RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina consumers are about to feel another pinch in their wallets at the mall, the convenience store and most every retailer in between.
The state’s sales tax goes up a full penny Tuesday, bringing the total rate charged in most counties to 7.75 percent. At the same time, cigarettes, beer, wine [...]

WASHINGTON – Another Kennedy just might occupy the Kennedy seat in the Senate.
Amid the emotional public outpouring over the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy, talk of a successor has focused on his widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, and his nephew, Joseph Kennedy II, the 56-year-old former congressman who could return to politics after a decade’s absence.
“Even [...]

Although legislative details will change with the health care reform proposals, we do know the estimated price: one trillion dollars.
House Democrats have pledged the pay as you go option so as not to add to the nation’s deficit.
So how do you foot the bill?
Democratic Congressmen may start with the wealthiest Americans, taxing [...]

TABOR CITY, N.C. – A 17-year-old who said a North Carolina state senator helped him build a house and buy a Corvette is back in jail after being charged with fleeing police.
Allen Strickland was out of jail on bail after the State Bureau of Investigation last week charged him with setting the fire that [...]

RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue has only a few pieces of legislation left to consider before a bill-signing deadline.
Perdue last week signed 102 of the 108 bills that the General Assembly placed on her desk before it adjourned Aug. 11.
She signed 43 on Friday, including legislation that expands a prison indoor [...]

RALEIGH, N.C. — Wake County Human Services officials will hold a roundtable discussion Monday with three North Carolina Congressmen to brief them on Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP), a nationally recognized, evidence-based program that operates a site in Wake County.
The group will discuss how the program is helping transform the lives of first-time, low-income Wake County [...]

WEST TISBURY, Mass. – President Barack Obama spent his last day on a Martha’s Vineyard vacation buying ice cream for his daughters at a general store and an oatmeal-raisin cookie for himself at a deli.
Wearing a White Sox cap, jeans and a black fleece jacket, the president made an unscheduled stop at the small [...]

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa.  – Vice President Joe Biden fondly recalled playing youth baseball in Pennsylvania while being honored at the Little League World Series.
Biden was enshrined into Little League’s Hall of Excellence before Sunday’s title game between California and Taiwan.
Accompanied by three granddaughters, Biden told the crowd he started out in Little League as an [...]

RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina NAACP and other groups will have a “Health Care Can’t Wait” rally at the Capitol Building Saturday.
The rally will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday. Groups organizing include the NC State Conference of the NAACP, NC Fair Share, NC Health Care for America Now and HK on J Coalition [...]