Local leaders and employees of the Oconaluftee Job Corp Center are questioning the motives behind a sudden shutdown of the site by the federal government last week.

The federal government has long been aware of run down buildings at the Oconaluftee Job Corps Center but failed to provide the center with funds to fix the problems, according to multiple reports, inspections and annual assessments conducted by the government.

Many in the community will be watching closely in April when the Haywood County Board of Commissioners appoint three members to the board of Haywood Regional Medical Center.

Sinquarious Graham, a 16-year-old Job Corps student from Alabama, was pulling on his coat to go to breakfast at 6:30 a.m. last Thursday when his roommate came in and told him class was canceled, he could go back to bed.

A military expedition against Cherokee villages at the onset of the Revolutionary War has been documented with the publication of a full-color informational brochure.

Ginny Faust, a professional planning consultant, posed a tough question to members of the Sylva Town Board and planning board last week.

The town of Sylva is embarking on a smart growth plan that could reshape some of the town’s more unsightly commercial corridors in coming decades.

Swain County commissioners are moving forward with a plan to reshape the county’s tourism board despite some opposition.

Those opposed to building a $600 million, 30-mile road through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park got welcome news last week.

Less than six months after cranking out their first batch of biodiesel, Alan Begley and Sam Gray have sealed the largest deal ever for a biodiesel producer in the state of North Carolina.

For decades, soil experts like Duane Vanhook have been showing farmers how a crop of winter wheat can recharge soil nutrients or how to shore up a stream bank decimated by cattle hooves.

Jackson County planning board meetings likely will get even more interesting as members move on to the nuts and bolts of a slope ordinance this month.

When Greg Kidd saw his odometer hit 250,000 miles last spring, he knew he would reluctantly be catapulted into the market for a new car sooner rather than later.

Developers in Jackson County could be asked to designate 25 percent of new developments as conserved open space under a provision the Jackson County planning board is weighing.

Three weeks after federal officials rolled into town and abruptly shut down the Oconaluftee Jobs Corps Center in Swain County, the reasons for the closure are still being debated.

When Mike Clampitt was making get out the vote calls during his campaign for Swain County commissioner last fall, he noticed an interesting pattern on the voter registration lists.

For years, Jack Lansford and his mountain biking buddies in Franklin would have to load up their bikes and hit the road for a minimum of 30 minutes before reaching the nearest trailhead. As any biker, hiker or paddler knows, the longer the drive to reach your play ground, the less frequently you find yourself doing what you love.

Walking into the new nature center at the Balsam Mountain Preserve in Jackson County is like walking into a replica of a Southern Appalachian forest, with all the best goodies already uncovered and there for the taking — or rather touching.

Haywood County commissioners continue to disagree on what kind of deal to give Mountain Projects on a tract of county land to house an intergenerational Head Start program and senior day care.

The Sylva library is favorite destination for Kim Mathis and her four children. There’s just one problem.

“The library has been this same size since I was a child,” said Mathis, 39. “I just want it to be larger and provide more books and more things and more space. It’s just not enough.”

Brace yourself, West Waynesville: a new Super Wal-Mart and Home Depot complex due to open next summer will bring an extra 21,000 vehicles on to the surrounding roads on a typical Saturday, according to a recent traffic study conducted for the site.

The rift between Haywood Regional Medical Center administration and the medical community needs to be repaired, and public confidence in the hospital restored, Haywood County commissioners said last week.

One of the top issues that emerged during county commissioner interviews of hospital board applicants last week was the need for better-trained, better-paid and additional nurses at Haywood Regional Medical Center.

After a two-year lull, debate over a controversial expressway through Jackson County known as the Southern Loop could soon re-emerge.

Updated 1/22/20: The lawsuits between Mystic Lands landowners and developer Ami Shinitzky have since been resolved. Progess had been made on amenties and lots are still for sale. 

A conflict between river outfittters and a developer in the Nantahala Gorge has resurfaced, this time over a footbridge the developer hopes to build over part of the river to a private island.

A coffee shop.

That’s one of the more unique but interesting ideas that emerged during a series of public input sessions last week for a new Jackson County library.

The board of the Haywood Regional Medical Center heard a glowing report last week on how the hospital’s emergency department is going following an abrupt transition four months ago.

When Rhonda Williams fired up her laptop in the Sylva library a couple of weeks ago, she was pleasantly surprised to pick up a wireless Internet signal.

The Haywood County Tourism Development Authority gave out twice as much money in grants for festivals this year, quelling some of the controversy that erupted last year following cuts to festival funding.

When Gary Wein came on board as the executive director of the Highlands Cashiers Land Trust a year ago, he had no idea his first major conservation success could be full of so much drama.

Botanists are cheering the recent acquisition of a 38-acre tract that’s home to a mountain bog near Cashiers thanks to a grant from the state Natural Heritage Trust Fund.

The Wilderness Society has signaled a strong interest in the future of the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests with the opening of an office in Franklin.

When a roaring forest fire whipped through a mountainside development in Swain County two months ago — burning nine homes to the ground — the narrow, steep road leading to the community stymied efforts of firefighters.

All three Haywood Regional Medical Center board members were reappointed this week for another three years by the Haywood County commissioners.

The Jackson County planning board is accepting written public comment through May 14 on the latest version of a draft steep slope ordinance.

An article that appeared in The Smoky Mountain News opinion section two weeks ago based on an anonymous interview with several nurses from the Haywood Regional Medical Center Emergency department prompted a rebuttal from hospital employees last week.

A group of Realtors and developers filed a lawsuit against Jackson County this week over a subdivision moratorium imposed by the county in February.

Mountain Projects director Patsy Dowling hit another wall this week in her attempt to lease land from the county for an intergenerational Head Start and senior day care center.

JD McCurry has seen his share of horror stories in his 20 plus years as a well driller. Take the homeowner in Highlands who struck out finding water after building a $1 million house on the property.

A disagreement between Haywood County commissioners over an intergenerational Head Start and senior day care facility has come to an end.

Proposed development regulations in Jackson County were made later this week after dozens of written public comments flooded the planning office expressing concerns.

As public comments rolled in to the Jackson County planning office on a proposed steep slope ordinance, one provision that seemed to cause the most ire was already a moot point.

No one knows how many wells are planted in the mountainsides of Western North Carolina.

A new Jackson County liquor store will soon be under construction in Cashiers, with plans to open for business by early next year.

Jackson County commissioners were implored by library advocates this week to give the Sylva and Cashiers libraries a sizeable bump in their budget. 

Lackluster at best and run-down at worst, it’s no question the has-been commercial district on Western Carolina University’s doorstep needs a life line.

Haywood leaders are no strangers to overhauling their economic development strategy and structure.

A major transformation played out just 10 years ago. When the dust settled on the politically charged process, the economic development director resigned.

An exploratory committee of Haywood County business leaders will examine in the coming months whether to reshuffle the county’s economic development arm for the second time in a decade.

From the outside, Sandy Cloer’s office doesn’t look like much — not even a real office, in fact. 

The three double-wide trailers strung end-to-end and plopped at the back of a barren parking lot hardly seem cut from the same cloth as Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Resort just a few miles away, dripping with glitz and glam and money.