Name: Election Day questions answered in Raleigh
Uploaded: 2022-11-08T11:02:00-0500
Duration: 903470
Description: North Carolina elections officials host an Election Day news conference to provide information and answer questions about the general election.

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North Carolina elections officials host an Election Day news conference to provide information and answer questions about the general election.

counts. So when you're out there, say a little thanks to those hard working individuals. Karen, good morning. Thank you. Chair Circosta for your remarks and your leadership. Uh I'm Karen Brinson Bell. I am the executive director of the north Carolina State Board of Elections and north Carolina's chief election official. In addition to chairs Acosta, I'm also joined by our agency's general counsel paul cox Election Day is significant for many reasons. It's a testament to our democracy and the right of our fellow citizens to vote and have their voices heard. It's the finale to two months of absentee by mail voting and more than two weeks of in person early voting this day will be life changing for the hundreds of candidates who are committed to representing our communities And just as significant today, Bipartisanship and volunteerism are on display as thousands of community members give of their time to work at more than 2600 voting sites this morning. Nearly every polling place across the state opened on time. We know of four delays. The galleys pre polling place in Robertson county opened approximately one hour late because the building was locked and the voters did not have the correct access code to enter the building. Additionally, three sites in columbus county were delayed in opening due to the check in computers not being connected properly to the printers and therefore the workers were unable to print the voter's authorization to vote forms. While it is unfortunate that these delays have occurred, there are they are in no way nefarious or fraudulent. These things happen. The county's quickly corrected the situations with assistance from state board staff and right now all polling places are fully operational. The state board of Elections will hold a virtual emergency meeting early this afternoon to determine if any voting should be extended at these sites. If the board does extend the closing time at these sites or any others, we will not release results from the affected counties until all their precincts finished voting. We will, however, start releasing initial results at approximately 7:30 p.m. For all other counties where the polls close at 7:30 p.m. Please remember county boards of elections will first upload the absentee by mail and one stop early voting results. Election Day results will be reported on the state board website. N c S B E dot gov as the results and other election materials are delivered to the county boards of elections because precinct officials must drive from Election Day voting sites to the county Board of Elections offices. The release of Election Day results will not be immediate and may go late into the night. All results released on election night are unofficial. Any contests that are declared will be done so by the media candidates or political scientists. The state Board of Elections and the county boards of elections do not declare winners on election night. Please keep these situations and the few incidents we have reported in perspective. We have more than 2600 polling places open today and delays occurred in a handful of locations. We have been voting since early September with more than two million ballots cast prior to today To date. We only have 15 reported allegations of voter or election official interference or intimidation. And thus far this morning we have received no additional incident reports that rise to this level. Our processes are working and we are proud of the incredible work of north Carolina election officials and the partnerships with local state and federal officials that have all worked to ensure we can deliver safe, secure fair and accurate elections to the voters of north Carolina. We are happy to take your questions at this time and thank you for being with us. We'll first take questions from the room. If there are any, if you go to the mike, please thank you. Uh sorry Mike Mcelroy, McArdle and Pine. Um in those 15 reported instance you have of intimidation or otherwise things. Was it reported immediately to elections officials on site and did that process uh take care of the issue in those, in those instances in the way that it's supposed to, So where the incidents occurred, it was reported either there at the voting site or if it occurred at the county board of elections. Um and they have notified the state board of elections so that we can investigate if needed. They've reported it to law enforcement um there, you know the 15 have all different variables. So um but everything went as we would intend it to any other questions in the room keith, if there are questions online or virtually at this time we'll go to our reporters online. We ask you to press one if you have a question, our first question is from Courtney bunting with W I. T. N. T. V. Go ahead Courtney. Yes. Good morning. I'm just checking to make sure you can hear me okay? I can Courtney okay, thank you. I just wanted to get your perspective in response to the increased interest in mail in voting absentee voting over the last few years. And if there's any response you have or any thoughts you have about the impact that that increase may have on this election. Uh any foreseen challenges that you've seen in the past because of that increased interest in your response to just your thoughts about how that seems to be growing in popularity. Maybe not so much this year compared to past years, but certainly seems to be something that people are more aware of now because of what we've gone through over the past few years. So we do offer three voting methods in north Carolina absentee by mail in person, early voting and election day in person voting. Uh you know what we have seen during the pandemic, we saw a substantial increase in folks wanting to vote absentee by mail. I think that's for obvious reasons given the pandemic, given the safety issues, given the vulnerable population that had concerns about voting in person at that point in time, I think because of that experience, they saw how easy a voting method that is and many opted to request absentee ballots for this election and use that as their voting method. It certainly did not rise to the level of participation in that voting method. Uh, this election as we saw during 2020, but it did substantially exceed what we saw in 2018. Uh, so I think, you know what North Carolinians have realized is that we have a solid process, an