Home Care In Roxboro, NC

After three decades, a manufacturing mainstay outside the small North Carolina city of Roxboro will close by the end of the year, affecting at least 247 workers in the rural community north of Durham and Orange counties.

GKN Driveline opened its automotive technology plant in January 1994, around the unincorporated town of Timberlake. Following a pair of expansions, GKN had become the largest private employer in Person County. Its loss will be profoundly felt, said Gordon Powell, chair of the Person County Commissioners, who called the company “a very integral and important corporate citizen.”

“(Their workers) work here. They live here. They own homes here,” he said in a phone interview. “They educate their children here. Attended their churches, and that list can go on and on.”

On March 8, GKN informed the North Carolina Department of Commerce of the impending plant closure in a WARN notice. Under federal law, employers must file such Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notices to the state when an entire facility closes and affects at least 50 employees.

GKN said that layoffs will begin in May and are likely to finish by the end of November. In the WARN letter, GKN human resources manager Barbara Waldron noted some current Roxboro workers will be offered positions at the company’s facility in Alamance County.

“We are reorganizing our manufacturing operations with respect to the products made in this facility,” she wrote to the state. Impacted positions include manufacturing engineers, quality engineers, operations leaders and supply chain managers.

Based in the United Kingdom, the parent company GKN Automotive previously made components for the vehicle and aerospace industries. But in 2018, the London-based aerospace manufacturer Melrose Industries acquired GKN in a hostile takeover.

In 2022, GKN Driveline North America also shuttered a plant in the Lee County city of Sanford, WARN records show.

Melrose is known for buying engineering companies and then divesting portions of them which has led critics to label the firm as an “asset stripper.” Last year, Melrose spun off its automotive division and began to focus solely on aerospace.

In Person County, the goal now is to “take the lemons we have to make lemonade,” Powell said, adding “the first objective is to secure jobs for (laid off workers) locally, if possible, and get them in line for any benefits from the state.”

The county seat of Roxboro is less than 15 miles from the Virginia border and sits right above Orange and Durham counties on a map. The GKN plant in Timberlake is even closer to the Triangle, and Powell said that area has benefited in recent years as people relocated from the more populous areas to the south.

“We are working very diligently to attract some other industry here and this (closure), who knows, may enhance that search,” he said. “And we’re going to be positive about it. That’s who we are.”

Roxboro will be constructing a new apartment complex to provide housing to those who need it and address the state's affordable housing crisis.

The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency approved $6.7 million in funding for the development of a rental community and non-congregate shelter development for North Carolinians with special housing needs. This is in addition to $43 million approved by the agency in 2023 for a dozen rental communities.

The agency awarded this funding through its Supportive Housing American Rescue Plan (SHARP) program to provide shelter, permanent housing and services to individuals experiencing homelessness and other housing insecurity.

“We're focused primarily in those rural areas that don't often have access to a lot of state and federal dollars,” said Scott Farmer, the agency’s executive director. “We were excited to see that we are going to places like Roxboro, [where] typically, [funding] wouldn't be available, because they don't have other resources to bring to bear.”

Farmer said the agency received about 16 to 18 applications. It was able to fund 14 of them so far, including projects in Robeson, Cumberland and Lee counties. He’s hopeful that one more project will also be funded through the program.

“One of the first things that all of these developers and project sponsors will need to do is they have to complete an environmental review process required with all federal funding. We’ll help them through that process. They also have to meet some other rules, in terms of income requirements for folks moving into the property,” he said.

Non-congregate shelters provide temporary housing for vulnerable populations. NC's non-congregate shelter program began during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), a non-congregate shelter is defined as one or more buildings that serve the following purposes:

To qualify, HUD said you must be part of one of the following groups:

Occupants of a non-congregate shelter cannot be charged for housing unless the participating jurisdiction deems it reasonable, the department said.

"The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency is committed to supporting our state’s most vulnerable citizens," said Scott Farmer, the agency’s executive director. "We are proud to create programs and provide funding that will establish safe and affordable housing in communities statewide that can connect people with limited options to the services they need to lead happy, successful lives."

The two additional developments awarded funding are:

“One of the biggest needs we have here is affordable housing for people who want to move up from a shelter,” Jane King said. “Just because you got a job, making $11-12 an hour, doesn't mean you can pay a deposit.”

King is the co-chair of the board of directors for Community Partners of Hope. The nonprofit runs the Henderson-Vance Men’s shelter. It’s currently in the process of renovating a nearby church in order to be able to offer more beds and resources for people experiencing homelessness. However, there’s still more work to do to address the issue in the community.

“We’ve had to turn people away on a regular basis,” King said.

Bonita Hawkins is the executive director of the Vance County Housing Authority. She said she was pleasantly surprised to be awarded the funding for the project after spending several months applying for it.

“This is a great thing for Vance County,” Hawkins said. “It's an opportunity to bring more stable housing to the community.”

Hawkins said she expects it to take at least nine to 12 months to complete the development. It will get started once her and her colleagues have completed the necessary training.

“We have to get through these training processes about what we can do, what can't do, what we must do. Once we get through those training processes, then we'll have more information about when we can get started,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins said tenants will have to pay rent based on their income.

King said she believes this project will be a more permanent solution to the growing issues with housing insecurity and homelessness.

“People have the image of homeless people as drug users, lazy. It's really not accurate. A lot of the men that we've had are well-educated, there's been a life change...Suddenly, they're out on the street,” King said.

For more information about the SHARP program, go to nchfa.com.

Duke Energy wants to expedite plans to build a new hydrogen-capable natural gas power plant in Person County.

