Uranus Will Be Visible To The Naked Eye In Charlotte This Weekend

Steve
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Uranus Will Be Visible To The Naked Eye In Charlotte This Weekend

This weekend the Charlotte region will witness an incredible night-time show as soon as the sun sets.

We’re now in the new moon phase, which means that all the stars and planets will be much brighter than when the moon is visible.

We’ll not only be witnessing the impressive Orionid Meteor shower, but we’ll also witness one of the best views of Uranus in years.

The Earth is currently snuggled neatly between Uranus and the sun (called “opposition” in astronomy).

The rare occurrence puts the planet in the middle of the night sky, and as close to the earth as it will ever come, with the full power of the sun reflecting on its face.

According to TimeandDate.com, it will start to become visible at around 6:30pm in the Charlotte region inside the constellation Pisces (use a Star Finder if you’re not familiar with the constellations) – and we should have perfectly clear skies tonight and tomorrow night.

National Geographic recommends looking for “a tiny blue-green disk to pop out against the background of fainter stars.”

The distant planet is currently about 1.7 billion miles away, meaning that light will take about 3 hours to bounce off Uranus and into our eyes.

Family Feud Is Coming To Charlotte – Looking For Families To Compete

Steve
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Family Feud Is Coming To Charlotte – Looking For Families To Compete

Do you have an energetic and smart family? Have you always wanted to be on TV? Family Feud is looking for you!

The famous game show just sent out a press release announcing they’ll be coming to Charlotte next month looking for local families to compete.

They’ll be in town on November 18th and 19th.

Families who want to try out must have five members, who are related by blood, marriage, or adoption, according to the show’s website.

At the tryouts, each family will participate in a short mini-game. To stand out, the company recommends that families, “smile, clap, high-five, cheer for each other, say “Good Answer!” and have FUN! Some families wear coordinating outfits or matching t-shirts. Show off any special talents you may have and tell us a story about your family!”

If you’d like to try out, you can apply at familyfeud.com/audition/.

What Was Once The Largest Textile Plant In The World Is Closing Its Doors After 112 Years

Charlotte Stories
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What Was Once The Largest Textile Plant In The World Is Closing Its Doors After 112 Years

For most of the 1900s, North Carolina was one of the largest producers of textiles in the world, but over the past 30 years, we’ve been seeing a steady stream of closings and layoffs as more and more textile jobs are shipped overseas.

The latest closing is perhaps one of the most historic. After over 110 years of continuous production, the Cone Denim Plant in Greensboro, NC is about to close its doors for good.

According to a press release by the International Textile Group, Inc. (ITG), the plant will officially shut down on Dec. 31, 2017, and will lay off 200 workers.

When the Cone Denim Plant first opened in 1905, it officially became the largest textile plant in the world. Now with more and more textile plants opening overseas and prices continuing to fall, Cone Denim simply can’t keep up.

“We truly regret having to take this action to close operations, and we deeply appreciate the loyalty and dedication of all current and former employees of the White Oak Plant. Their talent, effort, innovation, dedication, and customer focus all combined to create a White Oak brand, heritage, and legacy that will forever be the heart of the Cone Denim business,” commented Kenneth Kunberger, president & CEO of ITG. “We would also like to thank the City of Greensboro for its strong support over the years for both our White Oak facility as well as our ITG corporate headquarters. We are proud to call Greensboro our home.”

Greensboro’s Mayor, Nancy Vaughan also released a statement about the closing:

“We are saddened by today’s announcement. The City of Greensboro is committed to helping these employees and their families plan for their futures with the resources available at Guilford County Workforce Development. This loss is regrettable, as Cone Denim has long been an important part of our City’s history and heritage. That will not change, especially as International Textile Group will retain its headquarters, community involvement, product development and other corporate and division activities in Greensboro. We remain optimistic about Greensboro’s employment prospects, as we chart an aggressive path toward new economic development with our regional partners.”

 

Top 10 Things Happening Around The Charlotte Area This Weekend

Steve
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Top 10 Things Happening Around The Charlotte Area This Weekend

The weekend is almost here!

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

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

#1 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone In Concert

Watch one of the most popular movies along with a live symphony orchestra this weekend.

Live performances will take place Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Oven’s Auditorium.

For tickets and more info click here.

#2 Charlotte Hornets vs. Atlanta Hawks

Hornets season is finally here! The Atlanta Hawks will be coming to town this coming Friday night for the Hornet’s first home game, starting at 7pm.

For more information or tickets here.

