A Burke County man was sentenced to 240-300 months in prison in McDowell County Superior Court. Stacey Heatley was found guilty in a case from December 8th where an Old Fort man reported that he was beaten with a sledgehammer and robbed. Heatley had previously pleaded guilty in a case where a Marion man sustained head injuries, according to WLOS-TV.

Burke County Narcotics Task Force received a tip regarding a working liquor still on Old Highway 18. According to a press release Tuesday from the Burke County Sheriff's office, N.C.Alcohol Law Enforcement agents and a Burke County deputy went to Douglas Fox Road and a found a 30 gallon still in operation. The still, and 15 quarts of non-tax paid brandy were seized and 140 gallons of mash was destroyed. Timmy King was cited for Manufacturing Non-Tax Paid Liquor and Possession of Non-Tax Paid Liquor. He is scheduled to appear in District Court on December 15th.

Continental celebrated 25 years of production and its 82,000 square foot expansion on Wednesday, at the company's Morganton facility. According to a company press release, the more than $40 million expansion project is slated to generate 150 new full-time jobs and will enable the facility to increase production of the state-of-the-art MK C1 braking system. Once the expansion is complete, the facility will be able to produce up to 3.2 million brake system units a year, which includes Continental's next generation MK C1.