HURRICANE FLORENCE CREATES PRICE GOUGING CRISIS IN NORTH CAROLINA:
MORE THAN 500 REPORTED INCIDENTS OF BUSINESSES FINANCIALLY ABUSING HURRICANE VICTIMS, INCLUDING GAS STATIONS & HOTELS.
THIS IS UNTHINKABLE & GREEDY.
EACH BUSINESS PRACTICING PRICE GOUGING SHOULD BE HARSHLY PROSECUTED.
Post Sources: CBS News, CNN, NCDOJ, WRAL, Youtube
***** There have been more than 500 reports of price gouging in North Carolina after Florence
When North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency ahead of Hurricane Florence, the state's price gouging law went into effect.
The law mandates that businesses in the state aren't allowed to spike prices during any natural disaster for necessary items like food, water and hotel rooms.
But so far, the North Carolina Attorney General's office has received more than 500 complaints.
Residents have complained of exorbitant markups on such items as gas and water, Attorney General Josh Stein Stein said Sunday.
Stein said his office is also getting reports of hotels over-charging evacuees.
The price gouging law will be in place until Governor Roy Cooper lifts the state of emergency.
Stein also warned storm victims to be vigilant when repairing their homes after the storm and look out for price gouging and scams.
Businesses that charge too much may have to refund customers and pay up to $5,000 for every violation.
To report, potential price gouging in North Carolina, call 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or file a complaint at www.ncdoj.gov.
——————————————-
NORTH CAROLINA PRICE GOUGING LAW IN EFFECT
Release date: 9/10/2018
(RALEIGH) The price gouging law that protects consumers from scammers is now in effect in North Carolina after Governor Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency for the state as Hurricane Florence moves toward the coast. Attorney General Josh Stein notified businesses and consumers today to be on the lookout for any issues.
“My office is here to protect North Carolinians from scams and frauds,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “That is true all the time – but especially during severe weather. It is against the law to charge an excessive price during a state of emergency. If you see a business taking advantage of this storm, either before or after it hits, please let my office know so we can hold them accountable.”
North Carolina has a strong statute against price gouging – charging too much during a time of crisis – that is tied directly to a declaration of a state of emergency. When Governor Cooper declared a state of emergency for North Carolina on Friday, September 7, the statute went into effect for the entire state and will remain so until the state of emergency is lifted.
Attorney General Stein and the North Carolina Department of Justice will be reviewing complaints from consumers closely over the next several weeks and are prepared to take action against any businesses engaging in price gouging activities. Please report potential price gouging by calling 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or file a complaint at www.ncdoj.gov.
IT’S NOT OVER YET - THE AFTERMATH IS WORSE THAN STORM.
HURRICANE FLORENCE DEVASTATES NORTH CAROLINA -
DEATH TOLL IS RISING.
COAST GUARD CALLED IN FOR SEARCH AND RESCUE.
HELP & PRAYER NEEDED FOR NC RESIDENTS.
Post Sources: Charlotte Observer, CNN, Fox News, Weather.com, WRAL, Youtube
***** Storm of a lifetime
For days, residents had been told to heed the warnings. Hurricane Florence, at its peak a Category 5, would be the "storm of a lifetime"for portions of the Carolina coast," the National Weather Service said.
It would bring powerful wind, relentless rain and life-threatening storm surge to an area that wasn't used to hurricanes.
More than 1 million people were under mandatory evacuation orders as the storm crawled toward the East Coast.
t would soon become clear why residents had been told to leave.
The calm before the storm
As Florence twisted over the Atlantic Ocean Thursday morning, 65-year-old Deb Frese took a walk along the shoreline. The Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, resident knew the storm could be keeping her inside for a while, so she wanted to fit in one last stroll.
Frese lived in the evacuation zone, about a mile from the beach, but she chose to ride the storm out in her home.
"Flooding, that's the biggest concern," said Frese. She also recognized that she might have to make do without power. But with a stockpile of food, batteries and lanterns, she was prepared to hunker down for "at least a week," she said.
"Then I might have to go."
'This is just the beginning'
By Thursday afternoon, Florence's wind speeds had dropped, and the storm was classified as a Category 2. But forecasters said its biggest threats remained: potentially deadly storm surge, flooding, and what was expected to be a historic rain event.
In New Bern, North Carolina, along the banks of the Neuse River, a CNN crew watched the water rise and flood Union Point Park until they were forced to leave.
Todd Willis, a resident of Kennel Beach, North Carolina, shared video on Facebook of tidal flooding. It was early in the afternoon, and water was already collecting beneath homes lofted on stilts. Some water inched up to the road as Willis drove by.
"This is just the beginning," he said. "It hasn't even gotten here yet and there's already water (in the) bottom parts of people's houses."
By evening, the storm was downgraded to a Category 1. But conditions continued to deteriorate into the night, as thousands of evacuees slept in emergency shelters.
Annazette Riley-Cromartie's home in eastern North Carolina began to flood around midnight. As her kids tried to sleep in a top bunk, her husband could hear voices in the distance.
"While we were still waiting, my husband kept hearing people yelling for help," she told CNN's Anderson Cooper, her voice thick with emotion. Her 6-foot-2 husband tried to go out and help, she said, but the water was already above his chest.
"You just keep hearing people yelling, and you can't do anything," she said. "It's the worst feeling in the world."
Back in New Bern, 200 people trapped in their homes were plucked from the water overnight.
"WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU," the city tweeted. "You may need to move up to the second story, or to your attic, but WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU."
By sunrise Friday, the town had seen about 7 inches of rainfall and 10 feet of storm surge, and scores of people still needed saving.
Trapped by floodwater
At 7:15 a.m., Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, became eerily calm as the eye of Hurricane Florence, now a Category 1 storm, loomed overhead.
Florence, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph, had made landfall.
Trees swayed from the wind and toppled over, blocking roads. Deserted streets flooded and swollen rivers escaped their banks. Power transformers exploded in bursts of light like fireworks, leaving hundreds of thousands of electric customers in the dark. Whole neighborhoods soon became swamps.
Back in New Bern, the Cajun Navy and other ragtag teams of volunteers joined emergency responders to rescue people from the rising water.
As water poured into their homes, residents sought refuge in attics.
"In a matter of seconds, my house was flooded up to the waist, and now it is to the chest," Peggy Perry told CNN's Chris Cuomo Friday morning.
"We have been up here for like three or four hours."
In River Bend, south of New Bern, a man shouted out of his open window at a small boat that had been left behind and commandeered by the Maryland Swift Water Rescue Team.
But when they asked if he needed help, the man said no.
He had everything he needed, he said. He just wanted to say hello.
The first deaths
A tree came crashing down on a house in Wilmington, North Carolina.
A family of three was inside the home, and emergency responders worked for hours to save them.
In the afternoon, authorities confirmed that a woman and her infant daughter were dead -- the first known deaths attributed to Florence. The child's father was taken to a local hospital.
A group of firefighters who had rushed to the scene were shaken. They knelt outside the home in a circle and began to pray.
It's time to go'
By Friday evening, Florence had been downgraded to a Tropical Storm.
But the rain showed no signs of abating and rivers continued to spill over their banks.
On Saturday morning, the National Weather Service warned of the possibility of "catastrophic flooding."
"We face walls of water at our coast, along our rivers, across farmland, in our cities and in our towns," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper told reporters that morning. "More people now are facing imminent threat than when the storm was just off shore."
Susan Bostic and her family had initially planned to wait out the storm in their Rocky Point, North Carolina home, not far from the Cape Fear River.
They changed their minds on Saturday, as water from the river spilled onto their property, collecting in big pools on the ground.
Bostic had lived through Hurricane Floyd in 1999, she said, and it took everything -- cars, clothes, her home.
"And they're expecting this to be even higher," she said. "So we know it's time to go."
About 40 miles to the northeast, in Jacksonville, North Carolina, Marti Dias was grappling with the same realization. She watched water from the New River slowly creep up her street, mailboxes jutting above the surface. Some of her neighbors had already left. It was time to go.
"I'm not going to lie, I cried this morning," she told CNN. "I broke down and cried."
Residents of Lumberton, North Carolina, also kept a wary eye on their own Lumber River, which quickly rose foot after foot as heavy rains continued to drench the state. The river had inundated Lumberton two years before, during Hurricane Matthew, and city officials scrambled this week to plug a hole in the town's levee system.
As floodwaters rose, roads quickly became impassable. An abandoned car was left running idle in the street with water lapping at the passenger windows.
