The final round of hurricane assistance checks for fishermen is on its way. A final group of 1176 checks totaling $450,000 was mailed Thursday (June 13) to eligible fishermen through the. In total $11.6 million was distributed to commercial fishermen and shellfish harvesters adversely effected by Hurricane Florence. The vast majority of that money was dispensed by May 20 but some funds were set aside to cover any late filers and those with questions about their harvests. In all, checks were written to fishermen in 39 counties. The final distribution emptied the fund balance and closes the program.
George Olsen is a 1977 Havelock High School graduate. He received his B.A. in Broadcast Journalism from the University of South Carolina in 1982 where he got his first taste of non-commercial radio working for their student station WUSC. After graduation he worked about five years in commercial radio before coming to work at Public Radio East where he has remained since outside of a nearly 3-year stint as jazz and operations coordinator at WUAL in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in the early 1990s. On his return to eastern North Carolina he hosted classical music for Public Radio East before moving into the Morning Edition host position and now can be heard on All Things Considered. He also hosts and produces The Sound, five hours of Americana, Roots Rock and Contemporary Folk weekday evenings on PRE Public Radio East News & Ideas, and is a news and feature producer for Public Radio East.