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In the 2026 midterms, here’s how NC politicians do — or don’t

Hurricane Helene and the economic troubles it left behind influence what politicians say on the campaign trail.

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Oct 23 • 1:00 PM EDT • Politics • bpr.org
Tennessee FFA member studies Hurricane Helene's lasting impact on farmer mental health

A National FFA agriscience fair finalist says the impacts of Hurricane Helene inspired her to take a closer look at farmer mental health. Abby Petterson from the Erwin FFA Chapter in Tennessee says her two-year research project focuses on supporting the next generation of agriculture. “There is a stigma, but more importantly, there is a […]

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Oct 22 • 11:03 AM EDT • Health • brownfieldagnews.com
A note to readers: Science, accountability and elections

Dear readers, As early voting begins, I wanted to share some news — and why it connects to the decisions we make at the ballot box. I’ve been selected for the inaugural cohort of the South Atlantic Climate Journalism Hub mentorship program, hosted by Covering Climate Now. I’m excited to join this group, learn from scientists and fellow journalists, and expand my science reporting. Science directly ties to governance. Local officials make decisions about where development goes, how infrastructure is maintained, what emergency preparations receive funding, and how communities rebuild after disasters. Understanding the evidence behind those decisions helps us evaluate whether our government is serving us well. Here in western North Carolina, those connections are all around us, in Lake Lure and beyond. Flood maps inform decisions about property and development. Engineering assessments help identify risks at dams and bridges. Rainfall forecasts guide emergency preparations. Geological information helps explain landslide hazards. Water testing gives communities information they need to assess conditions. Meteorologists’ knowledge and public perception of weather events shape public safety. Each involves scientific or technical knowledge. Each also raises questions about public responsibility: What did officials know? How did they use that information? What did they tell the public? What did taxpayers receive for their money? A study can identify a problem. Elected officials still have to decide what to do about it, how to pay for it, and how to explain their choices. Reporting should examine both the evidence and the response. That is where I want to strengthen my work. My reporting on Helene recovery, infrastructure, flooding, public safety, and public spending has repeatedly brought me to questions that require scientific expertise alongside public records. This mentorship may help me better understand the research, ask more precise questions, and explain the answers clearly. I also bring the perspective of someone living with these concerns. I live downstream of Lake Lure Dam, and landslides affected my property during Helene. Those experiences bring urgency to my questions. Careful reporting helps establish the answers. Readers deserve to know what the evidence shows, where uncertainty remains, and whether officials accurately describe the information guiding their decisions. You also deserve scrutiny of proposed solutions: what they cost, what they are expected to accomplish, and what risks remain. Access to that information matters. As a mostly deaf journalist who relies on written communication, I will continue pressing for written public warnings, records, and explanations that people can read and use in real time. As you consider the candidates seeking your vote, consider how they approach evidence, preparedness, and transparency. Do they support local journalism, even when it’s not parroting a press release? Do they explain weather events clearly in plain English and explain their decisions after them? Make supporting records available? Acknowledge uncertainty? Follow through when a report identifies a risk? Those are practical questions about governing. Thank you for supporting Cops & Congress and the work that makes these questions part of the public conversation. I’m grateful to David Dickson and the CC Now team for this opportunity, and I look forward to bringing what I learn back to you. Annie DanceEditor & Publisher, Cops & Congress — Learn more about this newsletter, ethics policy, how you can help shape this work, and support it. Follow on X and Facebook. Send constructive criticism, fan mail, and tips with public documents for future stories: CopsandCongress@gmail.com ICYMI: View the Cops & Congress archive — Annie Dance is the publisher of Cops & Congress, a newsletter that analyzes what happens when crime, courts, disaster, democracy, and small-town policies collide. Views expressed here are covered by the First Amendment. Dance has a Bachelor of Arts from Manhattan University in Communication with a focus in Journalism and Government. She has been a journalist for over 20 years. Share Upgrade now or give a gift subscription

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Oct 20 • 6:56 AM EDT • Science • anniedance.substack.com
Far western, eastern N.C. issues overshadowed by campaign ads

From Helene recovery to ferry tolls, Tim Boyum tackles some very local issues impacting North Carolinians in the far western and eastern part of the state.

