“It is a traumatic event, and I want you to remember that there is no right or wrong way to feel at this time.”
NCDHHS Secretary Kody Kinsley, reminding citizens in the western counties not to underestimate the emotional toll a natural disaster can take. (State Affairs Pro, 10/01/24)
Storm Destruction
Jeffrey Collins, The Associated Press, 10/01/24
President Joe Biden was set to survey the devastation in the mountains of Western North Carolina on Wednesday, where exhausted emergency workers continued to work around-the-clock to clear roads, restore power and cellphone service, and reach people left stranded by Hurricane Helene. The storm killed at least 133 people and hundreds more were still unaccounted for on Monday night, four days after Helene initially made landfall.
Meanwhile, election officials across the South were making emergency preparations to ensure displaced residents would be able to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
Officials in the hard-hit tourism hub of Asheville said their water system suffered “catastrophic” damage that could take weeks to fully repair. Government officials, aid groups and volunteers were working to deliver supplies by air, truck and even mule to the town and surrounding mountain communities. At least 40 people died in the county that includes Asheville.
The North Carolina death toll included one horrific story after another of people who were trapped by floodwaters in their homes and vehicles or were killed by falling trees. A courthouse security officer died after being submerged inside his truck. A couple and a 6-year-old boy waiting to be rescued on a rooftop drowned when part of their home collapsed.
Rescuers did manage to save dozens, including an infant and two others stuck on the top of a car in Atlanta. More than 50 hospital patients and staff in Tennessee were plucked by helicopter from the hospital rooftop in a daring rescue operation.
The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. Rainfall estimates in some areas topped more than 2 feet since Wednesday, and several main routes into Asheville were washed away or blocked by mudslides. That includes a 4-mile section of Interstate 40 that was heavily damaged.
Joey Hopkins, North Carolina’s secretary of transportation, asked people on Monday to stay off the roads. “The damage is severe, and we’re continuing to tell folks if you don’t have a reason to be in North Carolina, do not travel on the roads of western North Carolina,” Hopkins said at a news conference. “We do not want you here if you don’t live here and you’re not helping with the storm.”
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said Monday that shelters were housing more than 1,000 people.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper took an aerial tour of the Asheville area and later met with workers distributing meals. “This has been an unprecedented storm that has hit western North Carolina,” he said afterward. “It’s requiring an unprecedented response.”
Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said during an emergency board meeting on Monday that they are looking at options for voters in the hardest-hit counties. She planned to provide more information at a Tuesday news conference, including how someone could declare “natural disaster” as their reason for not being able to provide a photo ID.
Western North Carolina suffered relatively more devastation because that’s where the remnants of Helene encountered the higher elevations and cooler air of the Appalachian Mountains, causing even more rain to fall. Many mountain towns were built in valleys, leaving them especially vulnerable to devastating rain and flooding. Plus, the ground already was saturated before Helene arrived, said Christiaan Patterson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones, sometimes within hours. [Source]
FULL REPORTING
National Guard: (Clifton Dowell, State Affairs Pro, 10/01/24) The adjutant general of the North Carolina National Guard said Tuesday that deployment numbers to storm-damaged Western North Carolina are increasing daily but that every soldier and airman would be sent for a specific reason and with a specific task to accomplish.
“That’s what we design our force packages to do,” Maj. Gen. Todd Hunt said. “It needs to be a coordinated event.”
Some officials, frustrated by the widespread devastation from flooding in the wake of Hurricane Helene, have said they want to see more soldiers on the ground. U.S. Rep Virginia Foxx, a Republican who lives in Banner Elk, told a reporter on Saturday, “We don’t have enough National Guard.”
Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard on Wednesday, Sept. 25, when Hurricane Helene was still 500 miles away. Two days later, the mountains had seen more than two feet of rainfall in some places and 358 guardsmen had been deployed.
Hunt said Tuesday morning that 800 guardsmen are on duty with 275 vehicles, while 21 aircraft are operating in the valleys around Asheville. “That’s a lot of aircraft,” he said. “We could put more in there, but now it becomes detrimental to what we’re trying to do.”
Hunt said the number of available soldiers is not an issue. “Our whole National Guard is on alert right now, so we can bring on more people,” he said. “But when we bring on soldiers, we bring them on not just as a group. We’re there to provide a specific mission or specific tasking.”
