering of Trump’s protective detail came from shifting part of the team assigned to President Joe Biden, which became possible due to Biden’s reduced travel schedule after he ended his bid for a second term in office, an unnamed official told the newspaper.

Large storage containers and semi trailers were used to block distant views of the stage. The area directly behind the stage — an airport runway on which several vintage planes were parked, as well as the woods beyond — was not obstructed.

A man who lived nearby said the wooded area had drawn special attention by security officers leading up to the event. “There have been people in those woods for days,” Johnpaul Harris, a 79-year-old retired sculptor, said.

The area was also watched over by sniper teams posted on the roofs of the buildings on both sides of the stage. The threat to Trump in Pennsylvania ended with the shooter being killed by a Secret Service sniper.

One perceived weakness of the Pennsylvania security plan — failing to use drones to watch nearby rooftops — was apparently addressed in Asheboro. A drone could be seen hovering to the northwest of the site for several minutes before Trump took the stage Wednesday.

The Secret Service declined to comment on any changes in its approach to outdoor security for Trump. “In order to maintain the highest level of safety, we simply can’t go into specifics on any enhanced security efforts or our protective means and methods,” spokesperson Melissa McKenzie said in an email to State Affairs.

Unlike the Pennsylvania campaign stop, where onlookers outside the event could see the proceedings, Wednesday’s event could only be seen by attendees who had passed through metal detectors. With Trump scheduled to speak at 2 p.m., supporters began lining up at 7:30 a.m.

Several hundred people were still working their way through security at 3:10 p.m., an hour into Trump’s speech.

About an hour after the event concluded, local police cited a 79-year-old Hillsborough man for possessing a firearm at a parade. The man allegedly displayed the weapon during a traffic altercation, WCNC reported.

Ballot Selfies

Makiya Seminera, The Associated Press, 8/22/24

A woman is suing the North Carolina elections board over state laws that ban most photography in polling places after she took a selfie with her ballot in March. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Eastern District Court of North Carolina by Susan Hogarth.

The lawsuit centers around a letter Hogarth said she received from the North Carolina State Board of Elections asking her to remove a post on X that included a selfie she took with her completed ballot during the March primary election. She says the letter and the laws underpinning it are unconstitutional. She is suing the Board of Elections and the Wake County Board of Elections.

Hogarth, a Wake County resident, took a “ballot selfie” in her voting booth on March 5, the lawsuit said. She then posted her selfie on X, endorsing presidential and gubernatorial candidates for the Libertarian Party — something she does to “challenge the narrative that voters can only vote for major party candidates,” according to the lawsuit.

The suit says Hogarth received a letter two weeks later from a state Board of Elections investigator asking her to take down the post, or she could face a misdemeanor charge. Hogarth refused.

“It would have been easier to just take the post down,” Hogarth said in a statement. “But in a free society, you should be able to show the world how you voted without fear of punishment.”

Photography and videography of voters in a polling place is mostly illegal in North Carolina unless permission is granted by a “chief judge of the precinct.” Photographing completed ballots is also prohibited under state law.

One reason for outlawing ballot photos, the state elections board says, is to prevent them from being used “as proof of a vote for a candidate in a vote-buying scheme.”

The North Carolina State Board of Elections declined to comment on the litigation. The Wake County Board of Elections did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Most states have passed laws permitting ballot selfies and other photography, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Some states, such as Arizona, ban photos from being taken within a certain radius of a polling place. Other states, such as Indiana, have seen ballot photography laws struck down by federal judges because they were found unconstitutional.

Now, Hogarth and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression are trying to do the same in North Carolina.
FIRE contends North Carolina’s ballot photography laws violate the First Amendment. The complaint adds that the state would need to demonstrate real concerns of vote-buying schemes that outweigh the right to protected speech.

“Ballot selfie bans turn innocent Americans into criminals for nothing more than showing their excitement about how they voted, or even just showing that they voted,” said Jeff Zeman, an attorney at FIRE. “That’s core political speech protected by the First Amendment.”

The plaintiff’s goal is to stop enforcement of the law before the November general election, in part because Hogarth is a Libertarian Party candidate running for a state legislative seat and she plans to take another selfie to promote herself, according to the lawsuit. [Source]

Perinatal Health

Matthew Sasser, State Affairs Pro, 8/22/24

Cases of congenital syphilis continue to rise in North Carolina, but the rate of increase has slowed, according to data shared with the Perinatal Health Committee Thursday afternoon.

Dr. Victoria Mobley, the HIV/STD medical director at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Public Health, said 72 cases of congenital syphilis were reported in 2023, with 10 of those cases resulting in a stillborn or neonatal death.

Between January and May 2024, 41 congenital syphilis cases and three related neonatal deaths were reported, a 31% increase over the past three-year average.

“We were seeing a 50% increase in women … only just three to six months ago,” Mobley said. “So the rate of increase is low.”

Mobley said that women of color are disproportionately impacted in the reported cases but that the data shows a steady increase in reports from caucasian women.

“The majority of women who are diagnosed with syphilis during pregnancy have no clinical signs of infection at the time of their diagnosis,” Mobley said.

North Carolina public health law requires providers to screen pregnant women for syphilis three times: at their first prenatal care visit, between 28 and 30 weeks of gestation and again at delivery, regardless of reported risk factors.

