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Recap: Carolina vs. Tampa Bay

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South Carolina looking at supply in demand for marijuana derivative

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Panthers’ Newton returns to facility, not practicing

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Woman who drove her kids into the Florida ocean after driving from Myrtle Beach ruled insane

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School news: CMS seeks interns for Spring 2015

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If you would like to have an announcement in school news, send your news release and photos to observerschoolnews@gmail.com.

Compiled by Cindy Stern

All Schools

Internship: The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Academic Internship Program is accepting applications for spring 2015. Internships currently being offered by CMS are in engineering, health science, and hospitality and tourism. Application deadline is Dec. 19. Visit http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/Pages/default.aspx, then type in “academic internships” for more information.

Charlotte Christian

Scholarship award: Payton Walker has been selected as a semifinalist for the Morehead-Cain Scholarship at UNC Chapel Hill. Walker now advances to regional interviews in January.

Spelling Bee: Hannah Brandon won the school spelling bee. She competed against 32 students in grades 3 though 8 on Dec. 5 and will now advance to the Mecklenburg County Independent School Spelling Bee. Sammy Henderson was the first runner-up.

Charlotte Catholic High

Scholarship award: Marissa Lopez has earned a four-year renewable scholarship worth up to $140,000. The scholarship was awarded by TimkenSteel, a company based in Ohio. Lopez was among 8 seniors receiving the award and the only student from North Carolina. TimkenSteel awards the scholarships to children of employees through a competitive application process.

Eagle Scout: Tim Curry received the Eagle Scout award. For his Eagle project, Curry led the construction of collection bins at St. Matthew Catholic Church, where he is a member of Troop 15.

Providence Day

Robotics award: A team of middle school students were awarded first place for Gracious Professionalism at the N.C. FIRST Lego League qualifying tournament in November.

For the Robot Game event, students program robots to score points on a playing surface. For the Project event, teams create innovative solutions to a challenge that is related to the yearly theme. The students programmed a Lego robot to interact with obstacles constructed with Legos, under the guidance of computer science teacher Daniel Pavitt. For the Project, the team had made a Raspberry Pi Laptop, a credit card-sized single board computer. The team received their trophy for their teamwork ability and other core values.

Charlotte Latin

Alumni news: A flight suit patch designed by U.S. Navy Midshipman Hayes Friddle, of Charlotte Latin, was aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft on the Dec. 5 launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla. Friddle is a senior at the U.S. Naval Academy and is the project leader of the Academy’s rocket-building team for the NASA Student Launch and Centennial Challenge competition, which will provide cost-effective research and development for the Mars Sample. The patch was donated for the launch by former NASA astronaut Ken Reightler.

Charlotte Country Day

Girl Up club: Ishana Nigam is working to grow the school’s Girl Up club. Nigam was named a Girl Up Teen Adviser by the United Nations. The program gives American girls the opportunity to develop their leadership potential and helps girls in developing countries improve their education. The chapter now has 20 members and is currently raising money to provide bicycles for school transportation for girls in Africa and Central America. Nigam is also a member of Model United Nations, the school speech and debate team, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Charlotte, and the National Honor Society.

Victory Christian Center

Student volunteers: The middle and high school students recently volunteered at the Operation Christmas Child Distribution Center. The team of 35 students inspected, packed and loaded gift boxes for five hours at the facility which is operated by Samaritan’s Purse.

Queens University of Charlotte

Christmas Clinic: Coach Bart Lundy and his team will host the annual Men’s Basketball Christmas Clinic, Dec. 21, 2-5 p.m. Boys ages 5-14 may register at http://bit.ly/1GqppoM. The cost is $50.

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ACC basketball night in review: North Carolina’s defense sputters at Kentucky

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North Carolina ran into Kentucky at a bad time, even by Kentucky’s standards.

Notre Dame ripped Florida State in the conference opener for both teams.

Cameron Wright made his first start of the season for Pittsburgh.

That, plus a look ahead to Sunday’s games, in the ACC night in review.

North Carolina

Specifically, North Carolina’s defense, since Kentucky shot 56.3 percent from the floor in an 84-70 victory at Rupp Arena.

