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Friday, November 7, 2014
Politics Charlotte's leadership continues to give us good reason to be cynical
Posted By Jerry Klein on Fri, Nov 7, 2014 at 11:43 AM
If there’s one unifying message to be gleaned from this week’s mid-term elections — something the voters were trying to say to politicians and other public officials across the board, coast to coast — it’s that we’re all really sick of what you’re doing “in our name.” We’re disgusted by “the process,” and if not the outright lies, then the half-truths, the spin and the way in which our “leaders” try to put “lipstick on a pig” to cover their own butts. And in that respect, there are three major developing stories relative to the residents of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area that we simply can’t ignore as the weekend approaches.
Let’s start by updating you on the situation concerning the “resignation” of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools superintendent Heath Morrison. We were among the first to tell you, Monday morning, that something very strange was up concerning the guy once named National Superintendent of the Year. We had gotten word that he was about to be fired by the School Board last week over both what amounted to his insubordination in moving forward with programs that had not been approved by the Board, and in the abusive, disrespectful ways he had been treating staff members.
But the day passed with no one being willing to either confirm or deny those reports, let alone whether or not Morrison was leaving, until late in the day when we were told an absurd story about how he had resigned to care for his ailing mother. Really? On about 24 hours notice? Right before a critical vote involving a sales-tax referendum to increase teacher salaries was going before the voters? Did the School Board think we were all stupid?
Evidently so. It appears they think we’re all still dumb, because on Thursday, behind closed doors, the Board finalized a separation agreement with Morrison — without disclosing the terms of that agreement. And that’s where the lessons of this week’s elections have been ignored. Hiding behind bureaucratic gibberish about laws concerning an employee’s privacy rights, we’re now told they can’t tell us what really happened — even if it involved official misconduct on Morrison’s part.
Here’s the truth: Everyone’s covering their butts. And that’s not OK. But that’s just one story concerning the failures of our leaders this week.
Arts / Today's Top Five Today's Top 5: Friday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Fri, Nov 7, 2014 at 9:30 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Nov. 7, 2014 as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Larkin Poe at Evening Muse
• Candy Fest at Whisky River
• The Dan Band at The Fillmore
• Reception for Mark My Words: Symbolism and TEXTure exhibit at Ciel Gallery
• 2nd Annual Fall Ball at Mint Museum Uptown
First Drip First Drip (11/7/14): North Carolina magistrates told they can't opt out of performing gay marriages
Posted By Emiene Wright on Fri, Nov 7, 2014 at 8:37 AM
The 4th Circuit said barring same-sex marriage violates equal protection or due-process clauses of the U.S. Constitution, and two rulings in North Carolina in October set off a flurry of same-sex weddings. But John W. Smith, director of the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts, worried that GOP legislators "misled" magistrates into thinking that federal law permitted them to opt out of performing such marriages. He sent a three-page letter to an attorney from Rockingham County, stating magistrates "recognize a quite clear distinction between marriage as a civil ceremony conferring legal status, and marriage as a religious institution quite apart from temporal concerns.”
Federal judge Frank Whitney dressed down former mayor Patrick Cannon for "embarrassing the community, again" when Cannon appeared before him Thursday to answer for violating the conditions of his bond by voting. Cannon cannot leave his home before he goes to prison later this month.
Officials in Ferguson, Missouri are bracing for the worst ahead of a grand jury's decision on whether to charge police officer Darren Wilson with the murder of unarmed teen Michael Brown. A group of community members calling themselves the Don't Shoot Coalition have asked for 48 hours notice before the decision is announced to try to keep tensions in the St. Louis suburb from boiling over into violence and confusion. They have also released a document to the police with 19 "Rules of Engagement."
Just days after a United Nations panel warned that failure to dramatically and quickly curb the burning of fossil fuels would do "irreversible damage" to the planet, the U.S. electorate on Tuesday voted in a Congress even more committed to the carbon status quo. “We had some wins, but it was pretty much a bloodbath,” said Wenonah Hauter, the director of national environmental group Food and Water Watch.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Film / Film News Opening Friday
Posted By Matt Brunson on Thu, Nov 6, 2014 at 2:09 PM
- Disney
- Big Hero 6
Big Hero 6 - Animated; voices of Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit
Interstellar - Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway
Laggies - Keira Knightley, Chloe Grace Moretz
News Former baby-faced mayor gets house arrest for voting
Posted By Kimberly Lawson on Thu, Nov 6, 2014 at 1:53 PM
Patrick Cannon was put on house arrest today for casting a ballot in the midterm elections. Apparently, he didn't know that convicted felons don't get a say on who's in office and thus violated his bond. He'll be wearing electronic jewelry until Nov. 18, when he goes to prison for corruption.
