In a decision that received national attention, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum question endorsing legalized recreational marijuana on the Qualla Boundary for adults 21 and older.

What was once an extremely contentious issue in Cherokee now appears to be fairly noncontroversial, as a referendum vote seeking approval for issuing mixed drink permits on the Qualla Boundary sailed through with 68.3% approval Sept. 7. 

For the third year running, freshman enrollment has increased at Western Carolina University, a metric that university leaders hope will signal an end to multiple years of falling enrollment in the wake of the Coronavirus Pandemic. 

Tribal officers in Cherokee County shooting say they thought victim was armed

In 1972, Lambert Wilson’s life changed forever.

Cherokee’s next planned bike park to give kids, new riders a place to play 

The Cherokee Indian Fair will return Oct. 3-7 for its 111th year, but in a new location. This year’s event will be held at the old high school site, also called the Cherokee Expo Center, located at 1501 Acquoni Road. 

A Cherokee man will serve more than seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a charge of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. 

According to the recently released results of the National Park Service’s newest peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis, in 2022 North Carolina was yet again home to the nation’s two top parks for visitor spending — the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

This year’s race for Wolfetown/Big Y Tribal Council is an unusual one, with the two incumbents having held their seats for less than a year following a pair of special elections in December and March.

During the General Election Sept. 7, Yellowhill voters will choose two of the four names before them to be their voice in Tribal Council for the next two years. 

Former Wolfetown Rep. Bo Crowe pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault in federal court Friday, Aug. 11, but plans to fight tribal charges stemming from the same incident at trial. 

Cherokee’s June 1 Primary Election whittled the field of candidates for Birdtown Tribal Council down to four, and they will face off during the General Election Thursday, Sept. 7. 

With much of the conversation taking place in closed session, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Council passed a trio of resolutions Aug. 3 pertaining to the tribally owned EBCI Holdings LLC.

Pactiv Evergreen has been issued its second notice of violation in less than a month, bringing its total since May 2021 up to 15 — more than one violation every two months, on average.

The Cherokee Tribal Council has approved $946,000 in tribal dollars to go toward the Cannabis Control Board’s budget for the 2024 fiscal year starting in October. 

Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail celebrates kickoff 

As voters ponder the ballot for executive offices within the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians next month, they’ll be looking at a list of familiar names. 

Groups file intent to sue Forest Service 

When the impending closure of Canton’s paper mill was announced in March, conservation professionals predicted a swift improvement  in downstream water quality once papermaking stopped.

In response to a July 10 notice of violation accusing Pactiv Evergreen of illegally dumping unused chemicals  into the wastewater treatment plant at its now-shuttered Canton paper mill, the company has submitted a letter  stating that it acted “on a good faith belief” and that the discharge was legal. 

Only three candidates are running for the two Tribal Council seats representing the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ farthest-flung township, which includes tribal members living in Cherokee County and the Snowbird area of Graham County.

Tribal members could see their per capita checks grow after the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians expands its gaming business in accordance with a new state law  authorizing sports wagering in North Carolina. 

In response to what he says are ongoing issues with transparency on the part of the tribe’s cannabis business Qualla Enterprises LLC, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Principal Chief Richard Sneed introduced an ordinance  during the July 13 Tribal Council session clarifying certain aspects of the relationship between tribal government and its LLCs. 

When new fees went into effect  in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park March 1, park managers were expecting limited revenues and limited compliance during their inaugural year enforcing the Smokies’ first-ever parking fee. But four months in, both metrics are coming in higher than anticipated. 

During the General Election Thursday, Sept. 7, Big Cove voters will weigh in on who they want to see represent them on Tribal Council for the first time this year.

After voting unanimously  in April to put a proposed constitution on the ballot for approval this year, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Council voted 11-1 Thursday, July 13, to indefinitely postpone the planned referendum. 

As temperatures neared 90 degrees on the sunny afternoon of Sunday, July 16, the forested Carolina Mountain Trail offered a shady respite for the 20 people joining Tom Southard for a 2.1-mile hike through the woods of the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville. 

An effort to build a 19.4-mile rail trail between Brevard and Hendersonville got a huge boost following the award of more than $45 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

After a narrow passage in Tribal Council, the September ballot is expected to ask Cherokee voters whether they support legalizing cannabis use for adults 21 and older.

When sports wagering started in Cherokee  two years ago, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ two casinos were the only places in North Carolina where such wagers were legal.

Cherokee’s June 1 Primary Election whittled the field of candidates for Painttown Tribal Council down to four, and they will face off during the General Election Thursday, Sept. 7. 

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is trying for the first true census of its citizens in more than 20 years with an electronic-only census open to tribal members through Aug. 31. 

Located up a narrow mountain road in a building about the size of an average single-family house, the Balsam Mountain Trust Nature Center is tiny compared to Executive Director Michael Wall’s last professional home, the San Diego Natural History Museum in California. 

In a notice of violation  issued Monday, July 10, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality has accused Pactiv Evergreen of dumping chemicals directly into its wastewater treatment system rather than disposing of them properly, as required by the company’s permit. 

Over nearly three hours Wednesday, June 21, Tribal Council heard from attorneys offering dire warnings about the unintended consequences that could befall the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians should it adopt a proposed constitution  — and from tribal members imploring the body to trust voters to decide whether the document should become the tribe’s first constitution in more than 150 years.

The massive employee turnover  Western Carolina University has seen over the past two years is now trending downward, but the university is still parting ways with more employees than was the norm before 2020.

Harold McCarson isn’t surprised to see a deer standing in the road as he steps out of the familiar white farmhouse that served as the headquarters of Pisgah View Ranch for decades.

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, June 27, the National Park Service airlifted the wreckage of a 1983 plane crash near Waterrock Knob that has proven popular with both hikers and travel writers.

The paper mill has been closed for years now, but the cleanup is ongoing.

With less than two years gone since Tropical Storm Fred destroyed lives and property  along the Pigeon River in Haywood County, flood resiliency remains top of mind for local leaders.

Shannon Young has no trouble identifying the exact moment he fell in love with fly fishing. 

In an explosive federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court of Western North Carolina, the victim of a December 2022 police shooting in Cherokee County seeks millions of dollars in damages while laying out the sequence of alleged violations of policy and law that led to what he says was an attempted murder by police. The shots were fired by members of the Cherokee Indian Police Department, which had been called to assist the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.

A After years of enrollment and retention numbers impacted by the pandemic and its associated restrictions, Western Carolina University expects to see the rebound continue when students return to campus this fall.