What we learned this week

🚊 Charlotte City Council voted 10-1 Tuesday to ask the General Assembly for permission to put a 1-cent transit sales tax referendum on the 2025 election ballot.

• Council also voted to purchase train tracks from Norfolk Southern for $91 million to run the Red Line commuter rail from Uptown to north Mecklenburg County.

⚽️ East Charlotte's long-awaited amateur sports complex at the old Eastland Mall site is closer to becoming a reality. But first, city council needs to approve another $11.3 million in taxpayer money.

👋🏽 The Charlotte region is adding 117 new people every day, according to the latest research from the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance.

🚌 More Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools are meeting or exceeding growth than ever before in the district's history, according to North Carolina Department of Public Instruction data released Wednesday.

🌽 Fall is calling and that means permission to get lost in a corn maze and go pumpkin picking.

🌎 Blumenthal Arts released new renderings for Blume Studios, an immersive art hub opening in Uptown this month.

🥈 Carson Clough, co-founder of Giddy Goat Coffee Roasters in Plaza Midwood, won silver in the men's PTS4 triathlon at the Paralympics in Paris.