NC DMV gets wait times down to only ONE HOUR!!! (11-10-2025--Hour3)

What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to dpeteclendershow dot com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free right to your smartphone or tablet, And again, thank you so much for your support. As we do every Monday at two o'clock, we chat with ap Dylan. She is the publisher of More to the Story. It's a substack newsletter you can subscribe to. She's also a reporter at the North State Journal. The website is NSJ online dot com. Ap, how are you today? I'm doing great, Pete, how are you? I'm doing great as well. Yeah, So the long national nightmare is over right, the shutdown in the Democrats. We hope. I mean, there's other votes that have to happen in order for this to move through the Senate and then has to go back to the House, and the House is going to throw a fit. So you know, I have no expectation that this is going to be actually over for at least another week. Oh really, yeah, I think, uh, I think the Democrats are done. They'll they'll be squawking and stuff, but the I think the House leadership will go ahead and they'll they'll rubber stamp what the Senate deal is because there's really no real concessions for Democrats in it, so. They might I don't know. Bernie Sanders col quite a fit on the floor last night. So we'll see, right, But well, he's going to have to get his uh they're gonna have He's gonna have to get the uh, the eight Democrats to flip back. I don't think he's going to be able to do that. Well, I don't think so either. I mean, all eight of them, none of them are for reelection right here, so they've got no no feat to the fire kind of moment there for them. Yeah, no incentives at all. Always retiring too, I think. Yes, exactly, uh here, yeah, so yeah, always look for the incentives, you know, always look for the incentives with these politicians. All right, So let's talk about the the DMV. Everyone's favorite topic. The North Carolina House Select Committee on Government Deficiency heard updates from various state officials. Last week related to improving operations of the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles. They did a three hour hearing last week and I assume you watched it, so I didn't have to, so thank you for that absolutely. So what all was what was reviewed? Well, they wanted to know about the updates for efficiency in terms of getting customers in and out easier, faster. You know. Wait times was like the big thing, and it's been the big thing for a long time. And anyone who's been to the DMV knows what they're talking about when they say wait times, it's usually three hours plus. In fact, an audit had found that it was at least two hours I believe it was. Yeah, a wait time was about two hours in July was what the audit had found. It was three hours earlier in the year. And the new DMV Commissioner, Paul Tyne, was there and he told the panel there the committee, that the average weight time in DMB offices is dropped by an hour and a half since he came in. So it's down to merely one hour and fifteen minutes. Yeah, wow, it is. But that's a significant inroad considering that it was three hours earlier this year, so you know he's getting there. I can credit for moving that up. Yeah, you know, they've hired a lot more people and a lot more services are going to be coming, according to TYME, including team driver services, which is one of the largest strains on their customer service time. They're going to allow for graduated licenses to be applied for online to reduce weight times. They're also looking at getting the driver's head courses the people who teach those things to be able to certify road tests to lighten the load at the offices. Yeah. So these are like their private very initiative, like the private private driver instructor classes and stuff. Right exactly, you know, the ones that the kids do in the county and everything. They're working with them to try to make sure that that happens. And they've also streamlined some of the graduated licensed stuff already for the teens. They don't have to do those driver logs and submit those anymore, and they can they can upgrade their license from their their permit to their graduated you know on the road license before nine is what they called the before nine license. They can do that online now. So I have another idea, a proposal for how to really reduce this workload. Don't allow any team driving. The one thing that they did institute, which I thought was actually quite good and I used it myself, was they have this SMS signing system now where you basically log in to their system using your phone and it will tell you, it'll give you a call back and say you need to be here in the next ten minutes. You know your place in line is coming up, so you can go do other things and come back. You don't have to stand in the line. And that's really helps people's patients quite a bit. So I went the other way. I went the other direction. I went online and booked my appointment, my last appointment, this was probably six months ago, and took a day off from work, booked it like three months ahead of time, and then drove an hour and a half to a different part of the state. That's how I got into a DMV office. Yeah, that was also an issue that was brought up, was that you know, people were having to drive to other counties to get to get an appointment. Yeah, and usually with folks in large urban area counties like Mecklenburg, like Wake, Yes, Forsyth, places like that, and in the Wilmington area and Onslow there were sometimes there was just no appointments there, So they're having to go county over. That happened to my son and I when we did his first kermit. We had to go over to Wilson County. I live in Wake to go an next door to Wilson to get him at an