Local news Roundup: Controversy over Mayor’s Racial Equity Initiative hire; Scarborough medical leave; mask rule changes possible; CMPD plans to reduce crime

A controversy continues this week in the hire of the new Racial Equity Initiative Executive Director. The person chosen to take the role is the target of a fraud investigation in her previous organization. There’s plenty of finger pointing about who is responsible for making the decision — we’ll discuss that and comments the mayor made about whether or not public funding is involved in the initiative.

Mecklenburg County cCommissioners voted to place Commissioner Ella Scarborough, who has been absent from commission meetings for several months, on medical leave. She’ll continue to receive pay, and someone will be named to take her place. We’ll talk about what led to the action by the commission.

Mask rules are beginning to change around the country, and those changes may be coming soon to Mecklenburg County. Our mask mandate could end as soon as next week. We’ll discuss what might be on the way for the lifting of restrictions.

Charlotte Mecklenburg Police laid out its plan to reduce crime in 2022 this week. We’ll talk about its priorities.

And, LaMelo Ball is an All Star. We congratulate the 20 year old Hornet player on being the fourth youngest ever to be selected for the NBA All-Star Game.

Mike Collins and our roundtable of reporters delve into those stories and all the week’s top local and regional news on the Charlotte Talks local news roundup.

Guests:

Hunter Saenz, WCNC Reporter
Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time”
Katie Peralta Soloff, reporter for Axios Charlotte
Steve Harrison, WFAE’s Political Reporte