SUMMARY: Early voting began in Wake County, attracting long lines at polling stations, including a busy location in downtown Cary. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump are closely tied in polls, with each candidate actively attempting to appeal to diverse voter bases. Trump held a town hall addressing Latino voters and reiterated controversial claims about immigration. Meanwhile, Harris defended Biden’s presidency during a combative interview, emphasizing her unique qualifications and criticizing Trump’s rhetoric. Voters can use a wait time tracker online and must have proper ID for same-day registration. Early voting continues until November 2nd.
Voters eager to cast their ballots lined up at some polling places Thursday morning before dawn. North Carolina’s early voting period began at 8 a.m. Oct. 17 and runs through 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 2. Voters can cast ballots at any early voting site in the county where they’re registered to vote.
Wake County has a record 22 sites for early voting. Specific early voting days and times vary according to county.
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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.
by Jane Winik Sartwell, Carolina Public Press March 31, 2025
Corn farmers on food stamps and taking second jobs. Equipment not being repaired. Debts going unpaid.
That’s the reality for many North Carolina corn growers this spring.
Last year was the worst season for the crop in state history, according to Ronnie Heiniger, a corn specialist at N.C. State. Drought wiped out acre after acre in eastern North Carolina last summer. Hurricane Helene devastated any crops left in the mountains.
Normally a $750 million dollar business, corn yielded only $250 million in 2024.
The economic cost to farmers — and their communities — couldn’t be more serious. And with a moderate drought stretching into the early days of this planting season, some are worried about more bad luck to come.
Corn is particularly sensitive to drought due to the crop’s very short window of pollination: This critical period of growth is just a few days long. In North Carolina, that vulnerable timeframe usually happens in June. If no rain falls during those days, corn will simply not continue to grow and yields will sharply decline.
“It was just about as bad as it could get (last season),” Heiniger recalled. “There’s no recovering from 60 days without rainfall. The mood among these farmers is very depressed. Some don’t know where to turn.”
But the N.C. House of Representatives is trying to help, hoping that the money allocated by the Corn Farmers Recovery Act, or HB 296, will be enough to keep the industry going.
The bill — which has yet to make it past the Appropriations Committee, the Rules Committee, the House and Senate — would transfer nearly $90 million from the State Emergency Response and Disaster Relief Fund to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The money would go toward the creation of a 2024 Agricultural Disaster Corn Crop Loss Program, which corn farmers could apply to receive relief funds.
“To be honest, I don’t think most farmers thought the state was going to pay much attention to them,” Heiniger admitted. “This comes as a complete surprise.”
Corn farmers ‘at risk’
Corn is a summer staple on tables across North Carolina, but the crop also is necessary for feeding livestock and producing ethanol, which has a variety of uses. Sampson and Duplin counties, where pigs outnumber people 38 to 1, are home to the largest hog industries in the country. A shortage of feed could make that billion dollar business less profitable, too.
“I think a whole lot of farmers will be applying for this funding if it passes,” Zach Parker, an extension agent in Sampson County, told Carolina Public Press. “I don’t think devastation is understatement in the slightest. As for this summer, the only certainty is uncertainty. But I don’t think the corn industry is going anywhere. We have animals to feed.”
The bill would have the greatest economic impact in eastern North Carolina — the region with the largest, most valuable corn farms.
“In Wilson County, corn farmers have really been at risk,” said state Rep. Dante Pittman, a Democrat who serves Wilson and Nash counties and co-sponsored the Corn Farmers Recovery Act. “We saw an almost $4 million drop in income from corn in Wilson alone.
“The thing about this industry is that we don’t know what this year’s weather is going to bring. Anything we can do to prevent that loss from being devastating is necessary.”
Desperation down on the farm
With the cost of farming supplies high and crop commodity prices low, farmers are growing desperate.
“This bill will not only help farmers, but the farm communities that survive on selling fertilizer, chemicals, seeds, tractors and farm labor,” Heiniger explained. “It will help these rural communities where farmers are turning to food aid for their kids at school.”
The bill is geared toward those who grow corn, but since most farmers harvest a diverse set of crops, the money would in turn support production of soybeans, cotton, sweet potatoes and other North Carolina staples, according to Mike Yoder, an associate director of the College of Agriculture at N.C. State.
But some, like Rhonda Garrison, have concerns about the bill. Like, how will the relief funds be allocated? That’s something Garrison, director of the Corn Growers Association of North Carolina, wants to know.
“The bill is pretty ambiguous in terms of the formula for distributing the money,” Garrison contends. “I guess farmers will just have to apply for it and see what happens.”
But she doesn’t think the money will come too late to be useful.
“There were some farmers — overleveraged farmers who were already on the edge — that were done in completely by 2024,” Garrison said. “But not the majority. The potential money from this bill will likely go toward paying down debt.”
As planting season approaches, North Carolina corn farmers face difficult decisions about the future. There is a possibility the state will face some kind of natural disaster in 2025, whether it be hurricane, drought or continued fires.
“Us farmers rejoice in suffering because it produces character,” Heiniger said. “That’s what these farmers are trying to do: hold onto their character so they can get some hope and keep on going.”
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-03-28 12:56:00
(The Center Square) – Persistent dry and windy conditions, along with downed trees from Hurricane Helene six months ago, remain troublesome for wildfires in the Carolinas.
The Table Rock Fire, largest of several, has crossed from Pickens County in South Carolina to Transylvania County in North Carolina.
In an update from the South Carolina Forestry Commission on Thursday evening, the Tabe Rock fire grew significantly during the day and the Persimmon Ridge fire only modestly. The Table Rock fire is estimated 8,679 acres and the Persimmon Ridge fire 1,992 acres.
Three counties are home to four other significant size fires in the Tarheel State: Deep Woods and Black Cove in Polk County, Alarka in Swain County, and Rattlesnake Branch in Haywood County.
“Excessive storm debris and timber damage from Hurricane Helene has created many challenges for firefighting efforts,” a release from the North Carolina Forest Service said Friday morning. “One factor is the loss of tree canopy. More ground cover is receiving direct sunlight, accelerating the rate in which fuels dry out.”
The Black Cove fire that originated March 19 is 3,288 acres in size and 17% contained, the Forest Service says. It is approximately 2 miles northeast of Saluda in the Green River Gorge.
The Deep Woods fire, also a March 19 start, is 3,373 acres in size and 30% contained, the Forest Service says. It is about 5 miles northwest of Columbus in the Green River Gorge and the adjacent Holbert Cove community.
The Fish Hook fire that began March 20 is 199 acres in size and 95% contained, the Forest Service says. This fire is about 5 miles northwest of Mill Spring near Lake Adger.
Other fires of size are burning near Sylva and Leicester.
Burning bans are in effect throughout North and South Carolina.
