Nineteen new small business recovery projects in Western North Carolina have been awarded grants totaling $13.8 million through the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Small Business Infrastructure Grant Program. 

The U.S. Department of Labor has released additional funds to help North Carolinians get back to work in areas affected by Hurricane Helene.

The new funds, totaling $4 million, represent the remaining portion of a $10 million Disaster Recovery Dislocated Worker Grant that the U.S. Department of Labor initially awarded to North Carolina in 2024 in the wake of Helene.

The Center for Biological Diversity and MountainTrue are suing the federal government, seeking to ensure laws are followed where they claim the U.S. Forest Service is skirting regulations in allowing the logging of a 135-acre parcel in the Nolichucky Gorge near the small Poplar community on the border between Yancey and Mitchell counties. 

The U.S. Department of Labor has released additional funds to help North Carolinians get back to work in areas affected by Hurricane Helene.

The new funds, totaling $4 million, represent the remaining portion of a $10 million Disaster Recovery Dislocated Worker Grant that the DOL initially awarded to North Carolina in 2024 in the wake of Helene.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Environmental Assistance and Customer Service is now accepting applications for the Helene Recovery Recycling Infrastructure Grant Program, which supports western North Carolina communities in rebuilding and strengthening waste reduction and recycling systems following Hurricane Helene. 

Paul Maddox has spent decades studying sickness. A cancer researcher, tenured professor and lifelong learner, he’s spent much of his career exploring how to heal the body. Now, Maddox says, he’s ready to heal something else.

Hurricane Helene recovery czar Michael Whatley is blaming Democrats for the growing chorus of criticism over his job performance — but in heavily Republican Western North Carolina, it’s not just Democratic voices calling for Whatley to be replaced or step down. 

It’s not a lot of money, but it’s the principle — the hurricane-ravaged Town of Clyde is out more than $3,400 due to a baffling disconnect between FEMA reimbursement guidelines and a state program meant to ease the burden of debris removal on private land. 

Gov. Josh Stein is highlighting Renew NC’s work to repair and rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Helene. Western North Carolinians who are seeking assistance in rebuilding Helene-damaged homes have until Dec. 31 to submit an application to the state’s Renew NC Single-Family Housing Program (SFPH).  

Last September, when Hurricane Helene brought flooding to much of the region, the little league baseball field behind the Waynesville Elks Club was swamped by several inches of water, dugouts were destroyed and lights were carried downstream along with tons of other debris. But now, hundreds of thousands of dollars and hundreds of person-hours later, action has returned to that hallowed diamond.