North Carolina
North Carolina residents defy hurricane aftermath on first day of early voting
Turnout for early in-person voting has started strongly in the presidential battleground of North Carolina, including in mountainous areas where deadly Hurricane Helene destroyed property and upended lives but apparently did not dampen a fierce desire to participate in elections.
More than 400 early voting sites opened as scheduled on Thursday for the 17-day period, including all but four of the 80 sites previously anticipated for the 25 western counties hardest hit by the storm, said the executive director of the state board of elections, Karen Brinson Bell. She credited election workers – including volunteers affected by the severe weather – emergency management officials and utility crews.
“I know that thousands of North Carolinians lost so much in this storm. Their lives will never be the same after this tragedy,” Brinson Bell told reporters in Asheville, the region’s population center and a city devastated by the historic rainfall. “But one thing Helene did not take from western North Carolinians is the right to vote in this important election.”
Helene’s arrival in the US south-east three weeks ago decimated remote towns throughout Appalachia and killed at least 246 people, with a little over half of the storm-related deaths in North Carolina. It was the deadliest hurricane to hit the US mainland since Katrina in 2005 and the deadliest overall in the US since Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017.
Several dozen who died in North Carolina were from Buncombe county, where Asheville is located. Thousands in western North Carolina still lack power or clean running water.
But that didn’t stop many from voting. About 60 people – most bundled up in jackets, hats and gloves for the chilly weather – lined up to cast a ballot at the South Buncombe library in Asheville before the polls even opened at 9am on Thursday.
Among them was 77-year-old Joyce Rich, who said Helene made early voting more urgent for her. Rich said while her house was largely spared by the storm, she and her husband still need to do some work on it. Meanwhile, family members who don’t have power or water access are coming over to take showers.
“We decided, let’s just get it finished,” Rich said. “You never know what’s going to happen.”
In Polk county, an area along the South Carolina border that was also hit by Helene, the parking lot of the county elections board was so packed with early voters that an election worker was forced to direct traffic, with storm debris still evident.
Voter Joanne Hemmingway, who spent 10 days without power in her home near Tryon, had always planned to vote early, and was thankful that election officials were able to still pull it off after Helene struck.
“Not having it? That never crossed my mind,” Hemmingway said.
In adjoining Henderson county, officials closed lanes on a major highway to help move election traffic, and golf carts ferried voters from an auto parts store parking lot to the county’s lone voting site.
There, voter Michael Dirks said he found himself looking forward to voting after Helene, figuring it would be an important milestone in “getting back to normal, whatever that might turn out to be”.
In some places, voters stood in line for at least an hour.
Officials in the 25 counties affected by the storm were still evaluating election day polling locations, with the “vast majority” expected to be available to voters, Brinson Bell said. So far, officials have requested tents for about a dozen sites, she added.
North Carolina
‘It was dire’: NC State professor returns from Qatar after being trapped during Iran war
An North Carolina State University professor is back home Monday night after he was trapped in the Middle East as war with Iran broke out.
Rich Spontak was stuck in Qatar while traveling from Bangkok to Spain and was forced to stay in the country for about a week. Several travelers were trapped for days in the Middle East after Iran’s
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several defense leaders were
killed in joint strikes by the United States and Israel.
Spontak, like many travelers, found himself stranded in the Middle East after the initial attacks, which quickly entangled more surrounding countries, including Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, where seven U.S. service members were killed in retaliatory attacks from Iran.
Spontak said there were times he thought he wouldn’t make it out.
“I would just keep looking out and looking for the missiles,” Spontak said. “Some people that I met along the way were hit by shrapnel from the missles. It was dire.”
Airspace over Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait and Syria remained closed, according to flight-tracking service Flightradar24. Azerbaijan also shut the southern sector of its airspace on Thursday after accusing Iran of a drone attack that injured four civilians and damaged an airport building.
Lilia Austin, a Chapel Hill woman who was part of a group of 100 women who went to Israel for a trip the day before Khamenei was killed, also returned home on Sunday after she left Israel through Egypt.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WLOS) — With North Carolina still without a new state budget, Gov. Josh Stein is urging state lawmakers to approve a $1.4 billion “Critical Needs Budget.” Stein says this budget will address the state’s most urgent priorities while the General Assembly works on a full spending plan.
“North Carolina has gone nearly two and a half years without passing a new state budget – the only state in the country to finish 2025 without one[…]This budget invests in critical public safety, education and health care services for the people of North Carolina that cannot wait,” Gov. Stein said in a press release Monday.
A major part of Stein’s proposal is $319 million to fully fund Medicaid, which provides health coverage to over three million North Carolinians. This program also supports rural hospitals, nursing homes and statewide health care providers, per the release.
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The “Critical Needs Budget” would target public safety staffing and pay. According to the governor’s office, North Carolina currently ranks 49th in starting salaries for state troopers and correctional officers, and low pay has contributed to staffing shortages and vacancy rates. This budget would bring pay raises to correctional officers, law enforcement officers, probation and parole officers and more.
Stein’s proposed budget calls for raising starting and average teacher pay, as well as increasing pay for senior teachers and other education staff. The governor’s office said the state remains in the bottom 10 nationally in average teacher pay.
The budget proposal also includes pay increases for state employees and a cost-of-living adjustment for retired state employees, citing rising inflation costs and increasing health care premiums. Stein’s plan also includes targeted funding to maintain essential services, such as support for child care access and affordability.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — The North Carolina Arboretum has announced a new season of “Spring Into the Arb!”
The “Spring Into the Arb!” is in its second year, with its series of plant shows and sales, science and nature activities, music, and art, allowing people to reemerge and reconnect with nature.
The season begins with Nature Play Day on Saturday, March 14, continuing through April, May, and June with new activities every weekend.
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According to a news release, throughout the season, guests can enjoy the following:
- Asheville Orchid Festival, annual Ikebana and Rose shows
- Purchase plants at the Spring Plant Sale and Market
- Get back to their native roots with Native Azalea Day, Mountain Science Expo, and Nature Play Day
The series culminates with Bonsai in the Blue Ridge in June, according to the release.
The release says guests and members are invited to drop in on the newly-opened Arbor Eatery in the Arboretum’s Education Center, which is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Hours extend to 5 p.m. beginning April 1.
Spring Into the Arb events and programs are included with the regular Arboretum parking fee of $25 per vehicle. Arboretum Society Members get in free.
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According to the release, additional admission is required for the Asheville Orchid Festival and Bonsai in the Blue Ridge.
A full list of the Spring Into the Arb 2026 events includes:
- Nature Play Day: March 14
- Asheville Orchid Festival: March 28 to 29
- Music in the Mountains Day: April 4
- Arbor Day Celebration: April 11
- Native Azalea Day: April 18
- Mountain Science Expo: April 25
- World Bonsai Day: May 9
- Change of Seasons: Spring into Ikebana: May 16 to 17
- The Asheville-Blue Ridge Rose Society Exhibition: May 22 to 24
- The Arb in Focus: 40 Views for 40 Years: Opening May 23
- Spring Plant Sale and Market: May 29 to 30
- Bonsai in the Blue Ridge: June 4 to 7
For more information, visit here.
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