Last week, the doors closed on Erlanger Western Carolina Hospital’s Labor and Delivery Unit in Murphy. Here’s what the closure means for the region . The closure was announced abruptly last month, as the number of births at the hospital had been declining for at least the last 5 years. Mayor Rick Ramsey of Murphy says he understands the decision because i t was based solely on numbers. “There’s not enough predictable births to sustain and maintain the staff and the cost for doing so,” says

2020 will ring in a new vaccine requirement in North Carolina. It's the first ever targeting high school students. BPR’s Helen Chickering has details.

Minority-owned businesses make up just over one percent of all businesses in the state of North Carolina.

Plans to expand Highway 107 through Sylva have been in the works for more than 10 years . As the decade comes to a close, some business owners still hope the expansion won’t happen. Carl Queen has lived in Sylva since the 1970s. “Traffic was so light in the 60s and early 70s that kids would actually play ball in the street,” says Queen, who attended this week’s public meeting on the road. Now almost 35,000 vehicles drive the corridor daily, according to North Carolina Department of

Asheville city council members meet for the final time in 2019 Tuesday evening, and lawmakers will take up a resolution that calls for a climate emergency to be declared by the city. While the resolution calls for action but offers no policy, a set of wide-ranging legislative proposals around climate change could be in front of lawmakers early next year. Their sponsor refers to them as a local 'Green New Deal', patterned after the similarly-named plan introduced in Congress this year two

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials spent Tuesday in Henderson County giving an annual update on their cooperation agreement with the sheriff’s department. The hour-long presentation at the County Courthouse didn’t provide many answers.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials spent Tuesday in Henderson County giving an annual update on their cooperation agreement with the sheriff’s department. The hour-long presentation at the County Courthouse didn’t provide many answers.

Barriers For Women In Business – In this program we look at women’s business opportunities and what’s being done to create them in our region. Our guest is Sharon Oxendine, the Director of the Western Women’s Business Center.

Yesterday, we heard about a lack of homeless shelters between Waynesville and Murphy. Today, we look at a similar gap in substance abuse treatment centers in the same 80-mile distance. In Macon County here is a new treatment facility that hopes to fill that gap: Hazelwood Healthcare sits along Highway 441 to Georgia just past Franklin. It opened this week. “This is where you come back.” That’s Dr. Matt Holmes. He’s the clinic physician and sponsor. “They can come in and take their medicine and

December 15 is the enrollment deadline for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, which became law nearly ten years ago. BPR’s Helen Chickering checked in with Jackie Kiger at Pisgah Legal Services to find out what people need to know as they navigate this year’s marketplace.