RALEIGH - North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is criticizing a state budget provision by Senate Republicans that his administration says would block federal food stamp benefits to more than 130,000 people who qualify because they’re also receiving other government benefits.
The change approved in the Senate budget proposal last week would roll back eligibility requirements for what’s called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that had been expanded during the Great Recession. 

Households making no more than slightly above the federal poverty level would qualify for the food help if the provision became law. That would put added pressure on already stretched food pantries and make it harder for families to move out of poverty, advocates say. In Buncombe County, 3,100 people would lose food assistance, of which 1,100 are children. Across the region, more than 9,500 people would lose the assistance, 33 percent younger than age 18

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ASHEVILLE – Thirteen years ago Nikita Smart gave birth to her daughter with the help of strangers. She and the girl’s father had split. Her family lived out of town. So the hospital in Fort Myers, Florida, had a sitter stay in the room during labor.

Friends stopped by to check on her, but Smart encouraged them to leave. They had jobs to get to and children to look after. "I was just totally alone,” said Smart, who was considered high-risk because of pre-eclampsia, a potentially dangerous pregnancy complication characterized by high blood pressure.

Smart, 44, is now training to be a doula and leading efforts in Pisgah View and Hillcrest apartments to make sure expecting African-American mothers in those publicly subsidized neighborhoods never feel like help is far away.

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ASHEVILLE - The city has turned to a Denver firm for a $320,000 yearlong business disparity study. BBC Research and Consulting should begin work in June to assess the state of city contracting with minority- and white women-owned businesses, said Brenda Mills, an economic development specialist for the city of Asheville.

The firm will analyze five years of data and organize surveys, focus groups and community meetings to understand the city's contracting and purchasing patterns. Municipalities wanting to legally justify a race-based minority business program must undertake an independent study, she said.
The city last did this research in the 1990s, shortly after its program was formed.

​Read more here. 

FRANKLIN - Mission Health’s chief executive offered a somber apology to the people of Macon County on Friday as he announced plans to build a new $43 million replacement community hospital with no labor and delivery services.

Dr. Ronald Paulus, president and CEO of Mission Health, speaking at a news conference in Asheville, said the nonprofit regional health care system was faced with two bad alternatives in an increasingly regulated and expensive health care environment.  “We are very sorry that we cannot keep this program open," he said. "We looked at every possibility that we could conceive of ... We just couldn't find a way."

​Read more here. 

CHARLOTTE - The DACA student facing the threat of deportation returned to university Tuesday relieved that all she had to do was study for exams.

Sthefany Flores Fuentes, of Forest City, had planned to drive to Charlotte Wednesday morning for an immigration meeting that could have led to her deportation to Honduras.

​Read more here. 

ASHEVILLE - Mia Birdsong travels the U.S. to challenge assumptions people have about poverty and family. She will speak at the Diana Wortham Theatre at 6 p.m. April 25. The public is invited.

Buncombe County Health and Human Services and the Buncombe County Family Justice Center are hosting the event titled, "The Ripple Effect with Mia Birdsong."

​Read more here. 

FOREST CITY - Sthefany Flores Fuentes spent last week studying for final exams and wrapping up class projects. Until late Monday she had no idea whether she would see the payoff for her hard work.
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The 20-year-old honors student at Gardner-Webb University had planned to drive to Charlotte Wednesday morning for an immigration meeting that could lead to her deportation to Honduras.

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ASHEVILLE - University of North Carolina Asheville senior JaNesha Slaughter says there is something about stories. Data and numbers can provide analysis, but the narrative is what moves people to change.

Slaughter, a political science major, spent part of her senior year documenting how housing policies locally have impacted the most marginalized populations. The school was one of five universities and colleges in the state to win support from The Facing Project, a nonprofit that connects people through stories to strengthen communities. 

​Read more here. 

ASHEVILLE – The question isn't so much why their protests matter, when in reality the deaths of two unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers happened hundreds of miles away. The real question is what happens next locally to keep frustrations from boiling over into violence as they have in other parts of the country, community activists say. "The environment here is ripe for it," said James Lee, a minister at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church. "It's almost like having an open flame in a room with gas. It's only a matter of time before something explodes."

Hundreds of people have joined in at least seven rallies across Buncombe County since a grand jury decided not to indict Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown and another grand jury in New York City failed to indict officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, who was allegedly selling loose cigarettes.

