Recalls: trail mix, NutriSystem bars, ice cream

Nature's Path Organic Foods is expanding the recall of Optimum Energy Bars Peanut Butter flavor. The products could be contaminated with salmonella. This is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections, especially in young children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems.

No illnesses have been reported, according to the company in British Columbia, Canada. The recall involves: Optimum Energy Bars Peanut Butter flavor; BEST BEFORE 01OCT09A, BEST BEFORE 03FEB09B and BEST BEFORE 29APR09B; sold in a 2 ounce individually wrapped bar with UPC code of 0 58449 77715.

The product was distributed in the U.S. and Canada through retail stores. For more information, consumers can call 866-880-7284.

Rucker's Candy is recalling Private Labeled products and the Family Choice Brand labeled products because the products could be contaminated with salmonella. No illnesses have been reported. The recall includes:

_ Ch Crml Pnut Cluster, UPC 0 52545 90052 0

_ French Burnt Pnut, 0 52545 90132 8

_ French Burnt Pnut 8.5oz, 0 52545 00132 5

_ French Burnt Pnut 8.5oz, 0 52545 01132 4

_ French Burnt Pnut 12oz, 0 52545 02132 3

_ Carmel Pnut Cluster Tub 16oz, 0 52545 03025 7

_ CH/PB Cracker, 0 30100 12515 0

_ HC Burnt Pnut 3.8oz, 7 52545 07132 7

_ NSA Pnut Cluster 10oz, 0 52545 10341 8

_ NSA CH Pnuts 13ozm 0 52545 10344 9

_ FC HC Burnt Pnut 3.8oz, 7 52545 17132 4

_ French Burnt Pnut 8.5oz, 0 52545 01132 4

For more information, consumers can call 800-325-2411.

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East Side Entrees is recalling a single code date of Peanut Butter & Jelly Meal BREAKS because a 2.2 ounce packet of peanut butter within the product could be contaminated with salmonella. No illnesses have been reported, according to the Woodbury, N.Y., company.

The code date of the recalled product is Use By June 24, 09, and the UPC number is 006 93392 61402 5. It was distributed in California, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, Hawaii and Pennsylvania to schools and food banks through distributors and direct delivery. For more information, consumers can call 516-682-5494.

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HP Hood LLC is recalling five products because they could be contaminated with salmonella. The company said it has not received any illness complaints. The recalled items include:

_ Hood Nutty Cone-6 pack; UPC: 44100-23160

_ Brigham's Dice Kream Quarts-6 pack; UPC: 24011-60346

_ Hood Nutty Cone-24 pack; UPC: 44110-23436

_ Hood Premium Candy Bar Whirl-3 Gal; UPC: 44100-24439

_ Brigham's Dice Kream-3 Gal; UPC: 24011-60915

For more information, consumers can visit http://www.hphood.com/default.aspx.

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Zachary Confections Inc. is recalling some lots of Market Pantry Chocolate Covered Peanuts and some other nut products because they could be contaminated with salmonella. The Frankfort, Ind., company said there have been no reported illnesses. The recalled items include:

_ Market Pantry Brand Chocolate Covered Peanuts; 9 ounce; UPC 85239 02349; Recalled lot codes include E8209D and E8202C. This item was sold at Target and SuperTarget stores nationwide.

The following recalled products were distributed nationwide:

_ Zachary Double Dipped Peanuts Bulk - 30 pound; UPC: 10075186057480; Lot No.: E8102C, E8210C

_ Zachary Chocolate Double Dipped Peanuts - 30 pound; UPC: 10075186056483; Lot No.: F8204D

_ Zachary Double Dipped Peanuts Bagged- 12/ 8 ounce; UPC: 0-7518605801-5; Lot No.: N9251D, O9251D

_ Meijer Double Dipped Peanuts Bagged - 48/ 5 ounce; UPC: 0-4125004845-9; Lot No.: E8202B, E8209B

_ Zachary Double Dipped Peanuts Acetate Tub - 12/ 16 ounce; UPC: 7-6523209301-4; Lot No.: M9151B; E8110F

_ Zachary Chocolate Peanuts Boxed - 12/ 4.8 ounce; UPC: 0-7518616341-2; Lot No.: P8104B, P8204B, P8102F, P8203D, P8205C, P8202D, P8206C, P8206B, P8207E

_ Zachary Chocolate Bridge Mix Bulk - 30 pound; UPC: 10075186054038; Lot No.: T8207D, T8107E, T8107D, T8207C, T8207F, T8107F, T8203C, T8207E, T8103C, U9150D, U9150E, U9250D

_ Zachary Chocolate Bridge Mix Acetate Tub - 12/ 16 ounce; UPC: 7-6523209303-8; Lot No.: M9150E

_ Zachary Chocolate Bridge Mix Bagged - 12/ 8 ounce; UPC: 0-7518605803-9; Lot No.: O9151D

_ Zachary Chocolate Bridge Mix Bagged - 12/ 5 ounce; UPC: 0-7518605503-8; Lot No.: O8206C, O8204D

_ Meijer Caramel Nut Clusters Bagged - 48/ 5 ounce; UPC: 0-4125005311-8; Lot No.: E8202F, F8101C

_ Zachary Chocolate Peanut Clusters Bulk - 23 pound; UPC: 10075186057497; Lot No.: E8204D, C8107C, C8207C, E8104D

_ Zachary Fine Assorted Boxed Chocolates - 6/ 40 ounce; UPC: 0-7518605942-5; Lot No. H8106C, H8107F, H8107D, H8107C, H8107E

_ Zachary Chocolate Party Trays - 12/ 32 ounce; UPC: 0-7518605461-1; Lot No.: L8106E

For more information, consumers can call: 765-654-8356.

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Standard Candy Co. is recalling two production lots of its Goo Goo Clusters and Goo Goo Peanut Butter because they could be contaminated with salmonella. No illnesses have been reported, according to the Nashville, Tenn., company. The recalled items include:

_ Goo Goo Cluster 24 pack; Lot code: Best by 070209; UPC: 0 72150 00111 4

_ Goo Goo Cluster 10 pack; Lot code: Best by 070209; UPC: 277376

_ Goo Goo Cluster; Lot code: Best by 070209; UPC: 0 72150 00101 5

_ Goo Goo Cluster 6 pack; Lot code: Best by 070209; UPC: 0 72150 00102 2

_ Goo Goo Peanut Butter 4 pack; Lot code: Best by 091909; UPC: 0 72150 24054 4

The products were distributed nationally through retail stores and through the company's mail order division and retail store. For more information, consumers can call 800-226-4340.

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The Hain Celestial Group Inc. is recalling certain Ethnic Gourmet and Gluten Free Cafe frozen foods because they could be contaminated with salmonella. No illnesses have been reported, according to the Melville, N.Y., company. The recalled items include:

_ Ethnic Gourmet Chicken Pad Thai 10 ounce; UPC code 18687-70054; lot codes beginning with "WC7"

_ Ethnic Gourmet Pad Thai with Shrimp 10 ounce; UPC code 18687-10411; lot codes beginning with "WC7" and "WC8"

_ Ethnic Gourmet Pad Thai with Tofu 10 ounce; UPC code 18687-10402; lot codes beginning with "WC7" and "WC8"

_ Gluten Free Cafe Asian Noodles 9.2 ounce; UPC code 70795-03504; lot codes beginning with "WC8"

_ Trader Ming's Spicy Kung Pao Chicken; UPC code 037952; lot codes beginning with "WC7M" and "WC8"

_ Trader Joe's Vegan Pad Thai with Tofu; UPC code 026322; lot codes beginning with "WC7" and "WC8"

The recalled products were distributed nationally to supermarkets and other food stores and sold in the frozen foods section. For more information, consumers can call 800-739-4838.

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Bear Naked is recalling Bear Naked All-Natural Appalachian Trail Mix products because the products could be contaminated with salmonella. No illnesses have been reported, according to the La Jolla, Calif., company. The recalled products include all sizes of Bear Naked All-Natural Appalachian Trail Mix with a "better if used before" date before Feb. 1, 2010, and with these bar codes on the package: 85641600187, 85641600141, 85641600174, 85641642518, 85641600189, and 88462343792.

For more information, consumers can call 877-392-1660.

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NutriSystem Inc. is expanding its recall of its NutriSystem-branded Peanut Butter Granola Bar. The products could be contaminated with salmonella. No illnesses have been reported. The peanut butter granola bar was distributed directly to customers from online or call center sales, by NutriSystem, nationwide in the U.S. and Canada. The recall involves the UPC codes 6 3267432016 2 and 6 32674 37016 7.

Affected lot codes include TC08158A, TC08188A, TC09158A, TC09168A, TC09178A, TC11148A, TC11178A, TC03198A, TC04178A, TC05128A, TC05148A, TC05158A, TC05168A, TC06028A, TC06108A, TC06128A, TC06138A, TC06168A, TC06178A, TC07038A, TC07078A, TC07088A, TC08148A, TC09118A and TC03198A.

For more information, consumers can visit http://tinyurl.com/dl3l46.

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Clif Bar & Company is expanding its recall CLIF and LUNA branded bars. The products could be contaminated with salmonella. The recalled items include:

_ CLIF BAR Crunchy Peanut Butter; Best by or Sell by: 09OCT08 to 31DEC09

_ CLIF BAR Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch; Best by or Sell by: 09OCT08 to 31DEC09

_ CLIF BAR Peanut Toffee Buzz; Best by or Sell by: 09OCT08 to 31DEC09

_ CLIF Builder's Peanut Butter; Sell by: 20SEP08 to 31DEC09

_ CLIF Kid Organic ZBaR Peanut Butter; Best by: 21OCT08 to 31DEC09

_ LUNA Nutz Over Chocolate; Best by: 28OCT08 to 31DEC09

_ LUNA Peanut Butter Cookie; Best by: 28OCT08 to 31DEC09

_ All MOJO and MOJO Dipped bars; Best by: 01SEP07 to 31OCT09

The recalled products were sold in all types of retail stores throughout the U.S. For more information, consumers can call 888-847-2770 or visit http://www.clifbar.com.

