Council condemns HB2 after some last-minute changes, sketches out the coming budget and gives the go-ahead for a major greenway, over some opposition. Also: bear selfies. Above: Anti-HB2 protesters move onto the space near the Vance Monument after a smaller, pro-HB2 demonstration leaves on April 2. Photo by Max Cooper.

Hall Fletcher families grapple with a lack of transparency and democracy in a city school restructuring that threatens to make issues of segregation even worse Above: Hall Fletcher families, teachers and staff gather on Feb. 2 to offer proposals for restructuring their school. Photo by Laura Haire. On Feb. 2

Over its two-day retreat, Asheville City Council set some goals, split on affordable housing, clashed with staff and set the stage for some interesting times ahead Above: the goals of Council members and staff during part of their annual retreat Every year, Asheville City Council has a retreat. Despite the

What’s the big deal about the I-26 project? It’s huge, incredibly controversial and could have major impacts — perhaps devastating ones – on Asheville for decades to come Above: This postcard of the Smokey Park Bridge from the 1960s shows sidewalks on both sides of the bridge with connections on the

For too long the city has neglected the Walton Street park and pool, a place of history and community. It’s time to change that Three months ago, the Southside Community Advisory Board started a petition to save the Walton Street Park/Pool in an effort to galvanize not just the Southside

A fight over development in Shiloh, a new pact with the chamber and new terms for a major Block project in a packed Council meeting Above: Council member Gordon Smith. File photo by Max Cooper. Welcome back, readers. My apologies for the delay. The venerable, held-together-with-tape charger for our laptop

Campaign season sees a profusion of forums for Asheville City Council candidates and the public. A local photographer gives a look at one forum in her area, and what the candidates said Above: Five Asheville City Council candidates — Rich Lee, Lindsey Simerly, Julie Mayfield, Keith Young and Brian Haynes

For too many in Asheville, a single box on a job application bars them from a shot at a future. But there’s a better way, and a growing local movement to change that Above: A logo for the national Fair Chance — Ban the Box campaign. Three years ago, canvassing

An important correction, in light of additional evidence, about the misidentification of Isaac Dickson in historic photographs with Theodore Roosevelt Above: bodyguard Frank Tyree, at left, with President Theodore Roosevelt while he reviews the Chickamauga battlefield, 1902. New evidence has led local researchers and historians to identify this as a

With poor wages and working conditions a major problem in Asheville, Labor Day is an excellent time to look at some changes Above: The fight for the eight-hour working day rallied workers around the world. Image via Wikimedia. It’s Labor Day. In Asheville it’s a day off for some, a