To the Editor:

It has been hard to keep up with the news cycles during the first week of President Trump’s administration, but a few things deserve public ridicule. In his infinite wisdom, Trump pardoned and released about 1,500 January 6 criminal defendants into our communities to do violence and organize their militias.

To the Editor:

I asked Rep. Chuck Edwards about the massive changes made in our names by Elon Musk and others to reduce the size of government and he assured me that “Social Security will not be touched.” How can that be?

After two major floods in three years, BearWaters Brewing Company is adapting its business to ensure a future in downtown Canton. During a Feb. 13 town meeting, brewery representatives detailed their struggles and their vision for a new chapter, which includes shifting away from brewing on-site while expanding into a whole new line of business.

For the fourth time in four months, the North Carolina General Assembly has introduced a bill to address lingering unmet needs in communities affected by Hurricane Helene last year — and there’s a strong chance it won’t be the last. 

Rep. Chuck Edwards has refused to speak to The Smoky Mountain News since shortly after he was elected in 2022.

He’s been silent on critical issues of national and regional importance — silent on protecting Social Security, silent on preserving veterans health care, silent on what he did to prevent the Pactiv-Evergreen paper mill in Canton from closing, silent on funding our national parks, silent on why North Carolina didn’t get the congressional funding it needs to recover fully from the damage associated with Hurricane Helene. 

We hate to belabor one topic, but we have more than one marijuana-related award to hand out this year.  

The steamroller award goes to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who launched their cannabis venture despite no shortage of opposition from outside the Qualla Boundary.

With North Carolina’s Republican-dominated General Assembly still dead-set on refusing to provide meaningful relief for mountain communities hit hard by Hurricane Helene on Sept. 27, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper traveled to Washington, D.C., with a delegation of western leaders, appealing to higher authority for help.

While it certainly appears that a “red wave” washed over the United States on Nov. 5, that’s not exactly the case in North Carolina, where Democrats held onto critical Council of State offices and made solid gains where it really counts — in the General Assembly. 

Western North Carolina Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards, who became a Hurricane Helene hero for debunking storm response lies spread by his own party but two weeks later stood idly by as former President Donald Trump repeated some of the lies Edwards had just debunked, will return to Washington for a second term.

The Republican-led North Carolina General Assembly took its second step in flood recovery on Oct. 24, designating from the state’s $4.4 billion Rainy Day Fund an additional $604 million in funding and resources for disaster recovery in response to Hurricane Helene — far less than the $3.9 billion the state’s Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper wanted, and with little real help to businesses that can’t afford to take out more loans.