N.C. budget could allow tolls on all ferry routes

July 3, 2026

1–2 minutes

Summary

A budget awaiting Gov. Josh Stein’s signature would let North Carolina charge tolls on all ferry routes.

Why this matters

Ferry riders, coastal residents, and businesses could face new travel costs if the budget becomes law. The measure would also affect how the state funds ferry repairs and vessel replacement.

A state budget approved Thursday by the North Carolina House and Senate would allow the Department of Transportation to charge tolls on all ferry routes.

The budget is now on Gov. Josh Stein’s desk. Stein wrote on social media, “I finally have a budget on my desk.”

The more than 600-page measure includes changes to the North Carolina Ferry Division. Under current law, tolls are limited to certain routes, including the passenger ferry between Hatteras and Ocracoke and vehicle ferries such as Cedar Island-Ocracoke.

The budget said additional revenue would be used for vessel replacement and repair projects. The Department of Transportation has not set toll rates.

The issue has drawn opposition before. A similar proposal was removed during debate over the 2023 budget after local governments and residents raised concerns.

State Rep. Bobby Hanig, who represents much of North Carolina’s northeastern coast, voted against the current budget, citing his opposition to ferry tolls.

Separately, House Bill 1094 would require the Office of the State Auditor to conduct a performance audit of the North Carolina Ferry Division. According to the bill, the audit would review the division’s finances, operations, maintenance spending, routes, and schedules, and identify ways to increase revenue and reduce costs.

If that bill becomes law, the auditor’s report would be due to state lawmakers by Jan. 15, 2027. The bill is also headed to Stein’s desk.

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South Carolina

South Carolina agency cuts 248 jobs in reorganization

The agency, created in 2025, now has about 6,500 positions and about 1,800 vacancies. It formed when the General Assembly merged the Department of Development Disabilities, the Department of Mental Health, and the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services.

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Nearly 50 employees at a South Carolina agency serving people with developmental disabilities, mental health needs, and substance use disorders lost their jobs this week as part of a reorganization.

The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities eliminated 248 positions Tuesday, including 47 filled jobs. The remaining positions were vacant.

Eliminated positions were administrative roles in finance, human resources, facilities, and information technology.

Employees involved in direct care and service delivery were not part of the cuts, Department of Administration spokeswoman Brooke Bailey said.

The agency “will continue to provide uninterrupted access to behavioral health, developmental disabilities and substance use services and programs,” Bailey said.

As part of the reorganization, 27 additional positions were reassigned to other programs within the agency.

Gov. Henry McMaster has not appointed a permanent director. Each of the agency’s three offices has its own director.

Lawmakers required the agency to consolidate administrative services when it was created. Under a provision in last year’s state budget, the agency had to report details of its reorganization to lawmakers and had authority to carry out reductions in force by June 30.
North Carolina

N.C. budget could allow tolls on all ferry routes

Coastal residents could buy an annual commuter pass for $150.

Full story +

A state budget approved Thursday by the North Carolina House and Senate would allow the Department of Transportation to charge tolls on all ferry routes.

The budget is now on Gov. Josh Stein’s desk. Stein wrote on social media, “I finally have a budget on my desk.”

The more than 600-page measure includes changes to the North Carolina Ferry Division. Under current law, tolls are limited to certain routes, including the passenger ferry between Hatteras and Ocracoke and vehicle ferries such as Cedar Island-Ocracoke.

The budget said additional revenue would be used for vessel replacement and repair projects. The Department of Transportation has not set toll rates.

The issue has drawn opposition before. A similar proposal was removed during debate over the 2023 budget after local governments and residents raised concerns.

State Rep. Bobby Hanig, who represents much of North Carolina’s northeastern coast, voted against the current budget, citing his opposition to ferry tolls.

Separately, House Bill 1094 would require the Office of the State Auditor to conduct a performance audit of the North Carolina Ferry Division. According to the bill, the audit would review the division’s finances, operations, maintenance spending, routes, and schedules, and identify ways to increase revenue and reduce costs.

If that bill becomes law, the auditor’s report would be due to state lawmakers by Jan. 15, 2027. The bill is also headed to Stein’s desk.
Health

Trump proposal targets 340B drug reimbursements

The American Hospital Association said the rule would add to financial pressure on hospitals.

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Trump administration proposed a rule Thursday that would reduce how much some hospitals can collect from Medicare for discounted drugs, a change officials said could save patients $1.1 billion next year.

The proposal applied to hospitals serving low-income patients through the 340B program, which allows providers to buy outpatient prescription drugs at reduced prices. In some cases, hospitals now bill insurers at rates above those costs and keep the difference, increasing patients’ out-of-pocket costs.

Under the draft rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would change reimbursement for hospitals in the program. A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity before the announcement, said the change could save about $20 billion over 10 years.

