Organizers of Ramah Presbyterian Church’s Ramah Jingle festival this Saturday have taken the traditional holiday church fair a step further, turning it into a combination festival and food drive to benefit local families in need this holiday season. Read the full story

Cornelius Mayor Lynette Rinker didn’t run for re-election this fall, saying last summer that she was weighing her options to run for higher office. On Tuesday, she announced what many have been speculating, that she will seek the 2014 Republican nomination for the 98th House District seat currently held by House Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Conrelius).

Tillis announced in May that he would seek his party’s nod to challenge first-term U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan (D-North Carolina) in November 2014, leaving his statehouse seat up for grabs. Read the full story

Updated 4:58pm
Mecklenburg County Commissioner Karen Bentley won’t seek re-election next fall to the District 1 seat she has held for four terms.

In a statement, she gave no hint of her plans saying, “It’s hard to predict what will be in the next chapter.” She also listed a variety of accomplishments, from new schools to funding a domestic violence victim advocate for north Mecklenburg. Read the full story

Retired Air Force Col. Quincy Collins of W.A. Hough High School’s ROTC program will be the keynote speaker Monday, Nov. 11, at the annual Town of Davidson Veterans Day commemoration. The ceremony begins at 11am on the Village Green in downtown Davidson. Read the full story

Mary Lewis Brawley Archie, 87, a longtime Davidson resident who worked 47 years at Davidson College, passed Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013.  Just a week ago, friends and relatives honored her by gathering at Ada Jenkins Center, where they named a classroom in her honor and the mayor proclaimed “Mary Archie Day.”

RELATED LINKS

See Mary Archie’s obituary on our OBITUARIES page»

Oct. 31, 2013, DavidsonNews.net, “At Ada Jenkins Center, a day to celebrate Mary Archie.”  – Our coverage of last week’s event,  with photos and audio.

On a cool autumn Wednesday night with a crescent moon shining over McEver Field’s center field, Davidson beat the Huntersville 12-4 for the 2013 Fall Pony League championship. Davidson Mayor John Woods, who played youth baseball on the same fields, threw the first pitch. See story and photos in SPORTS»

By JONATHAN COX
DavidsonNews.net

After frequent trips over the past 12 years to volunteer in the Guatemalan Highlands, John Quinn and Paul Streeter have learned that good intentions aren’t always enough to improve people’s lives. Years of working to help poor indigenous families by building classrooms or donating shoes have taught them that the practice of giving out handouts can backfire. Instead of empowering rural communities, their hard work could encourage an attitude of dependency in the very people they were trying to help become self-reliant.

That realization led Quinn to question what he calls the “handout model” of charity. Read the full story

Mecklenburg County voters on Tuesday re-elected District 1 school board representative Rhonda Lennon to another term and easily approved both the $290 million Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools bond package, and a $210 million bond package for Central Piedmont Community College.  

Meanwhile, Cornelius voters chose a new board and approved bonds, and Huntersville Mayor Jill Swain won re-election by just 26 votes over Jim Puckett.

Full coverage on our ELECTION page»