VOLUME 7 ISSUE 30 |
WWW.NSJONLINE.COM
|
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022
Trump visits state Friday for rally Raleigh Former President Donald Trump will host a rally for Ted Budd and Republicans in Wilmington on Friday. Joining Trump and the state’s Republican U.S. Senate nominee are Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, U.S. Rep. David Rouzer, congressional candidate Bo Hines, and N.C. Republican Party chairman Michael Whatley. “President Trump’s commitment to protecting and promoting American jobs grew our economy and created more and better opportunities for all Americans,” said Budd in a statement.” Trump visited Wilmington in September 2020, honoring the it as the first World War II Heritage city. NSJ STAFF
Border encounters top 2M in fiscal year Washington, D.C. The number of migrant arrivals reported along the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2022 surpassed 2 million in August, an all-time high, CBS News reported. With one month left, CBP officials stationed along the Mexican border have processed migrants over 2.1 million times in fiscal year 2022, a tally well above the previous record set in fiscal year 2021, when the agency recorded 1.7 million migrant encounters. “Failing communist regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba are driving a new wave of migration across the Western Hemisphere, including the recent increase in encounters at the southwest U.S. border,” said CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus.
DAVID GOLDMAN | AP PHOTO
A resident wades through the flooded entrance to an apartment complex near the Cape Fear River as it continues to rise in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Fayetteville, Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018.
Years later, victims of hurricanes Matthew, Florence are still waiting to go home Cooper’s recovery chief questioned on completing only 789 out of 4,100 projects
NSJ STAFF
Court rules in favor of Texas law on social media regulation Austin, Texas A federal appeals court ruled in favor of a Texas law targeting major social media companies like Facebook and Twitter in a victory for Republicans who accuse the platforms of censoring conservative speech. But the decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans is unlikely to be the last word in a legal battle that has stakes beyond Texas, and could impact how some of the world’s biggest tech companies regulate content by their users. “Today we reject the idea that corporations have a freewheeling First Amendment right to censor what people say,” U.S. Circuit Court Judge Andrew Oldham wrote. Justice Samuel Alito wrote in May that is not clear how the high court’s past First Amendment cases, many of which predate the internet age. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Biden: US would defend Taiwan against Chinese invasion Beijing China’s communist government criticized President Joe Biden’s statement that American forces would defend Taiwan if Beijing tries to invade as a violation of U.S. commitments about the self-ruled island, but gave no indication of possible retaliation. Biden said “yes” when asked during an interview on “60 Minutes” whether “U.S. forces, U.S. men and women, would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. CBS News reported the White House said after the interview U.S. policy hasn’t changed. That policy says Washington wants to see Taiwan’s status resolved peacefully but doesn’t say whether U.S. forces might be sent in response to a Chinese attack. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NCSBE director omitted dealings with ballot portal vendor from testimony before lawmakers By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — An outside money grant from a Democrat-linked organization would have paid for the majority of North Carolina’s absentee ballot portal, according to email discussions occurring at least nine months before the pandemic arrived in North Carolina. N.C. State Board of Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell omitted the grant and past interaction with the portal vendor in remarks given during hearings with lawmakers in 2020. The portal, powered by Democracy Live, is currently active. Grants offered in 2019 by Democracy Live to state election officials to defray costs of the system came from Tusk Philanthropies; a group whose former head now serves as chief of staff for the Biden administration’s U.S. Department of Education and previously served as chief of staff to Jill Biden when she was Second Lady. The Tusk grant was declined according to the N.C. State Board of Elections (NCSBE). Emails obtained by North State Journal show conversations between NCSBE staffer Veronica Degraffenreid, Bell, and Democracy Live’s Brian Finney beginning in June 2019. Some of the emails addressed a grant opportunity and others centered on a “UOCAVA and accessible absentee solution.” UOCAVA stands for Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. In the email exchanges related to grant money that took place in mid-September 2019, Finney mentions money being offered through Tusk Philanthropies that could “fund 80-90% of the cost.” According to vendor records provided by the NCSBE, Democracy Live was paid a total of $423,950 in 2020 by the NCSBE for its services. Based on Finney’s estimate the grant would cover “80-90%” of the costs, had the NCSBE taken the Tusk grant, the amount the state would have received in that
