Archives for February 2020

Charlotte Talks Local News Roundup: Biden Seeks Comeback In SC Primary; CMS Irks Parents With Survey

Featured at WFAE

The caucus results in Nevada had barely been tallied before the Democratic candidates for president packed their bags for South Carolina and Saturday’s “first in the South” primary. So Charlotte Talks has set up shop, too, at Amelie’s French Bakery in Rock Hill.

Former Vice President Joe Biden put all his chips on South Carolina in an attempt to retake frontrunner status from Sen. Bernie Sanders. The tide might be in Biden’s favor as polls show him with a commanding lead, and the state’s top African American official, Rep. Jim Clyburn, endorsed Biden.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools found itself having to explain why students in grades 6-12 were given a survey about their gender identity and sexual orientation. The school board, meanwhile, had to scale back the size of three high schools that were part of a bond package voters approved in 2017.

Also, the will-he-stay, won’t-he-stay question about Cam Newton seemed to be resolved this week, and the CIAA tipped off it’s last (for now?) tournament in Charlotte.

GUESTS

Mary C. Curtis, Roll Call columnist and WCCB News contributor (@mcurtisnc3)

Cailyn Derickson, The Herald, reporter (@cailynderickson)

Steve Harrison, WFAE political reporter, co-host of the “Inside Politics” podcast (@Sharrison_WFAE)

Jonathan Lowe, Spectrum News, reporter and anchor (@JonathanUpdates)

Ann Doss Helms, WFAE education reporter (@anndosshelms)

Read the rest atWFAE
Feb282020 TAGS: , , , , , , , ,

Could a short-term Bloomberg solution doom Democrats in the long term?

Featured at Roll Call

OPINION — Mike Bloomberg, the former New York mayor, has been busy on the campaign trail, said “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert, “shaking hands and frisking babies.” Taking a more solemn tone in his monologue, “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah, a South African native who knows firsthand the effects of raw, racial animus, said in part: “So my problem with Mike Bloomberg is he’s not saying, ‘I’m sorry for targeting black people. I’m sorry for treating black people like second-class citizens. I’m sorry for gaslighting black people for so long.’ No, he’s just, like, ‘I’m sorry that stop-and-frisk happened to affect black communities.’ And it’s, like, no, it didn’t happen to. You designed it to.”

Bloomberg can look forward to that and more as long as he remains in the race to represent the Democratic Party in November against Donald Trump.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Feb272020 TAGS: , ,

South Carolina Democratic Debate

Featured at WCCB Rising

CHARLOTTE, NC — Political contributor Mary C. Curtis discusses the winners and losers from the South Carolina democratic debate and what it means heading into the Saturday primary and super Tuesday.

Read the rest atWCCB Rising
Feb262020 TAGS: , , , , , , ,

Using Faith To Fight For The Poor

Featured at WCCB Rising

WCCB Charlotte Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis writes in Time Magazine about a North Carolina pastor who says “there is not some separation between Jesus and justice.” She talks about his fight for the poor as WCCB News Rising celebrates Black History Month.

The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival hopes to draw thousands to Washington, DC on June 20.

Read the rest atWCCB Rising
Feb262020 TAGS: , ,

Will Bernie Keep Momentum; Counting Delegates

Featured at WCCB Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Joe Biden hopes South Carolina can save his campaign. But after Bernie Sanders’ big win in Nevada, is there any stopping his momentum?

The Democratic Socialist is gaining ground in the Palmetto State, as moderate democrats fight to see who can emerge as a challenger to Sanders.

Click above for more with WCCB Charlotte Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis.

Read the rest atWCCB Charlotte
Feb232020 TAGS: , , , , , , , , , ,

How Rev. William J. Barber II Uses His Faith to Fight for the Poor

Featured at TIME Magazine

For 27 years, the Rev. William J. Barber II has been the pastor at a church in the small city of Goldsboro, N.C. But on a recent afternoon, he could be found at a hotel in Raleigh, about an hour away from home. His work as an activist takes him to the state capital often enough that he’s well known there. Not long after, he’d move on to an event in Charleston, S.C., and then to Iowa, where he’d lead a march demanding a presidential debate on poverty.

Barber is ever in motion, and he’s still picking up momentum. He’s hardly stopped since he attracted national attention as the leader of the Moral Mondays protests held at the North Carolina capitol in Raleigh beginning in 2013. His newsmaking actions were founded on the idea that being a person of faith means fighting for justice—whether by working beside a conservative mayor to protest the closing of rural hospitals or by calling for an NAACP boycott of the state in response to the legislature’s actions, like its infamous “bathroom bill.”

Read the rest atTIME Magazine
Feb202020 TAGS: , , , , ,

Will the Nevada Democratic Debate be a Game-Changer?

Featured at WCCB Rising

CHARLOTTE, NC — The democratic presidential candidates have one more shot to make their case on the debate stage ahead of Saturday’s Nevada caucuses. Political contributor Mary C. Curtis talks about what to expect ahead of Thursday’s debate.

Read the rest atWCCB Rising
Feb192020 TAGS: , , , , , , ,

POLITICAL WRAP: Bernie Sanders takes Front-Runner Status; Lyles Endorses Bloomberg

Featured at WCCB Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Senator Bernie Sanders appeared in Charlotte on Friday, now considered a front-runner for the Democratic nomination heading into the Nevada caucuses and the South Carolina primary.

And Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles recently endorsed Mike Bloomberg. The former NYC Mayor is rising in the polls, especially as former Vice President Joe Biden falls.

But Bloomberg continues to face criticism that he’s trying to buy the nomination.

Click above for more with WCCB Charlotte Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis.

Read the rest atWCCB Charlotte
Feb162020 TAGS: , , , , , , , ,

The Democratic divide is not just between moderates and progressives

Featured at Roll Call

Are frightened Democrats in the middle of an ugly fight to the death between the so-called progressive and moderate wings of the party? To observe the weeping and gnashing of teeth after the New Hampshire primary, you might think so. Let’s just say, that reaction is premature and missing the point.

Yet there are already calls from some in the Democratic establishment, such as it is, for consolidation of the moderates to fight a Bernie Sanders surge that would presumably cast the party into the electoral wilderness in 2020, when the main focus, the reasoning goes, is to beat Donald Trump. To be fair, that seems to be top of mind for all those who want Trump out of office. When I go to the market or gym, anyone of a certain political persuasion even vaguely familiar with what I do for a living asks me “who can beat Trump” before I get a “hello.”

Read the rest atRoll Call
Feb132020 TAGS: , , , , , , , , ,

New Hampshire Primary Results

Featured at WCCB Rising

CHARLOTTE, NC — Senator Bernie Sanders has won New Hampshire’s presidential primary edging out rival Pete Buttigieg. Political contributor Mary C. Curtis looks at the winners and those who fell short.

Read the rest atWCCB Rising
Feb122020 TAGS: , , , , , , , , , ,
Next Page »