Mobley said the health department has received 10 survey responses from women affected by the outbreak. While nine of them had access to prenatal care, they all reported an annual household income of less than $40,000 a year and reported having trouble meeting their basic financial responsibilities during their pregnancy.

“A significant portion of them reported seeking health care other places during their pregnancy other than their prenatal care provider, which is important because we were trying to figure out where the providers are,” Mobley said, adding that many of the women shared they knew very little about syphilis even after their diagnosis.

A social media campaign launched last December by the health department to raise awareness of congenital syphilis peaked in April, accumulating 28 million impressions overall , including 3.7 million impressions with medical providers. Mobley said the department’s Hispanic audience on social media had the highest click-through rate of any demographic during the campaign.

Plans to extend the campaign and provide more regional fact sheets for providers are in the works, Mobley said. A congenital syphilis quarterly review board in the next month will analyze every reported congenital syphilis case in the state and identify any missed opportunities for prevention.

Dr. Marty McCaffrey, a neonatologist at the University of North Carolina and director of the Perinatal Quality Collaborative of North Carolina, said screening for syphilis at admission for labor has been making a huge difference in a preterm infant project he’s a part of, filling a 4% gap of unscreened mothers at 53 hospitals.

Pharmacy Bill

Ray Gronberg, Business NC, 8/22/24

When a bill passed the N.C. House in a 114-0 vote in April 2023, one might assume the N.C. Senate would give it a serious look. Penny Shelton, the executive director of the N.C. Association of Pharmacists, is questioning why state Senate leaders have put House Bill 246 into a Rules Committee pigeonhole after the House’s 114-0 vote.

This bill addresses pharmacy benefits managers, the middlemen between pharmacies and insurers that are supposed to work to keep drug prices low. The three largest PBMs, owned by CVS, Cigna and UnitedHealth, have a combined 79% market share, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

For years PBMs have sparked political and regulatory suspicion that they are a shell game that insurers are using to pad their own bottom line. The House bill aimed to put some restrictions on PBMs, including limits on their use of “spread pricing” to extract value for themselves. But the bill doesn’t appear likely to move out of the Rules Committee in what remains of the 2024 legislative calendar. Similar legislation stalled in 2019 and 2020.

The Senate Rules Committee is chaired by Bill Rabon, while the vice chair is Warren Daniel. The committee has prevented open committee debate on the bill.

“The power and money of the $100-plus billion [PBM] behemoths that spout lies apparently carries more weight, for our Senate leaders, than patient needs, local community economies, and small businesses,” Shelton says in an email. Her group has nearly 2,000 members, including students and a few pharmacy technicians.

“We are told some senators are not for the bill. But our work tells us the majority of senators are in favor of taking action. The only concern we hear is ‘We’re concerned healthcare costs will go up,’ but there is evidence from other states that shows this is not the case. We need our lawmakers to be bold to take a stance.”

Senate rules allow for the use of a discharge petition to remove a bill from committee and bring it to the floor. That takes the signatures of two-thirds of the chamber’s membership and then the votes of two-thirds of the members on the floor to ratify the removal.

Shelton said that “over 100 community pharmacies” across the state have closed in the last 18 months. She blamed the “growing number of non-negotiable PBM contracts with pharmacies” that “reimburse the pharmacy less than the pharmacy can buy the medication.”

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating PBMs, and last month issued an interim report about its findings that tracks with Shelton’s comments. The FTC has noted that the large insurers are highly concentrated and vertically integrated. CVS has a large chain of retail pharmacies, and CVS, Cigna and UnitedHealth have their own mail-order and specialty pharmacies.

The FTC says about 10% of rural America’s independent pharmacies closed between 2013 and 2022, partly because they have no real bargaining power relative to PBMs. They get take-it-or-leave-it contract offers, along with pricing terms that are “opaque and unpredictable,” it says. Because of vertical integration, “PBMs can have the ability and incentive to put downward pressure on reimbursement rates for rival, unaffiliated pharmacies — including to a degree that may be unsustainable for small, independent pharmacies,” the FTC report says.

It adds that investigators have seen PBM internal documents that point toward “programmatic or network ‘right-sizing’ or ‘network pruning’ of pharmacies.”
Pushing independent pharmacies out of the market and other anticompetitive conduct “could ultimately lead to higher costs and lower quality services for people around the country,” the FTC has said. [Source]

Voter Lawsuit

Brian Murphy, WRAL News, 8/22/24

The North Carolina State Board of Elections called claims made by state and national Republicans in a Thursday lawsuit about non-citizens on registered voter lists “categorically false.”

The North Carolina Republican Party and the Republican National Committee filed the lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court, demanding the state elections board identify and remove non-U.S. citizens from its registered voters list before the November general election.

A new state law, which went into effect on July 1, says that anyone who asserts lack of citizenship as a basis for refusing to serve on a jury can be removed from the registered voters list.

Non-citizens aren’t allowed to vote in any North Carolina’s elections, including federal races. That prohibition is in the state constitution.

But the state board said it has already compared lists of registered voters with those who have been excused from jury duty because they claimed not to be U.S. citizens. The board said it found nine such individuals and is investigating their citizenship status. If they are found not to be citizens, the State Board will “invite them … to cancel their registrations to comply with the law,” the board said in a statement.

