While the financial impact of Hurricane Helene has been apparent since the morning of Sept. 27, 2024, economic data from the North Carolina Department of Commerce and other sources now show Western North Carolina counties started to feel the pain even before the storm hit. 

After serving as the executive director of Haywood Pathways Center since 2017, Mandy Haithcox is stepping down. Haithcox and her family will be moving back to Minnesota where aging family members live and need the comfort of family in their midst. 

The spring semester is underway at Western Carolina University and that means looking at how the university’s enrollment is shaping up for the first few weeks of the new year. 

To the Editor:

One of the few good things to come from the pandemic is you hear more and more people say, “I’ve done my own research.” As we face this election season, that has never been more important.

The Macon County Commission decided this month to delay consideration of changes to its watershed and floodplain ordinances until at least the new year, in part due to the organization of a Water Quality Advisory Committee and its new report on the state of Macon County waterways. 

Sure, mosquitos are an important link in the food chain for amphibians, birds and other insects, but they’re annoying, they’re persistent and they can actually kill you. Two researchers at Western Carolina University are working on a faster, cheaper, more reliable method to identify which ones will. 

Visitors to one of the country’s most unique national park units pumped nearly $1.4 billion into local economies in 2023, continuing a growing trend that has powered rural Western North Carolina’s economy over the past decade. 

North Carolina is free from extreme drought in the latest advisory issued by the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council (DMAC) on Thursday.

People can soon comment on an environmental justice initiative outlined in Gov. Roy Cooper’s Executive Order 292.

The order reestablished an Environmental Justice Advisory Council and calls on state agencies to develop and track goals to improve environmental justice in North Carolina. 

Although most of the state saw some rainfall in the past week, it was not enough to improve dry conditions, leading the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council (DMAC) to expand its severe and moderate drought classifications across the state. Now, almost all of Western North Carolina is in moderate drought status. 

“This June was the driest on record for the state and one of the warmest,” said Klaus Albertin, chair of the DMAC. “As a result, the state has quickly gone from normal in May to very, very dry. Rain during the last week slowed the rapid drying, but was not enough to improve areas. The southern Coastal Plain saw no rain for another week, resulting in expansion of severe drought in the area and introduction of extreme drought in Columbus County.”  

Groundwater and surface water reservoirs typically see higher demand for water during the summer and the ongoing drought conditions could result in water restrictions. Some counties have updated their water conservation status on ncdrought.org.

For areas in moderate drought, or D1, DMAC recommends water users should adhere to local water use restrictions, project water needs and available water supply for 90 days, among other recommendations. 

“The National Weather Service is forecasting rainfall of 1 to 4 inches across eastern North Carolina in the next week, so the drought conditions may ease up there,” Albertin said. “Unfortunately, damage to many crops may already be done.”