RALEIGH, N.C.  – The health insurance plan for North Carolina state employees is still paying out more claims than budgeted for the first three months of the fiscal year.
Lawmakers received State Health Plan data Thursday showing paid medical claims are 4 percent higher than expected through Sept. 30.
That’s better compared to an 8 percent increase [...]

RALEIGH, N.C. – The prosecutor handling the campaign finance case of former North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley says he wants to decide by February whether to seek criminal charges against the two-term Democrat.
Rowan County District Attorney Bill Kenerly told The Associated Press on Thursday he understands Easley and the public want resolution in the matter [...]

WILMINGTON, N.C. — Gov. Perdue today signed Executive Order #121, reestablishing the North Carolina Film Council, at a ceremony at EUE Screen Gems studios in Wilmington, home to the largest studio lot east of California. The North Carolina Film Council advises the Governor on film industry matters and serves as a forum for film-making [...]

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. – Gov. Bev Perdue today thanked North Carolina veterans at a Veterans Day Remembrance Ceremony in Jacksonville and issued a proclamation honoring the men and women who have served and sacrificed for our country.
During the ceremony, Gov. Perdue announced the creation of the “I Hire Military” campaign to encourage businesses to hire veterans [...]

RALEIGH, N.C.  – A former state senator said Tuesday he won’t seek the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr next year despite spending months traveling the state and testing out a campaign.
Cal Cunningham, a Lexington attorney and Army reservist who served in Iraq, confirmed he wrote a Facebook message to supporters saying [...]

RALEIGH, N.C.  – People are already lining up to replace Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand one day after he announced he was leaving the Legislature for North Carolina’s parole commission.
Several Senate Democrats said Thursday that Sen. Martin Nesbitt of Buncombe County and allies have called asking for support to elect Nesbitt the next majority leader.
Sen. [...]

RALEIGH, N.C. – Congressional ethics investigators say North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler did not act inappropriately when a residential development that he was involved in sought lake-access rights from the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Top lawmakers on the House Ethics Committee said in a letter to Shuler that it was closing the matter after reviewing a TVA [...]

DURHAM, N.C. – On Nov. 12, State Representatives Paul Luebke and Mickey Michaux and State Senator Robert Atwater will visit Durham Technical Community College for a panel discussion about how the state budget is developed and the challenges faced in the 2009 legislative session.
The legislators will discuss the difficulties of plunging revenues during the recession [...]

Gov. Bev Perdue says the time and energy she placed into a trade mission to Asia will be well worth it.
The governor and commerce secretary spent two weeks in Japan and China to drum up new business for the state.
According to the North Carolina Commerce Department, China is the state’s second largest trading partner importing [...]