Senate Passes Largest Tax Overhaul in Three Decades

Featured at WCCB Rising

CHARLOTTE, NC — A New Bill Ends the Year and Transforms the Tax System. It looks as though the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress will get its win, a legislative accomplishment, and a big one. The major overhaul of the nation’s tax system will be passed without any support from Democrats and without one public hearing. Polls show that it and President Donald Trump are unpopular, but will that change as the effects of the bill start to shake out?

Political Contributor, Mary C. Curtis weighs in.

Read the rest atWCCB Rising
Dec202017 TAGS: , , ,

Opinion: The Commandments According to Roy Moore Take a Hit

Featured at Roll Call

In the Alabama Senate race, both sides went to church — Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones took their appeals to their faithful, which, for the most part, worship the same God but came to wildly different electoral conclusions.

On Tuesday, Jones won. The miracle of a Democrat winning a statewide race in deep-red Alabama actually happened. It was not the divine intervention Moore had prayed for, perhaps pointing out the danger when you so shamelessly use the word of the Lord to divide.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Dec142017 TAGS: , , , , , , ,

Opinion: The Need for a Royal Distraction on This Side of the Pond

Featured at Roll Call

Though it was heresy in some quarters at the time, I cared not one whit when Prince Charles took Lady Diana Spencer as his bride — and yes, it was pretty much him choosing her as a suitable spouse. I did not indulge in the ritual some Anglophile friends bragged about, setting clocks to wake up to view the 1981 spectacle in real time while nibbling on some British-like snack.

I did not care about the carriage, the bridal party or the design of the wedding dress. These were folks with a guaranteed income, home and life, and I had more serious concerns.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Dec092017 TAGS: , , , , ,

A Tax Bill, a Budget and a Deadline

Featured at WCCB Rising

CHARLOTTE, NC– It’s been a busy week, with the Senate taking a big step forward toward passing a Republican $1.5 trillion tax package when the Budget Committee, on a party-line vote, cleared the way for the full Senate to vote on the bill this week. But a meeting to pass a budget and avoid a government shutdown hit a snag when a presidential tweet caused top Democratic leaders to be no-shows for a White House meeting. (Mary C. Curtis)

Read the rest atWCCB Rising
Nov292017 TAGS: , , , , , ,

Opinion: When Holiday Values Meet Policy, It May Be Awkward

Featured at Roll Call

Just as the generosity of Angel Tree donations and turkey giveaways clash with the kill-or-be-killed stampede of folks looking for a Black Friday bargain, the warm holiday greetings lawmakers disseminate this time of year might strike a dissonant cord when compared to the current policies and politics coming out of Washington.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Nov222017 TAGS: , , , , , , , , ,

Sexual Misconduct in Politics

Featured at WCCB Rising

CHARLOTTE, NC — President Trump has not exactly endorsed embattled Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore but he has come out saying Washington doesn’t need a Democrat like Moore’s opponent Doug Jones. And long-serving House member John Conyers has been revealed to have paid a settlement with a former staffer though he has denied her allegation. (Mary C. Curtis)

Will sexual harassment devolve into just another partisan issue – or will Democrats and Republicans see it as a problem that needs new policies in place? Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis weighs in.

Read the rest atWCCB Rising
Nov222017 TAGS: , , , , , ,

The financial cost of sexual harassment and assault in the U.S.

Featured at CGTN

CGTN’s Rachelle Akuffo spoke to Mary C. Curtis, award-winning columnist at Roll Call and NBCBL, on the financial impact of sexual harassment and assault at workplace.

Read the rest atCGTN
Nov222017 TAGS: , , , ,

Opinion: Remembering Recy Taylor and the Too Familiar State of Alabama

Featured at Roll Call

In “The Rape of Recy Taylor,” a recently released documentary, you see the face of bravery. It is Recy Taylor, the 24-year-old African-American — a wife and mother of an infant daughter — kidnapped in 1944 by a carful of young white men, some the sons of the “respectable” leaders of Abbeville, Alabama, where they all lived. A gun held to her head, she was blindfolded, driven to a remote spot and violated in unimaginable ways. She escaped being killed by promising to keep quiet.

But she did not keep that promise.

Taylor’s legacy can be seen in the women speaking up now about sexual harassment of all kinds, most recently Alabama women who on the surface have little in common with a poor black sharecropper from decades ago. In fact, Beverly Young Nelson, who became the fifth woman to accuse Roy Moore when she tearfully recounted her story of an alleged sexual assault, said she and her husband voted for Donald Trump, while Taylor, in her midcentury time, was not allowed to vote at all.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Nov162017 TAGS: , , , , , , , ,

Roy Moore Dilemma – And a Changing Culture

Featured at WCCB Rising

CHARLOTTE, NC — As more women continue to charge Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore with inappropriate behavior, Moore continues to remain defiant and in the race – and he could win. Alabama is a solid red state. But a growing number of his fellow Republicans in the Senate have called for him to leave the race. If he does win, that might trigger an ethics investigation. (Mary C. Curtis)

In the arts, media, politics and pretty much everywhere – no profession is immune – sexual harassment is getting called out. Is it the sign of a cultural shift?

Read the rest atWCCB Rising
Nov152017 TAGS: , , , ,

Charlotte Talks Friday News Roundup: Charlotte’s New Mayor, A Young City Council, Bonds Pass, More

Featured at WFAE

On this edition of the local news roundup….

Local Elections wrapped up Tuesday evening, giving Charlotte its first female African American Mayor, in Vi Lyles.

The new Charlotte City Council is sporting several younger council members and keeps a Democratic majority.

Area towns elected new mayors and town boards.

The School Bonds passed, and a few new faces will be seen on the CMS School Board. We’ll talk through the results and the “what’s next” from this year’s election.

And now that this election is the books, Pat McCrory is making headlines, laying blame for his gubernatorial election loss last year and he hasn’t closed the door on a future run for office. We’ll talk about what he said, including his wife’s reaction to his chilly reception now that he’s back in the Queen City.

In the wake of the shooting at a Texas church last Sunday, houses of worship here in the Queen City are evaluating their security and safety. We’ll discuss that.

Those stories and much more with Mike Collins and a panel of Charlotte reporters on the Charlotte Talks Friday News Roundup.

Guests:

Tom Bullock, WFAE Reporter.

Ann Doss Helms, Reporter for The Charlotte Observer.

Kirstin Garriss, government reporter for Spectrum News.

Mary C. Curtis, columnist for RollCall.com and WCCB.

Read the rest atWFAE
Nov102017 TAGS: , , , , , , , , , ,
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