absentee by mail voting. We do require the signature of the voter. They give identifying information when they make that request, when they actually vote that ballot and put that into the return envelope. They sign attesting that they were the voter and they are witnessed by two individuals who attest that they were the voter and those witnesses signed. Alternatively, they can use a notary public to attest that they were the voter who marked that ballot and put it into the return envelope. So, you know, it's a very popular voting method that I think will continue to see um use of and potentially more substantial use. Thank you. Our next question is from liliana Pearson with Wbtv lilliana. Go ahead. Hi, good morning, thank you for hosting this today. We had an instance yesterday of one school board member taking signs from the supporter of another school member. I was hoping you could just take a few minutes to address some of the concerns that people have with election intimidation and the work that you guys have done to make sure that you were able to run a safe and smooth election. I wish that in my 16 plus years of working an election, I could say there was an election where signs were not an issue, but I can't. Um that is just, it's something that comes up with every election. Uh, we certainly have seen that this time around. And what we've seen is that, you know, there is some elevated tempers and temperature among our campaigners and our canvassers. Um, and you know, it's, we ask that everybody just use some civility. Um, I think that's where the problems are whether it's about signs or how we're approaching the voters when they are in the election nearing area and the voters are walking to the polling site. Um and it's, you know, I don't think it's been, you know, incredibly out of the norm. Again, every election, we have issues with signs. Most of the sign regulations are actually monitored by uh, the ordinances of the towns and the counties in which they are placed. Um, but you know, and beyond that, most of our interactions are about the disclosures. Uh, and then, you know, if it is disruptive voting site, then we try to intervene. Deescalate and hopefully we can keep it to that. Our next question is from Daniella chess low with the Wall Street Journal. Go ahead. Danielle. Hi, sorry about that. Um do you know how many absentee ballots are currently either disqualified or under consideration? Because not all of the signatures or other um necessary things were filled out. I don't have those numbers in front of me. Um Our absentee data, uh, is something you can request of R. P. I. O. If you would please. Thanks. My next question is from Casey jones. Casey jones with the Queen City News. Go ahead. Hello, thank you for hosting this press conference today. My question is, are there any counties that you're watching closer than others for any sort of intimidation or interference? And does that change your operations there at all? You know, our job at the state board of elections is to oversee all 100 counties. We strive to give them equal support, equal resources, equal training materials and You know, there's there's every voter is equally important. And so everything that we're doing today across all 100 counties is to ensure that every voter is able to exercise their right to vote. And you know, we don't want there to be intimidation interference or anything of that nature to occur in any of our uh, polling sites across the state? And we have worked with law enforcement officials across the state to ensure that if need be, if we're not able to deescalate a situation or remedy a situation that we can call in our law enforcement partners to help do that. Because our first and foremost objective is to ensure that every eligible north Carolinian is able to exercise their right to vote today. Our next question is from kate martin with NBC news kate martin. Go ahead. Hi, thank you for taking my question. Um I'm regarding the absentee ballots. I know the process is a little bit different than it was during the pandemic. You have to get two signatures. Um and I imagine there's some folks who may not do that entirely properly. I'm wondering if you can kind of go over what the cure processes for the voters, they get a chance to um you know, remedy that situation or how does that work here? Yes. In 2020, the legislature and the state board of elections work to uh make an exception for the pandemic to where we only required one witness signature. And this year we went back to the uh as prescribed by law for two witnesses or one notary uh notary public. And if a voter does not have all the proper signatures or information, then we do have a an extensive numbered memo that outlines the cure process. Um Do you want to go over that at all in more detail. Okay, I'll turn it over to paul cox for greater detail. So the state board has official written guidance in the form of a memorandum called a number of memo that discusses all of the ways that an absentee ballot may be accepted or deficient. For some reason, uh an absentee ballot can be cured by the voter by an affidavit if they failed to sign themselves or they sign in the wrong place. Any other deficiency on the ballot, typically, you know, a second witness didn't sign, for example, can't be fixed by an affidavit. You have to actually send a new ballot out to the voter and they would have to, you know, resubmit with their two witnesses. Okay. And then just to be clear, like a lot of folks that signed up for the ballot tracks and you get an email that says, you know, that your ballot was accepted. If it was deficient in some way, would it notify voters of that? Uh the ballot track system tracks where your ballot is in the transit. So it'll let you know when the ballot arrives at the board of elections and it has been received by their mail system, the board of elections themselves would reach out to you uh if your ballot were deficient. So, uh if a voter's ballot, they would they would let if they have your phone number they call you, they would certainly email you or if you have your email and send you a letter. If they don't have a phone or email. Thank you. Do we have any additional questions on the phone at this time? It's so press want to ask a question. I don't see any additional questions. Director Bell will turn it back to you. We appreciate everyone's attendance today. And we just encourage folks to get out and vote. Our polling places are open until 7:30 p.m. And potentially longer at these few delays, uh, pending the decision of the state board. Thank you to our election officials for their, uh, their participation today. The days are long, but we, you know, their commitment is, uh, even longer. So we appreciate all that they do and the exceptional work of our county boards of elections. Thank you.

