ACROSS THE TARHEEL STATE

06/28/2008

HILLSBOROUGH -- Media attorneys are going to court today to ask a judge to release search warrants in the case of the slain student body president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Attorneys representing The Herald-Sun of Durham are expected to again ask Superior Court Judge R. Allen Baddour to publicly release six search warrants in the case of Eve Carson. Prosecutors and defense attorneys want the documents to remain sealed. The hearing is being held in Hillsborough.
Carson was found shot to death March 5 in the middle of a residential street in Chapel Hill, about a mile from campus. Police have charged 17-year-old Laurence Lovette and 22-year-old Demario Atwater with first-degree murder. Both are from Durham.

RALEIGH -- Gov. Mike Easley says the drought in North Carolina could be worse this year than the conditions that plagued the state last year. Easley said current conditions are worse than they were at the same time in 2007.
The federal drought map released Thursday shows 14 western counties in exceptional drought, twice the number from last week. Of the state's 100 counties, 97 are in some level of drought.

GREENVILLE -- Officials with Greenville Utilities say they may never know what caused the city's water to be contaminated. A boil water order was lifted Thursday afternoon for all areas except an isolated portion near County Home Road after tests from nearly three dozen sites revealed no contaminants.
Barrett Lasater, Greenville Utilities water and wastewater treatment plants manager, says the ban for the County Home Road area could be lifted today pending a second negative sample.
The utility issued the boil order around lunchtime Wednesday after testing verified fecal coliform bacteria was discovered in a sample taken from a County Home Road day care center. The discovery led the health department to order local restaurants to shut down.

BLOWING ROCK -- The town of Blowing Rock has been awarded a $2.2 million emergency loan to help it connect with Boone's water system.
Blowing Rock town manager Scott Hildebran says the loan should complete the financing needed to connect the water systems of Blowing Rock, Boone and Appalachian State University.
Hildebran says it's hoped the project could be finished in 18 months to two years.
Both Boone and Blowing Rock were among 11 communities the state identified last winter as facing North Carolina's most severe water shortages because of the drought.
The federal drought map released yesterday showed 14 western N.C. counties in exceptional drought.

CHARLOTTE -- Police and school officials in Charlotte are trying to find the vandals who caused up to $58,000 in damages to a high school and a middle school.
Police said vandals smashed windows, damaged computers, overturned desks, sprayed fire extinguishers and wrote obscenities on the walls in 14 mobile classrooms at Butler High School. Police think the incident occurred sometime between Wednesday night and early Thursday.
At Northeast Middle School, where a new classroom wing is being built, police say suspects damaged 54 windows and window frames, and threw construction debris inside the wing.
Matthews Police say they are examining security camera video footage from Butler.

WALNUT CREEK -- U.S. Forest Service officials say a forest fire started by a lightning strike in Macon County is moving toward homes and other structures.
Greg Brooks, district fire management officer for the Nantahala District of the Nantahala National Forest, said the fire started southeast of Franklin in the Buck Creek area on Sunday.
Brooks said by Wednesday, the fire had gotten over Houston Knob and was burning toward the Walnut Creek community.
Nantahala district ranger Mike Wilkins said the flames had scorched a little more than 200 acres by late Thursday. Wilkins estimated that while the flames were about a quarter mile from some homes, over the next few days, some houses will be threatened.
As of Thursday night, Wilkins said the fire was between 30 percent and 40 percent contained.

RUTHERFORDTON -- Authorities in Rutherford County are investigating a shooting that killed a 15-month-old girl.
Jeff Buchanan of the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office said the shooting appears to be accidental.
Buchanan says deputies responding about Thursday to a residence in Rutherfordton found a man with his daughter who had suffered a single gunshot wound to the stomach.
Buchanan said Gracie Elizabeth Rhodes was taken to Rutherford Hospital, where she died during surgery. He said investigators recovered a .22-caliber rifle believed to have been used in the shooting.
So far, no charges have been filed and no one has been taken into custody.

HIGH POINT -- Another North Carolina furniture plant is closing its doors for good.
Furniture Brands International says it will close its Drexel Heritage and Henredon plant in High Point by the end of the year. The closing leaves Furniture Brands with 13 plants in North Carolina.
Chairman and Chief Executive Ralph Scozzafava issued a statement that the company is closing the plant because of competitive pressure.The company is shifting production to lower-cost operations and third-party suppliers in Asia. It has closed 39 of its 57 domestic plants since January 2000. North Carolina Employment Security Commission data shows Furniture Brands has eliminated at least 8,726 jobs in North Carolina since January 2000.