NC News Roundup: winter storm update; measles in North Carolina; Buddhist monks head to Raleigh

This is due south on WUNC News. I'm Jeff Tiberi. A major winter storm arrives tomorrow with the possibility of far-reaching impacts. Governor Josh Stein is warning North Carolinians to be prepared to stay off of roads over the weekend and to go without power for a few days. Temperatures could drop into the single digits on Monday. Ahead, it's the Friday News Roundup, North Carolina style, and we'll get... Updates from political happenings from Minneapolis to Greenland to Raleigh, then check in on a group of Buddhist monks taking a 2,000-mile journey. They're in Raleigh this weekend. I think it's the one thing right now that people can come together about, and that's bringing peace and being kind to each other, and that's what we're missing. Getting you caught up on the week that was here on due south after the news. From the studios of WUNC News in Chapel Hill, this is Due South. Glad to have you along for our North Carolina Friday News Roundup. Hey there, I'm Jeff Tabiri. Grab your sleds, extra loaf of whole wheat, optional.

We've got those crews ready to cut down trees, clear roads, clear debris, cut trees out of roads. The Mecklenburg County health officials right now investigating after two measles cases were confirmed in the county. There will be no early voting sites at Western Carolina University, Elon Musk University, North Carolina A&T, and UNC Greensboro. Most universities would give anything to have this amount of developable land. Just 45 days after Duke football won the ACC championship, we've learned that the university is suing star quarterback Darian Mensah. The Monks Walk for Peace began in Texas. It's going to end in Washington, D.C. They are expected to be in Raleigh this weekend. It is imperative. All North Carolinians are prepared with a personal preparedness kit of food, water, flashlights, batteries, and a plan to stay warm if you lose power. Plenty of storm talk, as you can imagine, here across the next hour. We'll also hear about issues from the North Atlantic to health care to target stores. Here until 1 o'clock are Adam Wagner, reporter editor covering state politics for the North Carolina Newsroom, Don Vaughn, Capital Bureau Chief at the News and Observer, and Zachary Eames, reporter at Axios Raleigh. Hello, y'all. Edra. Later in the hour, Aaron Sanchez-Gera, race class and communities reporter. Right here at WNC joins us to talk about those monks who are in the midst of a 2,000-mile journey. But right now, let's add another voice to the wintery mix. I'm sorry to do that to you, Corey. Corey Davis is assistant state climatologist, and we welcome him back to D-South now. Hello, Corey. Hi, Jeff. How are you? I'm good. Thank you for carving out some time for us. This is obviously a very busy moment for you. Weather forecasting ever evolving. Now Friday afternoon. Top of the hour briefing, if you would please. Where do things stand? What are you looking at? What are you expecting? Well, the good news is at least we've got more confidence in how this event will play out the weekend. That's a big change from where we were two days ago. That's where we were seeing still some pretty big differences among the major computer model forecast. Where it stands now is it looks like we will get that big blast of coal there coming in later tonight. That'll drop our temperatures tomorrow morning down into the 20s. We really won't get much above freezing during the day tomorrow. And then by Saturday night, that's when we expect that moisture to move in. It looks like it may start as... some snowflakes, especially the further north and west you go, but pretty quickly should change over to sleet by late Saturday night. And it's looking like a very sleety, noisy Saturday night across most of the Piedmont. At some point on Sunday, we expect to see that transition to freezing rain, and then freezing rain lasting through most of the day. Still a few question marks about this event, including how long that freezing rain lasts, even into late Sunday and early Monday morning. But at this point, the potential is there for a significant ice storm.

