David Whisenant
News Reporter
Charlotte, NC
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David grew up watching WBTV and it was the only TV station he ever wanted to work for.
His biggest stories include the Pillowtex/NC Research Campus developments over the years, the tragic fire at Salisbury Millworks, the funeral of President Ronald Reagan, NASCAR-related stories and coverage and follow-ups on Hurricane Katrina and the local connections to that disaster and recovery.
He is a bureau reporter covering Charlotte and all points north including Salisbury, Concord, and Kannapolis and "wherever they send me."
Honors: Key to the city of Salisbury for Hurricane Katrina relief partnership project; First Place, National Motorsports Press Association Television News Category, 2008; Silver Award, Radio and Television News Director's Association of the Carolinas, 2008; two awards for First Place, National Motorsports Press Association, 2009; Gold Award, Radio and Television News Director's Association of the Carolinas, 2009; Gold Award, RTNDAC, 2010; Charlie Harville Award, NMPA, 2010; First Place Spot News, NMPA, 2010, First Place, Long Form Documentary, NMPA, NC Animal/Rabies Control Association Reporter of the Year, 2012.
Updated: Apr. 3, 2023 at 1:10 PM EDT
|By David Whisenant and Nikki Hauser
Police said the boys are in protective custody.
Updated: Feb. 27, 2023 at 3:56 PM EST
|By David Whisenant
Warrant: Man wanted to cut off woman’s fingers and eat them in front of her to “scare her.”
Updated: Feb. 22, 2023 at 3:54 PM EST
|By David Whisenant
What seemed like the impossible dream is now just three months from reality.
Updated: Dec. 13, 2022 at 4:19 PM EST
|By David Whisenant
Work is progressing to get the iconic track ready to return to the spotlight In just a little over five months from today the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway is set to host the NASCAR All-Star Race.
Updated: Dec. 13, 2022 at 9:36 AM EST
|By David Whisenant
Deputies in Rowan County have charged a 46-year-old woman with failing to report the death of her 78-year-old live-in boyfriend.
Updated: Dec. 5, 2022 at 6:30 AM EST
|By David Whisenant
Christmas tree stolen from Rockwell town gazebo
Updated: Nov. 28, 2022 at 3:06 PM EST
|By David Whisenant and Emily Van de Riet
A dog being walked by its owner was struck and killed by a stolen car over the weekend, according to police in North Carolina.
Updated: Nov. 8, 2022 at 6:46 AM EST
|By David Whisenant
Deputies were called to a home on Barn Road to find Rowan County EMS staff standing over a man lying on the floor with injuries to his face and mouth.
Updated: Nov. 3, 2022 at 12:24 PM EDT
|By David Whisenant
Deputies in Rowan County say a woman was charged after she was found intoxicated and naked, sitting in her front yard screaming as children were getting off a school bus.
Updated: Oct. 29, 2022 at 9:39 AM EDT
|By David Whisenant
The N.C. Transportation Museum is counting down the return of THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride in Spencer.
Updated: Oct. 24, 2022 at 8:47 AM EDT
|By David Whisenant
Two women posing as bail bond agents stole $5000 cash from a woman who was trying to get her boyfriend out of jail.
Updated: Oct. 20, 2022 at 9:47 AM EDT
|By David Whisenant
Deputies with the Rowan Sheriff’s Office say they arrested a man for trafficking drugs in his former employer’s parking lot just thirty minutes after he had been fired.
Updated: Oct. 16, 2022 at 7:50 PM EDT
|By WBTV Web Staff, David Whisenant and Gray News staff
Police say the investigation indicates that there was no exchange of gunfire by those involved in the altercation. Investigators believe a person who is not a student at the college fired one or more shots.
Updated: Sep. 8, 2022 at 11:16 AM EDT
|By David Whisenant
The track’s web page boasts “Wilkesboro had good times, but the best days are ahead.”
Updated: Aug. 30, 2022 at 7:12 AM EDT
|By David Whisenant
Driving a car painted in the throwback bright green Sun Drop paint scheme, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., will race on Wednesday night at the historic North Wilkesboro Motor Speedway.
Updated: Aug. 18, 2022 at 3:52 PM EDT
|By David Whisenant
An iconic small business in Salisbury is struggling because the owner simply can’t find workers.
Updated: Jun. 22, 2022 at 3:14 PM EDT
|By David Whisenant
Firefighters battle the fire and the heat of the day
Updated: Jun. 14, 2022 at 4:48 AM EDT
|By WBTV Web Staff, David Whisenant and Nikki Hauser
The crash happened late Monday night on Fort Dobbs Road near Statesville.
Updated: Jun. 7, 2022 at 1:16 PM EDT
|By David Whisenant and Emily Van de Riet
A man is facing multiple charges for stabbing two teenagers after a fight broke out that started with a “snot rocket,” deputies said.
Updated: May. 30, 2022 at 12:35 PM EDT
|By David Whisenant
A motorcycle convoy set off from Statesville on Monday morning on a 2400 mile ride to Hollywood, California, to return a set of World War Two medals to the family of a man who fought in several major battles, including the D-Day invasion.
Updated: Apr. 11, 2022 at 11:16 AM EDT
|By David Whisenant and Debra Worley
A man arrested in North Carolina for felony identity theft is accused of using dozens of fake names over several years to get out of criminal charges, according to deputies.
Updated: Mar. 1, 2022 at 6:58 PM EST
|By David Whisenant
32-year-old Bruce Richard Goodwin is charged with three counts of felony discharging weapon into an occupied property and five counts of felony assault on law enforcement.
Updated: Feb. 20, 2022 at 4:01 PM EST
|By David Whisenant
Bond was set at $1 million for a Rowan County man accused of child abuse.
