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Speaker 1: Let's go!
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Speaker 2: I-O!
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Speaker 3: Let's go!
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Speaker 1: I-O!
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Speaker 3: Let's go!
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Speaker 2: I-O! Let's go! Welcome back to Chelsea News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT. Brett Jensen here with you on this beautiful Wednesday night edition of Breaking with Brett Jensen.
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Speaker 3: As always, we are going up until 7 o'clock tonight, 704-570-1079.
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Speaker 2: That is the WBT telephone number, but it's also the WBT text line driven by Keffer Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, the family store. And boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, dogs and cats, you really need to be following me on X at Brett underscore Jensen for all the latest and breaking news in and around the Charlotte area.
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Speaker 3: And, I mean, I think I've.
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Speaker 2: Only been telling you that every single day for four years now. And I think I've proved why you should be following me on X. But... If you do follow me on X, then you would realize one of the things that we're going to be talking about tonight. And I'm going to give you some information that you will not have seen or heard anywhere else about another investigation or about an investigation into CMS. So we're going to get into that and why it has the potential to really be a hotbed of hornets. Just a complete mess. In this investigation, in this particular investigation, not all investigations, but this particular investigation, because there are a lot of things that people do. There's two things that people are sort of aware of, but maybe not be aware of. And then there's one thing that I'm telling you that is like the big kicker that nobody knows about. And I'm not sure how many people up there in Raleigh even know about this. And a couple of people that I did speak to up in Raleigh, they're like, yeah, that is something we're definitely going to have to look into and maybe take some action on this.
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Speaker 3: Like, that's how big this is.
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Speaker 2: And you're not going to hear that anywhere else except right here on News Talk 107.9 FM WBT, Breaking with Brett Jensen.
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Speaker 3: But we're going to start tonight with.
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Speaker 2: Gas tax. Now, I live In South Charlotte. And it's nothing for me to drive six miles. I've done the math and the calculations in my head. I've done all the math in my head, like all the numbers. I'll drive six or seven miles, cross the border into South Carolina.
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Speaker 3: To go to a BP station, specifically a BP.
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Speaker 2: Why?
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Speaker 3: Harris Teeter fuel points.
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Speaker 2: And it's 25 cents a gallon cheaper or 20 cents a gallon cheaper because it's South Carolina.
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Speaker 3: So like right now.
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Speaker 2: On my Harris Teeter fuel points, which I need to fill up because I'm down to 50 miles left in my gas tank. And I'll probably fill up after the show tonight. That is a dollar per gallon that I'm saving from Harris Teeter. And my gas tank holds 21 gallons. So that's $ 20 that I'm saving right there. Then you would add the 25 cents because it's South Carolina that I'm saving.
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Speaker 3: So that's another $ 5.
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Speaker 2: So that's $ 25 that I'm saving by driving to the BP station in South Carolina. Well, the state legislature today and the state Senate each voted to do away with the North.
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Speaker 3: Carolina gas tax temporarily. What does that mean?
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Speaker 2: That means your gas prices in North Carolina are about to go down temporarily a month, six weeks, two months, three weeks, whatever it is, 41 cents a gallon.
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Speaker 3: Okay?
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Speaker 2: So now we are going to be cheaper than South Carolina in the short term, six weeks, like I said, three weeks, four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, who knows?
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Speaker 3: Short term.
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Speaker 2: Well, we're going to be cheaper than South Carolina, so there's no need to drive to South Carolina to get your gas if you live anywhere near the border or anything like that. So, again, now that's 41 cents that we are going to be saving. Now, when do you start saving that 41 cents a gallon? The House passed it today. The Senate passed it late this afternoon. Up next is Josh Stein, the governor. He has to sign it. He's got three options. Sign the bill tomorrow morning, which he probably should and probably will. Wait and don't sign it. Just, like, don't sign it. And if you don't sign it within 10 days, it automatically becomes law. If you don't veto it, you don't sign it. If you wait 10 days, it automatically becomes law. But there's no reason to wait 10 days. And then, Veto it. He's not going to veto it. It would crush him at the next election. So Josh Stein will probably sign the bill tomorrow. So what does that mean? Okay, if Josh Stein signs the bill tomorrow, what does that mean in terms of you saving money at the gas pumps? Hopefully by this weekend, you'll start saving money. Because all the gas people that own the gas stations, what's in the ground right now in their gas tanks, they've already paid the state tax on. And that's a lot of money that they would lose, like thousands and thousands of dollars if they immediately cut it to 41 cents. So whatever's in their ground, their gas tanks right now at the gas stations, it's going to stay.
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Speaker 3: Where it's at.
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Speaker 2: But Once they do their refill, we've all seen gas trucks at gas stations pumping in gas at the tanks, right?
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Speaker 3: Underground.
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Speaker 2: Their next reload, that's where we're going to save the 41 cents. So not all gas stations are going to be the same because not every gas station gets regassed at the exact same time. Some do it on Monday, some do it on Wednesday, some do it this week, some do it next week. But when gas stations buy their next tank of gas, their load of gas for their gas tanks, that's when you'll see the price difference drop 41 cents a gallon at those gas stations.
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Speaker 3: Not immediately tomorrow.
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Speaker 2: The only way that happens is if you happen to go to a gas station that, after the governor signs the bill, loads up on gas, let's say, today's Wednesday, so let's say Friday, The governor signs it tomorrow. And on Friday, a gas station gets new gas because it's running out of gas.
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Speaker 3: It loads up.
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Speaker 2: That's when you'll see the 41 cents drop. So it just depends on the next time the gas station that you use gets a refill of gas. Because what's in the ground right now will stay where it's at because they've already paid all that 41 cents a gallon. And think of the tens of thousands of gallons that they have there. Like they're not just going to give away 41 cents a gallon.
