As the federal government shutdown continues, North Carolina residents may be left with a patchwork of closures, service limitations and uncertainty across the region’s parks, forests and federal agencies. While some federal programs will continue without interruption, others have scaled back operations, leaving communities in the state’s westernmost counties to rely on a mix of official websites and local offices for updates.

Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2025, the storied John C. Campbell Folk School — located in Brasstown amid the rural landscape of Clay County — remains a cultural bastion for the arts, music and dance in Western North Carolina. 

“[The school] had an effect of kind of changing what traditional music and dance was in the region,” said T-Claw Crawford, music and dance coordinator for JCCFS. 

SECU Foundation recently awarded a $1.6 million grant to Vecinos for a new medical center and human services hub in Macon County.

Six new recipients in Western North Carolina have been awarded grants to participate in the MADE X MTNS Partnership’s Building Outdoor Communities Program. 

Attorneys in Western North Carolina now know who will likely hold the farthest west superior court seat. 

When Superior Court Judge William Coward announced his retirement late last year, it caught many in the Western North Carolina legal community off guard and set in motion a process with little precedent.

This year’s state budget process may have been one of the most discordant in recent memory, but Western North Carolina’s legislative delegation was able to secure record-setting funding for critical needs in a relatively poor region that sometimes feels overlooked when Raleigh gets to dishing out the dough. 

A controversial law enforcement association that holds a fringe interpretation of the Constitution and has ties to white nationalism, the sovereign citizen movement, election denial and COVID-19 conspiracy theories will host a meeting in Cherokee County this weekend, but Western North Carolina sheriffs have been largely reluctant to say whether they’ll attend. 

While most Americans are looking forward to receiving the $1,400 payments included in President Joe Biden’s $1.88 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP) passed by Congress on March 6, counties and towns across the country are also eagerly awaiting a stimulus package of their own.

Heavy rains and high winds associated with strong storms last Sunday night led to plenty of headaches Monday morning, as downed limbs cut power and closed roads while swollen streams slipped their banks, flooding businesses and residences across Western North Carolina.