CGTN’s Roee Ruttenberg and Mary C. Curtis, a columnist for Roll Call and a Political Contributor for WCCB-TV, disucss what to expect in the last 100 days of the 2020 U.S. Presidential Campaign trail.
POLITICAL WRAP: Unemployment Benefits; Latest on Race for White House
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Millions of jobless Americans are waiting on Congress to decide whether to extend a $600 weekly boost to unemployment benefits.
Republicans are proposing another $1200 stimulus check, while offering unemployment benefits that would replace a laid-off worker’s wages by up to 70 percent.
Our political contributor Mary C. Curtis has more on that and the latest on the race for the White House.
Jul262020
Mary C. Curtis: Impact Of Legacy of Congressman John Lewis, Scathing Article By Trump Advisor About Fauci
CHARLOTTE — The White House is trying to distance itself from an Op-Ed piece written by President Trump’s top Trade Advisor, Peter Navarro, about Dr. Anthony Fauci.
And, tributes continue to pour in for Civil Rights Icon and longtime Congressman John Lewis who died Friday. Lewis leaves behind a legacy of achievements which are vital to today’s conversation about race.
Here’s WCCB Charlotte Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis.
Jul192020
Charlotte Talks Local News Roundup: Schools Draw Up COVID Plans; Business Reopenings Delayed Again
Parents, students and teachers got the word they had been waiting on for weeks: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will begin the upcoming school year in the classroom then switch to all-remote learning.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said the state’s public school systems can reopen with a hybrid of in-person and remote teaching, while South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and the state’s public school teachers are at odds over McMaster’s reopening plan for schools.
The reopening of North Carolina’s economy will stay in Phase 2 for the time being as coronavirus hospitalizations continue to set records. The head of the CDC, Robert Redfield, came to Charlotte to make the case for mask-wearing, saying that masks could “drive this epidemic to the ground” within two months.
For the first time since the financial crisis, Wells Fargo ended a quarter in the red, and said deep cuts – including layoffs – were on the table as a result.
The Local News Roundup has more on those and other stories.
GUEST HOST
Erik Spanberg, Charlotte Business Journal managing editor (@CBJSpanberg)
GUESTS
David Boraks, WFAE reporter (@davidboraks)
Mary C. Curtis, Roll Call columnist, WCCB News analyst (@mcurtisnc3)
Jonathan Lowe, Spectrum News 1 anchor and reporter (@JonathanUpdates)
Annie Ma, Charlotte Observer education reporter (@anniema15)
Jul172020
Mary C. Curtis: NC Schools Will Reopen in August
CHARLOTTE, NC – Governor Roy Cooper announced North Carolina schools will reopen in August. Political contributor Mary C. Curtis has a breakdown of the governor’s plan.
Jul152020
Mary C. Curtis: Confederate Monument Controversy
CHARLOTTE, NC — Over the last few weeks we’ve seen the removal of confederate monuments across the United States.
Here in North Carolina, the controversial “fame’ statue was removed from downtown Salisbury.
In Gaston county, a panel is having talks this week to decide the future of a confederate statue outside the courthouse.
Here’s WCCB Political contributor Mary C. Curtis with more on the debate.
Jul082020
POLITICAL WRAP: Trump Campaign “Culture War” Strategy; A New Silent Majority?
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – President Trump, at Mount Rushmore on Friday night, set the stage for a campaign increasingly focused on “culture war” issues.
“Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children,” the President said.
So, is the appeal of a “culture war” campaign too narrow?
Or is there a Nixon-esque “Silent Majority,” as the President is saying, ready to show up in November?
Click above for more with our political contributor, Mary C. Curtis.
Jul052020
There is more than one way to be Black — and to be an American
Elijah McClain of Aurora, Colorado, was many things. The slight 23-year-old, who looked younger, was a massage therapist one client described as “the sweetest, purest person I have ever met.” He was a vegetarian who taught himself to play the guitar and violin and shared his musical gifts with shelter animals to calm them. Family members said he sometimes wore a ski mask because he was anemic and always cold, and perhaps to create some distance in a world he found overwhelming. (And aren’t we all supposed to be covering our faces these days.) In his final trip to a convenience store, though, he interacted with the clerk and customers, it seemed from video, offering a bow on his way out.
Did he look “sketchy” and “suspicious” to a 911 caller and police because he sang to himself on the walk home and waved his arms, perhaps conducting a symphony only he could hear? McClain told the police who stopped him, “I am an introvert, please respect the boundaries that I am speaking.”
The three officers escalated the confrontation, took him down with a hold that made him utter a too-often-heard refrain: “I just can’t breathe correctly.” One officer threatened to sic a dog on him. If they saw his quirks, his idiosyncrasies, his joy, it did not translate. If they heard his pleas, these enforcers of laws the young man had not broken did not listen. “You are beautiful and I love you,” he told them. He apologized for vomiting as police tossed around his 140-pound body before medics shot it up with strong drugs.
Now, Elijah McClain, who police say committed no crime, is dead.
Jul022020
Mary C. Curtis: Russia Bounty Allegations
CHARLOTTE, NC — What did the president know?
That’s the question lawmakers want answered– after reports that U.S. intelligence found out Russians offered a bounty if Taliban terrorists killed U.S. and British troops in Afghanistan.
The white house says the president was never briefed on the plot.
Here’s WCCB political contributor Mary C. Curtis.
Jul012020
POLITICAL WRAP: Coronavirus Mask Mandate; Presidential Poll Numbers
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The debate over a mask mandate, just one part of how the coronavirus pandemic is becoming increasingly political.
Our political contributor Mary C. Curtis has more on the recent spike in cases we’re seeing in the South, and the strategies for the presidential campaigns, as we move closer to November.
Jun282020