appointment. Well, that just next door, that's not bad at all. Yeah, yeah, Ecklenburg, I had to go all the way. I had to go up to like Hickory area. Oh gosh. Yeah. Yeah, Like I literally took a day off of work because there was no way I could have made the appointment, and and it only took me like ten minutes, Like the whole appointment took ten minutes. Yep. So it's just super Yeah. They're looking at trying to fix that problem and hopefully moving a lot of the teen items out of the way will help. See, you know, they get like eighty percent maybe these seven percent of their customers or we'll still walk in. So yeah, get rid. Of the team driving all of this stuff goes away. I'm just saying, yeah, Yeah, they're talking about different ways to reduce those weight times and to streamline that process and maybe make it its own thing. There was also talk about spinning the DMV off from the NCDOT that their finances are so interwoven that there was an issue with that, and Time said that, you know, it would create more headaches than it created solutions, so well that was tabled. Yeah, and it's also by interwoven. I think you mean that DMB funds the DOT. Like, yeah, pretty much, right. Like that's the deal, Like DOT doesn't want to have to lose a couple billion dollars out of their budget. Yeah. I mean, the DMV generates somewhere around two point two billion in revenue and a lot of that goes right into the DOT and then only a certain percentage I think something like thirty percent only comes back to the DOT for their earth to the DMV for their services and operations, which has kept them from hiring more people and modernizing their systems and doing all that stuff. Yeah, because they're not getting half of what they're putting in back. Yeah, so that's going to be something that I think they'll come back to. The DOT chief was there as well, but they didn't get to hear as much from them as they wanted to. So I have a feeling there'll be another hearing coming up with just the dot chief. Yeah. Uh, as you report in your story two point two billion dollars generated in revenue by the DMV that goes to the Department of Transportation, which takes in three point seven billion in revenue. So two point two of the three point seven is coming from the DMV. So it's no wonder why the Department of Transportation does not want DMV to be spun out from under their control. Yeah, exactly. So all right, let's let's shift gears a little. You do a lot of reporting on your Substack newsletter. More to the story is the is the substack there and you people should subscribe to it. You'll get the updates from ap and so this one here is uh, it's the latest in a regular series that you do the illegal alien arrests in North Carolina. So I guess I mean I can go here to the one here there's Cabera's County represented. They got two uh guitar. You're eleven that I pulled and they're they're from a I have to credit this account. It's called immigrant Crimes on X and they do stuff from all around the country, and they put the state, the person's name, what they're accused of, bookshots, all that kind of stuff, if they've got a deportation order on them, et cetera, et cetera. And they're they're regularly posting these things, and they've done quite a bit of reporting on North Carolina. And I started picking up on it, and I figured, hey, this is a good source of information because I verified them all that they these were real and they happened, So I pulled them into my reporting. And you know, he usually has at least four or five per month for North Carolina. And these are just the ones that are hitting this account's radar. I think there's probably many others out there that aren't getting reported. Oh but you know, some of these are pretty bad. You know, we're talking assault, you know, rape, child el sex crimes. You know, one was a hit and run. I think, you know, so these aren't these aren't you know, very upstanding individuals. And then you've got a report from the Center for Immigration Studies that looked at the uh the unaccompanied Alien child or the UACs. This issue was real big, probably what about a year or so ago maybe, And then it could just kind of fell off the radar, and Democrats were like, oh, it's not true at all, But we didn't lose track of all these kids. Spoiler, Yes, the government did lose track of a lot, like thousands and thousands of kids, these unaccompanied minors. Yeah. Well, through Freedom of Information Act requests, the Center for Immigration Studies found that HHS under Biden had lost contact with one hundred and twelve and seventy two UACs after thirty days of being released to the sponsors. So it's in a month of these people, of these kids being sent off to live with somebody else, they lost contact with them and they couldn't determine their safety or whereabouts. And additional data showed that they had transferred over two hundred and thirty five thousand of these children to sponsors around the country during the fiscal years I want to say, between January twenty twenty one and December twenty twenty three, so two fiscal years there. So that's you know, like you know, over one hundred thousand kids a year and they couldn't determine where the heck they were. This summer, however, the Trump administration of HHS that announced that they had tracked down thirteen thousand of them. It's just a stone's throw from what's you know, the total there. But at least those kids have been found, and some of them were found, you know, in strip clubs and they were being trafficked. So they rescued these kids. But there's one place to where we know that these kids were not being housed, and that's in Greensboro, North Carolina, where the in the Hebrew Academy there had been taken over by HSS under Biden and turned into a migrant center several