Any day now. 

That’s what Robbie Inman has been telling himself for weeks as he cruises Raleigh news sites, trying to cipher out when an end to the budget logjam in the General Assembly would end.

Southwestern Community College broke state policy this summer when it launched a construction project before securing final contract authorization from the state.

A protracted tug-of-war over the 95.3 FM radio frequency is finally over, setting the stage for Western Carolina University’s campus-run radio station to expand its reach well beyond Jackson County’s borders.

Waynesville candidates running for the town board and mayor got an audience with the business community last week at the monthly Issues and Eggs breakfast hosted by the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce.

There are few places in Waynesville folks are afraid to go after dark. But the sagging blue canopy slung beneath the trees at the far end of Chestnut Park is one of them.

Representatives from three dozen fire departments, rescue squads, law enforcement units and emergency service operations convened in Waynesville Monday for a grant writing workshop, hoping to find the key to unlock coveted state and federal funds.

They came from the rural enclaves of Burningtown and Spring Creek to the urban cities of Hendersonville and Asheville. U.S. Congressman Mark Meadows, R-Cashiers, addressed the audience at the start of the workshop, the fourth of its kind he has organized to help the agencies dial in on federal grant applications.

“It is such a competitive process,” said Meadows, who stopped in to the training to express appreciation. “We expect them to do a good job and don’t always say thank you.”

A grandiose plan to remake Waynesville’s Russ Avenue commercial corridor into a tree-lined boulevard has gotten a little less grandiose.

Mission Health opened a new $7 million medical complex in Haywood County this week offering an array of health care services in a jaw-dropping facility.

A property owner in the remote Nantahala area of Macon County shot an elk that was eating his corn, upsetting neighbors who liked having an elk among them.

Shining Rock Classical Academy, a new charter school in Haywood County, has not given up on the idea of building a school in the Francis Cove area of Waynesville, despite a groundswell of opposition from residents in the community.

The construction cost for a new fire and rescue training center at Haywood Community College has clocked in more than $1 million higher than expected, prompting soul searching among college leaders and county commissioners over whether to go ahead with the project as planned.

A dozen hotels, motels and tourist accommodations in Haywood County will have to open their books to auditors in coming months to prove they aren’t pocketing some of the room taxes they collect.

A nonprofit nature center ensnared in a foreclosure saga at Balsam Mountain Preserve is one step closer to being evicted.

Shining Rock Classical Academy was sent back to the drawing board Monday night on its proposed location, continuing a nearly three-month saga on where the new charter school will go.

Love it or hate it, the concrete median down the middle of Russ Avenue in Waynesville on the approach to Ingles entrance road is here to stay.

The rollicking steep slope debate in Jackson County may finally be put to rest next month after three years of tussling over whether and how much to water down the development rules.

The guessing game of how many students will jump ship from Haywood County Schools to attend a new charter school, Shining Rock Classical Academy, won’t be known until the first day of school next week.

A new plaque coming soon to the Jackson County Sports of Hall Fame will no doubt raise some eyebrows of those who pass it in the entry foyer of the justice center.

The rising tide of triathlons, foot races and cycling events in Haywood County is stretching the capacity of spare deputies to provide security on the long-distance routes without a better pay incentive.

Neighbors who live near the proposed site of a new charter school in Haywood County plan to oppose a special use permit that would allow the school to be built in their community.

The hunting community and wildlife officers have been engaged in an ongoing tug-of-war over the practice of baiting bears to make them easier to hunt.

Shining Rock Classical Academy, a new charter school opening in Haywood County next month, will pull in more than $2 million in state and county tax dollars its first year if the current enrollment of around 230 students holds.

A candidate for mayor in Waynesville is dropping out of the race, although his name will still be on the ballot.

There’s a secret ingredient behind the bright lights, splashy costumes and glossy programs of Folkmoot: for every two parts planning, there’s one part improv.

The tragic accident that killed Mayor Ron DeSimone last week has left a hole in upcoming town elections this fall.

A bill paving the way for the merger of Lake Junaluska with the town of Waynesville was blocked at the 11th hour this week in the N.C. General Assembly.

Homeowners in the high-end Balsam Mountain Preserve development are trying to strike a deal with an investment lender from New York to stop the foreclosure of their community nature center.

The dust has settled following a last-minute scramble of candidates signing up to run for the Waynesville town board last week, and voters now have their work cut out.

A new K9 skilled in bomb and explosive detection will soon be joining the ranks of the Waynesville Police Department.

A dumpster war in Waynesville is heating up, and the town is firing back.

Work continues on repairs to a massive sinkhole that collapsed suddenly near Ingles grocery store in Waynesville several weeks ago.

A major expansion and renovation of the Ingles grocery store on Russ Avenue in Waynesville is finally imminent.

Finding the patchwork of greenway paths scattered across Haywood County is a bit like a scavenger hunt.

Main Street Realty, one of the oldest and last remaining independent real estate firms in Haywood County, is closing its doors this month. But it isn’t going far.

There was something markedly absent from the nearly $300,000 in tourism grants awarded by the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority this year: contention.

There’s a unifying theme among candidates in the Waynesville town board election: “maybe-ism.”

More than 100 hunters and their supporters packed the historic Haywood County courthouse last week for the latest installment in the ongoing saga over Operation Something Bruin.

A bear euthanized following an attack against a backpacker in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was not the right bear, park rangers learned late last week.

A new charter school slated to open in Haywood in August has been scrambling the past few weeks to find somewhere to put kids and teachers after its initial facility plan fell through.

A new charter school opening in Haywood County has downwardly revised its projected student count for the coming school year.

Business is booming for a Waynesville factory that mixes and packages Epsom salt. Giles Chemical has doubled its employees over the past decade to 150 and plans to build a 35,000-square-foot warehouse to accommodate its growing trade.

The merger of Lake Junaluska with the town of Waynesville cleared a critical milestone in the N.C. General Assembly last week and finally seemed headed for passage, but was sidelined again at the 11th hour.

Rangers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park hope a bear they caught and killed last week is the same one that attacked a teenager who was sleeping in a hammock.

The clock is ticking for Ghost Town in the Sky entertainment park in Maggie Valley to get its humble trio of kiddie rides inspected and permitted before its target opening day of July 2.

There’s something ingrained in our DNA, something seared into our psyche that triggers a primal sense of harmony when we escape four walls and venture into the great outdoors. Olga Pader feels that euphoria every time she steps out on a trail.

A father-and-son backpacking expedition in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park took a terrifying turn when the teenage boy was pulled from his hammock late Saturday night by a black bear.

Rangers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park shot a bear Tuesday that they believe is the same one that attacked a teenager sleeping in a hammock.

The tactics of state and federal wildlife officers in a multi-year undercover sting targeting bear hunters continue to come under fire.

Waynesville town leaders plan to broker a sit-down between Frog Level merchants and the Open Door soup kitchen in coming weeks to discuss an on-going conflict over a loose-knit band of homeless people who spend their days loitering and drinking on the streets.