The Highway Patrol announces a preliminary number of 9 fatal collisions resulting in 9 deaths on state highways during the Labor Day holiday period, which began at 6pm Friday and ended at 11:59pm Monday. Last year in North Carolina, troopers investigated 10 fatal collisions over the Labor Day weekend. The collisions included one on Saturday on US 64, 4.4 miles west of Statesville, one Sunday on US 178, 12.8 miles from Brevard and one Monday on Casar Road 0.2 miles south of Casar.

Caldwell County had 95% of schools earning grades C or better in the 3rd year of the state's A-F grading system as reported by the State Board of Education. The Caldwell County Schools four-year cohort graduation rate reached a high of 90.8%, exceeding the state average for the 8th consecutive year and the district's upward growth trend continues for school performance, as 25 percent of schools achieved As and Bs and schools achieving Cs gained higher levels of academic growth and improvement over last year's performance, according to a news release from Caldwell County Schools.