60 Gov. Beverly Perdue improves access and openness over Mike Easley's questionable record - with a few notable lapses on criminal records and sex cases. www.newsobserver.com/1600764 Sgt. Michael C. Roy, 25, of North Fort Myers, Florida, died Wednesday while conducting combat operations in the Nimroz province. www.newsobserver.com/1601979 A new subpoena issued to N.C. State University seeks more documents about Mary Easley's jobs at N.C. State and shows that investigators want to know more about deleted e-mail messages from former Chancellor James Oblinger's high priority account. www.newsobserver.com/1601277 U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat, wants to help 46 poultry farmers in his district who have lost their contracts with a major chicken processing company. www.newsobserver.com/1601422 President Barack Obama presented Italian President Giorgio Napolitano this morning with a gift from North Carolina. www.newsobserver.com/1601390 State Republican Party chairman Tom Fetzer said there's no such thing as a temporary tax increase in this state. www.newsobserver.com/1601375 Two weeks after the death of a 16-year-old girl at an intersection near Cary Park, town officials and the state Department of Transportation have agreed on plans to try to make the crossing safer for pedestrians and drivers alike. www.newsobserver.com/1601393 The Army has named a 47-year-old North Carolina native as the first female commandant of its only drill sergeants' school. www.newsobserver.com/1601606 Both Democratic and Republican senators shed tears and shared memories Thursday of Sen. Vernon Malone, a Raleigh Democrat who died April 18. www.newsobserver.com/1601392 Gov. Bev Perdue has picked six new members for the state Board of Transportation. All but one of them, Durham lawyer Chuck Watts, gave money to Perdue's campaign last year. www.newsobserver.com/1601328 <p/> MJ sang "don't stop 'til you get enough." Chapel Hill's growth task force's new motto may be "don't start 'til you get enough." </p> www.newsobserver.com/1601292 The 16-year-old from Oxford arrested this spring after bomb threats were were made to numerous colleges will be tried as an adult in federal court. www.newsobserver.com/1601374 Chapel Hill Town Councilman Matt Czajkowski filed with the Board of Elections to run for mayor this morning, saying taxes are too high, the town is growing too fast and downtown is moribund. www.newsobserver.com/1601341 Over 500 Durham warrants were cleared and about 250 Durham criminals were arrested last month during a nationwide federal initiative aimed to help local police departments catch their most wanted criminals. www.newsobserver.com/1601371 The stepson of a man who shot and killed a North Raleigh cinema manager was given a sentence of at least five years in prison for his role in the crime. www.newsobserver.com/1601311 Wake Democrats and Republicans are getting into the act for this fall's school board races. www.newsobserver.com/1601240 The Department of Defense says a soldier from North Carolina who was based in Germany has died from wounds sustained when a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle in Afghanistan. www.newsobserver.com/1601213 Cary police report that since June 6, there have been three reported cases of indecent exposure in the Williamsburg Manor/Nottingham Road area. www.newsobserver.com/1601308 <p/> The longtime president of Greensboro College resigned abruptly this week. </p> www.newsobserver.com/1601262 A state House committee seeking a fix for an underfunded coastal insurance program on Thursday backed cutting the current coverage maximum of $1.5 million per home by half. www.newsobserver.com/1601024 North Carolina consumers are getting a glimpse at how much of the state has broadband Internet access and where people are stuck with slower dial-up service. www.newsobserver.com/1601026 Since Saturday, three bodies have been recovered from Jordan Lake, a typical summer's worth of apparent drownings in five days. www.newsobserver.com/1600759 Raleigh police say the car belonging to a woman found dead in Raleigh may have been in southern Florida. www.newsobserver.com/1601151 A former fundraiser at N.C. State University who worked closely with former first lady Mary Easley talked Wednesday with federal agents about her job at the university. www.newsobserver.com/1600544 When it opens Tuesday, the McDonald's at 1299 Kildaire Farm Road will be the country's first McDonald's with an electric vehicle charging station. www.newsobserver.com/1600667 False reports are common among the only technologies available to detect ovarian cancer, a disease that killed an estimated 15,500 women last year in the United States. www.newsobserver.com/1600665 OK, the good news first. Jim Cole finally found out what happened to his old Navy buddy "Fowler." www.newsobserver.com/1600666 Anthony Bimbo admitted Wednesday that he was behind a botched plan to rob a North Raleigh movie theater that ended in the theater manager's murder. www.newsobserver.com/1600615 Three people were shot and killed Wednesday evening after a domestic dispute at a Rocky Mount residence in what police are calling a double murder and a suicide. www.newsobserver.com/1600613 Patrick Burris, the North Carolina man who killed five people in Cherokee County, S.C., had planned to marry his girlfriend of two years. www.newsobserver.com/1600549