North Carolina

A local reporter’s experience covering Western North Carolina in the wake of Helene

Published

2 years ago

November 8, 2024

A local reporter’s experience covering Western North Carolina in the wake of Helene

It’s hard to put into words what it’s like to pull up to where a family’s home once stood and see mounds and mounds of cracked, beige dirt.

To notice that a wooden, split-rail fence managed to withstand more than 20 feet of swift-moving floodwaters, yet not realize until later that the fence bordered the home’s driveway. To walk next door to a tiling warehouse, where men in white coveralls and muddy black boots are removing storm debris, and ask if there was a house next to their place of business.

And, when one answers in the affirmative, to have him walk you and your photographer to the spot where a family once laughed and cried and prayed together – all while knowing the tragic outcome of their story.

My job is to put these kinds of experiences into words. More than a week later, I’m still struggling to.

I tried to begin this piece – a brief description of my reporting in Asheville, North Carolina, as part of the USA TODAY Network’s Hurricane Helene coverage – in a light-hearted way.

I thought about starting with how we in the Asheville Citizen-Times newsroom had to use gallon buckets to force-flush the toilets because there was no running water. About how bags of cat litter sat in the halls in case reporters needed to take them home to create a makeshift bathroom.

I thought about describing the lovely man I encountered as I traipsed around a homeless encampment, who was all too willing to show me where a tree fell on his tent and legs when Helene swept through Western North Carolina. His rebuilt camp is the tidiest I’ve ever seen – and my beat has taken me through quite a few.

But today, on an unseasonably warm Tuesday in late October, I wrote and rewrote the beginning of this piece. Because this afternoon – and the afternoon before it – my heart is heavy.

It’s heavy for the Dryes and Wiselys, two families who lost almost everyone to the floods, and the other Asheville survivors I spoke to. For the families who are still waiting to hear about loved ones.

For the homeless residents who told me they fear some of their acquaintances who perished in the storm will never be claimed by family because of their transient status. And for the Western North Carolina community as a whole, which is mourning the loss of homes and pets and landmarks and an art colony that disappeared entirely in mere hours.

As students, journalism hopefuls are taught to keep an arm’s length from stories and sources. Reporters must remain objective, professors stress, which means maintaining a certain level of detachment. If you care too much, your feelings might find their way into a piece and influence your ability to tell the story fairly.

But what this (well-intentioned) lesson leaves out is humanity.

How can one travel to natural disaster-ravaged areas, interview families who lost parents and siblings and children and grandparents, and not be impacted?

How can a reporter spend hours at a barricade situation involving an 11-month-old girl and not feel emotional when they’re told a chaplain has been called to the hospital where the baby was rushed following a gunshot wound to her head?

And how can journalists be expected to cover school shootings – as the Texas-based photographer I worked alongside in Asheville did in Uvalde in 2022 – and remain emotionless?

I don’t believe reporters can. And I also believe this is something those in the field have long known.

At the first newspaper I worked at, I had an editor who was decades into his career. He knew I was fresh out of college and hadn’t chosen the breaking news/public safety beat (which I’m so thankful I was assigned to because it’s now my specialty.) He knew that I’d write a lot of hard stories in my career.

So, one day, he offered me a piece of advice: The moment this stuff – the really tragic, heavy stories, he meant – stops getting to you, get out of the profession. Or, at the very least, take a long enough break to where you can feel the humanity of this again.

Eight or so years later, I remember those words like he spoke them yesterday. So, on days when my heart is heavy, I think it’s OK to feel this way.

Because what’s happening in Western North Carolina is heavy – and it will be for that community and those journalists for a while.

Isabel is an investigative reporter covering breaking news and public safety, with an eye toward some of Delaware’s most vulnerable: children, those struggling with addiction, and those with mental illness. She can be reached at ihughes@delawareonline.com or via X at @izzihughes_

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North Carolina

Atrium land deal clears way for 1,200 homes

Published

5 hours ago

June 13, 2026

Press Room

Atrium land deal clears way for 1,200 homes

by Charlotte Ledger and Michelle Crouch, North Carolina Health News
June 13, 2026

By Michelle Crouch

Co-published with The Charlotte Ledger

After months of scrutiny, Atrium Health announced this week that it has finalized a deal to fulfill one of the affordable housing promises it made in 2021 while seeking public support for The Pearl, its medical innovation district.

