Investigate

Governor Roy Cooper’s office has released a statement following WECT’s investigative report of Columbus County Sheriff Jody Greene’s racially charged comments captured on an audio recording

In North Carolina, sheriff’s department employees work at the pleasure of the sheriff, and sheriffs have wide latitude to fire employees for nearly any reason they want. An employee’s race is a notable exception.

In the recording, Greene can be heard saying he’s going to start firing black people who are “guilty by f**king association” with the former African-American sheriff. Several black members in his department were fired or demoted, and he no longer has any minorities on his command staff.

The complaint from the Ohio AG requests a judge issue a permanent injunction against Pink Energy and its officers to prevent them from selling and installing solar panels in the future. It also seeks an order requiring Pink Energy to “reimburse all consumers found to have been damaged” by Pink’s “unlawful actions.”

Despite Cape Fear Community College reversing course on a decision that led two key crew members resigning, one of the college’s newest Board of Trustees member Ray Funderburk still has questions. He wants to know what exactly happened behind the scenes that led to the resignations.

Rachel Keith, a reporter with WHQR Public Media, joined WECT’s Jon Evans to discuss her three-part series of investigative reports into allegations made against leadership at Cape Fear Community College.

Pink Energy, a solar energy company based out of Mooresville N.C. is laying off all of its employees according to an emailed letter sent to employees on Wednesday. Pink Energy has faced thousands of complaints ranging from faulty equipment to allegations of deceptive sales tactics over the past year.

They are very powerful people. Nurses are scared to publicly question them. Doctors worry about losing their hospital privileges if they speak out against hospital administrators. But North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell isn’t backing down when it comes to challenging the executives in charge of the state’s largest hospital systems. He has called the hospitals “cartels...disguising themselves as nonprofits” while their CEOs rake in millions of dollars a year.

For the first time since the issues began, executives from Novant granted WECT a sit down, in-person interview to discuss a wide range of concerns and what’s being done to address them.

For the first time since the investigations first started the founder of the company Jayson Waller spoke with reporters to address the thousands of complaints facing his company. Some of the biggest complaints of Pink Energy solar company are the systems not producing the power promised to customers.

In August, Kenly Town Council voted to terminate Justine Jones after their entire police force and two town administrators resigned in protest of the difficult work environment they say she created there. That’s why town employees in Navassa were concerned when they saw Jones in their Town Hall, reportedly applying for the open Town Manager position.

The legal battle set in motion against the City of Wilmington more than two years ago has come to an end, and a judge awarded Dave and Peg Schroeder attorney’s fees for their lawsuit against Wilmington for illegal short-term rental restrictions put in place several years ago. On Thursday, a New Hanover County Superior Court Judge signed off on a final judgement and order awarding legal fees for the case.

Despite a loud push for the dental board to require a separate anesthesiologist or certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) be present when a patient is sedated for dental procedures, the board declined to adopt that change. They have proposed several other changes aimed at improving patient safety.

A news release from Chemours states that the company will share information on its planned expansion of its existing facilities “to support an increase in domestic production in the semiconductor, transportation, clean energy, consumer electronics, and communications industries.”

A county commissioners legal troubles appear to be wrapped up --- at least --- in part. After a judge issued an order for arrest and found New Hanover County Chairwoman Julia Olson-Boseman in contempt of court, she was told to provide documents to the North Carolina State Bar --- or face jail.

Pink Energy, formerly know as Power Home Solar, says faulty equipment sold by Generac has cost them millions in damages, and their reputation.

County manager Chris Coudriet Manager acknowledged that he knew about the allegations of a $50 million offer; the county said its earlier comment about not knowing about the offer was intended to mean Coudriet and staff had no direct evidence of the offer being made.

In June 2020, Commissioner Julia Olson Boseman and then-commissioner Pat Kusek allegedly offered Coastal Horizon CEO Margaret Weller-Stargell $50 million from the hospital sale — which had not yet been voted on — if they would silence their criticisms of The Healing Place, the county’s planned peer-led recovery facility.

However, eight months later, some say that the jets along with the noise are back.

The N.C. Court of Appeals found Wilmington’s ordinances were illegal, the impacts of that decision could be far-reaching as other cities and towns consider the implications of their own requirements.

The report goes on to detail what happened to more than a dozen other patients who also had bad experiences after visiting NHRMC in May and June. Most of those issues appear to be directly related to the severe nursing shortage at the hospital.

Two months after reports surfaced that a woman had died in the Emergency Department waiting room at Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center after waiting for hours to be seen, federal regulators have released a report that appears to confirm that’s essentially what happened.

A two-and-a-half year hiatus on jury trials in North Carolina thanks to the pandemic created a backlog of homicide cases that District Attorney Ben David is doing his best to work through. Remarkably under the circumstances, the cases aren’t particularly old.

The Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services notified Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center in July it was in jeopardy of losing its Medicare contract if it did not address a number of serious “deficiencies” observed by state compliance officers.

On July 18, 2022, a judge in Wake County found New Hanover County Commission Chairwoman Julia Olson-Boseman in contempt of court. One week later, Angie Olson-Boseman, her wife, says the chairwoman took $118,000 out of their joint bank account, and moved it to a business account without her knowledge.

The order means New Hanover County Chairwoman Julia Olson-Boseman will avoid the possibility of being arrested for roughly three weeks so she can comply with the court order to turn over banking records to the North Carolina State Bar

Cape Fear Community College trustees reviewed the salaries of other community college presidents before voting on Morton’s raise July 21, but declined to share the salary survey they considered with WECT. For two weeks, the station’s investigative team worked to obtain a copy of the presidential salary document trustees looked over before making this big decision. CFCC officials refused the request.

WECT first contacted the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday night attempting to confirm the tip but did not receive a response. On Monday, District Attorney Jon David confirmed the attack and the SBI investigation.

After months without complying with a court order to turn over banking records, New Hanover County Commission Chairwoman Julia Olson-Boseman has sent a letter to the North Carolina State Bar acknowledging the requirement to do so, and says she plans to comply.

In the interest of transparency, WECT is releasing the body camera footage obtained from that night. The video is edited for time and to remove minutes of footage where officers are walking the perimeter of the building and not interacting with D’Auvray. The unedited four videos have a runtime of approximately 45 minutes, the edited video is roughly 28 minutes.