5 Things to Know: Naya Tapper, Kaylyn Brown Seeing Success at Olympics

Charlotteans Seeing Success at Olympics

A couple Charlotte natives have seen success during the first week of the Olympics, with others still set to compete. Naya Tapper, co-captain of the US women’s rugby team, helped lead the squad to its first medal ever with an upset win against Australia in the final seconds of Tuesday’s match, claiming the bronze.

Tapper began her rugby career in 2012 as a student-athlete at UNC-Chapel Hill, switching gears after a successful track career at West Mecklenburg High School here in Charlotte. She announced before the Games that she will retire when they are over.

Mallard Creek High School graduate Kaylyn Brown made history during her first Olympics as part of the US relay team that set a world record on Friday in the mixed 4×400-meter preliminary heats. Kaylyn Brown and the rest of the team will run in the final today.

Providence Day School grad Anna Cockrell, competing in her second Olympics, will run in the 400-meter hurdle prelims on Sunday between 4-7 p.m. After finishing 29th in the men’s individual triathlon on Wednesday, Queen’s University grad Seth Rider will compete in the mixed relay on Monday.

Roy Cooper Drops Out of Running for Vice President Nomination

Reported early on as one of the finalists to be Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ running mate, Gov. Roy Cooper announced Monday that he would not seek the role, stating at a public event the following day that Democrats “have a lot of great options for [Harris] to choose from.”

Barred from running for governor a third time due to term limits, there wasn’t any apparent immediate reason why Cooper wouldn’t want to run with Harris, whom he has enthusiastically endorsed.

He has since stated in interviews that he had concerns that extremist Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, currently running for governor in the coming elections, would attempt to take drastic actions while serving as acting governor whenever Cooper left the state to campaign. However, Cooper has traveled out of the state and country as governor multiple times since Robinson was elected lieutenant governor to no such results.

It is believed Cooper may have his eyes on a different position: US Senator. Multiple outlets have reported that Cooper could be interested in running against current US Sen. Thom Tillis in 2026, attempting to flip a red seat to blue in a closely divided chamber.

Grant Application Period Opens for Beyond Open Round 3

Foundation For The Carolinas announced yesterday that Beyond Open grant applications will be accepted from Aug. 5-30 for small business owners to apply for capital that will help to build economic mobility.

Beyond Open is a $20-million grant program funded by Wells Fargo’s Open For Business Fund that over the two previous rounds distributed $10.7 million in grant awards to nearly 300 small business owners and select nonprofits. In the third round, Beyond Open will award up to $5 million to grantees in amounts from $10,000–$150,000.

Small business owners can apply for a Beyond Open grant to purchase capital assets including equipment, technology, real estate and inventory. Beyond Open grants cannot be used for operating expenses such as payroll, advertising/marketing, professional services, maintenance costs, insurance, utilities, debt repayment and investment properties.

The program centers diverse (minority, woman, veteran, LGBTQ, persons with disabilities) small business owners within the Corridors of Opportunity as identified by the city of Charlotte. Businesses must be physically located within one of the Corridors to be eligible to receive an award in Round 3. A full list of eligibility can be found here. Application support is available at the website.

Four Shot in East Charlotte

One man is dead and three others seriously wounded after a quadruple shooting on Shamrock Drive on Friday night.

At around 11:30 p.m., police responded to a shooting call on Shamrock Drive near the Charlotte Museum of History in east Charlotte, where they found four victims: two people lying in the roadway with life-threatening injuries, and two more victims at a nearby residence. One of the victims in the residence was pronounced dead at the scene, while all three others suffered life-threatening injuries. No further information is known at the time of this writing.

In the above map, black markers signify deaths by gun violence, green markers signify killings that may be deemed justified, red markers signify stabbings, yellow markers signify murder by vehicle, purple markers signify deaths by trauma or unknown cause, and blue markers signify police killings.

The incident marked the 81st homicide recorded by Queen City Nerve in Charlotte this year, as seen above, coming off an especially brutal July that saw 12 murders occur during the month. That’s the most this year besides April, during which 13 people were killed including five during a shootout between police and a suspect in east Charlotte.

Sinkhole Collapses Cedar Street

South Cedar Street was shut down on Tuesday after a large sinkhole swallowed much of the road near West Morehead Street at around 10:30 a.m. A water main break is thought to be the cause.  It’s unclear at this time how long the street will be closed, though it may take a while.