By Leilah Stone | What do prom portraits, CBD chocolate truffles, and cherry pie scented candles all have in common? They’re all perfect Valentine’s Day gifts available in the stores of Asheville’s women-owned businesses. Shop this guide for some of the area’s most creative designers, illustrators, and retailers whether you’re looking for something more traditional like flowers and chocolate or a unique find off the beaten path like bespoke jewelry or a hand poured candle. 

Question: Will drinking cold-pressed juices help me lose weight?

Several parking areas in DuPont State Recreational Forest will be closed the next few months due to N.C. Forest Service maintenance and repair projects, beginning with the Hooker Falls access area. 

The N.C. State Parks system has crossed the 250,000-acre mark thanks to recent acquisitions at Deep River and Salmon Creek. 

To the Editor:

We all probably hate something. It could be a certain vegetable, a hard or distasteful task like doing laundry, going to the dentist, or even some kinds of weather. It is even not unusual to hate a person which in the case of the hate of Donald J. Trump turned into a derangement. 

To the Editor:

Since 1963, Blue Ridge Health (BRH) has provided essential healthcare to residents with the greatest need in Western North Carolina (WNC). This care includes dental services for our youngest community members. Since February is National Children’s Dental Health Month, I want to highlight an important partnership between BRH and the Dogwood Health Trust. BRH recently received a grant from Dogwood to restart our mobile dental clinic after a temporary COVID-19 grounding. The grant will be used to provide dental services in the rural counties we serve throughout Western North Carolina. 

To the Editor:

In January 2020, Virginia became the 38th and final state needed for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). First introduced in 1923, the ERA finally received bipartisan congressional approval in 1972.  It then went to the states for ratification. The required three-quarters of the states (38) have finally ratified, making the ERA qualified to become the 28th Amendment. 

Haywood Regional Medical Center has been recognized by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina with a Blue Distinction Centers+ (BDC+) for Maternity Care designation, as part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program. 

Dale Walksler, the founder and curator of the Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley, passed away peacefully, with his wife by his side, at home on Feb. 3, after a courageous four-year battle with cancer.

The Jackson County Arts Council has awarded $50,250.06 in business interruption grants to local nonprofit arts organizations, other organizations with art programming, and individual artists through the North Carolina CARES for the Arts grant program.

Two years before a total solar eclipse left area residents breathless in 2017, Southwestern Community College started working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in an effort to bring advanced Science, Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) education opportunites to Western North Carolina.

COVID-19 Second Dose clinics are coming up in Haywood County, here is what you need to know.

Macon County Public Health reported that three Macon County residents diagnosed with COVID-19 have passed away. To protect the family ́s privacy, no further information will be released about these individuals. This death brings Macon County to 22 deaths related to COVID-19.

By Barbara Durr and Peter H. Lewis • Asheville Watchdog | Six months ago, as part of a reckoning on racial injustice, the City of Asheville and Buncombe County both passed resolutions to consider reparations to the Black community as a way to begin making amends for slavery and generations of systemic discrimination. The votes were hailed as “historic” by The Asheville Citizen Times, and ABC News asked, “Is Asheville a national model?”

Since mid-January Haywood County Health and Human Services has received notice of five more COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total number now to 81. 

The Center for the Study of Free Enterprise at Western Carolina University has issued an assessment of economic recovery, sustainability and growth in North Carolina following the pandemic. 

Black History Events in February:

By Dana Murray Patterson, Ph.D. — Celebrating Black History Month as a Black person has become much like being the host at your own birthday party.

Musical duo Bohemian Jean is made up of Matt Welborn and Jessi Stone, who is also news editor from Smoky Mountain News and editor-in-chief of Rumble. With Valentine’s Day coming up, the couple wanted to share their love of music and information about their upcoming dinner show at Elevated Mountain Distilling in Maggie Valley. 

Recently I got asked what are my "cheat" foods. I'm not a fan of using the word "cheat" when it comes to food; it makes me think of being sneaky by eating "bad" foods. Words matter. 

By Steven Wall • Guest Columnist | With so much division in our country, and some  folks even losing faith in democratic government, I would like to offer a proposal concerning Medicare. I do this in the hope that such a proposal if implemented could help restore some  faith in  government. 

To the Editor:

For weeks leading into the insurrection and ransacking of our Capitol on Jan. 6, Madison Cawthorn’s words and actions fomented a mob of traitors by supporting our former president’s lies. He did so instead of representing us in North Carolina’s 11th District. 

