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Cities coast-to-coast grappling with broken-down e-buses that cannot be fixed .. Between the federal government, states and municipalities, untold billions in taxpayer dollars have been spent adding electric buses to transit fleets across the U.S. in an effort to reduce carbon emissions. However, cities from coast-to-coast are grappling with broken-down e-buses that cannot be fixed, are too expensive to fix, or they have scrapped their electric fleets altogether. Officials in Asheville, North Carolina, recently expressed frustration that three of the five e-buses the city purchased for millions in 2018 are now sitting idle due to a combination of software issues,...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The city of Asheville's purchase of five electric buses in 2018 has turned into a multi-million-dollar loss. The buses have been broken or unable to run because of software and/or mechanical issues, making them an expensive and disappointing purchase, according to city maintenance and transportation staff. ... Currently, three of the five buses are idled, with one that has had a broken double door since July. “We haven’t been able to get new doors,” Asheville's interim transportation director Jessica Morriss said. “There's no third party that makes a door. We'd have to get custom-made doors.” Each of...

A North Carolina man viciously attacked a family’s dog, stabbing it repeatedly until it died in an unprovoked attack while its owner was playing pickleball, officials said. James Wesley Henry, 43, was arrested for the killing of the mixed-breed pooch named Beignet at an Asheville park Monday afternoon and charged with felony cruelty to animals, Asheville police said. Henry allegedly walked up to the helpless 11-year-old pup, grabbed it by the throat and slashed it with a knife over and over again, cops said. “The guy killed the dog with a knife, basically eviscerating it,” Asheville Police Capt. Michael Lamb...

HENDERSONVILLE — Several residents held up protest signs — at a City Council meeting with no scheduled public comment session — on April 26, when a plan was proposed “to implement ways to bolster diversity, equality and inclusion within the government and city limits,” Asheville TV station WLOS (News 13) noted. “It’s all about us establishing the baseline for how our organization moves forward and interacts with our community,” City Manager John Connet was quoted as saying by News 13. “Some of our community feel like their voices have not been heard, and we wanted to have a process where...

A North Carolina tourist town plagued by rising crime is resorting to hiring off-duty county sheriff's deputies at an overtime hourly rate to help city police patrol the downtown district. A team of six deputies with the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office in western North Carolina are being paid $75 per hour to help their counterparts in the staff-strapped Asheville Police Department (APD) on Fridays and Saturdays from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., according to a document reported by local outlet Asheville Watchdog.

Asheville’s recently announced 17.4 percent spike in violent crime for 2022 over the previous year was totally predictable, local Fraternal Order of Police President Rondell Lance told the Daily Planet during an April 8 telephone interview. More specifically, Lance, who is retired after a lengthy career in police work, explained that the city, along with Buncombe County, has fostered an environment where criminals know they can break the law and face little or no consequences for their actions. Asheville’s skyrocketing violent crime last year was driven largely by aggravated assaults, Asheville Police Chief David Zack noted during the city’s March...

Thursday, 13 April 2023 17:25 Twitter From Staff Reports Violent crime jumped in Asheville in 2022, with a 17.4 percent increase from the year before that was propelled mainly by aggravated assaults, the Asheville Citizen Times reported on March 29, citing city police statistics. Specifically, 525 aggravated assault incidents were reported in 2022, compared to 431 cases in 2021 — amounting to a 21.8 percent increase. The latest Asheville crime statistics were unveiled by city Police Chief David Zack during the city’s March 28 Environment and Safety Committee meeting. Contacted on April 8 by the Daily Planet for his interpretation...

City leaders of a North Carolina tourist town that has been plagued with rising violent crime in recent years announced a 60-day initiative last week to improve conditions in its downtown district amid a crisis in police staffing. The City of Asheville said they are taking “targeted steps” to address the rising number of incidents affecting public safety with the initiative slated to begin May 1, according to a news release from city government. “There are complex circumstances contributing to the safety issues that Asheville is currently seeing downtown and it will take a community response to address these complexities,”...

Business owners and workers in a Democrat-run North Carolina tourist town said their downtown district is deteriorating amid rising crime, rampant homelessness and diminishing police. Multiple people who work in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, bemoaned the condition of the city and pinpointed a lack of police presence to its decline, according to an investigation by local outlet Asheville Watchdog. "We really need beat cops, police on bicycles," Rose Garfinkle, who lives and works downtown, told the outlet. "The lack of a police presence is noticeable. Things have taken a turn in the last five years." Violent crime has spiked in...

The focus of the Asheville-Buncombe County Community Reparations Commission — at least for now — is on correcting institutional bias that allegedly is continuing to afflict local African-Americans, and there are no plans to evaluate whether personal responsibility is a factor, according to Dr. Dwight Mullen, chairman of the CRC. “I think that, empiracally, we (the CRC) can demonstrate that African-Americans do not (now) have equal opportunity” in Asheville and surrounding Buncombe County, Mullen told the Daily Planet during a telephone interview on Feb. 8. “We’re starting with (examining) current disparities of policy outcomes” involving institutions operating in Asheville and...

