Government e-mail messages contain more than birthday greetings and announcements of meetings. Several major stories in the past few years have been confirmed by getting the e-mail through the public records law:

Meredith Norris

The lottery scandal that led to a federal mail fraud conviction against lottery commissioner Kevin Geddings and misdemeanor lobbying violations against Norris and Scientific Games executive Alan Middleton began with e-mail messages released in 2005 showing that Norris was lobbying lawmakers despite claiming she hadn't.

Middleton, she wrote, "asked me to please get a list of North Carolina Senators and Representatives who will be attending because he thinks he might have a few extra spaces on the yacht that he would like to invite them on."

The e-mail also showed Norris' control over the staff of former House Speaker Jim Black.

In one message, Norris told Black's staff that Black wanted legislation that could help the councils and increase economic incentives offered to businesses that retrain workers. Norris did not want those outside Black's office to know she was involved in that effort. In the e-mail, she told Black's staff to "change the text of what I wrote so that it isn't coming from me, but rather from one of you."

Jim Black, Michael Decker

E-mail also exposed some of Black's efforts to take care of former Rep. Michael Decker, the man who helped him stay in power as House speaker. Black had secretly arranged a state job for Decker in the Department of Cultural Resources after he lost re-election, but Black publicly claimed to only have "recommended" him for the job.

The documents showed that Allen Rogers, Black's assistant for special projects, provided the department with salary recommendations, drafts of the position's qualifications and a vacancy announcement Jan. 21, nearly two weeks before the position was posted on the department's employment Web site.

Rogers' e-mail indicated that there was a "desired employee" for the job and urged that the job description be tailored to that person.

Once Decker had the job, Black transferred $45,000 from a state fund that he controlled to the department to help pay for it, according to a Feb. 18 e-mail message to the department from another Black aide.

Troopers in work zones

The state Highway Patrol is under a major review of its practices and policies. One e-mail message raised questions about how serious it is about making sure construction work zones are safe.

Maj. Gregory Hayes realized a year ago that the troopers he supervises had fallen behind on logging time patrolling construction zones where road crews and drivers are highly vulnerable to crashes. The drop endangered the $1.6 million the patrol gets from the federal government each year to police the zones.

Rather than emphasize the need for more dedicated patrols, Hayes told troop captains and lieutenants in a statewide e-mail message to count the time they spent driving through work zones when they fill out their activity reports, known as HP-201s. Hayes is the patrol's head of field operations.

"All time spent in or travelling through a work zone, as well as recorded performances should be reported on the HP-201," Hayes wrote in the message. "Many staff members, including myself, commute daily through work zones but never record the hours on the current HP-201. This serves as a reminder that you should report any and all work zone patrol hours on the HP-201."

Patrol Commander Fletcher Clay issued a new order in November, after The News & Observer showed him the e-mail, telling troopers to record only time spent patrolling work zones.