Election Day questions answered in Raleigh

2022 elections,State Board of Elections,voting

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Hi, everyone. Meteorologist Anthony Bag Leone, here on this Friday, we have just about made it to the weekend. We did it. We're almost there. Our weather on the whole is looking pretty good too for the next couple of days. Let's focus on today though first because of course, we've seen the cloud cover. We've seen cool temperatures across most of North Carolina. We time out what's likely to happen here on futurecast. So you see the clouds do stick with us for the first half of the day. Some light spotty rainfall back toward the mountains, Johnson City, Asheville Boone. And that's where we could see some drizzle. We head towards central North Carolina. The clouds should break up for us though. I do anticipate some sunshine getting through, then they refill back in as we get into tonight and then through the majority of our Saturday, we are looking at mostly cloudy skies. That's kind of the only thing that I would kind of ding the forecast on a little bit tomorrow. Otherwise it's looking like a pretty good couple of days. There's a look at tomorrow afternoon still, let's say partly to mostly cloudy skies. We should stay dry as Futurecast is trying to show a light spotty Sprinkle south of us. I think most of us are looking good. We go to 68 today right around three o'clock, low seventies for high temperatures this afternoon. And then we start to climb there, especially in the Sunday. We go to 82. All of these days are really looking pretty good. I think they'll feel decently comfortable if you want to head outside, get some fresh air, go on your bike ride, get some steps in, take the dog out. I know my dog Doppler is at home. Probably thinking let's do that, dad. It's gonna be a good couple of days to do that we talk about. So also, of course, an event going on downtown both tonight and as we head into our Saturday, Brugal in downtown Raleigh, we're seeing temperatures there in the sixties. It should be a great night for it. I think we'll see some sunshine. You may want the sunglasses, it'll be pretty comfortable. We start to climb into the upper eighties. By the time we get into next week, records are in the low nineties. I don't think we will quite get there, but still we have the potential at least to hit our 1st 90 degree reading of this year. 74 as today. That's the coolest temperature on the seven day over the next seven days, 74 as we get into tomorrow, 82 on Sunday and then our next potential chance at some very light rainfall comes in Tuesday night. The majority of us are looking calm and definitely much warmer. By the time we get into next week, have a great weekend.

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A lockdown has ended at Enloe High School in Raleigh, police said Friday.

