It’s over. North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger has conceded the District 26 Republican primary to Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. Page led by 2 votes after Election Day and by 23 votes after absentee and mail-in ballots were counted, and a machine recount and partial hand recount did not change the margin. Berger has led Senate Republicans since 2005 and the chamber since 2011.
The acrimony over the I-77 project in Charlotte continues. On Monday, the North Carolina Department of Transportation canceled a tour of neighborhoods near the site due to what it called “credible security threats.” Then, on Tuesday, Charlotte City Council scheduled a special meeting on the project for Wednesday before abruptly canceling it without immediate explanation.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport is not expecting ICE at the airport as a nationwide deployment began this week. ICE agents are being used to assist TSA workers during the partial federal government shutdown. Those workers have been unpaid during the shutdown, and many have called out. ICE agents have been reported at airports elsewhere in the country.
And March Madness continues, but one of the sport’s blue bloods is out and looking for a new coach. UNC-Chapel Hill says men’s basketball coach Hubert Davis will not return next season after North Carolina was upset by Virginia Commonwealth in its opening-round NCAA Tournament game.
Those stories and more on the Charlotte Talks Local News Roundup.
GUESTS:
Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time”
James Farrell, education reporter for WFAE
Hunter Saenz, WSOC-TV reporter
Erik Spanberg, managing editor at the Charlotte Business Journal