likely ice accumulations of a quarter to a half inch, if not more, across most of the Piedmont. And that will make this the biggest ice storm that we've seen in more than two decades across a good chunk of North Carolina. Wow. All right. So the accumulation of ice seems to me, my uninformed eye, really, to be one of the biggest threats here. I've read that a quarter inch of accumulation is bad of ice. You just mentioned a quarter inch to a half inch. Tell us what kinds of... impact you are anticipating with that much ice potentially accumulating. That's right, Jeff. Really, anything under a quarter inch is more of a nuisance type event. This might make your sidewalks and your neighborhood streets get a little bit slick, but that's usually not enough to cause widespread power outages. Once we get to that quarter inch threshold, that's where it starts to weigh down those tree limbs. And you can see the branches falling. You can see the trees falling on power lines and causing more widespread power outages. And especially if we get above that Half inch threshold. That's where the power outages become widespread. That's where it becomes difficult to do any navigation by road, even on some of the major roads. So that is certainly the concerning threshold for this weekend. Who will see that half inch? How widespread will that be? And what will the impacts lasting into early next week be, especially as some very cold air pours in? Right. You're leading me wonderfully into my next question. Corey Davis, assistant state climatologist here on Due South. My phone is telling me it's going to be zero overnight Monday into Tuesday. Is that right? Zero? We are definitely looking at single digits possible, and that is one of the really remarkable things about this event. And not only that cold air that's going to pour in later tonight through the event this weekend, but also that next round of coal there that'll move in. And if there is anything frozen still on the ground, that will hold our temperatures down even further because anything frozen absorbs more of that sunlight during the day, and that keeps the sun from heating up the air. So definitely possible that we may not rise above freezing for a couple days early next week. And especially like you said, said Monday night into Tuesday morning, some really frigid low temperatures, the coldest we've seen in many years across North Carolina. Corey, you were a student of weather. You grew up here in North Carolina. You made a quick reference a moment ago to potentially this being the worst ice storm that North Carolinians have seen in multiple decades. I gather that you're making reference to the 2002 ice storm. Tell us about the historical lens here, if you would. That's right. That is bar none. The gold standard for ice storm events in North Carolina. This was actually a fairly similar setup. We had some cold air in place for that event. And then we got low pressure that really tracked right along the coastline, even over the inland areas that the Carolinas had a pretty good amount of moisture there, two to three inches of liquid from that system. There was also a little bit of snow on the front end, but that quickly transitioned over to freezing rain. What we were left with was more than three quarters of an inch of ice accumulation from Charlotte. All the way through Durham, just a substantial area affected and really all the major populated areas in the Piedmont. That was an event that knocked out power to more than half of all Duke Energy customers in the Carolinas. And in some areas, it took a week to 10 days for power to finally be restored after that event. Just the most significant ice storm we've seen, certainly in our lifetimes and maybe ever across North Carolina. How many days of school did you miss, Corey?

if you remember. I think it was at least a week, but my main memory of that event was just how it all unfolded. At my parents' house, we lost power first. We all went over to my grandma's house. She lost power there as well, but that was my sister's freshman year at UNC Greensboro. They kept power on campus miraculously, so I went over and got to spend a few days with her in close quarters in a dorm room, but at least we had power. Corey Davis, before you sneak off to your other responsibilities, any other message or notes that we have not touched on here. Well, we talked about the certainty and how at least we have more confidence in how this event will play out. We can also talk about what some of the things I'm watching for that we don't know for sure yet. One of those is when that sleet to freezing rain transition will happen. Some of the forecasts have shown this being a little bit later, maybe Sunday morning to early afternoon. Now, I'll be the first to tell you, I hate sleet because usually when you hear that pinging on the windows, that means that you're missing out on snow. But for this event, that ping of sleet is going to be my best friend. because that means we're not seeing that freezing rain starting sooner. The other is whether we may see a break in some of that freezing rain during the day on Sunday. Some of the more detailed forecast models that have come out just over the last 12 hours or so have started showing some breaks in the precept during the day. So that would also cut into those totals. That may save us from that disastrous worst on record ice storm. But no matter what, it looks like this will still be a very impactful event, whether that's sleet, whether that's freezing rain, and certainly with the cold temperatures that will follow. Corey Davis, assistant state climatologist, thank you for the knowledge and joining us here on the Friday News Roundup. All right. Thanks, Jeff. Stay safe. Thank you. You too. Take care. All right. Corey missed five days of school. You also missed five days of school that 2002 high storm, Zach. Yes. I think it was in third grade. It was doing the math in my head and living in High Point. And yeah, it was. five days, but longer without power. I remember we slept in the basement next to the gas logs because that was the only place there was any warmth at the time. One of my favorite weather-related quotes from an elected official comes from 2014. You will remember it. Our listeners will remember it. Quote, don't put your stupid hat on. Usually most injuries occur right before a storm or right after a storm. Close quote. That was Governor Pat McCrory. In July, I should note, that was hurricane preparedness, not winter preparedness, 12 years ago. Don Vaughn, what did our current governor, Josh Stein, have to say this week about the storm? He did not say that when I was leaving to cover his briefing yesterday. Someone brought that up. And I said, I said, Stein's not really the kind of governor that makes that kind of comment. He's not. Well, I thought it was really interesting. My biggest kind of takeaway of that in the story I wrote, we've written a lot of news observer, plenty of, you know, what the weather forecast is and all of that. But looking at the actual numbers of how the state is preparing. So we've got the State National Guard. We've got the Highway Patrol. Department of Transportation, all these agencies working together and with local governments to not just be ready for whatever happens in general, but these hotspots that basically are anywhere, there's a steep incline on the road because you've got to think about all the tractor trailers coming through the state. The, you know, people that have to drive, they say don't drive. Absolutely don't drive unless you have to. Some people have to, you know, medical reasons, work reasons, whatever the...