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Speaker 3: Nor should they.
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Speaker 2: So you'll pay for what they've already paid for, and then when they refill, it'll be 41 cents a gallon cheaper for them, which means it'll be 41 cents a gallon cheaper for you. So that's how the gas tax is going to work. So hopefully by this weekend, you'll be able to see a major price difference. Like, I'd like to hold out refilling my gas tank.
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Speaker 3: To see if.
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Speaker 2: to stretch that 53 miles to try and get it. Because, you know, I'd like to see that get a little bit, you know, I'd like to take advantage of a 41 cent price difference as opposed to driving to South Carolina and only getting a 25 cent price difference. So anyways, so that's what's going on with the gas tax and when it'll go into effect, hopefully by this weekend. But again, it won't happen until the place that you get your gas read, uh, replenishes the gas with the new gas truck. And the new price comes out.
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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jensen here on this Wednesday night, going up until 7 o'clock tonight.
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Speaker 3: Okay.
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Speaker 2: So I broke the story today that North Carolina State Auditor Dave Bullock was in town today.
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Speaker 3: I can only assume, and I know what.
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Speaker 2: Happens when you assume, but I can only assume it was because of CMS stuff. He's coming back next week to meet with the county manager. We already know that. But this was a visit. I was told that he was in town today. So I was like, okay. Actually confirmed.
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Speaker 3: By many that he was in town today. Okay.
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Speaker 2: So this isn't about the investigation by the North Carolina State Auditor's Office into CMS. This isn't about the investigation by the SBI, State Bureau of Investigation, into CMS. Yes. This isn't about the Department of Justice's investigation into CMS, and this is not about the FBI's investigation into CMS. This is about the NCDPI, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, which is basically the superintendent's office, the state superintendent's office, and the state school board. It's about their investigation into CMS that is going to be a major, major issue.
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Speaker 3: Major issue.
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Speaker 2: So much so that state lawmakers are thinking about, like, we're going to have to do something. Because I've called some people asking for comment, going, well, what about this?
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Speaker 3: This is jacked up.
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Speaker 2: And even if it's not jacked up, the presentation of it is going to be jacked up, and you're going to have people from both sides losing their minds.
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Speaker 3: People in support of the people.
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Speaker 2: In the storm's eye, Stephanie Sneed, Reiki McGregor, maybe Kelly Klutz, Crystal Hill, the law firm Pointer Spruill.
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Speaker 3: Like, there's a lot of people in the eye of the storm. Or the people.
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Speaker 2: Against CMS that want CMS to explode and never come back together the same. They want it to be humpty-dumpty and not be able to put the pieces back together again. They want it broken up into three sections or four sections, districts. Here's the problem that they have. I'm going to give you the two simple problems that some people know.
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Speaker 3: Some people know.
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Speaker 2: Your North Carolina state superintendent is a man by the name of Maurice Moe Green.
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Speaker 3: Okay?
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Speaker 2: He, along with Eric Davis, who is the state school board chair. So you've got the state superintendent and the state school board chair. Eric Davis is the school board chair. Mo Green is the state superintendent.
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Speaker 3: Both men, good reputations, okay? Good reputations. Here's part of the problem.
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Speaker 2: Mo Green worked for CMS from 2001 to 2008, serving as the general counsel, chief operating officer, and deputy superintendent. So he was the number two person in charge as deputy superintendent. He was chief operations officer for CMS, COO. And he also served as the general counsel for CMS as the lawyer. You think he's got ties to CMS? So can you do an accurate investigation into CMS with all those ties and all your buddies? Yes.
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Speaker 3: Can you? Eric Davis. Let's talk about Eric Davis.
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Speaker 2: Eric Davis, who is the school board chair of the state school board. He's the chair of the state school board.
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Speaker 3: Eric Davis.
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Speaker 2: Well, Eric Davis was first elected to the CMS school board. He's a former school board member of CMS. So you have a former school board member of CMS, which is now the head of the state school board, and the number two in charge and the legal counsel and the COO of CMS, that's now the state superintendent. You don't think that's a conflict of interest? Well, Brett, they can recuse themselves, really. And I'm not saying they're doing anything dirty, and I would never say that unless proven otherwise.
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Speaker 3: And I'm not even remotely alluding to that.
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Speaker 2: But what's the old Andre Agassi commercial from the cameras in the 80s and 90s? Image is everything, right? Image is everything. And I know people younger than 25 have no clue what I'm talking about. But he was a professional tennis player and he said, image is everything. Or, better way to put it, perception is reality. If there's even a slight hint or belief that you could have impacted the investigation into CMS where your buddies still work, where your friends still work, that you used to be an employee of and a school board member of. Even if you accuse yourself, you think those people still doing the investigation would want to hurt your close friends?
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Speaker 3: Like, think about that.
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Speaker 2: If Lonnie and Travis, or Travers rather, if Lonnie and Travers decided to do an investigation into my brother, do you think they'd come up with some big stuff against my brother? Because it's my brother, and they're friends with me. They don't want to hurt me because he's my brother. If that were bad.
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Speaker 3: Enough, oh, it's not.
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Speaker 2: I've got one that's going to hit you, that's going to make you go, I'm sorry, what?
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Speaker 3: What's that connection? Oh, yeah.
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Speaker 2: Wait till you hear this when we return, because I'm telling you, it's a doozy. And you will not hear this anywhere else except on 107.9 FM WBT, Breaking with Brett Jensen. Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jensen here on this Wednesday night. So we're talking about the investigation into CMS, information that you're not going to hear anywhere else. So I've already told you about two major conflicts of interest. the state superintendent, and the chair of the state school board each have long histories and basically employment with CMS. One is a school board member and the other one working several years as general counsel, COO, and deputy superintendent, which means number two in charge.
