Articles
The latest articles by Mary
With a recently concluded global climate summit with challenging takeaways, an incoming president who vows to again remove the U.S. from international climate agreements, and increasing weather disasters that defy what went before, a look at what is being called an existential crisis could be grim. But that’s not the...
When the primary for the 2020 presidential contest was just beginning, an acquaintance — an intelligent, wealthy, white Democrat — shared her sure-fire prediction as we shared dinner. “It’s going to be Michael Bloomberg,” she said. “He’s the logical choice” to be the party’s nominee for president. She seemed shocked...
Remember the movie “Elysium”? Though the dystopian, science-fiction vision of a future Earth didn’t cause much of a stir when it was released in 2013, its premise deserves another look in 2024, when climate and environmental crises are disrupting countries across the globe. Even the average person can’t help but...
North Carolina, like other battleground states, went for Donald Trump in this week’s presidential election. What went right for his campaign and what went wrong for Vice President Kamala Harris? On the statewide level, Democrats picked up wins in races for governor, attorney general, and superintendent for public instruction, among...
The candidates for president of the United States and their surrogates are talking a lot about values, and demonstrating their very different interpretations of what exactly that word means. It was a setting that recalled a horror many Americans have tried to forget, the place where former president Donald Trump...
Sports and politics don’t mix. In truth, that has never been the case. Sports, in fact, reflect every issue, every conflict in society from civil rights to equal justice. Melissa Ludtke knows this from experience. In the 1970s, when she was trying to cover Major League Baseball for Sports Illustrated,...
On a tour of swing states, the BBC traveled to Charlotte, NC, to talk with several women on Team Harris or Team Trump — and one undecided. How could that be? I joined Mary Ramsey as a journalist/NC expert. Thanks to our Plaza Midwood hosts and the BBC’s Matt Chorley...
Former President Donald Trump makes stops across North Carolina, including in the western part of the state where he repeated false claims about the federal response to Helene. Meanwhile, early voting numbers are coming as polls are open in both North and South Carolina. What is the early data telling...
During trips to Europe when Barack Obama was president of the United States, I felt like a rock star because, well, he was one, and some of that sheen couldn’t help but rub off on any random American. It was a point his Republican antagonists used to attack him, as...
On the Charlotte Talks local news roundup, the fallout from Helene continues. Where does the cleanup effort stand? What is the status of the infrastructure in the region? Meanwhile, Election Day is just a few weeks away and early voting begins next week. How do state and local officials plan...