Felicia Sonmez
Growth and Development ReporterFelicia Sonmez is a reporter covering growth and development for Blue Ridge Public Radio.
Prior to joining BPR, Felicia worked for more than a dozen years as a print journalist, including as a national political reporter for The Washington Post. From 2013 to 2018, she was based in Beijing, where she worked as a China correspondent for the international wire service Agence France-Presse and as an editor for The Wall Street Journal. She also spent a year in advanced Chinese language study as a Blakemore Fellow at Tsinghua University.
A native of Hackensack, New Jersey, Felicia graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Government. She loves hiking, backpacking and listening to live music. She is the proud owner of a tuxedo cat named Yogurt.
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Canton and Haywood County will receive $5.75 million and the state will receive $500,000 under the agreement. -
The critical stretch of road has been closed for more than four months due to damage from Hurricane Helene. -
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said all Americans “will be treated the same” by the retooled disaster agency. President Trump has appointed only Republicans to his FEMA task force. -
The airport saw its second straight year of more than 2 million passengers last year, officials announced Thursday. -
Buncombe County’s unemployment rate was 6.0% in December 2024, according to data released by the North Carolina Department of Commerce. -
The Tourism Development Authority is dipping into contingency funds to help make up the lost revenue.
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State and local officials hailed the move as a much-needed boost to Western North Carolina’s economy after Hurricane Helene. -
Hurricane Helene devastated one of the city’s pools, while another is being renovated. -
The trip marks Trump’s first to North Carolina since the start of his second term. -
Nearly four months after the hurricane, business owners from across the region shared their at-times tearful stories of loss, resilience and determination.
