HURRICANE FLORENCE CREATES PRICE GOUGING CRISIS IN NORTH CAROLINA:
MORE THAN 500 REPORTED INCIDENTS OF BUSINESSES FINANCIALLY ABUSING HURRICANE VICTIMS, INCLUDING GAS STATIONS & HOTELS.
THIS IS UNTHINKABLE & GREEDY.
EACH BUSINESS PRACTICING PRICE GOUGING SHOULD BE HARSHLY PROSECUTED.
Post Sources: CBS News, CNN, NCDOJ, WRAL, Youtube
***** There have been more than 500 reports of price gouging in North Carolina after Florence
When North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency ahead of Hurricane Florence, the state's price gouging law went into effect.
The law mandates that businesses in the state aren't allowed to spike prices during any natural disaster for necessary items like food, water and hotel rooms.
But so far, the North Carolina Attorney General's office has received more than 500 complaints.
Residents have complained of exorbitant markups on such items as gas and water, Attorney General Josh Stein Stein said Sunday.
Stein said his office is also getting reports of hotels over-charging evacuees.
The price gouging law will be in place until Governor Roy Cooper lifts the state of emergency.
Stein also warned storm victims to be vigilant when repairing their homes after the storm and look out for price gouging and scams.
Businesses that charge too much may have to refund customers and pay up to $5,000 for every violation.
To report, potential price gouging in North Carolina, call 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or file a complaint at www.ncdoj.gov.
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NORTH CAROLINA PRICE GOUGING LAW IN EFFECT
Release date: 9/10/2018
(RALEIGH) The price gouging law that protects consumers from scammers is now in effect in North Carolina after Governor Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency for the state as Hurricane Florence moves toward the coast. Attorney General Josh Stein notified businesses and consumers today to be on the lookout for any issues.
“My office is here to protect North Carolinians from scams and frauds,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “That is true all the time – but especially during severe weather. It is against the law to charge an excessive price during a state of emergency. If you see a business taking advantage of this storm, either before or after it hits, please let my office know so we can hold them accountable.”
North Carolina has a strong statute against price gouging – charging too much during a time of crisis – that is tied directly to a declaration of a state of emergency. When Governor Cooper declared a state of emergency for North Carolina on Friday, September 7, the statute went into effect for the entire state and will remain so until the state of emergency is lifted.
Attorney General Stein and the North Carolina Department of Justice will be reviewing complaints from consumers closely over the next several weeks and are prepared to take action against any businesses engaging in price gouging activities. Please report potential price gouging by calling 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or file a complaint at www.ncdoj.gov.
KAIDEN LEE-WELCH, 1, VICTIM OF HURRICANE FLORENCE - BODY FOUND TODAY:
PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY & VOLUNTEER TO HELP THE CITIZENS OF NORTH CAROLINA.
Post Sources: Charlotte Observer, NBC News, The State, Youtube
**** Florence’s toll: Infant killed by tree, 1-year-old swept away, killed by floodwaters
This story was updated at 10:45 a.m. Monday.
Rescue workers in Union County on Monday found the body of a 1-year-old boy who was swept away in floodwaters on Sunday, adding to Tropical Storm Florence’s death toll.
The Union County Sheriff’s Office said shortly after 10 a.m. that the boy’s body had been recovered. Investigators said his mother drove around barricades on a flooded section of N.C. 218.
Kaiden Lee-Welch’s mother was driving east towards Wadesboro, investigators said, when her car was floated off the road by waters from nearby Richardson Creek.
“Her vehicle left the roadway and came to rest amongst a group of trees,” the Union County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “She managed to free herself and Kaiden, who was in a car seat, but lost her grip on him in the rushing water.”
On Monday, a Union County Sheriff’s deputy guarding the barricade on NC-218 said he’s been here since 1992 and has never seen the water so high.
Two rescue workers were seen coming out of a flooded soybean field near the road, carrying what appeared to be a container covered with a white blanket shortly after 10:30 am as a helicopter hovered overhead.
Elsewhere in Union County, deputies also recovered a man’s body in Marshville on Monday morning.
Observer news partner WBTV reported he was found beside a car after floodwaters receded on Landsford Drive.
In Dallas, N.C., an infant boy was the first person reported killed by the storm in the Charlotte area.
Kade Gill died Sunday after a large pine tree fell on his mobile home Sunday afternoon, Gaston County police confirmed. Sunday was also the day he turned three months old, reported Observer news partner WBTV.
The Charlotte region was starting to dry out Monday and clean up after Florence’s soaking, which delivered 11 inches or more to parts of the city and sent creeks and streams overflowing their banks.
Monday morning, 12,385 customers in Charlotte remained without power, Duke Energy reported, along with almost 4,000 in surrounding counties. City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County offices remained closed.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools were canceled for the third straight day, leaving 148,000 students and the children who attend daycares linked to the CMS calendar home again.
In Dallas, police said a three-month-old boy was at home with family members on Moses Court, off Old Willis School Road, around 12:45 p.m. Sunday when the tree fell.
“It basically just cut the trailer in half,” Gaston County Police Capt. Jon Leatherwood said.
The boy was pronounced dead at Carolinas Medical Center Sunday afternoon, Leatherwood said.
The Gaston Gazette identified his parents as Olen and Tammy Gill, and said the boy was in his mother’s arms on the couch when the tree crashed through the home and struck him in the head. Tammy Gill was hospitalized at CaroMont Regional Medical Center and released Sunday, the newspaper reported.
Kade Gill was alive and crying when his parents pulled him from the home, reported the Observer’s news partner WBTV.
“The tree had divided us,” Kade’s father, Olen Gill, told WBTV. “So I am in the kitchen. She (Kade’s mother) is in the living room on the couch. I had to come out and rip the air conditioner out of the window, and that’s when we handed him through the window.”
Including this case, Hurricane Florence has killed at least 17 people in the Carolinas. Eleven of those fatalities were in North Carolina.
Partial levee breach
A flash flood warning had been issued for southwestern Rowan County until 11:45 p.m. Sunday, the National Weather Service said.
It also said that at 8:44 p.m., “Rowan County Emergency Management is reporting a partial breach of the Lake Corriher levee in Landis.”
But it appeared Monday morning that the remainder of the levee would hold.
“Due to the decrease in heavy rainfall, water levels have receded from the dam and levee,” Rowan County Emergency Management said in a statement. They planned to continue monitoring the situation. Landis is about 30 miles northeast of Charlotte.
Rising creeks
Meanwhile, creeks rose all over the Charlotte area Sunday afternoon. The southern part of Mecklenburg County and its neighbors to the southeast faced particular trouble.
Rain gauges there measured massive rainfall over the past three days: 10.9 inches at Matthews Elementary School, 11 inches nearby on U.S. 74, 10.2 inches at McAlpine and Sardis roads.
At 1:30 p.m., after much of the metro area had been pelted since early morning with gusting winds and sheets of rain, the National Weather Service issued a rare emergency flood warning for south Charlotte, Pineville, Matthews and Mint Hill. There, the drainage basins of some of Mecklenburg County’s best-known creeks began spilling over into roadways, bridges and neighborhoods.
The emergency warning was quickly extended to Union and York counties.
The weather service told residents in the quickly expanding emergency flash-flood area that they faced an “extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation,” and the agency urged people not to travel unless they were evacuating.
“SEEK HIGHER GROUND NOW!” the weather service said in an unusually urgent Sunday afternoon statement.
In Union, afternoon flooding had already closed roads and bridges and set off home rescues, authorities said. At 4:15 p.m., the county Emergency Management Service announced a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew due to worsening conditions.
By 4 p.m., several creeks had risen above flood stage, the National Weather Service said. The Weather Service said McAlpine Creek would flood homes around Colony Road and Weirton Place and Little Sugar Creek was likely to flood homes near Archdale Drive.
Buildings near Addison Drive in southeast Charlotte were already taking on water from McMullen Creek, the National Weather Service said, and buildings along N.C. 51 in Pineville are at risk of flooding.
“At least 20 roads have been closed due to floodwaters in the southern part of (Mecklenburg) county. Travel is dangerous,” the National Weather Service said.
The threat of similar flooding is expected to cross the state line later today and move south into the fast-growing York County cities of Fort Mill, Rock Hill and Tega Cay, the weather service said.
