WCNC Charlotte Flashpoint

On this episode of Flashpoint, WCNC's Ben Thompson talks to former state representative (who is also now running again) Tricia Cotham about her battle with long COVID.

Cotham previously served in the North Carolina General Assembly between 2009 and 2015. Cotham said she's battled COVID-19 on and off for the last two years.

"January and February were the absolute worst," she explained. "March has been a little bit better. But it's also just very unpredictable."

Next up, Ben talks to former Union County GOP Chair, Dan Barry about the latest on the GOP side of the Senate race.

While democrats coalesce behind former NC Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley, the republican field remains contentious and competitive. U.S. Rep. Ted Budd, former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, former Gov. Pat McCrory, and veteran Marjorie K. Eastman are running on the republican side.

Barry cites polling that shows McCrory with an edge.

"All indications are that McCrory is outside the margin of error as we approach the primary day," Barry said.

READ MORE: https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/politics/flashpoint/gop-official-sizes-up-ncs-senate-race/275-121e09d3-d16e-4d34-820b-b6bfe591c279

This week on Flashpoint, WCNC Charlotte's Ben Thompson spoke with an expert on the number of unaffiliated voters in North Carolina.

Last week, unaffiliated voters in North Carolina finally outnumbered registered Republicans and Democrats in the state. 

"This has been the trend that has been happening for several decades now," Dr. Michael Bitzer, political professor at Catawba College, said.

As of March 13th, state records show nearly 2.5 million registered unaffiliated voters in North Carolina, just a few hundred more than democrats. 2.18 million voters are registered as Republicans.  

Watch the full interview on Flashpoint, only on WCNC Charlotte.

READ MORE: https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/politics/flashpoint/nc-unaffiliated-voters-outnumber-republicans-democrats-but-their-candidates-face-hurdles/275-86aaf5c6-8ead-4657-b30f-e803b5a32c1c

Supporters of Charlotte's massive transit plan are eagerly hoping to get some consensus on the issue in the coming weeks. 

"It's still the hope," Julie Eiselt, Charlotte's Mayor Pro Tem, said.

Eiselt chairs the city council's Transportation & Planning Committee. The sweeping plan requires the involvement of surrounding cities and counties, as well as the approval of the North Carolina General Assembly. 

"There's an incredible level of conversation going on between our mayor and the town mayors and our city manager and the town managers," Eiselt said.

READ MORE: https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/politics/flashpoint/looming-deadline-charlottes-transit-plan/275-e3dce53a-68c9-4807-91e5-f1e0600d508a

This week on Flashpoint, Ben Thompson talks to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board member and teacher after the district voted to make masks optional.

In a new release, the school system said the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services StrongSchools Toolkit was updated to coincide with the CDC guidance that states masks are no longer required on buses or vans operated by public or private schools. CMS Board Member Rhonda Cheek speaks about the mask mandate being dropped starting Monday and her thinking it should have been dropped sooner. Later we hear from teacher Justin Parmenter, who expressed that some teachers aren't happy about the mandate being dropped.

All of this and more on Flashpoint, on WCNC Charlotte.

In this episode of Flashpoint, WCNC Charlotte's Ben Thompson sits down with North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell as he tackles high hospital costs in the state. "Last fall, I had a procedure that took eight minutes, that cost $6,000," Dale Folwell, North Carolina State Treasurer, said. Long before Folwell suffered his own sticker shock, he was on a campaign to make the state's largest hospitals more transparent amount costs and pricing.

Then, Ben talks with Catawba College Professor Michael Bitzer after Mecklenburg County received extra representation in Washington, D.C. It stems from new congressional maps approved by the state supreme court. In previous mapping attempts, much of Charlotte was concentrated in one congressional district, and the new 14th district was sprawling west in rural counties. Now, two districts will be centered mainly along the borders of Mecklenburg County, with sections including Gaston and Cabarrus Counties. "That district has shifted so much now. And is much more democratic I think right now. Mecklenburg could be represented by two Democratic members of Congress," Bitzer said.

READ MORE: https://bit.ly/3sp6AEJ

On this episode of Flashpoint, Ben Thompson sits down with Mecklenburg County Health Director Raynard Washington. He explains that says now is a "good time" to begin the next phase of the pandemic, beginning with rescinding the county's indoor mask mandate. 

