Despite an encouraging report from the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association, which showed homes sales up 25 percent last month compared to April 2009, the Queen City still got get kicked to the curb by MainStreet. MainStreet.com, that is. The consumer website recently compiled a list of cities where the recession seems to be fading and […]
Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones says he won’t be recommending raises this year for county employees, but is keeping the possibility of a fat bonus for himself on the table. And isn’t that exactly the kinds of inspiring news you want to be reading, if you’re a county employee burning the candle at both ends […]
A fractious Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education on Tuesday night voted 6-3 to approve a schools budget that includes plans to slash upwards of 600 teacher and teacher assistant positions, implement a pay-to-play scheme for middle- and high school sports, increase class sizes while shrinking transportation options to popular magnet schools, and have students pay fees […]
Less than 12 hours before the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education is slated to approve a recommended budget that slashes teacher positions, guts teacher assistants positions, and further reduces funding for campus security associates, a .22-caliber handgun brought to school by a third-grader was discharged inside a classroom at University Meadows Elementary. No injuries were reported. […]
I can count on one hand – OK, maybe one or two fingers – the number of times I’ve agreed politically with Susan Burgess. She’s a raging liberal and hardcore leftist who pushes an agenda that embraces expansive and expensive government. That said, Burgess always finds time to return phone calls from reporters, is willing […]
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools loves themselves a good media briefing, the typically anti-adversarial, weekly lovefests debuted a few years ago by Superintendent Peter Gorman. It’s a swift way for Gorman & Co. to pick up the remnants of the latest school board meeting to set an agenda and drive feel-good stories that, for the most, local media […]
Putting aside the none-too-subtle undertones layered into President Barack Obama’s Commencement address over the weekend at Hampton University – that speech shouldn’t be free if it comes from conservative bloggers, talk radio, or anybody else who disagrees with his policies – am I the only one who finds it incredibly alarming that the Commander-in-Chief in […]
While Charlotte’s uptown lunch bunch is an a complete tizzy this week over the grand opening of the vaunted NASCAR Hall of Fame, it’s entirely apparent that despite all the hoopla the grand edifice to racing is already struggling to get out of the pits. The City of Charlotte took on a full tank of […]
The Charlotte City Council and the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners in 2007 jointly approved what was touted as an ambitious plan to end and prevent homelessness in 10 years. That was three years ago and, to date, the plan has accomplished little, except for now laying the groundwork to form a new community-based leadership […]
So libraries, parks, social services and schools are facing massive cuts and layoffs and the braintrust in the county manager’s office decides it’s a good idea to blow close to $3,000 buying five new Apple iPads. Wonderful. The official line – shocker here – is that spending more will ultimately save more, in this case […]
