Hospitals suspend COVID-19 vaccination requirements Earlier this month, AdventHealth Hendersonville, Pardee UNC Health Care and Mission Health suspended requirements that employees become fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as per a federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services memorandum. CMS had issued an emergency regulation on Nov. 4 mandating that all eligible workers at Medicaid and Medicare-certified […]
As a professor of environmental education at Warren Wilson College, Mallory McDuff is experienced in teaching the next generation about environmentalism. “Climate is front and center for them,” she says. With the Dec. 7 publication of her book Our Last Best Act: Planning for the End of Our Lives to Protect the People and Places […]
A $10,000 scholarship for local Black students is the subject of a lawsuit by a group headed by a former Asheville City Council member. Carl Mumpower, president of WNC Citizens for Equality Inc. and a former chair of the Buncombe County Republican Party, filed a civil suit Oct. 11. It names the city of Asheville, […]
For more than half of nights in November, the Asheville-Buncombe Homeless Coalition called Code Purple: an emergency protocol, triggered when temperatures drop below freezing, to increase space in homeless shelters beyond normal capacity. But for all of those nights, people sleeping on Asheville’s streets had no officially designated place to go. The two Code Purple […]
While an undisputed highlight of living in Western North Carolina is proximity to the great outdoors, there’s something to be said for one’s own backyard. (Better bathroom facilities, for one.) Chances are that during the COVID-19 pandemic, many families have spent more time outside than usual. This year, the best holiday gift might be a […]
Unlike modern job-hoppers who switch roles every few years, Jill Sparks jokes that she’s a “monogamous worker.” She spent over six years at Appalachian State University, primarily in career planning services, and for the past 16 years, she’s worked at A-B Tech. As executive director of the community college’s Business Incubation and Small Business Center, […]
“Healthy relationships are the best protector against abusive relationships,” says Chaka-Khan Gordon of Helpmate, an Asheville nonprofit providing services and support for survivors of domestic violence.
UNC Asheville renamed four buildings on campus to honor notable women of North Carolina. The UNCA Building Renaming Task Force was charged with making recommendations for the individuals to be honored during the 2020-21 school year, which were presented to the college’s board of trustees and dedicated at a Nov. 3 ceremony. The former Vance […]
Some attendees posed questions such as “How can we see a full list of the ingredients used in this vaccine?” Others offered comments such as “This is child genocide!” and “Time to get a red pill about what’s really going on before too many dead kids are on your karma.”
Many issues are close to Vicki Meath’s heart. She has spent her life in community organizing, working on environmental justice with Western Colorado Congress and striving to raise Ohio’s minimum wage with Cleveland Jobs With Justice. In 2010, she joined Just Economics of Western North Carolina, a nonprofit that advocates for a living wage, as […]
As the executive director of True Ridge, a Hendersonville-based nonprofit serving Western North Carolina’s Hispanic population, Lori Garcia-McCammon has never had an easy job. Her organization helps survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and refers clients to bilingual mental health counselors. Recent years have been straining, as many of the Central American immigrants her […]
On Aug. 15, shock rippled around the world as Taliban forces took control of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Over the ensuing weeks, people watched on their TVs and phones as people crowded Kabul International Airport attempting to flee. Among those trying to leave were Afghans who had worked with the United States military, nongovernmental […]
Prior to Dr. Robyn Tiger’s class, “Yoga for Cancer Recovery,” Asheville Community Yoga hadn’t offered yoga tailored to the unique needs of cancer survivors. While Asheville is brimming with yoga instructors, fewer practice yoga therapy, which requires extensive specialized training.
When Jamie Lee Willocks was a teenager, she brought a cellphone with her to band class, which was not allowed. She received a text message from her mother, and the band director heard it. Willocks fessed up and paid the price with an in-school suspension. “I got in so much trouble and I did nothing […]
When Elizabeth learned that she was pregnant, she cried tears of joy. “I heard his heartbeat, and that was it,” she says. (Xpress is using her middle name to protect her privacy.) It was then that she decided to get clean. Elizabeth learned of her pregnancy while incarcerated for crimes she committed to support her […]
Teaching children to ride a bike can be nerve-racking for parents and kids alike. And Asheville mom Emi Kubota, a longtime cyclist, realized that while a lot of classes existed to teach kids how to ski, there was nothing for cycling. Kubota, a cycling instructor with the League of American Bicyclists, taught her daughter to […]
Members of the public can anonymously dispose of unused or expired opioid medications at HCA Healthcare’s Crush the Crisis events at various locations. Local law enforcement agencies are partnering with HCA Healthcare for the takeback event on Saturday, Oct. 23. The drop-off locations are Mission Hospital in Asheville, 1 Hospital Drive, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; Mission […]
Most people take their nether regions for granted as long as everything is working OK. But when there is pain or leakage or (shudder) painful leakage, it’s time to find help. Enter: physical therapists who specialize in pelvic health. Pelvic health is not as common a topic as other areas of the body. It may […]
Abigail Mary Elizabeth Crawford’s life started sometime in the weeks before Oct. 4, 2020. That was the date her mother, Jenna Crawford, giddily leapt on top of her sleeping father, Garry Wynn, holding a positive pregnancy test at 5:30 a.m. Wynn remembers Oct. 4 as “an unbelievably magic day.” The couple sailed ahead through milestones […]
On an upper floor of Zeis Hall on the UNC Asheville campus is a small room containing many birds. None of these birds are alive. Each one is dead, preserved through taxidermy and stacked side by side in individual Tupperware containers. The room, smelling faintly of formaldehyde, is a biological specimen laboratory. The collection is […]
In classrooms throughout North Carolina and Oklahoma, students are learning about the periodic table of elements or the origins of the Civil War. However, in some classrooms, the lessons are a bit more personal — Cherokee students are learning the history and language of their people. Cherokee speakers have made great efforts to keep their […]
