“Pokémon,” the wildly popular Nintendo franchise that was the obsession of kids from the ’90s and ’00s, has now evolved into an even more viral incarnation over the weekend.

It’s been three days since “Pokémon Go” was released, and the world has already seen an explosion of people walking around, glued to their smartphones.

After millions of downloads of the game, some unbelievable, but true stories have started to emerge, from finding a dead body in Wyoming to a robbery of a group of players in Missouri.

Here in Charlotte, things have been somewhat calmer, all things considered. The CMPD hasn’t yet respond to questions about Pokémon-related complaints, and local players say the game has given them a new appreciation for the city.

A collaborative Pokémon GO map for the Charlotte, NC area with marks for gyms and Poké-Stops has already been by Luke Drago (@RealLukeDrago), and local users are now flocking to it:

So far, local reactions to the game here in Charlotte have been mostly positive:

This kid just walked up to me at a coffee shop and asked what #PokemonGo I just caught!This game has undone years of don't talk to strangers

— MJ Caan (@MJCaan) July 11, 2016

Where did all these neighborhood kids come from?! #PokemonGO has done more for children's obesity in a day than Michelle in past 8 years.

— Thomas Griffin (@jthomasgriffin) July 11, 2016

I just want to play #PokemonGO everyday… All day…

— OhYeahDisney (@ohyeahdisney_) July 11, 2016

My mom set me off for my adventure right after she took this pic for me #PokemonGO pic.twitter.com/6hDo95xN9W

— Vern (@vernon_medina) July 10, 2016

Just a casual day on campus…#PokemonGO #gottacatchemall #UNCC ⛏ pic.twitter.com/hdPFWkRUJY

— UNCC Admissions (@UNCCadmissions) July 11, 2016

Local nonprofit group Sustain Charlotte recently announced a new city-wide campaign to build a protected bike lane through Uptown by the end of 2016. The most needed route seems to be from East to West from the Little Sugar Creek Greenway to the east, to the Irwin Creek greenway through Frazier Park to the west.

Mayor Jennifer Roberts has not publicly supported the protected lanes through Uptown yet, but Charlotte Center City Partners is working with Sustain Charlotte to gain enough public support to force the city into action.

They have launched an online petition and set up a website to explain the effort and inform Charlotteans what they can do to help.

A protected bike lane is an on-street bike lane separated from auto traffic by curbs, planters, parked cars or posts – something more than just a stripe of paint on pavement.

“There are protected bike lanes are being built all over the country, and we don’t have any yet in Charlotte, and we think it’s time that we have them too,” remarked Sustain Charlotte’s executive director Shannon Binns.

What do you think about protected bike lanes in Uptown?

Time Warner Cable, which was recently ranked as having the worst customer service of any company, anywhere in America, will soon be gone forever thanks to the recent takeover by Charter (CHTR).

When Charter Communications Inc. completed their buyout of Charlotte’s dominant cable company in May, they announced they will be phasing out the Time Warner Cable brand and replacing it with “Spectrum.”

“One of our first major initiatives in implementing the Charter Playbook is to streamline our product pricing and packaging and introduce our consumer-facing brand, Spectrum. This will be rolled out in a phased approach beginning this fall.”  Charter CEO Tom Rutledge just announced to employees via Email.

So long Time Warner Cable, you’re Charter now https://t.co/S7Nwp6GGZI pic.twitter.com/9P8KVLTyiC

— CNET (@CNET) May 18, 2016

Now with the buyout, Charter stands among the largest television providers in the country, along with Comcast (CMCSA), AT&T (T, Tech30) and Verizon (VZ, Tech30).

What do you think about the takeover? Do you think it will impact Google Fiber’s upcoming dominance of the Charlotte market?

Please share;

Mountain Island Lake water testing has just confirmed an abnormally high levels of arsenic near Charlotte’s main water supply.

According to officials with the Land Use and Environmental Services Agency, the June 20th water tests in Mountain Island Lake showed the highest levels of arsenic that have ever been seen. The Lake provides drinking water for over one million Charlotte residents.

This video was just released by WSOC Channel 9, detailing the problem;

The arsenic levels from the June 20th test showed 95 ppb – nine times the legal limit set by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The county retested the water near Riverbend last week and found that the arsenic levels have now dropped below the standard.

Mecklenburg County water officials traced the toxins back to Duke Energy’s coal ash pits. The company has started to take steps to drain the coal ash pond at the Riverbend Steam Station, which has been discharging directly into Mountain Island Lake.

Duke Energy have repeatedly stated that the arsenic from the coal ash ponds would not impact Charlotte’s drinking water. They’re now also in the process of building a new treatment system to help solve the immediate problem from the coal ash ponds – the system is expected to be complete by this September.

A team from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality will visit the lake this coming Thursday to re-sample the water to test for any dangerous levels of arsenic.

Mecklenburg County officials have stated that there is currently no threat to Charlotte’s drinking water since the arsenic level near Charlotte’s water intake is below the federal limits.

Ever since the Duke Energy coal ash ponds began to leak in 2014, many Charlotte residents have been installing reverse-osmosis water filters and buying drinking water from local stores.

If you’d like to double check that you’re water hasn’t been tainted, they now sell at-home testing kits for arsenic and other toxins.

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