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  • Fleeing driver's car couldn't hide in the crowd
    Mar 10, 2010 — The Cary News
    Among the charges are speeding to elude arrest; simple worthless check; damage to property; hit and run; driving while license revoked; resisting arrest and giving fictitious information to an officer. The tint on the windows of the pink Mercury was also in violation. Fleeing arrest is not new to Riggsbee. He took the exit ramp to Airport Boulevard, where he lost control and hit a Jeep, according to the Highway Patrol.
  • Plotting plans for the core of Cary
    Mar 10, 2010 — The Cary News
    The town is renovating the Old Cary Elementary building into a community arts center, acquiring land for a downtown park and designing an array of signs for the area. The community arts center and town park would be the centerpiece. Shops such as The Top Drawer and India Bazaar of Cary were quiet.
  • Teachers want more time to improve school
    Mar 10, 2010 — High Point Enterprise
    We have not given up on them." Only about 24 percent of students scored proficient in reading on state exams last year, and 39 percent were proficient in math. This school does not fit the round hole.
  • Town will finance park
    Mar 10, 2010 — Eastern Wake News
    Finance Director Jimmy Overton said the time was right to get a loan, and if the town acts quickly it could find financing for 4 percent or even 3.75 percent. Killen said public hearings could be held before a vote on the execution of the option. To help pay for the project, the town has a state Department of Transportation grant for $700,000.
  • Board aims to cut $5.2M: School officials consider furloughs, lowering number of assistant-principal jobs
    Mar 9, 2010 — Winston-Salem Journal
    The state base pay for teachers with master's degrees is 10 percent higher than for those with bachelor degrees only. That would not be affected. At present, nine elementary and two middle schools in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system have two assistant principals.
  • Hickory wants legislature to reject unions, shifting road costs
    Mar 9, 2010 — Hickory Daily Record
    State law prohibits unionization of state and local government employees. It would reduce municipal revenue. Reduction in state-collected revenue distribution. The state is the recipient of money from some fees, permits, alcohol sales, sales taxes and other items.
  • Moore charter school may be forced to shut down
    Mar 9, 2010 — The Fayetteville Observer
    There are 13 teachers. The charter school is a public school of choice that is tuition free and financed through public funds. Students wear uniforms. Many of the students come from military families, Schoen said. Students come from Moore, Scotland, Hoke and Richmond counties.
  • Nonprofits tied directly to governments fare better in funding
    Mar 9, 2010 — Star-News
    The nonprofit agencies had requested $885,685. "There wasn't enough money to go around.
  • Private sector 'backup' DATA plan
    Mar 9, 2010 — The Herald-Sun
    ...-- DURHAM -- Seeking what the city manager terms "a backup plan" in case negotiations with Triangle Transit fall through, officials have asked private-sector companies to put in offers to operate the Durham Area Transit Authority. The request for proposals went out last week and directs interested companies to answer by March 31. A parallel document covers Durham Access, the van service the city offers to the disabled. But City Manager Tom Bonfield and Triangle Transit General...
  • Smog-cutting status reviewed
    Mar 9, 2010 — The Charlotte Observer
    ...impact emissions. Steinman said no rapid transit project or highway has any significant impact on the city meeting its pollution goals. He said cars that emit fewer smog-producing pollutants will be responsible for the area's ozone reductions -- not a single transit project or highway. The air-quality plan assumed there wouldn't be a streetcar running through central Charlotte. Mayor Pro Tem Susan Burgess said the streetcar should be included, and said it's likely the...
  • Assault on Taft could have been random, police say
    Mar 8, 2010 — The News and Observer
    Sughrue did not give further details about how she was assaulted except to say investigators hadn't eliminated the possibility of a random attack. Jim Hunt in 1995, Taft was a former vice chairwoman of the Pitt County Board of Education. Her former husband, Tom Taft, is a former state senator from Greenville.
  • Harnett County's transit system to get a new home
    Mar 8, 2010 — The Fayetteville Observer
    The county contributed the 2-acre site. The building has been planned since 1992, but has been repeatedly dogged by funding problems and red tape. The building was held up another few months so the first fair could go ahead. That event is seeking a new home. Thurman hopes to be in the building by June.
  • More cuts and reversions likely for local school district
    Mar 8, 2010 — The Free Press (Kinston, N.C.)
    ...gaps." The fiscal 2009 budget for the state was $21 billion followed by a $19 billion budget for fiscal 2010. Warren said the fiscal 2010 budget included a $1 billion federal stimulus allocation and another $1 billion allocation from the temporary 1 cent sales tax hike. Education funding comprises about 55 percent of the state's annual budget and will likely see another significant round of cuts in the upcoming General Assembly session. Miller said he was advised by the state to...
