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Staff Writer
Staff writer for The Charlotte Mercury covering government, elections, public safety, and development across multiple publications. Beckett has filed more than 600 stories on local policy, crime, zoning, and civic accountability in Connecticut and the Carolinas.
Kyle Larson finished sixth after starting 30th at Richmond, then flew to Iowa and led all 50 laps to win his fourth Knoxville Nationals title.
Jack Beckett·Aug 16, 2026
MPTA unanimously ordered a separate planning study for a possible future West Craighead infill station. The action leaves the current 11-station Red Line plan unchanged while requiring CATS to begin…
Jack Beckett·Aug 13, 2026
CMS will bar independent YouTube use for K-2 students, but YouTube will not be technically blocked on their school devices.
Jack Beckett·Aug 13, 2026
CMS says Crystal Hill will return as superintendent after an independent review. The board says the review found issues that still require attention, but it did not explain them at its Aug. 11 meeting.
Jack Beckett·Aug 12, 2026
Charlotte FC conceded once in three Phase One matches, but Pachuca’s stoppage-time winner left the club waiting on the rest of the Leagues Cup table.
Jack Beckett·Aug 12, 2026
Charlotte has until September 1 to seek a share of nearly $300 million through DOJ’s Model Cities Initiative. Applying requires local signatures, federal collaboration and an immigration…
Jack Beckett·Aug 11, 2026
Charlotte FC enters its final Leagues Cup Phase One match with six points, five goals and two clean sheets. CF Pachuca is the final test Tuesday.
Jack Beckett·Aug 10, 2026
Kvapil led only nine laps at Iowa. They were the last nine—and his second consecutive win showed what 63 winless starts had built.
Jack Beckett·Aug 10, 2026
Ty Gibbs won at Iowa with a two-tire call built on the No. 54 team's own data. One year after sitting 16th in points, he is second. The change is not just speed.
Jack Beckett·Aug 10, 2026
A federal penalty tied to North Carolina's food-assistance error rate could take $30 million to $42 million a year out of Mecklenburg County's budget, and the county will owe a share of it even if…
Jack Beckett·Aug 7, 2026
Charlotte has until October 5 to reverse itself on the I-77 South toll lanes or absorb a penalty the legislature wrote in July: a state bill the city attorney puts at $64 million, a freeze on its…
Jack Beckett·Aug 5, 2026
Charlotte FC's development side beat Red Bull New York II 3-0 on Friday and sits first in the MLS NEXT Pro Eastern Conference with 40 points from 19 matches, one clear of Columbus Crew 2 with a match…
Jack Beckett·Jul 29, 2026
Heim held off Christopher Bell by 0.287 seconds at Indianapolis and led more laps than anyone in the field. He is the defending Truck Series champion, declared for points in that series, and the…
Jack Beckett·Jul 27, 2026
The Charlotte Knights won five of six games from the Norfolk Tides at Truist Field, clinched the series with a game to spare, and left for a six-game trip to Nashville at 55-47.
Jack Beckett·Jul 26, 2026
Charlotte FC won 2-0 at Red Bull New York on Saturday, its first win at that ground, completing a two-match season series it took by a combined 8-1.
Jack Beckett·Jul 26, 2026
Lionel Messi, Son Heung-Min and Thomas Müller are on the 29-player MLS All-Star roster for Wednesday night at Bank of America Stadium.
Jack Beckett·Jul 26, 2026
Kvapil came in tied for the most runner-up finishes without a win in series history. He led the last 22 laps at Indianapolis to end it, and JR Motorsports took the next three spots behind him.
Jack Beckett·Jul 26, 2026
Riggs gave up the lead once, for two laps, and immediately took it back. He led the other 198, swept both stages and left Indianapolis Raceway Park 100 points clear with two races left before the…
Jack Beckett·Jul 26, 2026
The team has put a car in the top 10 in 78 straight races. One more ties the all-time mark. Chase Elliott is in the car on the oval where his father won the Brickyard 400.
Jack Beckett·Jul 25, 2026
Hamlin has seven wins across NASCAR's four biggest races and none of them is the Brickyard 400. A win Sunday makes him the fifth driver ever to complete the set.
