Pandemic-induced public health rules are severely impacting bottom lines for restaurants nationwide, but members of the Sylva Town Board hope that an effort to expand outdoor seating opportunities downtown will help ease the pain on Main Street. The town has passed two ordinance changes this summer to pave the way for increasing the outdoor table space available to downtown eateries. 

Swain County will be operating this fall under a hybrid of in-person and remote learning. Parents can choose Plan B, which includes in-person instruction and remote learning or Plan C, which is entirely remote learning. 

Parents of Macon County students will have to choose their child’s learning plan for fall semester by July 31. 

The start of this school year has been a topic fraught with debate about student needs, logistical hurdles and funding shortfalls. But, the voices and opinions of teachers seem to have been left out of the conversation when communities and schools need them most. 

In less than three weeks, classes will resume at Western North Carolina’s institutions of higher learning, and while instruction won’t rely entirely on digital learning as occurred this spring, the fall semester will be far from business as usual. 

Public schools and colleges are being forced to develop plans, contingency plans and worst-case scenarios as they prepare for the influx of thousands of students over the next several weeks.

• Colleges, universities announce plans for fall 2020
• Teachers concerned for school safety
• Haywood chooses hybrid plan for school reopenings
• Macon schools offer virtual option
• Back to school plans for Swain County

Before wading into the murk of America’s bizarre tug of war with itself in the year of COVID-19, let’s first stipulate one thing: we’d all love for this to be over. Wearing masks, social distancing, arguing with people on social media over who and what to believe, some of us sweating out every decision on where we can go and who we can see and what we can do and not do any time we venture out of our little quarantine cocoons, others proceeding with their lives as if not one thing has changed. We’re just over it, OK?

Haywood County Medical Director Dr. Mark Jaben has been keeping residents updated through the COVID-19 Pandemic with weekly video messages that offer hope and guidance for the future. 

On Monday, June 22, Southwestern Community College hosted Nantahala Health Foundation representatives as they set up a mask distribution site at the Burrell Building on the Jackson Campus.

As the Coronavirus Pandemic continues to impact local businesses, restaurants and bars have been trying to look for ways to expand their outdoor seating capacities.