COVID-19 Update

10 reported COVID-19 related deaths in the last two days, as Burke County health officials Friday reported the one-hundred-second virus associated death.

According to a news release, the individual was in their 70’s, was not hospitalized but later died from their underlying medical condition.

Burke County is currently at 7-thousand-766 positive cases, an increase of 89 positives since Thursday.

1-thousand-846 cases are reported to be active, while 33 individuals in Burke are hospitalized.

McDowell County reported 59 new positive cases with one additional death Friday.

McDowell presently has 3-thousand-838 positives, and 501 residents in quarantine.

Fatal Shooting

A Bakersville woman is charged with murder in McDowell County after shooting a Marion man to death.

The McDowell County Sheriff's Office report says 43-year-old Robin Daniels Eudy is accused of killing her boyfriend 37-year-old Joshua Brandon Pritchard of Wildrose Drive.

Deputies responded to Pritchard’s residence shortly after 8 Thursday evening where they found the victim’s lifeless body sitting inside a vehicle.

An investigation revealed the couple had became involved in a dispute inside the car, that resulted in Eudy shooting Pritchard three times with a handgun.

Hickory Fire Cause

The cause of a fire at an abandoned hosiery mill in Hickory cannot be determined because of the extent of the damage according to investigators.

Officials were able to tell the fire started in the front part of the building but could not say for certain what started the blaze.

Personnel from the Hickory Fire Department and State Bureau of Investigation investigated the fire which destroyed the building on Wednesday.

No one was injured in the fire. A homeless woman who was inside the building was able to get out without injury.

It is not clear who owns the building.

Various online sources indicate the business went into bankruptcy in 2015.

Greenway Addition

Contractors have begun work on a new section of greenway that will connect downtown Morganton to the existing Catawba River Greenway at Catawba Meadows Park.

The new one-mile addition will create a paved path between North Green Street and Alphabet Lane.

The path will then continue along Alphabet Lane and Sanford Drive, before crossing Sanford Drive by way of a pedestrian signaled intersection and connecting to Catawba Meadows Park.

The project is expected to take approximately one year finishing in January 2022.

In order to fund the project, the City of Morganton secured a federal grant through the Locally Administered Project Program, while the city is providing a required 20-percent match.

Total cost of the project including the grant is 910-thousand dollars.

Alexander Fire

An Alexander County couple credits their cat with saving their lives in an early Friday morning fire. 

The fire started shortly after midnight along Greenleaf Circle south of Taylorsville in the Bethlehem community.

The occupants reported they were asleep when the fire started on the rear side of their home.

Reports say Mitsy Hudler was asleep in the living room when she felt something pulling her hair.

When she awoke, her cat Sir Purr was in front of her face as the blaze was spreading quickly.

Hudler states she woke up her boyfriend, and both escaped the burning home as a window proceeded to blow out.

Unfortunately, the heroic feline did not survive the incident.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.