reason. And so they'll have these extra heavy vehicles, other kinds of equipment to clear the roads, clear cars from the road that have broken down or crashed or whatever because... You don't want cars coming behind it and making an even bigger crash. And they said that these areas are known trouble spots over time. That's why they're prepared for that. But they're also ready to move if something happens somewhere else. We're going to chat more weather on the other side, I suspect. But briefly, Adam Wagner, Winterstorm Elliott from just four years ago. What is a lesson or two here in 45 seconds that perhaps some of the preparedness folks are thinking about today? So one of them on Duke Energy's end. is that they've really firmed up the insulation at their natural gas and coal plants, the plants that they're going to turn on to keep our power on when things are cold. During L.A., those froze up. A lot of them kind of came offline. Duke is confident that they have better insulation this time, and maybe they'll keep running. Rolling blackouts four years ago. Do I remember that correctly? It impacted tens of thousands of North Carolinians, maybe more. But there were major power outages in 22. And there have been some more changes so that if blackouts are necessary, maybe they don't kind of get stuck like they did during Elliott. But there are a lot of things happening. If anybody knows, live radio, I shouldn't ask this, but I'm going to. That storm had a name. Is this one going to get a name? Fern. Fern. The National Weather Service does not name them, but private weather, you know, cable TV will name them. It's, yeah, Fern. I don't know how they came across that name. That doesn't seem very icy. Powering. You don't think so? I'm not a couple of icy ferns in my day. All right. We're just getting going here on the due South Friday. North Carolina News Roundup with Adam Wagner, Don Vaughn, and Zachary Eans. Much more to discuss. Stay with us here on listener-supported WUNC News.

Welcome back to the Friday News Roundup on due south. I'm Jeff Tabiri. 21 years ago this week, a winter storm. Initial forecasts pegged it as a snow event. However, the weather had other ideas. It quickly became an ice event and the roads were an unexpected mess. Here's former Wake County Public School Superintendent Dr. Bill McNeil. What we were getting from the city is that one of the issues that... we were dealing with at that time was their ability to put salt down the brime that they do ahead of the traffic pattern. And they indicated to us we've not been able to do that simply because there's gridlock everywhere and we can't do it. Well, that added another level of concern, I'll say at that time. And we started to come to the realization that we are looking at something very different because we've not seen this before. The roads were in fact so bad that Superintendent McNeil made the decision to pull school buses off the roads and halted others from embarking on their afternoon routes. The result? Thousands of public school children and some educators spent the night at various Wake County public schools, a slumber party. This is a wild story. I had previously no knowledge about this. Next week on New South. We are going to have a conversation with Bill McNeil, that former superintendent. It was a lot of fun recording the conversation this week. And additionally, we would like to hear, presumably, from some of you, maybe. If you were one of those kids or educators or even a parent whose child stayed at school overnight, 21 years ago, unplanned slumber party, we'd like for you to help us compile some stories. So please send us a voice memo or an email, whatever, about what you remember. You can also leave a phone number. We can call you back and record your story that way as well. Email is due south at WUNC. Or on Instagram at DoSouth Radio. If I'm doing my math right, you were in sixth grade. Do you remember any of this? Do you remember that storm? I don't remember that. I was obviously in Guilford County, so not Wake County. But honestly, a little jealous. It sounds like it could have been a fun time if the electricity and heat stayed on. So a little bit of a spoiler alert. We were doing research for this segment. And it was like, oh, 2,500 students, 2,000, 3,000 students. And he's in the chair across from me. I guess that was earlier this week we did that interview. and said, hey, how many students was it? And he was like, oh, almost might have been 6,000. And we're like, oh, my God, like the control room, mouths were a gate. I mean, it was just kind of wild. Anyway, all right, that's next week. Do South, but please send along some of those stories. All right, on a much more serious note, there are 11 confirmed cases of measles in North Carolina. Adam Wagner, you've been tracking this story. What is the latest? So we're still at 11 cases. A lot of them are in Western North Carolina. There's two in Cabarris County. And the state's epidemiologist, Zach Moore, says these are basically being flung off from a big outbreak that's happening on Spartanburg, South Carolina.

More than 500 people there are sick. What's really important in North Carolina is that there are a lot of counties where the vaccination rate has dropped below 95%, which is the level where scientists say, if you're below that, measles can spread in the community. You're 95% and there's one case. It's probably going to stop. You get below that. It can go quickly. And there are three counties, at least three counties in Western North Carolina, Polk, Transylvania, Henderson, where every kid that attends elementary school is attending elementary school below that 95%. Kids are especially susceptible to measles. So health officials are pretty nervous about this. You can find out what the immunization rate is at public schools in North Carolina. There's a website where you can check this. You can see it at the county level. You can also get down to the individual school level, and there's even estimates down to the grade level. This is, I guess it's an unsurprisingly surprising story in some ways, right? Like measles have all but been eradicated in the United States, but there is, of course, a big anti-vax movement. We have seen vaccination numbers drop. For you as a reporter, what are you monitoring? Yeah. So I think one thing that's really curious is that vaccination rates have fallen coming out of the pandemic. We know that there is a giant push for the COVID vaccine. And there seems to be just kind of a societal backlash in some corners against that. And that's beginning to kind of creep into things like measles where it had been eradicated effectively. I shouldn't say eradicated. But didn't have cases for a long time. North Carolina didn't have a case from 2014 to 2023. And now suddenly we're seeing a lot of cases. And Zach Moore at least expects a lot more. Measles is a preventable disease. If eradicated is not the right word, it is on a, it's on a, United States has been on a list where ostensibly the measles has not been of concern or a threat, but it is. potentially going to lose that classification because of outbreaks last year in Texas and Utah, among other places. We actually spent a little bit of time on Duce out this week talking about this with Michelle Crouch reporter for North Carolina Health News and the Charlotte Ledger. And she had this to say about measles in North Carolina moving forward. At this point, we don't have an outbreak yet. in North Carolina. But I will say I talked to an infectious disease physician with UNC Chapel Hill this week. And he pretty much said it's not a matter of if, it's when. Measles is here and we are bracing for a surge. All right. I think anything else to add on this story. Clearly, there's more to come. No, that's very much where state health officials are too. And if you just... look at this map of western north carolina you can sort of see the places that are especially susceptible and part of that is bunkum county where there are six cases now

