NC News Roundup: Tillis forces delay on Blanche nomination; updates on WakeMed merger with Atrium

This is Due South on WUNC News. I'm Jeff Tiberi. A confirmation process plods along in Washington, where Todd Blanche continues to court the vote of Thom Tillis. So I want to support them. So hopefully we get the language worked out and have a successful markup tomorrow. Otherwise, I think it should be delayed because it failed. I don't want to do that. We'll get the latest ahead in our North Carolina Friday News Roundup. Then, later, health care. A major merger has been agreed to in principle. But their proposal has significant pushback from community groups and some state officials, including the state treasurer who oversees the state health plan. They worry the deal will further raise the cost of health care and health insurance premiums. Those stories plus developments in election, housing, and golf at the state legislature, getting you caught up on the week. First is ours news. Hi there. I'm Leonita Inge, host of DoSouth. Thanks for listening and supporting our podcasts. We work smart to bring you the best North Carolina and the South have to offer. From the latest in state politics to important voices in race and southern culture, do South is here every day. but we couldn't do it without your financial support. Thank you. If you like what you're hearing, please consider making a donation today at wunc.org.

From the studios of WUNC News and Chapel Hill, it is due south, concluding our week as we regularly do with the North Carolina. Friday News Roundup, I'm Jeff Tabiri. Thank you for joining us, our panel of reporters. We'll say hello in one minute first, some sounds of the week. Charlotte-based atrium has said it would invest $2 billion into WakeMed in Raleigh over the next decade if Wake County Commissioners approve the merger. A revised version of House Bill 958 slashes the number of early voting days in primaries from 17 to 10. That's a change Senate Republicans say will reduce administrative burden on days that don't have significant turnout. The court struck down federal limits on how much money political parties can spend in coordination with federal candidates, meaning the parties can spend as much as they want in hotly contested races. President Trump's pick for Attorney General Todd Blanche in limbo. Two Republican senators holding out for guarantees in writing from the Justice Department. A successful markup for a... Mr. Todd Blanche, I want to support them, so hopefully we get the language work done and have a successful markup tomorrow. Otherwise, I think it should be delayed because it failed. I don't want to do that.

All right, that and much more here between now and 1 o'clock when embodied rolls through here on listener-supported WUNC News with us for the hour. Our Don Vaughn Capital Bureau chief at the News and Observer, also host of the Under the Dome podcast. Ruben Gallego Jay Jones is with us on the line. He is Washington reporter covering North Carolina for Spectrum News. Zachary Eans, reporter with Axios Rale, is here, as is... Zach EZone, double Zs today. Zach EZone with us for the first time, health care and higher education reporter for the Triangle Business Journal. Thanks y'all for being here. Hello. Hello. How's it going? All right. And we welcome your questions, comments and thoughts. Our inbox is due south at wUNC.org. All right. Let's begin in Washington where Todd Blanche is still the acting, acting U.S. Attorney General. Outgoing Thom Tillis. Republican, North Carolina Senator, is still, for now, withholding his confirmation vote of Todd Blanche. The president signaled this week that he might withdraw Todd Blanche's nomination until January. And at the time a new Congress is seated, that, of course, is a risk. Rubin, you can go nine different ways with this. Where do things stand now? And what are you waiting for next on Thom Tillis? Where things stand now is we don't know. We know that the president came out today and said, let's get a vote on this right away. But you can take a vote as long as you want. There's not the support there in the committee from all the Republicans to get him out. So again, what is this center on? The concerns are from John Cornyn of Texas, Thom Tillis of North Carolina. And they are worried about that anti-weaponization fund from the DOJ that was created a few months ago before it was eventually canceled. It was created. under the leadership of acting attorney general Todd Blanche. And it was intended for people who say they were politically targeted by the DOJ. And it came from that settlement between President Trump and the IRS. The concern is that they don't want this fund to come back. There's also worries that it gives the settlement, the IRS settlement, would grant immunity to people. And so there's concerns about that. And so they're looking for language to secure and take care of their concerns. And they just haven't gotten it yet. why you're seeing Thom Tillis and John Cornyn not ready to commit to voting for Todd Blanche. I'm old enough to remember confirmation hearings, perhaps with Supreme Court justices, mainly Brett Kavanaugh or Neil Gorsuch, where things were said about where they were positioned or what they were, were not going to do. And then, lo and behold, they get into the position and something else transpires. So, I mean, I understand the push for something in writing, but respectfully, so what? Like, does that really even functionally matter here? Or is this more to? to appease the message for messaging. Sure. I mean, what would have mattered is if the Senate chose to codify it into law that this fund wasn't going to go back, but the Senate chose not to do that. So now we're in a place where they're trying to get some legal wordage, I think, is how Thom Tillis described it to me this week. And so I think there's going to be a need if this does actually come together. Okay, let's actually be able to see what this looks like. What is the wording on this? The other thing I'll mention here, Jeff is that if Trump were to decide to pull Todd Blanche's nomination, he's still the acting AG. He still has the power. He can do that for up to 200 days or so. And so, I mean, he still has the power for quite a while. And of course, there is a risk I mentioned a moment ago that the next Congress will look.

