VOLUME 147 ISSUE 52 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2025
CHATHAMNEWSRECORD.COM
PJ WARD-BROWN / CHATHAM NEWS & RECORD
Raze and grind The Paul Braxton Gym in Siler City was dismantled Monday after town officials decided it would be too expensive to repair. See more on A3.
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BRIEF this week
Wisconsin GOP proposes $10K income tax break for hurricane relocations Madison People who lost their homes to Hurricane Helene or California wildfires could get a sizeable tax break to move to Wisconsin. State Rep. Cindi Duchow and state Sen. Dan Feyen are sponsoring a bill that would give anyone who moves to Wisconsin from North Carolina or Los Angeles County due to the hurricane or the fires a $10,000 income tax credit for 2025. Duchow and Feyen introduced the bill Tuesday. They say in a memo seeking co-sponsors that the bill could help alleviate chronic workforce shortages in Wisconsin. The bill’s prospects are unclear.
As egg prices soar, Trump admin plans new bird flu strategy Minneapolis With egg prices soaring, the Trump administration is planning a new strategy for fighting bird flu that stresses vaccinations and tighter biosecurity instead of killing off millions of chickens when the disease strikes a flock. The director of the National Economic Council said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that officials are moving away from the standard practice of destroying all the birds on a farm when an infection is detected. The culling of millions of chickens per month has caused egg prices to skyrocket. Some retailers are rationing sales. The official, Kevin Hassett, says the administration plans to announce further details soon.
WRAL-TV VIA AP
FBI agents searched a neighborhood in Chatham County earlier this month where Teresa Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt had been renting homes.
Cultlike group with ties to Chatham linked to 6 deaths At the middle of it all is “Ziz,” who appears to be the leader of the strange group, who called themselves “Zizians.”
By Holly Ramer, Patrick Whittle and Mark Scolforo The Associated Press IN THE WOODED outskirts of Chapel Hill, a perplexed landlord noticed odd sights at two of his rental properties. Tenants wore long black coats and parked box trucks
outside the duplexes. They ran an electrical cord from one box truck into one of the condos and kept a stretcher inside another. A neighbor remembers similarly dressed figures walking around at night holding hands. They never spoke a word. By the time the FBI searched the property last week, one of the most recent tenants had been killed in a shootout with U.S.
Lewis Freeman Park is beginning to take shape By Ryan Henkel Chatham News and Record PITTSBORO — The Town of Pittsboro continues to work to shape the massive Chatham Park planned development. Approved in 2015, the 7,100-acre project has been an ongoing discussion amongst the town and the developer. At the Town of Pittsboro Board of Commissioners’ Feb 10 meeting, the board held a public hearing for amendments to the Chatham Park affordable housing element, a part of the overall master plan. While the commissioners stated that the new amended element had “significant improvements” from the prior submitted one, there were still large
See DEATHS, page A10
Some in Helene-ravaged NC embrace push to abolish FEMA “Their attitude was, you know, this happened to you, but it’s up to you to fix it. And I ain’t the one who caused it.” Danny Bailey, Buncombe County resident
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A Vermont Border Patrol agent’s death is the latest in the case
Pittsboro commissioners decry loophole in plans for Chatham Park
Frustrated residents support the idea President Donald Trump floated By Makiya Seminera The Associated Press SWANNANOA — Emily Russell remembers feeling hopeful after she managed to get an appointment with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) not long after Hurricane Helene ripped though her home in Swannanoa. But after several assistance requests were denied or left pending, Russell says the agency has been of “no help” to her family after the late September storm. Still reeling in a world turned upside-down by the most damaging storm in state history, she finds herself open to President Donald Trump’s suggestion
about “getting rid of” FEMA. That is a common sentiment in the mountains of western North Carolina, where living in a trailer with limited supplies for months can try anyone’s patience. Russell, who like many others did not have flood insurance, endured those stresses as she prepared for the birth of her son, but then volunteers stepped up to rebuild her home. Back there now, she can cradle her tiny infant in her arms on her newly constructed front porch — overlooking a heaping pile of rotting debris and two Trump‑Vance signs posted to a pole in her yard. Frustration with stopgap relief efforts has been exacerbated by confusion over where long‑term help should come from. FEMA is meant to be a See FEMA, page A7
See COUNCIL, page A2