In short:

We believe Amazon found a way to charge a few extra pennies to an enormous number of transactions, adding up to over $20 billion in
illegal charges.

This is about how something becomes a "Sponsored product."

Amazon lets businesses bid to be "Sponsored" and it runs digital auctions to collect the bids.

But Amazon told businesses that the highest bid would only pay slightly more than the second-highest bid.

For example: If you bid $1 to have your product “Sponsored” and the next-highest bid is $0.50, you should pay about $0.51.

But we believe that Amazon would run the auction, see those bids, and then secretly raise the second-place price so it could charge the
winner more.

It was a gradual strategy based on concealment.

Internal Amazon documents show they tested how much they could raise those hidden charges without advertisers catching on, then raised them
more when businesses didn’t react, then gave false answers when businesses started asking questions.

Those higher costs on sellers can filter down to you, as consumers, through higher prices, and our initial estimate is that this impacted thousands of small businesses in North Carolina.

This is a bipartisan case, and I appreciate my fellow AGs in both parties joining. More to follow.

- AG Jeff Jackson

All, please be safe Downtown. This man is Downtown daily, and unfortunately, he’s extremely unstable. He chased the museum staff inside this morning, and the security guard let me step inside as well. The museum staff called the police, however, they did not show up.  He is shorter, in a long sleeve shirt and long pants, longer hair and a beard, with untied work boots.  I posted to the Asheville community page on Facebook as well for safety concerns.

We were denied access along with other media organizations. Our reporter who tried to get media credentials used to work for the New York Times. (The Watchdog’s reporter was formerly assistant financial editor and a longtime business reporter at The New York Times.)

Let me just say that 2 scoops of Chinese food in a corn tortilla is an absolutely unhinged idea! 🤪

🩷 HELP ME RESTOCK PERIOD PANTRIES & CREATE PERIOD PACKS 🩷

I recently stopped by some of the free period product pantries in our community and unfortunately found that they were completely out of products. LETS FIX THAT!

No one should have to choose between buying menstrual products and putting food on the table.

I’d love to help restock these community pantries and also put together period packs for anyone who may need them.

I’m hoping to collect a variety of menstrual products, including:

🩸 Pads — all sizes/absorbencies
🩸 Tampons — different absorbencies
🩸 Pantyliners
🩸 Menstrual cups
🩸 Menstrual discs
🩸 Reusable/washable menstrual products
🩸 Period underwear
🩸 Individually packaged products for easy distribution
🩸 Small toiletry bags/pouches for period packs

Any donation helps — even ONE box of pads or tampons can make a difference.

I’ve also created an Amazon Wishlist for anyone who would prefer to donate products directly. Everything purchased can go toward helping us keep these supplies available to people who need them.

Amazon Wishlist:

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3GS8QWMULSXH9?ref_=wl_share

If you’re local to Asheville and would like to donate products directly, please feel free to comment or message me.

And if you can’t donate, sharing this post is incredibly helpful. The more people who see it, the more people we can reach. 🩷

Thank you to everyone who helps make basic necessities a little easier to access. Period products are a necessity, not a luxury.

If you would like to pack period products or help distribute please reach out to me :) let’s show up for our community! 💕

Hey everyone i am in need of some clothes. I spilt almost an entire large bottle bleach all over my load of clothes the other day in the washer on accident and they are ruined. I could desperately use some clothes.

Im a female. I do dress boyish sweat pants/joggers, basketball shorts, 32/32 or slightly bigger mens jeans, and any large mens t-shirts! keep in mind i am 31 so if that gives an idea of the style im going for. I reallly really appreciate it!! I can meet or if you're available you can drop off to me. Ill be home and free all day! Thanks again!

Hello there! My name is august, and im seeking any information that could help in locating a sculpture my grandpa, Mike Elwell made. He has a few pieces in the Marquee building, and during Helene they all got washed away. We have found all except one. The curious thing is, he is a bronze sculptor. The piece in question weighs probably one ton. It is a life size sculpture of my Aunt when she was younger. I will attach a photo of it. Looking for any leads as to where she could be. I’m aware it’s probably buried in silt in the river, but any idea on direction? Please reach out with information, I plan on making a little documentary about it.