The agreement calls for the hospital to transfer nearly 14 acres at North Tryon, West 32nd and Poplar streets to Inlivian, Charlotte’s housing authority, for future affordable housing.

Conceptual plans for the site shared by Inlivian envision transforming the parcel and a nearby Inlivian-owned site into a 27-acre community with 1,200 apartments, 44 for-sale townhomes, retail space and robust community amenities including walking trails, a dog park and an outdoor amphitheater.

If built as envisioned, the project would be one of the largest mixed-income housing developments in Charlotte in recent years and could reshape an area that serves as the northern gateway to uptown Charlotte. The Atrium site is across 32nd Street from NoDa Brewing, in a former industrial area that’s seeing plenty of apartment and townhouse redevelopment, likely spurred by its proximity to NoDa and the Lynx Blue Line.

“Together, we are not simply developing real estate, we are creating communities where people can put down roots, build brighter futures, and experience the stability every family deserves,” said A. Fulton Meachem, president and CEO of Inlivian, in a statement to The Ledger/NC Health News.

Land transfer part of a three-way swap

Atrium Health CEO Gene Woods first pledged to donate the North Tryon Street land to Inlivian in 2021 while seeking $75M in public money for The Pearl. Woods also said 5% of apartments within the innovation district itself would be set aside for affordable housing.

When it opened a year ago, The Pearl delivered much of what Atrium had promised: the city’s first four-year medical school, a cutting-edge research building and millions of dollars in new investment.

The promised affordable housing, however, lagged behind. As The Ledger/NC Health News reported last fall, community advocates questioned when – and if – it would materialize. At the time, Atrium said it was fully complying with the terms of its agreement with the city and that The Pearl innovation district was still in its early stages.

Since then, hospital officials have announced a plan for an apartment building at the Pearl that would include the promised affordable units, and Atrium donated $5M to the city’s Housing Impact Fund, bringing the system’s total contribution of $15M. Hospital leaders also explained that the delay on the North Tryon Street donation was slowed by many factors, including “multiple iterations of the deal” and “multiple leadership changes at Inlivian.”

In a news release announcing the finalized deal this week, Atrium said that including the land donation, it has contributed more than $51M toward affordable housing and homelessness solutions in the Charlotte region.

“This agreement reflects our commitment to strengthening the communities we serve by investing in ways to expand access to safe, affordable housing,” said Steve Smoot, president of the North Carolina and Georgia division at Advocate Health, Atrium’s parent company, in the release.

The transfer of the North Tryon Street land is part of a broader land deal that also calls for Inlivian to receive a 3-acre Atrium-owned property on East Morehead Street for affordable housing, while Atrium acquires a similarly sized Inlivian-owned parcel near The Pearl for expansion of the district.

What’s envisioned for North Tryon Street?

The 14-acre tract between North Tryon and Poplar streets was previously owned by Mecklenburg County and donated to Atrium in 1990. Today, it has an estimated value of nearly $30M, and it houses a busy hospital distribution center.

Rather than demolishing the distribution center, Inlivian’s conceptual plans call for preserving part of the building for redevelopment. The preserved section would house 16 apartments on an upper floor and 24,000 s.f. of retail or commercial use on the ground floor.

As part of a land swap, Atrium is donating land for the right portion of the proposed development, which is a 14-acre tract between North Tryon and Poplar streets and across 32nd Street from NoDa Brewing. It was previously owned by Mecklenburg County and donated to Atrium in 1990. (Conceptual rendering courtesy of Inlivian)

Inlivian also proposes building four mixed-income apartment buildings on the Atrium land. Then, across the street on the site of its former Dillehay Courts public housing complex, it would build six more apartment buildings, 44 three-bedroom townhomes and another 28,000 s.f. of commercial or retail space.