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Speaker 3: Okay? That's a major issue, but yet they're going to be investigating.
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Speaker 2: You tell me they don't have friends that work for CMS, I would call you a massive, liar if you actually said that. If you told me that, that they don't have any friends there, there's no way I would believe that. No way I would believe that. Because people have worked at CMS for 25, 30 years. Now, granted, most of the people they know are probably gone, but still, there's still the connections. But here's the coup de grace.
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Speaker 3: Here's the bow on top.
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Speaker 2: The previous number two at CMS, deputy superintendent, is a woman that goes by the name Melissa Bognight. Because she was number two, she was the acting superintendent when Crystal Hill was suspended, right? Then they bring Crystal Hill back, and then she goes back to her role as number two. And then she was like, from everything that I heard, or I can't hear, I don't think I reported this. I could be wrong. I just lose track.
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Speaker 3: Was like turning in her resignation or was getting ready to retire. I'm not sure.
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Speaker 2: I can't remember if she did or not. But she was, from everything I've been told, she was basically going to. But then Melissa, then Crystal Hill gets fired. And Melissa Balknight, being number two, once again ascends to the role of acting superintendent until the school board can find an interim superintendent. And then when they have the interim superintendent, they will try and find a new superintendent. Well, Melissa Balknight is now the acting superintendent. And there's a very high probability, nothing's guaranteed, but a very high probability that she's going to be named the interim superintendent. Just try and finish out the year, right? It's been such a cluster with CMS for so long. Let's just minimize the damage. Let's not have Melissa come in and then another person come in as interim. Let's just ride Melissa into this final school year. So odds are she's going to be named interim. I don't know that for a fact, but I think odds are pretty good. Here's the problem with Melissa Balknight. From the research that I've done, as someone tipped me off to this, and I've tried to do my independent verification, and from what I have found, and I believe to be 100% accurate, and if I am wrong, I will be on this radio station tomorrow, telling everyone that I was wrong and doing a mea culpa, but I don't believe I'm wrong.
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Speaker 3: I believe that I'm right, or otherwise I wouldn't be saying this.
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Speaker 2: Melissa Balknight, the acting superintendent and most likely to be named interim superintendent, the odds-on favorite to be named interim superintendent. Her sister, Melissa Bognight's sister, Stacy Wilson Norman, is the chief academic officer for NCDPI, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, which means she works directly under the state superintendent. So you have the state superintendent, Mo Green, who used to work for CMS, the person directly.
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Speaker 3: Underneath him who's in charge.
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Speaker 2: Of, who's the chief academic officer for North Carolina, her sister's running CMS. And then the head of the state school board chair used to be on the CMS school board. So do you think You could actually get an unbiased investigation by this group into CMS.
00:21:14
Speaker 3: Well, Brett, they'll recuse themselves.
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Speaker 2: Okay, I'm going to use a sports analogy, and I know we're up against the break, and I've got to, and I want to make this as simple for you. Everyone knows of March Madness, the NCAA basketball tournament. Every year, NCAA basketball tournament every year in March. They call it March Madness, right? Final Four, all that. When they're selecting the 64 teams and they're deciding what 64 teams go in, when it comes to picking the teams, it's always these athletic directors in the room that are picking the teams. Let's say Travers is the athletic director for Appalachian State where he went to school.
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Speaker 3: When it comes time, and Appalachian State's in the bubble. They might get in, they might not.
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Speaker 2: When it comes time for them to decide on Appalachian State, Travers leaves the room.
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Speaker 3: The athletic director will leave.
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Speaker 2: The room, and then the remaining people will vote as to whether or not to put Appalachian State in the tournament.
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Speaker 3: Well, guess what?
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Speaker 2: About 99 times out of 100, they put that team into the tournament because even though Travers left while they did the vote, he's still walking back into that room to do the other votes.
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Speaker 3: They're going to take care of their buddies.
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Speaker 2: And so do you think an investigation would happen to take out or go after people at CMS that have relationships, including the sister of who's running CMS? You think the other board members would do anything to hurt those people?
00:22:46
Speaker 3: Of course not.
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Speaker 2: Even though it may not be directly said, there is still an influence. Oh man, I don't want to, I don't want to really go after, um, Stacey Wilson-Norman's sister, who's the acting superintendent, or any of their friends. I'd feel bad going after their close personal friends or their family friend or their sister. I've told lawmakers, I've asked lawmakers about this, and they said, yeah, we're going to have to get an independent third party to do the investigation. NCDPI and the state school board, NCDPI is basically the superintendent's office, and then the school board, the two separate entities. we can't have them because even if they do it on the up and up, there still could be possibly influence. And oh, by the way, it just looks horrible. So you're going to have to have an independent investigation. NCDPI cannot do an investigation with the state school board.
00:23:43
Speaker 3: They just can't. They're way too compromised in this.
00:23:47
Speaker 2: And by the way, you're not hearing this anywhere else in the city of Charlotte.
00:23:51
Speaker 3: I promise you that. No one else had this. Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jensen for a few more minutes before T.J. Ritchie takes over from 7 to 9.
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Speaker 2: By the way, boys and girls, make sure you call the neighbors and wake the children on Saturday.
00:24:16
Speaker 3: Ever wondered what the WBT team does on the weekends? Probably not. You probably don't want to know what the hell I do on the weekends. It might scar you for life. But it's time to find out, for better or for worse....
00:24:35
Speaker 2: We're going to have to get a lot of these people out of church and keep them home from church on that night, on a Saturday night.