Jack Beckett·Jul 25, 2026
Ty Majeski has two wins and the best average finish in the track's history. His team has not won in 40 races. The next three races are the three best ovals of his career.
Jack Beckett·Jul 24, 2026
George Dunlap, the District 3 member of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, was sworn in Monday as president of the National Association of Counties.
Jack Beckett·Jul 21, 2026
Joey Logano led 323 of 450 laps and beat Denny Hamlin by 0.859 seconds to win the Window World 450, the first NASCAR Cup Series points race at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 30 years.
Jack Beckett·Jul 20, 2026
Kaulig Racing brought five Ram trucks home between 21st and 29th at North Wilkesboro, in Ram's first NASCAR season after a 13-year absence.
Jack Beckett·Jul 18, 2026
Chandler Smith led the final 105 laps of the FaithFest 250 for his ninth career Truck Series win at North Wilkesboro, beating his own Front Row Motorsports teammate and points leader Layne Riggs to…
Jack Beckett·Jul 18, 2026
Grant Enfinger backed into a Lime Rock win and a playoff spot. At North Wilkesboro he defends it from a pack of short-track natives, including Kaulig's Brenden Queen and Justin Haley.
Jack Beckett·Jul 17, 2026
North Wilkesboro hosts its first Cup Series points race since 1996, and Denny Hamlin's shrinking lead lands at a short track no one has a modern read on. A preview of Sunday's Window World 450.
Jack Beckett·Jul 17, 2026
The Smithsonian's "¡Pleibol!" opens Saturday at the Charlotte Museum of History, in partnership with the Charlotte Knights, and runs through October 18.
Jack Beckett·Jul 17, 2026
Timothy "Mini" Tyrrell won his NASCAR ride on a reality show. His teammate Brenden Queen leads Rookie of the Year. Underneath the branding, Kaulig's Ram truck team is a roster of short-track kids…
Jack Beckett·Jul 17, 2026
"¡Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues," a bilingual Smithsonian exhibition on Latinos and baseball, opens Saturday at the Charlotte Museum of History in partnership with the Charlotte…
Jack Beckett·Jul 16, 2026
The regional board that killed the I-77 South toll lanes in May will vote September 23 on bringing them back, under a state budget that told the governments that opposed them to reinstate the project…
Jack Beckett·Jul 16, 2026
The City Council's Safety Committee voted unanimously to send the full council a single 9 p.m. curfew for everyone under 18, replacing the current age-tiered rules.
Jack Beckett·Jul 15, 2026
Justin Allgaier came from 16th through 13 cautions and three red flags to win the Focused Health 250 at Atlanta, his sixth O'Reilly Series win of the season.
Jack Beckett·Jul 13, 2026
Ryan Blaney led 171 of 263 laps, kept handing the lead back to the pack, and took it for good in overtime to win a rain-delayed Quaker State 400 at Atlanta's EchoPark Speedway.
Jack Beckett·Jul 13, 2026
The two fastest trucks at Lime Rock did not win the race. Grant Enfinger, who wasn't the fastest, did, passing cleanly for his first road-course win and first victory in more than a season, on the…
Jack Beckett·Jul 12, 2026
Crown Legacy FC, Charlotte FC's MLS NEXT Pro development side, sits second in the Eastern Conference at 8-2-6 and has already sent four players up to the First Team.
Jack Beckett·Jul 11, 2026
For the first time in club history, Charlotte FC will have players in the MLS All-Star Game: Tim Ream, Pep Biel, and Ashley Westwood.
Jack Beckett·Jul 11, 2026
Charlotte's new transit authority gave its interim CEO expanded authority to sign technology contracts without case-by-case board approval, racing a Jan.
Jack Beckett·Jul 11, 2026
Denny Hamlin leads the Cup Series by 44 points with seven races left, but Sunday night the Quaker State 400 visits EchoPark Speedway, a drafting track where he has no top 10 all year.
Jack Beckett·Jul 10, 2026
Austin Hill has five wins at Atlanta, tied with Kevin Harvick for the most in NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series history. On Saturday, in his home state, he can break the tie.
