Top Charlotte Area Local News Stories
Source: MedleyStory
As the busy summer travel season gets under way, some parents may find it harder to sit near their kids on planes without paying expensive fees.
That's because in the past year some major airlines, including American, Delta and United, have increased the number of seats for customers willing to pay extra, those who want an aisle or window seat or more legroom. This comes at a time when flights are fuller than they used to be as airlines cut cost. Fees for the seats vary, but they typically cost about $25 extra each way.
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer's office said US Airways, which operates about 90 percent of the flights at Charlotte Douglas, charges up to $30 for some of its window and aisle seats.
Schumer is calling on airlines to stop making families pay these fees if they want to sit next to each other.
That was good news to Carla Baublis, who was flying internationally from Charlotte Douglas with her two young daughters. She said it's important for her to be next to them.
"My children are going to fly a lot better if I'm there to meet their every need. Even if they're in front of me by one seat, that's a big hassle,” she said.
Airlines have added several fees in recent years as they deal with rising fuel costs. Some charge $25 for your first checked bag and $35 for the second one. You can pay up to $10 for food, and $7 for a blanket and pillow.
Eyewitness News contacted the trade group that represents the airline industry to see if any changes will be made.
Airlines for America said, “Airlines have always worked cooperatively with their customers to seat parties, including those traveling with children, together, and that has not changed. In a market as intensely competitive as the airline industry, the customer wins—having ultimate ability to vote with their spending on varying products that are priced differently. As with all other products and industries, it is the market that can—and should—determine how air travel is priced, not the government.”
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 17:20:00 -0400
Anne Cope is hoping the upcoming hurricane season will help show her better ways to build stronger, storm-resistant houses and businesses.
Cope works for the Institute for Business and Home Safety in Chester County. It's funded by major insurance companies, and houses a massive test room with dozens of fans that can churn up a Category 3 hurricane with the flick of a switch.
The IBHS has tested dozens of full-sized houses against heavy rain, fire and 130 mile-an-hour winds. The goal is to help discover new and inexpensive ways to prevent damage and destruction from major storms.
"Don't be caught by surprise," said Cope when it comes to the approaching hurricane season. "High winds are not just a coastal problem."
She showed Channel 9 a mock-up of a roof and pointed to hidden damage that often goes unnoticed until high winds move in.
"Your home's first line of defense when it comes to the perils Mother Nature throws at it is your roof," Cope said.
She urged homeowners to have a roof inspection to look for damage, and make any necessary repairs. Cope also said if your home has vinyl siding, it should be checked to make sure it's not warped or loose-fitting.
"Know you're property and make sure everything is in good repair," she said.
In York County, Emergency Management Director Cotton Howell is preparing to send out his annual hurricane preparedness guide to emergency crews countywide. It will go out to EMS, firefighters, emergency operations officials and law enforcement.
Howell said the plan is tweaked every year from experience, but it's aimed at getting everybody working off the same page.
"The bottom line is getting them to plan ahead," he said."
Howell said homeowners need to be doing the same thing. The most significant impact this far inland from a major hurricane is often a long-term power outage. It's something most people simply don't prepare for.
"That's really my concern, is people not being able to function because they forget their dependence on electricity," Howell said.
He suggested that homeowners turn off their power some time for one hour during prime time when everyone is home.
"Turn it off at the breaker between, say, eight and nine, for an hour. I bet that'll be the longest hour ever for most people," he said.
Howell said an endurance test like that would get people to begin preparing for such an outage if it happens, and they won't be caught off guard at the last minute.
Cope said IBHS is busy testing the performance of building materials used in home and business construction. The institute studies ways to minimize damage by improving building standards.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 16:59:42 -0400
Gaston County discovered a mistake that gave some of its residents free fire protection.
For years, some homes have been hidden from the tax office, just outside the McAdenville city limits.
But Tuesday, many people living in the 87 homes just west of the small town received a notice in the mail, and they weren’t happy.
“I have been living here for 40 years and I have never had to pay a tax like that. I don't understand really why it started,” Clyde Rayfield said.
Since 1999, homeowners and businesses in unincorporated areas of Gaston County have paid a fire service tax.
Eyewitness News checked on Rayfield's home with the county tax office and discovered from its earliest records, in 2003, he and his neighbors were listed on the McAdenville Fire Department District, but were never charged a tax for the service they received.
Fire Marshal Eric Hendrix said the county didn't catch the oversight until early this year, and now all 87 of those homes will need to pay the tax.
“The entire district is only going to generate about $5,300,” Hendrix said.
Hendrix said they will not ask for back taxes. They will simply start charging on Jan. 1.
“We are trying to make this equitable and even across the county,” he said.
Homeowners can expect to pay $50 a year for $100,000 of property.
Roger Foster said that's too much.
