Three weeks ago, Tonya Lockhart's children fulfilled their dying mother's final wish. Now they're worried they won't have the money to lay their mom to rest ... Lockhart was diagnosed with cervical cancer in April 2009. As her health worsened, she told her children she wanted them to graduate from high school ... After spring break, Lockhart was admitted for what would be her final stay at Presbyterian Hospital. A week later, in the hospital's chapel, North Mecklenburg High School held an early
A man was shot and killed outside a northeast Charlotte nightclub early Sunday morning, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said ... Luis Manuel Rodriguez Contreras, 21, had just been escorted out of La Zima Bar Mexicano, near Eastway Drive and North Tryon, by bar security. There had been an altercation inside, police said, and several people left with Contreras ... He was with several other club patrons in the parking lot at about 12:55 a.m. when the shooting occurred ... Contreras was shot at least
Charlotte's Bob Lawing - who helped keep order on the football fields and basketball courts of the Carolinas and throughout the country - died Thursday of cancer ... Lawing, 58, was a former football and basketball referee in the ACC who had been an NFL official since 1997. He also worked for his family's T.R. Lawing Realty Inc ... As a student at East Mecklenburg High, Lawing began officiating when he was 14 in the Myers Park Trinity Little League program ... After graduating from N.C. State,
Even as the magnet programs of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools bask in new national acclaim, the families that support them fear for their future ... Federal grants that brought in millions to the programs are gone. The county money that fills the gap is shrinking. The extensive - and expensive - busing system that makes magnets accessible to low-income families is a prime target for budget cuts ... On Tuesday, the school board will decide whether to save up to $5 million by scaling back
(By Kirsten Valle, kvalle@charlotteobserver.com) Mark Frietch has seen the labor market from both sides: as a recruiter for large organizations and, when he lost his job at Wachovia last year, as one of the thousands of the Charlotte region's unemployed ... Frietch launched his own business, TAC Services LLC, in July, advising small companies on the best ways to attract and retain talent, and coaching job candidates on the best ways to stand out in the crowded job market. And he's worked a
Countrywide Financial Corp., which is owned by Bank of America Corp., has agreed to pay $600 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by New York pension funds. (BAC) ...
The North Carolina State Bar on Monday suspended state Rep. Nick Mackeys law license in a case the bar described as involving "acts of dishonesty," "a pattern of misconduct" and circumstances reflecting Mackeys "lack of honesty, trustworthiness, or integrity." ... Mackey, whose district covers parts of north central and eastern Mecklenburg, will lose his license for three years, though he can petition to get it back under certain conditions after one year. The suspension was part of a