Local

Connect with neighbors at Helene events

Mariel Williams
Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Those interested in mourning and reminiscing about Hurricane Helene (downgraded to a tropical storm after slowing down over land) in community have a number of options available to gather at memorial events this weekend.
MNJ Photo/Mariel Williams. Bill Slagle, executive director of the Mitchell County Economic Development Commission, explains flood devastation in downtown Spruce Pine to North Carolina Secretary of Commerce Lee Lilley, center right.

MNJ Photo/Mariel Williams. Bill Slagle, executive director of the Mitchell County Economic Development Commission, explains flood devastation in downtown Spruce Pine to North Carolina Secretary of Commerce Lee Lilley, center right.

Commerce Secretary talks about recovery

Mariel Williams
Tuesday, September 23, 2025
North Carolina Secretary of Commerce Lee Lilley visited Mitchell County last week to discuss flood recovery with local business and government leaders. Lilley visited  a number of locations in the county, including downtown Spruce Pine and Bakersville.
Submitted photo. Parkway Playhouse hosted the Appalachian Playwriting Festival this past weekend. The above photo shows a performance from last year’s festival.

Submitted photo. Parkway Playhouse hosted the Appalachian Playwriting Festival this past weekend. The above photo shows a performance from last year’s festival.

Staging Appalachia

Steffen Silvis
Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Two years ago, Parkway Playhouse’s director of marketing, Cheyenne Dancy, pitched the idea of founding a playwriting festival specifically focused on work about Appalachia and written by regional playwrights.
Submitted photo. In an unprecedented move, a local scholarship committee chose to give out three iterations of the Michael Wilson Scholarship this year.

Submitted photo. In an unprecedented move, a local scholarship committee chose to give out three iterations of the Michael Wilson Scholarship this year.

Mitchell graduates receive Michael Wilson Scholarship

Blake Thayer
Tuesday, September 16, 2025
The Michael Wilson Scholarship is a local scholarship that was created by John Wilson and his family in 2018. Each year, a scholarship committee chooses three students to interview before deciding on the winner.
Photo/University of South Carolina. Charles Bierbauer, who retired to Spruce Pine after decades of experience as a journalist at CNN and an academic at the University of South Carolina, died last week.

Photo/University of South Carolina. Charles Bierbauer, who retired to Spruce Pine after decades of experience as a journalist at CNN and an academic at the University of South Carolina, died last week.

International CNN journalist dies at home in Spruce Pine

Mariel Williams
Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Emmy award-winning journalist Charles Bierbauer died at his home in Spruce Pine last week. Bierbauer, who spoke Russian and German, worked as a correspondent in the former Soviet Union and in Washington, D.C., as well as several other assignments. He was 83 years old.
Submitted photo. Sean Morrison, Carrie James, Joe Seely and AJ Shipman show off the newly-installed BlueNet communications dish on the roof of Blue Ridge Regional Hospital.

Submitted photo. Sean Morrison, Carrie James, Joe Seely and AJ Shipman show off the newly-installed BlueNet communications dish on the roof of Blue Ridge Regional Hospital.

Hospital upgrades its IT system to prevent outages in a disaster

Noreen Nikolas
Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Beginning on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, while Tropical Storm Helene was pummeling the area, Blue Ridge Regional Hospital lost its communication system both inside and outside of the hospital. But by 8 p.m. on Sunday, the hospital was back online.