How did the WNC Nature Center animals fare after Helene? More Spectrum billing complaints? Why not more ‘hardening’ of North Fork water transmission lines? • Asheville Watchdog
Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies, and the real answers:
Question: I have heard nothing about the WNC Nature Center or the animals. Were the animals OK after Helene?
My answer: Physically, yes. But they’re emotionally wounded about not getting their $750 emergency checks from FEMA yet.
Real answer: Good news on the animal front.
“I’m happy to tell you that all the animals survived the storm and are doing well,” Vanessa Tsumura, marketing and events manager at the WNC Nature Center, said via email. “While the Nature Center did not suffer serious damage, Swannanoa River Road and the bridge to Gashes Creek Road were heavily damaged. For that reason, the park is closed and we have not announced a reopening date.”
The center will announce a reopening date on social media and its website as soon as possible, she added. The center notes that although it’s closed, “you can still book custom experiences, including private, guided tours and other small events,” and its outreach team is still offering off- site programs with ambassador animals.
Located in east Asheville, the Nature Center is a local favorite, well-known for its black bears, river otters, cougars, coyotes, red pandas, and more.
In a November newsletter, Center Director Chris Gentile noted how it relied on the support of nearby Highland Brewing to be able to access the center right after the storm.
“We all feared the worst but were overjoyed to discover that although we had damage to many of our fences and walking paths, all of the animals in our care survived the storm,” Gentile wrote. “Our dedicated team immediately got to work setting up generators, procuring gasoline, and rounding up potable water so that we could do necessary animal care. Our amazing partner Appalachian Wildlife Refuge arrived with food for animals and humans alike, and suddenly we all started to feel like we could make it through this challenging time — we had partners and community members who were there to help us — we were not alone.”
Cougars Noa and Hayla are two of the animals at the WNC Nature Center. All of the animals at the center survived Tropical Storm Helene. // Photo provided by WNC Nature Center
The North Carolina Zoo sent a team of arborists and welders to help with repairs, and multiple other zoos reached out to help out with supplies, including the Knoxville, Kansas City, Saint Louis, Topeka, Dickerson Park (Springfield, Missouri) and Blank Park (Des Moines, Iowa) zoos.
“While we have made incredible progress, there are still challenges ahead,” Gentile wrote. “The timeline for fully restoring the main access to our Center is still unclear and could take months still to complete. We are however continuing to work closely with the City of Asheville as we look to find solutions that would allow guests to come back on-site as soon as possible.”
Question: I recently received the below email from Spectrum regarding a credit for service outage during the Helene aftermath. If I am reading correctly, I am only receiving a credit for the time that Spectrum service was out after Duke power was restored. Like a lot of folks who stayed post Helene, I have a generator and if service was available I would have been able to utilize it. The wording makes it seem like the Duke outage caused the Spectrum outage. This seems a bit cute to me. What say you?
Spectrum email: Hurricane Helene Credit
Hello Spectrum Customer,
A credit has automatically been applied to your account for Hurricane Helene, covering the days that you didn’t have service after power was restored.
The credit will appear on your next bill, or you can see it now by visiting Spectrum.net/billing, then selecting Activity, and then Transactions.
If you’re still experiencing a service issue, please contact us.
Thank you for being a Spectrum Customer,
Spectrum Support Team
My answer: I say it’s not quite as cute as those red pandas at the WNC Nature Center.
Real answer: I’ll note that I’ve had some other folks ask about Spectrum’s billing and crediting practices in the wake of the storm, and I sent along another one of those questions to Spectrum spokesperson Patti Michel.
“Credits are being applied, and if customers have questions about their credits they should contact us and our customer service teams directly, who are best equipped to answer and explain account related questions,” Michel said.
I realize this is not terribly helpful.
Spectrum notes that, in general, “Credits are being applied for the period of time when service was out after power had been restored.”
“Customers who haven’t yet received a credit should see it on their next bill and should be able to see it online within 24 hours,” Spectrum says, noting that you can log onto your account and check the credit within the billing tab, under “current activity section” and then “credit & charges.”
Good luck, and let me know if you aren’t getting fair treatment.
Question: Neither you nor the City of Asheville seem to have mentioned the possibility of hardening the path of the existing water lines with concrete walls. They would need to be buried to the depth of the pipe, and/or line the river bank where it parallels the pipelines. It would be very expensive, but it might be competitive with installing new lines in a new right-of-way that would avoid the possibility of erosion damage from a future Helene-level storm event. Would you ask the city to consider that alternative?
My answer: Sure. I’m always happy to ask the city to spend a hundred million bucks here and there.
Real Answer: Water Resources Department spokesperson Clay Chandler pointed out a couple of big issues with this idea.
In the days following Tropical Storm Helene, workers repaired a 36-inch pipe at the North Fork Reservoir. Asheville water customers did not have potable water for 52 days following the storm. // Photo provided by City of Asheville
“First, the cost,” Chandler said. “The amount of concrete needed would far exceed our financial capabilities. There also exists a range of complications when it comes to accessing in the event of a leak or break water lines either wholly or partially encased in concrete.”
In other words, it would be tough to jackhammer through concrete to reach a broken line.
The two main lines out of North Fork were buried pretty deep under the road that leads to the treatment plant, and the bypass line, designed as a backup, was down at 25 feet. But all three still washed out under Helene’s relentless rainfall on Sept. 27.
Chandler did say the department’s primary focus, beyond daily operations and keeping the water running, is increasing resiliency.
He noted several projects that would help considerably with resiliency:
Sediment basins for the six filters at North Fork and two filters at Bee Tree, which would allow the city to treat especially turbid water. Approximate cost: $101 million.
An alternate bypass line at North Fork that is geographically separate from the current bypass. Approximate cost: $20 million.
