Swain County commissioners appointed Jason “Jay” Kirkland on Oct. 28 as board chairman, just shy of the 60-day following the former chairman Kevin Seagle’s resignation. 

Commissioner Bobby Jenkins brought forward Kirkland’s nomination, and Commissioner David Loftis immediately seconded the motion.

“The Polar Express” train ride will roll down the tracks on select dates from the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad depot in downtown Bryson City.  

Climb aboard one of the powerful locomotives and historic train cars as it departs the Bryson City Depot for the North Pole to pick up Santa Claus himself.

A community jam will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, on the front patio of the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.

Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer or anything unplugged is invited to join. Singers are also welcomed to join in or you can just stop by and listen. 

With the late afternoon sunshine piercing through the tree canopy above the road leading into the Tsali Recreation Area on the Graham/Swain County line, the sounds of “One Alone Together” by F.J. McMahon echoed out of the truck speakers, windows rolled down with a cool fall breeze swirling around me.  

October marks Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM), a time to raise our collective consciousness about family violence in our community and to highlight the critical support systems available for survivors locally.  

Three candidates — incumbents Tim Hines and Ben King, and newcomer W. Kent Maxey — are vying for two open seats on the Bryson City Board of Aldermen.  

Though aldermen serve four-year terms with odd-year staggered elections, Hines has only held the position since his appointment in April 2023 following Steve Augustine’s resignation. Nonetheless, Hines, who also works as a manager at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, said he’s learned a lot about the nuanced nature of town issues throughout his time in office.  

When the federal government shut down at midnight Oct. 1, there were a lot of questions, especially for Western North Carolina, where business owners and residents are already on the heels of a year of economic uncertainty.

As the federal government shutdown continues, North Carolina residents may be left with a patchwork of closures, service limitations and uncertainty across the region’s parks, forests and federal agencies. While some federal programs will continue without interruption, others have scaled back operations, leaving communities in the state’s westernmost counties to rely on a mix of official websites and local offices for updates.

As tension develops among Fontana Regional Library trustees and a seismic shift lies ahead in about nine months, the board is plugging ahead without an attorney. 

The July FRL meeting was the last for former board attorney Rady Large, who had offered his services pro bono for about the last two years but had to resign upon taking a job with Western Carolina University.

Another year, another set of numbers, and once again the mountains tell a complicated story of educational achievement. 

As in years past, Haywood County set the regional pace, with the highest-performing high school (Haywood Early College), the highest-performing middle school (Bethel) and the highest-performing elementary school (Riverbend) based on achievement scores issued by the Department of Public Instruction for schools in The Smoky Mountain News core coverage area of Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties.