AVL Watchdog

AVL Watchdog Non-profit, local news website serving Asheville and Buncombe County. Asheville Watchdog is a free, local, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization.

It was founded in 2020 by veteran professional journalists and media executives living in Asheville, North Carolina. The staff is a mix of paid employees and volunteers. Our mission is to inform and engage the citizens of Asheville and surrounding communities by providing fair, factual and reliable in-depth news stories about local government, institutions, issues, and people. We believe that qual

ity journalism in the public interest is essential for a healthy and successful democracy. We started Asheville Watchdog because local news is in crisis. One-fourth of America’s newspapers have closed in the past 15 years, including 300 in the past two years. More than 1,800 communities nationwide that had local newspapers 15 years ago now have no original reporting. Half of all newsroom jobs vanished since 2008. This means there are fewer reporters to keep watch over state and local government, to dig deep into the issues, and to hold the powerful accountable. At the same time, misinformation is pervasive on social media and even many mainstream news outlets, including deliberate attempts to spread false, biased, or incendiary stories. Asheville Watchdog is committed to truth, verifiable facts, transparency, science, and important context. We do not compete with existing media, but rather try to complement and expand the critical services they provide. Our reporting is offered without charge to Blue Ridge Public Radio, Mountain Xpress, and other local publications. Asheville Watchdog is, for now, a virtual newsroom. For general inquiries, email [email protected].

HCA-Mission asks state Supreme Court to block award of Buncombe hospital beds to rival AdventHealth. Watchdog investigat...
25/07/2025

HCA-Mission asks state Supreme Court to block award of Buncombe hospital beds to rival AdventHealth. Watchdog investigative reporter Andrew R. Jones has the details.

Just more than a month after judges made what some saw as the final decision in a case over new hospital beds for Buncombe County and the surrounding region, Mission Hospital signaled in the state’s highest court that it’s not giving up a nearly three-year fight over which health system gets to ...

Answer Man John Boyle looks into a mysterous pipeline in North Asheville, a "speed trap" on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and ...
25/07/2025

Answer Man John Boyle looks into a mysterous pipeline in North Asheville, a "speed trap" on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and questions about the safety of Parkway road repairs.

Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers: Question: I’m curious about the pipeline now running along Merrimon Avenue between Beaver Lake and the Bird Sanctuary. It appeared after Helene. I asked workers recently if it is permanent and received a reply of, “No,”...

A former University of North Carolina Asheville research assistant alleged in a lawsuit this year that the university di...
24/07/2025

A former University of North Carolina Asheville research assistant alleged in a lawsuit this year that the university dismissed him from his job after he raised concerns about research misconduct to his bosses and a top school official. Watchdog investigative reporters Jack Evans and Andrew R. Jones have the details.

A former University of North Carolina Asheville research assistant alleged in a lawsuit this year that the university dismissed him from his job after he raised concerns about research misconduct to his bosses and a top school official. Aidan Settman, a 24-year-old UNCA graduate, filed the lawsuit a...

The Buncombe County pretrial services worker assigned to monitor Ryan Ricky Houston, who committed one of western North ...
22/07/2025

The Buncombe County pretrial services worker assigned to monitor Ryan Ricky Houston, who committed one of western North Carolina’s most horrific crime sprees a year ago, was in a romantic relationship with him, according to the attorneys representing the estate of Houston’s murder victim in a federal lawsuit against the county. The Watchdog's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, Sally Kestin, has the details.

The Buncombe County pretrial services worker assigned to monitor Ryan Ricky Houston, who committed one of western North Carolina’s most horrific crime sprees a year ago, was in a romantic relationship with him, according to the attorneys representing the estate of Houston’s murder victim in a fe...

OPINION: Helene was a disaster. What’s coming could be worse.
21/07/2025

OPINION: Helene was a disaster. What’s coming could be worse.

[Editor’s note: John Boyle has the day off.] We can all agree that Tropical Storm (née Hurricane) Helene was the worst natural disaster to hit our region in recent memory, taking more than 100 lives and leaving behind an estimated $59.6 billion in damage statewide. Yet in terms of financial costs...

In today’s Answer Man, John Boyle looks into whether the Asheville Regional Airport intends to move the pickup area for ...
18/07/2025

In today’s Answer Man, John Boyle looks into whether the Asheville Regional Airport intends to move the pickup area for Uber, Lyft and taxis – now in a distant parking location – closer to the terminal. John also looks into why a streetlight pole has been down at Kimberly Avenue and Griffing Boulevard since Tropical Storm Helene and the timeframe for repairing it.

Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers: Question: Even with all the recent — and deserved — hurrahs with the opening of the new gates at Asheville Regional Airport, the airport has been suspiciously quiet about how long it intends to have the pickup for Uber an...

