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1 week ago | 
smokymountainnews.com | Hannah McLeod
Latest ‘Paradise will be some kind of library’: Carden cements legacy with historic library donation Gary Carden has accomplished a great deal in his life.
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1 week ago | 
smokymountainnews.com | Hannah McLeod
Latest Free lunch eligibility trending downward in Macon 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.
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2 weeks ago | 
smokymountainnews.com | Hannah McLeod
“I think the overriding message I hope the community hears is that we’re not picking a school to get more resources than another school, we’re trying to be very equitable for every student in Jackson County Schools,” said Board Member Gayle Woody.
At a special called meeting April 23, JCPS administration took almost two hours to help clarify for the board how funding is allocated amongst different schools in the system.
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2 weeks ago | 
smokymountainnews.com | Hannah McLeod
“They continue assaulting our river’s tributaries in the middle of spring when all the fauna is trying to raise babies in the name of profiting from our neighbor’s disaster,” said Angela-Faye Martin, co-owner and founder of Alraka Expeditions. “There should be a reckoning.”
At noon on Saturday, about six paddlers and 20 walkers made their way from the Tassee Shelter to the boat ramp on Lakeside Drive to show support for local waterways.
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3 weeks ago | 
smokymountainnews.com | Hannah McLeod
Latest Good intentions gone wrong: Maconians sound alarm on excessive debris removal Wednesday, April 23, 2025 By this point, more than six months after Hurricane Helene barreled through Western North Carolina, it’s a common sight. Heavy machinery moving in and around waterways, working to remove debris that choked rivers and streams during extreme flooding caused by the storm. Not only does debris removal help clear waterways of potentially hazardous material, but it also reduces the risk of...
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3 weeks ago | 
smokymountainnews.com | Hannah McLeod
“Its namesake reflects the gradual progression of spring green moving up the mountains,” said Sylva’s Economic Development Director Bernadette Peters.
When the festival officially began in 1998, Sylva residents had been putting on smaller Earth Day and Appalachian events for years. But in 1998, these combined for the first time to create Greening Up the Mountains. That year, the event drew about 2,500 people.
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4 weeks ago | 
smokymountainnews.com | Hannah McLeod
Latest ‘Trash’ or ‘Tribute’?: Community responds to statue plaque removal Wednesday, April 16, 2025 A little over a week after the county removed what has been referred to as the “compromise plaques” from the Confederate memorial outside the Jackson County Library, residents showed up at the county commission’s April 15 meeting to speak on both sides of the issue, despite the lack of public discussion about the decision from commissioners. In total, seven people spoke about the Confederate...
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4 weeks ago | 
smokymountainnews.com | Hannah McLeod
“We’re as lean as I would allow us to be,” said Putnam.
During the first six months of Putnam’s tenure, he said he cut 42 positions, both faculty and administration at the Central Office. But now, Putnam says, there’s no more cutting to be done.
For the 2025-26 fiscal year, the school system is limiting budgetary expansions.
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4 weeks ago | 
smokymountainnews.com | Hannah McLeod
Latest Mountain Projects raises alarm on housing crisis In the face of challenges with Section 8 rental assistance, Mountain Projects Executive Director Patsy Davis visited county commissions in both Haywood and Jackson counties this month to inform elected officials of just how dire the situation is becoming. “I felt like as elected officials in Jackson County and our leaders, you needed to know what we’re seeing and the housing crisis that I feel is coming,” Davis told Jackson County...
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4 weeks ago | 
smokymountainnews.com | Hannah McLeod
Rather than fight the decision, the region’s representative in Congress, Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson) said he’s ready to move on.
“Instead, I’m focusing on other ways I can make a tangible difference in helping the citizens of Western North Carolina recover more quickly,” Edwards told the Asheville Citizen-Times April 11.
On Sept. 27, 2024, Hurricane Helene ravaged Western North Carolina, causing an estimated $60 billion in damage.
