VOLUME 10 ISSUE 3 | THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2025
NSJONLINE.COM
GEORGE WALKER IV / AP PHOTO
Laying it all on the line High Point guard Chana Paxixe celebrates after the Panthers won the Big South Tournament championship game over Longwood on Sunday in Johnson City, Tennessee. High Point’s men and women both earned NCAA bids with tournament wins in Johnson City, helping kick off March Madness across the country. See more college basketball in Sports.
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Goodwin says he’s departing NCDMV post
BRIEF this week
Trump increases planned tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum to 50% Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will double his planned tariffs on steel and aluminum from 25% to 50% for Canada, escalating a trade war with the United States’ northern neighbor. Trump said on social media that the increase of the tariffs set to take effect on Wednesday is a response to the price increases that the provincial government of Ontario put on electricity sold to the United States. The U.S. president has given a variety of explanations for his antagonism of Canada, saying that his separate 25% tariffs are about fentanyl smuggling and voicing objections to Canada putting high taxes on dairy imports that penalize U.S. farmers.
U.S. job openings rose to 7.7M in January U.S. job openings rose at the start of the year, with employers posting 7.7 million vacancies in January, the Labor Department reported Tuesday, up from 7.5 million. Layoffs fell slightly in January, and the number of Americans quitting their jobs rose. The Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that openings rose in real estate, health care, manufacturing and construction firms. Federal government agencies posted 135,000 jobs, down from 138,000 in December. The fallout from purges of federal workers is not expected to show up in labor market data at least until the February numbers come out.
State auditor issues memo on NIH policy change compliance Dave Boliek’s guidance went out to all CFOs and finance leaders of UNC System schools By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek has issued a memorandum to UNC System school chief financial officers and
See BOLIEK, page A3
By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles Chief Wayne Goodwin confirmed to lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee last week that he would not reapply for his post despite making statements earlier this month that he would seek to keep his job. Goodwin, a former N.C. Commissioner of Insurance and chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, has been head of the state DMV since 2022. Former Gov. Roy Cooper appointed him to turn the agency around after the pandemic. Goodwin is required to reapply for his post, which pays $163,000 annually.
Senate bill seeks to eliminate DEI from K-12 public schools “We can teach history without forcing … ideologies inconsistent with equality.” Senate Leader Phil Berger
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finance leaders regarding changes in the National Institutes of Health’s research grant policies. “Our financial statement audits stick to the numbers, and that’s exactly what our universities need to be doing,” Boliek said in a statement. “The last thing we want to report are findings that could have been avoided.”
The longtime Democrat, who has faced criticism from Republicans, had said he would like to remain in the job
Senate Leader Phil Berger filed Senate Bill 227 By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — A bill filed by Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) seeks to eliminate the programs and offices using diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI in the state’s K-12 public schools. Senate Bill 227 was filed on March 3 and has already picked up over a dozen additional sponsors. “We cannot teach our nation’s history without ac-
knowledging our past,” Berger said in a press release. “But we can teach history without forcing our educators and students to embrace and adopt ideologies inconsistent with equality.” The bill asserts that DEI programs force people to judge others based on race, sex or other factors and stifle diversity of thought. It references President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order and emphasizes the importance of maintaining federal funding compliance. The legislation would prohibit public schools in the See BILL, page A3
The departure comes amid legislative scrutiny of the job Goodwin has done as well as a sweeping audit of his agency’s spending announced earlier this month by N.C. Auditor Dave Boliek. When appointed, Goodwin promised more efficiency with appointment scheduling, greater transparency and shorter wait times. Over the course of multiple legislative oversight hearings, he has pointed to some progress in wait times and appointment availability being made by certain offices operating on Saturdays and putting self-service kiosks inside a handful of grocery stores. Goodwin has, however, faced criticism, including for state ID delays that led to sixweek waits versus the typical 15 days. Goodwin blamed a vendor for those problems during a June 2024 oversight hearing. The June hearing was See DMV, page A2