Lifting COVID-19 Restrictions

Governor Cooper Wednesday afternoon announced plans to lift all mandatory social distancing, as well as capacity and mass gathering restrictions by June 1st.

State health officials reported NC has had more than 952-thousand-500 COVID-19 cases with 1-thousand-963 new cases reported statewide since Tuesday.

Currently, 1-thousand-168 people are hospitalized and 12-thousand-480 NC residents have died.

However, numbers released from the CDC and the Bureau of Labor Statistics show NC is among the states with the fewest virus-related deaths and fewest job losses per capita.

As of yesterday, almost half of the state’s adults have had at least one shot, and more than a third are fully vaccinated.

Cooper further states with the number of vaccinations completed, the state’s public health experts believe we will have enough protection across our communities to be able to live more safely and begin to put the pandemic behind us.

The governor says he plans to issue an executive order next week outlining safety restrictions for the month of May.

Truck Theft Arrests

A pickup truck theft last December in McDowell County has been solved with five suspects arrested.

A Nebo man had reported that someone stole his ’83 Chevrolet truck from Mary’s Lane in Marion.

An investigation led to the arrest of 23-year-old Alexander Cain of Nebo, 44-year-old Brandon McNeil of Marion, 29-year-old Mitchell Roper of Marion, 47-year-old Joel Smith of Nebo, and 47-year-old James Woodard of Marion.

All five face various charges in connection with the theft.

Reports say the truck had been disassembled.

Baby Shot

A stray bullet from a reported altercation in Shelby Tuesday night entered a home injuring an 8-month-old baby.

The shooting took place just after 10:15 at a residence on Putnam Street.

As officers arrived on the scene, they discovered the child had been struck by a bullet that had traveled through an outside wall and into the home.

Reports say the baby girl was rushed to Atrium Health Cleveland and later airlifted to Carolinas Med Center in Charlotte.

There have been no arrests in the case; however, detectives are actively investigating the incident.

Anyone having information about the incident is urged to call Shelby Police at 704-484-6845.