PMCRadio, an internet radio station,  has been pushing local music & local content to the Charlotte logged-on masses since 2011. This Friday (May 24) PMCRadio is hosting a nightlife fundraiser to ramp up brand awareness & station funding for this CLT internet radio startup venture.

With the help of the indie Electronic Dance Music (EDM) radio show Mr. Atomic’s Boombox, the hope is that an EDM nightlife event will help the station scale-up. PMCRadio Marketing Director Cameron G. Lee said, “With this nightclub event we are trying to expand our listener reach, raise some funding for the station, and increase PMCRadio’s overall brand awareness around Charlotte.”

Find out more about the event on Facebook.

The Charlotte Bobcats are in the process of changing their name back to “Hornets,” a source with knowledge of the situation told CBSSports.com’s Will Brinson, including arranging digital assets that would allow a return to their original nickname.

There is no timetable for the switch though NBA commissioner to be Adam Silver told Bobcats season ticket holders in April that such a change would take at least 18 months to implement. Moreover, the change is not unexpected and would likely be popular with the North Carolina fan base.

With the unemployment rate for young people stuck in double digits, a growing chorus is calling for more training in skilled labor and entrepreneurship.

Two such proponents are here in Charlotte.

Henry Rock, who moved from New York in 2012, is working with the Urban League of Central Carolinas to launch what he calls an “entrepreneurs academy” – a 15-week, hands-on program that would train “at-risk men of color” ages 18 to 29 to start and run their own businesses. At the same time, Hans Plotseneder, a former Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teacher who twice ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the school board, has applied for a charter to launch Entrepreneurs High School, which, he says, would render students work-ready upon completion in four to five years. Plotseneder would serve as principal.

Both ideas are intriguing enough. But as difficult as entrepreneurship is, can potential business owners be identified, trained and churned out like mass-produced widgets?

Check out the full article & podcast here.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Dan Mauney keeps misplacing his car.

Mr. Mauney, 42, lives in an apartment tower in this city’s Uptown neighborhood, a pedestrian-friendly quarter with new office buildings, sparkling museums and ambitious restaurants. He so seldom needs to drive that when he does go to retrieve his car in his building’s garage, he said, “I always forget where I parked it.”

Charlotte and other American cities have not abandoned their cars or their sprawling growth. But people like Mr. Mauney are part of the reason that American driving patterns have downshifted — perhaps for years to come.

Owner and barista Jimmy Kleto is throwing down in an epic Queen City Thursday Night Throwdown, Charlotte’s original city-wide latte art competition. The QCTNT is a monthly event, free admission and open to all, founded and sponsored by Central Coffee, Not Just Coffee, and their roasters Joe Van Gogh and Counter Culture.

In honor of Central’s 4th, Papi Queso food truck will be parked outside, along with the King of Pops gourmet popsicle stand.

Coffee lovers: come enjoy the art and party. Baristas: come throw down with the best in the city.

Event starts at 7:00. Central Coffee Co. is located at 719 Louise Ave, on the corner of Louise and Central Ave.

ESPN and the Southeastern Conference said Thursday that Charlotte will be the home of its new SEC Network, which will launch in August 2014.

In a deal that will run through 2034 – likely the longest-term broadcast contract in all U.S. sports – the new network will carry 1,000 live events annually on TV or digitally, including 45 conference football games. Financial terms were not disclosed.

In announcing the new network in Atlanta, SEC commissioner Mike Slive and ESPN president John Skipper said the network will offer SEC-oriented programming 24 hours a day to a national audience.

Read more by Mark Washburn at The Charlotte Observer.

Charlotte is one of four finalist cities to earn three-year contracts to host the North American summer X Games starting in 2014, ESPN announced Tuesday.

After more than 10 years in and around downtown Los Angeles, the X Games will depart from Southern California for a new destination. The other cities in contention are Detroit, Austin, Tex., and Chicago.

“The X Games have grown significantly and been enjoyed by millions of fans over the past 10 years in Los Angeles,” Scott Guglielmino, senior vice president, programming and X Games said in a statement.

“As we embark on a year of significant global expansion and transformation for X Games in 2013, we are excited about the potential each of these cities bring, and look forward to identifying our next host city for the X Games.”

