Jackson County commissioners have approved a sweeping new conservation framework designed to balance growth with preservation across some of the most ecologically significant lands in Western North Carolina, located in the southern part of the county. 

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month — a time to honor survivors, remember those lost to violence and recommit to building a community where everyone feels safe and valued. For nearly four decades, REACH of Haywood County has been doing exactly that: working quietly but persistently to make Haywood County a safer, stronger place to live. 

As on any other rainy late summer morning in Southern Appalachia, the sun rose over densely wooded, knobby green peaks cloaked in a thick downy mist.

At a large, nondescript warehouse off Swannanoa River Road just outside downtown Asheville, it may have looked like any other day — workers bustling about, trucks coming in and out — but for MANNA FoodBank, which fights food insecurity in a historically poverty-stricken region by serving up to 190,000 people a month, this day would be unlike any other for perhaps the last thousand years. 

Since Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina, residents have learned countless lessons and encountered unforeseen circumstances, even long after the initially recovery phase began. 

There is almost no flower in the Southern Mountains deeper in purple color than the ironflowers (Vernonia spp.) blooming now in unmown ditches and fallow fields all around Western North Carolina and across the Southeast.

The political rift over an upcoming Democratic gala — an internal dust-up that sparked chatter across Western North Carolina political circles — was nowhere in sight on Aug. 12, as three NC-11 congressional hopefuls stepped to the podium in Waynesville alongside state party chair Anderson Clayton. 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has allocated $409.4 million to North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality for public water systems to improve local drinking water utility infrastructure so their systems can better withstand natural disasters. 

A critical process has been completed, permitting the N.C. Department of Transportation and its project team to extract rock necessary for reconstruction of Interstate 40 in the Pigeon River Gorge. 

During his recent solo album release show at 185 King St. in Brevard, singer-songwriter Graham Sharp was not only surrounded by a murderers’ row of bluegrass musicians; he was encapsulated by time and place itself — of people, purpose and passion. 

Henderson County Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards’ repeated failures on economic policy, entitlement programs and Hurricane Helene recovery have left him vulnerable, according to a slew of Democrats who are now competing for the right to run against him in 2026.