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

Where's Al Gore? Iceland's Volcano & China's Quake, Apocalypse Or Climate Change?

Where's Al Gore??

Earthquakes in Chile, China & Haiti, the Worse U.S. Winter in decades, Tsunamis in Hawaii & Taiwan and now Iceland's Volcanic Eruptions all in less than a year's time.

Are these regular "Natural Disasters", signs of "Climate Change" or "End of the World" warnings to Mankind?

Its definitely something to think about.

By the way has anyone seen Al Gore lately?

Perhaps he can enlighten us as to what's happening with this weird weather.

Check out the videos and article about these catastrophes below.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Europe Faces More Air Travel Chaos


Thick drifts of volcanic ash blanketed parts of rural Iceland on Friday as a vast, invisible plume of grit drifted over Europe, emptying the skies of planes and sending hundreds of thousands in search of hotel rooms, train tickets or rental cars.

Polish officials worried that the ash cloud could threaten the arrival of world leaders for Sunday's state funeral for President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, in the southern city of Krakow.

So far, President Barack Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are among those coming and no one has canceled. Kaczynski's family insisted Friday they wanted the funeral to go forward as planned but there was no denying the ash cloud was moving south and east.

The air traffic agency Eurocontrol said almost two-thirds of Europe's flights were canceled Friday, as air space remained largely closed in Britain and across large chunks of north and central Europe.

"The skies are totally empty over northern Europe," said Brian Flynn, deputy head of Eurocontrol, adding "there will be some significant disruption of European air traffic tomorrow."

Air travel grounded

The agency said about 16,000 of Europe's usual 28,000 daily flights were canceled Friday — twice as many as were canceled a day earlier. Only about 120 trans-Atlantic flights reached European airports compared to 300 on a normal day, and about 60 flights between Asia and Europe were canceled.

The International Air Transport Association said the volcano was costing the industry at least $200 million a day.

Southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier began erupting for the second time in a month on Wednesday, sending ash several miles into the air. Winds pushed the plume south and east across Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and into the heart of Europe.

Gray ash settled in drifts near the glacier, swirling in the air and turning day into night. Authorities told people in the area with respiratory problems to stay indoors, and advised everyone to wear masks and protective goggles outside.

In major European cities, travel chaos reigned. Extra trains were put on in Amsterdam and lines to buy train tickets were so long that the rail company handed out free coffee.

Train operator Eurostar said it was carrying almost 50,000 passengers between London, Paris and Brussels. Thalys, a high-speed venture of the French, Belgian and German rail companies, was allowing passengers to buy tickets even if trains were fully booked.

London taxi company Addison Lee said it had received requests for journeys to cities as far away as Paris, Milan, Amsterdam and Zurich.

The disruptions hit tourists, business travelers and dignitaries alike.

Germany's Merkel had to go to Portugal rather than Berlin as she flew home from a U.S. visit. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg managed to get a flight to Madrid from New York but was still not sure when or how he would get back home.

Shift in tactics

The military also had to adjust. Five German soldiers wounded in Afghanistan were diverted to Turkey instead of Germany, while U.S. medical evacuations for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are being flown directly from the warfronts to Washington rather than to a care facility in Germany. The U.S. military has also stopped using temporarily closed air bases in the U.K. and Germany.

Aviation experts said it was among the worst disruptions Europe has ever seen.

"We don't have many volcanoes in Europe," said David Learmount of Flight International, an aviation publication. "The wind was blowing in the wrong direction."

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Ice, fire

In Iceland, torrents of water carried away chunks of ice the size of small houses on Thursday as hot gases melted the glacier over the volcano. Sections of the country's main ring road were wiped out by the flash floods.

More floods from melting waters are expected as long as the volcano keeps erupting — and in 1821, the same volcano managed to erupt for more than a year.

Small amounts of ash settled in northern Scotland and Norway, but officials said it posed little threat to health.