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Best Brands Corp. is expanding its recall of peanut butter frozen cookie dough to include all product made since Jan. 1, 2007. The Minnetonka, Minn., company said it has not received any consumer illness complaints. The recalled items include:

_ Best Brands Corp. 1.25 ounce Peanut Butter Precut Frozen Cookie Dough, 22.5 pound case, 288 cookies per case (Item No. 1003-01, Case UPC Code 10035074100315)

_ Best Brands Corp. 1.5 ounce Custom Peanut Butter Precut Frozen Cookie Dough, 20.25 pound case, 216 cookies per case (Item No. 1046-01, Case UPC Code 10035074104610)

_ Best Brands Corp. 1.25 ounce Custom Peanut Butter Precut Frozen Cookie Dough, 18.75 pound case, 240 cookies per case (Item No. 1046-02, Case UPC Code 10035074104627)

_ Best Brands Corp. 2 ounce Custom Peanut Butter Precut Frozen Cookie Dough, 25 pound case, 200 cookies per case (Item No. 1046-05, Case UPC Code 10035074104658)

_ Best Brands Corp. 1.5 ounce Custom Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Precut Frozen Cookie Dough, 20.25 pound case, 216 cookies per case (Item No. 1047-01, Case UPC Code 10035074104719)

_ Best Brands Corp. 1.5 ounce Custom Reese's Peanut Butter Precut Frozen Cookie Dough, 20.25 pound case, 216 cookies per case (Item No. 1048-01, Case UPC Code 10035074104818)

_ Best Brands Corp. 3 ounce Original Peanut Butter Precut Frozen Cookie Dough, 21 pound case, 112 cookies per case (Item No. 1610-12, Case UPC Code 10035074161026)

_ Best Brands Corp. Gourmet Peanut Butter Frozen Cookie Dough, 18 pound pail (Item No. 1659-66, Case UPC Code 10098086165963)

_ Best Brands Corp. Gourmet Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chunk Frozen Cookie Dough, 18 pound pail (Item No. 1665-98, Case UPC Code 10098086166595)

_ Best Brands Corp. 1.5 ounce ZT Custom Peanut Butter Precut Frozen Cookie Dough, 20.25 pound case, 216 cookies per case (Item No. 4367-01, Case UPC Code 10035074436711)

_ Best Brands Corp. 1.5 ounce ZT Custom Reese's Peanut Butter Precut Frozen Cookie Dough, 20.25 pound case, 216 cookies per case (Item No. 4369-01, Case UPC Code 10035074436919)

_ Best Brands Corp. Peanut Butter Frozen Cookie Dough, 18 pound pail (Item No. 5201-67, Case UPC Code 10035074520175)

The packages in the expanded recall contain lot codes between 0017-1 and 0139-1. The peanut butter cookie dough was sold to retail and grocery store bakeries and other foodservice outlets. Consumers might have bought the product as baked cookies. Cookies may have been sold from trays in the bakery counter or in individual packages with grocery store labels. The name "Best Brands Corp." would not appear on the consumer package. The cookie dough was distributed in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. For more information, consumers can call 800-866-3300.

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Ice Cream Specialties is recalling various peanut-containing ice cream novelties because the products could be contaminated with salmonella. There have been no reported illnesses, according to the Lafayette, Ind., company. The products were sold nationwide at retail stores, convenience stores and possibly in vending machines. The recalled items include:

_ 6pk Aldi Sundae Shoppe Vanilla Sundae Cones, Aldi, Batavia, Ill., UPC 4149815643, Best By: Jan. 1, 2008 through July 31, 2008

_ 6pk Aldi Sundae ShoppeCaramel Core Sundae Cones, Aldi, Batavia, Ill., UPC 4149818629, Best By: Jan. 1, 2008 through Dec. 21, 2008

_ 6pk Aldi Sundae Shoppe Fudge Core Sundae Cones, Aldi, Batavia, Ill., UPC 4149818628, Best By: Jan. 1, 2008 through Sept. 31, 2008

_ 50ct Artic Star Variety Pack, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273069059, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Best Choice Sundae cones, AWG, Springfield, Mo., UPC 7003859635, Lots 0017 through 2138

_ 4pk Component Vanilla Sundae Cones, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273066022, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 4pk Component Fudge Core Sundae Cones, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273066067, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Component Vanilla Sundae Cones, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273066022, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Component Fudge Core Sundae Cones, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273066067, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 18ct Component Vanilla Sundae Cones, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273066072, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Country Delight Sundae Cones, Certified Grocers, Hodgkins, Ill., UPC 7287090629, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ Bulk DeConna Nutty Buddy, Deconna Ice Cream Company, Orange Lake, Fla., UPC 1297124247, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ Bulk DeConna Incredible Crunch Bars, Deconna Ice Cream Company, Orange Lake, Fla., UPC 1297124225, Lots 0017 through 2128

_ Bulk Deconna Everyday Sundae Cones, Deconna Ice Cream Company, Orange Lake, Fla., UPC 1297124242, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Flav-O-Rich Nutty Royale, Payco Foods Corp., Bayamon, Puerto Rico, UPC 7230070732, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Hy-Top Sundae Cones, Federated Group Incorporated, Arlington Heights, Ill., UPC 5070003490, Lots 0017 through 1517

_ 8pk Jewel Sundae Nut Cones, Supervalu, Eden Prairie, Minn., UPC 4128011853, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Kemps Vanilla Sundae Cone, Kemps, St. Paul, Minn., UPC 4148302575, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Kemps Combo Sundae Cones, Kemps, St. Paul, Minn., UPC 4148302576, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Kemps Caramel Sundae Cones, Kemps, St. Paul, Minn., UPC 4148303059, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ Bulk Kemps Vanilla Sundae Cones, Kemps, St. Paul, Minn., UPC 4148303439, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ Bulk Kemps Combo Sundae Cones, Kemps, St. Paul, Minn., UPC 4148303440 and 4148303439, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Market Pantry Sundae Cones, Target Corporation, Minneapolis, UPC 8523907614, Best By: July 1, 2008 through July 12, 2010

_ 6pk Megaroons Sundae Cones, LAS Brands, Kansas City, Kan., UPC 9943021739, Lots 0017 through 0317

_ 6pk Nestle NIC Crocanti Crunch Bars, Payco Foods Corp., Bayamon, Puerto Rico, UPC 5105255247, Best By: Jan. 1, 2008 through Jan. 14, 2010

_ Bulk Nestle NIC Crocanti Crunch Bars, Payco Foods Corp., Bayamon, Puerto Rico, UPC 5105257211, Best By: Jan. 1, 2008 through Jan. 14, 2010

_ 4pk Nestle GFY NSA Sundae Cones, Payco Foods Corp., Bayamon, Puerto Rico, UPC 5105252586, Best By: Jan. 1, 2008 through Jan. 14, 2010

_ 6pk North Star Nutty Royale, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273062013, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ Bulk Nestle NIC Sundae Cones, Payco Foods Corp., Bayamon, Puerto Rico, UPC 5105217511, Best By: Jan. 1, 2008 through Jan. 14, 2010

_ Bulk North Star Nutty Royale, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273066000, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 40ct North Star Variety Pack, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273069064, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ Bulk North Star Combo Sundae Cones, Caramel, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273066033, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ Bulk North Star Vanilla Sundae Cones, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273066044, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ Bulk North Star Sweet Wise Sundae Cones, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273066057, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk North Star Vanilla Sundae Cones, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273062045, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk North Star Caramel Sundae Cones, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273062050, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk North Star Combo Sundae Cones, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273062046, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk North Star Sweet Wise Sundae Cones, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273062055, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 24ct North Star Variety Pack Sundae Cones, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273069054, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Our Family Sundae Cones, Nash Finch, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, UPC 7025371205, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Pierre's Vanilla Sundae Cones, Pierre's French Ice Cream Company, Cleveland, UPC 4817810701, Lots 0017 through 3557

_ Bulk Pierre's Vanilla Sundae Cones, Pierre's French Ice Cream Company, Cleveland, UPC 4817810801, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 4pk Pierre's NSA Slender Sundae Cones, Pierre's French Ice Cream Company, Cleveland, UPC 4817894601, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Piggly Wiggly Sundae Cones, Piggly Wiggly, Keene, N.H., UPC 1234567890, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Piggly Wiggly Sundae Cones, Piggly Wiggly, Keene, N.H., UPC 4129011220, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Ruggles Sundae Cones, Smith Dairy, Orrville, Ohio, UPC 7042409015, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ Bulk Ruggles Sundae Cones, Smith Dairy, Orrville, Ohio, UPC 7042409115, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Ruggles Combo Sundae Cones, Smith Dairy, Orrville, Ohio, UPC 7042409003, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Ruggles Vanilla Sundae Cones, Smith Dairy, Orrville, Ohio, UPC 7042409002, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ Bulk Ruggles Vanilla Sundae Cones, Smith Dairy, Orrville, Ohio, UPC 7042409110, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ Bulk Shamrock Farms Nutty Sundae Cones, Shamrock Foods, Phoenix, UPC 2830090170, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Shurfresh Sundae Cones, Shurfine International, Inc., Northlake, Ill., UPC 1116145053, Lots 0017 through 0317

_ 6pk Southern Belle Sundae Cones, Southern Belle Dairy, Somerset, Ky., UPC 7163200142, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Super A Nut Sundae Cones, Associated Foods Stores, Hewlett, N.Y., UPC 2362755065, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 36ct Supreme Indulgence Variety Pack, Ice Cream Specialties, Inc., St. Louis, UPC 7273069150, Lots 0017 through 2448

_ 6pk Turner Nutty Buddy, Turner Dairy, Covington, Tenn., UPC 7077009016, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ Bulk Velvet Olde Mill Sundae Cones, Velvet Ice Cream Company, Utica, Ohio, UPC 7068210820, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 4pk Velvet Olde Mill Vanilla Sundae Cones, Velvet Ice Cream Company, Utica, Ohio, UPC 7068210824, Lots 0017 through 0149

_ 6pk Wegmans Sundae Nut Cones, Wegmans Food Markets, Rochester, N.Y., UPC 7789032607, Best By: October 1, 2007 - October 14, 2010

_ 6pk White Rose Sundae Cones, White Rose Food, Carteret, N.J., UPC 1119680168, Lots 0017 through 0149

For more information, consumers can call 800-654-2547, ext. 218.

Stranded whale euthanized on remote NC beach

A rare, 30-foot right whale had to be euthanized after it stranded itself on a remote North Carolina beach, officials said.

