Interview: UNC coronavirologist didn't trust Chinese partners | $300k handout to Harnett rep's neighborhood | Anti-Trumpers behind highway accidents? | Wake County curtails public mugshot access
No. 186 — Jul. 19-Jul. 25, 2026
The overdue state budget passed into law this month includes $300k in taxpayer dollars earmarked for a private neighborhood where a Harnett Republican representative resides, using a “reserve” process described as a “shell game” to hide true spending totals.
Are leftist anti-Trump demonstrators who regularly gather on a greenway bridge in Durham causing traffic accidents on the highway below?
Wake County is shutting down its online mugshot/arrest record portal, to be replaced with an in-person kiosk in downtown Raleigh. Is this really to comply with a state law, or is it yet another decision related to the government’s “core value” of DEI?
A recently released transcript of a Senate committee interview with UNC-Chapel Hill coronavirologist Dr. Ralph Baric reveals additional details on gain-of-function research on Chinese bat coronavirus, including his lack of confidence in the trustworthiness of partners at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
General Assembly gives $300k to Harnett legislator’s HOA
Gated community gets $300,000 in NC budget - Carolina Journal
EXCLUSIVE: Private posts credit NC lawmaker with securing $300K for gated community where he lives - Carolina Journal
The state budget recently passed by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Josh Stein includes $300k in special appropriations for the Carolina Lakes Property Owners’ Association, a neighborhood in southwest Harnett County of which Rep. Joseph Pike (R-Harnett) just-so-happens to be a resident.
The budget allocates $160k of taxpayer dollars for “emergency services needs” of the private community, and $140k for “various needs, including shelter replacement, repair, and maintenance.”
According to screenshots obtained by the Carolina Journal from a private Facebook page for the community, Pike’s neighbors credit him with obtaining the handout for the neighborhood, with messages such as “Thank you, Joe Pike, for going to bat for our community” and “Thanks Joe Pike, way to represent!”
Analysis from the John Locke Foundation reveals that the Regional Economic Development Reserve from which these funds are allocated is part of a recent trend which allows legislators to earmark funds for specific projects which are not counted as part of the $34.4 billion which is reported as the “net appropriations” in the budget report. (A total of approximately $3 billion was funneled through these “reserves,” according to the Johne Locke analysis, which is nearly a 10% increase over the widely-reported “total.”)
Are leftist bridge demonstrators causing highway crashes?
Crash data raises safety questions about bridge protests on I-40 - Carolina Journal
A regular demonstration by left-wing activists held on a bridge over a major Durham interstate during rush hour appears to be responsible for a massive increase in vehicular accidents, according to data analyzed by the Carolina Journal.
The location in question, where the American Tobacco Trail crosses I-40 in the southern outskirts of Durham, has been the site of demonstrations organized by Engaged Durhamites for Democracy aka Engaged Defenders for Democracy for over a year, as part of the “resistance” under Trump’s second term, with signs and flags often featuring anti-Trump, anti-Musk/anti-DOGE, and pro-Ukraine themes.
According to the Carolina Journal report, the number of crashes is over twice as high during the hours in which these demonstrations regularly take place:
After hearing reports from motorists about crashes and backups near the bridge, Carolina Journal reviewed DOT crash records between exits 273 and 278 on I-40 in Durham during recurring Wednesday and Thursday demonstrations from May 1, 2025, through April 30, 2026.
Rear-end collisions increased by 157% during the protest period, according to the analysis. The crashes caused more than $80,000 in estimated property damage.
— Crash data raises safety questions about bridge protests on I-40 (Carolina Journal) July 23, 2026
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the drivers distracted by the demonstration include both supporters and detractors, with one in a bridge protest describing to the Carolina Journal an incident in which a driver crashed his truck while giving them the middle finger:
ED4D is part of (or perhaps the founder of) the Triangle Unified Bridge Brigade, which lists locations stretching down to Chapel Hill and Apex, as well as to the opposite side of Raleigh. ED4D has also been involved in organizing non-bridge related events, such as a series of protests at the a local Tesla or various small gatherings, as well as participation in organizing the nationwide 50501/anti-Trump protests.