But Europeans were urged to stay indoors if ash started to rain down from the sky, the World Health Organization said on Friday. WHO spokesman David Epstein said the microscopic ash was potentially dangerous for people if it started to "settle" on the earth because inhaled particles can reach the lungs and cause respiratory problems.

The ash cloud, drifting between 20,000 to 30,000 feet high and invisible from the ground, initially blocked the main air flight path between the U.S. east coast and Europe. On Friday, the cloud's trajectory was taking it over northern France and Austria and into eastern and central Russia at about 25 mph.

Fearing that microscopic particles of highly abrasive ash could endanger passengers by causing aircraft engines to fail, authorities shut down air space over Britain, Ireland, France, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Belgium. That halted flights at Europe's two busiest airports — Heathrow in London and Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris — as well as dozens of other airports, 25 in France alone.

Air space restrictions were lifted, imposed or extended Friday as the cloud moved.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Flights were suspended at Frankfurt airport, Europe's third-busiest terminal, and at other German airports including Duesseldorf, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne.

Irish aviation authorities reopened airports in Dublin and Cork and France allowed some planes to land in Paris. Sweden and Norway declared skies in the far north to be safe but kept a lockdown on flights to both capitals — Stockholm and Oslo.

Britain's National Air Traffic Service said the air over England would remain closed to flights until at least 7 a.m. (0600 GMT, 2 a.m. EDT) Saturday, although some flights were being allowed in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Switzerland, Slovakia, Croatia and Hungary closed their airspace, and Poland expanded its no-fly zone to most of the country, excluding Krakow. Belgium extended its flight restrictions until late Saturday morning.

Iceland, a nation of 320,000 people, sits on a large volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic's mid-oceanic ridge and has a history of devastating eruptions. One of the worst was the 1783 eruption of the Laki volcano, which spewed a toxic cloud over Europe, killing tens of thousands.


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Sources: CBS News, CNN, Digital Art, Freaking News, MSNBC, Youtube, Google Maps

How Long Will Mid-Atlantic Blizzard Last? Flights Cancelled

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Powerful Blizzard Paralyzes Mid-Atlantic States


Mid-Atlantic residents were buried Saturday from a likely record-setting blizzard the president jokingly dubbed “Snowmageddon,” and those brave enough tried to clear a path through the wet, heavy mounds of thigh-high snow.

The snow was falling too quickly in the nation’s capital for crews to keep up, and officials begged residents to stay home and out of the way so that roads might be cleared in time for everyone to return to work Monday. The usually traffic-snarled roads were mostly barren, and Washington’s familiar sites and monuments were covered with nearly 2 feet of snow.

Tihana and Jarrett Blanc had given up on digging, instead taking their dog, Hector, for a walk through northwest Washington during what forecasters said could be the biggest storm for the nation’s capital in modern history.

“Our car is stuck. We’re not even trying,” said Tihana, 36.

The storm toppled trees and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers in Washington, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The situation was the same in West Virginia, where some 400 National Guard troops were helping with snow removal.

"I feel like an Archaeologist"

Shoppers picked store shelves clean Friday in anticipation — Tihana Blanc mused it was like people preparing for Armageddon. Nearly two feet of snow had fallen by noon Saturday in cities across the region.

Hundreds of car wrecks were reported across the region, though only two deaths were reported — a father and son who died while helping another motorist in Virginia. By Saturday, most people couldn’t drive anywhere because their cars and roads were buried.

In Ellicott City, Md., Christine Benkoski said she was trying to dig out from at least 2 feet. As she tried to clear her driveway, she said she uncovered how the storm had transitioned from snow, to ice, then back to snow.

“I feel like an archaeologist,” Benkoski said.

“I’ve been out here for an hour, and my only goal is to get to the street.”

