“By expanding the blitz to four counties and making a game of it, we hope to be able to engage more people and find more species,” said MountainTrue Public Lands Biologist Josh Kelly. “We might even find some that have never been recorded in our region.”
A new health center opened May 2 to reach adolescents in need of health care right where they are: in school. Asheville Middle School’s school-based health center, or SBHC, is a medical office located on campus and open during school hours. It is staffed by a physician assistant part-time and a full-time registered nurse; a […]
Requests outlined by Buncombe County Schools Superintendent Tony Baldwin and Asheville City Schools Superintendent Gene Freeman sought county government spending increases of up to $27.9 million, representing a nearly 32% jump from the county’s current contribution.
The local music nonprofit brings back its Sound Effects Benefit Concert and moves into a new West Asheville home.
About 35 acres of the nearly 450-acre tract — purchased by the nonprofit Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy in 2020 and recently transferred to the town of Canton — are now open, including the Berm Park mountain bike skills course and a mixed-use hiking/biking trail.
Although the region’s technology sector is relatively small, local tech entrepreneurs take pride in their Asheville-inflected approach to business. The firms flourishing here combine a devotion to quality with a sense of social responsibility, aiming to make up for their modest proportions in societal impact.
Candidates elected to the board will help pick a new superintendent, address Asheville City Schools’ achievement and opportunity gaps between Black and white students and face a wave of resignations and declining financial reserves within the system.
Candidates in the Asheville City Board of Education 2022 primary race share their positions with Xpress.
A study conducted by MountainTrue found an average of 19 microplastic particles — pieces smaller than 5 millimeters, formed by the breakdown of larger plastics — per liter of water in local river systems. Exposure to microplastics has been tied to allergic reactions and other health impacts in humans, as well as negative effects on fish.
“We try to bring a little soul, a little blues and jazz to the conversation,” says Darin Waters, co-host of “The Waters and Harvey Show,” on BPR. “We try to show that the life of a scholar doesn’t have to be, and isn’t, boring.”
Read to Succeed, OpenDoors of Asheville and Big Brothers Big Sisters of WNC have all begun to focus more intentionally on closing race-based opportunity gaps in recent years.
Delaney Burke, who directs youth operations for the YMCA in Western North Carolina, says she notices that adolescent volunteers get as much out of their service as do the younger kids with whom they work. “They take leadership roles,” she says. “And when they see themselves as leaders, they become more confident.”
The Parkway Playhouse, Montford Moppets and Flat Rock Playhouse’s Studio 52 instill life skills in local young people through the magic of theater.
Plummer shares her thoughts on the Young Men’s Institute Cultural Center, which celebrated its 129th birthday Feb. 12.
People who work on the issue in Western North Carolina agree that period poverty is more widespread than it may seem due to the cultural stigmas of both poverty and menstruation. And financial issues wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic have made menstrual hygiene products even more inaccessible for many.
Porsha Carter of SILSA’s Glitter Sisters discusses working together with fellow women of color to build each other up.
Trinity Brown, co-president of Mars Hill University’s National Organization for Women chapter, discusses creating the campus group, feminism’s global nature and her ongoing work.
Commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, who chairs the county board’s Early Childhood and Development Committee, outlined a plan for $7.5 million in additional spending on pre-K expansion over the next two years. Funding would come from the county’s roughly $27 million in remaining federal American Rescue Plan Act money.
Rebecca Hart, a senior at Western Carolina University and the student body president speaks to the leadership roles that women hold at WCU, the goals of inclusivity and the threats women face on campuses across the nation.
Sarah Boler, co-president of Mars Hill University’s National Organization for Women chapter, discusses role models, racial equity and taking back the night.
The Asheville City Board of Education asked attorney Chris Campbell to speak on the desegregation order’s history and legal status during a Jan. 28 meeting. While the board took no action, Chair James Carter indicated that members would consider asking the court to change or end the order in the coming months.
