Category: News & Features

Special to Iredell Free News RALEIGH — North Carolina college students can get valuable work experience with government and nonprofits this summer through the NC COVID-19 Student Response Corps. The program,

FROM STAFF REPORTS Two Georgia residents face drug trafficking charges after Iredell County Sheriff’s Office deputies seized more than 30 pounds of marijuana and two handguns after stopping a vehicle

FROM STAFF REPORTS The number of Iredell-Statesville Schools staff and students testing positive for COVID-19 plunged last week. Three staff members and seven students tested positive during the week of

BY DEBBIE PAGE debbiepage.iredellfreenews@gmail.com At the March Drug-Alcohol Coalition of Iredell (DACI) meeting, Statesville Police Department’s Community Resource Coordinator Pam Navey reported on the new Iredell Homeless Collaborative, which formed

Statewide Tornado Drill scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 10 Special to Iredell Free News RALEIGH — Gov. Roy Cooper has declared March 7-13 Severe Weather Preparedness Week and urges

FROM STAFF REPORTS The Iredell County Sheriff’s Office reported the following felony arrests: FEBRUARY 26 ♦ Tammy Charlene Kiser Lockamy, 49, of Porter Road, Statesville, charged with possession of methamphetamine

Special to Iredell Free News RALEIGH —  The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services today updated the COVID-19 County Alert System, which shows six red counties — a decrease from

BY DEBBIE PAGE debbiepage.iredellfreenews@gmail.com The recent Troutman Town Council retreat covered a wide range of topics as officials looked to plan for future infrastructure and equipment needs as well as

Special to Iredell Free News The Iredell County Sheriff’s Office introduced the agency’s three newest road patrol deputies ths week: Donald Austin Joyce, Gracyn Elizabeth Wyatt and Philip Henshaw. Deputy

Special to Iredell Free News Heather Oland has been promoted to general manager of the Home Instead serving Iredell and Alexander counties. Oland has been an employee of the business

FROM STAFF REPORTS The local chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans opposes a plan by the Iredell County Board of Commissioners to relocate the Confederate memorial on the grounds

BY KARISSA MILLER Iredell-Statesville Schools Superintendent Jeff James thumbed through a copy of a Dr. Seuss classic while surrounded by nearly 20 second-graders in Toni Gentle’s classroom. “Green Eggs and

Special to Iredell Free News RALEIGH — President Biden and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have approved Gov. Roy Cooper’s request for a major federal disaster declaration to help communities recover

Special to Iredell Free News RALEIGH — The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services will be expanding access to rapid testing in K-12 public schools to protect students, teachers

Special to Iredell Free News In keeping with the highest levels of training and professionalism at the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Darren Campbell recently presented four detectives and one

BY KARISSA MILLER Iredell County staff members will not be requried to enforce the governor’s face masking mandate for youth sports following a unanimous vote by county commissioners earlier this

BY DEBBIE PAGE debbiepage.iredellfreenews@gmail.com The long-awaited baseball/softball fields at ESC Park are coming online this week if weather permits the finishing touches to be completed, according Troutman Parks and Recreation

Special to Iredell Free News RALEIGH — New COVID-19 cases in North Carolina long-term care facilities have declined rapidly in the last several weeks. Case rates are down over 15-fold

BY KARISSA MILLER When Jeff James began working as superintendent of Iredell-Statesville Schools on July 1, he provided the Board of Education and the community with a plan for the

FROM STAFF REPORTS Two men face drug trafficking charges after Iredell County Sheriff’s Office deputies seized more than $60,000 worth of cocaine following a vehicle stop on Interstate 77. Sheriff

Special to Iredell Free News The Town of Mooresville’s Beautification Committee recently awarded TriStone Group Inc. with a Beautification Award for their property located at 604 East Iredell Avenue. The

Special to Iredell Free News The deadline to apply for a chance to represent EnergyUnited on the 2021 Electric Cooperative Virtual Youth Tour is March 15, 2021. Applications for this

v Special to Iredell Free News The City of Statesville and Iredell Arts Council are collaborating on an all-inclusive class taught by local artist Chrystal Ingersoll. The painting class will

  FROM STAFF REPORTS A Mooresville man faces multiple felony charges, including statutory rape, following an investigation by the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office Sheriff Darren Campbell announced the arrest of

Special to Iredell Free News Iredell-Statesville Schools officials are making plans for hundreds of district employees to receive their second COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, March 24. In anticipation that a

BY KARISSA MILLER Iredell County commissioners voted Tuesday to relocate the Confederate memorial in front of the Iredell County Government Center to a public cemetery in the City of Statesville.

Special to Iredell Free News RALEIGH — Gov. Roy Cooper and N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy K. Cohen announced Tuesday that additional frontline essential workers

BY KARISSA MILLER The word i s “beguile.” Meriam Webster’s Dictionary defines it as leading by deception. For The Brawley School sixth-grade student Rishidharan Jayakumar, the word meant victory. Rishidharan

BY STACIE LETT CAIN Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and associated challenges, crime decreased in the City of Statesville in 2020, but reports of some categories of violent crimes increased from

Special to Iredell Free News Mitchell Community College’s Nu Tau Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Honor Society was recently honored as a 2021 PTK Recognizing Excellence in Acceptance and

FROM STAFF REPORTS The Iredell County Sheriff’s Office is looking for Evelyn Edminsten Funderburk, who was last seen early Tuesday morning at Iredell Memorial Hospital. At 8:01 a.m. Tuesday her car,

BY KARISSA MILLER The Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education on Monday unanimously approved a $46.6 million budget for 2021-2022. The plan calls for a $1.2 million increase in spending, or

Special to Iredell Free News William T. Stetzer has been named Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, following the departure of U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray on