Principal Chief Richard Sneed discusses the Indian Child Welfare Act ruling with Tribal Council Nov. 1. EBCI image
 

Cherokee leaders speak out against Texas adoption ruling

A recent court ruling in Texas has Native American tribes across the country — including the Eastern Band of Cherokee…
Read More

Comment

WCU music instructor Brad Ulrich poses with some items from his collection of WWI memorabilia. WCU photo
 

WCU to commemorate WWI

Back before incessant war became a hallmark of American foreign policy, U.S. involvement in global affairs was but a shadow…
Read More

Comment

Never give up: Franklin native survived years of torture in Vietnam POW camp
 

Never give up: Franklin native survived years of torture in Vietnam POW camp

Just west of the town of Franklin, along a winding back road heading into the mountains surrounding Wayah Bald, sits…
Read More

Comment

Valerie Oberle speaks to a group in Maggie Valley earlier this fall. Donated photo
 

Legal troubles mount for Ghost Town, developers

A pair of legal actions filed in Haywood courts during the month of October suggest efforts to redevelop Maggie Valley’s…
Read More

Comment

Jackson TDA begins visitor study
 

Jackson TDA begins visitor study

The Jackson County Tourism Development Authority, whose mission it is to promote and market the county, is conducting its first…
Read More

Comment

Lorna Sterling’s husband benefitted from the in-home hospice services of the Homestead. Cory Vaillancourt photo
 

Haywood hospice patients to move to hospital

A press release issued by Haywood Regional Medical Center on Oct. 26 touted renovations to an existing facility that will…
Read More

Comment

Republicans take majority on Haywood commission
 

Republicans take majority on Haywood commission

With the retirement of Democratic Commissioner Bill Upton, one commission seat was up for grabs, with two more being defended by their Democratic occupants, Commissioner Mike Sorrells and Commission Chairman Kirk Kirkpatrick.
Read More
Greg West (left) beat Mike Matthews for tax collector while Democrat Joe Sam Queen beat Rep. Mike Clampitt for the N.C. House seat.
 

Regional roundup of election returns shows mixed results

Any notion of a red tide or blue wave ebbed quickly Nov. 6, as both Republicans and Democrats celebrated victories, mourned defeats, said goodbye to some incumbents, and hello to new ones.
Read More
Jackson Dems win county commission
 

Jackson Dems win county commission

The Jackson County Board of Commissioners will flip to a Democratic majority following a hotly contested election in which three of the five seats appeared on the ballot.
Read More
Jackson sheriff wins second term
 

Jackson sheriff wins second term

Jackson County Sheriff Chip Hall will keep his job for another four years following a decisive victory on Election Day.
Read More
Incumbents get another term on Macon commission
 

Incumbents get another term on Macon commission

Despite challengers’ loud cries for change in Macon County leadership, voters have given incumbents Ronnie Beale (Democrat) and Gary Shields (Republican) another four-year term on the board of commissioners.
Read More
Incumbent wins another term as Macon’s sheriff
 

Incumbent wins another term as Macon’s sheriff

Republican Robert Holland will serve a fifth term as Macon County sheriff after a clear victory Tuesday night.
Read More
Close race in Swain County commission race
 

Close race in Swain County commission race

With six candidates running for three seats on the Swain County Board of Commissioners, it was a close call Tuesday night as election results began to roll in.
Read More
Cochran to continue as Swain sheriff
 

Cochran to continue as Swain sheriff

Incumbent Republican Curtis Cochran has secured his fourth term as sheriff of Swain County after facing off against Democratic challenger Rocky Sampson. 
Read More
Anne Fitten Glenn.
 

Tapping into the past, present of Appalachia

In the six or so years I’ve lived and worked in Western North Carolina, the amount of craft breweries in…
Read More

Comment

The 1967 ‘March on The Pentagon.’ Bernie Boston photo
 

We are but a moment’s sunlight, fading in the grass

I was born in the wrong decade.  Or so I often hear from others. Some are musicians or artists, dreamers…
Read More

Comment

Late surge in Dem fundraising for WNC General Assembly races
 

Late surge in Dem fundraising for WNC General Assembly races

Third quarter fundraising reports submitted by candidates to the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement last week show most Democratic challengers in Western North Carolina with substantial fundraising advantages over their Republican incumbent opponents.
Read More
Put Schandevel In state House
 

