Madras Christian College President R.W. Alexander Jesudasan is visiting Davidson College this week as part of a tour to study the operations of U.S. colleges. Dr. Jesudasan has been in office for about a year at Madras, which has had a long-term relationship with Davidson.

Dr. Jesudasan’s visit has been arranged by Davidson Professor Job Thomas, a Madras Christian College graduate. Dr. Thomas has led several Davidson in India semester programs. Students always begin with a residency at MCC, which is just outside Chennai, India, in Tamil Nadu state.

- Bill Giduz

Davidson BuzzKill, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament and auction led by Davidson College player Bryant Barr, raised more than $38,000 Sunday to help send mosquito nets to Africa. Read more about the event and see a photo gallery in Sports, CLICK HERE>

Hundreds of festival-goers came to the Davidson Village Green Saturday for the first day of the 2-day Art on the Green festival. The annual art and craft exhibition and community festival continues Sunday, April 25, noon to 4 p.m. Read the full story

Work continues this week on two utility and road projects on N.C. 115 in and near downtown Cornelius. Traffic was backed on Tuesday as construction sites at Catawba Avenue and Washam Potts Road both were down to a single lane with alternating north/south traffic.

Construction crews are working on N.C. 115 at Catawba in preparation for the opening of a new section of Catawba Avenue into the Antiquity Cornelius development east of the railroad tracks. Meanwhile, a second project has one lane closed just south of downtown, at N.C. 115 and Washam Potts Road. Read the full story

An urban hike through Davidson organized via an online “meetup” site attracted more than 50 people to Davidson on Saturday, April 17. Organizer Randy Mintken said meetups like this typically attract 20 to 30, but the walk through Davidson proved more popular. Participants walked about 5 miles, starting and finishing at The Brickhouse off Watson Street. The route took them out to the Exit 30 area and lakes Davidson and Cornelius, through the old part of town, and past the Davidson Farmers Market and Davidson College.

So, it was the mosquito
who annoyed the iguana,
who frightened the python,
who scared the rabbit,
who startled the crow,
who alarmed the monkey,
who killed the owlet…
and now Mother Owl won’t wake the sun so that the day can come.

A cast of 27 from the McKinney Academy Performing Arts group brought this verse to life in skits Monday morning in Huntersville.

Dressed in elaborate and colorful costumes, the students performed the African-American folk tale, “Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears,” as told in the Caldecott Medal-winning book by Verna Aardema.  Read the full story

Strawberries at farmers market, ‘Charlie Brown’ on as scheduled

Updated Sat., 3 p.m.
A couple of inches of snow covered Davidson and the surrounding area Friday night before turning to sleet and freezing rain. The result this morning was a glistening landscape, with ice sparkling on trees and a “rain” from melting ice falling onto a frozen landscape.

Most public events Friday night in Davidson were canceled, and parks & recreation programs today (Saturday) have been called off. But other events are on as planned: the Davidson Farmers Market was operating its pre-holiday market this morning. And today’s performances of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” at Armour Street Theatre are a go as well. Read the full story

Davidson police this afternoon released these images from an armed robbery at the Wachovia ATM on Main Street early Friday. The images show a masked man confronting a man who was using the ATM at 12:06 a.m. Friday. The robber got away with cash and a digital camera. More information in our earlier news item, CLICK HERE>