Good afternoon. My name is Lieutenant Jason with the Public Information Office of the Raleigh Police Department. Deputy Chief Boyce is going to provide an update on the incident that happened at a high school today. Uh Good morning, uh Deputy Chief Rico Boyce of the Raleigh Police Department. I want to provide an update of the incident that occurred here at in low high school this morning. I'm joined here with Major Harrison of the Field Operations Division as well as major latour of the field operations division. I want to begin by saying that everything and everyone is safe at Inlow High School. There's no students, no staff that has been injured as a result of this. Obviously with uh with the allegation of a firearm on campus, it really has an effect on the students and staff, but I want to alert the public that everything is ok. Uh Wake County schools have been very helpful in investigating this matter with the Raleigh Police Department. So what happened just after 10 a.m. this morning, a student approached the principal and made the principal aware that there is a subject on campus with a firearm. The principal immediately placed a school on code red lockdown and with the assistance of the school resource officer, additional officers were called to the scene. Once officers arrived on scene, they began to do a systematic search of the entire school interior and exterior of the school to determine that there was no one on campus with the firearm. Obviously, when you talk about a firearm on campus, it has a very large impact in our community and that's why we had a very large presence of law enforcement. But I will say Raleigh PD working with the Wake County public schools, we have determined that there is no threat on campus. We took this matter very seriously. We're going to continue to investigate and see how this all originated. But at this time, I just want to let the community know that this threat is unfounded, right? There's no threat, there's no firearm, there's no one injured at in high school. So we're going to continue to make sure that the message get out and Wake County public schools will put out an update of how the rest of the school day is going to go as far as any potential early release. I cannot say that right now, what I can say is a student made the principal aware that there is a potential of someone on campus with a firearm. The principal took that information very seriously and placed the school on a code grade lockdown and we began to investigate from there. So at this time, I can't determine if it was a hoax or not. Are you looking for anyone else? I mean, there have been a report that there was a student who said her boyfriend was with a gun. Are you looking for that person? Since no one was found in the school with a gun? We're investigating right now, like say this originated from a student and the information was shared with the principal. So we're still trying to determine what exactly was shared with the principal to lead to the core lockdown. So right now that is like say under investigation, did you guys do a systematic room by room search? Yes, we did. Like I say with this being a school and the threat of a firearm on campus, the Raleigh Police Department's selective enforcement unit, state capital PD County Sheriff's office, they all responded to help us do a systematic search of the entire campus, not only inside the school but it outside school in the surrounding neighborhoods is the lockdown lifted currently. No, it's still code red lockdown right now. We're just finishing up like say some last minute details with Wake County public schools and they will update us when they're going to lift that code red. One more question. I just want to make sure I'm clarifying this correctly. A call from the principle that a student had reported this. Are you still on the lookout for someone who might have been on campus and then left or are you investigating this in a different way? We're investigating this in a different way that this was a alleged threat of someone with a gun on campus. So right now, there's nobody on campus, but we're trying to get the exact details. Like what else was involved in this communication with the student and the principal. Can you really quickly just talk about the response? I mean, this is a massive response to something like this and the impact that has on officers, parents, students out there actually has a huge toll, a huge effect on our officers responding to any school with the potential of a firearm b on a campus. That's why you saw the response to get today. Uh We work very well with our law enforcement partners and we're very thankful for them helping us to clear the school. Uh And obviously with parents, of course, this is going to have a huge impact on parents as well as student and staff. Anytime you see a large police presence on a, on a school campus, but it's all to make sure that everyone is safe. Uh And then we're quickly, we'll try to get the school back to normal operators uh operating as soon as possible. So yes, we came with a lot of resources if there was a threat or would someone would have gone, we wanted to quickly mitigate that. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you.

No threat at Enloe High School, releasing students early

Sky 5 flies over code red lockdown at Enloe High School 

Enloe High School is under a code red lockdown. Sky 5 is flying over the school.

Nightly N.C. Education Lottery drawings during the 11 p.m. News.

