Exhibit spotlights hidden local African-American history

The Buncombe County Register of Deeds Office has opened an exhibit to commemorate the 150-year anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and to remember those who were enslaved and their immeasurable contributions to our community. Along with the exhibit, the county has produced a short documentary, Forever Free, which features historians and descendants of slaves speaking on the significance of these records and the importance of acknowledging our past. Watch it here.

Video: Learn more about the property revaluatio­n process

By the end of the month, every Buncombe County property owner should receive a notice in the mail from the Tax Office indicating the new value of their property for tax purposes. In this video, Buncombe County Public Relations Director Kathy Hughes discusses how those values are determined and what property owners should expect with Tax Director Gary Roberts.

Disaster 2012 Web Extra: Rememberin­g the 2004 floods

With speculation rampant across the world over the possibility of a mysterious cataclysmic event occurring tomorrow, Dec. 21 in conjunction with the supposed end of the Mayan calendar, Xpress took a look at more realistic local threats this week in the story “Tomorrow Never Knows: WNC Disasters Past, Present and Future.” As part of our research for that story, we compiled several photos from one of the biggest natural disasters to strike our region in modern history – the floods of 2004.