A decision is expected in June.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will tap Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx as the new secretary of transportation on Monday, a White House official said Sunday, speaking anonymously because the announcement is not yet official.

Read more by Franco Ordoñez at the Charlotte Observer.

Foxx, whose profile rose when his city hosted the Democratic National Convention last summer, announced in early April that he would be leaving office at the end of this year. His name had already been floated as a possible pick for transportation secretary, owing to the work he had done on Charlotte’s transit system, including streetcar and light-rail projects.

Read more at the Huffington Post.

Listen to more and purchase on on Bandcamp, follow on Twitter (@JamesBlaze).

(via Clture)

Charlotte is not known for its bike messengers. In fact, many cyclists complain that the city is not very bike friendly at all. Bill Fehr, however, seems quite content spinning his way through town delivering mail to some of Charlotte’s biggest companies — a job he has held for nearly 15 years.

More videos at the Charlotte Video Project website.

“We saw what Ohio State University was doing to transform their stadium to zero waste,” she said. “We thought it was something that had to be done at our stadium, too.”

By zero waste, Payne means the stadium won’t produce any waste that has to go into a landfill. Instead, everything purchased at the stadium will be recyclable or compostable.

Payne, a psychology major and environmental studies minor, said the easiest way to get people to recycle and compost is to train them early.

“If you study human behavior, you see that if you plant an idea early enough, it will carry on for a long time,” she said. “At the stadium, we will be teaching people how to recycle and compost by not giving them any other options.”

Steven Marques, who does marketing for the committee, said there won’t be any trash cans at the stadium, except in the restrooms.

“We’ll have signs up, and volunteers that will help people understand what to recycle and what to compost,” he said.

All the compostable material will be sent to Earth Farms, a composting site in Dallas. Eventually, Payne said, she’d like to have the compost come back to the university to be used for gardens.

Charlotte’s Rail Trail will be a vibrant public park that winds through the very heart of our city, where the unexpected can be found around every bend. The 3.3 mile trail will connect communities and knit together neighborhoods from Sedgefield, Southside Park, Brookhill, Dilworth, Wilmore, and South End to Uptown. But it will belong to everyone in the Queen City.

The Rail Trail will become the place to discover cafés and bars, explore galleries, see artists at work, stumble upon an impromptu concert, stroll with your family, or relax on a bench and watch the city come alive around you.

The walkway alongside the Blue Line already exists, but it could be so much more. With the help of passionate supporters, today’s trail will be transformed into a network of gardens, public art, unique spaces and activities, and an endless string of places to sit, eat and play. The hardest part of building a park—acquiring the land—is already done and a foundation has been laid. Let’s turn it into something extraordinary.

(via CLTBuzz)

This Saturday, April 20th, Charlotte will host the World Parade & Festival at Independence Park from 11AM – 6PM.

The festival will appeal to the five senses of touch, smell, taste, sound, and sight. Expect an Intercontinental Parade, live performances, storytelling in native languages, an international bazaar, exotic cuisines, cultural displays, and more! Overall, the sensory overload and the personal connections made beyond borders and bias will culminate into an event that will endure for years to come. Over 7,000 attended the inaugural event last year, and this year will likely be even larger.

Follow the action on Twitter: @WorldParadeFest and hashtag #CLTWorldParade.

By GARY D. ROBERTSON — Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — A legislative proposal to allow speed limits of 75 miles per hour on some North Carolina roads is barreling through the state Senate.

The Senate Transportation Committee quickly passed legislation Wednesday giving the state Department of Transportation authority to set speed limits that high for interstates and other controlled access highways. The current limit is 70 mph.

Primary bill sponsor Sen. Neal Hunt, R-Wake, wants North Carolina to join 16 other states that legislative research say authorize speed limits of 75 mph or higher. The law already directs DOT to set a “reasonable and safe speed limit” on the basis of engineering and traffic levels.

The bill is “just to move traffic along. A lot of times when it’s not crowded, you have an opportunity to go a little bit faster without having to worry about getting a ticket,” Hunt told reporters after the committee meeting. The full Senate was expected to consider the measure Thursday.

Hunt envisions sections of Interstate 40 between Raleigh and Wilmington among the potential candidates for the higher speeds.