The whale died Thursday near Cape Lookout, a part of a national seashore reachable by boat or helicopter.

Employees from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service have started a necropsy to try to determine why the 2-year-old whale stranded on the island off Morehead City.

Blair Mase, marine mammal stranding coordinator for NOAA's Southeast region, told The Daily News of Jacksonville that euthanizing the whale was the best course of action.

"It was in poor condition," she said. "It had been on the beach since Monday and had started to feel the effects."

Mase said a pilot flying over the area reported the whale Monday. Weather conditions prevented NOAA from sending a crew by boat immediately, but the Coast Guard sent a veterinarian and others by helicopter Wednesday.

"They went out while the tide was at its lowest and the helicopter was able to land on the sandbar but they weren't able to stay long," Mase said.

In December, a newborn right whale was euthanized after it became stranded on an Outer Banks beach in Dare County.

A biologist said the 15-foot baby whale was in poor condition and couldn't survive without its mother.

North Atlantic right whales are an endangered species, and officials believe there are only about 350 to 400 left.

At the buzzer North Carolina beats Florida State

Ty Lawson's running 3-pointer at the buzzer gave No. 5 North Carolina an 80-77 win over Florida State on Wednesday night.

Lawson took an inbounds pass with 3.2 seconds left and moved downcourt, swishing his shot at near full speed from the top of the arc. As soon as the ball went through, teammates rushed over and mobbed Lawson.

"I saw there was one second on the clock and shot a floater," Lawson said outside a jubilant North Carolina locker room. "It went in luckily. I wasn't sure."

The Tar Heels overcame 32 points from Florida State's Toney Douglas, who scored 24 in the second half to help the Seminoles wipe out a 52-39 deficit and give themselves a chance to win.

Florida State (16-5, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) couldn't get off a shot on its final possession, however. The shot clock expired, giving the ball back to the Tar Heels and setting up Lawson's buzzer-beater.

North Carolina (18-2, 4-2) was led by Lawson's 21 points. Danny Green added 20 and Wayne Ellington 14, making up for Tyler Hansbrough's quiet game. Last season's national player of the year scored only eight points.

The North Carolina Tar Heels won despite shooting just 38.1 percent and committing 21 turnovers.

"How lucky we were," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. "That's the bottom line."

Douglas, averaging 27 points per game over his last four ACC contests, was 9-of-20 from the floor and 13-of-14 at the free throw line. Uche Echeful added 14 points and eight rebounds for the Seminoles.

"Toney Douglas is a wrecking crew for them," Williams said. "What a game he played."

North Carolina scored 35 points in the final 8:55 of the first half to take a 46-35 lead despite Hansbrough spending much of the time sitting on the bench for a foul . He scored just two points in the half.

Lawson hurt his left ankle 4 minutes into last year's game at Florida State after colliding with 240-pound Ryan Reid underneath the North Carolina basket. Lawson missed much of the remainder of the season.

Head NC Senate, House leaders re-elected

The North Carolina House and Senate have re-elected their top chamber leaders for another two years.
The House voted Wednesday to allow Democratic Rep. Joe Hackney of Orange County to remain House speaker. Democratic Sen. Marc Basnight continued his record-breaking tenure as Senate leader, being re-elected to a ninth term.
Hackney was elected on a party-line vote over House Minority Leader Paul Stam of Wake County. Basnight is a Dare County North Carolina Democrat who defeated Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger for the top post. Both chambers are dominated by Democrats.
Basnight and Hackney will guide the chambers as lawmakers face the state’s worst fiscal crisis in a generation that will require tough decisions about spending cuts and taxes.

Police found NC driver 2 days after crash

Police say a North Carolina man who spent two nights in his vehicle after crashing down a steep embankment along Interstate 77 has been found.
Jonesville Police Chief Roger Reece said 84-year-old Miles Grady Brooks was alive but unresponsive when crews reached his white Cadillac on Tuesday.
Motorists reported on Sunday night that a white Cadillac was traveling the wrong direction on I-77. Officers searched along the highway but could not find any sign of the car, and they issued a public alert for help.
Reece said a farmer feeding his cows saw the car early Tuesday. Authorities said Brooks was taken to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, but hospital employees said Tuesday afternoon they were not treating a patient by that name.

Talari Networks Lands $6.2 Million Funding Led By Menlo Ventures

Talari Networks, the pioneering leader in providing high-bandwidth, high-reliability Enterprise WANs at consumer Internet pricing, today announced that the company has raised a $6.2 million round led by Menlo Ventures and also including existing private investors. The capital is expected to fund a significant expansion of research and development operations in North Carolina's Research Triangle area.

"We're excited to be able to help Talari Networks bring Internet economics to business-quality WANs," said Hal Calhoun, managing director of Menlo Ventures. "Adaptive Private Networking's unique ability to substantially lower IT operating costs without sacrificing reliability makes an important contribution to the marketplace in today's difficult business climate."

"We're delighted that Menlo Ventures shares our vision for delivering both value and reliability to help businesses large and small meet their technical and economic challenges," said Andrew Gottlieb, founder and CEO of Talari Networks. "In a tough environment for both business funding and employment, we're pleased to attract investment that lets us provide local opportunities and continue to grow our world-class engineering team in order to strengthen our leadership and meet the needs of our growing customer base."

Customer adoption

"Our deployment of Talari equipment to connect overseas locations has proved both cost-effective and reliable," said Chip Greel, director of information security at Finisar Corporation. "We've been able to save several thousand dollars a month in bandwidth costs versus the other approaches we evaluated."

"Thanks to Talari Networks, Grant County has been able to extend its tele-psychiatry program to locations that didn't have a reliable network connection to support high-quality video," said Darla Boothman, director of finance & information services at Grant Mental Healthcare. "Talari's combination of higher reliability and greater bandwidth improved our video quality to allow our care providers to see more patients, while saving on travel costs at the same time."

Adaptive Private Networking technology

Talari's Adaptive Private Networking (APN) approach leverages standard VPN technology for secure data delivery and uses end-to-end algorithms for dynamic, real-time, per-packet traffic engineering. It continuously measures loss, latency, and jitter and adapts network traffic flow almost instantly, delivering reliable and predictable application performance that leverages all available bandwidth sources. APN solves the reliability problems often associated with running VoIP and videoconferencing on shared IP WANs, and it can be added seamlessly to existing networks.

"In recent years the most dramatic advances in access bandwidth and cost-performance have come in the consumer space, but without much attention to the additional requirements of business: scalability and reliability," said Peter Christy, principal, Internet Research Group. "Talari's contributions are precisely in this area, translating the benefits of consumer services to meet the requirements of business."

About Talari Networks

Talari Networks does for Enterprise WANs what RAID did for storage -- delivering a network with 30 to 100 times the bits per dollar, ongoing WAN costs reduced by 40% to 90%, and greater reliability than existing corporate WANs -- bringing Moore's Law and Internet economics to Enterprise WAN buyers, outsourcers and MSPs for the first time in 15 years. For more information, please visit

Student from Hempstead fatally shot in N.C.

A 22-year-old Hempstead man who was attending college in North Carolina was found shot dead outside his apartment early Sunday morning, Greensboro, N.C., police said.

Dennis Hayle, a senior at North Carolina A&T State University, was found at 3:35 a.m. in a corridor outside his off-campus apartment. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

As of Monday, no suspects were named in the shooting.

Hayle's Facebook page billed him as "Dennis Hayle aka Mr. Long Island." He was a senior at the historically black university, majoring in political science and criminal justice and living off-campus. His family in Hempstead Village could not be reached Monday morning.

The campus was in mourning Sunday and Monday, according to school officials who dedicated the university's Web site to him.

Anyone who visits the main page of the university is greeted by a large photo of Hayle with the message, "North Carolina A&T Remembers Dennis Stuart Hayle."

"The University is heartbroken as the result of what occurred with Dennis Hayle," Chancellor Stanley F. Battle said on the Web memorial page.

By Monday morning there were six pages of messages from his friends and others on the university's memorial Web site.

"Dennis was a man on a mission, living with a purpose. One of the most funny, goofiest, and caring people on the campus," one friend wrote.

Another friend said, "I met 'Mr. Long Island' on the first floor of Scott. He was funny then and every time I saw him, he was still the same person . . . 'Mr. Long Island' will be deeply missed!! RIP Aggie Pride."

Many of the comments said Hayle was intensely proud of his school and his classmates, known as Aggies.

"My first encounter with him was one boring night my friends and I went downstairs in the student union to the arcade area where he was working . . . And he kept screaming "aggie pride" every time he would tell us something," one woman wrote.

Another said, "Dennis was a beautiful, amazing person and he will be greatly missed around A & T although I know he will be watching over us still saying "AGGIE PRIDE IS NATIONWIDE."

The News & Record of Greensboro said the corridor of Hayle's Campus Courtyard apartment building was stained with blood Sunday.

The killing was the third homicide in as many days in the city; neighbors said they heard nothing unusual that night, but also said that gunshots were common and another man was shot in the leg nearby last weekend, the newspaper said.

One friend and former fraternity brother told the News & Record that Hayle was a peer mentor and volunteered to serve breakfast at the Greensboro Urban Ministry soup kitchen.

"He didn't get into it with nobody. I'm so shocked. I don't know what happened," Uche Byrd said. "He had such a bright future... The statistics for minority men aren't good, but he was beating them."

Another of Hayle's friends, writing on the university's memorial Web site, said professors and students were in shock.

The friend wrote, "It's a sad day when a mother can no longer send her son to college, to better himself."

unemployment in December rises to 8.7 percent

The number of North Carolina workers who want a job but can't find one remains at an all-time high, with nearly 400,000 of the state's residents out of work.

The Employment Security Commission of North Carolina said Friday the jobless rate hit 8.7 percent in December. That's the highest level since the recession of the early 1980s, when the rate reached 9 percent in June 1983.

The jobless rate climbed from 7.8 percent in November and 4.7 percent in December 2007. The national unemployment rate was 7.2 percent in December.

Since this time last year, unemployment has increased by nearly 185,184 people. State leaders have worried that North Carolina's job market will continue to get worse in 2009 as the large banking industry prepares to shed jobs.

North Carolina Campus Police Arrest Student During Snowball Fight

Fun or Fight ???

