Employers, especially restaurants and other hospitality businesses, still struggle to find employees in a rebounding economy.
Tag: COVID-19
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From CPP: Economy of pandemic whipsawing NC logging and sawmill industries
Swings in supply and demand, a shortage of truckers and other issues create challenges for companies supplying the lumber industry in North Carolina.
Out-of-town interest drives local real estate market
According to Redfin, a nationwide real estate brokerage, the average real estate budget for an outsider moving to Asheville was $615,500 as of April, 31% higher than the average local budget of $469,000. That disparity between outside and local buyers was greater than in either Charlotte or Raleigh.
Speech impediment
Local governments nix remote public comment
In Asheville and Buncombe County, the return to in-person government meetings has also meant a return to in-person public comment — and the end of live remote comment, despite there being no technological obstacle to continuing the practice. The decision has drawn concern from citizens who say it reduces their ability for civic participation.
Letter: Get vaccinated — for yourself and rural hospitals
“I urge you to get vaccinated and take sensible precautions. Not only will this help ensure your health and the health of your family, it will ease the burden on our local hospitals and their staff to whom we owe so much.”
Letter: Asheville High School’s COVID-19 schedule
“Under the new in-class program, Angela goes to school and goes to her hub, where she stays all day. In her hub, she takes first-period art online (she has her computer).”
Buncombe budget hikes taxes, funds rebate program
Buncombe County’s fiscal year 2021-22 budget — passed unanimously by the Board of Commissioners on June 15 — includes an effective property tax increase of 2 cents per $100 of valuation. It also includes $300,000 toward property tax relief grants.
Letter: Want to get back to ‘normal’? Get your shots
“If you want to protect your parents and grandparents, your friends and neighbors with other health problems, the nurses and doctors in the emergency rooms, and first responders, and get back to ‘normal,’ then get your shots.”
Council returns to in-person meetings with June 8 budget hearing
Asheville City Council and the community will participate in city business face to face for the first time since April 2020. The meeting will take place in the Banquet Hall at Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Asheville at 5 p.m.
Brave new world
Community health workers forge trusted connections
“This is a workforce who has that trust, connection and inherent knowledge of what people are experiencing and are trained and equipped to address individual and community health,” says Evan Richardson, MAHEC’s director of community health integration. “This is a workforce that can really make an impact.”
Transformative donation will fund new MANNA FoodBank facility
Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has donated $9 million to MANNA FoodBank, the biggest gift in the nonprofit’s history. It comes not a moment too soon, as the organization faces a sudden rise in food insecurity and a facility pushed to its limits.
Local stores take different tacks to pandemic-era bulk sales
Bulk sections, where customers bring their own containers, can cut substantial plastic waste from the shopping experience. Yet concerns over coronavirus transmission have led some co-ops to change how they offer bulk products or even stop them altogether.
HCA executive cites nursing shortage as biggest concern
2020 was the year of the nurse, proclaimed Greg Lowe, the president of HCA Healthcare’s North Carolina division. But Mission’s eight hospitals are now gearing up for a major nursing shortage, he told members of Asheville’s Council of Independent Business Owners.
TDA grants $45K to Wortham Center amid process debate
The move drew mixed feelings from some board members, driven not by the project itself but by what they suggested was an unclear process for distributing funds.
Gov. Cooper plans to lift most COVID-19 restrictions by Tuesday, June 1
For now, the state’s mask mandate will remain in place, though that’s subject to change if state health officials can successfully vaccinate two-thirds of North Carolina’s population.
Letter: Cawthorn deserves no credit for WNC relief funds
“If Mr. Cawthorn is so proud to see this money being given to his district, why did he vote against it?”
Letter: Small businesses need our support
“Even though vaccines are being pushed out, and things are slowly starting to go back to normal, local businesses need our help and support now more than ever as some open back up with limited space.”
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.
Local commerce organizations adapt to pandemic
While much attention has been paid to the struggles of individual businesses that have borne the economic brunt of the pandemic, Asheville’s business organizations, which provide a critical framework for entrepreneurs to network, collaborate and market their wares, have also taken a hit.
