In 1894, congress voted to approve Labor Day as a national holiday. The vote took place just days after the deadly Pullman Strike, in which workers of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago went on strike to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives, placing workers’ rights front and center in the public’s view.

In June, Morgan Beryl took over as executive director of the Haywood County Arts Council. She has lived all over the United States and studied an array of subjects, but her love for the arts and the outdoors brought her to Haywood County. 

Maggie Valley Board of Aldermen voted Aug. 17 to allow class A, B and C recreational vehicles in RV Planned Unit Developments. Previously, the board had discussed allowing PUD status for RV parks, only if vehicles were restricted to class A. 

Special Liberty Project, what is it and how did it get started?

The Special Liberty Project is a nonprofit organization serving healing veterans and families of America's fallen heroes, referred to as Gold Star Families. In nature, healing is plentiful. We bring together veteran families who have experienced similar traumatic experiences, or losses, to create healing in nature. 

At an emergency meeting Saturday, the Haywood County School Board voted 5-2 to mandate masks and enact a plan that will adjust masking policy based on the weekly averages of positive COVID-19 cases. 

Tropical Storm Fred ravaged portions of Haywood County last week, including several school properties. The school board called an emergency meeting Aug. 19 to hear reports of the flood damage. Following Superintendent Dr. Bill Nolte’s recommendation, students in Haywood County returned to school on Monday, Aug. 23.

As the floodwaters from Tropical Storm Fred recede, the full extent of the damage is becoming clear. Residents of Haywood County and beyond have rallied together to create avenues for donations and opportunities to support those in need. Countless churches, businesses and individuals are actively accepting and sorting donations. 

The quiet calm of a bright summer morning dissipates like dew off the freshly manicured lawn upon entering Shining Rock Classical Academy. Inside, the back-to-school energy is palpable. 

As COVID-19 cases rise, in large part due to the spread of the new Delta variant, school boards across the state are opting to mandate masks for students and staff. 

A petition to start the school year with universal masking in Haywood County Schools has over 630 signatures. This comes after a July 27 board meeting, when the Haywood County School board voted unanimously to make masking optional for all students, staff and visitors during the 2021-22 school year. 

Swain County Schools will start the year with a mask mandate, reversing a previous decision to make masks optional for the 2021-22 school year. 

Like many of the most resilient and creative people on this earth, the river of Marissa Schneider’s life has meandered through the unexpected twists and turns of trauma. Somewhere along that ride though, she found cannabis. As she moved through trauma, and the painful healing that comes after, the plant became a tool. A tool used not only to help her own soul in the process of mending, but also to help others. For Schneider, cooking with cannabis is about bringing people together. It is about healing her soul, and those of the other bodies she meets along her way. 

Due to an increase in COVID-19 cases and transmission rates following the spread of the Delta variant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its guidance for public schools to recommend universal masking for students, staff and visitors in grades K-12. 

Jackson County Schools will begin the 2021-22 school year with a mask mandate for all students, staff and visitors, with a plan to reassess the mandate regularly as the school year progresses. 

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

Aphrodisiacs have a long and sexy history. Named for the Greek Goddess of love and beauty (associated with Venus in Roman mythology), an aphrodisiac is any food or substance that increases sexual desire, arousal, behavior, performance or pleasure. 

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced new health guidelines for North Carolina public schools on Wednesday. School districts should require masks indoors for all students and staff in grades K-8. In grades 9-12, students and staff who have not been vaccinated should also be required to wear masks indoors. 

After North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced new health guidelines for North Carolina Public Schools, giving local school boards the power to issue and enforce mask mandates, Macon County School board met to discuss the issue. 

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced new health guidelines for North Carolina public schools on Wednesday. School districts should require masks indoors for all students and staff in grades K-8. In grades 9-12, students and staff who have not been vaccinated should also be required to wear masks indoors. 

There were no women at the first modern Olympics in 1896. According to its founder Pierre de Coubertin, women were “not cut out to sustain certain shocks.” Women proved him wrong, muscling their way in to have 22 women compete at the 1900 Olympic Games. By 2012, just over 100 years later, there was at least one woman in every delegation. 

Folkmoot USA, North Carolina’s Official International Festival, returns with Folkmoot Summerfest July 22-25. The theme of this year’s festival is focused on American cultural diversity in music and dance. 

Last week’s Maggie Valley Board of Aldermen meeting was riddled with complaints from residents of a development on Jonathan Creek Road about an alleged encampment of people in the neighborhood. 