It is using that method, the board said, because federal law forbids the state from outright removing registrants from voter rolls if it cannot be completed within 90 days before a federal election.

In the lawsuit, the Republicans said that if the state board had started its process on July 1, “it it would have had enough time to follow the requirements.”

The board asked that the state and national Republicans “immediately rescind their press releases on this topic, as they will undermine voter confidence on an entirely false premise.”

Legislative Republicans overturned Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto on Senate Bill 747 in October.

“If someone is selected to serve on a jury and that person indicates they are a non-citizen, the information must go to elections boards so they are not eligible to vote,” said Matt Mercer, communications director for the NCGOP. “There is no reason not to be using this safeguard as required by SB 747.”

The lawsuit says that there are 501,000 foreign-born non-citizens in the state, including 325,000 “unauthorized” immigrants in North Carolina, citing February statistics from the Office of State Budget and Management.

The lawsuit says that no one has to prove they are a citizen in order to register to vote in the state. “As a result, there may be significant numbers of non-citizens who have registered to vote,” the lawsuit says.

The state board said it briefed the staff of Republican legislative leaders of its plan in November and informed all election officials of the program earlier in August. [Source]

Campaign Logo

T. Keung Hui, The News & Observer, 8/22/24

The North Carolina Association of Educators is threatening to sue Michele Morrow unless she removes an apple logo from materials promoting her campaign to be state superintendent of public instruction. NCAE had sent Morrow’s campaign a cease-and-desist letter in July in which the teachers group alleged it has exclusive legal rights to use a registered service mark of an apple outline in North Carolina for political advocacy.

On Thursday, NCAE sent a follow-up letter to Morrow, the GOP candidate, saying “immediate legal action” will result if the campaign continues to use the apple symbol. “Michelle Morrow does not support public education and has never worked in or even sent her children to a North Carolina public school,” NCAE president Tamika Walker Kelly said in a news release Thursday.

“Voters can see she’s trying to hide behind the apple symbol, but her disrespect of public school teachers and staff, support for political violence, and her plan to put cameras in school bathrooms, just to name a few, makes her unqualified for State Superintendent of Public Instruction.”

Morrow’s campaign has accused NCAE of showing “political animus” in asking it to stop using the apple. The campaign says apples are a generic symbol not exclusively associated with NCAE.

“Why would NCAE use bogus legal tactics to thwart NC’s Student-First Candidate?” Morrow posted on X on Aug. 8. “Because Michele Morrow is fighting for you! That’s why.”

Morrow is a homeschool parent, conservative activist, registered nurse and former Christian missionary who upset incumbent Catherine Truitt in the March Republican primary for state superintendent. She is running against Democrat Mo Green, the former superintendent of Guilford County Schools, and former executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, a group that funds progressive causes.

NCAE has endorsed Green.

But NCAE says the Montgomery County Education Association in Maryland has been registered to use the apple in connection with political advocacy since 2009 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In 2014, NCAE reached a licensing agreement with the Maryland State Education Association to use the apple symbol for political advocacy in North Carolina. All three groups are affiliates of the National Education Association.

NCAE has used the apple symbol in political campaigns, including on candidate endorsements.

In the July 12 letter, NCAE says Morrow is not permitted to use the apple symbol because it hasn’t endorsed her. The group says Morrow’s use of the apple “is deceptively similar” to the group’s apple. “Morrow’s claim that the apple image is just a generic symbol of education is misleading,” Walker Kelly said. “To her, it might just be a cutout of an apple, but the trademarked property helps ensure the public knows what is genuine and authentic. In this case, the Apple Ballot is trademarked and licensed property used by hardworking public education professionals to voice their support for candidates that support public education — something she clearly does not understand.”

Morrow’s campaign told NCAE that its arguments are without legal merit. The campaign pointed to the widespread use of the apple in logos in the United States. “Apples are iconic symbols in the United States for education and education related goods and services,” Anthony Biller, an attorney representing Morrow’s campaign, wrote in a July 31 letter to NCAE. [Source]

Duke Rates

Zachary Turner, WFAE Radio, 8/22/24

Winter heating bills could be higher for Piedmont Natural Gas’ approximately 737,000 residential customers this winter. Duke Energy’s Piedmont Natural Gas wants to raise summer and winter use rates for residential customers, despite lower fuel costs. The price of natural gas decreased since Duke last adjusted fuel rates in June.

Average home gas costs would increase about 15.3% annually. The new rate would likely take effect sometime in January 2025.

The company also requested an extension of tax credits the company has been receiving from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, further decreasing the proposed rate adjustment.

This rate hike would result in an 11.7% revenue increase for the company and recover costs for the operations and maintenance of Duke’s gas transmission lines. Duke Energy reported a loss of 2 cents per share on its gas utility during the last quarter.

State regulators gathered in the Mecklenburg County Courthouse Wednesday evening to hear public comments on the proposed rate hike. They greeted an empty room — and adjourned the meeting after introductions. The courthouse barred WFAE from recording the proceeding, citing a policy regarding official courthouse business.

State regulators will host a virtual meeting Monday at 6:30 p.m. Customers can still file comments on the proposed rate hike online, docket number G-9, SUB 837. [Source]

School Supplies

Liz Schlemmer, WUNC Radio, 8/22/24

Across North Carolina, many schools ask parents to provide items for the whole classroom. These “wishlists” run from snacks to cleaning supplies to items for the school gym. State representative Julie von Haefen, a Democrat from Wake County and mother of three, said it’s concerning.

