RALEIGH, N.C.  – Attorneys for North Carolina State University says they have found that e-mails during the hiring process of former first lady Mary Easley were deleted from the account of former Chancellor James Oblinger.

The university’s lawyers said in a letter to the U.S. attorney’s office released Wednesday that they have been able to determine how and why the e-mails sent from and received by Oblinger’s e-mail account were deleted. They said there are periods of time in the first half of 2005 for which officials have been unable to recover e-mails.

Easley was hired in May of 2005.

Oblinger attorney Press Millen says the chancellor may have deleted e-mails to clean up his account but never engaged in any wholesale deletion of e-mails targeting those related to Easley.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Former President Bill Clinton is visiting North Carolina to speak with both supporters and donors.

Clinton will speak Monday morning at North Carolina State University, addressing a crowd about the future of America and issues facing the country. The university said there are no more general public tickets available.
 
After the event, Clinton will attend a lunch fundraiser for western North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler. Clinton and Shuler have been building a relationship since Clinton reached out to the former NFL quarterback as Democrats recruited him to run for Congress in the 2006 election.

In 2008, Shuler endorsed Clinton’s wife, now Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in her run for the White House. He did so after she won the primary in his district.

Robert Gibbs could be the White House press secretary for Barack Obama.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Officials at North Carolina State University are working to figure out who wrote disparaging comments about President-elect Barack Obama in a tunnel designated for free speech.
 
N.C. State police Capt. Jon Barnwell said someone used spray paint to write comments about Obama that bordered on threatening. The Free Expression Tunnel was built in 1939 to allow people to express their first-amendment rights.
 
Barnwell said someone noticed the writing before classes began Wednesday.

N.C. State officials responded by painting the tunnel white, saying the negative expressions had gone over the edge of what was acceptable. Barnwell said anyone with information on who left the messages is asked to contact campus police

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama won the Technician’s mock election.