It is possible, possible that Democrats would take back a majority, but that is an uphill climb for them. All right, we'll keep ears on that one. Meanwhile, at the state legislature, a budget was, as listeners, I think will remember recently passed, provisions already in place. And yet weeks later, Don Vaughn, you find yourself writing about changes that legislators are pursuing for that very budget, the one that they just passed. What changes and why? Just when we thought we were out. Just when we thought we were out. Here we are on the very last day of July, the state budget, which I think, you know, maybe most listeners know by now was a year late. Finally, finally came together. Governor Stein signed it into law the beginning of July. And now there's... I mean, the boring title is it's a budget technical corrections bill, but not quite. And there was more than one. And the corrections weren't quite technical. Okay. It was more like, okay, we got this budget out. You know, they had a long time to do this, years to do this. And more than three years since the last comprehensive budget was passed. Right. Yeah. And they changed some stuff. Some of it was some more shifting of power away from Governor Stein. and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall. This was, and then some oversight taking away from the Department of Administration, which is a Stein cabinet agency. And there are some of that in the big budget bill, too. So there's a little bit more of that, a little bit of adding some funding to things, some taking away fundings from things. So the Senate was the only one that came back. The House didn't come back. They'll be back this coming week, and they passed it. So it's up to the House now. But this is what's called a comment. conference report, which means they already negotiated this. And then at the very end of the Senate session, they introduced another potential budget corrections bill that they haven't even decided what to put in it yet. So it's a never-ending story. And Dawn, I'm sorry. Please. I'm just curious, how common is this for these budget sort of correction bills to come out after the budget has passed? And and. sort of how extensive this one is. Is this like in line with previous years? 51 pages, which was easier for me to read than the 400, 500, 600 page budgets. But in the legislative long session, the primary job of the legislature is to pass a two-year spending plan. So then in the other year, which would have been this year if they passed one last year, they sometimes there's a budget. They don't have to have one. It might include additional raises. And it's a technical corrections budget technically. And there are a few. technical things in there. But there's also policy. There's funding changes, that sort of thing. So really, I think they just had this push to get it out because it was so late. And then maybe there was some drama, some lawmakers. Maybe. Yeah. And then they're like, oh, wait a minute. We want to do these other things. So it's nothing crazy that I think Stein would veto it. And just to run it back. Historically, the two-year budget has passed in an odd-numbered year. It didn't happen last year the odd-numbered year. They just ran it through here in an even-numbered year. Normally, it would be the budget corrections. You're dealing with a surplus. You're dealing with a deficit. But they just decided to do the whole two-year thing in about five weeks. Well, just one year. Right. I know. Yes. Well, I mean, here we are. Tomorrow is, you know, August 1st. And about six months or now, give or take, they're going to start on what their main

job of the legislative long session to do a new budget. So it really is just a constant. Yeah. Listeners just heard the voice of Zach EZone, who is with us for the first time from a TBJ Triangle Business Journal. It is good to have you here with us, Zach. Likewise was. A major merger agreement between WakeMed and Atrium, this has been the works for a little while now, faced increased public scrutiny in recent days. We're going to get to more of this later in the show, but a town hall, public officials concerned. Give us kind of the top line of who said what. recently. Yeah. So, yeah, this is obviously, like you said, it's been in the works for a little while. It sort of first came out in May, and the Wake County commissioners decided to delay a vote on some governing documents that they're required to vote on. And since then, Wake Med had a series of their own sort of community meetings where the goal was to, they said, to try to reach the community and talk with different folks and sort of explain the rationale and why they're doing this. And in between that, they also had another, like, I think three-hour public hearing in front of county commissioner. So I think there's been an effort to have more public dialogue because this was sort of a surprise when it popped up on the agenda back in May. But yeah, more recent weeks there have been local and sort of national patient advocacy and just other types of advocacy groups that have arranged meetings to try to sort of raise concerns. push for more transparency about what exactly this merger combination means. It is a major business merger. There are implications for hundreds of thousands state health plan recipients and plenty of others. Again, we're going to touch on that, discuss that here a little bit later in the hour. I want to work Zach Eanes here. Zach Eanes. We go from Zach to Zach to Zachary. Listeners are going to get sick of me talking about the double Zs here, but just get used to it. Some good news before the break. rains have improved drought conditions and some restrictions are going to be lifted on Monday? Water restrictions in the city of Raleigh, which have been in place since April, are going to be lifted. So you'll be able to go back to watering with sprinklers and other things like that. But I think it's really been, and we've kind of been saying this about weather for a couple years now. I just feel like there's record breaking things every month. It feels like to start this year, Raleigh had its driest ever start. to the first six months of a year. And this drought was going back to August already. July was the second wettest ever July at RDU, where they monitor at RDU. And so it's just like... That's what it takes. It takes almost record-breaking rain to get us back to where we needed to be. It's a pretty stunning reversal to where we were just a couple weeks ago. And the most rain, I believe, that Central North Carolina has felt in any month in almost two years. Last time we saw this much rain was September of 2024 when Hale happened and the remnants of Hale. Yeah. And Chantal also broke some records, I think, too. So we've just been, we're waffling between extremes at the moment. Yeah, record-breaking drought to record-breaking rain. It makes you think, like, sort of the broader implications for how, you know, farmers and other people plan for that type of extreme weather. Exactly. A lot of rain, the water levels at Falls Lake are on the rise. I was there with my son yesterday, and I could not walk out quite as far from the shoreline as I have been able to in recent weeks. We're hanging out with Don Vaughn, Zach Ezone, Zach Eason, and Rubin Jay Jones for the hour. My name is Jeff Tabiri. Stay with us. This is the North Carolina.

