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Tag: Charlotte

  • Nikki Bella Loses Coveted Title to Charlotte On Sunday’s ‘Night of Champions’

    Nikki Bella became the longest-reigning Divas champion in WWE history just days ago, and on Sunday night, during Night of Champions, she lost the title to Charlotte.

    Charlotte’s dad, WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair, was on hand to celebrate the win.

    WWE broadcaster Kyle Edwards became quite emotional following Nikki Bella’s upset, and it had nothing to do with Nikki Bella at all. He was choked up over the powerful father-daughter moments between Charlotte and Ric Flair.

    Charlotte came close to ending Nikki Bella’s reign prior to Sunday on Raw. On Sunday night, however, she cinched her win.

    Nikki Bella won the Divas championship last year, but many of her victories came by way of her cheating. Many fans have watching and waiting for Nikki Bella to lose her title.

    Do you suppose they now feel it was worth the wait?

  • Miley Cyrus Postpones US Tour Dates Due to Illness

    Miley Cyrus officially postponed the remaining dates on the U.S. leg of her Bangerz tour on Friday.

    The announcement on Cyrus’ website read as follows:

    “All remaining U.S. dates on the Miley Cyrus Bangerz tour have been postponed. Miley is continuing to recover from the severe allergic reaction she suffered on April 15. Existing tickets will be honored on the new dates, which include previously cancelled and postponed dates.”

    The postponed shows have been rescheduled for the first two weeks in August. Cyrus also added shows in Pittsburgh (on August 4) and Chicago (on August 14.)

    According to the announcement, the European leg of the tour will proceed as planned. It kicks off May 2 in Amsterdam.

    Cyrus ended up in the hospital in Kansas City last week, forcing her to cancel her show there at the last minute.

    “Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz tour date scheduled for tonight, April 15, at the Sprint Center in Kansas City has been cancelled. Cyrus has been hospitalized for a severe allergic reaction to antibiotics and has been placed on medical rest by her doctors. She will not be able to perform as scheduled,” her website stated.

    Representatives of the controversial singer explained that Cyrus was prescribed the antibiotic Cephalexin for a sinus infection she came down with in North Carolina. Cyrus suffered an “extreme allergic reaction” to the antibiotic.

    “This type of extreme reaction can last from five to 27 days in these types of cases,” the statement said. “She will remain hospitalized and is under a doctor’s care until we see some improvement in her condition …”

    The Bangerz tour kicked off February 14 in Vancouver. The spate of health-related cancellations started with Cyrus’ April 7 Charlotte, NC show.

    Bangerz released in October 2013, debuting in the number one spot on the Billboard 200. In February the album went platinum with over 1 million copies sold.

    Image via Miley Cyrus, Twitter

  • Charlotte Mayor Resigns; Accused of Taking Bribes

    Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon, who had been in office only six months, resigned Wednesday effective immediately, just hours after he was arrested and accused of taking more than $48,000 in bribes from undercover FBI agents posing as real estate developers and investors wanting to do business with North Carolina’s largest city.

    According to a press release from U.S. attorney Anne Tompkins’ office, the 47-year-old Democrat accepted the bribes “in exchange for the use of his official office.”

    Cannon has been charged with accepting more than $48,000 in cash, airline tickets, a hotel room, and the use of a luxury apartment between January 2013 and February 2014. He also solicited more than $1 million more in bribes. If convicted on all charges, Cannon faces up to 50 years in prison and more than $1 million in fines.

    He is accused of accepting bribes on five separate occasions. In the most recent instance, Cannon allegedly accepted $20,000 in cash in the mayor’s office on February 21, 2014. The mayor accepted the cash in exchange for access to city officials responsible for planning, zoning and permitting, the criminal complaint said.

    He reportedly accepted the cash in a leather briefcase, handed over as part of a negotiation in which investigators said he was angling for a one percent kickback on $125 million in investments linked to development deals in the city.

    Cannon apparently accepted the suitcase only after he expressed concern that city hall employees would notice that the undercover agent was leaving without the briefcase.

    “I just got to be conscious about that kind of stuff here, you know,” he allegedly whispered to the agent.

    According to a city spokesperson, Mayor Cannon resigned Wednesday evening effective immediately, just hours after his arrest. Cannon submitted his letter of resignation to the city manager and attorney, and said in the letter that pending charges would be too much of a distraction for the business of the city to remain in office.

    “I hereby give notice of my resignation from the position of the Mayor of the City of Charlotte, effective immediately. In light of the charges that have been brought against me, it is my judgment that the pendency of these charges will create too much of a distraction for the business of the City to go forward smoothly and without interruption,” Cannon wrote in the letter.

    “I regret that I have to take this action, but I believe that it is in the best interest of the City for me to do so,” he continued.

    Federal authorities started their investigation in August 2010 after receiving a tip from a local undercover officer about public corruption. FBI agents posed as commercial real estate developers and investors throughout the investigation, interested in doing business in the North Carolina city, according to Tompkins.

    Image via Wikimedia

  • 911 Call in Jonathan Ferrell Murder Released

    The Charlotte-Mecklenburg police department has released the audio recording of Saturday morning’s 911 call that led to the fatal shooting of Jonathan Ferrell.

    The bizarre series of events that sparked the infamous 911 call has caused a nationwide outrage. Ferrell was fatally shot 10 times by a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer. Around 2:30am early Saturday morning, police were summoned to, Bradfield Farms, an upscale residential community on the outskirts of Charlotte, NC. Bradfield Farms resident, Sarah McCartney, placed the call to police. The audio reveals the woman frantically screaming insisting that someone is trying to break into her home. At the time, Ferrell was knocking at her door repeatedly.

