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Book in minutes at vaccassist.com. Sponsored by Pfizer. It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Monday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.
Well, all of the conversation continues to buzz about a major winter storm that not only affected portions of North and South Carolina, but affected the country all the way from Texas to the Northeast, where ice in many states, including Tennessee and Mississippi, has left tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people without power in the Northeast, looking at snowfall totals near two feet. Turning our attention here to North Carolina, fortunately, the vast majority of the state did not deal with the brunt of the storm as was originally predicted.
However, western North Carolina did see some pretty significant impacts, and that is where nearly 30,000 people across the state are without power this morning. The top counties, Henderson County, which hosts Hendersonville, North Carolina. Close to 14,000 people without power there. The neighboring county there, Transylvania, about 3,500 customers without power this morning.
However, other areas not completely clear. Mecklenburg County, about 2,600 customers without power. Robinson, 1,400 as well.
So some major power outages. But again, out of the 30,000 people, more than half of those are between both Henderson and Transylvania counties in western North Carolina. As the recovery efforts do continue from this major winter event, it was a mixture of everything, depending on where you are in North Carolina. Heavy amounts of ice in western North Carolina, a mix of sleet and freezing rain, maybe a little bit of snow in portions of central North Carolina, and nothing but rain on the east coast, where temperatures stayed above the freezing range pretty much all day yesterday as the storm system is now officially moved out of North Carolina. Looking at a live radar this morning.
Morning. Very little impacts still to be felt from this storm. There is still a little bit of potential icing precipitation in some areas of North Carolina, but the brunt, the vast majority of the storm, is over for the Tarheel state. Taking a look as to how we got here and everything that has gone on over the last couple of days, President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration for North Carolina ahead of the potential winter weather system throughout the weekend as that has now come to pass. Fortunately, according to Governor Josh Stein, he said in a press conference over the weekend, quote, this declaration enables us to access federal assets so that we can deploy additional generators to critical facilities like hospitals, support sheltering operations, provide emergency food, water, and fuel, and to help from the Forest Service to remove downtrend.
We are grateful for the partnership of the federal government, and it's a quicker approval of our request. Emergency protective measures limited to direct federal assistance under the public assistance program will be provided at 75% of a federal funding reimbursement rate for North Carolina. The governor noted that over the last couple of days, into portions of late last week, the state was very much on top of this storm. He noted that they had shipped more than 100 pallets of meals and drinking water across the state, in addition to more than 700 cots and blankets. That is a mixture of for various emergency shelters across North Carolina, as well as for crews, statewide crews that were dispatched all over the state.
The governor also noted that the state highway patrol was ready to clear roads and respond to emergencies, and there were about 1,200 accidents on the roadways. on Sunday In which either State Highway Patrol or local law enforcement responded to those accidents, many of them single-car incidents with cars veering off the road due to those very icy conditions. As of this morning, fortunately, and things are still dynamic, things could change. But as of right now, there were reportedly no fatal car wrecks here in North Carolina, which is remarkable with some of the wintry mix and icy conditions felt on the roadways across the state.
So, some good news, at least as of right now, to pass along as it relates to those road conditions in North Carolina. Emergency Management Director Will Ray, of course, highlighted the major impacts for significant ice accumulations, which really materialized in portions of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where between half and three-quarters of an inch of ice were expected and did come to fruition in some of those areas. The icing totals as you moved east with the storm went down significantly with some snowy conditions in the northern half of North Carolina. There were 51 local state of emergencies issued and 21 local emergency operations centers active throughout the heat of the storm. All of those entities, as you would imagine, monitoring the situation, monitoring the storm as things continue to play out throughout the day.
On Sunday, the state emergency response team distributed approximately 120 pallets of MREs or ready-to-eat meals and water to assist communities with shelters or warming center operations, which is typical even outside of a major winter event when you've got temperatures as cold as they are and will be for the coming days, at least for those low temperatures. Those warming center operations are likely to continue across North Carolina. The North Carolina National Guard and the entire North Carolina State Highway Patrol. were active and standby across various strategic areas in the state. All of that to assist local communities and state partners with clearing roadways, responding to emergencies, and addressing major transportation needs that would have and could have played out.