Hunt said that by the end of the day Tuesday, every affected county would have guardsmen on duty, along with “a liaison officer … to help with communications, commodity distribution and getting a sense of what is actually going on due to some of the lines of communication that have been broken.”
Approximately 500 people have been rescued by guardsmen, Hunt said, while aircraft are multitasking — bringing soldiers and food in, carrying stranded residents out. Almost 200,000 pounds of food have been delivered to the Asheville airport for distribution.
The disaster in the mountain counties takes place against the backdrop of a highly charged election in a battleground state. GOP presidential nominee and former President Donald J. Trump has claimed the federal government and the Cooper administration were “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas.” Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit the state Wednesday. He will take an aerial tour of impacted areas, receive operational briefings and greet first responders and local officials, according to a news release from the White House.
Western Hospitals: (Rachel Crumpler, NC Health News, 10/01/24) Historic rainfall and flooding brought by the remnants of Hurricane Helene have pushed western North Carolina hospitals into “managed chaos.” Power outages forced many hospitals to rely on backup generators for several days. Widespread water system failures required alternative water supplies for hospitals that use tremendous amounts of water while handwashing, sterilizing surgical equipment and more. Impassable roads blocked by fallen trees and other wreckage disrupted travel for workers and patients alike. Communication disruptions made receiving calls and texts in some areas impossible, straining responses.
But amid these challenges, all western North Carolina hospitals have remained operational throughout Hurricane Helene and its aftermath.
Stephen Lawler, head of the North Carolina Healthcare Association, has stayed in close contact with hospital leaders during the storm and initial days of recovery. He told NC Health News he hasn’t heard of any significant structural damage to the hospitals in the 25 counties and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians hit hardest by the storm, where a federal major disaster declaration is now in place to facilitate easier aid. “It’s managed chaos,” Lawler said of hospital operations. “It’s not chaotic within the hospital, but they’re operating in an environment that is supremely dependent on the state’s ability to respond and get roads cleared and supplies in. I think that’s an everyday watch and work to get things done.”
Kody Kinsley, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, told reporters at a briefing Monday afternoon in Asheville that all 22 acute care hospitals in western North Carolina have had their grid power restored, after some using backup generators for days.
Lawler said emergency management personnel’s steady progress to clear roads and restore power and communication lines is “going to create relief.” The governor’s office issued an update on the storm Monday afternoon in which his administration said travel remains dangerous; more than 400 roads remained closed but were allowing emergency responders to carry out their missions.
Lawler added that hospital leaders are working well with their local emergency management teams, state leaders and FEMA to address any need that arises. For example, Lawler said, over the weekend, hospitals requested additional oxygen supplies. The state coordinated the delivery to ensure that there was ample supply to take care of patients.
“Our entire department has rallied every resource to make the difference,” Kinsley said Monday. “We are in this for the long haul and into recovery.”
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said at the Monday afternoon briefing in Asheville that she’s mobilizing more federal medical teams to support some of the long-term sustainable needs for running some of the medical facilities. To address health needs, a 20-bed state medical support center opened in Caldwell County Sunday, and Gov. Roy Cooper said more are planned. UNC Health also announced it will provide free telehealth visits to residents in areas affected by Helene for a wide range of conditions, including fever, cold or flu, insect bites and rashes.
Elliott Tenpenny, director of the international health unit at Samaritan’s Purse, spoke to NC Health News Monday while taking a brief break from setting up a 20-bed field hospital at Cannon Memorial Hospital to help take some patients from the hospital as it gears up for a likely influx of people seeking care from the flooding. “We’re just hoping to be able to step into a gap to be able to provide more care here in Avery County. The hospital here is quite small, and we need to be able to provide more care for more people so they can get the hospital care they need,” Tenpenny said.
Power Outages: (Nora O’Neill, The Charlotte Observer, 10/01/24) Hundreds of thousands of people throughout the Carolinas are still without power, and many could be that way until Friday or longer, according to Duke Energy.
Helene left over 100 people dead and more than 600 people unaccounted for across 10 states. Around 640,000 Duke customers still do not have power in the Carolinas, according to poweroutage.us. Around 322,000 more customers of other power companies also were without power Tuesday afternoon.
