jacob biba
@jacobbiba.bsky.social
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📥 364
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freelance reporter in asheville
[email protected]
https://jacobbiba.com
pinned post!
last story/last day at the citizen times
www.citizen-times.com/story/news/l...
about 2 months ago
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it was only a matter of time
add a skeleton here at some point
1 day ago
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what appears to be the least vaccinated school here in Buncombe County (23.5%) got some of the most private school voucher money ($1 million+) last year)
add a skeleton here at some point
1 day ago
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“those who experienced solitary confinement at some point during their incarceration died at over twice the rate of those who did not”
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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The use of solitary confinement and in-custody mortality in North Carolina State Prisons, 2021–2023
Solitary confinement is associated with increased mortality post-release. Little is known about its use following recent reforms and COVID-19 challeng…
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827325001193
3 days ago
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jacob biba
Sentient
3 days ago
As ICE detention numbers creep upward, some advocates are worried that detainees could be compelled to work to fill gaps in the workforce of some of the most dangerous jobs in the country, including on factory farms and in slaughterhouses.
buff.ly/ogK5Zgj
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Could People in ICE Detention Centers Be Forced to Work in Slaughterhouses?
The precedent in prisons exists.
https://sentientmedia.org/people-in-ice-detention-forced-to-work/
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Connor Giffin
4 days ago
The crisis was on full display in the first half of this year. In a five-month span, nearly every county was slammed with extreme weather. More than 50 were killed. Many towns were still recovering from disasters of years past when new storms arrived.
www.courier-journal.com/story/news/l...
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Disasters keep pummeling Kentucky. Is the state prepared for more?
Kentucky is one of the most disaster-prone states, and disaster-stricken communities are finding themselves ill-equipped to finance the aftermath.
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2025/12/28/kentucky-natural-disasters-pummeling-state-multiple-fronts/83792082007/
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Connor Giffin
4 days ago
Major disaster declaration numbers from FEMA show a staggering concentration in Eastern Kentucky — more than anywhere else in the country from 2010-2025, we found.
datawrapper.de/_/U37jj/
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Brian Goldstone
4 days ago
So if you're a family evicted from your apartment, or a mother fleeing domestic violence with her children, or someone unhoused trying to get off the street or out of their car for a night... you're not allowed to stay at these Asheville hotels. Just unabashed discrimination.
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Brian Goldstone
4 days ago
A Hampton Inn in Asheville just canceled my family's reservation because our address (incorrectly) showed Asheville—and the hotel bars locals within 50 miles. When I asked why, they said, "because of our homeless population," adding that most hotels here have similar policies. This is outrageous.
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Seamus Hughes
10 days ago
NEW: With my colleagues at
@ncite.bsky.social
we've spent a considerable amount of time diving into the state of criminal cases against alleged 764 members. Our new report - Prosecuting 764: An Examination of Federal and State Charges
www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2...
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Prosecuting 764: An Examination of Federal and State Charges
The online child exploitation network, 764, shares and encourages self-harm and child sexual abuse material. In a new report, NCITE scopes the nature of this growing threat, its structure and ideology...
https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/764-landing-page.php
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jacob biba
Michael Bitzer
9 days ago
New national Catawba-YouGov survey finds affordability pressures widespread and cut across party lines
www.salisburypost.com/2025/12/24/n...
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New national survey finds affordability pressures widespread and cut across party lines - Salisbury Post
Catawba College News Service SALISBURY — A new national survey of 2,000 Americans conducted by Catawba College and YouGov finds that affordability is a dominant economic concern across the country […]
https://www.salisburypost.com/2025/12/24/new-national-survey-finds-affordability-pressures-widespread-and-cut-across-party-lines/
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jacob biba
Jesse Eisinger
9 days ago
The media criticism is fair. But it's quite hard to give sustained attention to something that's not happening. A murder is an event.
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John Pfaff
9 days ago
These declines are MASSIVE. And the comparative silence in media coverage is absolutely DAMNING. “Why are ppl always so afraid of crime?” THIS is why. When crime goes up, media trips over itself to report it. Falls to pre-war (!!) levels? Just CRICKETS.
add a skeleton here at some point
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Elon Green
10 days ago
hadn't looked at this old piece on Sy Hersh in years. Some of it is pretty funny.
www.cjr.org/special_repo...
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www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/s...