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Oct 7 • 8:00 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
Corey Ave businesses host craft fest in ‘new normal’ after Hurricane Helene anniversary

Business owners along Corey Avenue said they’re getting used to a new normal, now two years removed from the decimation by Hurricane Helene.

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Oct 4 • 2:50 PM EDT • Business • wfla.com
Helene flooding reshaped River Arts District; leaders say recovery is far from over

The River Arts District looks dramatically different two years after Helene, but local business owners and community leaders say rebuilding is far from over.

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Sep 30 • 4:37 PM EDT • Business • wlos.com
Two years after the storm, Hurricane Helene shapes NC survivors' politics and beliefs

A concert in Yancey County gave Hurricane Helene survivors an opportunity to share their experiences with the storm.

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Sep 30 • 3:29 PM EDT • Politics • wfae.org
Two years after the storm, Hurricane Helene shapes NC survivors' politics and beliefs

A concert in Yancey County gave Hurricane Helene survivors an opportunity to share their experiences with the storm.

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Sep 30 • 3:29 PM EDT • Politics • whqr.org
Survey: Floridians sour on prospects for the property insurance market

Most aren’t buying claims lawsuit restrictions are helping matters.

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Sep 28 • 11:13 AM EDT • Politics • wlrn.org
Business pitch reveals deeper ties between Sneed, consultant

Plus: Helene exposed gaps in health care; Stitching together Queens and Elon; Saint-Maximin fuels Charlotte FC's offense; CMS cabinet officer charged with DWI; Union calls for changes after airport worker death

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Sep 28 • 8:00 AM EDT • Business • thecharlotteledger.com
Helene exposed gaps in health care

A look at ER visits two years after Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina

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Sep 27 • 4:28 PM EDT • Health • thecharlotteledger.com
2 years after Helene, the political fight brewing over blame for recovery efforts
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Sep 27 • 5:30 AM EDT • Politics • wral.com
Opinion: Remembering Hurricane Helene, recognizing climate change, regardless of politics

Two years after Hurricane Helene devastated Asheville, the author argues leaders are ignoring climate change.

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Sep 27 • 5:04 AM EDT • Politics • yahoo.com
Business destroyed by Hurricane Helene seeing progress but still has a long road ahead

Two years after Hurricane Helene rocked WNC, a local home and business are continuing to recover.

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Sep 25 • 11:10 PM EDT • Business • wyff4.com
Ballad Health hosts open house at Bristol Regional Medical Center

BRISTOL, Tenn. (WJHL) — Ballad Health held an open house Thursday at Bristol Regional Medical Center, and officials talked about the Boone McCrary scholarship two years after Hurricane Helene. McCr…

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Sep 24 • 10:51 PM EDT • Health • wjhl.com
Governor Stein Announces $5 Million to Strengthen Small Businesses in Western North Carolina

(RALEIGH) Today in Lansing, Governor Stein announced $5 million in new infrastructure grants to support small business recovery in western North Carolina through the Small Business Infrastructure Grant Program. Two years since Hurricane Helene struck western North Carolina, Governor Stein continues to advocate for a $10 billion appropriation from Congress to support the next phase …

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Sep 24 • 6:15 PM EDT • Business • wataugaonline.com
How the stories and science of floods shape Appalachia

For Will Waas, 24, Hurricane Helene did more than flood his home in the mountains of Western North Carolina. It washed away nearly everything he had accumulated — his clothes, tools, building materials, musical instruments, artwork, chickens and beehives. For eight days, Waas lived in a neighbor’s house with six other people and five pets...

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Sep 22 • 10:00 AM EDT • Science • thebluebanner.net
Inside Florida Politics podcasters talk Melania Trump's AI event

First lady Melania Trump traveled to North Carolina recently to discuss Hurricane Helene and artificial intelligence. Hear about it on Inside Florida Politics.