Meanwhile, flooding along the Catawba River could come as early as Monday, Duke Energy says.
Doug Outlaw, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Office in Greenville-Spartanburg, said bands of rain from the remains of Florence moving across South Carolina set off widespread flooding throughout Chesterfield County, S.C., then crossed the state line into Union County. There, rising creeks fed by rainfall and runoff crested bridges and roads, and forced home evacuations, he said.
In south Mecklenburg, rain also brought the water levels in Briar Creek, McMullen Creek and Little Sugar Creek to near flood stage, leading the weather service to issue the rare emergency flood warning, Outlaw said.
Across the region, Duke Energy says water could begin spilling out of several of its lakes above and below Charlotte starting as early as Monday evening, utility spokeswoman Kim Crawford told the Observer on Sunday.
The most immediate flooding threats are to areas along lakes James, Rhodhiss and Lookout Shoals, Crawford said, where the reservoirs are expected to be several feet above full pond by Monday evening, Crawford said.
Duke is also monitoring Mountain Island Lake, a major source of the region’s drinking water. But Crawford said Duke’s fears of flooding there have eased for now due to tapering rainfall in that part of the county.
Elsewhere, as the rainfall and runoff move southward, and are passed dam to dam around Charlotte, the flood threat moves into Duke’s reservoirs in South Carolina. The threat is particularly heightened at Lake Wateree, the last and lowest reservoir on the chain.
Catawba Riverkeeper Sam Perkins says the combination of rainfall and runoff will plague the Catawba basin for days or even weeks to come.
Duke began preparing for the arrival of Florence weeks ago by lowering water levels 4 to 5 feet in its four biggest reservoirs — James, Norman, Wylie and Wateree — in anticipation of what Florence was expected to dump across the region.
All that will be compounded by a massive runoff from the river’s countless tributaries, stretching hundreds of miles from the mountains to the S.C. Upstate.
As with rainfall, the bulk of the power outages appear to have occurred in the more heavily populated area of the region, according to Duke Energy.
The number of Mecklenburg County residents doubled throughout Sunday morning, to almost 30,000. At midday, Union County had 5,100 Duke customers without power; Gaston County, 3,800; and York County, 3,200.
By comparison, in New Hanover County/Wilmington alone, where the storm made landfall last week, the outages approached 104,000. Duke estimated that as many as three-quarters of its N.C. customers, or 3 million in all, could lose power before the storm ends.
Much of the Charlotte area and Western North Carolina remained under a flash flood watch into Monday morning.
The National Weather Service says the South Fork River in Gaston County is expected to crest at 6 1/2 feet above flood stage on Monday, threatening roads, bridges, parks and homes, particularly in and around Cramerton.
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***** North Carolina 1-year-old missing after being swept away by rushing floodwater
Kaiden Lee's mother lost her grip on the child's hand after getting out of their car.
The search resumed Monday morning, according to officials.
A North Carolina 1-year-old was swept away by rushing floodwaters caused by Florence after his mother lost her grip on the child.
Search and rescue teams spent hours looking for Kaiden Lee-Welch overnight on Sunday into Monday after water from the deadly storm flooded the highway his mother was driving on as she headed east to Wadesboro, North Carolina.
"I was holding his hand, trying to hold him, trying to pull him up ... I couldn't hold on anymore, and he let go," Lee's mother told FOX 46 WJZY.
The search for Kaiden resumed Monday morning, Union County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post.
Kaiden's mother, identified as Dazia Lee by FOX 46 WJZY, told authorities she drove around a barricade on North Carolina Highway 218 toward Wadesboro, when she encountered the swift water rising from Richardson Creek.
The water pushed her car off of the road and and left her stuck in a group of trees, according to police.
Lee was able to get Kaiden out of the car, but the water caused her to lose her grip.
Lee sobbed as she described her son to the local news outlet.
"My son is 1 years old. He's the sweetest boy you could ever have," she said.
It was not immediately clear why Lee was traveling on the highway.
"I did everything everything I could from the moment I was pregnant to the moment I lost him. I did everything I could as a parent to save him and protect him," she said.
Family members joined police in searching for the boy overnight. Police urged residents to avoid Highway 218 due to ongoing flooding.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said on Sunday that flood waters were raging across the state and have created an enormous risk for residents of the state.
With Florence, which has been downgraded to a tropical depression, making its way across the region, flash flood warnings were in effect across much of North Carolina, as well as in northeast South Carolina and southwest Virginia, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm is responsible for at least 17 deaths, with the majority the victims located in North Carolina. Two babies and a mother were killed in separate incidents in Gaston County and Wilmington.
IT’S NOT OVER YET - THE AFTERMATH IS WORSE THAN STORM.
HURRICANE FLORENCE DEVASTATES NORTH CAROLINA -
DEATH TOLL IS RISING.
COAST GUARD CALLED IN FOR SEARCH AND RESCUE.
HELP & PRAYER NEEDED FOR NC RESIDENTS.
Post Sources: Charlotte Observer, CNN, Fox News, Weather.com, WRAL, Youtube
***** Storm of a lifetime
For days, residents had been told to heed the warnings. Hurricane Florence, at its peak a Category 5, would be the "storm of a lifetime"for portions of the Carolina coast," the National Weather Service said.
It would bring powerful wind, relentless rain and life-threatening storm surge to an area that wasn't used to hurricanes.
More than 1 million people were under mandatory evacuation orders as the storm crawled toward the East Coast.
t would soon become clear why residents had been told to leave.
The calm before the storm
As Florence twisted over the Atlantic Ocean Thursday morning, 65-year-old Deb Frese took a walk along the shoreline. The Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, resident knew the storm could be keeping her inside for a while, so she wanted to fit in one last stroll.
Frese lived in the evacuation zone, about a mile from the beach, but she chose to ride the storm out in her home.
"Flooding, that's the biggest concern," said Frese. She also recognized that she might have to make do without power. But with a stockpile of food, batteries and lanterns, she was prepared to hunker down for "at least a week," she said.
"Then I might have to go."
'This is just the beginning'
By Thursday afternoon, Florence's wind speeds had dropped, and the storm was classified as a Category 2. But forecasters said its biggest threats remained: potentially deadly storm surge, flooding, and what was expected to be a historic rain event.
In New Bern, North Carolina, along the banks of the Neuse River, a CNN crew watched the water rise and flood Union Point Park until they were forced to leave.
Todd Willis, a resident of Kennel Beach, North Carolina, shared video on Facebook of tidal flooding. It was early in the afternoon, and water was already collecting beneath homes lofted on stilts. Some water inched up to the road as Willis drove by.
"This is just the beginning," he said. "It hasn't even gotten here yet and there's already water (in the) bottom parts of people's houses."
By evening, the storm was downgraded to a Category 1. But conditions continued to deteriorate into the night, as thousands of evacuees slept in emergency shelters.
Annazette Riley-Cromartie's home in eastern North Carolina began to flood around midnight. As her kids tried to sleep in a top bunk, her husband could hear voices in the distance.
"While we were still waiting, my husband kept hearing people yelling for help," she told CNN's Anderson Cooper, her voice thick with emotion. Her 6-foot-2 husband tried to go out and help, she said, but the water was already above his chest.
"You just keep hearing people yelling, and you can't do anything," she said. "It's the worst feeling in the world."
Back in New Bern, 200 people trapped in their homes were plucked from the water overnight.
"WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU," the city tweeted. "You may need to move up to the second story, or to your attic, but WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU."
By sunrise Friday, the town had seen about 7 inches of rainfall and 10 feet of storm surge, and scores of people still needed saving.
Trapped by floodwater
At 7:15 a.m., Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, became eerily calm as the eye of Hurricane Florence, now a Category 1 storm, loomed overhead.
Florence, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph, had made landfall.
Trees swayed from the wind and toppled over, blocking roads. Deserted streets flooded and swollen rivers escaped their banks. Power transformers exploded in bursts of light like fireworks, leaving hundreds of thousands of electric customers in the dark. Whole neighborhoods soon became swamps.
Back in New Bern, the Cajun Navy and other ragtag teams of volunteers joined emergency responders to rescue people from the rising water.
As water poured into their homes, residents sought refuge in attics.
"In a matter of seconds, my house was flooded up to the waist, and now it is to the chest," Peggy Perry told CNN's Chris Cuomo Friday morning.