Jack Beckett·Jul 10, 2026
The Craftsman Truck Series runs its final road course of the year Saturday at Lime Rock Park, a Connecticut track a 1959 court order still bars from racing on Sundays.
Jack Beckett·Jul 10, 2026
A committee of Charlotte's new transit authority voted 5-4 against recommending a West Craighead station for the Red Line, siding with staff who warned an extra stop could weaken the project's bid…
Jack Beckett·Jul 10, 2026
Mecklenburg County will turn a long-vacant building on LaSalle Street, the former home of Project Lift, into a west side workforce hub run by the Urban League of Central Carolinas and four partner…
Jack Beckett·Jul 8, 2026
Brandon Jones started 29th at Chicagoland, led 12 of 201 laps, and won the Cuervo 300 in overtime, the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series' first extra-lap finish of 2026.
Jack Beckett·Jul 6, 2026
William Byron swept both stages at Chicagoland and led 94 laps, more than anyone else on the grid. He finished fourth. Chase Briscoe led the final 46 laps, beat Christopher Bell by 0.276 seconds, and…
Jack Beckett·Jul 6, 2026
NASCAR's Cup Series returns to Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday for the first time since 2019, a 2,562-day gap. The eero 400 caps a three-day holiday weekend at the Joliet oval and lands in a…
Jack Beckett·Jul 3, 2026
Robert "Rob" Harrington took the oath of office Wednesday morning as Charlotte's mayor, ending the succession that began with Vi Lyles's resignation.
Jack Beckett·Jul 2, 2026
Fifty thousand secondhand books, almost none over eight dollars, and a trade that keeps them moving reader to reader. Inside The Book Rack, the Johnston Road shop that has kept south Charlotte…
Jack Beckett·Jul 1, 2026
On June 24 the Metropolitan Public Transportation Authority closed out the last of the twelve requirements North Carolina set before it can run Charlotte's buses and trains, and voted to send the…
Jack Beckett·Jun 28, 2026
With the U.S. Mint's last penny struck in November, Mecklenburg County is drafting a policy for cash payments made without exact change: round the total up to the nearest nickel, by no more than four…
Jack Beckett·Jun 25, 2026
Charlotte-Mecklenburg's school board declined to renew i-Ready on the terms its staff requested, rejecting a multi-year, sole-source contract for a single year with conditions attached.
Jack Beckett·Jun 24, 2026
After a runoff decided by a single vote, the City Council chose Robert Harrington, a Robinson Bradshaw attorney who has never held elected office, as Charlotte's next mayor.
Jack Beckett·Jun 23, 2026
Layne Riggs won the inaugural Truck Series race at San Diego and stretched his championship lead from 26 points to 65 as nearest rival Kaden Honeycutt crashed out.
Jack Beckett·Jun 22, 2026
Corey Heim won the Anduril 250 at the San Diego Street Course, the first Cup Series race ever run at Naval Base Coronado, then collected zero championship points: as a Truck Series cross-entry he was…
Jack Beckett·Jun 22, 2026
Austin Hill won the inaugural O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at San Diego's Naval Base Coronado, surviving a 25-car wreck and a run of engine failures for the 16th series victory of his career.
Jack Beckett·Jun 22, 2026
The council interviewed five finalists for interim mayor on June 18 and set the appointment vote for Monday. Here is how each got on the ballot, what they told council about running meetings, the…
Jack Beckett·Jun 20, 2026
Hendrick Motorsports has petitioned to rezone 22.89 acres at the Mecklenburg-Cabarrus line from residential to industrial to expand its race-shop campus.
Jack Beckett·Jun 17, 2026
A bill in Raleigh, written by Sen. Vickie Sawyer, would require the Charlotte-area governments that voted to kill the I-77 South toll lanes in May to repay the state an estimated $60 million, freeze…
Jack Beckett·Jun 17, 2026
Mayor Pro Tem James Mitchell Jr. applied for the interim mayor seat the council will fill, and he can vote for himself. Council members raised a conflict; the city attorney ruled there is no legal…
Jack Beckett·Jun 17, 2026
More than 100 people applied to be Charlotte's next mayor, and about 30 made their case in person at a June 15 council forum.
