Spring and summer mean more time outdoors, but they also mean tick season. Ticks can carry serious diseases like Lyme disease, so take these steps to protect yourself and your loved ones. Haywood County Environmental Health offers these simple tips: 

Officials at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) report there are still areas that are unsafe to participate in water activities due to remaining debris from Hurricane Helene. Some locations are inaccessible to emergency responders in the event an incident occurs. 

A Jackson County commissioner brought up the issue of library security during the commission’s March 4 meeting, citing safety concerns for staff at the Jackson County Library in Sylva.

The U.S. Forest Service has reopened more trails and roads throughout areas of the Pisgah National Forest’s Appalachian Ranger District in Haywood, Madison, Buncombe, Yancey, Mitchell and Avery counties following the damage caused by Hurricane Helene. 

During the early 2000s when I was first teaching middle school, I heard my mentor say to one of our students, “Garbage in, garbage out.” At the time, it was simply a passing comment because the teen was listening to music with foul language, but it stuck with me and often floats through my mind as I consume content or guide my children in their consumption of content.

The N.C. Forest Service has designated the fire danger for the state’s far western counties as high.

Often we see articles in magazines, posts on social media, reels or videos that feature a celebrity talking about what they eat in a day or week. This person may be an actor, an athlete, or an influencer-- but in most all cases the message is, ‘Eat like me and you could look/perform like me’.

The Pisgah National Forest has reopened the Pisgah Ranger District effective Oct. 18,, in coordination with local communities and governments.