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Sept. 12, 2001: "Homegrown Health Hazard" by Sam Boykin. Long before today's Cliffside power plant controversy, CL ran this great piece of reporting, the first local story on the environmental and health problems being caused by Duke Energy's coal-fired power plants. Look again at the date of the issue, however, and you'll understand why the story was practically ignored at the time.
Nov. 14, 2001: "Unprotected" by Tara Servatius. CL looked into the incompetent prosecution of what was supposed to be an open-and-shut rape case. A conviction should have been a no-brainer, but a no-brainer prosecutor caused a Not Guilty verdict that shocked even veteran court observers.
March 13, 2002: "Right Sex, Wrong Body" by Sam Boykin. A look at some members of Charlotte's transgender community, folks whose mental perception of their own gender is inconsistent with their physical body and/or sex. The story showed a group of people who, beneath the labels and misconceptions, were, as one female-to-male transsexual said, "just trying to live life to the fullest."
April 19, 2002: "It's A Crapshoot: What You Haven't Been Told About Charlotte's Sewage Spills" by Tara Servatius. This story, about a scandalously feeble enforcement system that let violators get away with spilling millions of gallons of raw sewage into the area's waters, raised a stink -- especially from the county's PR folks who denied there was even a problem. Later, when County Manager Harry Jones proclaimed he wouldn't send the county's response to CL, the Commission had to set him straight.
May 22, 2002: "Hunks on Wheels" by Misty Herrin. Way ahead of the national curve, Herrin celebrated the fact that NASCAR had become dominated by "hot young things" like Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Matt Kenseth, drivers who attracted new female fans to the sport.
Sept. 4, 2002: "City at Risk" by Tara Servatius. A remarkable investigation, done in collaboration with reporters from the New York Daily News, that made it clear just how vulnerable the Charlotte region is to a disastrous attack on its nuclear plants -- no matter what plant owners tell the public about the thick walls around the reactors.
Oct. 16, 2002: "The Amazing Story of the Fabulous Moolah" by Sam Boykin. A surprising, charming look at the life of television's first woman wrestling star, now 80 and still operating a wrestling school in Columbia, S.C.
Jan. 29, 2003: "Taken For A Ride" by Tara Servatius. If only someone downtown had listened: A simple investigation revealed that the two firms advising Charlotte Area Transit officials on our transit plan, and helping to design it -- Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas and Parsons Transportation Corp. -- are directly responsible for projects widely regarded as the biggest transit debacles in the nation's history.
Feb. 26, 2003: "Man of Mystery" by Sam Boykin. David Race Bannon wrote a book in which he claimed to be a former member of Interpol who killed bad guys while hunting down child pornographers and terrorists all over the world. Other local media fell for his story, but CL exposed Bannon as a publicity-craving fraud.
Feb. 4, 2004: "Dose of Their Own Medicine" by Tara Servatius. This story detailed the harassment of alternative medical practitioners by the N.C. Medical Board. It was the first installment of CL's ongoing look at the practices of a board that protects its own members, even when those members have killed patients, but tries to hound competitors out of business.
April 28, 2004: "Flawed Priorities" by Tara Servatius. This national award-winning story (first place for education reporting from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies) pointed out that CMS' plans for improvements to poorer schools skipped the most important factor in a child's education: good, experienced teachers.
July 7, 2004: "Holy Wars" by Frye Gaillard. As conservative Christianity garnered the headlines, Gaillard told the story of religion's enormous influence on Charlotte public life, and profiled leading liberal, conservative and middle of the road preachers and churches.
Sept. 29, 2004: "Big Brother In Your Car" by Tara Servatius. The government and car companies have amazing, futuristic, hi-tech plans for your automobiles and highways that could save your life. Unfortunately, they could also wreck any normal concept of personal privacy.
Feb. 23, 2005: "Thousand Dollar Baby" by Samantha Gellar. Playwright Gellar told the personal story of "how I fought my way through college" and became perhaps the only English major to take part in Tough Woman competitions.
March 2, 2005: "School Choice Consequences" by Tara Servatius. An intensive and ingenious study of census statistics, our story revealed how white parents' school choices, and the resulting shifts in demographics, are rapidly changing the region.
April 6, 2005: "The Agony & the Ecstasy" by Sam Boykin. We still get comments about this story, two years later. Boykin's in-depth story and photos revealed the world of Charlotte's fetish underground and turned the city on its ear. This story led to a 2006 Maxim story by Boykin, "Our Mom Is a Dominatrix."
