by Sarah Michels, Carolina Public Press
May 23, 2025

Without a single no vote, North Carolina’s state House passed the legislature’s fifth Tropical Storm Helene recovery package Thursday afternoon. 

If approved by the state Senate and signed by Gov. Josh Stein, the package would add more than $565 million to the Helene Fund and appropriate $464 million of it for Western North Carolina needs. 

Thus far, the state has dedicated more than $1.4 billion to Helene recovery in its four previous relief packages. The Disaster Recovery Act of 2025 – Part 2, would bring that contribution to nearly $2 billion. 

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Republicans and Democrats alike expressed gratitude for the bill’s appropriations during floor debate Thursday.

State Rep. Karl Gillespie, R-Macon, who represents four Western North Carolina counties, said legislators and staff worked from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. in recent weeks to get the bill done before the Memorial Day extended break. 

They listened to local governments, nonprofits and citizens about what they needed most, and revisited past funding to see whether it was being used as intended. Through that process alone, legislators found $65 million to reallocate, he said. The rest of the  funds come from $500 million previously allocated to NCInnovation. 

“It’s a great day for North Carolina, but it’s an especially great day for Western North Carolina,” Gillespie said. 

What’s in the bill 

The latest recovery package covers a broad swath of needs, but the largest allotment goes to North Carolina Emergency Management. 

Under the bill, NCEM would get $70 million for state matches for federal disaster assistance programs, $30 million to repair private roads and bridges, $25 million to restore airport infrastructure, $20 million for flood mitigation and $20 million for volunteer organization grants. 

Unlike previous private road and bridge funding, this funding allows the state to reimburse North Carolinians who couldn’t wait and went ahead and fixed their private roads and bridges out of their own pockets. 

The bill dedicates $50 million for a local government grant program to replace damaged infrastructure and $5 million to regional groups to help local governments apply for federal assistance. 

Rep. Lindsay Prather, D-Buncombe, said while she appreciates this help, she would ask for even more direct assistance to local governments who are facing budget shortfalls. 

“Local governments in Western North Carolina are making the decision today on whether they’re going to have to fire people who just went through the state’s worst natural disaster, or they’re going to have to raise property taxes on people who just went through the state’s worst natural disaster,” she said. 

Another $25 million will go to a farm infrastructure recovery grant program. 

Rep. Eric Ager, D-Buncombe, said he was particularly excited about this provision. People lost barns, fields and the bridges and roads to get to them, he said. 

He also praised the inclusion of $60 million for a small-business grant program to make up for some revenue loss during the 2024 tourism season. Few people visited from October to December, the months that typically keep Western North Carolina businesses afloat in January, February and March, Ager said. 

“Those business grants tailored to help make up that revenue are going to have a huge impact and are going to keep businesses rolling and really help our economy to not fall off a cliff,” he said. 

Seven months after Helene hit, debris removal is still an issue, particularly around streams. The relief package works to address that with $15 million for streamflow rehabilitation and another $15 million for unmet debris and sedimentation removal needs. 

State parks will get $7.5 million for cleanup while local parks, libraries and museums get $5 million. 

“Even months later, on our roadsides, we are still littered with the remains of fallen trees, damaged structures and storm waste,” Rep. Jennifer Balkcom, R-Henderson, said. “Getting that cleaned up isn’t just about appearance, it’s about safety and moving forward.” 

Other recovery money goes to public schools, colleges and universities for damaged infrastructure, preserving rental units in the region, railroad repairs and fire departments for new equipment.

Finally, the bill would create a disaster recovery constituent portal, a one-stop shop for recovery needs. 

“If you’ve lost your home, and you’ve lost everything, you don’t know where to turn, you’re truly just kind of out on an island,” said Rep. Jake Johnson, R-Polk. “Now you have one place you can go.”

Rep. Mark Pless, R-Haywood, who also represents Madison and Yancey counties, is most passionate about the bill’s focus on resilience — not only restoring what was lost, but making infrastructure and the community stronger. 

Nobody can stop the weather, he said, but North Carolinians can reduce the destruction. 

“This is not the last time Western North Carolina is going to see some water,” he said. “So hopefully we’re going to learn from it and move forward.”

This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The post Package for Helene recovery gets united NC House backing appeared first on carolinapublicpress.org

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

This article presents a straightforward report on a bipartisan legislative effort to fund recovery after Tropical Storm Helene in North Carolina. It includes quotes and perspectives from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, highlighting cooperative efforts without promoting a particular ideological stance. The tone is factual and balanced, focusing on the practical aspects of disaster relief funding rather than partisan debate. The coverage respects different viewpoints equally and centers on community impact, reflecting neutral, objective reporting rather than an editorial or ideological perspective.

SUMMARY: A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration violated a court order by deporting eight immigrants, convicted of violent crimes, to South Sudan without giving them a meaningful opportunity to object. The migrants were removed despite a March ruling requiring that they be allowed to contest the risks of deportation. Officials from the Department of Homeland Security defended the actions, calling the deportees “national security threats,” but the judge criticized the lack of due process. South Sudan’s authorities denied knowledge of the deportations, while immigration advocates expressed concerns about the safety and legality of these actions.

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The post ‘Unquestionably in violation’: Judge says US government didn’t follow court order on deportations appeared first on www.abccolumbia.com

by Jane Winik Sartwell, Carolina Public Press
May 22, 2025

Darlene Fore is terrified. She’s a nurse at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Asheville: a hard, but stable, federal job. Last year, her family was devastated by Tropical Storm Helene. Now, as she reaches 60 years old, her job, and her retirement benefits, could be taken away at any moment. 

