Persistent vandals have pushed Sylva decision-makers to ramp up the town’s surveillance program.

Coming soon to two Sylva parks are several new security cameras. Both Bryson and Poteet parks have suffered a rash of vandalism, from smashed bathroom sinks to graffiti.

The recently signed state budget bill will fund the hiring of 19 toxicology analysts for a new western crime lab, expanding available evidence testing in Western North Carolina. 

Ten suspects have been charged in connection with a rash of property crimes in the Cashiers and Glenville area.

What’s deadlier than a crazed maniac in a kindergarten class with a loaded assault weapon?

In the most horrifying massacre in the history of the United States, a few days before Christmas, 20-year-old Adam Lanza walked into a classroom of 5- and 6-year-old children, opened fire and killed them all plus six teachers and staff including the highly respected principal and then himself.

The numbers are unforgiving.

One in three unexpected deaths in Haywood County are likely prescription drug overdoses. This year alone, there have been eight drug-related deaths — out of 25 unexpected deaths in all. And that doesn’t include two deaths last week that the county medical examiner suspects are overdoses as well. 

Shock waves rippled through the mountain hunting community last week as word spread of a sweeping undercover investigation targeting dozens of illegal rogue hunters.

Last week, state and federal wildlife officers began rounding up dozens of suspected poachers in Western North Carolina, bringing to fruition an undercover investigation that spanned several years across several rural mountain counties and penetrated the heart of an illegal hunting ring that targeted black bears.

When a strange man approached an 11-year-old girl in Waynesville’s Walmart more than a week ago and asked her to take off her clothes, police say the young girl did the right thing — she refused.

Ryan Scot Davis, 48, was charged with taking indecent liberties with a child following an incident at the Waynesville Walmart on Saturday, Nov. 24.

A riverside park in Swain County was plastered with graffiti two weeks ago, with several cans of spray paint unleashed on the public outdoor recreation area.

Nothing went un-tagged, even the trees were spray-painted at the Old N.C. 288 park, where picnic tables, a shelter, boat launch and fishing docks overlook the Tuckasegee River as it flows into Lake Fontana.