“We’re buying Clorox wipes and zip lock bags and Kleenex and things that you would think that the school could provide to clean the classroom,” von Haefen said. “You know, why do I have to provide that Kleenex?”

The National Retail Federation estimates American families will spend on average $875 this year per household on back-to-school shopping, based on a survey of more than 7,500 consumers. A smaller survey by CouponBirds of 50 respondents in each state found North Carolina families and teachers are spending hundreds of dollars more out of pocket compared to most other states. Von Haefen said she has a hunch why that is.

“Maybe our costs for parents are rising as the state is kind of giving up that responsibility and turning it over to individual families,” von Haefen said.

Von Haefen pointed to two policy changes that happened more than a decade ago.

First, state lawmakers cut school funding for supplies by about half. That funding has never been restored. It means schools have less resources to stock their classrooms. Then in 2013, the North Carolina General Assembly ended a tax-free holiday for shoppers.

Until then, families and teachers could go back-to-school shopping the first weekend in August and not pay sales tax.

“I remember setting aside that weekend to go out and buy all of our school supplies, because it did save families a lot of money,” von Haefen said. “Now families are having to bear that burden, as our school supply lists are getting longer and longer every year.”

Von Haefen filed a bill last year to restore state funding for school supplies, and has co-sponsored another by fellow Democrats to bring back the tax-free weekend in August, but neither bill moved forward.

Parents, teachers and advocates agree the loss of statewide funding has created inequities across schools. Some districts have nonprofits or parent groups that fundraise and provide supplies for teachers or students. [Source]

Palestine Protests

Korie Dean, The News & Observer, 8/22/24

Days after a new academic year began at UNC-Chapel Hill, pro-Palestinian protesters returned to the area of campus that saw dozens arrested in the spring — ushering in what could be a tense semester at the university as the Israel-Hamas war continues.

The campus chapter of Students for Justice for Palestine on Thursday evening hosted a “disorientation” event, drawing dozens of demonstrators.

They gathered outside of South Building, which houses the offices of newly appointed Chancellor Lee Roberts and other administrators, with a portable surveillance camera overlooking them.

“While UNC performs business as usual in the first week of classes, join us for a Disorientation to the imperialism and violence that administration defends,” an Instagram post promoting the event read. “Admin’s repression of organizing will not hinder the demand for divestment, and the call for a Free Palestine.”

Thursday’s protest marked the first campus demonstration over the war since tensions came to a head in the spring, with a four-day “Gaza solidarity encampment” that saw 36 protesters charged with trespassing after they refused to comply with orders from police to disband the gathering.

All of those charged at the encampment have been offered plea deals ranging from deferred prosecution to a conditional discharge, according to their attorney. They are expected to appear in court, where they could accept or decline the deals, on Monday.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators also protested before and during the university’s graduation speech in May, with some splattering red paint on South Building.

UNC police obtained a search warrant for private account information of the UNC Students for Justice for Palestine Instagram account in connection with those events.

Thursday’s event, which lasted for a little less than two hours, remained peaceful. No counter-protesters appeared to be present. [Source]

Life Expectancy

David Raynor, The News & Observer, 8/22/24

North Carolina’s average life expectancy declined by more than a year from 76.1 to 74.9 from 2020 to 2021, according to new Centers for Disease Control data for all 50 states. The rate dropped nationally, too, but at half the rate NC did: from 77 to 76.4.

All but 11 states saw their averages decline. In 2000, the CDC’s average life expectancy in NC was 76.3, 1.4 years higher than in 2021 and more comparable to 2020.

Based on this new data, the CDC now ranks North Carolina 36th in the country in life expectancy, with the state dropping one spot from 35th in 2020. In 2023, the agency released a report that did not include state data but put the national average life expectancy at 77.5, up 1.1 years from 2021.

Many factors contribute to the ranking. One is an increase in accidental and unintentional deaths and deaths from COVID-19, according to the NC Department of Health Human Services.

Average life span calculations are especially sensitive to factors that cause deaths in younger populations. North Carolina has seen a significant increase in overdose deaths in recent years, especially since COVID-19. From 2018 to 2022 there was an 89% increase in overdose deaths, from 2,301 to 4,339. The rate per 100,000 residents also very nearly doubled from 22.2 to 44.1. And opioid overdose deaths mainly occur among younger people, and have contributed to a decline in life expectancy, according to DHHS.

In 2022, the CDC reports that three-fourths of all drug overdose deaths in the country were under the age of 55. Seven out of ten who died were male.

Women still outlive men. Nationally and in North Carolina, the gap is about six years and it increased each year from 2019 to 2021, according to the CDC. The life expectancy for males in the state is 72, for females, 77.9, according to this CDC report. Nationally, for males it’s 73.5, females, 79.3. That said, the difference in life expectancy for males and females is not as great as it has been at times in the past. In 1980 in North Carolina, the gap was 8.8 years. It dropped about a year in 1990 to 7.7 and continued to decline to 6.5 years in 2000.

