Share
The Charlotte Area Transit System will present design plans for a proposed 11-mile extension of the LYNX Blue light rail line during two public meetings next week.
Two-hour sessions are at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Sugaw Creek Presbyterian Church, 101 West Sugar Creed Road, and 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Oasis Shriner's Center, 604 Doug Mayes Place.
Officials will discuss preliminary plans for a rail line from uptown Charlotte to Interstate 485 at North Tryon Street.
For more information about the meetings, contact 704-336-RIDE (7433) or visit www.ridetransit.org. -- Fred Clasen-Kelly
Meck briefs
Charlotte
The Charlotte Fire Department is kicking off an initiative to educate the public about the danger of cooking fires, which they say are the leading cause of residential blazes.
CFD has fought 943 kitchen fires since 2007, fire officials said, and those fires caused 42 injuries and five deaths.
The citywide fire safety campaign will run through Oct. 12. Firefighters will be installing and checking smoke detectors, as well as giving out fire prevention literature and educating community members about how to prevent kitchen fires. -- Ely Portillo
The influential Black Political Caucus will stage a forum uptown Tuesday for Charlotte mayoral, city council and school board candidates.
Television journalist Shawn Flynn will moderate the event, which begins at 6:30 p.m. at Little Rock AME Zion Church, 401 N. McDowell St.
The event is a prelude to the group's candidate endorsement announcement. Members will make the announcement Sunday, Oct. 4.
For more information, please call Larry Hosch at 704 619-4929 or Gloria Rembert at 704 737-6185. -- Fred Clasen-Kelly
Businessman Mark Erwin and FairPoint Communications CEO David Hauser have been sworn in as the newest members of the UNC Charlotte Board of Trustees.
The university also announced this week that the UNC Board of Governors has approved the appointment of Wells Fargo executive Laura Schulte to its Board of Trustees. Schulte, who was named to complete the term of departing Ranjana Clark, will be sworn in later this year.
Erwin and Hauser take seats formerly held by Jim Babb and Graham Denton. The appointments run through 2013.
Hauser took the helm at FairPoint Communications in July. He is the former group executive and chief financial officer for Duke Energy.
Erwin is president of Erwin Capital Inc., a family-owned investment company based in Charlotte. From 1999 to 2001, he worked as the U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Mauritius, the Republic of the Seychelles and the Federal Islamic Republic of Comoros. -- Fred Clasen-Kelly
The Pfeiffer University Marriage and Family Therapy Institute in south Charlotte will offer free screenings for depression next month.
As part of National Depression Screening Day, Pfeiffer will conduct the screenings from 12:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday Oct. 8, at 4805 Park Road, Suite 250. Officials are encouraging visitors to make appointments, but welcome walk-ins also.
About 19 million American adults suffer from depression, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. -- Fred Clasen-Kelly
Regional briefs
North Carolina
Raleigh
N.C. officials have sent an e-mail to the state's Highway Patrol employees reminding troopers that behavior on- and off-duty reflects on the organization.
WRAL-TV reported that the secretary of crime control and public safety and the commander of the Highway Patrol sent the e-mail Wednesday to the agency's more than 1,800 state troopers and 300 civilian employees.
Troopers have been demoted or fired in the past two years for drunken driving, profiling young women for traffic stops, having sex on duty and animal abuse.
The e-mail is signed by Secretary of Crime Control and Public Safety Reuben Young and Col. Randy Glover. -- Associated Press
South Carolina
Columbia
S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford injured both of his wrists last weekend in a bike accident with his youngest son.
Sanford says his son suddenly turned left and Sanford was locked in his pedals and went down. He says he was lucky he didn't break his wrists.
Sanford says he went ahead with a 4-mile Mud Run obstacle course race with another son Saturday afternoon, which didn't help. He says X-rays Sunday showed a tiny hairline fracture. -- Associated Press
South Carolina's attorney general received campaign donations from private lawyers he hired to pursue a case against drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co., a potential violation of state law.
Campaign records and contracts reviewed by The Associated Press show that two attorneys Henry McMaster hired in 2006 to help sue the company donated $7,000 to his campaign between June 2007 and March 2009.
McMaster spokesman Mark Plowden said the contributions were legal. But State Ethics Commission investigator Cathy Hazelwood says the law prohibits contractors from contributing to officials who hired them.
She says McMaster should consider returning the money.
McMaster sued Eli Lilly to recover state funds used to treat illnesses allegedly caused by an anti-psychotic drug. -- Associated Press
Police digest
York County
Rock Hill
A Rock Hill woman walking to the library earlier this week was solicited for prostitution, police say.
The 20-year-old told police she was walking from the Friendly Mart on Hagins Street toward Wilson Street around noon Tuesday when she heard a vehicle behind her, according to Rock Hill police reports. The vehicle, a Nissan Xterra, was following her slowly, and the driver asked if she wanted a ride, reports say.
The woman took him up on the offer and asked him to take her to the library, reports say.
Instead, the driver went in the opposite direction of the library and stopped the car on Stonewall Street. The man asked the woman if she was "working" and offered her $20 for a sexual favor.
The woman told police she refused the man's offer and he eventually let her out uninjured on Saluda Street, reports say. -- (Rock Hill) Herald
