Friday, Jan. 22, 2021
On the next Charlotte Talks Local News Roundup …
Former President Donald Trump issued dozens of pardons on his last full day in office Tuesday. North Carolinians were included in that number, like Robin Hayes, the former chair of North Carolina’s Republican Party and former congressman from North Carolina’s 8th District, who pleaded guilty last year to lying to the FBI. Trump also pardoned Waxhaw’s Carl Andrews Boggs and Charlotte’s Patrick Lee Swisher. We’ll discuss.
Last week, we talked about the resignation of longtime City Councilman James “Smuggie” Mitchell, who left his post on council because of a conflict with his new job as a part owner of a Charlotte construction company. This week, City Council began accepting applications to replace the at-large council member. The process is scheduled to be completed Feb. 1 with the announcement of Mitchell’s replacement.
The months-long look into North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr’s insider trading allegations has been dropped by the Department of Justice. Burr has consistently denied the allegations. We’ll catch you up on what’s happened.
As the U.S. surpasses 400,000 deaths to the coronavirus, vaccines in North Carolina are ramping up. Dr. Mandy Cohen, the NC DHHS Secretary, said this week that 450,000 people have been vaccinated in North Carolina so far. What’s ahead on vaccinations in North Carolina and in Mecklenburg County (where this week we had our first pediatric death at the hands of the virus)? We’ll have an update.
Mike Collins and our roundtable of reporters delve into the week’s top news on the Charlotte Talks Local News Roundup.
Guests:
Steve Harrison, WFAE’s political reporter
Nick Ochsner, WBTV’s executive producer for investigations & chief investigative reporter
Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time” and contributor at WCCB-TV
Claire Donnelly, WFAE health reporter
