The 2023 Mx. Sylva Pride Pageant wasn’t all glitz, glamour, pomp and pageantry, as social media threats and agitated protesters warranted the involvement of law enforcement. 

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has become the first tribal nation to adopt a tool that gives real-time updates on where and when people are overdosing on drugs — essential knowledge in an ever-shifting and ever-raging drug epidemic.

Haywood County still needs its proposed $21.5 million jail expansion, but an unexpectedly high bid from the lone construction bidder has temporarily derailed the process — a delay that could become costly.

Jason Harley Kloepfer left his home near Murphy on Dec. 13, 2022, with bullets in his body and criminal charges in the courthouse. Now, more than two months after an officer-involved shooting that made international headlines, misdemeanor charges accusing Kloepfer of communicating threats and resisting a public officer have been dropped.

There’s some truth to the old cliché that one readily recognizable sound is the ultimate deterrent against a would-be home intruder.

Western North Carolina has one of the most proactive anti-drunk driving forces in the state, and now a contingent from this region is pushing for a new set of laws that will further restrictions.

Commissioners in Haywood County will move forward with pursuing a bank loan to finance the jail expansion after Davenport and Company, the county’s financial advisor, issued a request for proposals for installment financing contracts and explained the nuances of the ones they received.

For the fifth time in eight years, and the second time since July, someone has died while incarcerated at the Jackson County Detention Center.

When Western Carolina University Professors Katie Allen and Cyndy Caravelis approached Sylva Police Chief Chris Hatton with a proposal for a Community Care pilot program, using social work interns in the police department he was understandably skeptical. Crisis response involving a student intern seemed like a risk he was not willing to take.

Earlier this year candidates for sheriff began campaigning across the region, hoping to earn the trust of voters who, in many cases, will see big changes in local law enforcement leadership.