00:24:42
Speaker 3: Because they're all super nice people here. That's why I'm saying that. It's not a dig.
00:24:45
Speaker 2: They're just super, super nice. And then here comes Brett, the heathen of the group. Not Winnable, Jensen, the heathen.
00:24:53
Speaker 3: But WBT's Talktoberfest is back.
00:24:56
Speaker 2: Join WBT on our Facebook live feed every Saturday and Sunday in Talktober.
00:25:00
Speaker 3: At 6 p.m. for an hour of unscripted conversations.
00:25:03
Speaker 2: Now, I know most people like to eat dinner at six o'clock on a Saturday, either at a restaurant or at home.
00:25:11
Speaker 3: I get it. I get it. Six o'clock on a Saturday? Yeah, that could be a pain in the rear end to try and watch. I get it.
00:25:19
Speaker 2: But that's why God invented mobile phones. And that's also why God invented earbuds or headphones. You could literally sit at a restaurant Ignore your wife or ignore your husband or ignore your children, and you can listen to us on your phone and watch us live stream.
00:25:40
Speaker 3: Here's the best part, though. These conversations are going to be unscripted, and you can ask us anything. Here's the thing.
00:25:46
Speaker 2: Here's the way I've always treated things. People ask me questions. Oh, I don't mean to get personal. Can I ask you a question?
00:25:51
Speaker 3: I'm like, yeah, dude. I literally ask questions for a living.
00:25:56
Speaker 2: That's my job is to ask questions. And a lot of them are very deeply personal questions. And it would be exceedingly hypocritical of me to only ask questions and to never answer questions. Like the old saying as a manager, I'm not asking you to do a job that I haven't done myself or I wouldn't do myself.
00:26:18
Speaker 3: I'm not asking you to do anything I wouldn't do or haven't done. It's the same thing.
00:26:22
Speaker 2: Now, I also find it hypocritical when news stations clam up when people are asking questions about them and they do nothing. I find that exceedingly hypocritical. Dude, you're a news station and you're trying to not give out the truth?
00:26:35
Speaker 3: Really? Transparency? That always bothers me. But you can ask us anything.
00:26:41
Speaker 2: And I will, anyone who knows me knows I will give a brutally honest answer.
00:26:47
Speaker 3: For better or for worse.
00:26:48
Speaker 2: Very first time I met Marsha, the GM, The very first time we met, we had lunch. I said, you can ask me anything, but I'm going to give you an honest answer. I said, so don't ask me a question unless you really want the answer. I said, even if it's going to hurt your feelings, I will tell you the answer. Don't ask unless you really want to know. So, again, it's going to be Saturday and Sunday, 6 p.m., WVT's Talktoberfest 2026. And visit WBT.com for details. But it's going to be on our Facebook live stream. And this Saturday is my only appearance on Talktoberfest. 6 p.m. I can't promise there won't be adult beverages involved. But it's me and Mark Garrison. Last year, it was me and the most mysterious man in the world, Vince Coakley. We did it last year together. And the year before that, Bo Thompson and I did it on my rooftop.
00:27:53
Speaker 3: In South Charlotte. And then the year before that, I did them.
00:27:57
Speaker 2: On my balcony with a cocktail.
00:27:59
Speaker 3: And a cigar. So I don't know where I'll be this Saturday, but I will be there and in living color.
00:28:07
Speaker 2: Saturday night, 6 o'clock, along with Mark Garrison, just the two of us.
00:28:12
Speaker 3: And feel free to fire away.
00:28:15
Speaker 2: There is nothing I won't talk about and nothing that I won't be as brutally honest with you as I can.
00:28:22
Speaker 3: Like, I'll tell you whatever. Don't care.
00:28:26
Speaker 2: When I became, when I started doing sports radio in 2011, full time, because I was always like a guest, you know, a guest show up once a week. But when I started doing it every day, I promised myself I would be brutally honest about pretty much everything. Because if I told a lie or whatever, I wouldn't be able to remember the lie. Like, if you're just constantly telling lies or not being honest or whatever, I'd forget what I said, and then I'd end up contradicting myself. So I was like, you know what? I'm just going to be brutally honest. Whether it's my personal life, whether it's my health. How many times have I talked to you guys about my health?
00:29:02
Speaker 3: Quite a bit.
00:29:04
Speaker 2: So, which, by the way, just for the record, I'm down 17 pounds. Down 17. So I actually lost five pounds in China. It didn't feel like eating mule.
00:29:16
Speaker 3: So, all right. Or donkey. Whatever it was. Donkey. Mule. Whatever it was. Donkey. That's what it was. Donkey. Lonnie. Donkey, dude. Would you rather eat chitlins or donkey? I think I'll eat that donkey. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. All day. All day. That's it. All right, everyone. So that's going to do it for us tonight.
00:29:44
Speaker 2: Again, me and Mark Garrison Saturday night on Facebook, WBT.com or WBT's Facebook page.
00:29:49
Speaker 3: Me and Mark Garrison live Saturday night. All right.
00:29:51
Speaker 2: TJ Richie is coming up next. He's going to take you to 9 o'clock. My name is Brett Jensen, and you have been listening to Breaking with Brett Jensen.
Speaker 1: Let's go!
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Speaker 2: I-O!
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Speaker 3: Let's go!
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Speaker 1: I-O!
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Speaker 3: Let's go!
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Speaker 2: I-O! Let's go! Welcome back to Chelsea News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT. Brett Jensen here with you on this beautiful Wednesday night edition of Breaking with Brett Jensen.
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Speaker 3: As always, we are going up until 7 o'clock tonight, 704-570-1079.