Presidential Snowplow

And President Barack Obama, a snow veteran from his days in Chicago, didn’t have a smooth day. He walked out of the White House midmorning to find the South Lawn, his backyard, looking nearly like an untouched wilderness. Instead of the familiar scenes of manicured lawns and clipped hedges, snow had piled on every shrub and the backyard was almost colorless.

First, there was a small fender bender on the White House south lawn. Then a tree branch, overcome with snow, cracked and fell on a motorcade vehicle with press inside when the president was coming back from a speech at the Democratic National Committee’s winter meeting in town.

Instead of a presidential limo, Obama rode in a black SUV covered with presidential seals.

Obama thanked Democrats for “willing to brave a blizzard, Snowmageddon.”

Noting the president’s hometown, DNC chairman Tim Kaine said “It’s like an April day in Chicago.”

After all that, the White House announced Obama would have no more outings for the day.

Meanwhile, Shawn Punga and his wife, Kristine, were making plans to move to a hotel if the power was not restored to their house in Silver Spring, Md. They were concerned for their 2-year-old daughter, Ryder, who was bundled up in thick pink pajamas and slippers.

“I have just been watching the thermostat. If it hits 60, that’s when we’re going to pack up,” he said.

Travel Troubles

Airlines canceled flights, churches called off weekend services, and Amtrak and commuter trains ground to a halt. Some people wondered if they would be stuck at home for several days.

At Dulles International Airport, part of a hangar roof collapsed and damaged some of the private jets housed inside, though no one was hurt, said Courtney Mickalonis, spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Snow crews worked overnight, but “it’s coming down faster than we can keep up with it,” she said.

The snow comes less than two months after a Dec. 19 storm dumped more than 16 inches on Washington. Snowfalls of this magnitude — let alone two in one season — are rare in the area. According to the National Weather Service, Washington has gotten more than a foot of snow only 13 times since 1870.

The heaviest on record was 28 inches in January 1922. The biggest snowfall for the Washington-Baltimore area is believed to have been in 1772, before official records were kept, when as much as 3 feet fell, which George Washington and Thomas Jefferson penned in their diaries.

Despite the onslaught, some embraced the chance for a little peace and quiet. Carolyn Matuska was loving her morning run along Washington’s National Mall.

“Oh, it’s spectacular out,” she said. “It’s so beautiful. The temperature’s perfect, it’s quiet, there’s nobody out, it’s a beautiful day.”


Sources: MSNBC

Democrats Are Falling Apart; Obama Urges Commitment

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Obama Says He’s Not Giving Up On Health Reform


President Barack Obama on Saturday sought to assure despondent Democrats he would not abandon his commitment to overhauling health care and would work to counter GOP challenges to their congressional dominance.

At its winter meeting, a defiant Democratic Party worked to project a message of strength even as loyalists acknowledged the prospect of several defeats in November. The party that controls the White House typically loses seats during midterm elections at an average rate of 28 net seats. President Bill Clinton, the last Democratic commander in chief, lost control of Congress in his first term and Democrats privately are predicting it could happen again.

Obama, looking to write his own history, warned fellow Democrats that "we have to acknowledge that change can't come quickly enough." He said political leaders must plot their way forward to November with an understanding of the economic difficulties Americans face.

"I understand their frustration. You understand it as well," Obama said.

The Other Party

A government report on Friday said 9.7 percent of the country was unemployed. Distrust of Washington has grown and spurred an anti-Washington sentiment that sent scores of activists to a "tea party" convention in Nashville on the same day. As witness to the tone, Republican Sen. Scott Brown won a special election to take the seat of the late, liberal Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Democrats also lost gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey.

Obama sought to energize his base against what he called "the other party." He urged Democrats to work with their Republican counterparts.

"We can't solve all of our problems alone," Obama said, as the audience sat in silence.

While Republicans have stood in solid opposition to the president's proposed overhaul of health care, Obama insisted he wasn't willing to abandon his top domestic priority that consumed months of his agenda and has produced slim hints of victory.

