Top 10 Things Happening Around Charlotte This Weekend

Steve
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Top 10 Things Happening Around Charlotte This Weekend

The weekend is almost here!

There will be Christmas shows, festivals, basketball, and tons of concerts!

Here are the top 10 things happening around the Charlotte region this weekend:

#1 Jay-Z

Shawn Corey Carter, known professionally as JAY-Z, is an American rapper and businessman. He is one of the best-selling musicians of all time, having sold more than 100 million records, while receiving 21 Grammy Awards for his music.

Also, he married Beyonce.

He’ll be performing live this Thursday night at 8pm at the Spectrum Center in Uptown Charlotte.

For tickets or more info click here.

#2 Winter Wonderland Southpark

Winter Wonderland Ice Skating Rink is an open-air holiday experience in Charlotte, North Carolina nestled between SouthPark Mall and Symphony Park. It features a 5,000 square for ice skating rink, a pub and a coffee shop and features live music, special events, guests and activities.

They’ll be open this coming Friday from 3pm-midnight, and Saturday and Sunday from 11am-midnight.

For more info click here.

#3 The Southern Christmas Show

This is the last weekend of The 50th Southern Christmas Show at Charlotte’s Park Expo and Conference Center off Independence Blvd.

It will be open 10am-9pm this coming Thursday (11/16) through Sunday (11/19).

For more information or tickets click here.

#4 Carolina Renaissance Festival

renaissance-festival-charlotte

This is the very last weekend of the Carolina’s biggest Renaissance Festival. History comes alive with non-stop, day long entertainments, arts and crafts, games and rides, jousting knights on horseback, feasting and so much more!  Time travel to the greatest party since Camelot! Huzzah!

For more info or tickets click to learn more.

#5 Christopher Warren-Green – Beethoven Violin Concerto

World famous British violinist and conductor Christopher Warren-Green will be leading the Beethoven Violin Concerto this coming Friday night at the Belk Theater starting at 7:30.

For tickets or more info click here.

#6 Will Downing, Maysa Leak & Alex Bugnon

This coming Friday night at the Spectrum Center, Fall Out Boy, Blackbear, & Jaden Smith will be performing live at the Oven’s Auditorium starting at 8pm.

For tickets or more info click here.

#7 Vintage Charlotte Winter Market

VTGCLT is popping up at The Fillmore Charlotte for the sixth annual Winter Market! Come out and spend the day shopping with 60+ of the region’s best vintage & handmade vendors.

Yelp Charlotte is supplying shopping bags for our first 500 customers. HEX Coffee will be on hand keeping us caffeinated, and Bleu Barn Bistro and The Dumpling Lady will be filling our tummies!

$7 early bird entry at 10am // $2 general admission 11am-5pm

For tickets or more info click here.

#8 Charlotte Hornets vs. L.A. Clippers 

This coming Saturday night the Charlotte Hornets will be taking on the Los Angeles Clippers at the Spectrum Center starting at 7pm.

For tickets or more info click here.

#9 John Mark Mcmillan

One of Charlotte’s most well-known and unique artists just released his 7th album, Mercury & Lightnight, which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Christian Album chart.

He’ll be performing live at the Neighborhood Theater in NoDa this coming Saturday night starting at 8pm.

For tickets or more information click here.

#10 Lewis Black

Lewis Niles Black is an American stand-up comedian, author, playwright, social critic, actor and voice actor. He is best known for his angry demeanor and belligerent comedic style, in which he often simulates having a mental breakdown.

He’ll be performing live this coming Saturday night at the Oven’s Auditorium starting at 8pm.

For tickets or more info click here.

If you think other events should be on this list or future lists, let us know – Scott@CharlotteStories.com

Cox Mill High School Teacher Facing 2 Years in Jail For Indecent Acts With Student

Charlotte Stories
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Cox Mill High School Teacher Facing 2 Years in Jail For Indecent Acts With Student

A married 23-year-old high school teacher has been arrested for her alleged relationship with a 17-year-old student.

Katherine Ross Ridenhour just started her second year working at Cox Mill High School in Concord, NC as a foods teacher and JV cheerleading coach. The Cabarrus County School District confirmed that she resigned her position at the high school soon after her arrest.

