Nick Ochsner
Chief Investigative Reporter
Charlotte, NC
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The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board will meet in closed session on Tuesday to discuss the performance of Superintendent Earnest Winston. Tuesday's special meeting comes as Winston is under fire from board leadership and lawmakers in Raleigh over his handling of reported sexual violence at CMS schools.
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WBTV Investigates: Those accused of a crime have had to wait a long time for a court date, some have even had to wait for years
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CMS Superintendent Earnest Winston is under fire and facing new questions from state lawmakers as well as the chairwoman of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board, according to new documents obtained by WBTV. The questions related to Winston's claims and recently-announced policy changes regarding how the district handles reported rapes and sexual assaults.
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WBTV Investigates first told you this spring about the science called “Microscopic Hair Comparison” which has been discredited with then-FBI Director Jim Comey
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He will be discussing Title IX after the task force completed its work in evaluating how the district handles reported sexual violence on campus
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WBTV Investigates: There has been a rash of staff assaults at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center resulting in corrections officers being attacked and hospitalized
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Dowless, the political operative at the center of the 9th Congressional District scandal in 2018, is currently supposed to report to federal prison on December 1.
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An attorney for current and former students at Hawthorne Academy and Myers Park high schools has asked the U.S. Department of Education to open a new investigation into Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools over the district's handling of reported sexual violence. The call for a new investigation comes amidst an ongoing WBTV investigation into the school district.
McCrae Dowless, the political operative at the center of the 9th Congressional District scandal in 2018, pleaded not guilty to charges related to election fraud in Wake County court on Monday. His trial set set for late August.
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This comes more than a week after WBTV first reported on a sophomore student who said she was punished after she reported she had been sexually assaulted by a male classmate
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A student at Hawthorne Academy High School said she was forced to sign a nondisclosure agreement after reporting being sexually assaulted by a classmate in 2019. Her story comes one week after WBTV first revealed a Hawthorne Academy student who was suspended after reporting a sexual assault. CMS leaders refuse to answer questions.
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Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough visited the Salisbury VA Medical Center on Friday to speak with staff, union officials and tour facilities.
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WBTV Investigates: Sophomore at Hawthorne Academy HS reported sexual assault, then was suspended by school
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WBTV Investigates: School officials said the ‘Town Hall’ was set up after students had planned to walk out of the school Wednesday morning in protest
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WBTV Investigates: Hawthorne Academy student suspended after reporting sexual assault, despite police charges
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WBTV Investigates: School administrators at Hawthorne Academy High School accused the female student of filing a false report and suspended her
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WBTV Investigates: She says son died after staff didn’t give him medication for seizure disorder
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Current and former students at Myers Park High School held a protest Thursday evening as they continue to take a stand out about the mishandling of multiple sexual assault allegations that led to the school reassigning its principal.
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‘Slap in the face’: N.C. DPI employees saw raises, elevated pay as teachers wait for salary increase
WBTV Investigates: The raises and inflated salaries at the state’s education office come as classroom teachers continue their years-long wait to see increase in pay
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Myers Park High School Principal Mark Bosco stepped down as the school’s top administrator Wednesday. He has been reassigned to an administrative role within CMS. The move comes after Bosco was suspended in early August as the district investigated Bosco's handling of reported rapes and sexual assaults at the school.
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Court cases across North Carolina are backed up, especially in criminal court. In Mecklenburg County, things are even more delayed, as judicial officials put off resuming in-person trials as other counties re-open their doors.
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WBTV Investigates: Attorney General’s Office continues review, years after promising to start
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The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has cited a Charlotte nursing home after live maggots were found in the wound of a resident suffering from dementia.
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A N.C. House committee held a hearing on problems that have led to a massive liquor shortage in the state. The hearing was announced days after a WBTV investigation found the issues were tied to a new state contract that started over the summer. Lawmakers said Wednesday's hearing left them with more questions than answers.
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North Carolina and South Carolina are each facing a severe shortage of inpatient beds to treat mentally ill kids and teens. As a result, some children are going without the treatment they need and others, in crisis, are spending days or weeks in the emergency room waiting for a bed to open up.
A task force formed by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to evaluate how the district handles reports of sexual violence and other discrimination is operating in secret, with district leaders refusing to share details of who is on the task force or what work the group is doing.
