Legalization bill will become law unless McCrory vetoes
Spring Hope has one of the only hemp processing plants in the country
Supporters battle stigma: ‘We’re for rope, not dope’
Workers do final assembly of a decortification line at the Industrial Hemp Manufacturing Company in Spring Hope, NC, on Wednesday. The facility hopes to begin full-scale operations when a bill becomes law at midnight Friday, without Gov. Pat McCrory’s signature. The law legalizes industrial hemp in North Carolina. Farmers are eager to grow the crop, which can be used in textiles, oil drilling fluid and other products. It has virtually no THC, the active ingredient in marijuana that is smoked. This group of machines separates the outer fibers from the inner core. The outer fibers are used in the textile industry, the core fibers are used by the oil and gas industry. The plant currently processes kanaf, a plant similar to hemp. It is used to make door panels in cars and trucks. Chris Sewardcseward@newsobserver.com
Farmers in North Carolina are likely to wake up Saturday morning with a new option for growing crops: Industrial hemp production is expected to become legal at the stroke of midnight.
Lawmakers passed the legalization legislation in September, in the final days of the session. The proposal hadn’t previously been made public, and some conservative groups worry that questions about the plant’s connections to its cousin, marijuana, didn’t get answered.
The bill has been on Gov. Pat McCrory’s desk for weeks, and unless he vetoes it, it will become law without his signature at midnight Friday.
Lee Edwards of Sugar Hill Farms in Kinston is among the farmers eager to add industrial hemp to their fields.
“Hemp really gives us a crop during the summertime that is a viable cash crop to us,” he said. “We’re in a perfect geographical location for the production of hemp with our climate.”
A State of Emergency has been declared in Beaufort County after a tornado destroyed homes, caused injuries, and left thousands without power Friday. According to a release from Beaufort County, the State of Emergency went into effect at 10:30 p.m. Friday and will last through 7 a.m. Sunday. During this time, travel in Beaufort County should be restricted to emergency situations. Violators of the State of Emergency may receive a fine of $100 plus court cost, according to the county release. Emergency Management Director John Pack said all Beaufort County residents have been accounted for and no fatalities have been reported. But at least 12 people had to be taken to a hospital. At least 100 homes in Beaufort County have been damaged, Pack told NewsChannel 12. Along Highway 264, north of Beaufort Community College, mobile homes are flattened, power lines are down, and trees are all over the road.
Officials said power outages are widespread in the county. Pack said up to 8,000 households were in the dark at one point. It may take at least 36 hours to get all the power back up and running. Greene County Emergency Management officials say the National Weather Service told them a tornado touched down in the Castoria area, damaging trees, power lines and several homes on Shine Road outside of Snow Hill. J.R. Hulon’s says his house on Speights Bridge Road was also hit. He says, “The porches are gone, the roof is gone the siding is gone, but I’ve still got somewhere to stay. So i’m just blessed.” Hulon says he was driving home on Speights Bridge Road and saw the tornado over the trees by his house break off into two smaller tornadoes. Hulon says, “I don’t know, it was like big clouds that came to the ground, and there was one and then it went into two, and one went over to the neighbors this way, and the other came through my yard.” Hulon’s seven dogs all survived, which he says is what’s important. But the shock factor of what happened is still setting in. “I really don’t know what’s going through my mind at this point. I’m just numb. I mean you work hard to get what you’ve got, and you come home and it’s just gone, in an instant.” Trey Cash with Greene County Emergency Management says there were no reported injuries.
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Initial reports: 4 to 5 tornado touchdowns in Eastern Carolina
Initial reports indicate there were up to five tornado touchdowns in Eastern Carolina Friday.
Although the National Weather Service won’t be doing an official survey until Saturday morning, it appears that there were between four to five separate tornado touchdowns Friday afternoon to Friday night.
During Friday afternoon, Greene County EMS said officials visually confirmed a tornado touching down near the Fort Run area. Spaights Bridge Road, Four Corner Store Road, Old Creek Road, and Shine Road all had houses with damage. Power lines are down in that area and some roads are impassable, EMS officials said.
