FIRST BLIZZARD OF 2016 PUMMELS EAST COAST - CHARLOTTE TOO

@Blizzard2016

FIRST BLIZZARD OF 2016 PUMMELS EAST COAST - CHARLOTTE TOO:

STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED.

MORE SNOW, ICY ROADS & POWER OUTAGES

PLEASE STAY HOME.


~ More Sleet, Snow Expected For Charlotte Region

The first winter storm of the season left icy roads across the Charlotte region Friday, and forecasters said several more rounds of snow and sleet are expected before the precipitation comes to an end Saturday.

If there was a bright spot to the storm, which is expected to turn into a raging blizzard farther up the East Coast, it was that Charlotte appeared to escape the heavy freezing rain that meteorologists had feared.

Instead, the heaviest freezing rain as of Friday afternoon fell in the South Carolina Upstate and to the east in the North Carolina Sandhills.

Duke Energy, which had recruited more than 1,000 out-of-state utility workers for possible line repairs, reported at mid-afternoon that there were about 30,000 power outages in the Carolinas.

Nearly half those – about 13,000 – were in Greenville County, S.C.

Instead, Charlotte-area residents dealt with heavy sleet and, farther to the northwest, several inches of snow.

The National Weather Service says the winter storm warning for Charlotte will extend until 7 p.m. Saturday. Sleet and some freezing rain are expected to continue in the region Friday afternoon and evening, but the precipitation is forecast to change to snow in the early-morning hours Saturday.

The Weather Service’s computer guidance indicated a band of heavy snow could form early Saturday in the Piedmont and Foothills, perhaps bringing 2 or 3 inches to parts of the Charlotte area.

Clearing is forecast Saturday evening, and the weather is expected to be clear and cold Sunday for the Panthers-Cardinals NFC Championship Game in Charlotte.

Meteorologists had warned that a half-inch of ice could accumulate in Charlotte – enough to cause major problems with downed tree limbs and power lines. Instead, it was mostly sleet that fell from the bands of precipitation that moved across the region during the day.

Sleet does not create power outage problems but is a major headache for road crews.

Local and state officials urged area residents to remain on guard, despite the several hours of precipitation-free conditions that developed late Friday morning.

“The big message here is it continues to be a fluid situation,” Charlotte City Manager Ron Carlee said. “We’re in a lull. As it’s been suggested, we’re in halftime. But the second half could be worse, and it could go into overtime.”

Gov. Pat McCrory said in a news conference in Raleigh, “Now is not the time to let down your guard.”

The precipitation began, as expected, shortly before midnight Thursday evening as rain. It changed to sleet a few hours later in Charlotte, coating the streets with a layer of congealed ice pellets.

To the north and northwest, the precipitation fell as snow. The National Weather Service said it received several reports of 8 inches or more in and around Asheville, and there were widespread reports of 4-7 inches along the Interstate 40 corridor.

Col. William Grey, head of the N.C. Highway Patrol, said troopers helped 100 motorists get their stranded vehicles off roads Friday morning. The Highway Patrol responded to 571 collisions through Friday morning and 800 calls for service.

Hickory police were investigating a fatal crash that might have been weather-related. Police said one person was killed when a car went off a roadway in the early-morning hours. Snow was falling at the time.

“We strongly encourage everyone not to travel unless absolutely necessary,” Grey said.

Charlotte Department of Transportation director Danny Pleasant said 72 crew members, divvied among 36 trucks, were working 12-hour shifts to cover area roads with salt and brine.

Duke Energy had called in 2,800 crew members from Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Michigan, Indiana, Oklahoma and Texas to help manage outages in the Carolinas, said district manager Tim Gause. “The full impact of the storm system is unknown at this time, but I want you to be prepared,” he said.

American Airlines canceled all flights in and out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Friday.

The airline operates more than 90 percent of the daily flights in Charlotte, so air travel to and from the city was largely stopped until Saturday morning, when American plans to resume air service from the city.

Flights were also canceled Friday for Delta, United, Southwest, Lufthansa, Air Canada, ViaAir and JetBlue.

Schools across the region canceled classes, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools announced that SAT testing scheduled for Saturday would not take place.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame’s induction dinner and ceremony scheduled for Friday evening was postponed until 1 p.m. Saturday, said executive director Winston Kelley.

Charlotte area postal officials suspended mail collection from the family blue collection boxes Friday.

Mail delivery was suspended Friday for customers in ZIP codes beginning with 280, 281, 282, 287, 288 and 297.
Retail services also were suspended.


Sources: NBC News, Charlotte Observer, National Weather Service

Macy's 2010 Thanksgiving Parade: Large Crowd Despite Recession & Cold (Photos)

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Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Draws Crowds Despite Cold Temps


Teeming crowds, chilly temperatures and a forecast of rain weren't enough to keep excited families like the Browns away from Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

"I'm exhausted," said Lance Brown, 46, a police sergeant who left his home in Port Jefferson, L.I., at 4 a.m. to stake out a prime spot. "Every year we come out here and camp. It's crazy."

"We need to get a great spot so we can see," said his son Brandon, 10, who craned his neck to take in the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid balloon.

The 84th annual parade kicked off at 9 a.m. under grey skies, but by noon the threatened rain had yet to fall.

Even rapper Kanye West seemed to relax and enjoy himself. Wearing black leather pants and sunglasses, West smiled widely and waved to screaming onlookers from his perch on the Daily News float.

Cynthia Cuevas, 39, who lives near Buffalo, N.Y., claimed a prime spot along the parade route at 7 a.m., surrounded by relatives.

"It brings out the kid in everyone" said Cuevas. "We watch it on TV every year. To be out here is an amazing feeling."

Firefighter Russ Regan, 41, of the Upper West Side, said he has been coming since he was a child, rarely missing a year. "It's my favorite holiday," he said.

His son Connor, 10, gawked at the new Kung Fu Panda balloon.

Regan's wife, Mary-Anne, said she'd take Thanksgiving over Christmas any day.

"We don't need presents," she said. "Just food and family."