Friday news roundup on due south. We're here with Zachary Ian's, Adam Wagner, and Don Vaughn. Let's stick with a health-related story here. North Carolina, one of 13 states, that offers GLP-1s, the weight loss medication, available, makes it available to those on Medicaid. Zach, you wrote this week about demand, unsurprisingly, having surged. Tell us more, please. Yeah, this is... Sort of an interesting development that we've been watching here in North Carolina just as sort of these drugs have become, you know, used as weight loss. Everybody wants, I mean, I think people who, they're so helpful to people that a lot of people want to get on them, but they are incredibly expensive. So not many states are actually offering them to Medicaid patients for weight loss treatment. They have been for, you know, if you have type 2 diabetes or something like that. And, yeah, the number of prescriptions have gone basically from zero in 2023 to, you know, tens of thousands of them here in North Carolina. And I think what's interesting to watch here is with so many Medicaid cuts coming and so many budget discussions happening at the state level, whether or not that's going to continue. And the most recent sort of debate over Medicaid cuts. This was actually stopped in August. Yeah. You know, they stopped covering this for Medicaid patients, and then they reinstated it in December when, you know, lawsuits started rolling through. Right. And they went back on this. So, you know, I think the trend here is that a lot of states are moving to start covering this. And then in the past year, because of where Medicaid cuts have gone, four states actually stopped. So it was 16. Correct. It went down to 12. North Carolina came back, so it was 13. And so I think I think the really interesting to watch here is, Are these medications, because of their expense, going to be something that is cut going into sort of these looming budget talks? Right. Or, you know, is this something that, you know, we've decided that maybe there is a short-term cost here, but long-term, we're going to make people healthier in this state with this, and so maybe we'll have, you know, sort of savings on the end. And I think that's unclear. And, you know, there's... sort of discussions about whether these medications will just get cheaper on their own, you know, here in the coming years. Well, I think that's a very important point. Because these are relatively new medications, there's not a generic yet, and that has helped to keep the costs higher, I believe. You're making a face, please. There's that. And there's also, there's been some conversation about if they can get to an oral version instead of a shot. Then an oral version was sort of approved recently. Right. It's actually a lot of the components are made here in Mike Johnston County. Right. You know, it's, um. at Novo Nordisk's campus. And that should, in theory, you know, drive down some costs as well. And, you know, the Trump administration has also been working to make deals with these, with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, sort of the two main creators of these GLP ones, which, you know, frankly, are, a lot of them are made here in North Carolina, employs thousands of people in the manufacturing space. And yeah, so I think the debate is like, You know, currently, you know, these are thousands of dollars, you know, for every prescription. Can that go down to something that's more sustainable or, you know, there's just a lot of a debate at that point. This is somewhat of a speculative question. But as you note, these GOP ones were covered, then not covered. Now they're covered again. Medicaid is in at best a tenuous situation. I mean, some Medicaid funding is in it. They're funding issues here right now in the state. Is it at risk of going away again? Do we have any sense of that? You know, there's.

