Latest news with #BuckleyReport
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Guests return to western North Carolina inn after Hurricane Helene
MCDOWELL COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — There's an old joke about how you eat an elephant where the punchline is, 'One bite at a time.' The point is that even monumental tasks can be accomplished if you just start and keep plugging away. That's the way Carter Francois has been dealing with his livelihood washing down the side of a mountain in McDowell County during Hurricane Helene. After seven months of constant work, Carter and his business partner, Steve Carlsen, have half of their dozen rooms ready for guests once again. 'Originally, I didn't think we'd make it at all because I wasn't in tune with how bad the damage actually was,' Francois said. 'But once we decided … we could make a go of it … just kept on working until we made it happen.' Among the first guests were Corey Sinclair and his wife, Joanne Ponvanit, who came from Los Angeles. They experienced their own natural disaster with the wildfires that damaged much of that area. Ponvanit's place of work was closed at least for a while. Being across the country, they weren't as familiar with the damage Helene did as many in North Carolina are. 'Being here and seeing it and driving through, it just puts things in perspective of how much damage was done,' Ponvanit said. 'We had read about the damage, and we love to support any way we can, and what's left is amazing, and it's beautiful, and I encourage people to come up and really enjoy the view, and the food is good, and it's great,' Sinclair said. They wanted to come see where Sinclair's relatives lived in the Great Smoky Mountains and travel the Blue Ridge Parkway while they were on this side of the country and decided to book a night at the Alpine Inn. 'We had no idea that we would end up with a view like this … The story behind it … adds to the excitement … We were just going to stay last night, and we enjoyed it so much … It's just so beautiful that we decided to stay again tonight,' Sinclair said. So the Alpine Inn isn't fully booked these days, but the fact that he has some money coming in rather than money simply going out to pay for reconstruction is a great change for Francois. 'We're kind of behind the 8-ball a little bit in terms of when we normally start, but we're open,' Francois said. See more about the reopening of the Alpine Inn in this Mountain of Trouble edition of the Buckley Report. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Addison McDowell speaks to FOX8 about big issues
(WGHP) — It's been a whirlwind experience for Addison McDowell. He became a freshman in Congress after having little experience in government before. But when he ran for the Republican nomination for North Carolina's 6th District, he had one overriding issue: securing the border and stopping the flow of the deadly fentanyl that took his brother's life a year or so ago. He says his alignment with President Trump on that issue was key to his victory. 'The president has people … who want to keep us safe, and so do I,' McDowell said. 'So I'm going to be working with them every step of the way … Fentanyl was an important thing for me and stopping the flow of that coming into our country. We're being invaded by drug cartels … and I think that it's a very refreshing thing, as someone who's felt the effects of these things in our communities, to have a president that cares … I hope that everyone in the 6th District knows I've got their back on this, and I'm fighting.' The other issue he's taken on since being sworn in is American manufacturing jobs. He supports Trump's tariffs. 'When you have, for example, India. They charge a tariff on motorcycles that are imported to India from the United States. Harley-Davidson has a 100% tariff. So that means if a Harley – just for even numbers $10,000 – it's $20,000 in India. You know what our tariff is? On India, it's 7%,' he said. And McDowell is convinced that the president's tariffs can change that. 'We've had men and women forgotten about by Washington, D.C. politicians for too long,' McDowell said. 'These are the working men and women whose manufacturing jobs went to China, went to Mexico. They went overseas, and they lost their jobs. So we are saying, 'We haven't forgotten about you.' We want to bring these manufacturing jobs back.' In the meantime, Elon Musk and his DOGE group have been working to reduce the size of the government. We asked McDowell, even if that's the right policy, is Musk going around with a chainsaw, as a metaphor, going about this the right way? 'Right now, it's a jolt to the system because we've had a runaway spending for too long,' McDowell said. 'President Trump is doing exactly what he said he was going to do. He said Elon Musk is going to … create … the Department of Government Efficiency. They're going to find ways to save the taxpayers money. That's what they're doing, and I've got their back.' See more from McDowell in this edition of the Buckley Report. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
