Defying a bill passed by the General Assembly last year, Asheville City Council Tuesday evening voted to change the city's charter to ensure future city council elections continue to use an at-large system. This stops election districts from being used for next year's election. But the General Assembly could act again to impose districts.

About 450 years ago, Spanish soldiers on an expedition from Florida took over the native Catawba town of Joara, about 60 miles East of Asheville.

Despite a wet weekend, much of Western North Carolina is still in a drought following an abnormally warm and dry September. Here’s one outpost in the region that shows how this drought paints a larger picture of changes happening in Western North Carolina. Scientists at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in Macon County have been tracking climate data since the 1930s. The lab is an experimental forest that has some of the longest-running data on stream flow, precipitation and temperature. “The

Reflections On American Education – Last week’s program looked at the restoration of a historic “Rosenwald School” in Mars Hill, which was built to provide a better education for African American students during the height of Jim Crow. On this edition, Darin Waters and Marcus Harvey forego a guest to speak with each other about inequality in our education system.

Waynesville holds its annual Apple Harvest Festival this weekend. In between fruits and other fall treats, one booth is really hoping to "Wow" attendees. Katie Higgs is one of the founding members of Women of Waynesville(WOW), a nonprofit that raises money for organizations that support women and children in Haywood County. Their booth at the festival gets a lot of stares and raised eyebrows but isn’t selling anything dirty. Just calendars of women posing mostly nude in thematic outfits - but

Leaders representing local nonprofits and community organizations packed a conference room at Southwestern Community College. Janice Brunmit, Chair of Dogwood Health Trust introduced the new CEO Antony Chaing. Dogwood was established in February when private hospital giant HCA Healthcare bought the non-profit hospital Mission Health for $1.5 billion. The foundation is tasked with allocating profits from that sale to organizations across the 18 counties and the Qualla Boundary. Chaing says the

Update 10/16 : On the heels of the Legionnaires' outbreak linked to September's Mountain State Fair in Fletcher, health officials are taking proactive measures as the N.C. State Fair in Raleigh prepares to open tomorrow. BPR’s Helen Chickering reports. State Health officials deployed a team of environmental health specialists who conducted assessments at the state fairgrounds in Raleigh Tuesday. They’ll return multiple times during the fair to help protect visitors and vendors from the risk of

State legislative elections are still more than a year away, but some Western North Carolina candidates have already started campaigning. And just like in 2018, the results of the 2020 election for state candidates will likely have a lot to do with President Donald Trump. Western North Carolina’s longest running political feud just got longer – for the fifth time in as many elections, Waynesville Democrat Rep. Joe Sam Queen’s opponent in the District 119 House race in 2020 will be Bryson City

Noted banjo picker and Western North Carolina native Raymond Fairchild has died, following a heart attack. He was 80. Fairchild performed at the Grand Ole’ Opry on numerous occasions and was inducted into Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2015. Last month, Fairchild appeared in BPR’s “Exploring Southern Appalachia” series. Fairchild’s final arrangements haven’t yet been announced. In addition to his storied banjo career, he and his wife Shirley ran the Maggie Valley Opry for more than 30

Rosenwald Schools – In the early 20th century school for African-American children were built across the south by a Chicago philanthropist, who wanted to advance black education. One of those schools was just restored in Mars Hill. In this program we find out the role these schools played during the Jim Crow era and what they came to symbolize.