Washington said health officials will focus their response on those most vulnerable to a severe illness from COVID-19. But just as we saw with the delta variant, there's no guarantee county officials won't implement another mask requirement. 

"I'm certain it will have some surges in the future, but I don't know what they'll look like because I don't know what mutations and what the consequences of those mutations will be," Washington said. "So I can't say definitively that there won't be a time where we as a community may need to implement measures, but I do believe that we have to transition our drive, our decision making about those measures."

READ MORE: https://bit.ly/3H1Rx7W

This week on Flashpoint, Ben Thompson discusses best practices for potential homebuyers in the Charlotte area. The Charlotte housing market continues to be one of the hottest in the country in 2022, according to Canopy Realty Association. "You're gonna have to be flexible. This is one of the most unique markets we've seen," Lee Allen, President of Canopy, said. Allen said all signs point to minimal cooling in Charlotte real estate this year.

Then, we hear from the Rental Housing Alliance, who says cutting costly regulation addresses affordable housing. "What we're advocating for is keeping construction and regulatory costs down," Lisa Taylor, Rental Housing Alliance PAC Board Chair, said. Taylor said building code requirements and regulations account for nearly a third of the costs covered in someone's monthly rent. Right now in Mecklenburg County, only 1% of apartments are priced under one-thousand dollars.

Read more in these stories:

https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/politics/flashpoint/rental-housing-poltical-action-committee-local-races-decrease-regulation/275-146f7d55-221c-4c55-80c7-e7ab6bd040c4

https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/politics/flashpoint/advice-for-charlotte-home-buyers-2022/275-55d35f91-7865-45eb-91ec-77d1f0cbc271

In this episode of Flashpoint, Congresswoman Alma Adams urges democrats to continue work after the voting rights measure failed in Washington.

"Voting rights has to be at the top of the agenda," Rep. Adams said.  "We can't give up on it."   Adams represents the 12th District which covers most of Charlotte and runs north along Interstate 77 to the Iredell County line. 

Recent attempts to pass voting rights legislation failed to make it past the 60 vote threshold to stop debate in the US Senate. In an evenly split Senate, Adams admitted future attempts will have to include more republican involvement.  

As an example, she cited last year's infrastructure bill that garnered some Republican support, including from North Carolina's US Senators Burr and Tillis.   So far, Adams said a compromise on voting rights has been tough.

This and more on Flashpoint, only on WCNC Charlotte.

READ MORE: https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/politics/flashpoint/democracy-representative-adams-voting-rights-top-issue-2022/275-028c4f10-6a4f-40c2-baf1-292ea37d4473

On this episode of Flashpoint, WCNC's Ben Thompson talks to two Charlotte Council members as they lay out a busy agenda during an election year. "Trying to do a lot of things at once, and doing them with a lot of funding at once is what makes this different than years past," district 1 councilman Larken Egleston said.

Later, Ben talks to a Catawba College professor who maps out the future of North Carolina's redistricting case. After a three-judge panel ruled to allow Republican-drawn legislative and congressional maps, political campaigns, lawyers, and scholars are watching the Supreme Court of North Carolina. "I would expect that they would push this as an expedited review and potential decision," Dr. Michael Bitzer, professor of politics at Catawba College, said.

All of this and more on this episode of Flashpoint, only on WCNC Charlotte.

On this episode of Flashpoint, we hear from an NBC News correspondent as they explain how the election outcome of Anson County could be a whole new outcome in the 2022 midterms. "What we're finding is a story of voter apathy," Antonia Hylton said. "A community that feels it's been ignored and mistreated in some cases." Anson County is one of seven counties across the U.S. NBC News will be focused on through the midterm elections in 2022. Anson County is fairly evenly split among white and Black residents.

Next, Ben Thompson talks with two local historians on the long-term impact of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. "The history books are going to see it as an attack on democracy," Dr. Scott Huffmon, a professor at Winthrop University, said. "These people were domestic terrorists. They attempted insurrection to overthrow the government." As historians, the professors are looking forward to upcoming testimony in front of the House committee investigating the attacks. They're hoping it will give future historians a firm, factual account of what happened that day.

All of this and more on this episode of Flashpoint, only on WCNC Charlotte.