Jack Beckett·Jun 16, 2026
Denny Hamlin held off Tyler Reddick by 1.678 seconds at Pocono on Sunday for his third straight NASCAR Cup win, a record eighth at the track.
Jack Beckett·Jun 15, 2026
On July 1, the Charlotte Area Transit System stops being a city department and passes to the MPTA, a 27-member appointed board, along with a new one-cent tax meant to raise $19.4 billion over thirty…
Jack Beckett·Jun 11, 2026
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education voted 7-2 to adopt Policy S-SFRS on student free speech. The most substantive speech about the policy came from a student who argued it would do the…
Jack Beckett·Jun 10, 2026
More than a dozen parents, students, teachers, and health professionals testified against renewing Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' iReady contract at Tuesday's board meeting.
Jack Beckett·Jun 10, 2026
Charlotte's city council voted unanimously Monday to pause all new data center and telecommunications facility approvals for 150 days, giving staff time to develop regulations the council says…
Jack Beckett·Jun 9, 2026
The Charlotte Knights completed a six-game sweep of the Durham Bulls on Sunday, a 12-5 finale that ran their win streak to six and dropped Durham to 0-9 against Charlotte in the first half.
Jack Beckett·Jun 8, 2026
Mecklenburg County's new budget raised 721 county workers to a living wage but left MEDIC's paramedics and EMTs out — their raise sits in restricted contingency, pending two studies and a second vote.
Jack Beckett·Jun 3, 2026
WheelPrice's founders previewed BBS's first-ever truck and SUV wheel for a NASCAR Sundays crowd — the first time the storied German manufacturer has built for trucks and SUVs, and a measure of how…
Jack Beckett·Jun 3, 2026
Mecklenburg County's 2026-27 budget was a foregone conclusion — but adopting it still took the board most of an hour, through nine contract recusals, a failed park-appointment slate, three motions to…
Jack Beckett·Jun 3, 2026
WheelPrice, built by college friends, has spent three years making the enthusiast wheel trade less sketchy — bootstrapped, five people, and an industry-first AI fitment tool.
Jack Beckett·Jun 3, 2026
A Charlotte City Council committee voted 4-1 to keep exploring a criminal-penalty option for repeat street-vending offenders and unanimously advanced citywide vending regulation, sending both to the…
Jack Beckett·Jun 3, 2026
At the MTC's final meeting, members praised interim CATS CEO Brent Cagle for steadying an agency in crisis since he arrived in December 2022.
Jack Beckett·Jun 3, 2026
Charlotte City Council voted 10-1 Monday to direct the city manager to give the Charlotte Fire Department the same 10 percent raise as police, closing a pay gap that drew months of firefighter protest.
Jack Beckett·Jun 2, 2026
The Metropolitan Transit Commission's final vote adopted the CATS Fare Modernization Program — tap-and-go payments, electronic validation, a new streetcar fare, and expanded reduced fares, phased in…
Jack Beckett·Jun 2, 2026
Denny Hamlin won the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville by 0.115 seconds — and the two cars he beat were his own Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe, in a three-wide sweep to…
Jack Beckett·Jun 1, 2026
Carolina Ascent FC led the first Gainbridge Super League final in club history 1-0 at halftime, but Lexington SC equalized in the 72nd minute and scored twice in extra time to win 3-1, capping a…
Jack Beckett·Jun 1, 2026
The Metropolitan Transit Commission held its final meeting May 27 after 27 years, adopting an amended CATS fare policy and formally handing operational control to the new Metropolitan Public…
Jack Beckett·Jun 1, 2026
Charlotte went from a bus-only city to a rail-connected region to an independent transit authority in 27 years. A companion to the Mercury's coverage of the MTC's dissolution, laid out as a single…
Jack Beckett·May 30, 2026
A late substitute motion placed $2,293,759 in restricted contingency rather than fund a same-day move of MEDIC's EMT minimum wage to the new $25.53 county floor.
