Rhonda Cole Schandevel to run for NC House
Haywood County School Board member Rhonda Cole Schandevel, 51, of Canton announced her 2016 candidacy for the North Carolina House of Representatives.
Schools end traditional knighting of valedictorian
The senior with the highest grade point average will no longer be crowned valedictorian at high school graduation in Haywood County.
State should leave well enough alone at the local level
The North Carolina Senate has become emboldened in its partisanship over the last couple of years, and there appears to be no end in sight. Under the leadership of Sen. Phil Berger, the president pro tem, and his troops — including our own Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin — it has ventured so far to the right and is making moves that are so politically heavy-handed that even Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and the GOP-controlled state House often call foul.
Buckle up: N.C. may no longer require driver education
By Katie Reeder • SMN Intern
Young drivers in North Carolina may no longer be required to take driver education to get their learner’s permit if a Senate subcommittee’s modifications to House Bill 97 are passed by the General Assembly.
Some alcohol permits could now be allowed in Cherokee
In Cherokee, alcohol could soon be available in more places than just Harrah’s Cherokee Casino following Gov. Pat McCrory’s signature on a 12-page alcohol omnibus bill.
Legislature weakens voter ID requirement
In an unexpected turn of events, the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation last Thursday that will allow people to cast a ballot in 2016 even if they don’t have an acceptable form of identification.
Local NAACP members still fighting for voters
By Katie Reeder • SMN Intern
It may be too late to change North Carolina’s new voting laws, but it’s not too late to have a say in how those laws are going to be implemented.
SEE ALSO:
• Be prepared at the polls
• WCU students react to NC voting law changes
Even though members of local NAACP chapters are not happy with North Carolina’s new voting laws pushed through by a Republican-led General Assembly in 2013, they now want to focus on how those laws may be implemented.
Be prepared at the polls: Voting changes are coming in 2016
The days of simply walking into a polling place and casting a ballot are over.
Raleigh comes to Sylva in support of historic tax credit bill
If traffic seemed a bit slow through downtown Sylva on Friday (May 22), it probably had something to do with Gov. Pat McCrory’s afternoon stroll along Main Street that day.
Western could get largest share of proposed state infrastructure bond
Of all the constructions on Western Carolina University’s campus, the distinctly non-glamorous Natural Sciences Building might have seemed like an odd place to host a visit from Gov. Pat McCrory. In the classroom where McCrory sat with a panel of university representatives and state administrators, a tile hung loosely from the ceiling and the hum of the HVAC system reverberated through the concrete walls, which weren’t quite expansive enough to comfortably contain the assembly of officials and media representatives gathered there.
