'We can't do it alone': Garrett hopes for help as state teams survey flood-hit areas in precursor to possible aid
'I'm going to have to gut everything inside here,' Hostetler said, gesturing toward water-stained wood paneling in the bar.
Hostetler and co-owner Tammy Miller were far from alone. The Garrett bar is among a half-dozen commercial businesses, in addition to dozens of homes, that have reported first-floor damage caused by last Tuesday's flooding in southern Somerset County, according to county emergency management officials.
Whether the property owners get a significant amount of the help they are seeking could depend on the combined results from the 51 properties – and on property visits that were underway Monday in hard-hit areas, including Garrett's Pine Street neighborhood and Mount Davis Road in Meyersdale.
PHOTO GALLERY | Flooding Cleanup | Garrett Borough | Somerset County
Staff from Somerset County's and Pennsylvania's emergency management agencies and the state's Small Business Administration were walking door to door, documenting high-water marks and other signs of first-floor flooding.
According to Somerset County Emergency Management Director Joel Landis, the Small Business Administration's findings will likely determine whether a broad spectrum of government support could be unlocked for disaster areas such as Meyersdale, Garrett and Elk Lick Township.
That includes low-interest Small Business Administration repair loans, which are only available if disasters inflict damage to the first floors of at least 25 homes or businesses, he said. And there is a set damage threshold that must be met to qualify each residence, Landis and Deputy Director Kevin Broadwater added.
'It's not always simple. Sometimes people have a different view of 'damage' than what we do,' Broadwater added.
The American Red Cross reported Monday that its disaster response team has already provided emergency recovery relief to approximately 80 people whose property damage met its own support criteria.
But the goal is to provide layers of support – whether it's local, state, federal or charity groups – to give hard-hit Somerset County residents as many chances as possible at getting help, Landis said.
That could be a big benefit for Hostetler, who is the second generation in his family to operate Dub's. He was still sorting out how he'll rebound from last week's devastation. He estimated that $30,000 in commercial kitchen equipment was destroyed.
The losses extend far beyond the old bar itself, a onetime speakeasy that his father later bought in the 1970s. His entire inventory of food and beer had to be discarded, he said.
'If I can get at least some help with the (building), I'd absolutely be interested,' Hostetler said.
There's no doubt there are many more people who need help, too, Garrett Borough Mayor Donald 'Butch' Walker said. After a Casselman River tributary spilled its banks last week, Walker said borough staffers immediately started contacting haulers to get as many dumpsters as they could find to help people begin clearing out their mud-soaked homes.
But there's only so much a borough of 415 residents with a $400,000 operating budget can do, he said.
'We're doing whatever we can to get them help,' he added, 'but we can't do it alone.'
Nearby, Zac Cooney and his wife, Autumn, were sitting inside a garage that just five days earlier was flooded by knee-deep water. The flood washed out their furnace, swept up tools and carried their picnic bench two blocks down to Garrett's Walker Street underpass, he said.
Some of their belongings are 'probably gone for good,' Cooney said, leaning against his side-by-side utility vehicle.
It's too soon to know how they'll replace it all, Cooney said. But it's all just material goods, he added. Their two sons, ages 2 and 3, were playing nearby – and unharmed by the disaster.