Jack Beckett·May 29, 2026
Thirteen new fund-balance allocations cleared at Thursday's FY27 straw vote — eleven external community partners plus two internal Park & Rec restorations.
Jack Beckett·May 29, 2026
A 7-1 vote sends the FY2027 operating budget to ordinance-drafting for June 2 adoption. Roughly $1.6 million in additional fund-balance allocations cleared.
Jack Beckett·May 29, 2026
Kyle Larson hasn't won a Cup Series race since Kansas in May 2025. The streak now stands at 37 — his longest since joining Hendrick Motorsports — and on Sunday night he returns to the track where his…
Jack Beckett·May 28, 2026
CMS unanimously approved a 99-year lease option with Innovative Housing Solutions Foundation for educator housing adjacent to Garinger High School. IHSF must secure fundraising by June 2027.
Jack Beckett·May 27, 2026
Charlotte City Council held a public hearing Tuesday on a proposed 150-day moratorium on new telecommunications and data storage facilities.
Jack Beckett·May 27, 2026
Charlotte FC took a 1-0 win over the New England Revolution into the MLS World Cup break Saturday night at Bank of America Stadium.
Jack Beckett·May 25, 2026
Mackenzie George scored in the sixth minute at Hodges Stadium on Sunday, and the Carolina Ascent spent the next eighty-four minutes defending it.
Jack Beckett·May 25, 2026
Inside the $2.6 billion budget Mecklenburg commissioners adopt June 2 is the county's share of a $118 million public-safety training complex in Matthews — Central Piedmont's "Community Lifeline,"…
Jack Beckett·May 24, 2026
CRTPO voted May 20 to withdraw support for the I-77 South toll lanes, all but ending a $3.2 billion expansion, removing it from the state's ten-year construction plan, and putting an estimated $700…
Jack Beckett·May 23, 2026
One regional board ended a multibillion-dollar state project. Here is what CRTPO is, how its weighted vote works, and why Charlotte's bloc is large enough to decide the outcome.
Jack Beckett·May 23, 2026
County Manager Michael Bryant's recommended FY2027 budget holds Mecklenburg's property tax rate flat and fully funds Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
Jack Beckett·May 23, 2026
Charlotte City Council on Monday unanimously approved a partial rezoning of the Manor Theater site on Providence Road, clearing the way for SLRH Acquisitions to redevelop the long-closed Eastover…
Jack Beckett·May 22, 2026
Kyle Busch, the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion who won more races across the sport's three national series than any driver in history, died Thursday at 41 — days before the sport returns to…
Jack Beckett·May 21, 2026
Mission City Church, Freedom Communities, and the True Homes Foundation walked Charlotte City Council through their 49-townhome affordable-housing petition Monday night.
Jack Beckett·May 21, 2026
The Charlotte City Council on Monday rezoned a 0.16-acre Verbena Street parcel from ML-2 (manufacturing and logistics) to TOD-NC, 7-2.
Jack Beckett·May 21, 2026
At Mecklenburg County's May 20 budget overview, Budget Director Adrian Cox put a number on what the county spends covering the state's share of CMS: more than $400 million — about sixteen cents of…
Jack Beckett·May 20, 2026
Council Member Renée Johnson (District 4) brought a manually-compiled CMS school-utilization report to Monday's council meeting to argue that the conventional rezoning process is not tracking the…
Jack Beckett·May 20, 2026
Mecklenburg commissioners got a deliberately neutral briefing on data centers at their May 19 meeting and signaled they want a position on the fast-growing industry.
Jack Beckett·May 20, 2026
Charlotte City Council unanimously approved a 41.26-acre rezoning of the Atrium Health University City hospital campus Monday, switching the property from Institutional Campus 1 to Institutional…
Jack Beckett·May 20, 2026
Council Member Renée Johnson pulled petition 2025-136 — a conventional rezoning at 1800 West Sugar Creek Road by Larry Cooper — off the consent agenda Monday, citing her standing concern about…
Jack Beckett·May 19, 2026
Mayor Vi Lyles had not chaired a 2026 zoning meeting through her current term — Council Member Ed Driggs (District 7) handled each of the four held earlier this year.
Jack Beckett·May 19, 2026
