Bevier Hasbrouck Sleight III, 78, who was employed as Santa at Santa’s Land Fun Park & Zoo in Cherokee, was arrested by Cherokee Indian Police Department on Aug. 29 for 13 child abuse charges:

Over 300 people attended the “From Darkness Into Hope” Mental Health Awareness and Suicide Prevention Event held on the Oconaluftee Island Park in Cherokee, N.C. on the afternoon of Wednesday, Sept. 4.

An application to restore the name of Clingman’s Dome, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, to its original Cherokee name, Kuwohi (mulberry place), will be heard by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) soon. 

A new National Park Service report shows that 13,297,647 visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2023 spent $2.2 billion in communities near the park. That spending supported 33,748 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $3.4 billion.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park fire officials and fire investigators have determined that the Flint Gap Fire was started by lightning from a recent summer storm.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park continues initial attack efforts on the Flint Gap Fire. Two suppression modules are assisting with initial attack today, Thursday, Aug. 29. An additional module will arrive tomorrow.

The Indian Health Service (IHS) has reached a historic agreement with the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma (UKB) that the UKB will use to establish the UKB Tribal Health System.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park received a report of a small wildland fire near Hannah Mountain, south of Abrams Creek, the evening of Monday, Aug. 26.