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Lenny Widawski, 78, vanished on the morning of September 27 as Hurricane Helene swelled the normally placid Toe River to an unimaginable torrent. A neighbor saw him go back into his house moments before a surge of roiling water ripped the Green Mountain cabin off its foundation. The house bobbed on the water for a few moments before disappearing forever.

Now a wooden cross and a collection of mementos mark where the well-known local musician was last seen. “RIP Lenny,” reads an old fiddle tied to the crossbeam. “May you find a tune in heaven.”

In the early days after the storm, 4,500 people were reported missing. Many weren’t missing at all—just temporarily without phone service or unable to reach loved ones. Some were found deceased. Fewer than a dozen still haven’t been found.

Lenny is one of them. And as Holly Kays reports from Yancey County, the people who love him and a band of volunteer searchers still haven’t given up hope that they can give him a proper farewell.

Still Searching

Nearly three months after Hurricane Helene, friends and family of missing Yancey County musician Lenny Widawski are still looking for him. He’s one of fewer than a dozen people whose bodies have not been found. 

Making It Count

Provisional ballots, a last resort for voters whose eligibility is in question, can help decide elections in North Carolina. Take the state Supreme Court race: While Republican Jefferson Griffin led Democrat Allison Riggs by more than 10,000 votes as ballots were still being counted on election night, Riggs was ahead once officials finished tallying provisional and mail-in absentee ballots.

But they don’t always get counted, particularly when it comes to younger voters who are more likely to have ID or permanent address issues. Research conducted at Duke University found that 18- to 25-year-old voters cast provisional ballots at a rate nearly three times higher than the rest of the state in 2020. The rejection rate of those ballots was also higher, at almost 80 percent compared to a statewide average of around 60 percent.

Reporter Erin Gretzinger looks at the Student Voting Rights Lab, a joint project of students at Duke University and North Carolina Central University, and their efforts to track what happened with provisional ballots this year.

What We’re Reading

The Terminator: Amazon has fired the worker who spearheaded the growing unionization movement inside the company’s warehouse in Garner, INDY Week reports. Amazon said he was terminated for misconduct including derogatory and racist remarks.

Money Money Money: Bill Belichick’s move to UNC-CH as football head coach could be a watershed moment in an industry that’s very quickly turning professional, per Yahoo Sports.

The Best Disinfectant: In 2018, N.C. lawmakers changed campaign finance law to use a secret, longer process instead of public hearings. In the six years since, not a single campaign finance charge has been filed by a North Carolina state prosecutor, The N&O writes.

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