'They are what matters,' Cooney said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hamilton Spectator
12 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Ship Happens: One-time car ferry sets sail as bar and grill in Port Dalhousie
If the Normac, a boat moored at Port Dalhousie Pier Marina that recently opened as the Ship Happens Bar & Grill, were an animal, it couldn't be anything but a cat. What else on the Seven Seas — not to mention, the Great Lakes — has nine lives? Before it opened in 1970 as the first floating restaurant in Toronto Harbour, the 130-foot vessel had already served as a fireboat for the Detroit Fire Department and then as a ferry on Georgian Bay, hauling cars between Tobermory and Manitoulin Island. It was docked along the Cleveland Flats and was about to be put up for auction when Nino Donatelli, the owner of Port Dalhousie Pier Marina, purchased the boat and brought it to St. Catharines through the Welland Canal. He wanted to return the Normac to its former glory as a restaurant. Since 2002, he has been accomplishing that goal, overcoming such obstacles as extensive — and expensive — as dredging and rebuilding the boat following a fire 10 years ago. Permanently moored at the marina, the Normac ceased being a boat in everything but its distinctive shape long ago. Donatelli pointed out that it became a building subject to municipal regulations after it hooked into such services as water, sewer, and electricity. Donatelli never ran the Normac as a restaurant himself, but leased it to a succession of tenants 'as opposed to building a restaurant' at the marina. He considered the marina as the venture's primary catchment area. 'There are 400 boats and figure two people per boat,' Donatelli said. 'Just serving them was all I was concerned about.' Before reopening as Ship Happens after being closed for several years, the boat-turned-restaurant operated as the Thirsty Cactus and Taco & Tequila, perhaps enjoying its greatest success under the latter. Reinhold and Trish Pentzek, who own Riverbank Tavern in Welland and, for the past two years, have had a boat at the marina, never thought about running another restaurant until Donatelli opened their eyes to the possibilities by giving them a tour of the Normac. They came away impressed. 'It seemed doable,' Trish said. 'We didn't do it last year. 'This year we said we would try and do it.' It hasn't been smooth sailing by any means for the Pentzeks. 'Lots of hiccups because it hasn't been opened for so many years,' she said. 'Some people just wanted us to open right away, so we did. 'We're working on it, constantly working on it and making sure for next year it's going to be absolutely perfect.' Ship Happens had a soft opening about three weeks ago, and business has been 'very good.' 'We've had a lot of support, and it's been great. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays have been amazing.' Ship Happens has yet to have its own website. Advertising so far has been word of mouth following a post on Facebook. The reaction to that post caught the couple by surprise. A vessel that once served as a fire boat in Detroit and a car ferry on Georgian Bay has been moored at Port Dalhousie Pier Marina since 2002. It recently opened as a bar and grill called Ship Happens. 'Somebody told me, 'You better be prepared, somebody put it on Facebook,'' Trish said. 'There have been a huge amount of likes and, yeah, we got slammed.' The Pentzeks never really thought about the marina lacking a restaurant when they were going on and off their boat. 'We were busy with the other place, my husband also has his company that we work with,' she said. 'I didn't really think about it until I toured the boat.' Most of the clientele isn't from people who dock boats in the marina. 'Actually, it's a lot of people walking in,' Reinhold said. So far, the investment of time, money, and sweat equity to get Ship Happens ship shape has been worth it to the Pentzeks. 'I didn't think this would get so busy so fast, but it did,' she answered when asked if she was concerned about spreading herself too thin. 'I have my family, my daughters. We have a friend in there, Justin, who helps out, so we're all together working and doing this together and making it work.' The memorable name — a take on, of course, Boat Happens — also was a collaborative effort. 'I asked my daughters and I asked my husband,' Trish said. 'I gave them a whole list of names, and everyone had this name on their list. 'People love it, it's great. Next year, all the girls are going to have it on their T-shirts.' The biggest hurdle was getting the equipment up to date and ensuring everything was working properly. They plan to 'boost up our menu next year.' 'We made it very plain this year,' she said, such as salads, chicken wings, wraps. 'I didn't even know what to expect. I didn't know if I expected boat people only coming or people from out there, so we made the menu very simple. 'Now we know what to expect, people are asking for different things, so we know what to do now.' The name is more than appropriate, according to Reinhold. 'And it does apply. You go along and 'ship' happens,' he said with a laugh in recalling the work involved in getting the Normac ready for its next life. The seasonal restaurant, which will be open from April until October, currently has about 10 employees. It is closed Monday, open from 5 p.m. until 11 p.m. or midnight Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and from noon until close Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