In some cases, demonstrators held pictures of Reynolds High football player A.J. Marion, who was killed in 2013 by an Asheville police officer following a residential break-in, report of a gunshot and ensuing foot chase. Like Brown, Marion was unarmed and the officer was later cleared of any wrongdoing.

Black Americans have spent decades under siege, said Tyrone Greenlee, executive director of Christians for a United Community, a local nonprofit interdenominational collaboration of churches that works to address the root causes of racism and racial disparity through advocacy, education and training.

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SWANNANOA – Vietnamese refugees Tuan Luu and Binh Nguyen can't stop saying thank you for the opportunities this country has afforded them. After decades of hardship, made only worse by the Recession, the two celebrated Tuesday as one 17 families now qualified for a home in Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity's newest subdivision in Swannanoa, the organization's first development in the eastern part of Buncombe County.

"Our story is very horrible," said Nguyen, 39. "We have so many things now to be thankful for."

When Luu and Nguyen came to America from Vietnam in their early 20s, they had $100 in their pocket. They didn't understand U.S. currency. They couldn't operate the pay phone to tell their estranged family they had arrived. Because they didn't speak English yet, they couldn't ask anyone for help.

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ASHEVILLE – Organizers of a police support rally said Wednesday they have canceled the event over fears it could turn violent. Former Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower said he doesn't trust groups planning a counterprotest at the same time Thursday.

"Certainly my intention whenever possible is to challenge with as much enthusiasm as I can to highlight the absurdity of some of these folks," he said. "I haven't said things like, 'Burn this b—h down.'"

The stepfather of Michael Brown made that comment to protesters after a grand jury failed to indict a white police officer who killed Brown, a black 18-year-old. 

Area LGBTQ groups said they planned the counterprotest to affirm that black lives matter and to share stories of black transgender and cisgender women who they say are also targeted by police. "Regardless of whether pro-police rallies happen, we are committed to supporting black queer and transgender people who have been and continue to be oppressed by racism and transphobia," said an organizer who goes by the name Lichen LP.

Read more here. 

ASHEVILLE – The protest at Pack Square Park Thursday evening may have been smaller in number than the group which rallied in defense of Michael Brown last week, but that didn't stop participants from making their cries of injustice heard. A crowd of just over 100 people assembled near the Vance Monument in downtown Asheville to protest Wednesday's grand jury decision to end the criminal case against a white New York police officer whose chokehold led to the death of an unarmed black man.

Jurors deliberated for less than a day before deciding there was not enough evidence to go forward with charges against officer Daniel Pantaleo, 29. Pantaleo testified on Nov. 21 that he did not intend to choke Eric Garner, 43, who was being arrested for allegedly selling loose cigarettes.  A medical examiner found that Garner's death was a homicide resulting from the chokehold, a move banned by the New York Police Department in 1993. The July death of Garner was captured on video and seen around the world.
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"I'm just happy I can do something," said Marshall resident Deb Burns of the protest in the wake of the grand jury's decision "I just can't believe it. Ferguson was one thing, but with this, it is incontrovertible. (Pantaleo) should have at least been indicted and had his day in court."

Read more here. 

ASHEVILLE – Marietta Jones can't contain her excitement as she describes her new home. As she moves room to room pointing to her favorite fixtures and spaces, she lets out squeaks and squeals.

Thanks to assistance from area nonprofits and a lot of hard work and saving, in late October Jones became a first-time homeowner at the age of 62.

"When I got those keys, I jumped for joy," said Jones, who made her daughter take a photograph of her with her husband on the day they signed the papers for the home in Kenilworth. "It was just a good feeling to have something of my own."

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ASHEVILLE – As many people indulged Thursday, several of the area's less fortunate feasted on food that would have otherwise been wasted. Thanks to an elaborate network of food pantries, industrial farmers, mega distributors and local groceries all brought together by MANNA Food Bank, thousands of meals that would have unnecessarily ended up in landfills instead were served up on people's holiday tables. "It's really pretty amazing," said Cindy Threlkeld, executive director of MANNA Food Bank. "It's more complex than it looks on the surface."

