Via Chicago: Day 4, ‘For our future’
Editor’s note: This is the final installment of “Via Chicago,” Smoky Mountain News Politics Editor Cory Vaillancourt’s pop-up daily dispatch from the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Pisgah View State Park comes into focus
Buncombe County’s first state park, near the eastern gateway to Haywood County, remains on track for a 2025 opening after the final in-person public input session for master planning concluded at Upper Hominy Fire and Rescue Department on Aug. 1.
Input sought on environmental justice initiative
People can soon comment on an environmental justice initiative outlined in Gov. Roy Cooper’s Executive Order 292.
The order reestablished an Environmental Justice Advisory Council and calls on state agencies to develop and track goals to improve environmental justice in North Carolina.
Haywood Dem delegate explains Harris pick
News of President Joe Biden’s exit from the 2024 presidential race may have shocked some observers, but North Carolina’s Democratic delegates appear fired up and ready to get behind Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s new nominee.
Too little, too late: After deadline, child care funding meets only a fraction of the need
A stopgap measure that will partially fund expired federal grants for child care providers finally found Gov. Roy Cooper’s pen, but advocates maintain that it’s too little, too late — and just kicks the can down the road for another five months.
Democrats claim school vouchers detract from child care grants
As the July 1 budget deadline for Child Care Stabilization grants approaches, it appears the Republican-led North Carolina House and Senate are struggling to agree on how to spend the $30 billion or so taxpayer dollars slated for the upcoming fiscal year.
State suit alleges Pactiv violated grant agreement
Pactiv Evergreen’s shocking announcement that it would close its 115-year-old paper mill broke lots of hearts — and wallets — in Canton, but now, more than a year later, North Carolina’s Attorney General is looking for some payback over broken promises.
With Superior Court seat filled, steps taken to address District Court vacancy
There have been a lot of questions regarding the future of Western North Carolina’s judges over the last year or so, but the final piece may have just fallen into place.
Cooper makes appointment to fill WNC judicial vacancy
Gov. Roy Cooper has appointed a new Superior Court judge in Western North Carolina.
Miles ahead, miles to go: despite a year of progress, post-mill challenges remain in Canton
Not a lot of people remember the date the whistle last blew or the date the last workers put their well-worn tools down and took their shiny plastic helmets off for the final time, but everyone seems to remember the date of Pactiv Evergreen’s shocking announcement — the date that marked the end of one era, and the beginning of another.
