News Staff Haywood County is set to host a free COVID-19 testing site Thursday. During this weeks Haywood County Commissioner meeting [Tuesday], public health officials announced that after a 10-week search, a company will be setting up in Haywood. The testing follows record breaking COVID cases in Haywood, which reached all-time highs for the second week in … Read more
Amid climbing COVID cases Jackson County Public Schools has so far managed to keep students behind desks at its nine schools. The school system’s mask policy gets the credit for keeping quarantine and case numbers down, officials said. The county board has unanimously voted to keep mask mandates in place for everyone inside a Jackson … Read more
Sylva Fire Chief Mike Beck wants more manpower in the department. He asked the Sylva Town Board for permission to start talks with the county for a full-time firefighting crew in Sylva, citing a drop in volunteerism as the reason for the request. Beck plans to appear before the Jackson County Board of Commissioners in … Read more
The cause of a fire last week at a Jackson County home that left three people displaced remains udetermined. Jackson County Fire Marshal Michael Forbis said two adults and a child lived at the house on Pecan Drive near Ben Cook Road but were not home when it started and there were no injuries. He … Read more
MAGGIE VALLEY, N.C. (WLOS) – The deep snow is just what mountain ski areas ordered for the new year. Cataloochee Ski Area in Maggie Valley boasted the snowfall created the best conditions of the season and said the white stuff was a welcome sight after a mild December. The general manager said all the trails … Read more
BREVARD, N.C. (WLOS) – There’s still no word on what caused the roof of a dorm building at Brevard College to cave in during a snow storm Sunday that left dozens displaced. Students collected their belongings, and had to move to hotels after Brevard College’s Jones Hall partially collapsed Monday. College officials said 40 students … Read more
FAIRVIEW, N.C. (WLOS) – Snow and ice made it difficult for mutual aid departments to get to a fire that destroyed a 100-year-old home in Bumcombe County Monday. It took nearly a dozen departments and the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office to help contain the blaze. The Fairview Volunteer Fire Department reported that no one was … Read more
Duke Energy’s online outage map reported over 3,600 Buncombe customers were without power due to 94 individual active outages. In Henderson County, moren that 1,000 Duke customers were without power. Most businesses and many public services are closed Monday [Jan. 16], including some urgent care centers, in Henderson, with more snow expected by late this … Read more
Gov. Roy Cooper announced in a Sunday press conference that more than 20 counties in the state have declared states of emergency. “Conditions are dangerous in many areas,” and “there already have been a number of wrecks,” Cooper said. The North Carolina Department of Transportation recommends you stay home Monday [Jan. 16]. MEANWHILE… Heavy snowfall, … Read more
In Waynesville, Maggie Valley, Canton and Clyde plowing crews are gearing up to clear town streets. Officials said they’ve got seven trucks with plows installed and the brine and salt ready to go down, as well as public works staff and auto maintenance workers who are standing by to handle break downs and other storm … Read more