Local News Roundup: Shooting spree suspects in custody; Optimism from city manager on mobility; Copa America in Charlotte

Featured at WFAE

On the next Charlotte Talks Local News Roundup …

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police are investigating a deadly 24 hours after multiple shootings occurred between Monday and Tuesday. It’s part of a rise in homicides in Charlotte this year, which is bucking the national trend in other cities, where homicides are going down. We’ll discuss the latest, including the capture of two teen suspects.

City Manager Marcus Jones is optimistic about our region’s mobility plan, but he also predicts that the price tag for transit and roads will change from its original proposal. We hear more.

Although City Council didn’t meet this week, Malcolm Graham says it’s time for the council to decide the fate of the Eastland Yards proposal. We’ll talk about the latest proposal and the timing of a likely decision.

And an international soccer tournament, the Copa America, comes to Charlotte this week. What is it, and why is it a big deal? We’ll fill you in on Wednesday night’s contest between Colombia and Uruguay and the brawl that followed, and preview Saturday’s match.

Mike Collins and our roundtable of reporters delve into those stories and more, on the Charlotte Talks local news roundup.

GUESTS:

Erik Spanberg, managing editor for the Charlotte Business Journal
Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time.” Mary is also a contributor to a new book “We Refuse to Be Silent: Women’s Voices on Justice for Black Men”
Mary Ramsey, local government accountability reporter for the Charlotte Observer
Joe Bruno, WSOC-TV Reporter and host of The Political Beat

Read the rest atWFAE
Jul142024 TAGS: , , , , , ,

The never-ending fight for civil rights

Featured at Roll Call

It was a milestone that came and went with minimal political fanfare, the 60th anniversary of the day President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964.

Though the political world has had a lot on its mind, it’s important to remember just how revolutionary this sweeping legislation was, and how the rights conferred in it to Americans left behind must be constantly and fiercely protected.

Just as those resistant to American progress managed to replace Reconstruction with Jim Crow, violence and neglect for many decades until citizens nonviolently fought back during the civil rights movement, the powers behind Project 2025 and similar manifestos are architects of modern-day movements that would turn the clock back, and restore basic rights to the few.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Jul112024 TAGS: , , , , ,

Politics Monday: Are recent national headlines impacting the presidential campaign in NC?

Featured at WFAE

Over the last month or so, the 2024 political season has kicked into another gear.

The Supreme Court continued to hand down decisions that could have a massive impact on how our society and democracy operate. These include decisions on the power of regulatory agencies, the fallout from the Jan. 6 insurrection and the extent of presidential immunity.

Elsewhere, the first presidential debate has come and gone. Former President Trump has been criticized for the number of lies he told on stage. At the same time, President Biden struggled to stick to his talking points, which has lead some to push for him to be replaced on the Democratic ticket.

This is all occurring as both campaigns feel North Carolina, and its 16 electoral votes, are in play this November. Have the last couple of weeks changed that? Is Trump gaining ground on new demographic groups? Would a different candidate perform better than Biden in North Carolina?

We discuss those questions, and more, in the first episode of our “Politics Monday” series. That’s next time on Charlotte Talks.

GUESTS:

Michael Bitzer, professor of politics and history at Catawba College
Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time”
Steve Harrison, WFAE political reporter

Read the rest atWFAE
Jul082024 TAGS: , , , ,

Rep. Alma Adams on House business and the state of her state

Featured at Roll Call

Rep. Alma Adams, a Democrat who represents the 12th District of North Carolina, wants to tell you and her constituents that, despite the dysfunction that makes the headlines, she and her colleagues have been attending to the people’s business. There are the issues close to her heart, such as affordable health care, closing the maternal health gap for minority moms and providing family care. There is her work supporting historically Black colleges and universities, healthy nutrition programs and more. So, what do we need to know?

Adams joins Equal Time to talk about bipartisan progress, election-year politics and the state of her battleground state.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Jun282024 TAGS: , , , , ,

Will the real Donald Trump get the coverage he deserves?

