Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies, and the real answers:
Question: When will Congressman Chuck Edwards hold a town hall meeting in WNC? A lot of other congressmen and women have held them lately, and they’ve become kind of heated.
My answer: I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, “Never.” Unless the congressman has a penchant for taking spittle showers, that is.
Real answer: If you haven’t been following along, several members of Congress have held town hall meetings in their districts lately, and they essentially turned into shouting matches, with a dose of heckling thrown in for good measure. It seems President Donald Trump’s budget- and federal workers-slashing agenda has gotten many voters pretty riled up, especially against Republican members of Congress like Edwards.
I reached out to Edwards’ spokesperson Maria Kim, who provided a statement from the congressman.
“Being accessible, listening, and answering questions for the people of WNC are among my favorite activities,” Edwards said. “That is why in my first term as congressman, I held eight in-person town halls. I planned another but had to cancel it due to the hurricane.
“That works out to be about one every quarter, and I hope to maintain a similar pace this term depending on my legislative calendar. Additionally, I continue to hold regular tele-town halls, which allow many more folks to participate directly by simply dialing in.”
Edwards, who lives in Hendersonville, was first elected in 2022 and then re-elected last November.
Michael Bitzer, a political scientist at Catawba College, said it would be no surprise that a member of Congress might opt out of doing an in-person town hall these days, given the country’s divisive mood.
“This used to be kind of standard fare, that when they weren’t in legislative session they were working back in the district,” Bitzer said. “Members of Congress would do these town halls to kind of gauge what’s going on in their communities and to really kind of show the constituency services that members are expected to do. I think the likely impact of political polarization has kind of turned that on its head.”
This is nothing new, of course, Bitzer said, noting that when former President Barack Obama was pushing the Affordable Care Act, the controversial plan generated vehement opposition and shouting matches at town halls.
“I think that’s become now the new norm — if a certain segment of the citizenry is aggravated, they are going to show up and they are going to let their members of Congress know,” Bitzer said, noting that back then the Tea Party, and then MAGA Republicans in recent months, were the ones getting fired up. “Now, I think you’re seeing the reverse happen. It’s maybe one of the last true bipartisan dynamics of our politics — that both sides can get equally yelled at.”
Bitzer noted that security looms large with elected officials these days. In the past two decades Republican and Democratic members of Congress have been shot, and President Trump endured two assassination attempts last year.
“That has got to be a primary consideration, particularly by the member and their staff — that we have seen these kinds of violence erupt,” Bitzer said. “And this is a potential breeding ground for those kinds of violent rhetoric, but also expressions and acts. So this is something that I think any elected official is going to take very carefully into consideration.”
Question: I have a question I’d love answered about license plates. I moved to Asheville a year ago from out of state, and when I registered my cars and got new plates the first three letters were LAK for both. As I started driving around more, and still a year later, I feel like almost everyone’s plates start with LAK! I know it’s not a huge city, but it feels like they have sooooo many LAK plates to give out and not many other combinations. I find it hard to believe that this many people also got new plates recently. How long have they been giving out LAK plates? Are there similar patterns like this in other North Carolina cities? What’s the explanation?
A reader asks why so many license plates starting with “LAK” appear in the Asheville area. It is a common site, but it’s nothing intentional, the DMV says. // Watchdog photo by John Boyle
My answer: I’m completely LAKing a response here, but I will ask you to set up an appointment with me for further snark, which I will get to in six months. Actually, I just checked and all the appointments are taken.
Real answer: The North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles is not up to any funny business here.
“This just sort of happens,” Marty Homan, a spokesperson for the North Carolina DMV, said via email. “It’s not intentional to have a certain letter combo in a certain area, except for the OBX plates in Dare County.”
The DMV makes deliveries every few months to its license plate agencies to fulfill plate orders.
“We print in batches with the same prefix, and then they are distributed,” Homan said. “So it is possible that a license plate agency, and even multiple in a certain region or on a certain delivery route, could all be getting the same prefix at a given time.”