"We have been up here for like three or four hours."
In River Bend, south of New Bern, a man shouted out of his open window at a small boat that had been left behind and commandeered by the Maryland Swift Water Rescue Team.
But when they asked if he needed help, the man said no.
He had everything he needed, he said. He just wanted to say hello.
The first deaths
A tree came crashing down on a house in Wilmington, North Carolina.
A family of three was inside the home, and emergency responders worked for hours to save them.
In the afternoon, authorities confirmed that a woman and her infant daughter were dead -- the first known deaths attributed to Florence. The child's father was taken to a local hospital.
A group of firefighters who had rushed to the scene were shaken. They knelt outside the home in a circle and began to pray.
It's time to go'
By Friday evening, Florence had been downgraded to a Tropical Storm.
But the rain showed no signs of abating and rivers continued to spill over their banks.
On Saturday morning, the National Weather Service warned of the possibility of "catastrophic flooding."
"We face walls of water at our coast, along our rivers, across farmland, in our cities and in our towns," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper told reporters that morning. "More people now are facing imminent threat than when the storm was just off shore."
Susan Bostic and her family had initially planned to wait out the storm in their Rocky Point, North Carolina home, not far from the Cape Fear River.
They changed their minds on Saturday, as water from the river spilled onto their property, collecting in big pools on the ground.
Bostic had lived through Hurricane Floyd in 1999, she said, and it took everything -- cars, clothes, her home.
"And they're expecting this to be even higher," she said. "So we know it's time to go."
About 40 miles to the northeast, in Jacksonville, North Carolina, Marti Dias was grappling with the same realization. She watched water from the New River slowly creep up her street, mailboxes jutting above the surface. Some of her neighbors had already left. It was time to go.
"I'm not going to lie, I cried this morning," she told CNN. "I broke down and cried."
Residents of Lumberton, North Carolina, also kept a wary eye on their own Lumber River, which quickly rose foot after foot as heavy rains continued to drench the state. The river had inundated Lumberton two years before, during Hurricane Matthew, and city officials scrambled this week to plug a hole in the town's levee system.
As floodwaters rose, roads quickly became impassable. An abandoned car was left running idle in the street with water lapping at the passenger windows.
That night, emergency responders and volunteers in Wilmington, North Carolina, made about 700 rescues; Pender County conducted 172, and lost two ambulances in the floodwaters.
By the end of the day, 13 people would be confirmed dead, several of them from flash flooding.
On Saturday evening, Hailey Burgalow was traveling to Virginia with her sister, her sister's boyfriend and her aunt when they hit flooding on Interstate 95, forcing them to pull off and venture into Lumberton.
The town was still in the process of recovering from Hurricane Matthew, and many homes appeared to be abandoned or in disrepair, their windows boarded up and weeds growing tall in the yards.
The group parked at a gas station and tried to get some sleep in the car, Burgalow told CNN. Eventually, a police officer stopped, and they asked him if there was any way to make their way north. There wasn't, the officer told them. He directed them to a shelter that was filled with evacuees.
"They ran out of cots and blankets," Burgalow told CNN. "It was super crowded, but we were thankful."
On Sunday morning, Burgalow and her family realized they were stuck there.
Flooded roads and fragile levees
The National Hurricane Center issued its final advisory for Florence on Sunday morning as the storm, crawling inland, weakened to a tropical depression with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph -- but plenty of rain was still on its way.
The center said in its last advisory that southeast North Carolina could see up to 40 inches of rain, and also warned of the risks of landslides across western North Carolina and southwest Virginia.
Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo called the flooding in the northern part of the county a "phenomenon," and "something we've never seen before." The city was essentially cut off from the rest of the state because of high waters, he said.
Any direction you try coming into the city -- from 20 to 40 miles out, roads are impassable," he said. "Anyone trying to get in here -- don't try. You will be turned away."
The Lumber River was close to 25 feet high by midday -- 12 feet above flood stage. At 26 feet, Lumberton city officials said, the levee around the river could be overwhelmed.
At that point, "all bets are off," said Corey Walters, deputy director of Public Works.
The rain had slowed down overnight, he said, giving officials another chance to try and plug the gap in the levee system -- but Walters didn't sound optimistic.
"Our crews are taking one more crack at trying to stop it," Walters said. "We're just fighting time here. There's another rain band that's going to be coming through and we know it. We're expecting to get another 4 to 6 inches."
Water began seeping beneath the sand barriers workers had placed there Sunday afternoon.
Bobby Hunt was just about finished packing belongings into the back of his pickup truck.
"Y'all ready? Lets get in the truck and get out of here," Hunt told his wife and cousin as they prepared to leave their boarded-up Lumberton home, which still bore the damage from Hurricane Matthew.
That storm had caught them by surprise with flooding in the middle of the night, he told CNN.
But after being told by the city that the levee could be overwhelmed, the family didn't hesitate to leave.
On Sunday, Bostic, who fled her Rocky Point home the day before, learned she and her family got out just in time.
Her home, about 200 yards from the river bank, was submerged, and the water was still rising.
Nearly 20 years after Bostic lost almost everything to Hurricane Floyd, Florence would also force her to start over.
It's not over
On Sunday, two more deaths were confirmed in South Carolina, bringing the toll to at least 18.
Hundreds upon hundreds had been rescued in the Carolinas.
There were at least 170 patients in four medical shelters across the state, and officials believed more would be on their way as the rescues and flooding continued throughout the day.
Pender County, North Carolina officials said they had received 300 calls for help by Sunday.
Rescue attempts and other essential services were hindered by a lack of fuel.
Gov. Cooper accompanied the Coast Guard on a flyover of flooded areas in North Carolina.
He said he saw significant flooding in the farmland of Jacksonville and throughout Onslow County.
In New Bern, where the drama of Friday morning had significantly diminished, the governor saw boats washed up in town and significant debris.
Flying over Fayetteville, he said, "it was stark to see the raging Cape Fear River, and you knew it was rising and you could see these vulnerable communities."
We've got a tall task ahead," Cooper said.
The rain had slowed a little in Fayetteville, but officials there worried that would lure residents into a false sense of security and prompt them to make their way back.
"We're going to get hammered," said Kevin Arata, the city's director of communications.
FLORENCE DOWNGRADES TO CATEGORY 2 BUT STILL VERY DANGEROUS.
PREPARE & CONTINUE TO PRAY (PSALM 91).
Post Sources: Charlotte Observer, Fox News, Youtube
***** Charlotte at ‘extreme’ risk for flooding this weekend
Friday, 8:35 a.m. There’s little deviation in the National Hurricane Center’s 8 a.m. track for Florence, which shows the storm is expected to move south and west across South Carolina through Saturday before turning north and west into North Carolina.
The storm is expected to cross the Columbia, S.C. region on Saturday. Charlotte is in line for 10 to 15 inches of rain and potential tropical storm-force winds, the National Hurricane Center predicts.
Friday, 8 a.m.
The National Weather Service’s Greer, S.C. office is predicting Charlotte will receive a massive deluge this weekend as Florence moves inland. That’s elevated the risk for flooding to “extreme” in Charlotte and the surrounding counties for Saturday and Sunday.
A flash flood watch will be in effect this weekend for most of the region. The Charlotte area could receive a foot or more of rain, the weather service is predicting.
Florence’s 5 a.m. track from the National Hurricane Center shows the storm moving across Columbia, S.C. on Saturday afternoon, before turning northwest and heading for North Carolina. That would bring it near the Charlotte region as a tropical storm or tropical depression, dumping heavy rain before moving into Tennessee and Virginia early Monday.
Florence drops to Cat 1, but still ‘life-threatening’
Thursday, 11 p.m.: Florence was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane but was delivering “life-threatening storm surge” along the NC coast, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. Florence had 90 mph winds, and the “threat of freshwater flooding will increase” in the days ahead, according to the advisory. The storm was about 60 miles east of Wilmington.
Islamic Center opens doors to evacuees
Thursday, 9:24 p.m.: The Islamic Center of Charlotte, 1700 Progress Lane, tweeted that it is partnering with United Muslim Relief to provide fresh water and basic aid packs to evacuees and is “opening our doors as a shelter ... to help those in need.“
Charlotte braces for more rain than expected
Thursday, 8:21 p.m.: Charlotte’s airport can expect 10.83 inches of rain during Florence, according to the latest projected rainfall totals from the National Weather Service office in Greer, S.C. That’s up significantly from Wednesday’s NWS estimate of 6.3 inches.