Then, at about 7:15 p.m. in Pitt County, Voice of America employees watched a tornado touch down at a field in Chicod, according to the NWS. No damage was reported.
At 7:33 p.m., a tornado was reported on the ground near Black Jack in Pitt County, the NWS stated.
At about 7:40 p.m., rescue personnel reported trees being uprooted and falling down in Chocowinity in Beaufort County, according to the NWS. About two minutes later, fire crews reported seeing a tornado on the ground in Chocowinity.
The National Weather Service says an EF3 tornado touched down Friday night in Chocowinity, with winds around 150 miles per hour.
Authorities say approximately 100 homes were severely damaged or destroyed from the storm in Beaufort County.
Emergency Management Coordinator John Pack says at least 16 people were transported to the hospital with injuries.
Pack says there are no reported fatalities at the this time but his crews are going door to door in a search and rescue effort.
The county declared a local State of Emergency Friday night and a shelter was opened to house stranded residents.
That shelter is located at Snowd Branch Church of God’s Family Life Center at VOA and Cherry Run roads. People should bring a bedroll or sleeping bag, a pillow, towel, and personal care items.
Additionally utility crews working are to restore power to homes and businesses in Beaufort County. The strong line of storms from Friday knocked down trees, damaged homes and knocked out power to more than 3,238 Tideland EMC customers.
NC officials say tornadoes reported in six counties
by 13News Now
WVEC.com
Posted on April 26, 2014 at 10:12 AM
Updated today at 10:21 AM
RALEIGH, NC — The National Weather Service may not know yet whether tornadoes caused all that damage Friday night in North Carolina, but residents do.
Across the Tarheel state, authorities reported tornadoes in Pasquotank and Perquimans counties, as well as in Beaufort, Chowan, Greene, Halifax counties.
State officials say 18 people were injured during the storms; five in Pasquotank County.
Early estimates indicate that more than 100 homes have been severely damaged or destroyed and numerous others have sustained damage.
Damage in Beaufort County was so bad a shelter was opened overnight to house stranded residents. Officials declared a state of emergency late Friday.
A) Greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis) with white fungal growth around its muzzle, ears, and wing membranes (photograph provided by Tamás Görföl). B) Scanning electron micrograph of a bat hair colonized by Geomyces destructans. Scale bar = 10 µm.
Authors : Gudrun Wibbelt, Andreas Kurth, David Hellmann, Manfred Weishaar, Alex Barlow, Michael Veith, Julia Prüger, Tamás Görföl, Lena Grosche, Fabio Bontadina, Ulrich Zöphel, Hans-Peter Seidl, Paul M. Cryan, and David S. Blehert
…..
Biological Hazard
USA
State of North Carolina, [Rutherford and Henderson counties]
…..
RSOE EDIS
Biological Hazard in USA on Thursday, 10 April, 2014 at 10:38 (10:38 AM) UTC.