Good evening. I'm Gail. Hi, welcome to tonight's drawings for Thursday, April 25th, 2024. Well, let's get started tonight with our Carolina pick three. Our first winning number is a one. Our second number is eight and our third number tonight is a nine and our pick three fireball number is eight. Again, join me for tonight's joining us on Auditor from mcconnell and Jones L LP. Now let's move to the Carolina pick four. Good luck. Everyone who's their first winning pick four number. It's a six. Our second number is eight. Third number tonight is eight again and our fourth number is a three in our pick four fireball number. There it comes. It is a one. Well, turning now to the Carolina cash five and no one wins our prize tonight. Tomorrow's, our prize is estimated at $721,000. Good luck. Everyone here's our first winning cash five number. It's the number eight. Our second number is five third number. Tonight is seven. Our fourth number here it comes. It's a 41 in the final number, NRC five. This evening is 27. The North Carolina Education Lottery has contributed over $10 billion to education. Get your winning numbers right here every night in your exclusive station for the North Carolina Education lottery. Thanks for playing. Have a great night.

Evening Pick 3 Pick 4 and Cash 5

Daytime Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings are held at 3 p.m. daily. They can be seen as live or on-demand video.

Good afternoon. I'm Grace Holland. Welcome to this afternoon's drawings for Thursday, April 25th, 2024. Let's get started with the Carolina pick three. Your first pick three number is five followed by seven then seven and your fireball is eight. Joining me for this afternoon's drawing is our auditor from A L LP. Now let's move on to the Carolina pick four. The first pick four number is seven followed by one 60 and your fireball is five. The North Carolina Education lottery has contributed over $10 billion to education. Thank you for your support. You can get your winning numbers each day at 3 p.m. and again at 1122.

Daytime Pick 3 and Pick 4 Drawing

Gov. Roy Cooper, museum leaders and museum paleontologist Dr. Lindsay Zanno on Thursday preview Dueling Dinosaurs, a brand new exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. The exhibit opens to the public Saturday.