DHHS staff caution that life expectancy is a statistical measure, and is based on the ages at which people are dying now. To determine which factors have the largest impact in North Carolina, especially compared to the US, requires more comprehensive research and analysis. [Source]

DSS Lawsuit

Lucas Thomae, Carolina Public Press, 8/22/24

A federal lawsuit filed two weeks ago by advocacy group Disability Rights NC alleges that Moore County Department of Social Services unlawfully institutionalized two children while their mother was being treated for cancer.

According to the complaint, Vass resident Rumina Slazas was hospitalized for cancer in July 2022. A month later, Moore County DSS took custody of her 14-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter, both of whom have significant intellectual disabilities. They are referred to as J.S. and S.S. in the court filings. Slazas, J.S. and S.S. are the plaintiffs in the case, and Moore County is named as the defendant.

The lawsuit claims Moore County refused to return the children to Slazas weeks after the county took custody of them, despite having a written opinion from Slazas’ health care providers declaring that she was in “complete remission.”

The lawsuit also alleges that in August 2022 Moore County DSS dropped Slazas’ nonverbal daughter off at UNC Health’s pediatric emergency department for “aggressive behaviors” and refused to pick her up after she was discharged, forcing her to “remain in limbo” at the clinic for nearly nine months while the county sought a placement for her at a psychiatric facility.

Both siblings were eventually reunited with their mother in 2023, but not before the county sent them to separate institutional settings rather than seeking community-based services for them. The lawsuit argues that in doing so, Moore County violated “well-settled disability law” established by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Olmstead vs. L.C.

“Throughout Defendant’s custody of J.S. and S.S., Defendant ignored information from medical and disability services professionals about the services and supports appropriate for Plaintiff’s children and about Plaintiff’s mother’s recovery from cancer,” the complaint reads.

Slazas did not make herself available for an interview, although Disability Rights NC attorney Holly Stiles told Carolina Public Press that she may choose to speak about her case against Moore County at a later date.

CPP submitted a records request to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services on Monday for all correspondence with Rumina Slazas, Disability Rights NC or county officials related to the custody situation dating back to 2022. DHHS acknowledged the request, but no records have received prior to publication.

Mary Craven Adams, the independent attorney representing Moore County in the case, told CPP that she could not speak on the substance of the case because the county had not been served with the lawsuit as of Tuesday. “After the county is served, and a response of filed on behalf of the county, more information will be available in the federal court filings,” Adams said in an email.

In many cases like this, a county that is sued may file a motion to dismiss. If Moore County does that, it would be ruled on by U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder. Such an action could delay further proceedings by months or longer. [Source]

Housing Funding

Peter Castagno, Port City Daily, 8/22/24

Wilmington-area leaders view a new state program to help low-income homebuyers in hurricane-prone counties as a positive step, but they argued more resources are needed to assist disadvantaged communities impacted by major storms.

The North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency — an agency within the state’s Department of Safety — announced the reopening of the Homeowner Assistance Program Tuesday. NCORR committed $4.4 million to assist first-time homebuyers with up to $30,000 in down payment assistance, in addition to 5% of closing costs. Residents in 16 flood-prone counties, including New Hanover, Brunswick, and Pender, are eligible for the program.

Gov. Roy Cooper established NCORR in 2018 to guide storm reconstruction and resiliency efforts following Hurricane Florence. The agency has received nearly $1 billion in grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for disaster mitigation and recovery.

NCORR first opened the Homeowner Assistance Program (HAP) from November 2022 to April 2023 to help increase economic viability and resilience in storm-impacted areas. The program paused to ensure sufficient HUD funding for pending applications. Seventy-one North Carolina families in 13 counties have received HAP assistance so far, including seven families in New Hanover County.

“NCORR’s Homeownership Assistance Program was specifically designed to address systemic barriers in today’s home-buying process,” NCORR spokesperson Janet Kelly-Scholle told Port City Daily. “The program is an opportunity to improve challenges with homeownership that affect communities of color the most.”

The homeownership assistance program provides financial assistance to households earning 80% to 120% of area median income — New Hanover’s household AMI is $70,485, according to 2022 census data. Around 70% of HAP funds are designated to households that earn 80% or below AMI. Households earning around $56,000 and below are designated in the low-to-moderate category receiving the majority of funds.

Demographics of residents who have received HAP assistance include:

51% Black or African American
69% women-applicant households
51% first-generation (and first-time) homebuyers
49% first-time (but not first-generation) homebuyers
68% of participants in 80% or lower Average Median Income range
New Hanover County Black Leadership Caucus Chair Sonya Patrick viewed the program as a positive step, but cast doubt it would be sufficient to incentivize first-time homeownership. “Low-income people in New Hanover County can’t afford a home,” she said, referring to escalating costs in the housing market.

NBC’s Housing Index ranked New Hanover as the fourth most difficult county to buy a home out of 1,274 counties throughout the country in April; the Index’s updated June report shifted NHC to the tenth most difficult market. It cited factors including the $30,000 affordability gap between the median income and the $103,000 needed to purchase a $495,000 median-priced home.

NCORR’s Community Development Office oversees HAP and administers other programs for the 16 storm-impacted counties eligible for the program, such as funding to repair, replace, and build affordable public housing units outside of the 100-year flood plain. The agency awarded New Hanover a $9 million grant to develop the 278-unit Starway Village affordable housing project in 2022.

