Kara Fohner

I cover public safety and breaking news for @asheville. 📰 Formerly @newstopic, @gastongazette

[Kara Fohner @KaraFohner]

A notorious murder case in the Asheville area has sparked national news coverage, but little has been reported about the alleged poisoning victim in the case, Leela Livis. Here's my article about her: https://t.co/u6lQihXUft

[Kara Fohner @KaraFohner]

A Candler woman was charged with a felony for allegedly using drugs while pregnant, a case an attorney with the ACLU called "a gross misapplication of the law."
After we reached out to the District Attorney's Office, the DA dismissed the charge.
https://t.co/KNXuxmKhly

[Kara Fohner @KaraFohner]

Man arrested in Bent Creek assault now charged with felony:
https://t.co/60zIDCMSrE

[Kara Fohner @KaraFohner]

📰 New from me: Pardoned Jan. 6 rioter who opened Asheville business faces backlash

https://t.co/TyRriq2rLy

[Kara Fohner @KaraFohner]

Reports of more than 160 missing children in Spruce Pine are not true. In fact, there is only one person who first responders have not managed to locate since Tropical Storm Helene, according to the Mitchell County Manager Allen Cook.

https://t.co/IbOezrhI2T

[Steve Inskeep @NPRinskeep]

Just read a social media post saying that “the only coverage” of Asheville, NC is “on social media.” Here is a sample of NPR’s coverage, which has continued for days and that you can share on social media.
https://t.co/bBKuJozUWE

[Brian Stelter @brianstelter]

One caller asked for help finding her brother. Another needed info about evacuation routes. A third worried if a nearby dam was about to burst. And many callers said "I'm just so proud of my neighbors."

Local radio in western North Carolina is a literal lifeline right now 🧵

[Dhruv @dhruv2038]

I need people to understand something with the news coverage regarding effects of hurricane Helene. There is a lot more to the NC Mountains than Asheville.
Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, Vilas, Sugar Grove, Elk Park, West Jefferson, Black Mountain, Swannanoa, Sylva, Cullowhee, Brevard, Bryson City, Hendersonville, Cherokee, Waynesville, Burnsville, Candler, Canton, Spruce Pine, Chimney Rock, Lake Lure, Linville, Marshall, Maggie Valley, Newland, Grandfather, Beech Mountain, Sugar Mountain, Old Fort, Morganton, Marion are just a few of the cities and towns that have been flooded and/or destroyed. The counties of Yancey, Mitchell, Avery, Ashe, Watauga, Transylvania, Burke, Caldwell, Alleghany, Madison, Buncombe, McDowell, Rutherford, Polk, Henderson, Wilkes, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Clay, Cherokee, and Swain are devastated and in need of the same help, some even more.
Other counties that fall under various definitions of Western North Carolina include: Alexander County, Catawba County, Cleveland County, Surry County and Yadkin County. When these counties are added, they form a total regional area of roughly 11,750 square miles (30,400 km2).
This makes the region roughly the size of Massachusetts. Western North Carolina holds 11% of our state's population.
There are millions of people up there with no electricity, no communication, no water, and no way to get out or let rescue teams even know where they are. I am not taking anything away from Asheville and the utter destruction there or any other areas in NC that have damage. The level of destruction is unimaginable. But it's not one or two cities or towns that are in need of help.
This does not include the destroyed areas in the Tennessee mountains, Western Virginia, Georgia, or South Carolina.
Please do 2 things for me:
1. Donate to Operation Airdrop, Samaritan’s Purse, or Fleet of Angels (or all 3!)
2. Contact news media to get coverage for ALL of Western North Carolina. People need to know the full scope of this disaster so that more people can get desperately needed help. And so more people can be located because a lot of us have loved ones up there and we don't know if they're dead or alive.
These are our homes. These are places we raise our families. These are communities I work in on a daily basis. My heart breaks for everyone involved.

[Kara Fohner @KaraFohner]

A man accused of poisoning his wife with eye drops, setting a helicopter on fire, and later staging his own kidnapping, is now accused of harassing witnesses in the case, poisoning his own daughter in an attempt to implicate other people:
https://t.co/sp2mYWC2Pq

[Kara Fohner @KaraFohner]

Mount Holly Police are investigating a potential credit card skimmer at a local gas station after a Gaston resident lost more than $400 filling up her tank.

https://t.co/4Xgij5YOXu

[Kara Fohner @KaraFohner]

SCOOP: The Gaston County attorney and his deputy county attorney resigned on the same day last week.
https://t.co/EFRSK99pAD

[Kara Fohner @KaraFohner]

NEW FROM ME: The Gaston County Sheriff's Office overspent its budget for staff and has not been following county policy when hiring new officers, according to a draft of a memo circulated among the Gaston County Board of Commissioners.
https://t.co/9GpQLxUDR0

[Kara Fohner @KaraFohner]

@gretchemaben My brother had a concussion a while back and kept asking over and over again if he had health insurance. 🥲 (He didn’t.)

[Kara Fohner @KaraFohner]

@skinnyprinsess Three hours or more for me

[Kara Fohner @KaraFohner]

Gaston County's manager intends to resign, and she will be replaced by her deputy county manager, according to county documents.

https://t.co/Jb869Fm7Mx

[Kara Fohner @KaraFohner]

A Belmont man was convicted of breaking into a Belmont Abbey College dorm and inappropriately touching a 19-year-old female student as she was sleeping.

https://t.co/ylQUDDbnbx

[Kara Fohner @KaraFohner]

A former high school track coach was convicted Tuesday of having sexual contact with a student while he was a coach at Forestview High School.

https://t.co/fV9UYjv9vL

[Kara Fohner @KaraFohner]

Gaston County ended its contracts for ambulance service with Stanley Rescue and Ranlo Fire and Rescue, and Stanley Rescue says it may be forced to close its doors.

https://t.co/0GmVc2bOtq

[Anna Gazmarian @anna_gazmarian]

Regardless of where you are in your career, this is what texts from writers look like.

[Brittny Mejia @brittny_mejia]

Someone stole William Woods’ identity. The LAPD arrested him, believing the identity thief over him.

A judge later sent Woods to a mental hospital because he maintained (rightfully so) that he was the real William Woods. I interviewed him here

https://t.co/Yenng5PWVS