Morning Edition Host Helen Chickering and News Director Laura Lee talk about the top headlines from the BPR News Team.
- 2024 Election: Your guide to all the races in Western North Carolina
- Asheville's rising housing cost forces candidate out of City Council race weeks before primary
- Asheville Interim Police Chief Mike Lamb tapped as new permanent chief
- ‘Save our pool:’ West Asheville residents demand answers on Malvern Hills Park Pool closure
- Last night at Commission: A new laptop exchange program, disappointment over Swannanoa Library closure
- Lawsuit filed against HCA by local municipalities can proceed, judge rules
- Charlotte, a stingray with no male companion, is pregnant in her WNC aquarium
Join the BPR News team for the "News and Brews" gathering on Tuesday, Feb. 27 from 8am to 10am at Summit Coffee, River Arts District, 4 Foundy St #20 in Asheville. Share your thoughts on the news. The first 50 people get a free cup of coffee in a BPR mug!
Transcript:
Helen Chickering: Good morning. I'm Helen Chickering. Thanks for tuning in to BPR. Here again to help us catch up on all the local and Regional news this week. And there's lots of it is BPR news director Laura Lee. Welcome back Laura.
Laura Lee: Hi Helen.
HC; So we've got what about a week left in early voting in the primary election much of our coverage focused on that. Give us a recap.
LL: Yes. So we have the regional voter guides this week. We launched voter guides in all 13 counties of our listening area. No small feet and those guides include logistical information like when to vote, where you can vote, where early voting is, but also information about the candidates. Who's running? A little bit of biographical information and another great thing in this guide is a sample ballot. You can print that out, make your choices do your research and then go early vote between now and next Saturday or you can go to the polls on primary day, March 5th.
HC: And that includes some specific coverage of the Asheville city council race. Tell us about that.
LL: So for the city council race, you know, we have the community agenda where we have gathered the perspectives of community members. What's important to them? What are they prioritizing? And we use that information from about 300 responses to inform writing six questions for the city council candidates. And so we sent these questions out, got their responses back, and we've published all of those in our site. So you can see what they think about housing, what they think about the role of city council and their fellow council members. We also had a separate article this week about a candidate who has dropped out of the race. Taylin Breeden had made housing a centerpiece of her platform for city council and ironically has now dropped out of the race because of her own housing concerns. She's having to look for housing. So Laura Hackett had a story about that this week as well.
HC: In other Asheville news, the city has a new police chief who's not really new he's not we have an announcement this week.
LL: Mike Lamb is the interim Chief- has been interim since Chief David Zach retired and now official announcement this week that he is the new permanent Chief. And he's not new to the department. He has been there about 25 years. So we will be watching to see what his leadership brings to the Asheville PD.
HC: Okay. Well onto pools...pool season is months away. But Asheville's recent announcement that one of its three pools would remain closed until further notice drew a loud crowd at a public input session.
LL: About 75 people gathered this week along with the mayor-Mayor Mannheimer -the head of the city's Parks and Rec, and a couple of other local officials. It's still TBD on this is a permanent closure, but the city has said that repairs will cost about $400,000. Building a new pool would cost about $1.5 million. So they're waiting on the comprehensive plan that the city has commissioned to determine if the Malvern Hills pool will be closed. We heard some pretty passionate voices including Jason Bugg who says he wishes that the council will do more for the community.
TAPE JASON BUGG: "My whole life, my grandpa, all my relatives, neighbors- they would say the money from the city does not make it across the bridge to here. And when I see this, that's what I'm seeing. And we shouldn't have to bully our elected officials to get what we need. I don't know. I wish there was something the city would do that isn't for a brewery a hotel or an Airbnb."
LL: So we'll stay tuned when the Parks and Recreation Department brings that comprehensive plan to city council.
HC: We also covered another closure that triggered a wave of reaction and that is the Swannanoa Library which Buncombe County announced will shut down this summer.
LL: Not happy community voices there as well. The Swannanoa Library serves about 20,000 visitors a year, which is the smallest footprint of a Buncombe County Library according to the county. This is going to close because a 2021 analysis showed that the building would need about 635,000 in repairs. And that's something that the county is saying they're not going to be able to do so want to know a community council board member Aaron Ernst spoke out against that decision and noted that the library has been a Bedrock of that Community for six decades.
TAPE AARON ERNST: "In those 60 years, a lot has changed. The interstate has bypassed us. The Beacon Mill has closed an unemployed us but something that has remained consistent in that Community is the library the library is not perfect. We're under no delusions it's perfect. It's much smaller than some of our other branches. It can certainly use some updating and a fresh coat of paint. There's no argument from anyone on there, but it serves the people just want to know which is why it exists and it's the only place nearby that can do so."
LL: That library is scheduled to close June 29th. And the county says that nearby libraries are expected to
expand to accommodate people who need library services.
HC: Another story to watch. Well, we've got an update on a story we've been following and that is Mission Health HCA. What's the latest?
LL: Several updates on this situation. One is that the lawsuit brought by several municipalities including Brevard against Mission will be able to continue. A federal court district judge ruled against the motion to dismiss. So that lawsuit is going to go ahead, and we'll keep following that. We're also in the period of inspection for the Medicaid and Medicare Services part of the story, which is that the hospital received an immediate jeopardy designation meaning they had a few weeks to make some pretty significant changes or risk losing Medicaid and Medicare funding. That time period runs out tomorrow, and we will keep an eye on what happens from the inspection there.
HC: Wrapping up on a lighter and mysterious note: a local stingray made national headlines. Why?
LL: Well, Charlotte the stingray is pregnant. In and of itself, not a mystery. The mystery is she lives without a male companion. So there are a couple of theories about Charlotte the stingray in the aquarium in Hendersonville. One theory is that she got pregnant on her own which is a rare occurrence in science where eggs develop on their own without fertilization, and the other theory is that the stingray's baby daddy is a shark. Charlotte is due any day now and we are keeping an eye on that. So stay tuned for more information about Charlotte's baby.
HC: When that a movie? Okay, we're out of time, which is probably a good thing. Laura Lee is BPR's news director and so much more. I tell you what, I don't think she ever sleeps. I don't think you ever sleep. Thank you for taking time in your busy day and keeping us up to date.
LL: Thanks so much for having me Helen.