The agency estimated that a Medicare Part B enrollee who receives one of the affected drugs would save about $800 a year in co-payments.

In the draft, the administration cited Lupron Depot, a prostate cancer drug, as an example. Hospitals in the 340B program can buy a dose for about $700, but can receive roughly $4,000 in Medicare reimbursement for administering it, plus about $1,000 from a patient co-payment.

The proposed rule would cap Medicare reimbursement for participating hospitals at the average sales price, minus 33.4%, a reduction of about 40%, according to the administration. If approved, it would take effect at the start of next year.

The 340B program was created to help providers stretch federal resources to serve more patients, but it has long been disputed by hospitals and drugmakers.

In 2018, during Trump’s first term, his administration tried to make a similar cut in Medicare payments to hospitals. The Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that the government could not set a separate reimbursement plan for 340B hospitals.

Trump signed an executive order in April 2025 directing a survey of how much hospitals pay to buy drugs. The administration said the proposed rule was based on that survey.
Military & National Security

Air Force major arrested at Capitol protest on Trump

Active-duty service members are prohibited from partisan political activity, especially while in uniform, under military rules.

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An active-duty Air Force major was arrested Wednesday after protesting alone on the House steps and calling for the impeachment and removal of President Donald Trump.

Capitol Police said that Maj. Jason Watson was arrested at about 1:15 p.m. for demonstrating on the House steps without a sitting member of Congress. Watson, who has served more than 20 years in the military, stood in uniform holding a sign that read, “Impeach Convict Remove.”

Police said Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, first escorted Watson to the bottom of the steps, then left the area. Officers then arrested Watson under 22-1307, crowding, obstructing and incommoding.

“When the Member of Congress left the area, our officers gave the man lawful orders to stop the illegal demonstration, or he would be arrested,” a Capitol Police spokesperson said. “The man refused our lawful orders.”

Video posted by Removal Coalition founder Jessica Denson showed Watson standing on the steps for about a minute before officers approached him. After a third approach, he placed his sign down and was arrested and escorted away.

Before the protest, Watson spoke at a news conference with Green, Denson, constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein, Defenders of Our Republic, and About Face Veterans. Denson said Watson is on leave from his post as a logistics readiness officer in Poland and approached the Removal Coalition in February to organize the event.

In his remarks, Watson said Trump and Vice President JD Vance should be impeached and removed, citing what he described as constitutional violations, including military action abroad, immigration enforcement, and other administration actions.

A spokesperson for Green declined to comment on whether the congressman knew Watson would be arrested after he was no longer being escorted on the steps. Green was the only House member to vote to impeach Trump during his second term; the House tabled the resolution 237-140.

Capitol Police said Watson was not being held. A Spotfund page for his legal defense had raised nearly $70,000 as of Thursday afternoon. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Military & National Security

Air Force removes medical commander at Virginia base

Col. Tracy Allen, commander of the 633rd Medical Group, was relieved of command Tuesday because of a “loss of confidence,” a Langley spokesperson said.

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An Air Force commander for medical services at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia was removed from her post this week, according to Air Force officials.

The base did not provide a more specific reason for Allen’s removal beyond citing a loss of confidence in her ability to lead.

Col. Michael Blowers, deputy command surgeon at Air Combat Command, assumed responsibility for the group until a new commander is selected.

Before taking command at Langley-Eustis, Allen led the 436th Medical Group at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. She also served as chief of the Medical Readiness Division and chief of the Air Force Medical Operations Center, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Joint Base Langley-Eustis houses Air Combat Command, one of the Air Force’s 10 major commands. The base has 1,150 assigned aircraft, 35 wings, and 1,470 units across 248 locations.

The 633rd Medical Group has five squadrons and 1,400 personnel. It provides outpatient, specialty, and emergency care, and operates an outpatient surgical center.

The unit also supports up to 29,000 active-duty service members and their families, as well as 426,000 TRICARE beneficiaries in the Hampton Roads region.
Military & National Security

Pentagon creates drone office under deputy secretary

The Pentagon’s latest budget request included $53.6 billion for autonomous drone platforms.

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has consolidated most Pentagon drone and autonomous systems programs under a new office that will report to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg.

According to a June 29 memo made public Wednesday, the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems will serve as “the single joint integrator for all unmanned and autonomous system programs” across the department. Its director, who has not been named, will oversee how the military develops, buys, fields, and sustains unmanned systems in the air, on land, and at sea.

The office will cover small drones in aircraft groups 1 through 3, unmanned boats, ground robots, counter-drone systems, and related artificial intelligence and swarming software. Unmanned underwater vehicles will be managed jointly with the Pentagon’s submarine portfolio manager.

