A private inspector found so many problems that were not identified by county inspectors that the permit was reopened for the general contractor to fix the defects.
Changes that were coming to CATS are now in question as city leaders gear up for a huge year of important transit decisions that is make or break for many of the city's goals.
The records show CATS leaders only started demanding more accountability and better bus service after WBTV’s reporting on the problems plaguing the bus system.
Our investigation follows months of bus operators raising safety concerns and claims from CATS CEO John Lewis that CATS buses and transit centers are safe.
His resignation comes after the WBTV Investigates Team has been digging into problems with the city’s bus system for months and revealed buses never arriving to pick up passengers, safety concerns from drivers and riders, and broken buses still making it onto city streets.
WBTV spoke with half a dozen of JEMA Builders’ customers who say they have serious concerns about the quality of their homes, some of them worth upwards of $400,000, after cosmetic issues, water damage and a host of other problems have plagued the brief time in their new homes.
Tepper’s GT Real Estate filed a new reorganization plan that excludes the original offers for Rock Hill and York County. GT Real Estate claims the city and county have chosen difficult litigation and unreasonable demands instead.
The WBTV Investigation found the amount of bond money agreed to by Rock Hill was far more public investment than other similar projects and simultaneously sidestepped key oversight steps.
The city now claims, Tepper’s company repeatedly failed to provide key financial information that doomed the project and is asking a judge to find the company committed fraud.
CATS operators and drivers tell WBTV the amount of broken buses is so great they often have to wait for a working bus to finish its route before they can start theirs.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is investigating an arrest in which a sergeant with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office reportedly choked a man whose hands were cuffed behind his back. An SBI spokeswoman confirmed the investigation to WBTV on Thursday, days after our investigation first exposed the incident and its fallout.
In a news release, GT Real Estate said the new reorgnization plan would make $82 million available to pay off claims from contractors and York County. Another $20 million or more would be set aside for Rock Hill from the proceeds of the sale of the property.
The contractor, Chris Bradshaw and his company R-Cubed Charlotte Investment Group, which also goes by City View Terraces, were foreclosed on by the lender for the project. Court records show Bradshaw placed the winning bid at the foreclosure sale but failed to pay the money to secure the property.
A Lincoln County sheriff's deputy was fired after he reported a supervisor choking a suspect whose hands were cuffed behind his back. Agents with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation have been unable to investigate the whistleblower's report because the local district attorney will not authorize them to do so.
Carter Lumber sued Bradshaw’s company saying they were owed nearly a million dollars in labor and material Bradshaw never paid. But in the three months since the property was transferred, the lawsuit has stayed stagnant, and now Hughes and Longarzo are negotiating with Carter.
The interview comes as focus intensifies on what CATS, the CEO and the private contractor managing day-to-day operations of CATS bus division, is doing to improve the ongoing problems.
For weeks, Charlotte's transit service, CATS, has claimed its bus service would be impacted by a high number of unexpected driver absences. But internal CATS records show the actual number of unplanned driver absences are far lower than what the transit service has claimed.
WBTV began investigating the bus system after months of problems plagued CATS operations: two shootings, dozens of daily driver absences, buses that don’t show up on schedule and other trips that are never made at all. The lack of clarity among city leaders on who was controlling the bus system’s operations changed after WBTV started asking questions for this story in June.
While Judge Karen Owens indicated that she would ultimately approve a DIP plan, she opened the door for the possibility of lawsuits from the governments and various companies that claim they are owed money.
A former Myers Park High School student has filed a lawsuit against Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools claiming the district allowed a culture of sexual harassment and failed to properly respond to her report of being raped by a fellow student on campus in 2016.
Data shows between January 1st and March 31st, CATS buses missed nearly 98 trips per day. The consequnces to riders can be significant but CATS isn’t the only transit organization struggling with providing the service its promised.
A WBTV investigation has uncovered illegal forms being used in Cabarrus County to remove children from their parents' custody and place them in the homes of other adults. A retired judge-turned-state lawmaker calls the forms astonishing. In the span of one interview, the director of Cabarrus County's department of human services confirmed the forms were used before denying they were ever used.
The letter written by Winston’s attorney Glenn Brock, provided new details of the back-and-forth between the school board regarding former superintendent Earnest Winston prior to his termination last month.
Who is driving the plan and where to are questions WBTV is trying to get answers to, since hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in both Carolinas are on the line.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education voted Tuesday to release internal personnel documents of Earnest Winston that the board said prompted its decision to fire him.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education will hold a special meeting on Tuesday where it is expected to vote to fire Superintendent Earnest Winston. That vote comes after months of back-and-forth regarding Winston's future at the district, including an offer by board members to pay Winston to leave.
The builder had so many liens against his homes he often couldn’t sell the properties, according to testimony and records filed with the North Carolina Real Estate Commission.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has missed multiple deadlines to submit data to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. The data is required to be submitted each year and includes statistics on student population, discipline and reports of incidents on school campuses, including reported rapes and sexual assaults. A district spokeswoman has not provided an explanation for why the deadline was missed.
Charlotte councilmembers Dimple Ajmera and Julie Eiselt say reliability of the bus system needs to get better before they would ask voters to approve a new sales tax for the mobility plan.
Some of the city’s biggest transit centers, where both drivers and riders meet, currently have no security officers, even in the wake of the shooting that killed driver Ethan Rivera.
Since January 1, Brian Williams says he’s had to find a different way to work at least half a dozen times because of buses not arriving on time or at all.
A top state senator is asking questions of N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Cody Kinsley after a WBTV investigation found an eight-year-old boy reported being sexually abused in a group foster home. DHHS officials continue their refusal to answer questions.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has taken no concrete action in response to a report with dozens of recommendations from a task force formed to study how the district can better handle reported sexual violence.
An eight year old boy reported being sexually assaulted by another child in a group foster home. A worried mother's quest to get answers has revealed a state licensing system that's hardly transparent.
A WBTV Investigation found dozens of lawsuits, liens and judgements filed against the company that could prevent homebuyers from closing on new homes and threatens their deposits.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will release the report and recommendations of the Title IX Task Force on Tuesday, according to a spokesman for Superintendent Earnest Winston. The report is being released the same day that two top NC Senators sent a new letter to Winston demanding he provide answers and documents surrounding the district's handling of reported sexual violence.