That night, emergency responders and volunteers in Wilmington, North Carolina, made about 700 rescues; Pender County conducted 172, and lost two ambulances in the floodwaters.
By the end of the day, 13 people would be confirmed dead, several of them from flash flooding.
On Saturday evening, Hailey Burgalow was traveling to Virginia with her sister, her sister's boyfriend and her aunt when they hit flooding on Interstate 95, forcing them to pull off and venture into Lumberton.
The town was still in the process of recovering from Hurricane Matthew, and many homes appeared to be abandoned or in disrepair, their windows boarded up and weeds growing tall in the yards.
The group parked at a gas station and tried to get some sleep in the car, Burgalow told CNN. Eventually, a police officer stopped, and they asked him if there was any way to make their way north. There wasn't, the officer told them. He directed them to a shelter that was filled with evacuees.
"They ran out of cots and blankets," Burgalow told CNN. "It was super crowded, but we were thankful."
On Sunday morning, Burgalow and her family realized they were stuck there.
Flooded roads and fragile levees
The National Hurricane Center issued its final advisory for Florence on Sunday morning as the storm, crawling inland, weakened to a tropical depression with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph -- but plenty of rain was still on its way.
The center said in its last advisory that southeast North Carolina could see up to 40 inches of rain, and also warned of the risks of landslides across western North Carolina and southwest Virginia.
Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo called the flooding in the northern part of the county a "phenomenon," and "something we've never seen before." The city was essentially cut off from the rest of the state because of high waters, he said.
Any direction you try coming into the city -- from 20 to 40 miles out, roads are impassable," he said. "Anyone trying to get in here -- don't try. You will be turned away."
The Lumber River was close to 25 feet high by midday -- 12 feet above flood stage. At 26 feet, Lumberton city officials said, the levee around the river could be overwhelmed.
At that point, "all bets are off," said Corey Walters, deputy director of Public Works.
The rain had slowed down overnight, he said, giving officials another chance to try and plug the gap in the levee system -- but Walters didn't sound optimistic.
"Our crews are taking one more crack at trying to stop it," Walters said. "We're just fighting time here. There's another rain band that's going to be coming through and we know it. We're expecting to get another 4 to 6 inches."
Water began seeping beneath the sand barriers workers had placed there Sunday afternoon.
Bobby Hunt was just about finished packing belongings into the back of his pickup truck.
"Y'all ready? Lets get in the truck and get out of here," Hunt told his wife and cousin as they prepared to leave their boarded-up Lumberton home, which still bore the damage from Hurricane Matthew.
That storm had caught them by surprise with flooding in the middle of the night, he told CNN.
But after being told by the city that the levee could be overwhelmed, the family didn't hesitate to leave.
On Sunday, Bostic, who fled her Rocky Point home the day before, learned she and her family got out just in time.
Her home, about 200 yards from the river bank, was submerged, and the water was still rising.
Nearly 20 years after Bostic lost almost everything to Hurricane Floyd, Florence would also force her to start over.
It's not over
On Sunday, two more deaths were confirmed in South Carolina, bringing the toll to at least 18.
Hundreds upon hundreds had been rescued in the Carolinas.
There were at least 170 patients in four medical shelters across the state, and officials believed more would be on their way as the rescues and flooding continued throughout the day.
Pender County, North Carolina officials said they had received 300 calls for help by Sunday.
Rescue attempts and other essential services were hindered by a lack of fuel.
Gov. Cooper accompanied the Coast Guard on a flyover of flooded areas in North Carolina.
He said he saw significant flooding in the farmland of Jacksonville and throughout Onslow County.
In New Bern, where the drama of Friday morning had significantly diminished, the governor saw boats washed up in town and significant debris.
Flying over Fayetteville, he said, "it was stark to see the raging Cape Fear River, and you knew it was rising and you could see these vulnerable communities."
We've got a tall task ahead," Cooper said.
The rain had slowed a little in Fayetteville, but officials there worried that would lure residents into a false sense of security and prompt them to make their way back.
"We're going to get hammered," said Kevin Arata, the city's director of communications.
FLORENCE DOWNGRADES TO CATEGORY 2 BUT STILL VERY DANGEROUS.
PREPARE & CONTINUE TO PRAY (PSALM 91).
Post Sources: Charlotte Observer, Fox News, Youtube
***** Charlotte at ‘extreme’ risk for flooding this weekend
Friday, 8:35 a.m. There’s little deviation in the National Hurricane Center’s 8 a.m. track for Florence, which shows the storm is expected to move south and west across South Carolina through Saturday before turning north and west into North Carolina.
The storm is expected to cross the Columbia, S.C. region on Saturday. Charlotte is in line for 10 to 15 inches of rain and potential tropical storm-force winds, the National Hurricane Center predicts.
Friday, 8 a.m.
The National Weather Service’s Greer, S.C. office is predicting Charlotte will receive a massive deluge this weekend as Florence moves inland. That’s elevated the risk for flooding to “extreme” in Charlotte and the surrounding counties for Saturday and Sunday.
A flash flood watch will be in effect this weekend for most of the region. The Charlotte area could receive a foot or more of rain, the weather service is predicting.
Florence’s 5 a.m. track from the National Hurricane Center shows the storm moving across Columbia, S.C. on Saturday afternoon, before turning northwest and heading for North Carolina. That would bring it near the Charlotte region as a tropical storm or tropical depression, dumping heavy rain before moving into Tennessee and Virginia early Monday.
Florence drops to Cat 1, but still ‘life-threatening’
Thursday, 11 p.m.: Florence was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane but was delivering “life-threatening storm surge” along the NC coast, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. Florence had 90 mph winds, and the “threat of freshwater flooding will increase” in the days ahead, according to the advisory. The storm was about 60 miles east of Wilmington.
Islamic Center opens doors to evacuees
Thursday, 9:24 p.m.: The Islamic Center of Charlotte, 1700 Progress Lane, tweeted that it is partnering with United Muslim Relief to provide fresh water and basic aid packs to evacuees and is “opening our doors as a shelter ... to help those in need.“
Charlotte braces for more rain than expected
Thursday, 8:21 p.m.: Charlotte’s airport can expect 10.83 inches of rain during Florence, according to the latest projected rainfall totals from the National Weather Service office in Greer, S.C. That’s up significantly from Wednesday’s NWS estimate of 6.3 inches.
Areas to the south and east of Charlotte could see even more rain and flooding — 14.5 inches in Monroe, 13.67 inches in Concord, 14.7 inches in Albemarle and 18.46 inches in Anson County, said meteorologist Doug Outlaw of the National Weather Service in Greer, S.C.
Higher amounts also are forecast for cities to the west of Charlotte, with Gastonia at 9.64 inches, Lincolnton 8.78 inches and Shelby 6.8 inches.
The mountains should see far smaller amounts, according to Outlaw, with only 3.54 inches anticipated in Asheville.
Government offices to close at noon Friday
Thursday, 5:03 p.m.: City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County government offices will close at noon Friday ahead of the storm, the city and county announced in a joint news release.
CharMeck 311 and 911 emergency services will remain active. CharMeck 311 will operate from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Volunteers respond to call to deliver meals to shut-ins
Thursday, 4:52 p.m.: Friendship Trays, the nonprofit that provides meals for shut-ins, the elderly and people who can’t cook for themselves, was overwhelmed with help Thursday after putting out word on social media that they needed volunteer drivers, said executive director Lucy Carter Bush. So many people stepped up, they couldn’t answer all the messages.
“It was wild,” she said. “We got what we needed and then some.”
Friendship Trays was delivering both meals and emergency packs with canned goods, to make sure their clients could get through the weekend.
Monday is still up in the air, Bush said. Since no one knows how conditions will develop over the weekend, she doesn’t yet know if they’ll be able to make deliveries. If they can, they will need more volunteers, she said.
They’ll post updates on the website, www.friendships.org, and through a recording on their phone line, 704-333-9229.
Mecklenburg County jail inmates allowed free calls
Thursday, 4:33 p.m.: Sheriff Irwin Carmichael approved a request from Global Tel Link Inc. to offer inmates two free 5-minute phone calls per day Thursday through Saturday.
“We know how important it is to get reassurances from loved ones that they are taking the necessary steps to prepare,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
Plenty of space at Red Cross shelters
Thursday, 4 p.m.: The Observer visited each of the Charlotte area’s five Red Cross shelters on Thursday, and all five had plenty of space available.
