The Asheville city council is scheduled to adopt a budget for the coming fiscal year at its next meeting on June 13th. Among the many spending requests lawmakers received is one from the Asheville Police Department, which is seeking $1-million to hire 15 new officers. Police chief Tammy Hooper says it's needed to address a surge in crime in the downtown area, most likely caused by increases in tourists visiting the city. But Asheville Citizen-Times reporter Joel Burgess found there's more to the

It's now Beer Week in Asheville--a city in Western North Carolina regularly voted "Beer City, U.S.A.".

In the wake of Mission Health’s controversial decision to end baby deliveries at Angel Medical Center, health system officials have agreed to meet with concerned residents in Macon County.

This week the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians Tribal Council voted to remove principal chief Patrick Lambert from office. It’s only the second time in tribe history this has occurred. Lambert was brought up on 12 impeachment charges , and has been a controversial figure since he was first elected principal chief in 2015. Smoky Mountain News reporter Holly Kays was there in person in Cherokee for the impeachment trial. She spoke with BPR’s Matt Bush about what happened.

Asheville’s ‘Americana Burlesque & Sideshow Festival’ takes place this weekend. Its theme this year is empowerment, as organizers say dancing, juggling, and politics are all connected. Festival rehearsals take place at a micro-farm along New Leicester Highway. Onca O’Leary – a belly dancer who performs as Madame Onca – says burlesque is a whole lot more than just female dancing and striptease. “The word burlesque means ‘satire.’ There’s this notion always in the burlesque and sideshow

Few would argue the polarization of politics isn’t causing some kind of problem. One of the reasons for that polarization is redistricting – how individual Congressional districts are drawn. Western North Carolina saw the immediate effect of partisan redistricting more than anywhere else in the state. But reforms are unlikely to occur. North Carolina is like most states in the U.S. – the party in power in the state legislature has a huge hand in redrawing Congressional districts every 10 years.

Calling all cat lovers: Western North Carolina is home to the newly-opened American Museum of the House Cat.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that two North Carolina Congressional districts are illegal because race factored too heavily in their drawing. The 5-3 ruling is the latest in a string of defeats for the Republican-controlled General Assembly. It comes just weeks after the court declined to hear an appeal of the state's invalidated voter ID law. The Reverend William Barber II is head of the state NAACP, which helped bring the lawsuit against the districts. He spoke with BPR's Jeremy Loeb

The school year is winding down, and many students are cramming for end of year tests. Some are also putting their green thumbs to work in the school garden where spring planting season is in full swing.

After decades of conducting business as a Board of Aldermen, the Town of Franklin will now be governed by a Town Council.