#3 Appetite For Destruction

The greatest Guns n’ Roses cover band of all time is coming to Charlotte this Friday night.

They’ll be playing at the Fillmore starting at 8pm.

For more info or tickets click here.

#4 Gastonia Fall Festival

This Saturday afternoon, the City of Gastonia will be hosting one of their largest festivals of the year – tons of live music, fun, and family fun.

11:00 am – Festival opens, bouncy houses open, free giveaways
3:45 – 4:00 – Costume contest
3:45 – 4:00 – Pumpkin Dessert Cook-Off
5:00 – 6:00 – Candy Giveaway

Music:

11:00 – 12:00 – DJ Buddy Love
12:00 – 2:00 – Bakkwoodz
2:00 – 2:30 – DJ Buddy Love
3:00 – 3:45 – Raincoat
4:00 – 6:00 – Soul Escape Band

For more information click here.

#5 Belmont Boo Fest 2017

This coming Saturday from 2-9pm the town of Belmont will be hosting their annual Boo Fest, featuring: Carnival rides, games for children and adults, food vendors, business vendors, great music, a cupcake walk, the annual costume contest, AND Butch Patrick from the original cast of The Munsters – this is a festival you do not want to miss! A huge thank you to our Partners & Sponsors for making this event possible!

For more information click here.

#6 9th Annual GUTS

This Saturday, starting at 2:00pm at the BB&T Ballpark, the 9th Annual GUTS Pumkin Carving Contest will be going down.

Charlotte creatives duke it out at this family-friendly pumpkin carving competition event open to the public! Watch the live carving action, enjoy concessions, drinks, shop exclusive GUTS merch, get a GUTS tattoo, trick-or-treat with the kids, strike a pose in our photo booth, participate in our 50/50 raffle, vote for your favorite carving, watch the judges reveal the winners, and even take a carving creation home with our “BUY NOW” option!! The best part? 100% OF PROCEEDS BENEFIT OUR LOCAL MAKE-A-WISH CHAPTER (Make-A-Wish Central & Western North Carolina) AND GRANT WISHES FOR THE KIDS!

Tickets are $10 each.

For more information click here.

#7 5th Annual Laketoberfest

Join the Cornelius PARC Department on Saturday, October 21, 2017, from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Bailey Road Park for the return of Laketoberfest! This annual family-friendly event is one of the largest Oktoberfest celebrations in Lake Norman and attracts thousands of guests each year. This year’s Laketoberfest will feature a dozen local craft breweries, food trucks, vendors, kid’s zone, and live music from the Jill Goodson Band, Bailey Hayes Band, and LayLo.

For more info click here.

#8 South End Wine Fest

Enjoy unlimited tastings from 25 different vineyards, live music and food trucks. This is an annual Classroom Central fundraiser which assist us in our mission to equip students living in poverty to effectively learn.

The event will be this Saturday from 2:00 – 6:00 PM at 308 W. Carson Blvd.

For more info click here.

#9 Charlotte 49ers vs. UAB Blazers

This coming Saturday night watch the Charlotte 49ers football team take on the UAB Blazers at the Jerry Richardson Stadium on the UNCC Campus starting at 6:30pm.

For more info click here.

#10 Spoon Live

One of the best alternative rock bands in the country is performing live in Charlotte this coming Sunday night at the Filmore, 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

Early Voting For Charlotte’s New Mayor and Other Positions Starts Today

Steve
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Early Voting For Charlotte’s New Mayor and Other Positions Starts Today

Early voting officially starts today for a wide range of 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 a complete list of candidates for all positions click here.

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 will open today, Thursday, October 19, 2017 at 8AM at Hal Marshall Annex. 16 additional locations will open Saturday, October 28, 2017 at 10AM, including the following times and locations;

Certainly, the most significant race in the upcoming election is the Mayoral race between Kenny Smith (R) and Vi Lyles (D).

You can check out Ballotpedia.org’s pages on Smith and Lyles for more info on the candidates.

Here’s a recent debate produced by Fox Charlotte;

PBS Charlotte also recently released several debate segments on transportation:

leadership style:

police and protests:

and taxes:

Please go vote! 

NC Gov Cooper’s New Executive Order and Settlement Reverses HB2 and HB142 LGBT Policies

Steve
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NC Gov Cooper’s New Executive Order and Settlement Reverses HB2 and HB142 LGBT Policies

NC Governor Roy Cooper just signed Executive Order 24 and announced a settlement in the ACLU lawsuit against HB2 and its partial replacement, HB142. The Executive Order and settlement essentially establish non-discrimination policies and allow unrestricted bathroom usage for transgender individuals in government and government contractor facilities.