NCORR’s reconstruction arm has come under controversy in recent years; applicants for home reconstruction and lawmakers have heavily criticized the program for failing to efficiently use federal funds in hurricane recovery efforts. Chief program delivery officer Ivan Duncan resigned amid allegations including the improper prioritization of a contractor in November 2022.

La’Meshia Whittington — president of Raleigh-based nonprofit Democracy Green and a member of the Department of Environmental Quality’s Environmental Justice and Equity Board — praised NCORR officials but raised concerns the agency has insufficient resources and staffing to carry out its mandate. PCD reached out to the agency to ask about staffing concerns and will update upon response.

“There is an extreme lack of capacity in the office,” Whittington said. “It needs support to hire people from these same counties that have been storm impacted and are now being identified for this homebuyers assistance program. Those are the same counties still waiting on relief from Hurricane Florence and Matthew.”

She formed Democracy Green during Hurricane Florence recovery efforts in 2018 and joined a dozen other minority-led eastern North Carolina organizations to meet with NCORR chief of staff Ryan Flynn before the agency was formally created to give specific objectives for displaced residents in need of housing.

NCORR approved roughly 4,700 applicants for its Homeowner Recovery Program — focused on providing home repairs to residents impacted by Hurricanes Florence and Matthew — before closing applications last April.

As of August 1, the agency completed projects for 2,459 applicants while over 1,800 state residents still wait on home repairs, the Raleigh News and Observer reported earlier this month. NCORR’s pace of completion increased in 2024 and the organization anticipates completing remaining projects in fall 2024. [Source]

OBX Collapses

Catherine Kozak, Coastal Review, 8/22/24

It’s as awesome as it is awful to watch the ocean take down a house, as happened again last week on an eroded beach in Rodanthe. Once again, the ocean’s power was pumped up by a storm, this time Hurricane Ernesto churning far offshore, and once again, the stunning image of the otherwise sturdy-looking house swaying on its pilings before collapsing into the surf was caught on video and shared with national media.

It’s the seventh house within the Cape Hatteras National Seashore to be taken by the sea over the last four years. But it undoubtedly will not be the last. “I’m so disappointed in what happened,” Cape Hatteras National Seashore Superintendent Dave Hallac told Coastal Review Monday. “But I’m not the least bit surprised.”

Hallac said he received a phone call at about 5:30 p.m. Friday informing him that the unoccupied house at 23214 Corbina Drive, which was teetering in the surf for days, had fallen.

State and federal laws currently seem powerless to prevent houses on eroded beaches from continuing to fall into the ocean and spreading debris for miles over public and private lands. Homeowners cannot collect on their National Flood Insurance Program policy until the house is destroyed, and even then, only up to a maximum of $250,000. Last year, the National Park Service, through a pilot program, was able to buy out two threatened oceanfront homes that it later demolished, but the grant program is limited.

So for now, homeowners who can’t afford to move their houses from the ocean, or those who don’t have the land to move it to, have few if any options to get it off the beach.

In addition to correspondence from Dare County, the National Park Service had sent letters of concern to the owners on June 5 and again on Aug. 14, Hallac said.

After the collapse, the superintendent said, the owners hired contractor Mike Dunn of W.M. Dunn Construction, LLC, of Powells Point, who has handled numerous cleanup operations on seashore property. Even though the contractors were limited by the heavy surf conditions from doing the heaviest work, they began gathering large pieces on Saturday and making piles on the beach. “We appreciate that the owners have moved quickly to begin cleanup,” Hallac said.

Purchased in 2019 According to Dare County records, the 1,516-square-foot house, which had four bedrooms and two bathrooms, was built in 1973. It was purchased in 2019 for $339,000 by David M. Kern and Teresa T. Kern of Hershey, Pennsylvania. The deed lists the lot at the time as 10,018 square feet.

Five other houses in the area of GA Kohler Drive in Rodanthe are also now sometimes standing in surf, even at low tide, he said. Some have various damages, including pilings that sway back and forth, and broken pools, beach accesses, decks and stairs. Dare County Planning Department Director Noah Gilliam said that two septic systems in Rodanthe and one in Buxton were at least partially compromised as a result of Ernesto.

Also, he said, about 23 structures had minor damage from the storm. In addition, there were about a dozen houses that had previously been characterized as threatened oceanfront structures.

Gilliam said that ocean water sitting, or even surging, under a house is not in and of itself a rationale to suspend occupancy certificates — properties are decertified only if aspects of damage is covered in the North Carolina building code, such as nonfunctional septic systems, compromised electrical systems, and lack of egress and ingress. The Corbina Drive house, he said, was decertified on Aug. 8. The house was also decertified on April 1 after showing signs of structural failures of some pilings, stairs and the septic. The house was recertified on July 16, he said.

Gilliam said that the owners had another lot across the road and he believed they had been investigating moving their house there at the time it collapsed. [Source]

Tax Plea

Port City Daily, 8/22/24

A well-known Wilmington businessman and entrepreneur with ties to a controversial brewery that shuttered two years ago has pleaded guilty in court. According to U.S. Attorney Mike Easley’s office, George Taylor Jr., who founded TRU Colors, is being held accountable for not filing employee tax returns, nor paying the $2.2 million owed for his operation National Speed. Instead, Easley wrote in a release Thursday that Taylor “spent it to pad his business and personal expenses.”

