Archives for April 2021

Local News Roundup: Pat McCrory Runs For Senate; Barringer Gets A New Name; Update On COVID-19 Vaccinations

Featured at WFAE

On the next Charlotte Talks Local News Roundup:

The list of candidates for Richard Burr’s U.S. Senate seat is growing, now including former mayor and local radio talk show host Pat McCrory. We’ll talk about the field of candidates that has assembled.

This week, City Council provided details about how it plans to fund the arts in Charlotte after it announced earlier this year that it would no longer send money to the Arts & Science Council.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is spending nearly $900,0000 on air quality improvements for several schools in the district. That news came in the same week that it was announced that commencement ceremonies would be in person this year. Also, a new name for Barringer Academic Center, and no more taking temperatures upon entry at CMS schools.

And we’ll have an update on COVID-19 vaccinations in Mecklenburg County.

Mike Collins and our roundtable of reporters delve into the week’s top news on the Charlotte Talks Local News Roundup.

Guests:

Mary C. Curtis, columnist for RollCall.com, host of the RollCall podcast “Equal Time” and contributor at WCCB-TV

Jonathan Lowe, anchor/ reporter for Spectrum News

Steve Harrison, WFAE’s political reporter

Joe Bruno, WSOC-TV reporter

Read the rest atWFAE
Apr162021 TAGS: , , , , , ,

If corporations are people, they just might have an opinion

Featured at Roll Call

That Pepsi bottle on the counter looks so out of place. My husband has always been a Diet Coke man. It’s a matter of principle, he tells me, even as he admits he prefers “The Real Thing.” Coca-Cola’s statement disapproving of Georgia’s new voting restrictions was too little, too late, and that’s that, he says. All of that puts the Atlanta-based soft drink giant in a bind, since even its belated critical stand was too much for backers of the bill, who are also banishing Coke from their own fridges, they say.

What’s a company to do?

I can’t feel too sorry for Coca-Cola, Delta and the rest, though, since they’ve been playing the political game forever while pretending to be above it all. And I have to stifle a laugh at the Republican politicians who are admonishing corporations and sports leagues now that the bills the GOP instigated aren’t getting a pass. These are the same pols who eagerly accepted campaign donations and good PR in days past.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is astute enough to recognize why his furrowed brow and outraged words are landing with a thud. It’s why his story is constantly changing. He told companies to stay out of politics, was called on it, then said he meant to only offer advice that business leaders read the fine print before opening their mouths and closing their pocketbooks.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Apr152021 TAGS: , , , , , , , , , ,

Mary C. Curtis: NC Voter ID Law Heads to Court

Featured at WCCB Rising

CHARLOTTE, NC — North Carolina’s latest law requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls is now on trial.

A  panel of judges is hearing arguments in a lawsuit challenging the 2018 law.

WCCB Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis discusses what’s at stake and the impact it could have.

You can catch Mary C. Curtis on Sunday nights at 6:30 PM on WCCB Charlotte’s CW discussing the biggest issues in local and national politics and also giving us a look at what’s ahead for the week.

Read the rest atWCCB Rising
Apr152021 TAGS: ,

POLITICAL WRAP: President Biden’s $2 Trillion Infrastructure Plan

Featured at WCCB Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The definition of infrastructure in the spotlight.

Critics say much of President Biden’s $2 Trillion plan… funds other things.

So what are the chances the President’s agenda makes it through Congress?

Our political contributor Mary C. Curtis has more in the video above.

Read the rest atWCCB Charlotte
Apr112021 TAGS: , , , ,

Jim Crow 2.0

Featured at Roll Call

After a heated and contentious presidential election in 2020, voting rights are under attack. Georgia just passed a law that makes it harder for those who may be disenfranchised to cast their ballots. Other states are following suit. Mary C. Curtis speaks to Rashad Robinson, president of the social justice organization Color of Change, on what is at stake and what is being done to curtail the rollback of eligible voters to make their voices heard.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Apr082021 TAGS: , , , ,

Mary C. Curtis: North Carolina Expands Vaccine Rollout, Pres. Biden Steps Up National Goal

Featured at WCCB Rising

CHARLOTTE, NC — President Joe Biden says all adults will be eligible to receive a covid-19 vaccine by April 19.

The date is almost two weeks earlier than the previous deadline may first.

The news comes as North Carolina makes vaccinations available to anyone 16 and older starting Wednesday, April 7.

WCCB Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis has more.

You can catch Mary C. Curtis on Sunday nights at 6:30 PM on WCCB Charlotte’s CW discussing the biggest issues in local and national politics and also giving us a look at what’s ahead for the week.

Read the rest atWCCB Rising
Apr072021 TAGS: , , , , ,

Congress Debates Ways To Protect U.S. Capitol, MLB Takes A Stand On Georgia’s New Voting Law

Featured at WCCB Charlotte

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Members of Congress debate how to protect the U.S. Capitol and the people who guard it.  This comes as a memorial grows for Capitol Police Officer Billy Evans who was killed Friday.

And, Major League Baseball announced this season’s All-Star Game and Draft will not be held in Atlanta.  The move is in response to the recently passed election law in Georgia that critics say would make it harder for minorities to vote.

WCCB Charlotte’s Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis weighs in.

Read the rest atWCCB Charlotte
Apr052021 TAGS: , , , , , , ,

Black Issues Forum: A Tense Trial, Building Broadband & the Filibuster’s Future

Featured at PBS

WTVD reporter Tim Pulliam and “Roll Call” columnist and host of the “Equal Time” podcast Mary C. Curtis join Black Issues Forum to discuss the start of Derek Chauvin’s trial, Pres. Biden’s new infrastructure plan, the racial component to the fight over the filibuster, possible redistricting changes in North Carolina, and a new lawsuit targeting a Confederate monument.

Airing: 04/02/21

Read the rest atPBS
Apr022021 TAGS: , , , , , , ,

Countdown to Muse 2021: Small Victories by Mary C. Curtis

Featured at Grub Street

Writing is a solitary pursuit. And writers I know aren’t exactly unhappy about that. Though my work on the intersection of politics, culture, and race attracts hearty public reactions from readers and responses from me, like many of my colleagues I’m an extrovert at work and introvert at heart.

Still, the shrunken world of Covid and Zoom is hardly a dream come true.

It’s been a challenge for a writer that gleans story ideas from snatches of conversation at the market or gym or church. My specialty is reading between the lines of the news, to explore individual experiences, my own and others, in a way that might resonate. I learn from feedback, not only in the form of email or supportive or rude messages left on Google voice but in those chance encounters.

Now, slowly, I poke my head out, to take calculated risks a year though it seems like 10 after my last out-of-town speech, the last political rally. Mask on, 6 a.m., a Sunday morning market sprint.

My unexpected company, a man with kind eyes, slicing the pastrami. Surprisingly, he recognized me, and I could swear he was smiling when he told me how much he enjoyed my report on a broadcasting pioneer, a Black History Month special, a light feature compared to most of my work.

He told me he loved the reminder of someone he had listened to long ago.

Human contact – and appreciation.

Turns out the writer’s life is not so solitary, after all.

Read the rest atGrub Street
Apr022021
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