EO24 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, color, ethnicity, sex, National Guard or veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity, including state agencies and any business that receives state contracts. The new protections affect 55,000 state employees and 3,000 vendors for up to $1.5 billion in contracts, according to the governor’s office.

“By requiring companies that contract with the state to have non-discrimination policies, the state can promote protections for more North Carolinians outside of state government,” Cooper said. “We’ve worked with the business community, advocates for the LGBT community and other North Carolinians who know our state is stronger because of our diversity, and I will keep working to make our state a welcoming and inclusive place.”

The governor’s proposed settlement in the lawsuit challenging House Bill 2 and House Bill 142 would allow transgender residents of the state to use public restrooms and other facilities that match their gender identity.

Yesterday the NC Values Coalition released the following statement in response to EO24 and the proposed settlement:

“The Governor’s and Attorney General’s actions today constitute a massive power grab, with sweeping changes that only the Legislative Branch has the authority to enact.  After signing into law earlier this year HB 142, which kept in place longstanding laws that required that showers and bathrooms be used in accordance with one’s sex on their birth certificate, Governor Cooper has betrayed the people of North Carolina with an Executive Order that not only allows boys and men into girls’ and women’s showers and bathrooms, but also forces private businesses to adopt sweeping LGBT special rights. Josh Stein has betrayed the people of NC by failing to defend the laws of the state and, instead, elevating LGBT privileges above the rights of common everyday people to privacy and safety in Bathrooms and showers.  It is despicable, and the voters of NC will hold these two accountable.”

A federal judge still has to sign off on that settlement for it to take effect.

What are your thoughts on Governor Cooper’s latest actions?

NC Sheriff Deputies Uncover Illegal Moonshine Operation

Steve
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NC Sheriff Deputies Uncover Illegal Moonshine Operation

Burke County Sheriff Deputies have just uncovered an illegal moonshining operation in Morganton, NC (about 60 miles northwest of Charlotte).

Authorities discovered the operation after receiving a tip about some moonshiners near Old Highway 18. The property owner was cited for manufacturing and possessing non-tax-paid liquor.

According to the press release, “the still, and 15 quarts of non-tax paid brandy were seized. 140 gallons of mash was destroyed.”;

While the Burke County Sherrif’s Department certainly sees this as a win, those who commented under the post didn’t seem to agree:

North Carolina has a long history of producing illegal moonshine – it’s even thought that NASCAR was first started by illegal moonshine drivers.

Even though we now have a wide selection of bars and liquer stores in our state, illegal mooneshine operations continue to be a problem.

It’s usually hard to know the exact alcohol content of illegal moonshine, and cheap additives or incorrect processing could cause blindness or other serious health issues for consumers.

Lake Norman Brewery’s Pumpkin Beer Ranked As One Of The Best In America

Steve
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Lake Norman Brewery’s Pumpkin Beer Ranked As One Of The Best In America

A Lake Norman brewery just had one of their beers ranked among the best in the country (for the pumpkin beer category).

Paste Magazine published their 7th annual ‘63 Best Pumpkin Beers‘ ranking, and D9 Brewing Co.’s “Head of the Horsemen” landed at #7 in the country.

In describing why they ranked D9’s creation so high, they commented;

“Another beer that seems to make the finals every year in this tasting is this entry from D9, an imperial pumpkin ale that isn’t afraid to flex its muscles, while still retaining a degree of balance at the same time. It’s somewhat less spice-forward than the previous few beers, instead leaning on its higher ABV and malt body. To quote one score sheet: “Malty, biscuity, slightly sweet, with maple, booze and touches of spice.” It’s a nice, balanced take on the style that successfully juggles its own ABV and spice bill without throwing in too strongly on any one facet of its flavor profile. Everything is nicely rounded off to meet in the middle—no rough edges here. That kind of balance is worth a lot.”

No need to lose your head, we’ve got plenty 🍻 #HOTH #pumpkinbeer #d9brewingco #clt #lkn #fall #drinklocal #NCbeer

A post shared by D9 Brewing Company (@d9brewing) on

Only pumpkin beers that made it into the ‘top 20’ were ranked, and no other selections from Charlotte made the cut. D9’s Latte Pumpkin and NoDa Brewing Co.’s Gordgeous were included in the bottom 43.

Firestone Walker brewery’s “El Gourdo” (Paso Robles, CA) was ranked #2 and Lift Bridge brewery’s “Imperial Pumpkin Porter” (Stillwater, MN) was ranked #1.

