From Staff Reports

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Despite facing multiple serious federal citations, including “immediate jeopardy” findings, and intense scrutiny over staffing and patient care under Nashville-based HCA Healthcare, Mission Hospital in Asheville won approval for a $198 million, 95-bed expansion. 

And while Mission Hospital received approval to expand, “new hospital proposals from nonprofits AdventHealth and UNC Health West have been denied, though with the opportunity to appeal,” the Asheville Citizen Times reported on April 2.

“In a letter sent to Mission Hospital dated March 27, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services approved Mission Hospital to receive no more than 95 additional acute care beds, bringing the hospital to 828 acute care beds,” the ACT noted.

“In another letter the same day, the agency approved Novant Health to build a 34-bed hospital

“Competing health systems presented their visions for the future of Western North Carolina health care in December,” the ACT stated, with Mission, Advent and UNC Health each vying to build a new, 129-bed hospital for the region.

Novant Health proposed an “intentionally modest” hospital that would be in Arden.

From Staff Reports 

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — HCA Healthcare’s board is urging shareholders to reject a proposal for a comprehensive report on the post-2019 sale impacts of Mission Hospital, citing it as unnecessary and burdensome. 

The proposal, led by state Senator Julie Mayfield, seeks to address alleged declines in care, staffing shortages, and five “Immediate Jeopardy” citations since HCA’s acquisition, aiming to highlight risks. 

Key details regarding the proposal and the situation at Mission Hospital:

• The proposal: Sponsored by Sen. Julie Mayfield, the proposal demands a report on the health, legal, and operational consequences of HCA’s acquisitions over the last decade, particularly focusing on the 2019 purchase of Asheville’s Mission Hospital. 

From Staff Reports

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Following three separate shooting incidents during the first weekend of March, the Asheville Police Department launched a 30-day crime initiative, which resulted in 25 arrests and the seizure of 10 firearms by March 23, Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported on April  4.

“At the beginning of March, a shooting on North Lexington Avenue injured nine people,” News 13 note. “A shooting near the Pisgah View Apartments killed one person, and another shooting along Patton Avenue killed another person.”

The ADP’s launch of its 30-day crime initiative, called the Public Safety Action initiative, was first reported  by City Councilwoman Maggie Ullman in a news release in which she noted that it was prompted by the recent spike in crime.

Ullman’s release also stated that violent crime in Asheville remains at a five-year low, year-to-date, and that investigations into recent incidents remain ongoing.

News 13’s “Comment Bubble” appearing after its story included the following assertions:

• Hammer1 — “Initiative? Isn’t that your job? Isn’t that what all of you were hired to do in the first place? I support law enforcement 110% but doing your job isn’t called an initiative, it’s called earning your money.”

• RoaringKitty — “Why stop? Extend the 30 day initiative to 365…”

• Randito — “Great Job.. Now Lets see if you can Do Your Jobs EVERY Day of the Year...”

• WindRidge — “Did any of them happen to have 30 million in missing city funds?”

• Snydley — “A 30-day crime initiative??? Why isn’t this the regular, daily routine for the APD???

• TheOracle — “Less than one arrest a day — sad.”

• TheOracle — “So 150 officers on the roll, 30 days in a month, and they only manage a paltry 25 arrests.  That should happen about every day in a city the size of AVL.Pathetic numbers.”

• ZooLivinWNC — “0.2% arrests a day! Woop ... give em all a raise!”

From Staff Reports

BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. — The fight between Ingles Markets Inc. and a minority shareholder for a seat on the grocer's board of directors has gone public. 

“Both companies have issued scathing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings in a battle that continues to reveal more about the innerworkings of the Western North Carolina-based grocer,” the Asheville Citizen Times reported on April 3.

“In mid-March, Summer Road LLC, the family office of the Sackler family, signaled it would seek a seat on Ingles' Board of Directors citing the need for a shareholder representative amid what it described as the board of directors rubber stamping decisions made by the company and its chairman, Robert P. Ingle II,” the ACT noted. 

“The investment firm alleged Ingle II has led the Black Mountain-based grocer through a "decade-long program of lost opportunity," blurring the line between real estate investment and the grocery business and creating potential conflicts of interest,” the newspaper added.

GREER, S.C. — The so-called “Golden Age” of radio (the 1970s and ‘80s) in Greer was reviewed and analyzed by popular former Greer radio hosts Drew Hines and Paul Lindsey in a presentation that was part of the 150th anniversary of the founding of Greer at the Historic Greer Depot on March 28.

Hines, who lives just outside of Greer, writes a monthly column appearing in the three editions of the Daily Planet, including Upstate S.C., Asheville, N.C., and Hendersonville, N.C.

During the program, the two men sat on tall stools at a high table with vintage microphones in a retro setting meant resemble an old-time radio station, as they reminsced about times past in old-school-style local broadcasting

The program was introduced as “Live at 4:00 p.m.” by David Lovegrove, director of the Greer Heritage Museum. 

A crowd of about 50 attended the program, with many coming and going, as a potpourri of events were offered that evening celebrating Greer’s 150th anniversary.

As Hines and Lindsey began discussing Greer’s radio heritage, Lindsey asked, “What was the legal call sign” at WEAB-AM when Hines worked there in the 1970s?

“It was a ‘clear channel’ station, which was a little bit unusual in those times.” Hines answered, given that WEAB was a 250-watt station, as compared to some of the 50,000-watt clear channel stations in New York City, Chicago and other major cities.

“And I was at WCKI station,” Greer’s other radio station, Lindsey noted. “That was my first radio job.”

Hines added, “Paul and I have known each other for a long time. Paul was maybe 14 when we first met....

“But people today, especially young people, can’t appreciate the role that local radio played in those days — back in the days of (print) newspapers and local TV...

Hines noted that he worked for WEAB-AM, named after Ed Burch, who was the editor and publisher the now-defunct Greer Citizen weekly newspaper). “WEAB always was country and bluegrass, he said. “In June 1949, it was Greer’s first and only radio station.” 

Hines added that WCKI-AM was founded in 1955 as a Southern gospel radio station.

For decades, there were two radio stations in Greer, but Hines noted they later were sold, with WCKI becoming a Roman Catholic station. And WEAB-AM not only was sold, but its call letters were changed to WPJM-AM, which is now a black gospel station.

Further, Hines said, “Of the stations in our area that made an impact, there was WSPA (in Spartanburg), which started as an AM station, but then it became the first FM station in South Carolina.”

(“WSPA-TV (Channel 7) transitioned from radio to television on April 29, 1956, led by Walter J. Brown of Spartan Radiocasting Company, who acquired a VHF channel 7 license after the

FCC lifted its, freeze on new TV stations in 1952. The station leveraged its original WSPA-AM (950) radio roots, establishing a powerhouse CBS affiliate with a vast coverage area,” AI Overview noted.)

The March 28 discussion between Hines and Lindsey then turned to “Farmer” Cliff Gray, a beloved and legendary radio personality in Spartanburg, where he was considered (according to AI Overview) a “god in radio” in that local area.

Hines and Lindsey agreed that Gray also was instrumental in bringing musical groups to the Greer area.

Perhaps most significantly, in 1945, the CBS network wanted to know what the impact of the death of (U.S.) President Franklin D. Roosevelt had on a small town like Greer. “And “Farmer” Cliff Gray gave what was considered one of the best radio reports to the network,” Hines recalled.