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Sources: DNAinfo.com, Huffington Post, Macy's, MSNBC, New York Daily News, Youtube, Google Maps

Northeast Hit By Another Snowstorm; 700,000 Lose Power

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700,000 Lose Power As Storm Slams Northeast


A windy winter storm has knocked out power to at least 700,000 homes and businesses in the Northeast, fanned a hotel fire in coastal New Hampshire, and disrupted travel.

In New Hampshire, even the state Emergency Operations Center was operating on a generator. A wind gust of more than 90 mph was reported in the state.

Officials are also blaming the wind for fanning a hotel fire in Hampton, N.H., and destroying an entire block of businesses.

Rain and flooding are the big problems in northern New England. Farther south, snow is clogging roads and airport runways. Thousands of flights have been canceled.

New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg has decided to give the nation's largest public school district a rare snow day after 17 inches fell there.

NBC News reported the National Weather Service measured 9.4 inches of snow in Central Park on Thursday. That breaks the 7.5 inches recorded in 1874.

From Pennsylvania to Maine
The strongest wind and heaviest snow was forecast for late Thursday and early Friday, with a foot or more of snow and high winds expected in parts of Pennsylvania, into New Jersey and New York and up to parts of New England.

Parts of western Maine received nearly a foot a snow, while Philadelphia received a dusting. About 9 inches of snow fell in New York City, where a man was killed by a falling snow-laden tree branch in Central Park — one of at least three deaths being blamed on the storm.

In parts of southern and mid-coastal Maine more than 3 inches of rain had fallen and forecasters say some areas could get more than 7 inches. The Presumpscot River in Westbrook was expected to crest at 9 feet over flood stage by Friday afternoon. The river in the flood-prone New Hampshire town of Goffstown was nearing flood stage and residents were told to prepare for possible evacuation.

Hundreds of flights were canceled at major East Coast airports.

The latest blast of winter was expected to linger more than 24 hours, meaning more headaches Friday. More snow is predicted for much of the region Saturday, too.

The National Weather Service put much of the East Coast under wind advisories and warnings until 7 a.m. Friday. The agency warned that winds could blow steadily between 20 and 30 mph in some areas, with gusts of 55 mph or higher in coastal and mountainous areas.

Even coastal New England, which was seeing rain but nothing like the 18 inches of snow expected in some parts of northern New Jersey and upstate New York, was under coastal flood watches.

While forecasters can predict the snow totals and what that will mean — slippery roads, a snow day for the kids — it's trickier to know whether winds might create havoc.

"Your tree may fall down; your neighbor's may not," said Kristina Pydynowski, a meteorologist for AccuWeather, a private forecasting company in State College, Pa.

She said dense, wet snow weighing down trees would make it more likely for strong winds to knock them down. And power will probably be hardest to restore in areas where heavy snow keeps repair crews at bay.

* In upstate New York, a storm that hit the area with up to 2 feet of snow Wednesday left some 150,000 homes and businesses without power. About 49,000 utility customers remained without power late Thursday, most in the Hudson Valley.

* Vermont had more than 10,000 outages. Nearly 4,900 utility customers in New Jersey were without electricity and there were about 2,000 customers without power throughout Pennsylvania.

* Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency spokesman Jack Lewis said National Guard forces rescued dozens of high school students on a ski trip in Susquehanna County in northeastern Pennsylvania when their buses got stuck on Route 374. The 70 students and chaperones were taken to a Red Cross center in Uniondale, and no injuries were reported.

* The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation banned motorcycles, recreation vehicles and commercial traffic on interstates 380 and 84 — with the exceptions of school buses and tow trucks responding to accidents. There was also a tractor-trailer ban on the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Northeast Extension.


Jackknifed truck

After dropping his load of New York City trash at a landfill in Seneca Falls, N.Y., truck driver Carlos Quintero, 62, was heading back to the city on Interstate 380 in northeastern Pennsylvania when he lost control of his rig and it jackknifed.

For a few heart-stopping moments, Quintero thought he was going to plunge down a steep, 30-foot embankment. But the guardrail had just enough stopping power.

"I thought I go all the way down the hill," said Quintero, of Haddonfield, N.J. "It happened so fast I can't do nothing."

Traffic backed up for several miles as crews worked to free the big rig. The highway reopened after about 90 minutes.

Some road conditions worsened Thursday night. Trucks got stuck on Interstate 81 near Scranton, Pa., and part of Interstate 84 was closed at the Pennsylvania-New York state line due to a jackknifed tractor-trailer. In New Jersey, dozens of accidents were reported and speeds limits were reduced.


Flood fears

Parts of western Maine received nearly a foot a snow, while southern and mid-coastal sections of the state received more than 3 inches of rain and faced up to 7 more inches. The Presumpscot River in Westbrook was expected to crest at 9 feet over flood stage by Friday afternoon.

Several major roads were closed in the flood-prone New Hampshire town of Goffstown, police said, and slight flooding along the Piscataquog River had water creeping toward nearby houses. Residents were told to prepare for possible evacuation.


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Sources: MSNBC, Google Maps

Historic Snowstorm Barrels Toward Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern States

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Historic Storm To Paralyze The Mid-Atlantic


Look for significant snow from Indiana to Pennsylvania but parts of the Middle Atlantic region could be in for a historic snow event.

Heavy 2-to-locally-4-inch rain stretching from northern Florida into Tidewater Virginia will result in spotty flooding.

In the end, the focus of this storm will be in the Mid-Atlantic States. Snow will stretch from eastern Pennsylvania to southern New Jersey. Snow will continue to expand northward to New York City by Saturday morning.

Heavy snow will dominate Saturday before winding down from west to east by evening. Air, rail and interstate travel will likely come to a halt. Heavy snow on awnings and rooftops may create damage.

Snowfall totals over northern of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and southern Pennsylvania and southwen New Jersey will tally well over a foot. Some places across northern Virginia, eastern Maryland and Delaware may be buried with between 2 and 3 feet of snow. The storm may reach the top 3 of all-time in the Washington, D.C., area and may rival the record of 28" from the "Knickerbocker" storm of 1922. Philadelphia may see over 18" of snow in the area. A 2-to-4-inch snow is possible for New York City on the storm's northern fringe.

