Lunch Break (2/22/16): City council expected to vote on nondiscrimination ordinance

by

comment

The Charlotte City Council will possibly vote tonight on proposed changes to city ordinances that protect people from discrimination in hotels, restaurants and taxis. The proposed changes would add sexual orientation and gender identity, among other things, to the list of things that can not be used to refuse service to consumers in these businesses. The changes would also allow transgender people to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with. (Ryan Pitkin)

The CMPD has released a description of a man wanted for kidnapping a local high school student and attempting to assault him last week. According to a CMPD report released this morning, a dark-skinned black man in his 30s with shoulder-length dreadlocks pulled up to a 16-year-old boy as he walked to East Mecklenburg High School and forced him into his car at gunpoint. The suspect drove the boy to a nearby location apparently to assault him, but the boy escaped before that could happen. The suspect's car is described as a white, four-door Chevrolet Impala or Malibu. (Ryan Pitkin) 

A bystander was hospitalized after a home caught fire early this morning in Huntersville. The home, located at the intersection of Devonshire Drive and Birkdale Commons Parkway, was reportedly undergoing renovations at the time of the fire, which started at around 2:30 a.m. No one was home at the time of the fire, but one bystander was taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. (Fox46 Staff) 

Denny Hamlin won his first Daytona 500 yesterday in the closest finish in the history of the race. On the last lap, Hamlin made a move on leader Matt Kenseth, going around Kenseth's attempted block and racing neck-and-neck with Martin Truex, Jr. to the finish line, winning by 0.010 seconds. Following the race, Hamlin posted a photo of a second-grade essay he wrote many years ago stating his number one wish in life was to win the Dayona 500. (Jenna Fryer, Associated Press via WBTV) 

It is believed that the man responsible for a string of seemingly random shootings in Kalamazoo, Michigan was an Uber driver and was picking up customers in between shootings. One man has even come forward claiming that he jokingly asked the man whether he was the shooter after being picked up by him, and the man said that he was just tired. Six people were killed in the shootings, ranging from 17 to 74 years old. Two other victims survived the shootings, including a 14-year-old girl who was reportedly pronounced dead and was being prepared for organ donation when she squeezed her mother's hand. The shooter has been arrested and will face charges including six counts of murder, among other things. (Michael Miller, Washington Post via Charlotte Observer)