Friday, news roundup on due south on listener-supported WUNC. Welcome back to the Friday News Roundup on Duce South. I'm Jeff Tabiri. Tomorrow marks 250 years since the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in North Carolina. Weeks after the signing in Philadelphia, a copy of the declaration was read aloud on the courthouse steps in Halifax. This is where a few months earlier the Halifax Resolves had been signed. Now, the resolves were a first of its kind document, a precursor to the Declaration of Independence that... sent other colonies in motion seeking a vote of independence from the rule of the crown. On August 1st, 1776 in Halifax, the Declaration of Independence arrived in Halifax, where it was read by Cornelius Harnett, a member of the provincial and later continental Congress. Harnett was a leading voice in opposition to the Stamp Act, a merchant, and a slaveholder. Today, the Declaration of Independence is kept at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The Halifax Resolves are also kept at those national archives as well. Usually, however, for the first time since 1776, the Halifax Resolves have returned to North Carolina. They're on public display in Halifax until early October. And you can learn much more about the Halifax Resolves on our Tuesday program next week at 1240. And I will just note to you, Don Vaugh, because you are a lover of all things flags. And you already know this. The Halifax Resoles are honored on our state flag with the date that they were signed, April 12th. 1776. So around that time, there is a special council of state meeting held out in Halifax. So I have seen the Halifax Resolns on display. Halifax is really cool. Everybody should go check it out. There till early October. I've got to figure out if I can slip it in. Yeah, you should. It's a nice drive out there. All right. We're always looking for history. 20 minutes past the hour. If you've got something for us, please send it along to south at wunc.org. All right. Let's circle back to this wake med atrium thing. Merger. Sure. Where does it stand? So again, circling back to what we spoke about earlier, this one, the. The County Board of Commissioners was supposed to or scheduled to vote on amending some governing documents that would allow the transaction to move forward in early May, I think it was, or the exact date. And at that time, they delayed the vote for 90 days. So that would put us at sometime in early August, early mid-August. So that's kind of where we're at now. We're kind of just still in that period waiting for it to potentially.

pop back on the agenda. And I believe the wording was at least 90 days. So as soon as it could come back would be sometime in August. So yeah, we'll see. I don't think I've seen anything or confirmed anything about one exact. It'll reappear. Okay. But it'll be a long process. I mean, I think one of the things that's not getting lost in this, but... The commissioners, in what their role in this, I mean, they're not necessarily voting on the transaction itself, right? They're not. Wake County Commissioners. Yeah, Wake County Commissioners, they're voting on specifically on amending these like governing documents that would allow the transaction move forward. And I don't know, maybe that's semantics, but I think it's like worth keeping in mind that there are other levels of regulatory oversight and approval that'll be required after this. And they're not some, that's not going to be some final say. Ultimately, it'll go to the FTC. And, you know, that'll be ultimately where it lands. And so we got a ways to go before a sort of final resolution. FTC, Federal Trade Commission, please. Yeah. Can I ask you a question just based off your most recent reporting? Obviously, the flagship WakeMed hospital is really important to the Southeast Raleigh community. I was wondering, how do you feel like... You know, from what, when you go to these events, like, how are, like, local residents sort of been reacting to this? And in terms of, like, are things, like, increased charity care, like, moving the needle at all for, for this? I think, I think that's such a massive change that I think there's just still a lot of just questions about what it means, right? I mean, it's such a, it would be such a massive shift. And healthcare is one of those, you know, I don't know, you see business mergers all the time. You see acquisitions all the time, but. Healthcare is personal, you know, it affects, you know, it affects you, it affects you, it affects you, it affects you, um, so when there are really big transactions in health care, I think it just, you know, I think it just, you know, I think it just, you know, I think it just, you know, I think it just, you know, I think it just, you know, I think it just, you know, I think it's sort of the broader national context about there's all sorts of research.

