VOLUME 7 ISSUE 40 |
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2022
The Blessing of the Hounds is a Thanksgiving tradition in Southern Pines that has endured for more than a 100 years. It marks the first of the season for the Moore County Hounds. The riders and hounds gather to receive a blessing from a local priest in a tradition that dates back to medieval times.
DAVID SINCLAIR | FOR NORTH STATE JOURNAL
Members named in commission to reform UNC System appointments
Biden ‘disinformation czar’ registers as a foreign agent Washington, D.C. The Biden administration’s proposed disinformation czar has registered as a foreign agent. Nina Jankowicz filed papers indicating that she is working for a British ‘antidisinformation’ group that takes funding from the U.K. government, according to a report in the Daily Caller. The documents registering Jankowicz as a foreign agent, required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), say she “supervises research, executes business strategy, oversees the establishment of Centre for Information Resilience’s research, communicates with the media, and briefs individuals and officials on CIR’s research.” According to the outlet, it is a one-year contract that began in September, a few months after the Biden administration abandoned its plans for a Disinformation Governance Board at the Department of Homeland Security.
State gas tax will increase in 2023 Raleigh The motor fuels and alternative fuels tax rate for the period of Jan. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2023, will increase from 38.5 cents to 40.5 cents per gallon, according to the N.C. Department of Revenue. The motor fuel excise tax rate is calculated by using the motor fuel excise tax rate of the preceding calendar year, multiplied by a percentage. The percentage is 100% plus or minus the sum of the annual percentage change in state population for the applicable calendar year, multiplied by 75% and the annual energy index percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, multiplied by 25%. In addition, the inspection tax will remain at .0025 cents per gallon.
USA advances in World Cup Doha, Qatar The USA Men’s National soccer team defeated Iran on Tuesday by a 1-0 score to advance to the knockout round of the World Cup. Star striker Christian Pulisic scored the only goal of the game.
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J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE | AP PHOTO
From left, House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, speak to reporters following a Republican Conference meeting at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
GOP’s new committee leaders prepare blitz of investigations The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — House Republicans are promising aggressive oversight of the Biden administration once they assume the majority next year, with a particular focus on the business dealings of presidential son Hunter Biden, illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border and the originations of COVID-19. Republicans won’t have enough votes to advance key legislative priorities if there is no Democratic buy-in, but their oversight of government agencies could put Democrats on the defensive and dampen support for the Biden administration going into the 2024 presidential elections. Some of the lawmakers expected to lead those investigations once House Republicans select their new committee chairs: Judiciary’s big role Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is expected to serve as the next chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Jordan helped form and then lead the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus. President Donald Trump thought so highly of Jordan that he presented the congressman with the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Judiciary Committee handles oversight of the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security and issues such as crime, immigration and protection of civil liberties. It’s typically one of the most partisan committees on Capitol Hill, yet Jordan’s combative style stands out even there. The committee would be the place where any effort would begin to impeach a member of the Biden administration, as some Republicans have been proposing for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Jordan’s inquiries to the admin-
istration in recent months make clear the committee will investigate the FBI’s execution of a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. He has also advocated for a wide-ranging look at the Biden administration’s immigration policies and the origins of COVID-19. “All those things need to be investigated just so you have the truth,” Jordan told conservative activists last summer at a conference. Oversight’s long list Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., is expected to serve as the next chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee and has made clear that investigating President Joe Biden’s son Hunter will be one of his top priorities. The Republicans say their investigation of Hunter Biden’s business dealings is to “determine whether these activities compromise U.S. national security and President Biden’s ability to lead with impartiality.” Comer has also been laying the groundwork for investigating the situation on the U.S-Mexico border. He sent a letter to Mayorkas seeking an array of documents and communications pertaining to the administration’s border policy. “We cannot endure another year of the Biden Administration’s failed border policies,” the letter said. But that’s just a slice the committee’s focus. “We’re going to investigate between 40 and 50 different things,” Comer said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press.” “We have the capacity. We’ll have 25 members on the committee, and we’re going to have a staff close to 70. So we have the ability to investigate a lot of things.” The federal government’s spending in response to COVID-19 will also be scrutinized. See GOP, page A2
Gov. Roy Cooper says changes needed to ‘reform and strengthen’ how board members are chosen
By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — The day before Thanksgiving, North Carolina’s Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper named the members of a commission he created that will find ways to “reform and strengthen” how UNC System board members are chosen. Former UNC System presidents Tom Ross (2011-16) and Margaret Spellings (2016-19) were designated as the co-chairs by Cooper at a press conference announcing the commission. Joining Ross and Spellings are three lawmakers: current House
Majority Leader Rep. John R. Bell IV, current UNC Board of Governors member and former state Rep. John Fraley, and current state Sen. Gladys A. Robinson. Cooper also named W. Louis Bissette Jr., an attorney with McGuire Wood & Bissette in Asheville; Dr. Nicole Dobbins, an associate professor of special education at North Carolina A&T; Ann Goodnight, an education philanthropist and wife of billionaire CEO and founder of SAS Institute Jim Goodnight; Dr. Clifford A. Jones, Sr., a senior pastor at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Charlotte; Gary Locklear, a retired former superior court judge; Karen A. Popp, an attorney with the global law firm Sidley Austin LLP; Hon. Judge Cressie Thigpen, Jr., anSee COOPER, page A2
UNC enrollment dropped in 12 of 16 system schools NC A&T penalized for outof-state over-enrollment; board seeks out-of-state tuition hike
By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — Enrollment in 12 of the 16 UNC System schools declined this fall for the first time in nine years, according to the 2022 Fall Enrollment Report. Only four schools saw increased enrollment; Elizabeth City State, Fayetteville State, N.C. A&T and UNC Chapel Hill. The report was presented at the Nov. 16 meeting of the UNC Board of Governors’ Committee on Educational Planning, Policies, and Programs meeting. Per the report, the overall enrollment for fall 2022 across the UNC System was 239,663 students. That is a decrease of 4,837 students (almost 2%) from the previous fall and the lowest total enrollment since Fall 2018. New student enrollment also fell. First-time freshmen decreased by 390 (just over 1%) See ENROLLMENT, page A2