by Jane Winik Sartwell, Carolina Public Press April 2, 2025
Six months later and still out of a job. That’s the reality for nearly 13,000 Asheville residents half a year after Tropical Storm Helene struck Western North Carolina.
In the wake of the historic storm, hundreds of businesses closed. The region’s multibillion dollar tourism sector took a devastating hit. Thousands of people were severed from their jobs. Many have not returned to the workforce.
Asheville, a city of roughly 95,000 people, typically boasts the lowest unemployment rate of North Carolina’s municipalities.
As of January, the most recent figures available, Asheville had a 6% unemployment rate — the state’s highest — according to the N.C. Department of Commerce.
Clark Duncan, director of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, calls the ranking a “new and unwelcome accolade.”
Help wanted in Asheville
Rocky Mount and Fayetteville, each hovering around 5% unemployment, are giving Asheville a run for its money.
The capital city of Raleigh is home to North Carolina’s lowest jobless rate at 3.2%.
And statewide, that number is a respectable 4%.
But Asheville’s high rate of unemployment doesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t jobs in the region, according to one expert.
“Buncombe County certainly does not have a jobs problem,” said Andrew Berger-Gross, a senior economist for the N.C. Department of Commerce. “What they have is an unemployment problem. We see employers hiring, but there is a large contingent of workers who have not returned to work.”
First, there is what economists call a “matching problem.” Meaning, the jobs that need to be filled do not match the skills and interests of the unemployed.
There are 20,000 job openings in the region, according to Nathan Ramsey, director of the Mountain Area Workforce Development Board. Sectors like health care and manufacturing are on track for normal hiring numbers. Plus, Helene actually created jobs in certain industries, such as construction and debris removal.
“You may be the best bartender in the world, the best server, the best cook — but does that mean you want to drive an 18-wheeler up mountain roads?,” Ramsey asked. “Does that mean you can do — or want to do — construction? Probably not.”
Second: Just because someone needs a job doesn’t mean they are ready or able to get one.
“It is safe to assume that a lot of those unemployed workers might be facing barriers to re-employment — like losing your home or losing your car,” Berger-Gross explained. “Frankly, some people might still be struggling with the emotional trauma of the hurricane’s destruction.
“A lot of these people may need help putting their lives back together before they are ready to return to the workforce.”
Though unemployment rates rose in Asheville and Buncombe County in winter months, the amount of open positions in the region is a positive sign for an economic rebound, as are increased retail sales and hotel occupancy.
But there are concerns that the state’s disaster unemployment program might not be working as it should.
“I get a lot of emails from folks who are kind of struggling with getting unemployment assistance,” state Sen. Julie Mayfield, D-Buncombe, told Carolina Public Press. “Either they’ve applied for it and they haven’t gotten it or they’ve been turned down because they’re back at work a little bit, but not full time.”
Mayfield is hopeful that tourists will arrive to watch wildflowers bloom across the Appalachians this spring.
But wildfires across Western North Carolina may jeopardize those plans.
Smoke signals
Closed trails and roads, mandatory evacuations and poor air quality have scared off springtime tourists and kept locals from their typical routines.
Adventure tourism businesses in the area aren’t operating, putting tour guides and other personnel out of work, said Brevard Mayor Maureen Copelof. Evacuation orders in her county were lifted early this week, but Brevard’s annual bike race — Assault on the Carolinas — was canceled due to the fires.
While most economic indicators in Western North Carolina have been trending positive, an additional natural disaster, such as these fires, threatens to stall recovery before the region can fully rebound.
There is an emotional impact of the wildfires as well. The din of helicopters above the mountains is a painful reminder of the panic and trauma of Helene. Plus, the downed trees and mangled forest floors from the storm make the blazes worse.
“Some people were really triggered by the fact that there was another threat to their home and their health on the six-month anniversary of Helene,” said Leah Matthews, a UNC-Asheville economics professor. “You have people thinking: ‘I’m just starting to rebuild this house and now I need to evacuate again.’”
In the wake of wildfire and flood, economic recovery in the mountains will require patience and a willingness to adapt. The community is wrestling with fundamental questions about its identity and future.
“The elephant in the room is that the region suffered a historic tragedy, and you can’t push rewind on the VCR of life,” Berger-Gross said. “You can’t go back to a time before the disaster hit — that is why it is a tragedy. All of us are trying to move to a better future for Asheville and for Western North Carolina more broadly. But will things be exactly like they were before the hurricane? No, they can’t be.”
by Jane Winik Sartwell, Carolina Public Press April 24, 2025
Six months ago, Washington Regional Medical Center in Plymouth declared bankruptcy for the second time in five years. Now, hospital leadership hopes that the facility will emerge from this latest financial hardship by late May.
That’s good news to the 10,713 residents of Washington County who need the hospital to stay in business. It’s the only one around.
The bad news is that it has never been harder to keep a rural hospital afloat, especially one that’s not connected to a larger health system. In adjacent Martin County, Martin General Hospital closed its doors in 2023. Thirteen more counties in the northeastern region of the state don’t have hospitals at all.
Should Washington Regional get through this, it will serve as a rare example of a rural hospital taking control of its shaky finances and preserving essential services for North Carolinians.
The good doctor
When Washington Regional Medical Center filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, it owed millions to a long list of creditors.
Dominion Energy is due roughly $300,000. The Washington County Tax Office is asking for over $150,000. Washington Regional also owes money to General Electric as well as a number of vendors, including the company that handles the hospital’s pharmaceutical operations. The full list of creditors includes more than 70 companies and organizations.
Texas-based Affinity Health Partners purchased the Washington County hospital after a catastrophic 2019 bankruptcy that led to liquidation under its previous owners. But by the end of the year, patients were back on the hospital floor.
