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Wednesday, September 25, 2013
News / Opinion N.C. refuses $600K grant to monitor water around fracking sites
Posted By John Grooms on Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 11:10 AM
John Skvarla, McCrory's new head of the Department of Energy and Natural Resources, has done it again, upping the ante in his apparent mission to destroy this beautiful state's environment for the sake of corporate profits. Here's the short version: the state of North Carolina applied for federal grants to monitor water quality that might be compromised (poisoned) by fracking. Happily for North Carolina, the $600,000 grants were approved. Not so happily for North Carolina, Skvarla has turned the funds down.
- Jared Rodriguez/Truthout (Flickr Creative Commons)
News First Drip (9/25/13): Occupier gets on City Council ballot, Cobain's childhood home up for sale, Ted Cruz and more
Posted By Ana McKenzie on Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 10:03 AM
Congratulations are in order for Michael Zytkow who as of yesterday became the first independent in Charlotte's history to successfully petition to get on the City Council ballot. Zytkow was a key figure in protests leading up to and during the DNC and Occupy Charlotte. Fun fact: Zytkow rode around his district in an ice cream truck to obtain the amount of signatures necessary to get on the ballot. Read the piece we wrote about the beginning of his campaign.
- Grant Baldwin (Flickr Creative Commons)
- Zytkow and his wife at the Labor Day parade.
Arts / Today's Top Five Today's Top 5: Wednesday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 9:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Sept. 25, 2013 as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
* Linda Brown exhibit at New Gallery of Modern Art
* Mudhoney at Tremont Music Hall
* Green Gala at The Ritz-Carlton
* Karaoke at Wet Willies
* Beer Tasting at Common Market
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
News First Drip (9/24/13): Bank of America, Chiquita in hot water, gunman killed near N.C. campus, "Satisfries" and more
Posted By Ana McKenzie on Tue, Sep 24, 2013 at 9:21 AM
What a week it's been for Charlotte-based companies - and it's only Tuesday. Yet again Bank of America finds itself in deep water after a federal judged ruled the Charlotte-based company had to pay 1,147 black job applicants about $2 million for racially discriminating against them. Chiquita Brands International - which, as you may remember, Charlotte gave $2.5 million to move from Cincinnati to the Queen City - has requested that a federal appeals court block thousands of lawsuits brought by Colombians whose relatives perished in the country's civil war, which was funded in part by payments the fruit giant made to a right-wing parliamentary group.
A City Council committee has recommended strengthening the Citizen Review Board, which reviews complaints of misconduct. Citizens will no longer have to meet "an unusually high bar," according to the Charlotte Observer, to have their misconduct cases heard. In February, an Observer investigation found that the board hadn't sided with citizens in its 16-year history.
Police shot and killed a gunman near N.C. Central University Monday night, which prompted a three-hour lock down at the school.
A new study shows married cancer patients are 20 percent less likely to die from the disease than patients without a spouse.
Burger King is introducing new french fries - "Satisfries" - containing 40 percent less fat and 30 percent fewer calories than those sold by McDonald's.
- Burger King
Arts / Today's Top Five Today's Top 5: Tuesday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Tue, Sep 24, 2013 at 9:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Sept. 24, 2013 as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
* Spank! The Fifty Shades Parody at McGlohon Theater
* Almost Famous Comedy Show at The Comedy Zone
* Jonathan Marks: Why I Am Not a Scientist at UNC-Charlotte Center City
* Country Tuesday at Snug Harbor
* Sometime Other Than Now: Alternative Processes in Contemporary Photography exhibit at The Light Factory
Monday, September 23, 2013
Comic Afterthoughts X-Men: Battle of the Atom recap: Chapters 3 & 4
Posted By Andy Smith on Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 4:46 PM
Last time we took a look at Battle of the Atom, the latest mutant-packed event from Marvel, everything seemed off to a solid start. Brian Michael Bendis had pulled off something miraculous: He crafted a time-travel story with the X-Men that seemed both exciting and fresh. Injecting past and future characters into X-tales has been done many, many times before, but the device seems like a perfect fit to resolve the current mutant dilemmas.