WIRED
2 days ago
- WIRED
How Edward ‘Big Balls' Coristine and DOGE Got Access to a Federal Payroll System That Serves the FBI
Jul 30, 2025 11:58 AM Hundreds of pages of records reviewed by WIRED show just how quickly DOGE gained access to systems at the Small Business Administration—and through it, a USDA system that handles payroll for federal law enforcement. Photograph:In early February, Edward 'Big Balls' Coristine was one of two operatives for Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) granted potentially wide-ranging access to a number of systems at the Small Business Administration (SBA). Through that foray, DOGE gained access to the National Finance Center (NFC), a sensitive system that provides human resources and payroll functions for the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), among other agencies. This access has not been previously reported. And new reporting from WIRED, including the review of hundreds of pages of documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, offers insight into the comprehensive access DOGE operatives were able to gain to federal systems in the early days of the second Trump administration—and just how quickly they got it. Coristine is a 19-year-old who was one of DOGE's earliest hires and was brought on as a permanent government employee at the General Services Administration (GSA) before resigning and then resurfacing as a special government employee at the Social Security Administration. He and Donald Park, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu enthusiast and private equity investor, have previously been identified as DOGE operatives at the SBA who sought access to HR, contracting, and payment systems and information. Neither replied to requests for comment. Records reviewed by WIRED show that within five hours of a request from the office of the SBA's chief information officer that they be given access to SBA systems, Park and Coristine—who went by the online name 'Big Balls' and had reportedly been fired from an internship at a network monitoring firm known for hiring reformed blackhat hackers, after being suspected of leaking internal information—were granted entrance to the agency's core financial and loan systems. Not long after that, Coristine had access to NFC systems not even housed within the SBA, the agency to which he had been detailed. The mechanical process of granting access appears to have started just past noon on February 3, when Stephen Kucharski, the director of the SBA's Office of Performance Systems Management, an office in the SBA's Office of Capital Access, emailed 19 colleagues with an urgent request. Two DOGE affiliates, he said, were to be given the digital keys to the agency immediately. Under the subject line 'system access for Edward Coristine,' Kucharski wrote, 'Please help me and my OCIO colleagues as we mobilize to provide Edward Coristine and Donald Park Admin access to all SBA systems. This action has been cleared and we are on a very short time frame. Doug will be arranging a call to answer questions and I will add Edward to this distribution list as soon as we create his SBA account. His account should be completed very shortly.' The two biggest priorities, he added, were the SBA's human resources system and its contract system, to include 'detailed data on all active procurements.' Four minutes after sending his initial request, Kucharski followed up to add the SBA's chief information security officer. At 12:33 pm, Elias Hernandez, the associate administrator for the Office of Veterans Business Development, followed up with a message titled, "URGENT REQUEST FROM SBA!" to a smaller group addressed to Michael Jackson, the director of the NFC. (Kucharski, Hernandez, and Jackson did not reply to requests for comment.) 'Please help me get this request to the right NFC leaders who can make this happen ASAP,' Hernandez wrote. 'We need the NFC to grant Admin access to the reporting center, insights, and the NFC Mainframe for all SBA Personnel Office Identifiers (POIs) to the following SBA DOGE employees.' The NFC is an agency nested inside the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) that handles payroll for 650,000 government employees—over a fifth of the federal workforce—across more than 170 agencies, including the SBA, according to a source familiar with it who was granted anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the press. The information contained in the NFC's systems includes the Social Security numbers, banking information, addresses, and dates of birth for federal employees, including members of the FBI and DOJ. 'We can and have managed the complexities of law enforcement pay for decades,' says the source. (The USDA referred a request for comment from WIRED to the SBA. The SBA did not respond to multiple requests for comment.) According to the source familiar with the NFC, requests for access, especially for sensitive systems, normally go through a vetting process. The request is evaluated and, if granted, only permits the lowest level of access required. 