New Helene bill has ‘good things.’ Just one problem: It falls short of the need.
by Sarah Michels, Carolina Public Press February 28, 2025
RALEIGH — Last week, state Rep. Eric Ager, D-Buncombe, was just outside of Asheville, driving from Bat Cave to Fairview. Parts of the journey were along a one-lane dirt road, a temporary replacement after Tropical Storm Helene wreaked havoc on the landscape.
While he’s noticed recovery efforts in other parts of the region, Ager said in some areas there’s not much work happening.
“We got tough weather up there this time of year, but mostly it’s that the funds are dry,” Ager told his colleagues on the House floor before they voted on the latest recovery package. “Now, we know we keep hearing that those federal funds are coming, but I’ll just say that if they are coming, they’re coming awfully slow and we need the help now.”
On Tuesday, the state House voted unanimously in favor of a $500 million funding package to aid Western North Carolina following the severe storm’s devastation in September 2024.
Still, it was about half of Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s $1.07 billion request, but lawmakers promised that it was just the beginning.
Upon state Senate and governor approval, the package would bring North Carolina’s total recovery spending to over a billion dollars.
The cost of recovery
While House Bill 47, titled the Disaster Recovery Act of 2025 – Part 1, is subject to change before its passage, it currently centers on several key areas of recovery: immediate disaster response, infrastructure and economic revitalization.
To get the job done, the measure uses the $225 million transferred from the state’s “Rainy Day Fund” to the Helene Fund as well as $275 million from the state’s Emergency Response and Disaster Relief Fund.
However, the legislature excluded several of Stein’s requests: $50 million for affordable housing development; $10 million for a homeless housing stabilization program; and $25 million for immediate minor repairs and non-FEMA eligible needs.
Despite that, the proposed bill addresses a variety of Helene-related needs, some more immediate than others.
Thus far, over 4.6 million cubic yards of debris have been removed from the disaster zone. But there is more to be done, and much recovery work hinges on debris being out of the way. House lawmakers dedicated $20 million for such removal in HB 47.
To address other immediate needs, the bill also includes $10 million in grants for volunteer organizations working in the area.
The largest ticket item, however, is infrastructure. Destroyed private roads and bridges hinder recovery efforts and emergency access to homes and businesses. So far, 6,723 of these projects have been funded, according to the state auditor’s Helene dashboard.
The bill also gives $100 million to North Carolina’s Division of Emergency Management to distribute for more projects after the agency has made sure federal funding or other money isn’t available.
East Asheville residents walk over a bridge across the Swannanoa River, amid extensive devastation from recent flooding, including storage trailers smashed against one side of the bridge on Sept. 30, 2024, days after Helene swept through Western North Carolina. Colby Rabon / Carolina Public Press
About 275,000 households are expected to apply for individual assistance, and 73,700 homes in Western North Carolina are thought to be damaged, according to an analysis by the Office of the State Budget and Management. The state budget office estimates that restoring housing will cost about $15.3 billion.
But the state doesn’t have that much money to spare. Stein wanted to provide $263 million. House lawmakers countered with $135 million.
Both proposed spending plans include a small contribution toward rental assistance paired with a large check to the state Department of Commerce for the Home Reconstruction and Repair Program.
This assistance — $125 million per the House bill — consists of startup funds to be used until federal housing money arrives, in about a year. The money will be used to offer buyouts to some homeowners as well as reconstruction and rehabilitation of other homes.
Fire departments get their own payday, too. The Office of the State Fire Marshal is set to receive $10 million, first to repair damage to fire station buildings and vehicles. Then to be equally divided between the area’s fire departments for equipment and other improvements.
The remaining funds in the package are dedicated to getting Western North Carolina’s small businesses and industry back on their feet.
Due to Helene, farmers may have lost crops, livestock, equipment or buildings. The House bill provides $150 million toward two programs to help them resume production and protect against future flooding.
Small businesses may earn up to $1 million grants for damaged infrastructure like water, sewer, gas and telecommunications that keep them from reopening through a $55 million Small Business Infrastructure Grant Program.
Finally, the Department of Commerce gets $5 million to create a targeted media campaign aimed at attracting tourists to Western North Carolina.
Next Helene package needs more
There isn’t a dollar in the bill for public schools.
State Rep. Marcia Morey, D-Durham, took issue with that on Tuesday. Lawmakers denied Stein’s request of $56 million designated for families and children, which included a summer program to address learning loss and emergency student aid grants.
“We have eight counties. We have at least four schools (where) kids couldn’t go back — they had to go to other facilities. We have two schools totally decimated,” Morey said. “And so we’re not doing it today, but our public school kids need a place to go. They need a facility. I hope in the next bill, we will address the children out west in these affected counties.”
Other Democrats placed requests for more funding in the near future. Rep. Lindsey Prather, D-Buncombe, said that while there were a lot of “good things” in the bill, it wasn’t enough.
“We talk about the risk of paying for things that FEMA is supposed to pay for because we’re worried about the match,” Prather said. “We talk about getting ahead of federal money. What we don’t talk about is the risk of not spending that money.”
Republican Rep. Dudley Greene, who represents Avery, McDowell, Mitchell and Yancey counties, said this isn’t the final spending package.
“It’s not even the beginning of the end,” he assured, “but perhaps it is the end of the beginning.”
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Scammers sell stolen personal data on the dark web, using AI to target victims. Identity theft cost $125M in 2023, as hacker forums advertise stolen data.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-24 16:33:00
(The Center Square) – Only 1 in 10 Americans believe the current checks and balances for the three branches of government are very effective, says a national poll released Thursday in North Carolina.
Sampling April 10-17 of 1,000 adults by the Elon University Poll found 32% said it is somewhat or very ineffective. In answering who has too much power, 46% said the executive branch, 27% the judiciary and 19% the legislative branch.
“Americans are clearly questioning whether the rule of law and our constitutional structure are built to withstand the pressures of the current political moment,” said Zak Kramer, dean of Elon University School of Law. “There’s a lot of uncertainty about how these disputes will turn out, and things are moving fast, so we shouldn’t be surprised that most Americans view these questions through a heavily polarized lens.”
President Donald Trump
WhiteHouse.org
Tuesday will be the 100th day in office for President Donald Trump. Through Tuesday of this week, nonpartisan law and policy journal Just Security documented 206 legal challenges to his administration’s actions. The New York Times, the Elon Poll said, has found 98 judicial rulings at a minimum temporarily pausing some of the administration’s efforts.
Trump’s approval ratings, according to the Elon poll, have gone from positive to negative since a Feb. 6-11 polling just weeks into his second term. His job performance is approved by 41% and disapproved by 47%; in February it was 45% approved and 41% disapproved.
Party lines are strong, according to the poll. His executive orders are opposed by 83% of Democrats and approved by 73% of Republicans.
Survey answers were split nearly evenly on the U.S. Supreme Court – 51% confident, 49% little or no confidence. Only 21% believe it is balanced when considering conservative and liberal.
Regarding the Department of Justice, 69% believe a president should not influence cases. Within that principle, support is from Democrats (83%), independents (65%) and Republicans (61%). Only 38% believe Trump when he says the department’s processes were used against him; 43% think he is wrong.
Elon University said 1,149 adults age 18 and older were interviewed and matched down to the 1,000 sample. Margin of error is +/- 3.58%. The university funds and operates the poll “as the neutral, nonbiased information resource.”
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.
