Team's Blog

Take a train ride with Santa Claus this weekend. On Saturday, December 20 and Sunday, December 21, visit the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC for this memorable trip. Tickets are $7 per person and the ride lasts 25 minutes. Trains depart on Saturday at 10:00, 10:45 and 11:30 a.m. as well as 1:00, 1:45, 2:30 and 3:15 p.m. On Sunday, the trains will leave at 1:30, 2:15, 3:00 and 3:45 p.m. There will be Christmas stories and a chance to make a holiday ornament. For more information, visit http://www.nctrans.org/

Now that the kids are out of school for a little while, how should you entertain them? On Monday, December 22 and Tuesday, December 23, visit the library in downtown Concord to watch a holiday movie. There are four movies showing at different times throughout the day to choose from. The schedule is below. For more information, call 704-920-2058.

10:00 - A MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL

11:30 - THE BERENSTAIN BEARS: THE BEARS' CHRISTMAS

2:00 - MICKEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL

2:30 - SAMANTHA: AN AMERICAN GIRL HOLIDAY

6:00 - HOME ALONE

If you live in the City of Concord, your trash pickup might be effected by the upcoming holidays. The week of December 22, trash pickup will take place as normal for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday areas. Those whose trash and recycling are normally picked up on Thursday will be serviced on Friday, December 26 and those whose trash and recycling are normally picked up on Friday will be serviced on Saturday, December 27. There will be no changes in the pickup schedule for the New Year's Holiday.

The Jeff Gordon Foundation has given $271,000 to fund 10 new incubators for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast which supports critically ill and premature infants. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was renovated and relocated to its present location in the Jeff Gordon Children's Hospital in 2004. The grant will allow the replacement of 10 of the current 12 incubators which are more than 10 years old.

Concord's Fire Station 9 opened Wednesday, December 17. 

Many people involved in the building of the station along with friends, family and community members were present for the opening. 

The fire station will be the hub for response in Battalion Two and will provide fire and rescue to the western side of Concord and the I-85 corridor. It will also be a refueling station for city workers, holding 10,000 gallons of fuel, and a police substation.

Fire Station 9 is located at 1020 Ivey Cline Road.

The Concord-Kannapolis Transit System will extend its hours Friday, December 19 and Saturday, December 20 to allow citizens extra time to finish their holiday shopping and errands.

CK Rider will run all its routes until 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, as the city urges residents to make trips to businesses like Carolina Mall and Concord Mills for last-minute Christmas shopping. This is three extra hours of bus service on each day. 

For additional information, visit www.ckrider.com

The Cabarrus College of Health Sciences has an open house planned for December 18 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Admissions and financial aid representatives will be available to meet with students. There are several degree programs available for students. The college is still accepting applications for the Spring 2009 semester as space allows for all programs except the associate degree in nursing. For more information, call 704-403-1556.

Looking for New Year's Eve Plans? Consider Habitat for Humanity Cabarrus County's fundraiser "Jeans and Jewels-Raisin' the Roof for Habitat." The event will take place December 31 at the Historic Gibson Mill in Concord from 8:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Tickets are $50 per person or $500 to reserve a table for eight. The event will include food, a band and a silent auction. The auction will feature items from Habitat's ReStore that students, artists and friends have transformed into works of art. There will be more than 40 items available including chairs, bed headboards, tables and pictures. For more information or to purchase tickets, please call 704-786-4001.

Cabarrus Health Alliance announced it will launch the Public Health Research Institute at the North Carolina Research Campus. With financial assistance from Dole Food's owner David Murdock, the Institute  "will seek to enhance and develop joint public health research opportunities between Cabarrus Health Alliance and the North Carolina Research Campus through collaborative relationships with university, corporate and community partners."      

The institute will, primarily, work with the existing university partners at the research campus, like UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University. This will also push the health alliance's efforts to become a Model Public Health Agency, where other public health departments across the country look for best practices in public health.

Do you plan on financing your next home?  A good way to start planning for that now is to check your credit report before you start looking for a new home.

Lenders who provide mortgage loans must adhere to the appropriate rules and regulations in order to approve their loans.  Some of the guidelines a lender looks at are debt-to-income ratios, payment history and employment. 

When applying for a mortgage loan one of the first things a lender will do is obtain your credit report through one of the three credit reporting agencies.  You can do this as well so that you are informed about what your credit report says about you. Check your report carefully to ensure it is accurate and correct any errors as soon as you find them.

The time to correct inaccuracies is before you apply for a mortgage loan.  Then when you apply for a mortgage loan you will feel comfortable that the lender has complete, correct and accurate information upon which to base your loan approval.