95 National Guard force package groups were on standby and willing to assist in clearing roadways for down trees. Fortunately, again, the ICE forecast not necessarily coming to fruition in every part of the state means that the amount of downed trees knocking down power lines was not anywhere near as extreme as we were originally predicting and could have played out throughout the state over the last couple of days.
However, there are still some major impacts that we're tracking right now. More than 30,000 customers in North Carolina without power. Zooming that map out at a nationwide look, still more than 835,000. Customers without power. That's customers.
Those are individual addresses or businesses that are without power. That means over a million people are currently in the dark this morning. Frigid temperatures in and behind this storm system means that many folks are freezing in the dark this morning. The most of those power outages are in states like Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana, where in Tennessee, more than a quarter million people are without power this morning. One of the hardest hit areas, Nashville, where there was a period of time throughout the day on Sunday where nearly 75% of the county that Nashville is in was without major electrical service.
And as you can imagine, crews will be on the scene throughout the remainder of the day in all of those states and here in North Carolina to recover power and get folks back online after dealing with some of the impacts of this major winter weather event that we saw push across the entire U.S. United States. Fortunately, the forecasting on this, we knew about it well ahead of time. It allowed the state, it allowed NCDOT and other officials to prep. Roads were salted and brined ahead of the winter weather.
Crews have been out in the overnight hours as well to continue to work some of those major thoroughfares and roadways.
However, one of the major stories that we are going to be Following throughout the rest of the day today into the overnight hours are the very, very cold temperatures as things will begin to warm up slightly throughout the day today. On Monday, anything that unfreezes and starts a rolling off is likely to flash freeze again tonight, where temperatures will be brutally cold across most of North Carolina, teens and single digits across the vast majority of our state. This is something that we will be keeping an eye on for the next couple of days. We'll bring you the latest details as soon as we get them over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. And of course, the latest, as always, right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
It's 521. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. Good Monday morning to you on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM. WBT, I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.
Tracking some other statewide news this morning out in western North Carolina, not necessarily talking about some of the icing and power outages this morning, going all the way back to Hurricane Helene, which affected the state back in September of 2024. With a January the 31st application deadline approaching, North Carolina officials say just 14 homes have been completed and 68 grants awarded under a massive $807 million federally funded housing recovery program that was created in direct response to all of the devastation and the unimaginable devastation and destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Governor Stein said in a recent press release, North Carolina is committed to helping families who lost their homes during hurricane helene recover renew and see's single-family housing program is getting people back into safe and restored homes and we want to ensure every eligible homeowner has the opportunity to apply before the january the 31st deadline a housing rehabilitation reconstruction replacement or reimbursement program available to homeowners the single family housing program is a centralized initiative of the group called renew nc the program prioritizes low to moderate income household families with seniors 62 or older and children 18 and under and or households who have family members who are disabled there are 28 counties that are eligible for the program i'm not going to read through all of them this morning but they are the counties that you would expect in western north carolina that did see some of the largest amount of devastation and destruction The storm. I'll note there is one zip code in Mecklenburg County 28214 in which individuals are eligible as well. The program, since it was started up last year, has received more than 7,500 applications for housing recovery assistance, and almost one-third are currently under review for eligibility.
74 projects are apparently, and according to state officials, in the pre-construction phase, and 86 homeowners have been awarded grants to this point. The program completed just 14 construction projects for homeowners in Buncombe, Cleveland, Gastonia, Henderson, McDowell, Polk, and Wilkes County. With these projects including three reconstructions, four rehabilitations, and seven clean replacements, meaning the house was completely wiped and rebuilt. Currently under construction are 15 renew NC construction projects, one replacement, two Rehabilitations and 12 reconstructions in some of those same counties as well: Buncombe, Henderson, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, and Watauga counties. If homeowners have already received Helene-related assistance through FEMA or a homeowners insurance policy, the state wants to pass along that they in fact are still eligible to apply for the Single Family Housing Program grant here in North Carolina, as that program is designed to address housing recovery needs remaining after all other assistance has been exhausted, according to a press release from the governor's office.