Its authority will not extend to major defense acquisition programs, which follow a separate legal approval process. That leaves programs such as the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft, and the Navy’s MQ-25 Stingray, MQ-4C Triton, and medium unmanned surface vessel under the military services.

Two existing organizations will move under the new office: Joint Interagency Task Force 401, which will expand from countering small aerial drones to unmanned threats in all domains, and the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group, which focuses on large-scale production of low-cost drones. The memo said neither organization’s staff nor positions will be relocated.

The Defense Innovation Unit was also named the single point of contact with commercial technology firms for the new portfolio.

The office will serve as milestone decision authority for covered programs and will rank behind only Hegseth and Feinberg on drone acquisition matters. It will also be able to act as the lead contracting authority, direct funding shifts through the Pentagon comptroller, and block systems from being fielded.

The memo also centralized congressional engagement, requiring Pentagon components to clear drone-related plans with the office before contacting lawmakers. It exempted the office’s programs and personnel from hiring freezes and workforce reductions. Once a director is named, hiring is to begin within 30 days, an organizational plan is due within 60 days, and a list of transferred programs is due within 90 days.

The reorganization followed Hegseth’s broader push to speed weapons delivery. A Government Accountability Office report released Tuesday found the Pentagon’s independent testing office, which Hegseth cut from 126 civilian jobs to 30 last year, now oversees 15 of about 110 active programs on one fast-track acquisition pathway, Defense News reported.
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Harris contacts Mamdani, meets progressives amid 2028 talk

“I might. I might. I’m thinking about it… I’ll keep you posted,” Harris said in April when Rev. Al Sharpton asked whether she would run for president in 2028.

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Former Vice President Kamala Harris has contacted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and met privately with other progressive figures as speculation continued about a possible 2028 presidential run.

Axios first reported that Harris spoke by phone with Mamdani last week. Fox News Digital said it confirmed the call. Mamdani confirmed the conversation in a Wednesday interview on SiriusXM’s “The Clay Cane Show.”

“The vice president reached out to have a conversation, and we’ve had a brief conversation. We’ve been in touch over the last few months, and I really do appreciate her outreach,” Mamdani said.

Axios also reported, and Fox News Digital said it confirmed, that Harris met privately with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., at a Black women empowerment summit in Chicago.

Harris also reached out to pro-Palestinian groups after facing criticism from some of those groups during her 2024 presidential campaign. The outreach included at least one group involved in the “Uncommitted Movement,” which formed in response to President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Gaza war.

The meetings suggested Harris was seeking support from parts of the Democratic Party that did not back her in 2024.

The outreach drew criticism from some Republicans. GOP strategist Nathan Brand wrote on X, “Kamala Harris 2020 was desperate, Kamala Harris 2024 was pathetic, Kamala Harris 2028 will be unhinged.”

Earlier this year, Harris visited South Carolina, an early-voting Democratic state, less than a week after commenting on a possible 2028 run at the National Action Network’s 35th Anniversary Convention.

Harris replaced Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee and later lost the election to President Donald Trump.
US

D.C. plans military flyovers for July 4 events

Freedom 250, a nonprofit established by Trump through an executive order in December 2025, is organizing several events. Trump chairs the task force under which it operates.

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Washington will host multiple military flyovers Friday as part of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations, according to WUSA9 and Freedom 250, the nonprofit organizing several of the events.

The flyovers are scheduled to begin at 1:15 p.m. and continue hourly until sunset at 8:30 p.m. during the Salute to America Celebration near the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Saturday’s events, titled the Salute to America Celebration and Fireworks, will also include programming starting at 5 p.m. local time, a speech by President Donald Trump at 9:45 p.m., and a fireworks show at 10:30 p.m. Guests may enter beginning at 1 p.m. WUSA9 reported that capacity near the Washington Monument is capped at 150,000 attendees.

As part of the semiquincentennial celebrations, Freedom 250 is also hosting the Great American State Fair on the National Mall from June 25 through July 10.

According to the organization’s website, the event features “more than 150 exhibits from all 56 states and territories, businesses, innovators, and civic organizations,” along with state pavilions, industry displays, family attractions, movie screenings, musical performances, military ensembles, flyovers, daily cultural programming, and a Ferris wheel.

The Trump administration also announced other anniversary projects. On June 26, Trump posted on Truth Social a commemorative passport design featuring a full-size portrait of himself.

The passport design shows Trump standing over the Oval Office’s Resolute Desk, based on a portrait from the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, with the text of the Declaration of Independence behind him. The opposite page still includes John Trumbull’s painting. USA Today reported that the design was displayed at a State Department exhibit on the fourth day of the state fair.

In April, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott told PEOPLE that the agency would release a “limited number of specially designed passports” for the anniversary. The department said there would be no additional fee, but the passports would only be available at the Washington Passport Agency.
Military & National Security

Ursa Major Expands 3D-Printed Missile, Engine Work

Ursa Major said it is scaling 3D-printed rocket motors, hypersonic systems for U.S. military demand.

