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With the contest for Asheville City Council taking place for the first time alongside a presidential election, the risk of local issues getting lost in the shuffle has grown. Add in a pandemic, misinformation spreading on social media and questions about the security and validity of election results — clearly, our independent and free local election coverage is more important than ever before.

Health in brief: Asheville Yoga Center hits the market, website tracks impact of opioid crisis in Buncombe

Asheville Yoga Center, a pillar of the city’s emerging “wellness district” in the area around South Liberty Street, is up for sale. The transition represents the next phase of changes brought about by the divorce of the center’s founders, Stephanie and Sunny Keach, according to Melissa Driver, the company’s general manager. Also in brief: prostate cancer screening tips for men, new programs and services and a new website that illustrates the impact of the opioid epidemic on the local community.

Mark Forbes at MountainCare

Wellness in brief: Adult day program loses space

In April, Pardee UNC Health Care notified MountainCare that it would no longer donate the use of the 6,000-square-foot building that houses MountainCare’s Henderson County adult day program. MountainCare now must move out by the end of the year to allow Pardee to reuse or sell the building and seeks a free or low-cost space where the program can continue operating.

Find your power: Growing Goddesses teaches girls empowerment through personal responsibility

Updated 2020 WNC camp listings

Mountain Xpress‘ original guide to 2020 summer camps appeared in the March 18 issue, but many camps have since made adjustments to follow state guidelines for COVID-19. In light of the changes, Xpress has updated the guide below to reflect which camps have been postponed, canceled or gone virtual. Because the health considerations continue to […]

Neeraj Kebede at Addissae Ethiopian Restaurant

Biz briefs: Buncombe continues to see high COVID-19 unemployme­nt, business closures

The county, North Carolina’s seventh-most populous, was fifth on the state’s list of counties by number of pandemic-related first-time unemployment insurance claimants in April. Of those claims, 21.7% were from workers in the leisure and hospitality industries, while 15.6% were from the trade, transportation and utilities sector.