While the January the 31st deadline is going to pass here relatively soon, Renew NC will refocus its efforts reviewing applications, determining budget needs for those that have applied for the program, and assisting qualified applicants in proceeding efficiently through the remaining review and construction processes that will, in some cases, take years. To play out, the programs under Renew NC, such as the single-family housing program, are funded through the federal government. That money, nearly $800 or over $807 million, coming from a community development block grant for disaster recovery, also known as a CDBGDR, that came directly from HUD. That's the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and locally is being administered by the North Carolina Department of Commerce, more specifically their division of community revitalization.
Out of the nearly $1.4 billion allocated for post-Halene recovery needs in Western North Carolina, as I mentioned, $807 million allocated for the single-family housing program. 14 projects completed to date, more than 86 grants awarded right now.
However, more than 7,500 individuals have applied for the program, all ahead of that January the 31st deadline coming up. This Saturday. For individuals that are looking for more information on this, they can visit renewnc.org. That's renewnc.org or call 188-791-0207. We've also got a link, including an email address.
There is a mobile app as well. All of that is available this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. The headline story there: deadline nears as NC Helene Aid yields 14 completed homes. Again, those details over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Taking a look at a much more recent storm here across the state of North Carolina, winter weather being felt across the vast majority of the state this weekend.
30,000 customers, a little over 30,000 customers, are without power this morning across the Tar Hills state. The largest hotspot for power outages is in and around the Hendersonville area in Henderson County with more than 13,000 customers without power. That is the vast majority of the state in terms of outages.
Some of the neighboring counties dealing with some outages as well. Transylvania County has about 3,500 customers without power this morning. Mecklenburg County, 2,300 customers. Robeson County looking at about 1,400 customers without power as well. Up in the most northeastern portions of North Carolina, Hertford County, which is on the Virginia border, they've got about 1,900 customers without power.
It's not immediately Clear whether that is related to some of the winter weather over the weekend, but 30,000 customers being tracked from Duke Energy and other regional utilities without power this morning. That is just a drop in the bucket in comparison to the more than 830,000 customers across the United States that are without power this morning. The hot spots there, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, where some of those largest outages are. More than a quarter million electrical customers in Tennessee remain without power this morning as more than an inch of ice fell in many areas throughout the central part of the state, and roadways remain blanketed with ice, sleet, and snow across a lot of the southern half of the United States. We'll have a continued coverage of that this morning, not only here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, but throughout the day, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 WBT.
It's 5:35. Good Monday morning to you. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM. FM News Talk 107.9 FM, WBT. I'm Nick Craig.
Good morning to you.
You may be surprised to find out that there are some hunting restrictions that exist in North Carolina, particularly on Sunday. I was pretty shocked to find this out. We've talked about it almost a year ago, right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. That has been the precipice for some legal challenges across the state over the last couple of years. To walk us through a pretty substantial update in that case this morning, Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Mitch, before we get into this most recent legal challenge and update, walk us through some of these restrictions that, unless you're an avid hunter in North Carolina, you're probably not even aware of. Oh, oh. You're still grooving, still connecting, still loving, still turning up, still thriving. You still got it, but your immune system, it weakens as you age. That's where vaccines come in.
They help train and strengthen your immune response to fight off respiratory illnesses like flu, pneumococcal pneumonia, RSV, or COVID-19. Ask your doctor or pharmacist which vaccines you need. Book in minutes at vaccassist.com. Sponsored by Pfizer. Well, if you, yes, if you're an avid hunter, you know just what the rules are.