Areas to the south and east of Charlotte could see even more rain and flooding — 14.5 inches in Monroe, 13.67 inches in Concord, 14.7 inches in Albemarle and 18.46 inches in Anson County, said meteorologist Doug Outlaw of the National Weather Service in Greer, S.C.
Higher amounts also are forecast for cities to the west of Charlotte, with Gastonia at 9.64 inches, Lincolnton 8.78 inches and Shelby 6.8 inches.
The mountains should see far smaller amounts, according to Outlaw, with only 3.54 inches anticipated in Asheville.
Government offices to close at noon Friday
Thursday, 5:03 p.m.: City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County government offices will close at noon Friday ahead of the storm, the city and county announced in a joint news release.
CharMeck 311 and 911 emergency services will remain active. CharMeck 311 will operate from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Volunteers respond to call to deliver meals to shut-ins
Thursday, 4:52 p.m.: Friendship Trays, the nonprofit that provides meals for shut-ins, the elderly and people who can’t cook for themselves, was overwhelmed with help Thursday after putting out word on social media that they needed volunteer drivers, said executive director Lucy Carter Bush. So many people stepped up, they couldn’t answer all the messages.
“It was wild,” she said. “We got what we needed and then some.”
Friendship Trays was delivering both meals and emergency packs with canned goods, to make sure their clients could get through the weekend.
Monday is still up in the air, Bush said. Since no one knows how conditions will develop over the weekend, she doesn’t yet know if they’ll be able to make deliveries. If they can, they will need more volunteers, she said.
They’ll post updates on the website, www.friendships.org, and through a recording on their phone line, 704-333-9229.
Mecklenburg County jail inmates allowed free calls
Thursday, 4:33 p.m.: Sheriff Irwin Carmichael approved a request from Global Tel Link Inc. to offer inmates two free 5-minute phone calls per day Thursday through Saturday.
“We know how important it is to get reassurances from loved ones that they are taking the necessary steps to prepare,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
Plenty of space at Red Cross shelters
Thursday, 4 p.m.: The Observer visited each of the Charlotte area’s five Red Cross shelters on Thursday, and all five had plenty of space available.
The busiest, at East Mecklenburg High School, had only about a quarter of its beds occupied at midday. Several shelters were almost empty Thursday.
All of the shelters accept pets, and by 4 p.m. Thursday, the North Mecklenburg High shelter was housing two dogs, two cats and a bearded dragon.
Islamic Center opens doors to evacuees
Thursday, 9:24 p.m.: The Islamic Center of Charlotte, 1700 Progress Lane, tweeted that it is partnering with United Muslim Relief to provide fresh water and basic aid packs to evacuees and is “opening our doors as a shelter ... to help those in need.“
CharMeck 311 and 911 emergency services will remain active. CharMeck 311 will operate from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Post Sources: FEMA, NBC News, Washington Post, WRAL, Youtube
***** FEMA already setting up Florence relief operation at Fort Bragg
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is setting up its relief operation for Hurricane Florence even before the massive storm hits North Carolina.
FEMA tractor-trailers filled with water and non-perishable food began rolling in Monday at Simmons Army Airfield on Fort Bragg. Officials said the staging area will provide hurricane relief to South Carolina and parts of Virginia as well as to North Carolina.
Portable generators – some large enough to power a small city – sit on flatbed trailers at the staging area.
Gov. Roy Cooper said officials have learned from past hurricanes that flooded roads and downed trees and power lines can make it hard to get supplies distributed after the storm, so he asked FEMA to move some of the supplies closer to areas that are likely to be hardest hit by Florence.
On Tuesday afternoon, Cooper met with the FEMA team at Fort Bragg and was briefed on the supplies on hand.
"We've distributed to a number of areas now because we know that they will be needed," he said. "Food, water, supplies, cots, generators are already being distributed out there in places that we know will need it."
Meanwhile, about 80 Black Hawk and Apache Longbow helicopters flew out of Simmons Army Airfield earlier Tuesday to a location near Atlanta to get out of Florence's path.
The Black Hawk helicopters could be used to help with hurricane relief efforts, if requested by the governor. But the Apache helicopters are purely fighting machines and wouldn't be useful in hurricane relief.
"If we lose these aircraft to a storm, it impacts our ability to be ready in case of any type of contingency world-round," said LTC Bryan Hummel, of the 82nd Airborne Division's Combat Aviation Brigade. "So we got to make sure we get them out and get them in a safe location, and then when the storm's passed – a couple of days after that – most likely we'll go back and recover them back here, and we'll continue to start training."
Because the Apache helicopters cost $16 million to $20 million each, it's also cheaper to fly the 80 aircraft to Georgia that risk any of them being damaged in the storm.
HURRICANE FLORENCE ENCOURAGES MASS EXODUS TO SAFETY (EVACUATIONS):
MORE THAN ONE MILLION EVACUATIONS ORDERED BY SEVERAL GOVERNORS.
PREPARE AND PRAY - PSALM 91.
"9 Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place,
10 There shall no evil befall you, nor any plague or calamity come near your tent.
11 For He will give His angels [especial] charge over you to accompany and defend and preserve you in all your ways [of obedience and service].
12 They shall bear you up on their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the serpent shall you trample underfoot.
14 Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness—trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never].
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation."
Post Sources: NY Times, CBS News, Youtube
**** Hurricane Florence Threatens Carolinas; 1 Million Ordered to Evacuate
With Hurricane Florence swiftly gaining strength and bearing down on the Southeast, Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina on Monday ordered more than a million people living in eight coastal counties to evacuate inland.
“We do not want to risk one South Carolina life in this hurricane,” the governor said at a news conference Monday afternoon.
Evacuations were also ordered in parts of North Carolina as the region braced for a major destructive hurricane projected to make landfall late Thursday or Friday, with damaging winds, torrential rains and a potentially destructive storm surge.
The South Carolina evacuation order takes effect at noon Tuesday. Governor McMaster said that lanes of two major divided highways — Interstate 26 and U.S. 501 — would be reversed to make the roads one-way, carrying traffic only away from the coast, and that two others may also be reversed if needed. Schools and state offices in about half the state would be closed starting on Tuesday, the governor said.
Hurricane Florence swiftly strengthened into a major storm on Monday as it churned across the Atlantic Ocean toward the coast of the Carolinas. By 5 p.m. Eastern Time, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 140 miles an hour with higher gusts, according to the National Hurricane Center, and “further strengthening is anticipated.”
The center upgraded the storm at noon to Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity, only an hour after upgrading it to Category 3.
Forecasting models show the hurricane headed for a landfall somewhere near the border of North Carolina and South Carolina. Destructive winds extending as far as 150 miles in all directions from the storm’s center may be felt on shore as soon as Wednesday night.
President Trump, who was criticized for his response to the crisis in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria last year, signaled that he was on top of this storm in a pair of tweets on Monday.
In coastal Dare County, N.C., the local emergency management agency announced a mandatory evacuation order that took effect Monday at noon, for all residents and visitors on Hatteras Island, the long, slender barrier island off the North Carolina coast.
A similar order will go into effect Tuesday for other nearby communities, including Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, Roanoke Island, Duck, Manteo, Southern Shores and the mainland portion of Dare County, according to a statement from the county.
Social media users reported that stores in both states were being bought out of bottled water and other supplies as residents prepared for the storm.
The hurricane center warned that in addition to damaging winds, the “extremely dangerous” storm posed two kinds of flooding threats — a storm surge of salt water along the coast, and freshwater flooding inland from very heavy rains — as well as dangerous surf and riptides along much of the Eastern Seaboard.
STATE OF EMERGENCY - DON’T PLAY WITH THIS APPROACHING STORM.
PREPARE WISELY; PRAY INTENSELY.
Post Sources: AP, Charlotte Observer, Yahoo News, WLTX, Youtube
**** Florence to strengthen into hurricane Sunday, target East Coast as major storm
Florence to strengthen into hurricane Sunday, target East Coast as major storm originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Tropical Storm Florence is expected to intensify into a hurricane on Sunday as it continues to take aim at the United States' southeast coast.