I think there's agreed upon shortage of funding in North Carolina. There is a disagreement about how big that shortage is. And the hope is that... you know, the state can somehow come to a budget agreement on Medicaid in, you know, the coming months, maybe April. But if they don't, I think there could be reinstated cuts come May. At least that's what the Stein administration says. There is some sort of disagreements on the timing of all these things. But, you know, certainly there is a looming cliff approaching. Well, and how to spend it. Right. You know, and Senate leader Phil Berger said that they've... criticize how much it's been spent on administrative costs from the last time there was a spending bill for this. So I don't think it's, even if they agree on the amount, it's how exactly are you spending it? So maybe that changes the amount because they think, you know, you're allocating too much of that to this or that. But the short session doesn't start until I think it's April 21st. And people are hopeful that there would be a deal in March, but no one's holding their breath. I will offer one PSA here. My lovely wife has worked in metabolic and weight loss surgery and now in lifestyle medicine for more than a decade. And one point that she hits very firmly on this is if you are going to take a GLP1, do not order it off of the internet. Do not do it without the consultation of a medical professional. You will be better served if you do it in accordance with a medical professional. Just a simple PSA. Bottom of the hour here on DoSouth, Friday News Roundup, let's give you the trivia question. You can send the correct responses or your wrong responses to Do South. WUNC.org. 40 years ago, 40 years ago this week, following construction delays, a much anticipated and to this day, well-known North Carolina structure opened its doors. Name the building. What well-known, North Carolina building opened its doors for the first time, 40 years ago this week. Don't blurt anything out, okay? Zach Nes. Somebody's going to figure it out here. We're going to hit a couple of news briefs here. Please jump in here as you have anything to add. North Carolinians are expected to participate in a strike against Target today. This is part of larger demonstrations stemming from ice. raids and ICE action in Minnesota. Protesters are demanding Minneapolis-based target call on ICE to leave Minnesota. According to Siember NC, supporters of immigrant rights will deliver letters to demand an investigation into Renee Good's killing, which took place two weeks ago. ICE agents shot the 37-year-old mother in the face multiple times. No charges have been filed. The federal campaign in Minnesota has continued since that killing. Now, today, supporters of... The immigrant rights are expected to buy and return table salt with a symbolic message being to melt ice. These actions are expected at targets across the triangle as well as stores in Winston-Salem, Wilmington, and Greenville.

PFAS likely in the silt of that river. So the PFAS came downstream for decades. Then it would be kind of scattered across pretty important ecological landscapes. So there's a lot of things to consider that people brought up during the public comment period. The state agencies even brought up several times. And the Corps and the boards are not saying, well, let's, let's. maybe try to address some of these, and we'll see if the project comes back. How do you deepen a harbor, like logistically? You dig. You dredge it? Yeah, you dredge. Yeah. It's going to go wider, deeper, and longer. So the ships, because the ships have to go up the river about 19 miles, I think it is. I thought it was 17, but it's not supposed to be. And then they have to turn so they can get back down the river. Yeah. So. It's a whole thing. Now, just to be clear, I say they've got to go deeper now exactly. Well, they're just digging up the, I mean, that's, and then where's all that go? They're all temporary solutions. I mean, like, eventually you have to do this again. You have to dred again, yeah. But this is, you know, this is cruise ships in Miami or, I mean, there are natural deep water ports such as Charleston or I don't know if Boston's a natural deep water port. But Wellington is notoriously not a deep water port, which makes it, and it's also not on the ocean, right? It's 19 miles. Historically, this is why Virginia and South Carolina's economy was so much stronger than North Carolina is over time. And not to dig too much into the past. Some would argue this is why the Port Authority bought that land in Southport. It's a couple decades ago. Interesting. Oh, we need to have a history professor on Doucouth to discuss some of this stuff. But yes, it is a primary cause of some of the slow economic development in North Carolina over the years. We've got a few more minutes before a break. And Don Vaughn, I wanted to turn to you because I don't want to give this... Two short shrift at the end of the show, there is a legislative hearing taking place next year, next year, hello, next week with some familiar faces from Charlotte. And I want to just size this up for us because I imagine we're going to be spending some significant time talking about it on the program next week. Yeah. So it's this Thursday. Originally it was planned for this week and they like wanted enough time. So they rescheduled it to Thursday. So this is House Oversight, which is the house arm of GovOps, which is this kind of secretive, partisan. oversight organization. They have these hearings in the auditorium at the legislative building. And lately it's been used to kind of, you know, bring people in for a grilling, essentially. And what's happening in Charlotte Mecklenburg is there's been a lot of attention. The theme of this is public safety. So lawmakers passed, you know, Arena's law after the arena Zerutsko, was killed on Charlotte Light Rail train several, almost six months ago now. So they're bringing in Charlotte leaders, including the mayor and Sheriff McFadden. And he's been the subject of a lot of controversial things. I talked with Mary Ramsey, my Charlotte Observer Reporter, on our latest Under the Dome podcast, where we go in a little more detail about what the politics are at play here. Certainly some political theater, my terminology here. What else might come out of these hearings? Is it largely political theater? Or could there be some...

policy changes? I think I think a little bit of both. Oversight itself doesn't have any direct punishment they can, you know, like enforce, but it'll show up in legislation at some point in the coming months, depending on how people respond, assuming that everybody shows up. Another thing that I'll be paying attention to is that Charlotte Mecklenburg Democrat, Carla Cunningham, who has a contested primary, she's a Democrat that Because of this contentious speech over an immigration bill, Governor Stein chose to endorse one of her primary opponents, which is a big deal. The governor, you know, stepping into that primary. Cunningham is on that committee. And she had also joined this petition against McFadden. And so we'll see if they have any interactions in that oversight committee room. This is high political drama. You can learn more about it on the Under the Dome podcast, which Don Vaughn is the host of from the news and observer. She's here with us for the hour. So two are Zachary Eans and Adam Wagner. In a bit, Aaron Sanchez-Garro stops by to tell us about this journey that a group of monks are making in the name of peace. Still more to discuss, including some notable sports notes here on Dues South. It's the Friday News Roundup. We're glad to have you along. Stand by. We'll be back in a moment on listeners.

