Kids want to feel seen and included in conversations about the pro-Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol Wed. That's one of the takeaways heard in the classroom belonging to the Western Region's 2021 Teacher of the Year. Susanna Cerrato teaches third grade at Ira B. Jones Elementary School in Asheville. While Cerrato is teaching her students remotely during the pandemic, she's emphatic about incorporating a daily "community meeting" with her class before the textbook learning begins. She says

As the events of January 6 unfolded in Washington, D.C, Western North Carolina's newly-elected congressman, Hendersonville Republican Madison Cawthorn, hadn't even been on the job for three full days.

It was difficult to find a quiet spot Tuesday afternoon in the paved lot next to Caldwell UNC Health Care in Lenoir as dozens of people rushed to meet a deadline. A man in a blue surgical mask sawed two-by-fours. A woman wheeled two computer carts wrapped in plastic. In the middle of all of the action stood 11 white plastic tents. Melissa Strickland pulled open the flap on one of the tents and stepped inside the state's first COVID-19 field hospital. "You can see they're just setting up this

The North Carolina General Assembly reconvenes next week. After all the campaign rhetoric and money of 2020, the partisan makeup of Raleigh will still be the same. And the major issue that lawmakers will take up in 2021 will be the same one that seemingly never left the headlines all last decade - redistricting.

The pandemic has hit non-profits and museums hard due to travel and social distancing restrictions. One museum in our region appears naturally poised to weather the pandemic. The War Woman cabin on the property of the Foxfire Museum and Heritage Center is decorated for Christmas. It was built in the late 1880's but is now styled as a 1940's Appalachian cabin with a woodstove and a vintage radio that clicks on when you enter the room: "Where the blue of the night... meets the gold of the day,"

Seven Black women in Asheville are offering up their personal stories in honor of Kwanzaa, the weeklong celebration of African-American heritage.

Long before the world had ever heard of COVID-19, the Cherokee language was in trouble. Last year, the three tribes in the U.S. declared a state of emergency because there are now so few fluent speakers. That includes the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians in Western North Carolina. Here's how the pandemic has impacted the teaching of the language: The New Kituwah Academy started in 2004 to teach a new generation of fluent Cherokee speakers. Like other schools, the pandemic caused educators to

Three WNC hospitals are on the list to receive the first COVID-19 vaccine shipments. Earlier this week, North Carolina health officials announced that Pardee Hospital in Hendersonville would be among the 11 "early ship sites" that would hold the vaccine in cold storage during the approval process, which is expected to continue this weekend with the meeting of the Center for Disease Control's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

Jackson County is one of six jurisdictions in Western North Carolina now considered to have 'critical' community spread of coronavirus, the highest such classification from the state . BPR talked to a doctor who was recently in quarantine with COVID-19: Dr. Ben Guiney tested positive for COVID-19 on November 28th. He's not sure if he got COVID working at Harris Regional Hospital or not. During his isolation, Guiney was separated from his family by his bedroom door. "There's a little knock on the

Asheville City Council voted Tuesday night to accept the recommendation from a task force to remove the Vance Monument from downtown Asheville's Pack Square. But many questions remain before the 65-foot obelisk is taken away.