Category: Government

Over 12 hours of body cam footage from the Aston Park Christmas night crackdown shows police bigotry, casual cruelty and an open attack on the rights of journalists and protesters Above: Blade journalist Matilda Bliss is hauled into the detention wagon on Dec. 25, 2021.…

Asheville’s housing authority tosses out a free food fridge run by a local community farm group. It’s a shocking, revealing incident Above: The free fridge at the Edington Center, stocked with fresh produce, before its removal. Photo courtesy of Southside Community Farms Blade editor David…

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,…

A multiracial community coalition mobilized to save Asheville Primary School. The central office and city hall insisted on destroying it anyway Above: Mural on the side of Asheville Primary School. Photo by Matilda Bliss “A school is a home. So when they come for your…

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…