“I think already taxes (are) too high,” he said.
He said he is on disability and that everyone there already donates to the local volunteer fire department.
“I don't think it's right,” Foster said. He plans to fight the tax.
Most people there said they will pay if they have to, but they want to know more about the county's plans.
The county will hold a public hearing about the fire tax next month. It will be on June 28 at 6 p.m. at the Gaston County courthouse.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 16:52:05 -0400
DNC organizers have unveiled a new video campaign pushing for more community involvement in the convention.
On Tuesday, they rolled out the new “I'm There” campaign to fuel more community involvement.
“We're asking Americans across the country to RSVP and tell us that you want to be a part of this convention. Send us photos, tweet us, post on Facebook,” said Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
The video shows people holding signs that read "I'm there" in support of the convention.
So far, the DNC team says more than 10,000 people have signed up to volunteer, and they hope the video inspires more.
Eyewitness News showed it to people uptown.
Charlotte resident Matthew Davison liked the video.
“It puts a real face on the whole political thing,” he said.
His friend wanted to hear a more specific message.
“I kind of get where they're going, but it's more of the same rhetoric that you hear every time,” Drew Swift said.
Wasserman Schultz said the video is another way they try to include the public in the event. It’s something she said the Republican National Convention will not do.
“They will run their convention like all previous Republican National Conventions have been run, and that's for the party faithful and its wealthiest donors,” Wasserman Schultz said.
Eyewitness News contacted the Republican National Committee for its response. A spokesman said: "Republicans are using social media, volunteers from across the country and local citizens in Florida to conduct one of the most accessible and exciting conventions in history."
For more information on the “I’m There,” campaign that encourages people to upload their own pictures, click here. For more information on the DNC, click here.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 16:26:44 -0400
Police used an ankle monitor to track down a man accused of breaking into a home Tuesday morning.
Police said Michael Camp broke into a home on Overlook Cove Road in north Charlotte Tuesday morning. The woman inside confronted Camp and then called police and described his car.
Police chased him briefly until he crashed and ran on Oakdale Road.
A neighbor who didn’t want to be identified saw the suspect.
“I saw the guy run behind a house,” the neighbor said. “I did not have my phone with me. (I) waited for officer to come around the corner, and I told them where he went.”
Police were familiar with Camp because he has a long criminal history that includes charges for break-ins, robbery, possession of stolen goods and kidnapping. They knew he was wearing an electronic ankle monitor and used it to track him down.
The heavy police response shocked neighbors.
“It was very scary,” one said.
But they were glad police swarmed in to catch the suspect.
“My daughter was here by herself,” a neighbor said. “My son called and said, ‘Don't go out, something is going on out there.’”
Camp faces a long list of new charges in connection with the break-in and chase.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 16:18:06 -0400
The company that owns Presbyterian Hospital is about to lay off nearly 300 people.
The CEO of Novant Health sent out a memo on Tuesday. In it, he blames the recession and health care reform laws for creating a tighter bottom line.
Novant is cutting 289 positions company-wide, and 103 will be in Charlotte.
But the company isn't saying which of the four Presbyterian facilities will see cuts.
The CEO said 28 percent of the cuts will be management positions, even though managers make up just 7 percent of the workforce.
CEO Carl Armato listed four specific reasons for the layoffs: a national mandate to make health care more affordable, the poor economy, lower reimbursements, which means the hospital is paid less for services, and that Novant has increased charity care by 200 percent during the past five years.
Anyone being laid off will be notified this week. The CEO said those employees are encouraged to apply for some of the 1,300 other openings the health care company has.
More information:
novanthealth.org/Jobs.aspx
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 15:19:23 -0400
Eyewitness News was the first to tell you two weeks ago how plans to widen a stretch of Independence Boulevard were put on hold for six months.
Many businesses along the stretch have already closed down or moved anticipating that construction would start in July.
Bill Miller owns one of those businesses. He and his wife moved The Flower Hut flower shop about a mile from its original location on Independence Boulevard last fall.
"We're starting to feel at home," Miller said. "We're still getting calls from customers saying, ‘Where are you?’"
Work to widen Independence Boulevard from Albemarle Road to Conference Drive was set to start in July. Those plans once included adding a light rail line where the median exists now, but last fall that idea was scrapped.
As a result, the NCDOT said it needs six more months to determine how to implement new design changes to make the stretch flexible for a variety of uses.
The redesign includes building one concrete wall in the median instead of two. Engineers said this will allow for HOV, toll or express bus lanes. Due to the changes, crews will also have to re-examine things like drainage and traffic management.
Eyewitness News spoke with a business owner who didn't want to be identified. He closed down recently and said he would have liked the opportunity to make six more months of income before taking the NCDOT buyout.
