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Rucho To Retire From State Senate

State Sen. Bob Rucho, who will retire at the end of his seventh term. (File photo)

One of North Carolina's most powerful state senators will not be running for re-election. Republican Senator Bob Rucho plans to retire after 17 years in the General Assembly. 

Rucho has been a controversial figure during his time in state government.

He's served as co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, where he led an effort to implement tax changes made by the Republican-controlled legislature.

He was also an architect of revised electoral maps in North Carolina, which critics on both sides of the political spectrum held up as prime examples of gerrymandering.

Rucho defended those charges in an interview with WFDD last year, saying the maps followed strict court-ordered guidelines.

Rucho, a 67-year-old dentist from Matthews has told media outlets that he's achieved everything he wanted to in state government, and has been planning his retirement for some time.

But his announcement came as a surprise to his colleagues and constituents in Mecklenburg County.

Rucho will serve out his seventh non-consecutive term in the Senate.

 

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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