Charlotte Talks Local News Roundup: State Budget On Fast Track; Panthers Respond To NFL Policy

Featured at WFAE

On the next Charlotte Talks local news roundup…

Budget season is well underway. We’ve already discussed city and countybudget on Charlotte Talks. And now on Monday, the proposed state budget was released, and is on the fast track in the legislature.

The budget has many educational components. We’ll discuss teacher and principal pay… and the $200,000 set aside for a non-profit that gives money to classroom teachers- and why that’s turning heads.

We’ll discuss the status of the house bill that would allow area towns to create their own charters and budget talk that concerns the I-77 toll lanes under construction in Northern Mecklenburg.

We delve into the response of Carolina Panthers players to the new NFL Anthem Policy and about the conversation new Panthers’ owner David Tepper had with the team about the NFL owners meeting last week.

City Council has endorsed a plan to increase pay for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officers. The city has cut ties with a developer who has not delivered on affordable housing near the light rail. And Cardinal Health is back in the news, as the former CEO files yet another lawsuit.

Guest host Erik Spanberg from the Charlotte Business Journal and our roundtable of reporters go through these stories and more on the Charlotte Talks Local News Roundup.

Guests:

Glenn Burkins, editor and publisher of Q City Metro 

Ann Doss Helms, reporter for the Charlotte Observer 

Nick Ochsner, WBTV news reporter

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

Read the rest atWFAE
Jun012018

Opinion: No Holiday in the United States of Exhaustion

Featured at Roll Call

In overworked America, with national holidays too few and far between, citizens look forward to each one. Memorial Day, especially, is a time of unity — a day to honor those who have served and sacrificed, without regard to political party or philosophy.

This year, though, that always delicate truce seemed particularly fraught.

Memorial Day 2018 resembled a Monday like too many others — the beginning of a week of sniping and fighting and irreconcilable views of what it means to be a patriot in these anything but United States. It also was a reminder that my commentary on the intersection of politics, culture and race is so spot-on, it’s depressing, and that those common experiences that Americans imagined we all shared were a mirage — if they were ever real.

Read the rest atRoll Call
May312018 TAGS: , ,

What Is the Line Between Politics and Culture? Ask Roseanne.

Featured at WCCB Rising

CHARLOTTE, NC– After Roseanne tweeted a racist insult, her hit TV show was canceled. Entertainment, as well as sports, supposed escapes, are political in 2018.

Mary C. Curtis weighs in.

 

Read the rest atWCCB Rising
May302018 TAGS: , , ,

Opinion: A Not Entirely Unexpected Campaign Roadblock for Women of Color

Featured at Roll Call

The women of color who are still standing in an electoral slog that ends in November know their road to continued success will be hard. This is the United States, and the fact that they are still pioneers for getting this far in 2018 is not just news-making but also a little depressing.

It is also true that they can’t always count on the support of some of the same feminists they may have joined — in marches, #MeToo protests and the ballot box.

Read the rest atRoll Call
May242018 TAGS: , , , , , , ,

Women Score Big in Key Primaries

Featured at WCCB Rising

In the United States, an African-American woman has never been elected governor. That may happen in 2018 if Stacey Abrams is elected in Georgia. Though she has a tough road, she passed the first hurdle Tuesday night when she was overwhelmingly chosen to be the Democrats’ nominee. In many states, in races for state and federal offices, women are stepping up. What are their chances in November? It’s unclear for now – but you can’t win if you’re not playing, and this election season, women are definitely in it.

Read the rest atWCCB Rising
May232018 TAGS: , , , ,

Charlotte Talks Local News Roundup: Panthers Sale, NC Teachers Protest, City Budget Gets Review

Featured at WFAE

The Panthers have a new owner. Lawmakers, back in Raleigh for the first day of the short session, confront teachers from across the state as well as another group of demonstrators in Raleigh asking lawmakers to address poverty. And, Charlotte residents weigh in on the proposed city budget and possible tax increase.

A panel of reporters joins Mike Collins to expand on those and other stories.

Read the rest atWFAE
May182018 TAGS: , ,

Opinion: Is It Too Early for North Carolina Democrats to Get Their Hopes Up, Again?

Featured at Roll Call

In 2008, Barack Obama’s slim North Carolina victory in his first presidential run had Democrats in the state celebrating in the present and dreaming of a blue future in what had been considered a (relatively) progressive Southern state. Boy, were those dreams premature.

But 10 years later — after new redistricting and voting rules solidified GOP control in both the state and U.S. House delegations and a bill on LGBT rights made the state a poster child for conservative social policies — Democrats are again seeing light at the end of a deep-red tunnel.

Read the rest atRoll Call
May172018 TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , ,

March For Students and Rally For Respect

Featured at WCCB Rising

CHARLOTTE, NC –On the first day of the N.C. legislature’s short session, more than 15,000 teachers will be heading to Raleigh in an action they are calling the March for Students and Rally for Respect. Unlike teacher walkouts in other states, notably West Virginia, North Carolina’s action will be one day only – but teachers taking part hope it won’t end there.

Read the rest atWCCB Rising
May162018 TAGS: , , ,

Opinion: What Is the Cost When the Language of Politics Devolves?

Featured at Roll Call

Who would have imagined that the term “breeding” to refer to human beings would be making a comeback? Seen through a cynical lens, it is a useful word when, step by insidious step, one wants to deem some people as inherently less — and thus deserving of less — than other Americans.

Read the rest atRoll Call
May102018 TAGS: , , ,

Opinion: We Just Can’t Shake That Old-Time Religion

Featured at Roll Call

“Bless your heart” is a phrase I got to know well when I moved from the Northeast to the South several years ago. Though often spoken in soft, sympathetic tones, there was nothing blessed about the sentiment. And when those three syllables were delivered in an email, usually after I wrote a column a reader did not like, they landed like a punch to the gut.

Oddly enough, it was commentary on faith and values that elicited quite a bit of high dudgeon, topped only by the historically reliable topic of race, which, like religion, carries the taint of a North versus South, “them” against “us” spiritual split.

It was no surprise, then, that one of the most recent dust-ups in the sandbox called the U.S. House of Representatives was over religion — most specifically, the faith, message and suitability of the chamber’s chaplain — or that it, too, had its share of regional side-choosing.

Read the rest atRoll Call
May032018 TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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