Helen Chickering
Morning Edition Host, ReporterHelen Chickering is a host and reporter on Blue Ridge Public Radio. She joined the station in November 2014.
Helen grew up in Texas. Her broadcast career began in television news in 1985 at WLBT, the NBC affiliate in Jackson, Mississippi. There she did everything from news to weather and found her niche in medical reporting. Over the next 20 years she covered health and science news on both local and national levels, including 5 years in Charlotte at the CBS affiliate, WBTV. In 1998, Helen helped launch the health and science desk at NBC News Channel, the network's affiliate news service. She became the first journalist to serve as president of the National Association of Medical Communicators and was on the founding board of the Science Communicators of North Carolina.
In 2012, Helen and her family moved to Asheville from Chapel Hill and she started working as a freelance producer and as a Montessori teaching assistant. A longtime NPR listener, she was thrilled to land a job at Blue Ridge Public Radio. Helen is an active member of the Asheville Science Tavern and a guest lecturer and an advisory board member at the University of North Carolina's Medical and Science Journalism Program.
Email: hchickering@bpr.org
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Almost all the counties in the BPR listening area are now in a severe drought, a big bump up from just a week ago .
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A 1931 map created by the state outlines who is eligible to vote for the Woodfin Sanitary Water and Sewer District Board of Trustees.
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Delayed passage of the state budget pushed Medicaid expansion by two months. Local social services departments are still working to prepare for the program’s launch.
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This is Climate Week at NPR. Reporting teams have been searching the world for solutions to climate change and this week, they have been sharing their discoveries during Morning Edition and All Things Considered.Western North Carolina is a hub of climate scientists and communicators. Meet some of the local science professionals in the region.
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The new COVID-19 vaccines are available at local pharmacies in Western North Carolina and at some health departments
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A former dude ranch in Candler is North Carolina's newest state park. The state is collecting public input as it shapes the parks master plan.
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BPR reflections on longtime Asheville Citizen Times journalist Tony Kiss.
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North Carolina residents have a new tool to track how local governments are spending their share of the the approximately $1.2 billion in opioid settlement funds.
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Project Aspire clears another hurdle and heads to Asheville City Council for approval.
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The A-B Tech culinary team competed against three other teams in what has been dubbed the Culinary Final Four. BPR’s Helen Chickering joined the team in the kitchen for one of their final practice runs before the American Culinary Federation National Competition.