Oct. 15, 2024

Kate Barr told CBS News that she was projected to lose the mostly Iredell N.C. Senate seat by 28 percentage points. As her website explains, “If I’m going to lose, we might as well have a little fun, raise a little hell, and shine a light on the impacts of gerrymandering along the way.” She’s turned her “Loser” slogan into a cause. The GOP supermajority in the General Assembly redrew the district to displace incumbent Sen. Natasha Marcus, a Democrat.

Woodson Bradley dons a serious campaign shirt that reads, “Vote like your daughter’s rights depend on it.” Yet the recent redrawing of her district could also be seen as accommodating a Republican candidate.

The Q&A session offers information on a variety of state policy decisions.

The video begins with a note explaining how intermittent Internet interruptions at the city’s Belmont Center affected the record of the session.

After the Webex livestream began but before the meeting’s formal opening, the Webex software’s control over the cameras in the room collapsed. That left a single camera pointing at the four chairs at the presenter’s table. Two Democrats attended. Their Republican opponents did not, and normally the cameras would have focused on the attendees only.

At two later points in the meeting, both video and audio feeds collapsed. (Interruptions affecting only the video feed have been common since August) Screen shots, along with clips from a separate device’s audio recording, have been inserted at those points.

Technicians say the outages are compromising the work of city employees at a number of locations. The City of of Charlotte has commitments to render City Council and other meetings accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Forum looks forward to the day when those commitments are again honored, and its employees have the tools they need to pursue the public’s work.