To the Editor:

Viktor Orban, oppressive dictator and former Hungarian Prime Minister, made one colossal mistake — he allowed an election to take place. Ergo, he was tossed from office in a landslide.

Our own president (a thirsting wannabe dictator himself) knows he faces a similar fate, possible impeachment, conviction and imprisonment if he loses control of Congress.

To the Editor:

A lot of us know that Congress isn’t doing its job. But when Trump went on recent Truth Social rants using obscene language and threatening an entire civilization, most Republicans sat back and said nothing. Bad language is unbecoming of any President, and if Biden and Obama had done such a thing, the Republicans wouldn’t have wasted any time making an effort to censure them. 

To the Editor:

In reading the official press release from March 31, “USDA Prioritizing Common Sense Forest Management, Moves Forest Service Headquarters to Salt Lake City,” one would think, “All right, common sense!” 

The United States cannot keep breaking the rules of international law and then congratulate itself for the results. That is the uncomfortable truth exposed by the 2026 military operations in Venezuela and Iran. Both actions removed brutal, destabilizing leaders — one captured and jailed, the other killed. Many around the world understandably welcomed those outcomes. But the way the United States achieved them violated the very legal order that keeps the world from sliding toward permanent conflict. 

Western North Carolina’s next election cycle is already shaping up amid a volatile mix of entrenched incumbents, disaster recovery fallout and deepening national divides, with competitive races stretching from the U.S. Senate on down to county-level offices. 

While marquee statewide contests appear to be headed toward familiar General Election matchups, cracks are emerging down the ballot, where public trust and institutional legitimacy are demanding attention from voters now more than any other time in recent memory. 

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between BPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.

Nearly one month into the federal government shutdown, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park remains open to the public, and the National Forest Service’s logging and disaster response capabilities remain active. 

Paul Maddox has spent decades studying sickness. A cancer researcher, tenured professor and lifelong learner, he’s spent much of his career exploring how to heal the body. Now, Maddox says, he’s ready to heal something else.

With third-quarter fundraising reports now filed, campaign finance records show sharp contrasts in both fundraising totals and donor bases among candidates in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District as they look to Primary Election contests in March. 

Incumbent Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards reported raising $233,163 from January through September, with no personal contributions to his own campaign. 

On Oct. 1, Republican-controlled Congress shut down the federal government, bringing a renewed round of confusion, finger-pointing and uncertainty to tourism-reliant Southern Appalachia — a region still paying the price for generational poverty, and still struggling with recovery from Hurricane Helene more than one year ago.  

As Western North Carolina settles in for what could become a protracted federal government shutdown, a Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesperson tells The Smoky Mountain News the agency’s disaster response operations remain fully funded and active, with payments to survivors, debris removal and other essential recovery work continuing uninterrupted.