A bright yellow “store closing” sign now hangs outside the Westgate location of Asheville-based Earth Fare.

The Eastern Band of the Cherokee’s Tribal Council has lifted its ban on outside media covering its meetings after more than a year. At the Cherokee Tribal Council building, everyone waiting to be seen by the council sits outside the chambers in a plush waiting room with coffee and a live television feed. This is where outside media ha ve been reporting from for the last year since all nontribal media were banned from the council. On Wednesday, Smoky Mountain News reporter Holly Kays and

Another county in Western North Carolina has joined the ‘Second Amendment sanctuary’ movement. Henderson County commissioners on Tuesday approved a resolution supporting gun rights. Commissioners in Buncombe County also heard from supporters of a resolution, though no action was taken. Another county where this has been brought up is Haywood.

After years of waiting, t he Nantahala Pisgah Forest Plan is being released this month. The Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Plan h as been in development for over five years. “I think one of the downsides of it being such a long drawn out process is that it's easy to even forget it's happening.” That’s Lang Hornthanl. He’s part of the Nantahala Pisgah Forest Partnership. The group of over 25 organizations has been collaborating with the U.S. Forest Service throughout the process. The plan is a strategic

The independent monitor over HCA continued its tour of Western North Carolina at the Robert Carpenter Community Center in Franklin. T he meeting was held in the middle of a work day, something that frustrated the almost 50 people that gathered in Franklin to ask questions and air their concerns to Gibbins Advisors . Ron Winters is with the independent monitor overseeing HCA. “What we aren’t charged with, and what we don't have the authority to do is to chase down individual issues. But what we

01/30/20 — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today released the final report on the public health investigation into an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in people who attended the 2019 NC Mountain State Fair at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center in Fletcher. While there isn't a 'smoking gun', the report confirms earlier findings that the outbreak was likely caused by exposure to Legionella bacteria in aerosolized water from hot tubs that were on display

This is our third annual Super Bowl episode of Going Deep. One topic in these shows has been constant - race. Ahead of Super Bowl 54, we look at the NFL's Rooney Rule, and how the number of minority head coaches in the NFL has decreased over the last decade. We also examine gender roles in football. (Music featured includes Enchanted Forest by Audiobinger and Atmosphere by Borrtex)

The independent monitor hired to ensure HCA Healthcare follows through on agreements it made when purchasing Mission Health held its first public meeting Tuesday evening. BPR was at the Cashiers-Glenville Rec Center , which was full of concerned residents. Tom Urban and Ron Winters from Gibbins Advisors lead the discussion. Winters started out with the basics: “Let me go into the commitments that HCA made under the asset purchase agreement. There are four big categories: Retaining services at

Western Carolina University chancellor Dr. Kelli Brown says North Carolina's ongoing state budget stalement will likely take a toll on the school's record enrollment numbers if it continues.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation owed $18 million to counties across the state over the last 6 months because of budgeting issues. Public Transportation departments across Western North Carolina are running out of money. They have not yet received funds from one state program. In Swain County, that means the transit department worried it wouldn’t be able to fund transportation across the sparsely populated county of 14,000 people much longer. It’s waiting on $120,000 dollars.