Hood Hargett Breakfast Club raised almost $26,000 for the Liz Murray Scholarship Fund during its annual Casino Night fundraiser. The nonprofit organization’s Liz Murray Scholarship Fund awards eight student athletes from the Charlotte-area with a combined $13,000 toward their college educations. Hood Hargett Breakfast Club has given more than $180,000 to more than 150 local high school students. “Casino Night is our biggest fundraiser of the year, and we’re thrilled with the level of support we received,” said Jenn Snyder, executive director of Hood Hargett Breakfast Club. “This will allow us to give some very deserving students a head start

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STORM is a new cyber-thriller by Dave Pearson of Charlotte that uncovers the undisclosed worlds of computer hackers, cyberterrorists and Special Operations with exceptional realism. Pearson’s first book, which required extensive research, focuses on the secret military internet, the Intelink, NSA hackers and cyberterrorism. STORM is the first book in Pearson’s cyber-thriller series. In STORM, the Intelink—the secret U.S. Intelligence Communities’ intranet—is under attack by a rogue group of hackers, known as STORM. Recruiting the talent of super-hacker Dutch, STORM journeys to Compound Five, a combat training facility of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), to attack the

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Mrs. Southeast of Cherryville, N.C., Shannon Devine, 35, was crowned Mrs. International 2010, Saturday, July 17 at the 23rd Annual Mrs. International Pageant in Skokie, Ill. The two-hour event, held at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, featured 51 contestants competing in three categories, including interview, fitness-wear and evening gown. Devine, who also won the Most Photogenic award, was crowned Mrs. International by her husband, Jason, before a packed audience, which included her 2 ½-year-old daughter Halle-Grace. In keeping with International Pageants’ platform-focus and dedication to highlighting women’s accomplishments through community support, Devine will spend her year as

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Cornelius, NC – The NO SWIMMING advisory that was issued on July 22, 2010 for a portion of Lake Norman has been lifted. The “no swimming” advisory was issued after approximately 240 gallons of sewage discharged to Lake Norman during the evening of July 21, 2010 at Peninsula Club Drive. The spill was caused by a private contractor who accidentally bored through a sewer main at 18619 Peninsula Club Drive. The discharge was stopped by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities on July 21, 2010 and all repairs have been completed. Water samples were collected from the lake yesterday by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services

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From questions about the city’s origins to the Panthers’ chances for success in 2010, people in Charlotte have a ton of questions about their beloved Queen City – questions that have undoubtedly shifted and changed as the city has experienced growth to reflect the most pertinent ponderings on locals’ minds. Ask.com, a question and answer site that receives more than 1 million specific questions everyday, has been monitoring these ponderings for the past month and is now revealing the top-10 questions asked about Charlotte. How many do YOU know the answers to??? Top Questions Asked about Charlotte on Ask.com 1.

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Kings Mountain native Terri Mullis deBruin needs a lifesaving lung transplant, and volunteers are planning a spaghetti supper to help with the expenses. In 2004, deBruin first noticed troubling symptoms, such as redness and swelling in her hands. She saw a rheumatologist and was later diagnosed with systemic scleroderma, an autoimmune disease causing her immune system to attack her body, especially her lungs. Doctors say a lung transplant is her only hope. A lung transplant costs approximately $450,000. Even with health insurance, deBruin faces significant medical expenses. For the rest of her life, she will need follow-up care and daily

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Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools showed improvement in 23 areas tested and the district’s graduation rate rose by almost four percentage points in the 2009-2010 school year, according to preliminary state data released July 19. The district had 97 schools making Adequate Yearly Progress, as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which is 57.7 percent of all schools. The results continued a positive upward trend in CMS since 2006 in nearly all tested areas. Comparisons to other districts for the 209-2010 year, as well as data for academic growth at individual schools, will not be available until the North Carolina

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A 37-year-old brown-and-white Welsh pony named Sammie—who weighs 700 pounds and stands 4 feet 3 inches tall—broke free from his Shelby home last Wednesday, July 14, and has been missing ever since. He was last seen on Zion Church Road crossing the Broad River. “When he is hungry, he lets me know by coming to the back door,” Sammie’s guardian Marianne Miller told news sources; her voice was hoarse from calling out for Sammie for days. Sammie eats only a special diet of ground grain because he has lost all his teeth. “Sammie needs to be home with the people

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The McDowell Nature Center will celebrate its 25th anniversary on July 17, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., with several fun activities for the entire family. A vine cutting by dignitaries will kick off the day, which features hikes, hayrides, live animals – including birds of prey from the Carolina Raptor Center — as well as live music, and stories and poetry by Keith “Little Bear” Brown. The McDowell Nature Center, 15222 York Road, opened July 27, 1985, and is located in the southwestern part of Mecklenburg County near Lake Wylie on land that was once used as a Boy Scout

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In the coming decade, it won’t be enough to teach kids how to read and write. If they’re not financially literate, they’ll be lost. That’s the advice being offered by The National Financial Educators Council (NFEC) (www.FinancialEducatorsCouncil.org), organizers of Money XLive – one of the nation’s largest financial literacy event that brings together celebrities and sport stars to provide youth a practical financial education in an MTV award show style environment. According to a survey from CollegeGrad.com, 80 percent of all college graduates in 2009 moved back in with their parents after graduation, a three percent increase from 2008 and

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