VOLUME 11 ISSUE 12 | THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2026
NSJONLINE.COM
COURTESY NCGA
House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Granite Falls), left, and Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) hold a joint press conference Monday announcing a framework to end the nearly yearlong budget impasse in Raleigh.
GOP leaders come to budget agreement
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BRIEF this week
Lyles to resign as Charlotte mayor Charlotte Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles will resign from office on June 30, according to a press release from a city spokesperson. Lyles did not specifically say why she was choosing to resign, only saying she wanted to spend more time with family. The 73-year-old Lyles’ decision to resign comes just six months after she was reelected to the post. The Charlotte City Council will be tasked with appointing another Democrat to fill the remainder of her two-year term. She first took office in 2017 as the city’s first black female mayor. The press release touts Lyles’ 30-year career in Charlotte city government, highlighting “Charlotte’s economic growth and job creation during her time in office, and of enhancing city government’s fiscal stability.” Additionally, the release said Lyles “will not make any immediate endorsement of a potential successor.” Her departure follows a difficult stretch. Lyles has drawn criticism over the past year for violent crime issues in Charlotte, in particular her handling of the murder of Iryna Zarutska on the city’s light rail system last August. In February, Lyles and other city officials, including Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden, were called to testify before the North Carolina House Oversight and Reform Committee on the topic of public safety in the city.
Database tracks Cooper’s COVID-19 prison releases CooperReleasedHim.com claims 2,412 of the 4,234 prisoners set free have reoffended By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — A searchable database of prisoners released by former Gov. Roy Cooper during the COVID-19 pandemic was published last week at CooperReleasedHim.com.
See PRISON, page A3
North State Journal staff RALEIGH — North Carolina’s top Republican legislative leaders said Tuesday they have reached a framework agreement to break a nearly yearlong budget impasse, announcing plans for the largest average teacher pay raise in nearly two decades, double-digit salary increases for most law enforcement officers and a new schedule of personal income tax cuts. Senate leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) and House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Granite Falls) held a joint news conference announcing they had resolved the biggest structural disputes that have stalled negotiations between the two chambers. “This is a starting point,”
Property tax moratorium heads to state House “This is a good first step for residents across North Carolina who are feeling the tax impacts of increasing property values.” Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden)
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Cooper is currently running for the state’s U.S. Senate seat against Republican Michael Whatley, whose campaign has featured attacks on Cooper over the prisoner list, as well as Cooper’s “soft” policies while governor. Under the prisoner release settlement agreement, violent offenders were not supposed to be released, yet the data now confirms violent and
Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Destin Hall held a press conference announcing an end to the impasse
House Bill 889 would freeze reappraisals for one year By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — Senate Leader Phil Berger’s (R-Eden) property tax reappraisal moratorium passed its third reading last Wednesday by a vote of 35-8 and is headed to the House for consideration. “This is a good first step for residents across North Carolina who are feeling the tax impacts of increasing property values,” Berger said in a press release. “This will not be the last thing the General Assembly does on property taxes. We need to take a thoughtful,
comprehensive approach to address the growing strain of property tax increases on our citizens.” The final passage by the Senate included support from seven Democrats: Sens. Gale Adcock (Wake), Sydney Batch (Wake), Dan Blue (Wake), Paul Lowe (Forsyth), Mujtaba Mohammed (Mecklenburg), Natalie Murdock (Durham) and Kandie Smith (Pitt). Berger’s other primary co-sponsors of the bill, Sens. Brent Jackson (R-Sampson) and Steve Jarvis (R-Davidson), also issued statements following the final vote. “This is just a temporary pause to give residents some breathing room,” said Jackson. See TAXES, page A2
said Berger, who lost his reelection bid in the Republican primary to Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page in March. “There’s still a lot that will need to be decided and discussed between the two chambers, but this agreement sets out a good framework for us to move forward.” The centerpiece on the spending side is an 8% average pay raise for teachers, which leaders said would push starting teacher pay to first in the South when counted with local supplements while also lifting veteran teachers across the salary schedule. “This budget is really an unprecedented one for education in this state,” said Hall, calling it the largest average teacher pay increase since at least 2006. Teachers with more than 16 years of experience would receive a $1,000 bonus; less experienced teachers would receive $500. State employees would see an average 3% raise, with See BUDGET, page A2