that shows mergers tend to lead to higher prices with, you know, uncertain effects on quality care. It doesn't necessarily go up or down, or at least like there's no consensus on that. But there is sort of a consensus nationally that mergers lead to higher costs. So I think that's obviously something that people are concerned about. Do South Friday News Roundup here on WUNC News. Adjacent to this is some aid development with the state health plan. Tell us about the top line there. Yeah, so the state health plan is something they've sort of been talking about for a while, but one of the most dramatic steps was that their July meeting earlier this month, they voted on this sort of what they described as a provider tier. And so they basically negotiated contracts with certain health systems. You use their leverage as this really large entity, right, with 700,000 members. And they were able to talk to different health systems and try to negotiate essentially lower rates. And so they created this preferred provider tier structure where sort of the... Top tier is preferred providers where they members will pay the lowest costs going to those health systems. Then there's other tiers below that access providers, non-preferred and out of network. And so at this July meeting, one of the the board voted on the sale plan board voted on agreeing to contracts with UNC and Avant in that preferred provider status. And then there's been some sort of subsequent developments after that, right? They talked about, they recently announced they reached an agreement with Duke as sort of an access provider, so at that slightly lower tier. And how this fits into the WakeMed and Atrium and whether they're exactly connected is uncertain. But WakeMed and both Atrium, as of right now, are in this non-pervert provider tier. Essentially, meaning as of next year, when this takes effect, state health plan members would have to pay more to go to WakeMed. and atrium as opposed to going to UNC. Yeah. All right. We're going to move from health care to elections. Plenty of different things in the cauldron here. We're a little bit more than three months now before election day, but not that far from early voting, which we'll get to in a couple of moments here on due south. I want to start with a couple of national notes, things you've been tracking, Rubin. We do, of course. have a notable U.S. Senate race, one of the most notable battleground contests in the country as Michael Whatley and Roy Cooper, the major party candidates, and there are some third party candidates seeking to replace the outgoing Thom Tillis. Let's start there, Rubin, a notable poll. I don't want to get too tied up in polls, but an interesting poll that you noted came out this week. Tell us briefly about that, please. Yeah, and I don't love giving too much coverage to polls because I find that they, you know, they're a cap, they're a moment in time, right? And they're not always accurate. However, Fox News is a noteworthy poll because it's pretty well respected, actually. And it found that...

Michael Whatley is trailing Roy Cooper by nine points. I think that's significant considering there was a PPP pull out a week or so ago that had Cooper only up by about four or five points. So this is pretty concerning because this is the continuing trend for Michael Whatley who has not been able to close the gap yet. And if we're still looking at numbers like this come Labor Day, The concern is really real for Republicans. So the concern is twofold. One, you're not going to win, right? But that's more the back end. One of the concerns in the short term is if you're trailing consistently by a notable margin and nine points in North Carolina would be a notable margin, it is possible that the Republican infrastructure is going to go, that's not winnable. We're not going to spend money or as much money there. Fair? Yeah, and why is that a problem? Because Michael Whatley trailed Roy Cooper $5 million to $15 million in the last quarter in terms of money raised for their campaign. So, Michael Whatley does not have the money on his own to put out the biographical ad and tell people who he is because most people in the state still don't even know who he is. He needs the outside money to be able to boost his campaign and target Cooper. All right. Let's move from the upper chamber to the lower chamber. I'm going to chat about a couple of U.S. House districts. Now, North Carolina, a reminder, has 14 of them. The Center for Politics, which is housed at the University of Virginia. It's a nonpartisan entity that journalists like us very much rely upon in election years is recalibrating its forecast for two congressional districts in our state, which ones and why? And as a Charlottesville native, I always appreciate Center for Politics, EVA. So there's two races here, we're watching closely. And the first one is no surprise, because it is the first. In eastern North Carolina, you've got arguably the most moderate conservative Democrat in Congress, Don Davis, who is trying to get reelected in a district that got completely redrawn because Republicans mid-decade redistricted and gerrymandered it. And he's got a really good shot at holding on to his seat. The Center for Politics moved it from being lean Republican to a toss-up. I think Davis has a real decent shot at winning here because of his reputation as being a more moderate Democrat. He's been able to raise a significant amount of money. This is a rematch between Republican Lori Buckout. It's still going to be a really tough race, though, for Davis to win. The other is on the other side of the state in the 11th congressional district. This is Asheville. also a lot of rural counties. This is, I think, one of the most interesting races in November because it's Congressman Chuck Edwards, a Republican, who has a host of issues right now because he's got an ethics investigation into him. And he only raised $150,000, Jeff, in the most recent fundraising quarter, which is like Trump change compared to what Jamie Agar raised. And so there are questions as to why he didn't raise more money. And the Senate for Politics moved it from lean Republican to toss up. Jamie Ager, part of a well-known political family in western North Carolina. This is a bellwether in terms of big night, big blue night. This is not a national bellwether, which way is going to go? If the Democrats could take back the 11th, they haven't held that seat in a decade and a half, that would be a significant upset here. Anything from y'all? I see action. I see body language. You know, yeah, I think that people have.

