Long-term fix must be found for state’s mental health care woes
Perhaps it is going to take a complete fracturing of the mental health system before policymakers finally realize that North Carolina needs more inpatient facilities to treat patients who are a danger to themselves and society. Well, if it’s a total breakdown they’re waiting for, things are getting perilously close.
Coal, energy needs at center of first lieutenant governor debate
By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer
Coal-fired power plants and renewable energies took center stage as topics at last Saturday’s lieutenant governor’s debate in Asheville.
The state of mental health care: A fractured system is in danger of breaking down completely, leaving officials wondering — how did it get this bad?
By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer
Patricia Frisbee Meyer’s son needed help.
The mental illness he had battled since childhood stayed mostly under control, but Meyer knew the onset of a bad episode when she saw it. Meyer, along with her husband, took her son to the emergency room at Haywood Regional Medical Center that Sunday — beginning a saga in which her son was restrained for nearly 48 hours before getting the care he desperately needed.
State says foul on school bond referendum support
By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer
After investigating the actions of the Macon County School Board for the past two months, officials at the North Carolina State Board of Elections have determined that the school district violated two campaign finance statutes.
Restaurant owners scramble to comply with mandatory recycling law
By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer
Landfills in North Carolina should become a lot emptier due to a new law requiring nearly 8,000 restaurants to start recycling alcoholic beverage containers.
Smathers aims for state’s second-highest political job
By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer
As mayor of Canton, Pat Smathers has overcome his fair share of obstacles — most notably the floods that devastated this Haywood County community in 2004. Now, Smathers is gearing up to face perhaps the biggest challenge of his career — attempting to become the first Western North Carolinian in more than three decades to win a high-level state office.
State, local well regulators on the way
No one knows how many wells are planted in the mountainsides of Western North Carolina.
The right choices for healthier air
Roughly 45 percent of people (more than 2.9 million) in North Carolina lives in an area with unhealthful short-term levels of particle pollution ....
— The American Lung Association
Last week was Air Quality Awareness Week, and surprisingly, there is some news about air quality. At least one recently released report noted a decrease in smog in many areas of North Carolina.
State considers controls on steep slope construction
Local governments balking at controlling development on steep mountainsides would be forced into action if the General Assembly passes a state bill introduced earlier this month.
Easley’s budget goes wrong way on lottery
Gov. Mike Easley’s proposed budget would decrease the portion of lottery proceeds going to education — before legislators have a chance to fix an already unfair funding formula that shorts the western part of the state — a gamble that citizens throughout the state just shouldn’t support.