    When three police officers arrived in response to the ‘breaking and entering’ call, they said that Ferrell ran in their direction. He was initially tasered by one officer, but when the effort waned, officer Randall Kent opened fire. Ferrell was pronounced dead at the scene. It was later discovered that he had been in an automobile accident, and had pried his way out of his car. He was only seeking help because he was injured as a result of the accident. While the officers claim Ferrell ‘charged’ them, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police department disagrees with the actions that were taken, admitting that the shooting had no probable cause. Kerrick turned himself in on Saturday shortly after the shooting. He was initially released on $50,000 bond. However, on Monday, the charges came, and all three officers were suspended on paid leave.

    According to CNN, Monday afternoon in another news report, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police department announced that Ferrell’s autopsy was complete. The department released this statement: “The evidence revealed that Mr. Ferrell did advance on Officer Kerrick and the investigation showed that the subsequent shooting of Mr. Ferrell was excessive. Our investigation has shown that Officer Kerrick did not have a lawful right to discharge his weapon during this encounter.” The investigation specifically uncovered that Kent “fired his weapon 12 times and struck Mr. Ferrell 10 times, resulting in his death.” The police department has charged officer Randall Kerrick with voluntary manslaughter, stating that ‘he had no cause to shoot Ferrell.’ Police chief, Rodney Monroe, also stated that the nature of Ferrell’s initial car accident was ‘pretty serious.’

    Kerrick appeared in court on Tuesday. University Herald reported that although he did not offer any comment following appearance, his defense attorney, Michael Greene, stated that Kerrick’s “actions were justified on the night in question.”

    Jonathan Ferrell was a 24-year-old, former football player at FAMU. He was unarmed at the time of the shooting.

    Image via WUSA9

  • Randall Kerrick: NC Police Officer Charged with Manslaughter

    Around 2:30 AM Saturday, 24 year old Jonathan Ferrell approached the nearest house and started knocking on the door “viciously”. Ferrell had wrecked approximately .5 miles down the road and stopped at the nearest house to ask for help. The woman at home approached the door, expecting her husband to be returning home from work. When she saw Ferrell, the woman panicked and called police.

    When the police arrived on the scene, Ferrell ran toward them, presumably to tell them what had happened. The police officers told Ferrell to stop, and when he did not, one officer fired a taser toward Ferrell and missed. Cue Randall Kerrick. Upon his fellow officer’s failure to bring down the suspect, police officer Randall Kerrick decided now would be a good time to become a hero and fire 12 bullets at Ferrell – 10 of which struck home. Ferrell was pronounced dead at the scene.

    It took a total of 19 hours for police to investigate and hand down a sentence. Kerrick has been charged with voluntary manslaughter. Lance LaRusso, a current attorney and former police officer, says that the quick turnaround for the sentencing of a police officer is unusual: “There are a couple of reasons why police take their time. First of all, it takes time to develop things like the toxicology report to determine what happened. You have to wait until daylight to reconstruct the crime scene. You have to interview all the people involved. And the officer is given the opportunity to decompress before making a statement.”

    However, Charlotte police say that there is good reason for the quick sentencing: “The fact that Officer Kerrick discharged his weapon and that Mr. Ferrell was unarmed were some of the factors included in the decision to charge Officer Kerrick with voluntary manslaughter.” The Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Department also released a statement in which they stated “The shooting of Mr. Ferrell was excessive. Our investigation has shown that Officer Kerrick did not have a lawful right to discharge his weapon during this encounter.”

    Despite their apparent cooperation and expediency in regards to giving Kerrick his just due, the NAACP and Ferrell’s attorney, Chris Chestnut, believe that the only reason for such diligence is due to the recent events surrounding Trayvon Martin: “Trayvon Martin was a recipe for what not to do,” stated Chestnut.

    Chestnut and the NAACP also believe that the events transpired because of the inherent racism which still exists in the United States.”Any day in this country, an African-American man can be killed for no reason by the people who are supposed to be protecting him. That’s not an anomaly in this country. They’re never given the benefit of the doubt, and that has to change,” stated the Charlotte chapter of the NAACP. Chestnut also released his own statement concerning the issue of race in this case: “The officer is white, Mr. Ferrell is black. This might be more of a reflection of where we are as a country.”

    Racism has seemed to be a hot-button issue this year, which is ironic considering this is the 50th anniversary of MLK Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. First, we had the issue concerning Trayvon Martin. We then had the issue in which Riley Cooper made some racist statements at a concert. This weekend, we had the controversy surrounding Miss America being of Indian descent. And now this atrocity. Now seems to be the time for us to all sit down and have a national discussion concerning race, but America still seems to believe that race isn’t an issue. However, we all know that the only colorblind person is Stephen Colbert.

    Image via YouTube

  • Patrick Ewing Signs on as Charlotte Bobcats Assistant Coach

    The Charlotte Bobcats this week hired legendary NBA star Patrick Ewing as an assistant coach.

    According to the Charlotte Observer, the NBA team has hired Ewing to serve as “top” assistant to head coach Steve Clifford. His title will be “associate head coach.”

    Ewing retired from NBA basketball in 2002, after a 16-year career. He was the first pick in the 1985 NBA Draft, and played for the New York Knicks for 15 years before finishing his career with the Seattle SuperSonics and the Orlando Magic. He was named an NBA all-star 11 times during his playing days, and was NBA Rookie of the Year in 1986. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.

    After retiring, Ewing began his coaching career as an assistant coach with the Houston Rockets. In 2007 he moved on to an assistant coaching position with the Orlando Magic, working under coach Jeff Van Gundy until now.

    (Image courtesy Seidenstud/Wikimedia Commons)
    (Via Charlotte Observer)