Featured at Roll Call

“Donald Trump tries courting Black voters at Detroit church with Michigan up for grabs in 2024 election” was just one of the headlines that the presumed Republican presidential nominee must have loved. The recent event drew lots of media attention, if only for its “man bites dog” novelty. It was Trump doing the unexpected, going after a constituency that the Democrats supposedly have locked up.

What a Trump thing to do!

The only problem with the stop was something that some but by no means all coverage bothered to note: A significant number of the attendees were white. Nothing wrong with that, of course. I’m sure the pastor of 180 Church welcomes all.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Jun282024 TAGS: , ,

American history turned upside down — and that’s the point

Featured at Roll Call

It turns out Nikki Haley stumbling over the cause of the Civil War was not a one-off.

The topsy-turvy twisting of American history, as it applies to Black Americans — their resilience and contributions despite injustice — is a tactic, a well-planned cynical one. And recent perpetrators don’t even have the decency to make a half-hearted attempt at backtracking, as Haley eventually and reluctantly managed to do after being called out on her amnesia about slavery.

Now politicians are standing proudly as they try to co-opt the language and history of the Civil Rights movement, which fought for equal rights for all and forced America to take a step toward living up to its ideals.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Jun132024 TAGS: , , , , ,

What’s Biden Doing With the Border? To beat Trump, must Biden imitate him?

Featured at Slate.com

Joe Biden’s new executive order severely limits migrants from seeking asylum at the border. It’s a far cry from his campaign rhetoric and the New York Times called it the most restrictive immigration policy issued by any modern Democrat. What is he trying to accomplish?

Guest: Jonathan Blitzer, staff writer for the New Yorker and author of “Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America and the Making of a Crisis.”

Read the rest atSlate.com
Jun102024 TAGS: , , ,

Just give Donald Trump, baggage and all, the GOP crown

Uncategorized

Donald Trump does not have to be the Republican nominee for president of the United States.

No, the man who has been found guilty of 34 felonies in New York state, a twice-impeached former president, liable for a multimillion-dollar judgment for sexually assaulting and defaming a woman, who has placed retribution at the top of his agenda for a second term and promises to be a dictator on Day 1, doesn’t have to be a lock for the top spot as the GOP tries to recapture the White House.

But he is.

Read the rest atUncategorized
Jun102024 TAGS: ,

Women’s voices on justice for Black men

Featured at Roll Call

“We Refuse to Be Silent: Women’s Voices on Justice for Black Men” is a just-released collection of essays. Unfortunately, the need for such voices has been consistent and essential throughout America’s history. Thirty-five journalists, authors, scholars, ministers, psychologists, counselors and others raise their voices — now, and until solutions are in place.

Angela P. Dodson, the collection’s editor and the author of “Remember the Ladies: Celebrating Those Who Fought for Freedom at the Ballot Box,” is the guest on this episode of Equal Time; she is joined by New Orleans-based journalist Lottie Joiner, one of the book’s contributors. (Full disclosure: I’m also a contributor to the collection.)

Read the rest atRoll Call
Jun102024 TAGS: , ,

Trump’s mini-mes in uniform are waging war on American institutions

Featured at Roll Call

The scene would be funny if it weren’t so sad and dangerous: a lineup of grown men and women, the men dressed in matching dark suits and red ties, praising their leader and trashing the United States justice system when most should have been in Washington, D.C., doing their jobs.

Members of the Republican Party who say they believe in “law and order” should just stop using that phrase in their messaging, since they seem to believe the law only applies to other people and disorder is justifiable if it’s used to grab on to and maintain power.

In this land of “rugged individualism,” when standing up for truth and character is uplifted, even if it means standing alone, we instead saw men in the uniform of their leader Donald Trump. Some of them — former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida — were probably auditioning for the role of vice president on the Republican ticket. Others were there to get in front of the cameras and on the right side of the base.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Jun102024 TAGS: , ,
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