Upcoming Teacher Protest & SBA Lending in NC | Hour 3

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, I daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to thepeakclendarshow 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. I've got a lot going on on this beautiful Monday afternoon. Among them, we're going to be watching the state legislature as a come back on Tuesday tomorrow for the short legislative session. Lawmakers headed back to Raleigh, your lawmakers to figure out how to spend your money in our state budget, because we don't have a budget yet right now now, Governor Josh Stein, just a few minutes ago, right before we came on here, just announce it. Tomorrow on Tuesday, as lawmakers are coming back to Raleigh, he's going to put out his own budget. Keep in mind, the way North Carolina's budget system works is the governor does not set the budget. He can put in a wish list and that's what he's going to be doing tomorrow is setting a budget, saying that he's going to this is what he wants to see the legislature do. The state legislature has control over the purse strings in North Carolina. They set the budget, not the governor. He is he'd announced this morning, just a few minutes ago, that he is going to put out a budget his request for spending tomorrow. He's going to make that announcement. It's going to actually, you know, put a little pressure on state lawmakers to spend that money, to increase spending. That's my guess because what he did earlier last year when he said that he wanted North Carolina to spend more money. He said, here's his statement. He said, tomorrow, Governor Josh Stein will hold a press conference to announce his recommended budget for fiscal year twenty six twenty seven that invests quote in people and keeps North Carolina strong. We don't know what that means exactly. My guess is that it means a call for more spending in North Carolina. Let's let's take a look. Here's the backdrop. North Carolina has one of the strictest balanced budget requirements in the country, the state law holds the governor responsible for cutting expenditures to avoid a deficit. So North Carolina's Republicans took over the state legislature in twenty eleven, more than you know, back about fifteen years ago, to help keep the general fund appropriations in check. So at the time, if you remember, if you were around here in two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight, we were running deficits constantly, we were furloughing teachers, our taxes were above seven percent. Republicans took over about fifteen years ago, made changes, so now our taxes are significantly lower, we're running we're running surpluses a lot we are in many of these years, and we've got a much bigger, more robust savings rainy day fund for things like you know, hurricanes. So let's look at how the growth in our state budget has changed since the COVID pandemic. So since the COVID pandemic, our state spending has increased from twenty four point four billion dollars in fiscal year nineteen twenty to a proposed thirty two billion dollars in twenty five twenty six. So just in five years, we've gone up eight billion dollars, thirty four percent growth in what spending we have. And keep in mind that budget at thirty two billion dollar budget is proposed because they never really got one pass. They didn't even send one to the governor, he didn't veto it. They didn't even get one over there. So we've seen a thirty four percent increase in our budgets just since COVID. And if you look at a closer look at some of those numbers, education, medicaid, public safety, those three things get eighty seven percent of our thirty one billion dollar budget. In the general funds, appropriate appropriates, taxes on our personal income and sales are eighty one percent of that minute that money coming in, So that's not kind. In federal grants, it's eighty one percent of the money that they're spending in a thirty four billion dollar budget. Proposed budget comes from us, comes from our taxes. So I think that I would like to see lawmakers really examine where is that money going and how is it being spent? Are we avoiding waste and fraud? Are we making sure that it's accountable and trackable. That is a lot of money in North Carolina that could go to a lot of great things, and it could come back to us if they can't control it, can't figure out where it's spending, can't track it. So that's one of the things I'm really curious about when we hear Governor Stein releasing his own recommended budget for the fiscal year, how much more does he want? How much more is and will it come with? Hey, we're going to keep track of this, We're going to tell you exactly where it's being spent. We're going to make sure that the there's no waste, fraud, and abuse in this. We need more money thirty two billion dollars thirty four thirty four billion dollars it was spent in the last budget. So I feel like we need to have a lot more details in what's been happening with our state budget. We're gonna be talking more about that throughout than coming weeks. With lawmakers coming back into session on Tuesday, there's big ones are going to be talking about, certainly the budget. I think we're going to look more at many budgets that Governor Stein may not get one big budget. He may get money budgets one for education, one for DHHS, one for public safety. In lots of different ways, and so without in lieu of a big budget, we may get many budgets passed to fund some of these priorities because there's a lot of groups that just can't plan for the future. Whether you know, small little nonprofits that get a grant here and there or big education systems. People cannot plan for the future without a state budget. So I think that's one of the biggest priorities that they're going to be talking about. They're also going to be talking a lot about