Stein signs N.C. budget with raises, tax cuts

July 8, 2026

2–3 minutes

Summary

Stein signed North Carolina’s first full budget in more than 1,000 days, approving raises, tax cuts, disaster aid, and capital projects.

Why this matters

The budget sets state spending, employee pay, tax rates, and disaster recovery funding in North Carolina after years without a full spending plan. It also affects schools, universities, legal aid funding, and major capital projects.

North Carolina enacted its first comprehensive state budget in more than 1,000 days after Gov. Josh Stein signed a $34 billion spending plan Tuesday.

Republican legislative leaders finalized the budget last week after roughly a year of negotiations, with disputes over issues including the state income tax rate and funding for a new children’s hospital in Apex. State agencies had been operating under budgets approved in 2023.

The plan includes 3% raises for all state employees, average teacher raises of 8%, raises of up to 17% for some law enforcement officials, and a reduction in the personal income tax rate from 3.99% this year to 3.49% next year.

Stein said the plan made “meaningful investments in our community colleges, the DMV, childcare, and summer food programs for our kids. These are real wins, worthy of celebration and worthy of my signature.”

He added: “I won’t sweep this budget’s flaws under the rug, however, the legislature is slashing more than 1,000 state government positions, making it harder for us to meet the people’s health and safety needs. Many state employees’ raises don’t even keep up with inflation, and even the more meaningful raises that are in the budget still leave us lagging behind our neighbors in competitive salaries.”

Democrats also criticized a provision that would bar the North Carolina State Bar from giving money to civil legal groups that help low-income people with issues including eviction and domestic violence.

The budget passed the House 88-21 and the Senate 35-10, margins large enough to override a veto. Many Democrats voted for it.

The plan also spends more than $700 million on Hurricane Helene recovery and $10.7 million on Tropical Storm Chantal recovery. It raises taxes on sports betting companies, allows UNC and N.C. State athletics to receive related revenue for the first time, authorizes prediction market betting companies at a lower tax rate, includes K-12 education policy changes, and gives the North Carolina Collaboratory at UNC-Chapel Hill $15 million for research and remediation of PFAS near North Carolina fire stations.

It also funds projects including the children’s hospital in Apex, UNC-Chapel Hill’s Carolina North campus, and Poe Hall at North Carolina State University, but does not include a funding mechanism for a possible Major League Baseball stadium in Raleigh.

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South Carolina

SC reactor sale decision due by March 2028

Santee Cooper said June 26 that it expects to know by the end of March 2028 whether a proposed $2.7 billion sale of two partially built nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer plant in Fairfield County will move forward. Under the proposed deal, Brookfield Asset Management would decide by then whether to buy the reactors,…

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Santee Cooper said June 26 that it expects to know by the end of March 2028 whether a proposed $2.7 billion sale of two partially built nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer plant in Fairfield County will move forward.

Under the proposed deal, Brookfield Asset Management would decide by then whether to buy the reactors, which were left unfinished after South Carolina’s abandoned nuclear expansion. If approved, the payment to Santee Cooper could be at least 21 months away.

Santee Cooper said it would use the proceeds to remove reactor-related debt from customers’ power bills. The utility would also keep an ownership stake of up to 25%, giving customers access to power from the reactors if they are completed.

Cole Price, executive vice president of member services at Central Electric Power Cooperative, said leaders of South Carolina’s electric cooperatives were “cautiously optimistic.”

Santee Cooper and the now-defunct South Carolina Electric & Gas began building the reactors in early 2013 near Jenkinsville. The project faced delays, higher costs, and fraud that led to multiple federal convictions of former executives.

The utilities stopped work in 2017 after spending $9 billion on the two reactors. Santee Cooper’s share of the debt was $3.6 billion, and customers are still paying it on monthly bills. Price said cooperative customers cover about 70% of that cost.

Price said the Brookfield deal could reduce that debt to $1 billion, and customers would not pay additional construction costs.

The project still must complete feasibility, engineering, and other due diligence studies, secure federal licenses, and find an operator for the reactors.

“There’s a lot involved in here,” Santee Cooper Chief Operations Officer Mike Finissi told board members June 26.

Brookfield also planned to apply for federal loans to help finance the project, with applications expected at the end of this year and at the end of April 2027. Finissi said an initial cost estimate is expected at the end of next year.

“There’s still a long road ahead,” Price said. “Let’s be realistic and have managed expectations about what that means.”
US

Appeals court limits immigrant detention without bond

The Department of Homeland Security said it disagreed with the ruling and expected Supreme Court review.

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A federal appeals court ruled July 2 that immigrants subject to the Trump administration’s mandatory detention policy must receive a bond hearing within 90 days.