Duke has around 18,000 employees working primarily in western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina to restore power as quickly as possible, said Jeff Brooks, a Duke Energy spokesman. But when that happens depends on where the person fits on Duke’s priority list and what caused the outage. “Many of our workers live and work in these communities as well,” Brooks said. “Some of them have experienced personal tragedy and challenges too, so we know all too well what it means to get the power restored and return these communities to some sense of normal after what has been a really tragic and difficult time for many of these communities.”
Duke Energy uses a process for restoring power that starts with restoring the system responsible for getting electricity from the power plant into communities, Brooks said. The bulk electric system is responsible for moving power via transmission lines, he said, calling the lines the “interstates” of the power grid. Without the bulk electric system and transmission lines, fixing lines in communities won’t do anything. Workers also focus on repairing substations responsible for taking in the power from the grid, Brooks said.
Duke Energy expects most customers in both Carolinas will have their power back by 11:45 p.m. on Friday evening, Brooks said. But in some areas there is still no estimate for restoration.
For areas with major damage such as Buncombe County, Greenville, South Carolina and Chimney Rock, Duke Energy is still developing a response strategy and figuring out how to access equipment, he said.
Phone Service: (Renee Umsted, The News & Observer, 10/01/24) Hundreds of thousands of people in western North Carolina are without power days after Helene swept through the state, bringing rain and winds that left roads impassable and downed trees and power lines. As a result of the storm, many people in the mountainous region have been unable to access the internet, call or send texts. But several large phone companies are working to provide cell signal and Wi-Fi to affected communities.
People in western North Carolina can use Disaster Roaming, which allows any phone on any cellular network to tap into any available network, according to a Saturday, Sept. 28 press release from the office of Gov. Cooper.
Starlink satellite systems have been sent to western North Carolina, with 40 systems available to help responder communications and 140 systems to assist with communications infrastructure restoration, the White House announced Sept. 30.
Racecar driver Greg Biffle, who has been helping deliver supplies to communities affected by Helene, shared on X (formerly Twitter) that three pallets of Starlink systems and multiple generators were donated.
Dam Integrity: (Michael Praats, WSOC News, 10/01/24) When Tropical Storm Helene brought massive rainfall to western North Carolina, it highlighted just how dangerous dam failures can be. As the storm closed in on North Carolina Rutherford County Emergency Services announced the threat of imminent failure of the Lake Lure Dam and ordered evacuations of the area. Although the dam held and officials rescinded the risk of failure warning, flooding still caused devastating damages — and it could have been worse.
The Lake Lure Dam is located in what is called a “high-hazard area,” which means there is a serious potential for loss of human life if the dam were to break. It’s not the only one either, there are more than 16,000 high-hazard dams across the country, all of them with deadly potential.
In North Carolina, 205 dams are deemed to be in either poor or unsatisfactory condition located in high-hazard areas.
That number puts North Carolina at the top spot in the country as the state with the highest number of dams meeting this criteria. About 2,500 dams across the nation meet the same criteria, according to data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers National Inventory of Dams.
Prison Safety: (Iris Seaton, Asheville Citizen Times, 9/30/24) In response to the destruction left by Tropical Storm Helene, the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction has released information on steps taken to ensure the security of correctional facilities and safety of inmates.
Toward the beginning of the NCDAC news release, the statement confirmed that all offenders are safe and asked that people not call prison facilities so telephone lines stay clear for emergencies. Though several facilities are operating on generator power, the statement also said that none have been flooded.
In regards to communications to offenders at Western N.C. facilities, the NCDAC warned that, with massive damage to non-emergency communications in the area, it may be difficult or impossible to reach people incarcerated in state prisons for several days at least. Visitation at state prison facilities is suspended until further notice.
Starlink Receivers: (Laura Leslie, WRAL News, 10/01/23) Starlink receivers are headed to western North Carolina to help get people devastated by Hurricane Helene get back online. State Sen. Danny Britt, R-Hoke, Robeson and Scotland, said the images of Helene’s destruction left him feeling helpless. While Britt said he’s accustomed to his district feeling the effects of natural disasters, Helene is beyond anything he has seen.
Britt said he talked to a National Guard colleague about western North Carolina’s communication problems due to Helene. “He did say they had some Starlinks, and expressed that if they had additional Starlinks, then that would make a huge difference,” Britt said.