kind of been nervous about Don Davis a little bit more than even, I think, Jamie Ager in some cases, just because of how that district was redrawn. But, I mean... His name recognition, I think you've got to say, is just stronger than Lori Buckouts in a lot of ways. But, you know, this is her second time going. So, yeah, I think, I think, I think, I think if NC 11 is, ends up being blue, then that's, like, really great news nationally for Democrats. Davis also still has a lot of, like, was driving out to the Outer Banks this summer. And Davis has billboards up. Like, he's like a presence there where Buckout is still. I mean, she had some name recognition from, you know, running already, but not the same level. And it can, of course, cut both ways. The name recognition in being a known entity. Don Davis is a known entity in that part of the state by virtue of being a congressman for several terms now. And prior to that, a state senator. I mean, he is a known entity buckout. I don't believe has ever held statewide or federal office. She certainly has run for office before. Rubin, another thought. Yeah, the other thing I'll mention is if Democrats are able to win in the first and win in the 11th, boy, what a blow that is for state Republican lawmakers who redrew the map again to make it even more gerrymandered to basically secure Republican wins. And if they're not able to pull off these wins, that would be a big loss for them. So I think it's going to be really interesting to see what happens in those. But again, a snapshot in time. Here we are in July. No election until November. A lot of factors are going to shift. We're going to turn to the elections in just a moment and some of the administration thereof here in North Carolina. First, a trivia question. As always, you can send your responses to do south at wunc.org. If you're correct, if we pull your name from the correct responses, you get. Do South Mug. Today's question, which North Carolina University opened the nation's first four-year medical school for black students? Again, which North Carolina University opened the first medical school, four-year medical school in America for black students? We'll give you the answer a little bit later on in the program. Again, if you've got an answer for us, Dusouth at WUNC.org. All right, on the elections administration front, a bill advanced out of the state senate on Tuesday. What does it seek to do, Dawn Bonn? So my colleague Esther Francis covered this, and I was a fill in politics editor this week. Lucky you. It was actually, you know, everyone wrote really interesting, great stories. I'm not just saying that, so I just want to hype them up. But anyway, Esther's coverage, really the main thing is that the... The bill the Senate passed reduces the number of early voting days in the primary. And the House and Senate have been fighting over election bill for...

for months now. And again, like we already mentioned that the House and Senate weren't there at the same time. So even if you've negotiated something ahead of time, you don't have as much of like that last minute opportunity, I guess. I did see one House member at the legislative building this past week. So we'll see what happens in the House this coming week. But things are getting, I mean, you know, the calendar is moving quickly. We're getting close to, you know, election season. Of course, primaries, you know, not. you know, this year still is the general in November. So this is kind of a lot of what we – I can't think of a session where there wasn't another elections bill. I mean, I feel like this is repetitive. Reduction in early voting. I just want to make sure I've got this right. In primaries. Primaries and or second primaries, but not in the general. So there would still be 17 days of early voting in the general election. Well, the – Yeah, so this is just the primary. So the like pulling up Bester story, the Senate's version of the sweeping bill reduces the number of early voting days during primary and special elections from 17 to 10 days. So, and of course, Senate leader Republican Phil Berger lost his. primary election this year. He's talked to reporters, I feel like several times over the months, about how this was something that he was interested in doing. And I imagine he had firsthand knowledge of, you know, going out there and waiting, you know, or trying to meet voters all these days of primary early voting. Can either of you game out? Zachary Inns or Don Vaughn what the chances. So this bill is through the Senate. Now the House is coming back. It's not a law yet. I mean, it's got to go through the other chamber. Can end up being done. Do we know the house's appetite for this? Is it an up-down vote? I feel like it, yeah, this was the conference report, I think. So, yeah, so signs point to yes. All right. Also on the election front here with a few more moments before a break on the due South Friday News Roundup, North Carolina style. Zach, you wrote about a notable fundraising advantage for Democrats in one particular state race this fall. It's in the judiciary. How much of an advantage? How much does it matter? Yeah, I mean, that's the great question here. I mean, we've all been so focused on the Senate race, but there is another statewide race this fall, and that's on the state Supreme Court. Why this is important, I think, to... the future of the Supreme Court is basically, Republicans have a five-two advantage right now. So, but in 2028, there will be three Republican seats up for re-election. So if Democrats hope to retake the Supreme Court, which we've been waffling back and forth there as well, like the weather has, then they, this is a must win for them in the fall. And that's, I think, why you see some momentum there, because in the second quarter, Anita Earls, who's the sitting Democrat.