Description
A fungal disease of unknown origin that is killing hibernating bats in eastern North America appears to be spreading in Western North Carolina, according to biologists monitoring the epidemic. White-nose syndrome has been confirmed in at least seven mountain counties, but Biologist Gabrielle Graeter of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission said this week, “I think it’s all over Western North Carolina at this point.” Last year, the fungal disease – named for the white growths covering the muzzles of affected bats – was found to have killed a tri-colored bat at the Nature Conservancy’s 186-acre Bat Cave Preserve in Rutherford and Henderson counties. But Graeter said the fungus that causes the disease is now more widespread than those seven counties that had confirmed cases as of 2013 – Avery, Buncombe, McDowell, Haywood, Yancey, Transylvania and Rutherford. “To confirm that it’s in a county, we have to find the fungus has invaded the skin tissue of a bat,” she said. “We’re largely depending on someone in the public finding a freshly dead bat and they have to know to call us and submit it for testing. So we have gaps on our maps just because of the testing methodology.” The Wildlife Resources Commission and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have been monitoring caves and mines throughout the state that are known as bat hibernating sites. Last winter, the partners found bat numbers in some hibernacula had declined by 95 percent. In North Carolina, the fungal disease has taken its biggest toll on species such as the little brown bat, northern long-eared bat (which has been proposed for endangered species status) and the tri-colored bat, Graeter said. “Before white-nose syndrome, tri-colored and little brown bats were considered the most abundant species we have and now we’re seeing these really precipitous declines,” she said. To slow the spread of the disease, wildlife officials have been working with the caving community to restrict spelunking during the bat’s winter hibernation, and to decontaminate their clothing and equipment to prevent transmitting the fungus between sites. “The professional cavers have been very cooperative and willing to take measures to minimize disturbance to bats,” Graeter said. “It’s more a problem on the recreational side of things. I think people just aren’t aware of the situation.” The occurrence of the same fungus in healthy bats in Europe suggests it may have originated in Europe, and was accidently transmitted to bats in North America that lack immunity. In the U.S., white-nose syndrome was first documented in New York in 2006 and has spread throughout the East and as far west at Oklahoma. Bats affected with white-nose syndrome don’t always have obvious fungal growth, but they may display abnormal behavior within and outside of their hibernacula. Scientists speculate the fungus may awaken the bats from their winter slumber, burning precious fat reserves. Although the outlook for cave-hibernating bats is dire, Graeter said there are some hopeful signs. The fungus has been detected on two species of big-eared bats, she said, “but we do not have any evidence of these two species getting the disease or any kind of die-off from this.” Biologists are also studying a variety of biological controls to see if the bat species that are faring better might have oils, bacteria or other fungi on their bodies that may be inhibiting the white-nose fungus.
Biohazard name:
White-noise Syndrome (bat)
Biohazard level:
2/4 Medium
Biohazard desc.:
Bacteria and viruses that cause only mild disease to humans, or are difficult to contract via aerosol in a lab setting, such as hepatitis A, B, and C, influenza A, Lyme disease, salmonella, mumps, measles, scrapie, dengue fever, and HIV. “Routine diagnostic work with clinical specimens can be done safely at Biosafety Level 2, using Biosafety Level 2 practices and procedures. Research work (including co-cultivation, virus replication studies, or manipulations involving concentrated virus) can be done in a BSL-2 (P2) facility, using BSL-3 practices and procedures. Virus production activities, including virus concentrations, require a BSL-3 (P3) facility and use of BSL-3 practices and procedures”, see Recommended Biosafety Levels for Infectious Agents.
The devastating bat-killing disease that has already killed more than 7 million bats across the Eastern U.S. has spread to Wisconsin and Michigan, state wildlife officials announced this week. During routine surveys of bat hibernating areas late this winter, biologists discovered signs of the malady known as white-nose syndrome that was first documented in upstate New York in 2006. Subsequent lab testing confirmed the presence of the disease in the two upper Midwest states, bringing to 25 the total number of states where the disease is present. White-nose syndrome has also spread to five Canadian provinces.
“White-nose syndrome has now reached the last strongholds of the once-abundant little brown bat and several other species,” said Mollie Matteson, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Given the rapid spread and devastating consequences of this disease, it’s incredibly urgent that we put more resources into finding a cure and saving our bats.”
White-nose syndrome is the worst wildlife health crisis in recent memory, killing up to 100 percent of bats in affected caves. There is no known cure for the disease, which has afflicted seven bat species so far and has pushed several to the brink of regional extinction. Last year the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed Endangered Species Act protection for the northern long-eared bat, one of the species hardest hit by the disease. The other bat species hit by the disease are the little brown bat, tricolored bat, eastern small-footed bat, federally endangered Indiana bat, federally endangered gray bat and the big brown bat.
Officials said the coal ash is burying aquatic animals and their food. Photograph: Gerry Broome/AP
Federal officials said Tuesday that toxic coal ash has coated the bottom of a North Carolina river as many as 70 miles downstream of a Duke Energy dump where a massive spill occurred two weeks ago.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service advised that a massive pile of coal ash about 75ft long and as much as 5ft deep has been detected on the bottom of the Dan river near the site of the February 2 spill. Deposits varying from 5in deep to less than 1in coated the river bottom across the state line into Virginia and to Kerr Lake, a major reservoir.