“You’ve still got to drive safely,” Hunt said. “If it’s not appropriate, then DOT won’t approve it.”

Other highways that are less traveled or less populated may include I-77 above Statesville or Down East along U.S. Highway 64 near to the Outer Banks.

Nobody opposed the bill at the meeting, but AAA Carolinas motor club spokesman Tom Crosby raised several concerns later Wednesday. Speed is a contributing factor in one-third of traffic fatalities and a higher speed will invariably result in more deaths, he said.

Crosby said no one should be under the impression that a higher speed limit will mean dramatically fewer people will be speeding. While people may drive 75 mph on 70 mph highways today, they’ll just drive 80 or higher if the limit rises. (…)

None of the 16 states that allow speed limits of at least 75 mph are on the East Coast. The closest is Louisiana.

Update: And so does Bleacher Report.

Basically, you’ve got:

1. The last New Orleans Hornets game ever on Wed, Apr 17, after which they will officially become the Pelicans, putting the Hornets name back in the field
2. The last Bobcats game of the season on Wed, Apr 17
3. The launch of a new teal and purple Nike Jordan line on … Wed, Apr 17
4. The Bobcats’ recent purging of orange/blue-colored Jordans at last week’s Heat game
5. A “town hall” meeting on Mon, Apr 15 with future NBA commissioner Adam Silver
6. An invite-only presentation happening in Charlotte about “the Bobcats’ future”, scheduled right before the final game next week on Wed, Apr 17
7. A Bobcats Open House event on Thurs, Apr 18

Obviously it’s all speculation at this point. But what if?!

FTP will include live music and live art, anything could go down in the art lab. Performances by SU the Guru, Evo, Team Madison, Shome, Eddy B, Nige Hood, and Forever FC. Art show by John Hairston and X the Artist.

If you ask me or anybody keeping up with hip-hop in Charlotte, Forever FC is one of the best upcoming rap groups in Charlotte. Even national press is up on the young Queen City rappers (Complex, The Source, and the top 2012 list of 2DopeBoyz). Check out some of their music:

Jimmy Kelso ft. Lute

Lute ft. Ry

SchylerChaise

R&D also has vocal artists from all over NC coming to perform:

NiGE HOOD

Eddy B

We’ve also got Shome, Team Madison, SU the Guru, and Evo blessing the art lab stage as well.

And if music wasn’t enough, R&D has two unique and talented visual artists doing live art. I’m not going to say more on John Hairston or X the Artist, just check out some of their work below:

John Hairston

X the Artist

Check out FTPCLT.com and follow along via #FTPCLT. See you April 13th!

RALEIGH — The state House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation Thursday requiring North Carolina elementary school students to learn cursive handwriting and to memorize multiplication tables.

The “Back to Basics” bill would once again make cursive handwriting a part of the curriculum for the state’s public elementary schools. The State Board of Education would be expected to make sure that public schools provide instruction so that students create readable documents in cursive by the end of fifth grade and have memorized multiplication tables.

With legislators fearing that cursive handwriting is becoming a lost skill and that students are relying too much on calculators, the bill drew no opposition. The normally combative arguments on the House floor were replaced with laughter Thursday about whether anyone would vote no.

The bill drew 107 yes votes with no dissenters.

“A few didn’t vote,” said House Speaker Thom Tillis, a Matthews Republican. “We wonder whether they can’t write in cursive.”

The bill, H146, now goes to the state Senate. If approved, it would go into effect for the 2013–14 school year with state education officials saying it could be accommodated into the curriculum.

See also Esquire’s rebuttal:

Putting aside my bedazzlement at the ability of North Carolina legislators to break new ground in the field of completely wasting time, I’d have to say my experience leads me to a mixed view of this whole thing. I loved memorizing multiplication tables. In fact, it was the only form of math I ever really was good at. But cursive? Cursive can blow me. The only C’s I ever got in grammar school were in what was then called “penmanship,” and, in frustration, my father once made me stay in on the first really nice Saturday of spring and copy out by hand an entire chapter of Wuthering Heights. Which is about when I developed my hatred for both cursive and the Brontes, and I’m afraid Jane Austen got tossed into the mix there, too, although I thought Clueless was funny.

With the success of the DNC and the number of possibilities that likely helped to open, I wonder what’s next for him.

