The Nantahala Hiking Club will recognize outstanding volunteers during its annual awards banquet 5-8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, at First Presbyterian Church in Franklin. 

The Folk Heritage Association of Macon County (FHAMC) held a groundbreaking ceremony on Oct. 27 after completing a five-year grassroots campaign to raise funds for its Women’s History Trail sculpture. 

Highlands will have at least one new member on its Board of Commissioners after Election Day this November. 

This year’s state budget process may have been one of the most discordant in recent memory, but Western North Carolina’s legislative delegation was able to secure record-setting funding for critical needs in a relatively poor region that sometimes feels overlooked when Raleigh gets to dishing out the dough. 

Macon County Commissioners have adopted a master plan for the county’s recreation center and surrounding park.

After months of back and forth, the Macon County School Board has approved a lease agreement for the Higdon property, purchased by the county earlier this year for use by the school system. 

A controversial law enforcement association that holds a fringe interpretation of the Constitution and has ties to white nationalism, the sovereign citizen movement, election denial and COVID-19 conspiracy theories will host a meeting in Cherokee County this weekend, but Western North Carolina sheriffs have been largely reluctant to say whether they’ll attend. 

To the Editor:

Union Academy, an alternative high school in Macon County, will henceforth be known as Bartram Academy, home of the Explorers.

The Town of Franklin has modified the basketball court at Memorial Park to include two new pickleball courts.