While moving was bittersweet for Miller and his wife, he said they're choosing to focus on the road ahead.
"You can't look back. You can’t say, ‘Gee what if’ kind of thing,” Miller said. "You see a situation (and) see you have to deal with it, so you do."
Construction on the 1.5 mile stretch is expected to start in December and take two years to complete.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 15:08:15 -0400
A man failed to appear in court Tuesday and later cut off his electronic monitor, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said.
Wade Bolton, 22, is wanted on outstanding warrants for possession of a firearm by a felon and interfering with an electronic monitoring device, according to police. He has been on CMPD electronic monitoring since he posted a $25,000 bond in February.
Bolton was scheduled to appear in superior court Tuesday, but police said he didn’t appear and later cut his monitor off in the Marlowe Avenue area.
Anyone with information on Bolton's whereabouts is asked to call 911.
Police said Bolton is the fourteenth offender to cut off his court-ordered monitor in 2012.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 14:12:52 -0400
Detectives are investigating after a 25-year-old Hickory woman was found dead in McLeansville.
Contract workers with a power company found Glenda Carolina Magana-Jiron dead inside her car Thursday morning at an intersection in McLeansville. The last time she was seen alive was at the Mexican restaurant where she worked near Greensboro.
Magana-Jiron’s neighbors described seeing investigators removing bags of evidence after searching her apartment in northeast Hickory for more than two hours. Sheriff’s investigators said they took clothing and paperwork from the apartment where Magana-Jiron lived with her three young children.
Neighbor Angelita Jimas is in disbelief that someone stabbed her neighbor to death.
“She was beautiful,” Jimas said. “She was beautiful and so nice and always smiling.”
Another neighbor who didn't want to be identified said the young mother commuted the hour and a half each way to support her family.
“I couldn't believe it,” the neighbor said. “(It’s) just so sad for the kids because one of them was so small. She was still carrying him in her arms, and I was thinking the kid would never know the mother.”
Investigators are not releasing a motive behind the killing and told Channel 9 they have not made any arrests in the case.
“She would always ask how I was doing and how my mom was doing and if we were OK,” Jimas said. “She would cook for us. She was so nice. She was amazing.”
Anyone with information is asked to call the Guilford County Sheriff's Office at 336-641-3355 or Crime Stoppers at 336-373-1000.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 13:05:16 -0400
As deliberations in his criminal trial continue, former senator John Edwards has been calm and collected outside the federal courthouse in Greensboro.
At times, when asked how he's holding up, Edwards has said, "I'm okay."
But what is he really thinking or feeling as the whole country waits for his verdict?
On Tuesday, an expert revealed what she saw when she took a closer look at his body language.
Edwards' daily morning walks into the courthouse are a far cry from his strides on the campaign trail as he campaigned for president.
"Big arm movements and he takes up space," body language expert Blanca Cobb said, describing his previous body language. "That's what we would consider a power walk."
Cobb said his current walk is showing stress. She says it could be a number of things, from a recently disclosed heart condition, to his family, to the case at hand and the six felony counts looming before him.
"It's slower now," she said of his walk. "His eye gaze is down."
That stress is perhaps no surprise. Edwards is accused of misusing nearly a million dollars in campaign contributions from two donors to hide his mistress, Rielle Hunter, and her pregnancy and protect his presidential campaign.
His attorneys said Edwards knew little about the money, and that it was gifts from friends, not campaign contributions.
Cobb said inside the courtroom, Edwards projects confidence.
"He's sitting back in his chair," she said. "He's doing what we call a steeple. This is a power move. It suggests confidence."
The jurors, however, in their seventh day of deliberations, are more difficult to read.
"There isn't anything in the few minutes that I saw the jury today that I would say indicates anything specific," Cobb said.
After hinting at a "juror issue" last week, Judge Catherine Eagles spent nearly 10 minutes on Tuesday giving the jury specific instructions, including telling them not to deliberate in small groups or outside the jury room and to write her a note if they felt anything had come between their ability to be fair.
"She obviously thinks that something is awry or this jury is skirting the line in some way," legal analyst Kieran Shanahan said.
On Tuesday there were also clues that jurors could see deliberations dragging on even longer.
They told the judge about scheduling conflicts this week and next week.
The judge also decided they would start 15 minutes earlier Wednesday and Thursday and end 15 minutes later.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 11:10:50 -0400
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Tuesday to celebrate the construction of a new Charlotte-Mecklenburg school.
The ceremony celebrated the start of construction of the Torrence Creek Elementary Relief School in Huntersville, which is a 39-classroom school on a site that is also proposed as a shared location with a future high school.
The Board of Education approved the location as part of the 2007 bond package. In April, the Board voted to approve the construction contract for the school, with a bid cost of $11.75 million by Matthews Construction Company.
