Category: Views

Sweetheart deals for the wealthy pushed Asheville’s aging water system to the brink. Incompetence and arrogance shoved it over. This is the story of our city’s water crisis Above: A tap in Candler, one of the areas hardest hit by the water crisis, runs dry.…

Graphic by Matilda Bliss Welcome back, readers and listeners. Our latest Asheville Bladecast episode, recorded just before Xmas, is a wide-ranging look at a bevy of recent stories with a very common theme: corruption. That’s right, we’ve got corrupt politicians, preachers, gentry gays, non-profit hatchetmen,…

The city’s non-discrimination ordinance was supposed to help protect against bigotry, and its architects are touting it in their runs for office. But over a year later it has helped no one. It wasn’t meant to. Above: A pride flag flies from city hall in…

Welcome to another episode of the Bladecast, just in time for Halloween! Marvel at the terror of … campaign season! The slimy corruption of … airbnb! The banal evil of … city council and more in this look at our town’s everyday horrors Graphic by…

Airbnbs are devouring housing at a rapidly escalating rate and kicking locals out on the street. It’s time to face the obvious: the industry has to be destroyed or the city will be unlivable Above: a close-up of Airbnb’s impact on Asheville, from Inside Airbnb.…

NIMBY vs YIMBY, city council desperately shovels cash to cops, a mutual aid medic beats trumped-up charges, a notorious fake clinic gets its windows smashed, another pandemic and more in the Blade’s monthly podcast Welcome back, readers (and listeners), to another episode of the Asheville…

The trial of a mutual aid medic ends in dismissal as supporters pack the courtroom and the cops’ case falls apart on the stand. Inside a major defeat for city hall’s war on community solidarity with the unhoused Above: Local medic Greenleaf Clarke is attacked…

As Roe dies, a fake clinic with an ugly record gets its windows broken and locals take to the streets The front of Mountain Area Pregnancy Service, a far-right ‘crisis pregnancy center,’ on June 7. Photo by Veronica Coit [This piece contains mentions of sexual…

The Blade teams up with Asheville FM to bring you a new monthly podcast with our signature sharp look at local news Above: graphic by Orion Solstice Readers, over the years many of you have reached out to us to say that you’d love to…

A whistleblower tried to raise the alarm about appalling conditions at the Buncombe County jail, the deadliest in the state. This is his story of running into evasion, lies and retaliation from multiple levels of government “The law, in its majestic equality, prohibits rich and…