South Carolina Ranked As The Least Energy-Efficient State in America

Steve
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South Carolina Ranked As The Least Energy-Efficient State in America

The personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2018’s Most & Least Energy-Efficient States.

To gauge the financial impact of doing more with less energy (the average American household spends at least $2,000 per year on utilities and another $1,968 on motor fuel and oil), WalletHub compared the auto- and home-energy efficiency in 48 U.S. states. Due to data limitations, Alaska and Hawaii were excluded from the analysis.

Out of all the states ranked, South Carolina landed dead-last on the list, coming in last for home-energy usage and 44th for auto-energy usage;

Source: WalletHub

 

Overall Rank* State Total Score ‘Home Energy Efficiency’ Rank ‘Auto Energy Efficiency’ Rank
1 New York 84.41 3 2
2 Vermont 82.11 1 13
3 Utah 81.77 2 10
4 Rhode Island 81.59 6 1
5 Massachusetts 77.79 8 4
6 Colorado 71.43 7 18
7 Minnesota 71.14 4 28
8 Wisconsin 71.01 10 15
9 California 70.23 18 5
10 Connecticut 69.00 16 7
11 Nevada 67.14 14 12
12 New Hampshire 66.54 9 26
13 Michigan 63.00 19 21
14 Illinois 62.47 23 14
15 Maine 60.52 5 40
16 Pennsylvania 59.57 24 22
17 Washington 59.50 27 9
18 New Jersey 59.29 17 31
19 Oregon 58.80 25 19
20 New Mexico 58.65 21 32
21 Idaho 58.05 13 36
22 Delaware 57.50 26 17
23 Maryland 56.51 31 11
24 Arizona 55.48 30 16
25 Ohio 55.33 29 20
26 Montana 54.96 11 43
27 Florida 52.12 36 3
28 Iowa 48.92 20 45
29 Kansas 48.44 32 25
30 Indiana 48.41 33 24
31 South Dakota 47.17 15 46
32 North Carolina 46.94 40 6
33 Virginia 45.95 34 27
34 Nebraska 44.84 28 39
35 Georgia 39.27 45 8
36 North Dakota 38.40 22 47
37 Missouri 37.68 38 33
38 West Virginia 36.92 43 23
39 Wyoming 36.04 12 48
40 Oklahoma 34.96 39 37
41 Kentucky 33.59 41 34
42 Texas 33.34 35 42
43 Mississippi 32.08 37 41
44 Arkansas 31.54 42 38
45 Tennessee 30.29 46 29
46 Alabama 28.91 44 35
47 Louisiana 28.69 47 30
48 South Carolina 17.68 48 44
N/A** Alaska
N/A** Hawaii

To view the full report and your state’s ranking, you can visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/most-and-least-energy-efficient-states/7354/

Cleveland County Man Gets Shot After Tripping His Own Booby Trap

Charlotte Stories
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Cleveland County Man Gets Shot After Tripping His Own Booby Trap

Yesterday morning, a 68-year-old Cleveland County man accidentally shot himself in the arm after tripping his own booby trap.

At about 11:30am yesterday morning, Edwin Smith “opened his back door to feed the squirrels outside, and that’s when the booby trap went off,” WBTV reported. The booby trap included a loaded shotgun, which discharged directly into his arm, which had to have a tourniquet applied to stop the bleeding once deputies arrived.

“I’ve never seen anything quite like this,” said Capt. Jon Wright with the Sheriff’s Office.

Once first responders arrived, they were cautioned by deputies to walk carefully through the property to avoid any other potential booby traps.

The man’s property where the booby-trapped shed was located is littered with ‘no-trespassing’ signs including a large one that reads “crackheads, drug dealers and illegal aliens” to stay off the property.

The man was taken to Atrium Health in Shelby, no charges have yet been filed.

Charlotte To Be Celebrated at Famed James Beard House As Top Culinary City

Charlotte Stories
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Charlotte To Be Celebrated at Famed James Beard House As Top Culinary City

Charlotte is the latest major city to emerge as one of the nation’s top culinary destinations, featuring a wide range of culinary offerings from inspired international chefs to inventive culinary artists who are reinterpreting Southern cuisine and cocktails. To celebrate the city’s ever-evolving and growing food and beverage scene, a handful of Charlotte’s best-known and respected chefs and bartenders have been invited to present a special Charlotte Tastemakers Dinner at New York City’s famed James Beard House on Friday, Nov. 16.