Governors in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina all declared states of emergency over the past two days in anticipation of the hurricane.
"While the impacts of Tropical Storm Florence to Virginia are still uncertain, forecasts increasingly expect the storm to strengthen into a major hurricane that could seriously affect the East Coast and Virginians," Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Saturday as his state became the latest to declare a state of emergency.
Florence has sustained winds of 70 mph on Sunday morning and is located 765 miles southeast of Bermuda. The storm is moving west at 6 mph. Florence is looking more organized Sunday morning on satellite.
Tropical storm force winds extend 125 miles from the center.
Florence is forecast to move west Sunday, but then begin to turn west-northwest by Monday. The current forecast track brings Florence on approach to the southeast U.S. coast on Thursday as a major and powerful hurricane.
Due to warm ocean temperatures and lack of shear, Florence will be in a very favorable environment for development. The storm is expected to undergo rapid intensification beginning on Sunday night, and will likely become a major hurricane by Monday.
Strong high pressure will develop north of Florence later this week, which should cause the storm to move northwest toward the Southeast coastline. Several forecast models have begun to hint that this high pressure becomes strong enough to cause Florence to slow down tremendously late in the week.
The risk of direct impacts in the U.S. are increasing.
It remains too soon to determine the location and magnitude of impacts from Florence.
The National Hurricane Center is advising "interests along the U.S. East Coast, particularly from North Florida through North Carolina, should closely monitor the progress of Florence, ensure they have their hurricane plan in place and follow any advice given by local officials."
Isaac next to become hurricane
Moving southeast in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Isaac currently has winds of 50 mph and is moving west at 9 mph. The storm is 1,540 miles east of the Windward Islands. Isaac is forecast to strengthen over the coming days.
The storm is expected to continue moving west in the next few days and become a hurricane by Monday.
Isaac will be near the Lesser Antilles later this week and could bring impacts to parts of the Caribbean Islands during this time frame.
Olivia aiming for Hawaii
In the Pacific, Hurricane Olivia currently has winds of 80 mph, and is approximately 825 miles east-northeast of Hilo, Hawaii.
Olivia is expected to move west through Monday before turning west-southwest late Monday and early Tuesday local time. On the current track, Olivia may be near the Hawaiian Islands by late Tuesday.
Even though Olivia is expected to weaken, it could still bring impacts to the Hawaiian Islands by midweek.
Regardless of forecast track, significant effects from Olivia are possible in Hawaii, which could be enhanced due to the unique terrain of Hawaii.
CHARLOTTE MAYOR VI LYLES (DEMOCRAT) WISELY CHOSE BUSINESS & JOBS OVER FOOLISH PARTISAN POLITICS.
CHARLOTTE VOTERS NEED TO FIRE ALL CLOSE-MINDED PARTISAN POLITICIANS SO THE CITY’S ECONOMY CAN FINALLY REBOUND.
NOW IT’S TIME FOR CHARLOTTE TO DEVELOP A ZOO & OTHER TOURIST ATTRACTIONS THAT WILL ENTERTAIN LARGE CROWDS FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK.
VI LYLES WOULD SOMEDAY MAKE A GREAT PROGRESSIVE 21st CENTURY GOVERNOR FOR NORTH CAROLINA.
CONGRATS
Post Sources: Charlotte Observer, Youtube
****** GOP picks Charlotte for 2020 convention. Now, the fundraising and organizing begin
Charlotte won its second national political convention in a decade Friday, kicking off two years of planning, fundraising and anticipation.
The Republican National Committee on Friday formally awarded Charlotte the 2020 party event, pushing Charlotte into a small group of cities that will have held both major party conventions.
The vote capped a dramatic week in which the Charlotte City Council agreed to host the convention Monday by a single vote. Four Democrats joined two Republicans in support. Five Democrats voted no.
“We could not be more excited,” North Carolina GOP Chair Robin Hayes said in a statement. “Today’s announcement is a testament to the strong leadership in Charlotte that has followed a long North Carolina tradition of putting the needs and opportunities of our people before politics.”
But politics was behind the contentiousness surrounding the council decision.
More than 100 people debated the convention publicly and passionately before Monday’s council vote. Through it all, Democratic Mayor Vi Lyles championed the event and urged people to put partisanship aside.
Asked Friday if she would have started the bidding process had she known the opposition it would spark, she said she would have. She said the city would have had the same debate, even if the outcome may have been different.
“I think we would have done exactly what we did,” she told reporters. “The outcome I can’t project.”
Friday’s RNC vote means Charlotte will host its second national political convention eight years after finding itself the site of Democrat Barack Obama’s nomination for a second term.
Lyles and council members who joined her in Austin said they’re confident that law enforcement officials can provide security for the convention and the city.
“We’ve got two years to plan for protests we know will happen,” said Mayor Pro Tem Julie Eiselt, a Democrat.
Republican council member Ed Driggs agreed.
“We were very clear-headed about the political climate we’re in right now,” Driggs said. “We felt the benefits to the city outweigh the risks.”
Businessman Ned Curran co-chairs the host committee with Doug Lebda, the founder of Lending Tree, and attorney Walter Price. Former council member John Lassiter will be the host committee’s CEO and executive director.
Curran said the committee is “way ahead of schedule” in reaching its $70 million fundraising goal. In 2012 Democrats fell $10 million short of theirs. Duke shareholders footed about $6 million of that after the company was not repaid.
Lassiter told reporters the host committee already has raised “more than 10 percent” of what they need.
Other Republicans applauded the RNC’s selection.
“I think it’s going to be great,” said Saul Anunzis, Michigan’s former GOP chairman. “It’ll make sense politically for us.”
GOP National Chair Ronna McDaniel complimented not only Charlotte but Lyles.
“I love that it’s the Queen City and we have Mayor Vi Lyles — you are a queen,” McDaniel said. “We look forward to Charlotte being center stage when the Republican Party nominates Donald Trump and Mike Pence for a second term.”
“To be one of only a few American cities to host conventions from both political parties is a testament to the people of our state,” Pat McCrory, North Carolina’s former governor and Charlotte’s former mayor, said in a statement.
The convention is expected to involve not only uptown Charlotte but venues around the region.
“Every venue in the region is in play, and part of the attraction,” Curran said.
The head of the state's Republican Party said Friday that he has been told the competition to host the 2020 Republican National Convention is down to about three cities, with Charlotte one of the strongest bids.
N.C. GOP executive director Dallas Woodhouse, who is attending the Republican National Committee meeting in Miami, said he has been told by numerous national Republicans that they were impressed by the city's Democratic leadership teaming up with statewide Republicans.
Woodhouse said he believed Las Vegas is a strong competitor.
CNN reported that Nevada GOP chairman Michael McDonald made a presentation this week to a site selection committee.
Woodhouse said Las Vegas appears to have placed a late bid to host the RNC.
Earlier this week, a spokesperson for the city of Las Vegas said they weren't aware of a bid.
A spokesperson for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said Thursday that Republicans asked the city to bid, but it had to decline because it "doesn't have the facilities to accommodate the event."
On Friday, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said it was surprised by the story that Las Vegas was bidding.
It said it turned down the GOP with a letter earlier this year.
Las Vegas considered bidding for the 2016 RNC, but dropped out.
But the state Republican party appears to be moving forward with a bid, even if tourism officials aren't on board yet.
On Thursday, the San Antonio City Council decided in a closed session meeting not to bid.
"There's a reason that San Antonio has not pursued a political convention for the past 20 years and why so few cities seem interested in this convention," San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said, citing disruptions to traffic and neighborhoods.
As San Antonio council members prepared to consider a late bid, some Democratic activists said the city shouldn't seek the RNC.
They said the Trump administration's push for a border wall would damage the city's close ties with Mexico.
The bids for the RNC were originally due Feb. 28, but that deadline was pushed back.
In past years, cities have been vocal about wanting to land a political convention, which are said to be worth tens of millions in dollars in economic impact.
But this year only Charlotte and Las Vegas have said publicly they want it.
Charlotte hosted the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
Woodhouse said he was told that as many as seven cities had expressed interested to the RNC, but some dropped out.
He doesn't know what the other city is, though he said he has heard Texas.
A tourism official in Dallas said the RNC approached the city about bidding, but the city declined.
