In the seven months since Hurricane Helene ravaged the mountains and valleys of Western North Carolina, there’s been one constant thought rolling through the mind of Guy Smith. 

“In memorializing Helene’s savagery, the agony it caused, the grief and loss, but also the resilience and charity,” Smith said.

Rep. Mark Pless is taking heat from local paramedics and EMTs after introducing a pair of bills that first responders say will weaken their ability to provide emergency care. 

It had been a warm spring day that finally gave way to twilight of cobalt-grey, sharpening the flashing red and blue police lights slashing through dusk restless and unyielding. Demonstrators waving signs and banging rhythmically on locked glass doors, their chants pulsed through the cool evening air. 

“Save our democracy.” 

Western North Carolina Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards will host an in-person town hall on Thursday, March 13, from 6-7:30 p.m. in the Ferguson Auditorium at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.

The U.S. Forest Service has reopened more trails and roads throughout areas of the Pisgah National Forest’s Appalachian Ranger District in Haywood, Madison, Buncombe, Yancey, Mitchell and Avery counties following the damage caused by Hurricane Helene. 

Visitors to The North Carolina Arboretum can witness some of the most surprising animal behavior in the new National Geographic exhibition, “The Greatest Wildlife Photographs.” 

With just days remaining before voters go to the polls on Nov. 5, Democratic Vice Presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz returned to speak in a very different Asheville than the one he last saw in mid-September.

As Western North Carolina recovers from one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the state, residents alongside local leaders have been working to rebuild their communities just ahead of one of the most consequential elections in American history. Jason Simmons, chair of the North Carolina Republican Party, recently toured hard-hit communities in the region on a visit that was part political, part personal.  

Throughout Hurricane Helene, the slogan going around Haywood County has been, “neighbors helping neighbors.” The personification of those words is nowhere more apparent than at Haywood Pathways Center in Waynesville, where a small group of volunteers gathered on Oct. 5 to minister to some of the county’s most vulnerable residents.

Amid the devastation and human suffering caused by Tropical Storm Helene, it’s only natural to lose sight of the fact that in less than 30 days, voters across the country will head to the polls to participate in a close, consequential election. Come hell or high water — Western North Carolina has had both — local election officials are working feverishly on a short timeline to ensure there are no disruptions to early voting, absentee balloting or Election Day activities.