Swain County’s Board of Commissioners will have two new members this year, at least one of whom will emerge from the upcoming Republican Primary Election. 

High winds over the weekend felled trees and downed power lines, sparking a wildfire that covers 950 acres straddling the jurisdictional line between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Swain County. Meanwhile, a fire in the Cherokee National Forest near the state line is burning 180 acres.

More than a hundred economic development professionals, elected officials, internet service providers and interested parties from across North Carolina’s seven westernmost counties met March 21 in Franklin to acquaint themselves with the ways in which unprecedented amounts of state and federal broadband monies will be used to close the digital divide in rural Appalachia.

As crumbling infrastructure in small towns across the country becomes a more urgent issue, Bryson City has been saddled with improving an aging sewer system so old and dysfunctional that North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality has halted any large-scale developments in town that would need new sewer connections.

Mountain Discovery Charter School in Swain County is celebrating its 20th year serving students in Western North Carolina. The school has largely been a labor of love, a massive effort of parents and staff to provide the most well-rounded education possible to students throughout their elementary and middle school years. 

Development for Swain County often looks much different than other counties, mostly because Swain has such a limited amount of land available for development. 

Swain County Detention Center became a place of reunions and redemption during the last few weeks as inmates had their first chance in over two years to see their family members face to face. 

In the midst of the third school year affected by COVID-19, school systems are keenly aware of the stress the pandemic causes for staff. Teachers and support staff alike have left their positions in record numbers as the occupation changes at breakneck pace, and Swain County Schools is doing what it can to identify obstacles to recruiting and retaining teachers. 

Swain County Board of Commissioners voted to spend its American Rescue Plan allocation on pay for employees since a guideline regarding “qualified census tracts” limits the county’s ability to put the money toward infrastructure projects. 

Harris Regional Hospital, Swain Community Hospital and Haywood Regional Medical Center, all owned by Duke LifePoint, will require the COVID-19 vaccine for all employees.