With the 10-year Fontana Regional Library agreement up for review, commissions in all three counties are considering changes to the document.

In a public meeting that lasted more than five hours, Macon County Commissioners approved premium pay for county employees, 3-2. However, the debate was heated, and Commissioner John Shearl called for County Manager Derek Roland’s resignation. 

After contentious debate over the decision to make the Macon County Board of Education partisan-elected, county commissioners tabled the issue to get input from school board members and the public. 

More than 67,000 pounds of trout will be stocked in the mountain and piedmont regions of North Carolina between Nov. 29 and Dec. 21, including locations in Jackson, Macon, Buncombe and Transylvania counties. 

The Nantahala Hiking Club will recognize outstanding volunteers during its annual awards banquet 5-8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, at First Presbyterian Church in Franklin. 

The Folk Heritage Association of Macon County (FHAMC) held a groundbreaking ceremony on Oct. 27 after completing a five-year grassroots campaign to raise funds for its Women’s History Trail sculpture. 

Highlands will have at least one new member on its Board of Commissioners after Election Day this November. 

This year’s state budget process may have been one of the most discordant in recent memory, but Western North Carolina’s legislative delegation was able to secure record-setting funding for critical needs in a relatively poor region that sometimes feels overlooked when Raleigh gets to dishing out the dough. 

Macon County Commissioners have adopted a master plan for the county’s recreation center and surrounding park.

After months of back and forth, the Macon County School Board has approved a lease agreement for the Higdon property, purchased by the county earlier this year for use by the school system.