North Carolina
‘Seeing is believing’: Local content creator expands tourism growth across WNC post-Helene
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — A budding collaboration between content creators and local tourism leaders is bringing more eyes and visitor traffic to western North Carolina.
Explore Asheville is crediting local content creators like Aisha Adams, a Mills River resident, for helping to expand the mountain region’s digital footprint and draw more tourists to lesser-known spots.
Explore Asheville and the Buncombe County Tourism Authority said they are working with their partners to tell creative stories that get people out to discover the area. Adams said she does not ignore capturing spots on video of areas left with the remnants of Helene’s devastating floods.
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“That’s just a part of our story now, and it adds that texture and culture,” Adams said. “Now we have this mix of art and resilience that I think is going to make the depth of our work and the depth of our community even more attractive.”
When businesses started reopening after Helene, Adams said she began road-tripping around western North Carolina, documenting her travels online.
One of her videos showing the Jackson County farmers’ market gained nearly 60,000 views. Adams said she never expected her Facebook to garner millions of views every month.
“It’s giving me a sense of community that I never thought I could have in a small town, sort of like Asheville, but connecting with people from all over the world,” Adams said.
Explore Asheville said tourism is showing continuous growth since the floods, including hotel revenue, which has increased by 20% in recent months.
Still, during the state’s annual Visit NC Tourism Conference in March, Governor Josh Stein said one challenge western North Carolina’s tourism industry faces is changing perception of those who still tie the area to images they had seen immediately after the hurricane.
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Vic Isley, president and CEO of Explore Asheville, said, “Seeing is believing.”
Isley said content creators like Adams are showing both the rebounded and still-recovering areas of Helene, providing a more balanced perspective of places that define the mountain community.
“It’s just really important for people to see not only the shiny parts of Asheville, but the deep inner beauty of Asheville,” Isley said.
Adams, who founded her own media company, Aisha Adams Media, supporting small businesses and nonprofits in bringing profitable and conscious content to social media, said she believes more individuals are looking for authenticity from both online content and their travels.
“People are looking for resilience and healing, and I think that’s what we offer here,” Adams said.
Some of Adams’ recent partnerships with Explore Asheville include content for Black Wall Street AVL, which celebrates Black-owned businesses, along with other work for Martin Luther King Jr. Park located at the intersection of downtown and the East End/Valley Street neighborhood.
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Both Explore Asheville and Adams said they have been experimenting with artificial intelligence as a tool, not a replacement, for their online content.
Adams said she hopes to partner on some more professional projects with Explore Asheville in the future.
BUNCOMBE COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — Copper theft is becoming a growing problem across North Carolina, with AT&T officials warning that the crime can leave entire neighborhoods without phone or internet service and, in some cases, disrupt emergency communications.
According to AT&T, the company has recorded 215 copper theft incidents across North Carolina so far this year. Buncombe County alone has seen about 40 incidents over the past two years. Thieves often cut down or dig up communication lines, strip the copper from the wire and sell the metal for scrap.
“It’s problematic, largely from a public safety standpoint,” said Trey Rabon, president of AT&T North Carolina. “If folks need to call emergency services, need to call 911, they’re not able to access the infrastructure necessary to complete that call.”
“Sometimes we see instances where emergency communications are disrupted, communications between public safety agencies are disrupted,” Rabon added. “It has become an acute challenge, particularly in western North Carolina.”
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Rabon said thieves frequently target both residential and commercial communication lines, taking advantage of remote mountain locations where utility poles are often out of sight from nearby homes.
“In the mountains, oftentimes personal property is not in line of sight for other neighbors,” Rabon said. “Would-be thieves have the ability to climb a pole, disconnect a line, drive to the next pole and disconnect that line.”
In May, five people were charged in connection with multiple copper thefts across Buncombe County that investigators said caused widespread outages. Law enforcement also discovered several wire-stripping sites in Swannanoa and Leicester.
The thefts have also impacted local businesses.
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In early June, thieves cut and stole internet lines serving Good Pizza Company. Owner George Peyton said the outage forced the restaurant to close because employees could not access essential business systems.
“Nobody could clock in, couldn’t print tickets, couldn’t take phone orders, and that’s about 80 to 85% of the business,” Peyton said.
AT&T officials say one of the most effective ways to prevent copper theft is for communities to remain vigilant and report suspicious activity.
“They don’t like to operate in the light of day, and they certainly don’t want to operate with a hyper-aware and vigilant community,” Rabon said.
Anyone who suspects someone is stealing communication wire is encouraged to contact local law enforcement.
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WPDE) — The Myrtle Beach Police Department announced Monday the arrest of a man wanted in North Carolina.
Officers arrested Leko Jones, 46, who was wanted by authorities in Burlington, North Carolina, according to the Myrtle Beach Police Department.
Jones is charged with attempted first-degree murder and assault by strangulation.
The arrest resulted from a coordinated effort between the Myrtle Beach Police Department’s Patrol Division and Investigations Division, working alongside the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
Investigators said they safely located Jones and took him into custody.
A section of E. 4th Street in Washington will close next week for sewer line replacement work.
According to the city, E. 4th Street from Hudnell Street to Aycock Street will be closed to local traffic on Tuesday, July 14, and Wednesday, July 15, from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
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