In recent years, more and more states have made the decision to legalize, regulate and tax recreational cannabis products — despite federal prohibition — but North Carolina isn’t one of them, and the General Assembly doesn’t appear to be favorably inclined to support such measures despite the filing of a House effort last year. 

Ever since Pactiv Evergreen announced back on March 6, 2023, that it would shutter its paper mill in Canton, town officials have been bracing for the budgetary impact that the closure would cause.

The Haywood County Farm Bureau’s legislative breakfast is an annual tradition where the usual topics of conversation include crop prices, ever-escalating expenses, fuel and fertilizer costs, migrant labor policies, subsidies and what is — and isn’t — in the federal government’s current or proposed Farm Bill.

Raines Company can now move forward with plans to open up development for 13 custom-built single-family homes on 11 acres off Greenview Drive and adjacent to the rejuvenated Waynesville Golf Club and Inn after Waynesville Town Council concurred with a prior planning board recommendation. 

Critically low housing inventory has been steadily rising across the region since last fall and average sales prices have slipped slightly in some counties, but an uptick in pending contracts — signaling strong buyer demand — means relief from the soaring housing costs in the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area still isn’t on the immediate horizon for buyers. 

A recent multimillion-dollar court settlement involving realtor commissions has left many unanswered questions in the real estate industry, especially when it comes to who will benefit and who will be disadvantaged. Those answers will indeed come in time, but for now, at least one thing is clear — and those who say the settlement is key to ending the affordable housing crisis in the United States aren’t going to be happy.

The Town of Canton, still beset with myriad issues related to both natural and human-caused disasters, took an unprecedented step by shuffling one administrator into a newly created position and promoting another — saving taxpayer money and making history at the same time.

It’s been a little under a year since Corrina Ruffieux took over for longtime Haywood County Tourism Development Authority Executive Director Lynn Collins, but Ruffieux’s wasted little time bolstering the TDA’s destination marketing strategy with robust and insightful data meant to show the county’s relative strengths and weaknesses while also hedging against uncertainty with new initiatives designed to keep the money flowing into Western North Carolina’s tourism-based economy — especially in post-mill Canton. 

After deciding that the time is finally right, the owners of the Waynesville Inn and Golf Club are making good on a promise by asking the town for permission to develop 25 custom-built single-family homes on the outskirts of the revitalized course — continuing the rebirth of a storied local landmark — but Waynesville’s planning board has now put half the units in doubt. 

After an extensive, yearslong process featuring dozens of public hearings, presentations and private meetings, Haywood County will finally get its badly-needed jail expansion, even though the final step was marred by threats and misinformation from a familiar face. 

Although concerns about Canton’s post-mill wastewater treatment remain front and center, the town’s recovery from devastating flooding in 2021 continues to move forward with a project budget meant to shore up the town’s aging water infrastructure. 

A longtime community advocate has made a substantial financial donation to the Town of Canton that will help speed the completion of its all-abilities playground at Recreation Park. 

Waynesville’s North Main Street has been an important economic engine for the town and the county for decades, and the town’s municipal service district has played a significant role in that success.

While the March 5 Primary Election was relatively quiet in the west — with few races and even fewer competitive races — results from state and national contests not only solidified partisan matchups for November’s General Election but also highlighted growing dissatisfaction with major party candidates. 

Haywood County commissioners have taken the final financial step in the long process toward approving a jail expansion, all but assuring the project will move forward after years of delay and doubt. 

First-term incumbent Congressman Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson) will go on to face Democrat Caleb Rudow in the November General Election after defeating fellow Republican and Hayesville businessman Christian Reagan in the March 5 Primary Election.

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. 

History will whisper through the mountain mists that once upon a time, Pactiv Evergreen’s paper mill in Canton stood as a symbol of industry and economic prosperity for generations. But behind its towering façade, the specter of mismanagement and malfeasance eventually led to a botched closing announcement, a health care coverage crisis and more than a thousand workers helplessly watching their good-paying jobs evaporate like morning dew in the midday summer sun.

With several critical deadlines approaching and the cost of construction only going up, Haywood County commissioners spent more than two hours on Feb. 26 meeting with administrators, architects, builders and sheriff’s office personnel — going over every detail of the long-suffering jail expansion project, its growing price tag and its ultimate future. 

A complaint filed by the chair of the Henderson County Democratic Party alleges Western North Carolina Congressman Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson) violated United States Code and U.S. House of Representatives rules by mailing “hyper-partisan” fliers, thus abusing his congressional franking privilege. 

