State Senate Majority Leader Paul Newton is retiring. The NC Tribune and Business NC reports the Cabarrus County Republican is taking a job as General Counsel for UNC Chapel Hill. Newton’s resignation is effective at 7 this evening. He was elected in 2016 and named Majority Leader in 2023.
Woody is a Charlotte native who came to WFAE from the world of NASCAR where he was host of NASCAR Today for MRN Radio as well as a pit reporter, turn announcer and host of the NASCAR Live pre race show for Cup Series races. Before that, he was a news anchor at WBT radio in Charlotte, a traffic reporter, editor of The Charlotte Observer’s University City Magazine, News/Sports Director at WEGO-AM in Concord and a Swiss Army knife in local cable television. His first job after graduating from Appalachian State University was news reporter at The Daily Independent in Kannapolis. Along the way he’s covered everything from murder trials and a national political convention to high school sports and minor league baseball.