PowerSecure International, the fast-growing Wake Forest energy services company, announced a series of acquisitions Thursday valued at $4.3 million.

The 700-employee company said it bought the final 10 percent ownership stake from Southern Energy Management and the final 33 percent ownership stake in IES LED lighting business. Both acquisitions had been previously announced with options to buy out the entire business.

PowerSecure also said it acquired Powerline EHV & Safety Training, a utility infrastructure safety training business. This acquisition strengthens PowerSecure's focus on safety industrial programs, the company said.

PowerSecure has several lines of business: solar panel installations, high-efficiency lighting, emergency power generators,and utility infrastructure maintenance and services.

Go HERE to read last week's review.

Tyrone Outlaw of Person leads the PAC-Six boys all-conference basketball team.

DURHAM – Southern Durham's game against rival Northern Durham on Friday night served as a microcosm of its entire year. Just like their season, the Spartans started slow, but turned it on in the fourth quarter and finished the regular season by rallying to beat the Knights 13-6 at home on Senior Night.

The win was the Spartans' fifth in a row -- all in conference play -- after losing it's first six games. It also tied them for second place in the Piedmont Athletic Conference with Northern, a game behind Durham Hillside.

I love North Carolina dialects. I have one myself -- western Piedmont. I ran across this nifty site today. Take the North Carolina Dialect Quiz and see if you can distinguish among North Carolina regional dialects. One speaker on the quiz sounds just like my mother, born in 1929 in Hickory.

You can also learn more about why people in parts of North Carolina speak the way they do. The quiz is part of the North Carolina Language and Life Project.

If you want to hear more examples of authentic North Carolina dialect, go to the International Dialects of English Archive. My kinfolks sound like North Carolina #17.