Campus police at East Carolina University said they made one arrest and used pepper spray on some students as officers tried to control a huge snowball fight on campus.

Police were called to a dormitory three times as more than 200 students pelted each other with snowballs as a rare snowstorm dropped several inches of snow in eastern North Carolina on Tuesday, The Daily Reflector of Greenville reported Thursday.

Some witnesses said they were hit hard by indiscriminately hurled snowballs.

"It all started in good nature, but then people were throwing them as hard as they could at each other. They were everywhere," said junior Brandon Davis, noting he got hit in the head.

He said a girl was knocked to the ground after being hit in the face with a snowball thrown from 10 feet away, while another student cried after getting hit in the eye.

North Carolina Police said an officer used pepper spray on a group of students that rushed officers trying to make an arrest. Authorities estimate between 200 and 250 people were involved, but no serious injuries were reported.

Matt Lunchick, a junior, said he saw an officer tackle and arrest a student after the officer was hit with a snowball in the back. He also said officers told some students not to dump tubs of snow into cars.

Steven Rashad Bass, 18, was arrested and charged with assault on a government official, and resisting, delaying and obstructing a law enforcement officer. He was later released from the Pitt County Detention Center, jail officials said Thursday.

Bass was scheduled to appear in court March 3. His telephone number couldn't be found, and he didn't immediately return an e-mail Thursday.

NC unemploymentrises in December to 8.7 percent

The number of North Carolina workers who want a job but can't find one remains at an all-time high, with nearly 400,000 of the state's residents out of work.

The Employment Security Commission of North Carolina said Friday the jobless rate hit 8.7 percent in December 2008. That's the highest level since the recession of the early 1980s, when the rate reached 9 percent in June 1983.
Article Controls

The jobless rate climbed from 7.8 percent in November and 4.7 percent in December 2007. The national unemployment rate was 7.2 percent in December.

Since this time last year, unemployment has increased by nearly 185,184 people. State leaders have worried that North Carolina's job market will continue to get worse in 2009 as the large banking industry prepares to shed jobs.

NC man gets $35,000 for Bush's library domain name

A North Carolina man is now $35,000 richer thanks to a few advisers to former President George W. Bush who allowed his library's Web site address expire.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reports Tuesday that Web developer George Huger was searching through a list of expiring domain names two years ago when he noticed a treasure. The Web address http://www.GeorgeWBushLibrary.com was about to expire.

He bought the rights for $5. Huger said he recently sold them for $35,000 to Florida-based Yuma Solutions, which the Bush Library Foundation said is in charge of Web site care. Company owner Mark Mills didn't return the newspaper's calls.

Bush's library and museum will be in Dallas.

Huger said he isn't looking for another presidential name. BarackObamaLibrary.com is already taken.

MLK Commission bell-ringing follows NC ceremony

Members of North Carolina's Martin Luther King Jr. Commission plan a bell-ringing tribute to the slain civil rights leader outside a Raleigh museum.

The tribute will be Monday morning on the plaza near the state Museum of History after a ceremony. It will be led by commission chairman Pastor Thomas Walker of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Rocky Mount.

A replica of the Liberty Bell will be rung about 10:30 a.m.

The commission was created in 1993 by the North Carolina General Assembly to give grants that promote the King holiday.

New York City Plane Crash Video

New York City Plane Crash Video Live - US Airways Plane Crashes Into The Hudson River to Charlotte, North Carolina

All 155 survive plane crash in NYC's Hudson River to Charlotte

A US Airways pilot ditched his disabled jetliner into the frigid Hudson River on Thursday afternoon after a collision with a flock of birds apparently knocked out both engines, but rescuers pulled all 155 people on board into boats as the plane sank, authorities say.

There were no immediate reports of any serious injuries.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said Flight 1549 had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport en route to Charlotte, North Carolina, when the crash occurred in the river near 48th Street in midtown Manhattan.

The plane, an Airbus 320, took off at 3:26 p.m. and went down minutes later, Brown said.

"There were eyewitness reports the plane may have flown into a flock

appeals court hears Duke lacrosse slander suit

A North Carolina appeals court heard arguments Wednesday in a case that could decide whether Duke University's former lacrosse coach can pursue a slander lawsuit against the school and its former spokesman.

At stake is whether former coach Mike Pressler could pursue punitive damages and other penalties for disparaging comments he contends former Duke spokesman John Burness twice made to the media.

Pressler was fired by Duke in March 2006, weeks after a stripper's false accusations that three lacrosse players raped her at a team party. The three players later were exonerated and declared innocent by state prosecutors.

"Duke had essentially convicted, in its own mind, these three lacrosse players. They expelled them from school and they looked at Mike Pressler as a scapegoat," said his attorney, Donald Strickland of Raleigh.

In March 2007, the coach and the university agreed on a financial settlement that severed their relationship. Both sides agreed to keep terms confidential and to avoid making disparaging or defamatory comments about each other. That settlement ended Pressler's obligation as a Duke employee to resolve a dispute with the university through arbitration, Strickland said.

If the three-judge panel of the North Carolina Court of Appeals forces Pressler's complaint to be resolved by arbitration instead of judges, his maximum award would be about five years' salary, Strickland said.

Duke attorney John Simpson said while the settlement closed "a nasty situation" between Pressler and Duke, the arbitration requirement remained.

"They argue that this was really a divorce," said Simpson, of Washington D.C. "But this was not a separation. They stopped one relationship and started another one."

Duke launched its appeal after a lower court judge in April rejected the view that Pressler had to first go through arbitration.

Pressler's October 2007 lawsuit said Duke violated the settlement when Burness made disparaging comments about Pressler. In one case, a New York newspaper quoted Burness in April 2007 as saying coaches are responsible for team behavior, and that the difference between Pressler and his successor was "night and day," the lawsuit said.

Simpson denied the university was trying to limit its liability by insisting an arbitrator and not a court handle Pressler's dispute. Duke wanted arbitration in the case to be consistent in rules affecting even disputes over an employee's dismissal, he said. Arbitration is "just another forum," and like a judge, the arbitrator would be free to order whatever resolution he or she thought appropriate, Simpson said.

Strickland disagreed, insisting that an arbitrator's choice of remedies was limited.

"Duke knows that if this court sends this case to arbitration, Mike Pressler ... cannot sue for slander," Strickland said.

Pressler coached at Duke for 16 seasons. He was the only Duke official who lost a job as a result of the case. He now coaches lacrosse at Bryant University in Rhode Island. He was picked by the U.S. sport's governing body to coach the men's national lacrosse team in the 2010 world championships in England.

TVA must install pollution controls near North Carolina

A federal judge has sided with North Carolina and ordered the Tennessee Valley Authority to install pollution controls at four coal-fired power plants.

The decision issued Tuesday by U.S. District Court Judge Lacy Thornburg comes in a lawsuit filed in 2006 against the nation's largest public utility by North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper.

Cooper's lawsuit asked the court to order the TVA to cap sulfur dioxide and other pollutants that he said cross into the state from the utility's coal-burning plants in Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.

Thornburg ordered controls installed at the four plants closest to North Carolina, but denied the state's request to add them at seven others.

TVA must install pollution controls near North Carolina

A federal judge has sided with North Carolina and ordered the Tennessee Valley Authority to install pollution controls at four coal-fired power plants.

The decision issued Tuesday by U.S. District Court Judge Lacy Thornburg comes in a lawsuit filed in 2006 against the nation's largest public utility by North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper.

Cooper's lawsuit asked the court to order the TVA to cap sulfur dioxide and other pollutants that he said cross into the state from the utility's coal-burning plants in Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.

Thornburg ordered controls installed at the four plants closest to North Carolina, but denied the state's request to add them at seven others.

North Carolina Drops in the Rankings

The Tar Heels fell to fifth in this weeks' Associated Press poll after their second ACC loss in a row.

The coaches weren't as generous as Carolina dropped to sixth overall in the ESPN/USA Today Poll.

Elsewhere in the ACC, Wake Forest jumped Duke to second in the AP Poll and rose to third in the coaches poll while Clemson entered the top 10.

It's becoming even more eerie how similar this season is to the 2004-2005 season in which Duke, Wake and UNC fought in a competitive ACC race.

Here's a glimpse back at the rankings from that season fresh after Chris Paul led the Demon Deacons over Carolina.

Wake Forest rose to the number three spot with Duke ranked fourth in both polls. Carolina dropped to sixth overall.

Clemson wasn't in the picture then, however, instead Boston College -- who had not yet joined the ACC -- jumped into the top 10 and was ranked ninth in both polls.

If history is any lesson, which it most certainly is, the ACC is in for a competitive and interesting season as the conference title in 2004-2005 came down to the last regular season game in Chapel Hill when Carolina beat Duke after trailing by nine with only three minutes to play.

Remember Marvin Williams' tip in?

regular season with only two conference losses -- one at Wake and one at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Wake Forest finished second with three conference losses, and Duke finished third with five conference losses.

Duke and UNC grabbed number one seeds in the NCAA tournament, and Wake Forest managed a two seed despite a better record than Duke -- a slight that didn't translate to much as Wake Forest was upset by West Virginia in the NCAA tournament.

North Carolina Marathon move race's location

Organizers of the North Carolina Marathon said they’ll be moving the race from Greensboro to High Point.

The surprise announcement came last week, and officials have yet to announce all the changes, including the new course.

“We faced some budget challenges in Greensboro, and we received a huge blessing,” Melissa Fourrier of Foster Friends of North Carolina said.

The race is the biggest fundraiser for the non-profit organization.

“We feel grateful. High Point offered to host the race free of charge for our security cost,” Fourrier said.

Officials haven’t said how much Greensboro wanted for security, but they said when you’re raising money for kids, every dollar counts.

“High point seemed to have the better offer for us, which allowed us to have more money for the children,” Foster Friends board member David Miller said.

Last year, the race brought in some $40,000 for the non-profit, but organizers said while financial concerns played a big part in the move, money wasn’t the only factor.