The busiest, at East Mecklenburg High School, had only about a quarter of its beds occupied at midday. Several shelters were almost empty Thursday.
All of the shelters accept pets, and by 4 p.m. Thursday, the North Mecklenburg High shelter was housing two dogs, two cats and a bearded dragon.
Islamic Center opens doors to evacuees
Thursday, 9:24 p.m.: The Islamic Center of Charlotte, 1700 Progress Lane, tweeted that it is partnering with United Muslim Relief to provide fresh water and basic aid packs to evacuees and is “opening our doors as a shelter ... to help those in need.“
CharMeck 311 and 911 emergency services will remain active. CharMeck 311 will operate from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
One of Charlotte’s most prominent executives has spoken out in support of removing Confederate monuments from public property.
Minutes after President Donald Trump bemoaned the removal of “our beautiful” Confederate statues on Twitter Thursday, Red Ventures CEO Ric Elias took to Twitter himself to voice support for N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper, who said that Confederate statues should be removed from state grounds.
“Leaders cannot leave room for hate and bigotry to poison our communities. Thank you, Governor, for doing what’s right,” Elias tweeted.
A Red Ventures spokeswoman said the company had no additional comment.
Cooper’s proposal came a day after a crowd in Durham toppled a Confederate statue outside the old Durham County courthouse earlier this week. Such monuments, however, are protected by a 2015 law, and North Carolina’s Republican-controlled General Assembly has shown no signs of changing the law.
In fact, Republican Senate leader Phil Berger wrote in a column Thursday that “an impulsive decision” to pull down monuments wouldn’t be wise.
North Carolina’s 2015 law prohibiting the removal of Confederate monuments was passed after the Confederate flag over the South Carolina statehouse was removed following the race-based murders of nine people at a Charleston church.
Elias has been vocal about social issues in the past.
Last year, for instance, Elias was fiercely opposed to House Bill 2, the now-repealed controversial measure that limited legal protections for LGBT people.
The bill, he warned, put a large-scale expansion of his marketing and technology firm at risk.
Citing HB2, Elias also gave employees extra time off to vote last fall. The privately held company employs more than 2,800.
Red Ventures is headquartered just over the state line in Indian Land, but the company was founded in Charlotte and still has offices in the city. Many Red Ventures employees, including Elias himself, also live in Charlotte.
It’s unclear whether Elias’s support of Cooper will prompt other executives across the state to voice their opinion on the Confederate statue matter. If they do, it wouldn’t be the first time business leaders have used their platform to affect social change.
The Charlotte Executive Leadership Council, a group of executives headed by Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good, last year came out against HB2, and played a role in helping to broker a compromise that ultimately repealed the bill.
A Duke Energy spokesman said that the council “is going to remain focused on its core mission of education and workforce development,” and declined to comment beyond that.
GOV MCCORY TO REPEAL HB2 AFTER CHARLOTTE LEADERS REPEAL LGBT BATHROOM SHARING ORDINANCE:
CHARLOTTE'S MAYOR JENNIFER ROBERTS WANTED TO HELP HILLARY BUT IT BACKFIRED.
CHARLOTTE'S POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED LGBT BATHROOM ORDINANCE WAS ONLY FORCED ON PRIVATE BUSINESSES & PRIVATE SCHOOLS NOT PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
THUS THE REASON WHY GOV MCCRORY SIGNED HB2 INTO LAW IN THE FIRST PLACE.
CHARLOTTE'S BATHROOM SHARING ORDINANCE WAS ABOUT 2016 POLITICS NOT DISCRIMINATION.
Sources: CBS News, Charlotte Observer, YouTube
****** Gov. Pat McCrory calls for special legislative session Wednesday to repeal HB2
Following a surprise move by Charlotte City Council on Monday, Republican Gov. Pat McCrory has called for a special session Wednesday to consider repeal of House Bill 2.
The governor’s statement came in a series of rapidly unfolding events that could signal an end to the nine-month drama that has catapulted North Carolina into national headlines. HB2, seen by critics as an anti-LGBT measure, prompted boycotts and cost the state millions of dollars as well as lost jobs.
Monday’s events also underscored the continuing tensions between Republican lawmakers and Democratic Gov.-elect Roy Cooper.
McCrory’s call came hours after Charlotte City Council voted 10-0, with the support of Cooper and Democratic Mayor Jennifer Roberts, to rescind the LGBT ordinance that prompted HB2.
“This sudden reversal, with little notice after the gubernatorial election has ended, sadly proves this entire issue, originated by the political left, was all about politics at the expense of Charlotte and the entire state of North Carolina,” McCrory said in a video statement.
Cooper, who lobbied for the council action, announced earlier that GOP legislative leaders had promised to repeal HB2.
“Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore assured me that as a result of Charlotte’s vote, a special session will be called for Tuesday to repeal HB2 in full,” Cooper said in a statement. “I hope they will keep their word to me and with the help of Democrats in the legislature, HB2 will be repealed in full.”
In a joint statement of their own, Berger and Moore said politics was behind the council vote.
“Today Roy Cooper and Jennifer Roberts proved what we said was the case all along: their efforts to force men into women’s bathrooms and shower facilities was a political stunt to drive out-of-state money into the governor’s race,” the Republican leaders said. “For months, we’ve said if Charlotte would repeal its bathroom ordinance that created the problem, we would take up the repeal of HB2.”.
This is the third time such an offer has been floated.
First in May and then in September there were efforts to get the council to rescind the ordinance that extended anti-discrimination protection to the LGBT community and allowed transgender people to use the public bathroom of the gender with which they identify.
Most council members never went along with the deal.
Since then Cooper defeated McCrory in a hard-fought race that wasn’t settled until McCrory conceded Dec. 5 as a recount entered its final hours.
Late-night lobbying
Council’s Monday morning vote came after late-night lobbying by Cooper himself. He called Democratic Mayor Pro Tem Vi Lyles at 10 p.m. Sunday and Democrat Julie Eiselt a half-hour later.
He said “if we cleaned up our books, that the General Assembly was motivated to call a special session to repeal (the law), and we felt this was our best opportunity,” Eiselt told the Observer.
Cooper and others believe that the best chance to repeal HB2 is this month before new legislators take office in January.
Roberts and council members had considered a similar deal earlier in the year but had rejected it.
Roberts on Monday was in the difficult position of defending the repeal. The vote “should in no way be viewed as a compromise of our principles or commitment to nondiscrimination,” she said.
But earlier this year, and as recently as last week, the mayor said that LGBT rights weren’t negotiable. Local and national gay rights organizations had adamantly opposed a symbolic repeal vote. The Human Rights Campaign said earlier this month that there should be no compromise between the city and the state.
But Monday they applauded the city’s move.
“HB2 is precisely why North Carolinians went to the polls and ousted Gov. McCrory last month,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “It’s time for state lawmakers to repeal HB2 and begin repairing the harm this bill has done to people and the damage it has done to North Carolina’s reputation and economy.”
State Rep. Chris Sgro, a Guilford County Democrat who is president of Equality NC, said earlier this month that he opposed any compromise.
“I firmly believe that Roy Cooper, Jennifer Roberts and the majority of City Council are committed to winning the full complement (of rights) for LGBT people both in Charlotte and across the state,” he said Monday. “All eyes …are on Raleigh watching for the General Assembly to do the right thing.”
Republican council member Kenny Smith, who is considering running for mayor, said the Democratic-controlled council was “playing politics” with the decision. He said the same deal has been available for months, but that council members waited until McCrory lost the election.
State GOP Chairman Robin Hayes agreed. He said the Charlotte ordinance was “never more than a nakedly partisan political weapon aimed at sabotaging Gov. McCrory’s re-election bid, while inflicting economic suffering on the people of North Carolina.”
It’s unclear how a vote to repeal HB2 would go. Democratic votes are virtually assured. Many Republicans remain in support of the bill.
“Lawmakers shouldn’t now betray those who supported them and compromise common sense principles, like privacy, dignity, and freedom for all citizens,” Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the N.C. Values Coalition, said. “To do so would be to advance the Obama administration’s agenda, not freedom and common sense.”
A ‘reset’
The city’s repeal includes language that says its nondiscrimination ordinance will be revived if the General Assembly doesn’t repeal HB2 by Dec. 31.
Republican council member Ed Driggs said he’s worried legislators will see that deadline as Charlotte dictating to Raleigh. He proposed that the Dec. 31 deadline be removed, but his motion failed.
