SUMMARY: Vice President Kamala Harris will spend election night at Howard University, while former President Donald Trump and his supporters are in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump, who voted today, is again casting doubt on election integrity, claiming premature leads before results are in. His campaign, launched 720 days ago, will culminate in a marathon rally across three swing states, with unclear plans for a public address tonight. Meanwhile, Harris is in DC engaging in radio interviews, emphasizing the importance of every vote. She reflects on her first campaign experience at Howard and has been actively campaigning in crucial battleground states like Pennsylvania.
Former President Trump and his supporters will watch the results on Tuesday from Florida. Meanwhile, Vice President Harris will spend election night at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-08-16 08:01:00
A recent Carolina Journal/Harper Poll shows North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein with a solid 50.5% job approval among likely voters, down 15% from March. Stein, a first-term Democrat and former attorney general, has issued 15 vetoes and proposed a budget $2 billion above the legislature’s offer, with eight vetoes overridden and the budget delayed by 46 days. Opinions on his vetoes are split: 36% see them as cautious policy checks, 33% as political obstruction, and 31% undecided. President Trump holds a 47.8% approval in the state, slightly above national averages, despite a general disapproval majority nationally.
(The Center Square) – Job approval by likely North Carolina voters for Gov. Josh Stein is robustly high and for President Donald Trump running just a tick better than national polling.
Gov. Josh Stein, of North Carolina
Governor.NC.gov
Stein, the first-term Democrat with eight years experience as attorney general prior, has dropped a net 15% in five months to 50.5% approving against 30.1% disapproving. In March, approval was 55.6% to 20.4% disapproving, according to a poll taken Monday and Tuesday and released Thursday by Carolina Journal in conjunction with Harper Polling.
His most significant actions in that time have been 15 vetoes and a two-year budget proposal about $2 billion higher than either chamber of the General Assembly. Eight of his vetoes have been overturned, and Friday marked the 46th day late on the spending plan.
Given choices for what Stein’s vetoes reflect, respondents said “a careful approach to policy that checks overreach by the legislative branch” (36%); “a politically motivated obstruction that blocks legislative priorities” (32.9%); and 31% were unsure.
The statewide sampling gave the second-term Republican president an approval of 47.8% and disapproval of 50.3%. In March, he was at 49.5% approval and 48.7% disapproval. Nationally this week, the RealClear Polling average for the time period of July 16 to Thursday is 45.5% approval and 51.5% disapproval.
Trump has won the state in presidential races three consecutive times.
The Carolina Journal/Harper polling of 600 likely voters’ responses were given a 95% confidence level and a margin of error of +/= 3.98%.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article presents polling data and factual information about the approval ratings of North Carolina Governor Josh Stein and former President Donald Trump without using language that promotes a particular ideological viewpoint. It reports on the actions and public perceptions of the political figures, including details such as vetoes and budget proposals, as well as polling statistics, in a straightforward manner. The tone is neutral and descriptive, focusing on presenting the data and differing opinions from respondents rather than advocating for or against any political stance. This adherence to factual reporting without editorializing indicates a centrist, unbiased approach.
SUMMARY: Warren County pastor Shelton Birkhard, formerly of Zion Global Methodist Church in Norina, faces 10 counts of possession of child pornography involving five images, including children in changing rooms. After his arrest by the FBI, the church immediately removed him from his duties. Church leaders expressed heartbreak and emphasized they do not support his actions. Warren County Sheriff John Branch confirmed Birkhard is in custody with a $200,000 bond and stated no local physical abuse allegations have been identified. Child advocacy group Safe Child urges parents to have body safety conversations and ensure safety protocols, like background checks, are in place in all child-related groups.
A warrant issued for 30-year-old Shelton Burkart alleged that on June 24, 2024, he “knowingly” possessed visual material of children, ages 8 to 12, naked in dressing rooms and engaging in sexual activity.
Two local issues were addressed: First, unoccupied motor homes parked near Revol Church on Beaverdam Road are part of Asheville Dream Center’s hurricane relief efforts. These RVs provide temporary housing for families displaced by Tropical Storm Helene. The Dream Center, partnering with multiple churches, stores these units on church property with city permission until October 2025, aiming to quickly reassign them to families in need. Second, piles of wet cardboard at the Curbie recycling center in Woodfin are due to a broken collection truck. Despite exposure to rain, the cardboard remains recyclable unless saturated long-term. The company is managing the situation and expects repairs soon.
Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers:
Question: What are the unoccupied motor homes doing in the grassy field across from Revol Church on Beaverdam Road? This is the second batch of such motor vehicles. They seem to sit there for months. Thanks for looking into this mystery.
My answer: What are they doing there? Waiting for someone to offer $3,500 a month to rent them.
Real answer: These homes are part of the mission of the Asheville Dream Center, a nonprofit that offers a variety of services and programs to those in need, including providing temporary homes and rebuilding houses for victims of Tropical Storm Helene. The Dream Center is a separate entity from Revol Church, but the church has allowed the Dream Center to store homes there post-Helene.
“The church has been gracious to us, and we partner with about 27 churches in the city,” said Paul Benjamin, a Dream Center board member. “And we’re constantly doing things to impact the community. We find a need and try to fill it.”
After Helene, that was badly needed housing.
“Over the past ten months, the Asheville Dream Center has had the privilege of supporting 22 families with temporary housing after they lost everything in the hurricane,” the Dream Center said in a media statement. “As part of our emergency response, the Asheville Dream Center utilized RVs as a practical solution to provide shelter for displaced families in our region.”
Six recreational vehicles remained parked on the field next to the church, as of early August.
“These units are not in active use at this time but remain on-site as part of our extended Hurricane Helene relief operations,” the center stated. “Revol Church, owner of the property, has been in close communication with the City of Asheville, which has granted permission for these RVs to remain in place until October 2025, in alignment with the city’s extended disaster relief timeline.”
The Dream Center is currently working on three homes in the Barnardsville community, and it has helped complete four home rebuilds in western North Carolina. The nonprofit has helped “clean, clear, and muck out or landscape a dozen homes and properties,” according to its statement.
Benjamin said the organization provides the homes for free to families in need.
“They’re just used until they get housing, and the units come back to us,” Benjamin said. “So these units were already being used, and now we’re just looking for the next families that have a need.”
Benjamin and the Dream Center say they understand that neighbors may have concerns about empty homes being on or near the church site.
“We can understand the concerns of our neighbors in the community who are seeing these RVs parked on the Revol property,” the group’s statement said. “Every effort is being made to quickly place these units with deserving families.”
Question: For the second week in a row, I’ve found piles of cardboard at the Curbie cardboard recycle center in Woodfin. All of it is saturated with rain. That means it isn’t recyclable now, right? There was a bulldozer waiting for me to finish adding my layer to the heap. I had driven around for a week with a load of cardboard hoping the two absent Dumpsters would return but found they had not by this morning. What’s up?
My answer: I’ve got to think that nonstop driving for a week with a load of cardboard probably wasn’t great for the environment, either, but I do appreciate your determination.
Real answer: This is a situation that looks worse than it is.
A reader wants to know if cardboard that has piled up at the Curbside Recycling facility in Woodfin is now ruined or still recyclable. The company president says it’s piled up because a truck used for the pickups is out of commission. // Provided photo.
“Our truck that normally empties these Dumpsters has been down and in the shop being fixed,” Abe Lawson, president of Curbside Management, the area’s primary recycling entity, told me via email. “We have a sign up for residents to drop cardboard between the Dumpsters on the ground.”
While the piled-up, soggy cardboard looks bad, it’s still usable.
“Being in the elements does not mean that the cardboard is not recyclable,” Lawson said. “In fact, we ask residents who have too much cardboard to fit into their 96 gallon cart to stack it neatly (outside) next to the cart.”
Cardboard can take a pretty decent soaking.
“The wetness only becomes an issue if it is saturated for a prolonged period of time and it starts to break down,” Lawson said Tuesday. “We are/have been collecting the cardboard multiple times a day to keep the piles contained and hope to have the truck back up and running very soon.”
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Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The content focuses on community issues such as disaster relief and recycling without evident partisan framing or ideological language. It presents facts and responses from nonprofit organizations and local officials in a straightforward manner, aiming to inform the public on practical matters. The tone and content suggest an objective approach with no apparent lean toward either left or right political perspectives.
