WCNC Charlotte To Go

A white wreath hangs on a house on ACL avenue in Cheraw, South Carolina, just up the road from the Lanely Landing on the  Great Pee Dee River. There are other new floral arrangements in the front yard and a sign from a local funeral home. “We are dealing with this the best we can,” Thomas Gary said about the sudden death of his 12-year-old granddaughter Stori Gary.  “She was everywhere I went.” He...

Passionate community members of Charlotte took the mic and weighed in on how the city should spend the proposed $3.24 billion budget.  Around 100 community members showed up to the  Charlotte City Council  meeting on Monday, May 9. Many from the crowd were members of the Charlotte city workforce.  People cheered during public comment and advocated for the adoption of the budget.  In the proposal,...

The leak of the  Supreme Court's majority draft opinion  in favor striking down Roe vs. Wade still has Congress scrambling. The issue is inflaming passions on both sides. There have been rallies in support of and in protest against the Supreme Court's potential decision.  On Mother's Day, hundreds gathered in support of abortion rights at Freedom Park in Charlotte.  “Our community is desperate for...

Friday is a  Weather Aware Day  for the Charlotte region as a line of storms will bring the threat of damaging winds, hail and  isolated tornadoes  to the Carolinas.  Forecaster Larry Sprinkle says there will be some spotty showers Friday morning ahead of the main line but most of that morning rain will be gone by lunchtime Friday. This period of sunshine will create storm fuel that leads to  favo...

CMS board leaders met with state officials to discuss their legislative goals for the district on Tuesday. The board of education will meet with members of the  North Carolina General Assembly . The meeting comes before the State House and Senate are set to convene in Raleigh on Wednesday. CMS leaders laid out multiple requests from the state, including allowing the school board to switch to remot...

A loaded gun was found on the campus of  Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology  Monday morning, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools confirmed.  A CMS spokesperson said the weapon was found while the student was going through one of the school's  new body scanners . The 18-year-old student was arrested and charged with gun possession charges, according to the  Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. CM...

Partners at a  Starbucks  location in Boone have reportedly voted overwhelmingly in favor of unionizing, becoming the first store in the Carolinas and in the Tar Heel State to have a certified union. In a statement shared on Saturday,  Starbucks United Boone  announced members at the Blowing Rock Road location voted 33-2 in favor of unionizing. The union said partners formally declared intent to j...

Leaders in  Hickory  are pursuing legal action following the collapse of wooden arches over the Rudy Wright pedestrian bridge from Feb. 18. Documents obtained by WCNC Charlotte showed a lawsuit was filed Wednesday, April 27, in Catawba County Superior Court. The defendants in the case have been identified as Neill Grading and Construction Company, Dane Construction and Western Wood Structures. Cit...

Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper refused to answer questions  about the team's training facility in Rock Hill Wednesday , saying he stood by his previous statements and wanted to honor the city's request to avoid a public back and forth.  "We released a statement already," Tepper said. "We will respect the city's request not to have a back and forth in public about it. They requested it, we're...

Tuesday evening,  Hugh Hattabaugh  assumed a familiar role of leading  Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools , the second-largest school district in North Carolina, on an interim basis, presiding over a meeting in which board members voted to approve a budget that his predecessor  Earnest Winston  proposed. If approved by  Mecklenburg County Commissioners , the proposal would provide a pay raise for teach...

The Epicentre,  a once-thriving entertainment hub stretching the entirety of a Charlotte city block, will be auctioned off as a result of its bankruptcy, court documents obtained by WCNC Charlotte Monday confirmed. In an auction scheduled for May 12 at 10 a.m., the highest bidder will walk away as the owner of the complex. The Epicentre was built in 2008 on the site of the old  Charlotte Conventio...

The  Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district  will see a familiar face back on campus Monday. Hugh Hattabaugh started his career with CMS back in 2007 and served as interim superintendent for the district in the 2011-12 school year. The school board of education voted to have him step in for the role during an  emergency meeting on April 19. "He is a man of high integrity,"  board member Rhonda Chee...

