North Carolina's new governor seeks more Helene aid, help for families in legislative address

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — New North Carolina Democratic Gov. Josh Stein gave his first address to a joint General Assembly session Wednesday night, hitting on familiar campaign and early-term themes of helping Hurricane Helene victims, making living expenses affordable and focusing on bipartisan accomplishments.

Stein delivered the biennial State of the State message with a call to legislators in the ninth-largest state to work with him and avoid partisan animosity that he says is now in Washington.

“We do not need to be pulled into those political games," Stein said from the House floor near the close of his 42-minute speech, which was televised statewide. "We can create something better, something forward-looking right here in North Carolina, and we can do it together.”

Stein, the attorney general for the past eight years, was elected governor in November by defeating then-Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson — continuing a trend of Democratic dominance at the Executive Mansion. Republicans have controlled the General Assembly since 2011, but now they are one seat shy of holding a veto-proof majority.

Stein's speech emphasized finding areas where he and Republicans can agree.

Stein kept Helene recovery a top priority, as it has been since before he was sworn in on Jan. 1. He has made several visits to the mountains, where last fall's historic flooding led to over 100 deaths and close to $60 billion in damages and recovery needs. Stein highlighted repairs so far but also outstanding needs.

The governor asked lawmakers to send him quickly a bill for additional Helene relief that he says he will be ready to sign — even though competing measures written by House and Senate Republicans would provide roughly half of the nearly $1.1 billion that he requested last month.

House Speaker Destin Hall said this week there are differences to negotiate with the Senate over aid for agricultural losses and whether the package should include funds for delayed housing reconstruction in eastern North Carolina from past hurricanes. The final package also should include money to help rebuild infrastructure that helps small businesses.

Stein and legislators anticipate even more Helene spending later this year.

“People need to get back in their homes. Roads and bridges need to be fixed. Businesses need to keep their doors open and their employees hired,” Stein told lawmakers. "We need that money now. Heck, we needed it yesterday.”

The whirlwind of activity originating from President Donald Trump’s administration and Congress served as a backdrop for some of Stein's speech.

While a frequent critic of Trump, Stein pointed out how he was working with Trump, his Cabinet and the state's congressional delegation to locate billions in additional dollars for Helene assistance.

The governor also urged Republicans to join him in protecting Medicaid from any potential cuts by Congress, pointing out that the two parties joined together in passing a 2023 state law expanding Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of adults.

Stein's next big reveal likely will be his state government spending proposal for the two years beginning July 1.

Stein's proposal will reflect a new forecast that warns tax cuts on the books and taking effect soon could lower overall state revenues by $825 million from the next fiscal year to the 2026-2027 fiscal year.

Stein said Wednesday the state can't locate all the funds to help residents with affordable housing and child care or middle-class tax cuts that he seeks if planned corporate tax cuts and individual tax cuts for the highest wage earners occur.

“So what is it going to be?" Stein asked. “Are we going to give money to out-of-state shareholders, or invest in North Carolina families? We cannot afford to do both."

Republicans, who will pass their own budget legislation and present it to Stein, have downplayed the forecast shortfall, saying previous income-tax reductions have boosted the state's economy and fiscal picture overall.

The Republican response to Stein’s address came from Hall, who succeeded now-U.S. Rep. Tim Moore after his 10 years as speaker.

Hall said that on Helene recovery, he and Stein “recognize the long road ahead and the need for us all to rise to the moment, setting aside petty partisanship for the sake of our neighbors.”

But Hall made plain the GOP had no plans to diverge from its agenda of the past 14 years. That has included cutting taxes and regulations, supporting federal immigration laws and police and offering taxpayer-funded scholarships for K-12 students to attend private schools.

“We’ve cracked the code on how to deliver common-sense policies that fuel growth and protect our communities,” Hall said.

