Laura Hackett
Helene Recovery ReporterLaura Hackett is an Edward R. Murrow award-winning reporter for Blue Ridge Public Radio. She joined the newsroom in 2023 as a Government Reporter and in 2025 moved into a new role as BPR's Helene Recovery Reporter. Before entering the world of public radio, she wrote for Mountain Xpress, AVLtoday and the Asheville Citizen-Times. She has a degree in creative writing from Florida Southern College, and in 2023, she completed the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY's Product Immersion for Small Newsrooms program.
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At the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville, 'Trolls: A Field Study,' by Danish artist Thomas Dambo, features giant, whimsical, upcycled trolls. -
The FEMA money is crucial for many states, including North Carolina, in funding emergency equipment. It also supports the salaries of personnel who step in to assist with natural disasters and other emergencies, including terrorism and threats to public safety. -
There are signs of mold all over the Evergreen Ridge Apartments in East Asheville. In one old utility hallway in building D, the walls are crumbling and black in places, pipes are bent. In the main lobby, the ceiling buckles under the weight of water damage. An overpowering musty smell permeates the halls, creeping into tenant apartments. -
Local and state government organizations in Tennessee are paying $80,000 a week to keep the park open through Jan. 4. -
The majority of hiking trails will be open, with the exception of the “Brown Trail” and some of the creek and stream crossings. The disc golf course will reopen next weekend. -
The system, which costs around $6 million per month, will be decommissioned after the end of hurricane season. -
A year after Helene, students are wrestling with heightened mental health challenges, from anxiety and depression to an uptick in sleep issues and “externalizing behaviors” like aggression and substance use. -
Asheville Hockey League is converting the former Second Gear building into an outdoor youth skating rink. -
That progress includes more than $1 billion in allocations for road repairs.
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Around 75 people gathered at the Craven Street Bridge for a primal scream on Friday morning. Locals hope it can be a regular thing.
