"ASHEVILLE - After about an hour and a half of debate, Buncombe commissioners voted along party lines to adopt a resolution directing county staff to prioritize the expansion of COVID-19 testing in the community as they consider protocols for lifting social distancing restrictions.

The measure — approved 4-3 by the majority Democrat board during a special meeting April 16 — instructs staff to expand criteria for and seek out new methods of testing, track and interview contacts of those with the illness more rigorously, provide publicly supported isolation for those who cannot isolate at home and collaborate with other entities doing similar work." - Asheville Citizen-Times
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"In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama delivered a speech that many say saved his presidential campaign. Titled "A More Perfect Union," it addressed his thoughts about how Americans experience race and racism, and about how he understands both, as the son of black and white parents with relatives of many ethnicities.

Obama gave the speech in response to the release of videotaped comments from his former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright, in which the minister lambasted America's foreign policies and treatment of minorities, especially African-Americans. But it was also an urgent call for racial harmony. Candidate Obama emphasized that both white and black communities had valid arguments about their place in America.

On the speech's 12-year anniversary, Sam investigates whether its message holds up. He talks to Jon Favreau, host of Pod Save America and Obama's former speechwriter, about the process of writing the speech. Then, Professor Tracey Sharpley Whiting, who edited a book about the speech, talks about its impact today. Also featured is Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter and principal at Black Futures Lab, discussing why Obama's words do not fully address the depth of racial discrimination. Sam also talks to his former classmate, Jasmine Beach Ferrara, who remembers watching the speech live in class with Sam." - NPR

ASHEVILLE - A ruling by North Carolina judges to redraw the state's gerrymandered legislative lines likely will mean new districts for the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, a move that could change the political makeup of the body responsible for spending hundreds of millions of local taxpayer dollars each year.

Maps approved Sept. 18 by the General Assembly shift some city of Asheville precincts elsewhere and move previously elected representatives to new districts. Barring court action, the maps will become law — and will reshape commissioner districts, unless lawmakers pass a local bill that would decouple them from state lines.
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ASHEVILLE - Jasmine Beach-Ferrara will try for a second term on the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners.

The Asheville Democrat announced Sept. 18 that she will run again in 2020, saying to Facebook followers that her time on the board has been "a tremendous honor."

"Our community deserves the very best of what local government can be and for the full resources of county government to be focused resolutely on solving problems and serving people," Beach-Ferrara said in a statement. "I've been and will continue to be a voice for reform, transparency and accountability in our county government."

​One of two District 1 commissioners and the board's currently appointed vice-chair, Beach-Ferrara was first elected in 2016.

ASHEVILLE - Buncombe County's four Democratic commissioners are putting their support behind Sheriff Quentin Miller, saying a state bill that would mandate him and others to comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers takes away local control and erodes community trust.


Chairman Brownie Newman, Vice-Chair Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, and commissioners Al Whitesides and Amanda Edwards have signed onto a letter to state lawmakers and Gov. Roy Cooper expressing opposition to the bill known as HB370.

Miller is one of several sheriffs in North Carolina who has pledged to no longer honor ICE detainers.

After months of planning, applications, and deliberation, Buncombe County’s Early Childhood Education and Development Committee finalized allocated funding for $3.6 million dollars to schools and local organizations to make positive, lifelong impacts on our children. In October 2018, the Board of Commissioners voted to establish the fund and a committee for funding recommendations. Early childhood education is one of the Board of Commissioners’ six strategic priorities, and the following goals identified for funding:

• System approach – collaborating with community leaders and stakeholders
• Availability – increasing access to high-quality early childhood care and education
• Affordability – making it affordable for all families
• Workforce – supporting a robust career track in the field of early childhood education
• Family Support – creating a system that responds to needs of families dealing with trauma, poverty, and addiction

“There is a crisis of need for new classrooms and new child care slots, and there is a conjoined crisis of not enough qualified teachers with the pay and benefits for their retention. There are achievement gaps associated with a lack of quality early childhood education. It is our honor and responsibility [as the committee] to provide funding to reach our goal helping every child within the county succeed during their first 2,000 days,”  says District 1 Commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Buncombe County commissioners approved $3.6 million Tuesday night in support of early childhood education.

There are more than 11,000 children who are 4 or younger in the county, but only a third of those are enrolled in an early childhood education program.

​This more than $3 million investment will be used to create classrooms and teaching centers and will also help create a pipeline to recruit and retain early childhood teachers.