Impolite conversations. Intimate connections. Important self-discoveries.
A familiar voice is returning to Blue Ridge Public Radio s airwaves Sunday March 7th. Embodied, hosted by Anita Rao, will air Sunday evenings at 8 on BPR News. Listeners in Western North Carolina will be familiar with the show, as it started as recurring segments on The State of Things, which aired on BPR until January 1st of this year. Sex and relationships are intimate and sometimes intimidating to talk about. Anita guides us on an exploration of our brains and our bodies that touches down in taboo territory.
Anita discussed the show with BPR s Matt Bush ahead of its launch on Blue Ridge Public Radio, which you can hear above. And you can read more about the program in this Huffington Post profile. Follow Anita on Twitter @anisrao, and find out more about the show here, and subscribe to the seasonal Embodied podcast here. And remember to join us Sunday evenings at 8 on BPR News!
1:18
Buncombe County commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara will run for the Democratic nomination in the 11th Congressional district in Western North Carolina next year. Beach-Ferrara is the first Democrat to formally announce a run to unseat freshman Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn.
Beach-Ferrara was elected to her second term on the county board last year. She’s also the founding executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality, and an ordained minister. Beach-Ferrara released a video announcing her candidacy Wednesday morning, and unveiled her campaign team.
“I’m running because Western North Carolina families deserve better than they’re getting from Madison Cawthorn. My faith teaches me that leadership starts with empathy, compassion, and listening and then getting to work to help people. That’s the kind of leadership I want to offer instead of the division and mean-spiritedness we’re getting now,” said Beach-Ferrara in a statement. “T
Do you have a question about the COVID vaccine? We want to hear from you! Record your question as a voice memo on your cell phone and email us at voices
1:49
With the pandemic hitting Western North Carolina s Latino community harder than almost any other group, health care providers and advocates in Hendersonville are taking a more targeted approach to make sure these residents get the Covid-19 vaccine.
In a sprawling, convention-sized ballroom at Blue Ridge Community College, a row of curtains lines the back wall. On the other side of the screen, eligible recipients are getting their first doses of the Moderna vaccine. It’s a makeshift clinic run by Pardee Hospital.
68-year-old Hector Sanchez emerges from one the curtains. A nurse escorts him to a row of chairs to wait for the next fifteen minutes, to check for symptoms. Under his NASA face mask, it’s apparent he’s grinning.
4:12
As the country watches the COVID death toll cross the half million mark, a Western North Carolina official has been taking inventory of the local impact. As BPR’s Helen Chickering reports, he ended up with a snapshot for the entire state.
“We were trying to close out our 2020 numbers and we came across this statistic that was pretty jaw-dropping,” says Buncombe County Register of Deeds, Drew Reisinger. “For the first time in recorded history in Buncombe County, we had more deaths than births.”
Reisinger says in 2020 Buncombe County recorded 4,098 deaths and 4,050 births. “So, it took a pretty substantial event to create that.”