North Carolina

Families across the state buy Christmas trees from western North Carolina

Published

1 year ago

November 30, 2024

Families across the state buy Christmas trees from western North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — When Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina, many Christmas tree farms, a major source of income in that part of the state, suffered major damage.

Some farms lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in trees. Still, Fraser Firs from western North Carolina made it out across the state and the country as many families came out Thanksgiving weekend looking for their perfect tree.

“It has to be full,” said Heather Hartman, visiting a tree lot with her family on Black Friday. “It has to be straight. My older girls just told me about the Christmas flair. It’s got to be a little bigger at the bottom.”

For Hartman, this is an annual tradition, but this year, the Booger Mountain tree lot her family picked their tree from is even more important. The trees come from Ashe County, part of western North Carolina hit hard by Hurricane Helene.

“I grew up in western North Carolina,” Hartman said. “I’m happy that this is helping them. I love coming here because I know they come from the mountains.”

Bentley Powell, who manages the Booger Mountain lot off Falls of Neuse Road, said many of customers are asking about western North Carolina and making sure their purchase is supporting farmers in the region. He said it is encouraging to see people wanting to help.

“The money will go right back to the mountains and go to help the people that need it,” Powell said. “Depending on where the damage was, a lot of the workers were displaced. There’s some of them still living in tents and campers in the cold weather.”

Booger Mountain’s farms out west did not lose many Christmas trees, but did see many other trees knocked down, blocking roads on the farm. The biggest issue Booger Mountain and many other growers faced was washed out roads in and out of the farm, creating issues for trucks that needed to get in to load the trees.

Damage to main roads like I-40 is also an issue for growers transporting their trees to the eastern part of North Carolina and beyond.

“They’ve been thrown extra obstacles as far as having to quickly get roads fixed,” said Jennifer Greene, the executive director of the North Carolina Christmas Tree Association.

Farmers have worked with each other and NCDOT to get those roads fixed enough to get a tree to every family who wants one, including the Hartmans, in time to get it properly decorated.

“You can’t just put 100 lights around it and call it lit,” Hartman said. “It’s got to be 1,000.”

Christmas tree growers said they are seeing more people interested in buying a real tree, which is a positive sign, but they say those numbers need to keep growing over the next few years to help rebuild.

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North Carolina

2026 primary turnout report released for eastern NC counties; see your county’s numbers

Published

13 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

2026 primary turnout report released for eastern NC counties; see your county’s numbers

Here are the voter turnout numbers for the 2026 primary election, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

Hyde County had the highest voter turnout, while Onslow County had the lowest turnout. Check out what the voter turnout in your county was below:

BERTIE COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

31.85% (3,911 out of 12,280)

CARTERET COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

29.06% (16,543 out of 56,931)

CRAVEN COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

18.63% (14,119 out of 75,778)

DUPLIN COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

21.93% (6,981 out of 31,832)

EDGECOMBE COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

18.16% (6,428 out of 35,396)

GREENE COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

19.70% (2,147 out of 10,900)

HYDE COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

37.27% (1,123 out of 3,013)

JONES COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

25.91% (1,805 out of 6,966)

LENOIR COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

16.73% (6,251 out of 37,371)

MARTIN COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

17.61% (2,858 out of 16,228)

ONSLOW COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

11.44% (14,816 out of 129,537)

PAMLICO COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

24.03% (2,446 out of 10,180)

PITT COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

15.71% (19,429 out of 123,705)

TYRRELL COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

30.49% (723 out of 2,371)

WASHINGTON COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

28.66% (2,312 out of 8,067)

WAYNE COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

21.49% (16,408 out of 76,358)

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North Carolina

Statewide tornado drill has NC schools and workplaces practicing safety

Published

1 day ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Statewide tornado drill has NC schools and workplaces practicing safety

Wednesday, March 4, 2026 6:41PM

NC schools and businesses encouraged to practice tornado safety

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — North Carolina schools and businesses took part in a statewide tornado drill Wednesday morning as part of Severe Weather Awareness Week.

The National Weather Service led the drill at 9:30 a.m., broadcasting it on NOAA Weather Radio and the Emergency Alert System. Schools, workplaces and households across the state were encouraged to join in.

The National Weather Service didn’t issue a follow up alert to mark the end of the drill. Instead, each school or business wrapped up once they felt they had practiced the procedures thoroughly.

Wednesday’s drill also replaced the regular weekly NOAA Weather Radio test.

SEE | New warning for parents amid new ‘fire-breathing’ social media trend

Make sure to download the ABC 11 Mobile App ABC11 North Carolina Apps for Connected TV, Mobile News, Echo

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North Carolina

North Carolina Rep. Valerie Foushee holds narrow lead over challenger Nida Allam

Published

2 days ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

North Carolina Rep. Valerie Foushee holds narrow lead over challenger Nida Allam

Nida Allam in 2022; Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) in 2025.

Jonathan Drake/Reuters; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

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Jonathan Drake/Reuters; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee holds a narrow lead over challenger Nida Allam in the Democratic primary for North Carolina’s 4th Congressional district as ballots continue to be counted.

In a race seen as an early test of whether Democratic voters desire generational change within the party, Foushee holds a lead of just over 1,000 votes with 99% of results in so far, according to the Associated Press.

Under state law, provisional votes will be counted in the coming days in a district that includes Durham and Chapel Hill. If the election results end up within a 1% margin, Allam could request a recount.

Successfully ousting an incumbent lawmaker is often extremely difficult and rare. However, there have been recent upsets in races as some voters are calling for new leaders and several sitting members of Congress face primary challengers this cycle.

Allam, a 32-year-old Durham County Commissioner, is running to the left of Foushee, 69, framing her candidacy as part of a broader rejection of longtime Democratic norms.

On the campaign trail, Allam ran on an anti-establishment message, pledging to be a stronger fighter than Foushee in Congress, both in standing up against President Trump’s agenda and when pushing for more ambitious policy.

“North Carolina is a purple state that often gets labeled red, but we’re not a red state,” she told NPR in an interview last month, emphasizing the need to address affordability concerns. “We are a state of working-class folks who just want their elected officials to champion the issues that are impacting them.”

She drew a contrast with the congresswoman on immigration, voicing support for abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Foushee has declined to go that far, advocating instead for ICE to be defunded and for broader reforms to the federal immigration system.

Allam also clashed with Foushee over U.S. policy towards Israel. As a vocal opponent of Israel’s war in Gaza, Allam swore off campaign donations from pro-Israel lobbying groups, such as AIPAC, and repeatedly criticized Foushee for previously accepting such funds.

Though Foushee announced last year that she would not accept AIPAC donations this cycle, she and Allam continued to spar over the broader role of outside spending in the race.

Their matchup comes four years after the candidates first squared off in 2022, when Allam lost to Foushee in what became the most expensive primary in the state’s history, with outside groups spending more than $3.8 million.

However, this year is poised to break that record. Outside groups have reported spending more than $4.4 million on the primary matchup, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

WUNC’s Colin Campbell contributed to this report.

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