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Sep 21 • 2:29 PM EDT • Politics • usatoday.com
Trump says ‘only kidding’ after threatening Helene aid cut for NC if Whatley loses
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Sep 18 • 12:32 PM EDT • Politics • newsobserver.com
Stein slams Trump’s claims on NC crime, Helene: ‘Just political nonsense’

President Donald Trump depicted North Carolina as lawless and crime-ridden during a speech in Gastonia. Public safety data shows crime is actually down, and even Trump’s own attorney general praised North Carolina’s declining crime rates.

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Sep 17 • 4:18 PM EDT • Politics • wral.com
Fact-checking President Trump's N.C. speech

Some of President Donald Trump’s comments at a rally for North Carolina U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley Wednesday are receiving some significant pushback, especially his remarks on crime and the response to Tropical Storm Helene.

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Sep 17 • 3:41 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
What Does the Science of Climate Change Really Look Like?

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a three-part series on how the Right should think about environmental and climate policy. Read Chris Barnard on Reclaiming Environmental Policy from the Left. More than a decade ago, the world’s governments negotiated and signed the Paris Climate Agreement, committing to hold global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius. In the following years, climate had immense cultural power. Greta Thunberg emerged. Fortune 500 companies established net-zero plans. The U.S. got the Inflation Reduction Act. Then the pendulum swung back. President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office, speaking of green energy as a “scam” and carbon footprints as a “hoax” and on all matters of international policy emphasizing bilateral engagement and power over globalism and cooperation. The technology companies that had been at the forefront of net-zero pledges and green leadership discovered the importance of all-of-the-above power to their visions for artificial intelligence and began quietly postponing or removing their targets. On the left side of the political spectrum, rising concerns about inflation and cost pushed climate lower down in the stated priorities of voters and stump speeches of politicians. The moment is ripe for a reset on the politics of climate change and for conservatives especially to chart a course that acknowledges and addresses the real challenges in plausible ways. So what should we think about climate change as we enter a post-peak climate era? If it is neither an apocalypse nor a hoax, what will hold up as a durable view of climate change? And how does it project onto the concerns and priorities of the right-of-center’s emerging coalition? New to Commonplace_? Subscribe below to get the magazine in your inbox._ Subscribe A Solid Foundation As the politics and economics of climate careened over the past ten years, the physics carried on regardless. In 2015, the year the Paris Climate Agreement was adopted, the world emitted 41.2 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide. By 2025, emissions had risen only 2.4%, to 42.2 gigatonnes, because falling emissions from land use offset increasing emissions from fossil fuels. But slow growth in annual emissions is not rapid decline, let alone net-zero, so carbon dioxide kept accumulating in the atmosphere, going from 399 to 426 parts per million. Global temperature kept rising too, from about 1.1 degrees Celsius above the 1850–1900 average in 2015, to 1.4 degrees above it in 2025. None of this should surprise anyone. Even most prominent skeptics, like the authors of the 2025 report commissioned by the Trump administration’s Department of Energy, accept the basic physics. Carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere at industrial volumes accumulates and traps heat that would otherwise escape to space. That heat warms the upper ocean and increases temperatures at the surface. Increased ocean heat and melting of land ice cause sea levels to rise. Changes in the climate become noticeable to us as subtle shifts in temperature and precipitation, seasons arriving early or late, changes in the surrounding ecosystem, and weather extremes. The much more meaningful debate is not about whether these things are happening, but about what it all means for human societies. (While it is a proxy measure of overall risk, no one experiences global surface temperature.) This debate invokes at least three interesting questions: how much today’s warming is showing up in regional climate trends, how much more warming we should anticipate, and how extreme weather events can be understood in the context of climate change. Recent scientific advances give us new insights into each of these, but there is still much to learn. This is the context in which the next generation of conservative leaders will be the first to deal with significant climate change as a fact, not a forecast. It will be with them for their entire careers. Our evolving scientific picture of