The former owner of a Huntersville car dealership pleaded guilty Monday to felony charges related to the company’s failure to pay the state money it collected for vehicle license, title and registrations. Read the full story

MI-Connection workers installed new high-speed wires on South Street in Davidson during the system upgrade in 2008. (DavidsonNews.net file photo)

By ROBERT MAIER

A recent article in the New York Times (Dec. 4, 2011, “The New Digital Divide”) about why the US is ranked 12th among developed nations in Internet connectivity underscores the excellent reasons why Davidson’s mayor and town board (along with Mooresville) decided to purchase scandal-ridden Adelphia’s decrepit local communications network several years ago. The U.S. is dominated by just six Internet cable providers— like Time Warner, Comcast, AT&T. These providers are acquiring most remaining smaller systems without any federal oversight. We know what this means—prices will go up and quality of service will go down for those subscribers.

State legislators, including North Carolina’s, influenced by well-funded cable industry lobbyists, have made it easier to do this by outlawing local competition like MI Connection. In North Carolina, it is now illegal for a government entity to own a communications system. That’s like requiring the water system to be owned by a private company beholden only to its stockholders for whom profit is the only motive, and not providing water to homes that aren’t profitable enough. Read the full story

The Rushco Davidson Market off I-77 Exit 30 in Davidson was robbed just before midnight Sunday, and a suspect was caught a short time later on West Catawba Avenue in Cornelius.
Read the full story

David and Amanda Burns and their two oldest boys.

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

Friends of David Burns of Cornelius, a 1999 Davidson College grad and ex-Wildcat basketball player who passed away suddenly Oct. 29, have come together to help out as his family tries to adjust to life without him.

That effort includes seeking donations for a trust set up to aid his wife and three children. And Davidson College is in on the act as well: The trust will be be the beneficiary of Wednesday night’s Black Out Belk fundraiser, when the Davidson Wildcats men’s basketball team takes on Vanderbilt at Belk Arena. Read the full story

The parade started on North Main Street Davidson and headed south through downtown. More photos below. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

With sun shining and temperatures in the high 50s, more than 2,300 marchers walked, dance, tumbled and rode from Davidson to Cornelius in the 29th annual North Mecklenburg Christmas Parade. Read the full story

That's a big check - really. From left, Marcia Avedon, Ingersoll Rand's Senior VP for Human Resources and a United Way of Central Carolinas board member; Robert Zafari, an Ingersoll Rand division president and United Way sponsor; and Randall Rogers, an Ingersoll Rand executive who chaired the campaign, presented a check for $831,622 to United Way executive director Jane McIntyre. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

Ingersoll Rand Co. isn’t the biggest employer in the Charlotte region, but on Thursday officials announced a milestone that could be hard for other area companies to top: Big gains in fundraising for its 2011 United Way campaign.

In a brief ceremony at the corporate headquarters off Beaty Street, company and United Way leaders said the 1,200-employee campus raised $831,622. That’s 74 percent more than a year ago and its biggest total ever. Read the full story

The 2011 Red and Black Ball is Friday.

Davidson College’s Warner Hall eating house will host the annual Red and Black Ball on Friday night, its annual fund-raiser for organizations that work on HIV/AIDS treatment and awareness. The gala comes a day after Thursday’s World AIDS Day commemorations. Read the full story

Click to download the 90-page business plan. Additional links and summaries below.

By CHRISTINA RITCHIE ROGERS
DavidsonNews.net

CHARLOTTE – Consultants Wednesday night outlined a 5-year plan to build the Red Line Regional Rail, a 25-mile commuter train line from Charlotte to Mooresville, and to pay for the estimated $452 million project through a formal partnership among local governments, the state and Charlotte Area Transportation System.

Under the proposed plan, the partners would cooperate by setting up a Joint Powers Authority (JPA), which would govern construction and operation of the rail line. The plan calls for the sharing of construction and operations costs:  25 percent from CATS, 25 percent from the state of North Carolina, and 50 percent from local governments.

Wednesday’s presentation came at a joint meeting in Charlotte of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and its Red Line Task Force. It included an updated estimate of the project’s cost – $452 million in 2018 dollars, adjusted for inflation. That’s slightly lower than the $456 million number state and local officials had been using, based on previous estimates. Read the full story