Mayor Anthony Foxx will not seek reelection, according to a statement from his office on Friday.

Foxx did not say what he will do when he leaves the mayor’s office. He is in his second term, after first being elected mayor in 2009. Now age 41, Foxx was Charlotte’s youngest mayor at the time of his election.

His departure should set off a rush of possible replacements. Filing begins in July, but the field typically takes shape in the spring.

From the city council alone, Democrats David Howard, Patrick Cannon and Michael Barnes have long been said to harbor mayoral ambitions. State Sen. Dan Clodfelter’s name has also been discussed.

Republican possibilities are a little less clear, though former city councilmen John Lassiter, who lost a bitter mayoral race to Foxx in 2009, and former city councilman and congressional candidate Edwin Peacock could draw GOP support. Former council member Patrick Mumford, now a top city housing official who recently was a finalist for the city manager’s job, was also once seen as a strong mayoral possibility. Among that group, Lassiter, a close friend of Gov. Pat McCrory, would have the most name recognition. But he has said that his political career is over.

Foxx has been reported to be a candidate for U.S. Department of Transportation secretary, but there is no word on when that decision will be made or whether Foxx will be President Obama’s choice for the cabinet post.

“My grandfather often paraphrased the book of Ecclesiastes when he said, ‘There is a season for everything under the sun,’” Foxx said in his statement. “I remember his words as I announce today my decision not to run for reelection.”

The empty, nagging feeling lingered. What was our purpose? Shouldn’t we be doing something more meaningful? If we don’t do this, what would we do? Is this all there is?

These are the questions that began doingmypart.com.

Overcome with ideas and possibilities, the whiteboard in our apartment quickly became black.  A brand name emerged that had come to represent something that we stood for.   A positive culture, and new opportunity and a world where anyone can make a difference.

We didn’t know who needed help the most, and we didn’t care. We wanted to help them all.  Veterans, homeless children, families dealing with cancer, natural disaster victims, clean water projects, abused and neglected children, education programs and more. They all deserved a chance and we were gonna find a way.

“What if we found projects to help people and families that made it ridiculously simple for everyone to help out?!”

“I like that”

“What if everyone could “do their part” for charity?”

“YES!”

“Okay, for $3 … no, $3/month!”

“YES!!”

“Then we can show our progress on video for the world to see?”

“Whoooa!”

And just like that, in a 3rd floor Camden apartment in Ballantyne, Doing My Part was born.

Today, we’re on a new journey. This time it’s different. It’s no longer about the income, it’s about the impact.

Fast forward through the legal and paperwork mumbo jumbo, the trademark and the website development, doingmypart.com was introduced to Charlotte, NC in in July of 2012.

Since then we have…

• Given 150 local homeless children with new shoes and socks, backpacks and school supplies
• Given a child who lost his home and his father a $1,000 college scholarship
• Produced an event that resulted in 5 full college scholarships for children with incarcerated fathers
• Raised $1100 of a $1500 goal for a veteran couple who lost their home and son in a house fire

All of this has been done $3 dollars at a time.  As you read this, we have projects in queue; people in need, waiting for us.  each and every one of us, to do our part.

Every new community member is a celebration as 210 individuals are now “doing their part” for $3/month.  It’s so simple:  The more people that do their part, the more lives we can impact.

So, what are future plans?

Our 5 year goal is to reach 1,000,000 people doing their part, to build ‘Doing My Part’ into a household brand; a standard for today’s conscious global citizen.  Think “life is good” with a charitable fundraising model, mixed with Extreme Makeover Home Edition and HULU.  An brand that engages, entertains, builds our communities and encourages service and unity for all.

$3 at at time, one project at a time, from now on.

Doing My Part, Inc. receives tax exempt 501c3 status in April of 2013 and will be taking this grassroots effort to a national scale.  Through fundraising support from local and national foundations, corporations, private donors, crowdfunding efforts and sponsorships we’re building a sustainable positive impact brand that will last: Doing My Part.

In our connected world we all have a conscious decision to make. To become part of the solution, or stand by and leave it to someone else. We believe that when given the chance, people will help each other. So, our purpose is now clear: to give everyone a simple way to become part of that solution, by doing your part.