General News

Four properties proposed for historic landmarking will go before the Charlotte City Council on Monday – from the ruins of a Colonial-era grist mill site to a 1960s Modernist home. At its Monday night zoning meeting, the council will decide whether to designate the Long Creek Mill Ruin near Beatties Ford Road and Huntersville-Mount Holly […]

Does your neighborhood need help creating a website, using social media such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, learning how to send text message alerts or any other digital communications? If so, you might want to take a look at the digital communications workshop Queens University is offering, in partnership with the City of Charlotte. The […]

Residents can help improve area water quality by picking up trash from local streams on Saturday during Mecklenburg County’s annual creek clean-up, Big Sweep. To register, click here. The Big Sweep will take place at six sites, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Volunteers can walk alongside or, if they’re adventurous, wade into local streams […]

One of the most harrowing experiences for a young driver in the Uwharries used to be crossing the Swift Island Bridge. For those of us east of the Pee Dee River, it was a dreaded necessity if we wanted to catch a movie in Albemarle. When I approached that seemingly endless span, with its narrow […]

Nearly 18 months after a Garinger High School student was struck by a car and killed crossing Eastway Drive at Sugar Creek Road, changes aimed at improving pedestrian safety were approved for the busy five-lane intersection. Monday, as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students returned for the first day of classes, Charlotte City Council voted unanimously to spend […]

As summer vacation winds to an end, many families anxiously await the first day of school – the end of their struggle to provide babysitters, activities and camps to curb bored kids’ mischief. But from educators’ perspective, beginning a new school year can mean a daunting task of overcoming the “summer slide.” Educators and researchers […]

What kinds of wild animals are in the woods, and what are they up to? The Smithsonian Institution and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences have set up cameras to find out. Scroll below for a photo gallery of animal images captured as part of the eMammal project. This summer, as part of my […]

Charlotte area planning and sustainability enthusiasts can have their say about the future of the region in coming weeks by taking part in two long-range regional planning efforts. In Mecklenburg County, volunteers are being sought to help draft the Mecklenburg Livable Communities Plan. Mecklenburg County residents can apply to participate in a work group through […]

The right combination of protective hedges, sun-absorbing walls and a southern exposure can turn a corner of your yard into a tropical microclimate ­– especially in a rain-soaked year like this one. Last summer’s record heat and drought gave us a taste of weather in desert regions. This year, the abundant rainfall has been more […]

Last month, after about a year of study, consultants for the City of Charlotte delivered their assessment of the city’s zoning ordinance and associated development regulations. The study, which can be viewed at this link, was delivered in two parts, the Assessment Report and the Approach Report. Like the two parts of the report, after […]