Starlink receivers provide high-speed, low-latency internet access to users around the world. Starlink receivers are designed to work in a variety of settings, including homes, boats and on the go. They are capable of supporting activities such as online gaming, streaming and video calls.
Britt started looking for ways to contact Elon Musk and his connections led him to an assistant of President Donald Trump. The assistant said they could help. Along with North Carolina Emergency Director William Ray, they used a group chat to send the assistant a formal state request for help.
Early Tuesday morning, Musk posted on the social media platform X, “Since the Hurricane Helene disaster, SpaceX has sent as many Starlink terminals as possible to help areas in need. Earlier today, @realDonaldTrump alerted me to additional people who need Starlink Internet in North Carolina. We are sending them terminals right away.”
Britt said first responders will primarily use the Starlink devices. It’s unclear how many Starlink receivers SpaceX is expected to provide.
UNCA Classes: (Korie Dean, The News & Observer, 10/01/24) UNC Asheville Chancellor Kimberly van Noort announced Tuesday that classes will be suspended at least until Oct. 28 as a result of the storm and its lingering impacts. The university first canceled classes on the morning of Thursday, Sept. 26, as Helene approached the area, and the university has remained closed since then.
Mobile Care: (WFAE Radio, 10/01/23) Atrium Health says it’s deploying its MED-1 Mobile Hospital to Tryon in Polk County, southeast of Hendersonville. Designed to be self-sustaining for up to 72 hours, Med-1 will serve as a receiving hospital to triage, treat and either discharge or transport patients to another hospital for more acute care. It includes digital x-ray, ultrasound, lab, pharmacy, 14 acute care beds, a 2-bed operating room, and more. The mobile hospital is composed of nearly a dozen vehicles, including an emergency department, supply trucks, satellite trailers, dormitory trailers, and other essential equipment vehicles. It’s scheduled to get underway Tuesday morning.
High School Playoffs: (Langston Wertz Jr., The Charlotte Observer, 10/01/24) Eight years ago, the N.C. High School Athletic Association pushed back the start of its football playoffs due to Hurricane Matthew. NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker said that could be a possibility again this year after the devastation brought to the western part of the state by Hurricane Helene.
Tucker said any decisions about the playoffs would come from the NCHSAA Board of Directors, which she expects will meet via Zoom sometime later this week. “With the devastation they have had,” Tucker said Monday. “I’m not sure one week would do it. But that’s a decision that has to be made by our board members.” Tucker said in her talks with coaches and athletic officials in the mountains that the damage is excessive and that schools in all four of the NCHSAA’s classes have been affected.
A month before Election Day, 12 county board of election offices remain closed Tuesday in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene.
State Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said this level of uncertainty so close to Election Day is “daunting.”
“This will be an ongoing process, now and until Election Day and even after Election Day,” Brinson Bell said. “We do not have all the answers right now, but we are diligently working to figure them out.” She added that the main objective at the moment is getting the county election board offices up and running.
Gathering election officials to assess the damage and viability of early voting sites remains a challenge, but a clearer picture of infrastructure needs should emerge by the end of the week, according to Brinson Bell.
Emergency response kits, which were designed for cybersecurity threats but can be used in case of natural disaster, have been sent to Watauga, Mitchell, Yancey and Haywood counties, with more available pending additional requests. Limited cellphone service and internet access have been a challenge for election officials in these areas.
“This is not just isolated to a couple of counties that folks may have seen on the news or in the public sphere,” North Carolina Emergency Management Director Will Ray said in a meeting of the Council of State Tuesday morning. “We are looking at 25 counties that have had significant, devastating impact to not just individuals and lives, but to entire communities and the infrastructure that supports them.”
Brinson Bell said the state board is busy identifying what requests can be made to the General Assembly before its Oct. 9 meeting.
“This is a costly situation to these counties, and while they [the Legislature] are certainly looking at funding essential needs, the conduct of this election is certainly going to be an essential need,” Brinson Bell said, adding they want to make an educated, not a haphazard, request.
In response to Hurricane Dorian in 2019, North Carolina Emergency Management and the National Guard set up temporary polling sites to make voting possible in Hyde County.
“We will take the measures necessary” to ensure voting access, Brinson Bell said.
The state board could consider taking steps such as combining polling places and extending the use of early voting facilities, she said.
Last year, the General Assembly enacted a law that absentee ballots must be received by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day. Brinson Bell said the state board will continue to weigh considerations to extend that deadline. This consideration will depend on the U.S. Postal Service’s ability to deliver ballots on time.