According to Concord Police, she was arrested this morning and charged with two counts of indecent liberties with a student;

Ridenhour married her husband Tyler in 2015 and graduated from Liberty Univeristy in 2016 with a degree in family and consumer sciences, according to her biography on the Cabarrus County School’s website.

via Facebook

Her two counts of taking indecent liberties with a student are considered class 1 felonies.

North Carolina’s NCGS 14-202.4 law states that, “Indecent and lewd acts by a teacher, administrator, coach, school safety officer or other school personnel with a student at the same school, when the perpetrator is 4 or more years older than the victim (Class I felony) or less than 4 years older (Class A1 misdemeanor).

She now faces a maximum of 12 months in prison on each charge if convicted.

Lowe’s Hiring Over 400 Full-Time Employees in Mooresville and Wilkesboro

Charlotte Stories
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Lowe’s Hiring Over 400 Full-Time Employees in Mooresville and Wilkesboro

Lowe’s is currently hiring more than 200 full-time employees to be a part of the company’s central quoting team, which is based in its Mooresville headquarters.

The central quoting team will be responsible for preparing flooring installation quotes for Lowe’s stores across the U.S. By centralizing this task, stores will be able to spend more time delivering exceptional customer experiences while customers will receive the information they need sooner to move their installation projects forward. Available positions include supervisor and coordinator roles.

In addition to the central quoting team, Lowe’s is also currently hiring more than 200 full-time employees to further expand the company’s Wilkesboro-based central production office, which coordinates customer installations across the South. This is in addition to the more than 300 central production office employees who were hired in Wilkesboro earlier this year. Available central production office roles include service and production coordinators and field project specialists. Lowe’s has more than 23,000 employees in North Carolina.

Ideal candidates interested in joining the central quoting team in Mooresville have computer proficiency and service support experience. Ideal central production office candidates have a broad knowledge of remodeling, installation management and installation practices, as well as strong interpersonal skills.

Lowe’s full-time positions offer competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, a 10 percent employee discount and paid time off for community volunteering. Job candidates can learn more about available positions in their area and apply by visiting Jobs.lowes.com.

Charlotte Second Grader’s GoFundMe To Feed The Hungry Raised Over $1,500

Katherine Miele
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Charlotte Second Grader’s GoFundMe To Feed The Hungry Raised Over $1,500

The Charlotte community just blew away the expectations of a young second-grader who had a small idea to raise some money for people in need.

Alex Fischer, with the help of her mom, decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign to raise $150 to buy the supplies for ‘Thanksgiving boxes’ for the needy.

According to the campaign, “Alexandra is 7 years old and on a mission to help others in need in the Charlotte area this holiday season. After reading a story about the Charlotte Rescue Mission needing help providing food for families at Thanksgiving we knew this would be the perfect way for her to help. The Charlotte Rescue Mission provides families in need with a Thanksgiving Box. They are looking for donors to provide these. Mom suggested packing one as a family but Alex thinks she can do 10! We’ve priced everything out and each box will total $15 + tax. She’s hoping to raise money or have items donated to complete each box.”

The campaign started to take off over the past week – it’s now been shared over 230 times and Alex has already raised over $1,500 – 10 times her original goal.

Thanks Alex for your big heart, and thank you Charlotte for your incredible generosity!

City of Charlotte Just Released High-Speed Video Tour of Completed Light-Rail Extension

Steve
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City of Charlotte Just Released High-Speed Video Tour of Completed Light-Rail Extension

The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) is about to enter their final testing phase of their historic new Lynx Blue Line Extension up to University City. The finished Blue Line (including the new extension) will span the entire diameter of Charlotte, about 19 total miles from South Blvd. and 485 in the SouthWest to UNCC in the NorthEast.

The original line was 9.6 miles and the new extension will add an additional 9.3 miles to the total length.

Last week, the UNCC Chancellor and several other Charlotte leaders took the first official test ride and today, the city released their official high-speed video tour of the Blue Line Extension;

The new line will feature a total of 11 stations and 4 large park-and-ride structures with over 3,100 total parking spaces (2 of them are directly across from UNCC on Tryon St.). It’s expected to carry an average of 25,000 riders per day.

The $1.1 billion light-rail extension is on schedule to open to the public next March.

You can follow the continued progress here on the Extension’s Update Facebook Page.

Are you excited about the new light rail extension? 

Panthers Dominate Dolphins 45-21 and Break Franchise Record For Total Yards

Steve
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Panthers Dominate Dolphins 45-21 and Break Franchise Record For Total Yards

The Panthers just won their third straight game last night against the Dolphins.

