The weather was nearly perfect Saturday – sunny and in the 60s – when more than 14,000 people joined the 18th annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Charlotte. The 5K race honored breast cancer survivors and raised $1.4 million for breast cancer research.
Charlotte Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams led a team and has helped promote the race. He told the Charlotte Observer last week that four aunts and his mother died from the disease.
Not everyone ran for a time – but among those who did – 17 year old Jack Ratterree was the top finisher, in 16 minutes and 19 seconds – a minute ahead of the field. See the full results here.
D.A. WILL DECIDE CHARGES IN SOUTH CHARLOTTE SHOOTING
Charlotte police say they’ll ask the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s office to decide whether to charge a 23-year-old Charlotte man in the shooting death of his father. 56-year-old William Hale died early Saturday after what police say was an altercation with his son at his home on Raintree Lane, in South Charlotte. Police have questioned his son, Charles Hale, and described him as a subject of interest in the shooting.
MAN CRASHES AND DIES DURING PURSUIT
A 22-year-old man died Saturday afternoon after he crashed while fleeing from Cabarrus County Sheriff’s deputies on Robinson Church Road, east of WT Harris Boulevard in Charlotte. Police said Jashavius Williams was speeding in a 1996 Jaguar XJ-6 when he entered a curve, slid and hit a tree. He died at the scene. Police did not say why the man was being chased. Charlotte Mecklenburg Police are investigating the crash. The Cabarrus Sheriff’s department is conducting an internal investigation of the pursuit.
WINTHROP ASKED TO DITCH ‘TILLMAN HALL’ NAME
Two former Winthrop University students are asking the school to rename Tillman Hall because it honors a U.S. senator and South Carolina governor who was a white supremacist. The Herald of Rock Hill reports that Mike Fortune and Richard Davis asked the school's Board of Trustees on Friday to change the name of the campus building named after Benjamin Tillman, who was a post-Civil War governor and U.S. senator. Trustees gave no formal response. Winthrop acting President Debra Boyd says if state law allows for the renaming, she believes campus leaders would ask students, employees and community members for their opinions.
INSURANCE MARKETPLACE GETS COMPETITION
The second annual open enrollment period under the federal Affordable Care Act begins next month, and there should be more price competition this time around in North Carolina. The three-month period for those wanting to buy subsidized policies on a private insurance marketplace kicks off Nov. 15 with three companies seeking customers, instead of 2, in most places. North Carolina was among the top states for people buying health insurance on the state's federally run marketplace over the first enrollment period, a six-month term that ended last March. Almost 360,000 people signed up for private insurance plans, nearly doubling initial expectations.
OPPOSITION TO GAS PIPELINE
A proposed $5 billion pipeline to deliver natural gas to plants in the Southeast is running into opposition along its planned path in West Virginia and Virginia. Opposition primarily concerns the pipeline’s route through national forests in both states. The 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline is also meeting resistance in remote high-elevation sections of Virginia, amid environmental concerns. Some landowners also object to plans for the pipeline to bisect their property. Governors and many local officials in the two states support the plan, which would deliver gas to power plants Virginia and North Carolina.
SUPREME COURT COULD CONSIDER SUIT AGAINST SBI
The state Attorney General's Office has asked the state Supreme Court to review a lawsuit against two State Bureau of Investigation agents by a man they investigated following his wife’s murder. Dr. Kirk Turner, a dentist in Clemmons, sued in 2011, alleging the two agents manufactured blood evidence against him and then lied about their actions. The state Court of Appeals ruled a lower court judge was wrong to dismiss the lawsuit. The Winston-Salem Journal reported that state lawyers say the case raises issues about whether law-enforcement officials can be sued over how they investigate a crime. Turner was acquitted of murder in the 2009 death of his estranged wife.
DOT SEEKS COMMENTS ON ROADS
The state Transportation Department has begun a 60-day period for citizen comment on the results of a study about how to move people and goods. A DOT study mapped out the proposed strategic transportation corridors. They're based three main factors: providing connections to national transportation networks critical to interstate commerce and national defense; allowing significant inter-regional movements of people and goods across the state; and supporting economic development and efficiency of transport logistics. The public comment period began Friday and ends Dec. 2. The study policy and map showing the corridorsare available online.