Supported WUNC News. Welcome back to listener supported WUNC News. It is DoSouth Friday News Roundup. Forty years ago this week in Chapel Hill, the Dean E. Smith Center opened to much fanfare and with a rather memorable opening contest, top-ranked Carolina welcomed number three Duke. Both were undefeated. There were a total of 11 future NBA players who participated in the game. It was the last season in college basketball without a three-point line. And in a regulation, 40-minute game, the heels defeated the Blue Devils 95-92. That's a lot of points without threes. 501 wins later for Carolina in the Dean Dome, the building's a fixture. It's not going anywhere. It'll be here 40 years from now. Not so fast. Zach Jim Himes, how much longer are we going to have the Dean Dome? I mean, this is the debate that has taken Chapel Hill and the wider sort of college basketball, you know, sort of community by storm the past couple weeks. I mean, this has been rumored for a while now that the future of the Dean Dome was in question. It's sort of not, you know, it's starting to show its age. The concourse is not ideal. There's no luxury seats. And, you know, you have this. huge expansive land north of north of downtown Carolina North that you know could be the spot for a shiny new arena to sort of be the anchor of a new campus but You know, it really does remain to be seen. I think we were supposed to have a decision by the end of this year, or by the end of 2025. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, as you can see, it's not happening. They've announced plans to sort of, you know, expand this new campus. It's a huge project, huge transformational project, but they've not said anything about if the basketball arena will be there, just that they're talking to stakeholders. And those stakeholders are... Roy Williams and Tyler Hansborough and donors and stuff like that. Let me pause real quick and just say congratulations to Gabrielle who got the answer to our trivia question. The trivia question was what notable North Carolina building opened 40 years ago this week. So the Dean Dome, while very big and very noteworthy, does not have a lot of luxury boxes. And this is where athletic facilities make lots and lots of money. They would like to implement. They'd like to modernize. They'd like to have a more modern facility. It'd be very expensive to modernize the current facility, so there have been these other options that have popped up. But there's not a timeline on anything here. This is really just like heavy conjecture at this point. Well, I think there's, there are some soft timelines. Yeah, there was a soft, right. I mean, I think, like you said, like college sports are professionalizing very quickly.

And I think leadership at UNC has done that with the football team. And I think the basketball team is on its way to that as well. And the arena is, you know, I think for better or for worse. And I think in a lot of people's minds, for better, is part of that older, you know, mindset around college sports. Right. But its roof needs at least $80 million worth of work. The bathrooms are very old. There's a lot of work that just, that building because of his age needs. Right. And the question is, If we're already put, if that, if that amount of money is just a Band-Aid, you know, should we just start new? Those troughs in the men's bathroom? Those aren't modern bathroom facilities? You can laugh. That was a joke. Yeah, Chancellor John Roberts referred to those as, I think, I don't know if he said the word embarrassing or not, but I care. But the troughs are definitely like... They're antiquated. They're definitely an acquired taste. Now, I will say this, and I'm going to throw a little shade, but then give a compliment. Don Vaughn has these beautiful Carolina Blue Nails today, and she's a Duke fan. I didn't know if she maybe had changed teams. I know she hasn't. But... I can't help but think of you, Don Vaughn. And, of course, the fact that Duke has maintained this... I don't even know what Cameron is now. It's 90 years. However old it is, but it's, I mean, it's just, it's, it's, it's, it's this palace. They don't have, they don't have, they've made it work. It's different. But, um, anyway, remind us, please, Zachines, uh, Carolina North. Um, where is it? And what does this theoretically hold? Yeah. What is, what is the possibility? This is the former Horace Williams airport, which university leadership moved to close in 2007. So we're talking. five chanceers ago. It's 19 years. Yeah. The recession initially slowed things down. I think the last flight was 2018. Correct me if I'm wrong somebody. But yes, this is, this would be 250 acres. This is not the entire airport land. There's Carolina North Forest, which is very popular. I think that is mostly going to be preserved. But yes, they want to build what would be both student housing for graduate students and undergrads. A... engineering school, a research component. And it would be two or three miles away from... It's like roughly two miles north of downtown Chapel Hill, up MLK, and would be on a bus rapid transit route at some point. But this would... And a big component of this is Chapel Hill has a housing shortage, and I think as a strategy they have with the town, they want to also build housing for non-students here on this campus as well.