In that institution's history. But all of you can and I have seen that enthusiasm and that understanding that you are part of something special over the past few years as you have prepared for this day. So to the staff of the museum, thank you. And it's not just staff, a project like this wouldn't have been possible without a lot of important partners on behalf of everyone involved in this immensely successful public private partnership. And in addition to the General Assembly's extraordinary investment, I would like to take a moment to thank some of the very generous supporters of the Dueling Dinosaurs capital campaign, the SECU Foundation, the Bank of America Duke Energy, the North Carolina Glaxo Smith Kline Foundation, Wake County, friends of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences who really not only helped us in, in raising the funds but also in making this day happen and this opportunity happen. And so many others who are recognized on the campaign do donor wall just to the right of the exhibit entrance. So I encourage you as you go through there today to make sure you take a look at that wall. Now, along with the state's investment. This village of support has enabled the museum to open this new globally unique visitor experience. And on that note, I would like to invite Secu Foundation board chair, Chris Ayers to speak to the foundation's leadership gift, Chris. Thank you. Well, good morning fellow paleontologists. Um I'm excited to be here today representing the SECU Foundation and the over 2.7 million members of state employees credit union who fund that foundation. So this is a great day of celebration for the State of North Carolina, the Department of Cultural and Natural Resources and the many museum supporters and friends who have joined together to make this day a reality. I can tell you the foundation, the State Employees Credit Union has been looking forward to this day for a long time, going all the way back to when we got a sneak peek when they first rolled these fossils into the museum uh a number of years ago. So today's ribbon cutting ceremony shines a brilliant light on the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences as a research institution and the largest museum in the southeast of its kind. The work of the museum professionals and the world class facility benefits more than 1 million visitors each year. And we're delighted to help fund the Secu Dino Lab, which will be enjoyed by students, teachers and families from across the state and beyond. In addition to the SECU Diner lab, the foundation support of the museum also includes the large icon globe that we're in right now that you see outside the building, uh The SECU Daily Planet. As longtime supporters of the museum SECU is pleased that our collaborative efforts help bring the museum and our state to the forefront of natural sciences, education and research, innovative initiatives like this can only be achieved through incredible teamwork and support from the community if it isn't obvious. Let me say that we are so happy to be part of this team and we feel really lucky to have our SECU headquarters and our Sal Salisbury Street branch right next door where we get to see the daily droves of visitors year round. SECU is built on the principle of people helping people and our members live that philosophy through our support of nonprofits that uplift people and communities throughout our great state. For those of you who may not know the SECU foundation is funded through a unique concept known as the power of a dollar where SECU members contribute through the reallocation of their $1 monthly checking account fee. Collectively a dollar truly can make a profound difference. As you see here today, this summer marks the foundation's 20th anniversary. And over the past 20 years, our foundation's commitment to North Carolina nonprofits has surpassed a quarter of a billion dollars for scholarships, grants, financing for education, housing, health care, human services, all benefits to our great state. And we're going to celebrate that 20th anniversary. This fall dueling Dinosaurs is history in the making right here in downtown Raleigh. And we're so lucky to have a front row seat to marvel at the Scientific Discovery and the World of Paleontology. We at the SECU Foundation are honored to be part of this and I want to thank everyone for the great work and contributions that so many of you have made to make this day in this exhibit a reality. Thank you, Chris. Now I mentioned earlier about our staff and they really are all superstars, but there is one particular staff member who has as this project has developed over the recent years, kind of reached celebrity status. If you read Walter magazine, you probably read a profile of her and her work and how that has contributed to uh this particular exhibit. I'm pleased to introduce that person to you this morning. None other than uh the individual who had the vision to make this happen. Doctor Lindsay Zano, head of Paleontology here at the museum, Doctor Doctor Zano. Good morning. It's wonderful to be hosting you all this morning. You know, every week I get an email from a parent who wants their child to meet and talk to a scientist every single week. They want to fuel that child's love for science, encourage them to pursue their dreams. But more than anything they want that science to be real, they want it to be accessible, meeting those Children is wonderful. It's also not enough because not every parent has the resources of the opportunities to reach out to a scientist and arrange a one on one meeting for their child. Most of the Children who are interested in science will fall through the cracks and every public event I attend, I have a conversation with someone in our community who doesn't see the relevance of science to their daily lives who's never been invited to peek behind the proverbial curtain to see who scientists are and what we do and how we go about solving problems that are relevant to our communities. Today, we mark the next step in the evolution of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. We celebrate the opening of the dueling dinosaurs experience. This is one of the most daring public science projects ever imagined at its heart is a world class specimen and the barrier breaking sccu Dino lab that houses it. The specimen represents a single moment in time 67 million years ago when behemoths like tyrannosaurs and triceratops battled for life. The lab is a place where there