During a difficult meeting in March, Waynesville’s Town Council was presented with a perfect storm of bad budgeting news. After Council’s most recent meeting, it looks like they’ll weather that storm with only a modest sewer rate increase. 

After losing roughly $200 million in valuation due to the closing of the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill and the damage wrought by Hurricane Helene, Haywood County Commissioners will entertain a 2025-26 budget that’s thin as can be. 

To The Editor:

Taking the long view of life, I love my God, my country, my family and friends, and really, just people in general. Like many of us, I go to bed at night and pray that God help our country to find its way in this current climate of division and fear and anxiety. 

Gov. Josh Stein announced that the Dogwood Health Trust, the Duke Endowment and the State of North Carolina have distributed $55 million to 2,812 small businesses through the Western North Carolina Small Business Initiative. These grants are supporting Western North Carolina businesses impacted by Hurricane Helene and bolstering regional economic recovery. More than 7,300 businesses applied.  

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. 

The Town of Canton is currently wrestling with one of the ugliest budget conundrums in decades due to a combination of natural and human-caused disasters, the general unsustainability of the American health care coverage system and a colossal mistake by a contracted service provider.  

In celebration of National Travel and Tourism Week, the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority invites the public to an open house event on Thursday, May 8, from 3 to 6 p.m., at the Haywood County Visitor Center, located at 91 North Lakeshore Drive in Lake Junaluska. 

To the Editor:

This Easter season — a time for moral reflection and renewal — I feel compelled to speak to the direction of our national leadership. We face a moment where economic manipulation and constitutional neglect are becoming normalized, with grave consequences for all Americans. 

To the Editor:

The other day, while driving to a golf outing, President Donald Trump demonstrated a callous disregard for the suffering his tariffs have inflicted on hundreds of millions of Americans, whose interests he was elected to champion and protect. 

As an attorney, I have direct experience and the unique point of view that comes from working with the Social Security Administration daily and remain in awe at its ability to serve millions of Americans with a wide array of needs.