News Headlines
WCU breaks ground on massive stadium project
Leaders from Western Carolina University kicked off a massive $37 million renovation to the school’s E.J. Whitmire Stadium last Thursday.
The event, which brought in a large and energetic crowd, severed as a groundbreaking ceremony for the project, which will include a new press box, coaches’ offices, player study areas and a hospitality center which will be known as the “Western Skybox.” The stadium, which is over 50 years old, will now feature over 10,000 square feet of new space.
Decorate Bone Valley and Hall cemeteries
With the help and cooperation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the North Shore Cemetery Association will be hosting decorations at Bone Valley and Hall cemeteries on Sunday, June 22 with the first boat shuttle leaving at 8:30 a.m. and the last boat leaving at 10 a.m. from the Cable Cove Boating Access Area near Fontana Village.
Hurricane relief cashflow loans released
The Department of State Treasurer has notified local governments of their second round of interest-free loans for Hurricane Helene relief. This round of Cashflow Loans uses the remaining $34.4 million provided by the legislature in the Disaster Recovery Act of 2024.
A note about numbers
I get asked about it after every protest I’ve been to, from Andrews to Asheville, from Chicago to Washington, D.C., and everywhere in between.
Rally attendance is one of the most debated aspects of any public gathering — be it left, right, center, secular or spiritual. At outdoor venues that don’t use ticketing and don’t have fences or walls to contain the crowds, estimates can be even more difficult.
Pless TDA, deannexation bills advance
A pair of local bills pushed by Rep. Mark Pless (R-Haywood) — one welcomed by most, another, not so much — have recently taken important steps through the General Assembly, but still have a long way to go if they’re to become law.
The cost of ‘free:’ Americans are surviving not because of the system, but in spite of it
Squeezed into a corner room on the ground floor of what was once a grade school in a quiet Waynesville neighborhood, a small free pantry and market provides food, clothing and household goods to some of Haywood County’s most vulnerable citizens at no cost. The pantry is one of many, rooted in compassion and community, but also in contradiction.
A burning question: Jackson commissioners still considering library withdrawal
In a year when Jackson County commissioners are proposing a substantial property tax hike, outside agitators are still pushing commissioners to consider a costly withdrawal from the Fontana Regional Library system that could result in an even costlier lawsuit, all over an issue that will never be resolved to everyone’s liking — the definition of “inappropriate.”
WCU official describes secret ‘strategy’ to skirt DEI ban in undercover video
A senior administrator at Western Carolina University was secretly recorded describing how the school is continuing to promote diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives despite a systemwide ban enacted by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors last year.
Haywood recovery court graduates third and fourth participants
There are few, if any, occasions that take place in a Haywood County courtroom that are as joyous as a celebration for someone who graduates from the Adult Accountability and Recovery Court program.
Last Friday, the program honored its third and fourth graduates. Both individuals were joined by family and friends who knew too well how addiction had derailed their lives.