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Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather said he will not order an outside review of reported rapes and sexual assaults at Myers Park High School by the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation, despite a half-dozen women saying police did not thoroughly investigate their cases.
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The chairman of the N.C. ABC Commission resigned on Friday. His resignation comes as the state grapples with liquor shortages, sparked in part by supply chain issues but also a new state contract that has led to delayed and missing liquor shipments to local ABC boards across the state.
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The N.C. Office of the State Treasurer says its office has had hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of checks flagged as suspicious that were written as part of the HOPE program, intended to help pay people's rent to keep them in their homes.
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The mother of an 18-month-old boy called police after her son came home from daycare with bruises all over his body. She called police but now the worried mother is questioning how police and prosecutors handled the investigation.
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Hospitals said patients are getting sick faster and staying sick longer, extending inpatient and ICU stays across the state. The result: more hospitals are reporting critical shortages of staff to serve people in need of medical care.
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The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services cited a camp that offers wilderness therapy to children and teens for violating state regulations following an inspection in late June. Prior to it's June inspection, the last time regulators had visited Trails Carolina was March 2019.
WBTV has filed a lawsuit against Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, members of the school board, Superintendent Earnest Winston and General Counsel Andre Mayes seeking records related to the district’s handling of reports of rape and sexual assault at Myers Park High School.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is refusing to answer questions over its handling of reported rapes and sexual assaults at Myers Park High School. A former CMPD school resource officer testified that a department lawyer told him a woman couldn't be raped if she'd previously had sex with the person. But the lawyer says she never gave that advice.
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A school bus fire in the Iredell-Statesville School District prompted officials there to pull other buses off the road over a safety concern, which they believe is linked to a known mechanical problem with the bus's engine. Despite that, North Carolina education leaders say they have no responsibility to warn other districts.
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Shelby Police Department officers repeatedly punched an unarmed, mentally ill man in the head while try to arrest him during an incident in late May. The police department tried to claim one video of the incident didn't exist.
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The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board got a presentation late Tuesday night on the district’s policies surrounding a federal law that regulates how schools handle reports of sexual violence and harassment. But the presentation, and questions from board members, focused on educating students how to report.
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Members of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education have stayed silent in the wake of a WBTV investigation that found the district failed to record reported rapes and sexual assaults at schools across the district.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education does not have an accurate record of the number of rapes and sexual assaults reported on its campuses for the past decade, a WBTV investigation has found. According to the district's data, just two students reported being raped on campus in the past decade.
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Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Earnest Winston sat down with WBTV in an exclusive interview to address reports of rape and sexual assault at Myers Park High School. It's the first time Winston has spoken on the subject since WBTV's first investigation aired in early June.
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Some members of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education spoke out for the first time Tuesday night about reported rapes and sexual assaults at Myers Park High School. It's the first response from any CMS leader since WBTV's investigation into reported rape and sexual assaults at the school.
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The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education did not renew the contract of Myers Park High School principal Mark Bosco Tuesday night. His contract expired on June 30.
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A provision tucked into a COVID-19 relief bill passed last year is giving nursing homes blanket immunity in court, barring claims for any wrongdoing to residents whether its related to COVID-19.
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The general counsel for the CMS Board of Education sent an apology to the school board hours after posting and deleting a statement in response to a WBTV investigation into the handling of reports by female students that they were raped and sexually assaulted on campus.
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The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation is investigating a former lieutenant with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office in connection with a drive-by shooting that happened in May, an agency spokeswoman confirmed to WBTV.
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The boy rescued from the Union County foster home of Wanda Sue Larson and Dorian Harper is revealing his identity for the first time now that he is an adult. Juan Garcia says he would still like to see Wanda Sue Larson and Dorian Harper prosecuted for the sexual abuse he endured.
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The State of North Carolina has agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit brought on behalf of the boy who was found chained to a porch with a dead chicken around his neck in 2013 at the home of Wanda Sue Larson and Dorian Harper.
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Two more former Myers Park High School students have come forward to detail their experiences after reporting to school administrators that they were raped and sexually assaulted.
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McCrae Dowless, the political operative at the center of the 9th Congressional District scandal in 2018, pleaded guilty to two charges related to unemployment fraud in federal court on Monday.
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The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education responded to a WBTV investigation last week and then deleted its statement roughly an hour later. The district has not issued any new statement and will not respond to renewed request for an on-camera interview