climate change will come from weather and climate records stretching further into the past, new kinds of observations in the present, better modeling tools for the future, and simply more time to observe the emergence of climate signals and their tangible effects on ecosystems and communities in the United States and around the world. The policy landscape will be shaped by not only the impacts of changes in the climate, but also by the ways in which societies respond and by the emergence of new technologies for both altering the trajectory of emissions and adapting to new climate realities. Global climate records now show the fingerprints of warming in different phenomena around much of the world. The IPCC, in its most recent assessment report, documents warming trends over all land regions, even as natural variability adds substantial variance to local trends. And the highest temperature extremes have become more intense and frequent, almost everywhere, since the 1950s. Scientists are highly confident that these changes are attributable to human influence. But confidence in detecting trends and attributing them to human influence degrades across heavy precipitation events; drought trends are heterogeneous and not attributable to human activity with great confidence. For hurricanes, tornadoes, and other severe storms there is even less confidence in trends or their relationship to climate change. In general, a fair summary of the evidence is that for well-observed phenomena, like surface temperature or heavy rainfall, with a clear relationship to warming, our multidecadal observations are consistent with human influence overcoming natural variability over long time periods and extremes increasing. For regions that are sampled more sparsely, or phenomena with a higher noise-to-signal ratio, we will need to observe them longer to understand the magnitude of the climate signal or improve dynamical understanding using models and observations together. But for Climate For those who can’t wait, we also have new techniques that attempt to understand the role climate change has in influencing particular extreme events. When the climate is changing and disaster strikes, it is natural to ask whether that disaster was somehow “caused” by climate change. For scientists and policymakers acting in good faith, answering that question helps develop a more accurate picture of the problem, how it may be getting worse, and what preparations we should be making to respond to it. It may, at some point, give some weight to how liability is assigned by courts or adaptation funding is distributed by society. But how we ask this question is extremely important. It is easy to get the analysis wrong by discounting the role that meteorology plays. As meteorologist Theodore Shepherd explained in a clear 2016 review of climate attribution methods, “if a weather or climate event is truly extreme in the present climate, then perforce it requires unusual meteorological conditions, which means that climate change is at most a contributing factor.” Share Scientists have two ways to probe climate as a contributing factor, both of which have entered media coverage of extreme weather events. One asks a probabilistic question: How much more likely is a particular event (e.g., a temperature record over a particular area) amid global warming? The answer involves using historical records and computer simulations to estimate the likelihood of such an event in both a changed and a preindustrial climate. The findings are less about the specific event, and more about events of that nature. The other question is: How has the changed climate affected the specific event in question? Here, scientists try to understand what a similar event would have looked like in the preindustrial climate. This is sometimes called the storyline approach, where the story is the specific meteorological details of the event. These methods offer ways to test the intuition of scientists about real weather extremes. In late June and early July of 2021, a persistent high-pressure ridge, or heat dome, set up over the Pacific Northwest and an extraordinary heat wave affected the area from Oregon to British Columbia. For six days, it shattered temperature records across the region and hundreds died from heat-related causes, in an area where such high, and persistently high, temperatures were well outside of experience and many live without air conditioning. Scientists have studied its connection to climate change using multiple approaches. This specific event was created by a rare combination of meteorological factors, a strong high-pressure ridge created the conditions for extreme heat, which occurred on top of higher average temperatures in the region from global warming. Probabilistic analyses showed that climate change increased the likelihood of such an event by at least 8-fold to more than 100-fold. One standout example found that such an event had effectively zero probability of occurring in the preindustrial climate. The enormous range in these assessments reflects how hard it is to estimate probabilities of events at the tail of the historical record. Estimates of the effect on the temperature of the event are more