Some business leaders were surprised but happy at the news. Maxwell Hanks, a broker with Spectrum Properties leasing the new 300 South Tryon office building, said HB2 has been hurting business recruitment in the state
“Rescinding HB2 will be a great way to close out 2016 and start 2017,” said Hanks. He said the move would be a “reset,” and that it would help him and other brokers lure companies to move to the state.
There was no advance notice that the ordinance would be discussed at the City Council meeting. The city charter allows the manager or mayor to place any item on the agenda – even without public notice first. Democrat James Mitchell made the motion to vote on the matter and Smith seconded.
Roberts said voters’ feelings about the issue have been known and voiced. But when the issue was last discussed, many in the LGBT community urged the city not to repeal the ordinance.
“The community always has a chance to weigh in,” Roberts said. “There will be much more conversations about equality.”
Lyles said council members would try in 2017 to pass some LGBT protections, though it’s unclear what they would be.
It’s possible the state might allow Charlotte to pass legal protections for gay and lesbian individuals in places of public accommodation, but any new ordinance that allowed transgender people to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity would likely be rejected again by legislators.
Some Democratic council members have long said they don’t want to “leave the transgender community behind.” But if there are future protections, the city will likely be forced to do just that.
Democratic council member John Autry said Monday’s vote turned his stomach. But he said he decided to support the compromise after talking with one of his daughters, who is gay.
He said she told him that the city’s vote was the best thing to do “in the long run.”
Democratic council member Patsy Kinsey didn’t attend the meeting.
A special session on Wednesday would come five days after lawmakers completed another special session in which they passed measures taking away many of the new governor’s appointment powers.
By itself, Charlotte’s move will not have any immediate impact on the status of lawsuits against HB2 by the federal government and the American Civil Liberties Union, among other groups.
UNC law professor Maxine Eichner, an expert in LGBT matters, said if the General Assembly follows through with the removal of HB2, the opposing sides in the court fights could both ask that the cases be dropped. Or the courts could rule that the lawsuits are now moot.
***** NC Gov. McCrory arrives for meeting with Trump in New York
North Carolina’s outgoing Republican Gov. Pat McCrory arrived Wednesday morning at Trump Tower in New York City to meet with President-elect Donald Trump.
McCrory, who earlier this week conceded in a close re-election bid for a second term as governor, could be under consideration for a Cabinet position in Trump’s administration.
Trump’s transition team had announced McCrory’s visit Tuesday morning. McCrory’s spokespeople have not commented on the meeting.
It’s unclear what McCrory and Trump plan to speak about. The two men saw each other in North Carolina Tuesday night as Trump made a stop in Fayetteville as part of his nationwide “Thank You” tour.
As McCrory was sitting down with Trump, the president-elect’s transition team told reporters the governor’s track record on education and regulatory reforms had caught Trump’s attention.
Transition officials said McCrory had succeeded in North Carolina in eliminating burdensome regulations in order to promote economic growth and job creation.
They also pointed to McCrory’s background on energy issues, mentioning that he had opened North Carolina up to fracking through the Energy Modernization Act in 2014.
McCrory’s private sector experience includes a long career at Duke Energy.
“There is a very good rapport between the president-elect and Governor McCrory,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller told reporters Wednesday morning. “Governor McCrory is someone who the president-elect had the chance to get to know pretty well on the campaign trail this year.”
The 60-year-old governor and former city of Charlotte mayor arrived at Trump Tower just after 10 a.m. Wednesday. McCrory did not speak to reporters on his way to the building’s elevators.
Just before McCrory’s arrival, Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Treasury, Steve Mnuchin, entered the building. Also at Trump Tower around the same time was Eric Trump and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat.
Miller said McCrory is “someone who’s viewed as a reformer” and “a very solutions-oriented leader.”
"Obviously (he is) someone who has a number of good ideas on how we should form this administration, and who is talented in his own right as well,” Miller said.
PAT MCCRORY CONCEDES TO ROY COOPER AFTER HB2 BACKLASH & BACKPEDALING:
MCCRORY DIDN'T LOSE DUE TO PASSAGE OF HB2. IT WAS HIS BACKPEDALING.
Sources: CBS News, Wall Street Journal, YouTube
***** Pat McCrory Concedes North Carolina Governor’s Race to Roy Cooper:
The Republican incumbent had protested the result, but his opponent’s vote lead grew.
RALEIGH, N.C.—Republican Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina conceded his bid for re-election to Democrat Roy Cooper on Monday, ending a monthlong skirmish over the incumbent’s unsubstantiated claims of voting irregularity.
The governor’s race was extremely close, but the tally of absentee and provisional votes drove Mr. Cooper’s lead to more than 10,000 votes, up from about 5,000 votes out of 4.7 million cast in unofficial results on Election Day.
Mr. McCrory’s team had filed protests in dozens of counties, claiming that he was behind in the vote because of fraud.
But local boards of election, dominated by Republicans and appointed by Mr. McCrory, had found no widespread evidence of wrongdoing.
In a video statement, Mr. McCrory said “the majority of our citizens have spoken,” and he congratulated Mr. Cooper, the attorney general, and said he would work to ensure a smooth transition.
The gubernatorial race was an outlier in North Carolina, which elected President-elect Donald Trump, Sen. Richard Burr and other Republicans running statewide for treasurer and lieutenant governor.
But Mr. McCrory lost the state’s two biggest metropolitan areas of Charlotte and Raleigh, both of which he carried in 2012.
Many voters said they disapproved of Mr. McCrory’s championing of a law restricting public bathroom use by transgender people.
Mr. Cooper thanked Mr. McCrory for his service and called for unity after a “divisive election season.” In a statement, he said, “I know there is more that unites us than divides us.”
The governor-elect said his priorities would be investing in schools and supporting working families.
But the GOP still has veto-proof majorities in both houses of the legislature, and his allies say it is likely that he will spend much of his time seeking to block a legislative agenda rather than advance his own.
Mr. McCrory, who was first elected in 2012, had solicited supporters for funds to help pay for legal costs in challenging the results. His team’s allegations of fraud prompted Republicans to pledge to change election laws if necessary when the legislature reconvenes early next year.
Election law has been a contentious topic in North Carolina. Last summer, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a voter ID law and other restrictions passed by the state in 2013, saying they disproportionately affected black voters.
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a separate challenge to North Carolina’s congressional maps, as Democrats say Republicans inappropriately drew districts based on race.
MCCRORY WANTS ACCURATE VOTE COUNT; COOPER CLAIMS VICTORY
Sources: WRAL, YouTube
***** NC governor's race could come down to provisional ballots
RALEIGH, N.C. — Although Attorney General Roy Cooper declared victory in the early morning hours over Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, the race remained too close to call Wednesday afternoon. 5
"We have won this race for governor of North Carolina," Cooper said at a North Carolina Democratic Party gathering in Raleigh. "It has been a long, long journey to get to this point, and I know that people waited in long lines to vote and to allow their voice to be heard. I am humbled by that. Thank you so much."
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Cooper was about 5,000 votes ahead of McCrory out of more than 5 million votes cast, according to unofficial results.
The race could now hinge on a number of provisional ballots, which will not be counted until Nov. 18.
“The votes have been cast in the gubernatorial election, but many have yet to be counted.
Currently, there are tens of thousands of outstanding absentee, military and provisional ballots across the state, and claiming an outcome before the process has concluded is irresponsible and disrespectful to the voters of North Carolina whose voices have yet to be heard," McCrory campaign strategist Chris LaCivita said in a statement.4
Early Wednesday morning, McCrory said he didn't expect the final results to be known until counties hold their official canvass of votes at the end of next week.
Despite the tight race, a Cooper campaign spokesman said they remain confident.
“Last night, the people of North Carolina chose a new governor with new priorities.
With all precincts reporting, we have a strong lead and are confident that, once the results are certified, we will confirm last night’s victory.
In the coming weeks, Governor-elect Cooper will be laying out an agenda for moving North Carolina forward," said spokesman Ford Porter.
For statewide contests, the vote difference must be less than 10,000 votes or 0.5 percent of the total votes cast, whichever is lower, for a candidate to demand a recount after county canvasses statewide.
The demand for a recount must be in writing and received by the State Board of Elections no later than noon on Nov. 22.
"Ordinance defied common sense, allowing men to use women’s bathroom/locker room for instance. That’s why I signed bipartisan bill to stop it."