So too her union rights to bargain. 

Veterans Affairs, the federal agency responsible for providing veterans’ health care, benefits and support services, is cutting staffing by 15% in the name of efficiency. 

That means nearly 2,600 people out of a job in North Carolina alone. And more than 72,000 nationwide. 

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Fore is not a bedside nurse in Asheville. She reviews charts for medical documentation to judge whether a veteran should be billed for services, asking questions like: Should this person still be in the hospital? Why is this person’s chest pain not going away? Is the doctor following the right care plan?

It’s exactly the kind of behind-the-scenes job President Donald Trump intends to cut.

Some worry that this reduction in force — coupled with an executive order barring federal workers from organizing — will diminish the quality of health care for North Carolina’s 615,000 veterans and their families. North Carolina is the ninth-most populated state, but has the eighth-largest population of veterans. 

Others genuinely believe the federal agency is bloated, and that a long, hard look at that bloat will directly benefit veterans: less bureaucracy and waste will mean that veterans are connected with the services they need more quickly.

For Fore, it’s a question of livelihood.

“The thing that bothers me the most is my countrymen saying I’m not worth it,” Fore told Carolina Public Press. “I’m the same nurse who worked in their local hospitals and local health departments. I’m the same nurse who’s always been there for them all this time, and now, all of a sudden, they think I’m a waste of money. I’m furious about that. I’m extremely hurt by my community.” 

The Asheville VA is one of the largest employers in Western North Carolina. Since Tropical Storm Helene devastated the area last September, unemployment rates in the area have skyrocketed. The loss of even more jobs is a frightening prospect.

Fore’s daughter and sister both lost their homes in Helene. She is working not only to support herself but to help her family get back on their feet.

On the other side of the equation are the veterans themselves, who come to the VA to receive care. One of these is state Rep. Eric Ager, D-Buncombe, who served in the Navy from 1996 to 2021. 

“The VA is more than just a place to show up and get medical service,” Ager told CPP. “It’s a place to support the whole veteran. The VA in Asheville is such a welcoming environment: people have the time to talk to people. That’s not something you see in the regular medical community. 

“I’m worried that the cuts will make the workforce at the VA more stressed out and give them less time to actually engage with veterans who need that. Veterans should feel like they’re welcome in a place, as opposed to just getting run through like a number.”

It’s not just Asheville. The VA operates medical centers in Fayetteville, Salisbury and Durham as well.

Ann Marie Patterson-Powell, a nurse at the Durham VA, thinks that cuts anywhere in the system will make bedside nurses’ and doctors’ jobs harder. They will be the ones to pick up the slack, leaving them with less time to actually treat patients. 

The right to unionize and bargain is extremely important to Patterson-Powell, who is a union leader for National Nurses United. In her view, VA nurses stand up for veterans, and the union stands up for VA nurses. 

Now, President Trump wants to strip federal workers of their union rights.

“You don’t get to do that — to tell me I’m not a part of an organization that keeps me safe at work — even if you are the President of the United States,” Patterson-Powell said. 

She is outraged on behalf of the veterans she serves. 

“We should all feel shocked and disappointed,” Patterson-Powell said. “The level of disrespect for people who put on a uniform and risked their lives to defend this country is just wrong. Someone has to stand up for them.”

In 2024, the Office of Inspector General determined that the VA was suffering from severe occupational staffing shortages. Before any cuts were proposed, 82% of VA facilities reported nurse shortages. Now, the worry is that wait times and barriers to specialty care will increase even further for veterans.

The current VA leadership doesn’t see it that way.

“As we reform VA, we are guided by the fact that, even though the Biden Administration astronomically grew the department’s budget and number of employees, VA wait times and backlogs increased,” wrote VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz.

“We are doing things differently. Our goal is to increase productivity, eliminate waste and bureaucracy, increase efficiency and improve health care and benefits to Veterans. We will accomplish this without making cuts to health care or benefits to Veterans or VA beneficiaries.”

Some veterans in North Carolina tentatively agree with this view. One of these is Shawn Kane, chief medical officer at UNC THRIVE, a health program for veterans. 

Kane thinks that cuts could be beneficial if they target redundancy, cutting administrative or ancillary positions, while redirecting that saved money directly to patient care. Some old-fashioned inefficiencies exist, like excessive snail-mail appointment reminders, that could be modernized to save money, Kane said. 

Detailed, targeted cuts really could improve the system, he thinks. But he isn’t sure that’s what’s in store. 

“The devil is in the details,” Kane said.

“The bottom line is that if inappropriate cuts are made, there can be a drastic impact on the provision of health care access across the VA, in North Carolina and across the country. It comes down to nuance, and trying to stay apolitical. But currently, the leaders in our government are not very good at details.”

This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The post Veterans Affairs cuts create concern in NC appeared first on carolinapublicpress.org

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 article primarily emphasizes the potential negative impacts of federal workforce reductions and union rights restrictions on veterans and healthcare workers, portraying the cuts as threats to public service quality and worker security. It presents sympathetic perspectives from affected nurses and veterans, highlighting personal stories and concerns about job losses and care quality. While it includes the administration’s defense of efficiency and reform, the overall tone and framing lean toward advocating for protecting labor rights and public sector jobs, consistent with center-left viewpoints that prioritize social welfare and labor protections.