North Carolina
Government Delivered Inflation—but No Real Aid—in North Carolina
North Carolina can’t catch a break under the Biden-Harris administration.
The federal government’s appalling response to Hurricane Helene almost surely cost lives, adding insult to the injury of the inflation that has been crushing Tar Heel State residents for 3 1/2 years. In fact, prices there have risen even faster than the national average.
The 40-year-high inflation that has afflicted North Carolinians specifically and Americans broadly started in Washington with runaway government spending. At the start of 2021, prices were rising at an annual rate of just 1.4%, and the economy was growing steadily.
Instead of allowing the economic recovery to simply continue and let one-time emergency COVID-19 spending expire, President Joe Biden pushed for trillions of dollars in new spending bills, bloated with left-wing boondoggles and special-interest handouts.
A spendthrift Congress obliged and, whenever necessary, Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tiebreaking vote in the Senate to approve multitrillion-dollar spending bills. A recent analysis showed that Harris’ action in pushing through those pieces of legislation accounted for half the excess inflation in the last three years.
That’s because every time Congress and the White House spent money the nation didn’t have, the Federal Reserve ended up creating the money for the Treasury to spend. This rampant increase in the money supply cut one-fifth of the value of the dollar in less than four years, which in turn caused prices to rise.
Since inflation has far outpaced wage gains, families have had to either reduce their spending or go into debt. That’s why credit card debt is at a record high and Americans are paying over $300 billion annually in finance charges on their outstanding balances.
But North Carolina has actually been hit harder by inflation than the national average. The Heritage Foundation’s personal inflation calculator uses official government data to show that household-related expenses in the South Atlantic region have increased 23%—or $983 per month—since January 2021.
To put that in perspective, inflation has cost North Carolina residents $11,800 annually, the equivalent of over 3 1/2 years’ worth of grocery expenses.
Many necessities, including utilities or food, have seen prices rise even faster than the overall average for all products and services. Monthly gasoline expenses in North Carolina and the rest of the South Atlantic region have increased from $133 to $191, a jump of over 44%, since Biden and Harris took office.
For those who can still afford to buy and fuel a car in today’s world of sky-high prices, the pain doesn’t stop there. Car insurance has also become astronomically more expensive—up 55% to $156 per month on average.
And while some North Carolinians may opt out of driving and resign themselves to walking or using public transit, they still need somewhere to live. Here again, the financial pain is acute, with the average rent and mortgage cost in the South Atlantic up 28% from $1,431 to $1,825 since the start of 2021.
But despite the mounting cost of profligate government spending on Tar Heel State residents, Gov. Roy Cooper is doubling down on the madness, taking a page out of the Biden-Harris playbook with his proposed biennial state budget that includes a $50 billion deficit.
The last thing North Carolina taxpayers need is more government spending and debt thrown onto their backs, especially as they struggle to recover from Hurricane Helene, without much help from federal authorities.
This article originally appeared in The Washington Times.
North Carolina
North Carolina man extradited to Pa. for $100,000 ATM theft spree: police
A 42-year-old North Carolina man on Tuesday was extradited to Pennsylvania after state police said he stole more than $100,000 from ATMs in Snyder and Union counties.
Between Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, Antoni J. Garcia-Cordoba, of Raleigh, North Carolina, stole from four ATMs at Central Penn Bank and Trust locations, state police said.
In a five-hour span, Garcia-Cordoba took $43,000 from three separate ATMs in Snyder and Union counties, according to a police report. On Oct. 1, he stole an additional $58,000 from an ATM in Titusville, bringing the total amount stolen to $101,000.
Garcia-Cordoba is charged with two counts of corrupt organizations – employee, a first-degree felony, and two counts of theft by unlawful taking, a third-degree felony.
After being in custody at a jail in Boone County, Missouri, Garcia-Cordoba was extradited to Union County on Tuesday.
He is being held in the Union County Prison after being unable to post $100,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 13, 2026.
North Carolina
11 firefighters and 2 others injured after North Carolina house fire and explosion
SALISBURY, N.C. — Eleven firefighters and two other people were injured in a house fire explosion in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, officials said.
Salisbury Fire Chief Bob Parnell said firefighters did not have life-threatening injuries but were getting treated for contusions, concussions and smoke inhalation following the fire Monday evening. Two other people were taken to the hospital, but Parnell said he didn’t know their conditions and couldn’t confirm whether they were in the house at the time of the fire.
The Salisbury Fire Department responded to the single-family home around 5 p.m. and found it engulfed in flames.
Eleven of the 22 firefighters at the scene went inside the house to search for occupants and “get water on that fire,” which preceded the explosion, Panell said at a news conference.
“It was enough force that the outside walls blew out, the roof came up and went back down,” Parnell said.
An investigation of the fire and explosion is continuing.
North Carolina
Harrison Bertos scores in OT to help Washington beat N.C. State 3-2 and win first Men’s College Cup
CARY, N.C. (AP) — Harrison Bertos scored 1:54 into overtime after Washington blew a two-goal lead in the second half, and the Huskies beat North Carolina State 3-2 to win the Men’s College Cup at First Horizon Stadium on Monday night.
It was the first national championship for unseeded Washington (16-6-2), who became the first team to win six road matches in the tournament — beating six seeded teams along the way under the guidance of coach Jamie Clark. The Huskies won in their second trip to the final after losing 2-0 to Clemson in 2021.
No. 15 seed N.C. State (16-3-4) made the final for the first time behind coach Marc Hubbard. The Wolfpack were aiming for the school’s first national championship since Jim Valvano led the men’s basketball team to the title in 1983.
Zach Ramsey scored unassisted with 1:12 remaining in the first half and Washington took a 1-0 lead into the break. It was only the second time this season that N.C. State trailed at halftime.
Ramsey scored into an empty net after Wolfpack goalkeeper Logan Erb couldn’t corral the ball at the top of the box. It was Ramsey’s second goal of the tournament.
Richie Aman sent a cross to the center of the goal and Joe Dale knocked it in for a 2-0 lead in the 62nd minute.
Donavan Phillip answered in the 66th, scoring with an assist from Nikola Markovic to cut it to 2-1 with his fourth goal of the tournament. The Wolfpack entered 11-0-1 when Phillip scores.
Taig Healy scored the equalizer with 3:28 remaining with assists from Justin Mclean and Calem Tommy.
Egor Akulov had an assist on Bertos’ winner.
Huskies keeper Jadon Bowton, the only remaining player from the 2021 squad, had five saves.
Erb saved six shots for N.C. State, which was the last school to concede a goal this season.
The temperature was 28 degrees when the match between two teams that had never faced each other began.
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