I have so many thoughts. You said please. Please. Let me try to roll it out. Blue is my favorite color. I like all shades. That's the reason for the nail polish. I had forgotten that they got rid of the airport. There aren't a lot of small airports being built. So shout out to private pilots who have to go find somewhere else to land because of that. There is general aviation RDU. I'll put that out there. One thing that I didn't think about until being a parent of a high school senior where we went on college tours is. what the experience is, the vibe on a campus where sports is walkable for the students. I went to Virginia Tech. I lived in Lee Hall, which was across the street from Lane Stadium. And there's just a completely different vibe when your game day, it's just that there's more of a community where you can walk there than taking a shuttle bus somewhere. You know, I see Aaron looking at me. I know he went to NC State. And it's, you know, it's. It's different. So there are a couple things there. Well, it used to be the same. They used to play at Reynolds, and then they opted for an arena a few miles down the road. Rushing Franklin Street from the Dean Dome is a lot more, I think, feasible than running down MLK. One last point. Does everything need to have luxury seating? You know, can everybody just sit in an uncomfortable chair, slightly uncomfortable chair, and be part of, you know, the community watching a game together from the chancellors and the governor. to the proletariat, you know. The answer to your question is no. There does not have to be luxury boxes. Duke is, I'm not a Duke fan. Look at my hat. But I adore. Cameron Indoor Stadium is the best place I've ever watched a basketball game. Fenway Park is one of the best places I've ever watched a baseball game. Jeff is wearing a Carolina blue hat. I am, for the record. I am cold. So I grew up in Pittsburgh and spent a lot of time attending Pitt sporting events. And the basketball arena there is on campus. And for years had the Oakland Zoo, which has fallen off in recent years because they've been so terrible at basketball. But was the best student section in sports. High Cameron Crazes. Wow. That's cool. It was a great. It was great to watch basketball game. Watch a lot of good games there. Pitt football plays at Heinz Field, which is a ways away. And... Even when kids show up, which they don't always show up, it's just kind of lackluster. Don't put an impediment in the way for college kids. College kids wake up on a Saturday and they're hungover or they're not hungover or they're ready to go to the big game. I mean, I'm being generic. Or they want to roll to the game and then roll the bars. Don't give them a four-mile hiatus to clear. Aaron Sanchez-Garra is sitting here and we're going to turn to the monks very quickly, very shortly, but there's one other really interesting question or interesting story that I do want to touch on with you, Zach. This pertains the Blue Devil Athletic Department. Fascinating story emerged this week. Darian Mensa, Duke's quarterback, who took the Blue Devils to an ACC championship just weeks ago, wants to transfer, potentially to Miami. They just lost the national title game. However, Duke has filed a lawsuit claiming Mensa is still under a contractual obligation. A temporary restraining order was issued. And the...

TRO allows MENSA to enter the transfer portal, but says he cannot enroll at another program or play football elsewhere for now. What more can you tell us? This is, I think, potentially a precedent-setting lawsuit that could be happening in front of us here in Durham County. I think, well, before the season happened, it was reportedly said that MINSA was signed to a two-year NIL contract worth $8 million or something like that. You know, these are all very murky details, which are coming out in this lawsuit now. But people at the time were like, this is a shrewd move by Duke. They are locking somebody up for two years. And in an era where... you know, roster turnover is sort of guaranteed with transfers. People were like, is this maybe a path forward to like keeping a star player around under, you know, money that you know is going to be consistent? And I think what we're trying to figure out here is are there actually any rules, if these are truly student athletes, if there is no collective bargaining, if these are not sort of paid employees of the university, are there actually any rules to stop or to enforce any contract with a... with these student athletes. The pin has been polled in what was college athletics, and we're going to be picking up pieces for a while here. So there was the case a couple weeks ago at the University of Washington quarterback, I think Desmond Williams's name, who was kind of similar, had a contract, signed a contract. I think it's the Big Ten that used a standard contract, that he was going to leave after signing the contract to go to LSU. And he ended up kind of standing down. after they threatened a lawsuit. So the Duke case is going a little further than that. We'll see. Yeah, the question is, do they just buy him out? Does he just go straight to the pros? Or, you know, does he actually get to play at Miami? Well, and Mansus said he was going to stay, too. He made a big, like, social media post on stay. A month ago. Yeah. Contracts or contracts or contracts. This is a fascinating one. We're going to spend more time on it in the weeks ahead. Aaron Sanchez-Garrett is here. He is in reporting on a story of hope, and we're going to spend the final few minutes of the Friday news roundup here on due south talking about this story and a group of Buddhist monks who are making a 2,000-mile journey, a walk in the name of peace. They are here in North Carolina, not to be deterred by a little ice, we should note, marching through where right now? This morning, Jeff, they are on their way. They were on their way to Apex. I haven't kept up with the live tracker on their website or on the official Walk for Peace page. But they should be in Apex this afternoon on their way to Raleigh. Many people are horrified, worried about the winter storm and, you know, rightfully so, but impacting the monks. They put out an official statement said, not to worry. You know, they have a backup plan. And I got to see these guys in person and they're an amazing shape. They're not very calmly walking. They have a very brisk pace. Some of them barefoot just wearing probably like some, wearing some socks. Seriously. Some of them had some hoka, some running shoes. I was curious if they were probably likely donations because...