7:16 PM - 23 Mar 2016
February 22, 2016 Charlotte City Council members rammed through an Aggressive Politically-Correct LGBT Bathroom Sharing ordinance without regard for public safety.
March 24, 2016 amid THREATS from Gay Rights Bullies with tons of MONEY,
North Carolina Gov Pat McCrory repealed this Aggressive Politically-Correct LGBT Bathroom Sharing ordinance.
Now the OBAMA Administration and wealthy donors are ordering all mainstream media networks to ruin Gov McCrory's political career via negative propaganda just like Bullies do when they want to destroy someone's life.
Before I proceed with this post I want to make it clear that I have not always agreed with Gov McCrory's policies but in this instance I do.
Now let's analyze the theatrics behind all this Obama-inspired, Politically-Correct divisive drama.
So why did elected members of the Charlotte City Council recently pass an ordinance requiring all local businesses (including Churches) to allow Men, Women & Children to use bathrooms of their choice based on which Sexual or Gender they identify with on a day-to-day basis?
This ordinance was passed to repay Political favours.
You see during the last election (Nov 2015) wealthy donors and LGBT advocates poured tons of money into the campaign coffers of Charlotte's elected officials.
After winning their seats it was payback time.
Regardless of public safety concerns and the obvious lack of common sense, those wealthy donors and LGBT advocates forced Charlotte's elected officials into ramming through an Aggressive "Bathroom for everyone at the same time" ordinance.
You see the passage of such an aggressive ordinance was not about prohibiting Discrimination against LGBT people.
It was about repaying Political favors to wealthy political donors who don't really care about the U.S. Constitution, nor true Human Rights.
Instead it's about the 2016 election, enforcing new Politically-Correct government agendas and blackmailing Governors who don't want to comply.
Under this new ordinance, at any given time an Adult Man or Woman based on their Gender identity for that particular day, could enter a public bathroom and use the facilities alongside a little boy or girl.
To heck with public safety right?
How ironic is it that many wealthy donors who support Gay rights wouldn't think twice about voting "YES" to Abort a baby at nine months.
In addition these same wealthy donors who support Gay rights don't really give a darn about Civil Rights for BLACK people living in the United States.
I repeat.
The passage of such aggressive bathroom sharing ordinances is not about prohibiting Discrimination against LGBT people.
Instead it's about the 2016 election, enforcing new Politically-Correct government agendas and blackmailing Governors who don't want to comply.
Considering the totality of the circumstances, North Carolina Gov Pat McCrory was left with no choice other than to work with NC legislators on quickly repealing Charlotte's Aggressive "Bathroom for everyone at the same time" ordinance.
Did Gov McCrory ruin his political career as the mainstream media predicts just because he dared to defy a few wealthy LGBT donors and the Obama Administration who think they have replaced the Lord GOD Almighty??
Stay tuned.
It's time to PRAY like never before for the United States of America.
**** MCCRORY SIGNS BILL OVERTURNING TRANSGENDER ORDINANCE
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has signed legislation designed to rein in local governments passing their own anti-discrimination rules.
McCrory's office confirmed he signed the law late Wednesday night, hours after the legislature finalized the bill in a one-day work session.
Lawmakers returned to Raleigh because a Charlotte City Council ordinance was supposed to take effect April 1 that expanded protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity for treatment at hotels and restaurants.
Critics focused on the ability of transgender people to use the bathroom or locker rooms aligned with their gender identity. So did McCrory, Charlotte's mayor for 14 years.
The resulting legislation went further. Now cities, towns, and counties can't pass anti-discrimination rules beyond a new state standard. And public schools, public college campuses and government agencies must require bathrooms or locker rooms be designated for use only by people based on their biological sex.
McCrory's office released a statement Wednesday night, saying "the basic expectation of privacy in the most personal of settings, a restroom or locker room, for each gender was violated by government overreach and intrusion by the mayor and city council of Charlotte."
The governor also said the "radical breach of trust and security under the false argument of equal access not only impacts the citizens of Charlotte but people who come to Charlotte to work, visit or play. This new government regulation defies common sense and basic community norms by allowing, for example, a man to use a woman's bathroom, shower or locker room."
Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of North Carolina, and Equality North Carolina condemned McCrory's action, and announced after the bill became law that the organizations are exploring legal challenges to the law.
"Instead of solving any real problems, the law would create new ones and could lead to intolerable and unfair conditions for transgender students who are entitled, by federal law, to a safe and equitable education," said Tara Borello, a senior attorney with Lambda Legal.
Republican majorities in the state House and Senate easily passed House Bill 2, blocking Charlotte's bathroom ordinance.
But something very unusual happened in the Senate - frustrated Democrats refused to vote on the bill, and walked out.
Facing a half-empty Senate chamber, Republican Sen.Tom Apodaca suggested Republicans move on with the vote.
"Mr. President, I move that we do third reading electronically, I don't think they're going to show back up," he said from the Senate floor.
After the Democrats walked out and let their empty seats do the talking. Republicans passed the bill without them, 32-0.
"I cannot recall a time when that's happened. I think it's a serious breach of (the Democrats') obligation to the citizens that voted to elect them," said Senate Pro-Tempore Phil Berger.
Still, in news releases sent out after the passage of the bill, Governor McCrory and legislative leaders referred to the measure as "bipartisan" - pointing out it did get votes from some Democrats.
The contentious vote proved a fitting end to what's been a controversial government power struggle.
Republicans argued that Charlotte had no authority to approve a city ordinance allowing transgender people to use the restroom aligned to their gender identity, a move to protect transgender citizens who felt intimidated or bullied in public restrooms.
HB2 blocks the ordinance and bars any other local government from enacting a similar measure.
"It's a terrible day for North Carolina. It's a terrible day," said Serena Sebring, a member of Southerner on New Ground, a group who came to oppose the General Assembly's vote. "People are harmed, people are going to be continued to be harmed. I would say shame on this state, shame on our lawmakers."
Social conservative activist Tami Fitzgerald led the fight against Charlotte's ordinance, arguing it gave license to sexual predators to enter the ladies' room.
"We're very pleased with the outcome", Fitzgerald said following the Senate vote. "Really it was just common sense, not to allow men in the women's bathrooms".
Fitzgerald, executive director of the North Carolina Values Coalition, also released a statement, saying in part, that, "we applaud Governor Pat McCrory for showing North Carolinians what a true leader looks like by sticking to his word in taking immediate action and signing HB2 into law. This new law strengthens North Carolina's already thriving business climate by giving business owners the freedom they deserve to do business effectively."
The law deals a blow to an LGBT movement that has had success getting similar ordinances approved in more than 200 cities across the country.
The ACLU of North Carolina issued an angry statement after the bill passed, calling the bill the "most-extreme anti-LGBT bill in the nation."
In part, the ACLU wrote:
The Charlotte ordinance protected lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents from discrimination in public accommodations including restaurants, hotels, taxis and bathrooms. Among other protections, it allowed transgender men and transgender women to use the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity. HB2 ... removes the ability of any local government to protect people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and requires all public facilities, including schools, to allow restroom access only on the basis of "biological sex." It also jeopardizes the more than $4.5 billion in federal funding that North Carolina receives for secondary and post-secondary schools under Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination, including discrimination against transgender students. Republican leaders at the General Assembly scheduled a one-day session after enough lawmakers requested to reconvene. They were responding to worries from constituents and conservative activists about the provision in the state's largest city that's set to take effect April 1. Otherwise, they wouldn't have met again until late April.
Republican House Speaker Tim Moore has said intervening is necessary to protect the safety of women and children. There have been arguments that any man - perhaps a sex offender - could enter a woman's restroom or locker room simply by calling himself transgender.
"What we're doing is preserving a sense of privacy that people have long expected in private facilities and we are restoring and clarifying ... the existing authority and limits of authority of local government," said GOP Rep. Dan Bishop, who represents Charlotte, a bill sponsor.
NC Attorney General Roy Cooper, a Democrat, released a statement Wednesday after the House vote voicing his opposition to the passage of the bill.
"We're better than this. Discrimination is wrong, period," Cooper said, in part. "That North Carolina is making discrimination part of the law is shameful. It will not only cause real harm to families, but to our economy as well."
The NC GOP fired back at Cooper, who is running for governor, saying "today, lawmakers were forced to return to Raleigh to hold an emergency session of the General Assembly because Attorney General Roy Cooper refused to do his job and protect North Carolina families and children."