But there are issues that arise from having so many characters within a smaller-scale event (by Marvel standards). And at times, it seems like the scribes behind Battle of the Atom lean a little heavy on the telepaths and teleporters for narrative support.
So as we've done before, let's take a look at a play-by-play for the two newest chapters for the event, and see how exactly these issues come up.
Chapter 2 of Battle of the Atom ended on a desperate note, as the younger Jean Grey and Cyclops escaped from Wolverine's team, which had voted to send the forward-time-travelers back.
In Chapter 3, Team Wolvie (along with the X-Men of the future) are in pursuit of the duo, with the help of Charles Xavier's grandson following the psychic trail of the escapees and a new jet created by the Beast. As Rachel Summers and Kitty Pryde stay back at the Jean Grey School, the conversation leads to whether or not these kids should have the choice in whether to return to their appropriate time or not. Ultimately, they decide to dissent with the popular opinion, despite the dangerous potential consequences.
Music Live review: Alt-J, The Fillmore (9/20/2013)
Posted By Jeff Hahne on Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 1:35 PM
Alt-J w/ Lord Huron
The Fillmore
Sept. 20, 2013
Who says you need cymbals? After seeing Alt-J at Bonnaroo earlier this year, that was the first thing I took away from the alt-rock quartet's set. "Holy crap, there's not one cymbal on that guy's drum kit... you don't see that every day."
I noticed it again right away at the band's sold-out Fillmore concert, but my ears quickly went from the absence of cymbals to the overall instrumentation and orchestration of the English band's music - from the harmonies between singer/guitarist Joe Newman and keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton to the complicated rhythmic drumming of Thom Green and overlapping guitar interplay of Newman and Gwil Sainsbury.
Sure, I could have focused on the band's bizarre language and wondered what the meanings of "breezeblocks" and "tessellate" are, but instead I took in all of the playful intricacies of the music as a whole.
News Chiquita asks feds to block thousands of Colombian lawsuits over violent deaths
Posted By Ana McKenzie on Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 12:24 PM
Cut this up and put it in your oatmeal: Chiquita Brands International has requested that a federal appeals court block thousands of lawsuits brought by Colombians whose relatives perished in the country's civil war, which was funded in part by payments the fruit giant made to a right-wing parliamentary group. The company alleges it was blackmailed into making the payments.
According to the Huffington Post:
The produce giant, which long had huge banana plantations in Colombia, has admitted paying a right-wing Colombian paramilitary group $1.7 million over a seven-year period. The Charlotte, N.C.-based company insists it was blackmailed into paying or risking violence against its own operations and employees, although in 2007 Chiquita pleaded guilty to U.S. criminal charges that it had supported terrorists. It paid a $25 million fine.
You know Chiquita, the company City Council gave $2.5 million to relocate from Cincinnati to Charlotte.
Read the full Huffington Post story here.
News First Drip (9/23/13): CMPD review board under scrutiny, Three Amigos robbed at gunpoint, highs and lows of the Emmys and more
Posted By Ana McKenzie on Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 10:09 AM
A task force that has been reviewing the board that oversees police discipline is expected to make recommendations to City Council today. The Citizens Review Board has been under scrutiny since earlier this year, when a Charlotte Observer investigation found that the board was among the weakest of its kind in the country. The scrutiny was exacerbated last week after an officer shot and killed and unarmed man.
Three Amigos, a Latin food staple on Central Avenue, was robbed at gunpoint on Sunday. At least one shot was fired and two employees were hit in the leg. Fortunately their injuries are minor.
The highs and lows of last night's Emmys.
Cases of HIV and AIDS have decreased dramatically over the years.
Arts / Today's Top Five Today's Top 5: Monday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 9:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Sept. 23, 2013 as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
* Pilates in the Park at Freedom Park
* Blue Mondays at Crown Station Pub
* The Monday Night Allstars at Double Door Inn
* Charlotte Roller Girls Meet & Greet at Solstice Tavern
* Find Your Muse Open Mic at The Evening Muse
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Question the Queen City: The Disappearance of Denise Porch 6
She quite literally vanished.
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Big bucks for Charlotte energy projects
And other energy news from around the world.
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5 Reasons To Buy Home Insurance Policy