But if you aren't an avid hunter, you might not know when is hunting allowed, when is hunting not allowed.
Now, there are certain hunting seasons. But one thing that was very clear up through 2017 was you couldn't hunt in North Carolina on Sundays using a gun.
Now, in 2017, the General Assembly changed that by passing a law that allowed some hunting on Sundays, but there were restrictions, including how close you could be to a church, what hours you could hunt, waterfowl. There were particular restrictions on waterfowl hunting on Sundays.
So that law was put in place that actually allowed some hunting on Sunday, which previously had been banned the following year. North Carolina voters, among a group of new constitutional amendments, passed an amendment to preserve the right to hunt and fish. And so, what was interesting is that based on that right to hunt and fish. A lawsuit was filed. To try to attack the restrictions on Sunday hunting, basically saying, We have a right to hunt and fish.
How can you restrict the right to hunt and fish? And so a court case was filed, a plaintiff by the name of Tim Oates, working with some others who wanted to fight this new law. And what has happened is the courts In North Carolina, threw out the lawsuit, basically saying no, that what had happened was that the new right to hunted fish that was placed in the Constitution included a specific provision that said the General Assembly Could pass a law that would Restrict hunting.
So basically, you have the right to hunt and fish, but the General Assembly, as part of the right, as it's codified in the Constitution, can set limitations. And so that's basically what the State Court of Appeals said in the most recent ruling in the case is that it was going to be dismissed because the right to hunt and fish is not absolute. And the right, as it's spelled out in North Carolina's Constitution, gives the General Assembly a specific role in being allowed to set limits on that right.
So, the most recent development, which could be simplified and saying the case is over. Is that an appeal was made, a petition to the North Carolina Supreme Court to take the case and revisit what the Court of Appeals said. The Supreme Court has decided not to take the case. No explanation, just basically a petition was made, the petition was denied, and so the ruling that came out from the Court of Appeals stands in the case, and North Carolina's existing restrictions on Sunday hunting remain in place. Mitch, we've talked about a lot of other legal stories over the last six, eight, even 10 months or so.
And we've often talked about kind of the ladders and the way in which you progress in a variety of legal challenges. Here in North Carolina, of course, we stop at the top there with the state's highest court. Is there an ability for this case to jump into the federal court system? Or because we're dealing with state law and the state constitution, is it solely limited here in North Carolina? Is there any recourse here for Mr.
Oates and some of these other challengers? I don't think so, because we are talking, as you mentioned, about the state law and the state constitution. The only way that this could rise into being a federal court case is if somehow Tim Oates and the folks that he's working with could say that there was some sort of federal constitutional right that had been violated by these state restrictions. They've not made that argument anywhere along the line. And so my guess is.
Not only would it not be the case that you couldn't take this case and try to move it up in a federal court. you would probably have to file a new lawsuit. Claiming that there was some in federal court, claiming that there was some sort of federal violation of a federal constitutional right. And you might run up into some sort of problem with the statute of limitations.
Now, my guess is that the way you'd get around that is that you would have to have someone who wants to violate the law. By hunting on Sunday outside of the areas that are permitted at this point, get charged with it, and then. Go forward with your federal lawsuit saying my federal constitutional right to X has been violated, but I don't know what that federal constitutional right is. This has typically been something that has been regulated within the states. And so this particular suit, The way that it was styled, the way the arguments have been made has really been limited to the state courts.
And the state Supreme Court deciding not to take the case basically settles it, saying, what the General Assembly did in that 2017 law. Passed in the same legislative session as the constitutional amendment.
So basically, the same legislators who passed this law put the amendment on the ballot for voters to vote on. Basically, the state Supreme Court washing its hands of this case settles it unless someone could come up with some sort of. federal constitutional right that had been violated. And Mitch, as I understand, as you mentioned in your synopsis at the beginning there, I guess the argument from Mr. Oates and some of the others was, okay, we have this new constitutional amendment.