00:00:49
Speaker 2: That is the WBT telephone number, but it's also the WBT text line driven by Keffer Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, the family store. And boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, dogs and cats, you really need to be following me on X at Brett underscore Jensen for all the latest and breaking news in and around the Charlotte area.
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Speaker 3: And, I mean, I think I've.
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Speaker 2: Only been telling you that every single day for four years now. And I think I've proved why you should be following me on X. But... If you do follow me on X, then you would realize one of the things that we're going to be talking about tonight. And I'm going to give you some information that you will not have seen or heard anywhere else about another investigation or about an investigation into CMS. So we're going to get into that and why it has the potential to really be a hotbed of hornets. Just a complete mess. In this investigation, in this particular investigation, not all investigations, but this particular investigation, because there are a lot of things that people do. There's two things that people are sort of aware of, but maybe not be aware of. And then there's one thing that I'm telling you that is like the big kicker that nobody knows about. And I'm not sure how many people up there in Raleigh even know about this. And a couple of people that I did speak to up in Raleigh, they're like, yeah, that is something we're definitely going to have to look into and maybe take some action on this.
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Speaker 3: Like, that's how big this is.
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Speaker 2: And you're not going to hear that anywhere else except right here on News Talk 107.9 FM WBT, Breaking with Brett Jensen.
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Speaker 3: But we're going to start tonight with.
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Speaker 2: Gas tax. Now, I live In South Charlotte. And it's nothing for me to drive six miles. I've done the math and the calculations in my head. I've done all the math in my head, like all the numbers. I'll drive six or seven miles, cross the border into South Carolina.
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Speaker 3: To go to a BP station, specifically a BP.
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Speaker 2: Why?
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Speaker 3: Harris Teeter fuel points.
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Speaker 2: And it's 25 cents a gallon cheaper or 20 cents a gallon cheaper because it's South Carolina.
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Speaker 3: So like right now.
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Speaker 2: On my Harris Teeter fuel points, which I need to fill up because I'm down to 50 miles left in my gas tank. And I'll probably fill up after the show tonight. That is a dollar per gallon that I'm saving from Harris Teeter. And my gas tank holds 21 gallons. So that's $ 20 that I'm saving right there. Then you would add the 25 cents because it's South Carolina that I'm saving.
00:03:53
Speaker 3: So that's another $ 5.
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Speaker 2: So that's $ 25 that I'm saving by driving to the BP station in South Carolina. Well, the state legislature today and the state Senate each voted to do away with the North.
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Speaker 3: Carolina gas tax temporarily. What does that mean?
00:04:13
Speaker 2: That means your gas prices in North Carolina are about to go down temporarily a month, six weeks, two months, three weeks, whatever it is, 41 cents a gallon.
00:04:28
Speaker 3: Okay?
00:04:29
Speaker 2: So now we are going to be cheaper than South Carolina in the short term, six weeks, like I said, three weeks, four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, who knows?
00:04:39
Speaker 3: Short term.
00:04:40
Speaker 2: Well, we're going to be cheaper than South Carolina, so there's no need to drive to South Carolina to get your gas if you live anywhere near the border or anything like that. So, again, now that's 41 cents that we are going to be saving. Now, when do you start saving that 41 cents a gallon? The House passed it today. The Senate passed it late this afternoon. Up next is Josh Stein, the governor. He has to sign it. He's got three options. Sign the bill tomorrow morning, which he probably should and probably will. Wait and don't sign it. Just, like, don't sign it. And if you don't sign it within 10 days, it automatically becomes law. If you don't veto it, you don't sign it. If you wait 10 days, it automatically becomes law. But there's no reason to wait 10 days. And then, Veto it. He's not going to veto it. It would crush him at the next election. So Josh Stein will probably sign the bill tomorrow. So what does that mean? Okay, if Josh Stein signs the bill tomorrow, what does that mean in terms of you saving money at the gas pumps? Hopefully by this weekend, you'll start saving money. Because all the gas people that own the gas stations, what's in the ground right now in their gas tanks, they've already paid the state tax on. And that's a lot of money that they would lose, like thousands and thousands of dollars if they immediately cut it to 41 cents. So whatever's in their ground, their gas tanks right now at the gas stations, it's going to stay.
00:06:32
Speaker 3: Where it's at.
00:06:34
Speaker 2: But Once they do their refill, we've all seen gas trucks at gas stations pumping in gas at the tanks, right?
00:06:42
Speaker 3: Underground.
00:06:44
Speaker 2: Their next reload, that's where we're going to save the 41 cents. So not all gas stations are going to be the same because not every gas station gets regassed at the exact same time. Some do it on Monday, some do it on Wednesday, some do it this week, some do it next week. But when gas stations buy their next tank of gas, their load of gas for their gas tanks, that's when you'll see the price difference drop 41 cents a gallon at those gas stations.
00:07:17
Speaker 3: Not immediately tomorrow.
00:07:20
Speaker 2: The only way that happens is if you happen to go to a gas station that, after the governor signs the bill, loads up on gas, let's say, today's Wednesday, so let's say Friday, The governor signs it tomorrow. And on Friday, a gas station gets new gas because it's running out of gas.
00:07:39
Speaker 3: It loads up.
00:07:40
Speaker 2: That's when you'll see the 41 cents drop. So it just depends on the next time the gas station that you use gets a refill of gas. Because what's in the ground right now will stay where it's at because they've already paid all that 41 cents a gallon. And think of the tens of thousands of gallons that they have there. Like they're not just going to give away 41 cents a gallon.
00:08:03
Speaker 3: Nor should they.