As the low pushes off the coast, it will strengthen quickly and produce very strong winds, especially along the Mid-Atlantic coast. Gusts between 45 and 50 mph are possible from southern New Jersey to the Norfolk area overnight and Saturday morning creating blizzard conditions at times.

Blizzard warnings are in effect from coastal Delaware and New Jersey back to the Baltimore/Washington area.

Winter storm warnings are in effect westward into Indiana. A general area of 6 to locally-12-inch snowfall could fall from central Indiana into southwestern Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh.


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Sources: The Weather Channel, MSNBC, Google Maps

Monster Winter Storm Pummels South, East Coast

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Sources: MSNBC

High Voter Turnout In Mass. U.S. Senate Race; Braving Snow, Ice

Mass. Voters Stream To Polls In Special US Senate Election


Voters flooded the polls to cast ballots in the unexpectedly close election to succeed the late Edward M. Kennedy in the US Senate.

Light snow has not discouraged heavy traffic at polling places as more than 55,000 people cast ballots by noon in Boston, an early turnout more than double that of the primary last month. Other cities and towns experienced similar waves of voters. Lines formed at a polling place in Somerville, and traffic backed up at Bates Elementary School in Wellesley, with cars spilling onto Elmwood Road. In two Quincy precincts at the Lodge of Elks, nearly 1,000 people -- or about 25 percent of voters -- cast ballots by 1 p.m.

"I'm trying to save the nation today," said Robert Cappello, 69, a registered Republican and enthusiastic Scott Brown voter from South Boston who reveled in what he described as an "overwhelming sweep" of momentum for his candidate.

"This election is a lot about sending a message," Cappello said in an excited voice outside a polling place on H Street. "It's telling Washington to slow down."

In West Roxbury at St. George Orthodox Church, Phil DiCarlo cast his ballot for Democrat Martha Coakley but noted how quickly the Brown campaign gathered steam.

"It seems like people have short memories," DiCarlo said. "They forgot about the last eight years" under former president George Bush.

Brown, a Republican state senator from Wrentham, has surged more than 30 points in the polls in a special election for the US Senate seat Democrats have held for generations. Brown has vowed to be the crucial 41st Republican vote blocking President Obama’s health care legislation in the Senate.

Coakley, the state attorney general, was the early front runner after her decisive victory in the Democratic primary last month. She supports the health care overhaul and stood with Obama in Boston this weekend at a rally for her campaign.

An independent candidate, Joseph L. Kennedy of Dedham -- no relation to the late senator -- also appears on today’s ballot.

At the Lodge of Elks in Quincy, Ruth Faherty, a 25-year-old nurse, cast her ballot for Brown. "I think we need him in there to make more of a fight in the senate," said Faherty, who described herself as an unenrolled voter. "I think if there are too many on one side [of the aisle] it becomes lopsided."

In Stoughton at Gibbons Elementary School, a steady stream of voters slogged through the cold and snow. Many said they cast ballots for Brown, citing his common appeal and objections to President Obama's health care overhaul.

"They took everything for granted in this race," said unenrolled voter Richard Whittington, 48, of Democrats. "It's the same arrogance you see in Washington.''

In Natick, the persistent flow of voters included Rex Kidd, 48, the owner of a local masonry and paving company who voted for Brown because of his pro-business, conservative views.

"I respect Martha Coakley and what she's accomplished in her career. But I think she's going to preserve the status quo," Kidd said. "Scott Brown can take us to the next level … [Brown] is going to decrease my taxes and get rid of all the wasteful spending that Deval Patrick has done. Cutting taxes fuels the economy, not charging more taxes and spending it on social programs."





Outside Natick High School, Randy Divinski took a vacation day from his job at a non-profit to clutch a Coakley sign in 30-degree weather.

"I am bothered by stealth Republicans who run as moderate," said Divinski, 46. "Brown has a political record, but that is not what he's running on," said Divinski. "We've just had eight years of screwball economic policies, and he wants to go back to that? One Herbert Hoover is enough."

In Jamaica Plain at Kennedy Elementary school, more than 100 people -- or about 10 percent of voters -- had cast ballots by 11 a.m. That number equaled roughly the entire turnout for the primary last month. Like most of the others interviewed in this left-leaning precinct, Sasha Cantu, 21, said she voted for Martha Coakley.

“I don’t want Brown because he didn’t want to help rape victims,” Cantu said. “She’ll do everything Teddy Kennedy wanted to do.”

In South Boston, Patrick Shaughnessy, 33, cast his vote for Brown because of Coakley's "entitlement attitude."

"She didn't really campaign. She wouldn't debate him one-on-one," said Shaughnessy, an unenrolled voter who supported Republican Senator John McCain in 2008. "She just expected to win."

Another unenrolled voter, Jackie Crowell, 26, also voted for Brown. "I think my views align a lot better with his than Martha Coakley's," Crowell said.

Maureen Downs, 51, came to the opposite conclusion and cast her vote for Coakley.

"I don't agree with Scott Brown's positions on anything," said Downs, citing economic regulations, emergency contraception, and more.

Her husband, Eddie Downs, 50, added: "I just don't think he would be good for the working man and woman of the Commonwealth."

Democrats are hoping a coordinated get-out-the-vote effort for Coakley will hold off the surging Republican. Brown's campaign is hoping the raw energy among his supporters is enough to overpower the state’s Democratic machinery.

The cold, cloudy weather could be a challenge for the candidates. Intermittent light snow showers – and some rain – are expected throughout the day and into the early evening.
Polls remain open until 8 p.m.

To read profiles of the candidates and a rundown of where they stand on the issues, click here for Brown; here for Coakley; and here for Kennedy. To find out where to vote, click here.







Massachusetts Vote Could Affect Obama Agenda


Voters across Massachusetts braved winter cold and snow Tuesday to decide who will inherit the U.S. Senate seat controlled by the Kennedy family since 1953.

