Communities celebrate new future of Nikwasi
As Cherokee children joined hands with Macon County residents and led them in a traditional friendship dance in the shadow…
Read More
Shining Rock faces charter renewal decision
The next few months could prove fateful for Haywood County’s only public charter school, Shining Rock Classical Academy, as a…
Read More
House bill could be helping hand for broadband
There’s probably no bigger economic development issue in rural America than access to dependable high-speed internet service. “One hundred percent,”…
Read More
Housing trust fund plan under development in Jackson
Housing is an issue across Western North Carolina, and Jackson County is no exception. Since June 2018, a newly created…
Read More
Jackson buys land for recycling center
After a closed session discussion during its Aug. 20 meeting, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to buy…
Read More
Homeless services provider receives nonprofit status
The organization tasked with managing homeless services in Jackson County for the year ahead received official status as a federal…
Read More
Heavy rains cause four slides in Nantahala Gorge
A severe deluge dropped 3.5 inches of rain in the Nantahala Gorge in Swain County on Saturday and triggered slides…
Read More
WNC to lose $9 million in mental health funding
The North Carolina General Assembly has proposed cutting millions of dollars in mental health funding in the recommended 2019-20 budget…
Read More
Funds earmarked for Haywood drug court
A drug court could be established in Haywood County over the next couple of years if the North Carolina General…
Read More
Tribe to vote on FY2020 budget
Tribal Council is slated to vote on a budget for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 on Thursday, Sept. 12,…
Read More
Gov. Cooper visits SCC
This past summer, Andrew Allen had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get clinical experience at one of the state’s top teaching…
Read More
Region gathers to find recovery solutions
More than 150 leaders from Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties in North Carolina gathered Aug. 16…
Read More
NCDOT clearing four slides in Nantahala Gorge
BRYSON CITY – N.C. Department of Transportation crews are working around the clock on U.S. 19/74 until the highway is…
Read More
Slides close Nantahala Gorge
BRYSON CITY – A heavy rainstorm Saturday evening and four subsequent mudslides have closed U.S. 19/74 in the Nantahala Gorge…
Read More
NC Justice Center honors Haywood’s Jane Hipps
The N.C. Justice Center posthumously bestowed a Champion of Justice Award on former board member and community advocate Jane Hipps…
Read More
Haywood inmate dies in apparent suicide
An inmate at the Haywood County Detention Center, Zachary Nathaniel Lambright, 20, was pronounced deceased at Haywood Regional Medical Center…
Read More
Cherokee students attend Judaculla Camp
Fifteen high school students from across the region who are members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians had an…
Read More
HCC program ranked in Top 10
According to Medicalassistantadvice.com, Haywood Community College’s Medical Assisting program has been ranked number 10 in North Carolina for the year…
Read More
Leading Catamount Nation: WCU’s new chancellor discusses her path to Cullowhee and vision for the university
Western Carolina University’s newest chancellor is fairly certain that, of the teachers and students she knew years ago while pursuing…
Read More
Jackson County welcomes new chancellor
More than 300 people crowded Innovation Station in Dillsboro on Monday, Aug. 19, to sip a beer and shake hands…
Read More
Cullowhee Dam removal decision could take years
It’s been two years since discussions began about the possibility of removing the Cullowhee Dam, and it could take years…
Read More
Shining Rock suspends board operations pending training session
Shining Rock Classical Academy has a history of transparency problems, but after an Aug. 19 meeting with representatives of local…
Read More
Rankins honored with Chief Junaluska Award
Lake Junaluska residents Pat and Don Rankin are the 2019 recipients of the Chief Junaluska Award, an honor bestowed annually…
Read More
Haywood Schools consolidation plan moves forward
A proposal to consolidate several aging Haywood County Schools administrative buildings into a single multi-million dollar state-of-the-art facility first discussed…
Read More
Tribal Council candidates speak on the issues
When Election Day arrives in Cherokee Sept. 5, all 12 Tribal Council seats will be up for grabs, as well…
Read More
Canton explores wastewater treatment options