at the state Supreme Court who's running for re-election. Right. She raised $1.9 million. And Sarah Stevens, a Republican representative, who is challenging her, only raised $90,000. So much like Cooper and Wally, there is a huge funding discrepancy here as we get into the... to the meat of election season here. And I think why this matters is that, you know, I think this is one of those elections that is very, like, most people don't have set opinions about state Supreme Court justices. So this is going to be one where, like, advertising, I think, is going to be just blown out here in the coming weeks to make people have, like, a name in their mind when they go to the ballot. Quick civics note, state Supreme Court has seven. as opposed to the nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court, so it takes four for a majority. Ruben Gallego, a thought. If you talk to the head of the North Carolina party in North Carolina, Anderson Jay Clayton, she'll tell you this is the race she really cares about, I think. Because not only is it important for 2028 for retaking control of the Supreme Court, it's important for 2030 when redistricting comes up. And if redistricting comes before the court, that's a chance for Democrats to be able to flip what is now a very gerrymandered state towards the Republicans. Another thought on this? Any other election ruminations? Well, I think, I mean, the amount of money somebody raises, like, shows how much support you have from the party either because they personally want you in there, they politically want you in there, or just if they think you can win. So I think we're saying with other races we've talked about, if there's not a big influx of money, Republicans, Republican donors may be thinking, well, My money might be better spent somewhere else, depending on what they think the odds are of somebody actually winning the election. Don Vaughn, Zach EZone, and Rubin Jay Jones are with us here on Due South for the North Carolina. Friday News Roundup, a programming note for you. We talked about heat this week on the program. Extreme and dangerous conditions. Impacts on various communities across the state, the importance, but also the stress on the grid. As we think about air conditioning, you can hear that conversation in your Do South podcast feed and find other offerings there as well. WNC.org backslash do South or download and subscribe to our pod. Apple, Spotify, wherever it is that you listen. Plenty more to discuss on the other side, including hemp, another proposed data center, and why state senators are interested in sending tens of millions of dollars to the PGA tour. All that coming in a moment right here on Dues South on listener-supported WUNC.

Welcome back to listener-supported WNC News. It's due South, Friday News Roundup. This week marks the birthday of two political pioneers in our state. Howard Lee was the mayor of Chapel Hill from 1969 until 1975. He was the first black mayor in a majority white city in the American South. Lee was elected in 1968. Also a winner in that fall of 68, Henry Fry. He became the first black state legislator in North Carolina. During the 20th century, Fry later served 18 years on the state Supreme Court. He was the first black associate justice in North Carolina history. Howard Lee turned 92 this week. Henry Fry turns 94 tomorrow. Happy birthday young men. We've been talking about hemp on this program, due south, since like basically the inception of due south off and on for two and a half years. The largely unregulated industry has grown significantly in recent years. Next week, the honorables, at least on the house side, are back in Raleigh. And I'm gathering from your reporting, Zachary Eames. It could be an important week for the future of hemp. Yeah, I think it's a big week. And I think it's. important to know just how much has changed in the hemp industry over the past you know since 2014 and this all happened like i think in 2014 most people like hemp was like not something that really like people were going to to get any sort of high or any sort of medicinal value out of. The alternative dudes in high school wore on their wrist, right? Like a hemp bracelet. And, you know, thanks to some changes in federal law and changes in science, really genetically modifying plants, like for a lot of people out there, they are not going to a dealer anymore. They are going to gas stations to get their supply of equivalent of THC or cannabis at this point. Anyways, that's the sort of unregulated part of this is that. There really aren't rules about like how old you should be to buy this, labeling requirements and stuff like that. And so I think we kind of hit a breaking point, especially on the age requirements, where it's become like an issue like where both chambers really want to fix this. At the same time, they are currently as written, this is a conference report. So this is going to be an up-down vote. There are no changes that can be made in the house at this point. Okay. Is they are adopting the new federal definition, which would outlaw most. like the vast majority of intoxicating hemp products. Right. And so why this matters, basically, if this is voted on and then the governor ultimately signs it or not. And Governor Stein has also been very vocal about this age restriction issue. Right. It's not just solving the age restriction issue. It would also ban pretty much 95% of products that are on shelves right now. And this would affect a lot of businesses. There are, you know, some reports 6,000 businesses in the hemp space at this point in North Carolina, billions of dollars. Billions, with a B, billions of dollars. And a lot of these companies recognize that, you know, this needs some regulation. There was a group of businesses that wrote a letter.

to the house this week. Basically, it's the NC hemp businesses for responsible regulation. But this includes everybody from like trophy brewing, foothills brewing in Winston, Nodaw brewing, these THC companies, restaurant groups that are serving this as an alternative to alcohol now are all basically like... You know, don't use a hammer when you could use a chisel on this. But at this point, like, to get the age restrictions fixed, they're going to have to, they're, there's really going to ban most things if it moves forward. So the hemp industry is to a degree infused, pun intended, with some breweries in the state. You can go in to get a beer or you can get a five milligram THC drink. But what you're saying is this multi-billion dollar a year industry could effectively be shut down. Yes, and it was already, the federal changes were going to do that. And these hem companies were looking to the state legislature for like, you know, like, please, like, kick it to the states. And the states could create a different infrastructure. For a long time, right? Yeah, so we've been talking about this for it. For four years, they've been trying to come to a solution. And, you know, who knows? I mean, we could all be surprised next week and this, you know, could be voted down. But I think the speaker and the governor, I've both. really hit on these age restriction issues. But there wasn't so much of a finish line as there is now. The federal government acted a year ago. And Rubin, let me bring you back in here from the federal standpoint of hemp regulation. Remind us what came out of the farm bill update last November. And I don't imagine the federal government's going to touch hemp here in the months ahead. But tell me if I'm wrong. Yeah, it's a good question and I covered it and I'm trying to remember But I do remember that there were lots of it basically shuts down the business and so there was a lot of concerns about it Please, Zach. And one thing I have heard from hemp companies, a lot of these are voluntarily putting age restrictions already. Like, you know, there's very reputable, you know, dispensary areas. I mean, you can't buy, you can't go to trophy and buy like a THC drink under the age of 21, even though, like, technically, there is no state law in the moment. Correct. The worry is that at the last minute, there might be this change. Like, who knows? Like, federal legislatures could change it at the last second. But if this is approved, then you will have a more stricter law in North Carolina. This might be an obviously dumb question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Why can't lawmakers just say, hey, here's the age limit for this. It's 16, 18, 21, 30. Why do they have to shut down the whole industry? Well, there's no bill as a simple bill. Thank you, Don, for pointing that out. But this has been a tortured process. I think that there are people in the Senate in the House who feel strongly that these should not be legal at all. And then there are varying degrees of other opinions as well. And so I think that it has been a topic that Republicans in the state and even Democrats too have struggled to come to consensus on.