At stake was President Obama's domestic agenda, including the overhaul of health care.

If GOP state Sen. Scott Brown upsets Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley, Republicans would strip Democrats of their 60-seat filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Republicans would have enough votes to block future Senate votes on a broad range of White House priorities.

Election turnout is expected to be "pretty good," said Brian McNiff, a spokesman for the office of Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin.

Galvin predicted Monday as many 2.2 million of 4.5 million registered voters would vote -- at least double the turnout from December's primary.

"I don't think weather is going to impede too many people" from coming out to vote, McNiff said. "I think the interest in this election will trump any bad weather."

More than 100,000 absentee ballots have been requested, he added.

Coakley initially was expected to win the race easily to replace Sen. Ted Kennedy, known as the "liberal lion" of the Senate who made health care reform the centerpiece of his nearly 47-year Senate career. Kennedy, 77, died of brain cancer in August.

Former Kennedy aide and longtime friend Paul Kirk was appointed to the seat on an interim basis after the senator's death.

Until recently, Brown was underfunded and unknown statewide. No Republican has won a U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts since 1972. Democrats control the governorship, both houses of the state Legislature and the entire congressional delegation.

The latest poll, however, shows Brown leading Coakley by 7 percentage points, 52 percent to 45 percent. The American Research Group survey, taken Friday through Sunday, had a sampling error of 4 percentage points.

No poll released in the past few days has shown Coakley ahead.

Obama and former President Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers said has been hampered by complacency and missteps.

Obama crushed Sen. John McCain in Massachusetts in 2008, beating the GOP presidential nominee by 26 percentage points.

"If you were fired up in the last election, I need you more fired up in this election," Obama urged a crowd Sunday at a Coakley campaign rally.

Vicki Kennedy, the late senator's widow, called on Democrats to turn out to save her husband's legacy.

"We need your help. We need your support. We need you to get out there and vote on Tuesday," Kennedy said. "We need you to bring your neighbors. We need you to bring your friends."

Brown, who has trumpeted his 30 years of service in the National Guard, hewed to traditional GOP themes at the end of the campaign. He promised at a rally Sunday that, if elected, he would back tax cuts and be tougher on terrorists than Coakley.

He also repeated a pledge to oppose Obama's health care overhaul effort.

"Massachusetts wants real reform and not this trillion-dollar Obama health care that is being forced on the American people," he said. "As the 41st [Republican] senator, I will make sure that we do it better."

Forty-four percent of Massachusetts voters cited the economy and jobs as their top concern in a recent 7 News/Suffolk University poll. Thirty-eight percent mentioned health care as their top concern.

Voters more concerned with the economy were split almost evenly between the two candidates; voters more worried about health care narrowly supported Coakley.

Democrats far outnumber Republicans in Massachusetts, but there are more independents than Democrats and Republicans combined.

Democratic sources said Obama advisers have told the party they believe Coakley is going to lose. The sources said they still hoped Obama's weekend visit to the state, coupled with a late push by party activists, could tip the balance in her favor.

Facing the possibility of Coakley's defeat, Democrats were trying to figure out if they could pass health care legislation without that crucial 60th Senate vote.

But top White House aides publicly insisted they are not engaging in any talk of contingency plans because they believe Coakley will come out on top Tuesday.

Galvin, a Democrat, said last week that certifying Tuesday's election results could take more than two weeks -- potentially enough time to allow congressional Democrats to pass a final health care bill before Brown would be seated should he win.

But Democratic sources said this is unlikely.

Two Democratic sources in close contact with the White House said Monday they've urged the Obama administration, in the event of a Brown victory, to push House Democrats to pass the Senate's health care bill as currently written. Doing so would prevent the Senate from having to take up the plan again.

"I think the Senate bill clearly is better than nothing," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, said Tuesday.

A third option would be for Democrats to revisit the idea of trying to push health care through the Senate with 51 votes -- a simple majority.

But to do so, Democrats would have to use a process known as reconciliation, which presents technical and procedural issues that would delay the process for a long time. A number of Democrats are eager to put the health care debate behind them and move on to economic issues such as job creation as soon as possible this election year.

Senate Democrats also could try again to get moderate GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine to vote for a compromise health care plan. Multiple Democratic sources, however, have said they believe such a scenario is unlikely.



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Sources: AP, Boston Globe, CNN, Youtube, Google Maps

NC Energy Companies Cutting Off Utilities In Freezing Weather

NC Families Hit By Recession Struggle To Stay Warm In Brutal Weather


One of the worst cold spells in 30 years has become the latest reminder that Charlotte has a new definition of needy.

From families evicted to the streets for lack of a job, to low-income homeowners trying to pay utility bills, thousands of Carolinians have been struggling to stay warm.

Among them are people like Lesia Weeks, 37, a mother of four, who dodged the cold by sitting for hours in an 18-by-20-foot waiting room at the Salvation Army Center of Hope.

Retha Carriker, 42, another homeless mother, has spent her days sitting in the shelter's parking lot, huddled in the Mercury Villager that had served as her home until October.

Suffering along with them is a new strata of working- and middle-class people hit hard by the recession: those who can't afford their utility bills or repairs to their heating units.

"I heat my house with a wood stove because the HVAC has been broken since the recession started two years ago," says one small-business woman, who declined to give her name. "It's 52 degrees inside in the morning when I wake up, and at best it gets up to 60 degrees before bed."

The impact of the cold was nowhere more apparent than at Crisis Assistance Ministry, which offers help with utility bills. On Friday, a typically slow day, 74 people showed up hoping to get help to keep their utilities from being turned off, says Carol Hardison, executive director of the agency.

"There's a group of people who were making it without water, without electricity," she says. "But this prolonged cold has worn out their resources. ... When they get to a week like this, they have to figure out a way to get help."

Ruby Adams, 57, of west Charlotte says she is an example, having lasted without electricity since November.

