Kassie Simmons
Anchor/Multimedia journalist
Wilmington, NC
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Kassie Simmons joined the WECT team in January 2021 as an anchor and multimedia journalist.
Kassie is originally from West Point, Virginia. She graduated from Virginia Tech in 2019 after studying Multimedia Journalism and Creative Writing. Before her graduation, Kassie interned for her hometown newspaper the Tidewater Review and WSLS in Roanoke, Virginia.
After graduation, Kassie worked at WOAY in southern West Virginia as an anchor and reporter. Over the course of two years, she covered everything from crime to feel-good features. Kassie has a passion for local news and loves talking to community members about the good going on in their hometown.
While she loved the amazing hikes the Mountain State has to offer, she’s excited to be back on the coast. When she’s not working, you might find her walking her dog on the beach or checking out some local restaurants.
If you have a story idea for Kassie, email her at kassie.simmons@wect.com or find her on Facebook or Twitter.
Updated: 12 hours ago
|By Kassie Simmons
Christian Recovery Centers, Inc. plans to expand its program to offer up to 24 months of assistance for clients and double its bed count as it purchases a new facility in Shallotte.
Updated: 20 hours ago
|By Kassie Simmons
The group Concerned Citizens of Pender County asked for 40 of the books to be removed.
Updated: Mar. 19, 2023 at 10:15 AM EDT
|By Kassie Simmons
LELAND, N.C. (WECT) - NCDOT says they’ve received multiple complaints in the last several months about the striping along Highway 17 in Leland.
Updated: Mar. 15, 2023 at 7:55 PM EDT
|By Kassie Simmons
Crowds of people were led to confusion Wednesday morning when hundreds lined up at Town Hall to buy non-resident parking passes hours before they went on sale.
Updated: Mar. 14, 2023 at 10:46 PM EDT
|By Kassie Simmons
Golf carts may soon be a thing of the past in Carolina Beach as council members passed an ordinance to help phase out the popular way to get around.
Updated: Mar. 13, 2023 at 10:48 PM EDT
|By Kassie Simmons
Commissioners approved a $45,811 down payment to enter into a contract with Axon to provide body cameras to the Pender County Sheriff’s Office.
Updated: Mar. 8, 2023 at 11:19 PM EST
|By WECT Staff and Kassie Simmons
The board voted 9-4 to remove Ray Funderburk III.
Updated: Mar. 7, 2023 at 10:30 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
Attorney Gary Shipman says he was shocked when reading through what he describes as baseless allegations against Funderburk.
Updated: Mar. 6, 2023 at 11:14 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
As the position of a Cape Fear Community College Board of Trustees member may be on the line, a former member says it’s President Jim Morton who should leave the board, instead.
Updated: Feb. 28, 2023 at 9:29 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
Traffic headaches continue as work on Front Street is now expected to continue into next week.
Updated: Feb. 27, 2023 at 10:43 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
Brunswick County is experiencing growing pains as the latest tax reassessment led some homeowners’ properties to rise in value by up to 75 percent.
Updated: Feb. 26, 2023 at 10:17 AM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
LELAND, N.C. (WECT) - A Leland man is a week and a half into a months-long hike across several states in an effort to raise money and awareness for veterans' and first responders’ mental health.
Updated: Feb. 22, 2023 at 5:27 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
New Hanover County Schools announced Tuesday they’ll be using monitoring software Lightspeed Systems to monitor activity on all district-owned laptop and desktop computers.
Updated: Feb. 21, 2023 at 5:20 PM EST
|By WECT Staff and Kassie Simmons
Former Pender County Board of Education member Brad George was sworn in at the Board of Commissioners meeting on Feb. 21.
Updated: Feb. 21, 2023 at 2:14 AM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
A new contract is in place between Brunswick County and The Healing Place to help residents struggling with substance abuse.
Updated: Feb. 15, 2023 at 7:21 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
Two years after losing three neighbors and witnessing devastating damage to their homes, the Ocean Ridge Plantation community is still recovering.
Updated: Feb. 14, 2023 at 11:30 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
A local brewer is giving back to the community by partnering with a different nonprofit each month.
Updated: Feb. 14, 2023 at 10:45 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
Leaders in a beach town that’s popular as a vacation spot are considering a developer’s request to build a 106-room hotel on an island not known for tall buildings.
Updated: Feb. 13, 2023 at 10:32 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
A proposed new development along River Road in Brunswick County has neighbors concerned about wildlife, crime, and above all else, traffic impacts.
Updated: Feb. 12, 2023 at 11:15 AM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
A teenager’s lifelong dream to become a published author is coming true this week, though she is no longer here to see her work come to life through the artwork of a Wilmington artist.
Updated: Feb. 8, 2023 at 7:29 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
Search efforts are moving further north as South Carolina boater and duck hunter Tyler Doyle has been missing for nearly two weeks.
Updated: Feb. 7, 2023 at 11:34 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - New Hanover County’s Board of Education voted in favor of changing a policy to require students to play sports according to the gender on their birth certificate rather than the gender with which they identify.
Updated: Feb. 6, 2023 at 10:47 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
A sheriff’s office plagued with claims of racism is working to change the department, making several requests before the Columbus County Board of Commissioners meeting on Monday.