public safety. This is something that they announced this morning that lawmakers are on both sides of the eis. They're going to be launching moving forward with a new subcommittee that takes a look at the early release of more than four thousand inmates during the COVID nineteen pandemic. So these inmates were released involving a legal settlement between then Governor Roy Cooper and a lawsuit from the NAACP and the ACLU. So who was on that list? Who were the four thousand inmates that were released early during COVID nineteen During the COVID nineteen pandemic, That's what legislative leaders want to know. So this subcommittee is going to be focused on this. They're going to be reviewing the list, how it was communicated, did people really know. Who was on it? Was their transparency, public safety, accountability, all of those things. How were those decisions made and communicated. They believe these Republican legislative leaders who are going to be talking about it, they believe the public did not get timely information about who was released and under what conditions, and they plan to examine what that process looks like. But they're also going to be talking about the state prison system. How do we get it staffed appropriately, what do we do about involuntary commitment, re entry programs, recidivism, like all of the things that a lot of us here in North Carolina have been concerned about, particularly since the murder on the light rail in Charlotte last summer. Lawmakers say their goal is to assess whether the current correctional policies are effective in protecting public safety while managing long standing operational challenges in our system, particularly particularly in staffing. So they're really going to be digging into, I think, what the Cooper administration did and how they reached the settlement and how they communicated the release of four thousand prisoners during COVID. So all these things are really a big deal. We're going to be talking more about it throughout the hour. Make sure you stick around. 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 Minhill, 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 what is it Creative video dot com? Okay, So May first, the North Carolina Association of Educators is organizing a statewide demonstration focused on education funding and policy priorities, saying they're advocating for teachers and students, but critics argue that this effort really raises a question about the role of political activism inside public schools and the impacts on families and teachers. Certainly, we're joined now by Nick Craig, host of the Carolina Journal News Hour, to talk about what's driving this and what it means for you and your kids in public education. Good afternoon, Neck, Thanks for calling. It is almost good morning. That's normally when we're used to talk. Normally, I'm talking to you when it's o dark thirty. So tell me what's being organized on May first. Yeah, So, as you mentioned there in your open the North Carolina Association of Educators of the NCAA has had this on their calendar now for the last probably about month and a half or so, essentially encouraging teachers across the state of North ca Carolina to request time off if they are not on a teacher work day like they are in Wake County, where this is taking place and encouraging them to come up to the state legislature and advocate for higher teacher pay and some other policy platforms that the NCAAE thinks is important as we head through the remainder of this school year. Well, that's the question, right, is this, you know, a protest? Is it. A rally, an organized walkout? You there's a real political bend to this, particularly the decision to do it right now when there's a big election coming up and the state's working on the state budget. Well, and Ben Donna, you talk about the timing of this. This is scheduled for Friday, Friday from this week, is so coming up on May the first, And I've got a copy of the legislative calendar in front of me that was just published by House Speaker Destin Hall last week. And Friday, May the first is not a day even when lawmakers are scheduled to be in And so I think you'd be hard pressed to argue that a bunch of educators in Raleigh the day that lawmakers are not there is likely to have a significant impact on what is going to likely be a very busy short session here over the next two and a half. Months, sure, but it could be disruptive for kids certainly. I mean, are schools starting to cancel because of this? And that's what we've been following. Over the last week and a half or so. There's been a couple of emergency meetings called of a variety of different school boards across the state of North Carolina because of exactly what you're mentioning. A bunch of educators again getting this call from the NCAE to show up in Raleigh on May the first, and a bunch of PTO requests coming in that has caused a couple of different school districts, including the Chatham County Schools, to put forth what is called the teacher work day on May the first, which means that students will not be in the classroom. Similar situation in Chapel Hill the Carboro City School District there, which is definitely another topic of conversation coming up at the legislature this week. Wait County, as I mentioned already, they already had a previously teacher previous teacher workday scheduled for May the first, so no change is there. The one outlier is actually the new Hanover County school Board where they are set to have a teacher work day on the following Monday, May the fourth. They had an emergency meeting last week, Donna, where this conversation came up, and it was proposed by the superintendent that they moved the work day from the fourth to the first. The school board, which I'll note it does have a Republican majority, rejected that, claiming that this is you