Charlotte teens rescue child slaves

Wednesday, May 15th, 2013, 1:35pm

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV)- Ten high school students from across the Charlotte area taking on a pretty big mission.

"I saw a video about child slavery in Ghana about three and half years ago now and my heart just broke," said Madi Vincent.

Since watching that video in 2009, Madi travels every summer to Ghana to help rescue child slaves.

"There's an estimated seven thousand child slaves working on Lake Volta and these kids their ages range from four years old to 14 years old," said Madi.

Parents sell their children into slavery either because they are destitute or because they believe that they are sending their child to receive an education.

Seeking help for these children, Madi convinced a group of her friends from different schools to start a fundraiser.

That led to the formation of Ghana Rock, a nonprofit program run by local teens.

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Hurricane season begins in the eastern Pacific

Submitted by WBTV Web Staff

Wednesday, May 15th, 2013, 1:33pm

Hurricane season begins in the eastern Pacific

While hurricane season is still two weeks away in the Atlantic, Wednesday is the start of hurricane season in the eastern Pacific.

On average, more storms will form in the Pacific basin, but rarely make landfall. The ocean waters off the west coast are far to cold to sustain a hurricane, which requires sea surface temperatures of at least 80 degrees.

Additionally, the trade winds usually carry the storms westward, away from the coast. Rarely, storms can recurve back toward the coastline and make landfall along Baja California. Occasionally, they can bring heavy rain to southern California, but by then have lost their tropical characteristics.

Forecasters expect an average to below-normal year in terms of cyclone activity in the eastern Pacific.

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Patrell Rogers signs with JCSU

Submitted by WBTV Web Staff

Tuesday, May 14th, 2013, 4:21pm

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV)- The quest to replace All American Trevin Parks has started for JC Smith and they got off to a great start today as they signed Patrell Rogers.

Rogers is a 6 foot 2 guard who can play either point guard or shooting guard. Last year at Wilson High School in Florence, SC, Rogers averaged 21 points per and 5 assists per game.

One factor in Rogers coming to JCSU is current sophomore Alandre Davis who also at Smith and went to Wilson High as well.

Last season, Trevin Parks averaged 25 points per game in his senior season. The signing of Patrell certainly helps fill some of that scoring punch that was lost off the Golden Bulls team. JCSU does return Emilio Parks who averaged 15 points last year and Robert Williams who averaged 10 so the Golden Bulls should be just fine when they tip off the 2013-14 season.

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Report: Thieves broke into pump, stole 1,000+ gallons of gas

Submitted by John Cominsky on Tuesday, May 14th, 12:31 pm

YORK COUNTY, SC (WBTV)- Deputies with the York County Sheriff's Office are investigating two incidents of stolen gas that cost a local gas station over 1,000 gallons of fuel.

Both thefts happened at the Flying J gas station on Mount Holly Road, and both involved the thieves "opening the pump and making it pump for free," according to the official report.

The first incident happened on April 26 around 3:30 p.m. Deputies say the manager of the store reported that two white vans modified the pumps and took 1,000 gallons of gas.

The vans reportedly had tanks inside the cabs that the thieves pumped the gas into.

The vans, both driven by men only described as black males, were a white Chevrolet van and a white Ford van.

The second incident happened on May 9. The manager of the store reported to deputies that another vehicle, a black Chevrolet Suburban, stole 25 gallons of gas.

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Volunteers key to making summer camps run

Submitted by WBTV Web Staff

Tuesday, May 14th, 2013, 7:48am

Volunteers key to making summer camps run

The summers are busy for this Charlotte teacher.

When Courtney Blosser is not in her first grade classroom, she is busy at a Charlotte YMCA.

"If you can offer them any extra support than you should do that," said Blosser.

Last summer, she signed up be a teacher volunteer for the Y readers program.

The Huntintowne Elementary School teacher volunteered six weeks and fell in love with her job.

"I love reading," said Blosser.

"I want our children to love reading and I think that for some of our struggling readers that is an amazing program."

The YMCA's Y Reader's program is just one month away.

"This summer we are going to be located at 10 schools across the greater Charlotte area," said Blair Campbell, YMCA communications and partnerships specialist.

The program preps students for the next reading level and helps struggling readers retain information usually lost over the summer.

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Mecklenburg commissioner calls on chair to resign

Submitted by WBTV Web Staff

Monday, May 13th, 2013, 7:27pm

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV)- There is more drama with the Mecklenburg County Commissioners.

This time a commissioner is calling on the Chair of the board to step aside. It comes on the heels of Commissioners firing Harry Jones, the long time County Manager.

Commissioner Dumont Clarke, a democrat, sent an email to fellow democrat - Chairwoman Pat Cotham - telling her "you need to seriously think about stepping aside and letting someone else lead this county commission and speak for us."

Chairwoman Cotham tells WBTV she's not thinking of stepping down as Chair. She says she has" the support of majority of the board", and in her view - "they're moving forward."

This all started Friday when the Charlotte Business Journal ran an article about the commissioners terminating Jones.

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New City Manager recommends City move forward with streetcar

Submitted by Melissa Hankins

Monday, May 13th, 2013, 7:15pm

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV)- New Charlotte City Manager Ron Carlee is recommending that the city move forward with the streetcar extension plans that have deeply divided City Council.

In a plan he's unveiling Monday night, he says his endorsement is based on a feeling that Charlotte has a window of opportunity open to it now to secure a lot of federal funding. His implication – that Mayor Anthony Foxx will serve as a prop to that window if he is confirmed as President Obama's next Secretary of Transportation.

Carlee says that if the city can obtain 50% of the funding from the federal government, the remaining portion can be paid through reallocating unobligated city funds.

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