Top Charlotte stories April 30: Catholic growth, Duke rates, Earnhardt. What to know
Charlotte’s Thursday news cycle spans faith, finances and folklore, with reports on Catholic Church growth, a contested Duke Energy rate hike and the enduring legacy of Dale Earnhardt. Here’s a quick look at what’s driving conversations across the region today.
• The Catholic Diocese of Charlotte says its population is up 10.7% since 2020, with adults joining the church climbing from 795 in 2022 to 1,743 in 2025, though UNC Charlotte religious studies chair Sean McCloud cautions there isn’t enough data yet to declare a true religious resurgence.
• Duke Energy customers testified before the North Carolina Utilities Commission in Mecklenburg County, calling the utility’s proposed roughly 18% residential rate hike — about $20 to $30 more per month — a “nightmare” that could force trade-offs between food, medicine and air conditioning, according to the Charlotte Observer.
• Charlotte’s Panorama Holdings secured a $16 million construction loan for The J, an 84-unit, six-story South End apartment complex of microunits averaging 363 square feet and featuring Ori robotic furniture systems that convert living rooms into bedrooms.
• On what would have been Dale Earnhardt’s 75th birthday, Kannapolis residents reflected on how the NASCAR legend’s mythology continues to grow alongside his hometown, which rebuilt itself after the 2003 closure of Cannon Mills — the largest layoff in North Carolina history at the time.
• Five deputies and a supervisor at the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office are now conducting traffic stops and crash investigations — work typically handled by CMPD — at an estimated cost of $682,307 in salaries and benefits, with Sgt. Sheraton Horne hoping to grow the informal team to 10 deputies.
This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists. To learn more about how The Charlotte Observer is using AI in our newsroom, see our policy here.