Fired coaches, hired superintendents, a transit system getting back on track after going off the rails: 2023 was a big year for local news in Charlotte.
Elections — for president, governor, attorney general, General Assembly and more — promise to dominate the headlines in 2024. But before the new year is upon us, we wanted to take a look back at some of the big moments this year in local news.
Presented in no particular order, here are 10 of the most significant, interesting and memorable stories we covered in 2023.
CATS goes off the rails
As far as train derailments go, the Blue Line train that jumped the tracks in May 2022 wasn’t particularly dramatic. The train didn’t overturn. No one was hurt. But what was significant was the transit system's response. The incident didn’t come to light until March 2023, when interim Charlotte Area Transit System CEO Brent Cagle told Charlotte City Council that he had just learned of the problem — and that CATS’ entire fleet of trains needed urgent repairs to prevent more derailments. The state said CATS’ response was “unclear, insufficient and not acceptable,” and slapped a 35-mph speed limit on the entire system. Other safety revelations followed: bridge inspections had been missed, the rail control center was understaffed, regular maintenance had long been skipped. As the year ends, CATS is still digging out of its reputational hole.
A new superintendent
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools named Crystal Hill permanent superintendent, after a whirlwind year that included the board firing previous superintendent Earnest Winston and the resignation of interim superintendent Hugh Hattabaugh. Hill faces a big challenge: Can she close longstanding gaps between students of different racial groups and socioeconomic levels? There’s new leadership at the school board level, too, with the youngest — and least experienced — board in recent memory.
North Carolina as the heart of the ‘battery belt’
West of Charlotte, companies are lining up to mine some of the only rich lithium deposits in the U.S. That could make our region the center of a new "battery belt" that federal officials touted in visits this year. But some of the mines still face hurdles, including intense local opposition, and it’s likely to be years before the crucial mineral powering electric vehicles is churned out of Gaston County at scale.
Extreme heat takes a toll
This past year was the hottest on record, and North Carolina was no exception. Workers in outdoor industries — construction, landscaping, farming and more — were at particular risk, as WFAE reporters detailed. At least one farmworker died in eastern North Carolina after heat exposure. And it’s a problem that’s likely to get much worse in the coming decades.
Voters approve CMS’ biggest bond ever
When Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools first proposed its bond package, the headline numbers were eye-popping. At $2.5 billion, it would be the biggest bond package in the state’s history, for any purpose, not just in Charlotte. And it would require future property tax hikes to pay back the borrowed money. Despite a good deal of hand-wringing and an organized opposition campaign, the package ultimately won easy approval, with almost two-thirds support from voters. Now, CMS has a decade to show voters they made the right decision and build, renovate or replace 30 school facilities.
Fried, processed, 'everything but healthy'
Almost a decade after the “50th out of 50” economic mobility shook Charlotte’s self-image as a land of opportunity and growth, the city is still grappling with how to help its low-income residents climb the economic ladder. One long-running effort is finally bearing fruit: A co-op grocery store on West Boulevard that’s meant to address a persistent food desert. The Three Sisters Market has won local and federal funding and is set to start construction next year.
Losing a major tennis tournament
Charlotte loves attracting professional sports — witness the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Charlotte FC, Charlotte Hornets, Carolina Panthers, Charlotte Knights, the ACC headquarters, Duke’s Mayo Bowl and other teams, tournaments and facilities that the city has spent hundreds of millions to lure or retain. When the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament announced it was looking to relocate from Cincinnati to Charlotte, local leaders jumped at the idea. A $400 million facility was planned at the River District west of Charlotte’s airport, and the state, county and city lined up $110 million to pay tournament owner Beemok Capital. The deal seemed as good as done — until Cincinnati scrounged up $130 million. Despite the fanfare about relocating, Beemok quickly said “no thanks” to Charlotte, and the tournament will continue in its current home.
Patriots-only housing development
A new housing development in Gastonia opened with an unusual premise: 1776 requires homeowners to fly the American flag, pledge allegiance to the United States and affirm that the Constitution is the founding document of the U.S. With marketing that included red-white-and-blue pistols and street names like Betsy Ross, Old Glory and Gadsen, the development appeals to a hyper-patriotic version of what it means to be an American. It’s perhaps a sign of our polarized times, that — in addition to self-selecting into “red” and “blue” cities, states and enclaves — the developer is planning more 1776 communities across the South.
Marijuana laws in disarray
WFAE started reporting this summer about the dizzying array of new, legal, hemp-based cannabis products springing up in Charlotte. You can now buy joints, loose marijuana-like buds, gummies, and seltzers across Charlotte that contain mind-altering cannabis products. While marijuana itself is still illegal in the state, there are billboards advertising marijuana-like products on the interstates, THC-infused seltzer from a local brewery, and shops across SouthPark, Matthews and other suburban enclaves selling "bud" of all varieties. Some is "Delta-8" THC, a slightly weaker version of the Delta-9 THC that gets you high, others are infused with THC-A, a legal compound that — conveniently — turns into regular Delta-9 THC when you burn it, and others openly state they have Delta-9 THC at levels just below the legal limit.
What it all adds up to: A strange twilight world where marijuana is illegal but you can buy products that look, smell, taste and work just like marijuana from just about anywhere. Where the District Attorney's Office has stopped prosecuting marijuana possession, but police will still arrest you for it.
And the consequences of those contradictions were thrown into sharp relief last month, when a man and a woman smoking what they said was legal THC-A purchased from a smoke shop were violently arrested by Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers outside their jobs at a Bojangles.
Fired coaches
Many of the words that could sum up 2023 as a year in Charlotte sports start with “F.” Frustrating. Futile. Flummoxing. And, of course, fired.
That’s what happened to Carolina Panthers’ head coach Frank Reich, who joined the team in January and left in November, after a disastrous 1-10 start with rookie quarterback Bryce Young. The running backs coach and quarterbacks coach also got the ax. And owner David Tepper fired Christian Lattanzio, Charlotte FC’s second head coach, after the soccer team clawed its way into the playoffs but was promptly bounced in the wild-card game.
Tepper is now on his sixth head coach since buying the Panthers (counting interims) and his third head coach for Charlotte FC since the team was started three years ago. That means Tepper is averaging one new coach every season one of his teams plays (nine coaches over the teams’ combined nine seasons).
Tepper said after firing Reich that he still hopes for long-term stability.
“I do have patience, my reputation away from this game for extreme patience,” Tepper said. “Now that patience comes with good performance and things that you want to see progress being made on, on different aspects. And as you know, as I said, you know, I would like to have somebody (coach) here for 20, 30 years.”