“Our goal is to make the course flatter and faster. A lot of our runners are trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon. This will be a Boston certified event, so we want to make sure they have the opportunity to run as fast as they can to get that time that they need to qualify for Boston,” Slade Lewis of the North Carolina Marathon Committee said.
Lewis said he’s confident in the security High Point officials will provide, especially as the May 2 race follows right on the heels of the International Furniture Market.
“High Point handles 80,000 people twice a year for this event, and so we know they have the experience with dealing with crowd management,” Lewis said.
This year’s race should draw around 3,000 runners, which is about twice the number as last year.
“The marathon does several things. The number one, of course, is that it does raise money, but it also raises awareness and foster children by definition often don’t have a lot of advocates,” Miller said.

No. 4 Wake Forest tops No. 3 North Carolina

Jeff Teague scored a career-high 34 points as No. 4 Wake Forest held on for a 92-89 victory over No. 3 North Carolina on Sunday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The Tar Heels (14-2, 0-2), who were thought to have a shot at a perfect season, couldn't get through the first week of Atlantic Coast Conference play before matching their league loss total for all of last season.

"It's better now than in March," Tyler Hansbrough said of the losses. "But you have to understand: It's early. We've got a lot of games to prove ourselves."

Wake Forest (14-0, 1-0) led for most of the second half, but the Tar Heels made things interesting late by twice closing within three points in the final minute.

Technology Levels Playing Field in Race to Market Electric Car

It would seem like a lousy time to get into the car business, especially if you're a little-known company in the developing world. No start-up has grown into a major auto maker in at least half a century.

Wang Chuanfu, the founder and chairman of BYD Co., a Chinese battery and car maker, thinks he's got a shot.

Last month, BYD began selling a plug-in electric hybrid car in China, at least a year ahead of similar efforts in the U.S. and Japan. The car, called the F3DM, plugs into a home outlet and comes with a small gasoline engine that can recharge the battery on the go. It is the first of an array of electrified cars BYD plans to introduce around the world, starting in China and then in the U.S. and Europe as early as 2010.

On Monday, Mr. Wang is expected to pitch the F3DM to U.S. consumers, during a news conference at Detroit's North American International Auto Show, which opens to the public Saturday. His venture has already attracted the attention of industry veterans and investors, including Warren Buffett.

Mr. Wang's strategy: capitalizing on the electric car's low barriers to entry. Few products are as complex to develop and produce as gasoline-powered automobiles, which are assembled with thousands of precisely engineered parts. But electric cars use only basic motors and gearboxes, and have relatively few parts. Aside from perfecting the battery itself, they're far easier and cheaper to build -- and that makes for a level playing field.

"It's almost hopeless for a latecomer like us to compete with GM and other established auto makers with a century of experience in gasoline engines," said Mr. Wang in an interview, pacing and juggling calls in BYD's headquarters on the outskirts of Shenzhen. "With electric vehicles, we're all at the same starting line."

It's still a bumpy road to a full-blown era of battery cars. Punishingly high gasoline prices have come down, potentially damping the public's willingness to embrace alternative-fuel vehicles. In addition to convincing consumers to try untested technology, BYD has to fight mistrust in the West of Chinese-produced goods. Safety has also come into question, as some of the lithium-ion batteries -- widely believed to be the key to making viable electric cars -- have shown a tendency to overheat and sometimes catch fire.

Mr. Wang says BYD's batteries use a new technology that makes them safer than other lithium-ion models. He also says cheap abundant labor helps keeps his costs down, another factor that could sway consumers. In China, the F3DM is priced at 150,000 yuan, or $22,000, and BYD expects it to sell for a similar amount in the U.S. The Chevrolet Volt, by contrast, may be priced at $40,000 or more when it hits the market in late 2010.

Another potential BYD edge: more than a decade of experience specializing in making batteries. Mr. Wang started the company in 1995, borrowing $300,000 from a cousin, and making batteries for cellphones. Today, BYD is the world's second-biggest producer of lithium-ion batteries. The company made 21.2 billion yuan ($3.1 billion) in revenue last year and has a work force of 130,000. Last September, MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., an Iowa-based energy producer, invested $230 million in BYD for a 10% stake. Mr. Buffett is majority owner of MidAmerican.

BYD caught the investors' attention in part because of its army of 10,000 technicians and engineers, many fresh out of college and technical schools, says David Sokol, chairman of MidAmerican. "Mr. Wang has built high-quality but low-cost research and development capabilities in China," says Mr. Sokol.

The first of BYD's electric cars, the F3DM, is more of a purely electric car than the gasoline-electric hybrids on the road today. It can go about 50 to 60 miles exclusively on electricity when fully charged.

By contrast, Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius is essentially a gasoline-fueled car with an electric engine that propels the car at low speeds and assists the gasoline engine when accelerating. The F3DM is similar in design to General Motors Corp.'s Chevy Volt. But it is being launched two years earlier than the Volt and one year ahead of Toyota's plug-in hybrid, which is due out for late 2009.

Other nontraditional players jumping into the fold include Think Global in Norway, Lightning Car Co. in the U.K. and Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive, both in California. They all are planning to soon roll out or are already taking orders, albeit a very small number of them, for electric cars powered by lithium-ion batteries. The growing field of upstart competitors could pose a threat to Detroit, where the Big Three are betting that hybrids and battery cars can help fuel their turnaround.

In China, BYD is already one of the fastest-growing independent auto makers. Demand for its traditional small cars, the F3 and the F0, is growing despite weakening car sales in China, allowing it to close in on Chery Automobile Co. and Geely Holding Group, the two biggest independent Chinese auto brands. The F3 was one of China's best-selling models during the last quarter of 2008. "BYD is probably the closest...to becoming the first Chinese auto maker to crack the Western auto markets," says Wolfgang Bernhart, a senior researcher for the German consulting firm Roland Burger.

By late 2009, BYD plans to mark another milestone by launching in China the BYD e6, an all-electric car capable of going 180 miles on a single full charge of its battery.
The Battery Holdup

The concept of an electric vehicle has been around for more than a century. But so far it has failed to become mainstream in large part because the batteries have been too heavy, bulky and costly. Until recently, no commercially available battery could store enough energy in a small space, such as under the car's back seat, recharge quickly and operate in all weather without overheating or failing.

Lithium-ion batteries, like the ones used in laptop computers and cellphones, hold the most promise. But the safety issues have slowed production. Both GM and Toyota say they are taking more time to roll out their electric cars to make sure their batteries are safe.

Mr. Wang says BYD's lithium-ion battery uses an iron-phosphate technology that is chemically stable and thus "inherently safe." He says it doesn't overheat to the point where it can catch fire.

The technology is similar in design to that developed by A123 Systems, a U.S. start-up battery maker led by a group of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. GM is using their technology to power the Volt. Individuals close to A123 say the company plans to take apart BYD's battery cell to see if BYD has infringed on any of its technology. Officials at A123 declined to comment.

The Chinese company says it has spent more than 10 years developing its own iron-phosphate-based lithium-ion technology without infringing on others' intellectual property. "Sometimes foreigners think every Chinese company is stealing technology and design," says Luo Hongbin, a senior BYD engineer. But, he says, "we have been researching electric vehicles for so many years."

In early testing, reviewers said the car still has some kinks. The gasoline engine in the F3DM, for instance, rattles and can be noisy when it kicks in. The steering wheel also tends to get stiff when making a turn. Henry Li, a senior BYD executive in charge of overseas sales and marketing, says the company is working to resolve these issues before the car hits new markets: "We have plenty of time to make them perfect."

Mr. Wang, the 42-year-old Chinese entrepreneur, compares the simplicity of building electric cars to the simplicity of a digital watch. "Anyone can design and produce digital watches, but it's virtually impossible for a newcomer to match the precision of a Swiss wristwatch," Mr. Wang says.

Indeed, BYD's all-electric e6, has just two motors (45 parts each), one powering the front axle and the other the rear, and two gearboxes (60 parts each) to go with each of the motors. That means the whole system has 210 primary parts, excluding nuts and bolts. In comparison, BYD's F6, a gasoline-fueled vehicle, has a total of 1,400 powertrain parts: a V6 engine composed of 840 parts and a transmission with 560 parts.
Learning to Drive

At BYD's plant in Shenzhen, electric motors and batteries are produced with little automation, creating a decidedly low-tech feeling to the place. Rows of workers, mostly women in their late teens and early 20s dressed in blue uniforms, assemble them largely by hand.

Mr. Wang's fascination with batteries harks back to his college days in the mid-1980s, when he studied metallurgical physics and chemistry. After receiving a master's degree, he found a research position at the General Research Institute of Nonferrous Metals in Beijing. He says it was a cushy job, but he grew bored and decided to go out on his own just as China's experiment with capitalism was going into full swing.

Mr. Wang set up BYD with two dozen engineers. Within a few years, the company was selling batteries to companies like Motorola Inc., Nokia Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. The business doubled each year, Mr. Wang says. BYD went public on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2002.

One industry that grabbed Mr. Wang's attention was cars, even though he didn't know how to drive at the time. (He has since learned and takes his Lexus to work.) In early 2003, Mr. Wang decided to acquire a small auto maker named Qinchuan Motors in Xian, but investors voiced strong opposition.

On a conference call, Mr. Wang disclosed that in 1998 he had instructed 20 of his top engineers to quietly scale up BYD's cellphone-battery technology so that it could be used to power cars some day. They developed an all-electric car, a clunky vehicle called the Flyer that was just a step above a golf cart.

Encouraged, investors blessed plans for BYD to first design a traditional gasoline car so the company could learn the basics of design and manufacturing. In mid-2005, BYD launched its first car, a small sedan called the F3. Foreign industry observers accused the F3 of being a copy of the Toyota Corolla. Mr. Wang says he was careful not to infringe on another company's intellectual property. "By synthesizing good ideas in China from Toyota and others, BYD created its own cars quickly," he says. He says he believed there was no better way to learn the ropes of the auto industry than "benchmarking" the industry's best.

A Toyota spokesman said the Japanese company doesn't intend to take BYD to court over the F3. "In general, we're always prepared to take legal action if we can determine there is a clear case of infringement," says company spokesman Hitoshi Yokoyama in Beijing.

Behind the scenes, BYD kept fine-tuning its electric cars. In April 2008, when Mr. Wang unveiled an e6 prototype at the Beijing auto show, it was an emotional moment for the executive, who grew up poor in Anhui Province and lost both of his rice-farmer parents to illness by the time he was 15.

Standing amid firecrackers and confetti, Mr. Wang declared the e6 marked the arrival of a new era in automobiles: "We have every confidence to surpass GM and Toyota and other global auto makers in electric-vehicle technology."