In 2013, MANNA, which operates on the basic premise that the people of Western North Carolina should be able to live without the barrier of hunger, distributed 12.8 million pounds of food to pantries throughout the region. It's like giving out 1,100 meals every hour of every day, the nonprofit estimates. Much of the food ends up at MANNA by mistake, unwanted by consumers or considered unmarketable by industry giants. Yet, with increased need and limited resources, area charities argue these blunders are lifesavers, providing people with much needed sustenance and comfort.
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ASHEVILLE – Buncombe County women came together Saturday morning at the YWCA of Asheville to learn about public policies affecting equality for women and to prioritize action items. After listening to remarks by state and local officials and representatives from area advocacy and nonprofit groups, the crowd of about 50 voted access to health care and economic self-sufficiency as its top legislative priorities.Violence against women and female civic participation were also highly ranked. 

Every two years before the state General Assembly's long term session, North Carolina Women United hosts the forum to set its Buncombe County Women's Agenda. State Rep. Susan Fisher and state Sen. Terry Van Duyn kicked off the event discussing why equality has yet to be achieved, charging Buncombe County residents to bring about change.

Women's issues are cross cutting, they said. Fighting for women and families defies political and economic division. "We have still much, much work to do," said Fisher who spoke first to the energetic crowd, encouraging them to develop an agenda that will resonate with men, women and children across the state.

​Read more here.

​ASHEVILLE – Buncombe County women came together Saturday morning at the YWCA of Asheville to learn about public policies affecting equality for women and to prioritize action items. 

After listening to remarks by state and local officials and representatives from area advocacy and nonprofit groups, the crowd of about 50 voted access to health care and economic self-sufficiency as its top legislative priorities. Violence against women and female civic participation were also highly ranked.

Every two years before the state General Assembly's long term session, North Carolina Women United hosts the forum to set its Buncombe County Women's Agenda.

Read more here. 

ASHEVILLE – Reliant on charities and public assistance most of his life, Henry Thornton always had to put his passions on hold to survive.

His mom made him join the Army when he dropped out of high school in Brooklyn at 17. He came home an alcoholic and found himself on the streets of New York. He went to prison several times on drug charges. For 20 years, he was nearly always homeless.

"I'd sit on the corner and people would at look at me like I was a piece of trash," said Thornton, 51, who now lives in West Asheville. "They didn't know who I was, and I didn't have any help."

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RALEIGH – The chief administrator of North Carolina's courts says Republican party leaders may have misled magistrates on whether they could refrain from performing same-sex marriages.

John Smith, director of the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts, detailed his concerns in a three-page letter to Senate leader Phil Berger, who along with more than two dozen Senate Republicans had asked in an Oct. 24 letter that he revise a directive ordering magistrates to perform civil weddings for gay couples or face losing their jobs.

Several magistrates have quit rather than perform same-sex marriages since two federal judges last month blocked enforcement of the state's gay marriage prohibition approved by voters in 2012. The rulings came when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a case that overturned Virginia's similar ban.

Read more here. 

ASHEVILLE – Paying the rent isn't the hard part for Lori Campbell, a former home health care aid left out of work when she hurt herself helping a client climb out of a bathtub.

Like hundreds of others in Western North Carolina, it's keeping the heat on during the winter that can get out of reach.

Appeals for help with heating bills climbed in the mountains last winter, a problem made worse at the time by shrinking federal funds and late changes in government eligibility guidelines that left some aid money unspent.

​Read more here. 

ASHEVILLE – The new Arthur R. Edington Education and Career Center, a training site for green jobs, will be dedicated in a public event this week. A tour of the facility will be offered after the ceremony, which starts at noon Saturday.
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Housed in the former W.C. Reid Center, 133 Livingston St., the Asheville Housing Authority recently renovated the building and renamed it to honor Arthur R. Edington, former principal of the Livingston Street School.

​Partners envision the center will be a place where people from the surrounding neighborhoods will have access to education, job training, support services and other resources, strengthening residents' self-sufficiency and empowerment, reported the Asheville Housing Authority in a press release.

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ASHEVILLE – Nearly every week, local LGBT youth advocate Jim Faucett gets an e-mail from a parent terrified that their child is gay.

The first thing he tells them is, “Thank you. Your kid is likely to be OK.”

“Having support at home makes a world of difference,” said Faucett, executive director of Youth OUTright WNC, a local nonprofit that offers discussion groups and social activities for LGBT and questioning teens.

Read more here.