The Asheville route goes like this: Asheville (south), Asheville (west), Marshall, Brevard, Hendersonville, Columbus/Polk County.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-07-12 07:01:00
A Pennsylvania-based company, part of Viatris, will pay over $284 million as part of a $720 million opioid settlement distributed among nine states, including North Carolina, California, and New York. North Carolina is set to receive $23 million, with 85% allocated to local governments. The settlement prohibits seven companies from marketing opioids, limits oxycodone pill strengths, and requires monitoring of suspicious orders. Indivior agreed to stop manufacturing and selling opioids for 10 years but can market addiction treatments. Attorney General Jeff Jackson emphasized holding these companies accountable for fueling the opioid crisis and aiding addiction recovery efforts.
(The Center Square) – A Pennsylvania company boasting the reach of 1 billion patients annually and twice consecutively recognized by TIME magazine’s most sustainable companies list is paying nine states more than a quarter-billion dollars over the next years.
The settlement state prosecutors say “worsened the nationwide opioid crisis” will yield $23 million to North Carolina. Mylan, now a part of Viatris, owns a $284,447,916 share of the $720 million going to the Tarheel State, California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia.
As part of the deal, some states can get free pharmaceutical products instead of cash. Seven companies in the deal are “prohibited from promoting or marketing opioids and opioid products, making or selling any product that contains more than 40 mg of oxycodone per pill, and are required to put in place a monitoring and reporting system for suspicious orders. Indivior has agreed to not manufacture or sell opioid products for the next 10 years, but it will be able to continue marketing and selling medications to treat opioid use disorder.”
North Carolina is sending 85% of the settlements to local governments.
The companies and their amount owed to all states collectively are Mylan (now part of Viatris), $284,447,916 paid over nine years; Hikma, $95,818,293 paid over one to four years; Amneal, $71,751,010 paid over 10 years; Apotex, $63,682,369 paid in a single year; Indivior, $38,022,450 paid over four years; Sun, $30,992,087 paid over one to four years; Alvogen, $18,680,162 paid in a single year; and Zydus, $14,859,220 paid in a single year.
“These companies didn’t do enough to prevent misuse of the addictive opioids they manufactured and helped push us into the nationwide opioid crisis that continues to take lives in North Carolina every day,” said first-term Democratic Attorney General Jeff Jackson. “Today’s settlements hold them accountable for hurting the people of our state and give us resources to help people struggling with addiction.”
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article primarily reports on a legal settlement involving pharmaceutical companies and the opioid crisis without endorsing or criticizing any particular political ideology. It provides factual information about the settlement amounts, participating companies, and the intended use of the funds by state governments. The inclusion of a quote from a Democratic Attorney General is presented as part of reporting on the response rather than promoting a partisan view. The tone remains objective and informative, avoiding emotionally charged or partisan language, which indicates adherence to neutral reporting rather than an ideological stance.
SUMMARY: Many residents in Durham, Orange, and Chatham counties are dealing with severe flooding damage to homes, cars, and belongings. Navigating insurance claims can be challenging. The state Department of Insurance (DOI), local agencies, and nonprofits have set up a victim assistance center in Carrboro to help. Experts advise contacting your insurance company promptly, documenting all damages, making temporary repairs to prevent further harm, and verifying if your home is still safe to live in. DOI also helps resolve slow or denied claims and offers a complaint hotline for disputes, ensuring victims get the support they need.
After a storm, insurance specalists suggest following a checklist, including contacting your insurance company.
SUMMARY: Artificial intelligence is increasingly used in critical decisions like hiring, loans, and policing, but the ACLU warns it can perpetuate racial and disability discrimination. AI systems often reflect past human biases, leading to unfair outcomes, such as an autistic man being excluded during AI-driven hiring or facial recognition causing wrongful arrests, predominantly of Black individuals. The ACLU advocates for federal legislation ensuring civil rights protections for AI use, transparency requirements, and limits on technologies like facial recognition. They emphasize that digital rights must become part of civil rights to prevent AI-driven inequality and protect individuals’ freedoms.
