“Around the world, infant mortality rates are seen as a key measure of how healthy a community is, because we know that so much more goes into this than just prenatal care,” Hannah Legerton of the Mountain Area Health Education Center told the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners in an update on the county’s Community Health Improvement Process on Dec. 3. Since 2010, Legerton said, the county’s white infant death rate has dropped from 4.7 to 3.8 deaths for every 1,000 live births, putting Bun

Steps away from Asheville’s broad, busy front lawn with its grand pair of government buildings lies an entrance to another city. A hidden city. A place where hundreds come and go and eat and sleep and wait and wonder and worry. Pass between City Hall and the Buncombe County Courthouse and descend a pleasant set of concrete steps to Davidson Drive below. Cross the street and step up into the Buncombe County Detention Center’s harshly echoing lobby. Beyond the reception desk, a set of sliding doo

Antony Chiang is a pretty sought-after guy. Less than a month into his new job leading the Dogwood Health Trust — which is poised to spend $50 million to $75 million a year to dramatically improve health outcomes and health equity in 18 Western North Carolina counties and on the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians — Chiang, 51, spoke to Xpress in an exclusive conversation for this fall’s nonprofit special issue. Before we dive into what’s on the horizon for you and Dogwood H

As North Carolina prepares to become on Dec. 1 the 50th state in the union to stop treating 16- and 17-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice system, Chief District Court Judge Calvin Hill launched an effort to reduce the involvement of local juveniles with the court system as a result of school misconduct. On Oct. 29, Hill convened a group of judicial, law enforcement, school and community leaders to discuss the formation of a school justice partnership for Buncombe County. “There is no