Wake County curtails mugshot access
Wake County ending era of online mug shots - Axios
Wake County to deactivate arrest and mugshot website, move info to a single kiosk downtown - CBS17
Wake County is removing its online portal for seeing arrest records. Here’s why. - N&O
For years, Wake County has led its neighbors in public accessibility to arrest records, with the county’s Bureau of Forensic Services maintaining an online portal allowing the public to access mugshots and other public records relating to arrests by law enforcement agencies across the county.
However, according to a notice now visible to users of the desktop version of the website, access to this data will now be restricted to a “public kiosk” available during business hours at the county building in downtown Raleigh:
Notice
Effective August 17, 2026, this website will be deactivated. All information currently available on this portal will be accessible on a public kiosk located in the main lobby of the John H. Baker Jr. Public Safety Center, 330 S. Salisbury St., Raleigh, NC.
This lobby is open Monday-Friday, 8:30a-5:00p, and closed on Wake County approved holidays.
Questions concerning this change may be submitted via telephone to 919-255-7369.
— Wake County Bureau of Forensic Services (Retrieved July 27, 2026)
According to the explanation given by the bureau’s director to various news outlets, this restriction of public access is a response to the “Second Chance Act,” which was passed unanimously by the NC legislature in 2020, which makes it easier for criminals to get their records expunged.
Director Sam Pennica told Axios that they “get calls weekly” from expunged offenders upset that their booking records are still available via the portal, with Pennica explaining that his office does not receive updates from the judicial system to remove records which have been automatically expunged.
This justification is somewhat ironic given that Pennica attributes the creation of the portal in 2007 to daily requests from “The Slammer,” a $1 tabloid based on the publication of mugshots.
The restriction of access has apparently been under consideration since at least 2021, when the News & Observer reported on an unsuccessful attempt to exempt mugshots from the public records act.
However, this measure does not appear to affect which records which are available: members of the public will still be able access the Wake County arrest/booking records for these “expunged” criminals, but only after jumping through the same hoops which they must jump through to access records for non-expunged arrestees, which are covered under North Carolina’s public records act (NC GS 132).
Ulterior motive?
In 2020, a number of major news outlets announced that they would be pulling back on the use of mugshots, such as WRAL citing that “many observers have begun to question the value of these photos and their potential for either reinforcing or creating stereotypes” and the Tampa Bay Times referencing that “several news organizations have discontinued such galleries amid criticism that they disproportionately show black and brown faces.”
(Although in line with the BLM movement that swept the nation in the summer of 2020, WRAL’s announcement actually preceded the death of George Floyd by two months.)
While no county officials appear to have made a statement to this effect regarding mugshot access, one might not be too far off base in making the connection in a county which used COVID-19 stimulus funds for a DEI initiative to achieve a goal of fewer “white male” firefighters and listed the “foster[ing] of diversity, equity, and inclusion” on its “Core Values” web page up until mid-2025, where the school district is applying DEI to the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, and which is dominated by a city pursuing a DEI agenda despite federal and state efforts to crack down.
The Triangle Trumpet, on the other hand, takes a polar opposite approach to disseminating information; if the data shows that a particular race, ethnicity, or sex is disproportionately committing crime in general (or a crime specifically), that is a pattern the public should be able to be aware of.
For instance, the tool in question was recently used to report that while 17 out of 27 adults arrested at a “teen takeover” at Glenwood South were not teens, zero out of those 27 were not black:
In addition, the arrest record data exposed by this portal was used in our report last year showing that while Hispanics only make up ~12% of the Wake County population, they are over 40% of the arrests for “statutory” offenses involving sexual conduct with minors.
Follow-up
Senate committee interview w/ Ralph Baric reveals details on gain-of-function research, etc.
Transcribed Interview of Dr. Ralph Baric - The Reading Room (Sen. Rand Paul)
Ralph Baric Just Blew Up the Official COVID Origins Narrative - Dr. Robert W. Malone
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) has released a transcript of an interview with now-retired UNC coronavirologist Dr. Ralph Baric as part of an investigation into the “origins of COVID-19 and risky taxpayer-funded life sciences research” by the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, of which Paul is the chairman.
The interview contains details about the infamous DEFUSE proposal, which involved bat coronaviruses, gain-of-function research, Baric, and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and has been described as the “blueprint” for how the deadly virus could have been created in a lab.