The special showcase, which is curated and sponsored by the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, will feature three events:

The dinner will consist of passed appetizers and five courses paired with craft cocktails and wines, showcasing the talents of the following culinary ambassadors (in order of courses served):

Accompanying the chefs to the James Beard House will be two Charlotte mixologists whose craft and creativity have earned them national followings: Colleen Hughes (Haberdish) and Bob Peters (Innovative Cocktails and Consulting, of The Ritz-Carlton fame).

“Charlotte’s culinary scene is incredibly dynamic,” says Laura White, CRVA Director of Communications. “We have established ourselves as a city of culinary opportunity and a creative haven for tastemakers in the Southeast. From Chef Bruce Moffett who pioneered contemporary fine dining in Charlotte to chef William Dissen who showed that our city is attracting notable chefs from other respected ‘foodie cities,’ our culinary reputation continues to be recognized.”

Charlotte’s culinary success is evident through the individual stories of dedication, perseverance, creativity, courage and hard-won loyalty from the city’s diverse mix of young, inventive chefs (many graduates of local culinary school Johnson & Wales University), James Beard Award nominees, well-established restaurateurs, international chefs, and award-winning brewers, distillers and mixologists.

In a city where the culinary community is both close-knit and competitive, native and transplant, every meal is an exploration of the city’s evolving identity.

North Carolina’s K-12 Culinary Institute Helps Improve School Meals Statewide

Charlotte Stories
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North Carolina’s K-12 Culinary Institute Helps Improve School Meals Statewide

School nutrition managers from across North Carolina have had the opportunity this summer to participate in regional K-12 Culinary Institute workshops. The School Nutrition Services Section of the Department of Public Instruction designed the institute to increase the availability of appealing, nutritious meals at school.

“Appealing meals that are filling and nutritious help students focus in the classroom,” said Lynn Harvey, chief of DPI’s School Nutrition Services Section. “The North Carolina K-12 Culinary Institute provides school nutrition managers with tools and information they can take back and implement in their school nutrition programs to ensure students receive the meals they need to do well in the classroom.”

The North Carolina K-12 Culinary Institute, developed by DPI School Nutrition Services and nationally-accomplished chef Cyndie Story’s K-12 Culinary Team, meets five core objectives:

  • Improve student health, well-being and academic success through nutritious, appealing meals at school;
  • Increase participation in high-quality and enticing school nutrition programs;
  • Expand capacity of local school nutrition programs to purchase, prepare and serve fresh, locally grown produce;
  • Increase consumption of fruits, vegetables and whole grain-rich foods; and
  • Provide continuing education opportunities for school nutrition personnel.

Instructional segments cover topics such as knife skills, weighing and measuring accurately, preparing foods for just-in-time service, work simplification and scheduling, effective use of equipment, and quality food preparation and service for a variety of meats, grains, fruits, vegetables, and condiments.

The menus and recipes developed for the North Carolina K-12 Culinary Institute include:

  • Scratch, convenience, and modified scratch products and techniques;
  • Instructions written for production amounts consistent with pack or pan sizes commonly available in school kitchens; and
  • Nutritional analysis files for easy import into software programs by local education agencies.

Participants in the North Carolina K-12 Culinary Institute graduate as chef ambassadors and culinary specialists. These ambassadors are charged with teaching skills during the workshops to other school nutrition professionals at the local district or school level. Equipping school nutrition professionals with needed equipment, educational resources and skills can positively impact the preparation, service and consumption of school meals.

Since the N.C. K-12 Culinary Institute was launched in 2016, the program has graduated 992 school nutrition managers as culinary specialists in 123 school food authorities statewide, including traditional public school districts, charters, non-public schools and residential child-care institutions. The institute is funded in part by training grants DPI’s School Nutrition Services Section received from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation.

Susan Johnson, school nutrition manager for Edgecombe County Schools and a graduate of the North Carolina K-12 Culinary Institute, said the program enhanced not only her own skills, but also has helped her develop the skills of others with whom she works.

“My experience at the North Carolina K-12 Culinary Institute was amazing,” Johnson said. “The chef instructors were wonderful and professional. This training has increased my culinary confidence and helped me train the school nutrition professionals at my school and fellow school nutrition managers in knife skills, batch cooking, merchandising, work scheduling and more. I strongly encourage all school nutrition managers to participate in the institute.”

The workshops run from June through August. Local education agencies hosting the regional workshops this summer are: Alamance-Burlington Schools, Asheville City Schools, Bertie County Schools, Craven County Schools, Hoke County Schools, New Hanover County Schools, Pitt County Schools, and Yadkin County Schools.