A project rendering shows a variety of community amenities including walking trails, a soccer field, a dog park, community gardens, tennis/pickleball courts, a community amphitheater and a mural recognizing the area’s history.

An Inlivian spokeswoman said the project would be built in phases and emphasized that the plans are preliminary and subject to change.

Like other affordable housing projects, it would aim to use a mix of financing, including low-income housing tax credits, the city’s Housing Trust Fund, loans and other public funding.

Details in the fine print

Under the latest agreement between Atrium and Inlivian, at least 25% of the apartments in the community must remain affordable for at least 20 years, with half reserved for those earning 50% or less of the area median income. The contract says the units must be distributed throughout the community.

A review of the agreement, including four amendments since it was first signed in spring 2025, revealed additional details about the project:

Housing for public healthcare workers: Up to 50 units — or 25% of all affordable units, whichever is greater — could be set aside for qualified Mecklenburg County public healthcare workers, pending a separate agreement between Atrium and Inlivian. In exchange, Atrium would contribute $5M toward construction. The provision originally applied just to Atrium employees and affiliates but was expanded in a February 2026 amendment to all public healthcare workers in Mecklenburg.

Atrium will help pay for site cleanup: Atrium agreed to contribute $1M toward environmental remediation, asbestos abatement, the removal of underground storage tanks and other costs related to redeveloping the distribution center site.

Rental assistance for apartments at The Pearl: Inlivian agreed to provide housing vouchers to support the affordable apartments being built at The Pearl.

Atrium can stay until 2028: Even after the distribution center property is transferred to Inlivian, Atrium can lease it back and continue operating its distribution center there until Dec. 31, 2028, meaning some of the housing construction could be years away.

An Inlivian spokesperson said there is no timeline for the project to start.

The Charlotte Ledger’s Ashley Fahey contributed to this article.

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North Carolina

Pushback from advocates leads NC to drop legal shield for pesticide makers

Published

15 hours ago

June 12, 2026

Press Room

Pushback from advocates leads NC to drop legal shield for pesticide makers

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — A North Carolina advocacy group is celebrating what it calls a major win for communities concerned about pesticide exposure.

Toxic Free NC says the state’s Farm Act, passed on June 10, lacks a provision that would have shielded pesticide companies from certain legal challenges.

PESTICIDE LIABILITY PROTECTIONS GET STRIPPED FROM FARM BILL

The change could make it more difficult for people to take legal action against pesticide companies if they believed they were harmed by exposure.

After pushback from advocates and residents, the provision was removed.

USDA DISASTER BLOCK GRANT APPLICATIONS OPEN SOON FOR HELENE-AFFECTED FARMERS

“If they’re not giving a warning that this might cause Parkinson’s or this might cause cancer and they use that pesticide, they should have a way redress that harm and to sue folks who may already known about the harm that that can cause,” said Alexis Luckey, executive director of Toxic Free NC.

Toxic Free NC says pesticide industry groups have pushed similar legislation in a dozen states across the country. North Carolina was one of several states where opponents successfully stopped the effort.

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North Carolina

NC Governor Josh Stein declares June 14 as Flag Day

Published

1 day ago

June 12, 2026

Press Room

NC Governor Josh Stein declares June 14 as Flag Day

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCT) — North Carolina Governor Josh Stein has declared June 14 as Flag Day.

Flag Day commemorates “Old Glory”, and is observed nationally. The day honors when the Continental Congress adopted the United States flag on June 14, 1777. North Carolinians are encouraged to fly the United States flag at full staff.

“Today, on the 249th birthday of our nation’s flag, we honor all those who have sacrificed for the freedoms it represents,” said Governor Josh Stein. “As North Carolinians, we can take special pride in being represented by both a star and a stripe. In this year of America 250, let us reaffirm our own commitment to a government of, by, and for the people.”

This year is the 249th anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777. The United States Congress declared June 14 as National Flag Day in 1949.

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