A spokesperson for the Houston mayor's office declined to comment, but a City Council member said it had not been discussed.
"They were really impressed that a Democratic city and Democratic leaders have come together with Republicans to host the RNC," Woodhouse said.
He said the RNC will meet again in August. A decision could be made then, he said.
JUSTIN BLACKMAN, 16 - SOLO GUN CONTROL WALK OUT AT HIS N.C. SCHOOL:
JUSTIN, 16 OF WILSON NORTH CAROLINA, WAS THE ONLY STUDENT AT HIS SCHOOL TO WALK OUT MARCH 14th.
JUSTIN BLACKMAN, 16 HAS A VOICE & HE USED IT VIA CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE FOR NATIONWIDE GUN CONTROL.
SOMETIMES REAL LEADERS MUST BE WILLING TO STAND ALONE.
KUDOS TO JUSTIN FOR BEING COURAGEOUS & FOR CARING ABOUT HUMAN LIFE.
PRAY FOR JUSTIN’S PROTECTION BECAUSE THE NRA IS ANGRY.
Sources: Yahoo News, CNN, Youtube
****** This teen was the only student in his school to participate in the national walkout
On Wednesday, students nationwide left class to honor the 17 teenagers who died in the Parkland shooting, and to protest lax gun control laws in the United States.
But on #NationalWalkoutDay, 16-year-old Justin Blackman realized that he was the only student at Wilson Preparatory Academy in Wilson, North Carolina to participate in the protest.
"It's National Walkout Day, I'm the only one from my school out here," he said in a video he tweeted. “I’m just going to be chilling here for the next 15 minutes.”
According to CNN, about 700 students attend Wilson Preparatory Academy. Blackman was the only student to leave class. He spent 17 minutes outside, one for every person who died at Stoneman Douglas High School last month, and then walked back to his Spanish class.
The school declined to comment on the issue, but told CNN Blackman is an "independent thinker."
He didn't think that anyone would care. “There’s going to be like six people watching this hopefully," he said in the video.
Instead, Blackman received an outpouring of support from people around the country.
Lindsay Knauf, who's from Newtown, Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook school shooting occurred in 2012, thanked Blackman for standing up.
"Seeing the action that is finally taking place means the world to all of us here," she tweeted at him.
Filmmaker and A Wrinkle In Time director Ava DuVernay retweeted Blackman's video with a Martin Luther King Jr. quote: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
Alexis Tracton, a freshman at Stoneman Douglas, thanked Blackman. "I'm inspired by you for being a leader," she tweeted at him, "Every little thing makes a difference."
Since it was posted, Blackman's video was viewed more than 2.6 million times at the time of writing, and has received more than 11,000 comments.
Blackman isn't the only student to walk out alone at school; second grader Leonardo Aguilar joined the high schoolers in San Jose because he was reportedly the only one to leave his classroom.
And school officials in Sayreville, New Jersey threatened Rosa Rodriguez with suspension for leaving class, but she did it anyway.
This may be the start of Blackman's career in leadership. The high schooler runs a YouTube channel for gaming, but he's thinking about starting one dedicated to politics.
BILLY GRAHAM DEAD AT 99, FRIEND TO DR MLK & ALL U.S. PRESIDENTS:
GRAHAM LED MORE THAN 1 MILLION PEOPLE TO JESUS CHRIST REGARDLESS OF THEIR RACE.
BILLY GRAHAM IS NOW IN HEAVEN WITH JESUS.
GREAT IS BILLY GRAHAM’S REWARD.
REST IN PEACE & GOD BLESS HIS FAMILY.
Sources: AP, HuffPost, Yahoo News, Youtube
****** Billy Graham, 'America's Pastor' And Noted Evangelist, Dead At 99
Billy Graham, the famed evangelist who became known as “America’s Pastor,” has died at the age of 99, The Associated Press reported.
Graham died at his home Wednesday morning from natural causes, a family spokesman told ABC News.
Born in 1918 in Charlotte, North Carolina, William Franklin Graham Jr. was the oldest of the four children of William and Morrow Graham. He was raised on a dairy farm, and little in his childhood suggested he would become a world-renowned preacher.
Then at 16, Graham attended a series of revival meetings run by outspoken evangelist Mordecai Ham. The two months he spent listening to Ham’s sermons on sin sparked a spiritual awakening in Graham and prompted him to enroll at Bob Jones College. When the conservative Christian school’s strict doctrine didn’t align with his personal beliefs, he transferred to the Florida Bible Institute (now Trinity College of Florida) and joined a Southern Baptist Convention church. He was ordained in 1939.
Graham received additional training at Illinois’ Wheaton College, where he met his future wife, Ruth McCue Bell. They were married for 64 years, until her death in 2007, and had five children.
After serving briefly as the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Western Springs, Illinois, Graham launched his first radio program, “Songs in the Night,” in 1943. Although he left a year later, Graham liked the idea of sharing his message with a wide audience. As noted on his website, Graham took Jesus Christ literally when he said in Mark 16:15: “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.”
Graham was still in his early 30s when entered the public spotlight by giving a series of well-attended “sin-smashing” revival meetings that were held under a circus tent in a Los Angeles parking lot. The press took interest in the charismatic young preacher and began writing articles about him. To get his message to even more people, Graham founded his own ministry, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
Graham viewed the Bible as the infallible word of God. He believed that Jesus led a sinless life and that all men were lost and would face God’s judgment. Most importantly, he was convinced he must use “every modern means of communication available” to spread the Gospel throughout the world, and did so in print, on radio and television, online and in person.
Graham’s sermons promoted evangelism and railed against “godless communism,” drugs, sex and violence. And for the next five decades, his electric personality connected with audiences in more than 185 countries.
Graham was the first evangelist of note to speak behind the Iron Curtain, and during the Apartheid era he refused to visit South Africa until the government allowed integrated seating at his events. He published dozens of best-selling books, including Angels: God’s Secret Agents and The Jesus Generation, and wrote a weekly column that was syndicated in hundreds of newspapers.
Graham received numerous honors, including the Horatio Alger Award, the George Washington Honor Medal, the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award and the Congressional Gold Medal. A highway in Charlotte bears his name, as does part of Interstate 240 near his home in Asheville, North Carolina. In 1989, he became the first clergyman to be granted a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work as a minister.
Graham also had a major effect on the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s. His early crusades were segregated, but once the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954, which found public school segregation unconstitutional, Graham integrated the seatings at his revival meetings.
Graham befriended the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as well, and together they preached to more than 2 million people in New York City. When questioned about his views on faith and race, Graham argued there was no scriptural basis for segregation.
As his message spread, Graham was granted personal audiences with royalty, dignitaries and many sitting presidents, from Harry S. Truman to Barack Obama. Three presidents were even on hand in 2007 for the dedication of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte. Despite being a registered Democrat, Graham opposed the candidacy of John F. Kennedy, and actively encouraged other religious leaders to speak out about the dangers of having a Roman Catholic in the White House.
Though beloved by millions, Graham was not without his detractors. Some fundamentalist Christians took issue with his ecumenical approach to evangelism, and after his 1957 crusade in New York, opponents of Graham’s more liberal theology began calling him “the Antichrist.” According to the biography Billy: A Personal Look at Bill Graham, the World’s Best-Loved Evangelist by Sherwood Eliot Wirt, one Christian educator even said that Graham was “the worst thing to happen to the Christian church in two thousand years.” More recently, detractors blasted Graham’s continued belief that homosexual behavior was a “sinister form of perversion,” and his intolerance against the very presence of gay and lesbian couples within Christianity.
As his health began to fail, Graham decided to announce his retirement in 2005. His final sermon, “The Cross ― Billy Graham’s Message To America,” called for a national spiritual awakening.
SCOTUS BLOCKS NC ANTI-GERRYMANDERING DECISION FROM LOWER COURT:
GOP’S NC VOTING DISTRICTS APPROVED.
BLACK ELITE NORTH CAROLINA LEADERS & WHITE DEM LEADERS WERE TOO BUSY BEING RACIALLY DIVIDED TO SEE THIS POLITICAL ALBATROSS LOOMING OVERHEAD.
WHILE BLACK ELITE & WHITE DEM LEADERS WERE COMFORTABLY BLOCKING PROGRESS FOR LOCAL NC VOTERS, THE GOP QUIETLY REVISED NORTH CAROLINA’S VOTING DISTRICTS.
