(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . DKos Asheville Open Thread: HCA again, Stein sues paper mill, Cherokee news, Fighting garden mold [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-01 Welcome to DKos Asheville . This space appears each weekend to share links to news and opinion from Asheville and Western North Carolina. The floor is open for comment and discussion. Wishing all a good day from this beautiful part of the world. “Daily Kos fights for a progressive America by empowering its community and allies with information and tools to directly impact the political process.” Please jump the fold for links to stories I found relevant this week. Our next Governor, Josh Stein, is working hard to address the HCA/Mission Hospital mess along with the legacy left by a famously dirty paper mill. Following that news are two lengthy stories on the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) along with helpful ways to deal with this incredibly wet weather in your garden. Affiliated Monitors, the independent monitor in charge of overseeing HCA Healthcare’s compliance with its purchase agreement of the Asheville-based Mission Health system, plans six public meetings throughout Western North Carolina in June, according to a May 28 press release. During the meetings, Affiliated Monitors will introduce its team, explain its role and update the community about what it has done so far, as well as review HCA’s remaining commitments under the agreement, according to the joint press release with Affiliated Monitors and Dogwood Health Trust. Attendees can also ask questions and share information with the monitor in the meetings. The independent monitor’s job is to make sure HCA Healthcare complies with stipulations the company agreed to when the state approved its acquisition of the Mission Health System in 2019. Dogwood Health Trust is a private foundation established to receive the proceeds from the sale of formerly nonprofit Mission Health to for-profit HCA. As the “seller representative,” Dogwood chooses the monitor to advise them in making sure HCA complies with the purchase agreement, Dogwood CEO Dr. Susan Mims said in an email to Carolina Public Press. The agreement covers conditions that must be met over 10 years, “and a number have already been satisfied during the first five years of the agreement,” Mims said. N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein sued HCA Healthcare in late 2023 over allegations the hospital company is not providing the agreed-upon levels of emergency and cancer care. Attorney General Josh Stein is suing the Illinois-based corporate owner of Canton's now shuttered paper mill, saying that by closing the century-old Haywood County operation and throwing more than 1,000 people out of work, Pactiv Evergreen violated the terms of a $12 million state economic incentives grant that it has refused to return. “Taxpayers in North Carolina invested in Pactiv Evergreen to bolster our state’s economy,” Stein, who is also the Democratic candidate for governor, said in a May 23 statement. “We held up our end of the bargain, and we cannot let Pactiv cut and run away with our state’s money. My office has been working with Pactiv over the last year to address the company’s obligations under the JMAC agreement, but it has become clear that legal action was necessary to hold Pactiv accountable.” KITUWAH – The smell of bean bread wafted through the air as the sounds of children laughing, Cherokee songs being sung, and men and boys playing stickball could be heard. It was all at Kituwah, the Mother Town of the Cherokee. The Kituwah Celebration of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), held annually to mark the return of the site to the Tribe, was held this year on the evening of Friday, May 31. PHOTO ALBUM Kituwah, located just outside of Cherokee, N.C. near Bryson City, N.C., was placed into trust for the EBCI by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Dept. of the Interior in 2021. The property was purchased by the EBCI in 1996, and according to the Public Notice to Acquire Land into Trust, the site totals 307.03 acres. Joyce Dugan was instrumental in getting Kituwah back for the Cherokee people. In 1996, she took a resolution to Dinilawigi (Tribal Council) asking that they purchase the property, then known to most as Ferguson Fields, for $2.1 million. Dinilawigi passed the legislation unanimously. How to combat rot and mold It’s been so wet; I’m worried about rot and mold. What can I do to prevent and treat them? Living as we do in a temperate rainforest, it means that we deal with lots of fungal pathogens (rots, molds, rusts, wilts) in the garden and in our lives in general. When I began gardening here, I noticed this, got discouraged and then got really into mushroom cultivation. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em! While I still enjoy cultivating mushrooms, I’ve learned to adapt to our warm, wet conditions and the welcome that offers to many kinds of mushrooms and molds, including pathogenic fungi in the garden. The first thing to consider with any pest or disease in the garden is the quality of your soil and growing conditions. Plants that have what they need (soil nutrients; enough water, but not too much; enough sunshine; airflow; proper temperature) are much less susceptible to infection, even when pathogens are present. They’re a lot like us in this way. If a dozen people go to a party where one person has a cold, not all 12 healthy people will come down with the cold. Those with weakened immune systems are more likely to contract the cold, just as plants with weakened defense systems are more likely to contract diseases. In terms of fungal pathogens, airflow and sunlight are especially important factors. When you plant too tightly, the warm, wet air between plants doesn’t move much, creating the perfect conditions for fungi to flourish. Similarly, if you already have a partially shaded garden and then we get a week of cloudy, rainy weather, the disinfecting power of the sun’s ultraviolet rays don’t have a chance to ward off issues. So, plant with some space between plants, utilize trellising so that plants are up off the ground, prune when appropriate (especially tomatoes) and grow your garden in the sunniest spot possible. 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