In a 2-1 decision, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that immigrants who previously crossed a border illegally could not be held indefinitely without bond. One judge said 30 days would be a better limit. The dissenting judge said no-bond detention was appropriate and called the policy “constitutionally sound.”

The ruling applies in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, which have some of the country’s largest detention centers and often receive transfers from other states.

“Since ICE moves people it has detained so quickly and frequently, isolating them from their lawyers, families and support systems, many New Yorkers are held at detention centers in these states,” said Reed Dunlea, a spokesperson for the New York Immigration Coalition.

The American Immigration Council, which was a party in the case, said the case involved three longtime Texas residents with no criminal history and U.S. citizen children, all detained during traffic stops.

The decision “affirms that constitutional rights do not disappear simply because someone is in immigration proceedings,” said Rebecca Cassler, an attorney for the council who argued the case, in a statement.

The decision partly reversed the same court’s February ruling, which had allowed indefinite detention for some immigrants in those three states. Other federal judges, including some appointed by Trump, have ruled against the policy. Other appeals courts have also struck it down, creating a split that could reach the U.S. Supreme Court in October.

So far, only the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the policy, covering Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

A federal court in California also struck down the policy nationwide in a class-action lawsuit. That ruling was stayed pending appeal in March, but it remained in effect in part of California and has been cited by other judges freeing immigration detainees, according to a Stateline review.

The immigrant detention population peaked in January at more than 70,000 people, then fell to about 60,000 in April. Between March and May, the share of immigration arrests that led to detention dropped from 38% last year to 17%. Fewer than 30% of immigrants detained in April had criminal convictions, including traffic offenses and immigration crimes; the rest had only immigration violations or pending criminal charges.
SC lead

Appeals court revives challenge to S.C. race law

The budget provision, in place since 2021, bars schools from teaching eight concepts related to race and history. Districts that violate it risk losing state funding.

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A federal appeals court said Tuesday that a group of students, educators, an author, and the South Carolina NAACP can continue challenging a state law that bars certain race-related lessons in schools.

The lawsuit, filed in January 2025, was dismissed in September by U.S. District Judge Sherri Lydon, who said the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue. Tuesday’s ruling sends the case back to district court and gives the group another chance to seek an order blocking enforcement of the law while the case proceeds.

“This decision is a critical victory for South Carolina students, educators, and families who deserve access to truthful, inclusive education,” Charles McLaurin, an attorney working on the case for Legal Defense Fund, said in an email.

The South Carolina Department of Education said the ruling did not address the substance of the law.

“There has not yet been any ruling on the merits of the case, and the Department’s legal positions and defenses are still pending before the district court to be decided,” spokeswoman Christy Cox said in an email. “We remain confident that the Department’s actions are consistent with the law.”

In 2023, lawmakers passed a bill to remove one provision that both parties said could be confusing, create a statewide complaint process, and specify that the ban did not apply to “historically accurate” discussions of slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, segregation, racial lynchings, and other oppression based on race, sex, ethnicity, class, nationality, religion, or region. The bill failed in 2024 after the House and Senate did not agree on a final version.

The lawsuit said the law led the state to drop an Advanced Placement African American Studies course and contributed to the removal of Ibram Kendi’s book “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” from school classrooms and libraries. A librarian and a teacher also said they changed lesson plans to avoid risking their jobs.

Department lawyers argued the law did not cause the course or book to be removed. Court filings said the state cited a curriculum review in ending the AP course, while a Lexington County School District 3 board removed Kendi’s book over “inaccuracies and lack of objectivity.” But the appeals court said officials in both cases also cited the law, making the challenge valid.

The court also said two of the four unnamed student plaintiffs could not remain in the case because one had graduated and another had not enrolled in the discontinued course. Two students who had taken steps to enroll could continue, Judge G. Steven Agee wrote for the three-judge panel.
Europe

Russian strikes kill 3 in Ukraine, hit Kyiv again

In Russia, Saratov Gov. Roman Busargin said a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person, injured several others, and damaged unspecified industrial facilities.

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Russian overnight attacks killed three people across Ukraine on Wednesday, including one in Kyiv, where explosions were heard for a second straight night.

Several explosions were heard shortly after midnight in Kyiv, before authorities issued an air raid alert. Such alerts typically come before strikes, giving civilians time to seek shelter.

In Kyiv, one woman was killed and two other people were injured, according to city administration head Tymur Tkachenko. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said the attack damaged administrative buildings, warehouses, a garage complex, and several city trams.

In Kharkiv, two people were killed and 20 others were injured in a series of overnight strikes, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

In Zaporizhzhia, a Russian guided bomb injured an elderly man and a woman overnight, regional head Ivan Fedorov said.

Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia fired 169 long-range strike drones and seven missiles, including five ballistic missiles. It said air defenses shot down or jammed 139 drones, and that two anti-radar missiles did not reach their targets. The Air Force said all five ballistic missiles and 20 drones struck targets at 15 locations.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces struck arms industry facilities in Kyiv overnight, including a plant manufacturing components for Flamingo cruise missiles and a site assembling mid- and long-range drones.

The ministry also said Russian air defenses downed 415 Ukrainian drones from late Tuesday to early Wednesday.

Nizhnekamsk Mayor Radmir Belyayev said Ukrainian drones damaged industrial facilities in the city and injured several people, but he did not identify the sites.

Yuri Slyusar, governor of the Rostov region, said Ukrainian drones damaged two empty oil tankers in Taganrog Bay, injuring two crew members. He said one crew had to be evacuated and that there was no oil spill as the tankers were heading to the port of Rostov-on-Don empty.
NC lead

Stein signs N.C. budget with raises, tax cuts

Stein said he objected to parts of the budget but did not want to delay employee raises.

Full story +

North Carolina enacted its first comprehensive state budget in more than 1,000 days after Gov. Josh Stein signed a $34 billion spending plan Tuesday.

Republican legislative leaders finalized the budget last week after roughly a year of negotiations, with disputes over issues including the state income tax rate and funding for a new children’s hospital in Apex. State agencies had been operating under budgets approved in 2023.

The plan includes 3% raises for all state employees, average teacher raises of 8%, raises of up to 17% for some law enforcement officials, and a reduction in the personal income tax rate from 3.99% this year to 3.49% next year.

Stein said the plan made “meaningful investments in our community colleges, the DMV, childcare, and summer food programs for our kids. These are real wins, worthy of celebration and worthy of my signature.”

He added: “I won’t sweep this budget’s flaws under the rug, however, the legislature is slashing more than 1,000 state government positions, making it harder for us to meet the people’s health and safety needs. Many state employees’ raises don’t even keep up with inflation, and even the more meaningful raises that are in the budget still leave us lagging behind our neighbors in competitive salaries.”

Democrats also criticized a provision that would bar the North Carolina State Bar from giving money to civil legal groups that help low-income people with issues including eviction and domestic violence.

The budget passed the House 88-21 and the Senate 35-10, margins large enough to override a veto. Many Democrats voted for it.

The plan also spends more than $700 million on Hurricane Helene recovery and $10.7 million on Tropical Storm Chantal recovery. It raises taxes on sports betting companies, allows UNC and N.C. State athletics to receive related revenue for the first time, authorizes prediction market betting companies at a lower tax rate, includes K-12 education policy changes, and gives the North Carolina Collaboratory at UNC-Chapel Hill $15 million for research and remediation of PFAS near North Carolina fire stations.

It also funds projects including the children’s hospital in Apex, UNC-Chapel Hill’s Carolina North campus, and Poe Hall at North Carolina State University, but does not include a funding mechanism for a possible Major League Baseball stadium in Raleigh.
World Politics

Trump says Iran ceasefire over after ship attacks

“They’re liars, they’re cheats. They’re sick people,” Trump said.

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President Donald Trump said Wednesday that a tentative ceasefire with Iran was “over” after Iranian attacks on commercial shipping and a U.S. military response.

“For me? I think it’s over,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the NATO Summit in Ankara. “I don’t want to deal with them anymore, they’re scum.”

Trump said talks with Iran could continue, but called them a waste of time. “They’re liars, they’re cheats. They’re sick people.”

His comments could signal an end to weeks of talks after both sides signed a memorandum of understanding to allow traffic to resume in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran struck at least three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Monday and Tuesday. The U.S. military responded with strikes on more than 80 targets in Iran.
US

DNA linked Robinson, Twiggs to Kirk shooting evidence

Twiggs, who is cooperating with investigators, has not been charged.

Full story +

A towel and screwdriver recovered in the investigation into Charlie Kirk’s killing contained DNA from suspect Tyler Robinson and his former romantic partner and roommate, Lance Twiggs, investigators testified this week.

Robinson, 23, is accused of fatally shooting Kirk, 31, during a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025. Prosecutors are seeking to show probable cause at a preliminary hearing that began Monday and is expected to last all week.

Sgt. Jennifer Faumuina of the State Bureau of Investigations testified Tuesday that investigators recovered a screwdriver from the roof of the campus’ Losee Center, where authorities allege Robinson fired the shot. She said investigators also found a Mauser 98 bolt-action rifle wrapped in a dark towel in nearby woods. The rifle had been modified to fire .30-06 rounds, consistent with bullet fragments recovered during Kirk’s autopsy, she testified.

Faumuina said the towel and screwdriver contained DNA consistent with the same two males: Robinson and Twiggs. Both men provided buccal swabs that investigators used to develop DNA profiles.

Later Tuesday, FBI forensic analyst Amanda Bakker testified that Robinson was likely the majority contributor in mixed DNA samples found on both items. Twiggs was identified as the minority contributor.