“If a person is displaced, they can request an absentee ballot to be delivered to their new location,” said Pat Cox, general counsel for the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
North Carolina state officials have a longer runway to handle this crisis in the leadup to an election than Hurricane Sandy in late October of 2012, Brinson Bell said.
Although 250,000 absentee ballots have already been sent out this year, Brinson Bell said she did not have the exact number of those sent to counties affected by Helene.
In response to a media question regarding voter integrity, Brinson Bell said she hopes this ordeal will instill more faith in the election process.
“We are still going to do a post-election verification of our tabulation system,” Brinson Bell said. “It’s not going to stop how we do an election just because there’s been a hurricane.”
With so many North Carolinians in trouble in the wake of Hurricane Helene, the state’s Department of Health and Human Services has a far-flung set of challenges to manage.
In a news briefing on Tuesday, NCDHHS Secretary Kody Kinsley said his entire team was prioritizing the health and wellbeing of citizens in the storm-damaged western counties. After providing an overview of the department’s status on a broad range of topics, Kinsley noted a challenge unrelated to facts, figures or logistics: the psychological toll a natural disaster can take on those going through it.
“This storm has been catastrophic for so many North Carolinians,” Kinsley said. “There is real physical danger, and then there is an emotional toll as well from this storm. It is a traumatic event, and I want you to remember that there is no right or wrong way to feel at this time.”
Kinsley then provided information on how to reach the Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-980-5599. DHHS is “committed to doing everything we can to help,” he said.
Elevating mental wellbeing is in line with comments made in August when Kinsley and others associated with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline met in Durham to discuss the progress of the program, which had taken in more than 112,000 calls over the previous year.
During that conversation, Kinsley noted that it was not really necessary to discuss “mental” health because the topic is not separate and distinct from health in general.
In other storm-related DHHS news, Kinsley said:
Twenty of 22 acute care hospitals in Western North Carolina are on commercial power while two are on generator power. DHHS has been in touch with all of them “to understand their power, water, food, medical supply and staffing needs.” Many hospitals are on temporary water supplies.
There are 91 nursing homes and 121 assisted living facilities in western North Carolina, many of them still disconnected from commercial power and municipal water.
Six water tankers and four large water shortage units have been deployed to facilities, and more than 190,000 pounds of food, water and medical supplies have been delivered or airlifted to several locations, including critical healthcare facilities.
DHHS has activated statewide patient coordination and transfer systems using land and air assets to move critical patients to reduce pressure on western facilities. More than 220 ambulances and 520 EMS personnel have been deployed to support patient movement.
DHHS has distributed three large shipments of oxygen and is working to get oxygen available at centralized locations for individuals at home and oxygen dependent without power.
Public health nurses have been deployed to help in shelters while environmental specialists have been deployed to conduct inspections so that flooded restaurants and hotels can reopen and to assist with testing of private drinking water and wells.
Twenty-nine shelters are open with more than 1,000 people staying in them. They are being staffed through a combination of employees at the state and county level, as well as by teams from the American Red Cross.
DHHS is working with federal partners to automatically replace lost food for people who receive SNAP benefits, and getting flexibility so that people with SNAP benefits can use those resources differently.
Lt. Gov. and Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson issued two press releases Tuesday, one from his campaign and the other from his state office.
Robinson’s office said he would provide an update on “ongoing response efforts to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene on the Western part of the state” and be joined by local law enforcement and other officials on Wednesday in Louisburg.
The news release goes on to say Robinson has “been on the ground in Western North Carolina since Saturday, Sept. 28, traveling with local officials to some of the affected areas and working with state and community leaders.”
Robinson left the campaign trail and headed for western North Carolina in the aftermath of the hurricane. He soon began posting updates on X, the social media network formerly known as Twitter.
The Louisburg update by Robinson is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. The event is also listed on the press release from the Robinson campaign, which also lists an 8 a.m. meeting with Helene relief volunteers at the same location.
Later in the day, the candidate is scheduled to meet with law enforcement leaders in Monroe. Also in Monroe on Wednesday evening, Robinson is scheduled to hold a town hall with Monroe Mayor Robert Burns.
