The Paper Media

06/03/2026

Valdese lost two more restaurants last week when Major’s Supper and Social announced its immediate closure Wednesday, and owners confirmed that Mountain Burrito is also permanently shut.

06/03/2026

As younger generations look for hobbies that pull them away from screens and back toward hands-on creativity, needlepointing is seeing a major resurgence. In downtown Morganton, that growing demand is helping push Stitching Chicks Needlepoint into the former Merrill Mischief building, where owner Laura Oden hopes to expand not only the business, but also the sense of community that comes with it.

“Needlepoint is not just what you see. It’s really the community,” Oden said. “And the needlepoint community is very welcoming and robust. Everyone’s willing to help each other.”

“Deep friendships are built over needlepoint, and so we want to offer community,” she said, adding that the larger space will allow for more of that community-focused work.

Stitching Chicks, a full-service needlepoint shop, opened on West Union Street in 2023 and offers hand-painted canvases from designers across the country. The shop sells more than 40 thread lines, project bags, stretcher bars, and other accessories, while offering finishing services that can transform stitched canvases into pillows, ornaments, sunglass cases, bag charms, and more.

Read the full article in The Paper.

https://monkeylink.co/b121ed

Driven by younger generations embracing screen-free hobbies, Morganton’s Stitching Chicks Needlepoint is expanding downtown to meet growing demand and create more community space.

06/03/2026

For Morganton resident Janna Kropelnicki, being a FASTer Way to Fat Loss coach isn’t about the money; it’s about helping others regain confidence, lose fat, and gain strength by building healthy habits that stick.

Kropelnicki, 63, retired from a career in the human resources field in 2018. Not long later, an autoimmune disease that had been in remission for seven years flared up.

That set her on the path to FASTer Way to Fat Loss.

“They put me on a medication that was terrifying,” Kropelnicki said. “It completely takes away your immune system … and it wasn’t really helping my Crohn’s Disease. And then COVID came around, and I thought, ‘Okay, I have no immune system and they’re terrifying me about COVID.’”

When her body responded poorly to a second treatment, Kropelnicki reached out to a functional medicine doctor. She asked if dietary changes could help her condition.

https://monkeylink.co/94da9e

For Janna Kropelnicki, being a FASTer Way to Fat Loss coach isn’t about the money; it’s about helping others regain confidence, lose fat, and gain strength by building healthy habits.

06/02/2026

Bethany Mace was a student at George Hildebrand Elementary School when she first read a book about the sinking of the luxury liner Titanic in the spring of 1912.

Suddenly, in her mind, history was no longer a cold and sterile subject, confined to dusty old books and yellowing newspaper pages.

Instead, history was people, history was action, history was human drama. And perhaps most importantly, history was not confined to the past. History is instead the living, breathing, always unfolding story of humanity.

“I was hooked,” she said of the awakening caused by reading first a fictional account of the Titanic’s doomed voyage and then a true history of the tragic sinking and the lives it touched.

“I couldn’t stop talking about it,” she recalls. “I wanted to share everything I had read and everything I knew with my family.”

Now, Mace can share her love of history with a much wider audience. As of late May she is the education director and assistant curator of the History Museum of Burke County.

https://monkeylink.co/a6ca1d

A new education director and assistant curator has been hired by the History Museum of Burke County. Bethany Mace is a Burke County native who looks forward to sharing her

06/02/2026

Six people came to the last Burke County commissioners meeting to address ongoing concerns with an animal neglect case involving more than 160 pigs in March — five asked commissioners to reopen the case for investigation, while one stood up for the woman who kept the pigs.

Twenty of the animals were severely underweight and two had to be put down due to illness or infection, but the county determined no animal neglect charges were warranted against the homeowner, Amy Mullins, whose property is off U.S. 64.

Evan Costner, a co-director of South Carolina-based rescue Cotton Branch Sanctuary, said there were concerns about the property long before 2026, and that Hurricane Helene did not create this crisis.

Burke Public Information Officer Chris White previously said Mullins’ barn and home were destroyed during Helene. She could not afford repairs.

