Greg Collard

Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx is not running for a third term.

Foxx announced his decision during this interview with WSOC-TV. Foxx says reports that President Obama is considering him as the next Secretary of Transportation has nothing to do with his decision. He said he's been discussing it with his wife for a few months. Foxx said the big reason he’s leaving because he feels he’s accomplished much of what he came into office to do.

A political reporter for a Raleigh television station is Governor Pat McCory’s new communications director.

Kim Genardo begins her new job Wednesday. She replaces Chris Walker.

As a reporter for WNCN-TV, Genardo covered both of McCrory’s gubernatorial campaigns and his administration. She had a one-on-one interview with him that aired Feb. 12th, and her Twitter feed shows she covered Monday’s State-of-the-State address.

After 126 years, the nation’s oldest sports magazine, Sporting News, is ending its print edition. The Charlotte-based magazine is going all-digital.

Before Sports Illustrated, there was The Sporting News. It was the national authority on baseball. In fact, it was commonly called the Bible of Baseball in the early 20th century.

The Sporting News evolved into more than a baseball publication, but it couldn’t keep up with Sports Illustrated, or ESPN The Magazine.

The top headline in the October 1st, 1959, Mecklenburg Gazette proclaims “Great Economic Progress is Seen.” A few days earlier, Gov. Luther Hodges visited the Catawba River to set off the first dynamite blast for construction of the Cowan’s Ford Dam – the site of a Revolutionary War battle.

The writer of the story called it the “beginning of a new era in the history of the Catawba River Valley.”

No kidding.

The 9th district congressional seat will remain Republican. Former state Sen. Robert Pittenger defeated Mecklenburg County Commissioner Jennifer Roberts 52 to 46 percent. Pittenger will replace Republican Sue Myrick, who is retiring after 18 years in office.

In his victory speech at the Marriott SouthPark, Pittenger spoke of freedoms under attack, “especially the free enterprise system.”

And he pledged that he will work to that system. from the government.

With in-person early voting underway in North Carolina, it might be helpful to break down its use in different areas of the state.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the state has eight urban counties and 20 suburban counties that make up eight metropolitan areas. The other 72 counties are classified as rural counties.

Within the eight urban counties, 59 percent of the ballots cast were before Election Day, while suburban and rural counties each had 53 percent of their ballots cast during the early voting period.