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Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Battle of the Hoods / News Battle of the Hoods Round 2: And the winner is ...?
Posted By Carlton Hargro on Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 11:21 AM
OK, Battle of the Hoods Round 2 is officially over — and for the second year in a row, the winner is ... NoDa!
NoDa garnered an overwhelming majority of the votes, but the folks at CL would like to say "thanks" to everyone who voted.
In the coming weeks, we'll be presenting the NoDa Neighborhood Association with a brand-new "Hood of the Year" plaque and also a few prizes, too. Be sure to check this blog for an exact date for this presentation.
Anyway, thanks again for making this another successful battle!
Boomer with Attitude / News Sunday booze: Bye-bye blue laws
Posted By John Grooms on Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 10:56 AM
Lawmakers in Raleigh are proposing that the state allow liquor sales on Sunday. Let's see, it's 2009, so that means North Carolina can finally get around to joining the 20th century - not the 21st, mind you, the 20th.
Hey, better late than never. Liquor currently can't be sold in N.C. due to "blue laws." These archaic legal travesties were enacted back in the days when Bible thumpers ruled the South with an iron fist, in order to enforce the puritanical beliefs of various Christian Protestant sects.
These kinds of yahoos are still thumping around the state, as proven by Rep. Ray Warren of Alexander County (population 34,000, including its one and only incorporated town, Taylorsville), who pontificated that, "Sunday is a day set aside for worship, family time together, and the sale of alcohol on that day is not warranted or needed." Well, alrighty then, Ray, don't sell liquor in Alexander County on Sundays (except maybe untaxed moonshine) - just don't tell the rest of us that we have to live the way you do.
With any luck, readers, you'll soon be able to have dinner and a drink on Sunday in Charlotte, like normal people.
News Two minority groups meet to discuss similarities
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 10:43 AM
Looking forward to the day when these types of meetings aren't necessary. We're all pink underneath, after all.
In an effort to address issues between blacks and Hispanics, two local organizations will host a summit Saturday.The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee and the Latin American Coalition are seeking community input for the African-American Latino Alliance. The meeting will be from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Friendship Missionary Baptist. More than 100 people are expected at the gathering, which has been in the works for several years, but was postponed because of inclement weather in February 2008.
“Many times we fail to acknowledge we're neighbors, we go to the same schools,” said Ruben Campillo, advocacy coordinator for the Latin American Coalition. “We should be together addressing some of these issues.”
Read the rest of this Charlotte Observer article here.
News Jesus won't mind Sunday liquor sales
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 10:40 AM
Trust me. Folks above the Mason Dixon line and west of Texas can often find liquor right in their very own neighborhood Wal-Mart or grocery stores, and neither fire nor brimstone have rained down and destroyed their cities.
The liquor industry wants to make it legal for liquor stores and bars to sell booze on Sundays, a move that would erase one of the final remnants of the church-driven “blue laws” in North Carolina.Legislation filed Tuesday would let cities and counties open their local Alcoholic Beverage Control stores and allow restaurants and bars to serve liquor on Sundays.
The recession is buoying the bill's prospects. The long-standing resistance to selling distilled spirits on Sunday may weaken in a state grasping for revenue. Gov. Bev Perdue proposed balancing next year's state budget partly on a higher alcoholic beverage tax. Liquor industry analysts project that North Carolina would get at least an additional $5.5 million in tax revenue by allowing sales on Sundays.
Read the rest of this Charlotte Observer article here.
Arts / Today's Top Five / News Today's Top 5: Wednesday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 8:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, March 25, 2009 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Burn The Floor at Belk Theater
• 14th Annual World of Words Poetry Festival at Johnson C. Smith University
• Habitual Ritual Comedy at Double Door Inn
• Flagship Brigade at Visulite Theatre
• Honk! at Neighborhood Theatre
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The N Word / News New York State Sen. Hiram Monserrate is dead wrong
Posted By Nsenga Burton on Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 3:35 PM
On Monday, New York State Sen. Hiram Monserrate was indicted on charges of slashing his girlfriend's face with a broken glass in a fight in his Queens apartment building.
According to the New York Daily News, the grand jury charged Monserrate with three counts of felony assault on his girlfriend, Karla Giraldo and three counts of misdemeanor assault. The former Democratic city council member is to be arraigned this week. He faces up to seven years in prison, if convicted.
Why are we just hearing about this? While the entire world has been focused on the Chris Brown and Rihanna incident, a state senator allegedly slashes his girlfriend's face and there has been very little about it outside of the state of New York. Why is this not national news?
While I am certainly not in support of Chris Brown, I find it interesting whom the media decides to put on
blast and whom they decide to protect. By the way, he still has not resigned. Just wrong. Dead wrong.
News Fla. kid suspended for farting
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 2:31 PM
C'mon. Everyone knows farting is funny.
An eighth-grader was suspended from riding the school bus for three days after being accused of passing gas. The bus driver wrote on a misbehavior form that a 15-year-old teen passing gas on the bus Monday to make the other children laugh, creating a stench so bad that it was difficult to breathe.
Read the rest of this Charlotte Observer post here.
Film / Film News / News This week's DVD releases
Posted By Matt Brunson on Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 2:25 PM
Following is a list of some major DVD releases debuting today. For a complete list, go to www.amazon.com.
News Want $2 million? Turn in a Mexican Drug Lord
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 1:45 PM
Not only does crime pay, apparently, knowing criminals does, too.
Correspondents say the most-wanted list is a public challenge to the cartels.Some 8,000 people have died in the past two years, as drug gangs fight for territory amid government crackdowns.
US and Mexican agencies are increasing their co-operation as the gang violence spills over the border, where kidnaps and killings are on the rise.
The reward offer comes two days before a trip to Mexico by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and a month before President Barack Obama is due to visit.
Read the rest of this BBC News article here.
Boomer with Attitude / News 'Never Again,' environmental edition
Posted By John Grooms on Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 1:38 PM
Continuing environmental day at the Clog, this is the 20th anniversary of one of the greatest manmade ecological disasters, the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound in Alaska. The oil tanker wasn't double-hulled, the ship captain was drunk, the ship ran aground, and 11 million gallons of crude oil flooded the Sound, turning 3,200 miles of coastline into black sludge (by comparison, imagine ruined beaches, black with gooey oil, all the way from Maine to Savannah and you'll get an idea). The spill killed hundreds of thousands of birds, fish and marine mammals, and wrecked the finances, culture, and lives of coastal residents. The damage wasn't limited to just 1989, though. Towns on the sound, such as Cordova, and most of its citizens, were financially ruined, not to mention the destruction of the local ecology. About half of the spilled oil was buried on the beaches of the Sound, and in 2003, scientists found that 21,000 gallons of toxic crude oil are still there, and will probably remain there for centuries. Two-thirds of the species injured by the spill have never recovered, and in 2007, studies showed that the buried oil is still getting into the food chain for birds and animals that are feeding on contaminated shellfish. For more information on how the Prince William Sound has, and hasn't, recovered, click here.
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Lunch Break (9/1/16): Organizers unveil "People, Not Polluters" platform in Charlotte as McCrory officials testify in Raleigh
The morning already passed us by. What the hell happened?
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Jigsaw, Dating App That Hides Users’ Faces, launches in Charlotte, NCTo Fight Superficial Dating App Culture 3
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Question the Queen City: The story of Mabel Rea 4
The Charlotte native went Hollywood, returned home and met a tragic demise.
