After pedestrian fatality, county scrambles for funding
After a June 9 accident that left a man dead and a community grieving, the effort to address a road…
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Maggie distillery gets help from town, sanitary district
On July 11, Dave Angel’s plan to operate a 10,000 square-foot whiskey distillery on 1.7 acres at 3732 Soco Road in…
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Giving up the Ghost: Last respects at Ghost Town in the Sky
Mike Withers loved Ghost Town in the Sky so much that in Spring 2015 at the age of 72, he…
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Vexed by bad luck, sawmill’s would-be savior burned again in lawsuit verdict
A lawsuit over the historic sawmill that burned down at Haywood Community College nearly four years ago was settled last…
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WCU voices support for tuition reduction plan
Ever since a controversial bill proposing to slash tuition rates at selected University of North Carolina schools popped up in…
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Haywood Halt: NCDOT set to improve interchange
Drivers who use a section of U.S. 74 in Haywood County will be taking a slightly different route starting on…
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Tourism increases in Jackson County
Visitation to Jackson County for the 2015-2016 fiscal year was the highest recorded in the four-year history of the Jackson…
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Tuition ‘buy down’ promises future entanglements
As the 2016-17 North Carolina budget came together, a significant part of it — touted by both Democrats and Republicans…
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Couple works to open wedding venue at family farm
Nearly five years ago, Taylor and Preston Gregg stood on top of Chestnut Ridge and recited their wedding vows.
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Food Fight: Anthony’s mad at Waynesville
The Mad Anthony’s food truck debate culminated last week in what will go down in the annals of Waynesville lore…
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Macon applies for mental health assistance grant
Macon County Emergency Management Services hopes to expand an existing health care model to better serve mental health patients in…
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TekTone Sound to expand operations in Macon
With the help of matching grants funds from Macon County, TekTone Sound & Signal Manufacturing Inc. will expand operations at…
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Macon wraps up fiscal year
Macon County commissioners had some last-minute spending decisions to make before heading into the new fiscal year that started July…
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Potential free clinic partnership sparks both enthusiasm and concern
A partnership that could quadruple patient volume and expand medical staffing for the uninsured of Jackson County has been the…
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Current, former Lake Junaluska Singers allege drug abuse, favoritism
The resignation of Lake Junaluska Singers Director Dr. Melodie Galloway comes after one member of the well-known choral group made…
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New rules could change the face of downtown Waynesville
By a 4-1 vote on June 28, the Town of Waynesville finally got around to complying with an Oct. 1,…
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A look at how local governments utilize the web
Having a website used to be an added bonus for local governments, but now it has become a necessity and…
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Food Fight: Waynesville denies Mad Anthony's request to keep food truck
Revolutionary War hero General “Mad” Anthony Wayne once told George Washington, “Issue the order, Sir, and I will storm the…
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Rare wood hunter unearths irresistible beauty in salvaged burl wood
Stephen Metzger was like a kid in a candy shop as he clambered over a massive mound of behemoth tree…
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Governments get graded
Journalists responsible for news gathering in a rugged and mountainous four-county (Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain), 2,111-square-mile swath of Western…
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Online presence a must for modern government
Go back in time 25 years, and a town with a website — any website, no matter how terrible the…
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Maggie Valley website biggest bang for the buck
Years ago, the Town of Maggie Valley used to be known as a place where governance didn’t always take place…
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Canton plans to beef up town website
The Town of Canton’s website was the subject of discussion during recent budget hearings, as some questioned the need for…
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Bryson City website needs more attention
Considering Bryson City didn’t even have a website until 2009, it’s no surprise that it lags behind the other municipalities’…
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Swain County’s website lacks basic information
With the lowest population and the lowest county budget, Swain County also scored the lowest among the four-county website comparison.
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Cherokee’s web presence a work in progress
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ website received the lowest score of any of those reviewed by The Smoky Mountain…
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Sylva’s website scheduled for a makeover
Sylva’s website, last overhauled in 2010, will be getting a facelift this year after the town board voted to spend…
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User-friendly website a priority for Jackson
Kelly Fuqua doesn’t have a problem saying she’s pretty proud of Jackson County’s website. Before she overhauled it in 2011,…
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Franklin strives for open government — even online
The town of Franklin’s website is a great example of a small town going the extra mile to encourage public…
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Waynesville website a reliable resource
As the largest town west of Asheville and the county seat of Haywood County, Waynesville is the economic engine of…
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Macon’s web presence has come a long way
Macon County’s government website started 16 years ago with a shoestring budget.
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Haywood County’s website gets the job done
Haywood County’s website tied for the highest ranking in the area despite earning design scores that were sub-par.
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Haywood school board responds to lawsuit
A lawsuit filed by a Waynesville parent and attorney in May regarding the closure of Central Elementary School is beginning…
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State budget agreement reached
The North Carolina General Assembly reached the finish line a bit earlier than expected in their race to present GOP…
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NC ‘Sanctuary Cities’ threatened with loss of school, road funding
In late October 2015, Gov. Pat McCrory signed the “Protect North Carolina Workers Act,” requiring state and local governments to…
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SkyFi aims for 11 new wireless towers
Jackson commissioners were put in a tough spot this month by county staff seeking special treatment for wireless internet towers…
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Solving Jackson’s last-mile internet challenge will take time and money
When Travis Lewis was hit with a $600 charge for going over his monthly cell phone data allotment two years…
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Jackson hopes to end the free ride for out-of-county dumpers
Suspicions that people are concealing old sofas and worn-out mattresses over state and county lines to dump on the sly…
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WCU plans for medical building to improve education, expand health care access
Students pursuing health careers at Western Carolina University will soon have ample chance for hands-on learning right on campus if…
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Canton a ‘workplace of first choice’
Canton’s new budget includes a provision making it the first living wage certified government in Western North Carolina, but at…
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Staggered payments for Cherokee Minors’ Fund
When teen members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians come of age, they find themselves in sudden possession of…
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Jackson names interim manager
With a one-month gap between the retirement of Jackson County Manager Chuck Wooten and the arrival of his successor Don…
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Shooting suspect wanted in Haywood
Haywood County Sheriff’s deputies are looking for an armed and dangerous suspect involved in a June 26 shooting incident in…
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Chili's restaurant coming to WCU this fall
CULLOWHEE – Chili’s Grill and Bar, a popular national chain restaurant, will be open for business on the campus of…
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Balance sought in Howell Mill rezoning
As the $11.6 million Howell Mill Road project was winding down in late 2015, the Waynesville Planning Board began to…
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The Raleigh roundup: Budget battle brewing
The North Carolina General Assembly continues to haggle over specific provisions in the proposed 2016-17 state budget as they race…
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Jackson County picks a new manager
Jackson County commissioners last week unanimously named a new county manager with a long and successful local government track record…
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Fight not over for Fontana houseboats
Houseboat owners on Fontana Lake aren’t quite ready to give up their investments without a fight even after the Tennessee…
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Tourism groups prepare for rare eclipse in 2017
Nick Breedlove has been brushing up on his astronomy lately — studying maps and learning the science behind the total…
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Mountain Projects eyes new facility
For more than 50 years, Mountain Projects has been known for helping the most vulnerable in the community, but with…
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