It was a time and a place, and now that place is gone.

Or is it?

I came across some version of that idiom about time and place a few months ago, just as we at The Smoky Mountain News were beginning to discuss how to cover the one-year anniversary of Helene’s historic and deadly impact on this place we call home.

Nearly a year after Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina, the federal government still hasn’t delivered on the money it promised to local governments. With the one-year anniversary looming, towns and counties say most of their needs remain unmet, forcing them back to Washington yet again, to beg for help. 

Friday, as Roxan Wetzel and her husband, Rook, eagerly anticipated their trip to Washington, D.C. to see Donald Trump become the United States’ 47th president, they were hit with a sudden gut punch — the inauguration was moved indoors. Their ticket was now little more than a souvenir. 

The 2017 inauguration of President Donald Trump was normal in nearly every way — the crowds of enthusiastic supporters, the chants of angry protestors, the iconic swearing-in ceremony at Capitol. But as it turns out, that inauguration will now fondly be remembered as the last “normal” inauguration in recent history.

A team of Great Smoky Mountains National Park employees was recently awarded the 2023 Excellence in Education Award at a National Park Service awards ceremony in Washington D.C. Many of the agency’s top awards were presented at the 2023 National Service Awards ceremony. 

Laurel Rematore, CEO of Smokies Life, will be recognized with the Excellence in Cooperating Association Partnership Award at the National Park Service’s Excellence in Service Awards to be held Aug. 21 in Washington, D.C.

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians tribal leaders frequently travel to Washington, D.C., to make their case to lawmakers on a variety of issues, and soon they hope to have their own space to conduct business in the nation’s capital. 

Photojournalist Jeffrey Delannoy spent four days on assignment for The Smoky Mountain News in Washington, D.C. both before and after the Jan. 20, 2021 inauguration. Without credentials, Delannoy had to work to get the story in the streets – out on the fenced-in fringe of what barely resembled the National Mall.

Madison Cawthorn, rolling himself around the Longworth House Office Building, draws attention from around every corner and down every straightaway of the labyrinthine tunnels that underlie Washington D.C.’s Capitol Complex, greeting passersby with their first name. 

Last week, as elected members of the House of Representatives and the Senate gathered in their respective chambers to certify electoral votes, Western North Carolina’s newly-elected Republican congressman began to notice that something wasn’t quite right.