Representatives for gay-rights groups said overturning the ordinance is wrong and demonizing the community. They say blocking the ordinance will deny lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people essential protections needed to ensure they can get a hotel room, hail a taxi or dine at a restaurant without fear.
At least 225 cities and counties nationwide have passed similar anti-discrimination laws.
"Charlotte's law is not unusual, unique or radical," said Chris Sgro, executive director of Equality North Carolina. "A special session to deal with such an ordinance is radical, unique and unusual."
Leading up to last month's approval in Charlotte, city leaders heard from LGBT residents who say they've experienced harassment and discrimination trying to use public accommodations.
The ordinance "sends a message to everyone that we matter," Erica Lachowitz of Charlotte, who was born male but identifies as female, said last week. Otherwise, she added, "we are afraid half the time to walk in to a bathroom that matches our gender identity."
McCrory, a Republican, has been critical of the ordinance in Charlotte, where he was mayor for 14 years.
Legislation requiring transgender students to use bathrooms corresponding with their birth gender have failed recently in other states. South Dakota's legislature failed to override Gov. Dennis Daugaard's veto of such legislation. A similar Tennessee bill died Tuesday in a House committee.
In this video I express my Political endorsement of Incumbent US Senator RICHARD BURR
(R-NC) and current NC State Attorney General ROY COOPER for the 2016 general election.
I endorse Senator Burr's re-election and I endorse Roy Cooper to replace incumbent NC Governor Pat McCrory.
Richard Burr (REPUBLICAN) is very Strong on National Security.
Roy Cooper (DEMOCRAT) is very Strong on Criminal Justice Reform and National Security.
In 2016 I encourage BLACK Voters to Vote Intelligently based on the issues not just based on Political PARTY.
North Carolina is investigating Duke Energy Corp. (DUK)’s $17.8 billion takeover of Progress Energy Inc. after the company unexpectedly changed its chief executive officer.
“This significant management change within hours after the merger has put the company on credit watch, so we need to get to the bottom of this to make sure we protect consumers,” North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said yesterday in an e- mailed statement.
Three former Progress Energy Inc. board members said they would have voted against the takeover had they known that Duke’s chief executive officer would remain in charge of the combined companies.
Duke announced on July 3 that Bill Johnson, the chairman and CEO of Progress, had resigned and wouldn’t take over as president and CEO of the combined companies as planned. Duke Chairman and CEO James Rogers, who was supposed to be chairman after the merger, was asked by the board to continue as CEO.
“I wouldn’t have voted for the deal,” James Bostic Jr., who served on Progress’s board since 2002, said in a phone interview yesterday. “It was the board’s belief that that Bill Johnson would be able to run the combined companies in a more efficient manner and offer a much stronger return to shareholders.”
Standard & Poor’s
Standard & Poor’s put Duke, the largest U.S. utility owner by market value, on negative credit watch after “the abrupt change in executive leadership.” The surprise decision to change CEOs as its takeover closed was deceitful, according to John H. Mullin, who also served on Progress’s board.
“I do not believe that a single director of Progress would have voted for this transaction as structured with the knowledge that the CEO of Duke, Jim Rogers, would remain as the CEO of the combined company,” Mullin, a former managing director for investment banker Dillon Read & Co., wrote in a July 5 letter to the Wall Street Journal.
The new Duke board met without Rogers or Johnson and decided on the switch, Rogers said in a July 3 interview. Under terms of the merger, the board is composed of 11 Duke representatives and seven from Progress. Bostic and Mullin were among eight Progress directors who weren’t added to the new board.
North Carolina’s attorney general opened an investigation to determine if Duke Energy lied to regulators or consumers to get merger approval and win a rate increase requested last year, according to the statement from Cooper.
Higher Rates?
Cooper is concerned that a potential credit downgrade from Standard & Poor’s could lead to higher utility rates and has asked for information from top company officials and directors, the statement said.
“We are evaluating the attorney general’s request and will respond in due course,” Tom Williams, a spokesman for Charlotte, North Carolina-based Duke, said in an e-mail.
The North Carolina Utilities Commission said yesterday that it also will open an investigation into the transaction, according to a state filing. The commission ordered Rogers to appear at a hearing on July 10 to explain the timing of the decision to replace Johnson. Rogers will testify at the meeting, Williams said in an e-mailed statement.
“We do not comment on our board’s deliberations,” Williams, said in a separate e-mail. The company said on July 3 it wouldn’t comment further on Johnson’s resignation, which it has said was done by “mutual agreement.”
Johnson, who signed a non-disparagement agreement with Duke, didn’t respond to a voicemail message left at his North Carolina home. ‘Work Together’
“There was information that Duke didn’t share with us, and it may have changed the outcome,” Alfred Tollison, another former Progress director, said in a phone interview yesterday. “Duke may have fulfilled the letter of the agreement, but they didn’t fulfill the spirit,” he said, referring to Johnson occupying the CEO position for one day.
The merger was announced in January 2011 and completed on July 2 after receiving state and federal approvals. Progress’s board unanimously recommended that shareholders vote in favor of the deal, according to a July 2011 regulatory filing.
“I don’t really have any idea what would have happened,” said Bostic, a former vice president of Georgia-Pacific LLC. “I expected that Johnson and Rogers were going to work together and they were going to make this a successful merger.”
Mullin’s letter was reported yesterday by the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Duke fell 3.4 percent to $66.23 at the close yesterday in New York, the biggest decline since Aug. 10.
Johnson’s appointment as CEO of the new company was “a critical element in the merger deliberations,” Mullin wrote in the letter. “This is the most blatant example of corporate deceit that I have witnessed during a long career on Wall Street.”
The North Carolina Utilities Commission has scheduled a meeting next Tuesday to review the merger of Duke Energy Corp. and Progress Energy Inc. in the wake of the sudden ouster of the combined utility's chief executive.
Separately, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper demanded late Friday that Duke turn over all communications among top executives and board members during the days leading up to and following the merger.
Cooper said the his office wants to investigate Duke's dealings in light of a potential credit downgrade, which he says puts consumers at risk.
The Utilities Commission approved the Duke-Progress merger, which created the nation's largest utility, a week ago. The merger was completed Monday, after South Carolina regulators similarly gave their approval, but within hours, there was a management shake-up.
Progress Energy Chief Executive Bill Johnson, who had been slated to be CEO of the new company, was forced to resign, and he was replaced by Duke Energy Chief Executive Jim Rogers, who was to have been chairman.
The Utilities Commission has the power under state law to revisit its approval, and it could "rescind, alter or amend" the merger.
Part of Statute 62-80 reads as follows:
"The Commission may at any time upon notice to the public utility and to the other parties of record affected, and after opportunity to be heard as provided in the case of complaints, rescind, alter or amend any order or decision made by it. Any order rescinding, altering or amending a prior order or decision shall, when served upon the public utility affected, have the same effect as is herein provided for original orders or decisions."
Robert Gruber, director of the commission's Public Staff, which represents consumers in utility cases, said the commission plans to discuss the merger again next week, although a time for the meeting hasn't been set.
Commission Chairman Ed Finley said Tuesday that he was surprised by Johnson's departure.
"My understanding, based on Duke and Progress representations in our hearing, was that Johnson would be CEO of the combined company. His departure on the same day the merger is closed and three days after our order may raise questions in the minds of some as to the timing of the decision by those involved in it," Finley said in a statement.
"While management structure and succession are important, a more significant emphasis will be on ensuring that the benefits to the ratepayers will materialize as forecast," he said. "There is significant management talent within the two companies, and we hope the best lineup will fall quickly into place."
Standard & Poor's Financial Services said Wednesday it has put Duke on a watch list for a potential credit downgrade because Johnson was removed.
Duke Energy spokesman Tom Williams said the utility looks forward to resolving those concerns soon.
Cooper said Duke officials argued for a rate increase last fall, saying they needed to protect the company's credit rating. Now, consumers could be harmed by a credit downgrade prompted by the management shake-up, he said, so he wants to determine if anything was misrepresented to state regulators.
"Despite our objection, Duke Energy said it needed a rate increase in order to protect its credit. Now, this significant management change within hours after the merger has put the company on credit watch, so we need to get to the bottom of this to make sure we protect consumers," he said in a statement.
The state Attorney General's Office has appealed the 7 percent rate increase that the Utilities Commission approved to the North Carolina Supreme Court.
Duke officials are reviewing Cooper's demand for internal communications, Williams said.
