5 Things to Know: Hornets Owners All in on Charlotte Sting Return

Hornets Owners All in on Charlotte Sting Return

The Charlotte Hornets’ new ownership group confirmed Tuesday that it is actively supporting a bid to bring the Charlotte Sting back into the fold as part of an imminent WNBA expansion.

The bid is being led by Erica Berman, senior VP of credit card servicer CardWorks, which her father founded. Longtime financial donors to Davidson College, the Berman family also invested $28 million in the recently launched women’s 3-on-3 basketball league Unrivaled.

“Hornets Sports & Entertainment believes strongly in the future growth of women’s basketball and the WNBA,” read a statement from the Hornets ownership group, which took over the NBA team before the 2023-24 season. “The Charlotte Sting have a storied history and a passionate fanbase within our community. We are proud to back the Berman family and be a part of this larger group that is bidding to bring the WNBA back to Charlotte.”

The Charlotte Sting was one of the eight original teams included in the league upon its launch in 1997 but folded 10 years later.

Police Shoot Man During Traffic Stop

CMPD has yet to identify a man who was shot by police during a confrontation in the Starmount area of southwest Charlotte early Tuesday morning.

According to a CMPD release, officers initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle, one of multiple traffic stop attempts on that same vehicle, on South Boulevard near East Arrowood Road at around 2 a.m. on Tuesday. “Preliminary information indicates that the vehicle pulled over and the subject exited the vehicle,” reads the release. “Officers perceived an imminent deadly threat and engaged with the subject.”

At least one officer opened fire, striking the subject, who was transported to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries. CMPD did not release any details as to what the man allegedly did to threaten police, though the department did claim that investigators recovered a firearm believed to belong to the subject at the scene.

No police officers were hurt during the confrontation. The NC State Bureau of Investigation is leading an investigation of the incident and the involved officers have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of that investigation and the department’s own parallel Internal Affairs investigation.

Community Continues to Rally Against ICE Action

Activists and community members rallied in Uptown on Sunday to demand an end to deportations, full rights for immigrants, and the abolition of ICE. Organized by Charlotte United for Palestine and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, this week’s Stop the Deportations protest took place at First Ward Park. It was the third such rally held in Charlotte since President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.

“Immigrants are workers and valued members of our communities, not criminals. It’s a racist lie that immigrants are committing a wave of violent crimes,” stated Dana Alhasan, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, in the lead up to the rally.

“Trump is wasting an unbelievable amount of money carrying out mass deportations that do nothing but rip families apart and devastate communities,” Alhasan continued. “Instead of terrorizing our communities, the tens of billions of dollars being thrown away could be used to actually solve the problems working class people are facing. We want decent jobs, good schools, affordable health care — not armored vehicles rolling down our streets hunting for immigrant families.”

NC Board of Elections Asks to Expedite Election Challenge

NC Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs took the bench for the first time this week to hear arguments in cases coming before that body even as a challenge to her own reelection continues through state courts, surpassing 100 days of uncertainty following her November election win.

Riggs’ challenger, Republican Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin, has been calling on the courts to throw out the votes of 60,000 ballots that he claims came from voters who did not properly register, a claim that neither Griffin’s lawyers nor supporters have provided any convincing legal justification for.

Following a Feb. 8 ruling from a Wake County Superior Court judge that rejected Griffin’s challenge to Riggs reelection win, the NC Board of Elections is now asking that the Supreme Court expedite things by skipping over the Court of Appeals and taking the case on itself.

While the board did present the request in the interest of expediency to certify one of the final two pending November elections in the country, there is also political interest in skipping the Court of Appeals for Riggs.

As reported by independent journalist Bryan Anderson, bypassing the Court of Appeals would mean Griffin would need a 4-2 ruling in his favor to nullify the superior court’s ruling last week, while a win in the heavily Republican Court of Appeals would mean he only needed a 3-3 ruling from the NC Supreme Court — also stacked with Republicans — to affirm that win.

UNC Charlotte Designated Top-Tier Research University

UNC Charlotte on Thursday was awarded the esteemed Research 1 (R1) status by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. As the highest recognition that a doctoral university can receive, the designation affirms UNC Charlotte as one of the elite research universities in the country.

Alongside East Carolina University, which also announced its R1 designation on Thursday, UNC Charlotte joins UNC Chapel Hill, NC State University, and Duke University as the only universities in North Carolina with R1 status.

“Achieving R1 status reflects our commitment to establish Charlotte as a top-tier research institution,” stated Chancellor Sharon Gaber. “This milestone is the result of the dedication and innovation of our faculty and staff, whose work attracts top talent and critical support. It also fuels economic growth, with research investments driving a fivefold return, strengthening the regional workforce and contributing to Charlotte’s economy. This achievement is a win not only for our University but for our region.”