This month, the Macon County Schools Board of Education voted to approve its 2022-23 Budget Resolution.

At a time when North Carolina faces a serious nursing shortage, Haywood Community College has invested in its nursing program with a new Health Sciences Building. Full of the latest educational technology, it will expand, enhance and modernize the nursing student experience, preparing the next generation for a career in healthcare.

Decisions about following through with the new Franklin High School project were always going to fall to a new board of commissioners made up of different members than those who occupied the seats when plans were first initiated.

Macon County Commissioners approved a slew of capital improvement projects totaling almost $10 million during a joint meeting with the board of education Oct. 18. However, all members were not in agreement about approving the spending.

The Macon County Board of Commissioners and Board of Education have authorized architectural firm LS3P to submit designs for the new Franklin High School to local and state agencies for review, the next step in a multi-year process toward a new facility.

After nearly a century in operation, years of inspiring trepidation at winter’s approach and $33 million from the state legislature, Western Carolina University’s antique steam plant is approaching its final retirement. In a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, Oct. 21, about 100 people gathered to celebrate completion of the new facility, which is expected to come online in the next month or so.

Almost immediately after deadly flooding swamped downtown Canton for the second time in less than 20 years, town officials began talking about building back smarter. Last week, the town took a big step — two, actually — toward that goal.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) has issued a land use permit allowing the Museum of the Cherokee Indian  to operate an offsite facility housing Museum collections, archives, and Tribal artifacts. The permit follows a February resolution that designated a piece of land in Swain County, near Bryson City, for the future building.

The first class to graduate from the current Franklin High School did so in 1952. Back then, there were fewer buildings and less developed grounds, but 70 years later, much of the high school remains largely the same.

Cherokee Central School was in the home stretch of a $22 million construction and renovation project on the 13-year-old campus when contractors found an unwelcome surprise — dampness on the walls of the old central office building, and inside them, mold.