NIL Ruling
The Associated Press, 10/01/24
A judge in North Carolina has cleared the way for the state’s public-school athletes to profit off their fame in a court case involving a high school football player who has committed to play at Tennessee.
Wake County Superior Court Judge Graham Shirley on Tuesday granted a preliminary injunction in the lawsuit challenging the state’s restrictions on athletes cashing in on use of their name, image and likeness (NIL). Rolanda Brandon filed the complaint on behalf of her son, Greensboro Grimsley quarterback Faizon Brandon, who is the nation’s top-ranked recruit in the class of 2026, according to 247Sports.
The lawsuit had named the state Board of Education as a defendant tied to a policy it adopted in June. The injunction would block the board’s prohibition once the judge’s written order is signed.
Family attorney Mike Ingersoll told WRAL-TV of Raleigh that he hopes to draft an order for the judge to sign by the end of the week.
“It’s been a long and hard fight, but we are grateful to God that justice has been served, not only for Faizon but for all public high school students in North Carolina,” Rolanda said in a statement to WRAL and The Charlotte Observer.
The complaint had stated that “a prominent national trading card company” had agreed to pay for Faizon to sign memorabilia before graduation, offering the family “with financial security for years to come.” But North Carolina has been among the minority of states that don’t permit NIL activities such as endorsements for public appearances at camps or autograph signings — all of which have become commonplace at the college level. That restriction, however, doesn’t apply to private-school athletes such as fellow five-star prospect and Tennessee recruit David Sanders Jr. out of Charlotte’s Providence Day School. Sanders has a website dedicated to selling merchandise with his image. [Source]
Drug Costs
Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi, The News & Observer, 10/01/24
Two high-profile Republican politicians in North Carolina are butting heads over why the State Health Plan was unable to maintain coverage of popular weight loss drugs, as well as the cause of the plan’s financial woes. The State Health Plan voted in January to no longer cover Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonist medications for weight loss for state employees on the plan starting in April.
This cut access to weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Saxenda, manufactured by Danish company Novo Nordisk. It also cut access to Zepbound, manufactured by U.S. company Eli Lilly and Co.
The two politicians are House Speaker Tim Moore, who has led the House for over a decade, and State Treasurer Dale Folwell, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for governor and is capping off his last year in the role. Moore is running for North Carolina’s 14th Congressional District seat.
This is not the first time that Folwell and Moore have been at odds. Folwell criticized GOP-sponsored legislation passed into law last year, including a law cutting regulations on the state’s largest health insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina. And the state House led by Moore tried to block one of Folwell’s signature initiatives. Moore now blames that project for higher costs.
Moore wrote a letter to U.S. Sen. Ted Budd on statements by Folwell about the State Health Plan, including those Folwell made during a forum held by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont on Sept. 17 on the high cost in the U.S. of the popular weight-loss drugs.
Moore said in his letter that Folwell is “scapegoating anti-obesity medicine coverage as the reason for the financial problems” while ignoring the real data” on “the cost drivers for the State Health Plan.”
“Even worse, he has advocated for a solution that is tantamount to a socialist takeover of the pharmaceutical industry,” he said in his letter, dated Sept. 23, urging Budd to focus on “problems created by government overregulation and the so-called ‘Inflation Reduction Act.’”
Moore referenced Folwell’s attendance at Sanders’ forum that “advocated for government price controls and the redistribution of privately owned intellectual property through compulsory licensure.”
Budd shared excerpts of Moore’s letter during a Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions committee hearing on Sept. 24, which largely centered on the role of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) on drug prices in the U.S.
This was despite Sanders – who is the chair of the HELP committee – making efforts to focus on the role of Novo Nordisk’s CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, who was there as a witness.
Folwell told Moore that the speaker lacked information.
“Given the nature of your recent letter to Senator Budd, it appears that certain details regarding the Plan’s challenges and the rationale behind recent decisions may have been overtly misrepresented or at the very least grossly misunderstood,” wrote Folwell in his letter, which was sent to Moore and Budd on Monday afternoon, according to SHP spokesman Frank Lester.
Folwell said Moore pushed legislation to “torpedo” a key solution to high costs. ”It’s my observation that the fingerprint that has stopped the progress that we have needed to take in the State Health Plan in order to make it solvent and affordable for our state employees is his,” Folwell told reporters in response to a question from The News & Observer.