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Ursa Major said it is expanding from propulsion into missile development, with a focus on 3D-printed solid rocket motors and liquid-fueled hypersonic systems.

Chief Executive Officer Chris Spagnoletti said the company unveiled its Havoc hypersonic missile in early 2026 as part of a broader effort to address U.S. munitions shortfalls. He said Havoc uses a 3D-printed propulsion system and is intended to be lower-cost and adaptable for air, ground, or vertical launch.

The Colorado-based company said it has produced hundreds of engines and motors and logged more than 135,000 seconds of hot-fire testing in less than a decade. It uses additive manufacturing, including metal printing, in both liquid rocket engines and solid rocket motors.

Co-founder Nick Doucette said Ursa Major applied its manufacturing approach to solid rocket motors after identifying bottlenecks in traditional production, particularly the metal tube structures used in motors. The company said its modular production lines can switch between motors from 2 inches to 22 inches in diameter without major retooling.

Ursa Major said it is producing solid rocket motors in Berthoud, Colorado, and expanding higher-volume production in Galeton, Colorado. Doucette said the company has made several hundred 2.75-inch motors for testing and development for the Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System, or APKWS, produced by BAE Systems. In 2024, the company won a Naval Energetics Systems and Technologies program contract tied to the Mk104 dual-thrust motor used in the Navy’s Standard Missile 2 and SM-6.

In hypersonics, Doucette said Ursa Major’s Hadley engine has flown 10 times on Stratolaunch’s Talon A testbed. He said the company later developed Draper, a 4,000-pound-thrust engine that uses hydrogen peroxide and rocket fuel instead of liquid oxygen, allowing longer storage and tactical use.

Ursa Major then developed Havoc in-house after deciding not to rely on an outside airframe partner, Doucette said. He said the company moved from concept to a flight-ready vehicle in about six months through work with the Air Force Research Laboratory.

The company said it has twice ground-launched a “Havoc Block 0” demonstrator under the Affordable Rapid Missile Demonstrator program. Spagnoletti said the next goal is a boosted hypersonic flight demonstration in 2027.

Ursa Major also operates a 3D-printing facility in Youngstown, Ohio, with final assembly and testing in Berthoud.
VA lead

Virginia budget funds firefighter cancer screenings

Firefighters face a higher cancer risk because of exposure to fumes and chemicals on the job.

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Virginia’s new two-year budget includes money to help offset federal funding changes to health care and social services, and it adds $2 million a year for firefighter cancer screening grants.

Lawmakers approved the budget June 29 after Gov. Abigail Spanberger proposed the screening measure as a budget amendment in late June.

The grants will help localities pay up to $350 per screening. Virginia Professional Firefighters communications director William Boger said the goal is early detection.

“If you find Stage 1 cancer, it’s a lot better than finding Stage 4,” Boger said. “It’s treatable.”

Studies show firefighters face a higher cancer risk because of exposure to fumes and chemicals on the job. Boger said contaminants can remain on gear or be inhaled during fires, including smoke from plastics and batteries in burning buildings. He also said firefighters’ gear contains chemicals used to improve waterproofing and fire resistance, and that heat can increase absorption of carcinogenic “forever chemicals.”

Last year, Richmond firefighter Jonathan Clarke sued several manufacturers, alleging exposure to polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly called PFAS, in protective equipment contributed to his 2022 leukemia diagnosis. The International Association of Fire Fighters also filed a related lawsuit focused on testing standards that the association said effectively required PFAS for equipment approval.

“I think it’s great, we need to be doing this,” Clarke said of the funding.

Clarke said he became a firefighter because he “needed a job,” and stayed for 22 years because he loves the work. Boger said public service motivates many firefighters to continue despite the risks.

Earlier this year, Del. Alex Askew, D-Virginia Beach, carried the legislative effort, but it did not survive months of budget debate before Spanberger’s amendment revived it. In prior years, Sen. Bill DeSteph, R-Virginia Beach, Del. Israel O’Quinn, R-Washington, Del. Dolores McQuinn, D-Richmond, and Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, also carried the proposal.

Boger said some localities already provide screenings, and the grants will help expand access where local budgets do not cover them. Before the Senate approved the item, O’Quinn urged lawmakers to consider extending the program to volunteer firefighters, who are more common in rural areas.

“The volunteer firefighters are also exposed to the same chemicals, the same toxins,” O’Quinn said. “I would hope that going forward, that we could figure out a way to possibly expand this to volunteer firefighters as well.”

“With this funding, we can catch illnesses earlier, protect the health of those who protect us, and honor the risks they take every day to keep Virginia communities safe,” Askew said.