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In January, President Trump urged Congress to cap credit card interest rates at 10% and said Americans are being “ripped off” by credit card companies. Bankers quickly opposed the idea, with some calling it an economic disaster. There is also debate over capping credit card late fees. We look at the pros and cons of these proposals and whether any of them would lead to more affordability.

A government audit finds 18 areas of non-compliance in the Charlotte Area Transit System's safety plan. CMS closes again due to weather, but isn't planning to add days later. The NTSB releases its preliminary report on the Statesville plane crash that killed former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and six others in December.

Moshe Gildenman was a civic leader and musician in a small Ukrainian town until — one day in 1942 — Nazis murdered 2,000 Jews in his village, including his wife and daughter. He escaped with his son, carrying a revolver, a handful of bullets and a Yiddish songbook. His story of resilience, resistance and revenge is told in a new book by UNC Charlotte musicologist James Grymes.

NCDOT says the new I-485 Express lanes around Charlotte are set to open February 28. CMS extends its inclement weather disruption to an eighth straight day. Siemens Energy says it will invest $421 million to expand operations in N.C. The Charlotte Hornets sweep the NBA's Eastern Conference awards for January.

As we approach Super Bowl Sunday, we check in with veteran New York Times reporter Ken Belson. His new book, 'Everyday is Sunday,' dives into how the NFL’s commissioner, Roger Goodell, and its two most powerful owners, Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft, turned the league into a cultural phenomenon. We get an inside look at how America’s favorite sport achieved its status — and how these three men let nothing stand in their way.

CMS pivots to remote learning for a second day. CATS plans a simplified fare system and new validators to scan tickets. Another case of measles has been reported in Mecklenburg County. S.C. was the fastest growing state in 2025. N.C. wasn't far behind. Corning Incorporated announces a $6 billion deal to provide Facebook and Meta with fiber products.

On the next Charlotte Talks: freedom of the press. It’s a bedrock principle of American democracy and yet, one year into the second Trump administration, it is under attack. The Associated Press was banned from the White House Press room, journalists refused to comply with Pentagon rules controlling the narrative, the government defunded Public Broadcasting and Trump is suing and threatening networks and newspapers. We look at the damage done and what might be next.

Two years ago, Americans bet $120 billion on sports, a 27% increase from the previous year. That figure grew to $150 billion in 2024. Journalist Danny Funt investigates what's considered one of the most consequential — and least scrutinized — shifts in modern American sports in his new book, "Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling."

The future of EVs in N.C. could change after a recent federal court ruling. Duke Energy considers a site near the Virginia border for a pair of new natural gas plants. Jobs in healthcare and engineering are booming in Charlotte. Tech and media? Not so much. The Levine Museum of the New South finds a new home.

The region prepares for a second dose of snow and ice. Former Charlotte City Council member Tiawana Brown pleads guilty to wire fraud. The former owner of the Charlotte Checkers is indicted on tax fraud charges. S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster calls on lawmakers to raise the state's base teacher pay.

"The music is serious, but I never take it seriously. I believe that you can make deeply personal music without sacrificing a sense of humor or self-awareness. It’s equal parts therapy and irony. Don’t tell my therapist”The coronavirus outbreak has spurred a number of musicians to “press pause” on their plans, whether it was for concerts or travel. But COVID-19 hasn’t stopped musicians from being creative, finding inspiration and recording new songs from the comfort of home. That includes North Carolina piano pop band Tennis Elbow, which released a new full-length album inspired by and recorded entirely during the pandemic.

Since 1994, tens of thousands of musicians have trekked to the “music oasis” that is The Playroom, the 22,000 square foot facility that is Charlotte’s oldest and largest music production space. On any given day, you can find more than 100 musicians working out of the facility, with talent ranging from up-and-coming Charlotte acts to Grammy Award winners like Usher and Fantasia. At the heart of The Playroom is facility owner and music producer Eddie Z and his goal to create a comfortable “home-away-from-home” for musicians near and far.

While Christopher James Lees is not a film composer, he is helping bring classical music to the big screen as resident conductor of the Charlotte Symphony. As Lees puts it, the Charlotte Symphony's “film in concert” performances of “Star Wars,” “Harry Potter” and “Back to the Future” show that classical music is much more than its reputation of being from “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” Rather, classical music is as timely and transformative as ever before.

Alfred Sergel IV has three decades of experience as a professional jazz musician — not as a jazz singer or jazz pianist, but as a jazz drummer. Between performing with Grammy honorees and recording with Billboard-charting artists, Alfred (or, as his friends called him, Al) still finds time to create original music that merges new-age pop sensibilities with old-school jazz melodies.

Since their first recorded steps as a band in November 2017, four-piece Americana outfit Elonzo Wesley have lulled Charlotte audiences into a beautifully poignant dance of Appalachian strings and soul.

The hills are alive with the sound of music: not just from Perry Fowler's mountain music band Sinners & Saints, but also from Fowler's locally-owned and operated venue Petra's.

Charlotte has a rich history of funk music. Back in 1965, the "Grandmaster of Funk" himself Mr. James Brown recorded his single “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” right here in the Queen City. As one of Charlotte’s longest-running jazz-funk collectives, Groove 8 has its own Charlotte soul story to share.

The past few years have shown that nerd culture is the new cool, with "Black Panther" becoming the first comic book film to score a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars, "Game of Thrones" becoming a cultural phenomenon and even Walt Disney World opening up its first official Star Wars-themed hotel in Florida. Which makes it the perfect time to be GameBreax, a North Carolina “nerdcore” duo who stand proudly at the intersection of geek culture and hip-hop.

If you lived in Charlotte in the early 2000’s, you lived through the golden age of Rock En Español in the Queen City. Latin reggae band Bakalao Stars (led by Christian Anzola) took root during this fertile musical period, a time of locally-produced and supported Latin music which was heralded as “the soundtrack of Charlotte’s racial and cultural evolution.”So what happened to those bands in this city? And what is happening now with Bakalao Stars, one of the remaining Rock En Español acts from that generation?

Some may recognize jazz as being the lifeblood of New Orleans, but what of Charlotte? President and CEO of the Jazz Arts Initiative Lonnie Davis shares what it takes to sustain (and evolve) "America's Classical Music" in the Queen City.