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Davidson teacher dies while vacationing in Mexico: 5 things to know Friday, November 16

The death toll in the California Camp Fire is at 63 with hundreds more missing. A beloved Mooresville Spanish teacher reportedly died at the hands of a criminal organization in Mexico and Greg Olsen paid a visit to a local teen recovering from a scary injury.

1. A popular Davidson teacher died while vacationing in Mexico, according to his family

The family of Patrick Braxton-Andrew, a local teacher who vanished while vacationing in Mexico, announced Thursday they were informed Patrick died at the hands of a criminal organization.

Officials are still searching for his body. Back at home, a community is grieving.

Woodlawn School, where Patrick taught Spanish, canceled classes for Friday to allow students and staff to grieve. Patrick’s best friend Sandi Rosen-Wilson, who taught alongside him at Woodlawn, told NBC Charlotte she knows Patrick’s legacy will continue on.

“He had this ability to just make anybody who he was around feel like they were his number one,” she said. “I’m not surprised at all that they’re canceling school, because he was a staple at that school. Those kids from kindergarten to seniors knew who he was even if he didn’t teach them.”

2. Over 600 people are missing and 63 are confirmed dead in the California wildfire

At least 63 are now dead from a Northern California wildfire, and officials say they have a missing persons list with 631 names on it in an ever-evolving accounting of the missing after the nation's deadliest wildfire in a century.

The high number of missing people probably includes some who fled the blaze and didn't realize they had been reported missing, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said. He added that he was making the list public so people could see if they were on it and let authorities know they were safe.

"The chaos that we were dealing with was extraordinary," Honea said of the early crisis hours last week. "Now we're trying to go back out and make sure that we're accounting for everyone."

Some 52,000 people were displaced to shelters, the homes of friends and relatives, to motels — and to a Walmart parking lot and an adjacent field in Chico, a dozen miles away from the ashes.

3. President Trump will visit California this weekend to meet with victims of the fire

President Donald Trump will travel to California on Saturday to review wildfire damage, the White House said Thursday.

Trump will "meet with individuals impacted by the wildfires," said White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters.

Details of the trip will be provided later, she said.

"We will do everything in our power to support and protect our fellow citizens in harm’s way," Trump said at the White House on Wednesday. "And we say, I think as a group – I can tell you as a group: God bless everybody. That’s a very tough situation."

4. Greg Olsen paid a special visit to a local middle schooler who was hurt playing football

It's been nearly two weeks since Sun Valley Middle School football player Dashawn Ivey, a 13-year-old, suffered an injury that originally left him without feeling from the neck down.

Ivey is still in the hospital recovering and has been able to move his arms. This week, he got a special visit from another football player.

Panthers' tight end Greg Olsen and his family do a lot for the kids at Levine's Children's Hospital, including sometimes stopping by in the hopes of providing a little motivation. On his visit to the hospital this week, it was Olsen who left motivated.

"I told him, I said, 'Your outlook and attitude right now is pretty impressive,'" Olsen said. "To not be counting all he's lost instead of counting all that he has, it's pretty admirable."

5. Lancaster County school buses will soon have cameras to catch people who don't stop

Parents and police are cracking down on drivers that illegally pass school buses stopped to release children. Parents are taking matters into their own hands, recording video of drivers breaking the law by not stopping for stopped school buses.

The Lancaster County School District is taking an aggressive step — ordering stop-arm cameras to help police catch and prosecute offenders.

Seven cameras should be installed the first week of December. If they work well, the district plans to outfit each bus in its fleet of 77. Highway patrol is targeting five roads where several incidents have been reported: Highway 521, Highway 160, Jim Wilson Road, Shelley Mullis Road and Doby's Bridge Road.

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