Plus: Asheville Art Museum expands literacy program, Trillium Arts announces ACE Fellowship winner and more!
New Stories
Letter: Use electric vehicles where they shine
“I feel that electric vehicles should be kept within cities as much as practical because they are at their best in urban gridlock and upwind of downtown.”
Let’s make the city’s pop-up parks permanent
“With the city bond proposal and some rigorous assertion of eminent domain, we could fight back against this myopic system and turn all these properties into permanent, beautiful parks — or some other development with big green spaces and little crowding.”
Letter: An obvious choice for monument honors
“However, if a new monument is to be in honor of some person or family, I believe the answer is obvious: the Vanderbilts.”
Letter: UNCA overreaches with protest surveillance
“It raises serious questions about the fairness and integrity of our institution’s commitment to free speech and equal treatment under campus policies.”
BCTDA anticipates flat occupancy earnings for fiscal year 2025
The Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority unveiled its proposed $34.3 million budget budget for fiscal year 2025 during its May 29 board meeting.
Big changes on the way at DuPont State Recreational Forest
DuPont State Recreational Forest attracted more than a million visitors in 2023, something nobody expected when the site opened nearly 30 years ago. To keep up with the growth, forest officials are about to enact some major changes.
Report, conference address Buncombe’s aging population
By 2041, it is predicted that adults ages 65 and older will comprise one-quarter of Buncombe County’s population.
From CPP: Listening to public’s concerns about Mission Health under HCA
Affiliated Monitors, the independent monitor in charge of overseeing HCA Healthcare’s compliance with its purchase agreement of the Asheville-based Mission Health system, plans six public meetings throughout Western North Carolina in June, according to a May 28 press release.
Public invited to speak on proposed 2024-25 county budget
Your chance to address the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners on its proposed 2024-25 budget, including a 2.55-cent property tax hike, has arrived. Commissioners will hold its annual public hearing on the budget at its meeting Tuesday, June 4 before voting on the budget later in the month.
Best Medicine: House a Cop Week could be Asheville’s next big thing
In Xpress’ latest humor feature, “Best Medicine,” local comic Cayla Clark is joined by fellow humorists Helen Jenny, Kathleen Hahn and George Awad to brainstorm ideas for unique music festivals and new types of citywide, weeklong celebrations.
Gardening with Xpress: Wet spring sprouts mold in all the wrong places
A rainy spring brings molds and rot into the gardening mix. That’s OK, there are ways to ward them off.
Raising firefighter pay may mean tax increases, Council says
The Council chambers and overflow room were at capacity during the Tuesday night meeting where all of the speakers who commented on the proposed budget advocated for increasing pay for city employees.
A-B Tech works to shore up its stormwater infrastructure
When it rains on the campus of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, stormwater pours off its plethora of parking lots into the neighborhoods, forest and French Broad River below, taking pollutants with it. Now, the community college, which sits at the headwaters of one of three primary tributaries in the Central Asheville Watershed, is working to reduce the volume of rainwater that flows from its campus.