“This is an opportunity for the state to leverage funds in a way that benefits entire communities, not just in urban areas, but across the state.”
New Stories
Letter: Malvern Hills Pool deserves a second life
“With Council’s support and funding from general obligation bonds, the pool could be renewed, providing a public space to build friendships and community for many decades to come.”
Letter: School site could be repurposed for reparations
“Why not locate a resource center and an early childhood education center for Black students there, at 441 Haywood Road?”
Letter: Let Southside Community Farm thrive
“In a time when local food is essential, a discussion about growing food or paving the land for a playground is senseless.”
Council to hold public hearing on proposed budget Tuesday, May 28
The proposed budget includes a 4.11% salary increase for all permanent city employees.
State sues Pactiv Evergreen over $12 million subsidies for shuttered Canton mill
“This company has broken our economy, tried to break our spirits, and broken promises, and that’s not how we raise our children in this state,” said Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers. “There are consequences for one’s actions.”
Protecting wildlife from selfie culture
“It is interesting to me that anybody would think it’s OK to just walk up and grab a bear cub and not be concerned about where mama is,” says Appalachian Wildlife Refuge co-founder Savannah Trantham said. “If she had been close by, I think that you probably would have seen a different outcome.”
County manager recommends tax hike to balance 2024-25 budget
County manager Avril Pinder’s proposed $441.9 million general fund budget, which still has to go through a public hearing and final vote next month, includes a 2.55 cent property tax increase next fiscal year.
ArtsAVL’s Creative Spaces study spotlights affordability gaps
The data comes from 400 surveys — 305 (76%) by arts professionals and 95 (24%) by arts businesses — across Buncombe, Haywood Henderson and Madison Counties in early 2024.
Mission’s urology services loses physicians; Asheville Urological Associates gives up privileges there
Mission Hospital faces an exodus of urologists, and five physicians from a local urology group refuse to practice at the HCA Healthcare-owned hospital, potentially reducing the number of specialists in the system to two by summer.
BREAKING: Organizers say they are ‘pausing’ Project Aspire
Project Aspire — a vast mixed-use, mixed-income venture slated for downtown Asheville — would have occupied 10.5 acres in downtown Asheville.
Around the region: WNC police chiefs discuss challenges, strategies
For this month’s “Around the Region,” Xpress talked to six area police chiefs about how smaller law enforcement agencies address crime, public safety, recruitment and retention, community relations and other issues.
Hospitality workers reveal health care struggles in new survey
Less than one-fourth of Asheville hospitality workers in a recent survey have paid sick leave, and 85% have gone to work sick.
UNCA applies institutional neutrality to Gaza protests, social justice displays
“Institutional neutrality promotes the open exchange of ideas and avoids inhibiting scholarship, creativity, and expression,” UNCA Chancellor Kimberly van Noort wrote in a public update to students and faculty earlier this month. “Compromising this position carries great risks.”