FIND THE LATEST COVID-19 CASE COUNT IN NORTH CAROLINA HERE . FOR ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CORONAVIRUS CLICK HERE . The North Carolina General Assembly is heading back to Raleigh on Tuesday to take up emergency legislation dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Blue Ridge Public Radio talked with one member of the Western North Carolina delegation: Republican Kevin Corbin represents North Carolina's four westernmost counties in the state house. He’s a part of the state

Most of Western North Carolina is going through the COVID-19 pandemic without a member of Congress following the resignation of Mark Meadows on March 30th to become President Donald Trump's chief of staff. That means the 11th Congressional District seat for North Carolina is vacant - and will remain that way for most if not all of the rest of 2020.

(4/27) Information on congregate living facilities with outbreaks (two or more cases) has been added to the NCDHHS COVID-19 dashboard . You can find the list here. ----------------------------------- (4/24) The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is reporting nearly 12-hundred confirmed COVID-19 cases and 101 deaths at nursing homes across the state. In Henderson County , 125 of the 158 COVID-19 cases and all 13 deaths are linked to long term care facilities. An analysis of

Today some businesses in Georgia are now open after Governor Brian Kemp gave an executive order. Blue Ridge Public Radio talks to a Cherokee County official what this means for Western North Carolina. The town of Murphy lies at the very western end of North Carolina. The state lines of Georgia and Tennessee are less than 30 minutes away. Cherokee County Economic Development Director Paul Worley explains the geographic bowl made by mountain ranges in North Georgia, the Nantahala Gorge in North

Cherokee County has been one of the rural hotspots for COVID-19 in North Carolina. The lone hospital there – Erlanger Western Carolina Hospital in Murphy - cut back employee’s hours because of the crisis. Blue Ridge Public Radio spoke with two doctors to see how the hospital is holding up in the face of the pandemic. Dr. Stephen Rubendall started working in Murphy just last week. He moved from Mitchell County, Georgia, where Rubendall says the COVID-19 spread is much different. “Where I was

As of April 16, more than 630,000 North Carolina workers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic had filed for state unemployment benefits, but even with many industries still shuttered, many others are still looking for workers.

With orders to stay at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic, calls to domestic violence hotlines are increasing in Western North Carolina. Local agencies that support survivors of abuse are particularly concerned about those who are undocumented.

During Tuesday’s briefing, Governor Roy Cooper announced an Executive Order that will provide relief to furloughed workers who are unemployed and addressed the need to make more funding available for small business owners through the Golden LEAF Foundation's Rapid Recovery Program. The governor also said officials are getting ready to announce details about what will happen when the state stay-home and school closure orders expire.

Asheville’s thrumming downtown, a darling of the “best of” list makers and an economic hub for Western North Carolina, stands quiet as its once harried restaurant owners, beer-thirsty tourists and Millennial workers hunker down to avoid the health threat posed by a deadly coronavirus.

Protestors calling on North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper to re-open the state’s economy no later than May 1 are expected to hold a second protest Tuesday in Raleigh, but one group of protestors got a head start Sunday in Haywood County.