Local News Roundup: CMS complies with NC Parents’ Bill of Rights; Fentanyl overdoses are up; Mark Robinson speaks in Charlotte; Panthers prepare to host Detroit

This week, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools became one of the first North Carolina school systems to comply with the new North Carolina Parents’ Bill of Rights. We’ll hear parent reactions and get an update on “back to school” since CMS starts classes on Monday.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department says overdose deaths in Mecklenburg County have gone up 20% so far this year, and the fentanyl crisis continues to grow.

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a Republican candidate for governor, visited Charlotte this week to speak to the Charlotte Rotary.

Might Charlotte finally be home to a social district? Smaller cities around the area have already made the move to social districts, but none have happened yet in Charlotte — but that soon could change. We’ll discuss Plaza Midwood’s efforts to form a social district and when the city might decide on approval.

Amid the vetoes, overrides, the lack of an approved budget and other issues, North Carolina Republicans are currently divided as lawmakers consider allowing casinos in the state.

The Carolina Panthers play the Detroit Lions in the preseason finale at Bank of America Stadium on Friday. Will we see a different outcome?

Mike Collins and our roundtable of reporters delve into those stories and more.

GUESTS:

Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time”

Erik Spanberg, managing editor for the Charlotte Business Journal

Ann Doss Helms, WFAE education reporter

Ely Portillo, WFAE senior editor

Local News Roundup: a milestone for the proposed Charlotte tennis complex; a crack in a beam at Carowinds shuts down ride; a lawsuit against Tim Moore is resolved; USMNT comes to the Queen City

The proposed tennis complex slated for Charlotte needs funding from local government to go through. We discuss where the project stands after a milestone this week.

A crack in a support beam on the largest roller coaster at Carowinds forces it to shut down while repairs are made.

A lawsuit against North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore has been resolved. He had faced allegations of destroying a marriage and exchanging sex for political favors.

And, for the first time, the U.S. men’s national soccer team played in Charlotte, beating Trinidad & Tobago 6-0 in the Gold Cup group stage. More than 40,000 fans showed up for the match. What does this mean for the future of international soccer in the Queen City?

Guest host Erik Spanberg and our panel of guests discuss those and other top stories from the week on the next Charlotte Talks.

GUESTS:

Joe Bruno, WSOC-TV reporter

Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time”

Ely Portillo, senior editor at WFAE News

Alexandria Sands, reporter with Axios Charlotte

What has been deemed legal is not always right

Sometimes, the court gets it right.

It did in the case of Bridget “Biddy” Mason, who eventually walked more than 2,000 miles before her journey ended in California, where her enslavers, Robert and Rebecca Smith, held Mason and her children captive in the supposedly “free state.” When she learned of the Smiths’ plan to haul them all to the slave state of Texas, Mason sued. And in 1856, after listening to her testimony in chambers, because Blacks could not testify against whites in court, Judge Benjamin Hayes decided in her favor.

Lucky for her, and for California, since Mason went on to success as a midwife, entrepreneur and philanthropist, establishing day-care centers and the First African Methodist Episcopal (FAME) Church in Los Angeles, which is still in operation.

I was spurred to learn more about her story after reading a tribute in the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati during a recent trip there. Hers is a true-life tale that displays strategic intelligence and agency, and the countless ways society benefits when barriers are removed and innovation and imagination allowed to flourish.

The current U.S. Supreme Court, unlike Judge Hayes, in my opinion, got it terribly wrong in a flurry of decisions it issued last week. Each one, delivered in turn like staccato body blows, punctuated the court majority’s agenda to halt progress and move the country backward.

At the Freedom Center, I spent hours studying the exhibits, repelled by the lengths those in power would go to possess human beings they viewed as property, yet inspired by stories of brave patriots of every race who traveled on all sides of the “law” but always on the path of justice.

What has been deemed legal is not always right.

This country’s highest court has acted ignobly, as in the 1857 Dred Scott decision, in which Chief Justice Roger Taney declared that Black people had “no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit.”

And it has been the prodding guide for a recalcitrant nation, as in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, in which it unanimously stated: “The doctrine of separate but equal has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

Pushback has come from those who call out injustice, as Frederick Douglass did after Dred Scott, when he noted: “The Supreme Court of the United States is not the only power in this world. It is very great, but the Supreme Court of the Almighty is greater.”

And negative resistance has persisted, as well, the hallmark of those who would stand in the way, yelling “stop,” as segregationists proved when they used every tool, including violence, to fight Brown.

It wasn’t a surprise when the Supreme Court knocked down the use of race, but nothing else, as one factor among many for colleges and universities deciding which students to admit. Their reasoning ignores how the Harvard of today chooses a class, saving spaces for children of alumni, faculty and donors, those with talents in music or athletics, or from a state with paltry representation, and with a sprinkling of celebrity names moving to the front of the line.

It ignores that any applicant who makes it past review is qualified, and that no school has ever chosen a class based on test scores alone, lest it leave out too many children of the rich and powerful.

But most of all, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the majority on the court ignore America, where race matters — and has always mattered. Instead, as Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in brilliant dissent: “With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces ‘colorblindness for all’ by legal fiat.”

Local News Roundup: CATS Bus driver strike averted; naming rights proposed to generate money for city; pioneering judge Shirley Fulton dies at 71

A strike by Charlotte Area Transit System bus drivers is averted and discussions begin regarding a new deal with the drivers’ union this week. In addition, CATS will look for a new company to run the bus system. We’ll dig into details and hear what Interim CATS CEO Brent Cagle said to city council’s transportation committee this week.

A consultant for the city of Charlotte thinks naming rights in the new proposed Hornets practice facility and the new festival district could generate nearly $140 million.

Mecklenburg County Commissioners have passed their 2023 legislative agenda. This week, the county leaders are asking state and federal lawmakers to expand Medicaid, and additional funding for public education. Will they get what they want?

A bill was passed by the North Carolina Senate this week that would require teachers to alert parents before calling a student by a different name or pronoun in class. This comes after warnings to the senate about how this could endanger LGBTQ students.

Shirley Fulton, the first female African American Superior Court Judge in North Carolina, died this week at the age of 71. We’ll talk about her accomplishments and her legacy.

And a look at North and South Carolina lawmakers’ takes on the State of the Union address this week.

Mike Collins and our roundtable of reporters delve into those and more.

GUESTS:

Erik Spanberg, managing editor for the Charlotte Business Journal

Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time”

Joe Bruno, WSOC-TV reporter

David Boraks, WFAE reporter

‘Equal Time’ podcast: For Pride Month, reflecting on progress and the road ahead

As Pride Month ends, celebration is tempered by setbacks across the country, from laws that ban transgender athletes from competing in school sports to efforts to remove books on the LGBTQ experience from library shelves. And with a Supreme Court willing to overturn precedent, many wonder if LGBTQ rights will be next. What is needed, culturally and legally, to ensure forward movement on the path to equality for all Americans? What can organizations and corporations do to be more intentional in supporting the LGBTQ community?

“Equal Time” host Mary C. Curtis explores what comes next with guests Sasha Buchert, a senior attorney in the Washington, D.C., office of Lambda Legal, and Kendra R. Johnson, executive director at Equality North Carolina.