Travis Lee Baker, 19, hasn't been seen since April 16, when he missed a lunch appointment with his girlfriend and failed to show up for work that evening.

Investigators at the Catawba County Sheriff's Office suspect foul play in Baker's disappearance and have followed more than 100 leads in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Texas and Nebraska, said Capt. Roy Brown. Read more

Howell was assigned to Webb A. Murray Elementary School. A seven-year veteran with Catawba County Schools, he has served as assistant principal at Mountain View Elementary and as summer school director at Mountain View and Clyde Campbell Elementary. For the past two years, he taught fifth grade at Claremont Elementary.

Howell is a graduate of Appalachian State University, where he earned a bachelor's in elementary education, a master's in school administration and an educational specialist degree. He is writing a dissertation to complete a doctorate in education leadership at Appalachian. Read more

It's been an unusually tough year for farmers.

First, the Easter weekend freeze nearly devastated area crops. Now, a drought bakes them.

The double effect is testing the resolve and economic savvy of farmers, who expect and plan for hard times but didn't anticipate such a hard blow.

Though spotty rains have left isolated areas of the Catawba Valley green, state agriculture officials say Hickory is more than 14 inches below normal rainfall for the year, Lenoir nearly 12 inches. The N.C. Drought Management Council lists Burke, Caldwell and Catawba counties under a severe drought and Alexander County under a moderate drought. Read more

The man slipped and fell at about 4:40 p.m. as he and others were walking down to a posted no-swimming area, said Iredell Communications Supervisor Mark Pruitt. As the man tumbled, he hit his head, scratched his face and lost consciousness for a while.

Paramedics, who arrived a few minutes later, had to carry the injured man out of the area, located near the border between Alexander and Iredell counties. Read more

Filing for candidacy in municipal races and in school board races in some counties ended Friday.

Now the campaign season begins, with elections on Nov. 6.

Some towns' candidate fields are packed, while other races have no competition.

For instance, Conover has 10 contenders for three City Council seats, while Lenoir and Long View have just enough candidates to fill their open seats.

Other boards could see shake-ups. Twelve people, including all four incumbents up for re-election, are vying for a spot on the Burke County Board of Education, which has experienced a trying and contentious year. There's also a crowded field in Rhodhiss, where the mayor resigned earlier this year and only one elected official is not up for re-election. Read more

Police arrested three teenagers Thursday on first-degree murder charges in the beating death of a 45-year-old man who had lived at a city homeless shelter.

Investigators say robbery was the motive, but that a passing motorist slowed to see what was happening and scared the teens off. The suspects left the $17 in Terry Turner's wallet.

Arrested were Jatorre Dixon, 16, of Statesville and two 15-year-olds, also of Statesville, whose names weren't released because they are juveniles.

Each was charged with one count of first-degree murder and common-law robbery. Dixon was charged as an adult, and is in the Iredell County jail under no bond. Read more

Two 15-year-olds and one 16-year-old are in custody in the beating death of a man in downtown Statesville last week, and two other teens are being sought. via Statesville

The Alexander County Sheriff's Office was called to a home on Black Oak Ridge Road about 60 miles north of uptown Charlotte about 9 a.m. Saturday after family members found Gary Fox, 59, dead at his home.

Sgt. Jason Moore would not comment on how he died, saying the case was still under investigation.

By about 4 p.m. Saturday, authorities arrested Terry Lynn Harris, 33, and charged him with murder, larceny of a motor vehicle and a misdemeanor count of larceny, Moore said. He was being held Sunday without bond at the county jail. Read more

Originally from upstate New York, Jeffrey and Katrina Swartz had lived in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains for the past decade. But they'd long wanted to move south and live on a lake, Jeffrey Swartz said.

Soon, they'll be doing just that -- and welcoming others to the new bed and breakfast they're planning to build and live in.

Last week, Alexander County commissioners approved a conditional-use permit that will allow the couple to move ahead with the project, a proposed two-story, seven-bedroom home in a quiet area on Lake Hickory, just east of Rink Dam. Read more

When he was assigned to patrol the roads of Alexander County in 1979, Tim Tarleton knew he had found his home. via Statesville

Taylorsville police charged Jameson Roland Edwards, 27, with robbery and assault inflicting serious injury, and the Alexander County Sheriff's Office charged him with speeding to allude arrest, driving while intoxicated, driving while license revoked and assault on a law enforcement officer. Read more

Witnesses told Trooper D.D. McDevitt that Dana Hawkins Hamrick was driving her 1995 Jeep Cherokee between 80 and 90 mph on the state highway Friday evening in Alexander County. Hamrick apparently illegally passed two vehicles in a curve. At one point, the jeep was in the wrong lane, speeding toward an approaching vehicle, McDevitt said. Read more