North Carolina without Ginyard against Wake Forest

Marcus Ginyard will not play for third-ranked North Carolina against No. 4 Wake Forest on Sunday night as he continues to struggle with his recovery from preseason foot surgery.

North Carolina Team spokesman Steve Kirschner said the versatile senior would not dress, which would mark his second straight missed game. Ginyard missed the first 11 games and played sparingly in the next three before sitting out Wednesday's rout of College of Charleston North Carolina.

Ginyard had surgery in October to repair a stress fracture in his left foot, an injury that was supposed to keep him sidelined for about eight weeks.

On Friday, coach Roy Williams said he was frustrated and concerned by Ginyard's slow recovery. He is the team's top defender and veteran leader.

Hatchell gets 800th win as UNC tops N.C. State

Rashanda McCants scored 16 points and second-ranked North Carolina dominated overtime to beat North Carolina State 75-66 and give coach Sylvia Hatchell her 800th career victory on Sunday.

Hatchell became the fourth coach to reach 800 wins, joining Pat Summitt, Jody Conradt and C. Vivian Stringer. Hatchell improved to 800-274 in 34 seasons, with 528 of those victories coming in 23 seasons in Chapel Hill.

Bonae Holston scored 19 points to lead N.C. State (8-8, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), which was playing its first game since Hall of Fame coach Kay Yow announced she would not return to the team as she continues her long fight against cancer.

Cetera DeGraffenreid also had 16 points for the Tar Heels (16-0, 2-0), who struggled all day with the Wolfpack before scoring on four straight possessions to open the extra period and finally get some breathing room. North Carolina won despite shooting 36 percent, including 2-for-23 from 3-point range.

Yow said earlier this week she would not return to the team after missing the past four games due to an extremely low energy level. The 66-year-old Hall of Famer was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987. The disease recurred in the 2004-05 season, forcing her to miss two games that year and 16 more two seasons ago.

Regardless, her presence was still felt here. Before the game, fans applauded in support of Yow, while one fan carried a sign that read, "Pull'n 4 the Heels, pray'n for Kay."

By the end of the day, however, the focus was back on Hatchell.

After the win, athletics director Dick Baddour and chancellor Holden Thorp presented Hatchell with a jersey bearing the No. 800. Then came a video montage of highlights and well-wishers, including Summitt, former North Carolina All-American Ivory Latta and men's coach Roy Williams.

"I was about to think it wasn't going to happen there for a while," she said in addressing the home crowd afterward.

Indeed. It seemed like the Tar Heels were sliding toward a surprising home loss that would derail a possible 1-vs-2 showdown with top-ranked Connecticut here next week. They lost leading scorer Jessica Breland to a sprained right ankle when she landed awkwardly on a rebound with about 13 1/2 minutes left. They struggled with their shot all day and couldn't make anything from 3-point range.

They were also beaten on the boards 60-53, a particularly irksome stat for the rebound-obsessed Hatchell.

Still, the Tar Heels hung in against a team playing on emotion, erasing a five-point deficit in the final 5 minutes and taking a 59-57 lead on Iman McFarland's stickback with 1:37 left. But the Wolfpack answered with Sharnise Beal's jumper over Heather Claytor to tie it with 52.1 seconds left, then forced a missed 3 from McCants followed by a turnover from DeGraffenreid after an offensive rebound with 0.9 seconds left to force overtime.

The Wolfpack couldn't get off a shot for the win after a fullcourt heave. And once in OT, Chay Shegog scored inside to put the Tar Heels ahead for good on the first possession with a basket inside.

Then, after McCants' turnaround from the top, Claytor buried a 3 off a feed from DeGraffenreid for the 66-59 lead with 3 minutes left. The Wolfpack got no closer the rest of the way.

Shegog finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, while McCants had 12 boards.

Members Of Congress Who Believe That Israel Has NO Right to Defend Herself

This afternoon Congress Passed a Resolution:

Recognizing Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza, reaffirming the United States’ strong support for Israel, and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. (Full resolution below)

Out of all of the Congressmen who were present, twenty-seven did not support the resolution. Five Voted NO and twenty-two didn't have the guts to vote yes or no, just present.

Below is a list of those members of congress. Are any of them YOURS? Note that all but one (moonbat Ron Paul) are members of the Democratic party. California accounted for 25% of the group of 27:


Members Of Congress Who Believe That Israel Has NO Right to Defend Herself

--- ANSWERED "NO" 5 ---
Dennis J. Kucinich (D - OH)
Gwen Moore (D-WI)
Ron Paul (R - Saturn TX)
Nick Rahall (D-WV)
Maxine Waters (D-CA)


---- ANSWERED “PRESENT” 22 ---
Neil Abercrombie (D-HI)
Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
Peter DeFazio (D-OR)
John Dingell (D-MI)
Donna F. Edwards (D-MD)
Keith Ellison (D-Muslim Brotherhood MN)
Sam Farr (D-CA)
Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ)
Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)
Henry Johnson (D-GA)
Carolyn C. Kilpatrick (D-MI)
Barbara Lee(D-CA)
Betty McCollum (D-MI)James McDermott (D-WA)
George Miller(D-CA)
James Moron Moran(D-VA)
John Olver (D-MA)
Donald Payne (D-NJ)
Loretta Sanchez(D-CA)
Pete Stark (D-CA)
Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)


Resolution Passed this afternoon:

111TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES.
Recognizing Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza, reaffirming
the United States’ strong support for Israel, and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.


RESOLUTION
Recognizing Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks
from Gaza, reaffirming the United States’ strong support
for Israel, and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian peace
process.

Whereas Hamas was founded with the stated goal of destroying
the State of Israel;

Whereas Hamas has been designated by the United States as
a Foreign Terrorist Organization;

Whereas Hamas has refused to comply with the Quartet’s
(the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the
United Nations) requirements that Hamas recognize
Israel’s right to exist, renounce violence, and agree to accept
previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinians;
Whereas in June 2006, Hamas illegally crossed into Israel,
attacked Israeli forces, and kidnaped Corporal Gilad
Shalit, whom they continue to hold today;

Whereas Hamas has launched thousands of rockets and mortars
against Israeli population centers since 2001, and
has launched more than 6,000 such rockets and mortars
since Israel withdrew its civilian population and its military
from Gaza in 2005;

Whereas Hamas has increased the range and payload of its
rockets, reportedly with support from Iran and others,
putting hundreds of thousands of Israelis in danger of
rocket attacks from Gaza;

Whereas Hamas locates elements of its terrorist infrastructure
in civilian population centers, thus using innocent civilians
as human shields;

Whereas Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement
on December 27, 2008, that ‘‘We strongly condemn
the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel
and hold Hamas responsible for breaking the cease-fire
and for the renewal of violence there’’;

Whereas on December 27, 2008, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert said, ‘‘For approximately seven years, hundreds
of thousands of Israeli citizens in the south have been
suffering from missiles being fired at them . . . In such
a situation we had no alternative but to respond. We do
not rejoice in battle but neither will we be deterred from
it. . . .The operation in the Gaza Strip is designed, first
and foremost, to bring about an improvement in the security
reality for the residents of the south of the country’’;

Whereas the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including shortages
of food, water, electricity, and adequate medical
care, is becoming more acute;

Whereas Israel has facilitated humanitarian aid to Gaza with
hundreds of trucks carrying humanitarian assistance and
numerous ambulances entering the Gaza Strip since the
current round of fighting began on December 27, 2008;

Whereas on January 6, 2009, before the United Nations Security
Council, Secretary Rice stated that: ‘‘The situation
before the current events in Gaza was clearly not sustainable.
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis lived under the
daily threat of rocket attack, and frankly, no country,
none of our countries, would have been willing to tolerate
such a circumstance. Moreover, the people of Gaza
watched as insecurity and lawlessness increased and as
their living conditions grew more dire because of Hamas’s
actions which began with the illegal coup against the Palestinian
Authority in Gaza. . .A ceasefire that returns to
those circumstances is unacceptable and it will not last’’;

and

Whereas the ultimate goal of the United States is a sustainable
resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that will
ensure the welfare, security, and survival of the State of
Israel as a Jewish and democratic state with secure borders,
and a viable, independent, and democratic Palestinian
state living side by side in peace and security with
the State of Israel: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
expresses vigorous support and unwavering
commitment to the welfare, security, and survival of
the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state
with secure borders, and recognizes its right to act
in self-defense to protect its citizens against
Hamas’s unceasing aggression, as enshrined in the
United Nations Charter;

(2) reiterates that Hamas must end the rocket
and mortar attacks against Israel, recognize Israel’s
right to exist, renounce violence, agree to accept previous
agreements between Israel and the Palestinians,
and verifiably dismantle its terrorist infrastruc
ture;
(3) encourages the Administration to work actively to
support a durable and sustainable cease-firein Gaza ,
as soon as possible, that prevents Hamas from
retaining or rebuilding its terrorist infrastructure,
including the capability to launch rockets and
mortars against Israel, and thereby allowing for the
long-term improvement of daily living conditions for
the people of Gaza;

(4) believes strongly that the lives of innocent
civilians must be protected to the maximum extent
possible, expresses condolences to innocent Palestinian
and Israeli victims and their families, and re-iterates
that humanitarian needs in Gaza should be
addressed promptly and responsibly;

(5) calls on all nations—

(A) to condemn Hamas for deliberately
embedding its fighters, leaders, and weapons in
private homes, schools, mosques, hospitals, and
otherwise using Palestinian civilians as human
shields, while simultaneously targeting Israeli
civilians; and
(B) to lay blame both for the breaking of
the ‘‘calm’’ and for subsequent civilian casual
ties in Gaza precisely where blame belongs, that
is, on Hamas;

(6) supports and encourages efforts to diminish
the appeal and influence of extremists in the Palestinian
territories, and strengthen moderate Palestinians who
are committed to a secure and lasting peace with Israel;
(7) calls on Egypt to intensify its efforts to halt
smuggling between Gaza and Egypt and affirms the
willingness of the United States to continue to assist
Egypt in these efforts;

(8) calls for the immediate release of the kidnaped
Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been illegally
held in Gaza since June 2006; and reiterates its strong
support for a just and sustainable resolution of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict achieved through negotiations
between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in order to
ensure the welfare, security, and survival of the State of Israel
as a Jewish and democratic state with secure borders, and a
viable, independent, and democratic Palestinian state living
side by side in peace and security with the State of Israel.