know, political activism as you were mentioning kind of creeping into the classrooms across the state of North Carolina. They rejected that claim. And you know there's a safety concern here, Donna. There are ratios in which you have to have adults in a school building as it relates to children, and if you get a bunch of PPO requests or potentially a bunch of call in six on Friday, May the first, you could end up seeing a situation where school districts across the state have to close and cancel classes at specific schools where there may not be enough adults literally in the building to have an adequate learning and safe learning environment. This really is alarming. They're calling this the Kids Over Corporation's rally, and if you really look at their press release, you can see it on their website, they are making this about Republicans taking over the General Assembly back in twenty ten. It says, for more than a decade, the generalist North Carolina General Assembly has advanced policies that systemically under fund public education, and lawmakers have repeatedly failed to pass budgets that fully support schools, including failing to adopt a budget in twenty twenty five. No one's arguing that that failing to adopt a budget in twenty twenty five is a big problem. There's a lot of. Organizations that depend on state funds that just simply cannot plan. But this is really interesting because this isn't really about and remember this is the Teachers Union. It represents fewer than half of North Carolina teachers. This isn't about teacher pay or teacher work environments. This is about opposing the North Carolina General Assembly. And one of the things that they're saying in here is they're objecting to expanded What they're referring to is opportunities scholarships are calling it expanded. Private school voucher programs doesn't necessarily always go to private schools, and it doesn't come out of the education budget. So that's a big. Piece of the puzzle that they're you know, it's biomission, it's lying biomission, But they're criticizing the Opportunity scholarship program, which comes completely separate from education funding in North Carolina. It doesn't, And don I think it's important for the audience to really wrap their head around what we're talking about. Is it fair to say that you would want to advocate for more teacher pay and higher teacher pay. All of that is a fine and fair discussion to have. But from my vantage point, looking strictly at the facts, looking at the numbers, it is incredibly disingenuous to make the argument that lawmakers and Raleigh are suffocating or are attempting to be fund to public education. You go back to the two thousand and nine twenty ten fiscal year, after more than one hundred years of Democrat control, the state was spending about seven point sixty five billion dollars on public education. You then flash all the way forward to thirteen to fourteen years of Republican control. The twenty three to twenty four fiscal year, that number was twelve point three five billion dollars. I don't know about you, don I'm not a math major, But going from seven point six to twelve point three billion dollars in spending is a huge increase over that span of time. So anybody that wants to argue that lawmakers are stripping funding away from public education, the math simply does not back that up. And add to that, we've got enrollment falling. I mean, overall enrollment in North Carolina public schools has fallen and by you know, twenty five thousand students just from last year to this and so this trend when you know, talk about almost doubling school spending over the last few years over the last you know, fifteen years, but your enrollment is dropping. Those aren't the conversations that I think most teachers want to have. Teachers want to talk, I think, and this is why I'm hearing from the teachers in my community. They want to talk about, you know, their step program, their salary program. It needs to change. They'd like to see, you know, certainly raises and certainly more money, but also having it tied to performance and being able to get their master's pay and all these other things that they're interested in. And I'm surprised that the description of this event is more about the General Assembly more about lawmakers and criticizing opportunity scholarships than it is about teachers actual quality of life, making sure they're safe in the classroom, making sure they have the tools they need, making sure that they can count on raises and increases over the course of their career, making this a good public service career. Yeah, and you would hope if those are the things that you'd be advocating for, that you would make sure that you were having these sit down discussions with people like Senate Leader Phil Berger or the leader of the North Carolina House in Destin Fault at Destin Hall. But as I mentioned a couple of minutes ago, this major protest rally, some even calling it a strike, is scheduled for a day in which lawmakers are likely not even to be in Raleigh. And so you've got all of these various things adding up to what is going to be a fascinating day to watch, And even some larger education unions across the nation DONNA encouraging their affiliated groups like the NCD to do this as kind of a trial or a test run for potentially a much larger walkout sometime over the next couple of months. So we could see this as almost a pilot program for lack of a better term here in North Carolina. Certainly, yes, we will be watching this really closely. All of this tied to a May first scheduled I guess, call out, sick day, walk out, whatever you want to call it, organized by the Teachers Union in North Carolina, the North Carolina Association of Educators. They're calling it a statewide demonstration focused on education funding and policy priorities. Thanks so much, Nick