It’s now been 1 week since Hurricane Maria made direct contact with the American territory of Puerto Rico as a category 5 storm, the most powerful category possible. Thousands are still without communication, power, homes, or a reliable supply of food and water.

CNN recently interviewed Lydia Rivera from the small town of Utuado, who told them that she’s now rationing crackers and drinking rainwater to keep her two grandchildren alive.

“No water, no food,” Rivera told CNN. “It’s nobody’s fault. It’s the weather. You have to go on.”

This is what it looks like as you drive around Puerto Rico, where millions of Americans are left without power, access to food, clean water, or medical supplies, after Hurricane Maria swept through the island. Follow @billweircnn for more from the ground.

A post shared by CNN (@cnn) on Sep 26, 2017 at 7:07am PDT

Aqui pensando como volver a construir lo que fue la casa de mis abuelos una verdadera casa jibara una casa donde se secaba el cafe donde salio mi raiz vamos a ponernos de pie #originaljibarito #puertorico #jibarito #mihijo #notecopies #miislaselevanta

A post shared by eliaspescador (@eliaspescadorphotography) on Sep 27, 2017 at 4:48am PDT

Charlotte has the largest Puerto Rican populations in the Carolinas and we currently have hundreds of family members who have no idea if their relatives are dead or alive – or if they’re stranded or trapped.

A new Facebook Group, called ‘Unaccounted For Loved Ones‘ has been set up to help let people know if their loved ones have been marked save.

The Puerto Rican Cultural Society of Charlotte’s Facebook Page has also been very active in helping relief and rescue efforts for the island.

Yesterday they posted this flyer with several drop-off locations and events in Charlotte to help victims of the Hurricane;

Please consider donating to relief efforts and please pray for Puerto Rico! 

With World Teachers’ Day around the corner and a number of states, such as Kentucky, Michigan and Minnesota, currently facing pension crises that adversely affect their educators, the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2017’s Best & Worst States for Teachers.

In order to help educators find the best opportunities and teaching environments in the U.S., WalletHub analyzed the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 21 key metrics, ranging from teachers’ income growth potential to pupil-teacher ratio to teacher safety.

North Carolina came in at #45 on the ranking (7th worst), and South Carolina came in at #49 (3rd worst). Hawaii (#50) and Arizona (#51) were ranked as the worst states, while New Jersey (#2) and New York (#1) were ranked the best.

Here are some of the break downs of why our state was ranked so poorly:

Teacher-Friendliness of North Carolina (1=Best; 25=Avg.)

• 36^th – Avg. Starting Salary for Teachers (Adjusted for Cost of Living)
• 34^th – Avg. Annual Salary for Teachers (Adjusted for Cost of Living)
• 34^th – Pupil-Teacher Ratio
• 43^rd – Public-School Spending per Student
• 38^th – Teachers’ Income Growth Potential
• 46^th – 10-Year Change in Teacher Salaries
• 43^rd – Teacher Safety

You can view the full report, including all the specific metrics used, here on wallethub.com.

What do you think the school systems in North Carolina should work on first to start improving?

According to this morning’s latest prediction from the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Maria is on track to impact North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

Their latest forecast shows the cone of the storm first affecting the outer banks on Wednesday;

WCNC’s weather forecast shows the storm slowing down to a category 1 hurricane by the time the cone reaches the Carolinas, with estimated wind speeds of around 90mph;

Based on the current projections, it’s not likely that the hurricane will make direct landfall with the Carolinas, but depending on how big the wind field gets, the Outer Banks will likely see at least tropical storm force winds (74+ MPH).

Hurricane Maria is currently moving north at 9 mph, and there is still quite a bit of uncertainty in it’s future path. This morning’s latest ECEF spaghetti string model shows the possability of the storm shifting even further to the west over the next couple of days and making directe landfall with the Carolinas;

Please continue to monitor the National Hurricane Center’s website as the storm makes its way up the coast.