Longer term, a treatment plant in West Asheville that pulls from the French Broad River. Approximate cost: Depending on exact location and design, between $20 million-$50 million.
“Each of those projects would obviously require outside funding,” Chandler said. “Taken together, they would certainly require full or almost-full funding from our partners with the state, the feds or both.”
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. 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 – ) 2025-05-01 08:16:00
(The Center Square) – Taxpayers in North Carolina will face an average tax increase of $2,382 if the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expires at the end of the year, says the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.
Results of analysis were released Thursday morning by the nonprofit organization billing itself a “nonpartisan research and educational affiliate of the National Taxpayers Union.” Its four state neighbors were similar, with South Carolina lower ($2,319) and higher averages in Virginia ($2,787), Georgia ($2,680) and Tennessee ($2,660).
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of eight years ago was a significant update to individual and business taxes in the federal tax code. According to the Tax Foundation, it was considered pro-growth reform with an estimate to reduce federal revenue by $1.47 trillion over a decade.
Should no action be taken before Jan. 1 and the act expire, the federal standard deduction would be halved; the federal child tax credit would decrease; higher federal tax brackets would return; the federal estate tax threshold will be lower; and some business tax benefits will be gone.
The foundation, in summarizing the impact on North Carolina business expensing, says the state conforms to Section 168(k). This means “only 60% expensing for business investments this year and less in future years. State policymakers could adopt 100% full expensing, particularly since the state conforms to the Section 163(j) limit on interest expense and the two provisions were meant to work together.”
The foundation says business net operation loss treatment policies in the state “are less generous than the federal government and impose compliance costs due to lack of synchronization with the federal code and are uncompetitive with most other states.”
The National Taxpayers Union Foundation also says lawmakers “should at least be conscious of any retroactive provisions when selecting their date of fixed conformity.” North Carolina is among 21 states conforming to the federal income tax base “only as of a certain date” rather than automatically matching federal tax code changes – meaning definitions, calculations or rules.
The foundation said nationally the average filer will see taxes raised $2,955. It estimates an increase for 62% of Americans. The biggest average increases by state are in Massachusetts ($4,848), Washington ($4,567) and Wyoming ($4,493) and the lowest are in West Virginia ($1,423), Mississippi ($1,570) and Kentucky ($1,715).
Individual wages, nationally, are expected to go down 0.5%, reducing economic growth by 1.1% over 10 years.
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-Right
The content primarily reports on the potential impact of the expiration of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, relying heavily on analysis from the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, which describes itself as a nonpartisan organization but is known to advocate for lower taxes and limited government intervention, positions typically aligned with center-right economic policies. The article uses neutral language in presenting facts and data and does not explicitly advocate for a particular political viewpoint; however, the emphasis on tax increases and business expensing challenges following the expiration suggests a subtle alignment with pro-tax-cut, business-friendly perspectives associated with center-right ideology. Thus, while the article largely reports rather than overtly promotes an ideological stance, the framing and source choice reflect a center-right leaning.
www.thecentersquare.com – By David Beasley | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-30 21:25:00
(The Center Square) – Authorization of sports agents to sign North Carolina’s collegiate athletes for “name, image, and likeness” contracts used in product endorsements is in legislation approved Wednesday by a committee of the state Senate.
Authorize NIL Agency Contracts, known also as Senate Bill 229, is headed to the Rules Committee after gaining favor in the Judiciary Committee. It would likely next get a full floor vote.
Last year the NCAA approved NIL contracts for players.
Sen. Amy S. Galey, R-Alamance
NCLeg.gov
“Athletes can benefit from NIL by endorsing products, signing sponsorship deals, engaging in commercial opportunities and monetizing their social media presence, among other avenues,” the NCAA says on its website. “The NCAA fully supports these opportunities for student-athletes across all three divisions.”
SB229 spells out the information that the agent’s contract with the athlete must include, and requires a warning to the athlete that they could lose their eligibility if they do not notify the school’s athletic director within 72 hours of signing the contract.
“Consult with your institution of higher education prior to entering into any NIL contract,” the says the warning that would be required by the legislation. “Entering into an NIL contract that conflicts with state law or your institution’s policies may have negative consequences such as loss of athletic eligibility. You may cancel this NIL agency contract with 14 days after signing it.”
The legislation also exempts the NIL contracts from being disclosed under the state’s Open Records Act when public universities review them. The state’s two ACC members from the UNC System, Carolina and N.C. State, requested the exemption.
“They are concerned about disclosure of the student-athlete contracts when private universities don’t have to disclose the student-athlete contracts,” Sen. Amy Galey, R-Alamance, told the committee. “I feel very strongly that a state university should not be put at a disadvantage at recruitment or in program management because they have disclosure requirements through state law.”
Duke and Wake Forest are the other ACC members, each a private institution.
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: Centrist
The article primarily reports on the legislative development regarding NIL (name, image, and likeness) contracts for collegiate athletes in North Carolina. It presents facts about the bill, committee actions, and includes statements from a state senator without using loaded or emotionally charged language. The piece neutrally covers the issue by explaining both the bill’s purpose and the concerns it addresses, such as eligibility warnings and disclosure exemptions. Overall, the article maintains a factual and informative tone without advocating for or against the legislation, reflecting a centrist, unbiased approach.
SUMMARY: Donald van der Vaart, a former North Carolina environmental secretary and climate skeptic, has been appointed to the North Carolina Utilities Commission by Republican Treasurer Brad Briner. Van der Vaart, who previously supported offshore drilling and fracking, would oversee the state’s transition to renewable energy while regulating utility services. His appointment, which requires approval from the state House and Senate, has drawn opposition from environmental groups. Critics argue that his views contradict clean energy progress. The appointment follows a controversial bill passed by the legislature, granting the treasurer appointment power to the commission.
