Throughout a year when Western North Carolina was begging for more hurricane recovery funding and a less bureaucratic inefficiency, the North Carolina General Assembly demonstrated incredible flexibility and focus — just not on governing. 

Waynesville’s newest co-working space is not a corner suite or a cubicle farm — Root & Rise, located on South Main Street, is designed to be welcoming, affordable and collaborative, with a purpose that extends beyond laptops and lattes. 

For the past 11 years, Ricardo has spent nine months each year at Barber Orchards in Waynesville — and the other three with his wife and adult children in northern Mexico. 

“I wish [I could stay] only for six months, but now we are coming for some time — for nine months — because the orchards are being renewed. The big trees are being cut to put in smaller ones,” Ricardo said, adding that the duration of stay at his location is either nine or four-and-a-half months.  

To the Editor:

Neither the President’s omnibus budget bill nor the House’s abysmal substitute warrant the approval of sens. Thom Tillis or Ted Budd. The senators should stand up for our country and North Carolina in a time of great need. 

To the Editor:

Is it really necessary to make getting Social Security benefits harder, if not impossible, for elderly and disabled beneficiaries? The Trump administration wants to force people to file Social Security claims in person — you won’t be able to do business on-line or on the phone any more. 

To the Editor:

The Franklin Social Security office has been closed. It was the only such office west of Asheville. It handled programs such as Social Security, Retirement, SSI, Medicaid and Disability Benefits.

To the Editor:

Why are people so afraid of immigrants, treating them as the other while regularly slandering and marginalizing them? The truth is immigrants contribute greatly to our work force and our economy, paying into Social Security and Medicare with no hope of benefitting from the programs. 

March brings unstable weather in the mountains, but it can also ushers in occasional springlike conditions. A pair of events at the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest will give folks an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors. 

A substantial grant from the U.S. Department of Labor has already provided help for more than 50 dislocated workers in Western North Carolina, but Southwestern Commission Workforce Development Director David Garrett wants to get the word out that they’re looking to help a whole lot more. 

In the latest in a long line of efforts by the  Southwestern Commission  to help those affected by the Evergreen closure, the  U.S. Department of Labor  has announced an award of more than $2.5 million to support employment and training services for people in WNC affected by the closure of Pactiv Evergreen’s Canton paper mill and by the company’s reduction in operations at its Waynesville facility.