"Let me be clear: I am not going to walk away from health reform," Obama said, bringing the audience in the hotel ballroom to their feet.

"We can't return to the dereliction of duty," Obama said. "America can't afford to wait, and we can't look backward."

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

His party, for certain, would prefer not to revisit its ordeals of 2009, which produced some victories but hardly the narrative that would deliver them victories this year.

"I know we've gone through a tough year. But we've gone through tougher," Obama said.

DNC chairman Tim Kaine, the former Democratic governor of Virginia who saw a Republican follow him into office, said they should not be downtrodden.

"The ghost of Harry Truman would kill us if he heard us complaining about having only 59 Democratic senators," Kaine said.

"We've had our ups and downs since the inauguration," Kaine conceded.

He warned, though, that Republicans were unlikely to support Obama's health care agenda.

"We might get one or two," he said.




Al Franken Lays Into David Axelrod Over Health Care Bill


Sen. Al Franken ripped into White House senior adviser David Axelrod this week during a tense, closed-door session with Senate Democrats.

Five sources who were in the room tell POLITICO that Franken criticized Axelrod for the administration’s failure to provide clarity or direction on health care and the other big bills it wants Congress to enact.

The sources said Franken was the most outspoken senator in the meeting, which followed President Barack Obama’s question-and-answer session with Senate Democrats at the Newseum on Wednesday. But they also said the Minnesotan wasn’t the only angry Democrat in the room.

“There was a lot of frustration in there,” said a Democratic senator who declined to be identified.

“People were hot,” another Democratic senator said.

Democratic senators are frustrated that the White House hasn’t done more to win over the public on health care reform and other aspects of its ambitious agenda — and angry that, in the wake of Scott Brown’s win in the Massachusetts Senate race, the White House hasn’t done more to chart a course for getting a health care bill to the president’s desk.

In his public session with the senators Wednesday, Obama urged them to “finish the job” on health care but did not lay out a path for doing so. That uncertainty appeared to trigger Franken’s anger, and the sources in the room said he laid out his concerns much more directly than any senator did in the earlier public session.

The private session was set up in a panel format, with Axelrod joined at the front of the room by Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine and Democratic strategist Paul Begala.

A Democratic source said that Franken directed his criticism solely at Axelrod.

“It was all about leadership and health care and what the plan was going to be,” the source said.

Franken — a comedian turned liberal talk show host — vowed to keep a relatively low profile when he arrived in the Senate over the summer after a protracted legal battle with former GOP Sen. Norm Coleman. But he has developed a reputation among his colleagues as one of the more aggressive personalities on the Hill.

Last November, after Tennessee Republican Sens. Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander authored an op-ed in a local paper defending their opposition to a Franken amendment, Franken confronted both men on the floor — and grew particularly irritated with Corker.

He lashed out at Corker and a staff member in a follow-up meeting about the matter, several people said. Franken also clashed with South Dakota Sen. John Thune, No. 4 in GOP leadership, last month in a scathing speech during the health care debate, and staffers have reported other run-ins.

The White House, the Democratic National Committee and Franken’s office all declined to speak on the record about Wednesday’s session. Begala did not respond to a request for comment.

Sources: Politico, MSNBC, Politifact

Monster Winter Storm Pummels South, East Coast

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Sources: MSNBC

Brutal Weekend Winter Storm On The Way

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Sources: MSNBC

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.



View Larger Map


Sources: CNN, WBTV, Google Maps

Charlotte Leaders Keep Homeless Shelter Closed In Freezing Weather

As people are struggling to keep warm this Winter, here's a thought about helping the less fortunate and another example of hidden Gov't Corruption.

Why is it that as Charlotte Officials receive more and more Federal money earmarked for Homelessness Prevention, Charlotte's Homeless numbers are continuing to rise?

Charlotte's has very few shelters to house its Homeless citizens and Children.

There's hardly any Affordable, Decent Housing available for Charlotte's Low Income citizens, so....