What do you think about the ranking? 

Who do you think makes the best pumpkin beer?

South Carolina Was Just Ranked As The Least Energy-Efficient State In America

Steve
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South Carolina Was Just Ranked As The Least Energy-Efficient State In America

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the average U.S. family spends at least $2,000 per year on utilities. They estimate that adopting energy-efficient measures in the home could reduce a family’s utility costs by as much as 25%.

As for transportation, the agency found that a more fuel-efficient vehicle could save the average driver about $625 per year.

Financial analyst website WalletHub decided to find out which states in America were best at applying these energy-saving principles to save money and to help our environment.

They calculated the ratio of total residential energy consumption to annual degree days for ‘Home Energy Efficiency’, then divided the annual vehicle miles driven per capita by gallons of gasoline consumed to determine ‘Auto Energy Efficiency’.

Here were their results for the continental 48 states (they were not able to obtain sufficient data on Alaska and Hawaii):

Source: WalletHub

Most & Least Energy-Efficient States

Overall Rank* State Total Score ‘Home Energy Efficiency’ Rank ‘Auto Energy Efficiency’ Rank
1 New York 90.22 4 1
2 Vermont 84.81 1 13
3 Utah 84.12 2 8
4 Minnesota 78.05 3 18
5 Massachusetts 77.86 9 5
6 Rhode Island 76.81 11 4
7 California 75.33 15 3
8 Wisconsin 74.12 7 16
9 Colorado 74.00 8 15
10 Connecticut 71.83 19 7
11 Nevada 71.64 14 9
12 New Hampshire 70.65 6 30
13 Michigan 69.29 12 17
14 Maine 66.17 5 41
15 Illinois 64.71 21 23
16 New Jersey 63.20 22 26
17 New Mexico 62.55 18 35
18 Pennsylvania 62.27 24 19
19 Arizona 62.05 27 11
20 Idaho 61.59 20 32
21 Oregon 61.43 25 14
22 Washington 60.56 29 10
23 Delaware 59.22 30 12
24 Ohio 58.49 28 21
25 Florida 58.32 34 2
26 Montana 56.96 13 45
27 Maryland 56.62 31 20
28 Iowa 56.53 16 44
29 Kansas 53.31 33 24
30 South Dakota 52.78 17 46
31 Indiana 52.21 32 28
32 Nebraska 50.71 26 40
33 North Carolina 49.40 40 6
34 Virginia 46.23 36 27
35 Missouri 43.97 37 33
36 Wyoming 41.17 10 48
37 Texas 39.64 35 43
38 Oklahoma 39.49 38 38
39 North Dakota 38.29 23 47
40 Kentucky 37.87 41 34
41 Georgia 36.83 44 22
42 Arkansas 36.64 42 36
43 West Virginia 36.07 43 29
44 Mississippi 35.48 39 39
45 Tennessee 33.73 47 25
46 Alabama 32.44 46 31
47 Louisiana 31.17 45 37
48 South Carolina 21.51 48 42
N/A** Alaska
N/A** Hawaii

You can find out more about the methodology on Wallethub’s full report here.

Downtown Concord’s $194.5 Million Redevelopment Plan Will Forever Change The City

Steve
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Downtown Concord’s $194.5 Million Redevelopment Plan Will Forever Change The City

downtown concord redevelopment plan

downtown concord redevelopmentThe City of Concord is finalizing the plans for a public/private partnership to redevelop several sections of downtown Concord. The entire project will cost the city $29 million, and they’re hoping to attract an additional $165 million in private funding.

The Downtown Concord Urban Design plan contains 5 primary projects; 1 a revitalized Union Street, 2 a market plaza behind old city hall, 3 the proposed county parking deck, 4 a Bicentennial lot parking deck, and 5 a lakeside living downtown.

The plan has been in the works since 2008 and the city is just now reaching the final stages of market analysis, design submissions, and public hearings.

In the plans most recent meeting, Concord Mayor Scott Padgett noted, “We can all remember when Concord and most downtowns were dead; they just hadn’t been declared dead, but they were. Now we’ve got so much going on. I honestly think our best days are ahead of us with some of the projects that I know you already know about. It’s been very good, and things are changing a lot. Whether it will look like this or sort of like this or nothing like this, I just want to emphasize that we have made no decision about this.”

You can find out more about what the new plan includes, as well as the purpose for the new development here on DesignConcordNC.com

What do you think about the new development plan?

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