In the wake of numerous criminal charges from both the state and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians tied to two alleged sexual assaults, Curtis Cochran has retired from his position as the Swain County Sheriff. 

An Asheville law firm has filed a civil suit on behalf of two minor female clients alleging that the girls were sexually abused while employed at a Bojangles fast food restaurant near Lake Junaluska in Haywood County. 

REACH, the Haywood County nonprofit that provides aid to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, has a new director. 

In an interview with The Smoky Mountain News, Sara Vogel affirmed her commitment not only to REACH’s vital mission, but also to the community she now calls home. 

To the Editor:

As my grandmother used to say, the MAGA party “doesn’t have the sense it was born with.”  

The MAGA presidential candidate — a multiple-times-bankrupted felon convicted of sexual assault against one woman and of covering up his illicit liaison with another to protect his reputation — has nothing to offer against his opponent, the current vice president and former California attorney general and senator from the state with the fifth largest economy in the world (see Japan, California, India).  

To the Editor:

On the one hand we have a president who is guilty of being old and frail. On the other hand we have a challenger who is guilty of sexual assault, fraudulent business transactions, bogus charities, campaign finance fraud associated with concealing a tryst with a porn star, and two impeachments among other charges yet to be prosecuted.