The National Park Service is seeking tips from the public to aid in the ongoing investigation of an assault that occurred in the Deep Creek area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

On Dec. 22, 2025, at approximately 5:40 p.m., an individual approached two vehicles believed to have been involved in a motor vehicle collision near the Deep Creek Picnic Area.

The Carolina Mountain Club announced Karen Schultz as its next president, serving a two-year term from 2026 through 2028.

Schultz steps into the presidency following two years of service as vice president and after working closely with President Les Love and Past President Tom Weaver. 

North Carolinians continue to breathe the cleanest air in decades as emissions of harmful air pollutants like ozone and fine particles continue a long-running downward trend.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality is publishing its latest update to the “Air Quality Trends in North Carolina” report.

Balsam Mountain Preserve received its first platinum award from the Association of Golf Merchandisers.

The award recognizes clubs and facilities for their superior skills and innovative approaches in the golf retail sector. Entries were judged on various categories including creative ideas, revenue-generating initiatives, promotions and visual displays.  

Enjoy a full night of skiing or snowboarding at Cataloochee Ski Area with Jackson County Parks and Recreation on Thursdays and Fridays.

Open to ages 5 and up, skiing will be from 5-10 p.m., with everyone meeting upstairs in the main lodge at 5 p.m. to check in and receive tickets, which are purchased at a discount. 

The Voices in the Laurel choirs have announced that spring registration is now open and the organization invites new/returning singers from Haywood, Buncombe, Jackson and Swain counties to be part of its 30th season. 

The “Rotunda Show Reception” will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23, at the Rotunda Gallery at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.

This group exhibition features work from regional artists working across a variety of mediums, highlighting the depth of artistic expression within our Western North Carolina community. 

Americana/folk duo Falspring will hit the stage at 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 17, at The Gem downstairs taproom at Boojum Brewing in Waynesville.

The Bryson City-based act is known to “create soulful music with infectious chemistry and buzzing harmonies.” The show is free and open to the public. 

Rising singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Alma Russ will hit the stage at 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, at The Scotsman Public House in Waynesville.

Based out of Western North Carolina and with her unique brand of “patchwork music” (country, folk and Appalachian styles pieced together), Russ enjoys playing guitar, banjo and fiddle. 

Comedy legend “Larry the Cable Guy” will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 17, at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort.

“Larry the Cable Guy” is a multi-platinum recording artist, Grammy nominee, Billboard award-winner and one of the top comedians in the country. He continues to sell out theatres and arenas across the United States. 

Much of North Carolina continues to experience moderate drought, according to the latest advisory from the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council.

The DMAC classified all or parts of 65 counties, including all of The Smoky Mountain News coverage area, as experiencing moderate drought, or D1 conditions. 

Attorney General Jeff Jackson is opposing a rollback of data collection and reporting about PFAS forever chemicals. Just months away from receiving data from PFAS manufacturers about the type and amount of PFAS chemicals in their products, EPA is now trying to hide the use of PFAS from the public, Jackson claims. 

Gardeners perhaps haven’t started planning yet, but N.C. State Extension Master Gardener volunteers are available to answer questions about lawns, vegetables, flowers, trees and ornamental plants; disease, insect, weed or wildlife problems; soils (including soil test results) and fertilizers; freeze and frost damage; and cultural and chemical solutions to pest problems. 

Over the first eight months of leading the Elevate Digital Collaborative, Southwestern Community College has made significant progress while working with its partners to reduce the digital divide within Jackson, Macon and Swain counties and the Qualla Boundary. 

It’s one of nine regional collaborative groups funded by Dogwood Health Trust through its Digital Opportunities Initiative.

Registers of deeds across North Carolina are now authorized to issue certified copies of adoptive birth certificates for individuals who were born after 1971 and forward. This change marks a significant step forward in providing adoptees equal access to their vital records.  

At this time, counties are authorized to issue adoptee birth certificates only for individuals who were born within that county. 

Grace Church in the Mountains in Waynesville will host a daylong series of worship services, presentations and artistic offerings focused on peace, education and action in response to the ongoing war in Ukraine. 

A special showcase, “Didanisisgi Gadagwatli: A Showcase of Pottery from the Mud Dauber Community Workshop,” is now on display at the Museum of the Cherokee People in Cherokee.  On view through May 2026, the exhibition features works by students of Tara McCoy (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians) handcrafted during an intensive three-month workshop. 

Western North Carolina pulled into the congressional drive-thru after Hurricane Helene, placed a large order and waited. And waited. And waited.

