General session prayer delivered in Cherokee language
 

General session prayer delivered in Cherokee language

A tribal elder of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians delivered the opening prayer in the Cherokee language at the…
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Senior Life Solutions offers psychiatric help
 

Senior Life Solutions offers psychiatric help

Swain County Hospital offers Senior Life Solutions, a program that facilitates intensive outpatient psychiatric care for adults and seniors with…
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Jackson chamber gets new assistant director
 

Jackson chamber gets new assistant director

Kelly Donaldson, 42, of Cullowhee, began work June 9 as the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and Visitor’s Center new…
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Nurse team to assist disadvantaged mothers
 

Nurse team to assist disadvantaged mothers

An initiative to educate first-time, low-income mothers in Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties on how to raise healthy, school-ready…
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SCC engineering program hits 100 percent employment rate
 

SCC engineering program hits 100 percent employment rate

Jeanette White, coordinator of Southwestern Community College’s Civil Engineering Technology program, keeps getting calls from employers looking for graduates who…
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Glenville explores planning area
 

Glenville explores planning area

Jackson County may have another community planning project on the horizon. Glenville residents have approached the county about possibly embarking…
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Presnell pulls Maggie Valley de-annexation bill
 

Presnell pulls Maggie Valley de-annexation bill

Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville, has pulled a bill she introduced last month to de-annex a 3.5-acre property from the town…
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Pigeon Center rebounds from the  downward spiral of a leaky roof
 

Pigeon Center rebounds from the downward spiral of a leaky roof

The Pigeon Community Center in Waynesville has once again been rescued from the brink. Haywood County has pledged $47,000 to…
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Highlands to undertake $2.5 million project on Lake Sequoyah
 

Highlands to undertake $2.5 million project on Lake Sequoyah

Lake Sequoyah will disappear for a few months in the coming year as Highlands plans to drain the reservoir to…
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New logo pulls into Bryson Chamber, TDA approve train-themed logo
 

New logo pulls into Bryson Chamber, TDA approve train-themed logo

A new logo will soon chug onto the marketing landscape of Bryson City following the Swain County Tourism Development Authority…
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Ghost Town opening delayed
 

Ghost Town opening delayed

Ghost Town in the Sky, the seemingly ever-limping amusement park in Maggie Valley, did not open on June 20 as…
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ECU opens dental center in Sylva
 

ECU opens dental center in Sylva

There’s a new option for dental care in the region. “We call it a community service learning center,” explained Michael…
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Fire causes electrical failure in Haywood hospital
 

Fire causes electrical failure in Haywood hospital

The campus of Haywood Regional Medical Center is full of cars coming and going, staff walking toward or returning from…
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Signs of the pending bust were overlooked
 

Signs of the pending bust were overlooked

A Main Street law office without windows is an odd place for a such a good view. But Waynesville attorney Frank Queen has had a front-row seat to the mountains from here, witnessing thousands of acres trade hands — land…
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Waynesville leaders choose property tax hike over budget cuts
 

Waynesville leaders choose property tax hike over budget cuts

Saddled by a higher cost of doing business and hits to its bottom line, Waynesville aldermen were poised to pass…
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NAACP gets Haywood organizer
 

NAACP gets Haywood organizer

Haywood County’s fledging chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is getting a little help this…
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39th annual Pow Wow returns to Cherokee
 

39th annual Pow Wow returns to Cherokee

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ Pow Wow will be held July 4-6 at the Acquoni Expo Center.
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Cullowhee Mountain ARTS programs
 

Cullowhee Mountain ARTS programs

There will be a handful of youth arts programs held throughout July as part of the Cullowhee Mountain ARTS summer…
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Haywood arts council gets new director
 

Haywood arts council gets new director

The Haywood County Arts Council recently hired Jodi John Pippin as their new part-time executive director as of June 2014. 
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Singing In The Smokies returns to Bryson
 

Singing In The Smokies returns to Bryson

The Singing In The Smokies Independence Weekend Festival will run from July 3-5 at Inspiration Park in Bryson City. 
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This must be the place
 

This must be the place

It’s a sound that immediately turns your head. Sitting at a table within the 5 Walnut Wine Bar in downtown…
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High-caliber creativity and fearless fretsmanship shine on Grass
 

High-caliber creativity and fearless fretsmanship shine on Grass

By Chris Cooper Silly, psychedelic and monstrously musical, the teaming of Keller Williams with Larry and Jenny Keel on Grass…
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Recommended diversions
 

Recommended diversions

The Age of Anxiety: McCarthyism to Terrorism Haynes Johnson’s 2005 book isn’t frightening, but it should at least make thinking…
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Rash draws on his own Civil War ties in his new novel, The World Made Straight
 

