Two new art exhibitions opened this week at Davidson College. Wafaa Bilal’s recreations of his performance art pieces “…And Counting” and “Domestic Tension” opened Thursday, Oct. 14, in the Van Every Gallery of the Belk Visual Arts Center. An exhibition by North Carolina native Darren Goins titled “Casual Language: A Mixed Emoticon” also opened Thursday evening in the Smith Gallery. Iraqi-born Wafaa Bilal has exhibited world-wide, and lectured extensively to inform audiences of the importance of peaceful conflict resolution in his home country. His 2007 installation “Domestic Tension” placed him on the receiving end of a paintball gun that was

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Sugaw Creek Recreation Center will host the 13th annual Queen City Amateur Boxing Invitational on Saturday Oct. 30, 2010 at 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for ages 12 and under and $10 for ages 13 and over. The tournament will feature some of the best amateur male and female boxers from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee. Boxers will compete competing in three categories: Youth (ages 8-14); Senior youth/Novice (ages 15-16); and Open (ages 17 and older). Prior to the event, Sugaw Creek will sponsor the 2010 Queen City Gang Awareness and Resource Fair from 11

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AOL Inc. today announced the launch of the 2010 City’s Best program, providing a guide to the best local food, entertainment and lifestyle options in 25 major U.S. metropolitan markets. Charlotte has been selected as one of the featured cities. With a commitment to providing the highest quality and most relevant information at the local level, City’s Best editors and writers in Charlotte have visited and selected the best food, entertainment and lifestyle venues, creating a high-quality local directory of listings. Now, AOL will engage Charlotteans to vote for – and ultimately determine – the “best of the best” that

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A NO SWIMMING advisory has been issued for a portion of Lake Wylie in Charlotte. The advisory was issued today after an unknown amount of sewage discharged from a sanitary sewer manhole. The sewage flowed into a stream at 8746 Little Brim Lane and then into Paw Creek Cove on Lake Wylie. The sewage discharge was discovered during the morning of October 12, 2010. The overflow was caused by a grease blockage in the sanitary sewer line. Within a few hours, the problem was repaired and the discharge stopped. The sewer line is privately owned and maintained by West Bloomfield

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Wingate University will host CNN News Anchor Fredricka Whitfield at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 28 for a free lecture entitled, “From the Newsroom.” The lecture will be held in the George A. Batte, Jr. Fine Arts Center. Whitfield is the weekend news anchor for CNN in Atlanta and anchor of the CNN weekend edition of CNN Newsroom. She has reported on the Persian Gulf region during the years of Afghanistan and Iraq wars, the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2009 presidential inauguration. Seating is on a first-come first-severed basis. For more information call 704-233-8316 or visit www.wingate.edu/culture.

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The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education held a three-hour work session Oct. 11 to review staff proposals for school consolidations, closings and other changes. The work session was another in a five-month series of meetings and community forums intended to help the Board conduct a comprehensive review of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. The Oct. 11 meeting focused on further refinement of the proposal first brought forward by staff Sept. 28, as well as a review of the financial and human-resources aspects of the changes. More than 70 of the district’s 178 schools will be affected by the proposal if it is adopted by

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The Charlotte region held its own in August, with nearly all 16 counties experiencing a drop in the unemployment rate from July. As a region, the overall unemployment rate dropped to 11.5 percent from 11.8 percent. However, the Charlotte USA labor force continues to decline, which may indicate residents are still frustrated with their job searches and no longer are categorized as actively looking for work. Initial unemployment claims also declined slightly from July to August, down a dramatic 21 percent from a year ago, according to the Charlotte Regional Partnership’s August By the Numbers at http://www.charlotteusa.com/documents/charlotteusa_by_the_numbers_9-30-2009.pdf Total taxable sales

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Individuals with Down syndrome, along with their friends and family, will unite for the 2010 RBC Bank Buddy Walk, presented by the Down Syndrome Association of Charlotte (DSAC), on Sunday, October 9th, 2010 at Freedom Park in Charlotte. The Buddy Walk celebrates National Down syndrome Awareness Month in October and promotes awareness and acceptance of Down syndrome. This has been a record-breaking campaign for the DSAC Buddy Walk. To date, we have 110 teams registered and raised over $92,000 online. Online and offline donations are expected to exceed $100,000 by the end of the event, which will be attended by

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Every year the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awards funding to communities to assist homeless and disabled citizens with housing. HUD has recently announced its 2010 Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for project renewals and new projects. The Continuum of Care Workgroup of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Homeless Services Network is the organization that receives and reviews applications locally. The group will meet at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 14, to discuss the funding opportunity and answer questions. The public meeting will be held at Mecklenburg County Area Mental Health, 429 Billingsley Road, in Charlotte. Application information will be

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Charlotte Regional Realtor® Association reports on the residential real estate market in this region based on Carolina Multiple Listing Services, Inc. (CMLS) data. The number of closings for September 2010 (1,658) decreased 14.8 percent compared to closings in September 2009 when closings totaled 1,945. Compared to August 2010, closings were down 2.7 percent. The average sales price for September 2010 ($203,799) was up 3.6 percent over the September 2009 average sales price ($196,760), but was down 9.5 percent over the August 2010 average sales price of $225,156. The average listing price of homes sold in September 2010 ($231,678) was up

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