Craig, So good to talk to you. If you're at work today or headed out and you're in the manufacturing industry, I have some great information for you right now. North Carolina is home to more than ten thousand manufacturing firms, consistently ranking among the top states in the country for manufacturing employment, and a key hub for production food supply chain industries. And today we're joined by Tyler Teresa, the Southeast Regional Administrator for the US Small Business Administration. We're talking about SBA financing tools for manufacturers and food related businesses. Good morning, it's good afternoon. Thank you for joining us. Donald, thank you so much for having me. It's great. Your intro was amazing. North Carolina especially to Charlie. Area is big manufacturing, so it's an honor to talk to you today. I'm so glad that you're joining us. Let's talk about this more broadly. What are you seeing right now in terms of demand for SBA lending Because we are in a growth state, North Carolina is growing, our manufacturing base is growing. We're a little worried about tariffs certainly, but SBA lending, what are you seeing in terms of demand for that lending support? Yeah, so, you know, you actually bring up a good point. This is the first time in my lifetime that we actually have a president and administration that is focused on manufacturing and making sure we're onshore and more jobs, bringing more manufacturing online. So you know, now is the perfect time than ever for manufacturers and a big push of administrary or Leffler is we create the Made in America Manufacturing Initiative, where we rolled out some really cool things like ninety percent guarantee on SBA loans that basically meet Mixed Code thirty one to thirty three. On top of that, we have a MARK Loan, which is our manufacturer access to revolving line of credit, which is the first time the sb has ever done it. So in census for manufacturing is we're definitely trying to make that mark to make sure the manufacturing get all the capital that they need. Sure. Sure. So let's say I'm a small business owner. What is a mark loan program? And how do I take advantage of it? Yeah? So the mark loan program is basically a part of our seven eight program, which is everything used for working capital and a lot of other things. It's kind of like our catch all. But the thing that makes it unique is that now with the revolving line of credit, that you can actually get a revolving line of credit for them whenever you're ramping up and you can buy more equipment with that need. Interesting, So what kind of businesses seem to be taking advantage of this? Yeah, so once again it falls specifically for NIX code thirty one through thirty three, so a lot of manufacturing businesses can take advantage of this new program. Great. Now do you think does this indicate that traditional lenders are falling short when it comes to financing industries like this? Why are the need for it from the SBI? So it doesn't indicate that. What it does is we're basically like I said under President Trump, this administration is focused on growing manufacturing, so we're making sure that the incentives are right with that ninety percent guarantee. We know that manufacturing is such a capital intensive task, right, These small businesses need money, right, and that ninety percent guarantee is basically incentivizing more banks to loan the money to these manufacturers. So it's a win for the bank, it's a win for the small businesses that are manufacturing goods right here in America. Sure, so, how does increasing that guarantee level change, you know, lender behavior in practice when you see. This, Yeah, well right now, it's the perfect opportunity. Like I said, this administration's focused on grown manufacturing back here in the United States, So that ninety percent guarantee is basically tell them the banks, like, hey, we want everyone to focus on this manufacturing thing. Still getting wrong. Small businesses are still getting loans. Last year, we broke a record at the SBA with forty five billion dollars. It's the most we ever learned. And this year, you know, minus the government shutdown, we are on track to meet that, if not succeeded. And a big push is in the manufacturing. So we're making sure there's a censors are right, so the banks as well as the manufacturers get all the capital that they need. Sure, why we're manufacturing and food production specifically targeted for this enhanced guarantee level. Yeah, so the first one for the increase in the guaranteed limit manufacturing nets jobs. Right. Sure, it's going to create so much economic boom and activity within our community. It's going to bring jobs, it's going to bring more capital for the community. Right. And on top of that, we also are doing everything we can to make sure affordability is front of mind. And the ninety percent for crocher guarantee. Once again, it's a laundry list of things from cold story processing. Everything this administration is doing is focusing on affordability for everyday Americans, and that is why we are guaranteeing ninety percent of these SBA back loans for the banks, so that way they're getting the money out the door in things that truly matter, which is manufacturing and affordability when it comes to grocery prices. Sure, do you think that this will significantly increase overall lending volume or will this primarily improve loan approval rates for marginal applicants. So it's going to overall increase lend and volume. Two. Once again, these areas that we think are critical for national security when it comes to advanced manufacturing, as far and as far as affordability when it comes to our grocer guarantee. Right, But on top of that, the SBA, we are putting in the right guidelines to make sure that our program stays strong when it comes to lending in general. And so our big push