Taylor — who has opened and either sold or shuttered multiple businesses, including software provider Next Glass, craft beer data and analytics company Untappd, NASCAR team Taylor Motorsports and TRU Colors Brewing — is the chairman and founder of National Speed. It has locations in both Wilmington and Richmond, Virginia, to build out and customize cars for optimum efficiency.

The attorney’s office states Taylor failed to file employment tax returns from the years 2014 through 2021 for National Speed. It asserts Taylor withheld Social Security, Medicare and employee income taxes and didn’t pay withholdings to the IRS.

In the last five years, Taylor has made headlines due to dissension with his for-profit brewery that also centered on social justice. TRU Colors began percolating in 2015 to curb gang violence in the community. Taylor’s approach was out of the box: employing active, rival gang members with the hope that providing adequate income, work and life training, as well as strengthening ties socially, would bring down violent crime rates community-wide.

In its infancy, TRU Colors scaled a 56,000-square-foot brewery on Greenfield Street, released one beer and secured Molson Coors as a minority stakeholder. Yet, it made headlines when alleged gang members broke into Taylor’s son’s home in the summer of 2021 and killed two people. The case is approaching trial in the coming months, with Raquel Adams, Dyrell Green and Omonte Bell charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder and felony conspiracy.

One year following the shootings, TRU Colors shuttered. Taylor penned an op-ed in the Wilmington Business Journal at the time noting the operation “faced stiff headwinds that have slowed progress.” He cited the pandemic, poor media coverage, dried-up funding, and lack of community support as factors contributing to his startup’s demise. [Source]

New Hanover Superintendent

Madison Lipe, Wilmington StarNews, 8/22/24

The New Hanover County Board of Education has chosen previously acting superintendent Christopher Barnes as the district’s interim superintendent. In early July, the board voted to fire former Superintendent Charles Foust, and recently settled their agreement with Foust to pay him a year of salary — roughly $250,000.

Since then, the district and board have met with educators, school staff and principals to hear their thoughts and wishes for a new leader, whether it be an interim superintendent or a superintendent. One common theme was that educators wanted someone internal who is familiar with the district to lead until a new superintendent is hired.

The board unanimously decided that after interviewing seven candidates over two weeks, and based on the feedback from district employees, Barnes was the right person to fill the role. Barnes will be sworn in at the board’s Sept. 3 meeting. [Source]

St. Aug’s Paychecks

Destinee Patterson, WRAL News, 8/22/24

Multiple former faculty members tell WRAL News they are starting to receive paychecks from Saint Augustine’s University. In early 2024, employees told WRAL News they hadn’t been paid for multiple pay periods. Prior to Thursday, Saint Augustine’s faculty and staff were owed money dating back to March.

The paychecks were delivered less than a week after the university announced it secured an initial $7 million loan from Gothic Ventures, a Durham-based capital venture firm. The firm announced it would provide the university a line of credit of up to $30 million. The school faces tax liens and lawsuits totaling more than $10 million.

As of Aug. 15, the North Carolina Department of Labor had received 29 complaints against Saint Augustine’s University since September 2023, including three complaints filed this month.

In July, after months of investigations, meetings and lawsuits, an arbitration committee appointed by the SACSCOC ruled Saint Augustine’s University can keep its accreditation, although Burgess said they still have more work to do as the university is still on probation. [Source]

Erosion Study

Coastal Review, 8/22/24

Cape Hatteras National Seashore is teaming up with researchers and government representatives to begin a multiyear study on transportation and resource management challenges on Ocracoke Island. Working with the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, Duke University, East Carolina University, North Carolina Department of Transportation, Hyde County and Tideland Electric Membership Corp., the study is to answer a series of questions relating to transportation adaptation and mitigation strategies to improve transportation reliability and management of natural barrier island processes.

An information and feedback session is scheduled from 1-2:30 p.m. Sept. 4 at the Ocracoke Community Center.

“Transportation strategies that have been used for decades to maintain N.C. Highway 12 and the South Dock Ferry Terminal can impact seashore lands and may have inadvertently contributed to the low elevations and narrow island widths that currently make transportation susceptible to disruption from multiple sources including ocean overwash, soundside flooding and heavy precipitation events,” according to a seashore release. The overall goal of the project is to inform decision-making as Cape Hatteras National Seashore, NCDOT, Hyde County and the village of Ocracoke work to address transportation and resource management-related challenges along the east end of Ocracoke Island as well as access to and from Hatteras Island.

The results from initial modeling and public feedback will be incorporated into the second year of research, which will evaluate the effects of other transportation strategies before concluding with a second information session during the summer of 2025. [Source]

Rare Earth Metals

Lily Burton, WUNC Radio, 8/22/24

Rare earth elements like neodymium and lanthanum make possible technologies that many have come to rely on like smartphones and computer hard drives. They’re also used in solar panels and wind turbines that generate cleaner, more sustainable energy. These elements are not actually that rare. However, mining and isolating them relies on fossil fuels and creates toxic waste.

“So we’re actually kind of destroying the environment to make a green economy to get these metals,” said Colleen Doherty, an associate professor at North Carolina State University.

In a greenhouse in West Raleigh, Doherty is exploring an alternative to the harsh practices of mining rare earth elements.

“And plants are actually really quite good at taking up these metals that we need,” she said.