For most of the first half, the game was fairly balanced – then, with the Panthers leading by just 3 points, Luke Kuechly came out of nowhere and pulled in what many consider to be a game-changing interception.

“Without me even knowing … I’m pretty sure Luke knew what was coming, and I bet he wasn’t supposed to be there. That’s just Captain America,” said Cam after the game.

The win was largely thanks to the Panthers domination on the ground, racking up almost 300 total rushing yards (a few yards shy of breaking a franchise record). Christian McCaffrey scored two touchdowns and Jonathan Stewart had a season-high 110 yards, showing new signs of his past glory.

After the game, Cam praised Stewart’s performance, “Guys were just sensing that he was kind of down and low, so for him to come out … man, it’s big for not only him, but for everybody else. For him, getting confidence in himself. And for the people who never doubted his talents … for him to come out today was a big deal for us.”

Cam himself also put up some truly impressive numbers, throwing for 254 yards with four touchdowns and running for another 95 yards. He even had the biggest run of the night at 69 yards.

Last night’s win also marks the first time in franchise history that the Panthers finished with 4 touchdown passes and over 200 rushing yards, according to ESPN Stats, and our 548 total yards broke our franchise record.

The Carolina Panthers are now entering their bye week with a 7-3 record, just 1 loss shy of the NFC South’s leading 7-2 Saints’ record.

Do you think this will be another Superbowl season for the Panthers?

Charlotte Uber Driver Pulls Gun on Passengers

Charlotte Stories
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Charlotte Uber Driver Pulls Gun on Passengers

This past weekend a Charlotte Uber driver pulled a gun on some passengers after they physically assaulted him, and he’s now lost his job because of it.

According to NBC Charlotte, 57-year-old George Henderson Jr. said that after his passengers became verbally abusive with “all kinds of obscenities”, he told them to get out. Near the intersection of WT Harris Blvd and University City Blvd., he said, “OK, this ends the ride”.

The passengers then started physically assaulting Henderson.

“I was really scared for my life because they were kicking me, they were hitting me in the face, blood went everywhere,” Henderson told Alex Shabad with NBC Charlotte.

He went to his trunk to get his gun (unloaded at the time) – when the passengers saw him pull it from the truck, they ran away.

When he reported the incident to Uber, they deactivated his account, even after driving 500 rides over a 2-month timeframe with no other complaints.

Uber does state in their policies that firearms are prohibited:

“Our goal is to ensure that everyone has a safe and reliable ride. That’s why Uber prohibits riders and drivers from carrying firearms of any kind in a vehicle while using our app.

Anyone who violates this policy may lose access to Uber.”

No arrests have yet been made by CMPD and Uber has stated that they’ve removed access to both the driver and the passengers pending a full investigation.

This is certainly not the only time an Uber driver has violated the ‘no gun’ policy. Last year a driver pulled a gun on some passengers who were about to vomit in his car, and earlier this year, a driver pulled a gun on some passengers who he said started smoking weed in his car. Just yesterday a Grand Rapids Uber driver pulled a gun on some passengers after an argument escalated.

What are your thoughts on Uber’s gun policy?

The NBA All-Star Game Is Coming Back To Charlotte

Steve
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The NBA All-Star Game Is Coming Back To Charlotte

spectrum center uptown charlotte ncThe biggest basketball event to ever come to Charlotte has been confirmed for 2019 – the NBA All-Star Games.

The All Star games were originally planned for this year, but due to the passage of North Carolina’s controversial HB2 bill, it was relocated to New Orleans.

Since Governor Cooper’s repeal of HB2 back in March, the NBA Commissioner decided to reconsider Charlotte as a host city, but not without his reservations. The HB2 repeal included the passing of House Bill 142, which banned local governments from passing anti-discrimination ordinances for three years.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver released a statement in conjunction with the All-Star announcement, in which he acknowledged the concerns of the LGBT community, saying that the new bill “allows us to work with the leadership of the Hornets organization to apply a set of equality principles to ensure that every All-Star event will proceed with open access and anti-discrimination policies.”

Before the All-Star game comes to town, the commissioner will require every business that wants to participate in the 3 day event (including all hotels) to sign a four-pillar set of nondiscrimination principles, including prohibiting any discrimination against customers and employees based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, and requiring all participating businesses to provide at least 1 unisex restroom.