00:08:05
Speaker 2: So you'll pay for what they've already paid for, and then when they refill, it'll be 41 cents a gallon cheaper for them, which means it'll be 41 cents a gallon cheaper for you. So that's how the gas tax is going to work. So hopefully by this weekend, you'll be able to see a major price difference. Like, I'd like to hold out refilling my gas tank.
00:08:31
Speaker 3: To see if.
00:08:33
Speaker 2: to stretch that 53 miles to try and get it. Because, you know, I'd like to see that get a little bit, you know, I'd like to take advantage of a 41 cent price difference as opposed to driving to South Carolina and only getting a 25 cent price difference. So anyways, so that's what's going on with the gas tax and when it'll go into effect, hopefully by this weekend. But again, it won't happen until the place that you get your gas read, uh, replenishes the gas with the new gas truck. And the new price comes out.
00:09:12
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jensen here on this Wednesday night, going up until 7 o'clock tonight.
00:09:25
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:09:28
Speaker 2: So I broke the story today that North Carolina State Auditor Dave Bullock was in town today.
00:09:37
Speaker 3: I can only assume, and I know what.
00:09:39
Speaker 2: Happens when you assume, but I can only assume it was because of CMS stuff. He's coming back next week to meet with the county manager. We already know that. But this was a visit. I was told that he was in town today. So I was like, okay. Actually confirmed.
00:10:01
Speaker 3: By many that he was in town today. Okay.
00:10:05
Speaker 2: So this isn't about the investigation by the North Carolina State Auditor's Office into CMS. This isn't about the investigation by the SBI, State Bureau of Investigation, into CMS. Yes. This isn't about the Department of Justice's investigation into CMS, and this is not about the FBI's investigation into CMS. This is about the NCDPI, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, which is basically the superintendent's office, the state superintendent's office, and the state school board. It's about their investigation into CMS that is going to be a major, major issue.
00:10:51
Speaker 3: Major issue.
00:10:53
Speaker 2: So much so that state lawmakers are thinking about, like, we're going to have to do something. Because I've called some people asking for comment, going, well, what about this?
00:11:07
Speaker 3: This is jacked up.
00:11:10
Speaker 2: And even if it's not jacked up, the presentation of it is going to be jacked up, and you're going to have people from both sides losing their minds.
00:11:18
Speaker 3: People in support of the people.
00:11:21
Speaker 2: In the storm's eye, Stephanie Sneed, Reiki McGregor, maybe Kelly Klutz, Crystal Hill, the law firm Pointer Spruill.
00:11:33
Speaker 3: Like, there's a lot of people in the eye of the storm. Or the people.
00:11:39
Speaker 2: Against CMS that want CMS to explode and never come back together the same. They want it to be humpty-dumpty and not be able to put the pieces back together again. They want it broken up into three sections or four sections, districts. Here's the problem that they have. I'm going to give you the two simple problems that some people know.
00:12:00
Speaker 3: Some people know.
00:12:02
Speaker 2: Your North Carolina state superintendent is a man by the name of Maurice Moe Green.
00:12:11
Speaker 3: Okay?
00:12:15
Speaker 2: He, along with Eric Davis, who is the state school board chair. So you've got the state superintendent and the state school board chair. Eric Davis is the school board chair. Mo Green is the state superintendent.
00:12:29
Speaker 3: Both men, good reputations, okay? Good reputations. Here's part of the problem.
00:12:40
Speaker 2: Mo Green worked for CMS from 2001 to 2008, serving as the general counsel, chief operating officer, and deputy superintendent. So he was the number two person in charge as deputy superintendent. He was chief operations officer for CMS, COO. And he also served as the general counsel for CMS as the lawyer. You think he's got ties to CMS? So can you do an accurate investigation into CMS with all those ties and all your buddies? Yes.
00:13:25
Speaker 3: Can you? Eric Davis. Let's talk about Eric Davis.
00:13:30
Speaker 2: Eric Davis, who is the school board chair of the state school board. He's the chair of the state school board.
00:13:40
Speaker 3: Eric Davis.
00:13:43
Speaker 2: Well, Eric Davis was first elected to the CMS school board. He's a former school board member of CMS. So you have a former school board member of CMS, which is now the head of the state school board, and the number two in charge and the legal counsel and the COO of CMS, that's now the state superintendent. You don't think that's a conflict of interest? Well, Brett, they can recuse themselves, really. And I'm not saying they're doing anything dirty, and I would never say that unless proven otherwise.
00:14:20
Speaker 3: And I'm not even remotely alluding to that.
00:14:25
Speaker 2: But what's the old Andre Agassi commercial from the cameras in the 80s and 90s? Image is everything, right? Image is everything. And I know people younger than 25 have no clue what I'm talking about. But he was a professional tennis player and he said, image is everything. Or, better way to put it, perception is reality. If there's even a slight hint or belief that you could have impacted the investigation into CMS where your buddies still work, where your friends still work, that you used to be an employee of and a school board member of. Even if you accuse yourself, you think those people still doing the investigation would want to hurt your close friends?
00:15:16
Speaker 3: Like, think about that.
00:15:18
Speaker 2: If Lonnie and Travis, or Travers rather, if Lonnie and Travers decided to do an investigation into my brother, do you think they'd come up with some big stuff against my brother? Because it's my brother, and they're friends with me. They don't want to hurt me because he's my brother. If that were bad.
00:15:40
Speaker 3: Enough, oh, it's not.
00:15:44
Speaker 2: I've got one that's going to hit you, that's going to make you go, I'm sorry, what?
00:15:51
Speaker 3: What's that connection? Oh, yeah.