Now, Kentucky (11-0) is obliterating most teams it encounters, so the margin says more about Kentucky than it does North Carolina. And the Wildcats were sluggish Wednesday against Columbia before scratching out a victory, which means coach John Calipari was no doubt especially cranky the last few days.

So North Carolina (6-3) losing in Lexington? Not really a big deal. The Tar Heels struggling so much on defense, even against the ultra-capable Wildcats? That’s just one more slice of evidence to suggest North Carolina still has a ways to go.

Notre Dame

The Fighting Irish opened league play at home with an 83-63 defeat of Florida State, precisely the sort of emphatic result a team with legitimate NCAA tournament aspirations should secure against a wounded opponent.

Zach Auguste had 26 points and Jerian Grant and Demetrius Jackson both scored 18 points for Notre Dame (10-1), which won its ACC opener for the second consecutive year.

The Irish took advantage of the depleted Seminoles (4-5), who announced Friday that leading scorer Aaron Thomas was ineligible for the rest of the season. Montay Brandon led Florida State with 14 points (on 6 of 16 shooting), while none of the Seminoles’ forwards scored more than eight points.

21

Minutes played by Pittsburgh guard Cameron Wright in his first start of the season. Wright, who missed the Panthers’ first seven games, had one point and three steals as Pittsburgh (6-3) slipped past St. Bonaventure 58-54 on Saturday.

Binghamton at Boston College (1, ESPN3): The Eagles (5-3) look to extend their winning streak to four as the woeful Bearcats (1-10) pay a visit to Chestnut Hill.

Alabama AM at Virginia Tech (3, ESPN3): Buzz Williams’Hokies (4-4) come off a week-long break to take on Alabama AM (1-5), which has lost to its five Division I opponents by an average of 20.2 points.

Auburn at Clemson (4, ESPN3): The ACC’s Tigers (5-3) seek their third victory over an SEC school in as many tries  this season as Auburn (3-4) and coach Bruce Pearl come to Death Valley.

Louisiana Tech at Syracuse (4, ESPNU): The well-regarded Bulldogs (7-2) of Conference USA figure to provide a stern test for the Orange (5-3), which has lost back-to-back games.

Wofford at N.C. State (4, YES): Defending Southern Conference champion Wofford (7-2) wraps up N.C. State’s weekend at Reynolds Coliseum in a game that long-term should provide a bit of an RPI boost for the Wolfpack (8-1).

UNC Wilmington at Louisville (6, ESPNU): Rick Pitino and the Cardinals (8-0) face former Louisville assistant Kevin Keatts, who is now in his first season as the head coach of the Seahawks (3-2).

Samford at Wake Forest (6, ESPN3): The Demon Deacons (4-5) return from a week-plus layoff to face Samford (3-7) at Joel Coliseum.

Contact Patrick Stevens anytime: Email | Twitter

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Korea’s Hancom Selects IBM Cloud to Securely Deploy SaaS Services Overseas

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SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that Hancom, a leading South Korean software developer, has adopted the IBM cloud to launch its cloud-based software products in overseas markets. Leveraging IBM’s global network of cloud centers, the South Korean company will be able to extend its services to new geographies quickly and efficiently and offer on-demand services to its customers.

Hancom is an office suite developer with a significant presence in the South Korean market. Hancom Office Suite, available in Korean and English, remains the company’s primary product offering and consists of word, spreadsheet and presentation programs. The company has also developed ThinkFree Office, a cloud version of its Office Suite, to provide its customers with more affordable and easily accessible services.

Prior to launching its services on the IBM Cloud, Hancom offered its office solutions as an on-premise software product. Now, the company offers ThinkFree Office as a cloud-based service via web browser, which eliminates the need for its customers to invest in costly and time-consuming on-premise installations. Users can read and edit office documents on the cloud and thus easily share and manage versions while multiple users edit the same document in real-time.

To ensure the optimal performance of its SaaS application, Hancom needed a highly reliable, secure cloud infrastructure environment to host its ThinkFree Office suite of products. The company selected cloud infrastructure from SoftLayer, an IBM company for its enterprise grade security and global presence, with cloud centers across the world.

