In a unanimous vote Monday night, Cornelius commissioners picked Mayor Pro-Tem Lynette Rinker to replace Mayor Jeff Tarte after he steps down in January to join the state Senate. The vote wasn’t a surprise but it came with a dose of uncertainty: Who, if anyone will replace Ms. Rinker as commissioner? Read the full story on CorneliusNews.net.

CORNELIUS - Rocky Mount-based Autumn Care broke ground Wednesday for a $12.5 million, 102-bed long-term nursing home off Zion Street, on land owned by Mt. Zion United Methodist Church. The nursing home, which could be open in a year, is the latest sign of growth as Mt. Zion carries out a long-term plan to help meet community needs. See the full story on CorneliusNews.net.

Hough High School diver and soccer player Blair Timberlake acted quickly after a 7-year-old boy nearly drowned at the Tanners Creek pool Saturday. After other bystanders helped pull him from the water, she administered life-saving CPR, learned only weeks ago during lifeguard training. Denny Seitz was there and filed this report, on CorneliusNews.net.

With a wreath laying, honor guards, and a moving bugle solo of “Taps,” several hundred people remembered America’s war dead during a Memorial Day service Monday morning in Cornelius. American Legion Post 86 hosted the event at the Cornelius Veterans Memorial Monument at Rotary Plaza, next to Town Hall. See the full story and photos on CorneliusNews.net, “Memorial Day speaker: ‘It’s more than a day off.’”

Retired Cornelius Commissioner Jim Bensman says Norfolk Southern executives told him two years ago there were concerned about the Red Line rail project’s design and whether freight and passenger traffic could co-exist along the line. Now, in two letters released recently, those concerns are now public. In a commentary on CorneliusNews.net, Mr. Bensman writes: “All the municipalities should cease their evaluations of this project until the Norfolk Southern situation is resolved.”

The Charlotte Asian Festival & Dragon Boat races Saturday drew a crowd to Ramsey Creek Park on Lake Norman. Our correspondents Christina Ritchie Rogers and Lyndsay Kibiloski were there to capture the action. See the slideshow on CorneliusNews.net.

DavidsonNews.net has reached a milestone: After four years on the web, we are launching our first sister site: CorneliusNews.net to cover our neighboring town to the south.

As with our flagship in Davidson, our goals in Cornelius will be to deliver news, feature stories, events listings and other information on the web, and to help build community.

CorneliusNews.net has been in a “soft launch” for the past several weeks, covering Town Hall, the arts, sports, schools, real estate, houses of worship, community events and breaking news. It’s now officially live at http://www.corneliusnews.net/.  (We’ll have a launch party this Friday. See the details below.) Read the full story