The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and North Carolina Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union have reached an amicable settlement to allegations that the sheriff’s office racially profiled Latinos.

Jackson County is hoping the third time’s the charm as it aims to jumpstart its floundering economic development efforts. 

After years of thrashing and political setbacks, Jackson County once more has a board of economic development advisors in place and has hired a full-time economic development director — a position that has mostly been vacant for the past eight years.

A rural sewer system in Jackson County is headed toward bankruptcy unless it can drum up 200 customers in the sparsely populated Whittier area. 

It’s a tough sell though, witnessed by the paltry 40 customers along the sewer line now.

Jackson County commissioners questioned the wisdom of a last-ditch effort to find more customers for the Whittier sewer system at a county meeting Monday.

Commissioner also signaled reluctance to put up county money for a plan they saw as less than ideal. 

Jackson County commissioners may start broadcasting their meetings, bringing to the masses the nitty gritty of local government — tax collection reports, committee appointments, budget shuffling of low-level line items, and the not-to-be missed community proclamations, like the one in honor of Firefighter’s Week that passed nothing short of unanimously in September.

Developers of a large college student housing complex in Cullowhee got an OK from the Jackson County Planning Board to deviate from engineering rules on man-made slopes. 

An expansion of Jackson County’s court facilities could be in the cards, pending a $30,000 analysis of what some in the legal system have dubbed a space shortage.

The county has hired an architectural firm to study space needs of the court system in coming months. The likely outcome: a reshuffling of space in the county government complex to make more room for court functions, possibly edging out other county offices in the process.

Where heavy-handed fines fail, the Jackson County Health Department is pushing a program to urge negligent drivers to put their child passengers in car seats.

The future of Jackson County’s Green Energy Park may depend on county commissioners doubling down.

The Jackson County tourism industry adopted a new logo last week to go with their new slogan: “Play On.”