Waynesville is revving up its eco-efforts with a freshly minted advisory board paving the way for a long-term plan to create an even cleaner environment that will continue to draw tourists — and put some green back into locals’ pockets, too. 

Calling the last decade “a period of intensive and dynamic change” for Haywood County, strategic planning consultants in conjunction with county economic development administrators will produce a late spring report for commissioners identifying local priorities, challenges and concerns augmented by the closure of the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill in Canton last year. 

After a quiet couple of years through the uncertainty of the Coronavirus Pandemic, the Haywood Advancement Foundation is pursuing closer economic development coordination with Haywood County government at a time when the county needs capable strategic partners more than it has in the past two decades. 

A relatively straightforward request to subdivide a single lot and build an affordably priced long-term rental duplex on it was withdrawn by the applicants after opposition from a lone member of Waynesville’s Zoning Board of Adjustment. 

Architects selected by Canton’s governing board to plan renovations on a pair of buildings purchased to replace those damaged in deadly 2021 flooding presented recommendations and cost estimates to officials last week — a major milestone that keeps the town moving on the road to recovery with an eye on the future. 

North Carolina’s Primary Election season is underway, and nearly five dozen candidates have filed to run for statewide offices from governor on down through the council of state.

The Downtown Waynesville Commission has had two years to get on its feet since its predecessor organization imploded.

Haywood County commissioners took another step toward their multi-million dollar jail expansion last week, and although much has changed since a report issued more than three years ago recommended the project, much has not. 

An annual waters summit hosted by a pair of North Carolina congressmen brought together local, state and federal administrators, experts and elected officials who spent a lot of time looking back at the sad recent legacy of flood control, mitigation and recovery efforts in the state — hampered by funding anxiety, ensnarled in bureaucracy, stressed by the impact of growing populations on aging infrastructure and impeded by way too many government agencies on way too many levels that are all somehow siloed yet still tangled up like fallen trees in a raging river. 

The Town of Canton has taken a major step toward long-term flood recovery with an economic development project at a downtown parcel that could soon serve as the capstone to a broader resiliency effort all along the Park Street corridor. 

A recent update to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead and Copper Rule directs nearly all of the nation’s water systems to conduct an inventory of service lines by October, checking for the presence of lead pipes due to their well-established health risks. 

Waynesville has amended its comprehensive plan and rezoned a portion of a parcel on the east side of Russ Avenue, opening up the possibility for more commercial development north of the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway on what remains a relatively rural, low-density gateway into the town’s main commercial district south of the expressway. 

For some time now, Waynesville’s East Street has been a bit of a goldilocks problem for the town — too fast, too slow or just right?

Neglected or abused children who become involved with the state’s courts or social services agencies often find themselves with nowhere to turn — or worse, torn between two parents.

The effects of reduced federal funding on nonprofits that assist survivors of domestic violence continue to reverberate across the region, with another one of the state’s largest such organizations now sounding the alarm. 

The Town of Canton has been through some difficult budget discussions in the past, but this year’s effort, the first to reckon with the full impact of Pactiv Evergreen’s exit from the community after more than a century, looks to be the most trying. 

Haywood County’s Finance Department has a long history of stellar performance, but a national award for excellence in financial reporting bestowed on the department late last year calls into further question claims of fiscal irregularities allegedly made by a Haywood County commissioner and one of his closest allies. 

As North Carolina prepares for federal, state and local elections in 2024, emerging trends in partisan registration that began in late 2017 have proven persistent, with likely electoral consequences for both major parties. 

It’s no secret that North Carolina is growing, but as its population grows, the composition of its electorate is changing as well.

Two congressmen, both hoping to become North Carolina’s next attorney general, with be faced with a host of official duties if elected. Paramount among them — at least for many Haywood County residents — is holding Pactiv Evergreen accountable for issues related to the closing of the company’s paper mill in Canton. 

Welcome to the eighth installment of The Smoky Mountain News’ annual Fake News Freakout. I feel like I say this every year, and I do, but this satirical feature was initially conceived as a one-off back in 2016, when it seemed the whole world had gone mad with literal fake news. 

Almost exactly a year after a hiker vanished in the backcountry of British Columbia the night before a trip home to Haywood County for Christmas, her remains have been located. 

The holidays are often viewed as an opportunity for families to gather together and share seasonal cheer, but when there’s domestic discord, many seek help from nonprofit legal or social service organizations.

North Carolina’s candidate filing period for the 2024 General Election ends at noon , Friday, Dec. 15, and if the previous two weeks are any indication, there won’t likely be a lot of contested races in Western North Carolina.