Federal authorities expressed concern for what long-term effect the contaminants will have on fish, mussels and other aquatic life. Public health officials have advised people to avoid contact with the water and not eat the fish.
“The deposits vary with the river characteristics, but the short- and long-term physical and chemical impacts from the ash will need to be investigated more thoroughly, especially with regard to mussels and fish associated with the stream bottom and wildlife that feed on benthic invertebrates,” said Tom Augspurger, a contaminants specialist at the federal wildlife agency. Benthic invertebrates are small animals that live in the sediments of rivers and lakes, such as clams, worms and crustaceans.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina officials said Tuesday that groundwater containing unsafe levels of arsenic apparently leaching from a Duke Energy coal ash dump is still pouring into the Dan River, which is already contaminated from a massive Feb. 2 spill.
The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources ordered Duke to stop the flow of contaminated water coming out a pipe that runs under a huge coal ash dump at its Eden power plant. A nearby pipe at the same dump collapsed without warning two weeks ago, coating the bottom of the Dan River with toxic ash as far as 70 miles downstream.
State regulators expressed concern five days ago that the second pipe could fail, triggering a new spill. The water coming out of that pipe contains poisonous arsenic at 14 times the level considered safe for human contact, according to test results released by the state on Tuesday.
Video taken last week by a robot sent inside the 36-inch-wide concrete pipe showed wide gaps between seams through which groundwater is gushing in, likely from the toxic dump above.
Tests on water from the pipe before it goes under the dump showed none of the dangerous contamination detected at the other end. The concrete inside the pipe is heavily stained around the numerous leaks, suggesting the contamination is likely not new.
A state inspector received the video recorded by Duke during a Feb. 11 visit to the site, but did not review it until Thursday. On Friday night, the state agency went public with concerns about the pipe’s structural integrity.
Duke spokeswoman Paige Sheehan quickly issued a statement, downplaying the risk.
“After reviewing the videotape, we determined that no immediate action was necessary,” it said.
In the wake of the initial spill, public health officials issued advisories telling people to avoid contact with the river water and not eat the fish.
Authorities said public drinking water in Danville, Va., and other communities downstream of the Duke plant remain safe. Heavy metals detected in the river at levels exceeding state and federal safety standards — including arsenic, lead and selenium — are being successfully filtered out of water drawn from the river at municipal treatment plants, they said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday a massive pile of coal ash about 75 feet long and as much as 5 feet deep has been detected in the river by the site of the Feb. 2 spill. Deposits varying from 5 inches deep to less than 1 inch coated the river bottom across the state line into Virginia and to Kerr Lake, a major reservoir.
Federal authorities expressed concern for what long-term effect the contaminants will have on fish, mussels and other aquatic life.
“The deposits vary with the river characteristics, but the short- and long-term physical and chemical impacts from the ash will need to be investigated more thoroughly, especially with regard to mussels and fish associated with the stream bottom and wildlife that feed on benthic invertebrates,” said Tom Augspurger, a contaminants specialist at the federal wildlife agency.
Travelers wait for flights at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014.
By Associated Press
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the main hub for Delta Air Lines, led the nation in Tuesday flight cancellations with 368.
ATLANTA — As a winter storm with potential to coat the South with ice and snow moves in, nearly 900 flights have been cancelled at three of the region’s major airports.
Tracking service FlightAware shows that before dawn Tuesday, 894 flights for the day had been canceled into and out of the main airports in Atlanta, Dallas and Charlotte, N.C.
EDEN, N.C. (AP) — A pipe under a coal ash pond broke in northern North Carolina, releasing an unknown amount of coal ash into the Dan River, Duke Energy Corp. said Monday.
The pipe broke Sunday afternoon at the now-closed Dan River Steam Station in Eden, the utility said. The ash pond covers about 27 acres, and the dam holding the water in was not affected by the leak, officials said.