00:15:55
Speaker 2: Wait till you hear this when we return, because I'm telling you, it's a doozy. And you will not hear this anywhere else except on 107.9 FM WBT, Breaking with Brett Jensen. Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jensen here on this Wednesday night. So we're talking about the investigation into CMS, information that you're not going to hear anywhere else. So I've already told you about two major conflicts of interest. the state superintendent, and the chair of the state school board each have long histories and basically employment with CMS. One is a school board member and the other one working several years as general counsel, COO, and deputy superintendent, which means number two in charge.
00:16:44
Speaker 3: Okay? That's a major issue, but yet they're going to be investigating.
00:16:48
Speaker 2: You tell me they don't have friends that work for CMS, I would call you a massive, liar if you actually said that. If you told me that, that they don't have any friends there, there's no way I would believe that. No way I would believe that. Because people have worked at CMS for 25, 30 years. Now, granted, most of the people they know are probably gone, but still, there's still the connections. But here's the coup de grace.
00:17:22
Speaker 3: Here's the bow on top.
00:17:26
Speaker 2: The previous number two at CMS, deputy superintendent, is a woman that goes by the name Melissa Bognight. Because she was number two, she was the acting superintendent when Crystal Hill was suspended, right? Then they bring Crystal Hill back, and then she goes back to her role as number two. And then she was like, from everything that I heard, or I can't hear, I don't think I reported this. I could be wrong. I just lose track.
00:18:06
Speaker 3: Was like turning in her resignation or was getting ready to retire. I'm not sure.
00:18:11
Speaker 2: I can't remember if she did or not. But she was, from everything I've been told, she was basically going to. But then Melissa, then Crystal Hill gets fired. And Melissa Balknight, being number two, once again ascends to the role of acting superintendent until the school board can find an interim superintendent. And then when they have the interim superintendent, they will try and find a new superintendent. Well, Melissa Balknight is now the acting superintendent. And there's a very high probability, nothing's guaranteed, but a very high probability that she's going to be named the interim superintendent. Just try and finish out the year, right? It's been such a cluster with CMS for so long. Let's just minimize the damage. Let's not have Melissa come in and then another person come in as interim. Let's just ride Melissa into this final school year. So odds are she's going to be named interim. I don't know that for a fact, but I think odds are pretty good. Here's the problem with Melissa Balknight. From the research that I've done, as someone tipped me off to this, and I've tried to do my independent verification, and from what I have found, and I believe to be 100% accurate, and if I am wrong, I will be on this radio station tomorrow, telling everyone that I was wrong and doing a mea culpa, but I don't believe I'm wrong.
00:19:56
Speaker 3: I believe that I'm right, or otherwise I wouldn't be saying this.
00:20:01
Speaker 2: Melissa Balknight, the acting superintendent and most likely to be named interim superintendent, the odds-on favorite to be named interim superintendent. Her sister, Melissa Bognight's sister, Stacy Wilson Norman, is the chief academic officer for NCDPI, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, which means she works directly under the state superintendent. So you have the state superintendent, Mo Green, who used to work for CMS, the person directly.
00:20:45
Speaker 3: Underneath him who's in charge.
00:20:49
Speaker 2: Of, who's the chief academic officer for North Carolina, her sister's running CMS. And then the head of the state school board chair used to be on the CMS school board. So do you think You could actually get an unbiased investigation by this group into CMS.
00:21:14
Speaker 3: Well, Brett, they'll recuse themselves.
00:21:16
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm going to use a sports analogy, and I know we're up against the break, and I've got to, and I want to make this as simple for you. Everyone knows of March Madness, the NCAA basketball tournament. Every year, NCAA basketball tournament every year in March. They call it March Madness, right? Final Four, all that. When they're selecting the 64 teams and they're deciding what 64 teams go in, when it comes to picking the teams, it's always these athletic directors in the room that are picking the teams. Let's say Travers is the athletic director for Appalachian State where he went to school.
00:21:52
Speaker 3: When it comes time, and Appalachian State's in the bubble. They might get in, they might not.
00:21:56
Speaker 2: When it comes time for them to decide on Appalachian State, Travers leaves the room.
00:22:03
Speaker 3: The athletic director will leave.
00:22:04
Speaker 2: The room, and then the remaining people will vote as to whether or not to put Appalachian State in the tournament.
00:22:11
Speaker 3: Well, guess what?
00:22:12
Speaker 2: About 99 times out of 100, they put that team into the tournament because even though Travers left while they did the vote, he's still walking back into that room to do the other votes.
00:22:24
Speaker 3: They're going to take care of their buddies.
00:22:30
Speaker 2: And so do you think an investigation would happen to take out or go after people at CMS that have relationships, including the sister of who's running CMS? You think the other board members would do anything to hurt those people?
00:22:46
Speaker 3: Of course not.
00:22:48
Speaker 2: Even though it may not be directly said, there is still an influence. Oh man, I don't want to, I don't want to really go after, um, Stacey Wilson-Norman's sister, who's the acting superintendent, or any of their friends. I'd feel bad going after their close personal friends or their family friend or their sister. I've told lawmakers, I've asked lawmakers about this, and they said, yeah, we're going to have to get an independent third party to do the investigation. NCDPI and the state school board, NCDPI is basically the superintendent's office, and then the school board, the two separate entities. we can't have them because even if they do it on the up and up, there still could be possibly influence. And oh, by the way, it just looks horrible. So you're going to have to have an independent investigation. NCDPI cannot do an investigation with the state school board.
00:23:43
Speaker 3: They just can't. They're way too compromised in this.
00:23:47
Speaker 2: And by the way, you're not hearing this anywhere else in the city of Charlotte.
00:23:51
Speaker 3: I promise you that. No one else had this. Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jensen for a few more minutes before T.J. Ritchie takes over from 7 to 9.