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
DR MARTIN LUTHER KING JR, 1964
Sources: NY Times, PBS News, The Young Turks, YouTube
**** Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks North Carolina Gerrymandering Ruling
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday temporarily blocked a trial court’s order requiring North Carolina lawmakers to produce a revised congressional voting map, making it likely that the midterm elections this year will be conducted using districts favorable to Republican candidates.
The trial court had found that Republican legislators in the state had violated the Constitution by drawing congressional voting districts to hurt the electoral chances of Democratic candidates.
The Supreme Court’s move was expected and not particularly telling. The court, which is considering two other major tests of partisan gerrymandering, has granted stays in similar settings. Its decisions in the pending cases, from Wisconsin and Maryland, are likely to effectively decide the North Carolina case, too.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor noted dissents from Thursday’s order, which was brief and unsigned.
The previous North Carolina decision, issued by a three-judge panel last week, was the first from a federal court to strike down a congressional map as a partisan gerrymander. Republican state lawmakers, the court said, had violated the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection by drawing voting districts to their party’s advantage.
The judges noted that the legislator responsible for drawing the map had not disguised his intentions. “I think electing Republicans is better than electing Democrats,” said the legislator, Representative David Lewis, a Republican. “So I drew this map to help foster what I think is better for the country.”
The plan worked. In 2016, the court said, Republican congressional candidates won 53 percent of the statewide vote. But they won in 10 of the 13 congressional districts, or 77 percent of them.
The Supreme Court has ruled that racial gerrymandering can violate the Constitution. But it has never struck down a voting map as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.
Republicans and, in private, many Democrats in North Carolina had expected the Supreme Court to stay last week’s ruling, which ordered legislators to prepare a new map by Jan. 24. But elected officials and political strategists had been preparing for the possibility of a hasty redrawing of the congressional map and an upending of carefully laid plans for the midterm campaigns.
Even the brief gap between the trial court’s ruling and the Supreme Court’s order left the state in turmoil weeks before the deadline to declare candidacies.
Few states in recent years have seen as much political turbulence as North Carolina, where Republicans took control of the General Assembly in 2010 and now face off regularly with a Democratic governor. Many of the high-decibel clashes in North Carolina, even before Gov. Roy Cooper was elected in 2016, focused on elections and voting procedures.
A voter ID law has been the subject of contentious litigation, and a different three-judge panel concluded that many of the state’s legislative districts had been racially gerrymandered. In 2016, a court struck down a different version of the congressional map, saying it was a racial gerrymander.
But last week’s ruling stirred particular anger in Raleigh, the state capital, with Republicans infuriated that the judges had begun making arrangements for a court-appointed expert to draw a map as an alternative to one that the Legislature might develop.
Although observers said the three-judge panel’s ruling, stayed or not, had offered Democrats a valuable talking point in the months before midterm elections, Republicans welcomed the Supreme Court’s order on Thursday.
“We did fully expect this, but we are still grateful,” said Dallas Woodhouse, the executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, who complained in an interview that the lower court had tried to “inject chaos into our elections.” Mr. Woodhouse said he fully expected that this year’s elections would be carried out under the existing map.
Critics of the map expressed disappointment and frustration with the court’s order.
“We still believe the day is coming soon for the General Assembly to be held to account for this madness,” said Allison Riggs of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, which represents the League of Women Voters of North Carolina, a group that challenged the map. “The law and the facts of this case make that clear.”
J. Michael Bitzer, a political scientist at Catawba College, near Charlotte, said the Supreme Court’s order was an important, if perhaps temporary, win for Republicans in North Carolina.
“Certainly, Republicans will view this as a victory but probably a short-term victory,” he said. “They certainly dodged a bullet tonight. The question is: ‘How long do we have before the Wisconsin decision comes down, and what kind of impact will that have on 2018’s elections?’”
In October, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case from Wisconsin. The trial court in that case had struck down a voting map for the State Assembly as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.
The Supreme Court has also agreed to decide whether Maryland Democrats crossed a constitutional line by redrawing House districts to flip a Republican-held seat to Democratic control.
In asking the Supreme Court to block the North Carolina ruling, state lawmakers said the trial court had made legal errors and unreasonable demands, notably in ordering new congressional maps to be drawn by Jan. 24.
The lawmakers’ brief reminded the justices that they had granted a stay in the Wisconsin case. “Particularly given the relief this court already granted to Wisconsin,” they wrote, “it makes no sense whatsoever to force North Carolina to immediately remedy a purported partisan gerrymandering violation and commence its 2018 election cycle under a new court-imposed map before this court can even decide whether and under what circumstances such claims may be adjudicated.”
In their own brief, lawyers for Democrats challenging the map said the lawmakers’ motive in seeking a stay was “plain as day.”
“The Republican contingent of the legislature wants to enjoy the fruits of their grossly unconstitutional actions for yet another election cycle,” the brief said.
About a quarter of the city’s 84 homicide victims so far in 2017 have died through domestic violence, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police.
The victims have included a UNC-Charlotte professor, at least one pregnant woman and, on Saturday, a recent immigrant and her mother-in-law. Police said her husband shot and killed both women, and then himself, in an east Charlotte apartment.
In the next few years, city leaders hope to save lives and reduce Charlotte’s domestic violence overall by opening a family justice center, based on a model that has worked well in other cities, CMPD Sgt. Craig Varnum said.
“Instead of the victim having to go across the street to talk to a Safe Alliance advocate, down the road to talk to someone at Community Support Services to get counseling for their child, coming here to talk to a police officer and across the street to get a 50B (protective order), they go to one place,” where representatives from all those agencies will be available, he said.
The center is only in planning stages, but Varnum said he expects it will open within three years. He said it’s too early to estimate how much the center will cost.
Communities around the state and country have seen big reductions in domestic violence after opening family justice centers, Varnum said. In San Diego, where the country’s first family justice center opened in 2002, he said domestic violence calls dropped 50 percent during a six-year period. Domestic violence homicides declined, too, he said.
Beyond the key goal of improving victims’ lives, reducing domestic violence will help the city overall, Varnum said. Nearly 40 percent of the 52 homicide suspects identified so far this year have criminal histories including domestic violence, he said.
“We spend more time investigating crimes of domestic violence than any other crime that we respond to,” he said. “We average about 35,000 calls per service per year that are related to domestic violence.” Varnum said about 9,000 of those calls turn into criminal reports every year.
The Buncombe County Family Justice Center opened in Asheville in 2016, and Varnum cited research about what victims in Buncombe County dealt with before the center opened.
In the first three days after a victim asked for help – a request often sparked by a violent, traumatic incident, Varnum said – Buncombe County found that, on average, victims went to eight different locations, spoke with 12 people about their cases and filled out 61 pages of paperwork.
The traveling and bureaucracy are a particular challenge for victims who have come to an unfamiliar place without transportation and who may be accompanied by children, Varnum said. In contrast, the family justice center is meant to be a safe place where victims can get all the help they need.
Laura Lawrence, chief legal officer for Safe Alliance, which helps survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Mecklenburg County, will work with Varnum to lead the creation of the new center, she said Wednesday.
So far, the steering committee includes representatives from Pat’s Place Child Advocacy Center, the district attorney’s office, Child and Family Services Center and the county’s Community Support Services, along with Safe Alliance and the police, Lawrence said.
In the new center, Lawrence said victims will meet first with a Safe Alliance representative, who will help them file a protective order and decide what to do next.
Filing protective orders sometimes involves waiting in court for hours, Lawrence said, which can be intimidating and stressful for victims, especially when they have children. As early as March – long before the new center opens – Safe Alliance clients will be able to stay in a safe place and make video calls into the courtroom instead of going in person, Lawrence said.
One of Charlotte’s most prominent executives has spoken out in support of removing Confederate monuments from public property.
Minutes after President Donald Trump bemoaned the removal of “our beautiful” Confederate statues on Twitter Thursday, Red Ventures CEO Ric Elias took to Twitter himself to voice support for N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper, who said that Confederate statues should be removed from state grounds.
“Leaders cannot leave room for hate and bigotry to poison our communities. Thank you, Governor, for doing what’s right,” Elias tweeted.
A Red Ventures spokeswoman said the company had no additional comment.