The last time our city hosted the All-Star games was back in 1991, when Michael Jordan was the game’s high-scorer, now he will be the game’s host.

The 3-day All-Star festivities will include the highly anticipated NBA All-Star Game, various skills competitions (a dunk contest and a 3-point shooting contest specifically), and several other games between NBA pros and rising stars from the Development League. There will also be a massive fan fest, to include music, celebrity appearances, games, and incredible food.

All-Star Weekends have consistently attracted tens of thousands of fans from around the world to each host city, and will undoubtedly prove to be an incredible boost to the local Charlotte economy.

Hornets Chairman Michael Jordan released the following statement about the decision:

“We are thrilled the league has awarded NBA All-Star 2019 to the city of Charlotte.  We want to thank Commissioner Silver for his leadership throughout this process and for the decision to bring NBA All-Star back to Buzz City. All-Star Weekend is an international event that will provide a tremendous economic impact to our community while showcasing our city, our franchise and our passionate Hornets fan base to people around the world. We look forward to serving as hosts for NBA All-Star 2019 and welcoming all visitors and guests to Spectrum Center.”

The All-Star festivities will be held in Uptown Charlotte from Feb. 15-17, 2019.

New Charlotte Start-Up Believes They Have Invented “The World’s Most Perfect Towel”

Steve
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New Charlotte Start-Up Believes They Have Invented “The World’s Most Perfect Towel”

A new start-up company in Charlotte is now trying to change the towel game.

After a year of research and development, co-founders Jesse Storc and Michelle Trogdon finally launched their new Charlotte-based company, Weave Towels, last Monday. After testing thousands of different materials, thicknesses, and manufacturing techniques, they now believe they’ve successfully developed the world’s most perfect towel.

“We were tired of searching for quality towels at big box stores. It’s really overwhelming how many choices there are, yet so few are designed without borders (the decorative section consuming several inches on each end of the towel). Towels felt soft in the store then lost their luster after laundering them, and often times shrunk up unevenly at the borders,” said Storc. “We found out that towels in the store are typically treated with chemicals to make them appear soft and luxurious. We wanted towels designed without borders and made with the finest cotton at the highest quality – without having to guess.”

In less than a week, they’ve already managed to sell almost $2,000 worth of towels on Kickstarter;

Storc and Trogdon, like most Charlotteans, are northern transplants who have fallen in love with their new home. They are thankful for all the open doors this city has given them, and they’re now hoping to give back.

“We have been recognized in the community for providing fair, living wages for our [Naturally Clean] employees. Our values and work ethic are what make our company succeed. We have carried over these ideals and importance of community and eco-conscious practices to Weave Textile Co.” said Trogdon. “We absolutely love our customers and the Charlotte community, we thought with this new business we should bring as many opportunities back to this region. Jesse is a native Chicagoan and I’m originally from Cleveland, OH. We’ve called Charlotte our home since 2011, and can only hope we continue to grow as responsible business owners in our community and beyond.”

You can find out more about what makes the Weave Towels “the world’s most perfect towel” on their Kickstarter campaign here.

Matthews Police Warning About New E-Mail Phishing Scam From Foreign Hackers

Steve
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Matthews Police Warning About New E-Mail Phishing Scam From Foreign Hackers

The town of Matthews is warning residents about a new Email ‘phishing’ scam that is spreading around the area from foreign hackers claiming to be from the Matthews Police Department.

The fake Emails have been asking residents to pay overdue invoicing, and threaten heavy fines or even jail time if they’re not paid. If you do click on the link, it will take you to a ‘phishing’ site, which hackers can use to install viruses or malware on your computer.

The Matthews Police posted a very clear message on their Facebook page saying that they will NEVER send out emails about past-due fines.

The Tech Republic article they posted highlights these 10 warning signs for spotting a phishing Email;

1: The message contains a mismatched URL
2: URLs contain a misleading domain name
3: The message contains poor spelling and grammar
4: The message asks for personal information
5: The offer seems too good to be true
6: You didn’t initiate the action
7: You’re asked to send money to cover expenses
8: The message makes unrealistic threats
9: The message appears to be from a government agency
10: Something just doesn’t look right

If you do receive an email asking for money, the Mattews police are warning people to never click the link, but instead either delete the Email or call police at 704-847-4411.

Please pay attention, and please help spread the word!

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