Albemarle Corp Creating 200 New Jobs in Charlotte Region w/ Average Salary of $78,225

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Albemarle Corp Creating 200 New Jobs in Charlotte Region w/ Average Salary of $78,225

Charlotte’s Albemarle Corporation, a global specialty chemicals company, recently announced that they’ll be adding 200 new jobs to the Charlotte region with an average starting salary of $78,2225.

The company will add 170 new jobs to their operations center in Kings Mountain, along with a $10.5 million upgrade to the facility, and 30 new jobs to their corporate headquarters in Charlotte.

Albemarle Corporation Corporate Headquarters in SouthPark
Albemarle Corporation Corporate Headquarters in SouthPark

“Albemarle Corporation is a global leader and has made the right decision to expand in North Carolina,” said North Carolina Commerce Secretary Anthony M. Copeland. “I know Albemarle Corporation will continue to succeed with this expansion in Cleveland County.”

They company currently holds leading positions in lithium, bromine and refining catalysts, and they produce dozens of products to power critical industries, from energy and communications, to transportation and electronics.

“North Carolina continues to be a leader in the chemical science industry because of our world-class workforce,” said Governor Cooper. “Albemarle Corporation’s decision to expand in North Carolina bolsters this thriving industry in our state.”

The expansion will be facilitated, in part, by a JDIG (Job Development Investment Grant), which was approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee yesterday. Over the term of the 5-year grant, it’s estimated that the project will grow the state’s economy by at least $390 million. Another recent JDIG was also a major catalyst for Amazon’s recent decision to build a new distribution facility in Kannapolis.

Albemarle Corporation currently employ about 150 employees at their Kings Mountain operations center and about 130 employees at their Charlotte corporate headquarters.

You can apply for one of their new positions on their career page here.

Top 10 Things To Do In The Charlotte Area This Weekend

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Top 10 Things To Do In The Charlotte Area This Weekend

The weekend is almost here!

There will be races, car shows, festivals, and plenty of football!

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

 

#1 Dirt Track World Championship

This Thursday – Sunday, the World of Outlaws World Finals will bring together the top series in the sport, the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, the World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series and the Super DIRTcar Big-Block Modified Series, for a full weekend of racing, culminating in the crowning of all three series champions.

For more info click here.

#2 Charlotte Auto Show

You’ll experience beautiful displays, turntable exhibits and all the allure of a major Auto Show.  On Saturday and Sunday your children may have their picture taken with Santa Claus and on Sunday all area mascots will be available as well for photo opportunities.

For more info click here.

#3 Carolina Renaissance Festival

renaissance-festival-charlotte

This is the third weekend for 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.

#4 Fall Out Boy, Blackbear & Jaden Smith

This coming Friday night at the Spectrum Center, Fall Out Boy, Blackbear, & Jaden Smith will be performing live.

Show starts at 7pm.

For tickets or more info click here.

#5 Johnnyswim

Also on Friday night, Johnnyswim (the band that was playing at Liberty when Jonathan Martin was banned) will be coming to Charlotte to perform live at the Fillmore starting at 8pm.

For tickets or more info click here.

#6 Three Spirits Brewery Two Year Anniversary Party

Three Spirits Brewery will be celebrating their 2 year anniversary this weekend with a live Crafts & Drafts Market including local artisans, BBQ, live music, food trucks, and games.

The party starts Saturday at noon and goes until about 10pm.

For more information click here.

#7 Statesville Pumpkin Fest

This year’s 15th Annual Statesville Pumpkin Fest will be happening on Saturday, November 4, 2017 from 10 am to 5 pm in Downtown Statesville.

Highlights include:
~ Over 60 Art and Craft Exhibitors
~ Festival Kid Zone
~ Games, Rides and Activities such as Pumpkin Bowling, Pumpkin Painting, and Pumpkin Smashing
~ A Variety of Tantalizing Food
~ Three Entertainment Stages
~ Cornhole Tournament
~ Classic Car Cruise-In on Court Street
~ Pumpkin Pie Eating Contest
~ Taste of North Carolina Craft Beer Garden

For more information click here.

#8 The Story of Queen City – Spoken Word

Spoken-word poets join together at The Charlotte Museum of History on Saturday, Nov. 4, to tell the story of the Queen City as never heard before – a history of “resisting and persisting.”

Emmy-winning spoken-word poet Bluz (Boris Rogers) will be joined by other local spoken-word poets to tell Charlotte’s story of revolt, accompanied by Kojo Bey and Drums4Life.

For more info click here.

#9 Carolina Panthers vs. Atlanta Falcons

This coming Sunday afternoon the Carolina Panthers will be taking on the Atlanta Falcons at the Bank of America Stadium starting at 1pm.

For tickets or more info click here.

#10 Bon Iver

Extend your weekend one extra day and go see Bon Iver live at the Fillmore this coming Monday night starting at 8pm.