According to WBTV, Cannon's attorney called it "an honest mistake." An honest mistake from a guy who posted a smiling selfie on Facebook a week after pleading guilty to a federal charge.
Did you catch that new goatee he's sporting? Someone doesn't want to be known as Baby Face in prison.
Arts / Today's Top Five Today's Top 5: Thursday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Thu, Nov 6, 2014 at 11:13 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Nov. 6, 2014 as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Cristina Toro: Casa en el Cielo exhibit at LaCa Projects
• Freedom Summer at Levine Museum of the New South
• John Witherspoon at The Comedy Zone
• Shiprocked at Snug Harbor
• Rapture, Blister, Burn at Warehouse Performing Arts Center
First Drip First Drip (11/6/14): Patrick Cannon could be jailed today, AC/DC murder plot allegations, more
Posted By Emiene Wright on Thu, Nov 6, 2014 at 9:18 AM
Former Mayor Patrick Cannon could go in custody as early as today for violating the terms of his bonded release by voting Oct. 30th. Under North Carolina law, convicted felons lose the right to vote.
CMPD waffles on release of cellphone surveillance records. In a reversal, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Rodney Monroe said Wednesday that the city won’t fight a petition seeking to unseal court records about his department’s secret surveillance of cellphones.
AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has been accused of a murder-for-hire plot to kill two people. The band's Rock or Bust album is set for release next month and a world tour was scheduled for next year, but those plans may now be on a highway to hell.
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Politics Charlotte-Mecklenburg voters make some noise
Posted By Jerry Klein on Wed, Nov 5, 2014 at 10:04 AM
As the dust began to settle in the early hours of Wednesday morning following what might kindly be called the most exhausting political season anyone can remember, a quick analysis of the vote totals for both the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County revealed at least three interesting sets of results that will keep the “pundit” class busy pontificating for some time to come. Let’s take a quick look at those items, and try to make some sense out of what kind of message area voters were trying to send.
Although not necessarily a new phenomenon, overall vote totals make it clear that Charlotte’s voters are now overwhelmingly Democrats. Moreover, they are now almost completely at odds, as far as their choices are concerned, with those who live in the county, not to mention the rest of the state. While most North Carolinians were busy pushing buttons choosing Republicans over Democrats where they were running against each other at virtually every level on the ballot, Charlotte’s continuing change in demographics has led to Democrats dominating virtually across the board. This is a continuation of what’s been happening here for decades — only more so. It’s a function of Charlotte continuing to attract people from around the country, possibly from more “liberal-leaning” states, but it’s also the case that Charlotte itself, inside the city limits, is becoming increasingly concentrated as far as the African-American population is concerned, and, as we all know, that particular demographic grouping tends to vote overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates.
What’s important about this — what’s significant in terms of how our lives might be affected — is that Charlotte’s residents will need to take this factor into account more and more as issues involving the city’s needs have to go before the General Assembly in Raleigh. If Charlotte’s elected leaders and/or representatives are all Democrats, that could have, at times, an adverse effect on things like funding requests for new roads, especially if those who would make those decisions are of the opposing party. Like it or not, now more than ever, Charlotte is virtually an island unto itself in voting overwhelmingly Democratic.
Arts / Today's Top Five Today's Top 5: Wednesday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Wed, Nov 5, 2014 at 9:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Nov. 5, 2014 as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Moving Poets' From the Depths at Booth Playhouse
• Robin Trower at The Fillmore
• Nick Vatterott at The Comedy Zone
• Tosco House Party at Evening Muse
• Music Trivia at Ed's Tavern
First Drip First Drip (11/5/14): Tillis loses Mecklenburg but wins the war, more
Posted By Emiene Wright on Wed, Nov 5, 2014 at 8:18 AM
The most expensive Senate race in U.S. history ended with Thom Tillis unseating Democrat Kay Hagan last night. Tillis lost his home county of Mecklenburg and most major urban areas, but his election helped tip the Senate into full Republican control.
Just days before his resignation, Charlotte-Mecklengurg Schools' legal department completed an investigation on Superintendent Heath Morrison over allegations of misconduct, bullying and close to a million dollars in cost overruns for new schools.
NASCAR fined and suspended crew chiefs and members involved in Sunday's brawl following the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, but drivers Jeff Gordon and Brad Leselowski got a pass. Neither were sanctioned for the group assault.
Leaders of the terrorist group ISIS share a common thread; a U.S. prison camp on the Iraqi-Kuwait border that lumped secular Iraqis loyal to Saddam Hussein's old regime with Islamist extremists fighting against Western influence. The result: a more radical, more organized and more connected group of terrorists were released onto an already destabilized region.
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Question the Queen City: The haunting of Love’s Pass
The railroad pass has claimed at least 14 lives
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Question the Queen City: The Disappearance of Denise Porch 6
She quite literally vanished.