grant could have been up to or over $339,160. In March 2020, officials in the state were dealing with the emergence of COVID-19 in North Carolina and lawmakers held meetings and hearings to determine how to manage various challenges the pandemic presented, including that year’s upcoming election season. During a late March 2020 meeting, NCSBE Director Karen Brinson Bell asked lawmakers to make absentee voting by mail easier, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. In her March 26 NCBSE recommendations Brinson Bell asked that voters be allowed to request mail ballots through an online portal, and to allow them to return ballot request forms by fax or email. At the time of her ask, voters had to return ballot request forms by mail or deliver them to a county elections office in person. She also requested that the state eliminate the requirement that a mail ballot be witnessed by two people or a notary. Because of social distancing, Brinson Bell recommended that the state require only one witness or eliminate the witness requirement altogether, which would “further reduce risk.” Brinson Bell also asked that the state pay for postage to make it easier for people to return mail ballots. NSJ’s coverage of Brinson Bell’s ask included $400 million in CARES Act money for elections. In a statement at the time, Brinson Bell said, “We believe the legislative recommendations released today would go a long way toward ensuring safe, accessible elections in 2020.” Brinson Bell went on to say that “We look forward to continuing to work with the General Assembly to respond to the unprecedented threat facing our elections system at this time.” Later, at an April 7, 2020, meeting of the NCGA House Select Committee on COVID-19’s Continuity of See NCSBE, page A3
By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — On the four-year anniversary of Hurricane Florence landing on North Carolina’s shore, a legislative subcommittee met find out why many hurricane victims still have not been made whole. The 15-member Hurricane Recovery panel is a subcommittee of the Joint Legislative Commission on Government Operations. The formation of subcommittee and its members were announced in July. Hurricane victims Willie Williams and his wife Geraldine, both disabled veterans with medical issues, both became emotional at times while relating their situation to lawmakers. “What’s done is done. You can’t change what happened in the past,” said Geraldine Williams. “It’s not about us being angry, it’s about us not being heard.” The Williames told lawmakers they first applied to Rebuild NC for help in repairing their home in 2019, yet they are currently still living in a hotel room. “After so many weeks, they came back... and told us that it will be an additional two months,” Geraldine Williams said. “After that two months, they [came] back and tell us it will be an additional two months. And this went on and on up until this date.” Willie Williams said it felt like they were being led on and on “until it is too late.” Another giving testimony was Lavonne Merritt, who said she and her father applied for relief in 2019. She said Rebuild NC keeps “passing the buck” meanwhile she is still waiting and her father has since passed away. During her testimony Merritt became tearful and said she “just wants to go home.” Public comments submitted to the subcommittee mirrored testimony such as the recovery program having a lengthy and complicated application processes, lack of clear communication, and being passed from one person to another with no usable information offered. Prior to hearing from some of the victims, subcommittee chair Sen. Brent Jackson opened the meeting with testimony from officials from two agencies playing a role in hurricane recovery projects; Richard Trumper of the Office of State Budget and Manage-
ment Disaster Recovery (OSBM) and Laura Hogshead and Ivan Duncan of the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR). NCORR was established by Governor Roy Cooper in 2018 to oversee and manage the $778 million in federal disaster relief received by the state for both hurricanes Matthew (2016) and Florence (2018). The money comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Under Cooper’s control, only around 60% of those funds have been encumbered with just $231 million actually spent to date. The funds have deadlines to either be spent or encumbered by 2025 for Matthew and 2026 for Florence. NCORR runs Rebuild NC, a program established in October 2018 to aid families impacted by Hurricanes Matthew and Florence. Per the governor, NCORR’s purpose was to “streamline recovery programming and assistance.” “The Office of Recovery and Resiliency has made tremendous progress in getting disaster money out to the people who need it, but recovery is always a long-term process for storm survivors,” Cooper said in a Dec. 2019 press reSee HURRICANES, page A8
5
20177 52016 $0.50
8