Doherty’s working with a plant called pokeweed which can grow to be over 10 feet tall with red stalks and purple berries. It is native to North America and typically grows along the edges of wooded areas. And this prolific plant has a special power. Plants absorb a variety of nutrients through their roots, eventually ‘taking them up’ into their stalks and leaves, Doherty explained. Along with essential nutrients, pokeweed is particularly good at taking up rare earth elements as well.

These metals are usually not found in high enough quantities in regular soil for the pokeweed to do much with. But researchers have found an unexpected source: coal waste.

Edmaritz Hernandez Pagan, a PhD student who works with Doherty, explained that the lab grows the pokeweed in acid mine drainage. This is a type of industrial waste that results from water becoming contaminated by coal mining activity. This process would involve isolating rare earth elements from existing industrial waste, instead of creating more waste to mine them. [Source]

Truist Donation

Woody Cain, WFAE Radio, 8/22/24

Charlotte-based Truist Foundation says it has made a two-year, $1 million grant to Global Refuge — the nation’s largest faith-based nonprofit dedicated exclusively to serving immigrants and refugees. The grant supports Global Refuge’s economic empowerment initiative to address barriers faced by immigrants and refugees in securing capital and credit. It offers financial coaching, affordable loan rates, and approvals for those with challenged credit or no credit. [Source]

Soup Expansion

The Robesonian, 8/21/24

Funds for the expansion of Campbell Soup Company are among the eight grant requests from local governments awarded by the Rural Infrastructure Authority.

The eight grant requests were approved under the state’s Building Reuse Program, which provides grants to local governments to renovate vacant buildings, renovate and/or expand buildings occupied by existing North Carolina companies. Grants may also be used to renovate, expand or construct healthcare facilities that will lead to the creation of new jobs in rural and low-wealth counties.

Robeson County has been awarded a $500,000 grant to support the 10,000-square-foot expansion of the building in Maxton that is currently occupied by Campbell Soup Company. The expansion will create 124 jobs, with an accompanying private investment of $181,750,000.

Robeson County was also awarded an $80,000 grant to support the reuse of a 3,605-square-foot building in Rowland. The building will be occupied by Hope Health Family Practice, LLC, a business offering a wide range of services including primary care, prevention and wellness, and mental health therapy. The company plans to create 9 jobs and invest $460,000 with this project. [Source]

NC Insider Legislative Report
LB: LEGISLATIVE BUILDING. LOB: LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING

HOUSE CALENDAR

Monday, Sept. 9, 2024

House Convenes at 12 P.M.
SENATE CALENDAR

Monday, Sept. 9, 2024

Senate 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. 11
Wednesday, Oct. 9
Tuesday, Nov. 19 to Friday Nov. 22
Wednesday, Dec. 11 to Friday Dec. 13

Legislative Studies and Meetings
LB: LEGISLATIVE BUILDING. LOB: LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING

Thursday, August 22

1 p.m. | North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force, Perinatal Health Committee, Virtual Meeting.

2 p.m. | America’s Semiquincentennial Committee, 1228/1327 LB

Thursday, August 29

1 p.m. | Agriculture and Forestry Awareness Study Commission, Ed Emory Auditorium, Kenansville.
 

N.C. Government Meetings and Hearings
BOLD ITEMS ARE NEW LISTINGS

Thursday, Aug. 22

9 a.m. | North Carolina State Ports Authority – August Board of Directors Meeting, 2202 Burnett Blvd. Wilmington.
10 a.m. | North Carolina Human Trafficking Commission – General Commission Meeting, NC Judicial Center, 901 Corporate Center Drive, Raleigh.
Tuesday, Aug. 27

1 p.m. | Coastal Resources Commission Meeting, Beaufort Hotel 2440 Lennoxville Road, Beaufort.
Wednesday, Aug. 28

9 a.m. | Coastal Resources Commission Meeting, Beaufort Hotel 2440 Lennoxville Road, Beaufort.
10 a.m. | North Carolina Rules Review Commission – Rules Review Commission Meeting, 1711 New Hope Church Road, Raleigh.
1 p.m. | NC Global TransPark Authority – Executive Committee Meeting, 2780 Jetport Road, Kinston.

Tuesday, Sept. 3

1:30 p.m. | The Accountability 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.
Friday, Sept. 6

10 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. 10

8:30 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. 17

10 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. 11

Meeting of the Board of Governors, TBA.
Thursday, Sept. 12

Meeting of the Board of Governors, TBA.
Thursday, Oct. 17

Meeting of the Board of Governors, TBA.
Wednesday, Nov. 13

Meeting of the Board of Governors, TBA.
Thursday, Nov. 14

Meeting of the Board of Governors, TBA.
 
N.C. Utilities Commission Hearing Schedule
DOBBS BUILDING, 430 NORTH SALISBURY STREET, RALEIGH

Thursday, Aug. 22

7 p.m. | Public Witness Hearing – Application for General Rate Increase for Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. | G-9 Sub 837
Monday, Aug. 26

6:30 p.m. | Public Witness Hearing – Application for General Rate Increase for Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. | G-9 Sub 837
Monday, Sept. 16

1 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 1341
1 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 1342
1 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 1343
1 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 1344
1 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 1345
Tuesday, Sept. 17

10 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. 6

No 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. 27

2024 Lumbee Powwow, Lumbee Tribe Cultural Center, 638 Terry Sanford Drive, Maxton.