clustered. A recent review paper documents how multiple methodologies have found a positive influence, roughly 1-2 degrees Celsius of an anomaly that exceeded 15 degrees, of climate change on the temperature magnitude of the event. Multiple studies have investigated and found some positive influence of climate change in other extreme events. Attribution studies found climate likely increased the heavy rainfall that accompanied Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and surrounding regions in 2024. The extensive fires that struck Los Angeles in 2025 illustrate how the causal chain can become messy, though. Studies do detect a positive influence of climate on the event’s likelihood, but while climate change likely contributed to underlying aridity, it would not have played a role in the heavy winds or land practices that preceded disaster. These event attribution studies will become more common for extreme, or damaging, weather events. They can be produced quickly, and often are reported before peer review. As the Pacific Northwest heatwave example shows, when multiple methods converge on a positive attribution, the finding should probably carry some weight even if you have to be careful about accepting the results from a single study. I expect that as climate change proceeds and the climate thus departs further from a preindustrial counterfactual, the influence will become more detectable across a variety of extreme events and more easily identified. This will be used to cast blame, but can also be used to inform how communities and society adapt to ongoing change. We May Still Be Surprised One positive development, insofar as less climate change is better, has been that our central estimates for future climate change should probably be revised downward. Mostly, that is because the high-end warmings that scientists regularly analyzed about ten to 20 years ago, driven by high emissions throughout the twenty-first century, now appear to be somewhere between unlikely and impossible. At one time, the upper end of mainstream climate projections extended well into 4 to 6 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of this century, which, models suggest, would have wrought enormous real-world damage. Current energy and policy trends now point toward 2.5 or 3 degrees. Damages and risks are commonly modeled as increasing steeply with more warming, so this is already a better-than-previously-expected outcome for the climate (which is independent of the physical response to emissions). But we should maintain a wide range for plausible outcomes and prepare for the possibility of being surprised. Emissions trajectories are subject to deep uncertainty, the physical climate response is still developing, and whatever change occurs in the climate will then be mediated through unpredictable economic, social, and political institutions. Over the past decade, the pace of warming surprised some keen observers and appeared to accelerate, though not yet outside the range of expectation provided by climate models. The reasons for that apparent acceleration are being actively studied (as was the apparent pause in warming from 1998 to 2012), but no single driver has emerged. Some blame it on the El Niño, variability which would have no bearing on climate. Some think it is a result of factories in East Asia and global shipping fleets cutting aerosol emissions, which in the strongest version of the argument would indicate higher climate sensitivity to carbon-dioxide emissions. Others are more measured, not yet ready to draw solid conclusions as to whether climate projections require revision. We will have to see. Long-Term Thinking Climate change asks us to think over long time scales. But the pace of human-driven warming is compressing a large global change into a century. Changing weather patterns and extreme events are already causing adjustment costs and damages and will do more. Adaptation will help, but it is not free. For some communities, these costs will erode livelihoods and well-being, and may force migration. Are we prepared for large-scale managed retreats in the United States? Thankfully, American wealth, geographical diversity, and moderate climates may leave us better prepared than many around the world. But wealthy countries can still suffer serious disruption from narrowly concentrated costs, even if they appear entirely manageable in aggregate. Readers of Commonplace are familiar with the challenges of rapidly adapting to economic forces. The displacement that came from the China Shock is barely perceptible in aggregate GDP and employment data, but it affected millions of people and those people were far less mobile than economic models tended to assume. Deindustrialization rippled through the nation with enormous effects for not only our economic vitality, but also our national security. The forces surrounding climate change may not be so different; the world gets richer and must accept some diffuse costs. Those may be modest overall, but cause all manner of unpredictable effects with which policymakers must cope. In the case of the China Shock, our faith in a growing pie served us poorly. We’ll need to do better on climate. Leave a comment

