VOLUME 11 ISSUE 23 | THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2026
NSJONLINE.COM
COURTESY SPECIAL OLYMPICS NORTH CAROLINA
Bringing hardware back to NC North Carolina’s delegation of nearly 70 Special Olympians pose for a photo as part of the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games in Minnesota. Competitors brought 33 medals back to North Carolina, including 15 golds.
More registration mailers show up in NC mailboxes
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BRIEF this week
Trump, Zelenskyy have “good meeting” at White House Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Tuesday, with the two leaders discussing ways for Ukraine to produce its own powerful weapons and “other ideas that could help” in its ongoing war against Russia. The sit-down in the Oval Office, which was closed to the media, followed a consequential meeting at the NATO summit earlier this month in Ankara, Turkey, where Trump announced that the U.S. will give Ukraine a license to make Patriot defense systems — a long-running request from Kyiv to counter Russian missile attacks.
Mediators see progress in efforts to halt Iran war Cairo Mediators have achieved progress in getting the United States and Iran back to negotiations, regional officials said Monday, after both sides paused attacks following a period of rapidly escalating tensions. But scattered attacks by armed groups across the region underscored the lingering tensions. Saudi Arabia said it had shot down drones fired by Iran-backed militias in Iraq that had targeted its petroleum facilities. Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen meanwhile claimed to have attacked Saudi oil facilities as part of a separate but related conflict. It was unclear if they referred to the same attack. Neither the U.S. nor Iran reported carrying out any attacks for three days — a respite after about two weeks of sustained bombardments that led to increasing fears of a return to all-out war. U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran had asked for more discussions, reaching out directly “because we’ve been hitting them very hard.” Iran has said there are no direct talks underway.
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The North Carolina Voter Project behind latest mailing has Democrat ties
Elections board probes noncitizen voter rolls report The SAVE program identified 1,599 noncitizens By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — The North Carolina Board of Elections addressed noncitizens identified by federal authorities and approved provisional ballot rule changes during its July 16 meeting. During an address to the nation later that day, President Donald Trump outlined election integrity issues, citing actions his administration has taken to secure U.S. elections
while claiming more than 278,000 noncitizens were on U.S. voter rolls. The White House’s dedicated “Election Integrity” landing page contains materials backing the points made by Trump in his speech, including noncitizens found on state voter rolls. Files included on the White House website cite North Carolina as one of 10 “proactive” states using the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program. The files show SAVE identified more than 34,600 deceased individuals on North See NCSBE, page A3
By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — Earlier this month, some North Carolina residents across the state received voter registration mailings from a group called Ready to Register that included outdated forms, with many delivered to deceased individuals. The North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) issued a statement about the mailings, calling attention to the faulty information in them and directing the public to utilize the NCSBE’s official methods for registering to vote. Ready to Register sent a second round, and another set of third-party voter registration mailings went out to North Carolina residents, this time paid for by the “NC Voter Project.” According to N.C. Secretary of State records, the North Carolina Voter Project (NCVP) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Raleigh. Copies of the NCVP mailings obtained by North State Journal are like Ready to Reg-
Atrium Health critical of new health plan tiers The healthcare system was among those deemed a nonpreferred provider By Jessica Taylor For North State Journal RALEIGH — A week after the North Carolina State Health Plan tiers and premium adjustments were announced, Atrium Health put out a statement expressing concerns over its services now being in the nonpreferred provider tier. “We are deeply concerned by the North Carolina State Health Plan’s recent decision regarding the tiered provider network — a decision that could leave more than 130,000 North Carolina state employ-
ees facing substantially higher costs if they wish to continue receiving care from the physicians, hospitals and care teams they know and trust at Atrium Health,” Atrium said in the statement. Atrium added it did not decline participation in the tiered provider network arrangement, stating it was “never engaged to compete for the full scope of services included in the program.” Atrium also advocated for transparency in the analysis of methodology, assumptions, quality measures, access implications and anticipated patient impact for programs that place pressure on patients to change providers. See ATRIUM, page A3
“While we understand there may be disagreements about the decisions that were ultimately made, it would not be accurate to say there has not been engagement.” Department of State Treasurer
ister’s, with a letter urging registration and a prepaid return envelope addressed to local boards of elections, but unlike Ready to Register, NCVP included a current North Carolina registration form. North State Journal forwarded the NCVP items to the NCSBE, which in turn referred the materials to its investigative division. NCVP claims to focus on voter registration, education and turnout, particularly amplifying “under-represented voices” via mail, door-todoor, texting and data-driven methods. The group is also targeting high school students through its “Future Voters Network,” which the NCVP website says, “engages high school students in civic participation by providing tools, resources, and support to lead voter registration efforts in their schools and communities.” While NCVP describes itself as nonpartisan, all individuals associated with it are registered Democrats, and several were 2020 Democratic Party Convention delegates while others have ties to former Gov. Roy Cooper and current Gov. Josh Stein. See MAILERS, page A2