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In this special episode of The Porch, we hear from rural retirees about what their lives are like in the mountains.
On this episode of The Porch, a production of the BPR news team, we hear from -
The nation's political eyes are on North Carolina. First, for the gerrymandering lawsuit that the state supreme court is expected to rule that will determine lines for U.S. House and General Assembly elections this year, but also for the U.S. Senate election which could determine which party controls the chamber next year.
Bob Orr has had a long career in the public eye. His latest career move actually falls in line with what he first went to UNC Chapel Hill to study.The radio student is now hosting a podcast focusing on Western North Carolina's Congressional district, and all the candidates running to represent it. The Battle for NC 14 features interviews with candidates, plus Orr's insight from his career in law. He served as a North Carolina Supreme Court justice from 1994 to 2004, and ran for Governor in North Carolina in 2008. He was a Republican during his time office, but last year he officially changed his voter registration to unaffiliated, citing his disgust at the path of the party under former President Donald Trump.
On this episode of The Porch, a production of the BPR news team, we hear from -
A lot contributes to climate change. A Warren Wilson College professor decided to examine one factor that many might find uncomfortable to talk about but is something we will all face - our death.Mallory McDuff is the author of 'Our Last Best Act: Planning For The End Of Our Lives To Protect The People And Places We Love.' It looks at the growing diversity of end-of-life choices in Western North Carolina, from 'green burials' that use only biodegradable materials, to body donation to body farms such as at Western Carolina University, to 'aquamation', also called water cremation. All these options reduce the carbon footprint of burials, and in many cases are far cheaper compared to traditional burials.
2021 in North Carolina politics saw a lot of what marked the state's politics in the prior decade - lawsuits and court rulings that left just as many questions as answers.Just as candidate filing for the 2022 primary election got underway this month, it was stopped by the North Carolina Supreme Court so lawsuits claiming new Congressional and General Assembly districts are illegal gerrymanders could be heard. The primary is now May 17th. That's about all that's set in stone says Dr. Chris Cooper, political scientist at Western Carolina University. He joined BPR's Matt Bush to go over 2021 in North Carolina and national politics, and tried to shed some light on what we might see in 2022.
In this episode of The Porch, a production of the BPR news team, we hear from -
New maps made new lines. Those inspired Western North Carolina's Congressman to run somewhere else, meaning the region will have a member of Congress come 2023. Maybe.Republican Madison Cawthorn announced November 11th he would run in the newly-drawn 13th Congressional district in North Carolina, instead of the one he currently represents, which will be renumbered as the 14th district for next year's election. His decision has shifted the region's politics, not necessarily in ideology, but in personality. Western Carolina University political scientist Dr. Chris Cooper joins BPR's Matt Bush to catch up on the region's political news of the past week. You can listen to the whole interview above, and also during a new episode of The Porch that premieres Friday morning November 19th at 9 on Blue Ridge Public Radio.
A federal government housing voucher program is making the problems it was designed to alleviate only worse in the South. That's according to a six-month investigation done by the USA Today Network.Fred Clasen-Kelly is the reporter behind the investigation into Section 8 housing vouchers. He spoke about what he found out, including in both Asheville and Shelby in North Carolina, with BPR's Matt Bush. You can hear the full interview above, and listen to it during a new episode of The Porch premiering Friday November 19th at 9 a.m. on Blue Ridge Public Radio.
Just one month after the protests following the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Asheville City Council approved a resolution calling for reparations for the city's black community. 16 months later, most of the details are still being worked out.That pace has frustrated many local activists in the city, but organizers of this weekend's 8th annual African Americans in Western North Carolina and Southern Appalachia conference at UNC Asheville want to put the focus back on the need for reparations and practical solutions. The one-day online event Saturday will focus solely on reparations. Dr. Tiece Ruffin, the director of Africana Studies at UNC Asheville, says all the work that has been done in the past 16 months on reparations can't become 'an exercise in futility.' "The purpose of this conference is how do we move beyond what we have already done with resolutions and appropriations and rhetoric," Dr. Ruffin told BPR in an interview, which you can hear in full above.
For almost 40 years, faculty at UNC Asheville have helped in the creation of the annual global Political Terror Scale. The report measures and codes human rights violations by countries across the globe.Mark Gibney is a professor at UNC Asheville and one of the principal researchers for the report. He said in general, things got worse in 2020. He told BPR he didn't believe it was necessarily pandemic related, but had more to do with the protests that followed the police murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Gibney says there was a worldwide ripple effect from the marches in the United States, which led to more confrontations between demonstrators and police and security forces in other countries. In particular, Gibney noted countries like Australia, Belgium, France, Peru, and Portugal - which previously had level 1 rankings - saw their political terror scale ratings drop in the past year.
In this episode of The Porch, a production of the BPR news team, we hear from -
On August 17th, historic flooding caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred devastated Western North Carolina. Haywood County was hit hardest, as six people were killed in the Cruso, Canton, and Bethel areas.To mark the one-month anniversary of the floods, the BPR news team put together an audio postcard of those who were there that day. They told us what they saw, smelled, and felt - and how they're dealing and grieving one month later.
On August 17th, flash floods caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred left six people dead in Haywood County, and devastated homes and businesses there and in neighboring Buncombe and Transylvania Counties. While the analysis is ongoing of what caused such rapid and destructive flooding in these tight spaces, one reason is inescapable - climate change.
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