For tickets or more information click here.

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

PETA Putting Up Billboards Near Charlotte Schools To Target Young Children

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PETA Putting Up Billboards Near Charlotte Schools To Target Young Children
via PETA

Two new billboards are being installed by PETA next to Charlotte schools, specifically targeting young children.

The new signs read “I’m me, not MEAT,” and tell kids to ask their parents about going vegan this Thanksgiving season.

“Children have a natural empathy for animals, so they’d be horrified to learn that gentle turkeys are babies themselves when they’re strung upside down and slaughtered,” commented PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman in a press release. “This Thanksgiving, PETA is calling on children and their parents to keep cruelty off the table.”

One of the signs has already been installed on Ashley Rd., centrally placed between Thomasboro Academy, Allenbrook Elementary, and Ashley Park Elementary. The other one is scheduled to be installed later today on Statesville Ave. – just down the road from Lincoln Heights Academy.

What are your thoughts on the new campaign?

Watch The Last Charlotte Mayoral Debate Before Election Day (Video)

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Watch The Last Charlotte Mayoral Debate Before Election Day (Video)

Last night, Republican candidate Kenny Smith and Democratic candidate Vi Lyles faced off for one last round of questioning before next week’s elections.

The debate lasted for about an hour and dove into a wide variety of topics, including; crime, the citizen’s review board, police pay, the opioid crisis, affordable housing, whether or not NFL players should be required to stand during the national anthem, and many others.

You can watch the full debate here;

The most recent Charlotte mayoral poll shows that the two candidates are virtually tied, so it’s now more important than ever before to get out there and vote!

If you still aren’t sure who to vote for, check out Ballotpedia.org’s pages on Smith and Lyles for more info on each candidate.

The upcoming election also includes a wide range of other positions, including on the CMS school board, Charlotte City Council, Board of Commissioners Mecklenburg Towns (Huntersville, Matthews, Cornelius, etc.), all Mecklenburg County Mayor’s offices (Huntersville, Matthews, Cornelius, etc.), and the Town Council in Pineville.

To see your personal sample ballot click here.

According to the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections, polls will be open on election day, Tuesday, November 7, 2017, from 6:30AM until 7:30PM.

Early Voting started on, Thursday, October 19, 2017 at 8AM at Hal Marshall Annex. 16 additional locations opened on the 28th, including the following times and locations;

Please help spread the word – and please go vote! 

This South Carolina Man Rode His Bicycle Down The Street With A Deer on His Shoulders

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This South Carolina Man Rode His Bicycle Down The Street With A Deer on His Shoulders

This past weekend, one of the strangest photos of the year was taken in South Carolina – a man in a purple hoodie, on a bike, with a deer thrown over his shoulder.

We aren’t sure where the man was going, where the deer came from, or how in the world he managed to balance the huge creature on his shoulder while riding his bike, but we are certainly impressed.

The photo was taken by Candice Lane Counts on Broad River Rd. in downtown Columbia.

Her post has already received over 2,000 shares;

Most people online are speculating that the dear was roadkill, given the fact that the man did not have a gun with him, and that South Carolina has an extremely high number of deer accidents.

According to StateFarm.com, South Carolina is the 12th worst state in America for deer accidents – with 1 in 93 insurance claims for damage caused by a collision with a deer in 2016 (North Carolina is the 16th worst state at 1 in 115).

Here’s how the other states measure up;

Thank you, bicycle man, for cleaning up our streets!

Former Charlotte Pastor and Author Banned From Liberty University For Anti-Trump Views

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Former Charlotte Pastor and Author Banned From Liberty University For Anti-Trump Views

This past Monday night, a prominent author, public speaker, and former Charlotte pastor was escorted off and indefinitely banned from the campus of Liberty University by armed police while backstage at a Christian concert.

Liberty University is the largest nonprofit university in the nation, and the largest Christian university in the world, according to their website.

Yesterday morning, Jonathan Martin shared a picture of his restraining order from the University, along with an apology to the students who were hoping to pray with him.

His post has already been shared over 750 times and commented on over 200 times;

A little background…

Who is Jonathan Martin?

Jonathan Martin is the former pastor and founder of Charlotte’s Renevatus Church, and a close friend of Elevation Church’s Pastor Steven Furtick;

According to his website, Jonathan Martin is the author of How to Survive a Shipwreck w/ forward by Shauna Niequist and Prototype w/ forward by Steven Furtick. He has a BA from Gardner-Webb University, an MA from the Pentecostal Theological Seminary, and a ThM from Duke University.

Why was he asking students to pray?