Updated: Feb. 1, 2023 at 5:51 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
Lawmakers are pushing to give parents more control over their child’s education but opponents of the bill are concerned that it would hurt some students in the state’s public school system.
Updated: Jan. 31, 2023 at 9:42 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
Community members learned more about a plan to make it safer to walk around Wilmington as Walk Wilmington talked to people about how they hope to build on the city’s current pedestrian plan.
Updated: Jan. 30, 2023 at 10:13 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
Neighbors in the Ammon area are concerned about their drinking water after thousands of gallons of animal waste were released into a nearby creek.
Updated: Jan. 24, 2023 at 11:57 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
Experts say an increase in demand paired with a cold snap shutting down oil refineries have led to higher gas prices across the Carolinas.
Updated: Jan. 24, 2023 at 11:11 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
For thirty years, families at Camp Lejuene were exposed to toxic water resulting in countless medical ailments. Now, thanks to the PACT Act, they can get help from the government to address those issues.
Updated: Jan. 23, 2023 at 10:24 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
One of Wilmington’s oldest public housing communities will soon get a new look as the Wilmington Housing Authority moves forward with plans to redevelop its properties.
Updated: Jan. 22, 2023 at 4:02 AM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
The Wilmington Police Department says that Jennifer Lynn Bougie has been found following a missing person report.
Updated: Jan. 18, 2023 at 10:18 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
The search for a missing North Carolina woman has turned into a homicide investigation as police recover human remains in Georgia and arrest a suspect in South Carolina.
Updated: Jan. 17, 2023 at 10:30 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
A man is hoping to soon see charges filed against the person he says is responsible for more than a dozen of his prized dogs dying from dehydration.
Updated: Jan. 16, 2023 at 9:27 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
Seven years have passed since someone last reported seeing Ebonee Spears when she left her apartment one night in 2016.
Updated: Jan. 11, 2023 at 9:13 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
Travelers continue to see flight delays across the country after a computer system failure left flights grounded for hours Wednesday morning.
Updated: Jan. 9, 2023 at 10:28 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
Monday night marked the third time Wilmington Housing Authority Executive Director Tyrone Garrett stood in front of New Hanover County commissioners with an update on units impacted by mold.
Updated: Jan. 4, 2023 at 12:41 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons and WECT Staff
The Shallotte Police Department has made an arrest following a chase with an individual suspected of assaulting a government official.
Updated: Jan. 3, 2023 at 4:46 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
Leaders from Duke Energy met with the North Carolina Utilities Commission to present a timeline of events and an explanation for rolling blackouts that plagued the Carolinas for hours on Christmas Eve.
Updated: Dec. 22, 2022 at 5:51 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - As some shoppers turn to credit cards for last-minute Christmas shopping, financial planner Megan Kopka shares some must-know tips to keep your credit score in good standing.
Updated: Dec. 21, 2022 at 6:46 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
As Demetreus Powell continues to recover from a brutal attack where he was left in a ditch for dead, two of his accused attackers will now spend Christmas on house arrest instead of behind bars.
Updated: Dec. 20, 2022 at 10:39 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
This time of year, law enforcement often sees an uptick in thefts and robberies as thieves go after packages left in unlocked cars or on porches.
Updated: Dec. 20, 2022 at 10:28 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
This holiday season has a touch of sadness for James David Whaley’s family after he was hit and killed on Old Ocean Highway nearly a month ago.
Updated: Dec. 19, 2022 at 9:32 PM EST
|By WECT Staff, Kassie Simmons and Zach Solon
To make sure hospitals have enough blood through the end of the year, the American Red Cross is asking donors to set a time to give blood or platelets.
Updated: Dec. 14, 2022 at 12:52 PM EST
|By WECT Staff and Kassie Simmons
The Oak Island Town Council voted to select Otto Connect to work with them to create a paid parking program at their meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 13.
Updated: Dec. 13, 2022 at 10:42 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
While advocates at the LGBTQ Center of the Cape Fear Coast describe marriage as a basic right, they say the new law doesn’t fully protect same-sex or interracial couples.
Updated: Dec. 12, 2022 at 9:12 PM EST
|By WECT Staff and Kassie Simmons
As a result of the plea deal, Kimrey will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He had been facing the death sentence.
Updated: Dec. 7, 2022 at 6:34 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
Wednesday marks 50 years since the last time astronauts blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and 50 years since a Leland man played a role in the historic Apollo 17 mission.
Updated: Dec. 6, 2022 at 6:49 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
Complaints came in after Shallotte’s Christmas parade on Saturday after some people thought it wasn’t family-friendly because of a transgender woman in what they described as revealing clothing.
Updated: Dec. 5, 2022 at 5:49 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
A Pender County woman is celebrating the birth of triplets three years after her daughter was killed in a car accident and seven years after another baby was stillborn.
Updated: Nov. 29, 2022 at 7:53 PM EST
|By Kassie Simmons
A Columbus County deputy is suspended without pay at the request of the interim sheriff.
Updated: Nov. 28, 2022 at 6:16 PM EST
|By WECT Staff and Kassie Simmons
A Bladenboro resident was found in a ditch Saturday morning following an apparent robbery and beating, according to a Facebook post from Bladenboro Mayor David Hales.
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