Women’s College basketball North Carolina survives Clemson

Rashanda McCants scored 12 of her 17 points in the second half, and No. 2 North Carolina overcame a shaky start to its Atlantic Coast Conference Season with an 83-74 victory over Clemson North Carolina on Thursday night.

The defending conference champion North Carolina Tar Heels, 15-0, watched Clemson overcome a 12-point deficit in taking a 65-54 lead with 5:03 remaining.

But McCants, a senior, and freshman Chey Shegog saved North Carolina, combining to score 13 of the team’s final 19 points.

Heather Claytor put the Tar Heels ahead to stay with her short jumper. Then McCants made two free throws to extend the lead to 68-65. Shegog put in three straight inside buckets. Still, Clemson pulled to 74-71 on Lele Hardy’s lay-in with 1:48 left.

But McCants stole the ball from Sthefany Thomas and got fouled on her driving basket. The three-point play made it 77-71, and Clemson couldn’t get any closer.

The North Carolina Tar Heels have won 13 straight over Clemson and 21 in a row over ACC competition. North Carolina will have to shore things up if they hope to keep such streaks going. The Tar Heels have difficult league games with North Carolina State and Virginia, then face No. 1 Connecticut on Jan. 19.

Bryelie Smith had 17 points to lead Clemson, and Whitney Hood added 16.

North Carolina ready for inauguration of first female govenor

Since North Carolina's founding as a colony of the British crown more than 400 years ago, 99 men have taken office as chief executive.

For No. 100, voters in the Old North Carolina decided it was time for a change.

"It is an important historic moment," said Jennifer Roberts, chairwoman of the Mecklenburg County commissioners, who is bringing her 9-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter to Raleigh on Saturday to watch North Carolina Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue take the oath of office as the state's first female governor.

"They've studied North Carolina history in their classes and I wanted them to be there and see the inauguration of a governor, and especially the first woman governor," Roberts added.

Nationally, it's no longer unusual for a woman to lead a state: 22 states had elected a female governor before Perdue beat Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory in November. The Democrat from New Bern and longtime lawmaker - who also was the state's first female lieutenant governor - has tried to find a balance with what she jokingly calls "the woman thing."

But North Carolina Perdue readily acknowledges that many residents are celebrating her ascent through the last glass ceiling in state politics. She has embraced the congratulations that arrived in e-mails and Christmas cards following her victory. In one card, Perdue said, a woman included a picture of her three young daughters and a note, "These are the reasons I supported you."

"They're coming on Saturday just because they never thought they'd live to see it," Perdue said in an interview. "So there is some history, and I just have every desire to live up to the privilege that I've been given to be the first."

Perdue's inauguration will cap an election season in which North Carolina replaced its first female U.S. Senator, Elizabeth Dole, with another woman, former state Sen. Kay Hagan. Women now hold about a quarter of the 170 seats in the state Legislature. Sarah Parker is chief justice of the state Supreme Court.

And following Janet Cowell's victory in her race for state treasurer and Beth Wood's election as state auditor, six of the top 10 statewide elected officials in North Carolina are female.

"It says we're getting to the point where men and women can govern together," said Carol Teal, executive director of Lillian's List of North Carolina, a group that supports female Democratic legislative candidates.

Gigi Dixon, 48, of Charlotte, a Perdue supporter who is traveling to the inaugural festivities later this month in Raleigh and in Washington, said Perdue's victory perfectly complements Barack Obama's historic election as the nation's first black president.

"I don't think (Obama) overshadows it, not at all," Dixon said. "For an African-American woman like myself, it's fantastic ... and I'm glad that I'm alive to see it."

Perdue's husband, businessman Bob Eaves, is still working on his role as North Carolina's "first gentleman," as Perdue would like him to be called.

For female politicians who once were considered an anomaly, fuss over such details is a wonderful thing to witness.

"Look at Kay Hagan and all the women who are in elected office - it's not easy," said former Rep. Marie Colton of Asheville, now 86, who served in the Legislature from 1979 through 1994. "They're expected to do the same things as men do, but I think they do it more graciously."

Perdue focused on aging issues when she joined the Legislature in the 1980s, drawing on her professional background. She later became a chief budget-writer in the Senate, involving herself in the inner workings of all of state government. Outgoing North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley said Perdue "knows the budget as well as anybody that's ever had this job."

Those are the kind of qualifications that people like Julia Wilson say they want from a North Carolina governor, male or female. Wilson, vice president of a Statesville general contracting firm, took 8-year-old niece Lindsey Dotson to hear a stump speech in September from the potential future North Carolina governor.

"I felt like that she has a very genuine passion and concern about the state of North Carolina," said Wilson, 47. "The fact that she was a woman was secondary, frankly, in my mind."

Tip foils plans to 'shoot up' North Carolina school

A plot to "shoot up" a western North Carolina high school was derailed by tip from a teen who chatted with the suspect online, authorities said Thursday.
Investigators took a North Carolina 15-year-old boy into custody Friday and found at his home a computer and DVD with plans for an attack on Brevard High School, Transylvania County Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Brian Kreigsman said. Kreigsman said the plans were not elaborate, and would not say whether weapons were found.
Kreigsman said the teen told a 16-year-old girl from New York earlier that day that he planned to "shoot up a school" on Monday. The two were chatting on the MySpace social networking Web site.
"The potential was here for this to be a major threat," Kreigsman said.
The girl pulled the boy into a private chatroom to get more information, Kreigsman said, and he referred to a shooting in Greensboro in 1979 in which white supremacists killed five people and wounded 10 others.
The North Carolina girl told authorities that the boy, who also referred to himself as the "Grand Dragon," then abruptly ended the conversation.
After the online chat, the girl notified local authorities, which contacted North Carolina law enforcement.
Kreigsman declined to identify the teen, who's undergoing a mental-health evaluation. No charges had been filed Thursday afternoon.
North Carolina Brevard County Schools spokeswoman Dian Brewton said the suspect, who isn't currently a student at the 750-student high school, had been in a mental health facility. He was home waiting to be transferred to another one when he was taken into custody, she said.
Security at the North Carolina high school hasn't been changed because of the plot, she said.

Help wanted not available

In North Carolina weeks, the agencies that handle claims from the growing ranks of unemployed people in Virginia and North Carolina have reported major glitches in their automated systems for processing remuneration.

Each week, North Carolina individuals seeking unemployment checks have to wallet for benefits with their position's unemployment offices. They can do so by phone or online.

Ordinarily, these encounters are routine. But on the Monday following Christmas, the Virginia Employ Commission was overwhelmed by a deluge of calls from the on the dole - a eye-catching (and depressing) run of the mill of 50 a minute.

On the first Sunday and Monday of the new year, a similar wave of chaos hit North Carolina's Employment Security Assignment. Its Web site crashed below the weight of tens of thousands of attempts to file claims.

Officials as of both states say they've occupied ladder to deal with the exertion. In Virginia's case, the capacity for its automated phone system was stretched, and in North Carolina, a new Internet server was added.

Unemployed people are facing enough challenges - to be exact, finding a job and paying their bills. They without doubt don't need the additional aggravation and anxiety of having to call or log onto their computers repeatedly to ensure that they receive their unemployment checks in a timely manner.

If officials in the two states includung North Carolina can't handle the volume of calls, there is one obvious source they can turn to for help - the very people trying to get in touch with them. The ranks of the unemployed undoubtedly consist of quite a few tech-savvy folks ready, willing and able to fix the problem, not to mention people who'd love to land jobs processing the claims in person or on the phone.

Ballgown Made in North Carolina

Governor-Elect Bev Perdue is the belle of the ball Friday night.
Her look isn't Oleg Cassini or Vera Wang; it's made in North Carolina by dress designer Lynda Bunn.
She owns Lynda's Couture in Nash County North Carolina near Bailey.
She came into the political fashion scene in 1992.
Former First Lady Carolyn Hunt asked her to design her inaugural gown.
Bunn has worked with Perdue for the past four years.
Here is Bunn's take on her working relationship with the North Carolina state's first female governor and a first look at Perdue's inaugural gown.

Man Arrested for Mass Animal cruelty

A 28-year-old eastern North Carolina man was arrested yesterday on various
animal cruelty charges in a hideous box powers that be uncovered on Dec. 3.



Lawton McKenzie turned himself in to North Carolina authorities late Tuesday
afternoon, and was later released on $3,000 surety.



his item contains graphic descriptions of animal abuse and butchery, which may
be disturbing to some readers.



An undetermined number of North Carolina farm animals and dogs were found on
McKenzie's North Carolina Wayne
County property, some so dismembered the remains were nearly unidentifiable.



North Carolina authorities also rescued 26 live animals, including dogs, goats,
sheep and turkeys from the property.



"We located multiple dismembered animals in North
Carolina, as on form as
decapitated ones. We couldn't tell how many were deceased" said Wayne County
Animal Adoption and Education Center principal Justin Scally.



Scally and his team had not probable the sickeningly gruesome nature of the
scene.



"We've never seen anything like this prior to," he said. "It was very disturbing
to the staff, and with something like that, we knew we had to win care of it,
but it was still very distressing to us."



The rescued nature are not yet eligible for adoption, given the ongoing
investigation surrounding the case, but have been placed in foster homes, Scally
said. Some suffered from intestinal infections and were underweight, but the
animals have now made a full recovery.



"A vet just looked at the puppies the previous day and said they come across
like a million bucks," he said.



The raid didn't move towards before long enough for the many other animals on
McKenzie's North Carolina
property, though.



Scally received a call from one of McKenzie's neighbors on Dec. 3, the same day
authorities were dispatched to the accused's North Carolina home.



It wasn't the first time McKenzie had been brought to their attention --
neighbors have repeatedly reported him throughout the history year, citing dogs
without shelter and animals running loose.



Scally said he has met with McKenzie on previous occasions, and at the same time
as he was "certainly a being on our radar," he never expected to discover a mass
graveyard on his land.



Prior visits to North Carolina
McKenzie's home didn't reveal "any of that [injured and dead nature," Scally
said.