“With a strong presence in the Korean market, our goal now is to build a global presence. Cloud based solutions will play a vital role in our aggressive expansion plans in overseas markets. With IBM’s cloud solutions, we are able to provide more efficient, cost effective, and reliable services to our clients,” said Hongil Moon, Executive Director of Hancom’s Mobile Software Division.

Hancom will initially deploy its services from IBM’s cloud center in the Netherlands before expanding to other geographies around the world. Leveraging IBM’s global cloud footprint – with cloud centers in London, Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Toronto, Dallas, France, Mumbai and Raleigh, NC opened this year alone – Hancom will be able to lower latency for its SaaS applications while enabling its local clients to store and access data locally as needed.

“IBM cloud is helping thousands of organizations across the world fulfill their global aspirations. With SoftLayer’s enterprise grade cloud capabilities, Hancom can expect a highly secured and reliable environment for better product delivery and customer service as they expand overseas,” said Sungmin Kim, Executive Director, SoftLayer Business, IBM Korea Global technology Services.

About IBM Cloud Computing

IBM is the global leader in open enterprise cloud enabling secure data and infrastructure integration in the cloud. For more information about cloud offerings from IBM, visit http://www.ibm.com/cloud.  Follow us on Twitter at @IBMcloud and on our blog at www.thoughtsoncloud.com. Join the conversation #ibmcloud.

Media Contact 
Nicholas Smith 
IBM Media Relations 
nssmith@us.ibm.com  
212-671-9653

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Editorial: The Northern Beltway: Closer than ever, but challenges remain – Winston

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Posted: Saturday, December 13, 2014 5:00 pm

Editorial: The Northern Beltway: Closer than ever, but challenges remain

Journal editorial board

Winston-Salem Journal

Being stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire is analogous to the way we’ve felt about Winston-Salem’s status these last few years on state highway construction. But with new developments in Raleigh and a bond effort from Gov. Pat McCrory, the flat may be fixed and we could soon be cruising down the road again.

Construction on the Northern Beltway has finally started and will be on an ongoing project over the next several years, the Journal’s Wesley Young reported recently. If all goes well and other pieces come into place, the money should finally be there to complete this crucial project. But the money remains a big challenge.

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New Miss Bailey queens crowned

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A flock of royalty was crowned at the Miss Bailey pageant Saturday night at Southern Nash High School, sponsored by the Bailey Chamber of Commerce.

Gathering for a photo were (above, rear, from left) Junior Miss Bailey Greyson Coghlan, Sweetheart Princess Shalynn Boone, Miss Bailey Bryson Reavis Miss Photogenic Brittany Bryant, and Teen Miss Bailey Bailey Deans, (front, from left) Little Miss Bailey Hayden Pearson, Tiny Miss Bailey Olivia Ordess, Mini Miss Bailey Kelsey Jenkins, and Baby Miss Bailey Harper Williams who also won the sponsorship award.

(Enterprise photo by Burnette.)

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Mother, family, friends recall Bradenton teen who lived his life ‘one day at a …

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Manatee County School District officials surprise finalists for Excellence in Education awards

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Cities, towns want local sales tax power to fix budget shortfall

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RALEIGH — Cities and towns could ask state legislators for a special sales tax within municipal boundaries to make up for $62 million in lost privilege tax revenues.

The legislature earlier this year repealed the privilege tax, which opponents consider an unfair and uneven way to tax businesses. But mayors fear they’ll have to raise property taxes to fill the budget hole, and they want other revenue options.

With the privilege tax repeal going into effect in July, revenue was the hot topic Thursday as the N.C. League of Municipalities set its lobbying priorities for the new legislative session.

“Our foundation was always low property taxes,” said Paul Meyer, the league’s executive director. “As city revenues decline, the only place elected officials can go is to the property tax … and that’s going to hurt our economic development.”

Gov. Pat McCrory pledged his help in finding replacement revenue for the privilege tax.

“I’m going to hold (legislators’) feet to the fire and remind them,” McCrory said. “We’re interested in figuring out how to make up that revenue and give you more options at the city and county level regarding revenue streams.”

The League of Municipalities’ legislative agenda approved Thursday calls on legislators to give sales taxing power to cities and towns. Currently, only the state and counties have that power – a city sales tax, if approved, would come on top of existing state and county sales tax rates.

