In the midst of two global wars on terror, Mecklenburg County is considering budget cuts that would completely eliminate funding for its Veterans Service Office, forcing the agency to shutter its doors and potentially leaving thousands of benefit claims filed by local veterans lost in a maze of bureaucratic red tape. “It couldn’t come at […]
Tuesday’s primary election yielded an abysmally low 7.3 percent voter turnout in Mecklenburg County, but spirits were soaring high at election night party headquarters for Corey Thompson, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teacher who had just aced his first big-time political exam. Thompson ran third in the GOP at-large commissioners race, behind top vote-getters Jim Pendergraph and […]
In an emotionally-charged decision Monday night, the Charlotte City Council voted 6 to 3 against censuring one of its own members for allegedly sexually harassing city staff. The vote came after Councilmember Warren Turner defended himself against findings reported last week by an attorney the city had hired to investigate the harassment claim, which concluded […]
A majority of school board members seemed receptive to a pay-to-play proposal pitched Tuesday night to save middle school sports, while discussion was curbed over applying a similar fee-based structure for transportation services. The notion of having students pay for bus rides to and from school was floated by board member Trent Merchant, tangential to […]
From teachers and their assistants to students and their parents, people lined up Tuesday night to blast the Board of Education and Superintendent Peter Gorman over proposed budget cuts that could lead to what many speakers called unacceptable and disastrous consequences in classrooms next year. Faced with a potential budget shortfall that could top $75 […]
“This is a political lynching and the ones doing it, they ain’t wearing white hoods. They got black ones, if you know what I mean.” That was Warren Turner, from an interview with PunditHouse a few days after he was outed as the councilmember at the center of a sexual harassment allegation brought by a […]
Some called it “educational apartheid,” others “a return to segregation,” and regardless of the catch phrase they used, none were happy with Superintendent Peter Gorman’s initiative that will lump all of the district’s Title I schools into a newly created Central Zone learning community. Title I is educrat code for high-poverty, low-performing schools, the majority […]
The Charlotte City Council has sent a proposal to jumpstart a controversial red-light camera program to its public safety committee for more review. The program, which Charlotte operated from 1998 to 2006, places cameras at targeted intersections, snaps photos of cars running red lights, and issues tickets to the owners. Charlotte abandoned the camera initiative […]
The first of what could be a slew of fee increases to come down the county’s pike received tacit approval from Mecklenburg commissioners last week, when they green lighted a proposal from the county’s code enforcement department to hike building inspection and permit fees 4.7 percent across the board, along with targeted increases of up […]
A new community survey lends demonstrable evidence supporting what has to-date been a fairly nebulous, yet pervasive public sentiment: There exists a large disconnect between Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police statistics that show a steady reduction in crime and what many citizens view as the reality of every-day life on the streets. Police Chief Rodney Monroe, almost from […]