10 days ago
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jacob biba
Doug Bock Clark
11 days ago
1/ Just weeks after a Democrat was elected governor of NC in 2024 by an overwhelming margin, the state’s GOP-controlled legislature set out to strip him of powers. What happened next illuminates the breakdown in the separation of powers throughout the nation. THREAD 👇
tinyurl.com/y3v6np59
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Inside the North Carolina GOP’s Decade-Long Push to Seize Power From the State’s Democratic Governors
For almost a decade, North Carolina’s majority-Republican legislature tried six times to strip Democratic governors of control over the board overseeing the swing state’s elections. This year, it fina...
https://tinyurl.com/y3v6np59
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Cengiz Yar
11 days ago
CBS didn't run the 60 Minutes segment on CECOT, but over here at
@propublica.org
we've been working on the story since March, including finding out who each and every man sent to that maximum security prison was. You can see our reporting here:
www.propublica.org/series/depor...
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Deported and Imprisoned Archives
A case-by-case investigation that examines the Trump administration’s claims that these immigrants are all “sick criminals” and “terrorists” and that shows what they suffered during months in one of t...
https://www.propublica.org/series/deported-and-imprisoned
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good animation here!
www.propublica.org/article/nort...
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Inside the North Carolina GOP’s Decade-Long Push to Seize Power From the State’s Democratic Governors
For almost a decade, North Carolina’s majority-Republican legislature tried six times to strip Democratic governors of control over the board overseeing the swing state’s elections. This year, it fina...
https://www.propublica.org/article/north-carolina-governor-power-transfers-gop?utm_campaign=propublica-sprout&utm_content=1766233593&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin
11 days ago
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nilay patel
11 days ago
You can just say that to the White House, it’s easy
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nilay patel
11 days ago
Sometimes the no comment is the entire story!
add a skeleton here at some point
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David Enrich
12 days ago
The Justice Dept quietly removed 16 photos from the Epstein files. Twelve were of the notorious massage room in Epstein’s NY mansion. One is of an empty hallway. And one is of Trump.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/u...
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Epstein Files Photos Disappear From Government Website, Including One of Trump
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/us/politics/trump-epstein-files-government-website.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-E8.QM2-.11_siINU40SO&smid=nytcore-ios-share
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woof
www.thepaper.media/news/educati...
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Burke School Board action against The Paper raises First Amendment questions
In an unprecedented move, the Burke County Board of Education unanimously voted Monday to revoke The Paper’s special media access — a decision the newspaper’s legal counsel says violates the
https://www.thepaper.media/news/education/burke-school-board-action-against-the-paper-raises-first-amendment-questions/article_7088d92a-ac5a-41cb-ab8a-6f2930405adf.html?fbclid=PAVERFWAOzjM5leHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAadnww7JJ-gM0IOnm7cCdsJxMG7TIKQ-hZlnQ9zikgyqMA2GTwa38z22HI9Ctw_aem_ATUCb_3IbCohdXOuSuB0bA
13 days ago
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update: 20 filed!
add a skeleton here at some point
13 days ago
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amanda moore 🐢
14 days ago
When I emailed Border Patrol about this raid, they just sent me a link to a presser about the handful of criminals they got in New Orleans.
add a skeleton here at some point
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JFC 18(!) people vying for 3 seats on Asheville City Council.
14 days ago
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jacob biba
The Assembly
14 days ago
Facing an uphill legal battle, the Stein administration reversed its cuts to Medicaid providers last week. But the governor’s attempt to steamroll the deadlocked legislature could make a still-looming crisis harder to fix.
www.theassemblync.com/news/politic...
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Josh Stein’s Medicaid Mess
Facing an uphill legal battle, Gov. Stein reversed his administration’s Medicaid cuts. But the crisis isn’t over.
https://www.theassemblync.com/news/politics/josh-stein-medicaid-rate-cuts-general-assembly/
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Sentient
14 days ago
Foraging can help people save money and prevent food waste. And for Ethan Welty, one of the biggest benefits of Falling Fruit is that it can help people learn about the “different plants that have some sort of edible use” in their city.
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Urban Foragers Are Mapping Edible Plants Around the World
The nonprofit Falling Fruit’s interactive, crowdsourced map helps communities find food-bearing plants in cities around the world.
https://buff.ly/9lQehQk
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“We’re not talking about weapons here,” said Yeckley of her daughter’s search. “Even if she had a vape, even if they found one, that does not, in my opinion, constitute a strip search.”
news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/s...
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Strip Searches in Schools Traumatize Kids Over Minor Offenses
A Bloomberg Law investigation found 40 federal civil rights lawsuits since 2017 claiming children and teenagers were strip searched at school without parents knowing – often for vape pens and minor of...