is that we're getting money out the door to small businesses so we help grow the economy. Sure, you make an interesting point about food and this food supply chain being critical to national security. If we can't feed our folks, we don't have national security. And that's a really interesting point, and it crosses not just the SBA, but certainly farmers and everything speak a little bit more to that. Why is food supply and food manufacturing so important to national security? Well, you said it best. If we can't feed our nation, what else. Agriculture is a huge part, especially in North Carolina. Sure, North Carolina is ag capital right on top of baking capital in Charlotte. But if we can't feed our nation, and if we can't supply food here domestically, then we're at a national security issue, so we're focusing on food supply chain as well as manufacturing. Fantastic, Well, Tyler Teresa from this Small Business Administration, thank you so much for joining us here today. Really very interesting and I hope a lot of our folks involved in that industry take advantage of it. T thank you so much for having me on. Great talking to you. Okay, we're talking more about of course small business and but state government too, as your state legislature goes back to Raleigh starting tomorrow. We're also talking about the upcoming election happening in November. Recently, state officials move forward with a new set of rules tied to voter registration and citizen verification. The North Carolina State Board of Elections has approved updated procedures for how counties can challenge voters who are flagged as potential non citizens. So, under this new system, election officials would be able to use federal and state databases to identify voters who may not be citizens. So these individuals could be contacted by county boards. They could be asked to provide documentations or maybe even attend hearings to determine eligibility. So supporters of this change say the goal is to ensure accurate voter roles and strengthen election intake trust in the system. Critics, though, are saying the process could create unnecessary barriers for eligible voters, especially if those database errors incorrectly flag lawful citizens. So if you want more information about that, head over to WBT dot com and Carolina Journal dot com. We've got all the latest headlines happening there, and certainly you can catch up on everything you need to know. Your state legislature is headed back to Raley to make some decisions about how to spend your money, your tax money. Over the last decade, North Carolina has really been a national model for pro growth tax reform, and that's something that they're going to be talking about. We've lowered our income catch rates over the last decade ten twelve years. We have a much more competitive business climate. We've right now got seventy six employees for every one hundred jobs out there. We are in an enviable spot here in North Carolina. But it doesn't happen by accident. It happens by making the tough decisions to spend less, to protect the future, to invest and keep our rainy day savings account full. But there is some debate right now in Raleigh on whether lawmakers want to keep that trajectory going. Some lawmakers say, nope, we don't. We want to slow roll some of reducing taxes further because we're worried about revenue forecasts coming in shorts and no revenue forecasts are notoriously wrong, but right now they think that they may not be as bright and shiny as they once were. And so there's a move, particularly in the North Carolina House, even among Republicans, to slow down our tax reducing taxes. In the Senate, they're focused on keeping the course and saying, look here, the last decade of our strategy has proven to be right. It's been it's proven to make North Carolina strong a pro growth state, and it's still able to fund our policy priorities. The question is whether North Carolina is going to double down on that proven formula or start to drift from it. We're going to be talking a lot about that on Carolina Journal dot com and certainly on WBT. Something else they're going to be talking a lot about is your property taxes. Have you seen your property taxes go up. I certainly have, and it seems to be really going through the roof in counties like Mecklenburg County, like Wake County, and in many cases folks who have lived in their homes for forty to fifty years but can't afford to stay because property taxes are going so high. And that's having a big impact on affordability, housing affordability here in North Carolina as all of these new folks come to take advantage of strong economic policy in North Carolina and grow our tax base. So there's a big proposal this session to limit property tax increases, potentially through a constitutional amendment, and we're going into a big election in November. You might see a constitutional amendment on your ballot this November that creates what would be considered a levy limit. It limits the amount that property tax can grow. It does not cut property tax. That's been some of the debate because local and county governments are saying, you can't tell us that we have to cut property tax, because that is not where the state does. No. What this does is it says there's establishes a formula of growth and certain economic variables, and it says how fast you can grow, so doesn't cap it doesn't cut it, but it says this is the limit on which you can grow property taxes, because the property taxes are arising really rapidly in many communities, putting a lot of pressure on homeowners. So this is a really interesting constitutional amendment. And if it does pass, if it makes it through the state legislature, and it's looking like it has the legs to do it, it really is about protecting taxpayers from unchecked local government growth, and it's an important debate. How