People & Population

"The country’s most-visited national park site, the Blue Ridge Parkway, will remain closed indefinitely, the National Park Service (NPS) said Wednesday. The closure affects the entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway, though some parts were hit harder than others by storm damage. It comes right as the region and scenic road typically see a boom in tourism, as weather cools and the leaves change colors."

"The Biden administration this week restored Obama-era farmworker protections from pesticides that were rolled back under the Trump administration."

"As residents of western North Carolina piece together their lives following Hurricane Helene, few will be able to rely on federal flood insurance to help them rebuild."

"From his sickbed, eight-year-old Ukasha could see his siblings play with a ball in the courtyard. His head hurt and his body felt too heavy to move. Ukasha had typhoid fever – an illness he should have recovered from in days. It had been a month."

"As people move away from flooding and heat, new research suggests that those who remain will be older, poorer and more vulnerable."

"U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will travel on Wednesday to North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia to assess the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene in the southeastern U.S. which has killed at least 140 people."

"Widespread devastation left behind by Hurricane Helene came to light Monday across the South, revealing a wasteland of splintered houses, crushed cargo containers and mud-covered highways in one of the worst storms in U.S. history. The death toll topped 130."

"The Harris campaign accused Trump of a lack of empathy, and the Trump campaign said Harris should visit the areas affected."

"VALDOSTA, Ga. — The two candidates for president ventured carefully into the politics of Hurricane Helene on Monday, with Vice President Kamala Harris canceling West Coast campaign stops to attend a storm briefing in Washington and former president Donald Trump delivering remarks from a Georgia city battered by the storm.

"The president, who plans to travel to North Carolina this week, said he might need to call Congress in for a special session after it did not include additional disaster relief in its spending bill."

"Members of Wet’suwet’en Nation in British Columbia want to conserve a pristine old-growth watershed, Caas Tl’aat Twah, in its traditional territory. The nation has obtained a logging deferral for Caas Tl’aat Twah and is planning how to protect it permanently."