Good morning Qcity! Today, the weatherman is calling for partly cloudy skies and evening showers with a high around 49°. Tonight, expect mostly clear conditions with a low around 32°.

Here’s what’s brewing in the news:

Middle class erosion in Charlotte, widening income gap

Charlotte’s middle class communities are shrinking, as the city’s poor and affluent neighborhoods have grown dramatically over the past few decades - evidence that that the city's income gap is widening.

Citing a study released this month by Stanford University researchers, The Charlotte Observer is reporting that this trend is occurring nationwide. Poor and affluent people are also less likely to live near each other, the study found, while mixed-income neighborhoods are becoming scarcer.

The study reflects a trend that local organizations have noticed for years. The growing separation between poor and affluent families is fueling fear that Charlotte is becoming more economically, racially and socially divided. (Read more) 
***

Overweight child placed in foster care

Is having an overweight child a form of child abuse or neglect? Ohio officials apparently think it can be. A mom in Cleveland had her 8-year-old son, who weighed more than 200 pounds and suffered weight-related health issues, taken away from her. The Cleveland Plan Dealer reports that he was taken to the hospital last year for breathing problems and has been diagnosed with sleep apnea. Since the incident, the child had been monitored by social workers until officials decided the mother was not doing enough to help the boy lose weight and removed him from the home. “They are trying to make it seem like I am unfit, like I don’t love my child,” the mother, who was not identified, told the paper. “It’s a lifestyle change and they are trying to make it seem like I am not embracing that. It is very hard, but I am trying.” (Read more)
***

Let’s make a deal - A man is released from prison for losing weight.

A man in Florida was granted an early release from prison under a judge’s unique lose-a-pound, gain-a-deal program. George McCovery, 37, who weighed 345 pounds, was incarcerated in a Lake County, Florida prison for a suspended license charge. McCovery is now 20 lbs lighter and was rewarded for his weight loss by being released 9 days early. (Read more)

Sign up for our Weekly Email Newsletter Email: For Email Marketing you can trust

Other Ways to Share Twitter Del.icio.us MySpace

Discussions and Submission Agreement