Setting sail: Launch of hand-crafted sailboat to follow 11-year build

The launch ceremony for John Stevenson’s hand-built wooden sailboat will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 29, at the Asheville Sailing Club at Lake Julian Park, 406 Overlook Road Extension, Arden. The ceremony is free, open to the public and non-alcoholic drinks will be provided. Stevenson recommends coming early to inspect the boat pre-launch and staying later for an opportunity to sail.

Muddy Water Watch app celebrates first anniversar­y

It’s been just over a year since the locally developed Muddy Water Watch app was launched, enlisting citizen watchdogs to help protect their communities’ waterways. Conceived by the environmental nonprofit MountainTrue as an enhancement of its existing Muddy Water Watch program, the app makes it easy for residents to report potential problems with sedimentation in streams as well as other water quality issues.

DEA holds up industrial hemp in North Carolina

Local farmers are still holding out hope that 2017 will be the year industrial hemp grows in WNC fields for the first time in decades. But the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration isn’t making it easy for growers to source seed or seedlings in time for planting, which may mean another year of waiting for eager prospective hemp growers.