Put Schandevel In state House

To the Editor:  “Meet the real Rhonda Schandevel” was what I read on the latest inaccurate ad I received in…
Read More

Comment

Please vote and save democracy
 

Please vote and save democracy

To the Editor: We have been battered with a drumbeat of name calling and blaming over the last two years. It…
Read More

Comment

Oppose voter photo ID amendment
 

Oppose voter photo ID amendment

To the Editor: The amendment on the ballot reads “Constitutional amendment to require voters to provide photo identification before voting…
Read More

Comment

This is the Rhonda that I know
 

This is the Rhonda that I know

To the Editor: John Wooden once said, “ … the true test of a man’s character is what he does…
Read More

Comment

Meadows lives in echo chamber
 

Meadows lives in echo chamber

To the Editor:  Republican Mark Meadows held an impromptu rally in front of the Macon County Courthouse on October 24,…
Read More

Comment

Don’t sink to Trump’s level
 

Don’t sink to Trump’s level

To the Editor: The first duty of government to its citizens is to safeguard them from acts of violence. Instead,…
Read More

Comment

Vote no on all six amendments
 

Vote no on all six amendments

To the Editor: Recent newspaper stories have provided information about the six proposed amendments to the state constitution. We would…
Read More

Comment

At least two elected officials need to go
 

At least two elected officials need to go

As election fatigue sets in, keep this in mind: it’s the local races that will most affect each of us.…
Read More

Comment

Band culture is a thing, a good thing
 

Band culture is a thing, a good thing

When our daughter told us a little over four years ago that she was interested in trying out for the…
Read More

Comment

The greenway’s mile of paved trail is mostly wooded, but a grassy section midway could soon turn into a series of kids’ mountain biking loops. Nick Breedlove photo
 

Bringing kids to the single-track: Plan in the works for children’s mountain bike trail in Jackson

If a partnership between Jackson County and the Nantahala Area Southern Off Road Bicycle Association comes to fruition, kids in…
Read More

Comment

New forest management plan advocacy group forms
 

New forest management plan advocacy group forms

A coalition of businesses, groups and organizations calling itself I Heart Pisgah has formed to advocate for greater protections in…
Read More

Comment

Help hellbenders
 

Help hellbenders

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission wants to hear about hellbender sightings, part of agency biologists’ ongoing effort to learn more…
Read More

Comment

New website for state trails
 

New website for state trails

A new N.C. Trails website has launched, providing a hub for the N.C. Trails Program and offering quick and easy…
Read More

Comment

Before rehabilitation (left) Sugarland Mountain Trail was an impassible mass of fallen trees and rocks. After weeks of work (right) Sugarland Mountain and Bull Head are now reopen. NPS photos
 

Smokies trails reopen after 2016 wildfires

For the first time since wildfires ravaged the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in fall 2016, the Bull Head and…
Read More

Comment

The new Foothills Parkway section completes a project that began in 1966. NPS photo
 

New Foothills Parkway section to open

A long-awaited section of the Foothills Parkway between Walland and Wears Valley in Tennessee will officially open on Saturday, Nov.…
Read More

Comment

Honey locust tree.
 

Honey locust pods are well-protected

Strap-shaped honey locust pods can be up to 2-inches wide and a foot or more in length. Hanging in abundance along…
Read More

Comment

Book explores Trump’s election victory
 

Book explores Trump’s election victory

Want to know why Donald Trump won the 2016 election in one of the most stunning upsets in American history?…
Read More

Comment

Drew Morgan, Trae Crowder and Corey Ryan Forrester. Nicol Biesek Photography
 

Don’t judge the book, read the book: ‘Liberal Redneck’ brings wellRED tour to WCU

What Trae Crowder, Drew Morgan and Corey Ryan Forrester are doing is artistically and politically groundbreaking in the world of…
Read More

Comment

Garret, circa 1985.
 