The league also recommends the state apply sales taxes to more services, though it doesn’t specify which ones. Last year, the legislature expanded the tax to apply to admission tickets for sports, movies and other events.

Cities and towns could join counties in charging hotel occupancy taxes as well. Getting that power is also on the league’s wish list, with the goal of funding services and infrastructure “in order to support travel and tourism.”

But league lobbyists might not find Republican legislators supportive of expanded taxing powers. Speaking after McCrory left the stage Thursday, Rep. Paul “Skip” Stam – the GOP speaker pro tem – said he’s not a fan of sales taxes.

“The sales tax is much more regressive than the property tax,” he said. “(Sales tax proponents) say that ‘those people’ – I’m not sure who ‘those people’ are – will pay something because they’re not paying the property tax. But their rent is paying their landlords all the expenses, including property tax.”

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Panthers’ Newton suffers fractures in back in car crash

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Cam Newton Carolina Panthers accident

Skip Foreman/Associated Press

Cam Newton Carolina Panthers accident

PANTHER PROBLEMS: Emergency personnel tend to a damaged truck driven by Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton after the quarterback was involved in an accident Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C.



Posted: Wednesday, December 10, 2014 2:28 am

Panthers’ Newton suffers fractures in back in car crash

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton suffered fractures to his lower back in a two-car crash Tuesday and spent the night in the hospital, a team spokesman said Tuesday.

Newton was in fair condition, had no other internal injuries and would not need surgery, team spokesman Charlie Dayton said during a news conference outside a Charlotte hospital. It was unclear if Newton would be able to practice or play Sunday against the Buccaneers, Dayton said.

“Right now we have thought about Cam’s well-being and we understand there was someone else in the other car who was injured,” Dayton said. “We just hope that they’re all OK.”

He was expected to be released from the hospital today after undergoing tests.

Television footage showed Newton on a stretcher being placed in an ambulance after the crash. Photos from The Charlotte Observer showed the 25-year-old smiling as an officer attended to him on the ground.

A black pickup truck that Charlotte-Mecklenburg police spokesman Robert Tufano said Newton was driving was overturned on the roadway with debris scattered all over the street. The roof was caved in and a tow truck later was hauling it away. Another car that appeared to be involved in the crash had front end damage.

Police were investigating how the crash happened on a bridge that crosses busy I-277 in the shadow of Bank of America Stadium, where the Panthers play. Dayton said he believes Newton was on his way to the stadium but wasn’t certain.

The two-time Pro Bowler has 2,800 yards passing this season with 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He also has rushed for 425 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Panthers to a 4-8-1 record.

An Atlanta native, Newton led the Auburn Tigers to a national championship in 2010.

Dayton said Newton had two transverse process fractures in his lower back, which is the same description of an injury that Dallas quarterback Tony Romo has and has been playing through it.

Dayton said Panthers owner Jerry Richardson stopped to visit Newton, but was unable to see the quarterback because he was undergoing tests. Richardson left to attend the league meetings in Dallas.

As word of the accident spread online, NFL players started sending good wishes on social media. “Praying for (at)CameronNewton,” Oakland Raiders defensive end Justin Tuck tweeted.

Newton threw three touchdown passes in Carolina’s 41-10 win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, his best game in nearly a month-and-a-half. He also broke a string of eight straight games with an interception.

The win put the Panthers back in the playoff hunt, one-half game behind the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints (both 5-8).

It has been a rough year for Newton.

After the Panthers fell at home to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC divisional playoffs in January, Newton had ankle surgery in March that sidelined him for all but one of the team’s spring practices.

He returned for the start of the training camp, but then suffered another setback when he fractured his ribs during a preseason game against the New England Patriots.

The injuries forced Newton to miss Carolina’s season opener.

Derek Anderson is the team’s backup quarterback and would be first in line to replace Newton if he is unable to play Sunday against Tampa Bay (2-10). Anderson started and led Carolina to a season-opening victory against the Bucs.

(Associated Press sportswriter Steve Reed and Associated Press writer Mitch Weiss contributed to this report.)


© 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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