U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan visited Wake Tech on Monday as part of her statewide tour to underscore the need to do more to address North Carolina's high unemployment rate.
The Greensboro Democrat toured the school's Simulation and Game Development Program to hear more about efforts to train people to work in the Triangle's gaming industry.
Having companies and community colleges work more closely is central to her America Works Act, which she introduced last year. The bill encourages industries to set the skills they need so schools train students to meet those skills.
This was the second stop of what Hagan bills as her "North Carolina Back to Work Jobs Tour." She plans to stop at manufacturing plants, job fairs, community colleges and other facilities to learn more about what the federal government should do to reduce unemployment.
"Too often political pundits say nothing is going to be done this year, it's an election year," Hagan said at a news conference. "But let me tell you, we have 450,000 unemployed people in the state right now. They don't want to hear that. I didn't go to Washington to sit on my hands until the next election."
Wood weds at new terminal
Dome sends congratulations to State Auditor Beth Wood, who married fiancé Sam Sparks this weekend in Raleigh.
The Saturday evening ceremony and reception took place at RDU's new General Aviation Terminal. About 100 people attended, including a number of top state officials. The couple didn't hop on a plane right after the wedding, instead opting to take a honeymoon cruise starting next week, a friend said.
Sparks and Wood met on the dance floor, friends say. Sparks, who works for Progress Energy, teaches shag dancing lessons and Wood loves to dance. As one attendee put it: "There was a lot of shagging" at the wedding.
Dority jumps to auditor's race
Republican Greg Dority is abandoning his bid for secretary of state, instead jumping into the state auditor's race.
In his announcement Sunday, Dority, the Beaufort County GOP chairman, said he received encouragement from N.C. Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes and other party leaders to make the switch.
The conversations with party leaders apparently came on the same day Republican Debra Goldman announced her bid for state auditor. The timing prompts a question: Did the state Republican Party recruit a candidate (Dority) to challenge a fellow Republican (Goldman)?
The party consistently says it stands neutral in primary races, letting the voters pick the best Republican and supporting the eventual winner. But the party also has an interest in helping the best candidate win. A spokesman for the state GOP did not immediately respond to questions Monday.
But last week, Republicans privately suggested Goldman did not enter the race at the party's encouragement. Goldman, a Wake County school board member, made headlines for bucking the party line on a controversial student assignment plan.
For Dority, one Republican opponent in a primary is better than three, the number of other GOP candidates in the secretary of state's race at the moment. Dority, who ran for Congress three times and lost in the past decade, said in an interview Monday that he didn't know Goldman was running. But he said "primaries are good for the party."
His main concern is putting an eastern North Carolina conservative on the ballot to help boost Republican Pat McCrory, a former Charlotte mayor running for governor.
Of course, the lieutenant governor is elected on a separate ballot from the governor, so it's possible for the governor and lieutenant governor to belong to different political parties.
