Cooper refuses to expand on admissions advice
Attorney General Roy Cooper has refused to discuss the advisory letter his office sent out last week, which recommended barring illegal immigrants from community colleges.
Run-down barracks unacceptable, officials say
A video shot by the father of an 82nd Airborne soldier that shows poor conditions such as mold in a barracks at Fort Bragg has caught the attention of a U.S. senator and high-ranking Army officials.
'Heroes' benefits late, probe shows
An internal Justice Department investigation released Tuesday confirmed that the agency was tardy in getting financial benefits to survivors of firefighters and law enforcement officers who died from work-related stress.
Kerry seeks an edge with tobacco plan
A proposed buyout of tobacco farmers and quota holders is languishing in Congress. But the issue is starting to percolate in the presidential race. Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, backed a buyout during a campaign appearance in Kentucky, which, like North Carolina, is a major tobacco-growing state.
Coble tours site in Cuba
With most of the world focusing this week on conditions at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, U.S. Rep. Howard Coble led a small delegation to the site of another detainee facility: the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Greensboro Republican said he wanted to see firsthand the conditions of the approximately 600 al Qaeda and Taliban suspects still being held after their capture during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Conditions at the base have drawn international criticism, and the Defense Department has acknowledged isolated cases of abuse.
Etheridge returns from Iraq
U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge is back from a weeklong trip that took him into Iraq at the beginning of the current upsurge in violence, though he didn't see any of the worst areas. Traveling with two other House members, the Lillington Democrat spent two days in Iraq, but he slept outside the country, in Qatar and in Jordan, flying in each day. Perhaps the most dangerous moments were on aircraft -- and not just during the notorious spiraling descents that are the missile-dodging norm for landings at Baghdad International Airport. Twice the first day, military C-130 transports he was on had to turn back, once when an engine failed and another time when the massive rear cargo ramp wouldn't seal.
Rural areas look for aid
Robeson County residents went to the nation's capital Tuesday to stack their stories of economic hardship and suggestions for rural aid up against budget woes and political reality.
Funding prompts questions
A Winston-Salem Republican filed a complaint Wednesday with the State Board of Elections against congressional candidate Vernon Robinson. Robinson, a Republican city council member in Winston-Salem running in the Fifth Congressional District, has run for state offices through the 1990s and in 2002. He maintains an active state campaign account.
Power brokers purr at ACC schmoozefest
N.C. State Chancellor Marye Anne Fox had 2nd District Congressman Bob Etheridge at her side Friday so she could chat up the university's new projects and seek some help in Washington. In return, Fox had to hear advice on how well Wolfpack basketball star Julius Hodge was playing and whether Coach Herb Sendek ought to step up the passing game.