She's raising her late daughter's three children, but sent them to live with neighbors weeks ago. She spends days at a friend's house. At night, she returns to her frigid home and sleeps next to a kerosene space heater.

When she shuts it off, she burrows beneath five comforters.

"I've never in my life experienced something like this," says Adams, who is unemployed. "I've just been devastated."

Yet to come: a weekend with some of the coldest temperatures this winter.

Shelters at capacity

No deaths in Charlotte have been blamed on the cold. But at least nine people have died in other parts of the country, including Kenneth Hammett, 55, of Gaffney, S.C., whose body was found in a tent behind a gas station.

He was homeless, a group most at risk during extreme weather.

For nearly a week now, Charlotte shelters have reported capacity crowds, including 500 at the men's shelter, and nearly 300 women and children at the Salvation Army Center of Hope.

Lesia Weeks says she has tried her best not to set foot outside the center all week, because the cold worsens complications from her chest surgery. Her best option is to sit in the shelter's cramped waiting room, where at any given time, you'll find two dozen women in winter garb, fending off gusts of cold muscling in through the front door.

Weeks and her children were locked out of their apartment for overdue rent in September, and they came to the shelter with only the clothes on their backs.

"If the shelter hadn't taken me in, I had a plan to give up my three children to Social Services," says Weeks, whose health problems cost her a job as a bus driver. "They were mad at me. But there's no way we could have lived on the streets in weather like this."

Retha Carriker says she moved to the shelter in the fall only because she had gotten custody of her 8-year-old daughter. Frigid nights spent living in her van were not a problem, she says, but this is a different kind of cold.

"For as long as this has lasted, I'd be dead by now or in the emergency room," says Carriker. "When it starts getting into the teens, you don't sleep. You just sit up all night and shiver."

She still prefers the van, for the peace and quiet.

But she says it's not where she wants to die.

Expensive Heating repair costs

Anne Gannon, general manager of the Morris-Jenkins heating and air firm, says employees have been working overtime this week to handle hundreds of daily service calls, two or three times the level they usually see in January.

Often, when the technicians tell customers the cost of repairs, they'll say they can't afford them because they've lost their jobs or fear they're about to.

"We run into this more than 10 times a day," she says. "It's heartrending."

The cold snap comes as the region and country struggle to pull out of the worst recession in a generation. Mecklenburg had more than 10,000 home-foreclosure filings in the first 10 months of 2009. The Charlotte metropolitan region still suffers double-digit unemployment, and the professional and business services sector has shed nearly 5,000 jobs in the past year.

Winter's icy fingers have reached working- or middle-class people who once thought themselves immune. When the Observer asked for insights from people struggling to stay warm, a Department of Social Services worker, a small-business woman and a cook for a large local church were among those who responded.

The DSS employee e-mailed that his family has been heating its 2,000-square-foot home with a space heater since October. He added that his spouse lost her job due to a life-threatening illness, and the family hasn't been able to make ends meet.

He says he hears similar stories from other working people who come to DSS. Many, he says, are newly unemployed, whose income hasn't fallen low enough for them to get the full range of assistance available. (Hardison says the cutoff at Crisis Assistance Ministry is roughly $55,000 for a family of four.)

The church cook, a grandmother who didn't want to identify herself further, says that's been the case with her. She heats her Charlotte home with several space heaters because she can't afford to fix her furnace, which went out about two months ago.

"You work," she says, "but you have just enough to get by because you're living paycheck to paycheck."

After the bitter cold of the weekend, meteorologists are predicting a moderate warming trend next week. But that's little comfort for Ruby Adams.

Her heat pump died months ago, and she couldn't afford to fix it. She says the power company cut off her electricity in mid-November after the unit crashed.

With the rest of the house so cold she can see her breath, Adams confines herself to one dark bedroom, where she cooks meals in a frying pan atop the space heater.

She says Crisis Assistance Ministry agreed to pay about $600 of the $900 she owes on her power bill but told her she would have to raise the rest. She got commitments from her church and the Good Fellows, a charitable group that helps the needy.

Still, days passed and nothing happened.

Finally, she says, she called Friday and a Crisis Assistance worker told her the agency had paid its share. The Good Fellows paid as well, leaving only her church's contribution to get her lights on. She's hoping that can happen sometime this weekend.

Then, she says, she's hoping an assistance program will fix her heat pump. She'll need it. The National Weather Service's meteorologists are predicting an unusually cold and wet winter in the Southeast.

"I'm so grateful," she says, referring to the assistance she's received. "I've been through hell and high waters."




Gas Companies Disconnecting Thousands


On the brink of the cold-weather months, more than 56,000 natural-gas customers in the Chicago area remain disconnected for lack of payment. That's up 36% from last year, putting pressure on utilities and local officials to get disconnected households back online before winter begins in earnest.

Peoples Gas and Nicor Inc. are offering new programs to help customers who are behind on their bills. In a pilot that began last month, Peoples has stopped shutting off customers as long as they pay 60% of their monthly bill. For two weeks last month, Nicor offered to reconnect customers who paid half of their outstanding debt and agreed to a payment plan for the rest. Some 1,400 took advantage of the offer.

With the souring economy making it increasingly difficult for people to pay their bills, consumer advocates say the programs are not enough.



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, Huffington Post, Google Maps

Anthony Foxx Silent While Charlotte's Unemployed Voters Struggle In Cold Weather

Charlotte citizens are struggling, hurting and trying to survive one of the worst Winters in 20 years.

Due to the current Recession and high Regional Unemployment, many Charlotteans are now Homeless or without Heat and Electricity.

Why?

North Carolina's Energy and Gas Monopoly companies have no heart.

Gov. Bev Perdue allows Duke Energy and Piedmont Gas Execs to do as they please, even if it means cutting off Customers' Electricity and Gas in Freezing temperatures.

However....

Since Charlotte is now Mayor Anthony Foxx's city and since he made such BIG promises to help his hurting Charlotte Constituents, including Homeless citizens...

Why has Foxx been so quiet during this crisis?

