Terramar Sports and two related companies - Trimfit Global Inc. and B.L.Intimates - will locate a distribution center in Hildebran in May. According to a news release from Burke Development,Inc., the companies operate in different segments of the undergarmet business. All companies sell both branded and private label products to prominent national retailers, local across the U.S.and Canada, as well as through many digital channels. The new operation will be housed in the former Adden Furniture building, at 1st Street NW in Hildebran.

A Morganton man will serve an active prison sentence of at least 12 years following his guilty plea to first-degree sex offense and taking indecent liberties with a child during Burke County Superior Court on Thursday. The Honorable Daniel A. Kuehnert, Superior Court Judge from Burke County, sentenced 19-year-old Brandon Lee Sprouse to serve 12 to 19 years in custody of the N.C.Department of Adult Corrections. Frank Webster prosecuted the case for the District Attorney's Office.

Catawba Valley Community College named the winners ot its sixth annual Shark Tank competition, which occurred April 26th. A takeoff on the popular ABC-TV reality show, CVCC:s Shark Tank is sponsored by Duke Energy, the L.B.Lane Family Foundation, and the CVCC Foundation. In the CVCC Student Division, the team of William Adkins, Tyler Brown, and Nick Joyner won first place for their SkillBuilder concept, which would provide home maintenance services in the community. In the Small Business Center Division, Susan and Jerry Mallonee were the first place winners for their Better Way Golf Products business which features the PushNPutt flagstick for putting greens.

CenturyLink has announced local winners of the CenturyLink Clarke M.Williams Foundation's Teachers and Technology grant program in Hickory. Viewmont Elementary was awarded $1000 to purchase five Lenovo Chromebooks for project "Science at your fingertips". Instructor Dawn McDaniel submitted the project. Southwest Elementary was awarded $3000 to purchase ten iPad minis to serve as QR stations for project "Using QR Codes in the School Library to Promote Reading." Instructor Lisa Doyle submitted the project. Longview Elementary was awarded $2430 to purchase six Wonder Workshop Dash and Dot Robot Packs, six Ozobot Bit 2.0 Dual Packs and two Sphero 2.0 robots for project "Ready, Set, Robotics.!" Instructor Caroline Brown submitted the project.