Archives for August 2017

Opinion: The Rule of Law, the Role of History

It was as predictable as clockwork. When I worked at a newspaper in Tucson, Ariz., the letter would arrive or the phone would ring and the message would be filled with outrage and surprise. Imagine being in a store or on the street and hearing two or more people having a conversation — in Spanish.

The spanking new desert denizen— just arrived from Michigan or Minnesota or somewhere else where it got cold in the winter — could not understand a word and this is America, right?

What’s Next After Harvey?

CHARLOTTE, NC – Tropical Storm Harvey is on the move after making landfall for a second time Wednesday morning. The storm is battering the border of Texas and Louisianabringing more catastrophic flooding to regions that are already underwater. Meantime, thoughts turn to figuring out what happened in Houston and how the effects of future storms can be prevented.

Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis offers more perspective.

Charlotte Talks Friday News Roundup: Eclipse Recap; Mayoral Debate; Confederate Monuments In NC

We all turned our eyes (protected, of course) to the skies to watch the solar eclipse on Monday. We’ll talk about local reaction to what we saw, especially in the prime viewing areas.

Most of Charlotte’s candidates for mayor participated in a Tuesday night debate—we’ll break down where they came down on issues like the I-77 tolls, and more.

Redistricting is in the news once again as new legislative district maps are released around the state to comply with a Supreme Court order that found that many North Carolina legislative districts were illegal racial gerrymanders. We’ll get a reaction from around the state.

Following the clash in Charlottesville, events continued around the nation, and here in Charlotte and around the state organized by a variety of different groups. In addition to those events, the president continued to defend his initial comments on the violence that happened in Charlottesville when he attended a rally in Phoenix.

And Wells Fargo employees in Charlotte and elsewhere are bracing for more negative headlines amid the account scandal review- we’ll update you on that.

Guests:

Tom BullockWFAE reporter.

Mary C. Curtis, columnist at Roll Call and a contributor to other publications including WCCB News Rising and NBCBLK.

Erik Spanberg, senior staff writer at the Charlotte Business Journal.

Ann Doss Helms, reporter for The Charlotte Observer.

Opinion: A Partial Eclipse of Bad News

Celestial event didn’t blot out Confederate statue stain

Hundreds Protest Against Silent Sam Statue at UNC-Chapel Hill

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) – A few hundred people rallied on the campus of North Carolina’s flagship university to demand the removal of a Confederate statue there. The gathering Tuesday night at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill focused on a statue known as “Silent Sam.” People chanted “tear it down” while police officers watched from behind temporary metal barriers surrounding the statue, depicting a Confederate soldier. “Hey, hey. Ho, ho. This racist statue has got to go,” the crowd also chanted. The protest was largely peaceful, but at least three people were arrested.

Governor Roy Cooper says the university has the authority to take immediate action if it believes the statue is posing a risk to public safety. However, the university says it does not have the legal authority to remove the statue.

Opinion: Saying ‘Not Trump’ Is Not Enough for GOP

When Donald Trump is the bad cop, everybody can be the good cop.

President Trump Blames Charlottesville Violence on ‘Both Sides’

NEW YORK (AP) – President Donald Trump is defiantly blaming “both sides” for the weekend violence between white supremacists and counter-demonstrators in Virginia and rebuffing the widespread criticism of his handling of the emotionally-charged protests.

Trump addressed reporters Tuesday in New York.

In his remarks, he showed sympathy for the fringe group’s efforts to preserve Confederate monuments.

In doing so, Trump used the bullhorn of the presidency to give voice to the grievances of white nationalists, and aired some of his own. His remarks amounted to a rejection of the Republicans, business leaders and White House advisers who earlier this week had pushed the president to more forcefully and specifically condemn the KKK members, neo-Nazis and white supremacists who took to the streets of Charlottesville.

Mary C. Curtis, political contributor, weighs in.

Charlotte Talks Friday News Roundup: PGA Championship in Charlotte; Citizens Review Board

This week on the Friday News Roundup…

The PGA has been here all week– officials have praised Quail Hollow and the red carpet treatment Charlotte has given the Championship. Despite the rain, we’re rumored to be getting good grades from PGA leadership as a host city.

This week, the Citizens Review Board looked in on CMPD’s internal exoneration of the officer who shot Keith Lamont Scott nearly a year ago, spending days of testimony behind closed doors.

The budget has been approved for CMS with teacher and principal salary raises topping the list of highlights. What did and didn’t make it into this year’s plan?

Governor Cooper was in town this week to announce the expansion of Allstate Insurance Company to Charlotte, which will bring 2250 jobs to the Queen City.

Mike Collins and our panel of Roundup Reporters fill us in on those stories and the rest of the week’s top local stories.

Guests:

Tom Bullock, WFAE Reporter.

Katie Peralta, Reporter for The Charlotte Observer.

Erik Spanberg, senior staff writer at the Charlotte Business Journal.

Mary C.Curtis, columnist at Roll Call and a contributor to other publications including WCCB News Rising and NBCBLK.

Opinion: Will Move to Purge Ohio Voting Rolls Kickstart Congressional Action?

Fifty-two years ago this week, John Lewis of Georgia was a young activist, not the Democratic congressman he is today. Yet he got a warmer welcome from the then-president of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson, than from today’s occupant of the White House.

On the Twitter feed of the longtime member of the U.S. House of Representatives, you can see a picture celebrating that time a few decades ago, when, with Democratic and Republican support, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed and then signed.

Lewis was one of those who suffered arrests and shed blood to make it so. You might think that at 77 years of age, he has earned the right to relax just a little. But instead of celebrating progress made, he has to ignore occasional insults from President Donald Trump and some of his congressional colleagues, while refighting a version of that same fight for voting rights.

Every day there is that reminder, whether it is a Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, stacked with a rogue’s gallery of folks with a history of searching for nonexistent hordes of fraudulent voters, or news that Trump’s Justice Department has joined Ohio’s campaign to purge its voter rolls.

How many in Congress will stand with their colleague and other leaders to strengthen rather than dilute the power of that defining law from 52 years ago? How many will stand with a president who asked minority communities to support him — “what do you have to lose” was both question and challenge — with a grab bag of policies that illustrates exactly what his statements meant?

Citizens Review Board Hears Keith Scott Case

CHARLOTTE, NC — The Charlotte Citizens Review Board (CRB) is holding closed hearings this week to take another look at the evidence and circumstance surrounding last year’s fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott.

The board will decide if the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department was wrong when it decided Officer Brentley Vinson followed the department use of force policy when he killed Scott. The District Attorney determined that the shooting was justified

Scott’s death sparked protests and violent riots across Charlotte.

There has been calls for decades for the CRB to have more power. They can make recommendations to adjust police training, policy and procedures, but cannot reverse the decision by Chief Kerr Putney and the DA not to charge Officer Vinson.

If the CRB decides the shooting isn’t justified, the Chief Putney and the City Manager will re-evaluate the case.

Is this the kind of case that could lead to the CRB getting more authority?

Political Contributor, Mary Curtis weighs in.