are no walls between the scientists and the communities that we serve. One where the term behind the scenes loses all of its meaning. A place where every kid regardless of their socioeconomical status can talk to a scientist every day, any day, a place where they can look in the face of a scientist and see themselves staring back at them a place where science is done for the public with the public and transparently in front of the public and for those that cannot make it to us on site, we're broadcasting this project all over the world. Now, the dueling dinosaurs experience is fueled by an amazing team of scientists who I'm so proud of. And in the past two years, we've grown from 6 to 14,000. And that's because a year and a half ago, we launched our public science project Cretaceous Creatures. And already over 14,000 middle school students from around the state have made once in a lifetime scientific discoveries as real members of our scientific team. And we are just getting started. I want to close this morning by thanking the state all of our incredible donors, my amazing museum colleagues, and especially my team for believing in this project, for believing in my vision. I want to thank them for tirelessly working for eight years to bring this project to the people of North Carolina and beyond. You are all dreamers and I could not be more honored to be on this journey with you. One thing we can all agree on is the world loves dinosaurs. So today we're going to bring the next generation of leaders in science and technology and engineering and innovation and have them born right here in North Carolina. Let's show the world how it's done. Thank you. Make sure I didn't mess up the screen and dropping that. Um Thank you, Doctor Zano and I don't know what the acoustics are back there. But standing up here as you were talking about Children in that next generation from up here, you could hear all the Children up there in nature Research Center visiting the labs and it just kind of brought to life. What you're talking about this experience will mean it's now my pleasure to introduce to you, my boss, uh Secretary Reed Wilson. Now I can tell you, Secretary Wilson, this is a special project. He does a lot of openings, ribbon cuttings for our sites all across the state, state parks aquariums and not to play favorites. But I know this one ha holds a special place in his heart. He was telling someone this morning that he's been working on this project for seven years and so Secretary Wilson, I'm pleased to introduce you and we finally got here. Thank you, Jeff. Good morning, everybody. Uh Thank you all for being here this morning and to all involved. Uh Congratulations. This is an amazing huge day for North Carolina and for this museum, you know, making doing dinosaurs a reality has been a collective effort. And I want to thank some people that have already been thanked, but you can never thank these people enough. First, our sponsors, we would not be here today without your generous support. No doubt about that. I also want to thank the board and the staff of the friends of the Museum of Natural Sciences and three of the four board presidents who have been presidents during this period are here with us today. Um, but the whole board has been invested in this and not only did you all raise significant sums of money, but you tiptoed way out on that branch of risk. I remember the conversations. Well, we really sure we wanna do this. Uh But you were, you made the decision to, to just dive in um because you kept your eyes on the prize and, and understood what the risk was, but all that risk went away. Uh I wanna thank the museum staff. Um Thank you so much. I know that every section of this museum has been involved with this. And I, I dare say that there isn't anyone on the staff of this museum who wasn't involved in this project at some point. Um And obviously to Doctor Zano and your paleontology team. Um Y'all are just amazing. You're brilliant. All of you. Um Javin Sutton and your ex exhibition team, Christy Flint and your education team. I mean, I could mention everybody in this museum, everyone's been involved. It's been a long process and you've done a phenomenal job because here we are today and of course, we wouldn't be here without substantial public support. Thank you to members of the General Assembly um who prioritized the investment in this state of the art lab in particular. I do want to thank the leadership of the legislature speaker Moore, Senator Pro TEM Berger, minority leader, blue and minority leader Reeves. Uh, they're unable to join us today, but I think we should give a round of applause to the entire general assembly who supported this project. So it's taken us a while for us to get here today. And as Jeff mentioned, I've been involved with this one probably since the first week I was in this department in early February 2017. Um So it's not been quite 67 million years, but sometimes it felt like it. Um Is that my wife laughing? I remember, I do remember vividly the early Sunday morning in April 2017, almost exactly seven years ago to this day when these specimens arrived. I watched as the movers painstakingly removed them from the tractor trailer truck and carefully moved them into their hidden storage places. It was definitely a goose bumps moment for hours and then we had the groundbreaking in the midst of COVID, uh which complicated everything. And as I said, then at the groundbreaking, when this lab opens, our state will become a must see destination for dinosaur lovers everywhere, from young kids to academics to anybody. Um And so here we are and it's even better than I think any of us dreamed it could be. You will see when you go in there. What a special exhibit this is. We have the best dinosaur specimens in the world and the best setting for people to see them and learn from them. Hundreds of moments and of awe and wonder will unfold in there every single day. And I can't wait to just wander over here sometimes to watch the kids' eyes pop open. Now, at the heart of this project is the science. Our paleontologists will make discoveries as they carefully uncover these and analyze them. Science will be happening in front of the public's eyes. Um And so do doing dinosaurs is an excellent way for the state to engage students in scientist scientific discovery and to develop greater science literacy. So why is that important? Um It's important because the only way we're going to solve our big problems is to rely on the science and