Questions regarding the North Carolina K-12 Culinary Institutes may be directed to NCDPI School Nutrition Services, School Nutrition Specialist Tracey Bates or (919) 696-7207.

Sears Just Filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, Closing 8 Stores In The Carolinas

Charlotte Stories
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Sears Just Filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, Closing 8 Stores In The Carolinas

Sears just officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced they will be closing an additional 142 stores by the end of this year.

“The reduction in the number of stores that the company operates, as well as the reconfiguration of the stores it continues to operate, is part of the company’s larger process of transforming its business model to place a greater emphasis on providing dynamic online and in-person shopping experiences for its customers,” Sears noted in their bankruptcy documents.

The additional closings will include 3 Sears stores in North Carolina;

  • 11033 Carolina Place Pkwy, Pineville NC
  • 400 Cross Creek Mall, Fayetteville NC
  • 703 N Berkeley Blvd, Goldsboro NC

And 5 K-Mart stores in North and South Carolina (KMart purchased Sears in 2004);

  • 1530 East Broad Street, Statesville NC
  • 1001 Patton Ave, Asheville NC
  • 4500 Western Blvd, Raleigh NC
  • 2302 Cherry Rd, Rock Hill SC
  • 129 West Butler Avenue, Mauldin SC

In addition to the 142 new store closings announced today, Sears is also set to close 46 stores by next month (originally announced back in July), including the following locations in the Carolinas and Georgia (mostly now liquidated);

  • Sears* 4601 Glenwood Avenue Raleigh – Crabtree NC
  • Sears Oglethorpe Mall, 7810 Abercorn St Savannah GA
  • Sears 2860 Cumberland Mall Atlanta GA
  • Sears 100 Mall Blvd Ste 300 Brunswick GA

New liquidation sales are expected to begin at the 142 additional store closings shortly.

Charlotte’s 3rd Annual Hero Run To Benefit Local Veterans

Steve
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Charlotte’s 3rd Annual Hero Run To Benefit Local Veterans

On October 27th, at 8AM, Charlotte’s American Asset Corporation and Fairview Plaza will host their third annual HeroRun 5k and 1k Fun Run. This 5K race is unique in the Charlotte market, as all of the registration fees gained from race day will go directly back to the race’s beneficiary – Veterans Bridge Home.

Originally known as Charlotte Bridge Home, Veterans Bridge Home was established in 2011 by Tommy Nolan, a former member of the Army Special Forces. What began as simple favor to a fellow brother in arms, became a mission to serve Veterans in need of a way to rebuild their lives here at home.

Support for Veterans Charlotte Bridge Home helps Veterans and their families get the support they need in their housing, their careers, their education, and their healthcare.

HeroRun starts and finishes at Fairview Plaza which is centrally located in the Southpark area of Charlotte. This is a family-friendly race that encourages each member of the community to embrace their inner superhero to help support our military heroes. Participants are welcome to participate come in costume or just run in their normal running gear, everyone is welcome. Or take a photo with the professional heroes that will be in the race village. Each runner will receive a custom shield medal, upon the completion of the race. 100% of the registration fees go to support Veterans Bridge Home.

Register today at: herorun.racesonline.com – use coupon code ‘HeroStories’ for 25% off your run!

Thousands Still Without Power In The Carolinas After Florence and Michael

Charlotte Stories
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Thousands Still Without Power In The Carolinas After Florence and Michael

As of Monday morning at 9am, over 34,000 Carolina residents are still without power, 1 month after Hurricane Florence and 4 days after Tropical Storm Michael dumped historic levels of floodwaters and toppled thousands of trees throughout our region.

That number is down from the over 500,000 Carolinians who had no power last Thursday, the day Michael swept through our states.

According to Duke Energy, most of the remaining 34,000 power outages should be repaired by the end of this week.

The company is still working around the clock to rebuild lines and bring back power to all affected customers.

Gaston County Antifa Planning Rally This Weekend

Charlotte Stories
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Gaston County Antifa Planning Rally This Weekend

UPDATE 10/17/2018 9:30am: 

We have now uncovered at least 2 other local “Antifa” pages in other parts of the country which are using the same images as what is posted on the “Gaston County Antifa” page.

It now seems likely that all pages using these images are run by one centralized person or group.

Original article 10/16/2018:

A new ‘Antifa’ group has been causing quite the stir on local social media channels. The group calls themselves the “Gaston County Antifa” (which stands for “anti-fascist”).

This past Sunday they announced that they will be rallying in front of Gander Outdoors to protest against the statue of the Confederate Common Soldier in front of the Gaston County Courthouse.