  • The Charlotte Observer, N.C., Kerry Hall Singe column
    Mar 8, 2010 — The Charlotte Observer
    And developers finished marquee projects -- notably the EpiCentre entertainment complex and Wells Fargo Cultural Campus with three museums and a theater -- that economic developers say will boost uptown's appeal. Upscale eateries also moved in to cater to the new residents, adding to uptown's allure. The Chicago-based developer, MCL Cos., had fallen behind on its payments but renegotiated with its lenders.
  • Transit planners eye help in funding rail
    Mar 8, 2010 — The Herald-Sun
    DURHAM -- Transit planners from Durham think they've hit on a way to make sure at least some of the revenue that Triangle counties raise for a rail project with a prospective sales-tax surcharge flows across county borders. The strategy appears to center on links to two key stations along a proposed rail line, one about a mile inside Durham County's western border, the other about a mile inside its eastern border. So far, the financial models Durham officials are hammering out...
  • Winston-Salem Journal, N.C., Ask SAM column
    Mar 8, 2010 — Winston-Salem Journal
    Mar. 8, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Q. I filed my income taxes online about a month ago. I received my federal return about eight days after, but still haven't received the state refund.
  • EDITORIAL: Tax bite
    Mar 7, 2010 — The Fayetteville Observer
    If no new revenues are coming in, what are Cumberland County residents prepared to do without? When the word comes down from Raleigh that so many millions are required, what will be cut, again? But we should not be having to make these repeated sacrifices in the budgets of essential services.
  • OPINION
    Mar 7, 2010 — The Charlotte Observer
    Sylvester Betts, campaigned in Raleigh to shut down the sale of liquor. State and local governments get a lot of income from ABC sales. The ABC system clearly was set up after Prohibition to limit alcohol sales and protect the public.
  • Spelling bee crowns its queen
    Mar 7, 2010 — The Herald-Sun
    McDonald seemed unnerved by "sorceress" but spelled it correctly in Round 16. Connelly correctly handled "macaw." In the next round, McDonald sought alternate pronunciations, the word origin and a second pronunciation of "linearity" before she attempted to spell it. The judges conferred before recalling Connelly to the microphone.
  • BRIEF
    Mar 6, 2010 — Hickory Daily Record
    ...transit service. The transit authority operates the rural and urban transit systems in the four-county area. The four systems combined into a single entity are: Alexander County Transportation, a county-operated system. Burke County Transit Administration Inc., a nonprofit agency. Caldwell County Area Transit System Inc., a nonprofit agency. Piedmont Wagon Transit System, operated by the city of Hickory, community transportation to county...
  • City sets agenda for Raleigh
    Mar 6, 2010 — High Point Enterprise
    The council adopted 11 policy positions for the session, which is mainly to address budget issues. City officials said they don't expect lawmakers to take up complex or controversial issues this spring, since this is an election year.
  • EDITORIAL: Weekly wrap
    Mar 6, 2010 — The Fayetteville Observer
    The mission, which serves about 100,000 meals a year to homeless men and women, also provides a shelter for seven homeless women. In these troubled times, the mission is a vital part of Fayetteville's safety net. Merit: For Julianna Smoot, the new White House social secretary. Smoot replaced Desiree Rogers this week, who came under fire after a couple crashed a White House gala last year. Smoot has deep roots in this area.
  • Food jobs a good fit for N.C.
    Mar 6, 2010 — The News and Observer
    Pierre Foods said it would add 500 jobs over the next three years as it expands its Claremont plant in Catawba County, a traditional manufacturing hub north of Charlotte. Food companies are being drawn to North Carolina by what the textile and furniture industries left behind: a large pool of unemployed workers with manufacturing experience, and municipalities and counties with an abundance of unused water and sewer capacity. Like textile and furniture manufacturing plants, food...
  • Program formed to highlight, protect farmers
    Mar 6, 2010 — The Sanford Herald
    Agriculture is like an easy target sometimes," he said. "If the farmers don't have land to farm, they're out of business. Broadway has a memorandum of understanding to develop VAD programs. In applying, the farmer signs a conservation agreement filed with the county register of deeds. It's kind of a protection thing for the farmers." Suburbanites can appreciate the open, green space, too, Condlin said. "People also want quality of life.
  • State urges banks to back small-business growth
    Mar 6, 2010 — The Charlotte Observer
    Bev Perdue on Friday launched a program to lean on state banks to tap into Small Business Administration loans. This isn't just a do-gooder policy." Banks already are offering more small business loans, at least in the category of loans smaller than $1 million. It took a lot of work." The Small Business Administration, though, has received its share of criticism.
  • BPED hires new economic developer
    Mar 5, 2010 — The News Herald (Morganton, N.C.)
    The county, municipalities and private sector are all committed to working together to bring jobs to Burke County. The Shelby Star said the firing shocked chamber members who came to Darnell's defense. Local leaders at one time said Harris would stay on to work with existing industry.
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