Police sergeants sue Charlotte for more pay

More than 30 current and former police sergeants have sued the city of Charlotte, claiming their employer violated federal labor law by not paying them overtime.

The lawsuit alleges that the city "justified its refusal to pay plaintiffs overtime by unlawfully classifying plaintiffs as salaried exempt employees."

Read the lawsuit

Read Gary Wright's story in today's Observer

Is Atlanta falling behind Charlotte?

Atlanta's mayor, Kasim Reed, seems to think so. Reed says "Hotlanta" is in danger of losing ground to Charlotte on transportation, education, water and the arts, according to Atlanta Journal-Constitution blogger Jim Galloway.

Atlanta is still the capital of the South, says Reed, who concedes Charlotte has made gains — especially when it comes to high-speed rail.

Galloway writes:

Reed compared the situation to the early 1960s when Birmingham was the southern leader in commerce, but lost that title to Atlanta because of its attitude on civil rights. See: Alabama Gov. George Wallace and Birmingham police Chief Eugene “Bull” Connor.

Atlanta, the mayor noted, was more progressive. “Birmingham has never caught up since,” Reed said.

h/t CLT blog

Reporting on slurs hurled at lawmakers

McClatchy Newspapers reporter William Douglas reported recently on the racial epithets and homophobic remarks that protesters had hurled at some Congressional Black Caucus members and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., last weekend ahead of the vote on the landmark health care overhaul legislation.
A number of readers have asked for an explanation on how the story was reported. Here's Douglas' memo to editors on how it came together:

You asked for a memo on the John Lewis and Emanuel Cleaver claims of racial abuse and spit and how I came upon the story. Here it is:
On Saturday March 20, I was on my way from the Senate Press Gallery to the Capitol Visitors Center to camp outside the auditorium where President Obama was addressing House Democrats prior to the lawmakers voting on the health care legislation.
A television producer friend of mine ran up to me and said that she had heard that some black House members were hassled outside by protesters, and that some had used the N-word on John Lewis. After Obama left, I covered a Steny Hoyer-Jim Clyburn news conference about the upcoming health care vote. I then went looking for Lewis and found him heading up the steps from the CVC to the House side of the Capitol.
I chased him down with TV producers from Fox News and, I think, ABC. Lewis didn’t want to go to the cameras, but he answered questions as he walked. He was calm and matter-of-fact as he described what happened to him.
“They were just shouting, sort of harassing,” he began.
I asked him, “Was the N-word used?”

“Oh yeah, yeah, but that’s OK. I’ve faced this before,” he said. “It reminded me of the '60s. A lot of downright hate and anger, and people just being downright mean.”
Lewis and Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind., said that people outside the Cannon House Office Building were shouting “Kill the bill, kill the bill,” and then the N-word. Carson said the N-word was used “several times.” Carson later told the AP that he heard the N-word used at least 15 times.
Lewis said that one Republican colleague apologetically said, "John, you’ve seen this before. This is not new to you.’
After Lewis got into an elevator, I encountered Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. Knowing that he represented Kansas City, I asked if he had seen or heard what happened to Lewis. He said he was walking a distance behind Lewis, but he said he heard what he described as a “chorus” of taunts by the crowd aimed at Lewis and he heard the N-word uttered.
What Emanuel didn’t tell me at the time was that he was spat upon and called the N-word. I learned that after his office put out a statement describing what he experienced. The statement also thanked a Capitol Police officer for helping to defuse the situation.
After speaking to Cleaver, I spoke with Congressional Black Caucus Chair Barbara Lee, D-Calif., who told me that she heard other CBC members had been verbally abused by the crowd, but she didn’t have details. I called the Capitol Police and left a message on the voicemail of their press relations person, who didn’t call back. I didn’t include Lee’s comments in our story because she didn’t personally witness any abuse and she couldn’t give me the names of CBC members who allegedly were abused.
When I got back to the McClatchy desk on the Senate side of the Capitol, I called Mark Seibel, the weekend duty editor; told him what I learned; and asked him if he thought the information should go into the main health care story or whether should we do a separate. Mark instantly said a separate story. I told him that I’d try to get something to him quickly. I put about 4-5 graphs together in about 15 minutes that offered more detail, context and quoted the Associated Press story.
Mark backfilled my initial graphs with some B-matter and got the story up on the McClatchy Washington Web site quickly. He also checked with John Walcott about the language, and he and John agreed that the story should include the N-word and any other racist or hate speech that our reporting had confirmed.
I then returned by attention to the main health care story, having to hit the button on it before 5 p.m. But Mark and I went back into the Lewis-Cleaver story when we got the statement from Cleaver’s office and after I heard a tape of a Boston Globe reporter’s interview of Rep. Barney Frank, who gave the hometown reporter an account of the homophobic slurs he said were hurled at him by demonstrators. We quoted Frank, crediting the Globe. I think Seibel and I made the final add to the Lewis-Cleaver story around 9 p.m.

