The home of Asheville FM, WSFM-LP 103.3
If you missed it, here’s my interview with the founder, Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, and the director, Seth Kotch, both historians at UNC Chapel Hill
On the Asheville FM News Hour, we aired the headlines, the Civic Roundup on the elections, the Healthy Asheville Report, and an interview from guest contributor Julia Haverstock, who interviewed local writer and collaborator, Ami Worthen, on Stumptown and the Montford neighborhood
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UNITED STATES – November 6, 2022 – Daylight Savings Time (DST) can stress our bodies for weeks by upsetting our natural biologic clock that is affected by light and darkness. Health groups have pointed out that fatigue and health problems can occur from sleep loss after the ‘Spring forward’ time change. There are more hospital admissions due to heart attacks, strokes and irregular heartbeat. Other health problems are more car accidents including more fatalities, mood swings and seasonal depression. Christopher Barnes, a sleep researcher, told Mattress Clarity, an organization that reviews sleep products and promotes sleep health, “We’ve discovered that people have about 40 minutes less sleep. Because we’re already short on sleep to begin with, the effects of even 40 minutes are noticeable.”
As a result of the longer daylight hours during the summer months, beginning in 1966, Congress moved the clocks forward by one hour so we can wake up in the morning when the sun rises and have an extra hour of daylight for outdoor leisure activities after the traditional workday. Most countries in North America and Europe have adopted DST during the summer months. Sunday morning November 6 at 2 AM is the time to ‘Fall back’ by setting the clocks back one hour and return to standard time. DST will start on Sunday, March 12, 2023 and ‘Spring forward’ by advancing our clocks one hour. This is the bi-annual ritual of the ‘changing of the clocks.’
According to a recent 2022 poll by YouGov, more than two-thirds of Americans want to stop changing the clocks. A recent study in the journal Current Biology reported that eliminating time changes with year-round DST could prevent 33 human deaths, over 2 thousand human injuries and save over $1 billion in collision costs each year. The Senate passed a bipartisan bill last March to make DST permanent throughout the United States. The bill hasn’t been voted on by the House. 19 states have already enacted legislation or passed resolutions for year-round DST. However, federal law prohibits states from adopting year-round DST unless it is approved by Congress. Therefore, states can move to year-round standard time. Hawaii, Arizona and U.S. territories have year-round standard time.
Sleep experts feel that having standard time year-round would be much better for a person’s health than year-round DST. Changing the clocks doesn’t change the amount of sunlight during the day. However, adopting permanent standard time allows for sunlight to be present at the right time of the day and the sun would be at its highest point in the sky at 12 noon. In contrast, a shift to permanent DST would also wreak havoc on our natural biologic clock in the winter as it does in the summer. The sun wouldn’t rise until after many people were awake and at work or school so people would be at a higher risk for seasonal depression and car accidents.
Listen to the full report below:
Contact: Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]
DURHAM, NC – October 11, 2022 – On October 11th, Governor Cooper signed an agreement to provide funding to purchase food from North Carolina’s underserved farmers and producers and to distribute it to local communities and schools. The agreement was between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture. USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Mae Wu, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services Chief Deputy Commissioner David Smith announced the agreement in Durham, N.C.
Deputy Under Secretary Wu said that the “USDA is excited to partner with North Carolina to promote economic opportunities for farmers and producers and to increase access to locally sourced, fresh, healthy, and nutritious food in underserved communities and in schools.”
The federal government will allocate over $5.6 million for schools to purchase food from disadvantaged farmers and ranchers for the benefit of students and communities. Serving local foods in North Carolina schools will further support the state’s Farm to School program. This will help North Carolina’s schools improve child nutrition through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. Funding for the agreement comes from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (also known as the COVID-19 Stimulation Package) and from the Commodity Credit Corporation (a US government corporation that was created in 1933 to support farm income and prices).
Governor Roy Cooper said that “It’s great to see this collaboration between state and federal government connecting farmers with schools to get students the healthy meals they need.”
Listen to the full report below:
Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]
ASHEVILLE, NC – November 9, 2022 – The CDC reports that the community level for Buncombe County is low for the week ending October 31st. Most of the counties in North Carolina are low and no counties are at a high transmission level. Most of the counties in the U.S. are at a low level with less than 3% of the counties at a high level. For a community at a low community level, the CDC recommends:
The Buncombe County COVID-19 metrics are on the North Carolina COVID Dashboard. Data from the week ending on October 29th indicate:
The Department of Health and Human Services recommends:
Vaccination sites and testing sites can be located through the North Carolina and Buncombe County Department of Health and Human Services.
An updated COVID-19 booster is now available for eligible persons 5 years and older. This new booster targets 2 versions of the COVID virus, the original virus and the new dominant BA.4 and BA.5 variants. It will replace the previous booster shot that had targeted only the original version of the virus. Eligible persons must be at least 2 months after any prior COVID-19 shots and have had the primary vaccination series. The CDC advises that people who recently had COVID consider delaying their boosters until 3 months after their symptoms started or after a positive COVID test if they were asymptomatic. Booster shots are available at the Department of Public Health Coxe Avenue vaccination clinic, pharmacies, community health centers and rural health clinics.
Listen to the full report below:
Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]
by KP Whaley
We are pleased to announce that 103.3 Asheville FM is looking for members of our community to serve as Board members to guide our vision and fulfill our inclusive and progressive mission. The Mission of Asheville FM is to keep Asheville thriving by producing diverse and eclectic programming that inspires our listeners to build connections across our communities and to discover new music and ideas. We do this by producing diverse, insightful and relevant news, talk, sports and music programming.
Board members attend meetings (6 per year) and serve on a committee and participate in fundraising, with the primary responsibility of providing leadership, vision and direction. Board members also develop and recruit volunteer leaders, oversee and procure financial resources, support our general manager, staff and volunteers; and ensure that programming achieves AFM’s mission.Asheville FM is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.
Being on the board of Asheville FM is rewarding in so many ways! And fun! In addition to helping guide an important community resource, you will be making connections with other volunteers in our family and the Asheville community in general, and also learning about how local community radio serves the Asheville area. Asheville FM is a vibrant organization, our station is solvent and growing; and we need intelligent, passionate leaders to help shape our future.
Board members also attend our casual station get-togethers and other functions and get to know the members of our extended family.
Please consider a seat on our Board today! We would love the opportunity to share our future plans with you. Please send your email of interest to [email protected], and we will send you a short application.
Thank you for your consideration!
-kp