North Carolina

State lawyers argued that the Council of State, a body of statewide elected officials, should not be required to have a public hearing to consider how the state executes prisoners.

The state argued that lowering the bar on ballot access requirements would invite rogue parties to run, thus cluttering the ballot and confusing voters.

With less than nine months before the U.S. Department of Homeland Security decides where to site its disease research lab, proponents and opponents of the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility continue to plead their cases before government leaders and the business community.

The year-end campaign finance reports were due Jan. 25, and tracked contributions and expenditures for the last half of the year, including those crucial two weeks before Election Day.

A panel of three federal judges ruled last week that North Carolina's primary election will occur as scheduled May 6.

A lawsuit filed by Bob Hunter, former state Rep. Frank Mitchell and former state Sen. Robert Rucho seeks to delay the primary so that the courts or the legislature can redraw North Carolina's legislative district boundaries.

They have a vision: transit throughout the Triangle by 2035, starting with an ambitious "2020 Plan" for commuter rail and enhanced bus service.

The N.C. Department of Agriculture began investigating the Florida-based tomato grower three years ago, after several of its employees in the southeastern part of the state gave birth to severely deformed babies in late 2004 and early 2005.