NC residents state concerns at hearing on Rabun sewage permit
Macon County residents fearful that a proposed sewage treatment plant in Georgia will harm the Little Tennessee River turned out…
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Change of signage overdue, according to brand’s owner
A regular guest at the Dillsboro Holiday Inn Express upset by phone and Internet outages at the hotel discovered it…
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Veterans touch down in Washington for memorial visit
Two groups of Jackson County’s World War II veterans visited Washington, D.C.’s war memorial this year thanks to a project…
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Region to get assisted living campus
A groundbreaking was held last Thursday (July 16) at the site of a new assisted living complex being built in…
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Clean energy future may be blowing in the wind
Will wind-generated power save the environment or sacrifice it? The answer depends on who you ask and it could have…
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Barker visits WNC in campaign to help bears
Members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians didn’t have to duke it out with other contestants or so much…
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Another landslide jeopardizes Maggie Valley home
A Maggie Valley man alerted Haywood County officials this week of a landslide posing a risk to his home in…
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Past pursuit of building projects proved less than organized
Commissioner Tom Massie wants to see the county formalize how it funds capital projects. Under the current method entities simply…
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Bardo pledges to defer to deans
Western Carolina University Chancellor John Bardo in an interview with The Smoky Mountain News last week said that he is…
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Suttles gets nod for Haywood sheriff
The Haywood County Democratic Party has tapped Chief Deputy Bobby Suttles to replace outgoing Sheriff Tom Alexander. Suttles is a…
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WCU in ‘flux’ as it braces for state budget cuts
Proposed budget cuts at Western Carolina University are beginning to affect students like Will Furse, who says he won’t graduate…
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Community lobbies DOT to save a piece of history
Citizens in the Oak Grove community of Macon County hope to save a bridge from demolition by the Department of…
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Feeling slighted, TDA yanks grant
Farmer Skipper Russell thought he was helping drive tourism with his famous corn “maize,” an agricultural attraction he operates each…
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Franklin wants process for releasing closed session minutes
The Franklin aldermen on Monday night (Feb. 2) unanimously voted to formalize a process for releasing the minutes from previously…
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Park-and-ride in Haywood gains traction
A shuttle to transport commuters between Haywood and Buncombe counties is gaining momentum following the state’s recent offer to donate…
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Landowners held accountable in wake of landslide
Property owners at the site of last month’s landslide in Maggie Valley are being tasked by county officials with the…
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Prone to landslides, Haywood seeks priority in slope hazard mapping
The landslide last month that destroyed a home in Maggie Valley has spurred the Haywood County commissioners to ask the…
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Dreams for Swain’s old courthouse hinge on big money
Swain County would need more than $4 million to renovate its historic courthouse, putting plans for a cultural museum to…
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Swain leaders indifferent to lack of building regulations
Attempts to pass Swain County’s first-ever planning regulations are showing signs of movement, but not in the direction that planning…
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Task force seeks answers to water shortages
As a task force continues to probe solutions to the drought-induced water shortage in Jackson County, one idea on the…
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Swain backs down from hardline stance with Bryson City Fire Department
Swain County will continue contracting with the Bryson City Fire Department to provide county fire service, despite threatening to cut…
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WCU braces for housing crunch in face of growth, construction delays
Come the start of fall semester, some Western Carolina University freshmen could find themselves residing in unusual living quarters. A…
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Swain budget cuts target Sheriff’s office
Swain County commissioners have opted to target one department rather than spreading out county budget cuts among all county employees.…
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More than 1,000 purebreds vie for top honors at inaugural dog show
Haywood County became the Westminster of Western North Carolina this past weekend as more than 1,000 dogs and their owners…
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They’re here, with beer
The beer business has exploded on the scene in Western North Carolina in the past several years, with Asheville alone…
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Swain given option to rescind property reval
Swain County will be able to rescind its latest property revaluation — which caused property values to increase by an…
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Macon budget avoids tax increase, layoffs
If you’re a county commissioner in Western North Carolina, it’s hard not to feel envious of Macon County’s budget. While…
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Haywood commissioners exhaust search for budget cuts, tax increase looms
A proposed tax increase that Haywood residents have fought hard against could likely be avoided if residents would just pay…
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Parents turn out to support Swain principal
A group of nearly 45 parents and friends came out to show their support for embattled Swain County West Elementary…
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Tribe votes in favor of lease agreement with Wal-Mart
At long last, Wal-Mart will be coming to Cherokee. A move to bring a 120,000-square-foot superstore to the Eastern Band…
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New model for mountain living
Mixed-use developments where residents live, work, shop and dine within a few block radius are popping up in cities around…
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Questions mount over popular Swain principal’s sudden departure
Parents at West Elementary School in Swain County are questioning the circumstances surrounding the departure of a popular principal. In…
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Restoration blends function with history
After more than two years, the Haywood County historic courthouse has finally been returned to its original grandeur. The painstaking…
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Haywood residents protest property tax hike during bad economy
Scores of Haywood County taxpayers criticized the county’s proposed budget at a public hearing Monday (June 1) saying commissioners had…
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Maggie grapples with best way to recruit new festivals
The town of Maggie Valley fired its part-time festival director after he failed to produce results a few months into…
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Cherokee art institute gets new home
Several years ago, an idea was planted to establish an institution of higher education on the Qualla Boundary that would…
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Performing arts center to open in Franklin
When Phil Drake puts his mind to something, there’s little he can’t achieve. Drake’s company, Drake Enterprises, is one of…
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Cherokee face historic vote on alcohol
On June 4, members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians will go to the polls to cast their vote…
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Long-held dream becomes reality
It’s a project that’s been years in the making, and on Saturday the scores of Jackson County residents who gathered…
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Ghost Town withdraws loan request
By Becky Johnson & Julia Merchant A surprising turn of events caused the Maggie Valley town board to call off…
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Haywood considers cutting jobs, raising taxes
Tight times in Haywood County have forced commissioners to consider significant job cuts and a tax increase in an attempt…
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Project will restore courthouse’s grandeur
While the feeling of stately grandeur evoked by Jackson’s historic courthouse has remained over the years, many of the original…
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Swain jail escapees returned to NC
A murder suspect and the guard who allegedly helped him escape from the Swain County jail have been returned to…
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Cutbacks could be less severe in Swain budget
Though the Swain County government hasn’t escaped the recession completely, the blow dealt by the economy has been softer there…
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A two-horse town
A rift that splintered the town’s longtime farmers market in downtown Waynesville into two opposing groups of vendors continues to…
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Persistent WCU grads find work in tough economy
It’s slim pickin’s out there, as Western Carolina University students are finding out. This past weekend, more than 1,100 graduates…
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Jackson public asked to envision a greenway
For nearly a decade, a group of Jackson County residents have envisioned a greenway that would meander for miles from…
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Swain jail keys found in get-away truck
The Swain County Sheriff’s Department got a welcome piece of news recently when it learned the escape of an inmate…
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Slowed housing market poses challenges for Swain property revaluation
The burst of the nation’s housing bubble has caused real estate markets to tank — everywhere, it seems, but in…
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Spot land-use plan to mark first forray into zoning
Jackson County leaders have finished the first draft of a planning ordinance they hope will transform the U.S. 441 corridor…
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