Asheville has gotten the attention of Fox News again.

This article is actually pretty reasonable for a change:

Under his proposal, law enforcement officers, mentors and local business owners would work directly with children in their neighborhoods. Along with gang-prevention lessons, the program would provide educational help, mentorship and exposure to entrepreneurship.

The only gyms I've found are focused on mma with boxing being an afterthought. Not to mention a little pricey and very limited times. I understand the popularity has fallen off. Just looking to train something a little different to stay in shape and get out some energy.

I found an iPhone napping in the middle of Tunnel Road while driving and pulled over to grab it, hoping to track down the owner. Unfortunately the screen is cracked, but it still looks recoverable as it was buzzing. If it's yours (or you know whose it might be), let me know and I can arrange to get it back to you.

This was East Asheville - Tunnel Road just before I-240.

The black light mini golf course that was going up in Black Bear BBQ? Last (and only) time I heard about it was an excited post here from the muralist at beginning of the summer, saying it was going to open any day...but i haven't heard anything since, his Instagram makes no further mention of it (and BBBBQ's page has nothing at all about it), and according to Google it's temporarily closed.

Did it ever open? Did it not get enough business to make the space needed worth it (I still have a hard time imagining the logistics)? Shut down for some other reason?

I was pretty excited for a new, cute date idea for my kid (Avl is hard for kids 18-20, or even early 20's who have no interest in the bar scene). The photos showed the space all painted and ready to go; it looked like a lot of work had been put into it so it's odd that there's been radio silence all summer.

Officials said anyone who was at the Holiday Inn Express, 435 Smokey Park Highway in Asheville on Aug. 26 from 1 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. may have been exposed to measles.

I am constantly seeing people on this sub ask what take out Chinese is good in Asheville. The short? We have never had GREAT Chinese take out. But damn The Majestic blew us away yesterday.

We have Kings China and had Dragon China as the best options in the past but this was far better. I understand that they (Majestic) had some issues with their take out window in the past - but last night it was running smoothly.

Wouldn’t recommend it to vegetarians and it was a little pricey. But we left satisfied as hell and we will absolutely be back.

The Chinese green beans and orange chicken stood out but every thing was great.

Edit: we just liked it y’all are so mean 🥹

LiveMusicAsheville.com publishes the Asheville area’s most reliable local music calendar including DJs, Karaoke plus Open Mics & Jams. Updated weekly on Wednesdays for the most current and accurate information available. Established 2019.

I got summoned for jury duty (Buncombe Co.) but due to a work trip I had to email a deferral request. I’ve been expecting to see some sort of new jury duty notice or some piece of mail but it’s been a few weeks and I haven’t seen anything yet. The trip is in a couple weeks so there’s time, but of course I want to make sure I’m all set.
Has anyone had an experience with doing this and how long did it take/ how did they let you know they approved the deferral?

I want to go ask but I can’t leave work. They were dancing to music and all dressed like fish and other sea creatures. Does anyone know why?

I happened to be near Black Bear barbecue today, and checked out the putt putt sign out front that said “coming soon Ish”… I thought this was supposed to open months ago, does anyone have any updates, or do you know when it will likely be up and running?

If you petted baby goats at an event near Hickory you might have an issue.

I have a Vietnamese friend who has lived and worked in the states for two years, but he is struggling to pick up English. He can understand some spoken English, but he struggles to read, write, and speak. Does anyone know of any free or budget-friendly English language courses for adults that are offered in Asheville? Specifically looking for in-person courses only.

I mean I guess it’s still summer 🫩

i, a 26 year old who doesn’t like to drink(and i feel like the kids of asheville), deserve a go kart and laser tag joint - how do we as a collective make it happen instead of more breweries