Sunrise at Edisto Island.
 

Sometimes the plan is to not have a plan

There is the dream my wife has every so often that haunts her. She’s on vacation and it’s the last…
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Comment

Cawthorn too inept to be in Congress
 

Cawthorn too inept to be in Congress

To the Editor: Every time Rep. Madison Cawthorn speaks, I am reminded of the movie “Billy Madison” and the line:…
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Comment

Giveaways get votes
 

Giveaways get votes

To the Editor: Lately we hear praise of Democrats and Joe Biden for spending trillions of dollars in aid to…
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Comment

HIGHTS receives United Way grant
 

HIGHTS receives United Way grant

HIGHTS (Helping Inspire Gifts of Hope, Trust, and Service) works with the community’s most vulnerable youth to provide essential clinical…
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Comment

Housing Foundation awards $13,500
 

Housing Foundation awards $13,500

Through the work of Canopy Housing Foundation, Haywood County area Realtors are dedicated to grassroots support of area nonprofit organizations…
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Comment

Haywood Healthcare Foundation grants
 

Haywood Healthcare Foundation grants

The Haywood Healthcare Foundation Board of Trustees recently awarded $281,431 in grants to 14 agencies for healthcare needs in Haywood…
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Dog beds needed
 

Dog beds needed

The Cashiers-Highlands Humane Society is in urgent need of new Kuranda beds in the CHHS Canine Adoption Center. 
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Comment

Delta blues
 

Delta blues

The number of positive COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are once again on the rise due to the delta variant, which…
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Comment

The Nantahala Outdoor Center. Donated photo
 

Tourism businesses engage in legal battle

Two of Swain County’s largest tourism brands — Nantahala Outdoor Center and Great Smoky Mountains Railroad — are engaged in a…
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Comment

A Match Made In Heaven
 

A Match Made In Heaven

Sabrina Matheny • Rumble Contributor | We all grow and change in life and that often results in moving or renovating…
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Jackson County School Board Chairwoman Alli Laird-Large (left) and Superintendent Dr. Dana Ayers during discussion of masking options for the upcoming school year.
 

School boards make different decisions on masks

Due to an increase in COVID-19 cases and transmission rates following the spread of the Delta variant, the Centers for…
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Comment

Haywood County holds mass vaccination clinics at the fair grounds last spring. Vaccinations are still readily available throughout Western North Carolina. File photo
 

Delta variant rolls back pandemic progress

Like much of the U.S., North Carolina’s efforts to recover from the COVID-19 Pandemic are backsliding as the Delta Variant…
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Comment

Delta surge comes to Harris
 

Delta surge comes to Harris

Dr. Ben Guiney wasn’t sure what he’d find when he showed up for his weekend shifts at Harris Regional Hospital…
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Sylva commissioners log in for a remote meeting July 22. Town of Sylva image
 

When town hall is empty: Boards debate merits of in-person, remote meetings

After a mass migration from boardrooms to cyberspace last spring, one by one Western North Carolina’s public bodies have transitioned…
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Jackson County Justice Center.
 

Jackson jails, senior center to get new food vendor

For the first time in six years, Jackson County will have a new vendor providing meals at its jail and…
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Audit finds Waynesville electric bills were accurate
 

Audit finds Waynesville electric bills were accurate

The results from an independent audit of the Town of Waynesville’s electric billing process are in and despite speculation to…
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Comment

Bryson City paddler Evy Leibfarth navigates a kayak heat in Tokyo. ICF Photography photo
 

Leibfarth falls short of Olympic medal

Bryson City Olympian Evy Leibfarth will leave Tokyo without a medal, but the 17-year-old is already setting her sights on…
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Comment

Eviction moratorium expires
 

Eviction moratorium expires

The federal moratorium on evictions was allowed to expire on July 31, bringing an end to protections enjoyed by tenants…
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Comment

Widespread Panic. Bassist Dave Schools is far left. (photo: Joshua Timmermans).
 

Time machines, remembered scenes: Dave Schools of Widespread Panic

What started out 35 years ago as a handful of students at the University of Georgia getting together for the…
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Comment

The WCU Fine Art Museum.
 

Fine Art Museum receives national honor

The Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum at Bardo Arts Center in Cullowhee has achieved accreditation by the American Alliance…
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This must be the place: It all comes back to you, you’re bound to get what you deserve
 

This must be the place: It all comes back to you, you’re bound to get what you deserve

Opening up my email inbox last Friday morning, there was a press release from an entertainment publicist making note of…
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Comment

Del McCoury.
 

The melodic bridge of that ‘high, lonesome sound’: A conversation with Del McCoury

When it comes to the preservation and perpetuation of bluegrass music in the 21st century, Del McCoury is the leading…
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Comment

Rod Honeycutt, left, poses with his family.
 

Republican field for Cawthorn’s seat grows to five

On the heels of “ Gungate ” and a shouting match  with a West Virginia congressman on the house floor,…
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Comment

Recording reveals Cawthorn's gun gaffe
 

Recording reveals Cawthorn's gun gaffe

Congressman Madison Cawthorn attempted to bring a firearm though airport security this past February, but the freshman Western North Carolina…
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Comment

Jackson schools will begin with mask mandate
 

Jackson schools will begin with mask mandate

Jackson County Schools will begin the 2021-22 school year with a mask mandate for all students, staff and visitors, with…
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Comment

Mask mandate back in Cherokee; Masking encouraged but not required in N.C.
 

