Jackson County’s various governing boards spent much of the year demonstrating that governing does not require attendance, consistency, basic curiosity about consequences, respect for the law or for the feelings of taxpayers, voters and young people. 

Three former members of the Western Carolina University women’s basketball team stepped up to the line to tip off the process of raising enough philanthropic support to name the current Catamount squad’s locker room after the founder of the program. 

That opening shot has resulted in a resounding “swish,” as that locker room now bears the name of the individual who launched the program during an era when women’s intercollegiate athletics was primarily an afterthought. 

Western North Carolina’s next election cycle is already shaping up amid a volatile mix of entrenched incumbents, disaster recovery fallout and deepening national divides, with competitive races stretching from the U.S. Senate on down to county-level offices. 

While marquee statewide contests appear to be headed toward familiar General Election matchups, cracks are emerging down the ballot, where public trust and institutional legitimacy are demanding attention from voters now more than any other time in recent memory. 

While some originally hoped — and continue to hope — that a series of amendments to the Fontana Regional Library System proposed by Jackson County commissioners might ameliorate enough of their concerns to allow them to remain in the decades-long partnership with the FRL system, a questionable pamphlet and an academically dubious “list of inappropriate books” being circulated by FRL opponents suggests otherwise, even as FRL supporters report troubling visions of Christmas future if commissioners don’t turn back soon. 

Jackson County Commissioner Jenny Lynn Hooper made a rare appearance at a Jackson County Tourism Development Authority meeting last week — only her third of 2025 — after echoing former Chair Robert Jumper’s claims that the attendance policy didn’t apply to her. County Attorney John Kubis, however, says Jumper and Hooper are both wrong. 

Throughout her first two-and-a-half semesters in Southwestern Community College’s Medical Sonography program, Emma Dao heard her instructors repeatedly emphasize the value of curiosity. 

Because Dao took that message to heart, one area woman received an early cancer diagnosis and now has a much better outlook for treatment and recovery.

The Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, in collaboration with the Jackson County Tourism Development Authority (TDA), announced the installation of Sylva’s first “Perfect Spot for a Selfie” stickers. Designed to encourage exploration, engagement and community pride, these designated selfie spots are now located at the intersection of West Main Street and Keener Street — one on each corner. 

The N.C. Department of Transportation recently awarded a contract to improve travel conditions on N.C. 107 through Sylva.

Buchanan & Sons of Whittier earned the $103 million contract for a transformative project that will improve safety for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.

The seemingly indiscriminate closure of an early voting site at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee prior to the March 3, 2026, Primary Election by the Republican-majority Jackson County Board of Elections has students of all political stripes up in arms and the university’s chancellor refusing to speak out on what critics of the proposal are calling voter suppression. 

Dreaming of spring? Beat the winter blues by planting native seeds.

Late fall and early winter are the perfect times to sow many native species, which benefit pollinators, wildlife, soil and water quality — all while being low-maintenance in your garden.