Blog | Mary C. Curtis

Derby on May 4. (Robin Marchant/Getty Images)

OPINION — From the current administration’s indifference to congressional requests for information on the Mueller report to its hardening policies restricting those seeking asylum from violent homelands, one would think Donald Trump and company cared little for justice. But the president did manage to speak out recently in support of one particular victim he felt was wronged.

In a signature tweet, he said: “The Kentuky Derby decision was not a good one.” (He has since corrected the spelling to “Kentucky.”) “It was a rough and tumble race on a wet and sloppy track, actually, a beautiful thing to watch. Only in these days of political correctness could such an overturn occur. The best horse did NOT win the Kentucky Derby — not even close!”

Yes, Donald Trump reacted in outrage, in defense of a horse.

May092019 TAGS: Alex Jones, Democrats, Donald Trump, Franklin Graham, John Lewis, John McCain, Kentucky Derby, Maximum Security, Republicans, social justice

Will Changing Charlotte Neighborhoods Change Charlotte?

CHARLOTTE, NC — This week it was iconic Pike’s Soda Shop closing in South End, a neighborhood that has already seen favorites such as Phat Burrito close or move to make way for high-end shops and new developments. It’s not a new phenomenon for a growing city like Charlotte. But with growth comes new challenges, for example, how to meet the need for affordable housing when prices and rents rise and residents are displaced.

The city searches for solutions to mesh the old and the new in Charlotte.

May082019 TAGS: affordable housing, Charlotte

After gun massacre, Charlotte is now ‘one of those cities’

OPINION — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — “Now we’re one of those schools.” That’s what a University of North Carolina student, in more sadness than anger, told a local radio station after a gunman killed two and wounded four others on her campus on Tuesday. And now Charlotte, a city already experiencing a spike in homicides, is “one of those cities.”

In the city and state, there is shock, plus questions. A suspect is in custody, but that doesn’t provide answers about why it happened and what can be done to keep it from happening again.

That this latest incident did not make it to the top spot in many national news outlets speaks to how commonplace such incidents have become and how frustrated many citizens are. Is the answer more mental health resources, more “good guys with guns,” more regulations and background checks, or something else?

May022019 TAGS: Charlotte, Democrats, Donald Trump, gun control, gun violence, guns, Republicans, UNCC

A Deadly Shooting at UNCC, and a City in Shock

CHARLOTTE, NC — A shooting at UNCC leaves two dead and four wounded. A city that has seen a sharp rise in homicides this year is now grappling with a horrific shooting that adds Charlotte to the list of cities where a school is the setting for gun violence. A suspect is in custody, but that doesn’t provide answers to the questions of why it happened and what can be done

May012019 TAGS: Congress, Democrats, Donald Trump, Eric Swalwell, gun control, Kamala Harris, Republicans, school shooting, UNCC

Charlotte Talks Local News Roundup: CMPD Releases Full Body Camera Video; 9th District Early Voting

Featured at WFAE

Earlier this week, a Mecklenburg County judge ordered the full release of the body camera video in the police shooting of Danquirs Franklin. The video was released on Wednesday. The ruling came after Monday night’s debate in city council about CMPD’s handling of the initial release of a shorter version of the video.

On the same day as the video’s release, CMPD announced a series of changes in policy to release all relevant video footage of incidents, like officer-involved shootings, to a judge to seek redactions.

Early voting for the special 9th District primary began this week and on Tuesday night, some of the candidates participated in a forum that covered topics from House Bill 2 to the Mueller report and more.

Movement on the incentives from the South Carolina legislature to relocate the Panthers’ headquarters may be on the horizon, as details come out about the plans David Tepper has for the new facility there. The team hopes to begin construction as early as later this year.

Guests:

Erik Spanberg, managing editor for the Charlotte Business Journal

Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com and WCCB

David Boraks, reporter for WFAE

Jonathan Lowe, reporter for Spectrum News

Read the rest atWFAE

Apr262019 TAGS: 9th District, Carolina Panthers, Charlotte, Congress, Democrats, North Carolina, police shooting, Republicans, U.S. House

It’s called accountability, but only for some

OPINION — When I was a little girl growing up in West Baltimore, my parents (especially my mom) gave me some truth along with the love. “You will have to work twice as hard to get half as far,” they told their working-class African American child, schooled as they had been in life’s challenges. They also warned about what everyone on my side of town knew: There was little to no room for error because folks like us seldom got the benefit of the doubt.

This was not to discourage me — far from it. It was to prepare me. Better to know what the deal was upfront.

They did not live to observe the spectacle of the president of the United States and members of his family get away — for now, at least — with all sorts of dishonest doings, things an African American president and his family would have been marched across the White House lawn in cuffs and shackles for. Things anyone in my neighborhood would have been tossed under the jail for even thinking about doing.

Apr252019 TAGS: Congress, crime, Donald Trump, House, Jared Kushner

To Impeach or Not to Impeach

CHARLOTTE, NC — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is urging amid the divide in her own party over whether to impeach President Trump. Pelosi says the party should continue to push for the entire Mueller Report instead of the redacted version released last week.

The Mueller report said the president of the United States did not commit crimes; but it expressly refused to exonerate him on possible obstruction of justice.

Democrats and Republicans face risks and rewards as they choose what to do next. And the process is happening a year and a half before the 2020 presidential election.

Apr242019 TAGS: Democrats, Donald Trump, House, impeachment, Nancy Pelosi, Republicans

Are Young Voters the Key to the White House in 2020?

CHARLOTTE, NC — For Democrats, will it be the past vs. the future? The old guard or fresh faces? The two older gentlemen at the top of every poll judging 2020 Democratic presidential maybes or not? And does any candidate possess the “it” factor that can beat President Trump.

A Pew research center report shows millennials will make up roughly a quarter of eligible voters in 2020. Generation Z, those born after 1996, will make up another 10%.

WCCB political contributor Mary C. Curtis takes a look at how Democrats are hoping to get the youth vote for the 2020 presidential election.

Apr172019 TAGS: 2020 presidential race, Bernie Sanders, Beto O'Rourke, Charlotte, Democrats, Julian Castro, North Carolina, Pete Buttigieg, Stacey Abrams

For serious primary voters, the parade of Democratic candidates is no joke

OPINION — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The number of Democratic hopefuls declaring, thinking about declaring or being pushed to declare their interest in the 2020 race is increasing so rapidly, it has already become a reliable punchline. But for voters looking to discover the person who offers sensible policies on the issues they care about while exuding the intangible “it” quality that could beat Donald Trump, it is serious business.

Forget about what magic the letter “B” might hold — think Bernie, Biden, Beto, Booker, Buttigieg and I know I’m forgetting someone, oh yes, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet — these voters are digging deeper on the candidates who will crowd a debate stage in Miami two nights in a row in June.