City hires attorney in harassment probe

The city of Charlotte has hired attorney Valecia McDowell to investigate an allegation of sexual harassment by a council member.

A memo sent today to the mayor and council members said McDowell expects to deliver a report within two weeks. McDowell of Charlotte discounted her normal hourly rate of $400 to $250 because the work "is in the public interest."

Click here to read the memo.

The scope of the investigation:

- Determine whether the complained of conduct of an elected official towards a female member of the city's staff occurred.

- And if the activity occurred, whether it constituted sexually harassing conduct as defined in and interpreted under Title VII.

McDowell, the memo says, will give her findings in a written report in which the alleged victim will be identified as "Employee A."

On March 14, Mayor Anthony Foxx sent an email to all 11 council members reminding them that sexual harassment wouldn't be tolerated. The email did not say which council member was being accused.

Three city officials have told the Observer the e-mail was in response to a complaint by a female staff member against council member Warren Turner. Turner has said he has done nothing wrong.

- Doug Miller

Report: Mecklenburg has most gangs

The state's annual gang report released this week shows Mecklenburg County has 160 gangs, the most of any North Carolina county.

Click here to read the report.

The second-highest county was Wake, with 97 gangs.

According to the Associated Press, the report "reflects a fuller picture of gang activity by relying more on hard data from police and prison officials."

AP reports the Governor's Crime Commission gave its annual gang report to a legislative panel on Thursday.

The report shows there are nearly 13,700 confirmed gang members and their associates, compared to 10,050 in last year's report.

- Doug Miller

The predator priest who got away

The Rev. Lawrence Murphy admitted he sexually abused deaf boys at a Wisconsin boarding school for 22 years. Victims tried for more than three decades to bring him to justice, but documents obtained by The New York Times show that the church neither defrocked him nor referred him for prosecution.

• See the document trail at NYT.com.
• Read the related story here.

What would you cut in county budget?

As Mecklenburg County officials try to find ways to cut $95 million out of next year's budget, they've said pretty much all ideas are on the table.

So what would you cut?

Now, before jumping in with your ideas, it's important to know what all the county pays for.

Schools, the jail, parks, libraries, and social services and the health department are just some areas that receive county money. The county also pays for school construction, supports air and water quality initiatives, and gives money to some local non-profits organizations, among other initiatives.

To see exactly how the county spends money, click here to view the 2009-10 budget approved by county commissioners last June. (Warning: the file is 24 mb in size and will take a few minutes to download.)

The budget book is more than 600 pages long, but you can start by checking these pages:

• Pages 106-123: List of county program and service areas, including whether the county has any flexibility in providing the service and/or its funding level
• Pages 124-25: Spending for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Central Piedmont Community College
• Pages 126-128: Money for non-profit and other outside agencies
• Page 167-206: A department-by-department breakdown of services and spending

As part of our budget coverage this spring, the Observer wants to know your ideas on which county departments and services should get top-billing for funding, and what areas you think should be cut.

Send us your ideas by leaving a comment below, or click here to e-mail county government reporter April Bethea.

Update, 11:30 a.m. March 24: Thank you everyone for your ideas. We're hoping to spend the coming weeks analyzing the feasibility and/or likelihood of what has been suggested. -- April B