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The Griffin List

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For weeks on the AFM News Hour, we have followed the ongoing story of Jefferson Griffin’s lawsuit challenging ballots across all 100 North Carolina counties. Griffin lost by 734 votes his bid to become a North Carolina Supreme Court justice.

Griffin, a Republican Court of Appeals judge, has argued that the ballots of nearly 60,000 overseas and military voters, and other registered voters should be nullified based on technicalities.

This week TheGriffinList.com launched. The new website, searchable by name and county, can help over 60,000 registered voters see if their November ballot is among those being contested.

The free tool also allows voters to access contact information for their county Board of Elections and learn how to verify and update their voter registration information. Voters who find their names on the list are encouraged to contact their county Board of Elections to understand why their ID numbers may be missing from records and to ensure their votes are properly counted.

Buncombe County alone has 1,578 voters whose ballots are in question. To see if your name is on the list, or to help a neighbor, colleague, friend, or acquaintance find out if their name is listed, visit TheGriffinList.com.


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Hellbenders and the Health of Mills River

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Patryk Battle sat down this week with Maria Wise, executive director of the Mills River Partnership. They discussed the health of the Mills River riparian system post-Helene.

Maria explained that parts of the river are still beautiful and look nearly unaffected by the storm. Other parts, just a few hundred feet away from the untouched riverbanks, are “areas of near-total devastation.” She considers this to mean that the riverbanks have no riparian buffer left. Maria said that farm fields by the river have lost 90% of their topsoil. The destruction will need “years and years of recovery to come.”

Patryk asked Maria about one species in particular that contributes to the health and vitality of the riparian system: the hellbender salamander. Noting that the hellbender is an amazing sight as the largest salamander in North America, Patryk feared that this precarious population might be wiped out. Maria confirmed that the Mills River Partnership has been seeking stories of sightings to track the hellbenders. The Forest Service Pisgah Rangers recently told the Partnership of finding 43 hellbenders—an encouraging sign! But Maria guesses that about 75% of the Mills River hellbender population has been wiped out. Patryk and Maria discussed some advantages of the hellbender being put on the endangered species list, as well as some upcoming volunteer days to help revegetate the riparian areas of the Mills River. To learn more about helping, visit the Mills River Partnership’s website or listen to the full interview in the archives.


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Drinking alcohol can increase your cancer risk, will warning labels make any difference?

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WASHINGTON, DC – January 2025 – This month, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has recommended that Congress require that alcohol beverages have a health warning label to inform consumers about an association between alcohol consumption and the risk of cancer. Alcohol beverages already have a Congress-mandated warning label. However, there is no warning about increasing cancer risk. There is conclusive medical and scientific evidence that 7 cancers are linked to drinking alcohol. They can occur in the breast, colorectal, esophagus, liver, mouth, throat and voice box (larynx).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has required health warnings on certain consumer products (cigarettes and alcohol) to promote a greater public understanding of the adverse health effects of using these products. Any creation, changes or additions to the warning labels required Congressional approval.

According to the Alcoholic Beverage Labeling Act of 1988, a health warning label must appear on all alcohol beverages for sale or distribution in the U.S. containing not less than 0.5 per cent alcohol by volume. The warning has 2 messages: “1) According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects. (2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery, and may cause health problems.”

Alcohol consumption is one of the leading preventable causes of cancer. It is responsible for about 100 thousand new cancers and 20 thousand cancer deaths in the U.S. every year.

Health warning labels can increase the public awareness of hazardous products (like cigarettes and other tobacco products) and effect a change in personal behavior. This has been shown to include alcohol-related risks. Warning labels on alcohol beverages in Canada have already shown that Canadians are generally more aware of the increased risk of cancer with drinking.

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

Contact: Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]


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Asheville Kittens

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On this week’s AFM News Hour, news correspondent KP Whaley sat down with Andee Bingham, founder and director of the Esther Neonatal Kitten Alliance, to learn about the Alliance’s work in our community and their response to helping kittens in the wake of Helene. Andee first moved to NC from the Northeast, where kitten needs are much different. She saw that there was a need here to help kittens, particularly newborn and critically injured ones.

Andee discussed many of the challenges that animal rescue organizations face, including lack of experience, supplies, and training. She found that there was a need for these kittens beyond what typical rescues could offer. This is how Andee found herself beginning the Kitten Alliance. Their goal is to take in kittens that require a level of care that other shelters cannot provide. About 80% of the animals the Kitten Alliance takes in each year are either too young (under 5 weeks old) for traditional shelters or are too sick or injured. Andee said that, even though most of their animals arrive “pretty close to dead,” the Alliance saves about 89% of them. 

