Local Hospitality
BusinessWeek honors Huntersville
BusinessWeek magazine has ranked Huntersville the fourth-most affordable suburb in the United States.
Internationally televised tournament returns March 24-27
An estimated 300 top anglers will compete in the FLW National Guard Open bass fishing tournament March 24 through 27.
The daily launch takes place at Blythe Landing, and the weigh-in moves to the Cabarrus Arena & Events Center in Concord.
This is the fourth consecutive year Visit Lake Norman and a local organizing committee have hosted the internationally televised event, one of only two communities to ever host a FLW Tour event four consecutive years.
The event will be broadcast to 75 million Versus and World Fishing Network subscribers throughout the U.S., and more than 429 million households in Europe, Africa and Asia through a distribution agreement with Matchroom Sport.
The past two years, the tournament provided $1.5 million to local businesses, with some visitors staying in local hotels 11 nights, according to Visit Lake Norman. For more information, contact Travis Dancy, sports marketing manager at Visit Lake Norman, at 704-987-3300 or tdancy@lakenorman.org.
Library only open six weeks now it is closing ...
The Hickory Grove branch of the Mecklenburg County Library system opened with fanfare February 6. It's doors will be padlocked--along with 11 others--April 3. "To me, that's wasting taxpayer money," Duane Hill, a patron, said Thursday. "This is awful. They have to change this. This can't stay."
The 5,100-square foot branch was a $4,956,400 project to replace a much older, much smaller library just across Hickory Grove Road. The building is LEED certified and outfitted with a new computer lab, larger and improved meeting rooms for the community, and resources to encourage early childhood reading and school curriculum.
"I heard about the cuts," mom Tabitha Jones said, "but not this one!"
In making the tough decisions to cut half of the library branches in Mecklenburg County, the Library Board used four criteria: cost of operation, usage level, proximity to other libraries, and size.
Robin Branstrom, chairwoman of the Mecklenburg Library Board, said those criteria--and those criteria only--were applied in order to be fair. Recent investment, she said, was not on the list.
Mecklenburg County Commission Chairwoman Jennifer Roberts, who helped cut the ribbon on the Hickory Grove branch six weeks ago, said she was confused to see it and the Beatties Ford library on the list of closures. (Beatties Ford is currently being renovated.)
"To turn around and close it surprised me," she said. "They have a longer life span. We just invested, so the maintenance is going to be really low right now. The efficiency is higher."
Illness-plagued cruise liner back in South Carolina
A cruise liner hit by an outbreak of intestinal illness for a third straight trip from Charleston returned a day early Thursday as operator Celebrity Cruises brought in extra crew to scrub the ship down for three days.
The company said 369 of more than 1,800 passengers became ill following a March 8 departure.
Hundreds of passengers got sick with the norovirus on the two previous Celebrity Mercury cruises this year from Charleston. The norovirus can spread quickly in closed quarters. Its symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the cause of the outbreak on the latest cruise has not yet been determined.
"They just couldn't have done more. They had clear plastic over all the food at the buffet line. You didn't touch anything, they put stuff on your plate," said passenger Beth Lawton, 81. "At every doorway they had wipes or sprays."
Celebrity Cruises spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said the line is bringing 50 additional crew members to Charleston to help clean, and a local company will steam the carpets in all staterooms and public areas. Celebrity Cruises is owned by Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
The company said 369 of more than 1,800 passengers became ill following a March 8 departure.
Hundreds of passengers got sick with the norovirus on the two previous Celebrity Mercury cruises this year from Charleston. The norovirus can spread quickly in closed quarters. Its symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the cause of the outbreak on the latest cruise has not yet been determined.
"They just couldn't have done more. They had clear plastic over all the food at the buffet line. You didn't touch anything, they put stuff on your plate," said passenger Beth Lawton, 81. "At every doorway they had wipes or sprays."
Celebrity Cruises spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said the line is bringing 50 additional crew members to Charleston to help clean, and a local company will steam the carpets in all staterooms and public areas. Celebrity Cruises is owned by Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
Budget cuts are responsible for most of the loss of almost 4,000 teaching jobs in North Carolina, and school officials fear the losses will be worse next year when federal stimulus money dries up. 
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