Community spread of COVID-19 continues in Jackson County

Chandler Keller assisted in the reporting of this story.  The number of COVID-19 cases in Jackson county jumped to 12 this past week. This was an increase of seven cases from the last update sent out on April 24. In addition to this, eight individuals have tested positive at a Jackson County healthcare provider that […]

COVID-19: Keep the distance

N.C. Governor, Roy Cooper extended the executive order of stay-at-home to May 8. This comes despite the growing protests for lifting the stay at home order for the state of Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina. As of Friday, April 24, North Carolina has at least 7,821 reported cases of the coronavirus with 278 deaths, according to data collected […]

Stay at home order, travel restrictions in Jackson county

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper issued a statewide executive order for residents to stay at home in response to the increasing community spread of COVID-19. The order, announced last Friday, goes into effect at 5 p.m. Monday, March 30 and will remain in effect for 30 days from that date. Within the statewide order, people […]

Summit to address business impacts due to road projects

Story was published in The Sylva Herald March 4 edition.  Story co-written with Chandler Keller The Small Business Center at Southwestern Community college will host the HWY 107 Business Summit, a free, all-day event geared towards helping local businesses impacted by the coming U.S. business/N.C. 107 construction. The event is designed to bring resources and […]

Hunter Safety returns to Smoky Mountain curriculum

Smoky Mountain High School is bringing back its hunter safety course after an eight-year hiatus. The course will be taught by the schools agriculture teacher Blake Fox. He has been teaching agriculture at Smoky Mountain since July of 2019. Fox received his agriculture education and extension education degree from N.C. State University. He has been […]

Smoky Mountain High School spreads loves and breaks records on Valentine’s Day

Story co-written with Sara Stanley. Story was originally published in The Sylva Herald on Feb. 20, 2020 Smoky Mountain High School attempted to break the Guinness World Record for the ‘most people hugging soft toys simultaneously’ on Friday, Feb. 14 in the school’s new gymnasium. Over 800 students and staff from SMHS and the Catamount School […]