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/strip-searches-in-schools-traumatize-kids-over-minor-offenses?utm_source=www.courtwatch.news&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=156-wifi-jammers-drones-crypto-kidnapping&_bhlid=368c74e95a310da45740e1d7c5a3c8d5c6edd445
14 days ago
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some good North Carolina in this (yadkin valley longhunters; Boone v. Crockett hats; deerskin was the second largest commodity behind rice during colonial times)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khk3...
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MeatEater's Steven Rinella on the Economic History of Hunting | Odd Lots
YouTube video by Bloomberg Podcasts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khk3VzVWE9k
15 days ago
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jacob biba
Chris Cooper
15 days ago
Another
#wnc
/
#ncpol
one 14 (!) candidate running for 3 open seats on Asheville City Council with 1.5 days of filing to go
#ncpol
#wncpol
#avl
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jacob biba
Chris Cooper
15 days ago
.
#nc11
candidates thus far. Whipple, Briarwood, and Groo filed today
#ncpol
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Prettt crazy news out of Wilkes
thewilkesrecord.com/da-tom-horne...
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DA Tom Horner will not seek re-election
https://thewilkesrecord.com/da-tom-horner-will-not-seek-re-election-p11304-149.htm
15 days ago
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jacob biba
Zahra Hirji
16 days ago
New
@bloomberg.com
: The US plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a key climate-science hub in Boulder, Colorado, which the Trump administration says strayed from its mission decades ago by taking up climate change research.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
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US to Dismantle Key Research Agency, Advancing Attack on Climate
The US plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a key climate-science hub in Boulder, Colorado, which the Trump administration says strayed from its mission decades ago by taki...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-17/us-to-dismantle-key-research-agency-advancing-attack-on-climate?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc2NTk5ODc3MSwiZXhwIjoxNzY2NjAzNTcxLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUN0YwR0xLR1pBT00wMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJFMkUzODg2QzgzREM0NTUxOEVFM0M2MDRGN0ZBRTlGMyJ9.k_8kvsH2Gm-P6giW_Z2wbLfjIMYfvnf7fR2AjoGPmzE
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Jennifer Berry Hawes
16 days ago
Trump officials have circled the federally funded research institution, based in Boulder, Colorado, as a hub for "federal climate alarmism" after it was established decades earlier in 1960 for research in atmospheric chemistry and physical meteorology.
www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
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Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/16/trump-dismantle-national-center-atmospheric-research-climate/87798771007/
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David Enrich
17 days ago
Big new Jeffrey Epstein investigation just dropped: How he built his fortune based on scams and lies. New revelations about his ties to Clinton and Trump.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/m...
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Scams, Schemes, Ruthless Cons: The Untold Story of How Jeffrey Epstein Got Rich
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/magazine/jeffrey-epstein-money-scams-investigation.html?unlocked_article_code=1.9E8.-xHi.4omxgh_j0iKp&smid=nytcore-ios-share
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"She said she would no longer say cultures are 'not equal,' instead saying they are 'not the same,' and emphasized that she was not suggesting any culture has less value."
www.wfae.org/politics/202...
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Ahead of contested primary, Cunningham softens previous immigration remarks
Mecklenburg County state Rep. Carla Cunningham is softening some of her most controversial comments on immigration, months after a floor speech and vote that sparked backlash among Democrats and helpe...
https://www.wfae.org/politics/2025-12-15/ahead-of-contested-primary-cunningham-softens-previous-immigration-remarks
18 days ago
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Blue Ridge Public Radio
18 days ago
More than a year after Helene, hundreds of residents are still trying to figure out what to do with their damaged homes. FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program offers a chance to sell or rehab those properties — but appears to be stalled.
www.bpr.org/helene-recov...
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For Helene survivors, a stalled federal buyout program could spell financial trouble
Over the last few months, state officials have raised concerns about FEMA’s response time and its commitment to moving the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program program forward. The agency has not awarded m...
https://www.bpr.org/helene-recovery/2025-12-12/for-helene-survivors-a-stalled-federal-buyout-program-could-spell-financial-trouble
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Liliana Segura
18 days ago
New
@theintercept.com
: I wrote about the oral argument in Hamm v. Smith, digging a bit deeper to trace how the case ended up at SCOTUS. It's another example of far-right conservatives leaning on the court to burn down its case law to advance their agenda (more executions, less 8th amendment).
