Latest news with #Greensboro-based
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
DOGE cuts slash funding from Greensboro organization helping refugees, immigrants
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — A Greensboro-based organization helping legal refugees obtain US citizenship has been hit by funding cuts at the federal level through the Department of Government Efficiency run by Elon Musk. The New Arrivals Institute will have to dramatically scale back services after the six-digit cut to a Department of Homeland Security Grant. The NAI and UNCG were the collaborative partners on a two-year, $300,000 Citizenship and Integration grant. It's one they were awarded three times. One single email ended that funding. 'It was a mass email that didn't even blind copy,' Executive Director of the NAI Leilani Roughton said. 'It was every agency across the country that has this service.' NAI provides services to refugees and immigrants who legally come to the United States who are vetted by Homeland Security and medically screened. 'People, if they come here, are able to learn English, able to get jobs and really be contributing members of our community in Greensboro,' Roughton said. They also help with financial literacy, parenting skills, child supervision, food, clothes and shoes. 'In addition to classes, we have case management, health access. We work with the refugee school impact program, getting kids into school,' she said. Data from last year's NAI annual report shows Greensboro receives people from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Sudan and a significant number of Afghans who served with the US military. 'I really enjoyed welcoming them because they supported us, and I feel like we really need to support them in return,' Roughton said. The loss of $$300,000 in federal grant funding will force NAI to cut back on classes. 'It's got us kind of scrambling a little bit to find other sources of funding and hoping there aren't further cuts coming,' Lead Citizenship Instructor Juliette Biemiller said. Biemiller says the cuts hurt students the most because they can further delay their goal of citizenship. 'I rarely meet anybody who loves America more than my students who are trying to become American citizens,' Biemiller said. According to their annual report, NAI receives the bulk of its funding from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services for refugee support services, but the fear is that since that money comes from the Federal Refugee Resettlement Center, there could be more cuts in the future. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Linemen appreciated in North Carolina after helping in aftermath of Hurricane Helene
(WGHP) — National Lineman Appreciation Day is celebrated on April 18. This year, the gratitude for the men and women who restore electricity runs extra deep in North Carolina. When the remnants of Hurricane Helene destroyed western North Carolina, thousands of linemen rushed into often dangerous situations to start repairing the grid. Greensboro-based Duke Energy Lineman Supervisor Seth Caison spent weeks in the field, working double shifts and digging through the mud to help those in need with his crew. 'I don't think you could ask any lineman and they not tell you their favorite part is doing storm work, helping people and getting power back on,' Caison aid. When Duke Energy crews were dispatched to western North Carolina in September 2024, Caison was among them, driving toward unthinkable destruction. 'Basically, houses washing down the mountain. We were dumbfounded … We didn't think something like that could actually happen there,' Caison said. As the linemen arrived in western North Carolina, it was hard to even figure out where to start working. 'So the accessibility to all those poles is just in a lot of areas nonexistent, and then you have a flood coming down the mountain,' he said. The crews had to divide and conquer, trying to put the pieces back together in a puzzle buried under thick mud. 'We are trying to find those jobs. Split everybody else … Trying to figure out where we can start and what we can get back on,' he said. First, the helpers needed help. 'Let's get our hospitals back on and our fire and police departments back on so they are able to help other people as well,' Caison said. And then came the neighborhoods. So many of them were in the dark. People were unable to refrigerate their insulin, heat up baby formula or use a CPAP machine. When people finally saw the linemen arrive, it was special. 'Just the appreciation the customers showed the guys … They're coming out and clapping and bringing them stuff, and that's something that keeps you going throughout the storm,' he said. Caison says he will never forget how the people of western North Carolina took care of the linemen during their 18-hour days amid their tragedy. 'We had people bringing us food and snack bags, goodie bags and people offering to cook us lunch,' Caison said. Power crews travel to where the need is, and the Duke Energy crew was sent from all over: North Carolina to South Carolina and then to Florida. Caison said he doesn't do it for gratitude but appreciates National Lineman Appreciation Day. 'We understand sometimes we are a big help to a lot of people,' he said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
$3 billion Apex ‘mini-city' progresses despite looming Trump tariffs
Even as looming tariffs threaten to disrupt supply chains and blow up the budget, the developer of a massive mixed-use project in Apex is charging ahead. New York-based RXR is investing $166 million to improve the town's sewer infrastructure, laying the groundwork for its sprawling 'mini-city' Veridea on roughly 1,100 acres between U.S. Highway 1 and N.C. 540. In the same week the public works officially broke ground, President Donald Trump led a tit-for-tat trade war, imposing sweeping new duties on imports critical for construction like steel and aluminum. RXR executive vice president Joseph Graziose shrugged off concerns. 'Sure, tariffs will impact any project,' he said. 