“We will protest in front of Gander Mtn in Gastonia on Saturday October 20th at 10:00 am. You will stand down! We have brothers from at least ten states coming here. On the agenda is getting a petition to remove that Nazi statue at the Gaston County Courthouse and recruiting new members,” the post noted.

In a recent video, the leader talks about what the group is trying to resist;

The ‘Gaston County Antifa’ page was initially created on August 18th after several of the founding members participated in their first rally in Asheville;

There has been growing political divide in Gaston County after the appearance of racist vandalism, KKK recruitng efforts, and an increasing number of confederate flags being flown around town.

What do you think about the recent rallys and protests around Gaston County?

The Passive Income Lie: Why Learning is Key to Investments

Randy
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The Passive Income Lie: Why Learning is Key to Investments

Have you ever considered taking a venture into the world of online trading? if so, it
is likely that you have come across a handful of so-called digital “gurus” who have
every answer that you could possibly desire (notwithstanding a substantial one-
time fee, of course). Promises such as the ability to accrue millions and to enjoy
unfettered fiscal freedom seem to be running rampant and unfortunately, many
would-be successful traders have fallen into this trap. This is why it is critical to
clarify what is meant by obtaining a “passive income” and why online investing
should represent a never-ending learning curve.

Passive Income: Failing to Embrace an Active Perspective

It is a well-known fact that several prominent economists failed to predict the
financial crisis of 2008. Why was this the case? Considering that these individuals
had cutting-edge tools at their disposal, how were they unable to see the storm
clouds on the horizon? One reason is that they had grown too comfortable with
markets that appeared to be moving forward in a straight line. Words such as
“recorrection” had been outwardly replaced with expressions such as “boom” and
“prosperity”. In other words, they had taken a passive perspective when they
should have been looking for the proverbial writing on the wall.

Home-based investors can often make similar mistakes. They erroneously believe
that there is nothing more to learn; that they have amassed enough knowledge to
become experts within a specific sector. Let us take a look at the Forex markets in
order to appreciate an example of how adopting a proactive stance is the way
forward.

Embracing the Learning Curve

Trillions of dollars change hands on the Forex markets every day. But what is Forex?
Foreign exchange (or FX) is the exchange of different currencies on a decentralized
global market. Not only is this most liquid sector in the world, but it is open 24
hours a day and seven days a week.

While this is excellent news for investors of all sizes, it is critical to stay ahead of the
learning curve. Political and economic events have made this quite clear. For
instance, the pound fell to an eleven-month low due to Brexit concerns as recently
as August. Those who had kept a keen eye on such movements likely turned a
profit. Traders who failed to perform an adequate amount of research could have
been caught by surprise; a potentially expensive mistake.

The takeaway point here is simple. Even the most experienced investors need to
keep abreast of the latest news, market analyses and similar movements. Whether
referring to currency trades, contracts for difference, indices or commodities, this
principle is just as valid. While a passive income is certainly able to provide a
superior sense of financial freedom, there is nothing "passive" about targeted
investing strategies.

A Bit of discipline Can go a Long Way

One of the best ways to develop this habit is to allocate at least 30 minutes before
trading every day towards reading the latest information and appreciating the
opinions of expert analysts such as those at CMC Markets. The bottom line is that a
passive income will only become a reality after traders begin to appreciate the
massive amounts of useful advice at their immediate disposal.

Uptown’s Premier Farm-To-Table Restaurant Introduces New Menu – JP Charlotte

Steve
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Uptown’s Premier Farm-To-Table Restaurant Introduces New Menu – JP Charlotte

One of Uptown Charlotte’s premier destinations for local farm-to-table fare has just gotten even better with a completely redesigned menu and decor.

JP Charlotte, located in the heart of The Westin Charlotte, will now feature organic fruits, vegetables and proteins grown in the Carolinas within 100 miles of the Queen city, as well as herbs grown on site and honey from their own hive of bees on their 3rd floor rooftop.

“JP Charlotte has developed a process to obtain the best product ranging from Georgia into the Virginia’s coming directly from farms to our kitchen,” noted Executive Chef Jason Coperine. “The ability to work with small farmers and obtain product customized specifically for JP Charlotte allows us to provide a tailored experience unique to the Queen City.  From special blends of all organic produce to high quality non-antibiotic proteins we guarantee eco-friendly product; while creating gourmet meals to please your palate.”

Here’s a sneak peak at JP Charlotte’s new menu;

Check out more of what they have to offer on their new blog here and be sure to follow them on Instagram here.

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