Lastly, Andee shared some strategies for how to help kittens in need. She also told a couple of heartwarming stories of cats and kittens. If you love kittens, or even if you’re a dog person like KP, give Andee’s stories a listen in the archives, and visit the Kitten Alliance website for more information.


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A 2022 federal bill will continue to improve America’s health in 2025

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WASHINGTON, DC – In 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), that includes lowering the cost of prescription drugs and healthcare. Large businesses will pay a 15% corporate minimum tax to defray this cost. The bill narrowly passed the Senate, 51 to 50, with all 50 Democrats voting for the bill and all 50 Republicans voting against it. Vice President Harris cast the tie-breaking vote. President Biden signed the bill. After the Senate first ratified the bill on August 7th, Biden told reporters, “When you sit down at that kitchen table at the end of the month, you’re going to be able to pay a whole hell of a lot more bills because you’re paying less in medical bills.”

America is the only developed nation in the world where a citizen can become financially strapped because of the high cost of health care. Oftentimes, hard-working Americans have to potentially compromise their health by spending their limited resources on food and shelter instead of prescription medicine.

Here are some of the health provisions of the IRA:

  • Medicare negotiated the prices of 10 commonly prescribed costly drugs with pharmaceutical companies last year. The new prices will take effect in 2026. It is estimated that millions of seniors, people with disabilities, and other Medicare beneficiaries will save over $1.5 billion of out-of-pocket expenses in 2026. Taxpayers should save $6 billion. The cost negotiation will be expanded to more drugs in succeeding years.
  • Out-of-pocket insulin costs have been capped at $35 a month, benefiting 4 million Medicare beneficiaries.
  • Out-of-pocket costs for prescription medicines covered by Medicare will be capped at $2,000 for Medicare beneficiaries annually beginning on January 1st this year. The AARP estimates that more than 3 million seniors will save money in 2025 and that almost one-half million people will each save more than $3 thousand. Patients taking high-cost cancer drugs should save a lot of money. The price cap will apply to prescription drugs under Medicare Part D. The cap was $3250 in 2024, its first year.
  • Drug companies will offer rebates to Medicare and lower out-of-pocket costs to seniors if prescription prices outpace inflation.
  • There is a three-year extension on the Marketplace subsidies that will benefit millions of Americans. More than 80% of people in the marketplace had a health insurance plan that cost only $10 or less each month. The number of people with ACA coverage almost doubled between 2021 and 2024 to a record-breaking 21 million Americans.

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

Contact: Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]


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The weekly COVID-19, flu & RSV update

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ASHEVILLE, NC – January 8, 2025 – There is a surge of respiratory viral infections, like COVID-19, influenza (the flu) and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), as people spend more time indoors during the cold winter months and due to an increase in indoor gatherings and travel during the holidays. However, the COVID pandemic has made us aware that we can take steps to reduce spreading respiratory viruses. Therefore, we must protect at-risk groups, like older adults and the immunocompromised, who remain susceptible to getting severely ill.

The CDC’s COVID Dashboard for the week ending on January 3rd shows:  

  • Between 1-9 of the deaths in North Carolina were due to COVID, the lowest level of 6 groups.
  • Emergency department visits for COVID-19 are minimal in North Carolina, representing 1% of all visits, and with a moderate increase since last week.

Wastewater monitoring can be used to provide early warning for COVID outbreaks. Due to the holiday schedule, the Buncombe & Henderson counties wastewater monitoring dashboard was not updated this week. Wastewater monitoring data for more respiratory illnesses will be obtained during the respiratory illness season. During the week of December 22-28, the level of RSV viral activity in the North Carolina wastewater, measured at 3 sites, was high.

The CDC’s weekly flu surveillance report for the week ending on December 28th indicates that levels are either high or very high in 43 of the 48 continental states, particularly in the South and the West. North Carolina is at a high level.

The CDC reports that the weekly percent of positive tests for RSV in Region 4 (which are the states in the southeast U.S. including North Carolina) had climbed to more than 10% from November 16th to the present, reaching a peak of more than 15% just before Christmas. The most recent report on the week of December 28th shows that percent positivity is almost 15%. Positive test levels for RSV were above 10% last winter from October 7th to December 9th.

The weekly North Carolina Respiratory Virus Summary Dashboard was last updated for the week ending on December 28th. Almost 15% of all emergency room patients had symptoms of a respiratory viral illness and these have increased since last week. There were more than 17 hundred hospital admissions from the emergency department for people who had a diagnosis, or symptoms, of respiratory viral infection and they have increased since last week. These are at the highest levels since last winter.

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]


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