Lee County, NC

A Sanford man faces multiple human trafficking and involuntary servitude charges after his arrest Tuesday by Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputies. Daniel Lee Linder, 25, of the 5200 block of NC 87 in Sanford, was charged with six counts of human trafficking/adult victim and six counts of involuntary servitude, according to LCSO Capt. Jeff Johnson.

One year ago, Barry McCormick walked out of prison with nothing but the clothes on his back. He didn’t have any connections, he didn’t have any money and he didn’t have anywhere to go. “I couldn’t even get public housing,” McCormick said Wednesday. “That’s the lowest income of housing you...

Thanks to Cullen MacDonagh, the story of the 2020-21 high school sports season is not over in Lee County. The Yellow Jackets’ senior wrestler was one of a handful of grapplers from the Tri-County Conference who competed in the NCHSAA 3A Mideast Regional on Tuesday evening. MacDonagh ended the tournament as the lone wrestler from Lee County to qualify for this year’s state championship, after a second-place finish in the 285-pound weight class.

A new day center for the homeless, three years in the making, opened earlier this year. The Salvation Army of Lee County Navigation Center is a place for people to go “so they’re not out and exposed during those daytime hours,” said Program Coordinator Darla Leigh after the official ribbon-cutting Tuesday.

A year since a recent graduate died, a mother made it her mission to help others, something she felt called to do after two other teenagers took their own lives in the Lee County

Latishea McAuley was pleased with the success of a Suicide Awareness Cookout held Tuesday afternoon at Cameron Grove AME Zion Church in Broadway. Truth be told, she didn’t want to have the cookout. But after McAuley’s daughter, Sierra A’lese McLean, took her own life a year ago at the age...

Sanford City Council delayed new appointments to the Sanford Area Growth Alliance board Tuesday in a narrow 4-3 vote, tabling the issue until next month. Traditionally, the board has included two members of the Sanford City Council and three members of the Lee County Board of Commissioners. That tradition was called into question this month when Bishop Charles Mellette of Christian Provision Ministries put forth his name as a candidate for the board.

In a typical season, Lee County and Southern Lee would now be getting ready for their first-round state playoff opponent. But as we all know, 2020-21 was no typical school year, or season, for anyone. When the fall sports seasons were moved in between the normal winter and spring seasons...