Devoted to the trails and towns of Western North Carolina, a writer makes an autumn pilgrimage and finds communities profoundly changed and profoundly the same.

Twenty-six people remain unaccounted for in hard-hit North Carolina, weeks after the devastation unleashed by Hurricane Helene, officials said Monday. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on Sept.

Gov. Roy Cooper said he is coordinating law enforcement agencies to protect first responders as the rise of misinformation has led to threats.