Mask mandate back in Cherokee; Masking encouraged but not required in N.C.

The indoor mask mandate is back on the Qualla Boundary following a July 29 executive order from Eastern Band of…
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Comment

Masks will be optional in Haywood schools
 

Masks will be optional in Haywood schools

Following contentious public input, and relatively little board discussion, Haywood County Schools will begin the 2021-22 school year without a…
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Comment

Top Tips to Help Women Enjoy Sex Again
 

Top Tips to Help Women Enjoy Sex Again

The female body is a complicated organism, and the reproductive system is perhaps the most complicated of all. Sex can…
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The Truth About Aphrodisiacs
 

The Truth About Aphrodisiacs

Aphrodisiacs have a long and sexy history. Named for the Greek Goddess of love and beauty (associated with Venus in…
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Why You Should Host A Passion Party
 

Why You Should Host A Passion Party

It’s come to my attention that there are still some women out there who’ve never been to a passion party…
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When Physical and Mental Arousal Don't Align
 

When Physical and Mental Arousal Don't Align

Naema Pierce • Rumble Contributor | Somewhere in the many messages that we have received about sex, most of us have…
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EXCLUSIVE: Gash will unveil education policy at candidate forum tomorrow
 

EXCLUSIVE: Gash will unveil education policy at candidate forum tomorrow

All six Democratic congressional candidates in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District will appear at a candidate forum in Marshall on…
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Comment

Tree seedlings for sale
 

Tree seedlings for sale

Seedlings are available for sale from the N.C. Forest Service Nursery Program, with specimens offering superior growth, form and disease…
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Comment

Friend your farmer
 

Friend your farmer

Empowering Mountain Food Systems will be highlighting the stories, personalities and passions of Western North Carolina farmers through its new…
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Comment

Crowded conditions are typical at Laurel Falls, which is located 1.3 miles past the trailhead. NPS photo
 

Ticket, please: Smokies to explore paid parking, shuttle service as crowd control tools

As visitor use in the already-crowded  Great Smoky Mountains National Park continues to climb, for the first time ever the…
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Comment

Bills aim to fund wildlife conservation
 

Bills aim to fund wildlife conservation

Bipartisan legislation aiming to fund local efforts to support struggling wildlife is now under consideration in both houses of Congress…
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Comment

A presentation from the North Georgia Zoo allowed participants to see wildlife up close. Donated photo
 

Mountain Wildlife Days director to step down

More than 450 people participated in the 17th annual Mountain Wildlife Days this month, but it will be the last…
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Comment

Worlds apart: a look at two very different books
 

Worlds apart: a look at two very different books

The last four months of 1862 brought blood and slaughter to the armies of the South and the North. Earlier…
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Comment

What Covid taught us about infrastructure
 

What Covid taught us about infrastructure

By Peter Nieckarz • Guest Columnist | We seem to be collectively breathing a sigh of relief as the COVID-19…
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Comment

Our epic RV adventure
 

Our epic RV adventure

This week’s column comes to you from a campground picnic table in Hershey, Pennsylvania. My boyfriend and I are on…
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Comment

Cawthorn’s hypocrisy is maddening
 

Cawthorn’s hypocrisy is maddening

To the Editor: Representative Madison Cawthorn’s latest newsletter is a case study in hypocrisy and misinformation. While extolling the anniversary…
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Comment

Thanks for the quality journalism
 

Thanks for the quality journalism

To the Editor: I would like to thank The Smoky Mountain News for the article “Back to the Blue” (July 14-20, 2021).
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Comment

Police chase leads to one death, multiple injured
 

Police chase leads to one death, multiple injured

On Wednesday, July 21, a Haywood County Deputy observed Dalton Suttles driving on U.S. 209 in Haywood County. 
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Comment

Riggs pleads to felony charges
 

Riggs pleads to felony charges

Last August, Jackson County deputies responded to reports of a vehicle fire on Parris Branch. They arrived to find a…
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Comment

Haney convicted of sexual assault
 

Haney convicted of sexual assault

Following a two-week trial, a Graham County jury on Friday returned a guilty verdict in 45 minutes against Casey Haney,…
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Comment

Research specialist Tucker Worley cares for an acre of cigar wrapper tobacco plants at the Mountain Research Station in Waynesville. Holly Kays photo
 

No smoke without buyers: Research explores cigar wrapper tobacco as cash crop for mountain farmers

On a perfectly sunny and gloriously cool July morning, Tucker Worley starts up the John Deere golf cart and takes…
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Comment

Ben Best (left) sits on the porch with wife Clarine, who’s holding a spike of the sort used for tobacco harvesting. Cory Vaillancourt photo.
 

Tobacco’s Haywood County heyday

Slowly meandering through Haywood County’s tranquil farmlands, the winding two-lane mountain road rises and falls as behind each bend it…
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Comment

Local school boards now responsible for mask mandate
 

Local school boards now responsible for mask mandate

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced new health guidelines for North Carolina public schools on Wednesday. School districts should require…
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