This week

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CORRECTION

An item in Monday's This Week column on the front page gave the wrong starting time for an informational workshop on the proposed widening of Interstate 40 in Wake County. The workshop begins at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Ramada Inn, 1520 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh.

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WAKE SCHOOLS REASSIGN, AGAIN

What would Ben Franklin say about Wake County? Probably this: "In Wake, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes and school reassignment."

Wake schools began another mass shuffle over the weekend by posting a draft school reassignment plan. It could affect more than 26,000 students.

Even Franklin's diplomatic skills would be tested by the process to come. It includes six public meetings, two of which will be held this week. The first meeting is from 7 to 9 tonight at Leesville Road High School. The second is from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Knightdale High School. For more information, go to www.wcpss.net.

CHEAP THRILLS BY THE BUNDLE

What do you do for cheap entertainment in a recession? How about picking up a box of inexpensive books and settling down at home until it's safe to re-enter the economy?

You can build your stockpile at the annual Wake County Public Library Booksale this week. It starts Wednesday and runs through Sunday at the former Super Kmart building at 4121 New Bern Ave., in east Raleigh. More than 300,000 books will be available in the largest sale of its kind in the Southeast. Prices are cheap and get cheaper.

Title to look for: "Spam: The Cookbook." One to skip: "How To Get Started in Electronic Day Trading."

For additional information, call 919-856-6726 or e-mail library.booksale@co.wake.nc.us.

HEARINGS SPOTLIGHT GRIM ECONOMY

The nation's economic problems will come into sharp focus in Washington on Wednesday. The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on bankruptcy law and helping families save their homes. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston speaks at the National Press Club on government efforts to revive the housing market. And at the House Financial Services Committee hearing on the auto industry, automaker executives are expected to testify.

PUNISHMENT TO FIT JUNK-MAIL CRIME?

A former U.S. Postal Service mail carrier will find out in federal court Wednesday what his punishment will be for holding onto years worth of junk mail, a crime that some on his Apex route saw more as a unintended favor. Steven Padgett, 58, had cartons of third-class mailings -- advertisements for pizza joints, window replacements and oil changes -- stacked up in his garage and buried in his yard.

BUMPER TO BUMPER

Interstate 40 squeeze relief? The N.C. Department of Transportation holds an informational workshop on the proposed widening of I-40 in Wake County at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Ramada Inn, 1520 Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh.

NOT EXACTLY REAGANOMICS

This should be interesting. On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson gives a lecture at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. What would the Gipper think of a $700 billion federal bailout?

HOT TICKET

Don't worry about the gloomy economy. The sun will come out tomorrow at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium. The musical "Annie" opens Tuesday and runs through Sunday.

AT THE WATER COOLER

The speedy Tar Heels were racing toward the ACC title until they lost to a turtle.