Stories written by Mark Pellin
An award-winning journalist and former editor of The Rhinoceros Times in Charlotte, Pellin has been called everything from a misguided troglodyte to a professional agitator. He prefers the label of a realist, the guy in the crowd telling everybody that not only doesn’t the emperor have any clothes; he’s trying to steal ours. Pellin has covered the Char-Meck scene for the better part of two decades, earning his fair share of fans and more than a few critics who wish he’d move to Nome, Alaska, and be eaten by wild bears. When he’s not writing, he stays busy enjoying time with his wife and two kids. When he can break away for some R&R, he likes to fly fish (even if he doesn’t catch anything) and camp (even if it rains).

Spending What We Don’t Have

And then spending some more. That seems to be the standard operating model for the N.C. General Assembly, where the Senate recently approved taking on $451 million of non-voter-approved debt for, among other items, building some new engineering facilities for N.C. State and AT&T State. The bond debt doesn’t include funding for operations, once the […]

June 21, 2010 | Posted in Carolinas,House Blends,Mark Pellin | Read More »

Bong Bonding

What do Nick Mackey and Glenn Beck have in common? They both want to legalize marijuana, an interesting intersection from two polar opposite sides of the political spectrum. Mackey’s take here; Beck’s below.

June 21, 2010 | Posted in House Blends,National | Read More »

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Economists greeted a dip in the state’s May unemployment rate, which ticked down to 10.3 percent, with an overwhelming blah, pointing out that most of the decline was attributed to temporary government hiring for the U.S. census. That and more than 42,300 folks didn’t so much find a job, as they simply exhausted their unemployment […]

June 21, 2010 | Posted in Carolinas,House Blends,Mark Pellin | Read More »

Saturday Night House Party

Send us your favorite tunes (editor@pundithouse.com) and we’ll work them into the rotation. This is The Velvet Underground. Enjoy.

June 19, 2010 | Posted in House Blends | Read More »

Open Forum Friday

Tossed out for general discussion and debate; feedback and comments encouraged: * Convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by firing squad in Utah last night. Would you have pulled the trigger? Not just philosophically, as in supporting the death penalty; but literally, as in stepping behind the firing line? * Mayor Anthony Foxx has […]

June 18, 2010 | Posted in House Blends,Mark Pellin,National | Read More »

Beggars Banquet

In another round of begging for crumbs when they’ve historically grown accustomed to cake, the library system has landed an additional $730,000 to help restock a budget that was slashed nearly in half for the upcoming fiscal year. The newest loot comes from the small towns of Mecklenburg County, where officials agreed this week to […]

June 18, 2010 | Posted in Char-Meck Beat,County Beat,Mark Pellin | Read More »

No Red Flag For Greene

The Executive Board of the South Carolina Democratic Party has upheld U.S. Senate primary election results that saw an unemployed, accused felon that few people had heard of before last week and even fewer people seem willing to acknowledge voting for, topple a former four-term state representative. Barring any unexpected twists – no guarantee in […]

June 18, 2010 | Posted in Carolinas,House Blends,Mark Pellin | Read More »

GOP Contenders Come Out Swinging

They’re not officially running as a slate, but they sure sounded on the same page. Republican candidates for the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners at a Thursday afternoon presser blasted the board’s current Democrat majority for fiscal irresponsibility that has left taxpayers tapped and derelict management that has led Mecklenburg into perilous straits. At-large candidates […]

June 17, 2010 | Posted in Char-Meck Beat,County Beat,Mark Pellin | Read More »

Scratch-and-Lose Lottery

Fresh off approving a budget that includes some $71 million in cuts and delivers pink slips for scores of county employees and schoolteachers, Mecklenburg County could find itself hit by another fiscal wallop: losing upwards of $17 million courtesy of a state money grab. The North Carolina Association of County Commissioners has fired off an […]

June 17, 2010 | Posted in County Beat,House Blends,Mark Pellin | Read More »

Boston-Bound Board Passes County Budget

Mecklenburg commissioners approved a $1.35-billion budget that calls for about $75 million in cuts to programs and services and includes pink slips for nearly 300 county employees. That was Tuesday night. By Wednesday morning, many of those same commissioners were jet-setting to Boston for a three-day junket of fine dining, site seeing, and luxuriating in […]

June 16, 2010 | Posted in County Beat,House Specials,Mark Pellin | Read More »

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