ROXBORO, N.C. (WTVD) -- Duke Energy wants to expedite plans to build a new hydrogen-capable natural gas power plant in Person County.

The energy company updated its Carolina Resources Plan Wednesday and filed new documents with the North Carolina Utilities Commission. The documents reveal that the company believes it needs to get the new plant up and running earlier than expected due to the ongoing population boom and business growth in North Carolina.

The North Carolina Department of State said the economic boom continues to be impressive. This January alone has seen 14,000 new business applications filed.

Small businesses are driving a lot of that expansion. Last year, North Carolina saw the second most filings ever for small businesses, with more than 171,000 new entities registered. The record for most new small businesses was set in 2021 when more than 178,000 filed.

"The Carolinas continue to experience phenomenal growth and demand for electricity," Duke Energy spokesperson Bill Norton said. "It's far outpacing our forecast from the spring that were the basis for our long-range plan."

Recent energy usage numbers dwarfed Duke Energy's expectations. Because of that, the company had to increase its most recent usage projection by 2,000 megawatts.

"If you look at our plan from just two years ago versus now, we're expecting eight times the level of electricity demand by 2030 than two years ago," Norton said.

Wednesday's updated urgency in getting the new plant up and running is a direct response to that increased energy demand.

"With new nuclear, increase hydrogen natural gas, with more solar, more wind -- it's going to be an all of above diverse mix," Norton said describing how Duke Energy plans to meet the energy needs of people in North Carolina.

In addition to meeting those energy demands, the new hydrogen-capable natural gas power plant will help Duke Energy meet its environmental goal of completely cutting off the use of coal by 2035.

The plant Duke Energy is currently using at the Person County Energy Complex uses coal. It will be phased out and eventually replaced by the new plant.

Duke Energy plans to announce specific construction details and operational timelines during a media event on Thursday.

Still, these plans remain subject to regulatory approval. Duke Energy will hold public meetings in April and an evidentiary hearing in the summer. Then the North Carolina Utilities Commission will decide by December if the new plan can go forward.

So far in 2023, central North Carolina has seen record heat and devastating storms. As hurricane season peaks, North Carolinians know to be prepared for even more severe weather threats.

The WRAL Severe Weather team is responsible for providing accurate coverage for 23 counties, but sometimes what is happening in one county may not be felt in another. Why does the weather differ from place to place? WRAL Meteorologist Aimee Wilmoth has the answers.

There are many factors that influence why weather differs from county to county.

The natural and artifical features of an area, like mountains or bodies of water (technical term: topography) can make a weather event feel different from place to place, even if those places are relatively close geographically. These natural features cause a difference in elevation across NC, which is a significant reason for weather variation.

Roxboro is considered the snow capital due to its relatively high elevation at 700 feet above sea level, Wilmoth says. The higher the area is above sea level, the more likely it is to experience colder temperatures and even snow. This is why counties northwest of Raleigh tend to be the coldest and have more snow chances than those to the southeast of the capital.

Wilmoth also mentions that the time of the year can also impact weather variations. Meteorologists have to take into account the different fronts and weather patterns that occur during different times of the year.

There are unique characteristics about every county that impact how that county experiences weather.

Many urban areas have a "heat island effect." Infrastructure like paved roads and the lack of trees traps heat and limits air flow, which makes cities feel hotter during the summer months. Soil can also play a role in trapping heat. Soil that is light and sandy tends to hold heat more than the heavy, clay-like soil found in most of central NC.

This is the reason the Sandhills will tend to feel warmer than northern and central counties. During the summer months the Sandhills are likely to experience more thunderstorms due to differences in temperature and soil.

Wilmoth notes that there is no evidence of microclimates in central NC. Other factors are responsible for differences in weather. Sometimes there are hit-and-miss storms that touch one area and not another. Weather can vary dramatically depending on the area because North Carolina has many different elevations from the coast to the mountains. It is important to take into account the characteristics of a specific area when predicting weather and its outcomes.

A Roxboro widow tried for nearly a year to get results when it came to a supplemental insurance claim.

ROXBORO, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Roxboro widow tried for nearly a year to get results when it came to a supplemental insurance claim.

Since Angela White lost her husband, Michael, in November of 2022, she said she's been trying to get Duke University Hospital to file the necessary documentation with his supplemental insurance company.

"They were trying to tell me he doesn't have medical insurance and I'm like well I have told you multiple occasions, this is not a medical claim," White said. "This is a supplemental insurance claim that pays out when a person's hospitalized."

White said the insurance company tried to help, and she spent months emailing Duke the information requested to file with his insurance. You can see one claim was processed but when it came to the other three claims for Michael, it said the claim was still pending.

"From April, May, June, called, email back and forth and then I said, well, I need some help and that's when I reached out to you," White said to Troubleshooter Diane Wilson.

Wilson got everything off to Duke University Hospital and White says things started happening. It didn't take long; the insurance company got what it needed and sent White a check for $10,000 to cover the claims.

Duke Health officials provided this statement:

"We requested the policy number from the patient, but it took several exchanges to receive it. Our inquiries to Cigna were also not fruitful until we could provide the policy number. We are always happy to help patients with billing questions and concerns and work to address inquiries promptly."

As for White, she's happy that after nearly a year of trying to get results, the case is closed.

"I'm very happy with your results," she told Wilson. "If there's anybody out there that has any kind of issue, and they come to their wits end do not hesitate to contact you because you work wonders for me. I've been going around eleven months with this situation."

The key when you have any kind of billing dispute is to not give up.