Former Progress board members upset
Former board members of Progress Energy are upset that Johnson was pushed out.
"In my opinion, this can only be described as an incredible act of bad faith with regard to the undertakings of the Merger Agreement. I think it was a clearly premeditated contravention of one of the most central tenets of our Agreement," John Mullin III wrote in a letter to The Wall Street Journal.
Mullin, who lives in Virginia, was lead director on the Progress board, a position that he said left him "in charge" of board meetings at which Johnson, who was chairman, did not attend.
He wasn't named to the 18-member board for the combined Duke Energy and therefore wasn't at the meeting where the decision was made to remove Johnson.
"In my opinion this is the most blatant example of corporate deceit that I have witnessed during a long career on Wall Street and as a director of ten publicly traded companies," he wrote in his letter to the Journal.
Mullin said Johnson called him Monday night.
"He told me there was a change in direction," he said Thursday. "I was very surprised."
Asked for comment about the Mullin letter, Tom Williams, a Duke spokesman, said: “We do not comment on our board’s deliberations.”
Another former Progress director, Alfred Tollison Jr., said he felt he was misled about the plans for Johnson to head the newly combined company.
Bloomberg News on Friday spelled out details of the severance and compensation package Johnson would receive. It could total more than $44 million.
A May supplemental filing by the Utilities Commission stipulates that any severance agreement must be covered by shareholders, not ratepayers.
Two groups called for more investigation Monday following last week's scathing report on the investigative work done by the SBI's state crime labs.
The audit revealed flawed laboratory work performed by SBI analysts in criminal cases. According to the findings, the SBI withheld evidence, which may have tainted as many as 190 cases over a 16-year time span.
Eighty of the people convicted in those cases are still in prison, four are on death row, three were executed and five died in prison.
The NAACP and the People of Faith Against the Death Penalty are just two of the organizations that participated in a joint news conference Monday in Raleigh.
The groups say the SBI review should lead to more actions by state leaders.
Backed by several death penalty opponents, NC NAACP President Reverend William Barber spoke bluntly.
He says state authorities should go beyond the SBI lab report that shows sloppy SBI lab work may have led to wrong capital crime convictions.
"We have watched several African-American men, at the last minute, be released from death row and sent out of prison doors without a dime for their time, without so much as an official apology, a collective apology, from our elected officials," Barber said Monday.
Also in attendance at Monday's news conference was Pat McCoy, the brother of murder victim Kathy McCoy. He is upset because NC Attorney General Roy Cooper announced a re-investigation of several convictions based on the lab investigation results.
"My heart goes out to victims and their families who will now have to hear that justice wasn't done, and that the case they thought was closed must be reopened," McCoy said.
He's especially worried about findings that show omission of key crime lab work during murder investigations.
McCoy says families and victims suffer as a result. "Please don't dishonor their memory by building cases based on pseudo-science, sloppy work and misconduct," he added.
FBI agents, who examined more than 15,000 cases between 1987 and 2003, found that the SBI withheld blood evidence that may have kept convicted defendants out of prison.
"The full case files of each of these cases should be reviewed by both prosecutors and appropriate defense counsel," AG Cooper said.
Barber says the findings in the report are only the beginning.
"We believe that in some ways because it's preliminary, this is only the tip of the iceberg -- he and his co-investigator audited only one of five of the SBI labs, and so there's still much more work to be done," Barber said.
Baber says he wants NC to end its death penalty policy.
"We're calling the state to reflect, to repent and then to begin a movement toward repeal and a movement toward reform," he added.
Barber and supporters of a moratorium want all six of the SBI's crime labs investigated, not only the ones that were investigated in the report.
They also want Governor Bev. Perdue to commute all death penalty sentences to life sentences while lab work for those convictions is reviewed.
Finally, the group wants does not want any additional death penalty sentences during the expanded investigation.
A judge ordered the release Friday of a Durham man convicted in 1998 in the sexual assault and murder of a 2-year-old girl.
According to ABC11 archived stories, Derrick M. Allen, 31, was 19 when Durham police charged him in the death of Adesha Sikia Artis. According to the transcript of a 911 call made by Allen, he claimed the child passed out while he was getting her dressed in a home they shared off Garrett Road.
An autopsy later revealed she'd been sexually assaulted.
Allen has always maintained he was innocent, and family members said in interviews with ABC11 in 1998 that they believed someone else in the home hurt the child.
Now, an audit of SBI crime lab cases has revealed that a key piece of evidence in the case against Allen - bloody undergarments - actually tested negative for blood.
Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson ordered Allen released without bond on Friday. A date for his new trial has not been set.
Duane Deaver, a veteran SBI analyst at the center of a growing controversy on how the agency reported blood evidence, has been suspended pending further investigation.
The move came Wednesday afternoon, hours after Attorney General Roy Cooper revealed an audit of the crime lab's serology unit calling into question convictions in 230 criminal cases, involving 269 people.
Deaver performed the work in the five cases an independent auditor deemed most troubling.
Deaver's work - and the practices of the NC SBI - came under fire in February when Greg Taylor, a Wake County man, was exonerated after 17 years in prison. Deaver withheld results of more sophisticated blood tests that yielded negative results. He reported to prosecutors that Taylor's SUV gave chemical indications for the presence of blood.
Deaver testified in February that supervisors told him to report his findings that way. According to the audit released Wednesday, the practice was widespread. Eight analysts completed their reports in a similar fashion.
"This is a damning indictment of the entire serology section," said Mary Pollard, executive director of Prisoner Legal Services. Her agency will begin reviewing the cases of 80 defendants who are currently in prison. "It is absolutely horrifying."
The criminal convictions or sentences of three people who have since been executed in North Carolina, and four more cases in which the defendants are now on death row, are may be in doubt because of flawed reports.
Chris Swecker, a former FBI agent who audited serology work from 1987 to 2003 said in the report that the questionable work is the result of "poorly crafted policy; lack of objectivity; the absence of clear report writing guidance; inattention to reporting methods that left too much discretion to the individual Analyst; lack of transparency; and ineffective management and oversight..."
According to the review, the cases involved SBI lab reports that were overstated, misleading or omitted important information about negative test results that would have been favorable to the defendants.
The SBI's lab work is often powerful evidence in criminal cases, shaping decisions at the heart of a defense that include decisions about plea bargaining or how to cross examine witnesses.
The SBI has followed more updated procedures on blood analysis since 2003, and more recent work is not under scrutiny. "The tests that are examined in the bulk of this report are no longer in use," the agents wrote.
The serology unit has been under intense scrutiny since February when, in the case of Taylor, it was shown that SBI agent Duane Deaver reported to prosecutors that the fender of Taylor's SUV gave chemical indications for the presence of blood.
But according to lab notes discovered in 2009, Deaver had performed more specific tests, which registered negative results for the presence of blood. He never mentioned those results or the additional tests; at Taylor's hearing in February, Deaver testified that his superiors taught him to write his reports like that.
The new report says that Deaver gave "inaccurate" testimony before the Innocence Commission in the hearings that resulted in Taylor's exoneration when he testified that he was following policies. There were no such policies then, the report says, though it was the SBI's practice at the time to omit negative results in some cases. It became the agency's actual policy in 1997.
One of the defendants who has been executed is Desmond Keith Carter, who had confessed to a March 1992 murder. The report says Deaver in that case "confirmed the presence of blood despite a negative confirmatory test." The questionable evidence wasn't introduced at the trial, according to the report.
Preliminary, or presumptive, blood tests can give false reads; those tests often give positive results for substances such as metals, plants and animal matter. More sensitive tests are seen as confirmatory.
Swecker and Wolf examined more than 15,000 old cases involving serology work to identify the cases similar to the Taylor case.
The former agents said they could not conclude that each case has a wrongful conviction, but said each will need to be reviewed by defendants, prosecutors and, in some cases, the courts.
"This will require an in depth review of investigative case ... files that are located in the records of law enforcement departments across the state, court records, trial transcripts, laboratory files, appellate records, records of the Administrative Office of the Courts and any other relevant material," they wrote.
Duane Deaver's work paved the path for Michael Peterson's new trial. His testimony also could force another look at the sentences of several other convicted murderers.
Judge Orlando Hudson ruled last month that the former State Bureau of Investigation agent delivered "perjured testimony" in Peterson's 2003 murder trial, where he was qualified as an expert and testified about why he believed Kathleen Peterson died from a beating. Peterson, the former novelist convicted of killing his wife, is out of prison and headed for a new trial, pending the state's appeal.
