The latest numbers from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services show for the 2017-18 school year, Buncombe County once again had the highest number of unimmunized students, who opted for a religious exemption. On a busy Thursday morning at Asheville Children's Medical Center, Dr. Sam Kohn made the rounds. It was toward the end of summer break, so there were lots of back-to-school check-ups and vaccines on the schedule that day. Many visits were easy, following the simple

Asheville city council meets Tuesday evening for the first time in a month, and items related the city’s police department headline the agenda. Last weekend was the one-year anniversary of the beating of Johnnie Rush on Asheville’s South Side by a then city police officer. It didn’t come to public light until six months later after footage of the incident from a police body camera was leaked to the Asheville Citizen-Times, which then published it. The officer involved, Chris Hickman, resigned

Just as it was thinking of getting out of the public utility business, Western Carolina University will instead be expanding its offerings to include improved internet service in the area around its Cullowhee campus. In mid-July, Morris Broadband and Western Carolina signed a deal that would allow Morris to attach broadband internet equipment to Western Carolina’s existing electric poles in order to expand access to higher speeds for the community. Mike Byers, vice chancellor for administration and finance, says the idea came as the university was thinking of disconnecting their electricity service. “It’s a really cool outcome,” says Byers. “We were very close to selling our distribution network and getting out of that business and we were fortunate to look at, ‘What are we forgetting?’ This turns out to be something that can help ourselves and help the surrounding community.” Western Carolina has operated electric services in the region since first building a hydroelectric dam

An increase in bear encounters has prompted the U.S. Forest Service to consider clamping down on food storage rules for campers in parts of Western North Carolina. BPR's Helen Chickering has details. Hanging food from a tree is apparently no longer enough to keep away the black bears that live around two popular Western North Carolina camping spots Panthertown Valley , just outside of Cashiers in Jackson County and the portion of the Appalachian Trail that travels through North Carolina “They have just learned that it’s real easy to climb a tree and hold a backpack down,” says Nantahala District Wildlife Biologist Johnny Wills, who says that scene is happening more often in the two areas. Wills says once a bear connects with a food source it’s a hard habit to break, which is why the Forest Service is proposing mandatory bear resistant containers for overnight campers in both areas. “We make that mandatory and everybody complies with it, we stand a pret5ty good chance of more bears

Election Day is less than three months away, and the stakes are pretty high for both Democrats and Republicans in this year's General Assembly elections. The GOP holds veto-proof majorities in both chambers, which the party has used on numerous occasions to override vetoes from Democratic governor Roy Cooper. Democrats only need to flip four seats in the House of Representatives and six in the state Senate to end those super-majorities, and the party is off to a good start in achieving that at least in fundraising. Smoky Mountain News reporter and BPR contributor Cory Vaillancourt analyzed the fundraising totals through the second quarter of this year and found Democrats have significantly outraised their Republican counterparts in 15 of the 24 'competitive' races he analyzed for state house seats. But outside money is expected to come in fast and furious ( and in one case already has ) in the final months before the election, so the situation could change rapidly ahead of November.

Western North Carolina Republican Congressman Mark Meadows is playing a leading role in the national health care debate. While back home in his district on recess, Meadows engaged in a series of events with veterans, talking about benefits and health care. But not everyone was happy to see him. It’s been something of a tradition since Mark Meadows became Western North Carolina’s congressman in 2013 – early August meetings with veterans. On Aug. 10, Meadows paid a visit to the Haywood County Senior Resource Center, and waiting for him there was Bob Houde – nine-year veteran of the U.S. Army and Navy, founder and chair of the Carolina Veterans Peace Coalition. “He’s a co-sponsor of a bill, it’s called the Veterans Empowerment Act, and that bill, basically when you read through the whole thing degrades the Veterans Administration’s healthcare system,” Houde said. “No, the bill that they’re talking about actually is dead,” said Meadows, who spent 90 minutes listening to veterans

It’s no secret that access to internet in western North Carolina is a big problem. A recent study found that 73% of people in the area find that their internet access or speed does not meet their needs. IT Director of Highlands Matt Schuler has been working to help bring internet to the town for over 10 years. It’s been a challenge from all angles: legal, technological and literal - since Highlands sits on a plateau at 4118 feet at the top of Cullasaja Gorge. “Highlands is difficult to get to - every road here is curvy as it can be,” says Schuler. “Nobody really wanted to come in the 1900s to build electricity in our town because it was kind of a rough route.” Schuler compares internet to electricity because the town of Highlands sees internet access as a utility that they should be able to provide to their citizens. He also says they can use the broadband to enhance the town’s utilities into a “smart grid.” However a 2011 law upheld by NC appeals courts in 2016 blocks towns