A presentation from the North Georgia Zoo allowed participants to see wildlife up close. Donated photo
 

Mountain Wildlife Days director to step down

More than 450 people participated in the 17th annual Mountain Wildlife Days this month, but it will be the last…
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Worlds apart: a look at two very different books
 

Worlds apart: a look at two very different books

The last four months of 1862 brought blood and slaughter to the armies of the South and the North. Earlier…
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What Covid taught us about infrastructure
 

What Covid taught us about infrastructure

By Peter Nieckarz • Guest Columnist | We seem to be collectively breathing a sigh of relief as the COVID-19…
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Our epic RV adventure
 

Our epic RV adventure

This week’s column comes to you from a campground picnic table in Hershey, Pennsylvania. My boyfriend and I are on…
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Cawthorn’s hypocrisy is maddening
 

Cawthorn’s hypocrisy is maddening

To the Editor: Representative Madison Cawthorn’s latest newsletter is a case study in hypocrisy and misinformation. While extolling the anniversary…
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Thanks for the quality journalism
 

Thanks for the quality journalism

To the Editor: I would like to thank The Smoky Mountain News for the article “Back to the Blue” (July 14-20, 2021).
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Police chase leads to one death, multiple injured
 

Police chase leads to one death, multiple injured

On Wednesday, July 21, a Haywood County Deputy observed Dalton Suttles driving on U.S. 209 in Haywood County. 
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Riggs pleads to felony charges
 

Riggs pleads to felony charges

Last August, Jackson County deputies responded to reports of a vehicle fire on Parris Branch. They arrived to find a…
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Haney convicted of sexual assault
 

Haney convicted of sexual assault

Following a two-week trial, a Graham County jury on Friday returned a guilty verdict in 45 minutes against Casey Haney,…
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Research specialist Tucker Worley cares for an acre of cigar wrapper tobacco plants at the Mountain Research Station in Waynesville. Holly Kays photo
 

No smoke without buyers: Research explores cigar wrapper tobacco as cash crop for mountain farmers

On a perfectly sunny and gloriously cool July morning, Tucker Worley starts up the John Deere golf cart and takes…
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Ben Best (left) sits on the porch with wife Clarine, who’s holding a spike of the sort used for tobacco harvesting. Cory Vaillancourt photo.
 

Tobacco’s Haywood County heyday

Slowly meandering through Haywood County’s tranquil farmlands, the winding two-lane mountain road rises and falls as behind each bend it…
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Local school boards now responsible for mask mandate
 

Local school boards now responsible for mask mandate

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced new health guidelines for North Carolina public schools on Wednesday. School districts should require…
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Macon Schools plan to start year without masks
 

Macon Schools plan to start year without masks

After North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced new health guidelines for North Carolina Public Schools, giving local school boards the…
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COVID-19 cases continue to rise
 

COVID-19 cases continue to rise

After months of decline, North Carolina is experiencing a rapid increase in COVID-19 spread among those who are unvaccinated. 
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Leibfarth navigates the slalom course during an Olympic heat run. ICF Photography photo
 

Searching for gold: Bryson City Olympian misses kayaking finals, aims for canoe medal

Bryson City Olympian Evy Leibfarth , 17, came up short in her quest for an Olympic kayaking medal but will…
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Democrat Jeff Jackson is looking to move up from the state Senate to the U.S. Senate. Cory Vaillancourt photo
 

Candidate visits show senate race is heating up

With the U.S. Senate under razor-thin Democratic control and a rare open seat in North Carolina, candidates on both sides…
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Shana Bushyhead Condill, the Museum of the Cherokee Indian’s new director, stands before a painting by Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians member Joshua Adams displayed in the museum’s contemporary art exhibit. Holly Kays photo
 

Full circle: Cherokee’s new museum director seeks to bring tribe’s story to the present

Throughout her 20-year museum career, Shana Bushyhead Condill had wondered what it might be like to work on the Qualla…
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Final beam placed at new hospital
 

Final beam placed at new hospital

With an eye on the future and supporting healthcare throughout the Western North Carolina region, the final beam was placed…
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Highlands Police Officer Tim Broughton, (from left) KIDS Place Executive Director Alisa Ashe, and Franklin Fireman Greg pictures at Safety Day in Downtown Franklin. Donated photo
 

Macon approves emergency funds for KIDS Place

Macon County commissioners recently approved $55,000 worth of emergency funds to KIDS Place Child Advocacy Center to ensure the nonprofit…
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Vaya Health awarded health plan by N.C. DHHS
 

Vaya Health awarded health plan by N.C. DHHS

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services selected Vaya Health to operate a health care plan for North Carolina…
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Cherokee Hospital Authority leadership recently asked Swain County commissioners to support a resolution to expand Medicaid in North Carolina. Donated Photo
 

Swain to support Medicaid expansion

Swain County Board of Commissioners plans to pass a resolution showing the county’s support for Medicaid expansion in North Carolina…
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What Can Dis-ease in the Physical Body Tell Us?
 

What Can Dis-ease in the Physical Body Tell Us?