A water quality-monitoring team is checking the river, but Duke Energy said downstream water supplies have not been affected.
Officials in Danville, Va., which draws its water from the Dan River downstream from the ash pond, said the spill did not affect the quality of the city’s water supply.
“All water leaving our treatment facility has met public health standards. We do not anticipate any problems going forward in treating the water we draw from the Dan River,” said Barry Dunkley, division director of water and wastewater treatment for Danville Utilities.
The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources said in a statement that it is investigating, as well as helping to monitor water quality and work with Duke energy to clean up the spill.
Engineers have not figured out exactly how much ash and water made it into the Dan River in Rockingham County, although Duke Energy promised to make that figure public as soon as calculations are complete.
INSTITUTE INDEX: Duke Energy coal ash spill latest in ongoing regulatory disaster
Date on which a break in a stormwater pipe beneath a coal ash disposal pit at a shuttered Duke Energy power plant near Eden, N.C. contaminated the Dan River with toxic coal ash: 2/2/2014
Estimated tons of coal ash — which contains toxins including arsenic, lead, mercury, and radioactive elements — that were released to the river: 50,000 to 82,000
Number of Olympic-size swimming pools that amount of coal ash would fill: 20 to 32
Estimated gallons of coal ash-contaminated water from the storage pit that also reached the river: 24 million to 27 million
Number of rail cars the toxic pollution could fill: 413 to 677
Rank of the spill among the largest coal ash spills in U.S. history: 3
Hours that Duke Energy waited from the time it discovered the spill to report it to the public: 26
Miles downstream of the spill site that Danville, Va. draws its drinking water: 6
Age in years of Duke Energy’s Dan River ash pits: 53
Year in which Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inspections found problems with leakage at the plant’s coal ash dam as well as dilapidated and poorly maintained stormwater pipes: 2009
Number of coal-fired power plants that Duke Energy owns across North Carolina: 14
Percent of those plants where there have been unpermitted discharges of coal ash to the environment: 100
Amount that is being spent to run a municipal water line to the North Carolina community of Flemington because a leaky Duke Energy coal ash pit contaminated the local groundwater supply: $2.25 million
[This is the first article in a two-part series. Read part two.]
Yesterday afternoon, Duke Energy reported that it spilled between 50,000 to 82,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River near Eden, NC. To put the volume in perspective, the spill is the equivalent of 413 to 677 rail cars of wet coal ash poured into a public drinking water source. The spill is located on a stretch of the Dan River between Eden, NC and Danville, VA. An estimated 22 million gallons of coal ash could already be in the Dan River moving downstream.
Equally disturbing is that neither Duke Energy nor any of the government regulators issued a press release and informed the public about this massive spill until 24 hours after it was discovered. If a freight train full of this toxic waste had derailed, there would have been immediate notification and quick news coverage in order to inform and protect the public. The delay in reporting this spill is inexcusable.
A security guard who noticed unusually low water in the ash pond at the shuttered coal plant led to the discovery of the spill. This means most of the water had escaped and contaminated the river before anyone at Duke noticed.
Upon investigation, Duke discovered that a 48-inch stormwater pipe underneath the unlined 27-acre, 155-million-gallon ash pond broke Sunday afternoon and drained tens of thousands of tons of coal ash and water into the Dan River.
As Congress wrangles with whether to restore long-term unemployment benefits, North Carolina is already experiencing the hardship likely to unfold unless the program is restored
Theresa Whidbee-Walker first found the Food Bank of the Albemarle as a customer and returns now to volunteer. Photograph: James Robinson
Eight hours may seem a long time to wait for a meal. But the line of cars that formed in a derelict parking lot in Hertford, North Carolina, early last Thursday morning, full of people waiting for a few cans of soup and some pasta from a local food bank, was nothing unusual. Almost every morning now, there is a line like that somewhere in North Carolina.
