ASKville

These days, Asheville is a national hub for alternative medicine. That makes it hard to imagine what the local health-care landscape was like back in 1985, when Mary Cissy Majebe opened the city's first Chinese medicine and acupuncture clinic. Photo by Jonathan Welch And the ensuing two-and-a-half decades were not without their challenges: In 1990, […]

Reality check

In prior years, staffers attended Asheville City Council retreats primarily to answer questions as elected officials drafted their strategic plan for the coming year. But with a budget still hampered by the economic slump, a year of hiring freezes and holds on staff raises as well as 16 (count 'em) master plans coming round the […]

Asheville City Council tackles a full agenda (initial Twitter coverage of Jan. 12 meeting)

Council had a full agenda, including a request by Mission Hospitals to add a five-story outpatient facility, consideration of an innovative plan to help citizens make Asheville more energy independent, a plea to run drinking-water lines to homes near the former CTS plant, and a request to amend the Glen Rock conditional use permit.

She scoots when you can’t

Downtown Asheville regulars may already be familiar with Amanda Levesque. The 26-year-old makes regular rounds of the downtown business district via an electric wheelchair adorned with bumper stickers bearing snappy messages or left over from political campaigns. Savvy scooter: She Who Scoots is Amanda Levesque's new downtown errand service. Photo by Jonathan Welch Now, however, […]

New Council members, re-elected mayor take their seats

Applause isn't typically allowed inside the Asheville City Council chamber, and those attending the regular Tuesday-night meetings are asked to refrain from emotional outbursts. But loud cheers and claps punctuated a special Dec. 8 session at which three new Council members and a re-elected mayor were sworn in. The new lineup: Following a short ceremony, […]