It was not clear from testimony what the screwdriver was used for.

Authorities have said Robinson confessed to Twiggs in a handwritten note and text messages. Twiggs, who is cooperating with investigators, has not been charged.

Earlier Tuesday, David Hull of the Utah Department of Public Safety returned to the stand as prosecutors played surveillance video they said showed Robinson moving around campus before and after the shooting and arriving and leaving in his Dodge Challenger.

During Bakker’s testimony, prosecutor Ryan McBride objected several times to defense questioning, arguing it went well “beyond the scope of determining probable cause.” Judge Tony Graf Jr. later asked defense attorney Michael Burt how much longer he planned to continue that line of questioning. Burt said he had one more question. “I’ll hold them to that,” McBride said, prompting laughter in the courtroom.

Robinson has not entered a plea. If the judge finds probable cause, the case will proceed toward trial on multiple charges, including aggravated murder, which carries a potential death penalty.
Military & National Security, North Carolina

Marines honored after Wilmington nightclub shooting

Two Marines provided emergency medical aid during a shooting that killed one person.

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Two U.S. Marines were recognized last month for providing emergency aid after a June 6 shooting at Unhinged Nightclub in Wilmington, North Carolina, where one person was killed.

Cpl. Johnny Tamayo and Cpl. Emily Martinez, both assigned to 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, received the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, respectively, according to a Marine Corps release.

The Marines had recently returned from a 10-month deployment and were out with friends when gunfire began inside the nightclub.

Tamayo was upstairs when the shooting started.

“As soon as the gunshots rang out, I already knew what they were,” Tamayo said in the release. “I looked down and saw the victim at the bottom of the staircase. Everybody else had already run out, so I instinctively ran down there.”

According to the release, Tamayo treated the victim, looked for other casualties and possible threats, directed someone to call 911, and used towels to try to control bleeding from a gunshot wound to the victim’s neck.

Martinez was outside when the shots were fired and realized Tamayo had not left the building with the crowd. She went back inside and helped provide emergency aid until police arrived, according to the release.

The victim later died from his injuries.

“They executed exactly how a United States Marine should, and I’m immensely proud of them,” Master Sgt. James Boles, 3/6 communications chief, said in the release.

Both Marines said their response reflected their training.
Virginia

Route 1, I-95 projects may affect Quantico commutes

Those projects could affect drivers traveling to and from Quantico during the week of July 5-11.

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Construction on Route 1 south of Prince William County near Marine Corps Base Quantico could affect commutes this week, according to Virginia Department of Transportation traffic alerts published by River Country News.

The work includes an ongoing, multi-year bridge replacement over Chopawamsic Creek. Traffic will periodically shift during the project, according to the report.

The Virginia Department of Transportation also listed nightly lane closures on Interstate 95, resurfacing work, and major intersection and widening projects across Stafford, Spotsylvania, and nearby areas.

Those projects could affect drivers traveling to and from Quantico during the week of July 5-11.
US

United must face suit over windowless window seats

The lawsuits seek millions of dollars in damages on behalf of more than 1 million passengers.

Full story +

United Airlines must face a proposed class-action lawsuit after a federal judge rejected the airline’s bid to dismiss claims from passengers who said they paid extra for window seats that had no windows.

The lawsuit, which also names Delta Air Lines, alleged the airlines failed to disclose during booking that some window seats on Boeing 737s, 757s, and Airbus A321s sit beside blank cabin walls instead of windows.

U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco rejected United’s argument that “window seat” referred only to a seat’s location, not to an outside view. He also rejected United’s argument that federal law barred the claims, saying the airline’s ticketing terms, boarding passes, and reservation screens promised window seats to customers who paid for them.

“As part of our regular review of united.com and the United App to enhance the customer experience, in 2025 we added more detail to our seat selection process, so customers can have more information about what to expect when they choose a seat.,” United said.

Delta is also seeking dismissal of a separate lawsuit against it.

Passengers filed the proposed class actions in August, suing United in federal court in San Francisco and Delta in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

In November, attorney Carter Greenbaum, who at the time represented plaintiffs against United and Delta, told Reuters that United’s position was “contrary to the reasonable expectations of countless passengers who unknowingly paid extra money for windowless window seats. Consumers deserve better than empty promises and United’s word games.”

United said in court filings that it never promised window seats would include an outside view, even though booking screens and boarding passes identified them as window seats.

“The word ‘window’ identifies the position of the seat—i.e., next to the wall of the main body of the aircraft,” United said, according to Reuters. “The use of the word ‘window’ in reference to a particular seat cannot reasonably be interpreted as a promise that the seat will have an exterior window view.”

Plaintiffs said they paid extra for such seats for reasons including reducing anxiety, easing motion sickness, and viewing scenery.