From a distance, the rows of cars look innocuous enough. But they are a symbol of the desperation that has gotten worse in North Carolina since July, when a swathe of cuts to unemployment benefits made it arguably the worst state in the US to be out of work.
The cars appeared in Hertford shortly before 8am, though the truck bringing the food was not scheduled to arrive until 4pm. Volunteers who hand out the food said it is not uncommon for cars to start lining up before dawn.
“I had a man the other day who said: ‘All I want is a bar of soap,’” said Laura Williams, a volunteer at the storage depot in nearby Elizabeth City. “Another man came in here and said: ‘Can you get me some toilet paper? I’ve been having to use coffee filters.’”
She added: “We get that a lot – people asking for toilet paper. But we can’t stock too much of that as we’ve got to concentrate on canned food.”
Washington has this month been dominated by a political fight over whether to restore a federal benefits program for the long-term unemployed, which was allowed to expire on 28 December, cutting off a lifeline to more than 1.4 million Americans. The White House and Democrats want to reinstate the benefits. Republicans are reluctant.
What North Carolina is currently experiencing is a foretaste of the economic story likely to unfold across the country unless the federal benefits are restored.
The people in line on Thursday constituted a cross-section of America’s poor. Of those who wound down their windows and agreed to talk, the eldest was 77, the youngest 19. They included pensioners, students, people working for minimum wage and some who had recently been laid off. They were there so early, and willing to wait so long, because they wanted to increase their chances of receiving perishable items rather than just canned goods. Get a spot near the front of the line, and you might get some fresh vegetables, bread, or even some frozen chicken.
Charles Christman has been volunteering at the Food Bank of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City, North Carolina for the past three years. Photograph: James Robinson
By 4pm, there were more than 100 cars in the dilapidated parking lot – once a bustling shopping mall. At the very front were Floyd Liston, 59, and his friend, Bobby Bass, 65. Their story was not atypical.
Bass is retired after years working in a cotton mill. Liston, a diabetic, worked all his life but had to give up in 2011 after a routine blister on his foot deteriorated. Married with two daughters, Liston didn’t have health insurance and did not visit a doctor until it was too late. “The infection had eaten all the bone. They told me to go to the hospital and that night they took my leg off,” he said.
In February, in an attempt to address a $2bn debt that it owed the federal government, North Carolina passed a law that slashed both the number of weeks for which a job-seeker can receive state benefits and reduced the amount that it pays out in unemployment, from $535 a week to $350.
In doing so, North Carolina knowingly violated a contract with the federal government, resulting in the automatic cutting off of federal assistance for the long-term unemployed. The changes, which came into effect in July, therefore didn’t just cut the amount of support that people who lost their jobs received from their government by a third, it also meant the maximum length of time they could receive such benefits plummeted from 99 weeks to just 19.
“What happened in North Carolina was one the harshest cuts in unemployment benefits we’ve ever seen in this country,” said Mike Evangelist, a policy director at the National Employment Law Project. “Nothing I know of compares to it.”
The precise impact of the benefits reduction in North Carolina is difficult to discern, said Larry Katz, a Harvard professor. But he and other economists have recently been pointing to figures that hint at an alarming phenomena: people have been dropping out of an already bleak labor market, and in record numbers.
Since July, when the cuts came into force, North Carolina has experienced the largest contraction in its labor force since record-keeping began in 1977. Remarkably, the sharp decline in the workforce in North Carolina, which has a population of 9.75 million, has even altered the national picture.
Timothy Littke, 55, from Lumberton, gave up looking for work in North Carolina in October. He was laid off from his job building hog feeders in June, a month before the benefits cuts kicked in.
He has since relocated to live with his daughter in Pittsburgh. The story of Littke’s departure says much about about deprivation in his old home of Lumberton – a small city in the south of the state which, by one measure, is the poorest in America.
Justin Hadley logged on to HealthCare.gov to evaluate his insurance options after his health plan was canceled. What he discovered was an apparent security flaw that disclosed eligibility letters addressed to individuals from another state.
“I was in complete shock,” said Hadley, who contacted Heritage after becoming alarmed at the breach of privacy.
