Over the first eight months of leading the Elevate Digital Collaborative, Southwestern Community College has made significant progress while working with its partners to reduce the digital divide within Jackson, Macon and Swain counties and the Qualla Boundary. 

It’s one of nine regional collaborative groups funded by Dogwood Health Trust through its Digital Opportunities Initiative.

Haywood Community College continues to expand university transfer agreements with North Carolina universities. HCC offers transferable degree programs and credit options as students choose to start their postsecondary education locally before transferring to a four-year institution. As spring 2026 registration opens, HCC has two new transfer agreements in place. This offers students additional guaranteed transferable options to two North Carolina universities. 

The signs are still there lining the fragile bank separating Interstate 40 from the Pigeon River — chunks of jagged asphalt, wayward pipes, rusty cables bent into submission by nature. 

Just 11 months ago, as Hurricane Helene mercilessly swamped the whole region, the river, now low and calm, was force-fed by its tributaries and swelled to the point it carried away 10 sections of I-40’s eastbound lanes over about a five-mile stretch near the Tennessee border.

To the Editor:

After the proliferation of so-called THCa weed  —  weed harvested according to Trump’s farm bill to have less than 0.3% delta 9 THC at time of harvest, which experienced smokers will know is weed harvested early and therefore not fit to smoke —  finding herb in Western North Carolina has been more than a challenge. 

To the Editor:

I was in my 20s in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Legislative and legal decisions this year brought back memories from those days, and not pleasant ones.

O Zito, O Zito, wherefore art thou, Zito? In case you didn’t know, the phrase “wherefore art thou” is fancy Shakespeare talk for “why?” Which brings us to the point. Why, Zito. Why? 

It’s shaping up to be an exciting year for water-lovers in Western North Carolina.

After more than a decade of hydropower relicensing negotiations and years more of permitting and construction, Duke Energy is finishing a slate of river accesses that will make the Tuckasegee one of the most accessible rivers in the Southeast. At the same time, a collective effort to create an interactive map showing where and how to recreate on Western North Carolina waterways — using a tool called Smoky Mountain Blueways — is wrapping up, further boosting WNC’s future as a Mecca for outdoors lovers of all skill levels.