---
title: Daily Update - December 15, 2025
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This is the Wilmington Standard Daily Update for Monday December 15th, 2025.

There is nothing that millions of dollars of Public Relations spending cannot fix on the Charlotte Area Transit System – CATS. Or at least, that is what Charlotte is hoping will happen.

[North Carolina's largest city](https://www.thecentersquare.com/north_carolina/article_d3fab641-5090-4836-a77e-9de87170db5d.html) is allocating 3.4 million dollars to the Sherry Matthews Group out of Texas to provide specialized expertise across the PR board – including general marketing and branding - in order to

\[enhance\] the public’s perception and use of public transit in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area.

The Center Square reports the deal is spread out over 3 years.

According to [Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/us/charlotte-prioritizes-3-4m-transit-marketing-blitz-over-safety-after-recent-stabbings-gop-chair-says), even though the city council voted on the agreement just this month, the contract with the PR firm was

unrelated to the recent stabbings on the light-rail system and that the timing was coincidental, but not connected to the incidents.

We find that truly hard to believe.

The average salary of a police officer in Charlotte, NC is around 64,000. If the city would take that 3.4 million tabbed for PR and instead hire more transit officers – they could have roughly 18 more law enforcement personal onboard trains keeping customers safe for that exact 3-year time frame.

In other words, Charlotte should actually fix the problem, instead of spending money on glitzy advertising that only covers it up.

For the Wilmington Standard, I’m Reuel Sample. Thanks for listening.

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