According to his social media posts, Jonathan has become increasingly troubled by the “religious right”, and especially those who support alt-right leaders like Steve Bannon;

I’ve read a lot about Steve Bannon these last few months. To be clear, I don’t think he’s the antichrist: the antichrist would surely be more interesting, complex, less one-dimensional. But I am interested in movement-building, even of movements I despise. If you study Bannon hoping for some Sith Lord mystical dark arts s#%*, you’ll be sorely disappointed–evil is mostly self-involved & pedestrian. Neither Mick Jagger or Kanye West made deals with the devil to bring badass music back from the flames of hell, & Bannon is not some dark wizard–that self-aggrandizing mythology is a product we are sold. His understanding of history is juvenile & garbled; his understanding of Catholicism is compartmentalized, fragmented &, in a way, perverse. But two things Bannon did understand well are a) how to tap into people’s most deep, latent, petty resentments & b) the potential of the internet to help create new communities, both online & offline. Before his role in the Trump campaign, Bannon spent time in Hong Kong running the World of Warcraft online gaming empire. He brought that experience together with lessons from Andew Breitbart, who taught him not to pursue “clicks” but “community.” Behind the privacy of a screen, our “real” selves are given vent. Bannon understood the power of these primal connections, & the ways identity can be formed between the pale blue glow of the laptop & the shadows…and brought that enterprise into the mainstream, as part of a collective movement. Could the same sort of savvy be used for good, by people who have some sort of basic moral coherence? That’s the question I’m really interested in.

A post shared by Jonathan Martin (@jonathanamartin) on

When Jerry Falwell Jr. (the head of Liberty University) actively supported Bannon’s recent political actions, Jonathan decided to do something;

What did he want to do?

On October 27th, Jonathan Martin tweeted out that he wanted to organize a time of praise and peaceful protest on the campus of Liberty University;

In future tweets, he gave more reasoning for the meeting;

and continued to stress that the meeting would be focused on prayer and peace;

What was he doing at Liberty when forcefully removed?

The night before his scheduled prayer rally, Jonathan was invited on campus by the Christian band “Johnny Swim”, who was performing at Liberty University as part of their world tour. When Jonathan was hanging out with his friends backstage in the green room, several armed Liberty University police officers came in unannounced and escorted him off campus;

When their show was over, Johnny Swim left Liberty University and reconnected with Jonathan at his Hotel;

The next morning, Jonathan invited the students who wanted to pray with him on campus to pray with him in his hotel lobby;

The response…

Last night, Liberty University issued a public statement on Facebook as to why they escorted Jonathan off campus and gave him an indefinite restraining order;

“Members of the Liberty University community are always welcome to engage in peaceful debate, intellectual inquiry and protest, but for public safety reasons, organized events by outside groups require advance notice and participating in the appropriate application process. Liberty University learned via social media of an attempt by Jonathan Martin to schedule an event on its private campus without any prior authorization or consultation. Mr. Martin is not a student, faculty member or employee of Liberty University. There are facility use protocols for those who are not members of the University community to schedule events on the campus. Those protocols take into account safety and security, as well as schedule conflicts and costs. Absent such pre-planning and authorization, an event promoted to the general public on social media has the potential to be a security risk. Given the late hour of the notice, the only effective way to prevent the unauthorized event from happening this morning was to issue a trespass warning to its organizer, Mr. Martin, last evening. This was done in a professional and matter of fact manner by Liberty University Police Department.”

However, given the fact that Jonathan scheduled his prayer rally for the morning of the 31st, and he was escorted off campus on the night of the 30th, without violating any campus rules, it seems clear that his forced removal had more to do with his anti-Trump views than with his potential “unscheduled meeting”.

Many of responses on social media have been against the actions of Liberty;

While some applauded the University’s actions;

What are your thoughts on Liberty University’s actions?

NC Amber Alert Issued For Missing 3-Year-Old Girl

Steve
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NC Amber Alert Issued For Missing 3-Year-Old Girl

The North Carolina Department of Public Safety has just issued an Amber Alert for a missing 3-year-old girl.

Zy’Rah Nicole Holliday is described as a black female, approximately 3 feet tall, weighing 35 pounds. She was last seen wearing a black shirt with flowers and the word “Love” on it with black jogging pants.

According to police, Holliday was last known to be on foot in the Spring Lake area.

Police believe Holliday was abducted by 20-year-old Daquan Seandre Thomas. Thomas is described as a black male, approximately 5-foot-10, weighing 150 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a black shirt and black shorts.

Anyone with information about Holliday’s possible whereabouts is urged to call the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office at 910-893-9111 or 911 immediately. You can also call North Carolina Highway Patrol at *HP.

Carolina Panthers Just Traded Top Receiver Kelvin Benjamin To Buffalo Bills

Charlotte Stories
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Carolina Panthers Just Traded Top Receiver Kelvin Benjamin To Buffalo Bills

The Carolina Panthers have just traded Kelvin Benjamin, our #1 wide receiver, to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for 3rd and 7th round draft pick in next year’s season.