Touching on the unconventional alliance between himself and Sanders, Folwell said “any elected official at any level who refuses to talk to anyone else about how to actually solve a problem, should resign.” A spokesperson for Moore did not reply to a request for comment on Folwell’s letter on Monday.
Moore has also blamed the plan’s financial struggles partly on Folwell’s initiative known as the Clear Pricing Project. Folwell implemented the project in 2019, taking the power to negotiate reimbursement rates for services away from hospitals and setting those rates based on what Medicare pays providers, plus a markup. Folwell says in his letter the state’s CPP pegs to 160% of Medicare payments. Visits by State Health Plan members who select providers in the CPP network as the primary care provider, or who visit a CPP behavioral health provider, are free.
Folwell said data shows members who engaged with CPP providers “are healthier,” and “have significantly lower health care costs than those who do not receive regular care, thus benefiting members while resulting in saving the Plan.” [Source]
Pharmaceutical Plant
BusinessNC, 10/01/24
Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson plans a $1 billion investment at a plant in Wilson, about 50 miles east of Raleigh, the state announced Tuesday. Janssen Biotech, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson would employ at least 420 people by 2031 with salaries averaging almost $109,000, according to the N.C. Commerce Department. The plant will also mean the retention of other employees around the state.
J&J is in line for about $30 million in incentives from the state and another $54 million from the city of Wilson and Wilson County, according to the N.C. Department of Commerce. Johnson & Johnson was also considering Frederick, Maryland, located about 50 miles west of Baltimore, for the plant.
Johnson and Johnson has an increasing presence in North Carolina. In November, Janssen Supply Group said it was partnering with Fujifilm for a large manufacturing suite at the Fujifilm Diosynth’s upcoming $2 billion Holly Springs plant, which is expected to start production next year. It continues a relationship between the J&J subsidiary and Japan-based Fujifilm.
It continues a series of corporate expansions in Wilson. Last week, Berkshire, England-based Reckitt said it would invest about $146 million and create 289 jobs to start producing the over-the-counter cold medicine Mucinex in Wilson. Other Reckitt brands include Airborne, Air Wick, Finish, Lysol and Clearsil.
State incentives totaling $6.2 million, and local incentives from the city and county of Wilson, totaling $4.2 million, were used to recruit Reckitt. The jobs will average $80,182. The current average wage in the county is about $52,600. [Source]
Champion Sale
Richard Craver, Winston-Salem Journal, 10/01/24
The Champion apparel era for HanesBrands Inc. came to an end Monday with the completion of the sale of the brand to Authentic Brands Group. The Winston-Salem basic apparel manufacturer announced in June it was selling Champion for between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion with a projected $1 billion in net proceeds. Reaching $1.5 billion is “based on achievement of performance thresholds,” HanesBrands said.
The pairing had been rumored by industry analysts and news reports since Nov. 1 — about six weeks after HanesBrands’ board of directors and executive management said that selling off Champion was an option as part of “a broad range of alternatives to maximize shareholder value.”
Champion apparel is sold in more than 90 countries, with more than 40% of its $2 billion in fiscal 2023 sales hailing from outside North America. Part of the deal included HanesBrands providing some operational services through Jan. 31 as Authentic’s third-party manufacturers absorb the Champion production. HanesBrands has retained Champion’s business in Japan, operating as a licensee of Authentic. Champion represented about $2 billion of HanesBrands’ $5.6 billion in fiscal 2023 sales. [Source]
Harnett Rebranding
Morgan Casey, CityView, 9/30/24
Patients googling Harnett Health facilities might see different results in their search. Instead of “Angier Medical Services,” they will see “Cape Fear Valley Primary Care – Angier.” “Harnett OB-GYN” will come up as “Cape Fear Valley OB/GYN – Dunn.” It is all part of the final step of Harnett Health’s merger with Cape Fear Valley Health: rebranding.
Signs for the former Harnett Health facilities will change to read Cape Fear Valley Health this month, according to a press release from Cape Fear Valley Health. Billing, appointment messaging and other documents will also reflect the new names. Though the names are changing, all care patients receive at the 24 health facilities formerly branded with the Harnett Health name will remain unaffected. [Source]
Coliseum Name
Camdyn Bruce, Greensboro News & Record, 10/01/24
The Greensboro Coliseum will be getting a new name as part of a deal with First Horizon Bank. The venue will now be known as First Horizon Coliseum, according to a press release issued Tuesday by the bank and the Oak View Group, which took over management of the Coliseum and Tanger Center earlier this year.
