City Smart: Housing prices on the rise to oldest woman marathoner

• More food for people who need it. The Second Harvest Food Bank is kicking off a campaign to raise $8MM so that it can double its warehouse facilities and increase its ability to feed hungry people. The expansion can’t come too soon — 518,000 people (18% of the population) are living at or below the poverty level in the counties served by Second Harvest. In other food news, the NC House included in its budget proposal the Healthy Food Small Retailer Fund, which would spend $1 million to put refrigerators full of fruits and vegetables in 6,000 convenience stores located in “food deserts” that don’t have easy access to grocery stores. Analysts are skeptical that the bill will make it past the Senate and into the full budget, but wouldn’t it be great if it did?

• Veto. Last week Gov. McCrory vetoed two controversial bills passed by the Republican led legislature. One, the so called “ag-gag bill” would have allowed owners to sue employees who conduct undercover investigations on their properties. McCrory vetoed the bill after a lot of public attention on the topic, including tweets being aimed his way by the likes of Ke$ha and Martha Stewart.  He cited insufficient protections for whistle-blowers as his reason. He also vetoed the bill passed that would allow magistrates to opt-out of performing same-sex marriage ceremonies for religious reasons, citing constitutional grounds. Critics of the bills applaud the governor’s action, but political analysts opine that the vetoes may have been a convenient way for McCrory to paint himself as a moderate in prep for the upcoming election year.

Don’t help special interest groups cover up elder, child, and animal abuse @PatMcCroryNC. Please Veto #NCAgGag. https://t.co/YvUiC4q1sW

— kesha (@KeshaRose) May 21, 2015

• Mo’ Money for Housing. Housing prices are on the rise in Charlotte, outpacing the national average and up 5.8% this past March from March 2014. Some speculate that this could be a bubble, but it’s really hard to figure that out until after the bubble has popped. Rental rates are also on an upswing, with Charlotte on the list of 20 metro areas that have seen the greatest increases in rent in the past five years. Charlotte is number 20 on the list, with a 15.6% rise in rent from 2009-2014. Nationally, income has increased by 11% in the past five years, while rent increased 15%.

2 Happy Things

• Levine Children’s Hospital was named as one of the best places in the country to have congenital heart surgery.  The Levine Children’s Hospital, located at Carolinas Medical Center main campus, takes on some of the most complicated patients and still has a mortality rate of half of the national average, which is just under 10%

• The number of children suspended in the CMS system dropped by 14% this year, as they’ve switched to focusing on keeping students in the classroom and learning. The change in disciplinary approaches comes after numerous studies have shown that fewer out-of school suspensions leads to more students graduating and better academic achievement. (And yes, they really needed to do studies to show that keeping students in class rather than at home leads to better academic achievement.)

1 Random Thing

• Charlotte is home to the oldest woman to ever complete a marathon! When 92 year old Charlottean Harriette Thompson completed the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon on Sunday, she set a record as the oldest woman ever to complete a 26.2 mile race. The grandmother of 10 also received a shout out from former Panther/current Raven Steve Smith after she beat him in his own race the weekend before (“Lace up Son Family 5K”). Harriette is also a classically trained pianist who plays daily and has played three times at Carnegie Hall.