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Helene: Renewed focus on health of North Carolina streams | North Carolina

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www.thecentersquare.com – By David Beasley | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-12 10:01:00

(The Center Square) – Hurricane Helene has put a new focus on the health of streams in North Carolina and making sure they are clear of debris such as fallen trees and trash.

When heavy storms hit, clogged streams can cause flooding to farmland, damage to bridges and homes and also make recreation, such as canoeing more difficult.

“A lot our streams across North Carolina typically have not had a typical maintenance type program,” Bryan Evans, executive director of the North Carolina Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, told The Center Square.

Fixing the problem will require millions of dollars in federal and state tax dollars, Evans said.

The issue of stream clearing in North Carolina also came to the forefront after hurricanes Florence and Matthew, and the Legislature responded in 2022 with $36 million in funding for the Streamflow Rehabilitation Assistance Program also known as STRAP.

“It is set up to be a maintenance program, a proactive program to keep our streams functioning the way they should, prior to a storm,” Evans said.

When the STRAP program was first funded, soil and water districts throughout the state estimated that they needed $320 million for debris removal and other work.

The Legislature approved a second round of funding last year for $19.3 million and by then the cost of the work needed to be done dropped to around $200 million.

Then, last September, came Helene. The scope of the damage was so large that federal agencies and programs are still in charge of clearing and repairing it.

A federal program, the Emergency Watershed Protection Program, is in charge of stabilizing streams and removing debris, Evans said.

“In these areas where a blockage has happened, a lot of times the water will go around and it starts degrading the streambed and destabilizing the stream banks,” Evans said. “EWP also helps assist with that – they go back and stabilize those banks, especially where there are structure that are threatened because the streambeds are creeping in on them.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are also involved in the Helene recovery effort.

“FEMA comes in and they do some debris removal that is considered an imminent threat,” Evans said.

The agencies are still performing an assessment of the damage in North Carolina. Only after that assessment is complete will the EWP fully kick in.

“Helene has affected so many places at such a level that we’ve not seen before,” said Evans.

State officials are working closely with federal agencies on the recovery. State efforts will focus on areas of state that are that outside of the federal efforts, said Evans.

“Once EWP completes what it can do within its scope, we will look at the STRAP program to pick up any additional things,” Evans said. “It’s all about working on streams to try to keep them healthy, to try keep them functioning.”

The post Helene: Renewed focus on health of North Carolina streams | North Carolina appeared first on www.thecentersquare.com

News from the South - North Carolina News Feed

July 4 travel tips as people hit the road

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www.youtube.com – ABC11 – 2025-07-01 12:01:37


SUMMARY: This 4th of July weekend, a record-breaking 72 million Americans are expected to travel, with over 61 million taking road trips, creating heavy traffic. To avoid delays, AAA advises leaving early, ideally before 11 a.m., but only after thorough vehicle checks like tire pressure, battery, and having an emergency kit with essentials and a charged phone. Meanwhile, air travel will see over 5.8 million passengers amid packed airports and fewer flight routes, leading to crowded planes. Travelers should allow extra time at airports to avoid rushed sprints. Preparation is key for smooth, safe holiday travel both on roads and in the skies.

We’re only a few days from Fourth of July celebrations.

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Hundreds charged in health care fraud crackdown, including some in Triangle

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www.youtube.com – WRAL – 2025-06-30 22:25:10


SUMMARY: A nationwide healthcare fraud crackdown has led to charges against over 320 people, including some in North Carolina’s Triangle area. The fraud involves schemes like paying patients for treatments, receiving kickbacks from labs, and providing unnecessary medical equipment or therapy bills to Medicare and Medicaid. Acting U.S. Attorney Daniel Bubar highlighted cases such as a substance abuse clinic accumulating $25 million through kickbacks and equipment providers charging $39 million for unneeded items like knee braces. Immigrant communities were targeted for fraudulent services. Nationwide, defendants billed over $14.6 billion in false claims, prompting intensified enforcement in the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Some Triangle-area cases include issues of paying patients to receive treatment and getting kickbacks from a lab, sending medical equipment to people who didn’t need it and targeting immigrant communities to receive services that they didn’t need or never received.

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Frozen: How scientist are trying to prevent species from going extinct

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www.youtube.com – ABC11 – 2025-06-30 18:51:32


SUMMARY: The San Diego Zoo’s Frozen Zoo, celebrating 50 years, preserves skin, egg, and sperm cells from over 1,300 species to prevent extinction. Founded by Dr. Kurt Benirschke before cloning technology existed, it stores cells frozen indefinitely without feeding. The Frozen Zoo has helped revive critically endangered animals like the California condor and black-footed ferret. Scientists emphasize the urgency as many species face rapid decline. Their current mission is to train global facilities to replicate this effort, preserving biodiversity and genetic diversity to support vulnerable populations worldwide and enhance conservation efforts.

“Jurassic Park” raises that sticky ethical question about whether scientists should essentially play God by reviving extinct species. But one team at the San Diego Zoo is doing what they can to prevent species from going extinct in the first place.

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