00:24:08
Speaker 2: By the way, boys and girls, make sure you call the neighbors and wake the children on Saturday.
00:24:16
Speaker 3: Ever wondered what the WBT team does on the weekends? Probably not. You probably don't want to know what the hell I do on the weekends. It might scar you for life. But it's time to find out, for better or for worse....
00:24:35
Speaker 2: We're going to have to get a lot of these people out of church and keep them home from church on that night, on a Saturday night.
00:24:42
Speaker 3: Because they're all super nice people here. That's why I'm saying that. It's not a dig.
00:24:45
Speaker 2: They're just super, super nice. And then here comes Brett, the heathen of the group. Not Winnable, Jensen, the heathen.
00:24:53
Speaker 3: But WBT's Talktoberfest is back.
00:24:56
Speaker 2: Join WBT on our Facebook live feed every Saturday and Sunday in Talktober.
00:25:00
Speaker 3: At 6 p.m. for an hour of unscripted conversations.
00:25:03
Speaker 2: Now, I know most people like to eat dinner at six o'clock on a Saturday, either at a restaurant or at home.
00:25:11
Speaker 3: I get it. I get it. Six o'clock on a Saturday? Yeah, that could be a pain in the rear end to try and watch. I get it.
00:25:19
Speaker 2: But that's why God invented mobile phones. And that's also why God invented earbuds or headphones. You could literally sit at a restaurant Ignore your wife or ignore your husband or ignore your children, and you can listen to us on your phone and watch us live stream.
00:25:40
Speaker 3: Here's the best part, though. These conversations are going to be unscripted, and you can ask us anything. Here's the thing.
00:25:46
Speaker 2: Here's the way I've always treated things. People ask me questions. Oh, I don't mean to get personal. Can I ask you a question?
00:25:51
Speaker 3: I'm like, yeah, dude. I literally ask questions for a living.
00:25:56
Speaker 2: That's my job is to ask questions. And a lot of them are very deeply personal questions. And it would be exceedingly hypocritical of me to only ask questions and to never answer questions. Like the old saying as a manager, I'm not asking you to do a job that I haven't done myself or I wouldn't do myself.
00:26:18
Speaker 3: I'm not asking you to do anything I wouldn't do or haven't done. It's the same thing.
00:26:22
Speaker 2: Now, I also find it hypocritical when news stations clam up when people are asking questions about them and they do nothing. I find that exceedingly hypocritical. Dude, you're a news station and you're trying to not give out the truth?
00:26:35
Speaker 3: Really? Transparency? That always bothers me. But you can ask us anything.
00:26:41
Speaker 2: And I will, anyone who knows me knows I will give a brutally honest answer.
00:26:47
Speaker 3: For better or for worse.
00:26:48
Speaker 2: Very first time I met Marsha, the GM, The very first time we met, we had lunch. I said, you can ask me anything, but I'm going to give you an honest answer. I said, so don't ask me a question unless you really want the answer. I said, even if it's going to hurt your feelings, I will tell you the answer. Don't ask unless you really want to know. So, again, it's going to be Saturday and Sunday, 6 p.m., WVT's Talktoberfest 2026. And visit WBT.com for details. But it's going to be on our Facebook live stream. And this Saturday is my only appearance on Talktoberfest. 6 p.m. I can't promise there won't be adult beverages involved. But it's me and Mark Garrison. Last year, it was me and the most mysterious man in the world, Vince Coakley. We did it last year together. And the year before that, Bo Thompson and I did it on my rooftop.
00:27:53
Speaker 3: In South Charlotte. And then the year before that, I did them.
00:27:57
Speaker 2: On my balcony with a cocktail.
00:27:59
Speaker 3: And a cigar. So I don't know where I'll be this Saturday, but I will be there and in living color.
00:28:07
Speaker 2: Saturday night, 6 o'clock, along with Mark Garrison, just the two of us.
00:28:12
Speaker 3: And feel free to fire away.
00:28:15
Speaker 2: There is nothing I won't talk about and nothing that I won't be as brutally honest with you as I can.
00:28:22
Speaker 3: Like, I'll tell you whatever. Don't care.
00:28:26
Speaker 2: When I became, when I started doing sports radio in 2011, full time, because I was always like a guest, you know, a guest show up once a week. But when I started doing it every day, I promised myself I would be brutally honest about pretty much everything. Because if I told a lie or whatever, I wouldn't be able to remember the lie. Like, if you're just constantly telling lies or not being honest or whatever, I'd forget what I said, and then I'd end up contradicting myself. So I was like, you know what? I'm just going to be brutally honest. Whether it's my personal life, whether it's my health. How many times have I talked to you guys about my health?
00:29:02
Speaker 3: Quite a bit.
00:29:04
Speaker 2: So, which, by the way, just for the record, I'm down 17 pounds. Down 17. So I actually lost five pounds in China. It didn't feel like eating mule.
00:29:16
Speaker 3: So, all right. Or donkey. Whatever it was. Donkey. Mule. Whatever it was. Donkey. That's what it was. Donkey. Lonnie. Donkey, dude. Would you rather eat chitlins or donkey? I think I'll eat that donkey. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. All day. All day. That's it. All right, everyone. So that's going to do it for us tonight.
00:29:44
Speaker 2: Again, me and Mark Garrison Saturday night on Facebook, WBT.com or WBT's Facebook page.
00:29:49
Speaker 3: Me and Mark Garrison live Saturday night. All right.
00:29:51
Speaker 2: TJ Richie is coming up next. He's going to take you to 9 o'clock. My name is Brett Jensen, and you have been listening to Breaking with Brett Jensen.