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Sep 16 • 4:30 PM EDT • Science • commonplace.org
Two years after Helene, Labor Day brings reopened parks and businesses

This month marks two years since Hurricane Helene. Business owners and residents say this Labor Day feels different, as more places and recreation areas reopen.

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Sep 7 • 7:38 PM EDT • Business • wrdw.com
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North Carolina business owner says sales have bounced back after Hurricane Helene

Panelists Brittany Brady and Joe Dinan discuss how North Carolina is economically recovering and rebuilding two years after Hurricane Helene on ‘The Bottom Line.’

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Sep 4 • 7:08 PM EDT • Business • foxbusiness.com
‘Devastating’: Supporters speak out as Lake Lure business faces eviction

As recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene continue in western North Carolina, questions loom over the future of a beloved Lake Lure business facing potential eviction from town-owned property.

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Aug 25 • 8:27 AM EDT • Business • foxcarolina.com
Ballad Health breaks ground on new Unicoi County Hospital after Helene

Unicoi County took a major step forward in the Helene recovery Wednesday as Ballad Health broke ground on a new hospital.“I feel like whenever I come to Unicoi,

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Aug 19 • 6:17 PM EDT • Health • wcyb.com
Answer Man: Helene Business Recovery Fund borrowers facing skyrocketing rates? Messy I-26 median?

Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers: Question: You should look into the disaster bridge loans a lot of people took out through Mountain BizWorks and the Golden Leaf Foundation after Helene. These were loans with a 1 percent interest rate for 12 months, which was later extended to 24 months. […]

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Aug 4 • 7:17 AM EDT • Business • avlwatchdog.org
Sen. Ted Budd discusses Iran, Helene recovery funds and Graham

Capital Tonight guest host Reuben Jones had the opportunity to speak with North Carolina Republican Sen. Ted Budd as both the House and Senate get ready to tackle some big issues.

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Jul 14 • 4:15 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
Will NC lawmakers oppose Trump’s funding ask without Helene money?

A number of North Carolina Republicans say they will oppose the White House's funding request because it doesn't include money for Helene recovery.

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Jun 30 • 8:00 AM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
Asheville grants $855K to business accelerator, extends recovery program through 2028

Asheville grants $855,000 to Optimist Ventures, an accelerator for Asheville entrepreneurs affected by Hurricane Helene.

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Jun 26 • 10:14 PM EDT • Business • wlos.com
Honorees brought science-based blood pressure care home to communities in need

Organizers of “Team Up to Take Down High Blood Pressure” in Philadelphia say collaboration has been crucial to the initiative’s success.

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Jun 22 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • heart.org
'Relief, recovery, and rebuilding': Dogwood Health Trust releases Hurricane Helene response playbook

The Dogwood Health Trust released a Hurricane Helene playbook with lessons learned for funders before and after disaster.

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Jun 22 • 5:00 AM EDT • Health • ednc.org
Some Asheville businesses that suffered Helene losses ineligible for $14M grant program

Small business owners seeking a share of the more than $14 million Asheville Recovers Together grant are being urged to review eligibility requirements.

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Jun 18 • 11:20 AM EDT • Business • wlos.com
Could a Moneyball-inspired business fund help WNC recover from Helene?

Hoping to find undervalued small businesses, Optimist Ventures is aiming to grow Helene-impacted businesses through public and private investment.

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Jun 12 • 5:09 AM EDT • Business • citizen-times.com
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Small business owners receive early look at $14M recovery grant program across Asheville

Small business owners recovering from the impacts of Helene are getting an early look at the application process for a grant program set to provide more than $1

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Jun 11 • 2:22 PM EDT • Business • wlos.com
Stein makes new Helene federal funding request, billions lower than last ask

North Carolina's governor is in Washington on Wednesday meeting with members of Congress to push for new federal money for Helene recovery.

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Jun 10 • 9:00 AM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
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Helene-hit Swannanoa businesses say state rules block access to federal recovery funds

Swannanoa business owners who lost everything after Helene are speaking out about not being able to apply for federal disaster recovery funds.

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Jun 5 • 10:45 PM EDT • Business • wlos.com
New grant program targets lingering Helene recovery gaps for Asheville businesses

More than $14 million in grant funding will soon be available to small businesses across Asheville as part of a new effort to support their Helene recovery.

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May 29 • 12:58 PM EDT • Business • wlos.com
ETSU launches new disaster sciences graduate degree

ETSU’s new graduate degree prepares students for careers in environmental health, disaster resilience and public health.