'We were being told,' they believed, 'to give them unlimited access.' According to emails viewed by WIRED, an IT manager at the NFC requested that Coristine and Park be granted 'admin authority' to the mainframe and access to two other applications: Insight, which includes detailed employment records, and the Reporting Center, which includes payroll data. The requests for Insight and the Reporting Center were for 'read only' access, meaning that Coristine and Park could see data in the system, but not change it. Within roughly three hours of Kucharski's email, the DOGE operatives had mainframe access, giving them—according to the source—the power to see sensitive information like an employee's 'salary, banking, address, deductions, debt and other vital employment information' at the NFC. In an email timestamped 4:15 pm, less than an hour after this access was granted, Coristine wrote to Hernandez and the SBA's deputy chief human capital officer, with another request: 'Could you please send me the NFC CIO's phone number?' All of this was quite unusual by normal government standards, though not those prevailing at the time: As Coristine and Park were gaining access to the NFC mainframe, another DOGE operative, Marko Elez, had gained read-write access to the Payment Automation Manager and Secure Payment System at the Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service. The speed at which DOGE operatives were able to access these datasets, says Don Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, was highly concerning, because it indicates they likely did not go through the regular screening and security clearance processes required of government employees who handle sensitive information. 'As far as we know, these people don't have real security background checks,' he says. Experts WIRED previously spoke to doubted that Coristine could have obtained a clearance. SBA spokesperson Caitlin O'Dea says, 'As federal employees, all personnel are subject to a rigorous clearance protocol prior to interacting with agency data. SBA is grateful to those who have helped uncover millions in fraud, waste, and abuse on behalf of American taxpayers and small businesses.' 'Oversight Democrats demand to know if this kid—and any of the DOGE employees shuffling through Americans' sensitive data—have passed the required background checks and clearances. DOGE continues to put the whims of the White House over the safety, security, and well-being of the American people and our nation,' Stephen Lynch, member of the House Oversight Committee, tells WIRED in a statement. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Shortly after Kucharski's initial request, Park sent an email to Coristine with the subject line, 'List of systems.' Coristine then forwarded this request to Kucharski. An hour after that, Coristine emailed another SBA employee with the subject line, 'RE: Access to Oracle & SQL Server Databases.' This appears to have put Coristine in position to potentially access significant amounts of sensitive personal information. The SBA supports small businesses and entrepreneurs by helping them access loans, government contracts, and business counseling and educational resources. As part of its routine processes, according to a current SBA employee who asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak to the press, 'we collect a lot of data, like employer identification numbers (EINs), North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) numbers, and Social Security numbers.' Coristine would likely have had access to this sort of information because he was, according to emails obtained by WIRED, granted access to records and systems including the Capital Access Financial System (CAFS), the SBA's main portal for submitting and servicing loans His access further encompassed several CAFS subsystems that can contain granular information on loans and loan applications. 'Each one on its own doesn't have boatloads of information, but added together, the CAFS system as a whole, if you flip between the tabs, has all of the information from loan applications, street addresses, tax IDs, additional notes from SBA investigations and holds, etc.,' says a second SBA source familiar with some of the systems Coristine and Park had sought to gain access to, also on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the press. Additionally, the source says, CAFS does have fields for citizenship status and for an alien registration number for noncitizens, as well as, the street address of the business, race, gender of the person listed as principal. Though agencies will sometimes loan staffers to each other for specific projects or to share particular expertise, Moynihan says that a single person or group of people 'operating in multiple agencies, accessing multiple data sets at the same time is really unusual.' 'I can't think of another example like this,' he says. While the emails reveal little about the purpose of DOGE's access to these systems at SBA and NFC, Moynihan says, 'the sensitivity of the data leads us to worry about the worst case scenario.' In April, WIRED reported that DOGE was marrying datasets across several agencies to support the Trump administration's immigration agenda, and to particularly target immigrants for removal or other forms of law enforcement. 'We're left speculating what the intention was here, given the information vacuum created by DOGE,' says Moynihan.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
3 European Stocks Estimated At Up To 41.3% Discount To Intrinsic Value