years ago with a huge multimillion dollar contract. And you know, over the couple of years that they this contract went on, not a single migrant child was housed there. And then they closed down operations this past spring. Oh god, kind of suspicious. Yeah, it's kind of suss Yeah, little. Saus like the kids say, all right, yeah, Ap, Dylan, you could read the whole report here add more to the story under work at North State Journal at nsjonline dot com. Ap, thanks for your time as. Always, absolutely thanks for having me. All right, take care, all right, if you're listening to this show, you know, I try to keep up with all sorts of current events and I know you do too, and you've probably heard me say get your news from multiple sources. Why Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with ground News. It's an app, and it's a website and it combines news from around the world in one place so you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check dot ground, dot news slash pete. I put the link in the podcast description too. I started using ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself check dot ground, dot news slash pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen percent off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. A bit of the breaking news doule up doudle up. A ban on transgender women competitors is strongly expected to be in place for the twenty twenty eight Olympics, but it remains unclear if there will be barriers against athletes with differences of sexual development or DSD. Did you know that? Did you know that was a thing? I did not know that was a thing? DSD differences of sexual development after the boxing furor at Paris twenty twenty four. So, according to The Daily Mail, under the existing rules, each sport is empowered to decide if transgender women, so in other words, men can compete if they're testosterone levels fall below a designated threshold. But the International Olympic Committee, under new president Christy Coventry, is in discussions about a dramatic policy shift that would impose a blanket ban across all sports for the Los Angeles Games. Such a move would prevent the kind of scenario that saw Laurel Hubbard contest the weightlifting at the Tokyo Olympics in twenty twenty one. Hubbard transitioned in twenty twelve, so a dude won the weightlifting the women's weightlifting competition. While Olympics sources have confirmed that such a measure is very much the quote direction of travel, it is highly unlikely to come into force before the Winter Olympics in Italy next February. So we got to do this with baby steps here, okay, baby steps, So we can't possibly do this for the next Winter Olympics. So guys, if you want to compete win a gold, this is your last chance. Winter Olympics in Italy. One report suggested that a rule change could be announced in February, but insiders say it could take between six months and a year for it to be approved and cleared. This is it's going to take a while. Apparently I did see. Let's see here, I'm because like this just came down. This just broke, an IOC statement to the Daily Mail sport Raids quote. An update was given by the IOC's Director of Health, Medicine and Science to the IOC members last week during the IOC Commission meetings. The Working Group is continuing its discussions on this topic and no decisions have been taken yet. Because I saw there was a there was this because the headline that I saw, I mean, look, if they do this, this is the right decision. So I don't want to drag them too hard, although you know, them dragging their feet on this is a little weird. Oh yeah, IOC likely to announce new policy early in New year after findings of a scientific review about the permanent physical advantages of being born male. It took a super scientific review to figure that one out for the IOC, Hey, you know what progresses progress? I guess you know. Stories are powerful. They help us make sense of things, to understand experiences. Stories connect us to the people of our past while transcending generations. They help us process the meaning of life, and our stories are told through images and videos. Preserve your stories with Creative Video started in nineteen ninety seven and Mint Hill, North Carolina. It was the first company to provide this valuable service, converting images, photos and videos into high quality produced slide shows, videos and albums. The trusted, talented and dedicated team at Creative Video will go over all of the details with you to create a perfect project. Satisfaction guaranteed. Drop them off in person or mail them. They'll be ready in a week or two. Memorial videos for your loved ones, videos for rehearsal, dinners, weddings, graduations, Christmas, family vacations, birthdays, or just your family stories all told through images. That's what your photos and videos are. They are your life told through the eyes of everyone around you and all who came before you, and they will tell others to come who you are visit creative video dot com. All right, I might as well, Hello, Chris, welcome to the show. Good to hear from your Pete. I figured, uh start off by saying I lost the training. To thall, that's not a good way to start. That is definitely not. And I want to talk about the last forty days and kind of I missed the first half of the program. Oh that was the best, but listen, listen, I had. I had to go over some play though I'm sitting or listen to some of that to understand and it's gonna add to the program later. I saw the same and the only person from five to so I say curse a WBT in the in the context of from five am to nine pm, I could be up listening to the whole entire time. I drive a dump truck. It's easy to do. Yeah. So the last person that I would not listen to is you. Oh, thank you so. But