The dog days of summer are here (officially July 3 - Aug. 11 according to the Farmer’s Almanac) and although we should be excited about the plethora of fresh produce to cook with, sometimes it can seem like a chore. We’ve compiled a list of summer recipes to get your creative juices flowing. Enjoy!

On July 8, 14-year-old Zaila Avant-garde made history as the first Black winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in its 93 years of contest, as well as the first champion from Louisiana. 

Haywood County Schools has made the list of National Board Accomplished Districts recognized by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. 

Nursing homes and assisted living facilities were among the hardest hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, they are facing another problem, one whose roots stem from pre-COVID times — staffing shortages. 

A draft text amendment to a Maggie Valley ordinance concerning campgrounds and RV parks has sparked a larger conversation about the future of Maggie Valley itself. 

The signs are everywhere. Now hiring, help wanted, excuse the wait times we’re short staffed and doing the best we can. Every restaurant, bar, hotel and store in town is in need of employees at a time when tourism in Western North Carolina is surging. Where are all the workers? 

At a special called board meeting last week, Haywood County Schools Board of Education considered defying the current mask mandate in place for North Carolina Public Schools.

It seems like every produce stand and farmers market in the south is bursting with soft, fuzzy peaches. This basic, peach salsa recipe is perfect for summer get togethers or relaxing on the porch.

Excitement could be heard in the unconstrained murmuring of elementary school students at Blue Ridge School Monday morning as they filed into the cafeteria. Tables were set with Mason jars, pre-cut vegetables of almost every color of the rainbow, salt, pepper and oregano. 

Cheri Beasley, former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice, announced her campaign for United States Senate in April. On Friday, Beasley visited several small businesses in downtown Asheville to speak with business owners about how they fared during the pandemic and hear what they would have liked state representatives to have done differently. 

“Memory is never a precise duplicate of the original… It is a continuing act of creation.” - Rosalind Cartwright

During the pandemic, Asheville-based artist Pearl Renken wrestled with the pain, isolation and racial reckoning happening in the United States. Her first instinct during that time was to paint, very literally, the pain she was seeing, the hate that felt abundant. 

Maggie Valley Town Board of Alderman passed the proposed 2021-22 budget on June 8. 

The North Carolina Association of Educators’ “We Heart Public Schools Tour’’ stopped in Haywood County Friday. The tour visited every county in North Carolina, finishing in the western portion of the state last week. 

Dusk was just starting to creep down the mountain when Megan rolled into the driveway, up from Charlotte for the weekend. 

Last week, Laurence des Cars was appointed by President Emmanuel Macron of France, to be president-director of the Louvre. She is the first woman to earn the position in its 228 year history. 

When the Coronavirus Pandemic broke out in the United States in March 2020, Congress passed that CARES Act. Part of that legislation included a federal moratorium on evictions. The idea was the United States should keep people sheltered during a global pandemic, regardless of whether they could pay their rent in an economy that was quickly screeching to a halt. 

Students in Haywood County will not be provided normal bus transportation for the robust summer school program intended to address learning loss during the Coronavirus Pandemic. 

Henceforth, Cullowhee Valley School in Jackson County will be represented as the Cullowhee Valley Wolves. 

Folkmoot USA will return with its annual festival for summer 2021. 

On June 19, the Smoky Mountain District of the United Methodist Church will host a Juneteenth Freedom Celebration at Lake Junaluska. 

Maggie Valley Town Hall Pavilion and the surrounding grassy area were ablaze with the black and blue flags of a Back the Blue Rally on Saturday, May 22, in support of local law enforcement. The event came in response to the message that has been displayed on one Maggie Valley hotel sign for the last several weeks: “ACAB! The Barrel is Rotten.” 

Juices and smoothies are a great way to eat clean and feel fresh during spring and summer. Below is a list of some easy and nutritious juice ideas: 

Students in Haywood County Schools will no longer be required to wear masks outside, where social distancing is possible. Administration made the decision after conferring with local public health officials. 

Last year, Macon County Schools requested a nearly $2 million budget increase to fund additional staff positions. When the pandemic shuttered school doors during budget season last year, the request was dropped. But now, over a year into the pandemic, MCS has again requested the money to fill staffing needs within its schools. 

Graduation ceremonies will be allowed as many spectators as school sporting events this spring, after the Haywood County Schools Board of Education authorized Superintendent Dr. Bill Nolte to use spectator rules for non-athletic, end-of-year programs and ceremonies. 

The sun was shining dry, white hot heat the day my mother and I found ourselves out of money, tired and hungry in a town we’d never stepped foot in before in Northern Spain — for the second time in less than a month.