Hadley, a North Carolina father, buys his insurance on the individual market. His insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, directed him to HealthCare.gov in a cancellation letter he received in September.
After multiple attempts to access the problem-plagued website, Hadley finally made it past the registration page Thursday. That’s when he was greeted with a downloadable letter about eligibility — for two people in South Carolina. (Screenshot below.)
The letter, dated October 8, acknowledges receipt of an application to the Health Insurance Marketplace and the eligibility of family members to purchase health coverage. The letter was addressed to Thomas Dougall, a lawyer from Elgin, SC.
Hadley shared a screenshot and copy of the letter with redacted personal information.
Hadley wrote to Heritage on Thursday night and also contacted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which administers HealthCare.gov, as well as elected officials in his state. He has yet to hear back from HHS, even though HealthCare.gov still displays the personal information of the South Carolina residents on his account.
Hadley reached out to Dougall on Friday to notify him of the breach. Dougall, who spoke to Heritage this evening, said he was evaluating health care options in early October. Dougall said he was able to register on HealthCare.gov, but decided not to sign up for insurance.
“The plans they offered were grossly expensive and didn’t provide the level of care I have now,” he said.
Dougall said he never saw the October 8 letter until Hadley sent it to him Friday.
After learning of the privacy breach, Dougall spent Friday evening trying to contact representatives from HealthCare.gov to no avail; he spent an hour waiting on the telephone and an online chat session was unhelpful. He also wrote to Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Tim Scott (R-SC), along with Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC).
“I want my personal information off of that website,” Dougall said.
Security Risk
Last week, the Associated Press disclosed a government memo revealing the “high” security risk for HealthCare.gov. Those concerns surfaced at Wednesday’s hearing with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who claimed the system was secure.
RALEIGH, N.C. — U.S. Rep. David Price says he has gotten no response from Gov. Pat McCrory on why North Carolina was the only state to announce it would end aid to low-income families, pregnant women and infants during the recent federal government shut down.
The Democrat from Chapel Hill said at a luncheon in Raleigh on Friday that the state’s Republican administration appeared too eager to cut off help to poor families during the crisis.
Price suggested that North Carolina being alone among the 50 states in announcing it would end federal welfare-to-work assistance and food aid is a sign there is something “really wrong” with McCrory’s administration. He and two other Democratic congressmen from North Carolina, Rep. Mel Watt of Charlotte and Rep. G.K. Butterfield of Wilson, sent an Oct. 15 letter questioning the decisions and asking McCrory to reverse course.
“I think it is a very troubling episode,” Price said, speaking to a group of reporters. “Seems like they were almost too eager to cut off these benefits. That’s the way it looked. If we were one out of 20 or 30 states, that would be different. But when you are one out of 50, that’s pretty surely a sign of being an outlier.”
October 07, 2013 – UNITED STATES – Millions of dead fish are washing in eastern North Carolina.
In the last few days people who live along the Tar-Pamlico River Basin and Neuse River have been watching dead menhaden fish pop up in the water and on the sand.
The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources says they believe millions of menhaden fish have died during this latest fish kill.State officials believe this latest fish kill is a result of cooler temperatures and low oxygen levels caused by an algal blooms. State officials say they expect the fish kill to continue for at least few more days or until a cloudy or rainy day.
Heather Garrish lives in Blounts Creek and noticed the dead fish earlier this year; however, she says this latest batch of dead menhaden fish have ulcers on them. It’s those sores she says caused her to have concerns for her dogs.
“I’m more worried for my animals cause they play in the water everyday.And I’m worried that they could possibly get the skin legions that the fish have,” said Garrish.
State officials say a similar fish kill occurred this time last year along the same areas. A spokesperson for the Division of Water Quality while the numbers may be similar, it appears this years fish kill is more widespread.
State officials say the water, mold, and algal bloom are not dangerous to humans. However, they advise the public to stay out of the areas affected for the next couple of days.
State officials are collecting samples of the dead to fish to determine the exact cause of this latest fish kill.
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