Didn't he and the City of Charlotte receive almost $3M in Stimulus Funds to help with Heating Bills and Homelessness Prevention?

I'll ask again, why has Mayor Foxx been so quiet during this crisis?

Anthony Foxx doesn't care.

Why?

He thinks Pres. Barack Obama has his back no matter what.

Foxx really believes in his heart of hearts Pres. Obama is going to continue overlooking anything WRONG or Corrupt he does without consequences.

This includes wasting Stimulus Funds Federally allocated only for certain purposes. i.e., Homelessness Prevention, Energy Bill Assistance, etc.,

If you can recall while on the campaign trail Anthony Foxx blasted the Republicans for "not doing enough to help Charlotte's Homeless".

If you can also recall there's ONLY three things Anthony Foxx has done since he's been elected Charlotte Mayor:

1) Sign the Climate Agreement (for Partisan Political Brownie Points),

2) Get a full time Job as Attorney with a company that manufactures Buses for the City of Charlotte.

3) Establish a program to help Unemployed Bankers obtain No Interest Loans to start Small Businesses. (more Political Brownie Points)

That's It!!

Don't forget he also earns an additional $40,000. a year as Mayor.

What has Foxx actually done for his "Regular", Loyal Voters or Constituents??

You know the ones who went to the Polls for him and voted Straight Ticket.

Such as the Middle Class, Low Income, Senior Citizens, Recently Unemployed, etc.,

You know the same Voters who are now sitting in the Cold and Dark...

That's right NOTHING!

I didn't vote for Foxx because I knew he was a Self-absorbed man who ONLY appears to care about himself, NOT his Constituents!

Now by his latest actions (refusing to help Charlotte's Unemployed, Underemployed and Homeless citizens in Freezing Weather) he's proving me to be correct.

Any man regardless of his Ethnicity or Political Affiliation, who chooses to intentionally ignore hurting people in this Recession and Freezing Weather, doesn't deserve to serve in Public Office.

Its Politicians like Anthony Foxx who give Democrats a bad name because they LIE and don't care if you know that their lying.

No Politician can humanly possible keep every promise they make while running for office but it wouldn't hurt if they darn near tried!

Here's a few words of Political Wisdom for Charlotte Voters:

When candidates are running for Public Office don't get caught up in the hype of their speeches. Instead closely review their Public Service Records.

Prior to being elected President Barack Obama had a proven record of helping the less Fortunate, Anthony Foxx did not.

And...

STOP allowing the Charlotte Observer (community nickname: "Charlotte Disturber") to tell you how to vote at the Polls.

Last but certainly not least, next time you visit the Polls (2011) forget about that foolish, Partisan Straight Ticket Voting mess and vote Responsibly.

Anthony Foxx I'm praying for you.







Charlotte's Homeless Families Hit By Recession Struggle To Stay Warm In Brutal Weather


One of the worst cold spells in 30 years has become the latest reminder that Charlotte has a new definition of needy.

From families evicted to the streets for lack of a job, to low-income homeowners trying to pay utility bills, thousands of Carolinians have been struggling to stay warm.

Among them are people like Lesia Weeks, 37, a mother of four, who dodged the cold by sitting for hours in an 18-by-20-foot waiting room at the Salvation Army Center of Hope.

Retha Carriker, 42, another homeless mother, has spent her days sitting in the shelter's parking lot, huddled in the Mercury Villager that had served as her home until October.

Suffering along with them is a new strata of working- and middle-class people hit hard by the recession: those who can't afford their utility bills or repairs to their heating units.

"I heat my house with a wood stove because the HVAC has been broken since the recession started two years ago," says one small-business woman, who declined to give her name. "It's 52 degrees inside in the morning when I wake up, and at best it gets up to 60 degrees before bed."

The impact of the cold was nowhere more apparent than at Crisis Assistance Ministry, which offers help with utility bills. On Friday, a typically slow day, 74 people showed up hoping to get help to keep their utilities from being turned off, says Carol Hardison, executive director of the agency.

"There's a group of people who were making it without water, without electricity," she says. "But this prolonged cold has worn out their resources. ... When they get to a week like this, they have to figure out a way to get help."

Ruby Adams, 57, of west Charlotte says she is an example, having lasted without electricity since November.

She's raising her late daughter's three children, but sent them to live with neighbors weeks ago. She spends days at a friend's house. At night, she returns to her frigid home and sleeps next to a kerosene space heater.

When she shuts it off, she burrows beneath five comforters.

"I've never in my life experienced something like this," says Adams, who is unemployed. "I've just been devastated."

Yet to come: a weekend with some of the coldest temperatures this winter.

Shelters at capacity

No deaths in Charlotte have been blamed on the cold. But at least nine people have died in other parts of the country, including Kenneth Hammett, 55, of Gaffney, S.C., whose body was found in a tent behind a gas station.

He was homeless, a group most at risk during extreme weather.

For nearly a week now, Charlotte shelters have reported capacity crowds, including 500 at the men's shelter, and nearly 300 women and children at the Salvation Army Center of Hope.

Lesia Weeks says she has tried her best not to set foot outside the center all week, because the cold worsens complications from her chest surgery. Her best option is to sit in the shelter's cramped waiting room, where at any given time, you'll find two dozen women in winter garb, fending off gusts of cold muscling in through the front door.

Weeks and her children were locked out of their apartment for overdue rent in September, and they came to the shelter with only the clothes on their backs.

"If the shelter hadn't taken me in, I had a plan to give up my three children to Social Services," says Weeks, whose health problems cost her a job as a bus driver. "They were mad at me. But there's no way we could have lived on the streets in weather like this."

Retha Carriker says she moved to the shelter in the fall only because she had gotten custody of her 8-year-old daughter. Frigid nights spent living in her van were not a problem, she says, but this is a different kind of cold.

"For as long as this has lasted, I'd be dead by now or in the emergency room," says Carriker. "When it starts getting into the teens, you don't sleep. You just sit up all night and shiver."

She still prefers the van, for the peace and quiet.

But she says it's not where she wants to die.