Cooper’s proposal came a day after a crowd in Durham toppled a Confederate statue outside the old Durham County courthouse earlier this week. Such monuments, however, are protected by a 2015 law, and North Carolina’s Republican-controlled General Assembly has shown no signs of changing the law.
In fact, Republican Senate leader Phil Berger wrote in a column Thursday that “an impulsive decision” to pull down monuments wouldn’t be wise.
North Carolina’s 2015 law prohibiting the removal of Confederate monuments was passed after the Confederate flag over the South Carolina statehouse was removed following the race-based murders of nine people at a Charleston church.
Elias has been vocal about social issues in the past.
Last year, for instance, Elias was fiercely opposed to House Bill 2, the now-repealed controversial measure that limited legal protections for LGBT people.
The bill, he warned, put a large-scale expansion of his marketing and technology firm at risk.
Citing HB2, Elias also gave employees extra time off to vote last fall. The privately held company employs more than 2,800.
Red Ventures is headquartered just over the state line in Indian Land, but the company was founded in Charlotte and still has offices in the city. Many Red Ventures employees, including Elias himself, also live in Charlotte.
It’s unclear whether Elias’s support of Cooper will prompt other executives across the state to voice their opinion on the Confederate statue matter. If they do, it wouldn’t be the first time business leaders have used their platform to affect social change.
The Charlotte Executive Leadership Council, a group of executives headed by Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good, last year came out against HB2, and played a role in helping to broker a compromise that ultimately repealed the bill.
A Duke Energy spokesman said that the council “is going to remain focused on its core mission of education and workforce development,” and declined to comment beyond that.
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS BUYING FAKE IDs (WHERE ARE THE FEDS?):
MEXICAN MAN (HUMBERTO GINEZ-EDMUNDO) CHARGED WITH SELLING FAKE IDs TO NORTH CAROLINA ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.
YET COMPANIES CONTINUE TO HIRE MANY MEXICAN CITIZENS VERSUS LEGAL CITIZENS.
Sources: Charlotte Observer, Fox News, Youtube
***** Man going to prison for selling fake IDs to undocumented immigrants in Carolinas
A Mexican man was sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison on Wednesday for providing fake documents to undocumented workers and others in the Carolinas and Georgia.
Humberto Ginez-Edmundo, 27, charged $130 to $600 for the fake Social Security cards, state identification cards, driver’s licenses and permanent residence cards he produced beginning in November 2015, court records show.
Ginez-Edmundo was convicted of fraudulent identification document conspiracy and aggravated identity theft.
Chief U.S. District Judge Frank Whitney sentenced him in federal court in Charlotte.
Ginez-Edmundo will face deportation proceedings after serving his sentence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations led the investigation into the fake documents Ginez-Edmundo produced and sold.
**** How long can Price’s Chicken Coop hold out in South End?
Drive down Camden Road in South End, and you’ll pass by shiny new office buildings, hip new restaurants and towering, luxury apartments.
And in the middle of it all, you’ll also see a squat brick storefront that looks almost exactly like it did in the early 1960s.
Price’s Chicken Coop is one of the last holdout businesses in the rapidly transforming South End neighborhood.
Very little has changed since it opened 55 years ago – in fact, Price’s has removed several items from its original menu, including its seafood dinner and chuck wagon steak.
The restaurant still doesn’t have customer seating. It still only accepts cash. It still doesn’t deliver.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” co-owner Stephen Price explains, matter-of-factly.
Any given weekday, the Coop has a steady stream of customers flowing in and out of its little no-frills South End spot to pick up a quick friend chicken lunch.
On a recent day, you could see construction workers from a nearby site, a doctor in scrubs, a few 20-somethings who live at an apartment nearby.
Johnny Jackson was just a kid when he started frequenting Price’s.
Now 67, Jackson says he still swings by for lunch about three times a week. The fish sandwich, Jackson says, is the simple thing that keeps him coming back.
Skyrocketing property values have driven out Price’s longtime neighbors, and over the last year or so, Price’s, which owns its property, has been approached with two written offers from developers to buy the spot.
But the iconic restaurant has no plans to leave its space at 1614 Camden Road.
“Part of it’s family, part of it’s heritage. It’s what we do,” Price says. “It’s what our customers have grown to expect. As long as our customers are happy, that’s what we care about.”
As Price’s remains frozen in time, the area around it is changing rapidly.
A few doors down is Camden Gallery, a multi-family project that includes 323 apartments and retail space for tenants like Blue Hem, the upscale jeans boutique.
Houston-based Camden Property Trust also bought the building next door that previously housed a doggie day care, and the group is considering turning it into offices, records show.
Next door to Price’s is the 1616 Center, a five-story office building with ground-floor retail that includes local businesses like Fidelli Kitchen and Clean Juice.
Beacon Properties bought the center’s property for $2.7 million in 2014.
Price would not say which developers have approached him with offers to buy his spot. But it wasn’t Beacon, which owns several other buildings in South End, and has prioritized local businesses over national chains.
Kristy Venning, who works in leasing for Beacon, said of the 1616 Center: “We decided from the beginning we wanted locally grown interesting cool retail and restaurant groups because we noticed that’s what the market wants.”
New development nearby has come at a price, as longtime businesses have closed their doors.
The beloved restaurant Phat Burrito, for instance, closed nearby on Camden earlier this year.
Amos’ Southend also closed earlier this year on South Tryon after almost 17 years in business. Both cited parking issues triggered by new development as reasons for their closure.
In Plaza-Midwood, the dive bar Thirsty Beaver remains in its place, as Price’s does, despite the fast growth of apartment buildings all around it.
Stephen Price, 57, who owns Price’s with his cousin Drew, 51, shrugs when he says he hasn’t really thought about what kind of offer would tempt him to sell his spot on Camden. Also unclear is who would take over for the Price cousins, should they decide to retire.
“There’s no heir apparent right now,” Price says, adding his two kids haven’t expressed interest in going into the family business.
Before it was turned into a restaurant that cooked chicken, Price’s was Dilworth Poultry, selling fresh meat, fish and eggs, with live chickens out back.
Price’s father, Talmadge, and uncle Keith opened Price’s Chicken Coop in 1962 in response to a local manufacturer who wanted a hearty, reasonably priced lunch option for his warehouse workers.
Back then, Price’s was surrounded by industrial buildings like metal parts-maker Charlotte Machine Company, which once occupied the spot where Camden Gallery now sits.
Stephen Price says he hasn’t thought about where the restaurant would relocate, if it had to.
“I mean, you couldn’t find as good a location, and that’s the thing.
We’re still kinda in the middle of everything. You’re not too far from the east side of Charlotte, you’re not too far from the west side of Charlotte. You’re not far from downtown,” Price says, underscoring the very reason the area has become so hot.
The light rail is another reason.
Construction of the Blue Line over a decade ago prompted subsequent development of thousands of apartment units, new restaurants, breweries and offices.
The exposure Price’s has gotten from being right next to the light rail, Price says, has been a positive for business.
But Price says the fast development of the area hasn’t always worked well for small businesses like his.
In summer 2015, for instance, the city installed parking meters to prepare for the influx of vehicles expected in the area with the opening of nearby office and apartment buildings.
The meters charge customers from 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. Price’s is open from 10 a.m.- 6 p.m.
“My customers didn’t have to pay for 50 years, and all of a sudden now they’ve gotta start paying,” Price says. “It’s more of a frustration than anything else.”
In some ways, Price’s has adapted with the times.
It maintains active Facebook and Twitter accounts, for example. Unlike at most other restaurants, though, you can’t order online.
Despite the area’s changes, Price’s is still renowned in Charlotte and beyond.
Panthers quarterback Cam Newton stops by periodically when he’s entertaining his teammates at his place.
Jay Leno came in for chicken and sweet tea before a performance a couple years ago at the Belk Theater.
Price is unfazed: “They’re still customers. It doesn’t make any difference whether they’re black, blue, purple, polka dotted or whatever, as long as the customers are happy, and they get what they need at a reasonable price, that’s what we care about.”
That’s what’s kept longtime customers like Jackson coming back.
And maybe it’s the food and price, or maybe it’s experiencing a Charlotte classic that draws in new customers, too.
“I try not to laugh too hard when someone comes in asking for grilled chicken,” Price says.
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