This must be the place: Sweet Caroline, good times never seemed so good

Let’s go Sox.  Standing and shouting at the large television at a pub around the corner from my apartment in…
Read More

Comment

FBI agents take documents from the Qualla Housing Authority headquarters during a February 2017 raid. Holly Kays photo
 

Cherokee considers abolishing Qualla Housing

The Cherokee Tribal Council is considering disbanding the Qualla Housing Authority, an organization that was formed in 1993 to create…
Read More

Comment

Open enrollment for federal health insurance begins
 

Open enrollment for federal health insurance begins

Open Enrollment for the 2019 Federal Health Insurance Exchange begins Thursday, Nov. 1 and runs through Dec. 15 for coverage…
Read More

Comment

Haywood Regional Medical Center is one of three Western North Carolina hospitals that could be out-of-network with UnitedHealthCare by January, depending on how negotiations go. File photo
 

UnitedHealthCare contract renegotiation underway at area hospitals

When retired teacher Villa Brewer went to get her mail Oct. 23, she returned with two interesting letters. One was…
Read More

Comment

Eric Giles, a candidate for Macon County sheriff and a deputy for Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, speaks at a candidate forum held in April. File photo
 

Giles returns to patrol duty despite Giglio Order

Eric Giles, a candidate for Macon County sheriff, is back on patrol duty for the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office after…
Read More

Comment

Voters will be asked to decide on six proposed amendments to the N.C. Constitution this year. NCSBE photo
 

Proposed N.C. Constitutional amendments leave unanswered questions

Most years, voters head to the polls with a few candidates or a political party in mind, push some buttons, and go home. But this year’s ballot also contains six proposed amendments to the North Carolina Constitution.
Read More
Early voting turnout up in N.C., slightly up in Haywood
 

Early voting turnout up in N.C., slightly up in Haywood

The bad news is almost six million North Carolinians still hadn’t voted as of Monday, Oct. 29. The good news is more than a million had — 1.23 million, to be exact.
Read More
New opioid treatment facility to open
 

New opioid treatment facility to open

Groups: recover together, a leading provider of opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment, will be hosting an open house from 4…
Read More

Comment

N.C. 11th District Congressman Mark Meadows (center) talks with veterans at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center this past August. Cory Vaillancourt photo
 

Meadows rides a rising red tide

Asheville Republican Mark Meadows has now served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives — the last two as a powerful figure in the majority party, the most recent under unified Republican control of the presidency, the Senate and the House. 
Read More
Phillip Price (left) and Clifton Ingram (right).
 

Two seek to sink Rep. Meadows reelection bid

Since 2012, Western North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District has been represented by Asheville Republican Rep. Mark Meadows, a Florida native who moved to the region in 1986. Meanwhile, Meadows has enjoyed great electoral success and become the standard-bearer for what remains of the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party nationwide.
Read More
New generation needed to preserve North Shore cemeteries
 

New generation needed to preserve North Shore cemeteries

It’s a crisp fall day in Swain County. As the sun finally peaks over the trees around lunch time, the…
Read More

Comment

The Blue Rooster in Clyde is looking to expand upon its history of charitable activity. Cory Vaillancourt photo
 

Blue Rooster steps up for kids

The crew at The Blue Rooster Southern Grill is known for some of the best fried chicken in the region,…
Read More

Comment

N.C. Promise success celebrated at WCU
 

N.C. Promise success celebrated at WCU

Western Carolina University students whose lives have been changed by the tuition reduction program N.C. Promise got to tell their…
Read More

Comment

UNC President Margaret Spellings speaks to Western Carolina students and leaders Oct. 24 about the success of the N.C. Promise tuition reduction program. Holly Kays photo
 

UNC President to resign: Spellings will leave office in midst of WCU chancellor search

When UNC System President Margaret Spellings visited Cullowhee Wednesday, Oct. 24, the prevailing mood was celebratory and lighthearted as she…
Read More

Comment

Sure Feels Good Anyway: A Conversation with Amy Ray
 

Sure Feels Good Anyway: A Conversation with Amy Ray

A true mark of a timeless artist is how well they age. Not simply by the passing years on the…
Read More

Comment

Smokey Mountain News Logo
SUPPORT THE SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS AND
INDEPENDENT, AWARD-WINNING JOURNALISM
Go to top
Payment Information

/

At our inception 20 years ago, we chose to be different. Unlike other news organizations, we made the decision to provide in-depth, regional reporting free to anyone who wanted access to it. We don’t plan to change that model. Support from our readers will help us maintain and strengthen the editorial independence that is crucial to our mission to help make Western North Carolina a better place to call home. If you are able, please support The Smoky Mountain News.

The Smoky Mountain News is a wholly private corporation. Reader contributions support the journalistic mission of SMN to remain independent. Your support of SMN does not constitute a charitable donation. If you have a question about contributing to SMN, please contact us.