You know, the, it appears to me that the Western mind can't comprehend, like, Eastern minimalism and anti-materialism, you know, especially since in this, I've learned in this tradition of Buddhism that these specific Vietnamese monks, they're from different places and countries, mind you, but to Vietnamese Buddhist organization in Fort Worth, Texas. They take what they can get and what they're given, right? It's part of what they live by. And... What I mean to say about the Western mind is that they can't comprehend that they would want to turn down gifts and turn down Hokas and on clouds and all these things that people want to shower them when they see them. The response from the people has really been extraordinary, Jeff. And it's something that people have been crying about here in the triangle. That's not the Tar Heel's recent basketball performance. If I can chime in on the... On the sports here. I don't know if you're referring to the losses or the wins, but we're going to hear from one of those people who was fighting back tears in a moment. But first, we're going to hear from the monks, and then you're going to tell us about what this was. All right. I mean, they're chanting, but tell me more. I believe that I got to witness something really rare there, Jeff, because these monks are very quiet when they're actually walking. They only make very brief stops to take flowers or give back flowers that they've been given to other people or give them these blessing bracelets. I'm forgetting the specific term for them. But... I went to something really rare. While I was waiting a few hours for them to return from a lunch break to resume their walk on Highway 64 in Pittsburgh, a woman told me she was coming from out of town in Washington, D.C., visiting her sister who lives here. And this woman had just donated bone marrow to her sister, who was recovering from bone marrow transplant, fragile health. And she came, her and her sister came to ask them for a blessing for her health. And hours later, you know, once I see the monks, you know, very quickly passing by, I see them stop. You know, I approach the microphone. And then you hear what you, you know, the listeners just heard this, you know, incredible, you know, onducing chanting, right? That went on for almost a minute. And I realized that woman that I had spoken to was there with her sister. They were, I believe, blessing them saying, you know, something of. You know, very spiritual, high spiritual importance over them. And you can't really hear it in that tape, but, you know, they were, they were, the women, the woman and her sister were sobbing. They were crying. You know, they received what they had hoped to get from the monks. And, you know, other than that, they were, you know, they just silently smiled. Maybe you would hear them say thank you. Maybe a chuckle, you know, when like a little girl, a little boy would go and, like, give them some flowers. But it was this.

very special moment that I, you know, still can't really describe. I've never, I think it's probably one of the most, you know, bizarre things. And I mean this in a good way that I've captured, you know, on my microphone, you know, this moment. You captured the chanting and then a couple of moments later, you spoke with one of the two women, Lily Ann Wilson. I can't contain myself. I just can. It's a beautiful moment. Absolutely beautiful moment. We're hearing from Aaron Sanchez-Gera about the walk that a group of Buddhist monks are making across the country right now in the name of peace. We've only got a couple of more moments, Aaron, but remind us where does this end up? And I realize they're not calling vocally, but what are they calling for? They, you know, that's a good question. I think I believe, and I've interpreted from, you know, looking at some of the DIY Facebook groups that have been formed, you know, over for this Walk for Peace, that people have very much been almost determining for themselves what it means. You know, yes, they've said it's peace, love, loving, kindness, compassion, mindfulness, but people have interpreted to be for them. what they're looking for. You know, are they looking for respite from suffering? You know, are they looking for the end of desire, right? As in Buddhism says, are they looking for, you know, some sort of a spiritual fulfillment or belonging? You know, I haven't seen people crying, you know, and kneeling down, you know, on the side of the highway like that, you know, ever before, Jeff. And, you know, but the end game is they're going to reach Washington, D.C. I believe the... to try to get near the White House. They want federal recognition of a vet Vsac. Vesak. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing it correctly. They want federal recognition of the recognized day of birth of the Buddha. And they want to spread awareness of Buddhism and of their way of life and their temple that they are. a part of in Texas. A beautiful story. And Aaron Sanchez-Gera, race class and communities reporter here at North Carolina Public Radio, has brought it to us. Aaron, thank you. Thank you, Jeff. Always a pleasure when you're here. You always bring such great things to the Roundup. Also, a huge thanks to Corey Davis, Zachary Eans, Don Vaughn, and Adam Wagner. This is Do South. Do South is a production of WUNC and a broadcast service of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Our producers are Stasia Brown, Cole Del Charko, and Rachel McCarthy. Rachel Hernandez is our intern. Denarius Thomas is our technical director, Aaron Kiever, is the executive producer. Theme music comes from Quilla. For Leonita Inge, I'm Jeff Tiberi. Seek the joy. Enjoy the snow. Not too much ice, please. We'll talk to you again Monday at noon. And thanks to Sean Rue. Great job.

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