do you balance local control with taxpayer protections statewide? Certainly people can vote with their feet. You're seeing that happen here around Mecklenburg County, people going out to lower tax counties that are in our suburbs and creating more of that suburban sprawl out in counties. That's happening in Wake County too, and that's what lawmakers are really having to talk about it. As state taxes. Go down, attention is turning to local tax burden and whether they need some similar guardrails going into this. So we'll be talking a lot about it on Carolina Journal dot com and WBT dot com. There's some preliminary information a Congress, a legislative body, pasted a report on this and you can find it on our websites if you want more information. And there's also a big news that's going to be happening. Senate Leader Phil Berger did not win his primary there in Rockingham County, so he has the gavel here through the end of twenty twenty six, but starting in twenty twenty seven, there's going to be some new leadership there in the Senate. That race is ongoing for who is going to run the state legislator or run the state Senate. It's going to be in charge of the state, be the Senate leader there in Raleigh. So we're going to be following that. But he issued a column on Friday that really drives home a decade of legacy for him as one of the original architects of this change in economic direction for our state. He's emphasizing unity and continuity. He's pointing to a continuing move toward tax reform, spending restraint, and educational choice expansion. All of these are pro liberty. These are pro individual liberty policies, and he is encouraging his colleagues to stay the course, saying that these policies about transfer North Carolina into one of the fastest growing states in the country. But some of this really is about choice. We have a listener texting in here that says that the reason enrollment in public education institutions is falling, even if it's free, is it no one wants to attend or support something that has become government in doctrination. It's super interesting because you know, there's a lot of folks that feel that way. And educational choice in North Carolina, whether it is through homeschooling, micro schooling, charter schools, or the opportunity scholarship, it's empowered parents to vote with their feet. And we have seen this dropping enrollment happening in North Carolina in traditional public schools. So you know, what does that mean? Does that mean more control needs to happen at. The local level? You know, that's that is an important element when we talk about educational choice, and that really started twenty ten, twenty twelve with this new Republican leadership in the North Carolina General Assembly. There is a really there's some reality check though. Leadership transitions and internal disagreements really raise questions about how unified that vision remains. Are They going to be able to keep stay the course with a new Senate leader in the session. The upcoming legislative session will test whether the coalition that delivered those reforms can stay align or if it will begin to fragment. So Senate Leader Phil Berger is still there through the end of the year, and will he be able to bridge that that philosophical divide about spending. You know, one side emphasizes spending to meet our immediate needs. The other says, look, we need long term fiscal discipline and structural reform if we're really going to keep that sustainable growth with predictable tax policy, controlled spending, and the big one for me, accountability and government programs. Because it has been really hard to watch other states go through such a fraud, waste and abuse focus. I do not want to see North Carolina be on that list of states that are doing that, and I think we're going to hear more from lawmakers about how we go about doing it right now. North Carolina legislative leaders announced just this morning that they're forming a new subcommittee under the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations. Certainly a mouthful, but it is basically an oversight sort of watchdog Committee. They're going to start examining the state's prison system to see, in particular, what happened with the early release of more than four thousand inmates during the COVID nineteen pandemic, following a legal sentiment involving former Governor Roy Cooper and a lawsuit from the ACLU and following the ACLU and the NAACP SO they sued saying that it was unfair to leave these prisoners in prison during the COVID nineteen pandemic because they could all get sick, and so the Cooper administration released four thousand people early during COVID nineteen. Who was on that list? Who did they tell? What happened? And that's what LA Republican lawmakers say that they need to focus on. That they really want to talk about when they go into this review process. It's going to be focused on transparency, public safety, acountability, and how those release decisions were made and communicated. These leaders want to call a lot of state bureaucrats to the table because they want to know how. Those release decisions were made. They argue that the public did not get timely information about who was released under what conditions and they say they're going to examine both the policy directions and the legal framework behind it. And of course all of this comes up as former Governor Roy Cooper is battling it out against Republican Michael Watley for the US Senate seat from North Carolina. He's now raised about thirteen million dollars in quarter one and so much more to come in probably one of North Carolina's most expensive seats. I'm Donna King filling in for Pete Callen Earth. 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 my Patreon page or go to dpeclearshow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.