In the first installment of this series on Haywood County’s economic development, the analogy of a bathtub was used to illustrate the county’s economy: water flows in, water drains out and the freeboard is always changing, but amidst all the splashing, insular yet interconnected bubbles of industry rise and fall and swell and pop.

Two conservative activists in Haywood County have been banned from Republican Party functions under the threat of trespassing charges from state party officials.

It came as a shock that has had a ripple effect within music circles around Western North Carolina and beyond.

A recovering economy and low unemployment along with a 30 percent increase in tourist spending since 2011 has kept Haywood County in decent financial shape, but a few large expenses — married with the everyday needs of a 60,000-resident county — means a tax hike may be coming.

Offering “credit where credit is due,” Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville, congratulated Gov. Roy Cooper for recently signing a bill that will do away with vehicle emissions testing in Haywood County. 

The strange saga of a shuttered school still casts a shadow over Haywood County, but it may turn out that opponents of the school’s closing were exactly right. 

A complaint filed in Haywood County Superior Court late last month alleges that several defendants committed battery and inflicted emotional distress on two children in 2015.

Among the various organizations involved in economic development, one often finds a Chamber of Commerce and some development organization.

If all goes well, Maggie Valley will soon be known as a place where some of the finest spirits in the world are crafted.

CeCe Hipps is one of the very few people in North Carolina who can say that she was at the epicenter of the two most significant postwar economic expansions in the state.