The State of Things

State lawmakers approved $850 million in hurricane relief money during a special session Monday, half of which can be spent immediately. The money will go not just to infrastructure but also to helping communities with things like mosquito abatement and agricultural recovery. The General Assembly voted unanimously to pass the legislation in an effort to address the $13 billion in damages caused by Florence.

His soulful songs may be reminiscent of Sam Cook, but Anthony Hamilton refuses to be put in a box. He was discovered while cutting hair at a barbershop in Charlotte and was signed to Uptown Records, but it took him 10 years and several failed record deals to finally establish himself as a solo superstar.

The countdown to the 2018 midterms is on, and all seats in the North Carolina General Assembly are up for election. Democrats are hoping to secure wins in both the House and Senate to break the Republican supermajority. Two competitive House seats in Haywood County may be crucial grabs for the Democrats, while two Democratically-held seats in Buncombe County are also competitive races. Host Frank Stasio speaks with Blue Ridge Public Radio reporter and Morning Edition host Jeremy Loeb about the

The Appalachian region is an expansive stretch of hundreds of thousands of miles from the mountains of New York to Mississippi. It is home to more than 25 million people who celebrate diverse cultural traditions, yet its stereotype as a region filled with poor, white farmers still looms large. In the 90s, writer Frank X Walker coined the term “Affrilachia,” to chip away at those stereotypes and render visible the life and work of a more diverse array of residents.

The band Natural Born Leaders describes its sound as “the Fugees meets Black Sabbath.” The Asheville-based group is comprised of five members whose musical styles and influences range from metal and hard rock to hip-hop and folk.

Asheville may be tucked away in the mountains, but it is quickly building a reputation as “climate city,” a home for researchers, scientific entrepreneurs and nonprofit and governmental organizations working to address climate change.

A highway expansion project in Asheville is set to destroy several homes in a historically black community for the third time. Parts of the Burton Street Neighborhood in West Asheville were demolished by state highway projects in the 1950s and 1960s. Now the proposed Interstate 26 connection project will go through the neighborhood again.

The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit investigative news organization based in Washington, DC. This story is part of the Center for Public Integrity’s “Abandoned in America” series, profiling communities connected by their profound needs and sense of political abandonment at a time when President Donald Trump’s administration has declared the nation’s war on poverty “largely over and a success.”

Marie Antoinette’s biggest crime was being born to a family of wealth and privilege during a time of political upheaval. She was executed by guillotine.

In his new book, political science professor Patrick Deneen calls on readers to take a long, hard look at America’s oft-exalted liberal ideology.