What Rep. Chuck Edwards finally handed his constituents was an empty paper bag containing a rather large nothingburger — heavy on branding, light on substance and nowhere near the $60 billion recovery order his storm-famished district actually placed. 

If there were an award for being hardest to find while holding an important job, Michael Whatley would have no competition, because he’s the only entry.

President Donald Trump named Whatley Western North Carolina’s hurricane recovery czar at a Jan. 24 briefing, saying he wanted Whatley in charge of making sure “everything goes well.” Trump praised Whatley’s work and assured folks Whatley would be the one to fix it. 

People from these mountains have gone on to do some pretty great things, but it’s hard to imagine someone in quite a while who’s been a point of pride like Cal Raleigh.

Raleigh, an all-star catcher for the Seattle Mariners, was a star in both basketball and baseball at Smoky Mountain High School. He was even a bat boy at Western Carolina University, where his father played catcher and was inducted into the athletics hall of fame in November. 

While President Donald Trump ran on slimming government bureaucracy — ostensibly the stated aim of the Department of Government Efficiency — given the state of post-Hurricane Helene aid, the Department of Homeland Security could perhaps fill an entire office with paperwork in need of Kristi Noem’s signature. 

We never thought that Micromanager of the Year would become a repeat award, but here we are.

This year’s micromanagers of the year are the members of the Fontana Regional Library Board of Trustees.

As the board continues to handle complex big-picture issues without the guidance of an attorney, some members are also finding time to dictate how staff members conduct day-to-day business.

Western North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Helene showed clearly that resilience is built not just by government plans on paper but by people and organizations rooted in community and commitment.

Three regional philanthropy leaders — Dogwood Health Trust, Mountain Projects and The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina — stood at the center of that response, stepping beyond missions and acting as frontline partners in relief, recovery and stability when formal systems lagged or gaps emerged. 

“The Eastern Band of the Cherokee is this island … And they sell pot. And I have no problem with that. What I have a problem with is some of their actions or activities that are, I think, concerning me that actually speak to the broader issue here about marijuana and what we ultimately do with it,” said Sen. Thom Tillis at an Oct. 7 Senate Judiciary Committee meeting. 

President Donald Trump is not typically seen as a friend to Indian Country. His ICE and border patrol agents have made headlines for targeting Indigenous people in deportation raids and refusing to accept enrollment cards as a valid form of citizenship. He changed Denali National Park — “a word from Alaskan Native Tribes that means ‘the high one’ in the Athabascan language” — back to Mt. McKinley. His cuts to federal programs have harmed tribes receiving Bureau of Indian Affairs funding nationwide. 

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”

— Benjamin Franklin (probably)

When Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina, an oft repeated theme among elected and civic leaders was that the area would be built back better.

In recent years, the phrase “God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers” has evolved from its originally earnest and spiritual meaning to an ironic online take on the resiliency needed, given the current state of affairs, to maintain day-to-day existence. It’s a rebuke of the idea that if bad things come into our lives, it’s because we know how to handle them — or that we must suffer immensely, with a brave face, in order to grow. 

Four women — Shennelle Feather, Lavita Hill, Shannon Swimmer and Venita Wolfe — were elected to a previously all-male Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians tribal council this fall, and they’re ready to make things happen. 

When Eric Spirtas and Two Banks Development LLC bought the dormant Canton mill property in early January from global corporate supervillain Pactiv Evergreen, the reaction across town was equal parts relief and side-eye.

Relief, because communities across the country have seen too many hulking industrial sites sit shuttered for a decade or more, rotting quietly into the ground while communities wait for a miracle that never comes. 

The Roadless Rule Recission is genuinely so unpopular to have perhaps been inspired by a claim that Trump couldn’t possibly do anything more universally hated than gutting National Park funding, to which the president said, “Oh yeah? Hold my beer.” 

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. 

Throughout a year when Western North Carolina was begging for more hurricane recovery funding and a less bureaucratic inefficiency, the North Carolina General Assembly demonstrated incredible flexibility and focus — just not on governing. 

The nature of growth requires counties to constantly develop and improve to keep facilities safe, reliable and up to fulfilling the needs of communities.

Voters in Macon County will have a chance to pass the buck, in a sense, on vital projects looming not far on the horizon. Some are so close you can smell them.

The speaker series “Where We Live: History, Nature and Culture,” will host a program by Christy Bredenkamp, NCSU Extension Director, who will deliver a talk titled Agriculture in Macon County Through the Lens of Extension.

