So-called ‘mini budget’ bills have been passing out of the North Carolina General Assembly all week. Those come as the stalemate between Republican legislative leaders and Democratic governor Roy Cooper over his veto of their full budget goes into its four month. The Governor doesn’t expect the relative peace over the mini budget bills - that have passed with wide bipartisan support - to last much longer.

On Sunday, evangelist Franklin Graham will make an appearance in Asheville as part of something he calls the Decision America Tour. He says the religious rally isn’t political, but it’s hard to separate Graham’s spiritual advocacy from his politics. Franklin Graham, son of the late Reverend Billy Graham, will conclude his Decision America Tar Heel State Tour at the U.S. Cellular Center on Oct. 13 by asking people to make a decision. “The greatest decision that a person will make is the decision

Update: 10/9 State Health officials say there are now more than 130 confirmed cases of Legionnaires' disease tied to last month's Mountain State Fair in Fletcher. The family of a man who allegedly contracted the respiratory illness after attending the event spoke publicly on Wednesday. Blue Ridge Public Radio's Helen Chickering reports.

Child care centers in North Carolina are now required to test for lead in their tap water. The Commission for Public Health, the public health rulemaking body for North Carolina, has adopted a rule requiring the testing after a study of 86 centers in Central North Carolina found one in six had at least one tap with elevated lead levels.

North Carolina Republican legislative leaders continue to pass ‘mini-budgets’ as negotiations remain stagnant with Democratic governor Roy Cooper over his veto of their full spending plan. Without a full budget, construction projects across the state are unfinished or un-started. Here’s a look at one such project. Western Carolina University is heated by its steam plant, which was built almost 100 years ago. The university is currently waiting for $16.5 million in state funds to update it. “I

While policymakers are working to change the laws around opioid prescriptions, local communities are working to educate parents about how to talk to their children. We head to the Bryson City library where a nonprofit is trying to educate parents about drugs. Kaye McConnell of Renew Bryson City is taking parents around a bedroom she has set up in the auditorium of the Marianna Black Library. “So do you like the vase?” asks McConnell. “It’s a pretty bong.” The nonprofit works to educate the

Healthcare providers that cater services to seasonal and migrant farmworkers in Western North Carolina are increasingly turning their attention to mental healthcare.

Migrant farmworkers in rural areas face a lot of pressure -- from language barriers, to geographic isolation, to the current political climate surrounding immigration. Add in the limited access to mental healthcare in rural locales, it puts workers who travel to Western North Carolina for the harvest season in an even tougher position.

Prescription opioid abuse has been in the national spotlight this summer as new data about the numbers of prescriptions per county has been released. North Carolina is also part of national lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies like Purdue Pharma for their role in the crisis. In Western North Carolina, the policies around opioids and substance abuse issues are shifting as local politicians and experts look for a solution to the epidemic. State Senator Jim Davis will wrap up 10 years in

10/3 Update: 4 p.m. State Health officials have released preliminary findings of their investigation into the source of the Legionnaires' outbreak at the Mountain State Fair in Fletcher, September 6-15. 128 cases of the severe lung infection have now been confirmed. One person has died. State Epidemiologist Dr. Zack Moore told reporters during a phone conference that fairgoers who were diagnosed were much more likely to report being in the Davis Event Center - an indoor facility. "The second