BY NBC17
PIKEVILLE, N.C. – About a hundred people lined up outside the Pikeville-Pleasant Grove Volunteer Fire Department waiting for Vice President Joe Biden.

The Vice President is scheduled to speak to the crowd at 2 p.m. about how the Recovery Act is helping rural America. The Pikeville-Pleasant Grove FD has outgrown its current facility and is getting help to build a new one through the Recovery Act. Its president, Russell Robertson, said the new station has been three years in the making and help from the Recovery Act will make it much more affordable.

Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is also scheduled to speak. Lt. Governor Walter Dalton is in attendance.

CHICAGO – Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack is President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to be agriculture secretary.

Obama made the announcement at a Wednesday morning news conference in Chicago, with Vilsack at his side. Vilsack becomes the fourth former Democratic challenger for the 2008 presidential nomination to join Obama’s administration. The others are Joe Biden, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Richardson.

Vilsack quickly dropped out of the Democratic race because hehad trouble raising money. He endorsed Clinton and campaigned for her.

As governor, he was known as a political centrist. He balanced Iowa’s budget and resisted tax increases, but was willing to spend on education and health.