The school is scheduled to open in August 2013.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 11:07:06 -0400
Starting Tuesday, the two outbound lanes on Park Road and one outbound lane on Kenilworth Avenue between Scott Avenue and Park West Drive will close temporarily.
Storm water work is being done in the area.
Kenilworth Avenue will be narrowed to one lane and Park Road will be narrowed to one lane in each direction.
The lanes are expected to reopen on July 20, officials said.
Click here for traffic updates.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 10:49:21 -0400
Facebook could be looking to go in a new direction.
The New York Times reports that the social media giant is looking to release a smartphone sometime next year.
The report says Facebook has already hired several engineers that formerly worked on Apple’s iPhone.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 07:46:06 -0400
Sharon Lane is shut down between Sharon Rd. and Providence Rd. due to a serious accident involving a pedestrian. Expect delays through at least 9 a.m. Use Wendover Rd. as an alternate route between Sharon Rd., Providence Rd., and Randolph Rd.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 07:04:24 -0400
A Rockingham man has been charged in connection with the death of his girlfriend’s baby.
Police have been investigating Kaydeem Swinnie since the 21-month-old infant died two weeks ago.
They said he was watching the child at a motel when he called 911 to report that the boy was no longer breathing.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 07:04:18 -0400
A Myers Park High School freshman was killed while riding his bike Tuesday morning.
Investigators said 14-year-old Drew Wright lost control of his bike on Sharon Lane, near Arbor Way.
On Tuesday afternoon, Wright’s friend, Ryan Lipshay, knelt down and, with a fist full of flowers, offered a prayer to his friend.
“(I) just said we missed him, we loved him (and we) want him back,” Lipshay said.
Students at Myers Park High were shocked to learn of Wright’s death.
“He was only a freshman,” Alex Shinn said. “He had just gotten done with his first year of high school.”
Wright was riding his bike on the sidewalk along Sharon Lane, where garbage cans blocked his path. When his handle bar clipped one, he lost control and fell into the path of a tractor-trailer.
Student Maria Spinello learned about it not long after seeing Wright's seat empty in homeroom.
“There was crying, and everybody was talking about it,” she said.
Outside the school Tuesday, friends said Wright had quickly become a popular member of the school theater group.
“All of our friends -- we were really close with him and it's just really terrible that all this happened right now,” student Dylan Nance said.
As he said his goodbye, reality was still just sinking in for Lipshay.
“For a moment we, honestly, thought it was a joke. (We) just couldn’t believe it,” he said.
Police did not charge the driver in this case.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 06:57:10 -0400
Police hope to find clues from surveillance cameras after a robbery at the Circle K on Old Charlotte Road in Concord Monday night.
Officers said just before midnight, two men in ski masks and hoodies pointed guns at the clerk before fleeing.
A customer was also inside the store, but no one was hurt.
Police said they will go through the surveillance video Tuesday.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 06:45:04 -0400
Defense attorneys and the prosecution in the John Edwards trial will meet early Tuesday morning in Greensboro to discuss a matter with the jury.
The jury will also reconvene for a seventh day of deliberations.
Edwards faces up to 30 years in jail if he is convicted of using campaign money to hide his affair and pregnant mistress.
They must not only determine if Edwards knew of the secret payments, which he has denied, but whether he knew he was violating federal law by allowing them.
Neither of the donors who gave the money testified about their thinking on the issue.
Heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, who's 101, was deemed too frail to travel to court. Wealthy Dallas lawyer Fred Baron, who served as Edwards' campaign finance chairman, died of bone cancer in late 2008.
Stay with wsoctv.com for updates on the trial.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 06:22:37 -0400
A man was shot twice in the legs in south Charlotte last night.
Police were called to South Boulevard near Beacon Ridge Road around 9:30 p.m.
The victim told officers he was walking down the street when someone started firing.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 06:20:04 -0400
Channel 9 received new video of the Maiden pastor who gave a controversial anti-gay sermon at his church.
Pastor Charles Worley was on his way to Sunday services this weekend when he was asked if he regretted anything he said, but didn't have much to say.
“Pastor, would you like to take back anything you said?” CNN's Gary Tuchman asked.
“Pastor, we would like to give you the chance to take anything back if you care to?” Tuchman asked again.
“No,” Worley said.
While the pastor may not be ready to defend his sermon, he did have several supporters ready to defend him.
Cameras caught one of his entourage with a gun in his waistband as they headed to Sunday morning services.
Thousands of demonstrators spoke out for and against the message on Sunday in Newton.
On Saturday, the Catawba County sheriff said someone made a failed attempt to burn down the pastor's church.
Earlier this month, Worley told parishioners gays and lesbians should be locked in an electrified pen and left to die off.
Published: Tue, 29 May 2012 06:15:42 -0400
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