Darin McIntosh

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

Davidson fire chief Josh Peklo has stepped down and handed off his duties to an interim chief, Darin McIntosh. Peklo told town officials and fellow firefighters this weekend he’s moving to Minnesota.

Town Manager Leamon Brice announced the unexpected personnel shift at Tuesday’s Davidson Town Board meeting, where commissioners welcomed McIntosh as chief. Brice said later that he learned only over the weekend that Peklo, who also works in the theater department at Davidson College, had taken a new job in Minnesota. Read the full story

Charlotte area police officers started their Bike to DC in Charlotte Thursday morning. (Cindy Mills photo)

Officer Melvin Waller just before pedaling off on the Ride to DC. That’s Kaybri, the daughter of  fellow Davidson officer Paul Lowry, with him.  (Paul Lowry photo)

Davidson Police Officer Melvin Waller climbed onto his bike in Charlotte Thursday at 9am and began pedaling the first of what will be a 500-mile ride to Washington, DC, over the next few days. Waller and about 85 other officers from around the area are taking part in their annual Bike to DC, which honors fallen police officers.

Waller has dedicated his ride to officers including Mark Allen Swaney, a Davidson officer who died on Christmas Day 1997 in an exchange of gunfire that also killed a suspect on Davidson’s West Side.

Read the full story

Oxford Dam at the end of Lake Hickory, in Catawba County. (via Huntersville Fire Department)

Heavy spring rains raised water levels all along the Catawba River basin this week, leading to flooding in some low-lying areas of the river and area lakes. Residents along Lake Norman reported flooding, and some residents in northwest Charlotte’s Riverside neighborhood were evacuated amid rising waters. Read on for a photo gallery. Read the full story

Updated Wednesday 8:03am
Piedmont Natural Gas says work on a new gas pipeline at the northern edge and just north of Davidson on Wednesday could be noisy. The work is scheduled between 10am and noon.  Read the full story

The rain broke enough Monday to let the sun shine through on Lake Davidson. Jack McCall took the photo from his home at Spinnaker Point. (Jack McCall photo)

Updated 6:27pm
By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

After several days of heavy rain, water levels around Lake Norman are above normal, prompting warnings this week from officials who manage safety on the lake. Duke Energy said it is boosting flows at its dams in the Catawba River basin, and urging lakeside residents to beware of flooding in low-lying areas.

The National Weather Service reported Tuesday morning that some residents along the river were being evacuated, especially in the area between Lake Norman and Mountain Island Lake.  Fire officials said Tuesday night that about 40 homes in the Riverside community in northwest Charlotte were evacuated.

Meanwhile, the Lake Norman Marine Commission is asking boaters to avoid big wakes near shore. Read the full story

Hough principal Terri Cockherham addressed a crowd of parents and students in the school gym. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

CORNELIUS – Several hundred parents and students filled the gymnasium at W.A. Hough High School Wednesday night, looking for information and reassurance about safety at the school after a series of security scares over the past week. Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools leaders did their best, but at times there seemed a huge gap in expectations and even in some audience members’ perceptions of the incidents. Read the full story

Jeanne Miller

Davidson Police Chief Jeanne Miller will give a free presentation this Thursday, May 2, at River Run Country Club on the dangers of dangers of teen drinking and distracted driving – a national problem that experts say may be getting worse. Read the full story

A worker drives over the completed Piedmont Natural Gas pipeline Friday evening. We talked to the driver, who said workers were blowing off gas from the new pipeline. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

Updated 9:03pm
A loud roaring noise, which some residents described as sounding like a jet engine, was heard in the Lake Norman area Friday afternoon and evening, followed by the smell of gas from Cornelius to Davidson to Mount Mourne. The odor of gas prompted more than two dozen 911 calls in Davidson and Cornelius between 5 and 8:30pm, as well as calls in the south Iredell area. Read the full story