Mark Pellin The Charlotte City Council on Monday night delivered the first installment of a pricey political payoff, when it voted to accept a $25-million federal grant to help build the city’s coveted streetcar project. The total price...

Mark Pellin Despite seeing its massive billion-dollar-plus budget contract over the last two years to a slightly less massive billion-dollar-plus budget, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools posted gains in preliminary results released this week for end-of-grade and end-of-course exams for...

Mark Pellin Plastic bags are getting the boot from the barrier islands of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, under a crafty piece of legislation tucked neatly into the General Assembly’s budget plan. The new law, which goes into effect...

Mark Pellin If a qualifier of good art is irony, Mecklenburg County received a wicked return on investment. Among myriad construction projects that have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding for public art are two libraries...

Mark Pellin It’s the place where pipedreams bloom and lollipops and money grow on trees, which is a good thing as nobody has a clue where dollar-one is going to be found to pay this $1.5-million tab. That’s...

Mark Pellin Mecklenburg County stands to lose upwards of $9 million in lottery revenue the state is withholding this year, a disproportionate hit compared to what other counties will suffer from the state’s money-grab. Wake County, for example,...