By Sabrina Matheny • Rumble Contributor | All energy connects. We like to compartmentalize issues in our lives, but from an…
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Antoine Maurice Hodge, (from left) Crystal Pace and Santiago Guzzetti. Pace and Guzzetti own/operate the establishment, with Hodge the             bar director. (photos: Garret K. Woodward)
 

Cosmopolitan country: Sylva restaurant combines fine Italian, Appalachian culinary delights

For several years, the small building at the corner of Main and Mill streets in downtown Sylva has sat dormant.…
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Leftover Salmon performs at FloydFest. (photo: Garret K. Woodward)
 

This must be the place: Rolling on from town to town, been so many places, still don’t know where I’m bound

With my feet dangling out of the back window of the truck, a cool morning breeze rolled through the Tacoma…
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Summer at Lake J
 

Summer at Lake J

Lake Junaluska’s Summer Activities Program, which offers free and low-cost activities that celebrate faith, recreation, arts and education, is now…
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Local school boards now responsible for mask mandate
 

Local school boards now responsible for mask mandate

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced new health guidelines for North Carolina public schools on Wednesday. School districts should require…
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Evy Leibfarth
 

Bryson City paddler to appear in Olympic semifinals

Bryson City Olympian Evy Leibfarth, 17, will advance to the semifinal women’s kayak slalom competition following her performance in the…
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Pilot program will bring shuttles, paid parking to Laurel Falls
 

Pilot program will bring shuttles, paid parking to Laurel Falls

In a virtual public meeting this evening, Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials unveiled a pilot plan to manage congestion…
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Don't Let Fear Win the Battle
 

Don't Let Fear Win the Battle

What you don’t know won’t scare you.  That was the lesson I learned during my first triathlon. 
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Women Fight for Olympic Rights
 

Women Fight for Olympic Rights

There were no women at the first modern Olympics in 1896. According to its founder Pierre de Coubertin, women were “not…
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Meditation: Why Time & Place Matter
 

Meditation: Why Time & Place Matter

By Sabrina Matheny • Rumble Contributor | How we feel in a space makes a big difference in our ability to…
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New landslide mapping tool available
 

New landslide mapping tool available

A new website uses GIS, aerial imagery and field work data to create a landslide mapping tool that provides critical…
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Local conservationists earn statewide recognition
 

Local conservationists earn statewide recognition

Conservation leaders from Asheville and Brevard were among the 16 people and organizations to earn recognition during the N.C. Wildlife…
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Emerald ash borer larvae create tunnels called ‘galleries’ as they chew through the tree’s living tissue. Donated photo
 

Staying alive: MountainTrue protects A.T. ash trees as research progresses against invasive threat

For millions of years, ash trees have grown tall and strong across the landscape today known as the United States…
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Burntfield Branch flows through the heart of a recently conserved property in Caldwell County. Foothills Conservancy photo
 

Conservancy marks land protection achievements

The Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina celebrated a pair of conservation achievements in recent months that together protect more than…
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GMHG women’s heavy athletics bolstered by tough competition
 

GMHG women’s heavy athletics bolstered by tough competition

In just over a span of five years, the women’s heavy athletic division at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games has…
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Ken Follett’s tribute to Notre Dame
 

Ken Follett’s tribute to Notre Dame

On April 15, 2019, Notre-Dame de Paris, one of the world’s most beloved architectural landmarks, caught fire. The blaze started…
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Rep. Cawthorn’s rhetoric is dangerous
 

Rep. Cawthorn’s rhetoric is dangerous

To the Editor: As a former Public Health Director in his district with over 30 years of public health experience,…
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Real data about the job market
 

Real data about the job market

To the Editor: The letter by Ms. Subic “Stop the checks, get to work” in the July 14 issue of…
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Letter’s claims illustrate our current problems
 

Letter’s claims illustrate our current problems

To the Editor: As I read the letter about unemployment insurance in last week’s edition of The Smoky Mountain News…
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Chickens make a stand despite our efforts
 

Chickens make a stand despite our efforts

Five chickens appeared one bright summer morning in our driveway. I was still half asleep, stumbling through my morning routine…
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Folkmoot USA: Celebrating diversity of the United States
 

Folkmoot USA: Celebrating diversity of the United States

Folkmoot USA, North Carolina’s Official International Festival, returns with Folkmoot Summerfest July 22-25. The theme of this year’s festival is…
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The opioid epidemic has spared no corner of the United States. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention photo
 

Opioid settlement could result in drug treatment facility

Millions in opioid settlement money is coming to the state, to most counties and even to some municipalities.
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Maggie Valley residents concerned for safety
 

Maggie Valley residents concerned for safety

Last week’s Maggie Valley Board of Aldermen meeting was riddled with complaints from residents of a development on Jonathan Creek…
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COVID cases surge: Haywood reports two nursing home outbreaks
 

COVID cases surge: Haywood reports two nursing home outbreaks

New coronavirus cases were down to nearly nothing in Western North Carolina by the close of June, but in the…
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Jackson approves $7 million for school security
 

Jackson approves $7 million for school security

Jackson County will spend $7 million to convert four public school campuses to a single-point-of-entry system after commissioners voted  unanimously…
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Jam on: Hillbilly Jam returns to Maggie Valley
 

Jam on: Hillbilly Jam returns to Maggie Valley

If you think it’s hard to sum up what, exactly, Hillbilly Jam  is, you’re not alone. 
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Karl Rove. Andy Bailey illustration
 

Karl Rove talks Trump, Cawthorn, NC11

Known mostly to the current generation as a political pundit and frequent television/radio/newspaper commentator, Karl Rove has roots in Republican…
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