With North Carolina’s spring wildfire season arriving at a time when most of the state is experiencing moderate to severe drought, the N.C. Forest Service is urging the public to apply best practices and common sense with all outdoor fire, especially yard debris burns.

Escaped yard debris burns, largely due to carelessness, continue to be the leading cause of wildfires across the state, accounting for nearly half of all wildfires in North Carolina.

Former Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Principal Chief Patrick Lambert and Beloved Woman Myrtle Driver proposed a resolution renaming the tribe the “Eastern Cherokee Nation” and later encouraged tribal council to withdraw it. 

In those 30 minutes between Resolution 147’s introduction and withdrawal, tribal council and public commenters engaged in rich discussion centering tradition, history and identity.

Many years ago, I was given great advice on how to take better photographs, especially of subjects like the wildflowers that I love. That advice was to get the image focused and framed well, and then to take in a long breath, hold it and slowly breathe out. At the end of the exhale, snap the picture. This is similar to the concept of Chi energy found in Asian philosophies and martial arts. 

After nearly a decade at the helm of Waynesville government, Town Manager Rob Hites announced Feb. 27 that he will retire July 1. 

Hites arrived in 2016 following a long career in local government across North Carolina. Born in Reno and raised in Alabama, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. An urban government course led to an internship with the Greensboro mayor, setting him on a path that would lead to decades of local government administration.      

Ready to take control of your wellness? MountainWise offers the North Carolina Minority Diabetes Prevention Program to help you get ahead of type 2 diabetes. 

The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has identified infestations of spongy moth in seven counties across North Carolina that it anticipates treating in 2026.  

Residents within the impacted areas were notified by mail in February about these infestations as well as proposed treatments. Informational sessions will be held within these communities in March to collect public comments for consideration.

To the Editor:

You ever watch something happen in local government and think, “There’s no way they expect us to buy this?” That’s exactly how the push to change Macon County’s voting districts feels. Commissioner John Shearl is trying to sell this as some kind of fairness reform, but once you look at the details, it’s obvious what’s going on. And it’s not fairness. 

The boards of county commissioners and county supervisors in the 17 counties in North Carolina and 12 counties in Virginia that host the Blue Ridge Parkway have passed resolutions of support calling for funding to repair the national park and implement the Blue Ridge Rising Action Plan.

On Jan. 12, Yancey County in North Carolina became the 29th county in the national park’s corridor to adopt the resolution. 

Gov. Josh Stein announced nearly $50 million in grants to support local governments in western North Carolina in their Hurricane Helene recovery efforts. The grants, which are administered by the Office of State Budget and Management, provide critical funding to repair, renovate, or replace storm-damaged infrastructure. 

North Carolinians continue to breathe the cleanest air in decades as emissions of harmful air pollutants like ozone and fine particles continue a long-running downward trend.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality is publishing its latest update to the “Air Quality Trends in North Carolina” report.