Updated: Feb. 8, 2022 at 9:23 AM EST
|By David Whisenant
A woman who had stopped to help the victim of a car crash in Rowan County ended up being a victim herself when she was carjacked.
Updated: Feb. 1, 2022 at 12:11 PM EST
|By David Whisenant
A mother and four of her children are in the hospital following a fire in the family home on Saturday morning just after 7:00 a.m.
Updated: Jan. 4, 2022 at 4:41 PM EST
|By David Whisenant
A North Carolina State Trooper and a motorcyclist he had stopped for a traffic stop both died on Monday night when they were hit and killed by another trooper who was responding to the scene.
Updated: Dec. 23, 2021 at 11:21 AM EST
|By David Whisenant
Salisbury-based Food Lion has released the results of the Food Lion Feeds campaign.
Updated: Dec. 22, 2021 at 6:41 AM EST
|By David Whisenant
A spiked wooden club and a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun were the weapons a 53-year-old man is accused of using in an argument with a man and a woman with whom he had been drinking, according to a report at the Rowan Sheriff’s Office.
Updated: Dec. 14, 2021 at 6:28 AM EST
|By David Whisenant
A big truck rolled out of Food Lion headquarters in Salisbury on Monday to take much needed supplies to tornado victims in America’s heartland.
Updated: Nov. 29, 2021 at 4:13 PM EST
|By David Whisenant
An elderly man sitting in his car on train tracks with a train approaching was pushed away from his vehicle moments before it was struck by a train.
Updated: Nov. 8, 2021 at 6:11 AM EST
|By David Whisenant
A woman was arrested on Friday in China Grove, charged with felony child abuse for allegedly fracturing the skull of a child and causing other injuries.
Updated: Oct. 18, 2021 at 3:54 PM EDT
|By David Whisenant
Betty Lynn, who played Thelma Lou on The Andy Griffith Show, passed away on Saturday
Updated: Sep. 28, 2021 at 3:56 PM EDT
|By David Whisenant
NASCAR drivers Kurt Bush and Daniel Hemric joined officials from Charlotte Motor Speedway and Blue Cross NC in painting Charlotte Motor Speedway’s pit wall pink on Tuesday.
Updated: Sep. 17, 2021 at 7:29 PM EDT
|By David Whisenant
A teenager was killed after being shot Sunday afternoon in Salisbury, authorities said.
Updated: Aug. 31, 2021 at 9:43 AM EDT
|By David Whisenant
Deputies say the staff at a Rowan County convenience store did the right thing by caring for a child found wandering around inside the business late on Saturday night.
Updated: Aug. 3, 2021 at 7:49 AM EDT
|By David Whisenant
During a discussion of the rise in COVID-19 cases, a member of the Cabarrus County Board of Education blamed the case increase on “illegal aliens by the thousands coming across that border without masks, with COVID.”
Updated: Jul. 30, 2021 at 12:35 PM EDT
|By David Whisenant
One man’s armed robbery of a Salisbury convenience store netted only a $5 pack of cigarettes.
Updated: Jul. 20, 2021 at 4:38 PM EDT
|By David Whisenant
She fought hard on the field with her team to win a World Championship in Little League softball, now Kassidy Sechler has a team of support behind her as she fights for her life in a hospital.
Updated: Jun. 30, 2021 at 9:09 AM EDT
|By David Whisenant
A Salisbury man told police that he thought he had been shot in the behind by a Roman candle. It turns out he was shot with a gun and there was a bullet lodged in his buttocks.
Updated: Jun. 9, 2021 at 9:28 AM EDT
|By David Whisenant
A Rowan County mother was jailed on child abuse charges after deputies say she assaulted one son with a cellphone and assaulted another so with a belt.
Updated: May. 10, 2021 at 4:27 PM EDT
|By David Whisenant
Rowan County Sheriff’s Deputies have arrested a man accused of committing repeated sex crimes against a 7-year-old girl he was an acquaintance of.
Updated: May. 3, 2021 at 4:25 PM EDT
|By David Whisenant
In Boone there are reminders everywhere in the form of blue ribbons and signs to show support for law enforcement.
Updated: Apr. 12, 2021 at 1:00 PM EDT
|By David Whisenant
A man accidentally shot himself inside the Food Lion grocery story on Faith Road on Friday night.
Updated: Mar. 31, 2021 at 11:49 AM EDT
|By David Whisenant
An internal investigation into the way a Salisbury police officer handled a K-9 officer has been completed, according to Salisbury Police Chief Jerry Stokes.
Updated: Feb. 25, 2021 at 9:24 AM EST
|By David Whisenant
A woman used her pistol to keep stop a man who was assaulting her husband following a road rage incident on Interstate 85 in Rowan County.
Updated: Feb. 18, 2021 at 4:29 PM EST
|By David Whisenant
Twenty years ago today NASCAR legend and Kannapolis native Dale Earnhardt lost his life while competing in the 2001 Daytona 500.
Updated: Jan. 20, 2021 at 12:02 PM EST
|By David Whisenant
A well-known and loved teacher and coach at a middle school in Rowan County has died of COVID-19, according to sources close to the family.
Updated: Jan. 4, 2021 at 5:19 PM EST
|By David Whisenant
At least three US House Representatives from the Charlotte area say they plan to object to the certification of the election of Joe Biden as President of the United States.
Updated: Oct. 7, 2020 at 8:59 AM EDT
|By David Whisenant
A memorial service has been set for a 19-year-old Appalachian State University student who died from complications related to COVID-19 last week.
Updated: Oct. 1, 2020 at 8:57 PM EDT
|By David Whisenant
For the first time this season a limited number of fans will be allowed inside Bank of America Stadium on Sunday when the Panthers host the Arizona Cardinals.
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