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May 26 • 2:19 PM EDT • Science • news.etsu.edu
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Waste Watch: How community colleges spent taxpayer-funded mental health recovery dollars

WLOS News 13 provides local news, weather forecasts, traffic updates, notices of events and items of interest in the community, sports and entertainment programming for Asheville, NC and nearby towns and communities in Western North Carolina and the Upstate of South Carolina, including the counties of Buncombe, Henderson, Rutherford, Haywood, Polk, Transylvania, McDowell, Mitchell, Madison, Yancey, Jackson, Swain, Macon, Graham, Spartanburg, Greenville, Anderson, Union, Pickens, Oconee, Laurens, Greenwood, Abbeville and also Biltmore Forest, Woodfin, Leicester, Black Mountain, Montreat, Arden, Weaverville, Hendersonville, Etowah, Flat Rock, Mills River, Waynesville, Maggie Valley, Canton, Clyde, Franklin, Cullowhee, Sylva, Cherokee, Marion, Old Fort, Forest City, Lake Lure, Bat Cave, Spindale, Spruce Pine, Bakersville, Burnsville, Tryon, Columbus, Marshall, Mars Hill, Brevard, Bryson City, Cashiers, Greer, Landrum, Clemson, Gaffney, and Easley.

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May 21 • 12:06 PM EDT • Health • wlos.com
'We lost everything': Western NC businesses seek support after Helene as recovery drags on

In 2024, the storm devastated parts of the region, including Asheville's River Arts District.

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May 13 • 12:56 PM EDT • Business • abc11.com
Restaurant proposed for Marshall. Some say prioritize pre-Helene ones

Anthony Willis said the Bojangles in Mars Hill, which he has owned since 2015, has only helped bring business to local eateries such as Wagon Wheel.

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May 4 • 5:02 AM EDT • Business • citizen-times.com
Hurricane Helene shattered lives — and the systems that keep people sober

Recovery from substance use disorder requires community. What happens when a disaster tears that apart?

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May 4 • 4:45 AM EDT • Health • grist.org
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Helene frayed the safety net for people who use drugs. This community wove it back together.

Harm reduction groups and health care workers helped avert the worst. But what about the next emergency?

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May 4 • 4:40 AM EDT • Health • grist.org
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3 Things to Know: Camping reservations in GSMNP, Entertainment District and Helene recovery
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Apr 30 • 6:27 AM EDT • Entertainment • wbir.com
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Roundtable: North Carolina businesses discuss recovery 18 months after Helene

News 13 sat down with other small business owners across western North Carolina to for a roundtable discussion about their recovery experiences.

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Apr 29 • 11:43 AM EDT • Business • wlos.com
Health, Wealth, and Opportunity

Karen Freeman-Wilson and Helene Gayle reflected on the structural factors that shape access to opportunity at the Golub Capital Social Impact Lab Annual Lecture.

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Apr 24 • 5:06 PM EDT • Health • chicagobooth.edu
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Organizers stress post-Helene support at WomanUP networking event

Over 300 women packed together in a conference room at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College to connect with other women in business.

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Apr 21 • 6:08 PM EDT • Business • wlos.com
Helene exposed cracks in western NC’s health care safety net

Analyses of emergency room use and a doctor’s scramble to reopen his clinic raise questions ahead of the next big storm.

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Apr 15 • 4:30 AM EDT • Health • northcarolinahealthnews.org
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Helene recovery continues as Asheville businesses reopen 18 months later

Many businesses are still rebuilding after Helene, with a few of them having their reopenings this week."Today is the culmination of a year and a half of really

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Apr 11 • 10:13 PM EDT • Business • wlos.com
Mullin pledges progress on disaster relief during his first official trip

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin toured North Carolina areas devastated by Hurricane Helene in 2024.

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Apr 7 • 5:18 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
Western NC communities now eligible for business district rebuilding grants

Local governments and nonprofits in Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Surry, Watauga, Wilkes and Yadkin counties can now apply for a share of $40 million to help rebuild business districts damaged by Hurricane Helene.

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Apr 7 • 1:23 PM EDT • Business • wfdd.org
Western NC communities now eligible for business district rebuilding grants

Local governments and nonprofits in Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Surry, Watauga, Wilkes and Yadkin counties can now apply for a share of $40 million to help rebuild business districts damaged by Hurricane Helene.

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Apr 7 • 1:23 PM EDT • Business • wunc.org
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WNC businesses still recovering and welcoming back visitors

Businesses are still feeling the impacts of Hurricane Helene but are inviting visitors back.

