The Qualla Boundary Special Olympics team participated in the Spring Games at Macon Middle School in Franklin on Friday, April 20. A total of 23 athletes and 30 volunteers made the trip from Cherokee along with family, friends and supporters.

North Carolina will have a primary election on Tuesday, May 8, but voting has already begun in Cherokee. A one-stop voting precinct has been set up by the Swain County Board of Elections in the Cherokee Life Center.

Tribal Court Judgments from April 17

A recent report by the Kituwah Preservation and Education Program stated that there were 318 fluent Cherokee language speakers in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians as of March 2012. The New Kituwah Academy is doing its best to increase that number by creating fluent speakers in its daily immersion school classrooms.

Susan Jenkins, executive director of Cherokee Preservation Foundation, has announced her retirement to the board and staff of the Foundation, effective Dec. 31.

An old casserole pot is displayed proudly in the BIA Realty office of Darlene Whitetree. The pot belonged to her mother, Floy Whitetree, and now Darlene wants to return it to the family of the original potter.