On Jan. 4, 2024, the Tribal Council of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) approved Resolution 4386 to adopt the Ethics Investigation Report dated Aug. 3, 2023, issued by the Office of Internal Audit and Ethics in Case No. 2023-1-63, regarding Jeremy Wilson, and imposing sanctions.

The effort by two Cherokee women to restore the name of Kuwohi to an area in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is now one step closer to coming to fruition. 

The Museum of the Cherokee People is currently working on updating its main exhibit – one that has been on display since 1998.  The Museum received a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation for $225,000 for the research and development aspects of the update to the area that will now be called the Main Gallery as opposed to the permanent exhibit. 

The School Board of Cherokee Central Schools met on Monday, Dec. 18. The meeting included a financial report, policy revisions, and Indian School Equalization Program (ISEP) funding discussions.

Brooklyn Brown, a reporter for the Cherokee One Feather, recently applied for and received an individual grant of $5,000 from the International Women’s Media Foundation Fund for Indigenous Journalists: Reporting on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit and Transgender People (MMIWG2T).

Delegates from EBCI attended the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) Annual Conference held in New Orleans, La. on Nov. 12-17.

Bruce Martin Jr., 51, owner of Long House Funeral Home in Cherokee, N.C., was indicted by a grand jury in Jackson County on Nov. 13, 2023, on six child sex offenses, including one count of statutory sexual offense with a child by an adult, four counts of indecent liberties with a child, and one count of statutory sexual offense with a person who is 15 or younger.

Billy Jack Hicks, 51, was indicted by a grand jury in Jackson County on Oct. 2, 2023, in the murder of his wife, Danielle Davina Brady-Hicks—an offense that occurred in October 2020. Hicks had a recent court appearance on Dec. 4 in Jackson County. The hearing was continued to Jan. 2, 2024.