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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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More of what’s going around:

-A crew from VICE, the HBO news show, is coming to Asheville this weekend to do a story on gerrymandering in North Carolina. The U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down two North Carolina congressional districts on Monday, the 1st and the 12th, ruling that lawmakers had violated the U.S. Constitution by relying too heavily on race in drawing them. following the 2010 Census. One guest the VICE crew is said to be interviewing is former U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, a Haywood County Democrat who represented Western North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District before it was redrawn to favor a Republican candidate. Shuler, first elected in 2006, announced his retirement from Congress in 2012.

-Wanda Greene, the county manager for Buncombe County for the past 23 years, is retiring July 1. In a letter announcing her retirement, Greene said she was proud of the county’s accomplishments over the past two decades. She added that she’s looking forward to enjoying knocking off more than a few items on her “bucket list.”

-Chipotle restaurant on Patton Avenue is scheduled to open June 14.

-A monument to Etta Baker, a blues guitarist credited with helping define the Piedmont Blues style of North Carolina blues,was memorialized with a statue unveiled last week. The statue is the work of Thomas Jay Warren, a sculptor based in Rogue River, Oregon, according to the Morganton News Herald.

-Speaking of Morganton, it looks like that town is going to be home to a new brewery called Black Star Line Brewing (check out their Instagram account). The brewery is unique in that its founder and brewmaster, L.A. McRae, is black and prefers to be preferred to by non-gender-specific pronouns, according to background described in this story by Creative Loafing Charlotte. McRae is also planning the first-ever gathering of black brewers for Hendersonville or Charlotte in October, according to Creative Loafing, providing an opportunity to connect black brewers and brewery owners with black beer enthusiasts, among others.

-Soundcheck Radio, the community radio show hosted by Ashvegas music writer Caleb Calhoun, is expanding its hours. Chad Kimpel will be hosting two hours of curated music from 3-5 p.m. on Tuesdays beginning June 6. You can hear Calhoun from 3-5 p.m. on Thursdays. Tune your radio dial in to 103.7 FM, or listen live here.

-Warren Wilson College is cutting 20 full-time jobs, with 7 employees being laid off and 13 other job cuts coming through attrition, while salaries remain frozen, the Asheville Citizen-Times reports.

-In case you missed the FashMob event a couple of weeks back at the Foundation spot, check out this video. The event, which brings together Asheville photographers, fashion designers, models and makeup artists for impromptu photo shoots, is organized by photographer Duncan Chaboudy. The video was produced by Anthony Harden of Alt Media Pros, with drone footage courtesy of filmmaker David Santangelo.

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

  • 1

1 Comment

  1. Jen June 5, 2017

    typo? “is black and prefers to be preferred to by non-gender-specific pronouns” would that be,”prefers to be referred”?

    Reply

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