Alaska’s dream: Ghost Town in the Sky opens for the season
“See that up there?” asked Alaska Presley as she piloted her Mercedes up a back road to the top of…
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Prison conversion project needs votes
Haywood Pathways Center, the working title for the trio of Christian ministries working to make the old prison in Hazelwood…
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Another Swain sheriff candidate joins race
A new candidate has joined the field of potentials for the Swain County sheriff’s race. In addition to Republican Sheriff…
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Folkmoot USA holds June 26 open house
Folkmoot USA will host an Open House from 4:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, June 26, to celebrate Haywood County’s…
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Festival funding models vary among WNC counties
As Haywood struggles with the best use of room tax money collected from tourists to fund tourism promotion, one area…
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Delving into dialect
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Gary Carden was in fifth grade when he learned to be ashamed of his…
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One-liners and the warpath: State Republicans relax, ready for revolution at Cherokee convention
Thom Tillis has a recurring daydream. The Republican Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives and candidate for the…
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Sylva mother questions park ban
After her teenage daughter was banned from Poteet Park for a year, a Sylva mother sought an audience with the…
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Wal-Mart rolls out unique design
The controversy over a proposed Super Wal-Mart complex in Waynesville took a turn at a town planning board meeting this…
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WCU gets grant for engineering education project
The National Science Foundation has awarded a grant of more than $625,000 to Western Carolina University for a project designed…
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Canton paper mill seeks state aid in costly air pollution upgrades
Evergreen Packaging paper mill in Canton could get $12 million in state assistance to offset the cost of converting from…
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State law eliminates business license fees
Business license fees will disappear in North Carolina following the recent passage of the Omnibus Tax Law Changes. Currently, towns…
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Raleigh boots midterm members off Pigeon River Fund board
It’s been more than a month since seven of the Pigeon River Fund Board’s nine members learned that a dictum…
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Jackson assesses cell tower regulations
A conversation has begun in Jackson County regarding the revision of the county’s regulations pertaining to cell phone towers. “We’re…
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Schoolhouse standoff: Macon County teachers sound off to Sen. Davis
Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, faced a group of 50 Macon County teachers and staff last Tuesday in the library of…
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Haywood GOP faction loses bid to oust chair
An ongoing tug-of-war for control of the Haywood County Republican Party reached a finale last week. A faction of conservative…
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Budget dilemma forces time of reckoning for Waynesville
Waynesville leaders will face a tough choice in coming weeks: either raise the property tax rate by 3 cents or…
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Tourism task force rolls up its sleeves
A task force charged with inspecting the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority is attempting to reshape the county’s approach to…
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Drilling, fracking bill speeds through legislature
Natural gas drilling is one step closer to becoming reality after the North Carolina General Assembly delivered a newly ratified…
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Craigslist alligator finds a home
A young alligator is on its way to a new life after the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission discovered it being…
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Haywood jail inmates rack up big medical bills
A rash of medical complications hit inmates in the Haywood County jail over the past year, socking the county with…
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Riding to remember: Cherokee cyclists retrace tribe’s forced removal
On a muddy Friday afternoon they gathered at Kituwah Mound, the Mother Town. Preparing for the journey. Offering up…
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Jackson tourism board weighing executive director option
The Jackson County Tourism Development Authority is still in the early stages of determining whether to hire an executive director.…
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Macon County tightens retirement benefits
In its quest to cut the fat ahead of the looming county revaluation, Macon County is turning to its retirement…
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Rep. Presnell sponsors de-annexation bill
It’s only eight lines long, but a de-annexation bill Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville, has filed with the General Assembly’s Government…
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GOP to get relaxing respite from Raleigh rallies
When North Carolina Republicans arrive at Harrah’s in Cherokee the first week of June for their annual convention, they will…
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Drexel site master plan in the works
The former Drexel manufacturing plant site in Whittier is a step closer to its future. Jackson County was recently awarded…
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Strength in numbers: WNC environmental groups plan merger
Economy of scale tends to lean toward effectiveness of action, and that’s a fact that three environmental advocacy organizations in…
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Haywood commissioners, schools stick to funding formula
Haywood County Schools will see a slight budget increase from county commissioners next year, although it will fall far short…
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Cracking the room-tax nut
Critics of tourism-related economic development in Haywood County have joined forces with a conservative think tank from Raleigh to question…
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NCCAT searches for salvation in Raleigh
The North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching is sweating out the legislative short session. Gov. Pat McCrory didn’t…
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Ministries gear up to convert state prison
Plans are moving forward to convert the old state prison in Hazelwood to a resource center for the hurting, homeless…
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‘God is not fair’: Former Waynesville pastor talks themes of mercy and fairness in pages of new book
For George Thompson, the struggle to understand how a supposedly good God could be so unfair began with his birth.…
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GOP comes to Cherokee for state convention
The North Carolina GOP generally holds its annual conventions in places like Raleigh or Greensboro. This year, state Republicans will…
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Evergreen paper mill, union in negotiations
Union employees at Evergreen Packaging’s Canton and Waynesville factories are currently engaged in contract negotiations.
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Jackson County looks to neighbors in search for nonprofit funding policy
From animal shelters to free clinics to food banks, nonprofit organizations of all stripes make a yearly knock on county…
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Flat budget recommended for Macon schools
As this year’s budget talks kicked off, Macon County Schools presented its petition for a $500,000 funding increase to pay…
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Schools grapple with three doors and a tough choice
Haywood County Schools may have a tough choice to make in coming weeks: add additional teachers or give existing teachers…
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Grant recipients announced in Haywood
The first grants from the Mib and Phil Medford Endowment Fund, established by their family last July, have been announced…
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WCU campus leaders explore WNC from Murphy to Asheville
Thirty campus leaders from Western Carolina University crisscrossed the mountains of Western North Carolina for a weeklong tour May 12-16…
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Maggie Valley amusement park shoots for June opening
Memorial Day weekend has come and gone, and Ghost Town in the Sky still appears much as the name implies.…
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A trip back in time: New heritage museum tells the story of Swain’s people, by Swain’s people
The Smoky Mountain News recently got a sneak peek of the new Swain County Heritage Museum and Visitor’s Center. Leading…
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New visitor center to serve as tourist magnet for Swain
The new Swain County Heritage Museum slated to open in downtown Bryson City this weekend not only honors Swain County’s…
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Back to the future: Preppers learn old-time skills to ready themselves for times ahead
Fire, smoke, and efforts to make more of both fill the event pavilion at Haywood County Fair Grounds on a…
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State stance on more Medicaid for the poor unlikely to shift
Republican lawmakers in North Carolina are standing by their controversial decision last year to deny Medicaid expansion to 500,000 low-income…
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Two unfortunate consequences: a one-two punch for hospitals and the working poor donut hole
Hospitals in North Carolina face a catch-22 of the worst kind: the $600 million kind, the kind they have no…
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July 4 Fireworks fizzle in north Jackson
The northern portion of Jackson County will go without fireworks again this Fourth of July. Last year’s display in Dillsboro…
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SCC seeks DENR input in shooting range management
Southwestern Community College is gearing up for some soil testing following a meeting with Robin Proctor, environmental chemist with the…
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Vandals spur Sylva to put more cameras in parks
Vandalism is apparently still a problem in Sylva public parks.It’s a problem that cost the town about ten grand last…
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Education funding tops legislature’s short session list
North Carolina legislators have returned to Raleigh for the General Assembly’s short session. In the weeks ahead, lawmakers will wrestle…
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