On Tuesday, a federal grand jury announced an 11-count indictment against former Buncombe County commissioner Ellen Frost. She's accused - alongside former county manager Wanda Greene - of using more than $575-thousand in funds from the county's Economic Development Incentive Fund for personal activities. Prosecutors allege that Frost and Greene attempted to coverup the expenditures by claiming the funds were used to advertise the Asheville Regional Airport at equestrian events in North Carolina

A 21-year-old Salvadoran woman living in Western North Carolina is fighting an immigration judge's order for her deportation.

2018 was the wettest year on record in North Carolina. Now a new report finds during that very wet year, a spot in Western North Carolina broke a rainfall record. BPR's Helen Chickering reports.

Immigrant service providers in Henderson County are calling for the chairman of the county board of commissioners to resign. They say that comments Chairman Grady Hawkins made at a recent meeting is a breach of his sworn duty to uphold the Constitution.

The Henderson County Sheriff's Department has a new community liaison outreach coordinator. Stephanie Barbosa officially joined the department last month to help build trust within the Latinx and immigrant community. There has been fallout, partially due to the sheriff's decision to renew a voluntary agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Barbosa brings experience working with immigrants on legal matters as a victim witness coordinator for the District Attorney's office. She also

Governor Roy Cooper vetoed the state budget last week because it didn't include an expansion of Medicaid. BPR spoke with the CEO of one of the last non-profit hospitals in Western North Carolina about how this will impact the facility. In April, Governor Cooper visited Erlanger Western Carolina Hospital in Cherokee County to talk about Medicaid expansion. Erlanger leadership presented Cooper with a resolution in support of expanding Medicaid. Now CEO Mark Kimball is worried that expansion isn't

An update on a story we've been following since the spring of 2017 when four New York artists purchased Nina Simone's childhood home in Tryon. Last summer the property was designated a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This week, the organization is launching a crowdfunding campaign to boost efforts to restore the house. BPR's Helen Chickering has details. Musician John Legend and actress and producer Issa Rae are among the celebrities who have pledged their

The Cherokee language is officially in a state of emergency according to the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes. Blue Ridge Public Radio sat down with an Eastern Band native speaker at the new Kituwah Academy to learn more. Myrtle Driver Johnson is 75 years old. She's an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and a Beloved Woman. Johnson introduces herself in Cherokee before switching to English. "I'm the translator here and I'm also the translator for the tribal council

Asheville city council will hold a work session Tuesday evening on potential legal options for the city to stop the imposition of electoral districts for future city council elections. Suing the state or changing the city charter to ensure all council seats remain elected at-large are two of the main options that will be discussed at the meeting. But city councilman Vijay Kapoor will offer a third.

The Henderson County Department of Public Health is the newest public feeding site to address issues of food insecurity for youth during the summer. Students who regularly receive meals through school lose this access during the summer. In response, Henderson County Public Schools' Child Nutrition Department established four public feeding sites over the county that provide free lunches for youth between two and 18 years old. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Summer Food Service Program funds