From Staff Reports 

RALEIGH — Governor Roy Cooper signed Senate Bill 535 into law on July 19, authorizing Pisgah View State Park as a new state park in Buncombe and Haywood counties, according to a July 22 press release from the governor’s office.

The 1,600-acre Pisgah View Ranch, a former dude ranch in Candler outside of Asheville, is now North Carolina’s 40th state park. 

Senator Chuck Edwards, R-Henderson, introduced the bill in April and noted that the land  has been owned by the same family since 1790.

Cooper said he expects the new state properties — including a separate Senate bill authorizing three state trails — to have widespread positive impacts for health, quality of life, and the economy. 

“These new parks and trails will conserve important wildlife habitats and support North Carolina’s flourishing outdoor recreation industry,” the governor said in his press release. 

From Staff Reports 

The Asheville Police Department issued an apology after its recent release “of its numbers on gangs” triggered cricism from some local black officials who contended that “the data is not helpful in addressing gun violence and could be a pretext for biased policing,” a July 12 story in the Asheville Citizen Times reported.

On July 10, two days afer the ACT’s original story on the APD’s gang data release, Asheville City Councilwoman Sheneika Smith was quoted by the ACT as saying:

“I, like other members and allies to the black community, can’t help but fear that this is not about awareness. It’s black propaganda intended to criminalize blackness and give clearance to something that damages our existence further.”

Along the same lines on the same day, Delores Venable, president of Asheville Black Lives Matter and vice chair of the city’s Human Relations Commission, was quoted by the ACT as calling the data “skewed.”

“I think this is fear-mongering, more than anything” Venable said, according to the ACT

A day after the criticism of the APD’s gang date was voiced, July 11, an apology was issued from the APD from its media spokeswoman, Jerri Jameson, who said “she should have provided more context and details,” the ACT reported.