Two Connelly Springs men were sentenced this week in Burke County Superior Court. On Monday, Dean Allen Yancey, 63, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and two counts of discharging a weapon into occupied premises. Yancey was sentenced to spend seven to 11 years in prison, and was given an additional suspended sentence of 29-47 months with 36 months of probation. On Wednesday, Frankie Lee Hollar, 51, pleaded guilty to six counts of second-degree exploitation of a minor. Hollar was given an active prison term of six to 10 years and an additional suspended sentence of six to 10 years with 60 months of probation.

An inmate, who escaped during a medical appointment Wednesday afternoon in Asheville has been apprehended. Michael Lee Calloway, 42, was taken into custody by Asheville Police Thursday in Biltmore Park. He was placed in the Buncombe County Detention Facility under a $300,000 bond.
Numerous agencies assisted Asheville Police, including Biltmore Forest and Biltmore estate Police, Buncombe and Henderson County Sheriff's Departments. State Highway Patrol, National Park Service, Broad River Voluntter Fire Department and Rescue along with the Asheville Fire Department.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Thursday, announced the state's first flu-related deaths of the 2017-18 season. Two adults, one from the Piedmont and the other in Eastern North Carolina, died of complications from influenza infection from mid-to-late October. The CDC recommends yearly vaccination against the flu for everyone 6 months and older. For the second year in a row, the CDC is recommending the injectable vaccine instead of the nasal spray because of concerns about the nasal spray's effectiveness.

The fall time change officially takes place at 2am Sunday. As you set your clocks back 1 hour, Hickory Firefighters want to remind you to make another change that could save your life - changing the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Changing smoke and carbon monoxide alarm batteries at least once a year is one of the simplest, most effective ways to reduce tragic deaths and injuries, according to the Hickory Fire Department.