Please drop the Chicken Wing Pose, ladies. The trick with a trend is recognizing when it’s over. And when bloggers start saying a pose that’s supposed to make you look super cute makes you look like you are airing out your underarms — it’s over.

You know what I’m talking about: the pose with a hand stuck saucily on your hip, cinching in your waist so it looks its smallest and angling your arm so it looks its thinnest. All women, all shapes, sizes and ages are doing this pose. I call it the Chicken Wing Pose but it’s also known as the Sorority Girl pose, the Hand-on-Hip Pageant pose, and the Sassy Arm Triangle of Insecurity, as one male blogger called it. Read the full story

What’s the best way to keep schoolkids safe, in the age of firearms? Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools is looking at new security measures, aimed in part at keeping weapons out of schools. But the National Rifle Association says a new study it commissioned supports its push for the opposite approach – put more guns in schools by giving them to teachers and staff. Read the full story

Interstate-485 will finally become a complete loop next year, and some northern sections will feature unusual interchange designs. State and federal transportation officials talked about the project recently while standing at the edge of one of the new interchanges.

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By TASNIM SHAMMA
WFAE

What’s an airport without a control tower? One that can expect to see a lot less traffic. As part of the sequestration cuts to the federal budget, the FAA has given the city of Concord official notice that it will end the contract that funds the tower program at Concord Regional Airport. Read the full story

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

Area lawmakers on Monday formally joined the push to re-do Mecklenburg County’s flawed 2011 property revaluation, filing House and Senate bills that would require the county to correct problems and allow refunds to those overcharged because of inflated appraisals. The bill also would require additional payments for those whose properties were undervalued. Read the full story

It’s a bit early to bring it up this year, but those small green worms always prompt questions as they begin dangling from trees during the march toward spring. They’re called canker worms, and they can wreak havoc on the foliage. Many of our neighbors prepared this year by banding their trees. Did you? Read more in REAL ESTATE & HOME»

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By GREG COLLARD
WFAE

The top headline in the October 1st, 1959, Mecklenburg Gazette proclaims “Great Economic Progress is Seen.” A few days earlier, Gov. Luther Hodges visited the Catawba River to set off the first dynamite blast for construction of the Cowan’s Ford Dam – the site of a Revolutionary War battle.

The writer of the story called it the “beginning of a new era in the history of the Catawba River Valley.” Read the full story

By JULIE ROSE
WFAE

CHARLOTTE – The Mecklenburg County Commission on Tuesday stopped short of ordering a complete re-do of the 2011 Property Tax Revaluation, but they took enough steps to satisfy some critics – for now. Read the full story