“We are very excited for the future of the Coliseum under private management,” Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan said during a press conference announcing the new name.
The contract between the First Horizon Bank, Oak View Group, and the city of Greensboro lasts 10 years and began in July. Vaughan said First Horizon would pay a million a year for the naming rights with an escalator clause that allows the value of the contract to be decreased or increased under certain conditions. [Source]
Housing Endowment
Brenna Flanagan, Port City Daily, 9/30/24
The New Hanover Community Endowment announced Monday 14 awards totaling $14.4 million as part of its $19 million affordable housing investment strategy. A majority of the grants will go toward production costs of projects already underway, such as the Salvation Army’s new shelter, and core operations of several area nonprofits — with one notable exception.
New H.O.P.E CDC, a nonprofit founded by Pastor Rob Campbell of New Beginnings Church, received the second-largest award with $3.06 million. The money will go toward purchasing and renovating 12 units at 605 Nixon St. on downtown Wilmington’s Northside.
The remaining grants largely boost ongoing work. “It’s difficult to do transformational work if you’re worrying about paying the bills because you don’t have time to think about how to solve the issue,” The endowment’s communications director, Kevin Maurer said in an email. “Core operating support gives our partners the ability to think strategically, which will lead to transformational solutions.” [Source]
Deaths
Caramia Valentin, The New Bern Sun Journal, 10/01/24
River Bend’s Mayor John Kirkland passed away on Sept. 28, at 92 years old, with 21 years of service as the town’s mayor under his belt. Before he became mayor in 2003, Kirkland served River Bend as a town council member for six years.
River Bend Councilwoman Barbara Maurer said Kirkland was the only mayor she has known in River Bend. “He was a good friend, and he was a great mentor,” Maurer said.
North Carolina State Representative Steve Tyson said he has worked with Kirkland in his prior duties as a county commissioner and his current duties as a state legislator. “I have to say that John [Kirkland] was not only a fine man, but a great leader for the town of River Bend,” Tyson said. “He will be sorely missed. His leadership will be missed, not just for the town of River Bend, but also for the other committees and organizations he served.” [Source]
Underwood Memorial
Toby Thorpe, The Stanly News & Press, 9/30/24
Family and friends of the late Thomas “Ed” Underwood gathered on Thursday at Market Station for a ceremony designating a section of South Second Street in Albemarle in his memory. Underwood, who operated Carolina Oil Company, was a fixture in the business and civic community in Albemarle for most of his life.
“Mr. Underwood lived a full and accomplished life,” said Tony Lathrop, NCDOT Division 10 board member, who served as master of ceremonies at the event. “He was a lifelong resident of Albemarle, earned the rank of master sergeant during the Korean Conflict and became very involved in the community upon his return to Albemarle.”
Albemarle Mayor Ronnie Michael described Underwood as “always there as a businessman, public servant and friend.” He also noted that Underwood served eight years as a Stanly County commissioner and 17 years on Albemarle City Council, in addition to serving on the Stanly County Airport Board during its period of greatest growth, as well as having served as a member of the Stanly Community College Board of Trustees. [Source]]
The adjutant general of the North Carolina National Guard said Tuesday that deployment numbers to storm-damaged Western North Carolina are increasing daily but that every soldier and airman would be sent for a specific reason and with a specific task to accomplish. “That’s what we design our force packages to do,” Maj. Gen. Todd Hunt …
“North Carolina has a healthy savings account that will help us respond to the catastrophic nature of this storm.” Senate leader Phil Berger, on a disaster recovery package being formulated by legislators to respond to the impact of Hurricane Helene. (X, 9/30/24) Legislative Return Will Doran, WRAL News, 9/30/24 State lawmakers will return to Raleigh …
GOP gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson headed for western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Sunday after announcing the day before that he was pausing his campaign schedule to assist in local recovery efforts. Since then, Robinson has been posting a series of updates, videos and photographs to X, the social …
A new ad from the gubernatorial campaign of Attorney General Josh Stein features Hall of Fame UNC Tar Heel basketball coach Roy Williams, who endorses Josh Stein and says the Democrat would be a governor who “fights to make our public schools the best in the country.” The ad launched over the weekend, during the …
