Thieves dressed as clowns broke into a Burke County business making off with a thousand-dollars worth of property.

Video surveillance at the business caught the pair in costume.

The business owner at Electric Eye Smoke Shop on NC 18 discovered the front door’s glass panel, lighting, and two security cameras destroyed in the break-in.

Once inside the business, display cases were broken and the painted floor sustained considerable damage.

Various items were taken ranging from lighters to vaping devices.

Officials estimated damages at 15-hundred-dollars.

The Burke County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.

Anyone with information about the incident should call Morganton-Burke Crimestoppers at 437-3333.

Multiple local and state agencies work to locate and arrest a Valdese woman for a probation violation; discovering drugs in the process.

24-year-old Timberly Leanna Yelton of 1445 Ivory Pass was located on Hildebran Mountain Avenue in Connelly Springs by detectives with the Burke County Sheriff’s Office CID and Narcotics Division, Morganton Public Safety Narcotics, and the state’s probation and parole division.

Officials seized meth and drug paraphernalia during Yelton’s arrest.

She was transported to the magistrate’s office where she was served a warrant for probation violation, and additionally charged with possession of a schedule-two substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Yelton received a 15-thousand-dollar secured bond and was confined at Burke/Catawba Confinement facility with a court date set for September 10^th.

A Marion man already on probation now faces additional charges for drugs.

Rodrigo Valdez of East Orchard Street is charged with trafficking cocaine, possession with intent to sell and deliver cocaine, possession with intent to sell and deliver meth, and numerous other drug offenses.

As Valdez is on probation, he is subject to warrantless searches.

Officials with the McDowell Sheriff’s Office, state probation and parole, NC SBI, and Marion Police searched his home – finding two-thousand Xanax pills, 29 grams of cocaine, 11 grams of methamphetamine, two handguns, and 10-thousand dollars in cash.

North Carolina insurance officials have approved new rates for next year’s Affordable Care Act.

Published reports indicate rates will go up in western NC even though they’re going down in other parts of the state.

A Blue Cross representative reports it ultimately comes down to competition among hospital systems, and because there’s not much competition in western NC, rate decreases for the affordable care act are more difficult to achieve.

In the western part of the state, rates are scheduled to increase 9-point-2 percent, but in other cities like Charlotte and Raleigh they’ll decrease up to 20-percent.

Legal experts say families who don’t qualify for financial assistance will be hit the hardest; adding that market stability and more certainty from lawmakers regarding the affordable care act are necessary to drive down insurance costs.

Open enrollment begins November 1^st.