JCPS sports complex to get a face lift

The Board of Education included all around improvements to athletic facilities around Smoky Mountain High School as one of their priorities in the meeting.  The improvements include an expansion of the track from six lanes to eight lanes, a new field house with weight rooms and locker rooms for both male and female athletes, construction […]

Jackson County Board of Education details plan of new middle school and renovations to elementary buildings

A version of this story was originally published in the Sylva Herald Feb. 13 edition The Jackson County boards of Commissioners and Education held a joint meeting Wednesday, Feb. 6 at Southwestern Community College’s Burrell Building. Superintendent Dana Ayers led the discussion over various facelifts that many Jackson County schools will see in the upcoming […]

Apodaca floods amid classes

Around 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, Bonnie Ross, the Facility Management Housekeeping Department Manager, received a call from Chris Ammons about flooding on the first and second floors of the Apodaca Science Building. Ross was notified about a mechanical room causing leakage toward the backside of the building on the second floor that was seeping […]

What Title IX changes mean for WCU students

Western Carolina University students, faculty and staff received an email on Feb. 5 announcing a Title IX update. The email sparked confusion and anger across campus about what these changes mean for WCU students. “I got the email when I was in class and then I had to drive to work. I was really mad. […]

New plan might fill the donut hole in Forest Hills

Story originally published in The Sylva Herald Feb. 13 edition The 300 residents of the Village of Forest Hills could soon see their numbers double. Or more. Brown Haven Homes proposed a plan to build 180 single family homes built in the donut hole, a former golf course spanning about 73 acres surrounded by single-family […]

SPOT the Catabot

Written story originally published in The Western Carolinian Over a year ago, on June 12, 2023, the College of Engineering added a new addition to the team that gained campus attention, SPOT the robotic dog.   The Engineering Department received $98.8 million from state legislators to help expand the program in 2023. From those funds, $95.3 million […]