Jill Rios, director of NC Interfaith Power & Light, will speak at an upcoming DCPC program.

News from Davidson churches this week includes a two-night series on faith and the environment that will be held at  Davidson College Presbyterian Church Aug. 10-11 (registration ends Thursday, Aug. 6), a study series in advance of a visit to Charlotte by the noted Christian theologian John Shelby Spong, and a new adoption support group forming this fall at Davidson United Methodist Church.

See below for all the details. Read the full story

Find out what’s going on in and around Davidson in our Weekend Calendar, in The Guide. Davidson Community Players’ production of Neil Simon’s “Barefoot in the Park” concludes its run this weekend. Soprano sensations Annie Rhodes and Jenny Giduz will perform Saturday evening at the college.  Fundraisers this weekend include a pet show on the green benefit for breast cancer organized by 10-year-old Ally Miller, a blood drive at St. Alban’s, and a tasting extravaganza benefiting Habitat for Humanity.  All that plus live music at Summit Coffee and the Saturday morning farmer’s market. For all the details about these and other events, CLICK HERE.

The MI-Connection cable system, formed in 2007 by the towns of Davidson and Mooresville, will hold a public celebration Saturday, Aug. 8, to celebrate completion of a $22.5 million system upgrade. Read the full story

Davidson professor Laurie Heyer (at right) acted as "the terminal node" in a live impersonation of the Hamilton Path Problem by members of the bacteria computer team. Moving clockwise from her are four other Davidson students: Will DeLoache, Mike Waters, Jim Dickson and Andrew Martens. The remaining two students are Amber Shoecraft (at top in the black shirt) of Johnson C. Smith University, and Oyindade Adefuye (in the white t-shirt) of North Carolina Central University.

A research team with members from Davidson College has created a “bacterial computer” with the potential to solve complicated math problems, a project published in July in the online Journal of Biological Engineering.

The findings demonstrate that computing in living cells is feasible, opening the door to a number of application.

The Davidson faculty mentors of the undergraduate research team are Professor of Biology A. Malcolm Campbell and Associate Professor of Mathematics Laurie Heyer. Read the full story

Ally Miller has organized a dog show fundraiser that will be held Saturday on the village green. Her dog, Jake, will serve as event chair.

“I want to hold a dog show.”

That was the original idea that came to 10-year-old Ally Miller one day in April while she was standing in the driveway of her home in Davidson Farms.  This moment of inspiration led to a chain of events that will culminate Saturday in Ally’s Think Pink Dog Show, a breast-cancer fundraiser on the Davidson Town Green with multiple sponsors, a website, commemorative T-shirts, a raffle … and, hopefully, lots of dogs.

By organizing the show, Ally has learned business savvy and fund-raising skills — and turned her interest in pets into an event that will raise money, in honor of her friend’s mom, for breast cancer research.

Read the full story

Items from the Davidson Police Department’s incident and arrest reports.

Police issued speeding tickets for drivers on Main Street and Griffith Street this week, and made arrest for larceny and driving while impaired.  See below for the full report. Read the full story

If you were in Gaston County this morning and happened upon what appeared to be a major disaster, then don’t worry…it was only a drill.

Lake Norman Regional Medical Center of Mooresville was one of 18 hospitals and nine emergency agencies in the Metrolina area that took part in a region-wide disaster exercise Tuesday morning sponsored by the Metrolina Trauma Advisory Committee. Read the full story

It may be the middle of summer, but School Notes this week brings a few updates, including a follow up on the status of McKinney Academy‘s application for charter school status, special accreditation for Woodlawn School, greetings from Poland by the principal at Davidson I.B. and a report on the Bailey Band trip to New York City.

We hate to mention the start of school already, but our calendar offers a listing of open houses and start dates for area schools. Read the full story