Hunting and fishing is now enshrined. It is protected under our state's constitution, which I'll note, of course, is different from that of the federal government. It's enshrined in the Constitution. How can you restrict something that you say is allowed and is protected in the Constitution? Is that really the crux of the argument here?
That is the crux of the argument. Basically, the idea being that they, the voters of North Carolina, voted to say that we have this hunt and right to hunt and fish. It is now codified into our North Carolina Constitution. And so there's nothing that the General Assembly could be able to do that would infringe upon that right. And then the response, as we mentioned a little bit earlier, and is spelled out in the State Court of Appeals opinion in this case, is: wait a minute, actually read.
What the Constitution says, and the Constitution, in and of itself, gives a role to the General Assembly to be able to place limitations on the right to hunt and fish. This isn't like the earlier rights that are spelled out in the Declaration of Rights that say you have the right to life, liberty, the enjoyment of the fruits of your own labor, and the pursuit of happiness, which are fairly short. This is a little lengthier constitutional provision that says you have the right to hunt and fish. But then, one of the things that it also says is the General Assembly can write laws that would limit this right to hunt and fish. It says that in the Constitution.
It's not someone interpreting this.
So I think it was fairly clear to the judges of the Court of Appeals who ruled on this unanimously that this case did not have any legs because the right to hunt and fish is limited by the General Assembly's ability to pass a law that would set some limits on it.
Now, I'm guessing that if the General Assembly passed a law that said you can't hunt and fish, That there might be some case that could be made. That, wait a minute, we passed this right to hunt and fish, so you can't pass a law that says you can't hunt and fish. But I think it was seen as clear to the Court of Appeals that setting limits. on that right to hunt and fish. Still could comply with the Constitutional Amendment since the Constitutional Amendment.
actually said that the General Assembly could set limits. It's a very interesting update. We appreciate it. This morning, Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Uh oh.
You're still grooving, still connecting, still loving, still turning up, still thriving. You still got it, but your immune system, it weakens as you age. That's where vaccines come in. They help train and strengthen your immune response to fight off respiratory illnesses like flu, pneumococcal pneumonia, RSV, or COVID-19. Ask your doctor or pharmacist which vaccines you need.
Book in minutes at vaxassist.com. Sponsored by Pfizer. It's 5:50. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM, WBT. I'm Nick Craig.
Good Monday morning to you. Continuing our coverage this morning of what was a major winter weather event, and not only here across North Carolina, but from Texas all the way up to the Northeast, where ice, sleet, and snow affected portions of Texas, more than two feet of snow in some areas of the northeast over the last day or so. Here in North Carolina, looking at a major ice event, and fortunately, for the vast majority of the state, due to some drier air impacting the system, the original ice totals, in some cases, looking at a half an inch, if not three-quarters of an inch of ice, did not materialize across many areas of our state, including in and around the Charlotte area, as well as the Raleigh-Durham area, that could have been looking at some of those crippling totals in terms. Of ice out, amount of ice falling from the sky, causing a major power outages. Fortunately, here in North Carolina this morning, just before six o'clock, about 31,000 customers without power.
Most of those outages are in the western half of North Carolina. One area hit particularly hard is Hendersonville in Henderson County, where more than 13,756 customers are without power this morning. In Transylvania County, 3,500 customers without power. In Mecklenburg County, some 2,300 customers. And in Robeson County, about 1,400 customers without power.
So, again, the vast majority of those in portions of western North Carolina, the rest kind of scattered through some counties here in the state. Brutally cold temperatures, at least low temperatures, will continue for the next couple of days, meaning that anything that melts has the possibility of flash-free. Freezing into the overnight hours tonight as temperatures across the vast majority of the state will be in the teens and even single digits across portions of North Carolina, meaning some icy road conditions could even persist into your Tuesday, maybe even into Wednesday, depending on how quickly DOT crews and state officials can get out on the roadways and get everything cleared. Crews have been working pretty much nonstop since the middle parts of last week to salt brine and make sure that the roads are treated and prepped the best as they could leading up to this winter storm. President Donald Trump has officially approved an emergency declaration for North Carolina.