Where or what is the Federal Funding ($3Million in Stimulus Funds, etc.) to help combat this crisis being used for?

Inquiring minds would like to know why are Charlotte-Mecklenburg City/ County Officials sitting on this money or wasting it instead of helping people get off the street?

Where did the $3 Million dollars in Stimulus Funds disappear to? How was it spent? To Whom? For What projects?

Charlotte Voters and Inquiring minds would like to know now!








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.






Could Apartments For Charlotte's Homeless Open This Year?


Advocates for the homeless believe an apartment complex recently bought by Charlotte Housing Authority could be put to use a year sooner than expected, to fill gaps in sheltering the homeless.

Deronda Metz of the Salvation Army Women and Children's Shelter said she's been talking to the Housing Authority about the possibility.

"They're looking into it -- whether it would even be possible to get some units ready this year," said Metz. "If it's possible, I think that they can make it happen."

The apartments, off Wendover Road, have 230 units total. About 60 of those would be designated for homeless families, once they are renovated. The plan is to give the families who live there not just shelter, but job training and other social services.

Kathy -- she didn't want us to use her last name -- knows what it's like to need the help.

"I've slept outside before, and it's no fun," she said. Kathy is disabled from a back injury and pins in her neck, and lives at the Salvation Army Center of Hope while her social worker helps her qualify for disability payments and housing.

She's grateful for a bed at the shelter, because she knows space is tight. "I don't know where I'd be without them," she said.

Metz said this is the soonest the Center has filled up when compared to other winters. All 200 beds are taken and another 27 people are sleeping on mats on the floor. With temperatures dropping below freezing at night, Women with children continue to show up, and Metz doesn't want to turn anyone away.

"That's what makes our job hard, because we're dealing with people," said Metz.

There's still a lot of talking and a lot of work to be done to make the apartments available so soon, she said. But there's always hope.

"It would make a lot of families happy," she said.






Charlotte Cold Snap Sends Crowds To Shelters


Predictions of yet another week of sub-freezing temperatures have emergency shelters bracing for overflow crowds in coming days.

The Men's Shelter of Charlotte reports that it's taking in about 531 men a night - a jump of 31 in the past week. And the Salvation Army's Center of Hope is housing 294 women - 94 more than its bed capacity. Of that 294, 114 are children.

Dealing with an influx during cold snaps is nothing new to either. But charities say the recession has changed expectations. It's possible that Charlotte has more homeless this year, and they'll soon be standing in line at the door.

"Last year in cold snaps, we averaged about 520," said Carson Dean of the men's shelter. "But because we're seeing so many people we've never seen before, we're bracing for the average to start creeping up to 600. I am worried: What will we do if the number gets consistently over 600? We'll have to draw up a new plan."

At the Center of Hope, preparations are being made to find beds for at least an extra 50 women a night. The center sends those it can't serve to the Urban Ministry Center's Room in the Inn program, which puts the homeless in local houses of worship.

But an increasing number of women are showing up too late in the day to qualify for Room in the Inn, said Deronda Metz, director of social services at the Center of Hope.

"If they show up at the door after 3 p.m., we need to find a place for them on the floor," Metz said. "The question is: When will even the floor space be too crowded?"

It's not just the homeless shelters that are feeling the impact of the cold. The frigid temperatures come at a time when more people are struggling to pay utility bills. Duke Energy officials say the number of electricity cut-offs from January to November of last year increased 6.7 percent over the same period in 2008.

Duke declined to say how many accounts were shut off, citing customer privacy. However, of the 131 people standing in line Monday at Crisis Assistance Ministry, 15 had no utilities and 54 others were losing their utilities that day.

The agency also kept three households from being evicted.

Crisis Assistance is helping 25 percent more people pay for rent and utilities than last year, said Carol Hardison, the agency's executive director.

"These families have no place else to turn. They are desperate," said Hardison. "We're the point of last resort before a family sleeps in the cold, or worse yet, becomes homeless. Warmth and shelter are two of the most basic needs of life."

