Despite a decline in room occupancy tax revenue, the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority is celebrating a banner year for its signature winter event while doubling down on aggressive promotional campaigns and strategic long-term investments aimed at driving off-season traffic and insulating the county from mixed national trends in tourism spending. 

District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch today announced the successful prosecution of a Swain County man on drug trafficking charges.

A Haywood County Superior Court jury late Friday found Clinton Leslie Ensley, 45, guilty of: 

Twenty-seven counties across the state will receive more than $204 million in funding for 48 drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects. The awards will improve drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, address PFAS and other forever chemicals, identify and replace lead pipes, and improve resiliency after future storms. 

The Haywood County Arts Council’s latest exhibition “Chiaroscuro” will run through Sept. 1 at HCAC’s Handmade Gallery in downtown Waynesville.

“Chiaroscuro” highlights the bold use of light and shadow to create depth, mood and movement in art.

In a move that will raise some eyebrows and just as many questions, the decades-long dance festival put on by Folkmoot USA in Waynesville has quietly been eliminated. 

July 2012. When I was in the running for the open position of arts and entertainment editor here at The Smoky Mountain News, I had to drive from where I was living at the time (Plattsburgh, New York) to Waynesville (1,100 miles each way) for the final interview. 

In its first regular meeting since a superior court judge ruled that Head of School Joshua Morgan was responsible for the “improper use of governmental authority to stop or inhibit the public from accessing public records,” Shining Rock Classical Academy’s governing board doubled down on Morgan’s leadership, bid farewell to two longtime advisors, took substantial steps to bolster transparency and voted not to appeal the case.  

Two members of Waynesville’s Zoning Board of Adjustment were improperly appointed by Town Council in violation of the town’s own term limits policy, a Smoky Mountain News investigation has found. 

With the end of the municipal election filing period, candidates are now gearing up to take their message to voters as they look to claim seats on local government boards across Western North Carolina. 

Haywood County commissioners have adopted a resolution and corresponding ordinance that lays out how nearly $3 million in opioid settlement funds will be spent over the next 14 years, focusing heavily on treatment, recovery and mitigation within the criminal justice system.