Today is Election Day. Polls will be open from 6:30am till 7:30. Voters must go to their assigned precinct. WMNC News will provide results after the polls close.

A Catawba man has been charged with murder in a weekend incident that left another man dead. Tony Brittain II, 45, of Claremont has been charged in the shooting death of Kevin Ray Heafner,28, also of Claremont. Reports with the Catawba County Sheriff's Office indicate Brittain went to Hefner's home Saturday night to collect a drug debt. Published reports say at some point during the visit, Hefner was shot once in the chest. Catawba Sheriff's officers continue to investigate while detectives are still conducting interviews and gathering information. Meanwhile, some of Brittains's family contend the shooting was in self-defense. His probable cause hearing is set for November 27th.

Several sentencing cases were heard last Thursday in Burke and Caldwell Superior Court.
In Burke County Superior Court, Jason Miller, 21, of Lenoir was given an active prison term of four to six years following his plea to robbery with a dangerous weapon and second-degree kidnapping.
In Caldwell County Superior Court, Michael Brandon Beane, 32, will spend the next six years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple criminal charges and admitting to being a habitual felon. Richard Allen Clemmons, 48, of Newton, was sentenced to a prison term of three to five years after pleading guilty to felony B/E a motor vehicle, obtaining property by false pretense and admitting his habitual felon status and Shawn Henry McLean, 39, of Lenoir, was given an active prison sentence of two to four years after pleading guilty to possession of methamphetamine and admission of habitual felon status.