For years, the town of Canton’s municipal wastewater has been treated, free of charge, by the various operators of the…
Read More
Jackson County residents sought for Citizens Academy
Jackson County residents will have the chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at how county government works during the third…
Read More
Indian Health Service examines issues at Unity Healing Center
The Unity Healing Center in Cherokee has become the subject of intense focus from the U.S. Indian Health Service’s regional…
Read More
Fair time for future farmers
For many people the county fair conjures up images of Ferris wheels, carnival games and cotton candy, but here in…
Read More
Forced to Fight: Law enforcement grapples with opioids in Appalachia
After a routine surgery, Haywood County native Clayton Suggs ended up hooked on opioids until on the first day alone…
Read More
Forced to Fight: Addicts long for life beyond heroin
Editor’s note: Names have been changed to protect the identity of those interviewed for this story. Five miles down an…
Read More
Through Spain, frame by frame: Camino de Santiago offers a long-distance walk steeped in history
The more you know about the Camino de Santiago, the harder it is to define. The simple explanation is that…
Read More
Haywood lands tax credits for historic hospital redevelopment
After narrowly losing out in each of the past three years, developers have finally been awarded tax credits that will…
Read More
Dogwood Health Trust hires CEO
Following a national search, Dogwood Health Trust, a private, non-operating foundation whose sole purpose is to improve the health and…
Read More
KARE child advocacy center helps the county’s most vulnerable
Just off Waynesville’s North Main Street, in one of the town’s most blighted areas, on top of a small hill…
Read More
Public protests N.C. 107 plans at town meeting
Nearly a year to the day since a standing-room-only crowd filled Sylva Town Hall for a forum on the proposed…
Read More
Shining Rock refuses to discuss building project
Editor’s note: This is the eighth in a series of stories on Haywood County’s public charter school, Shining Rock Classical Academy,…
Read More
Shining Rock continues to struggle with transparency
Editor’s note: This is the seventh in a series of stories on Haywood County’s public charter school, Shining Rock Classical Academy,…
Read More
Heavy rain causes rock slides, fatality on Spur
At approximately 3:00 p.m., the northern area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Gatlinburg, TN, experienced extremely heavy rainfall…
Read More
Forced to Fight: Opioid data puts local addiction in context
It was finally moving day, and that empty little Greensboro apartment must have seemed like a mansion to 29-year-old Clayton…
Read More
The pulse of the community: Local pediatrician retires
Dr. Stephen Wall couldn’t have come to Waynesville at a better time. “There were four pediatricians in Haywood County, and…
Read More
Libraries on Tap begins
Fontana Regional Library is stepping out of the stacks to bring “Libraries on Tap: Brewing Scavenger Hunt” to Jackson, Macon…
Read More
Large meth seizure in Cherokee
The Cherokee Indian Police Department, Swain County Sheriff’s Office, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, Drug Enforcement Administration…
Read More
New health foundation hires director
The Nantahala Health Foundation, a newly formed, public 501(c)(3) organization, has hired its inaugural executive director, Lori Bailey.
Read More
If these stones could talk: Friends work to restore Bryson City Cemetery
It’s quiet and peaceful on the hillside of Bryson City Cemetery. Overlooking the hustle and bustle of downtown, all you…
Read More
Chief candidates speak on the issues
Over the last four years, Richard Sneed and Teresa McCoy have found themselves on the opposite side of many an…
Read More
Shining Rock Classical Academy timeline
July 2015: Shining Rock Classical Academy, a brand-new taxpayer-funded public charter school governed by an unelected public board, violates closed-session…
Read More
Shining Rock enrollment drops dramatically
Back-to-school time is here again, and at Shining Rock Classical Academy — Haywood County’s only public charter school — it…
Read More
N.C. 107 relocation list still includes 55 businesses
Based on information presented at a joint government meeting in Jackson County July 23, The Smoky Mountain News reported in…
Read More
Council gives $50 million to tribal LLC
The Cherokee Tribal Council voted to allocate an additional $50 million to Kituwah LLC, the tribe’s economic development arm, during…
Read More