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Alabama Begs Supreme Court to Make It Easier to Execute People With Intellectual Disabilities
The bizarre oral argument in Hamm v. Smith shows how decades of case law rooted in science is now under siege at the Supreme Court.
https://theintercept.com/2025/12/14/hamm-v-smith-supreme-court-death-penalty-disability/
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Chris Geidner
18 days ago
The Supreme Court grants one new case this morning, a case about racial discrimination in jury selection. Here is the full orders list:
www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...
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Philip Gourevitch
18 days ago
President saying Reiner and wife murdered because Reiner opposed him — does he know something not yet made public?
add a skeleton here at some point
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incredible to me that Jackson, Stein, Cooper don't catch more grief (from their own supporters) for their actions as attorneys general
www.theassemblync.com/news/politic...
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Their Charges Were Dismissed, But These Two Men Are Not Free
A judge said two men incarcerated for 23 years didn’t kill the grandfather of NBA star Chris Paul. So why are they still in prison?
https://www.theassemblync.com/news/politics/chris-paul-grandfather-winston-salem-five/
18 days ago
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Charles Ornstein
18 days ago
Hundreds remain in quarantine in South Carolina as a measles outbreak accelerates.
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Measles cases spike in South Carolina
NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Dr. Carlos del Rio about the spiking number of measles cases in South Carolina and about the public health challenges posed by the outbreak.
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/14/nx-s1-5640860/measles-cases-spike-in-south-carolina
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“The first time a constituent of mine dies because of measles, I’m going to lose my mind.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/u...
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A Measles Outbreak Brings With It Echoes of the Pandemic
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/us/measles-outbreak-south-carolina-quarantine.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
18 days ago
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lots of good reporting here on Bovino’s ties to North Carolina. (They interview his wrestling coach!)
chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdog...
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Greg Bovino’s the star of Trump’s deportation show. We trace his roots.
As a boy, the Hollywood movie “The Border" set the course for his life. He couldn’t believe the Border Patrol agents in the movie were the bad guys. Now that he’s in charge of deportation efforts caus...
https://chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdogs/2025/12/12/gregory-bovino-border-patrol-deportation-elcentro-california-blowing-rock-boone-north-carolina-migrants-immigration
19 days ago
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A publicly available Venmo account for “Antanette Mosley” featuring a picture of the vice mayor posted a payment for “Property Tax Appeal” to Vinson dated May 28 of this year.
nclocal.org/2025/12/12/t...
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20 days ago
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Hamed Aleaziz
20 days ago
SCOOP: The Trump administration is providing the names of all travelers passing through U.S. airports to immigration officials in search of people with deportation orders, a substantial expansion of government efforts to draw on data to hunt down immigrants.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
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Immigration Agents Are Using Air Passenger Data for Deportation Effort
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/us/politics/immigration-tsa-passenger-data.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
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Blue Ridge Public Radio
21 days ago
Read more:
www.bpr.org/politics-gov...
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Asheville Vice Mayor claimed tax break for Georgia residence
While registered to vote in Asheville and serving on City Council, Antanette Mosley took homestead exemption on Atlanta property.
https://www.bpr.org/politics-government/2025-12-11/asheville-vice-mayor-claimed-tax-break-for-georgia-residence
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Looking forward to like a year from now when he'll ask something along the lines of: Do you support the Trump administration's militarized actions against families that don't download Paramount+ as a measure to keep Americans entertained?
21 days ago
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Jacob Kang-Brown
21 days ago
From
@prisonpolicy.org
: New analysis of government data from ICE via the Deportation Data Project shows federal agents reliant on local jails and police to reach their arrest numbers.
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Ryan Oehrli
21 days ago
To many, the staff at Carolina Migrant Network are heroes. Their alerts warned people where Border Patrol was during Operation Charlotte’s Web. But the small team said they don’t feel heroic. They just tried their hardest:
www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/c...
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‘El pueblo salva al pueblo’: How Carolina Migrant Network fought Border Patrol
To many in the Charlotte area, the alerts they sent out were a lifeline. But they said they don’t feel like heroes.
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article313359698.html
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NC Local
21 days ago
An NC Local investigation finds Asheville Vice Mayor Antanette Mosley has been claiming a tax benefit for a home in Georgia. Full story here:
nclocal.org/2025/12/11/a...
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Asheville Vice Mayor claimed tax break for Georgia residence
Public records show that for at least seven years, while registered to vote at an Asheville address — making her eligible to serve on City Council — Asheville Vice Mayor Antanette Mosley simultaneousl...
https://nclocal.org/2025/12/11/asheville-vice-mayor-claimed-tax-break-for-georgia-residence/
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