Speaker of the House Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, left, and Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, right, confer before North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, not pictured, delivers the State of the State address at the Legislative Building, Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Raleigh N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

Attendees applaud as North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, far left, delivers the State of the State address at the Legislative Building, Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Raleigh N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

Speaker of the House Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, top left, and Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, top center, greet North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, bottom right, as he arrives to deliver the State of the State address at the Legislative Building, Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Raleigh N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt, top left; Speaker of the House Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, top center; and Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, top right; listen as North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, bottom, delivers the State of the State address at the Legislative Building, Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Raleigh N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, center, is greeted as he arrives to deliver the State of the State address at the Legislative Building, Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Raleigh N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

Speaker of the House Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, top left, and Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, top right, listen as North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, bottom, delivers the State of the State address at the Legislative Building, Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Raleigh N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein delivers the State of the State address at the Legislative Building, Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Raleigh N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

President Donald Trump hosts NATO secretary general Mark Rutte. The leader of the 32-member transatlantic military alliance meets Trump at a key moment for Europe and NATO, with Trump’s apparent pivot toward Russia leaving members uneasy. Trump meanwhile threatened 200% tariffs on European wine, champagne and spirits if the EU goes forward with a retaliatory tariff on American whiskey on April 1. And the Trump administration has launched a review of organizations that provide temporary housing and other aid to migrants, suggesting they may have violated a law used to prosecute smugglers.

Here's the latest:

“The US-EU spirits sector is the model for fair and reciprocal trade, having zero-for-zero tariffs since 1997,” says the statement by Chris Swonger, president and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council.

“The U.S. spirits sector supports more than $200 billion in economic activity, 1.7 million jobs across production, distribution, hospitality and retail, and the purchase of 2.8 billion pounds of grains from American farmers,” it says.

“We urge President Trump to secure a spirits agreement with the EU to get us back to zero-for-zero tariffs, which will create U.S. jobs and increase manufacturing and exports for the American hospitality sector. We want toasts not tariffs.”

The Labor Department reported that its producer price index — which tracks inflation before it reaches consumers — was unchanged from January to February, and core wholesale prices that exclude volatile food and energy costs dropped 0.1%, the first drop since July.

Thursday’s numbers hit as President Donald Trump ramps up his trade war, threatening to send inflation higher.

Gasoline prices fell 4.7% last month, while food prices rose 1.7% from January to February, led by a 28% surge in the price of eggs.

▶ Read more on producer prices and inflation

Trump issued his threat on social media, saying he’d impose a 200% tariff on European wine, champagne and spirits if the European goes forward with a planned tariff on American whiskey on April 1.

Trump called the longtime U.S. ally “one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States.”

He said the 200% tax on U.S. consumption of the European products “will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”

▶ Read more on Trump’s trade wars

It’s not clear when job cuts ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency will show up in the weekly layoffs report, though some analysts expect them to surface in data in the coming weeks.

Those layoffs are part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce through billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Senior U.S. officials set the government downsizing in motion weeks ago via a memo dramatically expanding President Donald Trump’s efforts to scale back the workforce. Thousands of probationary employees have already been fired, and now the Republican administration is turning its attention to career officials with civil service protection.

▶ Read more about U.S. unemployment numbers

Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs, and have remained mostly in a range between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years.

U.S. jobless claims filings fell by 2,000 to 220,000 for the week ending March 8, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s fewer than the 226,000 new applications analysts forecast.

The four-week average, which evens out some of the week-to-week swings, ticked up by 1,500 to 226,000.

The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for the week of March 1 fell by 27,000 to 1.87 million.

The U.N. humanitarian chief says more than 300 million people across the globe need humanitarian support and many will die because funding from the United States and others is drying up.

Tom Fletcher told a U.N. news conference that the cuts have caused “a seismic shock.”

The Trump administration has dismantled the U.S. aid agency, USAID, and terminated 83% of its programs.

Across the humanitarian community, he said, programs have been stopped and staff have been laid off including about 10% in February from nongovernmental organizations doing humanitarian work.

Fletcher said that in December global experts estimated that 300 million people needed help in 2025, and the U.N. prioritized 190 million it was aiming to reach, which would cost $47 billion.

