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Black Methodist denominations unite to help young males
The three major black Methodist denominations are making young black men their priority.
About 7,000 members of AME, AME Zion and CME churches met in Columbia, South Carolina, last week. They believe the church needs to play a larger role in helping black males so they don't become negative statistics.
WFAE's Greg Collard reports.
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Lowe's takes non-traditional path to reducing health care costs
Home improvement chain Lowe’s has a new benefit for its employees with heart problems. The Mooresville-based chain has reached a 3-year agreement with the Cleveland Clinic. Employees who need heart surgery now have the option to have that work done at the famous Ohio hospital, and have all costs associated with it paid for by Lowe’s.
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Giving homelessness a name and a face
There are about 6,500 homeless men, women and children in Charlotte. Advocates think some 500 of those people are chronically homeless, meaning they've been on the street for at least a year. But that was just a guess. So this week, the Charlotte Housing Authority spent $10,000 on a kind of census to find exactly who is chronically homeless in Charlotte and what it might take to get them off the street permanently.
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Study findings give Gorman momentum to link teacher pay with performance
The results of a teacher effectiveness study released this week are helping CMS Superintendent Peter Gorman set the foundation for his plan to eventually pay teachers based on classroom performance.
The study found no evidence that advanced degrees help teachers do a better job or lead to improved student performance.
Meanwhile, the dean of UNC Charlotte's College of Education worries that CMS is drawing too many conclusions from the study.
WFAE's Greg Collard reports.
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CHA quits Ballantyne project; neighbors continue to protest plan
The Charlotte Housing Authority has pulled out of a low-income housing complex planned for Ballantyne. The CHA says it has concerns with the number of units poposed for the site and the cost of the land.
The developer, The Republic Development Group says it's still moving ahead with the project. Last night, the group's directors met with about 300 people who did not want to see the complex go up in their community. WFAE's Lisa Miller has more.
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Wanted: therapeutic foster parents
Last year North Carolina lawmakers made $38 million in cuts over two years to group homes for children with mental illness and behavior disorders. Many group homes are closing and now the state is looking to place more than 1,000 of these children with foster families by next June. To take in the children, therapeutic foster parents must participate in specialized clinical training. In Charlotte, Alexander Youth Network says it's in a good position to place the kids because its therapeutic program already has a stepped up level of clinical training. WFAE's Simone Orendain has this report on the agency's recruitment efforts.
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Sizing up the stimulus package for cities and towns
The federal stimulus bill is a year old this week. Economists and politicians disagree on how successful it's been at reviving the economy. So far only about a third of the $787 billion in the stimulus bill have actually been paid out. The City of Charlotte has received about $40 million dollars in direct stimulus funds.
WFAE's Julie Rose takes a look at what the stimulus bill has done for smaller cities and towns in the region.
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Southeast expected to see most stimulus job growth in 2010
It's exactly one year since the stimulus funding package passed and so far only a third of the $787 million has actually been paid out. But some experts say this is the year the stimulus funding will have it greatest impact. And Southeastern states are expected to see the biggest boost in jobs from stimulus projects. WFAE's Julie Rose reports.
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Black farmers still seeking justice
Black farmers have held rallies across the South every day this week. Today they will converge in Columbia, South Carolina calling on the U.S. Government to "pay up." More than 10 years ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture admitted to decades of discrimination against black farmers. The USDA promised to compensate the farmers, but more than 70,000 have to yet to see a penny. WFAE's Julie Rose has their story.
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Internal Affairs memo told Monroe that officer Jackson should have been charged in domestic incident
Last month, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Rodney Monroe said at a press conference that he only knew of one incident in which former officer Marcus Jackson had been suspended.
"I'm aware of one time, one incident that he's been suspended for and that involved speed, operating a vehicle outside of policy," he said at a Jan. 5th press conference.
But WFAE has obtained a memo that shows the rookie officer was also suspended after a domestic dispute, and the memo says he should have been charged with a crime.
That memo was addressed to Chief Monroe.
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How to avoid buying a foreclosed nightmare
The plight of homeowners in this recession is well-documented: foreclosure filings rose more than 17 percent last year in North Carolina. But one man's tragedy is another's triumph, and all those foreclosures are a terrific opportunity if you're in the market for a new home. WFAE's Julie Rose takes a look at the possibilities and pitfalls in buying a foreclosed home.
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Jackson was subject of Internal Affairs speeding probe; record shows he changed police report
Charlotte City Council last week decided not to review the personnel file of former Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Officer Marcus Jackson.