Washington County, one of the poorest areas in North Carolina, also hosts some of the highest rates of infant mortality and other adverse health conditions, such as obesity and heart disease.
That makes Washington Regional Medical Center, with its 25 beds, a lifeline in an otherwise barren health landscape. It’s why the facility is designated as a “critical access hospital” by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
When neighboring Martin General Hospital closed, emergency room visitation at Washington Regional increased from 450 patients per month to over 600.
“The importance of the hospital cannot be overstated,” Plymouth Mayor Brian Roth told Carolina Public Press. “Especially since we’ve gotten all the patients who would have gone to Martin General.”
Washington Regional is ‘here to stay’
If Washington Regional did close, residents would have to drive hours to reach the nearest hospital — ECU Health Medical Center in Greenville. The flat, piney swampland on the Albemarle Sound is not easy to navigate, and public transit is pretty much nonexistent.
“We cannot lose the hospital here,” Roth said. “It just cannot happen.”
CEO Frank Avignone promises that it won’t.
“We used bankruptcy as a tool to reorganize our debt,” he explained. “We basically did it for one vendor who was giving us a hard time, and now that that is taken care of, the hospital is doing well. Patient volumes are up. We have a brand new CT scanner so we are increasing cardiac and pulmonary care. We have new doctors on staff. A new OB/GYN on staff. We’re not some fly-by-night community hospital being run by a crook using it as an ATM machine.
“The hospital is here to stay unless it burns to the ground.”
Washington Regional is not currently performing surgeries. Hospitals typically use specialty procedures as a way to generate revenue and offset the high costs of, say, operating an emergency room. The hope is that the hospital will renew surgical procedures at some point, adding a layer of financial security.
Meanwhile, another threat is looming: the $880 million cut to Medicaid currently being discussed by Republicans in Congress.
At Washington Regional Medical Center, 60% of patients are covered by Medicare or Medicaid, making the program a crucial source of funding for the hospital.
If that coverage goes away, the hospital’s finances may be thrown back into peril.
“We treat folks on Medicaid. That’s our population and that’s what we’re designed to do,” Avignone said. “We just have to balance the books. That’s what I’ve been trying to do — and it’s working.”
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
This assessment considers the overall tone and context of the content. The article discusses the challenges faced by rural hospitals, particularly Washington Regional Medical Center, and highlights the importance of public health services like Medicaid for vulnerable populations. It presents a sympathetic view of the hospital’s financial struggles, linking them to broader public policy issues (e.g., potential cuts to Medicaid proposed by Republicans). The emphasis on social welfare and the vital role of community health services reflect a center-left perspective focused on the importance of public healthcare systems and support for low-income residents. However, the piece does not overly politicize the issue and maintains an informative, fact-based approach, which prevents it from being categorized as far-left.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-23 16:32:00
(The Center Square) – State Board of Elections members are to remain the appointments of the governor of North Carolina and not shift to the state auditor on May 1, a three-judge panel in Wake County Superior Court said Wednesday.
The ruling impacts a portion of the third disaster relief bill from the General Assembly, though not the $252 million designated for western North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Helene. The 132-page proposal was heavily scrutinized because only the first 13 pages were related to Helene, and the remainder on changes to authority of elected positions.
Josh Stein was attorney general at the time and governor-elect, and Roy Cooper was in the final weeks of his second four-year term as governor. Both are Democrats. State Auditor Dave Boliek is a Republican.
The five-member state board and five-member county boards of elections are typically three members of the party of the governor, and two members of the state’s other major party.
Neither is the largest voting bloc. The state’s more than 7.4 million registered voters have more signing up as unaffiliated (37.6%) than any of the eight permitted parties.
In making the ruling, the court order said state and county boards “exercise executive functions” and paired that with a state Supreme Court ruling on Article III of the state constitution. It says the governor has “control over” the commissions and boards that are “executive in character.”
Critics say the state and county boards side with respective parties, creating many 3-2 votes. The Legislature, in addition to this attempted change, tried also to reduce the size of the state and county boards and change the appointments through a legislative act.
That, too, failed.
On social media, Stein wrote, “The North Carolina Constitution puts the governor in charge of executing the law. That’s what the voters elected me to do, so that’s what I’ll do.”
Cooper issued a veto of the legislation and each chamber of the General Assembly was successful on an override vote.
The duties of the State Board of Elections are not in the constitution. The auditor’s duties are as “prescribed by law.”
Stein, who advocated for cooperation with the Legislature upon taking his oath on Jan. 1 and in his State of the State address, has additional litigation against lawmakers pending Disaster Relief-3/Budget/Various Law Changes, known also as Senate Bill 382.
SUMMARY: Pope Francis’ body lies in state at St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing ahead of his funeral on Saturday. The public has been gathering to pay their respects, with lines sometimes stretching over five hours. Following the funeral, he will be buried in Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major. A conclave to elect a new pope will begin after May 6, with 138 cardinals voting until a two-thirds majority is reached. The process will be signaled by smoke from the Vatican chimney: black for inconclusive votes, white for a new pope. Francis is remembered for his humility, care for the poor, and progressive leadership.
The body of Pope Francis is lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica, where it will remain for three days until his funeral Saturday, expected to be attended by world leaders including US President Donald Trump.
His body was transferred to the basilica during a procession earlier Wednesday, and was followed by a service led by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who holds the position of “camerlengo” (or chamberlain) tasked with making arrangements for the funeral and conclave in the weeks ahead.
WRAL is your Raleigh, North Carolina news source. Check out our videos for the latest news in Raleigh, local sports, Raleigh weather, and more at https://WRAL.com
#localnews #northcarolina
