David Boraks

Managed health care giant Centene Corp. says it will build a $1 billion East Coast headquarters and technology hub in northeast Charlotte. The company expects to hire about 3,200 people over the next 12 years, and that could nearly double in the future.

Charlotte Area Transit System is finally getting its first electric buses. A federal grant announced earlier this month will help CATS start to replace the heavier polluting diesel buses it now uses. 

Passenger traffic at Charlotte Douglas International Airport remains down about two-thirds from where it was before the coronavirus pandemic. But if you're flying in or out of Charlotte this July 4th holiday weekend or the rest of the summer, don't assume you'll find an empty airport. 

Large gatherings are still banned across the country to prevent spread of the coronavirus. That means big performance halls are silent and sports stadiums and arenas are closed. But in Asia, big musical productions and baseball are back -- and seats are filled. North Carolina venue operators are looking at those models as they plot how to reopen.   

Updated 4:15 p.m.

Police say three people were killed and 11 others injured after a shooting at a block party in northwest Charlotte early Monday. Five of the people injured were hit by cars. 

Plans to redevelop two blocks of North Tryon Street in uptown Charlotte are back on track after Mecklenburg County and other partners resolved differences that stalled the project this winter. It now looks like affordable housing will be in the mix.

Two weeks after nightly protests against systemic racism and police brutality first began in Charlotte, the demonstrations were still going strong Friday night. What started out as a small gathering of about 50 marching from First Ward Park early in the evening grew to about 100 as onlookers began joining the cause.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Capt. Brad Koch has been a regular at Black Lives Matter marches over the past two weeks, mostly welcomed. But when he showed up at a Charlotte Uprising rally Monday, protesters swarmed him, demanding that he leave. He cupped his hand to his ear, then raised his hand, palm upward, as if to suggest he couldn't hear them. Moments later, a protester shoved him and they ended up wrestling in the grass. It’s a sign of the mixed reaction to Koch's presence at the marches. 

People gathered in front of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center in uptown Monday with a call to defund police departments. The rally was organized by the group Charlotte Uprising. This is the 11th day of demonstrations against police violence and systemic racism in the city.

Updated 11:15 p.m.

A forecast of thunderstorms Friday evening led Charlotte city leaders to cancel a planned Community Conversations meeting at the Mecklenburg County Government Center. But that didn't stop demonstrators from marching through the streets of uptown -- and to South End, for the first time -- for an eighth straight night to protest systemic racism and police brutality.

Charlotte City Council member Braxton Winston wants the city to eliminate money in next year's police department budget for chemical agents such as tear gas that are used to disperse crowds. 

Updated 7:35 a.m.

For the sixth night in a row, protesters took to the streets of Charlotte to decry systemic racism after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. But for the first time since daily demonstrations began, there was a little less tension between protesters and police. 

Tuesday marked the fifth day of protests in Charlotte in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Several thousand people participated in what was one of the city's largest demonstrations in recent memory. But just as in recent days, a peaceful afternoon protest gave way after dark to confrontations between police and protesters uptown. 

Two rallies in uptown Charlotte Sunday afternoon brought big crowds downtown to remember George Floyd and other African Americans killed by police officers and white people outside the force. Both rallies had a more serious and soul-searching tone than protests Friday and Saturday nights.