How NC rates on tobacco control + AG calls on ‘Grok’ to stop making deepfakes

Good morning! Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi and T. Keung Hui bringing you Friday’s Under the Dome newsletter.

The federal government in late 2019 passed a law raising the minimum age for tobacco sales to 21. This legislation, known as “Tobacco 21” or “T21,” took effect immediately and covers cigarettes, e-cigarettes, hookah and more.

But North Carolina, long tied to tobacco production, remains one of just seven states where tobacco can still be sold to people 18 and older. While federal officials can enforce the federal law, state agencies are unable to.

Lawmakers in the GOP-led legislature have made several bipartisan attempts to raise the age to 21, including in 2025, but those efforts have failed. The state’s Child Fatality Task Force — a legislative study commission that examines the causes of child deaths — has repeatedly endorsed legislation to align North Carolina with federal law and regulate the industry.

The American Lung Association on Wednesday released a report calling for the state to raise the age and ramp up efforts to reduce tobacco use, the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the country. The report also urged North Carolina to implement a retail licensing system for tobacco sales.

In the 2026 report, North Carolina received the following grades:

• Funding for State Tobacco Prevention Programs – Grade F
• Level of State Tobacco Taxes – Grade F
• Strength of Smokefree Workplace Laws – Grade F
• Coverage and Access to Services to Quit Tobacco – Grade D
• Ending the Sale of All Flavored Tobacco Products – Grade F

The report also said that the tobacco control landscape “fundamentally changed” in 2025 following federal actions. This included, the report said, staffing cuts at the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, the virtual elimination of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, and a months-long delay in congressionally appropriated funding. The closure of the CDC office led to the loss of North Carolina’s federal funding for tobacco prevention and control, according to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, The News & Observer previously reported.

AI deepfakes

Another area that needs regulation is artificial intelligence, according to North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson.

Jackson and 34 other state attorneys general sent a letter this week to xAI, the AI company owned by billionaire Republican megadonor Elon Musk, calling on it to stop Grok, its AI chatbot, from generating deepfake, nonconsensual intimate images of real people — including children — and to remove any such images that remain.

“This is about basic dignity. No one should be able to use AI to digitally undress you and post it online against your will. xAI needs to ban the creation of nonconsensual sexual images and remove the existing images now,” said Jackson in a news release. “The use of this tool to harass and demean women was entirely predictable and never should have been allowed to happen in the first place.”

Jackson, a Democrat, and Utah Attorney General Derek Brown, a Republican, formed a bipartisan AI Task Force last year to identify safeguards developers should follow to protect the public, and the group held its first meeting last week, according to Jackson’s release. In December, President Donald Trump signed an executive order limiting state regulation of artificial intelligence. The rapid emergence of AI is also raising alarms for the state’s child fatality task force, The N&O reported.

Call for Leandro court ruling

Public education supporters are urging the N.C. Supreme Court to issue a long-delayed ruling on the Leandro school funding case.

It’s been more than 700 days since the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in February 2024 challenging a 2022 ruling ordering the transfer of $1.7 billion of state funds to public schools. Friday is the next potential release date for new court decisions.

“Our students should not have to fight to win what the constitution has already promised them,” Bryan Proffitt, vice president of the North Carolina Association of Educators, said at a press conference Thursday in front of the State Capitol. “So we are here today to ask the court on behalf of those young people. Do your job. Honor the constitution. Rule to mandate the funding of Leandro. Stop the delay and put our kids first.”

The Leandro case dates back to 1994 when five school districts sued the state for more funding. In 2021, a judge ruled that the state had failed to live up to its constitutional duty to provide students with a sound basic education so he ordered state leaders to transfer more money to schools.

Just days before the 2022 midterm elections, the Supreme Court, which then had a Democratic majority, upheld the lower court ruling. Republicans gained the majority on the court in the 2022 election and proceeded to block the money transfer and grant a request from GOP legislative leaders to rehear the 2022 decision.

Speakers at the press conference organized by Progress NC acknowledged it’s unlikely that the court will uphold the 2022 ruling.

“As advocates, our eyes are wide open,” said Sarah Montgomery of Every Child NC, a coalition of groups that supports the 2022 Leandro ruling. “We’re not expecting a captured court to deliver justice for our children.”

What else we’ve been working on

• NC’s Thom Tillis calls for Kristi Noem’s removal — and not just over Minneapolis
• With raises on the line, why NC House Speaker Destin Hall isn’t budging
• What you should know about Republican NC House Speaker Destin Hall
• As immigration debate rages after Minnesota shootings, these 3 NC reps are silent
• Gov. Stein declares new state of emergency as NCDOT preps for snow Friday night

Thanks for reading Under the Dome

That’s all for today, but we hope to see you right back here on Sunday.

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Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi

The News & Observer

Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi is a politics reporter for the News & Observer. She reports on health care, including mental health and Medicaid expansion, hurricane recovery efforts and lobbying. Luciana previously worked as a Roy W. Howard Fellow at Searchlight New Mexico, an investigative news organization.