Ten months after Tropical Storm Helene wrought devastation on our area, a key safety feature of the North Fork Reservoir...
17/07/2025

Ten months after Tropical Storm Helene wrought devastation on our area, a key safety feature of the North Fork Reservoir’s dam has not been replaced and likely won’t be until next year — after the end of the 2025 hurricane season.

During Helene, a concrete fusegate at North Fork — the city’s main reservoir that provides about 80 percent of the system’s drinking water — tipped over and tumbled down the concrete auxiliary spillway, as designed. The fallen gate released an enormous amount of water from North Fork, which had collected enough to activate the concrete enclosure that acts as a sort of safety valve for dangerously rising water levels.

Ten months after Tropical Storm Helene wrought devastation on our area, a key safety feature of the North Fork Reservoir’s dam has not been replaced and likely won’t be until next year — after the end of the 2025 hurricane season. During Helene, a concrete fusegate at North Fork — the city.....

The prospective developer for a 5,000-seat soccer stadium and surrounding development on the University of North Carolin...
16/07/2025

The prospective developer for a 5,000-seat soccer stadium and surrounding development on the University of North Carolina-Asheville’s campus was created months before the university publicly acknowledged its intent to develop 45 acres of wooded land, state business records show.

The prospective developer for a 5,000-seat soccer stadium and surrounding development on the University of North Carolina-Asheville’s campus was created months before the university publicly acknowledged its intent to develop 45 acres of wooded land, state business records show. Asheville Stadium ...

After the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Republican U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards posted a lengthy statement heaping...
16/07/2025

After the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Republican U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards posted a lengthy statement heaping praise on the massive legislation. His glowing assessment starkly contrasts with the contempt leveled at it by his mentor and fellow Republican, Thom Tillis. In today’s Democracy Watch column, political reporter Tom Fiedler fact-checks each of the claims made in Edwards’s statement.

Here’s the question of vital interest to everyone in western North Carolina put before two of our federal lawmakers: In casting your vote, what did you think will be the impact of the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, which became law July 4 with President Trump’s signature? Republican lawmaker ...

Earlier this month, two young cyclists were killed when a dump truck collided with them just north of the Buncombe-Madis...
15/07/2025

Earlier this month, two young cyclists were killed when a dump truck collided with them just north of the Buncombe-Madison border. Dan DeWitt makes his Asheville Watchdog debut with a look at how one of the East’s premier destinations for road and mountain bikers can be a frightening, deadly place to ride.

When Andrew Crater was a young professional cyclist, riding and racing all over the world, he settled in Asheville to train. It’s no surprise, he said, that Jake Hill and Lennie Antonelli did the same. “There might be equally beautiful places, but they’re not going to be any better than what w...

In the 2024 election, as Donald Trump won North Carolina on his way to a second term, Democrats won the races for govern...
15/07/2025

In the 2024 election, as Donald Trump won North Carolina on his way to a second term, Democrats won the races for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state and superintendent of public instruction. Republicans won the races for state auditor, agriculture commissioner, insurance commissioner, labor commissioner and state treasurer. In today’s Answer Man, John Boyle explores why the state has had a split political personality for years. John also looks into whether Asheville attracts many international tourists.

Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers: Question: This is not a timely question, but I think a lot of people want to know the answer. Can you contact Chris Cooper at Western Carolina University to ask him if he has an explanation on why in the fall 2024 election No...

Last September, Tropical Storm Helene caused the Pigeon River to swell into a raging torrent, forcing Interstate 40 near...
14/07/2025

Last September, Tropical Storm Helene caused the Pigeon River to swell into a raging torrent, forcing Interstate 40 near the Tennessee-North Carolina border to shut down until March 1. A little more than three months later, a rockslide caused by heavy rain shut down the interstate again, this time for nine days.
In today’s Opinion column, John Boyle looks at the troubled stretch of interstate through the Pigeon River Gorge, its controversial origins and why it’s so prone to slides.

If you’re like me, you avoid driving I-40 through the Pigeon River Gorge like warm beer on a hot summer day. Hey, if I have to circle through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas to enter Tennessee from the west and then drive east back to Knoxville, I’ll do it. Perhaps I exaggerate, but t...

Address


Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when AVL Watchdog posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to AVL Watchdog:

Shortcuts

  • Address
  • Alerts
  • Contact The Business
  • Claim ownership or report listing

  • Want your business to be the top-listed Media Company?

Share

About Us

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news organization dedicated to providing Asheville and Buncombe County with news in the public interest. Founded and run by volunteer award-winning journalists and media executives now living here, the Watchdog will provide content that is free and widely accessible. We have no political or private agenda but simply believe that journalism is a public service essential to democracy. Local news matters, and a healthy, strong Asheville depends on well-informed citizens.