Do South, Friday News Roundup. It will be interesting, and we will get an update on the Roundup next week with whatever it is they do. But there are a lot of people and a lot of businesses, as you know, but also employees who are going to be directly impacted, we think, by what transpires next week at the legislature. Zach, I went from Zachary Eans, back over to Zach Ezone. UNC Health has been active recently. Expansion efforts have been seen in Asheville, Wilmington, Onslow County. We're going to go dealer's choice here. Where would you like to begin? What's the most notable of these expansions? I think the most notable would be... Asheville and Wilmington, so I'm going to cheat and pick two. Because those are both new hospitals. And UNC tried doing this last year. You know, we don't have to get all the bureaucratic process of the certificate of need applications and stuff. But they tried, they applied for hospital beds last year in Buncombe County to build a hospital in Asheville. It was denied. They appealed. The appeal processes are ongoing. But another application cycle came up, so they applied for beds again. So they again filed another application. And then more recently, and then around the same time, beds were available in Wilmington or New Hanover County. And so they applied for, I think, 150 beds out there as well. So I think those are both pretty significant because previously how UNC has expanded. I mean, they operate. They don't always fully own them. And I can touch on Onslow and Wayne in a bit. But they don't always fully own them, but they operate hospitals throughout the state. But it's usually, this expansion is usually through some sort of management agreements where they sort of take over operations, but maybe it's a county-owned hospital and the county still owns it and whatever it may be. But in Wilmington and Asheville, the proposals are building brand new medical centers from scratch. And so that's a pretty big change in sort of their expansion efforts. So, yeah, those are both pretty interesting. I thought Donovan had a thought she was reaching for her water. You mentioned Wayne County? Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, so sorry. And circle back on those. So right now they have management or operating agreements. I'm not sure how they would describe it exactly. But in Wayne and both Onslow County for the hospitals out there. And those are in recently within the past two past month or so, those hospitals and the local and the county commissioners there. They've reached agreements to fully integrate within UNC. So I think both are sort of staggered processes on different timelines. But eventually they will be fully become fully integrated and owned by UNC rather than just sort of operated but still locally owned. So those are slightly different scenarios. UNC is technically already operating those hospitals. But yeah, still pretty significant and just adds to their sort of state ambitions to expand statewide. Ten minutes before the top of the hour here on the due South North Carolina Friday News Roundup. Let me work back in that trivia question. Which North Carolina University opened the nation's first four-year medical school for black students? Any guesses from our panelists? Zachary Ian seems to know. I was going to, this is a guess, but Shaw and Raleigh? Any other guesses. St. Oaks.

Shaw is a good guess. Zagarin's is right with Shaw. It is the Leonard Medical School, founded in 1880, opened to students in 1882. Leonard Medical School trained more than 400 physicians across 40 years before closing in 1920. Our winner is Matt. Congratulations to Matt for that trivia victory today. We did get a question from John, who emails in in the wake of our discussion on some congressional races, so I will kick this to you, Rubin Jay Jones. Any comments on the Richard Hudson v. Richard O. Jetta race in North Carolina's... ninth congressional district, Sandhills and points toward Wilmington, I believe. Yeah, I mean, Richard Ojetta does definitely have a significant online following. He is a, from my understanding, I believe he is a veteran, and he's gotten significant amount. I think I checked his campaign finances recently, and I'm trying to remember what they were. I will tell you, it's not one of the races that Democrats are targeting. You know, We'll see what happens in November. It's not, it's certainly not a top of mind for Democrats in terms of ones they might be able to flip. Before you would get to a Richard Hudson seat, you'd go to like Greg Murphy's seat where Democrats are hoping to flip, but that's a real uphill climb too. So it's certainly one to watch. Hudson's been in office a very long time. He runs the National Republican Congressional Committee. And so that's the political arm of the Republicans to elect Republicans in the House. If he were to lose... that would be one of the biggest shockers in November. That would be the biggest surprise to – I don't even know what to compare that to. My mind goes to when Eric Cantor, the number two in the House lost in the primary in 2014, that's like a random one. But Richard Hudson, it would be stunning if he loses. That is an R plus 8 district, according to the Cook Political Report, which means that – Republicans are effectively baked in with an eight-point advantage on kind of a generic ballot. So a good question and a far-flung answer from my seat. A couple of news briefs here. Panelists, please interrupt me or work in some context if you would like. Another proposed data center has been rejected by municipal officials, this time by Forsyth County Commissioners. Developers had sought to build a hyperscale data center on 129 acres in a rural hall. According to member station WFDD, the plan has been met with overwhelming opposition across the last six months. The vote this week was 5-2, though notably commissioners made it clear they're not entirely anti-Data Center, but rather open to determining a more appropriate site in the county. Their county officials say a beach renourishment project is expected to start today in the town of Buxton along the outer banks. Approximately 2 million cubic yards of sand will be dredged from the ocean floor and pumped to Buxton's oceanfront beaches. The project is expected to finish by the end of September. The last beach nourishment project in Buxton was...

