Rep. Mark Pless is taking heat from local paramedics and EMTs after introducing a pair of bills that first responders say will weaken their ability to provide emergency care. 

The Town of Canton is currently wrestling with one of the ugliest budget conundrums in decades due to a combination of natural and human-caused disasters, the general unsustainability of the American health care coverage system and a colossal mistake by a contracted service provider.  

In celebration of National Travel and Tourism Week, the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority invites the public to an open house event on Thursday, May 8, from 3 to 6 p.m., at the Haywood County Visitor Center, located at 91 North Lakeshore Drive in Lake Junaluska. 

To the Editor:

This Easter season — a time for moral reflection and renewal — I feel compelled to speak to the direction of our national leadership. We face a moment where economic manipulation and constitutional neglect are becoming normalized, with grave consequences for all Americans. 

To the Editor:

The other day, while driving to a golf outing, President Donald Trump demonstrated a callous disregard for the suffering his tariffs have inflicted on hundreds of millions of Americans, whose interests he was elected to champion and protect. 

As an attorney, I have direct experience and the unique point of view that comes from working with the Social Security Administration daily and remain in awe at its ability to serve millions of Americans with a wide array of needs.

A bill introduced by Macon County Republican Rep. Karl Gillespie that seeks to bolster North Carolina’s local sawmill industry has garnered widespread bipartisan interest for its potential economic, environmental and housing affordability benefits. 

To the Editor:

Despite what MAGA Republicans say, our esteemed president inherited a robust economy from President Biden (except for egg prices, apparently). The stock market was booming, unemployment was low and inflation was going down. 

To the Editor:

Trump and his puppet master Elon Musk are killing our economy that was recovering better than any other major nation after the terrible worldwide COVID experience, an economy with bipartisan infrastructure investments that were good for working people and poised to take off in a measured and secure way with inflation down and jobs up.

Last week, Haywood County Republican Rep. Mark Pless filed a bill that would strip the county of its ability to levy room occupancy taxes. Now, he’s revealed that the impact of tourism on public safety and tight county budgets are also a motivating force behind it.