Nov. 6 headlines: State Sen. Bob Rucho is retiring, and this is kind of a big deal
State Sen. Bob Rucho from Matthews announced yesterday that he’s retiring at the end of this term, which ends next year.
This is kind of a big deal. Rucho, a Republican, has been in the senate for 17 years, longer than all but one other senator.
In that time, he’s done a lot, including:
– Led the drawing of legislative and congressional districts after the 2010 Census, cementing his party’s control of the General Assembly and boosted the number of Republicans in Congress.
– Supported a series of voting changes including a requirement for a voter ID.
– Introduced a bill to put Charlotte Douglas International Airport under an independent authority, an issue that’s still tangled up in court and with the Federal Aviation Administration.
– Led the charge for tax changes — including lowering corporate and personal tax rates while expanding services subject to the sales tax — that have become part of North Carolina law.
– He’s also worked on legislation that helped eliminate the state’s $2.8 billion unemployment insurance debt to the federal government and a measure to make hospital bills easier to understand.
What his colleagues had to say about him:
– “Rarely do you see someone work so hard and throw themselves so tenaciously into a project or policy,” Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican, said in a statement. “It was Bob’s vision and conservative principles … that gave direction and intellectual heft to Republican legislators’ historic improvements.”
– “Sen. Rucho is a man of absolute sincerity,” said Democratic Sen. Jeff Jackson of Charlotte, “even if he sincerely drives people nuts.”
In other headlines …
– Work is starting on a 22-story, dual-branded hotel that will sit atop the EpiCentre in uptown. The rendering looks fancy and futuristic. The project is expected to be complete in 2017.
– The Carolina Panthers still don’t know exactly how protesters snuck rappelling equipment into Bank of America Stadium Monday night in order to dangle off the upper deck and unfurl a banner.
– The residential construction boom isn’t limited to Charlotte. Lake Norman is feeling it, too, and some people are worried about how it will affect things like schools and traffic.
– A 40-unit townhouse project has been proposed for a lot on Carmel Road that currently holds two single family houses.
– Need a job? Shutterfly is hiring more than 1,800 people to work at its Fort Mill, S.C., printing and customer service facility during the holiday season.
– Inner Peaks is on track to open its second indoor climbing facility in South End by the end of the month. Charlotte Business Journal has a bunch of photos and more info.
Photo: Jeff Siner/Charlotte Observer
This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 8:50 PM with the headline "Nov. 6 headlines: State Sen. Bob Rucho is retiring, and this is kind of a big deal."