SWANNANOA, N.C. (WLOS) — After more than a year and a half spent living in the aftermath of what Hurricane Helene took from him, one Marine Corps veteran has finally stepped into his new home.

During the storm, a tree fell on the home of local veteran Billy Ricketts III, and he had been living in a camper on his property ever since. On Monday, May 18, Purple Heart Homes and Valley Strong Disaster Relief dedicated a new home to him.

Purple Heart Homes, Inc. has helped over 4,000 veterans all across the country. The nonprofit organization serves veterans with critical home repairs, building ramps, HVAC systems and building modular homes to give to veterans.

‘YOU JUST HAVE TO FIX IT’: CANTON FAMILY RETURNS HOME 19 MONTHS AFTER HELENE

Leah Gutierrez, director of program services for Purple Heart Homes, said the organization wanted to send homes to western North Carolinian veterans impacted by Helene. The nonprofit partnered with Valley Strong Disaster Relief to meet Ricketts and get him the help he needed.

“He was a little hesitant at first, you know, most veterans are because some feel that they’re not as deserving or that someone else deserves it more than them,” Gutierrez said.

But on Monday, it felt surreal.

19 MONTHS LATER, HELENE RECOVERY IN MADISON COUNTY IS FAR FROM OVER

“[I’m] just blessed and thankful for my community,” Ricketts said. “Means a lot, coming home and seeing members of the community are pitching in to help one another.”

“For him to be able to transition from that to a stable home, I mean, our logo is ‘Healing Hearts One Home at a Time,’ and so if we’re able to do that for each veteran, then we’ve done our mission,” Gutierrez said.

Ricketts said he is looking forward to some peace and quiet as the new home represents the next chapter of his life.

With North Carolina’s activity in the transfer portal and recruiting pool coming to a close, although there are a couple of players to keep tabs on in the coming days, it is time to start evaluating how next season could look in Chapel Hill.

Big picture, 2026 is about head coach Michael Malone establishing a foundational culture for multiple years. Tar Heel fans are going to expect nothing less than a deep tournament run, but North Carolina needs to take the required baby steps. Coming off a second consecutive first-round exit, the Tar Heels need to at least win one game in the NCAA Tournament, but even then, their fans will not be satisfied if they fail to advance past the first weekend.

If North Carolina wants to be in the best position possible in the revamped 76-team field, winning as many games in conference play and orchestrating a formidable run in the ACC tournament will go a long way in setting itself up nicely for a potential run in March. With that being said, here are the Tar Heels’ ceiling and floor in the ACC next season.

Ceiling: Third Place

It is tough to imagine North Carolina cracking the top-two threshold in the conference, with Duke and Louisville as the clear top ACC teams. While the Blue Devils retained four key rotational players and compiled the No. 1 overall 2026 class, the Cardinals went all in on the transfer portal, signing Flory Bidunga, Jackson Sheldstad, Karter Knox, and Alvaro Folgueiras. Not to mention, Louisville landed five-star center Obinna Ekezie Jr., who reclassified from 2027 and will be part of the 2026 rotation.

Quite frankly, there is too much firepower on those two teams for North Carolina to keep pace with. That being said, Malone’s coaching should elevate the Tar Heels and at least surpass their fourth-place finish last season.

Floor: Fifth Place

This would be a major disappointment, and there would be salt in the wound when assessing that this would be a worse finish than last season. North Carolina has the coaching and talent to finish inside the top three, but a couple of under-the-radar teams could emerge as legitimate threats in the ACC.

Virginia and Miami each finished above the Tar Heels in 2025, and the Cavaliers are returning the majority of their roster. Meanwhile, Miami has signed a couple of underrated players from the transfer portal who should help offset losses across the roster. Nevertheless, North Carolina cannot afford to miss out on a double-bye in the conference tournament, which is awarded to the top four teams at the end of the regular season.

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More than 20,000 students were absent from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools during immigration enforcement operations last fall, according to district reporting, a wave of fear that helped spark a new bill in the North Carolina General Assembly aimed at protecting immigrant students in public schools.

House Bill 1061, titled the “Plyler Educational Protections,” would reinforce students’ right to public education and establish clearer guidance for how schools respond to federal immigration enforcement requests. 

Sammy Salkin, a senior policy strategist for the ACLU of North Carolina, said the legislation was created with one focus in mind.

“We want to make it clear that all children in North Carolina, regardless of immigration status, have a constitutional right to a free public school education,” Salkin said.

Salkin said the bill references Plyler v. Doe, the United States Supreme Court decision guaranteeing children access to public education no matter their citizenship status. 

Salkin said North Carolina immigrant communities across the state have experienced increasing fear over the past year after “Operation Charlotte’s Web” in November 2025. This initiative was a Department of Homeland Security immigration enforcement operation in which many people were arrested across the Charlotte area and the surrounding regions of North Carolina.

“We have seen those attacks reproduced here by our state legislators in North Carolina,” Salkin said. “A lot of our work to try to protect our immigrant neighbors has been focused on trying to stop or mitigate harmful bills to the degree possible.”

Salkin said many students feared what would happen to their families while they were away at school. 

“We’ve heard from young children that they’re afraid that they’re going to come home and their house will be empty because their parents will have been picked up by ICE or CBP,” Salkin said.

Bekah Brown, policy specialist for Education Justice Alliance, said her organization made a quick shift in its focus as immigration enforcement concerns escalated. 

“It did feel for our organization kind of like it was just an overnight rapid response that had to occur,” Brown said. 

Brown described some of the immediate actions organizers took to support families. 

“Our organizers went into making safety plans with parents, making power of attorneys with parents,” Brown said. “We were walking kids to and from bus stops because they were scared to even walk their kids to the bus stops.”

But Brown also said that at that moment, she knew legislative action needed to be taken. 

“It felt like there was a disconnect between what the school districts were saying and what was actually being implemented,” Brown said. “And so really, that was what we were trying to address: ‘how can public schools work best?’”

State Representative Julia Greenfield, one of the bill’s primary sponsors, said the legislation is intended to accomplish the goal of making schools safe environments for students.

“Every child should be able to walk into their school and into their classroom, and know that they are accepted, and that they are protected,” Greenfield said.

Greenfield said she became motivated to pursue immigration-related legislation after hearing alarming reports from her constituents. 

“There are seven black Suburban’s outside of the church preschool, and ICE is there, and they are all dressed in tactical gear,” Greenfield said. “The kids are scared, we have got to do something.”

Despite support from advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers, Greenfield said she does not expect the legislation to advance this session. 

“I don’t believe that it will go anywhere here in the legislature because we are in the minority,” Greenfield said. “The Republican majority is not interested in legislation that would keep ICE and CBP out of our schools.”

Still, Salkin said the bill communicates broader values and priorities.

“It still is really important to be signaling to the North Carolina population where our values are and what we want to see as the future for our state,” Salkin said.

Greenfield said she hopes the legislation lays the groundwork for future efforts. 

“We’re sharing with our constituents, with the people of North Carolina, with our immigrant communities: this is what we want to do,” Greenfield said. “And this is what we will do, if we can get in charge.”