Three cases examined by The News & Observer show conduct by Deaver similar to that presented during Peterson's hearing in December: Deaver exaggerating his experience as a bloodstain pattern analyst and using methods that experts deemed unacceptable.
In one Wake County capital murder case, Deaver testified that he discarded the measurements and notes that formed the basis for his expert opinion - conduct an expert called "totally insane."
The cases, two of them involving inmates on North Carolina's death row, do not involve questions of innocence. But Deaver's testimony was important in helping convince jurors that the defendants committed first-degree murder - which requires proof that the crime was deliberate and planned - or that their crime was brutal enough to deserve the death penalty.
Lawyers for the killers likely will file challenges.
David Rudolf, Peterson's lawyer, investigated some of Deaver's work and methods in preparing for Peterson's hearing. He has written to state Attorney General Roy Cooper, asking Cooper to open an independent investigation into bloodstain pattern analysis cases worked by Deaver and the SBI agents he trained.
Rudolf noted that in 2010 Cooper suspended the work of the SBI's bloodstain pattern analysts and confirmed that there were no written policies or procedures to govern them. The SBI eventually ended its bloodstain pattern analysis.
"All of this occurred before the evidence introduced during the Peterson hearings this month, which indicate the problems with Deaver and bloodstain analysis by the SBI are far deeper than was previously known," Rudolf wrote.
Cooper responded late last week in a letter to Rudolf, saying the internal investigation into Deaver has not stopped.
"The SBI director has informed me that the SBI is continuing this investigation into Agent Deaver's other cases and blood spatter cases in general and the SBI would be glad to accept any information which you believe would be helpful to them," Cooper wrote. "In the past, I have not hesitated to utilize outside expertise when it is warranted and I will continue to monitor these matters to determine if it is necessary."
Deaver, 52, worked for the SBI for more than 20 years before being fired last January. He has a degree in zoology, and had two outside courses in bloodstain pattern analysis. He had never joined major associations of professionals who worked in that field.
Over the past two years, a barrage of damaging information has emerged about Deaver. A Wake County man, Greg Taylor, was exonerated of murder based in large part on Deaver's work in the case. Taylor's exoneration led Cooper to contract an independent review of the lab's reporting of blood test results.
That review by former senior FBI officials found more than 200 cases where official SBI lab reports did not reflect the results obtained in the lab. It singled out Deaver as the analyst in the most troubling cases.
In August 2010, as The News & Observer was about to publish a series about problems with Deaver and other SBI agents, Cooper ended the work of SBI bloodstain pattern analysts who were trained and led by Deaver.
Deaver's attorney, Philip Isley, said his client has done nothing wrong and deserves his job back. "I disagree with Judge Hudson's decision" in the Peterson case, Isley said.
Untested science
Rudolf identified at least seven capital cases where Deaver testified about bloodstains. One was George Goode, whose death sentence was commuted to life by a federal judge who in 2009 found Deaver gave false and misleading testimony in 1993.
A review of the transcripts of three murder cases shows similarities to Deaver's conduct in the Peterson case. In each of the cases, Deaver repeated his claims about his bloodstain experience - numbers discredited by an internal SBI investigation.
In 2001, Deaver testified in the Wake County death penalty case of Sharoid Wright, who was sentenced to life in prison for stabbing a friend to death.
Wright testified at trial that he was drinking malt liquor and smoking marijuana in a Raleigh park with his friend, Roshaun Floyd. They began arguing over who should accept blame for robberies they committed the day before in Orange and Chatham counties, and started fighting. Wright testified that he was losing the fight and pulled out a knife and stabbed Floyd repeatedly.
Wright said he began driving Floyd to WakeMed hospital but panicked and dumped him on the side of Interstate 40 instead.
Deaver's expert testimony contradicted Wright. Deaver testified that he found a pattern of six droplets on the inside roof of a car, above the driver's seat. Deaver said he was able to measure the droplets and identify the precise "point of origin" of the spatter, where the weapon came into contact with the blood: "four inches forward of the back of the door, three inches inside of the automobile, and two and a half inches down from the top of automobile."
That led Deaver to conclude that at least two blows were struck in the driver's seat. That indicated Floyd was stabbed in his car, contradicting Wright's account of a fight in the park and supporting a verdict of first-degree murder.
The concept of "point of origin" has long been unacceptable in bloodstain pattern analysis, said national expert Tom Bevel, who testified at Peterson's hearing. There is no way to look at bloodstains and arrive at a precise point in space, he said. The accepted term is an area in space - for example, a sphere-shaped area with a diameter of 12 inches.
On cross-examination, Wright's lawyer, John Britt, asked Deaver for the measurements he used to calculate that precise point of origin.
Deaver didn't have the measurements and couldn't remember them.
"Our policy is that we take our notes and when our - when our report comes back, we throw our notes away, and they were destroyed."
Britt was skeptical: "You make a report and destroy the data that you use to generate the report?"
"Yes sir."
"And that's your policy?"
"Well, they were notes," Deaver said. "I mean, yeah."
SBI Director Greg McLeod backed that up last week.
"From 1999-2004, Agents were authorized to destroy handwritten notes only after they verified that their final reports accurately reflected the notes, including all exculpatory information," McLeod said in a written statement.
Stuart James, one of the country's foremost bloodstain pattern experts, said he was appalled when he read Deaver's testimony.
"It's totally insane," James said. "He's throwing away scientific data so no one can go back and replicate his work."
At trial, Wright's lawyers questioned whether Deaver could be certain that the tiny stains were indeed blood.
"Based on my experience, they're blood, and I've looked thousands and thousands and thousands of stains," Deaver said.
But Deaver acknowledged he could not be certain. He had never tested the stains.
Inflated experience
Deaver's testimony at Wright's trial caught the attention of other Wake County prosecutors, who called on him to do some last-minute work during the death-penalty phase of the trial of Fernando Garcia, who beat a Raleigh woman to death in a North Raleigh apartment complex.
"It was only after seeing you testify in State vs. Sharoid Wright days earlier that we determined that the evidence missing in our presentation could be overcome with your knowledge and your ability to educate a jury on blood spatter," prosecutor Susan Spurlin wrote later in a letter. "We thank you and credit you with the presentation at sentencing that gave us the evidence to convince a jury that Fernando Garcia is not worthy of another chance in society."
Garcia did not deny killing Juliann Bolt, a stranger who was exercising in the apartment clubhouse. Garcia told police he forced her at gunpoint into a bathroom and tried to rape her. When she fought back, kicking him, Garcia told police that he lost control.
He beat her so badly that first responders thought she had been shot.
Deaver testified in the sentencing phase, when the jury chose to sentence Garcia to death instead of life in prison. After inflating his credentials and being qualified as an expert, Deaver testified that the blood stains showed the attack was sustained and that Bolt was conscious through much of it.
Superior Court Judge Howard Manning, who presided at the trial, said he thought Deaver's testimony in the Garcia case was probably not that important to the jury, given the viciousness of the assault.
Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby said it was unlikely that he would reinvestigate the Wright or Garcia cases unless a defense attorney files a challenge.
'It is like Voodoo'
Deaver also testified at the 1996 trial of Angel Guevara, who was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of Paul West, a Johnston County sheriff's deputy.
Thomas Manning, Guevara's defense attorney, objected to Deaver testifying as an expert, calling him a "purported expert" with a "purported opinion" whose scientific conclusions were based on obscure and vague foundations. "It is like voodoo," Manning said. His objections were overruled.
Guevara testified that he shot West and beat him with a rifle butt and the deputy's pistol after the deputy entered his home without a warrant. Guevara testified that the second and fatal shot occurred when he and West were struggling over the rifle.
Deaver testified again about the "points of origin" of two bloodstains. The first, 27 inches off the floor and eight inches from a wall, was consistent with a beating. The second, a fine mist low on the wall, indicated West was shot at close range while lying on his back, Deaver said.
Johnston County District Attorney Susan Doyle said the case against Guevara was overwhelming, including ballistics, hair and fiber evidence, eyewitness testimony by a second deputy and Guevara's testimony. "The testimony of SBI Agent Duane Deaver was not critical to the prosecution," Doyle said.
But SBI agent David McDougal praised Deaver's work in a 1995 letter put into Deaver's personnel file: "Duane took time last Wednesday to do a bloodstain examination which will be an important part of the evidence entered in this case as it proves one deputy was beaten while he was on his hands and knees prior to being shot execution style."
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