Households can apply for up to $500 Wake County will help local residents keep the lights on, the water running and other utility services active through a new relief program for people struggling to pay utility bills due to COVID-19. WakeHELPS offers up to $500 per household to pay past-due balances on bills for electricity, natural gas, water, wastewater and solid waste services. Using $5 million in federal funds, the program should help at least 10,000 families pay back what they owe to utility providers. “With protections against utility shutoffs beginning to expire, Wake County is stepping up to help families who can’t make ends meet during this pandemic,” Wake County Board of Commissioners Chairman Greg Ford said. “No one should have to go without water at a time when handwashing is so critically important, and no one should have to go without air conditioning when the heat index is in the

If you are a hermit back in the woods you might not have heard how President Donald Trump has been fomenting unease and distrust about voting by mail – even though he uses it. Do not believe all that misinformation. Five states – Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah – have been using vote by mail for years with infinitesimal amounts of fraud – something like 0.0000006 instances. In another state, Nevada, the legislature just passed a bill to allow universal mail-in balloting and the governor is expected to sign it soon. And most of the states, including North Carolina, allow voting by mail without an excuse. The North Carolina State Board of Elections and the Wake County Board of Elections are anticipating a much higher volume of absentee ballots, also called voting by mail. They were used during the Civil War, all overseas members of the armed forces can

Updated August 26, 2020 Future projects–Technical Review Committee The Technical Review Committee met on July 2, 2020 and reviewed the following: *The second attempt at the Radford subdivision on Wait Avenue (NC 98) was a new master plan submitted by BNK for 165 dwelling units on 46.97 acres. The applicant wants to rezone the land to conditional urban residential. The case manager is Courtney Jenkins. *Stewart submitted a plan to construct about 1,600 feet of public greenway in public easements, all part of the master plan for the Willows at Traditions townhouse development. The case manager is Kari Grace, the new planner at the Wake Forest Planning Department. *This was a rezoning application submitted by CJS to amend the Forbes planned unit development north of the NC 98 bypass, also called Grove 98. Some of the amendments would increase the right-of-way for Ligon Mill Road north of the bypass to

Registration is now open for the annual Sporting Clays Tournament which is presented by B&W Hardware and will be held Nov. 5 at Rose Hill Plantation in Nashville. Both chamber members and nonmembers are invited; prizes will be given to the top shooters and teams. The Sporting Clays Tournament is a major fundraiser for the Wake Forest Area Chamber. Monies raised from tournament fees, sponsorships and a 50/50 raffle go toward programming and workforce development initiatives throughout the year. The cost to play for Chamber members is $150 per player; $550 per foursome. The cost to play for Non-Chamber members is $200 per player; $750 per foursome. There are two ways to register your team: Click hereto register online. Download the Player Registration Packet, complete it, and mail or email to the Chamber with payment. The tournament will include morning and afternoon shooting times to provide adequate social distancing. All participants will