Morning Edition Host Helen Chickering and News Director Laura Lee talk about the top headlines this week from the BPR News Team:
- Get ready for 2024 primary election
- Will Airbnb and VRBO take a hit in Buncombe County?
- Last night at Council
- Online sports gambling becomes legal in NC
- A record 2.2 million passengers traveled through Asheville Regional Airport in 2023
Transcript:
HC: Good morning. I'm Helen Chickering. Thanks for tuning in to BPR. It has been another busy week in news. Lots going on. Joining us in the studio for a roundup of the headlines is BPR's news director, Laura Lee. Hey Laura.
LL: Hi Helen.
HC: Alright, we're back at it.
LL: We're back.
HC: What were some of the big headlines?
LL: Well, you know, I think nationally the big headlines have been around election coverage. We're out of our denial. We're into it. It's election season. It's happening. Primary coverage kicking off...obviously the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, but you know, we're taking a look at what's happening locally and we're thinking about the primaries here.
And one of the things we looked at in a little round-up of primary resources here is photo identification. We had that obligation last time around, but I think this will be the first time a lot of people that are heading to the polls will have to show photo ID. So we give you all the details of that and also dates coming up. It's hard to believe [that] it's almost February but February 9th is the voter registration deadline at 5 o'clock. If you're registering to vote by mail, you have to postmark by the 9th and then they have to get it in the office by the 14th. We know there was a lot of litigation about that but we have all those details in a nice guide that tells you all about voting in the primary.
HC: Lily who covers elections helped spearhead a lot of that effort. She also took a local look at a national story that and I didn't know this the relationship between the Eastern band of Cherokee and Sports Illustrated.
LL: That's an interesting relationship. I'm not sure a lot of people know about the Eastern Band of Cherokee tribe made about a $316 million investment in Sports Illustrated Resorts. I didn't know about this. I did a little daydreaming, though, when I looked at some of those resort photos.
So Lily looked at that because Sports Illustrated had some layoffs this week, and it turns out that that should not affect the investment of the Eastern Band, but, you know, obviously that was something when that headline popped up that we wanted to take a look into more. On our website also in gaming this week a headline that I think makes a lot of sports fans happy. Online sports betting will become legal here in North Carolina just in time for March Madness. That actually takes place noon on March 11th, and the reason that they picked that date is the ACC tournament will begin on March 12th followed obviously by the NCAA tournaments.
HC: Another topic that stands out [is] growth. We had a lot of stories about growth.
LL: Lots of stories about growth. Felicia took a look at short-term rentals, which is always top of mind here -water cooler conversation. The Buncombe planning board is considering some additional regulations. They haven't yet decided, but there has been a lot of public comment. They've had to have some extra sessions to field all those comments, and they'll determine whether or not to allow short-term rentals only in commercial districts, if they should have a maximum square footage that a short-term rental could be- a bunch of different regulations that they're considering and that's not unusual. We see a lot of local governments trying to address the growth of short-term rentals in North Carolina.
Felicia also had a story about our airport. 2.2 million people: that's how many people went through the airport in Asheville hard to believe. I couldn't believe that number and also could not believe that we are the third largest airport in the state.
HC: I didn't know that either.
LL: Yeah, so numbers out this week from Asheville Airport. If you've been there, you know that parking can be an issue. They're working on that. They had an announcement several months ago about development that's taking place there. We'll keep an on that for you as well.
HC: Okay, any other news stories that were top of mind this week?
LL: One that we can't finish up without saying would be Laura Hackett's recap of last night at council. [It was] an interesting public comment as it often is in city council. Let's take a listen to one of those comments.
Tape: "I want to show you what exactly five million dollars could have bought us back in 2018 Toyota Prius not even a base model 25,000. So with one million dollars, we could have bought 40 Toyota pre-eye for the cost of one Proterra electric bus."
LL: That was former mayoral candidate Jonathan Wainscott during the public comment period at Tuesday's city council meeting talking about what council could have bought instead of five electric buses that are now broken down. The city is asking for people's comments about the budget process which is kicking off. If you have thoughts about that, you can check out our website bpr.org for more information on how to share those.
HC: Yes, all right, another interesting and very busy week. Laura Lee is BPR's news director. Laura, thanks for hanging out in the studio.
LL: Thanks so much, Helen. I'm going to head out now and get my coffee at West End Bakery in West Asheville, and I'll be there with the news team. You're gonna join us shortly. We'll be there from 8:00 to 10:00 and would love for people to stop by and have a free cup of coffee. The first 50 people get a free BPR mug. Tell us what you think about the news. That's at West End Bakery in West Asheville.
HC: I'll see you there soon.
LL: See you soon.