As European markets navigate the complexities of potential EU-U.S. trade deals and a slightly hawkish stance from the European Central Bank, investors are keenly observing opportunities that may arise from these developments. In this context, identifying stocks that are undervalued can be particularly appealing, as they offer potential value against a backdrop of cautious optimism in the market. Top 10 Undervalued Stocks Based On Cash Flows In Europe Name Current Price Fair Value (Est) Discount (Est) Talenom Oyj (HLSE:TNOM) €3.52 €6.95 49.3% Selvita (WSE:SLV) PLN35.50 PLN69.87 49.2% Logic Instrument (ENXTPA:ALLOG) €2.18 €4.32 49.5% Laboratorios Farmaceuticos Rovi (BME:ROVI) €55.75 €109.12 48.9% JOST Werke (XTRA:JST) €52.10 €102.82 49.3% Echo Investment (WSE:ECH) PLN5.36 PLN10.70 49.9% doValue (BIT:DOV) €2.548 €5.00 49% cyan (XTRA:CYR) €2.20 €4.36 49.5% BHG Group (OM:BHG) SEK24.50 SEK48.78 49.8% Atea (OB:ATEA) NOK143.60 NOK282.50 49.2% Click here to see the full list of 194 stocks from our Undervalued European Stocks Based On Cash Flows screener. Here's a peek at a few of the choices from the screener. Sartorius Stedim Biotech Overview: Sartorius Stedim Biotech S.A. produces and sells instruments and consumables for the biopharmaceutical industry globally, with a market cap of €17.47 billion. Operations: The company's revenue is primarily derived from its Biopharm segment, which generated €2.90 billion. Estimated Discount To Fair Value: 12.6% Sartorius Stedim Biotech's recent earnings report shows strong cash flow with a net income increase to €68.5 million for Q2 2025, up from €47.6 million the previous year. The stock trades at approximately 12.6% below its estimated fair value of €205.46 and is expected to see significant earnings growth of 27.49% per year, outpacing the French market average. Despite high debt levels, strategic expansions and partnerships bolster its long-term prospects in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Upon reviewing our latest growth report, Sartorius Stedim Biotech's projected financial performance appears quite optimistic. Get an in-depth perspective on Sartorius Stedim Biotech's balance sheet by reading our health report here. Landis+Gyr Group Overview: Landis+Gyr Group AG, along with its subsidiaries, offers integrated energy management solutions to the utility sector across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions and has a market cap of CHF1.99 billion. Operations: The company's revenue is primarily derived from its operations in the Americas ($967.49 million), Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) ($639.04 million), and the Asia Pacific region ($158.68 million). Estimated Discount To Fair Value: 18.3% Landis+Gyr Group's stock is trading at CHF69.2, approximately 18.3% below its estimated fair value of CHF84.73, suggesting potential undervaluation based on cash flows. The company's revenue is forecast to grow by 6.7% annually, surpassing the Swiss market average of 4%. Recent agreements with Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative and advancements in smart grid technology may enhance future cash flows despite current profitability challenges and a recent net loss of US$150.46 million for fiscal year 2025. Our comprehensive growth report raises the possibility that Landis+Gyr Group is poised for substantial financial growth. Click here and access our complete balance sheet health report to understand the dynamics of Landis+Gyr Group. Overview: S.A. operates a leading commerce platform for consumers in Poland and internationally, with a market cap of PLN38.86 billion. Operations: generates revenue from its core commerce platform, serving consumers both in Poland and internationally. Estimated Discount To Fair Value: 41.3% is trading at PLN36.89, significantly below its estimated fair value of PLN62.85, indicating it may be undervalued based on cash flows. The company reported Q1 2025 sales of PLN2.62 billion and net income of PLN296.5 million, showing growth from the previous year. Earnings are projected to grow at 20.65% annually, outpacing the Polish market's average growth rate while revenue is expected to increase by 10.2% per year. The growth report we've compiled suggests that future prospects could be on the up. Click to explore a detailed breakdown of our findings in balance sheet health report. Summing It All Up Reveal the 194 hidden gems among our Undervalued European Stocks Based On Cash Flows screener with a single click here. Invested in any of these stocks? Simplify your portfolio management with Simply Wall St and stay ahead with our alerts for any critical updates on your stocks. Simply Wall St is your key to unlocking global market trends, a free user-friendly app for forward-thinking investors. Searching for a Fresh Perspective? Explore high-performing small cap companies that haven't yet garnered significant analyst attention. Diversify your portfolio with solid dividend payers offering reliable income streams to weather potential market turbulence. Fuel your portfolio with companies showing strong growth potential, backed by optimistic outlooks both from analysts and management. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include ENXTPA:DIM SWX:LAND and WSE:ALE. This article was originally published by Simply Wall St. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
