A Hollywood film crew is headed to Charlotte to film a new movie about Jim Bakker, his tv show, and his ‘PTL’ resort and studio complex in Fort Mill (currently owned by Morningstar Ministries).

The new film will be called “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and will star The Amazing Spiderman‘s Andrew Garfield and Zero Dark Thirty‘s Jessica Chastain, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The casting company for the new movie is now seeking paid extras. Filming is now scheduled for November and December of this year.

If you’d like to apply, you can submit two current photos of yourself — a close up and a full length, along with your name, phone, age, city, state, height, weight, clothing sizes and a description of any visible tattoos and piercings to Charlottemovieextras@gmail.com, with a subject line heading of your ethnicity, gender, age and city and state.

The infamous televangelist Jim Bakker is most well known for scamming investors out of millions of dollars to build Heritage USA, a sprawling 2,300-acre tv broadcasting, conference, and amusement park complex in Fort Mill.

The complex first opened in 1978, and by 1986 it was attracting nearly 6 million visitors annually and employing about 2,500 people from around the Charlotte region.

Throughout most of the 80s, Jim Bakker was investigated on a slew of embezzlement, fraud, and rape charges.

In 1982 the FCC sent a detailed fraud report to the Justice Department. They decided not to press charges due to insufficient evidence. Bakker then used the controversy to raise even more funds from his audience, branding the investigation as a “witch-hunt”.

In 1988 he was arrested on 8 counts of mail fraud, 15 counts of wire fraud and, 1 count of conspiracy.

A Charlotte jury found Bakker guilty on all 24 counts and he was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison and given a $500,000 fine. His prison sentence was reduced to 8 years in 1992. He was paroled in July of 1994, after serving almost 5 years in jail.

In 2003, he relaunched his televangelism career with a new daily show called The Jim Bakker Show, co-hosted with his second wife, Lori.

Charlotte’s Park and Recreation Department recently opened our city’s newest nature preserve in a rapidly developing area of South Charlotte between Ballantyne and Waverly.

The Flat Branch Nature Preserve was built to protect 42 acres of undeveloped woodland and one of the last remaining upland depression swamp forest communities in Mecklenburg County.

The preserve features a boardwalk that meanders through a rich swamp forest;

and a looped trail for a casual walks

or brisk runs with your furry friends

and even includes Charlotte’s first mini-stonehenge;

The Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department’s Division of Nature Preserves and Natural Resources currently manages over 7,600 acres of parkland that provide wildlife habitat, protect high quality forests, provide water quality protection for our lakes and streams and countless opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors with 35 miles of hiking trails, picnic areas, fishing piers, canoe/kayak launches and wildlife viewing areas, according to MeckNC.gov.

WGU North Carolina Chancellor Catherine Truitt made a special trip from Durham to Charlotte yesterday to attend Veterans Bridge Home’s monthly Uptown Lunch and make a special announcement with VBH Executive Director Blake Bourne. WGU North Carolina is partnering with VBH to offer eight Veterans Appreciation Scholarships to military veterans in the greater Charlotte area.

One scholarship valued at $10,000 plus seven scholarships valued at $2,500 will be awarded to military veterans in VBH’s ten-county service area, consisting of Cabarrus, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Union and York Counties. Winners of the $2,500 scholarships will be credited with $625 per six-month term, renewable for up to four terms, and the winner of the $10,000 scholarship will be credited with $2,500 per term. Tuition is about $3,225 per six-month term for most WGU degree programs.

Scholarships will be awarded based on a candidate’s confirmed veteran status, academic record, readiness for online study, and current competency, as well as other considerations. The deadline to apply is Nov. 15, 2019. More information on the Veterans Appreciation Scholarships can be found at www.wgu.edu/vbh.

“Veterans bring a wealth of practical experience in leadership, management, or other technical skills, but often do not have the bachelor’s or graduate degrees that hiring managers are looking for in job applicants,” said Blake Bourne, executive director for Veterans Bridge Home. “These WGU North Carolina Veterans Appreciation Scholarships offer veterans a great opportunity to realize their educational and professional goals while reducing the financial barriers to achievement.”

“We briefly mentioned the scholarships earlier this year at a Charlotte Knights game where WGU hosted more than 130 veterans and their family members,” said Truitt. “I am happy to announce the official launch of the Veterans Appreciation Scholarships in partnership with Veterans Bridge Home. We recognize the important work VBH does and hope that these scholarships will assist them in their mission of helping veterans transition to civilian life after military service.”

WGU North Carolina is an affiliate of the national nonprofit online Western Governors University. WGU has been recognized for 11 consecutive years by Military Advanced Education & Transition as a “Top School,” and for seven consecutive years as a Military Friendly® School. Presently, about 18 percent of the nearly 3,300 North Carolina students enrolled in WGU are affiliated with the military community. WGU is fully accredited and offers more than 60 bachelor’s and master’s degrees in information technology, business, healthcare and K-12 education.

For more information about WGU North Carolina, visit https://northcarolina.wgu.edu/. To learn more about Veterans Bridge Home, visit https://veteransbridgehome.org/.

A no swim advisory has just been issued for a large section of Mountain Island Lake.

According to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services, just under 4,000 gallons of sewage was discharged into Nance Cove yesterday after a pipe burst due to a major blockage.

No swim advisory issued on Nance Cove of Mt Island Lake. Nearly 4000 gallons of raw sewage discharged to the lake after a pipe was clogged with wipes and grease. pic.twitter.com/UQqwOsawTY

— Charlotte NC (@CLTusa) October 10, 2019

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services will continue to monitor water quality in the affected area. Once water conditions are deemed safe, the no swimming advisory will be removed.

If you live in the area and you are on a well, officials recommend checking to see if your water was contaminated by using a field testing kit, and consider installing a reverse osmosis filter on any faucet used for drinking water.

The Spanish Company hired by North Carolina to build the I-77 toll lanes is now facing some steep penalties if they do not finish construction by the end of this month.

According to a spokesperson with Cintra, the company has requested an extension on that deadline. If an extension is not granted, the company will be forced to pay the state a $10,000-per-day fine starting on November 1st.

The state has already granted Cintra several extensions, free of charge. The company had originally contracted to have the toll lane project finished by January 7th, 2019, then they promised the state it would be finished by the end of this summer, now they are asking for a new extension until the end of the year.

Do you think NCDOT should grant them another extension?