News Staff FRANKLIN, N.C. (WLOS) – Smile…Surveillance cameras caught a local FedEx driver allegedly stealing items from people’s homes. According to a Macon County Sheriff’s Office news release Monday, the security footage helped lead police to the culprit, identified as, Gregory Thomas Bufkin, who they have linked to thefts in at least 12 break-ins in the Highlands/Scaly … Read more
The Omicron variant is spreading like wildfire. According to data from the CDC, the week ending Dec. 4 saw Delta accounting for about 99 percent of cases. Two weeks later, the week ending Dec. 18, Omicron was the dominant source, accounting for more than 70% of infections. In North Carolina, officials estimate Omicron is the … Read more
A vacant house in the Greens Creek community is a total loss following a Monday night fire. Captain Brandon Green of the Savannah Volunteer Fire Department said no one lived in the single-story, three-bedroom home on Brooks Branch Road, according to Jackson County tax records. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. -0-
A fatal head on collision on N.C. 107 earlier this month remains under investigation. The wreck involving a Sapphire couple and a B.H. Graning Landscapes dump truck happened Dec. 10 when police say, Steven Sunderland, 71, apparently lost control of his vehicle and crossed the center line, before crashing into a truck heading in the … Read more
Rape charges have been filed against a WCU student in connection with an alleged sexual assault on the Western Carolina University campus. Miles Joseph Garcia, 18, was arrested for one felony count each of a second-degree forcible sex offense and a second-degree forcible rape, according to the warrant which shows the attack occurred in the … Read more
LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. (WLOS) – Calling all Dulcimer players. Western Carolina University’s (WCU) Dulcimer U will hold its annual Winter Weekend event Jan. 6-9 in Lake Junaluska. Early registration has been extended to Jan. 3, 2022. -0-
The eighth annual Cops and Kids event once again helped fill local children’s shopping carts and hearts with the holiday spirit. Officers with multiple law enforcement agencies, including from Haywood, Waynesville, Canton, and Maggie Valley, took 63 children to Walmart in Waynesville where they got to buy necessities for the year ahead. The Cops and … Read more
The Jackson County Board of County Commissioners has welcomed a new director of transit. Commissioners selected April Alm to take over the vacant position, which County Manager Don Adams says will “ensure a smooth transition for the department.” Her first day on the job begins in mid-January. -0-
A Tennessee man convicted of a 2019 sexual assault of a 65 year old Macon County woman was recently sentenced. A Macon County jury found Joseph Ball guilty for the May 12, 2019 incident in which Ball arrived at the woman’s home, who was a coworker, claiming he had wrecked his truck nearby. Investigators say … Read more
CULLOWHEE, NC (WLOS) – Tis the season for giving, and one Cullowhee family is the recipient of that holiday spirt, after they were gifted with a larger-than-life Christmas light display. The surprise display, donning four thousand lights, 200-feet of garland, life-sized snowmen and giant snowflakes, making the house visible from across town, was the handy … Read more