Baric confirmed to the interviewer that the proposal was in response to a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program which was indeed soliciting “gain-of-function” research, specifically investigating cross-species transmission of viruses “down to the nucleotide level.”
Although the DEFUSE proposal specified that the gain-of-function portion of the research into Chinese bat coronaviruses would have been done by Baric in Chapel Hill at the University of North Carolina, Baric admitted in the interview that he was not confident that his Chinese partners would have followed through with the proposed cooperation:
MS. SALAZAR: And who was going to be doing [the gain-of-function experiment]?
DR. BARIC: That part would be done by me.
MS. SALAZAR: Okay.
DR. BARIC: Well, at least that’s the way the grant was written initially. Whether that would have functionally happened is a fair question, because if the Chinese discovered the virus, the question always exists whether they would share it with me to do that work or not.
MS. SALAZAR: If you were on the proposal, you would have expected that they would?
DR. BARIC: I would have, but I would also be uncertain that they would do that.
— HSGAC: Transcribed Interview of Dr. Ralph Baric (pp. 92-93) April 10, 2026
(Although the DEFUSE proposal was not funded by DARPA, many believe that SARS-CoV-2 is a result of the research described in the proposal being conducted under sub-par biosafety precautions at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.)
Other “key findings” identified in the cover to the transcription release include:
Undisclosed Baric Experiment Undercuts Key Argument in Proximal Origins Paper That COVID Wasn’t Engineered
On the Secret Feb. 1 Call — Unexplained Presence, and Conflicting Accounts of Whether He Spoke
Paid U.S. Intelligence Community Biodefense Advisor Sent a Taxpayer-Funded Mouse Model to Wuhan
Five Years to Disclose EcoHealth’s USAID Funding on the 2015 WIV Paper with Dr. Shi
NIH Could Not Locate Its Own Gain-of-Function Review Records
Previous Coverage:
Public Records Lawsuit Against UNC by Medical Watchdog Group Investigating COVID-19 Origins Advances (Original Article — Nov. 6, 2023)
UNC claims “research project collaborations” are exempt from public records statute in COVID-19 origins investigation lawsuit (No. 57 — Feb. 3, 2024)
U.S. Right to Know public records lawsuit reveals efforts to evade transparency (No. 58 — Feb. 10, 2024)
Coronavirus Pandemic Subcommittee alleges FBI interest in UNC/COVID origins public records requests (No. 59 — Feb. 17, 2024)
UNC COVID-19 Origins Public Records Lawsuit: what does “proprietary mean”? (No. 61 — Mar. 2, 2024)
“Stop Gain of Function” rally at UNC-Chapel Hill (No. 62 — Mar. 9, 2024)
UNC-linked coronavirus researcher accused of “discrepancies in testimony” (No. 66 — Apr. 6, 2024)
UNC coronavirologist Ralph Baric: “can’t rule out” lab leak origin of COVID-19 (No. 70 — May 4, 2024)
3rd Party Report Finds UNC Withheld Public Records Requested by Medical Watchdog Group Investigating COVID-19 Origins (Original Article — Aug. 1, 2024)
Judge rules in favor of UNC in public records suit brought by medical watchdog investigating COVID-19 (No. 94 — Oct. 19, 2024)
U.S. Right to Know appeals public records lawsuit ruling vs UNC (No. 99 — Nov. 23, 2024)
UNC lab leaks? Evidence indicates seven lab-acquired SARS-CoV-2 infections in Chapel Hill during pandemic, researchers say (interview) (Original Article — Apr. 26, 2025)
US Right to Know files brief filed in appeal of UNC COVID-origins public records lawsuit (No. 126 — May 31, 2025)
COVID-19 origins transparency? Legislative committee requests UNC records (No. 128 — Jun. 14, 2025)
AG Jackson files response to COVID-19 origins public records appeal (No. 136 — Aug. 9, 2025)
Appeals court sides with UNC in public records lawsuit over COVID-19 origins (No. 158 — Jan. 10, 2026)
Lead COVID-19 virologist placed on leave from UNC? (No. 174 — May 2, 2026)
Confirmed: UNC coronavirologist to retire as feds block grant funding over gain of function misdeeds (No. 176 — May 16, 2026)