July 9, 2008

ACROSS THE TARHEEL STATE.

RALEIGH -- The State House and Senate have given final approval to a budget and have sent it to the Governor for his signature. While some have questioned the large amount of borrowing included in the state budget, legislative leaders says that some of that is needed to help the state's universities. The budget includes about $850 million in borrowing, with a majority of that amount going for new buildings in the UNC system.

DURHAM -- A new study by the Durham-based Center for Responsible Lending finds that unauthorized overdraft fees strip Americans 55 and older of roughly $4.5 billion per year. Nearly $1 billion of that comes from people who are heavily dependent on Social Security income.

ASHEVILLE -- Based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control, there are new requirements for North Carolina sixth graders and those entering college for the first time. The new requirements must be met before students in these two groups will be allowed in school this fall.

CHARLOTTE -- A small company with a proprietary solar panel technology will build a manufacturing facility in Charlotte. Sencera International plans to invest $36.8 million and create 65 jobs over the next three years.

RALEIGH -- The Carolina Hurricanes have signed restricted free-agent defenseman Dennis Seidenberg to a one-year contract worth $1.2 million. The team also announced that restricted free-agent forward Chad LaRose has elected to file for salary arbitration.

RALEIGH -- North Carolina hog farmers could rebuild after a natural disaster or change operations without having to follow decade-old distance requirements from homes or schools in legislation approved Tuesday by a Senate committee.


ACROSS THE PALMETTO STATE

CARLISLE -- South Carolina is building the state's first ethanol plant. Osage Bio Energy out of Roanoke, Virginia will build a $161 million plant near Carlisle, South Carolina, and hire 75 workers to make barley-based ethanol.

COLUMBIA -- Law officers, legal officials and even job counselors are gathering at a Columbia church for a special program to encourage people with outstanding warrants to turn themselves in.

AIKEN -- An Aiken magistrate whose granddaughter accidentally shot herself last month with a gun she found in the judge’s purse will not be charged, police say. The 4-year-old girl found a small-caliber handgun in her grandmother's purse while shopping with her, and shot herself in the chest. She recovered and has been released from the hospital.

COLUMBIA -- The effort to detail the exploits of Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, is getting a boost from the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program. The park service program granted $43,000 to the Francis Marion Trail Commission to study the Black Mingo battlefield on the Georgetown-Williamsburg counties line and $39,000 to the University of South Carolina Research Foundation for a study of Marion’s famous hide-outs around Snow’s Island in Florence and Marion counties.

GREENVILLE -- A Greenville County sheriff's deputy who released a dog that bit another deputy during an arrest last month has been fired, according to a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office. John Bennick released his K-9, Wes, as at least four deputies arrested a shooting suspect on June 23, said Lt. Shea Smith. The dog bit the ankle of Deputy Chris McAlmont, who didn't know it was a police dog due to darkness and fired a fatal shot at the K-9. The July 3 firing made Bennick the second deputy in a month to be fired.

Across The Nation
LOS ANGELES, CA -- No criminal charges will be filed against medical staff at a troubled inner-city hospital over the death of a homeless woman who writhed in pain on the emergency room floor for nearly an hour, a county prosecutor concluded Tuesday.

CLINTON, OK -- Oklahoma officials say that 25 year old Norman Pauling, the man accused of pistol whipping two women, and wreaking havoc across at least three states, is scheduled to appear in court at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. He was arrested Monday after police in Manning, South Carolina, followed him through at least three counties in the Palmetto State and Tennessee. Clinton, Oklahoma police arrested Pauling in Custer County, Oklahoma, after a person spotted him breaking into cars.

LAWRENCEVILLE , GA -- Gwinnett police were tight-lipped Tuesday about the death of Richard Garcia, a kidnapping suspect shot by SWAT officers in an alleged ransom ploy gone awry.

PEMBROKE PINES, FL -- A man was bitten by a snake at a South Florida Wal-Mart store. Police said the 42-year-old man was in the garden center at the store on Sunday when he startled a poisonous pygmy rattlesnake. The snake bit the man in the hand.

NEW YORK -- Security scanners that can see through passengers' clothing and reveal details such as their sex organs, colostomy bags and breast size, are being installed in 10 US airports. A random selection of travellers getting ready to board airplanes in Washington, New York's Kennedy, Los Angeles and other key hubs will be shut in glass booths while a three-dimensional image is made of their body beneath their clothes. The scan only takes seconds and is to replace the physical pat-downs of people that is currently widespread in airports. The TSA foresees 30 of the machines installed across the country by the end of 2008.



AND IN THE ONLINE WORLD
A Russian group called Phreak offers "identity harvesting services" on underground scammer forums, promising to extract personal information from CVs on a number of job-seeking sites, including Monster, AOL Jobs, Hot Jobs and MilitaryJobs.com.