North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein is planning a trip to Washington this week as he pressures the federal goverment to release already-approved funds for Hurricane Helene relief and also plans to personally lobby members of Congress to approve $13.5 billion more for storm relief.

Helene devatated North Carolina a year ago, killing more than 100 people and shattering records as the most damaging storm in state history. It did an estimated $60 billion in damage spread across two dozen counties — destroying homes, roads, farms, businesses, schools, parks and more.

Federal funding has slowed under President Donald Trump, Stein said, in large part due to new red tape the Trump administration has implemented in an attempt to slow or stop federal spending. Stein said that in many cases, the Federal

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