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Apr 3 • 11:17 PM EDT • Business • wyff4.com
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Gov. Stein announces $8.5 million for WNC small business recovery after Helene

Governor Josh Stein announced nearly $8.5 million in new infrastructure grants to support small business recovery in western North Carolina on Friday.

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Mar 30 • 11:31 AM EDT • Business • foxcarolina.com
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Gov. Stein announces $8.5 million for WNC small business recovery after Helene

The funding will assist 13 projects through the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Small Business Infrastructure Grant Program, continuing the state’s response to the impacts of Hurricane Helene.

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Mar 21 • 2:30 PM EDT • Business • foxcarolina.com
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Study focuses on health care in Appalachian areas recovering from Hurricane Helene

Julia Gohlke, who has studied environmental disasters throughout her career, is turning her attention to the storm’s aftermath in regions near and dear to her personal history.

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Mar 17 • 4:25 AM EDT • Health • news.vt.edu
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$10.5M donation aims to support Federally Qualified Health Centers in WNC

Dogwood Health Trust Primary Care Development Corporation has announced a $10.5 million donation aiming to strengthen financial resilience

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Mar 7 • 8:02 PM EST • Health • wlos.com
Business of Farming Conference aims to support local farmers

The year 2025 was tough for farms in the region recovering from Helene damage.The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) held its annual Business of

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Feb 28 • 6:39 PM EST • Business • wlos.com
Bring out the shy people: The case for politics without politicians

In a new book, political theorist Hélène Landemore argues that electoral politics is irredeemably broken but that democracy can be repaired by empowering ordinary people to govern.

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Feb 18 • 4:37 PM EST • Politics • news.yale.edu
Asheville Restaurant Week boosts business during tourism off-season after Helene

Local restaurant managers are sharing with us their excitement for Asheville Restaurant Week from Feb. 17 through Feb. 23.

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Feb 16 • 11:24 PM EST • Business • wlos.com
Asheville City Council approves $15.5M in funding for Small Business Support Program - The City of Asheville

In an important next step for small business recovery following Tropical Storm Helene, the Asheville City Council approved a $15.5 million funding recommendation on Tuesday, January 27, to support the City’s Small Business Support Program (SBSP), funded through the Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program.

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Jan 27 • 11:39 AM EST • Business • ashevillenc.gov
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When might Asheville's post-Helene small business program begin?

Asheville's post-Helene Small Business Support Program could take its next step with the selection of organizations to administer local grants.

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Jan 27 • 5:04 AM EST • Business • citizen-times.com
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While St. Pete Beach residents were locked out after Hurricane Helene, the Mayor was already having repairs done

Video captured by a resident the day after the hurricane shows a crew already working at Petrila's home.

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Jan 21 • 9:45 AM EST • Politics • floridapolitics.com
New mobile unit to help communities with mental health after Helene

More than a year after Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina, mental health and addiction providers say demand for services continues to grow. Crossroads Treatment Center is launching a mobile unit to expand access to holistic care.

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Dec 26, 2025 • 2:36 PM EST • Health • wral.com
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Dec 23, 2025 • 1:57 PM EST • Politics • cnn.com
Deadline day for DOJ to drop the Epstein files
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Dec 19, 2025 • 9:47 AM EST • Politics • cnn.com
Hot Springs gets 2nd $25,000 check from business for Helene recovery

For the second straight year, Dental Advocacy Group gifted Hot Springs $25,000, which will primarily be used to help repair 14 Hot Springs area homes.

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Dec 18, 2025 • 5:08 AM EST • Business • citizen-times.com
Employers join forces at career fair to boost local business hires post-Helene

Employers gathered at the Valley Hope Church in Swannanoa on Thursday, Dec. 11, to take part in the Black Mountain Swannanoa Chamber Foundation career fair.

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Dec 11, 2025 • 6:42 PM EST • Business • wlos.com
Florida's DeSantis declares Muslim civil rights group a terrorist organization

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday designated one of the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy groups in the U.S. a “foreign terrorist organization,” following a similar step by Texas last month.

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Dec 9, 2025 • 1:49 PM EST • Politics • pbs.org