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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.

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.

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.