theCLog

Renewable energy is all the rage these days (thank goodness). For SunPower, that translates into a financial boost.

Wells Fargo, parent company of Charlotte-based Wachovia Corp., will finance the solar power systems that SunPower will design, build, operate and maintain.

Customers hosting the systems will buy the electricity from SunPower.

“We see increasing opportunities over the next several years to support renewable-energy markets,” says Barry Neal, director of Wells Fargo’s environmental finance unit. “By teaming up with SunPower, we intend to support growth in the solar energy market by making it easier and more affordable for businesses and public entities to benefit from solar electricity today.”

Read more from The Charlotte Business Journal.

Here’s a clip from a SunPower project at Nellis Air Force Base, in Nevada:

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Following is a list of some major DVD releases debuting today. For a complete list, go to www.amazon.com. (more…)

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To travel the HIV/ AIDS Atlas, you’ll need to register — name, e-mail address and a password, but don’t expect any e-mail or spam to follow.

Once you’ve logged in, select the state and county you’re interested in viewing. Then, in the upper right-hand corner, choose disease and demographic information.

What you’ll find is that 104-247 out of every 100,000 Mecklenburg residents have AIDS and about as many people have HIV, that men are more likely than women to have either and the county hosts more residents with HIV or AIDS than most of the surrounding counties.

But, it’s no wonder. Since this is the county armed with more public transportation options and doctors, it shouldn’t be a surprise that those suffering with HIV/AIDS come here for treatment.

The Southeast is among the areas of the United States with the highest concentration of cases of HIV and AIDS, according to a new online tool called the National HIV/AIDS Atlas.

AIDS experts in the region say that access to health care, especially when it comes to screening, is a major problem in rural communities.

In the Southeast, people with HIV tend to get tested late, after they have become sick, partly because of stigma, said Kathie Hiers, executive director of AIDS Alabama in Birmingham.

“If you look at access to health care and almost any kind of health care report card, the South is the worst,” she said.

With little or no public transportation, people in non-metropolitan areas are at a disadvantage when they need to see a particular kind of doctor, experts say. There is also a shortage of doctors who deal with HIV in the region, Hiers said.

More from CNN.com.

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The Parker String Quartet – comprised of musicians David Bell (clarinet), William Hoyt (horn), George Pope (flute), Barry Stees (oboe), Cynthia Watson (bassoon) and Inessa Zaretsky (piano) – will perform as part of the 2009 Summer Serenades: A Festival of Music at Queens University of Charlotte on July 8 and 18. Program and ticket information is listed below.

Wednesday, July 8, 7 p.m.
Program: Haydn Divertimento, Piazolla’s String Quartet, the world premiere of Sextet for Piano and Winds by pianist Inessa Zaretsky, and Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet, Op. 11
Complimentary Italian gelato night follows the concert.

Saturday, July 18, 7 p.m.
The Parker String Quartet with Paul Nitsch, pianist and Artist-in-Residence at Queens
Program: Haydn’s Divertimento a tre, Beethoven’s String Quartet op. 18 No. 4, Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet for Piano and Strings
Complimentary Divine Desserts follows the concert.

Performance will be held in Dana Auditorium. Tickets (which can be purchased online or at the door) are $20 per show or $50 for all three. Students of all ages are admitted free. For more information, call 704-337-2213, e-mail fom@queens.edu or visit www.queens.edu/friendsofmusic.

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Mary Easley isn’t going to duck away and wait out the storm. Oh, hell no. She’s going to appeal. After all of these many months of high pay and little work, the woman feels she deserves some severance pay.

Of course, the Easley’s probably need all of the cash they can get now that the free-for-all tap is running dry. Besides, lawyers are expensive and their legal woes appear to be just beginning.

Another story that just won’t die is John Edward’s baby-mama drama. Is he the daddy or isn’t he? Don’t we have tests for this sort of thing?

There’s another man who has claimed paternity, and he’s writing a book about it.

Andrew Young, who looks a helluva lot like Edwards, did say he was the father when the news first broke. Now, in his tell-all, he claims Edwards begged him to claim the child and, get this, that Edwards made a sex tape with his mistress.

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Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, June 30, 2009 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.

• The Phantom of the Opera at Belk Theater

• Ben Prestage at Double Door Inn

• Here’s Looking at You: Figurative Art by Bob Trotman at Hodges Taylor Gallery

• Heavy Rotation with Laurence at Prevue

• Touch One Tuesdays at Wine Up

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Terminator Salvation

Here are Creative Loafing’s star ratings for all reviewed movies playing in the Charlotte area through Thursday. See this week’s issue for select reviews and our Web site’s archives for all reviews. (more…)

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Ever wonder just how dumb some of the folks at FoxNews and their FoxNation website are? God knows a lot of us do. First, Fox hires someone of dubious IQ like Sean Hannity to be a major voice for their neocon rants (“Sean Hannity: He asks the questions other reporters are too smart to ask”). Then they make fools of themselves by pushing a satirical story , thinking it was true, about disgruntled Muslim students in Maine, which had been created by the parody site Associated Content. Now they’re at it again. Recently, after a tense exchange of quotes by former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge and radio blowhard Rush Limbaugh over who is and isn’t a real Republican, the satirical site Elective Decisions ran a hilarious story which, somehow, the FoxNation site took seriously. Not only took seriously, but kept coming back to in amazement and commenting on, as if they were clueless morons or something. Who’d-a thought, huh?. The Elective Decisions joke story had Ridge saying he was sick of Limbaugh and challenging the famed Oxycontin addict to a boxing match, ending with “I’m calling you out, Limbaugh. Let’s see if you have a big enough set of marbles to back up your crap!”  FoxNation’s geniuses treated it as a factual story, apparently without even checking it out. I’d like to say it’s unbelievable, but the sadder truth here is that, if it’s Fox, it’s all too believable.

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Due to a number of sold out shows, Carolina Actor’s Studio Theatre has added six extra performance dates for Mary Zimmerman’s slippery play Metamorphoses.

Shows are as followed:

Fri., July 3, 8 p.m.

Sat., July 4, 7 p.m. (Folks are invited to bring lawn chairs to the theatre to watch CPCC’s fireworks display – which starts at 9:30 p.m. -  in the parking lot after the Metamorphoses performance.)

Sun., July 5, 2:30 p.m.

Fri., July 10, 8 p.m.

Sat., July 11, 8 p.m.

Sun., July 12, 2:30 p.m.

For more information, click here.

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