The small Jackson County town of Sylva faces challenges similar to other Western North Carolina communities — balancing quality of life with growth while struggling with a relatively slim tax base requiring tight annual budgets — but divisive social issues have left the town and the county more polarized than ever. 

As residents of Jackson County continue to rail against commissioners’ June vote to withdraw from the Fontana Regional Library system over LGBTQ content — a decision made without a plan, without a clear understanding of library operations and without reliable financial projections — questions are growing more pointed, but the minority that supports withdrawal continues to spread misinformation about key aspects of library operations. 

Since his inauguration, President Donald Trump has made headlines by targeting the United States’ most well-known colleges — those with the largest endowments and lowest admission rates — but now, in the latest twist in a year-long saga, his administration is shifting its attention to Cullowhee. 

In May, Payton McNabb shrouded herself in the cloak of Big Brother when she took to a Western Carolina University bathroom to film an unsuspecting student. 

To the Editor:

Donald Trump promised at the NRA convention to roll back gun control measures enacted under Biden and to fire the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 

To the Editor:

In North Carolina we have a candidate for governor who is alleged to have said, “I absolutely want to go back to the America where women couldn’t vote … We want to bring back the America where Republicans and principles and true ideas of freedom rule.”  

To the Editor:

I appreciate the clear, factual reporting done by Cory Vaillancourt uncovering the truth regarding the Waynesville Recreation Center incidents.