This slide presentation will offer an overview of Macon County’s current agricultural landscape — from beef cattle production and baling hay, to growing tomatoes and corn, as well as harvesting cut flowers, honey and Christmas trees. 

North Carolinians continue to breathe the cleanest air in decades as emissions of harmful air pollutants like ozone and fine particles continue a long-running downward trend.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality is publishing its latest update to the “Air Quality Trends in North Carolina” report.

Large animal veterinarians in North Carolina are eligible to apply for up to $25,000 in funds to help support their large animal practice.

The funding opportunity is available to veterinarians who practice in one of the 70 North Carolina counties with a population of 100,000 or fewer and that spend 30% or more of their patient care involved in large animal veterinary care.  

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality has launched an online application form for Underground Storage Tank permits for newly constructed facilities. UST operators can access the feature through the AccessDEQ Portal, the department’s digital hub for permit applications. 

The National Park Service is requesting tips from the public to aid in an investigation of a deer poached from fields near Sparks Lane in Cades Cove.  

On the morning of Dec. 22, park rangers responded to a report of a deer that had been shot with an arrow in a field off Sparks Lane within the Cades Cove Loop Road.

Classic rock megagroup Grand Funk Railroad will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 10, at Harrah’s Cherokee Resort Event Center.

Originating from Flint, Michigan, in 1969, this top-selling American rock group of the 1970s is “comin’ to your town to help you party it down,” with hits like “We’re an American Band,” “I’m Your Captain/Closer to Home,” “Locomotion” and “Some Kind of Wonderful.” 

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Flood Resiliency Blueprint is partnering with the North Carolina Land and Water Fund to provide $1.1 million for three flood risk reduction projects located in Dunn, Clyde and Smithfield.  

In total, the projects will restore more than 1.29 miles of stream and 50 acres of floodplain as well as retrofit a pond to reduce flooding.   

The Open Space Institute and Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust announced the acquisition of the 104-acre Peregrine Tract along the southern face of Whiteside Mountain. Permanent protection of the property, which had been approved for development, marks a major victory in longstanding efforts to safeguard one of Southern Appalachia’s most scenic and ecologically significant landscapes. 

The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC) will host its sixth-annual Winter Hiking Challenge in the first two months of 2026, which aims to inspire people to experience outdoor recreation during the winter months.

The 2026 SAHC Winter Hiking Challenge sets a goal of 60 miles in 60 days, from Jan. 1 to March 1, to be completed in your own time and at your own speed.

Haywood Community College’s Department of Arts, Sciences and Natural Resources and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission will offer two opportunities for hunter safety courses in Spring 2026. Classes will be offered Jan. 6-7 and April 1-2 from 6-9 p.m. on the HCC campus in Clyde in the Walnut building, Room 3322. Participants must attend two consecutive evenings to receive their certification. 

Martin Tanaka, a professor of engineering and technology at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, has a knack for creating innovative gadgets as a biomedical engineer. He has two patents for medical devices: one to help with rotator cuff surgery and another for a surgical tool for nasal surgery. 

Now, thanks to funding from NCInnovation, Tanaka is going for his third. 

A weekend rally organized by Hands off Haywood commenced with the presentation of a $2,500 check to Haywood Christian Ministries in Waynesville, highlighting a direct link between protest activism and local hunger relief.

Hands off Haywood organizer Mary Ford told the crowd that demonstrators have faced insults and “more middle fingers since March than we have in our entire lives” while taking to the streets on a weekly basis earlier this year but said the group’s focus has remained on democracy and community support.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is advising residents that it is illegal to keep deer as pets and unwise to try to tame deer. Several incidents have occurred across the state this year involving people and dogs being attacked and injured by deer that were likely raised by humans illegally and regularly fed by local neighbors. 

Western Carolina University Athletics welcomed more than 1,000 Jackson County Public Schools students to campus for its annual “Education Days” basketball games — bringing early holiday cheer and an unforgettable afternoon of hoops.

Over two days, elementary and middle school students filled the Liston B. Ramsey Center to cheer on the Catamounts during men’s and women’s basketball matchups. 

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy is celebrating 100 years and revamping its community supporters program.

The Macon County Public Library has been an A.T. supporter since 2014, and recently renewed their status.

The 2026 Assault on BlackRock trail race has been set for Saturday, March 21 in Sylva.  

All proceeds from this race will go to the Sylva Art & Design Committee with a focus on bringing more art (outdoor murals) to downtown Sylva.