Ongoing habitat loss and warming temperatures present an existential threat to Western North Carolina’s only native trout species, the brook trout.
Author: Xpress Contributor
Showing 1-21 of 562 results
From CPP: Vaccines critical for farmworkers in WNC
As one of the most vulnerable populations for COVID-19, farmworkers are key candidates for vaccination. Organizations in Western NC counties work to get shots to transient groups.
From CPP: Forest supervisor balances population, budget and environmental concerns
Forest supervisor James Melonas sets priorities for tenure as leader of state’s four national forests.
From CPP: Asheville City Council blocks public from retreat, says open meetings law does not apply
A coalition of media organizations takes legal action to ask courts to open the publicly-funded meeting.
From Asheville Watchdog: COVID-19: Those we’ve lost
A year has passed since Buncombe County recorded its first Covid-19 death on March 28, 2020. Since then, another 293 people have died. In the official government record, they’ll be remembered as statistics of a pandemic that killed swiftly and indiscriminately, but to their families, friends and neighbors, they were so much more.
Step up now to save Buncombe County’s farmland
“Faced with significant development pressures, we must do what we can to protect some of the region’s natural habitat and biodiversity, as well as our most productive farmland.”
From CPP: Black leadership advances new trails project in Pisgah National Forest
Creation of more than 40 miles of “purpose-built” trail system will serve a diverse range of users from equestrians to walkers.
From CPP: Environmental groups eye wastewater permit renewal for Canton paper mill
In town known for a foul smell and a river that used to run black, the Canton paper mill has made strides in cleaning up, and jobs depend on the facility. But environmentalists say concerns persist.
From NC News Service: New plan for natural strategies to curb NC floods, water pollution
Last year was the second-wettest on record for North Carolina, and communities across the state are looking for better ways to deal with intense rainfall and costly flooding.
Some local health care workers say ‘no’ or ‘not yet’ to COVID vaccine
Xpress reached out to learn about the concerns of health care workers who are choosing to avoid or delay taking the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as the thoughts of those who enthusiastically or reluctantly received the shots.
From CPP: Pandemic prompts cycling in cities, but NC politics could apply the brakes
Interest in cycling has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but funding for bike-friendly roads faces an uphill battle, both in Asheville and across the state.
P&W deal makes mockery of Peace Day proclamation
“We must ask ourselves, ‘What are we sowing in our community and in our world for generations to come?’ Will we build our economy on poison?”
From EdNC: N.C. community colleges prove vital to COVID-19 vaccine distribution
Health departments across the state have been relying on community colleges’ facilities, faculty, and students to run vaccination clinics.
From CPP: Climate change challenges trout industry in North Carolina
Increasing heat and stronger storms threaten trout populations dependent on clean, cold, oxygen-rich water. A decline in trout production could hurt farmers and recreational fishermen.
From EdNC: Teachers are ‘careful’ as reading instruction is revamped
In Transylvania County, the public school district is realigning reading instruction with the science of reading, a body of decades-old research on such subjects as how kids learn to read and best instructional practices. But teacher knowledge in that science is widely varied.
What it means to date — and not date — in Asheville right now
“What’s not funny, however, is the suggestion that anyone has a right to sex, tangential to a partner who desires to have it with them, particularly during a pandemic.”
From NC Health News: Fat bias at the doctor’s office takes a serious toll
Even with health insurance and ample provider availability, fat discrimination by providers can be a barrier to care for overweight people.
From Asheville Watchdog: Reparations, six months later — so far, empty promises
Six months ago, as part of a reckoning on racial injustice, the city of Asheville and Buncombe County both passed resolutions to consider reparations to the Black community as a way to begin making amends for slavery and generations of systemic discrimination. Since then, local officials concede, little has been done.
Can repurposing the Vance Monument help heal the divide in Asheville?
“We cannot avoid the hidden phantom side effects of the desecration of the monument, held so dear by so many.”
Chemical appeal
by Irene Olds
Local restaurants and their employees’ lives are being destroyed by government mandates
“Hospitality and culinary professionals are being mandated and regulated out of business for the sake of optics and at the senseless sacrifice of hardworking people and their families.”