four years ago and cost $18 million. If I can chime in here. Yes, you can. So I was in Nag's Head at the end of June where they were working on beach re-nourishment. And it was actually pretty cool to watch all of the equipment move and just how they do it. And also it churned up the ways to be some really, like, gray water. So it was nice when that... cleared out further away from where they were doing the work. But they moved quickly, too, because they came out, like, ready to stage, and people who, like, left their pop-up tents, they're like, those got to go. Like, we're getting ready, you know, to do this the next day. So it was very efficient. And I looked up and, like, why are you doing this in the busy time? Right. You know, and what I'd seen is that, like, that just works best environmentally that's when they need to do it. So that's why. Before and afterward, did the beach look noticeably different after they were done? Well, they were underway, so I didn't see the final result. But I assume it's, you know, more beach. One more. I hope so. I would hope so. Especially the price tag of $18 million. All right. State senators have backed a proposal to send $40 million to the PGA Tour, professional golf association. This in hopes of keeping the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro for years to come. The legislation still needs approval from the state house. Zach, 40. Zachary, 40 million is a hefty price tag. I am presuming the economic impact in Guilford County far exceeds that? That's a great question. I actually don't know that number, but it is 10 million per year. The issue here is the PGA tour is sort of going to this promotion relegation model where the top golfers will be in a top tier division and sort of the second batch of elite golfers will be in a lower one. I think from a viewership standpoint, you obviously want your tournament to be in that top tier because that's where sort of the, you know, Scotty Shefflers of the world might grace your presence and bring in a ton of people. I think this is actually more about, you know, this sort of divide in the state that's growing between, you know, the Charlotte and Raleys of the world, sort of hoovering up all of the events, all of the jobs and stuff. And I think this is really viewed more along the lines of, you know, an economic development play. But to your point, I mean, it's a one weekend event in August. Is it more, I think it might be more about sort of what it says about Greensboro than anything. But I would offer this retort. Greensboro is the third largest city in the state. We're talking about Elizabeth City or Statesville or somewhere that is smaller, right? That's just kind of an interesting element. But in the grand scheme is the PGA tour. I think they've decided, though, that... some of these markets don't make as much financial sense. Like the John Deere Classic in Iowa. Like is that like as cool as Chicago or New York? Right. So I think it's becoming like everything is like secondary markets. Like it's it's there's a struggle. Interesting. Do we have any sense of how the house feels about 40 million to the PG? I it'll I think there's a lot of people who.

are hoping so at this point. But I'm not sure. And sorry, do we know, is there any sort of local contribution required from the county or anything? Or is this totally state funding on the table? The way it was written is this is just a direct grant to the sort of association that runs the Wyndham. And I did not see. But, like, that could be the case, but I'm not sure. Gotcha. We are almost out of time. I'm going to do this rapid fire here, something that is on the horizon for y'all in the days or week to come. Rubin Jay Jones, you're up first. Yeah, I'm in closely covering to see what happens with Todd Blanche and whether the president decides to pull this nomination. Zachary Eans of Axios Rowley. I mean, I think it's just to see if the House gives us any surprises. I think a lot's on the table and a lot of it's just upward down votes, which creates really just interesting outcomes. Don Vaughn, Capital Bureau Chief at the News and Observer, host of the Under the Dome podcast. Yeah, well, if you read my Under the Dome newsletter on Sunday, focused on governor. Stein, I talk about how they're all, you know, piecing out until November probably. And then after the election, depending on how things go, will take some more action that may or may not to be favorable to gains control. She said piecing out. And Zach EZone, health care and higher ed reporter for the Triangle Business Journal. Yeah, I think it's WakeMed and whether that ends up back on the Wake County, Board of Commissioners' agenda sometime soon. All right, big thanks to our panelists, Zach Don, Zachary and Rubin Jay Jones, Washington reporter covering North Carolina for Spectrum News. This is due south, a production of WUNC, and a broadcast service at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Our producers are Station Brown and Rachel McCarthy. Rachel Hernandez is our intern, DeNaris Thomas, as the technical director, Aaron Kiever, is the executive producer theme music. For Leone and Inge, I'm Jeff Tabir. Have a wonderful weekend. We'll talk to you again Monday at noon.

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