Expensive heating repair costs

Anne Gannon, general manager of the Morris-Jenkins heating and air firm, says employees have been working overtime this week to handle hundreds of daily service calls, two or three times the level they usually see in January.

Often, when the technicians tell customers the cost of repairs, they'll say they can't afford them because they've lost their jobs or fear they're about to.

"We run into this more than 10 times a day," she says. "It's heartrending."

The cold snap comes as the region and country struggle to pull out of the worst recession in a generation. Mecklenburg had more than 10,000 home-foreclosure filings in the first 10 months of 2009. The Charlotte metropolitan region still suffers double-digit unemployment, and the professional and business services sector has shed nearly 5,000 jobs in the past year.

Winter's icy fingers have reached working- or middle-class people who once thought themselves immune. When the Observer asked for insights from people struggling to stay warm, a Department of Social Services worker, a small-business woman and a cook for a large local church were among those who responded.

The DSS employee e-mailed that his family has been heating its 2,000-square-foot home with a space heater since October. He added that his spouse lost her job due to a life-threatening illness, and the family hasn't been able to make ends meet.

He says he hears similar stories from other working people who come to DSS. Many, he says, are newly unemployed, whose income hasn't fallen low enough for them to get the full range of assistance available. (Hardison says the cutoff at Crisis Assistance Ministry is roughly $55,000 for a family of four.)

The church cook, a grandmother who didn't want to identify herself further, says that's been the case with her. She heats her Charlotte home with several space heaters because she can't afford to fix her furnace, which went out about two months ago.

"You work," she says, "but you have just enough to get by because you're living paycheck to paycheck."

After the bitter cold of the weekend, meteorologists are predicting a moderate warming trend next week. But that's little comfort for Ruby Adams.

Her heat pump died months ago, and she couldn't afford to fix it. She says the power company cut off her electricity in mid-November after the unit crashed.

With the rest of the house so cold she can see her breath, Adams confines herself to one dark bedroom, where she cooks meals in a frying pan atop the space heater.

She says Crisis Assistance Ministry agreed to pay about $600 of the $900 she owes on her power bill but told her she would have to raise the rest. She got commitments from her church and the Good Fellows, a charitable group that helps the needy.

Still, days passed and nothing happened.

Finally, she says, she called Friday and a Crisis Assistance worker told her the agency had paid its share. The Good Fellows paid as well, leaving only her church's contribution to get her lights on. She's hoping that can happen sometime this weekend.

Then, she says, she's hoping an assistance program will fix her heat pump. She'll need it. The National Weather Service's meteorologists are predicting an unusually cold and wet winter in the Southeast.

"I'm so grateful," she says, referring to the assistance she's received. "I've been through hell and high waters."







Anthony Foxx Takes Hand-off From McCrory



A crowd of hundreds watched as Anthony Foxx was sworn in as Charlotte’s new Mayor Monday night, after which Foxx gave a solemn speech noting the city’s tough economic climate and the need to create jobs.

Foxx mentioned some of the city’s struggles, such as the region’s 12 percent unemployment and “even higher levels of unemployment.” He talked about the region’s declining home values and high rate of foreclosures.

Foxx listed a number of proposals he wants the Charlotte City Council to enact, such as changing a small business loan program to target new businesses in fields such as finance and green energy.

He also issued a call to help the city’s Homeless population.

“Charlotte has always had a conscience,” Foxx said during a speech after he took the oath of office. “We have to address housing … in particular, homelessness. We live in a city in which, in any given night, 3,000 young people wake up not knowing where they will go to sleep at night.”

Foxx is the city’s first Democratic mayor in 22 years. He takes office with a council dominated by Democrats, who hold an 8-3 majority – the biggest advantage one party has had on the council since the late 1970s.

Democrats Patrick Cannon and David Howard also became new at-large council members Monday night.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center was flooded with an estimated 700 onlookers, who not only filled the council’s chambers, but the lobby and at least three conference rooms, where they watched the ceremony on television.

Much of the night was introspective – as former Mayor Pat McCrory and council member John Lassiter were honored for their service.

McCrory served as mayor for 14 years, and was first elected to the council in 1989. Lassiter, who lost the mayoral election to Foxx, served six years on the council. He also served on the Board of Education.

Democrat Susan Burgess, who was unanimously chosen by her colleagues as Mayor Pro Tem, thanked McCrory for his service, and then gave him a collection of DVDs from the television show “24″ – a joke about McCrory noting during Monday night council meetings that he was missing the show.

McCrory, who occasionally choked up, told a story about President George W. Bush visiting the city earlier this decade.

McCrory said the Secret Service had mistakenly taken him for U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, and asked if he needed a ride to the airport. Not wanting to turn down a ride in the presidential limo, McCrory said yes.

When they arrived at the airport, McCrory remembers the president walking up the stairs to Air Force One and Burr leaving in another car to his plane.

“I get out, and the stairs pull away and the limo drives off,” McCrory said. “I’m stranded on the runway by myself. You are in the arena, you are in the car … and then you are out of the car.”

McCrory later said he’s proud that Charlotte isn’t confused any more with Charleston and that people don’t have to refer to it as Charlotte, North Carolina.

“We’re known as Charlotte throughout the world,” McCrory said.

Lassiter, a fellow Republican who has known McCrory for more than two decades, said:

“He has a knack for complicated issues and long-term issues. His legacy will be in transportation and hospitality and tourism.”

McCrory presented Lassiter with an award named for former Mayor Richard Vinroot, which honors people who have given years of public service to the city.






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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, WCNC, Daily Kos, Youtube, Google Maps

America's Homeless Citizens Struggle To Keep Warm During Cold Recession

In Winter, Some Homeless Choose Between Independence, Warmth


The heat isn't working in the house, so Brook does what he can to keep warm for his night's sleep. He wears a thick coat and about five layers underneath, with a hat covering the hood that he draws close to his face.

He covers up with a donated blanket and rests his head on a bag where he keeps his belongings. The heat isn't working because he's not paying the bills. In fact, it's not his house -- it's abandoned, and he's not supposed to be there.

