Six state temporary housing units are occupied in western North Carolina, 200 days after Hurricane Helene caused $60 billion in damage and left 107 dead. The storm, which hit Florida on September 26, continues to impact the region, with state leaders requesting funding for recovery efforts.

The Center Square reports:

Six state temporary housing units are occupied as western North Carolina continues to get on its feet from Hurricane Helene, the state auditor’s office says.

Two are in McDowell County, and there is one each in Ashe, Avery, Haywood and Watauga counties.

The 29th week of recovery began over the weekend. State leaders and congressional representatives are continuing to request funding from Washington and Raleigh for what is arguably the state’s worst natural disaster.

The storm, which came ashore in Florida on Sept. 26, dissipated over the mountains of three states and left 107 dead and an estimated $60 billion damage in the Tarheel State. Monday marked 200 days since the hurricane, according to the auditor’s dashboard.

The analysis says 6,930 households “indicated a housing need and were determined to be eligible for housing assistance.” This is the number of total housed (2,727), seeking assistance (503) and not utilizing assistance households (3,700).

The number housed represents eligible for FEMA rental assistance or FEMA transitional sheltering assistance. Seeking assistance means these households are in need but not marked eligible for rental or transitional specifically; the households may be utilizing another form of shelter, the report says.

The number not utilizing assistance means the households are eligible for rental or transitional and chose not to use it.

Buncombe County, where Asheville is the county seat, was among the hardest hit regions. Nearly one-third (870) of the report’s 2,727 total housed is from the county. There are 727 of those on rental assistance, and the remaining 143 utilizing hotels. The county’s seeking assistance number, as of Saturday, is 131.

A Georgia man, Aliakbar Mohammad Amin, is facing federal charges for threatening Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and her family. Amin allegedly sent threatening messages and images, including one showing a firearm pointed at Gabbard and her husband.

NEW: The FBI arreasted a man named Aliakbar Mohammed Amin tonight for threats on Tulsi Gabbard and Pres Trump.

I’m told a firearm was confiscated.

This comes days after CNN dismissed claims that Gabbard was facing a “significant security threat,” accused her of voter fraud. pic.twitter.com/fMq3SDhksk

— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) April 12, 2025

The Center Square reports:

A Georgia man is facing federal charges of threatening Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and her family, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Northern Georgia.

Aliakbar Mohammad Amin, 24, of Lilburn, is accused of sending threats that included statements, “You and your family are going to die soon” and “I will personally do the job if necessary,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Monday.

One statement said, “Prepare to die, you, Tulsi, and everyone you hold dear. America will burn,” the federal agencies said.

Amin sent the messages between March 29 and April 1, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Investigators said they found social media threats, including an image that showed a firearm pointed at Gabbard. A second one showed a firearm pointed at Gabbard and her husband.

Amin is being charged under Title 18, United States Code, Section 875, which covers threats made across state lines.

“Threatening to harm public officials is a criminal act that cannot be excused as political discourse,” said interim U.S. Attorney Richard S. Moultrie Jr. “Our Office, in coordination with our law enforcement partners, will vigorously prosecute individuals who commit these acts of violence.”

Amin will remain in custody until trial, according to an order by a U.S. Magistrate. The FBI arrested him on Friday.

The House passed a $5.8 trillion budget resolution to make Trump’s tax cuts permanent, preventing a 22% tax hike for average taxpayers. The resolution, which authorizes a $5 trillion debt ceiling increase, faced opposition from some Republicans but ultimately passed with a narrow vote. Critics argue the Senate’s approach, using a current policy baseline, will add significantly to the national debt.

The Center Square reports:

President Donald Trump’s tax cuts are set for permanent extension after the House narrowly passed a $5.8 trillion over ten years concurrent budget resolution that seemed poised to fail.

If the Trump tax cuts expire, as they are set to do at the end of this year, the average taxpayer will see a 22% tax hike as well as their guaranteed deduction slashed in half. The child tax credit would also reduce from $2,000 per child to $1,000 per child, The Center Square previously reported.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had to postpone the Wednesday night vote after too many Republicans balked around supporting the bill, which authorizes a $5 trillion debt ceiling increase.

The 216-214 vote held Thursday morning saw only two Republicans present voting no, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Victoria Spartz, R-Ind.

Johnson was able to convince all other hardliners to vote yes with promises of deeper spending cuts than the bill requires.

The Senate’s amendment to the House’s $4.5 trillion budget resolutionkeeps the House’s savings targets — $1.5 trillion in House committee cuts — but establishes only a $4 billion savings floor for its own committees.

To do so, it changes the way the costs of extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are calculated. By using a current policy baseline, which treats the extension as a continuation of current law rather than new policy, the Senate-revised resolution would theoretically subtract $3.8 trillion from the budget’s price tag.

The resolution also gives Senate committees an extra $1.5 trillion to spend and make Trump’s tax cuts permanent since it puts the costs of extension at zero.

Normally, the chambers adopt identical budget resolutions, giving House and Senate committees the same savings targets before moving forward in the budget reconciliation process. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Johnson decided the quickest way to enact Trump’s priorities was by taking a two-tier approach that saves the alignment and other details for later.

Critics have called the use of current policy baseline a “gimmick.” The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the Senate’s plan will in reality add at least $37 trillion to the national debt over the next 30 years, a more than 100% increase from the current level.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget warned that the Senate’s plan will add at least $5.8 trillion to the federal deficit over the next ten years, costing as much as the 2017 TCJA, CARES Act, American Rescue Plan, and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law combined.

“The Senate’s excuses – that they need flexibility, that this is just a step to unlock the process, that they promise they will come up with trillions of spending cuts – don’t hold water,” CRFB President Maya McGuineas said. “And their use of the egregious ‘current policy’ gimmick should show plainly to every fiscal hawk that they have no intention of actually coming up with the savings necessary.”

Democrats are saying that the concurrent resolution necessitates future cuts to Medicaid since it requires the House Energy and Commerce Committee to find $880 billion in spending cuts.

The passage of the resolution kicks off the budget reconciliation process in earnest, as House and Senate committees will begin crafting program-specific legislation fulfilling the spending and saving requirements to enact Trump’s tax, border, and energy agenda.