Headlines for week ending: Sunday, March 07 2010

(3.05.10) Dropout rate down in CMS, state
CHARLOTTE — The dropout rate fell in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and hit an all-time low for North Carolina last year, a report released Thursday shows. CMS’s rate remains higher than the state average, other large N.C. districts and most surrounding counties. Statewide, 19,184 students dropped out last school year, or 4.3 percent of all high school students. That’s down from 5 percent the year before, and 6.4 percent a decade ago.

(3.05.10) Ex-housing official: I did nothing wrong
CHARLOTTE — A former Charlotte Housing Authority real estate executive who resigned under pressure last month said he did nothing wrong in working with a developer who was also his business partner. Ben Collins, who was a senior development officer with CHA, said he had filled out a code of ethics form with the authority in which he disclosed his business relationship with John Schwaller and Stuart Proffitt, the developers who proposed partnering with CHA to build low-income apartments in Ballantyne.

(3.04.10) Cost of gasoline expected to jump
WINSTON-SALEM — Gasoline prices likely will be higher this summer than last summer, partly because of a reduction in gas production at refineries, the AAA Carolinas travel club said yesterday. Already, the price of gas is 79 cents higher than it was at this time last year, when it was less than $2 a gallon. In 2009, the average price of a gallon of unleaded gas in North Carolina was $1.89 on March 3, and it peaked at $2.65 June 20. In the Triad, the price of gas rose 79 cents from March 3 through June 20 last year.

(3.04.10) As jobless rate surges, flood of newcomers slows
CHARLOTTE — The influx of newcomers to the Charlotte region, long a beacon of the area’s success, has slowed since the unemployment rate surged. An analysis of the latest Census data shows notable drop-offs in out-of-state transplants and 20-somethings. Most newcomers to the region still came from elsewhere in North Carolina in 2008. But migration from outside the Carolinas dropped 20 percent.

(3.03.10) Jim Black to leave prison 11 months early
RALEIGH — Jim Black, the former speaker of the N.C. House who was convicted on federal corruption charges, is scheduled to get out of prison in March 2011, about 11 months earlier than his original sentence. Black, 74, pleaded guilty in 2007 to a long list of charges stemming from illegal payments he accepted from campaign contributors, including pocketing an envelope of cash handed over in a men’s bathroom at a restaurant.

(3.03.10) Kissell faces pressure on health care
CHARLOTTE — As President Obama and Congressional Democrats prepare their final push on health care overhaul, House leaders scrambling for votes are expected to turn up the pressure on members like Larry Kissell. But the Montgomery County Democrat, who bucked his leadership in November, is poised to do it again. “I continue to believe health care reform is necessary,” he said in a statement. “However, my position has not changed on the health care reform proposal currently before Congress.”

(3.02.10) What’s an ABC system worth?
RALEIGH — Like anybody contemplating selling off valuables, Gov. Bev Perdue wants to know how much the state's liquor system is worth. Perdue and Jon Williams, the state's top liquor regulator, have asked a Chicago firm to determine the value of the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control warehouse in Raleigh and the 410 locally run liquor stores across the state. Valuation Research Corporation has eight weeks to deliver the report, for which the state will pay $175,000.

(3.01.10) Prosecutors: Officer tried to rig lineup
CHARLOTTE — A veteran police officer who complained that his cases were being dismissed has resigned after prosecutors accused him of misconduct in a robbery investigation. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Brian Cloninger tried to influence a lineup, prosecutors say. He gave the robbery victim the name and photo of the man he thought committed the gunpoint hold-up. He also urged the woman to look at the suspect’s photo every day so she could pick him out.

(3.01.10) Lawsuit could define water rights
GREENSBORO — A lawsuit between seven hydroelectric plants and the Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority could help clarify North Carolina law for generations to come. Experts say North Carolina is open to such conflicts because its water laws are relatively unrefined, with gaps between rules governing private use of streams for profit and those controlling public reservoirs, known as impoundments in legal jargon.

(3.01.10) Republicans wrangle for Hoyle’s seat
CHARLOTTE — With Sen. David Hoyle finally out of the picture, Republicans were expecting to easily take the open Senate seat in Gaston County. For years, GOP leaders have coveted the seat, chafed that Hoyle, a Democrat, has held on to a solid Republican district through his ties to the community and the thickness of his campaign checkbook. So when Hoyle announced last fall that he wouldn’t run, Republicans stood closer than they have in two decades to victory.

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