State of the waterways: Water Quality Advisory Committee releases new report

The Water Quality Advisory Committee has released its latest report detailing potential impacts of revising the Macon County Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance — the last of three such floodplain ordinances the county has considered revising this year.

Trump is not a president for all

To the Editor:

Donald Trump promised at the NRA convention to roll back gun control measures enacted under Biden and to fire the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 

Statewide holiday ‘Booze It & Lose It’ enforcement campaign underway

 This holiday season, the North Carolina Governor’s Highway Safety Program joins local and state law enforcement to urge drivers against impaired driving. 

Great Smokies Health Foundation Announces 2023 Grants

The Board of Directors of the Great Smokies Health Foundation has awarded $539,235 to 24 organizations for a variety of health, wellness and prevention initiatives across Graham, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties.

Dress, drain and defend to prevent mosquito-borne illness

Recent cases of malaria in Texas and Florida have caused alarm about the potential for the disease to spread in warmer regions of the United States, but according to mosquito researcher Brian Byrd, a different type of mosquito-borne illness is of greater concern in Western North Carolina.

Poor acorn crop leads to increased bear encounters

A nighttime breath of fresh air turned traumatic for 75-year-old Swannanoa resident Toni Rhegness when she spotted three bear cubs while walking her dog on leash in her front yard Sept. 18.

While Rhegness followed important bear safety rules at her own home — not leaving trash outside and keeping her dog leashed, for starters — her neighbor had left garbage cans outside for pickup the next morning, and the cubs were scavenging them for a meal. Seeing the cubs, the dog barked. Rhegness shouted to scare the bears off and picked up her dog to go inside.

It’s OK to not be OK: Suicide prevention takes center stage at Folkmoot

Imagine this — you’re atop a hundred-story building, and it’s on fire. As the flames and smoke close in, you really don’t want to jump, but there simply doesn’t seem to be any other way. 

Suicide prevention training to be held Sept. 10

Many among us have been touched by the tragedy of suicide, and in the age of social media, many more of us have heard or seen behavior from family, friends or even total strangers that gives us pause. 

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