In the last year, the state lottery sold the most lottery tickets since it launched in 2006.
The lottery sold $1.4 billion worth of tickets in the fiscal year that ended June 30. That's a 9.9 percent increase from the previous year, according to unofficial figures provided by the state lottery.
The boost in sales was due in part to the launch of the Mega Millions game, which doubled the number of drawings for big multi-state jackpot games per week. The lottery also broke the 6,000 mark on its number of retailers.
At the start of the fiscal year, lottery tickets were available at 6,267 outlets. Retailer turnover is pretty high, and the lottery's staff has focused on recruitment and retention.
Fight for text messages
Lawyers for media organizations and the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety argued in Wake County Superior Court on Monday about whether text messages of a personal nature, received on a state-issued BlackBerry, are public records.
The debate, before Judge Paul Gessner, was rooted in a lawsuit that media outlets, including The News & Observer, filed more than a week ago against the crime control department and its top administrator.
The news outlets were seeking text messages that a high-ranking trooper received from his secretary on a state-owned BlackBerry during working hours and late at night.
In court, Melissa Tripp, the attorney for the state agency, argued that text messages that have nothing to do with state business are not public records.
The text messages being sought were sent by Pamela Maynard, an office assistant with the state Highway Patrol, to Everett Clendenin, who until his resignation in mid-June was a 22-year veteran trooper who long served as the spokesman for the patrol.
"These messages, and there were many, many between Maj. Clendenin and Ms. Maynard, these messages - I don't know what you would call them, terms of endearment, affection, however you want to classify them - have nothing to do with state business," Tripp said.
Amanda Martin, the attorney representing the media outlets, said an executive order signed a year ago by Gov. Bev Perdue bolsters her argument that public employees should have no expectations of privacy for messages sent during work hours to a state-issued BlackBerry.
In one month, Martin said, Maynard sent 3,600 texts to Clendenin. Martin said she did not know what kind of texting pay plan the state had. But she estimated that under a plan similar to hers, the texting could have added up to $350. "These are two public employees using public resources extensively," Martin said.
Gessner told the lawyers he wanted to read through the materials before issuing an order.
What if oil spills here?
Marine researchers will huddle with state and federal officials this week about what could be done in North Carolina to respond to a major oil spill.
A conference on Wednesday at UNC Wilmington's Center for Marine Science will focus on the role of higher education institutions in responding to a spill. Researchers and officials will discuss how oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill may spread to the East Coast and what the potential impact to the food chain would be. Beyond the BP spill, participants will talk about potential accidents if drilling is allowed in the Atlantic in the future.
Participating agencies include the U.S. Coast Guard, the N.C. Division of Emergency Management, Army Corps of Engineers and the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries. Universities represented include UNCW, East Carolina, N.C. State, UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke.
By staff writers Benjamin Niolet, Anne Blythe and Jane Stancill