The average amount required to prevent eviction and utility disconnection is $320 per household.

The recently re-launched Critical Need Response Fund will help in coming months, if the cold persists or worsens. The fund, which is managed by Foundation for the Carolinas, has already given out $450,000 since Dec. 18.

The money went in equal shares to Crisis Assistance Ministry, the Men's Shelter of Charlotte and Loaves & Fishes food bank.








Charlotte-Mecklenburg Gets Another Federal Grant For Homeless


Charlotte-Mecklenburg Area Mental Health will get more than $2 million in Federal money to provide services and housing to homeless people, U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell announced this week.

The “shelter plus care” grant is designed to offer long-term support to homeless people with mental illness, addiction or AIDS.

Piedmont Behavioral Healthcare, which serves Cabarrus, Davidson, Rowan, Stanly and Union counties, also received an $84,744 grant.






Stimulus Money Will Aid Struggling Charlotte Renters</span>


An initiative to help people facing a housing crisis in outlying counties has received $1.4 million in Federal Stimulus money.

Charlotte-based Community Link will oversee the project, which focuses on both the homeless and struggling renters in Cabarrus, Davidson, Rowan, Stanly and Union counties. All but Union have unemployment rates higher than Mecklenburg, with Rowan the highest at 12.8 percent.

Floyd Davis, president of Community Link, says aid should start by mid-November. The money, awarded through the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is expected to help at least 150 individuals and families annually for the next three years.

"We have many people today who find themselves unemployed, not because they weren't a good worker, but because the business they worked for closed or they were laid off," said Davis, who applied for the HUD grant through the state in September.

"This program is to help them maintain housing and support services until they can get back on their feet. ...We can pay for their entire housing costs for up to 18 months."

Community Link will divide the recipients into two categories: 45 of them each year will be homeless who need housing; and 105 will be tenants who can't keep up with rent and utilities. They can stay in the program for no more than 18 months. Those who qualify will be given a case manager and other support, Davis said. Community Link, which helped 7,000 struggling people find affordable housing last year, will add two staffers for the program.

To find candidates, Community Link is partnering with six agencies in the five counties, all of which meet needs ranging from emergency shelter to help with utilities and rent.

One of those partners, Rowan Helping Ministries, runs a shelter in Rowan County. It recently saw a good candidate for the new assistance program in a family of six.

"The parents lost their jobs, lost their home, and had no place else to go," said Penny Bowman, program director for the ministry. "They stayed in our shelter for six months, until the dad did get a job."

Stanly County, where unemployment is 11.9 percent, just got its first emergency housing shelter in September. It has eight beds and was started by Homes of Hope, a partner in the new housing effort.

"We have a lot of average people in this county who are about to be homeless and if we could just find a way to get them through this next year, they could make it back," said Executive Director Skeet Ayscue.

In Cabarrus, the new program could put a dent in the estimated 240 families a month that face a housing crisis, said Ed Hosack, executive director of Cooperative Christian Ministry in Concord, another of the groups participating.

"We have three foreclosures a day and over eight eviction notices served a day," said Hosack. "We do not have the shelter and transitional housing facilities to respond to that. We know this program can have a tremendous impact in keeping some families in their homes, and helping others get back into a place rather quickly."

Cabarrus' problems with unemployment go back years, he says, citing the closing of Pillowtex in 2003, which wiped out 4,000 jobs in Cabarrus and Rowan counties.

The HUD money comes from the same federal pool that helped launch Project Hope in Charlotte in August. That $2 million project is crafted as a long-term solution for homelessness, proposing to pull Mecklenburg families and individuals from shelters, put them in apartments and stabilize their lives over 18 months.

Davis sees Community Link's program as a regional extension of the goals championed by Project Hope.

"It makes much more sense in my mind to help people stay in housing, as opposed to letting them become homeless and suffer all the disruption to their lives in a time of crisis," said Davis.

