Sixteen candidates have officially thrown their hats into the ring for the Asheville City Council elections this fall. Each week, Xpress will introduce, in brief, four candidates’ backgrounds and ideas for the city. This week, we’ve got Marc Hunt, LaVonda Payne, Richard Liston and Ken Michalove.
Update: Four more candidates have filed for Asheville elections: Richard Liston, 2013 mayoral candidate John Miall, Holly Shriner and Dee Williams. And Rachel Halbert Allen filed for Black Mountain Alderman. By Thursday afternoon, 12 candidates had officially thrown their hats into the ring for the Asheville City Council elections this fall. In the surrounding Buncombe communities, an additional 20 candidates […]
On June 26, community members in the Asheville area gathered at the Vance Memorial in celebration on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of equality of marriage in all 50 states.
Update 6/15: The canary coalition recorded the June 11th Jackson county input meeting. The group has the video of the proceedings publicly available. Today is the final day for public input on the proposed rules for accepting voter identification at polling places. Submit comments via email to rules@ncsbe.gov Lines are expected to lengthen at the polls […]
Patrick McHenry (I) City of residence: Denver, N.C. Occupation: Previously worked in real estate Political experience: Six terms in U.S. House of Representatives, one term in N.C. House Do you believe having three primary contenders is representative of your performance and/or a fractured Republican Party? PM: I am encouraged the 10th District has multiple individuals […]
Jeffrey Baker City of residence: Mount Holly, N.C. Occupation: Self-employed private investigator Political experience: None Why are you running against six-term incumbent Rep. Patrick McHenry? JB: McHenry has let the voters of the 10th District down. He runs as a conservative but receives an F rating from all conservative groups. In December of 2015 McHenry […]
Jeff Gregory City of residence: Shelby, N.C. Occupation: Retired postmaster Political experience: I have voluntarily served our country and federal government for 30 years, both in the military and as a retired postmaster. Why are you running against six-term incumbent Rep. Patrick McHenry? JG: McHenry is a career politician who is only concerned with his […]
Albert Wiley, Jr. City of residence: Indian Beach, N.C. Occupation: Physician, DOE first responder, former nuclear engineer Political Experience: Appointed by Governor Tommy Thompson,(WI), to State of Wisconsin Biotechnology Council and Nuclear Waste Committee. I have been a previous candidate, for U.S. Congressman or Senator. This is my 7th, self-funded primary election campaign. Why are you running […]
Rick Bryson City of residence: Bryson City, N.C. Occupation: Industrial public relations; Bryson City alderman Political experience: Lifetime Democrat; lost bid for Swain County school board; Bryson City alderman since 2013 If you advance, do you believe you have a legitimate chance to defeat two-term incumbent Mark Meadows? RB: Absolutely. Meadows has done less than […]
Tom Hill City of residence: Zirconia, N.C. Occupation: Retired aerospace scientist; Ph.D. in physics Political experience: Led a successful citizen effort to remove former Henderson County Sheriff Rick Davis from office for sexual misconduct. Served as spokesman for a successful citizen effort to prevent large electrical transmission lines from being constructed in Henderson County. Democratic […]
City plans to improve infrastructure, expand public space, increase access and encourage private development in the River Arts District have triggered considerable controversy. Xpress reached out to the city, RAD business and property owners, and organizations involved in the now flourishing area’s revitalization to try to answer some key questions.
Education was a hot button issue this Friday, with the N.C. House passing a $22 billion spending budget, which increased funding for schools. This meant that a visit from Sen. Terry Van Duyn, D-Buncombe, who spoke today at an Asheville City Schools Foundation event, could not have come at a more relevant time.
Doing the county’s business takes longer these days. Meetings of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners now regularly run three hours or more, some say because of a partisan split and time-consuming conflict.
Tensions ran high at the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners’ April 7 meeting, as board members butted heads over a proposed policy change concerning closed sessions.
Twenty years ago, Sen. Martin Nesbitt spearheaded an initiative that aimed to make sure Western North Carolina wasn’t ignored when it came to bringing money, industry and jobs to the region. That initiative was the nonprofit agency Advantage West Economic Development Group, which covered a 23-county area, helped bring companies like Linamar and Sierra Nevada to […]
In February, N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory’s office issued a brief statement announcing eight new board appointments for the North Carolina Arts Council. None of those eight were from any of Western North Carolina’s 28 counties. What’s more, only three of the board’s existing members are from the region, prolonging the age-old divide between Raleigh and the western part of the state.
In addition to regular updates by Mark Barrett with the Asheville Citizen-Times, there are two locally based sources for getting a fix on the news in Raleigh, where North Carolina legislators meet — one from former Mountain Xpress editor Nelda Holder and the other from the nonprofit, online media source Carolina Public Press.
North Carolina could conceivably be one of the next states to legalize marijuana use for medicinal purposes, according to a report by higherperspective.com.
As Asheville City Council heads into an important election year, a variety of new local projects are in the works that aim to increase civic engagement.
This page features previews and recaps for meetings of hte Asheville City Council and Buncombe County Board of Commissioners.
While not quite as attention-getting as the impending end of the world would’ve been, the “tube-ocalypse” sucked in a drove of zombie-hungry readers this year: The most-viewed story on Mountainx.com in 2014 was “Asheville Tries for Tubing World Record with ‘Zombie Float.’” Here’s a look at the the top-10 most-viewed stories.
