Swain County jail’s inspection failures highlight statewide issues
This story was updated Dec. 24 to include a quote from NC DHHS.
Between 2017 and 2025, Swain County Law Enforcement Center failed 13 of 16 biannual inspections, according to Disability Rights North Carolina.
The existence of one or more documented violations requires the sheriff to submit a plan of correction to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services detailing the steps that will be or already have been taken to remediate each issue.
Haywood County confronts addiction crisis with ambitious public health response
It starts the same way, most times — sirens in the distance, a frantic call, a body on the floor — but what happens next in Haywood County might soon look a lot different, thanks to a bold plan to reshape how local government responds to the addiction epidemic.
New covid variant, flu spike in December
Haywood County hadn’t logged a coronavirus-related death in the better part of a year. But since Dec. 19, 2023, it has seen five.