'But I've been in this [business] for 42 years. The economics are going to be what they're going to be. I'm less concerned about tariffs and more concerned about getting things moving.' As of Friday, the U.S. has imposed a 10% baseline tariff on all trading partners, announced new levies on all steel and aluminum imports, and doubled down on all Chinese imports, raising levies to a whopping 125%. It's also imposed a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico that are not compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The National Association of Home Builders estimates proposed new tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico could raise the cost of imported construction materials by 'up to $4 billion.' Even if some of the tariffs don't take effect, it's created uncertainty in the market, said Tyler Kelley, senior vice president at Samet Corp. The Greensboro-based firm is constructing Phase I of the $3 billion Veridea project. 'It's hard for us to navigate,' Kelley said. 'What our clients are looking for from us is cost certainty. And when we have a market that's volatile, how can I give [that]?' Samet is working on 20 large-scale residential projects across the state, including Veridea. Kelley said his team has been proactively purchasing materials in anticipation of tariffs. 'When we entered this project, we saw what was coming and we collaborated [with RXR],' he said. 'We identified products to get to site in advance. We're trying to bill ahead and keep our subcontractors' cash-flow positive.' To date, Veridea is on track. Work is expected to begin on multifamily units in late 2026, Kelley said. Veridea has been in the works since 2011. The property's previous owner, Hudson Realty Capital, began assembling the land 17 years ago. But it hit legal roadblocks and never got its project off the ground. RXR started scouting land in 2022 and eventually purchased multiple parcels for $91 million in March 2023, according to property records. The Triangle-shaped site sits along N.C. 55, about two miles south of downtown Apex, and about 15 miles southwest of Raleigh. RXR is working with the Town of Apex to develop the Big Branch Sewer Basin and improve drinking and waste water. The upgrades will pave the way for the project's first phase. That includes 1,500 multifamily units to be built by RXR and 1,100 single-family houses and townhomes to be developed by Lennar Corp. An entertainment district — with 200,000 square feet for retail, restaurants and office — and a new elementary school are also in the works. Separately, RXR has partnered with Wake Technical Community College to build a new 340,000-square-foot campus. On a muggy afternoon last Thursday, RXR celebrated the project's latest development with speeches, local favorite Mr. A's Beignets and a ceremonial 'manhole' signing. Apex Mayor Jacques Gilbert even turned up in his Gold 32 boots. 'This has been a 16-year journey, and RXR is ready to make it happen,' Gilbert told the 30-strong gathered. 'Growing up here as a young man, I never thought I would see something to this magnitude. It will be transformitive.' As Apex's population swells to over 72,000, demand for housing remains at an all-time high. The town estimates that by 2030, more than 120,000 people could be living in this satellite town of Raleigh.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
EEOC seeking male victims in anti-discrimination lawsuit against Greensboro-based chain Kickback Jack's
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is seeking input from people who may have been discriminated against by a Greensboro-based restaurant company in multiple states. According to a release sent out on Wednesday, the EEOC invites male job applicants who were not hired at Kickback Jack's restaurants in North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia to contact the agency about a possible sex discrimination case. The EEOC filed suit against Kickback Jack's parent company, Battleground Restaurant, Inc., in September 2024, for 'failing or refusing to hire male applicants who applied to non-managerial front-of-house positions' such as server, bartender or host. The EEOC alleges these violations occurred between December 2019 and February 2022. In the initial lawsuit filing, the EEOC stated that 'Battleground has no legitimate business justification for failing to hire males in these positions,' and that only 3% of the non-managerial front-of-house workforce were male, with some restaurants having no male front-of-house staff at all. Attempted Trump assassination suspect seeks dismissal of gun charges with Second Amendment argument 'Title VII does not allow employers to exercise hiring preferences based on sex without a legitimate business justification,' said Melinda C. Dugas, regional attorney for the EEOC's Charlotte District, at the time of the lawsuit's filing. 'Male applicants who sought employment as a server, host and/or bartender with any of the defendants' Kickback Jack's restaurants in North Carolina, Tennessee or Virginia, but were not hired, or who were hired into a different position, may be claimants in this lawsuit,' the release states. Anyone who believes they may have been impacted by these alleged unfair hiring practices should call the EEOC at (984)-900-5910 or email them at 'kickbackjacks@ Kickback Jack's has several locations across the Piedmont Triad, including two in Greensboro and one each in High Point, Asheboro and Winston-Salem, among other locations across North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
IBM layoffs, Panera factory closure impacting Piedmont Triad, WARN notices show
(WGHP) — Two employers have announced layoffs or closures that will impact numerous people in the Triad. According to the North Carolina Department of Commerce's WARN Notice Summary for 2025, a Winston-Salem-based IBM facility and a Greensboro-based Panera Bread factory filed notice of intended layoffs in the past week. On March 21, Panera Bread filed a notice that it would be permanently closing a factory in Greensboro, impacting 80 employees. The effective date of this closure is May 21. On March 25, IBM filed that it would be performing layoffs at a Winston-Salem site, impacting 72 employees effective May 30. Employers are required by law to file WARN notices ahead of mass layoffs or facility closures. There have been other WARN notices filed in the Triad since the beginning of the year in Randolph, Davidson, Rockingham and Guilford Counties, impacting over 350 people. FOX8 has reached out to the Department of Commerce for more information about these WARN notices. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
