CHARLOTTE, N.C. —
The wife of former Mecklenburg County GOP chair Curtis Watkins was reported missing Thursday, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police.
CMPD said 39-year-old Vatsla Watkins was last seen on March 18. She was in a silver 2004 Mercedes-Benz C230 with Carolina Panthers North Carolina license plate 8215CP.
Anyone with information is asked to call CMPD at 704-334-1600 or 911.
Finally. After a flurry of opening-round games Thursday, North Carolina and Duke will be among the teams who get their turn Friday. The Tar Heels, the No. 1 seed in the Midwest region, will battle Iona in Columbus, Ohio. Duke, the tournament's overall No. 1 seed, will play North Dakota State in Columbia, South Carolina.
The Blue Devils are the odds-on favorite to cut down the nets thanks to the return of Zion Williamson. With Williamson healthy, Duke has only lost once this year, when Gonzaga topped the Devils 89-87 in November.
Thursday's opening-round games belonged to small schools, as Murray State's Ja Morant recorded the tournament's first-ever triple-double in a win over No. 5 seed Marquette. Morant is widely considered one of the best prospects in the upcoming draft with Williamson.
In the late games, Wofford won their first NCAA Tournament game with an 84-68 victory over Seton Hall. The Terriers were led by senior ace shooter Fletcher Magee, who set a new NCAA record for 3-pointers made in a career. Fletcher hit seven three-point shots to lead Wofford to their 21st straight win.
The new bill is sponsored by State Representatives Chaz Beasley and Christy Clark along with State Senator Natasha Marcus.
Beasely said the legislation, if passed, “will give the DOT more flexibility to modify or cancel the contract.” The toll lane project is being built by a private company from Spain that will then set the rates and collect the tolls along the 26 mile stretch of road that has cost an estimated $640 million.
The bill could allow for changes such as allowing the use of the shoulders during peak traffic times, letting smaller trucks use the toll lanes to relieve congestion in the free lanes, and establish a rebate program for frequent users of toll lanes.
Unless you saw them going up this week, you probably didn't even notice the newest additions to uptown Charlotte.
You can now find small cell phone towers on almost every block in the heart of the city. They're the same ones the Piper Glen neighborhood in south Charlotte tried to keep away in 2016.
Also called nodes, 130 of them are already uptown, and 70 more are completed or planned in other parts of the Queen City. A company called Crown Castle has mapped out possible locations for the low-powered antennas, including near midtown, Providence Road, Brookshire Freeway, Lake Norman, south Charlotte, and Matthews.
Many of the towers are already in place. Installed on public right of way, the company said the nodes pave the way to one-day support next-generation networks like 5G, which promise to expand "smart city" innovations.
North Carolina is failing our children when it comes to testing for lead in the water they drink at schools and daycares, according to a new report by Environmental North Carolina. The group gave North Carolina and 21 other states an "F," prompting lawmakers, school board members, and environmentalists to demand change.
Rep. Harry Warren (R) of Rowan County is sponsoring a bill filed this week that would require older schools and child care facilities to test for lead in drinking water.
He said the legislation would make it mandatory to test buildings built before 2014. The legislation wouldn't just require testing; it would also provide $8 million in funding to help districts take corrective action when they find elevated lead levels.