A look at topics impacting our decisions for 2024 elections. Plus, renewed debate about monuments and our country’s history of slavery raises a question: are we’re preserving history or our future? Host Kenia Thompson discusses these topics and more with Immanuel Jarvis, chairman of the Durham County GOP; columnist Mary C. Curtis (Roll Call); and Brett Chambers, lecturer at NC Central University.
Local News Roundup: Early voting begins in Mecklenburg; Possible new life for the Red Line; Social District vote Monday; Mecklenburg Commissioners support Israel
Early in-person voting started this week in Charlotte, just a few weeks before Election Day on November 7. What races will bring you to the polls? Be sure to bring your ID.
As President Biden visited Israel this week, Mecklenburg County Commissioners passed a resolution to support Israel and condemn terrorism.
Charlotte City Council’s vote on a new social district will happen on Monday. We give a preview.
Charlotte Area Transit System’s long-planned Red Line commuter train may have a future in Mecklenburg and Iredell counties. We’ll discuss the letter Norfolk Southern sent to the city.
Gov. Roy Cooper sued the North Carolina GOP members this week after an overhaul to the state’s election boards removed gubernatorial power.
And global soccer star Lionel Messi may play against Charlotte FC this weekend at Charlotte’s final home game. This has many fans very excited.
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”
· Joe Bruno, WSOC-TV reporter
· Ann Doss Helms, WFAE education reporter
Oct202023
Local News Roundup: CATS goes off the rails, political maps back at NC Supreme Court, ‘Banktown’ reacts to SVB collapse
On the Local News Roundup, the Charlotte Area Transit System goes off the rails. At least one Lynx train did in a derailment last year that officials are just now hearing about. They also discovered that every train car in the fleet needs repairs and until that happens, trains will be slowing down.
North Carolina’s voter maps are back in front of a now-Republican-controlled State Supreme Court. They’re rehearing a case at the request of the legislature.
Meanwhile, the legislature calls Gov. Roy Cooper’s budget “unrealistic.”
And we look at possible reverberations here from the collapse of a Silicon Valley bank.
Our roundtable of reporters fills us in on those stories and more.
Guests
Steve Harrison, WFAE’s political reporter
Erik Spanberg, managing editor for the Charlotte Business Journal
Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time”
Danielle Chemtob, investigative reporter with Axios Charlotte
Mar172023
Why North Carolina Matters In 2020
How competitive will North Carolina be in 2020? We talk about the presidential race, a tough battle for Republican Sen. Thom Tillis and the hyperpolarization of local politics in the state.
Host Jeremy Hobson is joined by Jeff Tiberii (@j_tibs), Capitol Bureau Chief at WUNC and Mary Curtis (@mcurtisnc3), columnist at Roll Call based in Charlotte.
Jan272020
North Carolina Absentee & Voter ID Law
CHARLOTTE, NC — The new year brings new laws political contributor Mary C. Curtis discusses the new North Carolina absentee and voter ID law changes.
Jan012020
POLITICAL WRAP: Voter ID; Pelosi Delay; Charlotte Homicides
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – It appears North Carolina voters will not have to show ID in March’s presidential primary. A Federal Court temporarily blocked new requirements set to go into effect next year. The decision can be appealed but that would be up to Democrat state Attorney General Josh Stein.
U.S. Senators return to Washington at the end of the week. But the question remains, how longer will Nancy Pelosi wait to deliver the articles of impeachment? Senate leaders remain at an impasse over whether there will be new witnesses and testimony in a Senate trial.
Closer to home, this year’s homicide rate in Charlotte is on track to be the worst since 1993. CMPD has investigated 108 murders so far. Mayor Vi Lyles says Charlotte is looking at data from other cities for ways to curb the violence.
Dec292019
N.C. Lame-Duck Session Begins, with Voter ID the Chief Task
CHARLOTTE, NC — In the midterm elections, North Carolina voters delivered a check on the state general assembly’s Republican super-majorities, while also approving a voter ID amendment to the state constitution. Will state lawmakers be able to craft and approve a bill before the holiday break, a new year and new membership? GOP lawmakers hope so. Previous attempts at voter ID bills and voting restrictions did not pass muster with the courts.
While Republicans and supporters say photo voter ID is needed for security and to prevent fraud, opponents say it is a form of voter suppression, mostly affecting minorities, the elderly, students and the poor, a way to solve a problem that does not exist. (Mary C. Curtis)
And what else is on the docket for this lame-duck session?
Nov282018
Opinion: Supreme Court Resurrects the ‘Purge,’ and McConnell Saw It Coming
It was a brilliant and, opponents would say, devious move by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: Stall, obstruct and block President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court replacement for the late Antonin Scalia.
That pick, Judge Merrick Garland, once a thoroughly acceptable and moderate choice to many Republicans, never had a chance in a ramped-up partisan atmosphere. Instead, the next president, Donald Trump, appointed conservative Neil Gorsuch, with immediate and long-lasting repercussions, this week reaching into the voting booth.
By a 5-4 vote in Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, the conservatives on the court reaffirmed an Ohio law an appeals court had rejected as being a violation of the National Voter Registration Act, which says states cannot purge voters for failing to vote but can figure out how to remove those who have moved or died from the list. The state — a crucial battleground — has a particularly stringent test, using failure to vote in a single federal election cycle as the trigger to start the process.
Jun142018
The Latest With NC Voter ID Laws and the Upcoming Election
CHARLOTTE, NC — North Carolina’s Voter ID Law is in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court, and Mecklenburg County residents are learning they could have less time to cast an early ballot in this year’s election.
WCCB Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis is weighing in on these voter issues and what they could mean as the election draws closer.
Aug172016
GOP launches minority outreach in N.C., defends voter law in court
CHARLOTTE — Republicans were busy in North Carolina and Washington on Monday. Did the activity in the courts and on a conservative stage have the effect of muddying the welcome mat the GOP rolled out for minority voters in the state?
Earlier in the day, Republican state officials filed to urge a federal court to dismiss two lawsuits challenging changes in North Carolina’s voting laws, changes opponents contend disproportionately harm African American voters. A third challenge by the U.S. Department of Justice is waiting in the wings.
Monday evening in Charlotte, at the opening of the Republican National Committee’s African American engagement office in North Carolina, Earl Philip, North Carolina African American state director, said he believed in the message he has been taking to churches, schools and community groups.
Oct222013
