Headlines for week ending: Sunday, February 28 2010

(2.26.10) Agency: Ballantyne developer wasn’t qualified
CHARLOTTE — A Charlotte Housing Authority executive helped forge a deal for low-income housing in Ballantyne with a developer who was not approved for the work, authority chief Charles Woodyard said Thursday. In addition, the developer and agency official were business partners, an arrangement Woodyard said violated the authority’s ethics policy. The attempt to build the first public housing in the Ballantyne area met intense opposition from neighbors and was aborted this week.

(2.26.10) Garden Parkway is a go-go-go
CHARLOTTE — It’s not a slam dunk, but the 22-mile Garden Parkway may be going all the way. Instead of being built in phases, officials with the N.C. Turnpike Authority said Thursday they hope construction can take the toll road from Interstate485 near Charlotte/Douglas International Airport straight to I-85 west of Gastonia. Last year’s announcement that the first phase of the road would end at U.S. 321 in Gastonia stirred controversy.

(2.26.10) Mecklenburg commissioners to resist tax hike
CHARLOTTE — A majority of Mecklenburg County commissioners said Thursday they would support not raising property taxes and delaying most, if not all, new construction projects for at least a year as the county confronts a looming budget shortfall of up to $63million. Holding the tax rate steady would be welcome news to county residents, and could eliminate a dicey campaign issue as the board goes up for election this year.

(2.25.10) Grand jury subpoenas Mecklenburg ABC employees
CHARLOTTE — A federal grand jury has subpoenaed at least two employees of the Mecklenburg County ABC board, a board official and its attorney confirmed Wednesday. “The ABC Board has provided immediate and complete cooperation with the U.S. Attorney’s office and will continue to do so,” said attorney Bryan Adams. “The ABC Board is confident that it has engaged in no wrongdoing.”

(2.25.10) Myrick has U.S. Muslims wary
WASHINGTON — A year ago, U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick was appointed to the House Intelligence Committee, a prestigious post she had long sought. There, top-secret briefings unveiled truths about homegrown terrorism she had only suspected. And won’t reveal. “I can’t tell you. I'm not being coy,” Myrick said in an interview. “There’s a threat out there to our security. ... It’s worse than I thought.”

(2.25.10) Commissioners will look at debt Mecklenburg can afford
CHARLOTTE — How Mecklenburg County pays for construction projects in the coming years will be a key topic for discussion as county commissioners kick off their retreat today. Finance Director Dena Diorio is expected to talk about the county’s capital plan as part of a larger talk this morning on the current operating budget and projections for 2010-11.

(2.24.10) Charlotte home prices still struggle
CHARLOTTE — Charlotte-area home prices ended last year at a new low for this downturn but with a smaller decline than the previous year, based on a closely watched index released Tuesday. As of December, area prices had fallen 3.8 percent compared with December 2008, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. That’s smaller than the 7.2 percent loss in 2008, when Charlotte prices first turned negative, but still worse than the national decline of 2.5 percent for last year.

(2.24.10) Study: Teachers sink or soar early
CHARLOTTE — Success emerges early in teachers’ careers, and so does failure, a Harvard University study of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools found. In fact, one of the best predictors of teacher effectiveness with students is where teachers earned their bachelor’s degree, researchers told the school board Tuesday. The things that earn teachers extra money - experience, advanced degrees and National Board Certification - have little or no significant relationship to the gains their students make on state math and reading exams.

(2.24.10) Charlotte’s water source ‘impaired’
CHARLOTTE – Part of Mountain Island Lake, the main water source for Charlotte and Gastonia, has for the first time made North Carolina’s list of “impaired” waters. For reasons experts don’t yet know, water readings in the lower lake turned slightly acidic. Five other places on the Catawba River, and four in the Yadkin basin east of Charlotte, also made this year’s bad-water list for the same reason. Acidic water isn’t harmful to drink, but it threatens fish and other aquatic life.

(2.23.10) Erosion is latest fallout of recession
CHARLOTTE — A growing number of orphan construction sites without clear owners are bleeding mud into local waterways across the Charlotte region. Developers in bankruptcy or foreclosure sometimes leave eroding sites to banks, which are ill-equipped to address environmental problems and may refuse to pay for fixes. In some cases, enforcers can't find anyone to hold responsible.

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