Proposed state aid bill is an insult
The number is $53.6 billion. That’s the estimate from the N.C. Office of State Budget and Management for the damage Helene inflicted on Western North Carolina. Those are just dollars; in the bigger picture, lives have been lost, transformed and forever changed.
Rental assistance available for homeowners, renters
Homeowners and renters in North Carolina may be eligible for FEMA Rental Assistance if they cannot live in their homes because of damage due to Tropical Storm Helene.
Helene disaster isn’t over
To the Editor:
I was finally able to get through the travel hazards back to Western North Carolina six days after Helene’s historic fury had torn through our region devastating roadways, major infrastructure, entire communities and thousands of lives.
‘Rock for Relief’ raises over $32K
The recent “Rock for Relief: A WNC Flood Benefit Festival” was able to garner more than $32,000 in its one-day musical extravaganza.
State and feds look to head off economic disaster from Helene in Haywood
With the North Carolina General Assembly’s preliminary $273 million relief bill in the rearview mirror, Western North Carolina Sen. Kevin Corbin (R-Macon) is looking down the road at the General Assembly’s next move — a billion-dollar relief bill coming Oct. 24. During a recent meeting with Haywood County officials, Corbin spent about an hour trying to learn what, exactly, the needs are.
“I can promise you what you won't get,” Corbin said. “You won't get things you don't ask for.”
‘Operation Airdrop’: Volunteers take to the skies to deliver disaster aid
Anyone on the internet knows that it can be a place of negativity and division. But it’s also a powerful tool for connection, and in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Crystal Cochran harnessed that connection to build a community of volunteers that provided vital assistance to thousands in Western North Carolina.
If you build it they will come: Haywood County livestock center becomes crucial aid distribution hub
Dan Messer would have preferred to host a livestock auction on Monday, but instead he was working one in a string of countless dawn-to-midnight days coordinating aid distribution out of the WNC Regional Livestock Center in Canton.
Disaster relief available due to drought
Agriculture Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack declared a natural disaster in North Carolina based on losses caused by drought that occurred beginning Nov. 1, 2023, and continuing.