Seven to Watch

As Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools continues to hash out the best way to teach students, evaluate and pay teachers and other reforms, many eyes likely will be on work at eight schools on the city's westside.

The $350 million expansion unveiled at Siemens Energy’s southwest Mecklenburg County plant last month celebrated the rebirth of a manufacturing site once on the brink of closing.

He's one-part preacher, one-part teacher, but he's also a leader and a cheerleader and Rob Jackson is North Carolina's Principal of the Year.

As head of Monarch, nonprofit that provides therapy, housing and other help to thousands of people with disabilities, Peggy Terhune knows better than to sugarcoat problems.

Third in a series: LaWana Mayfield's election to the Charlotte City Council this fall was unusual in that she knocked off a long-serving incumbent.

Second in a series: On the day he was elected to lead state's Baptist convention, Rev. Mark Harris fielded threatening voice mail that gave him quick glimpse of approaching battle over same-sex marriage.

Charlotte's center city made national news when Democrats elected to hold their convention here. But the uptown area got a different, less positive kind of attention three months later.