"I'm happy that HUD is finally looking at prevention, and I think it will be more efficient and effective."




Charlotte Strategy Goes Beyond Housing Homeless


Project Hope – a groundbreaking program that could change the way Charlotte deals with homelessness – is expected to be unveiled tonight as part of a Charlotte City Council vote to back the project with nearly $2 million in Federal Stimulus money.

Crafted to be a long-term solution rather than a quick fix, the program calls for pulling families and individuals from local shelters, putting them in rental apartments, and stabilizing their lives over 18 months with education, job skills, counseling and support from social workers and teams of volunteers.

The start-up plan calls for 100 families to be helped over the next three years. However, organizers predict hundreds more could be recruited if plans for another $2 million in stimulus money from the state fall into place in the coming months. Steps are also being finalized for a campaign to raise further money from local donors.

“It's a very exciting time,” says Roxianna Johnson, head of the Homeless Services Network, a coalition of 37 nonprofit, government and faith-based programs devoted to ending homelessness in Mecklenburg County.

“These dollars have created an opportunity to try things that we've talked about for years, things that we know work, but we never had the funding to implement on this kind of scale.”

The council will vote to contract with Crisis Assistance Ministry and the Workforce Initiative for Supportive Housing (WISH). Those groups will manage Project Hope on behalf of the Homeless Services Network. A small portion of the stimulus money will also go toward short-term homeless prevention, including help with rent.

How the participants will be chosen is still being worked out. But the goal is reaching the most vulnerable of the homeless.

“Lives will be changed,” says Carol Hardison, director of Crisis Assistance Ministry. “They'll move from the fear of sleeping in a car or on a cot, to having an opportunity for financial stability.”

The ultimate goal, she says, is to keep participants from returning to homelessness once their time in the program ends.

That is the basic philosophy of WISH, which has helped 70 homeless families (including 130 children) work toward financial stability since being launched 18 months ago.

Sarah Covington, 28, is among them – and an example of what WISH hopes to accomplish in Project Hope. She lost her job last year as a certified nurse's assistant and spent the winter in a homeless shelter with her daughter. WISH found her a home, helped her find a job, and gave her a chance to enroll in college to become a registered nurse.

Better still, she says, the program showed her how to save for a down payment on a car, eliminating six hours a day riding the bus to work and school.

“If I keep working hard, everything is going to come through for me,” she says. “I was at a low point, worrying about where my child would lay her head at night. But I was truly blessed to get into this program.”

The Salvation Army's Center of Hope, a homeless shelter near uptown, will direct families and individuals to Project Hope. Center director Deronda Metz has already identified a few dozen families that she hopes will qualify. The center currently has 310 women and children, some of whom have been homeless for more than a year.

“We had a resident meeting on Wednesday and I grabbed the mic and I surprised them with the news on Project Hope, and they cheered and applauded,” said Metz. “One lady started crying. She said, ‘I didn't think anybody was listening.'”

Organizers say one of the most innovative parts of the project is the partnerships from all segments of the community. In addition to Crisis Assistance and WISH, Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services will assign three social workers to the project, more if the additional money comes through. The nonprofit Foundation for the Carolinas has worked behind the scenes to organize regular meetings of the partners.

Also key is an endorsement by the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association, which is encouraging apartment companies to participate on a case-by-case basis.

WISH Director Darren Ash believes a key to the program's success will be in matching homeless people with teams of volunteers.

“Social workers are there to lay out a path and hold people accountable, but what creates significant change is … when these families bond with people who have a different past,” Ash says. “They break away from other role models to a new set of role models.

“One of the biggest gifts Charlotte has is a sense of volunteerism, and this is a model that takes advantage of that.”



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Sources: WBTV, McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, WCNC, A Child's Place, Charmeck.org, Charlotte Rescue Mission, Yahoo, Youtube, Google Maps