Jackson is accused of sexually assaulting five women he pulled over on traffic stops and one woman who called 911 for help with a domestic disturbance. Overall, he's been indicted on 15 charges.
But the rookie officer received the attention of CMPD's Internal Affairs division even before the first charges were filed against him. There are still unanswered questions about that investigation. Among them: Why did officer Jackson change a police report one month after he filed it?
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The ripple-effects of the Greensboro sit-in
50 years ago today, four African-American college students at North Carolina A&T sat down in the whites-only section of a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro.
A wave of lunch-counter protests followed in cities across the South, including Charlotte, and helped propel the Civil Rights Movement.
At the time of the Greensboro sit-in, Charlotte attorney and civil rights activist Charles Jones was a student at Johnson C. Smith University.
He spoke to WFAE's Mark Rumsey about hearing the news from Greensboro on his car radio.
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Winter storm = bread+milk, but why?
In the Charlotte region, when a snow storm is in the forecast, people hear about it well in advance. And people prepare well in advance with trips to the grocery store to stock up on plenty of food ... especially bread and milk.
For years the mystery of why bread and milk are the must-haves during a winter storm in Charlotte has puzzled WFAE's Simone Orendain. So she stopped at a couple of grocery stores to try to get to the bottom of the mystery. Here's a page out of her reporter's notebook.
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Suburban retrofit, a solution to sprawl
For decades we've watched cities grow outward - call it suburban sprawl. But in recent years there's been a movement among urban planners who are banking on a reversal of this trend. The planning firm Duany Plater-Zyberk - or DPZ - is at the forefront of the New Urbanism movement, which designs ways to cut back on growing outward. DPZ is currently writing a book on how to fix sprawl for planners, architects and anyone else who's interested. WFAE's Simone Orendain reports.
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Tallying up the number of CMPD officers charged with crimes
Charlotte City Council tonight will inspect and decide whether to release the personnel file of fired Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Marcus Jackson.
It would be an extraordinary move, but state laws allow it if it's essential to maintaining public confidence in the administration of city services.
Jackson is among 17 CMPD officers charged with crimes over the past two years.
In this report, WFAE's Lisa Miller examines what that says about the department.
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NASCAR media tour a thrill ride for drivers and reporters. Or not.
Unless you're really tuned into the NASCAR world, you probably didn't know the biggest media event in the sport is taking place this week in Concord. The annual Sprint Cup Media Tour is hosted each January by Charlotte Motor Speedway. It's 4 days of publicity for drivers, teams and sponsors. In a word, it's exciting. Sort of.
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A Catch 22 in colonoscopy coverage
In the debate over health care, here's something we can all agree on: We don't want surprises on our medical bills . . . things we thought were covered that really weren't. Take health screenings like mammograms. Most insurance plans promise to cover them fully, since catching a problem early can prevent much bigger expenses down the line. And insurance companies appear to make the same promise for colonoscopies, since colorectal cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer.
However, many people are discovering their colonoscopy insurance benefit comes with strings. And some wake up from the procedure to discover they owe hundreds - even thousands - of dollars.
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Reflections of a 'Miracle' survivor
It was a year ago when the "Miracle on the Hudson" happened. US Airways Flight 1549 out of New York was bound for Charlotte when it struck birds and prompted a crash-landing on the Hudson river. All 155 passengers and the flight crew survived. One of them was Jim Whitaker. He came to WFAE's studios to share his story.
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Soldiers from NC's largest guard unit coming home
Nearly half of North Carolina's National Guard troops have spent the last year overseas, including about 4,000 soldiers who belong to the state's largest National Guard Unit. It's called the 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team. While in Iraq, seven soldiers in the unit were killed in action and 29 were wounded in action. Over the next few weeks, soldiers of the 30th will be coming home to North Carolina. WFAE's Julie Rose witnessed one of the reunions this week.
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Victim's boyfriend details damage done by fired CMPD officer's traffic stops
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police detectives are trying to find other potential victims of former CMPD Officer Marcus Jackson. They're sifting through police cruiser video of every traffic stop Jackson made in the last six months to see if they can identify anything else suspicious.
Three women have come forward in the last two weeks accusing Jackson of fondling or forcing them to perform sex acts after he pulled them over. A boyfriend of one of the women tried to stop the officer by calling 911. It worked, but not in the way he intended.
WFAE's Lisa Miller has his story:
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