Rash draws on his own Civil War ties in his new novel, The World Made Straight

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer History books and literature long have recounted and regaled the Civil War, examined its…
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Books that evoke special times
 

Books that evoke special times

Sometimes a book touches our hearts in a very special way. In the winter and spring of 1978, having saved…
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Carden wins Brown-Hudson Folklore Award
 

Carden wins Brown-Hudson Folklore Award

Author, storyteller and playwright Gary Carden of Sylva has been awarded the Brown-Hudson Folklore Award presented by the North Carolina…
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Commissioners get slope ordinance from planners
 

Commissioners get slope ordinance from planners

Haywood County commissioners are examining a slope development ordinance that would regulate the safety of cut and fill slopes for…
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N.C. Education Lottery sparks debate over how dollars will be spent
 

N.C. Education Lottery sparks debate over how dollars will be spent

By Michael Beadle The North Carolina Education Lottery might be seen by state officials as a boon for public education,…
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Officials hope taping TDA will promote civility
 

Officials hope taping TDA will promote civility

Turmoil surrounding the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority has landed the entity a regular slot on the government television station…
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A raw deal for WNC
 

A raw deal for WNC

According to provisions in the state’s lottery law, about a third of the money raised in the lottery (35 percent)…
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Retailers get ready for opening day
 

Retailers get ready for opening day

By Michael Beadle As the opening date approaches for the North Carolina Education Lottery, local retailers in Western North Carolina…
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State OKs sewage plan for part of Gorge development
 

State OKs sewage plan for part of Gorge development

A controversial high-end development along the Nantahala River in the Nantahala Gorge has received the green light for an alternative…
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Subdivision ordinance talks continue in Macon
 

Subdivision ordinance talks continue in Macon

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Macon County Planning Board members will continue their first discussion of a draft subdivision…
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Sylva leaders survey citizens about town services
 

Sylva leaders survey citizens about town services

By Sarah Kucharski * Staff Writer Is there enough affordable housing in Sylva? Do you feel safe in your neighborhood?…
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The doghobble’s claim to fame
 

The doghobble’s claim to fame

Whenever I’m conducting a native plant identification workshop, I try to note several regional plants — one each in the…
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There are many good reasons to get slope ordinances on the books
 

There are many good reasons to get slope ordinances on the books

There’s no more pressing issue in this region than enacting ordinances to control steep slope development. If we snooze on…
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Media consolidation just ain’t good
 

Media consolidation just ain’t good

It happened months back, but the request was typical of what we hear everyday in this business: will you do…
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A public grace worth emulating
 

A public grace worth emulating

By Stephanie Wampler I didn’t know her. I never met her. I haven’t even read that much about her. I…
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Filming on the fly
 

Filming on the fly

By Sarah Kucharski Standing in the shallows of the Tuckasegee River between Webster and Dillsboro, cold water flowing around the…
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Burroughs Wellcome Fund welcome
 

Burroughs Wellcome Fund welcome

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund has renewed its commitment to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s inquiry-based, hands-on science education programs.…
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Park lifts ban on brookies thanks to long-term trout recovery
 

Park lifts ban on brookies thanks to long-term trout recovery

For the first time in more than 30 years, fishermen in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be allowed…
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‘Spend or lose’ law leads to unspoken credo to use money
 

‘Spend or lose’ law leads to unspoken credo to use money

The investigation into an off-the-books account kept by the former Haywood County Schools maintenance director at Haywood Builders Supply has…
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Supporters confident Wingate will be exonerated
 

Supporters confident Wingate will be exonerated

When Danny Wingate agreed five years ago to set up a credit line for the Haywood County Schools maintenance department,…
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Cast out the castor
 

Cast out the castor

The gardening season is upon us. Many gardeners here in the Smokies region are familiar with mole bean plant, also…
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Slaves to titillating news and ....
 

Slaves to titillating news and ....

You have already read or heard about the three guys who were arrested for “operating” — yeah, I guess the…
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Lottery funding formula needs to be changed now
 

Lottery funding formula needs to be changed now

It’s past time to keep rehashing the same old arguments about whether having a state lottery is a good idea.…
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Alien vs. Predator in the GSMNP
 

Alien vs. Predator in the GSMNP

A new breed of predator beetles that could help fight the hemlock wooly adelgid were released in the Great Smoky…
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Deep into Gorges State Park
 

Deep into Gorges State Park

By Ed Kelley Tiptoeing quickly across the Toxaway River, my ankle gaiters did the job and kept the cold water…
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Gus the gruffy grouse gets territorial
 

Gus the gruffy grouse gets territorial

Jerry Smathers is public enemy number one for a ruffed grouse named Gus that lives on the forest bordering Smathers’…
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Park: Don’t blame us for the ladybugs
 

Park: Don’t blame us for the ladybugs

Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials say they have been erroneously blamed by some residents for introducing large, black and…
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