Brook, a 42-year-old homeless Atlanta man, is describing one of what he calls his many "catholes" -- places he's found to sleep and that provide some refuge from the elements. Standing on a central Atlanta sidewalk on an unusually bone-chilling Southern night on Tuesday, he says homeless shelters generally aren't for him. He doesn't trust the men who stay there, and he thinks he's better off alone.

"It's an environment where you can't keep your eyes closed," says Brook, who declined to give his full name and says he's seen too many men stealing from others in shelters.

Brook is among the thousands of Atlanta-area homeless choosing where to keep warm this week as a cold snap blisters much of the nation, including Southern states not used to an extended period of freezing temperatures.

Sherman Vickers, 63, also prefers to sleep on his own, usually using shelters and other homeless services only for meals and showers. On fair-weather days, he sleeps in parks, resting on a mat of inch-thick foam that he rolls up after using it.

But on Tuesday, a night when temperatures were in the 20s and wind chills were worse, Vickers was gratefully resting at The Shepherd's Inn, an emergency men's shelter run by Atlanta Union Mission, a Christian ministry.

"This time of year, you need to be somewhere out of the cold," Vickers, a homeless Atlanta resident, said Tuesday at the shelter.

This week, with morning temperatures in the teens, more people have flocked to The Shepherd's Inn than usual. The shelter, which normally takes in about 250 men nightly, took in more than 400 on Monday night, with cots and mats put in the kitchen and cafeteria to help with the increase, Atlanta Union Mission CEO Jim Reese said. An AUM shelter for women and children also saw an increase.

Though the cold weather strains resources at the emergency shelters, Reese said he sees the influx as an opportunity for the staff to invite more people into its life-skills and other programs, which provides reserved beds at other buildings.

How to help the homeless this winter

"I think what we would see is that might break a habit of being comfortable [sleeping] under a bridge," Reese said. "And maybe this environment ... gives them a chance to see it really is different."

More than 21,000 people in Atlanta and Fulton and DeKalb counties were projected to be homeless sometime last year, according to the Metro Atlanta Tri-Jurisdictional Collaborative, a group that addresses homelessness in the area.

Even this far south, the weather can be cold enough to kill. In February 2008, four apparently homeless people were found dead on one day in Atlanta, and authorities suspected below-freezing temperatures were a factor, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported then. In Fulton County, which includes part of Atlanta, two homeless people in 2006 and one in 2007 died of hypothermia, according to the county medical examiner's office.

Though shelters expand their capacity and other groups such as churches may offer makeshift refuge in extremely cold weather, not every homeless person who'd want to stay at a shelter can. In 2007, the U.S. Conference of Mayors reported that 12 of 23 U.S. cities surveyed said they had shelters that at least sometimes had to turn people away because of a lack of capacity.

Brook, who says he's been without a regular job for two years and on the streets or in jail for much of the time since he moved from New York in 2001, prefers to go it alone.

He hints he breaks the law to make money for food: "I don't sell drugs, but ... I'm in what you could call creative independent marketing and distribution -- I acquire things for low and I sell high." He says he's also a barber, having acquired clippers he uses to cut people's hair at a price he says is lower than area barber shops.

He says his catholes are many, from regular haunts such as certain abandoned houses and parking-garage stairwells, to those he'll improvise on the fly, such as Dumpsters that he'll line with cardboard.

Where he sleeps depends on where he is, what he can find unoccupied and the weather. On a cold week like this, an abandoned house is the choice spot, though he doesn't want to always use the same one for fear he'll get caught. Each morning he departs a sleeping place, he takes his bag with him and stashes it somewhere else, trying to leave no trace where he's slept.

The worst, he says, is when it's cold and raining. Two weeks ago, he said, he reluctantly went to a shelter because of rain. Fearing a theft, he didn't sleep.

"You sit in a chair with a light on, so you can't really rest, but you get off your feet," Brook said.

Brook says he'd prefer a place of his own and hopes to one day make and save enough to have one. But while he's homeless, he'll take his catholes over a shelter.

Vickers, who says he's been homeless for much of the time since the late 1980s after he suffered a hit-and-run injury and lost his Atlanta-based trucking job, may prefer the outdoors, but he'll take no chances in the cold. He's been at The Shepherd's Inn daily since mid-December, he said.

"Being here at the mission is a good thing. It's well-staffed, it's comfortable, clean, the food service is good, and they're safe," he said. "It's good being out of the cold."








What Happened To Charlotte's Hall House?


There are nearly three-thousand homeless children in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system.

This time last year, many of those kids had a place to stay when the weather was cold. Here, at Hall House.

This year, though...that's not an option.

Hall House is still standing in uptown Charlotte. But it's vacant -- totally empty.

That means many of those kids and their families are back on the streets...braving the 20-degree temps...and searching for help.

Our calls and e-mails to the Charlotte Housing Authority went unanswered today, but in weeks like this one it's easy to understand why the need is so great.

You may remember that it was once for sale...and not in the best of condition. And the community came to the rescue.

Volunteers showed up with tools and paint brushes to get this building in shape for the new arrivals. Folks really had to work hard to make this place livable.

It was home for more than 60 families, but after just a few months, of those families went packing, and some we understand have drifted back into reality of being homeless again.

A number of agencies did step up to the plate including the Salvation Army's women's shelter.

We found one place in Dilworth that also opened its doors to the displaced.

Some of those youngsters ended up at least for awhile at The Relatives in Dilworth.

Staffers here are aware issues that affect homeless children.

It is a group they call Charlotte's hidden population.

The children who stay here range in age between seven and 17, and

over the last year they've had to give more than 300 local children a place to stay.

"They find places to sleep sometimes behind bridges under buildings wherever they can go.

They're out in the cold. When the temperature goes down you wonder how the kids are keeping warm. It's kind of scary. "

The need is great and especially when you see an empty building like this that was once full of life.

Many people are asking the question...why. WBTV will continue to ask that question until we get answers.



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Sources: CNN, WBTV, Google Maps