This was requested by the Democrat Governor Stein administration late last week, and the president and his administration did come through with this emergency declaration for North Carolina and many other states. Across the Southeast, Governor Stein saying in a Saturday press conference: This declaration, referring to the emergency declaration, enables us to access federal assets that we can deploy additional generators to critical facilities like hospitals, support sheltering operations, provide emergency food, water, and fuel, and to get help from the Forest Service to remove down trees. We are grateful for the partnership of the federal government and it's a quicker approval of our request.
So, some good news as it relates to that. State crews had been staging emergency personnel, whether that was DOT, State Highway Patrol, or even portions of the North Carolina National Guard. Staging had begun taking place in the middle and latter parts of last week, as original forecast totals called for ICE forecasts anywhere between a quarter and three-quarters of an inch of ice. And as has been talked about throughout the Entire weekend, and even before this storm, even half to a quarter to half an inch of ice can add hundreds of pounds worth of weight load to trees and branches, causing them to structurally fail, snap. And you've seen the story before, taking down power lines and causing mass power outages.
And while fortunately, North Carolina did not deal with the brunt of this storm.
Some of our neighboring states are dealing with some of those major impacts this morning. In Tennessee, this morning, more than a quarter million individuals are without power as the central portions of that state were hit incredibly hard by the winter weather event. In Mississippi, more than 157,000 customers remain without electrical service this morning. And in Louisiana, that number is at 123 plus thousand. As many of these individuals have been without power now going on close to 24 hours in the cold, dealing with some of these very frigid conditions that.
We are talking about here in North Carolina. Again, the worst of the ice and the worst impact really is highlighted in Hendersonville. That's in Henderson County, North Carolina, south of Asheville, between that and up and down Highway 26 near the South Carolina line is where the vast majority of those power outages are. Duke Energy and their crews have remained on scene and will remain on scene for the foreseeable future to get all of those customers restored. But some of the winter weather conditions, including an increase in wind gusts throughout the day today, could make that tricky for a line crews with Duke Energy and some of their standby contractors that they did bring into the state of North Carolina had the forecast verified and played out as additionally expected.
So fortunately, that didn't happen. But for the more than 31,000 customers sitting in the dark and sitting in the cold this morning, it might as well be the entire state for them if they and their families are dealing with that right now.
Now, moving forward, the forecast for this week fortunately looks relatively dry across the vast majority of the state.
However, low temperatures, at least through midweek, do allow the possibility of some flash freezing for any ice or sleet or snow, depending on where you are in North Carolina, that did fall that begins to melt during the day when the sun is at its peak. Any of that that melts has the possibility of a pooling on roadways, especially those secondary roads, neighborhood roads, two-lane highways, ponding on those areas, and flash freezing with some of those frigidly cold temperatures in the overnight and evening hours. We will, of course, keep an eye on that throughout the rest of the day today. We'll have a continued coverage as it is relevant over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. And of course, you'll get the latest right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour and throughout the rest of the day, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 WBT.
That's going to do it for a Monday edition. Of the Carolina Journal News Hour, WBT News is Next. Followed by Good Morning, BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT. You're still grooving, still connecting, still loving, still turning up, still thriving.
You still got it, but your immune system, it weakens as you age. That's where vaccines come in. They help train and strengthen your immune response to fight off respiratory illnesses like flu, pneumococcal pneumonia, RSV, or COVID-19. Ask your doctor or pharmacist which vaccines you need. Book in minutes at vaxassist.com.
Sponsored by Pfizer. Earn your applied bachelor's degree in as little as three years, fully online, with Unity Environmental University. Gain cutting-edge skills in less time with less tuition while learning on your own schedule. Visit unity.edu slash careeredge to get started.