According to ESPN’s interview with GM Marty Hurney, “The Panthers were willing to part with him because it eliminates some redundancy on the field with the 6-foot-5 Benjamin and the 6-4 Devin Funchess, who has a similar skill set and now moves into Benjamin’s role as the No. 1 receiver. The Panthers also want to get speed guys such as Russell Shepard, rookie Curtis Samuel and Kaelin Clay on the field more.”

Because of the timing of the trade, it’s now officially the last trade of the 2017 season. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, tweeted out that the trade was finalized literally 3 minutes before NFL’s trade deadline;

Most Panthers players are now in shock over the decision.

What are your thoughts on the decision?

The City of Concord Has Passed Asheville To Become The 11th Largest City in North Carolina

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The City of Concord Has Passed Asheville To Become The 11th Largest City in North Carolina

best restaurant in concordNot only is Concord seeing its highest home prices in history, it’s also seeing one of the highest population growths in our state. Based on new Census data, Concord has now surpassed Asheville to become the 11th largest city in the state of North Carolina.

According to the new estimates, Concord has grown by 2.57%, from a population of 87,643 in 2015 to 89,891 in 2016 – the biggest growth rate among the state’s 15 largest cities – the next closes was Durham with a growth rate of 2.13%. Concord is now about 2,000 residents shy of Greenville, NC’s 10th largest city, and about 15,000 residents shy of High Point, NC’s 9th largest city.

Charlotte, the largest city in the state, grew by over 15,000 residents in the past year alone (with a current population of 842,051).

These new population estimates show a continued migration away from the small rural town, and toward the large metro cities and their surrounding suburb towns and cities. Huntersville is one of the most stark examples of this trend, the small suburb had a population of 3,014 in 1990, and has since become home to 54,839 people – it’s now larger than the entire city of Hickory.

The suburb of Indian Trail is another example, which had a population of about 1,000 in 1990 census, it’s now home to 38,222- larger than the cities of Monroe, Shelby, and even Statesville.

Our region’s top growth rate was seen in Fort Mill, SC at 9.44%, followed by Waxhaw at 5.07%, and Huntersville at 4.04%.

It’s certainly an exciting time to live in the Charlotte region! 

Corn Harvest Slower in Other States Except in North Carolina

Charlotte Stories
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Corn Harvest Slower in Other States Except in North Carolina

There is a debate currently going on in the U.S. over the state of the corn harvest. “The improvement in corn ratings raised our forecast of yields an average of .7 of 1% last week,” said Bryce Knorr the senior grain market analyst for Farm Futures. “Yields range from 168 to 170.4 bushels per acre. Big gains in Iowa and Nebraska accounted for much of the improvement.”

Harvest experts estimated a 44% completion rate for corn, but the USDA begs to differ. According to the government body’s crop progress report, corn yields were only at 38%, which was way below the estimates made by industry analysts. Trade estimates were ranged between 40% – 49%.

Bad harvest weather throughout late September and early October made the harvesting of the crop slow. However, farmers are hoping that they can catch up with their harvest now that the skies are clearer. Some major corn production states have harvested less than 1/4 of their crops including Iowa (23%), South Dakota (19%), Colorado (18%), North Dakota (17%), Wisconsin (15%), and Minnesota (14%). North Carolina, however, led the way in corn production and is estimated to be already at 95% completion.

Stink bugs and July’s strong heat waves may have slowed down corn production in North Carolina but farmers are now expecting slightly better yields during the last leg of the year. Early corn harvest results for North Carolina show a better than average corn yield, which are 200 or more bushels per acre.

Apart from farmers who grow and export corn, the sluggish production of the staple commodity seems to have affected the financial industry as well. In a report by Nadex, economists predict that corn prices may not rally soon given the low harvest numbers. According to the chart below, corn's futures prices are hitting at the bearish line (orange) at $353.50, and the mid-October high at only $354.00.

The condition of corn in some states marked as good to excellent went up from 1% to over 60%. The number of corn rated as good steadily settled at 50%. On the other hand, excellent grade corn improved from 1% to 16%. The harvested percentage of excellent-grade corn is 20% higher in some states including North Carolina, Nebraska, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Texas.

Dr. Ron Heiniger a professor of Crop Science and Cropping Systems Specialist at the North Carolina State University believes that there are 5 key elements for managing high corn yields within Eastern North Carolina, which includes proper planting dates, hybrid selection, plant population, application of a starter fertilizer, and proper nitrogen.

Last year’s USDA crop summary report showed that 2016 was a good year for North Carolina’s corn production. Even if the average yield of 129 bushels per acre in the state fell a bit shorter from the state's all-time high record, which was 142 bushels per acre in 2013, the total corn production was at 121 million bushels. Last year’s record was 47% higher than what was recorded in 2015.

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