Asheville NC

MARION, N.C. (WBTV) - A convicted felon will spend the next 30 years at least in prison after he walked away from a prison work release site, kidnapped a woman, and forced her to drive him to another county, court officials said. Billy Lee Smith, while on work release from...

Blue Ridge Regional Hospital (BRRH) announced the retirement of Mark Thomas, a longtime member of the Facilities Department, following a distinguished 19-year career. Since joining the hospital in 2007, Thomas has played a vital role in maintaining the infrastructure and safety of the facility, ensuring a seamless...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — A warming trend is expected to continue across Western North Carolina through the end of the workweek, with near-record high temperatures possible Friday, according to the US National Weather Service Greenville-Spartanburg. Forecasters say a warm air mass moving in from the south will...

Nearly a century ago, a sparsely populated farming and railroad community in the Appalachian Mountains was changed forever, when Charles D. Owen II relocated his family’s textile mill from New Bedford, Massachusetts to Swannanoa. At one-million-square-feet, Beacon Manufacturing soon became the center of a thriving...

Buncombe County is taking its first formal step toward seeking voter approval on millions of dollars in new borrowing. That journey began with a letter to the Trust for Public Land, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, which the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved Tuesday night. In that document,...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Thousands of Buncombe County property owners will begin receiving updated property value notices in the mail starting Wednesday, Feb. 18, marking the county’s first general reappraisal in five years. The new appraisals reflect fair market values as of Jan. 1, 2026. County officials say...

On Feb. 4, Ramond Doquis Lester received a sentence of 8-10 years after pleading guilty to drug trafficking and illegal weapons possession. The charges stem from an incident on Aug. 5, 2025, when Asheville Police Department officers conducted a targeted traffic stop on a vehicle Lester was driving. At the time, he...

HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. (WSPA) – One person is in the hospital and another in jail following a stabbing in Hendersonville. According to Hendersonville Police Department, at around 7:27 p.m. Tuesday officers were called to Chadwick Avenue for a reported stabbing. At the scene officers found a male victim with cuts to his...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) –An Asheville man was sentenced Tuesday to more than 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple fentanyl and cocaine trafficking charges stemming from two 2025 investigations in Buncombe County. Terrence Antonio Lucas, 36, pleaded guilty in Superior Court to three counts of...

On Feb. 11, Canton’s makeshift town hall — a temporary trailer in place since Tropical Storm Fred in 2021 — was bursting at the seams with citizens ready to speak out against data centers and cryptocurrency mining. Two hours and 44 speakers later, the town board unanimously...