The 2018 Fed Cup brings international professional tennis competition to Asheville Feb. 10-11 for the USA vs. Netherlands World Group First Round. The weekend competition features tennis star Venus Williams and her sister Serena, who is making her debut after maternity leave and who, on Friday, made an Asheville teen’s dream come true. Fourteen year old Kennedi Green was chosen to select names out of the Fed Cup trophy that decided the draw. Kennedi got to meet Team USA and even spent a bit of

As the opioid epidemic deepens, the need for foster parents has exploded in Western North Carolina. That was one of the findings of a series of stories from the Asheville Citizen-Times that explored many topics and issues around opioid abuse in the region. Reporter Alexandria Bordas joined BPR's Matt Bush in studio to discuss the series, which took 5 months to compile.

A column last year in the News & Observer of Raleigh declared "North Carolina is no longer classified as a democracy." The article went viral and prompted a range of heated reactions, even death threats. The writer, Andrew Reynolds, a professor of political science at UNC Chapel Hill, recently updated us to say things had only gotten worse. He joined BPR's Jeremy Loeb and WUNC's Jeff Tiberii to discuss.

Mike Marcus, assistant director of the Center for Craft in Asheville, gave his version of a common refrain from the area’s artists, musicians and crafters: “Asheville is getting really expensive, we made Asheville cool and now everyone else is profiting from it. We can’t afford to live here, and why won’t the city do something?” What started with a question from Marcus, about the future of a parking structure next to the center, has led to a dynamic effort with many stakeholders to develop

(CORRECTION - This story has been updated to reflect other WNC legislators who sponsored medicinal marijuana legislation) Opioid abuse claims almost four lives per day in the state of North Carolina – leaving some patients to shun the post-surgical benefits of these powerful painkillers altogether. Recent comments from a Western North Carolina legislator suggest there may be a renewed effort to fill that gap by putting some medical marijuana laws on the books. Last month Bryson City Republican

Super Bowl 52 on February 4th, 2018 between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles will conclude a tumultuous 2017 NFL season. From the Take A Knee protests to increasing questions of how seriously players concussions are being treated to Jerry Richardson announcing he'll sell the Carolina Panthers following numerous allegations of misconduct in the workplace, it was a season with major headlines that weren't focused on plays. The Shoops discuss the future of the NFL in this episode,

Dan Pierce is UNC-Asheville's National Endowment for the Humanities Distinguished Professor in the Humanities. He's written several books on the history of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Pierce attributes his love of the park to first passing through it on Highway 441 when his family moved to Asheville from Arkansas in the 1950's. His book Hazel Creek: The Life and Death of an Iconic Mountain Community , will be the subject of a lecture Saturday at UNC-Asheville's Reuter Center. That's

Buncombe County commissioners have been holding town hall meetings in recent months r egarding opioids . Those gatherings have touched on several topics, but have had one common goal – educating people on how powerful the painkillers are and how easy it is to become addicted to them. Dr. Red Hoffman is a trauma surgeon at the Mountain Area Health Education Center, better known as MAHEC . She also focuses on hospice and palliative care in her work, so Hoffman administers and prescribes opioids

Asheville has changed quite a bit in recent years thanks to a surge in new development. But some even bigger changes are on the horizon, thanks to some recent real estate sales and newly announced development plans. Jason Sandford of AshVegas has been writing about many of them and he joined BPR's Matt Bush in studio to discuss the latest developments - including one at the Asheville Mall that would bring one of the most famous events in city history full circle.

Through a unique regional partnership, Haywood County recently outsourced much of its economic development activity to the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce. More than simply a marketing deal, the partnership has the Asheville Chamber touting development opportunities in Haywood County alongside its own, citing mutual benefit to the region as a whole. Like many rural Appalachian counties, Haywood County – with just a quarter of the population of Buncombe County to the east – has a tough time