anyway, in relation to the last forty days, I don't know if you went over kind of an analysis or an overview of the last forty days, and I got a couple of questions in relation to polling, and I'm feeling because I'm not looking at the pulling. If I had gone over the and you had been keeping up with the pulling right over the last forty days, and where are don or the pols? Yeah, I mean, like, well, I don't. I don't talk about pulling. Uh. I don't talk about it as like, oh, there's a new poll out today and it shows this. I am more interested in trend lines of polling, you know, because that I think is more instructive than a single snapshot. So if like you see movement away from you know, one candidate, like that's more instructive than just the individual poll on any given day, if that makes sense. All right, So yeah, I get that. So in the last forty days, if I had looked at the polling, what I've seen the court of public opinion seeing that the Republicans aren't responsible for me cut down in the no. The polling would indicate that people were blaming Republicans and that's why Democrats were continuing to not vote for the clean c R. Okay, So okay, Then my next question in relation to the Democrat party. I would see the SUMER side of being looking at the polling and kind of knowing where it's going, but the AOC side would be kind of like ignoring this if I'm maybe I'm wrong, maybe she does and I'm trying to fit. I was wanting to know kind of what there their their long range go on that they would they wanted the one point five. So there is the first mistake. There was no long term goal. That they didn't have one. That was their problem and that's why it failed. So the leftists, so the leftists really didn't expect to get anything out of it. No, they they they were happy with it being shut down because they thought that they could then use that as leverage to make Republicans do things that Republicans have always opposed, namely the subsidies for Obamacare and snap benefits for legal aliens. That was what the left is. Yeah, and I heard them say that. I mean, it's a couple of people saying, of course correct, but okay, so and they thought that, but okay, So my question now is what changed? So when when the elections happened and then they're there's the media is thrown out that it's going to be bad for Republicans in like nationally, and we're clapping back like that. They were expected to win those so it doesn't mean anything the leftist looking at that and saying that's going to push that's going to push Republicans to go for this right. Yeah, so get that right. That was well, so that was what the more radical elements in the Democrat Party were. And then layer into that, then you've got sort of the establishment Democrats, guys like Chuck Schumer, and they had gotten they took massive hits in their support among Democrat voters when they passed the Clean cr like six months ago, whatever it was that got us to this point. When they signed on and did that, the radicals in the Democrat Party went nuts. And Schumer's polling is now somewhere in like the like fifteen to twenty percent range among Democrats in New York. Like. So he's worried about his re election being upended in a Democrat primary by the more radical elements in the Democrat Party that would vote for AOC, the Democrats socialist candidate, that they would vote for her and oust him. He comes out of this, he voted no, So he still voted no, but he allowed you know, eight Democrats to vote yes to end the filibuster. So he even then he's taken a hit now because all the lefties are like he either a is not keeping his people in line, so he's a bad leader, or B he orchestrated this whole thing so he could still vote no and they could vote yes and the government could reopen. Okay, So he flipped the switch there. So that's the only thing that happened is they didn't gain anything nationally from the past election, so he finally had to flip the switch. It's like, just let's pass this, let's get it back, right, So he was right. So yea, So they wanted they wanted the base motivated. They wanted them not to target Democrats during the No King's rally. Then came the election, and they wanted them motivated to turn out because the Democrats are quote fighting and uh that and so that's why the weekend after the election is when the Democrats are allowed to now vote to end the filibuster. So Schumer's up for re election win. Next year, I believe next year. I'm so I'm gonna assume because I don't think he pulled around. So I think he's going. To just reply, right, that's where we said. Yeah, so we covered so the first two hours of the show today, if you go back and pull the podcast, yeah we went. We went through all of that. Yeah, so and that's and that's now. I think Schumer's big dilemma is, you know, if he's looking at polling and that's that shows he's in trouble for re election, does he just say I'm retiring, Like. Yeah, I got it. Let me just finished my saying that I know I'm an alpha mal so on, no way, throw out the word. What does the word work? I've lost the word. Now we're full circle. We've come full circle. You lost your thought right to the and now it's at the end. You've it's in comedy, we call that a callback. That's what you've done. I say, I'm just saying I am in no way saying that I have a man cross. That's all I'm playing. All right, Well, fair enough, thank you, thank you, you brought me around. Thank you all right, buddy, Yeah, have a great day. Thanks for listening. I appreciate the call. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina. Just a quick drive up the mountain and Cabins of Asheville is your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal, or get family and friends together for a big old reunion, Cabins of Asheville has the ideal spot for you where you can reconnect with your loved ones and the things that truly matter. Nestled within the breath taking fourteen thousand acres of the Pisga National Forest, their cabins offer a serene escape in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Centrally located between Ashville and the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It's the perfect balance of seclusion and proximity to all the local attract actions with hot tubs, fireplaces, air conditioning, smart TVs, Wi Fi, grills, outdoor tables and your own private covered porch. Choose from thirteen cabins, six cottages, two villas, and a great lodge with eleven king sized bedrooms. Cabins of Ashville has the ideal spot for you for any occasion, and they have pet friendly accommodations. Call or text eight two, eight, three, six, seven, seventy sixty eight or check out all there is to offer at cabins Offashville dot com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. So the murder trial of Terry Conner Junior and Steven Staples began. They are accused and charged of murdering Scott Brooks. It was the co owner of Brooks Sandwich Shop, Sorry sandwich House. Brooks's all right, Brooks Sandwich House. There you go in NODA Charlotte Neighborhood North Davidson, No DA. Statements in the trial of Terry Connor Junior and Stephen Staples were given on Friday afternoons. These were the opening statements. This happened again Friday. Selection for the jury began on Monday. They wrapped up Friday morning and then immediately went into opening statements. The prosecution was the first first up. They say Brooks only had ten seconds of interaction with his killers. This is a story at wbtv dot com by Brandy Beard. The prosecution said they ambushed him on both sides. Assistant DA Heidi Pearlman trying the case, making the opening arguments. Pearlman also detailed the prosecution's plan to introduce cell phone data that she claimed would tie both men to the area of the sandwich shop around the time of the shooting. Connor's defense because they're both being tried together. Connor's defense went next, asking not to be fooled by the evidence. Don't be fooled by the evidence people, reiterating that the burden of proof lay on the prosecution. Well, that part's true. Staples defense argued that quote close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. No, I'm just a country lawyer, saying the use of cell phone data can only show areas close to where a person was, not an exact time and location. Quote. Just as important as what the state is going to present to you is what the state is not going to present to you. And some of this was discussed in jury's selection, because the state is not going to have a murder weapon. By the way, don't need the murder weapon. It's helpful, don't get me wrong. Any piece of evidence linking the murderer to the crime definitely helpful, but not necessary. Not necessary. Shortly after opening statements, prosecutors showed body cam footage from a CMPD officer who responded to Brooks sandwich house on the morning of the murder. It was an emotional moment for several of the family members of the victim who wept obviously at this video seeing their loved one, his twin brother, David Brooks. Scott's twin brother, David Brooks also testified Friday afternoon, telling the court that Scott had visited him to check on him after David had suffered a bad back injury, and that was the last time that the twin brother spoke. So Staples was charged with murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon, kidnapping, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Connor was charged with murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, first degree kidnapping, and possession of a firearm by a felon. Brooks sandwich shop opened its door in nineteen seventy three. It's been a Charlotte staple ever since. The twin brothers, David and Scott took over the business some years ago, and Scott was killed while opening the restaurant six years ago. That's how long this case has taken to get to trial. Charlotte Meckelburg. Police said the situation started as a robbery as the restaurant was known to handle cash. The suspects made out with about one hundred dollars. Connor was the first suspect arrested in March of twenty twenty. Staples was then charged in November twenty twenty, but he was already in custody in connection with another murder. Police called the pair partners in crime, alleging their involvement with other robberies and homicides in this same area. Staples alone was accused of killing five people between December twenty nineteen and January twenty twenty. He's accused of killing five people over a one and a half month period, and by the way that information will be permitted, they will get to use another deadly shooting as evidence in this trial. Jury selection comes or Sorry. This is another story at WSOCTV from last week where Judge lou Trosh ruled that prosecutors can talk about a double shooting double murder from January twenty twenty, which was thirty two days after Brooks was killed. These two have extensive criminal backgrounds and are connected to several homicides. They've got investigators that Staples became a suspect in December twenty three, twenty nineteen, in the slaying of Anthony Leaks in Charlotte, and they were also charged in a double homicide involving Asa Shannon and Chavon Joseph, who were found dead in a suv along with Tondo Avenue January eleventh. Both were shot in the head and police believe that they were first robbed and then they were murdered, so there would be no witnesses. We'll keep you updated on this track. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, so if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to vpetecallanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.