To the Editor:

Humanity has a universal propensity for lies and distortions, and Trump-supporting extremists ruled by reality-free ideas are front and center in the public view, as events in D.C. show. But the truth is that we are all prone to fantastical intellectual views that confirm our entrenched internal biases, ideas that identify the bad and evil guys over there and the good guys that we hang out with.

To the Editor:

I always enjoy the illuminating letters from Carol Adams. Her most recent (last week’s Smoky Mountain News, www.smokymountainnews.com/opinion/item/30705) was especially spirit-lifting.

To the Editor:

In the aftermath of recent events in our nation’s Capitol, we are still reeling in shock, disbelief and consternation at how best to pick up the pieces and move on. We hope that leadership will emerge to restore the ship of state to a democratic, compassionate and confidence-building course. 

A new professional outdoor industry certificate will be available through the Western Carolina University Office of Professional Growth and Enrichment this spring via an online course. 

Friends of DuPont Forest will receive 100 free hours of public relations and marketing services thanks to the Stand Up Initiative, launched by Darby Communications in 2016. 

Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation dedicated a memorial plaque to honor Gary Smith Dec. 17, at Sarge’s Adoption Center. 

People have a new opportunity to enroll in health insurance for 2021 on HealthCare.gov, but only for a limited time.

A Franklin man who pleaded guilty last week to trafficking in methamphetamine has been sentenced to serve 70 to 93 months in prison.

Listen for new episodes of “Down the Road” on the Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina, a series highlighting traditional and bluegrass music and stories, beginning this week on WNCW-FM at Isothermal Community College in Spindale. 

Even as the pandemic continues, employers continue to seek eager workers to fill important job roles. To help with the search, Southwestern Community College’s Career Services is offering two virtual job fairs through Google Meet.

Unbeknownst to many a passerby as they enter the town of Bryson City from the east, there lies a structural icon to an earlier time of automotive travel.

Things like color, size, shape, prints and even bling, factor into the decision-making process. There are standard face coverings and then there are neck gaiters, which are worn around the neck and can be pulled up over your mouth and nose.

That is the question the Pancake Day Team and staff at First United Methodist Church of Waynesville pondered last fall as it became clear that the COVID-19 pandemic would most likely still be around in February 2021.

Reader response: 

By Meg Mamer, RN, BSN, Director ICU and Respiratory Therapy, Haywood Regional Medical Center — For most of us, this past holiday season was unlike any other we have experienced. Instead of the typical hustle and bustle of holiday parties, family gatherings and being surrounded by those we love — this year was just different for my husband and me.

We reached out to our Rumble Readers and asked them for their best career advice for other women. Always easier to take great advice instead of having to learn the hard way on our own.

To the Editor:

Our Haywood county government is planning to build a new jail at a cost of over $14 million. Important questions have been raised about this project. One of the most important  is “What can we do to prevent another new jail being needed in ten years?” 

To the Editor:

Checking a track record, a review of past performance, is a good way to determine a decision or opinion.

To the Editor:

My 89-year-old dad got his first COVID vaccine this afternoon.

To the Editor:

Today, January 21, I received my first Covid-19 vaccine shot administered by the Haywood County Health Department at the Smoky Mountain Event Center. Things couldn’t haven’t gone more smoothly.

An online public hearing at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, will take comment on proposed revisions to the N.C. Groundwater Quality Standards. Written comments will be accepted through March 16. 

REI in Asheville is offering a full schedule of outdoor classes and activities for the adventurous this winter. 

Volunteers are needed to help plant rivercane at Rivers Edge Park in Clyde at 2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29. 

Thousands of volunteer birdwatchers will mobilize this March for the first-ever N.C. Bird Atlas survey, a statewide community science survey that aims to map the distribution and abundance of birds from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Outer Banks. 

Photojournalist Jeffrey Delannoy spent four days on assignment for The Smoky Mountain News in Washington, D.C. both before and after the Jan. 20, 2021 inauguration. Without credentials, Delannoy had to work to get the story in the streets – out on the fenced-in fringe of what barely resembled the National Mall.

Question: What are some foods to eat that can help me gain weight in a healthy way?

The nonprofit Oscar Hammerstein Museum and Theatre Education Center (OHMTEC) recently announced the semifinalists in our international solo contest.