Always Last... To Breaking News!
Topic
Local government coverage from the Ballantyne perspective — Charlotte City Council votes, Mecklenburg County decisions, zoning changes, and development approvals that directly affect south Charlotte neighborhoods.
Every race on Mecklenburg County's Nov. 3 ballot, from Congress to soil and water, with the state's unofficial count. Democrats won every race decided by Mecklenburg voters alone.
Jack Beckett·Nov 4, 2026
All three constitutional amendments passed statewide on Nov. 3, but Mecklenburg County voted against the photo ID amendment, one of six counties that did, in the state's unofficial count.
Jack Beckett·Nov 4, 2026
Rep. Mark Harris kept his 8th District seat by 5,179 votes on Nov. 3, though the district's Mecklenburg precincts voted for Democrat Colby Watson, in the state's unofficial count.
Jack Beckett·Nov 4, 2026
Democrat Lakesha Womack unseated Rep. Tim Moore in North Carolina's 14th Congressional District on Nov. 3, on the strength of Mecklenburg County, in the state's unofficial count.
Jack Beckett·Nov 4, 2026
Sen. Woodson Bradley won her rematch with Stacie McGinn by more than 17,000 votes, and Democrat Ken McCool unseated Rep. Tricia Cotham, in the state's unofficial count.
Jack Beckett·Nov 4, 2026
Charlotte voters approved all three city bond questions on Nov. 3, letting the city borrow $425 million for streets, sidewalks and affordable housing, in the state's unofficial count.
Jack Beckett·Nov 4, 2026
12,940 Mecklenburg mail ballots were still outstanding as of Monday. Ballots not yet returned must reach the county by 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3; a postmark no longer counts.
Jack Beckett·Oct 28, 2026
Two years after 209 votes separated them, Democratic Sen. Woodson Bradley and Republican Stacie McGinn meet again for the state Senate seat in southeast Mecklenburg.
Jack Beckett·Oct 28, 2026
Charlotte City Council voted unanimously to keep its pause on new data centers for almost another year. Two campuses already under construction, approved for up to 5.5 million square feet, are not…
Jack Beckett·Oct 27, 2026
Charlotte's down payment account was at zero in September, and the next money is a $125 million housing bond, a council member said.
Jack Beckett·Oct 26, 2026
The lease would run through June 30, 2037, and an airline that signs it approves $1.72 billion in airport construction projects.
Jack Beckett·Oct 20, 2026
Charlotte's transit authority voted Sept. 10 to make CATS general counsel Brad Thomas its own lawyer for six months starting Jan. 1, the day CATS employees are to move from the city to the authority.
Jack Beckett·Oct 19, 2026
Mayor Rob Harrington has called a special council session Monday for one vote: the six-week airport lease review he vetoed Oct. 12.
Jack Beckett·Oct 17, 2026
Council has extended its pause to Oct. 18, 2027, but the two biggest data center projects in the city's pipeline are under construction. Only one must use closed-loop cooling.
Jack Beckett·Oct 17, 2026
Early voting for the Nov. 3 general election runs Oct. 15 through Oct. 31 at 25 sites across Mecklenburg County. Any site works, and eligible residents can register on the spot.
Jack Beckett·Oct 14, 2026
City staff asked Charlotte City Council on Monday to extend the pause on new data centers by almost a year. Two approved hyperscale campuses, allowed up to 5.5 million square feet together, are…
Jack Beckett·Oct 13, 2026
Charlotte City Council voted Monday to take six weeks to review the airport's new airline lease and decide Nov. 23. Mayor Rob Harrington vetoed it on the spot.
Jack Beckett·Oct 13, 2026
Charlotte City Council gets its first public presentation Monday on the airport's proposed new lease with five airlines. Its cost, its length and what the airlines would pay have not been made public.
Jack Beckett·Oct 10, 2026
At its last meeting before the September 23 reinstatement vote, CRTPO heard that Charlotte's position on the I-77 South toll lanes is unchanged, that the alternatives analysis cannot finish in time…
Jack Beckett·Aug 26, 2026
Council approved neither a new curfew nor a pilot Monday. Charlotte's police chief asked to explore a test of the 9 p.m. rule, while members proposed different measures, limits, and timelines.
Jack Beckett·Aug 25, 2026
Petition 2026-019 cleared all four criteria that put a Charlotte rezoning on the consent agenda, where petitions pass together without discussion. It came off the list anyway.
Jack Beckett·Aug 20, 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
On July 1, control of the Charlotte Area Transit System passes to the MPTA, a 27-member appointed board, along with a new one-cent tax meant to raise $19.4 billion over thirty years.
Jack Beckett·Jun 11, 2026
The pause runs through about November 5, and the city attorney said state law exempts projects that already hold valid building permits.
Jack Beckett·Jun 9, 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
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
Charlotte's city council voted Tuesday to open applications for an interim mayor, 19 days after Mayor Vi Lyles announced her resignation, and the 2027 race question is already on the form.
Jack Beckett·May 27, 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