White said that, with the exception of two pigs, the others were healthy, and “the pigs can live in that, they thrive in that.”

Read the full article in The Paper.

https://monkeylink.co/784baa

Six people came to the last Burke County commissioners meeting to address ongoing concerns with an animal neglect case involving more than 160 pigs in March.

06/01/2026

When the Burke County Opioid Advisory Committee formed last year, they had a huge undertaking ahead of them: the utilization of more than $24 million in settlement funding to heal a county of years of opioid abuse.

On May 19, the committee met at Western Piedmont Community College to present their first year of progress during the Burke County Annual Recovery Summit, inviting the community for a day full of presentations, breakout sessions, and future-forward brainstorming.

“What I’m gonna do next,” said Burke County Opioid Settlement Coordinator Dr. Katie Samuels, “is put all these notes together and send your recommendations to our opioid advisory committee so we can look at what we can get going over the next year.”

https://monkeylink.co/b7fe12

On May 19, the Burke County Opioid Advisory Committee met at Western Piedmont Community College to present their first year of progress during the Burke County Annual Recovery Summit, inviting

06/01/2026

Congratulations to all 42 high school baseball and softball players who were named to The Paper's All-Burke County teams!

Individual award recipients included:
BASEBALL
Cohen Christian - Pitcher of the year
Brady Davis - Player of the year
Trevor Throneburg and Maddox Mosteller - Co-Silver Sluggers
SOFTBALL
Avie Helton - Pitcher of the year
Lindsey Hensley and Braylen Clontz - Co-Players of the year
Ava Aldridge - Silver Slugger
.. Read the full story here!

After both Burke County high school baseball and softball teams provided a treat as they enjoyed the longest local playoff runs in those sports in over a decade, The Paper

06/01/2026

The Burke County Post 21 American Legion Lady softball team opens its season tomorrow night (Tuesday) with a 6pm doubleheader at McDowell High School ...

Read more about the team's upcoming season here!

The Burke County Post 21 American Legion Lady softball team last week released the 2026 schedules for both its senior- and junior-level squads.

06/01/2026

Those passing by Morganton’s Ingles may spot several Hussmann trucks parked outside the store, but city staff say shoppers shouldn’t get too excited just yet.

Though the City of Morganton approved a building permit application for renovations at the grocery store in late March, officials say they are still waiting for a general contractor to pick up the permit before work can officially move forward.

Several trucks from Hussmann Corporation, a company that provides refrigeration and services to food retailers, have recently been at the store. However, without the building permit, Ingles can only maintain its existing refrigeration systems, not renovation work, according to Development and Design staff.

The last contact city staff had with the project team was in mid-April, when there were still no updates on a contractor, according to Wendy Smith, director of Development and Design Services. Now, more than a month later, staff are still waiting to hear who the contractor will be and when a representative will come to pick up the permit from the city.

https://monkeylink.co/6f5ed9

Though there's been recent activity at Morganton's Ingles, city staff say they have not been notified whether a contractor has been selected for renovations.

05/31/2026

Growing up in Burke County, Jesse Bunton spent his afternoons on the same fields and courts where hundreds of local children still play. Years later, his passion for sports has come full circle, now leading the City of Morganton’s athletic programs that helped shape him.

Born down by the coast, Bunton’s family moved to Burke County’s Salem community when he was almost a year old. As a child, he kept busy, whether it was riding dirt bikes out in the country or traveling into town for a baseball game.

Lacrosse, track, soccer, you name it, Bunton played a little bit of everything. But it was football that brought him from Patton High School to the collegiate level at Gardner-Webb University. He eventually decided to step away from the sport, and after exploring different career avenues, he landed on Parks and Recreation Management.

He got his first glimpse of recreation at the professional level with the city through his Western Carolina University capstone course, which helps students transfer the skills they learn in the classroom into real-world scenarios.

https://monkeylink.co/4f873b

Jesse Bunton, a Burke County native, now leads Morganton's athletic programs with a focus on expanding opportunities helping local children grow through sports.