Town council and mayoral candidates in Asheville’s closest neighbor to the north, Woodfin, know that growth is inevitable, and the crowds are coming. The threat of uncontrolled growth led to a dramatic turnover on council two years ago, and more fresh faces have emerged to run as the old guard steps down.
The N.C. Supreme Court ruled recently that Senate Bill 824, a voter ID law originally passed in 2018 by the Republican-led North Carolina General Assembly, is constitutional, meaning photo identification will be required for the upcoming municipal elections in Woodfin and Weaverville
As the newest appointees to the Buncombe County Board of Elections, Stein, a registered Democrat, and Braine, a registered Republican, are both impressed with the security and organization of Buncombe’s elections, despite allegations of election improprieties in other states.
North Carolina is on the brink of banning transgender athletes in women’s sports from middle school through college. HB 574, also known as the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, requires a student’s sex to be recognized solely based on reproductive biology for the purposes of athletic participation.
On July 1, the window in which to end a pregnancy in North Carolina narrowed. Senate Bill 20 criminalizes abortion after 12 weeks of gestation with few exceptions and places additional requirements on women seeking abortions.
Last month, Rep. Chuck Edwards convened a nine-member agricultural advisory board to provide a variety of perspectives as he advocates for the region’s interests in the farm bill.
In increasingly polarizing political times, organizations centered on the right to vote have united for their common cause.
The microgrid includes 2 megawatts of solar panel capacity and 4.4 MW of battery storage. Those resources are enough to power the entire town for an extended period if its connection to the main grid is disrupted.
Council to vote on switch to public ‘work sessions’ Tuesday, Feb. 14.
Lindsey Prather, Eric Ager and Caleb Rudow have a lot to learn over the state legislative session that started Jan. 25. All three Democrats won their first elections in November after the retirement of three multi-term representatives from Buncombe County.
Xpress spoke with Edwards in the latest installment of our “WTF?” feature — Want The Facts — to learn more about what his office can provide, how residents can reach out and what his goals are for constituent service.
Buncombe first hired Ward and Smith last May, agreeing to pay the firm $72,000 annually to advocate for the county’s interests at the state legislature. A Jan. 30 gathering at the DoubleTree hotel in Biltmore Village marked the first extended public discussion of the lobbyists’ work since that contract was inked.
North Carolina can support as many as nine Las Vegas-style casinos with gambling throughout the state, including one in the Asheville area, according to a report commissioned by the General Assembly.
Xpress reached out to the area’s elected officials, activists and community leaders to learn more about what they took away from 2022’s political action.
Asheville on Bikes has recently drawn attention for its successful advocacy at City Hall, but it’s just one of many community organizations that seek to pull the levers of political power in Asheville. Xpress spoke to several of these groups to learn more about how they pursue their agendas.
The local business group’s annual event usually features WNC’s General Assembly delegation and its reflections on happenings in Raleigh. This year, the entirety of Buncombe County’s incoming state House contingent was absent: As newly elected officials, Eric Ager, Lindsey Prather and Caleb Rudow were taking part in orientation at the capitol.
Over 140 people responded to an Xpress questionnaire designed to learn more about Western North Carolina’s unaffilaited voters. Their answers show that, at least in WNC, the simple label of “unaffiliated” elides a wide diversity of ideologies and concerns.
Complete Democratic control of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, a better-than-expected performance by Jasmine Beach-Ferrara and $70 million in new spending for county initiatives all emerged from this year’s midterm election results.
Watch this space for the latest 2022 general election results for Western North Carolina and commentary from the Mountain Xpress news team. The post will be updated regularly throughout the evening.
Every election Corinne Duncan has worked since joining Buncombe County Election Services in 2015, she says, has felt more intense than the one before. Ever more people are voting, requesting information from the office she now directs and scrutinizing the electoral process. And an increasing number of citizens, Duncan continues, want to take an active […]
The event, supported in part by the American Press Institute’s Election Coverage and Community Listening Fund, also aimed to uplift community voices regarding education issues. As moderator Aisha Adams revealed through conversations with the audience, many concerns about the school system are shared among voters with different views, even if they may disagree about how best to solve those issues.
