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1 day ago | 
mountainx.com | Brionna Dallara
What matters to our community? That was the focus of discussion during a town hall held June 5 at the West Asheville Public Library. Around 80 residents attended the event, which featured Rep. Brian Turner (D-116), Buncombe County Commissioner Drew Ball and Asheville City Council member Maggie Ullman.
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4 days ago | 
mountainx.com | Gina Smith |Brionna Dallara |Morgan Sykes |Greg Parlier
- by Brionna DallaraAsheville City Council heard little from the public regarding a proposed property tax increase at a May 27 public hearing on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2025-26. Instead, the… - by Morgan SykesThe proposed budget forecasts a net lodging tax revenue of $32.5 million.
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5 days ago | 
mountainx.com | Brionna Dallara
A pay raise for the Asheville Fire Department (AFD) was top of mind for the small number of residents who came out to Asheville City Council’s May 27 public hearing on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2025-26. Four of the six public commenters voiced their support for the measure.
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2 weeks ago | 
mountainx.com | Brionna Dallara
70 MILES OF PVC PIPESBut it wasn’t all just wild rides. Recovery needs came into focus throughout the journey. On Huff Island in Madison County, for example, Helene’s impact was impossible to miss. “It probably has two dozen piles of debris — trash, pipe, metal, refrigerator, you name it,” Carson says. Meanwhile, another leg of the trip included a 70-mile stretch of PVC pipes washed away from Silver-Line Plastics in Woodfin.
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2 weeks ago | 
mountainx.com | Brionna Dallara
In early March, Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) cuts hit local organizations when the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it was eliminating more than $1 billion in funding for the Local Food for Schools and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement programs for 2025.
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2 weeks ago | 
mountainx.com | Brionna Dallara
Pisgah Legal is part of a statewide group that receives funds to carry out the program and receives a grant between $400,000 and $450,000, Kiger says. But since the ACA programs budget will be cut by 90% in August, she foresees a significant reduction to the grant, which would mean fewer navigators to assist people with language and legalese barriers and longer wait times. There are “more people facing more barriers and less access to critical services they need,” Kiger says.
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2 weeks ago | 
mountainx.com | Brionna Dallara
An example is the Southside Community Stormwater Project, completed in 2023. RiverLink partnered with residents of the Southside Community, Wildlands Engineering and the Asheville Housing Authority to construct green infrastructure, wetlands and rain gardens that capture and filter runoff before it reaches Nasty Branch (Town Branch) and the French Broad River.
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2 weeks ago | 
mountainx.com | Brionna Dallara
On April 23, during a call with Xpress, Kieran Roe, executive director of Conserving Carolina, a land conservation organization that works with private land and public trails, detailed his anxieties over potential federal cuts to a program that has been a pillar of his nonprofit’s work for 20 years.
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2 weeks ago | 
mountainx.com | Brionna Dallara
Tami Helfrich, co-owner of YOLO Frozen Yogurt on Merrimon Avenue, says a lot of folks assume the shop’s name refers to the phrase “You only live once.” But the prefix actually stands for “Yogurt Local.”In recent weeks, the shop has celebrated the completion of a new mural that honors both interpretations. For over a month, a group of 15 Asheville Middle School students worked together to add splashes of color to one of the business’s previously blank exterior walls.
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3 weeks ago | 
mtnxhost.net | Brionna Dallara
Inside The Mule at Devil’s Foot Beverage, located off Sweeten Creek Road, there’s little evidence of Tropical Storm Helene. But through spoilage and business interruption, the craft drink maker accrued nearly $500,000 in damage. Seven months later, owner Ben Colvin is still fighting to get an insurance payout.