the experts who know what they're talking about. And the key to getting to that point is to expand science education to make sure that every child understands the value of science and how scientific discovery works. The Dueling Dinosaurs exhibit is going to pull people into this amazing world of science that's so important to our future. So I am now pleased to introduce a leader who uses science and facts and data to make his decisions as governor of the state of North Carolina and he has supported this project throughout its duration. Everyone please give a warm welcome to our Governor Roy Cooper. Thank you, Secretary Wilson. I'll tell you when we have cabinet meetings every Monday. His is always the coolest report, particularly when we get the updates on the dueling dinosaurs. Uh I am so grateful to everyone who helped to make this happen. The partners. Thank you so much for the work you've done all of the contributors. Uh My family, Chris is proud that our state employees credit union accounts that $1 a month is going to things like this. That is so exciting. And when I think about this week, I spent Monday Earth Day on the Blue Ridge Parkway looking at our amazing vistas uh in Western North Carolina on Tuesday and Wednesday, I got to spend time with North Carolina's own astronaut Christina Cook who set records for time that a woman astronaut spent in space and space walking. And she actually presented us with a lob Lily pine that had been germinated on the moon. Native plant, Karen, first lady made sure it was a native plant, uh excited about planting that in our pine forest at the executive mansion. And she presented us with the North Carolina flag that flew with her on her mission in the International Space Station for 11 months, presenting it to the people of North Carolina. Then I got to come over here with Doctor Zano, doctor Doctor Young and to go through this exhibit and to talk to these scientists and see see these dinosaurs and think about how amazing it was that this was happening right here in North Carolina. You know, North Carolina is the first and best in so many things. Now, we're the best in dinosaurs. I love it. You know, it is amazing and extraordinary that we have the best preserved and most complete tyrannosaur and triceratops in the world. Right here at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Scientists. This exhibit will add to an already excellent rep reputation that North Carolina has as a world class research university community College state. And I'm excited about that. I have been through this exhibit and, and to see the faces of the paleontologist, how excited energetic that they are. And they're also excited and maybe even a little bit nervous about sharing their work as they do it with the world, with the cameras on top of them, with their brushes and their equipment as they make discovery after discovery. And I said, you know, you're gonna get comments and praise and maybe some criticism from science, all scientists all over the world. They said, we know we know and we're ready for that and that's what makes this so special. Uh Doctor Young Doctor Zano, thank you for leading me through. Thank, thank you for the work. I asked Doctor Zano what she was gonna do this summer? She said, Utah, Montana and Mongolia. Wow, that's cool. Bring some stuff back with us uh to, to us but to compete, compete in today's world stem and steam classes. Are more important than ever. And our next generation of leaders will be walking through this museum every day that it's open and this exhibit will stimulate interest in a lot of them. I have declared 2024 as the year of public schools in North Carolina. And I am deeply grateful that the legislature stepped up and invested in this exhibit. Uh It, it took a lot of work to pull everything together and their work was instrumental and I am encouraging them now also to invest more in our public schools in our early childhood education. Our state has a history of investing in public education in order to fuel our innovation and our discovery. And when these young students learn in their school classes and they get to come here and meet face to face with these sci scientists. It's going to develop interest and it's going to create our scientists of the future this state of the art secu diner lab and the dueling dinosaurs belong to the people of North Carolina. It's open to everyone free of charge. That is amazing. Thanks to everybody who made this happen. This is a proud day for the state of North Carolina. Thank you so much. Thank you, Governor Cooper. Uh It truly is an exciting day for all of us and thank you for being here. Now, at this time, I would like to invite everyone to join us just outside the auditorium here. A little bit to the right at the at the entrance for doing dinosaurs for the official ribbon cutting. And I want to invite all of you up there on the 2nd, 3rd floor. Presents. Come on down and join us. So let's go celebrate. Thank you. Yeah, we're at the back line up a little bit. It's gonna be quite a few people here. They are going to be coupled. OK? Don't cut it. Yeah, check, check, get out. OK. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Right. The the face. Thanks this chair, right. You all right. So fantastic. Hey guys for media. We questions afterwards over step on. This is the best to the future. This very good virtually. Yes. Is young. Was it? How about that? This is Yeah, you and then I now make the tea for. Can you be away if you're gonna be here? J JJ? Yeah, I was gonna have how many we have to get here in the morning right here. I didn't see anyone. All right, I need to tell everyone you should never put your hands inside the mouth of a tyrannosaurus. It's very sharp, well done on the end. Just a little bit here. Thank you. All right, just in the position. All right forward. Creep forward. Look for the fray. There we go. 321. Hold on. Is there we go. No cool, cool. The skin is tough. It's a meat eater. Not a ribbon eater. So OK. Sorry. OK. Barry can we do one more second? Let me fill in real quickly with one more. Yeah, they have thank you. Who gets to keep this to bring here? Let's get next to a do what you want us here. That be perfect. And can I get you on? So right here, you know what the secret with you and, but yeah, one photo, 12 and three. All right, thanks everybody. Right. If we have five, hello, if you guys want to come over here, I'll stand where the governor is gonna be. I.

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