Best Places to Live in the U.S.

Money magazine has published its 10 best U.S. cities to live. Spoiler: Charlotte did not make the cut.

At the very top: Plymouth, Minn. (population 70,100). Click here to read about Plymouth and the nine other best cities.

Have you ever lived in one of Money's best cities? Did it deserve such honors?

While you're at it, tell me what you like best and least about Charlotte. And, please, be nice. You can make your point without obscenities or turning this into a mean-spiritied (and off topic) North-South debate. Thank you very much.

Mecklenburgers first in independence?

Local history goes that Mecklenburgers have long had an independent streak and a history of being trend setters. Case in point: The area's rebellious Presbyterians settlers declared their independence from Britain more than an year ahead of the nation -- on May 10, 1775.

Of course, not everyone believes the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence really happened or that Thomas Jefferson borrowed from it in writing the version we as a country celebrate tomorrow.

But George Will lends credence to MecDec in a column in today's The Washington Post and The Charlotte Observer. Click here to read it. I like how Will starts off:

"The impatient patriots here had splendidly short fuses in 1775. Those who tilled the startlingly red clay or who lived in the town named for George III's wife, Charlotte, might have been bemused had they foreseen the annual hoopla that commemorates July 4, 1776."

So do you believe in MecDec or is it a bunch of hooey?