By Devin Stewart
Locally, The Watauga Democrat reports fire season is approaching in the High Country. The fire season typically goes from mid-October until mid-May. When leaves are off the trees, the risk of wildfires starting increases. Watauga Forest Ranger Andrew Harsey says last season 18 fires burned a total of 60 acres. Of those 18 fires, 50 percent were started from debris burning. Harsey says people who need to burn should have a burn permit and have appropriate tools nearby, such as a bucket of water. If you want more information or have questions, you can visit w-w-w dot n-c forest service dot gov backslash contacts backslash Watauga dot h-t-m (www.ncforestservice.gov/contacts/watauga.htm).
Around the state, FOX8 WGHP reports a man is facing several charges after leading Randolph County deputies on a chase. Deputies say they pulled over Steven Barnhart, of Archdale, Wednesday and discovered he had multiple warrants for failure to appear. When deputies asked Barnhart to step out of his car, he refused and sped away on US-311 eastbound. Deputies chased Barnhart until he eventually pulled the car over. Barnhart was then arrested and the car was searched. Drug paraphernalia was found inside the vehicle. Barnhart was charged with multiple charges and taken to the Randolph County Detention Center. He received a 27,000 dollar secured bond and will appear in Court on Monday.
Nationally, NPR reports scores on the ACT test by 2022 high school graduates hit their lowest point in more than 30 years. The Class of 2022 averaged a score of 19.8 out of 36. This marks the first time since 1991 that the average ACT score was below 20. Additionally, an increasing number of students failed to meet any of the subject-area benchmarks, which shows a decline in college coursework readiness. All this comes as the latest evidence of the learning disruption during the pandemic. Standardized testing has faced growing criticism that they’re unfair to minority and low-income students. Still, in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee and Wyoming, everyone is tested.
This afternoon’s weather report is brought to you by booneweather.com. Expect wall-to-wall sunshine for your Friday afternoon with cooler temperatures. High temperatures will top out around 61 degrees, before cooling down to 39 degrees overnight.
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