The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved and paid more than $63 million to residents of Buncombe County in housing and financial assistance for Tropical Storm Helene.
FEMA had paid a total of nearly $174 million in North Carolina as of Oct. 26, one month into the disaster recovery, according to data provided to Asheville Watchdog. Buncombe, the hardest hit county, received the most, 36 percent of the total.
Nearly 77,000 applicants in Buncombe had been approved for assistance under FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program, which pays expenses not covered by insurance including rental assistance or lodging costs for those displaced from their homes, repair or replacement costs of owner-occupied homes, and repairs to privately-owned roads and bridges necessary to access homes.
FEMA assistance includes an initial payment of $750 per household for immediate expenses such as shelter, evacuation, food, hygiene products, and other basic needs.
Applicants may receive total assistance of up to $42,500 for housing and $42,500 for “other needs” such as replacement of vehicles or personal property and reimbursement for moving, medical and funeral expenses.
While far more assistance had been approved in Buncombe than elsewhere, the data show the average amount, $821 per applicant, is less than that of nine other counties, where the average payment ranged from $871 to $1,389 per applicant. FEMA is still processing applications so those averages will change.
FEMA had approved more than $173 million in individual assistance in North Carolina as of Oct. 26. The Watchdog calculated average awards based on FEMA data; those will change as more applications are processed. // Watchdog graphic by Sally Kestin; source FEMA data
FEMA had approved more than $173 million in individual assistance in North Carolina as of Oct. 26. The Watchdog calculated average awards based on FEMA data; those will change as more applications are processed. // Watchdog graphic by Sally Kestin; source FEMA data
The county totals FEMA provided do not break down the type of assistance or contain total applications, including the number that have been denied.
In Henderson County, more than 24,000 applicants had received nearly $24 million, the second highest total of the 39 counties and one tribe that have been approved for disaster assistance. In McDowell County, the third highest, nearly 10,000 applicants had received more than $10 million.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump falsely claimed that FEMA was out of money because it had diverted $1 billion to illegal immigrants. The disinformation centers on a federal grant program for immigrant housing that comes from a separate budget funded by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP); they are not FEMA funds. Conspiracy theorists said the storm was manufactured by Democrats and that FEMA was confiscating survivors’ property. There is no truth to either assertion.
A man was arrested in Rutherford County earlier this month after allegedly threatening to hunt down FEMA workers. FEMA temporarily stopped sending aid workers into neighborhoods to knock on doors until the threat passed. It also created a rumor response page to combat misinformation.
FEMA encourages those affected by Helene to apply for assistance. “If you have insurance, you should file a claim with your insurance company immediately,” according to the Helene disaster web page. “FEMA assistance cannot help with losses already covered by insurance.”
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Sally Kestin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter. Email skestin@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-01 13:32:00
(The Center Square) – Directions on curriculum measured age appropriate and access in public libraries to materials considered harmful to minors are in a proposal at the North Carolina House of Representatives.
Parental Rights for Curriculum and Books, also known as House Bill 595, adds to state law a section for age-appropriate instruction for students; a human growth and development program for fourth and fifth graders; and says reproductive health and safety education shall not happen before seventh grade.
Rep. John A. Torbett, R-Gaston
NCLeg.gov
The bill authored by Rep. John Torbett, R-Gaston, and filed Monday additionally has sections on instructional materials and clarification of “defenses for material harmful to minors.” Public library access for minors is in a fourth section.
Gender identity instruction, a buzzword of recent election cycles, is prohibited prior to students entering the fifth grade. The proposal extends that to prior to the entering seventh grade.
The bill would require parental consent to learn about some elements associated with sex education – infections, contraception, assault and human trafficking.
State law allows schools the option to adopt local policies on parental consent for the reproductive health education.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-03-31 16:37:00
(The Center Square) – Judicial warfare is eroding the confidence in Americans’ justice system leaving a blight on justice itself, says a North Carolina congresswoman who leads the Rules Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C, is speaking out against judges blocking the president’s decisions as granted in the Constitution ahead of a Tuesday congressional hearing.
“As of late, we have certainly seen a slew of rulings by rogue judges that surpass their own constitutional authority,” she said in a post to social media Monday afternoon. “This is judicial warfare in the flesh. If it is not remedied in a commonsense and expeditious fashion, these exercises in partisanship will do further irreparable damage to the nation and to the confidence of Americans in our justice system.”
More than a dozen orders from President Donald Trump – more than in the entire time Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W. Bush served as presidents – have been thwarted or attempted to be blocked. Among the judges in the spotlight is U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, a pivotal figure in deportation of people accused of being in gangs in addition to just being named to preside in a case involving military operations and a messaging app.
Boasberg, appointed by Bush to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 2002, was nominated to the federal bench by Obama and confirmed in the Senate 96-0 in 2012.
Boasberg on Wednesday issued and on Friday extended a temporary restraining order that prevents Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport people believed to be part of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. A hearing, Judicial Overreach and Constitutional Limits on the Federal Courts, is at 10 a.m. Tuesday to be conducted jointly by the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet, and the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government from within the Judiciar Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.
California Republican Darrell Issa is chairman of the former committee, Texas’ Chip Roy the latter. North Carolina Democrat Deborah Ross is a minority member of the former; North Carolina Republican Mark Harris is a majority member of the latter.
Witnesses scheduled include former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Cindy Romero, a victim of criminal activity believed perpetrated by Tren de Aragua in Aurora, Colo. Also on the invite list are witnesses from the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation.
Other federal judges drawing fire from supporters of the president include Biden appointees Amir Ali, Loren AliKhan, Deborah Boardman, Angel Kelley and Brendan Hurson; Obama appointees Paul Engelmayer, Amy Berman Jackson, John McConnell and Leo Sorokin; Bush appointee Joseph Laplante; Bill Clinton appointee William Alsup; and Ronald Reagan appointees John Coughenhour and Royce Lamberth.
“Without question,” Foxx said, “exceeding constitutional mandates as a matter of judicial philosophy does nothing more than blight justice itself.”
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-03-31 15:21:00
(The Center Square) – Wildfires continued to burn Monday in the Carolinas, though a sign of optimism arose with a burning ban lifted in 41 South Carolina counties and measured rainfall in both states.
Largest of the fires is Table Rock in Pickens and Greenville counties of South Carolina. The Black Cove fire is burning in North Carolina’s Polk and Henderson counties, the Rattlesnake fire is burning Haywood County, and the Alarka 5 fire is in Swain County.
South Carolina’s Horry County at the Atlantic Ocean and North Carolina border, and the northwestern counties of Spartanburg, Greenville, Pickens and Oconee remain under a burning ban. In North Carolina, all 100 counties have a ban in effect.
The Table Rock fire size is about 13,191 acres in South Carolina and 574 in North Carolina, the Forestry Commission of the former said. Containment is about 30%.
The Persimmon Ridge fire is 2,078 acres in size with 64% containment. Rain Sunday into Monday measured nearly 1 inch.
The Covington Drive Fire in Myrtle Beach is about 85% contained and in mop-up and strengthened firebreaks stage.
In North Carolina, the Black Cove complex of fires are 7,672 acres in size. It includes the Black Cove (3,502 acres, 36% contained), Deep Woods (3,971 acres, 32% contained) and Fish Hook (199 acres, 100% contained) fires. Rainfall overnight into Monday helped the battle.