Asheville Police Chief David Zack told Fox News Digital last fall that his department is down 42%.. ... Break-ins in Asheville, North Carolina, saw a 200% monthly surge in January amid a violent crime spike in the Democrat-run tourist town that has hemorrhaged police officers in recent years. The Asheville Police Department, which serves a town of approximately 90,000 people, responded to 41 break-ins throughout 2022 and has already fielded 11 reports of break-ins in 2023 as of Feb. 1.. Chris Faber, whose bar in downtown Asheville was targeted twice last month within a span of a few days, told...

The City of Asheville — apparently illegally — has misapplied public funds, WNC Citizens for Equality, a citizens watchdog group, is contending in a press release sent Nov. 15 to the Asheville Daily Planet. The release was headlined: “City of Asheville Diverts Funds Meant for the Poor to Vice Mayor’s Private Group?” At that point, the text of the release begins, “WNC Citizens for Equality, a local government watchdog organization, is calling foul after the City of Asheville diverted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars earmarked for legal aid for the poor into the hands of a private group associated...

Two years ago, as violent protests shook Asheville and other cities after George Floyd was murdered while in Minneapolis police custody, the Asheville City Council and the Buncombe County Commission passed resolutions in support of reparations for Black residents, to make amends for historic discrimination. Acting at the same time, California established a task force to study and develop a plan for reparations in that state. Last week, the task force overseeing California’s reparations effort released the first part of its work: a landmark 500-page report documenting nearly two centuries of systemic discrimination imposed by the state, the harm it...

I think what you’re seeing in Asheville right now is a culmination of the last several years of pulling police back and not letting them do their jobs like they’re able to do.. How much more evidence do we need to prove that when you hinder the police and have Democrats in charge, you will have problems? Chicago. New York City. Los Angeles. But now we’re seeing Democratic ideas affecting other cities that wouldn’t come to mind when we think about crime. Asheville, North Carolina, is a city of only 90,000 residents. It’s in the middle of the Blue Ridge...

To cover the payment of reparations to local blacks for what was termed injustices from the past, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners on July 17 voted unanimously to approve $2 million in its fiscal 2023 budget — and to add $500,000 to future reparations budgets, with an annual increase of 2 percent. The county reparations budget approval followed the City of Ashville’s commitment — also on a unanimous vote — to an initial reparations investment of $2.1 million in its 2022 budget — and included an additional allocation of $500,000 for 2023. “We are at the intersection of yesterday,...

Two men have been arrested following an attack — involving lighting and throwing improvised explosive devices (similar to pipe bombs) at the remnant (the base) of the Vance Monument in downtown Asheville — amid a crowd mulling around about an hour after the city’s Fourth of July fireworks gala had finished, according to the Asheville Police Department. However, nobody was hurt and there was reportedly no damage to the monument’s base. The remainder of the 75-foot-tall granite obelisk monument has been deconstructed by the city and its stone blocks and other parts are being held, reportedly, in secure, undisclosed warehouses...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WGHP) — Thousands of people are reacting to a Facebook post from Asheville police showing a “threatening” email the department received shortly before the July 4 holiday. **SNIP** Dear Asheville Police Department, We are tired of your lack of protection for the innocent civilians who are peacefully protesting. There have been multiple incidents where there have been immediate threats to the safety, security, and well being of the protesters, with Asheville Police Department having little to no response time. Due to the lack of safety and security provided by the Asheville Police Department, citizens have had to protect...

Asheville – In the past few years, national publications championed Asheville as one of the best vacation spots. The area’s natural beauty, top rated cuisine and cultural experiences position the area as a top tourist spot. It was named #8 on Travel + Leisure’s “50 Best Places to Travel in 2020. The trusted vacation magazine said this about the city: “With a small-town feel and big-city cultural cred, Asheville, North Carolina, is home to artists, musicians, and food and drink entrepreneurs who were making microbrews and serving farm-to-table meals long before such things were de rigueur,” Travel + Leisure wrote....

More Afghan refugees are heading to Asheville. Nearly 100 are expected to arrive within the next month. The refugees will arrive very quickly, starting next Tuesday. Caption: Asheville area agencies prepare to help nearly 100 Afghan refugees expected next week "It's going to be fast and furious," said Laura Collins, who is coordinating the effort with Lutheran Services of the Carolinas Refugee and Immigrant Services.

Floyd Wynn (pictured), who has been a mailman in Asheville for 20 years, was recently the victim of a carjacking in broad daylight when a woman approached him in the middle of the road June 12 as he was driving his Camaro on Patton Avenue, opened his door and assaulted him, telling him to give her the keys and give her the car, Wynn said. Asheville Police Department, which responded to the scene 12 minutes after a witness called 911, says it has a person of interest in the case. (Photo credit: WLOS Staff)