Michael Whatley’s first trip to Western North Carolina as President Donald Trump’s hand-picked Hurricane Helene “recovery czar” was not the sort of open, public event many victims of the storm had hoped for; instead, Whatley appeared Sept. 22 at a closed-door FEMA Review Council meeting in Fletcher where a leaked agenda lists him as a subcommittee co-chair and “former Republican National Committee chair” — not as the person Trump tapped to head up widely-panned recovery efforts. 

There’s a mountain world up Moses Creek, and I don’t love to leave it. Outdoors, steep wild ridgelines form the horizon, with deep forests, clean air and clear streams tumbling down the slopes. Close to the house are Becky’s beds of flowers, all a-flutter with butterflies, birds and bees.

With just days remaining before voters go to the polls on Nov. 5, Democratic Vice Presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz returned to speak in a very different Asheville than the one he last saw in mid-September.

Organizers with the Mountain State Fair sponsored by Ingles Markets are busy preparing to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the fair with the new entertainment and an expanded Got to Be NC Pavilion featuring 22 new outdoor vendors. 

Advance tickets are now on sale for the N.C. Mountain State Fair, slated for Sept. 8-17 at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center in Fletcher.