My office is cool and our building on Montgomery Street in Waynesville is quiet. Almost everyone who works at The Smoky Mountain News has gone home for a few minutes to tend to kids, dogs, wives and husbands as it’s one hour before the annual first Friday in June birthday bash celebrating another year of putting out this weekly print newspaper (and now a seven-day-per-week news website).  

The 26th annual Taste of Scotland Festival will be held June 13-15 at a variety of locations around Franklin.

The festival is a celebration of the heritage brought to these mountains, that of the Scots and Scots-Irish, along with celebrating the historic relationships with the Cherokee.

The Franklin Bird Club leads walks along the Greenway on Wednesday mornings at 8 a.m. through September. Walks start at alternating locations: Macon County Public Library, Big Bear Park and Salali Lane. 

Macon County’s proposed Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget maintains the current tax rate, even as county revenues are projected to increase slightly. 

“Revenues are slightly higher due to an increase in the taxable value of properties,” said County Manager Warren Cabe in his first ever budget presentation to county commissioners.

To the Editor:

Yesterday a small but dedicated group of resistors gathered on the corner of Dillard Road and Main Street, here in Highlands. We engaged in a silent protest in response to recent cuts in SNAP and Medicaid benefits in the Big Beautiful Bill passed by the House of Representatives.

When Hurricane Helene slammed into Western North Carolina in late 2024, public attention focused on damaged homes, washed-out roads and the rigid bureaucracy meant to help with recovery, but the widespread physical damage was closely followed by a slow-moving economic catastrophe unfolding among the region’s small businesses, farmers and local governments. Now, eight months later, help may finally be on the way. 

Over the last few months, Maconians have sounded the alarm on what they see as excessive debris removal in the county’s waterways. Now, as the cleanup effort wraps up, citizens are maintaining pressure, urging elected officials to learn from the debacle and institute safeguards for the future. 

District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch announced that two men in two separate cases in Macon County pleaded guilty this week to trafficking illegal drugs.

In the first case, Franklin resident Joshua Charles Schooler, 36, was sentenced in Macon County Superior Court for trafficking in methamphetamine. 

Prior to its appropriation by communist regimes, International Workers Day — May Day — was first commemorated in honor of Chicago workers killed while striking for an eight-hour workday.

For the second year in a row, Macon County Schools will request funding from county commissioners to bridge the gap in funding for free school meals for all K-12 students. But with data trending downward, it’s unclear whether the school system will be able to continue its free meal program for more than two more years.