That number increased to 307 million in recent days, he said, but with the funding cuts, he can’t say with confidence that the U.N. will get anywhere near $47 billion. Now, U.N. colleagues in Geneva are trying to identify how to prioritize saving 100 million lives and how much that would cost.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio disembarks from a military airplane upon arrival at Quebec City Jean Lesage International Airport in Quebec, Canada, March 12, 2025, as he travels to a G7 Foreign Ministers meeting. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio may be walking into unusually unfriendly territory this week when he meets his counterparts from the Group of 7 industrialized democracies — strong American allies stunned by President Donald Trump’s actions against them.

Just hours after Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs kicked in — prompting responses from the European Union and Canada and threatening to ignite full-scale trade wars with close U.S. partners — Rubio arrived at the scenic Quebec town of La Malbaie on the St. Lawrence River for two days of talks starting Thursday with the top diplomats of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. All of them have been angered by the new American president’s policies.

Rubio will likely be hearing a litany of complaints about Trump’s decisions from once-friendly, like-minded countries in the G7 — notably host Canada, to which Trump has arguably been most antagonistic with persistent talk of it becoming the 51st U.S. state, additional tariffs and repeated insults against its leadership.

▶ Read more about Rubio’s G7 meeting

Mark Rutte, who heads the 32-member transatlantic military alliance, will meet with Trump at a pivotal moment for Europe and NATO.

Administration officials are pressing ahead with talks with Moscow to sign off on a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire that Trump believes could usher in a permanent end to Europe’s biggest land-war since World War II.

Thursday’s talks also come as Trump’s rhetoric on the alliance continues to leave members uneasy.

Trump last week suggested that the U.S. might abandon its commitments to the alliance if member countries don’t meet defense spending targets, a day after his pick for NATO ambassador assured senators that the administration’s commitment to the military alliance was “ironclad.”

The U.S. president also expressed doubt that NATO would come to the United States’ defense if the country were attacked. However, the alliance did just that after Sept. 11 — the only time in its history that the defense guarantee has been invoked.

The Education Department’s civil rights branch is losing nearly half its staff in the Trump administration’s layoffs, effectively gutting an office that already faced a backlog of thousands of complaints from students and families across the nation.

Among a total of more than 1,300 layoffs announced Tuesday were roughly 240 in the department’s Office for Civil Rights, according to a list obtained and verified by The Associated Press. Seven of the civil rights agency’s 12 regional offices were entirely laid off, including busy hubs in New York, Chicago and Dallas. Despite assurances that the department’s work will continue unaffected, huge numbers of cases appear to be in limbo.

The Trump administration has not said how it will proceed with thousands of cases being handled by staff it’s eliminating. The cases involve families trying to get school services for students with disabilities, allegations of bias related to race and religion, and complaints over sexual violence at schools and college campuses.

Some staffers who remain said there’s no way to pick up all of their fired colleagues’ cases. Many were already struggling to keep pace with their own caseloads. With fewer than 300 workers, families likely will be waiting on resolution for years, they said.

▶ Read more about how layoffs are impacting the civil rights branch

An hours-long outage Wednesday on StudentAid.gov, the federal website for student loans and financial aid, underscored the risks in rapidly gutting the Department of Education, as Trump aims to dismantle the agency.

Hundreds of users reported FAFSA outages to Downdetector starting midday Wednesday, saying they were having trouble completing the form, which is required for financial aid at colleges nationwide. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, a group of people who handle colleges’ financial aid awards, also received reports of users experiencing technical issues and having trouble completing the FAFSA.

The developers and IT support staff who worked on the FAFSA form were hard hit in the Education Department’s layoffs Tuesday, along with staff buyouts and the termination of probationary employees. In all, the Education Department has reduced its staff by half, to roughly 2,000, since Trump took office.

▶ Read more about the layoffs at the Education Department

This combo of pictures show President Donald Trump, left, addressing a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, March 4, 2025, and a handout of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attending a ceremony in Tehran, Iran, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis - Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

Steel workers work at the ArcelorMittal Dofasco steel plant in Hamilton, Ont., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.(Nathan Denette /The Canadian Press via AP)

A construction crew works at a site in San Bruno, Calif., Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, along with his son X Æ A-Xii, speak to reporters near Tesla vehicles on South Lawn of the White House Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Washington. (Pool via AP)