The  city of Rock Hill  and the  city of Tega Cay  in South Carolina are both being sued by York County for reportedly failing to pay for services associated with sending inmates to the  York County Detention Center , including not paying or reimbursing the county for housing its inmates. Attorneys representing York County believe this lawsuit is about the "dignity of local governments under  Home...

The uncertainty concerning the  Carolina Panthers Training Facility and Headquarters project in Rock Hill , South Carolina, got a bit clearer Tuesday when Panthers' owner David Tepper's  GT Real Estate Holdings  told WCNC Charlotte they would be terminating the agreement surrounding the project.  Speaking Wednesday, McMaster said the state held up its end of the deal. "Our part was done -- that wa...

"Effective immediately, masks are optional on  Charlotte Area Transit System  vehicles for customers and employees,"  CATS  announced Tuesday. CATS cited the federal judge ruling in Florida on Monday that struck down the Biden administration's mask mandate for public transportation,  including airplanes . While the ruling is still being reviewed, the Biden administration said the order would be no...

The  Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education announced  an emergency meeting will be held Tuesday on "matters related to superintendent contracts and attendant personnel items." While officials would not go on the record Monday to confirm, Tuesday's meeting is expected to address reports Earnest Winston would be leaving the job after fewer than three years. Winston  was named superintende...

 Millions of Americans wait until the last minute to file their taxes and this year is no exception. Monday is  Tax Day  — the federal deadline for individual tax filing and payments — and the IRS will receive tens of millions of last-minute filings electronically and through paper forms. As of April 8, the IRS had received more than 103 million returns for  this tax season , and it had  issued  m...

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday issued an emergency use authorization for what it said is the first device that can detect  COVID-19  in breath samples. The InspectIR COVID-19 Breathalyzer is about the size of a piece of carry-on luggage, the FDA said, and can be used in doctor’s offices, hospitals and mobile testing sites. The test, which can provide results in less than three minute...

Several state and local leaders in South Carolina continue to search for answers following the Carolina Panthers decision to pause construction on a practice facility and team headquarters in Rock Hill.  South Carolina State Representative JA Moore (D - District 15)  condemned the recent actions taken by Carolina Panthers team owner David Tepper in a statement provided Wednesday, April 13.  No pub...

U.S. Representative Ralph Norman  is the latest leader to speak regarding the Carolina Panthers training facility project in Rock Hill. The project has now been on hold for more than a month, and despite receiving a new funding offer from both the City of Rock Hill and York County,  Panthers owner David Tepper  has not responded. In a public letter released Sunday night, Norman called on Tepper to...

City of Charlotte leaders are looking to ease the  affordable housing crisis  and are eyeing several new projects that could bring hundreds of affordable homes to the region. “The ability for people to afford housing and be able to live in the city is of the utmost importance because cities are made up of people,” Charlotte City Councilman  Braxton Winston  said. Funding for a handful of projects...

Weddington officials are giving residents more time to voice their concerns after an overwhelming response to a proposed development project Monday night.  The 80-acre mixed-use project would allow new homes, retail, restaurants and green space in a town center-style development between Providence Road and Weddington Road. Many people say the development would make an already crowded area too busy...

 A well-known brewing company based in Charlotte is suing another company because it "ripped off" a trademark.  According to court documents obtained by WCNC Charlotte,  Sycamore Brewing  is suing  Stone Brewing, based out of California,  for using the "Keep It Juicy" phrase on merchandise and in advertising.  READ MORE: https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/local/sycamore-brewing-charlotte-keep-it-ju...

Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools  still plans to eventually distribute clear backpacks to high school students, according to superintendent Earnest Winston. Last week, when schools were giving out the bags,  they stopped due to due to a warning tag issue  related to possibly harmful materials. The district spent close to half a million dollars on the backpacks as part of a larger effort to reduce wea...

Thousands more Charlotte-Mecklenburg high school students will start going through body scanners in the coming weeks.  CMS Superintendent Earnest Winston  said at a Tuesday night school board meeting the district will put body scanners in 14 more high schools to try and curb weapons entering campuses. It’s been a little under a week since seven initial CMS high schools started using body scanners....