This time, burned snakes and turtles were clearly visible beneath a concocted
fire pit, which bore to tears the remains of a goat's head. Bowls of blood
rested in the backyard, where the living nature roamed free. Remains of
predatory birds, including owls, as well as a dead cat were also located.



The case was only made public on Monday, due to the sensitive nature of the
incomplete investigation, Scally said. McKenzie, who was arrested yesterday,
told authorities that he found the animals on the boulevard and did not slay
them.



McKenzie says he second-hand the animals' bones to make necklaces and that he
practices taxidermy -- the stuffing, replica and mounting of dead animals --
according to Scally.



The charges could be treated as either a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on
if the courts rule that McKenzie acted with "malice."



It is believed that McKenzie had been consuming goats, Scally says, but there is
no evidence that he ate any of the other animals.



Scally declined to address if McKenzie could have been using the animals for
ritualistic sacrifices, saying "it is unclear, at this point, what he was using
the natural world for."



But Don Rimer, a Virginia Beach, Va.- based private investigator who focuses on
cult movement, took a more definitive stance.



Rimer says Scally has sought his discussion several times over the course of
December.



At What Time asked if McKenzie may have performed animal sacrifices, Rimer said,
"without a doubt. That is what he is doing."



An Afro-Caribbean religion, Palo, may be at the root of the crime, Rimer said,
given the use of the bones as necklaces, which are thought to protect followers
of the religion.



He said the bowls of blood were likely to be old for an animal stew, which
followers of Palo believe can transmit the dead animals' mental state and
strength into the consumers' bodies.



North Carolina Prosecutors are not likely to harp on the potential ritualistic
factor to the case, however; animal sacrifices are federally protected by
freedom of speech and religion.



The spotlight should shift to the crime itself, not the reasoning following it,
the Kind Society of the United States says.



"The reasons behind that kind of handling of animals are fewer significant than
the fact with the intention of the acts were committed," said Dale Bartlett,
deputy manager of animal cruelty at the North Carolina Humane Society of the
Amalgamated Fixed.



"If what he did was illegal, it was illegitimate, not immediately because of a
religious practice."



North Carolina authorities will continue to investigate the case, for which no
court time has been set. A focus will be positioned on examining the animals'
corpses, which could head to evidence of how they were killed.



The underprivileged state of the remains might make it "difficult to decipher if
the animal suffered blunt force trauma from a person," Scally thought.



Still, Rachel Lee, the Pennsylvania SPCA's chief exploratory veterinarian, said
even if the remains are decomposed, there is motionless "tons of information to
be gathered from anybody."



"You do start to lose information as the body decomposes, but there is always
value in evaluating it nevertheless," she said.

N. Carolina newbie Kissell celebrates by rejecting pay raise

Rep. Larry Kissell wished there had been three of him Tuesday, one to do the
official business of taking the oath of office, another to hang out with
supporters who gathered to celebrate, and a third to just stand back and soak it
all in.

The new North Carolina
congressman managed to pack it all in anyway. The freshman Democrat from Biscoe,
in Montgomery County, held his late father’s Bible in his left hand, put his
right hand up and swore to defend the Constitution on the floor of the House.

"It was obviously very moving in all regards to be part of this," the former
civics teacher said afterward.

In a setting that is often mired by divisiveness and formality,
the chambers of the U.S. House and Senate were alive with
togetherness and laughter as the 111th Congress was officially seated.

Children were everywhere in the House, which allows kids under 14 on the
floor for the swearing-in ceremony. Rep. Sue Myrick, a Republican from Charlotte
North Carolina, had
grandchildren Olivia and Max at her side.

GOP Rep. Virginia Foxx of Banner Elk was accompanied by 9-year-old
granddaughter, Rana, who jumped at the chance to have her picture taken with
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the other congressional kids.

As Rep. Mel Watt, a Democrat from Charlotte, chatted with another lawmaker, a
child she held in her arms slid a toy across Watt’s cheek and then touched his
nose.

Rep. Patrick McHenry worked the room, leaning in to talk to Rep. Mike Pence,
R-Ind., then high-fiving several children sitting in another row.

Though all the House members and a third of the Senate (those elected to a
six-year term in November) were sworn in Tuesday, the main focus of attention
was the newbies.

In Kissell’s office, 40 folks who rode up from North
Carolina on a bus chartered by
supporter Nancy Rorie of Monroe were among the supporters gathered at an open
house.

"I would not have missed it," said Mary Ellen Phifer Kirton of Kannapolis,
who volunteered on Kissell’s successful campaign in 2008 as well as the one in
2006, when he came just 330 votes shy of beating former Rep. Robin Hayes, a
Concord Republican. "This is a great day for us."

Also on hand was 93-year-old Virene Kissell, who thought her son had lost his
mind when he first decided to run for Congress, and found Tuesday "almost
unbelievable."

His wife, Tina, and daughters Jenny and Aspen watched from the gallery as
Kissell, hanging out with others from his freshman class, took the oath with
more than 400 other members of the House.

Kissell's first act was to co-sign legislation turning back the pay increase
Congress was slated to get this year. Even if it doesn’t pass, he said, he won't
take the raise.

"It’s not the right message to send and it's not the right thing for me to
do," Kissell said.

ACLU sues NC school system over recruiting access

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against a rural North Carolina school system that barred a peace activist from talking to high school students about alternatives to joining the military.

The lawsuit, filed Monday, says the Wilkes County school district and its superintendent violated the First Amendment by preventing Sally Ferrell from distributing pamphlets and other materials that warn students to think twice before joining the military.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Ferrell and Bill Towe, director of N.C. Peace Action.

"We've tried to find another alternative to bringing this lawsuit," Katherine Parker, legal director of the ACLU's North Carolina chapter, said Tuesday. "They just will not compromise."

The legal group is asking a judge to issue an injunction to allow Ferrell, a member of N.C. Peace Action, to distribute the materials and give her the same access to students as military recruiters who are allowed in the schools.

No court date has been set, but Superintendent Stephen Laws said Tuesday the district "won't back down."

"It's sad that it's gotten to this point," he said.

He said the lawsuit could become a test case for other districts looking to ban peace activists from schools.

"Why should we let a peace action group talk to students if they're going to make disparaging remarks about the military?" he said. "I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way."

The case began in early 2005 when Ferrell, 63, a Quaker and longtime peace activist, became involved in the counter recruiting movement.

In recent years, thousands of people like Ferrell have joined dozens of counter recruiting groups. They say military recruiters have given students misleading information and often target high schools in poor and rural areas where options for graduating students are limited. And after years of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan — and more than 4,600 soldiers killed and 64,000 wounded in both wars — the activists want students to know they have other prospects.

Most schools have allowed counter recruiters. So Ferrell was optimistic when she began collecting materials from anti-war groups. In March 2005, she asked the district for permission to talk to students.

But Laws reviewed the materials and told her he wasn't going to let her in the district's five high schools. He said the military was a good career choice for students who weren't going to college. He also said he didn't think people should say anything negative about the military.

"Why rip apart the military because you don't like it?" Laws said. "It's wrong. I'm not going to allow that in my schools."

The school board backed Laws' decision.

Ferrell eventually turned to the ACLU and after two years, the group reached an agreement with the board in which Ferrell would be allowed in the high schools twice a semester.

She set up a "peace table" in hallways, where she handed out material and talked to students about AmeriCorps and other alternatives to the military. But by December 2007, Laws said he'd had enough. A principal had complained to him about some of the materials and Laws told Ferrell her message was no longer welcomed.

"When she was allowed back in school, it was to talk about Americorps, Peace Corps, those kinds of entities," Laws said. "That's what she said she was going to do. And when it turned out that she didn't do that — that she was disparaging the military — we had to say no."

Ferrell said Tuesday she discussed those career options with students. But she also told them what to expect if they enlisted — and what to watch out for when talking to military recruiters.

"I don't think he (Laws) was ever interested in letting us speak to students. He was just looking for excuses," she said.

NC State's Yow won't return for rest of season

North Carolina State women's basketball coach Kay Yow will not return to the team this season due to health issues related to her long fight against cancer. In a statement released by the school Tuesday afternoon, the Hall of Fame coach said she just doesn't have the energy to coach the way she always has before. She has missed the past four games.

Yow said she will revisit the decision no later than the end of the season.

Yow was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987, and the disease recurred in the 2004-05 season. Yow also missed 16 games to focus on treatment two seasons ago. Associate head coach Stephanie Glance has led the program in her absence.

The Wolfpack faces unbeaten and second-ranked North Carolina on Sunday.

Rain leads to flood warning in NC mountains

Forecasters issued a flash flood warning for one mountain county in North Carolina and flash flood watches for the rest of the state's mountains as heavy rain moved into the area.

The National Weather Service said Tuesday that Cherokee County, in the southwestern corner of the state, was under a warning. The warning said as much as four inches of rain were expected through the evening and that small streams would flood.

The rain extended into the state's central counties and caused minor street flooding and traffic delays.

Forecasters warned that downpours could flood streets and slow traffic in the Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham and Greensboro-Winston-Salem areas throughout the day.

Medicaid fraud busts recover $52M in 2008

North Carolina’s Medicaid fraud investigators recovered more than $52 million and investigated dozens of cases of fraud and patient abuse in 2008, Attorney General Roy Cooper said today.

“Ripping off Medicaid keeps needy patients from getting care and drives up health care costs for all of us,” said Cooper. “We’ll keep working to protect patients from abuse and stop taxpayers’ money from being wasted.”

During the federal fiscal year that ended September 30, 2008, Cooper’s Medicaid Investigations Unit won 17 criminal convictions and 15 civil settlements that recovered more than $52 million from Medicaid abusers. These latest successes build upon several years of record-setting Medicaid fraud busts, which resulted in more than $300 million recovered over the last seven years.

The Medicaid Investigations Unit, part of the NC Department of Justice, aggressively investigates fraud and abuse of Medicaid benefits by nurses, doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and other health care providers, and also investigates patient abuse and neglect in nursing homes and other Medicaid-funded facilities.

“Our investigators and attorneys will continue to root out Medicaid fraud and make cheaters pay,” Cooper said.

For example, in one of the first cases resolved in the 2009 fiscal year, North Carolina won $15.5 million from pharmaceutical manufacturer Cephalon, Inc. North Carolina’s recovery is part of a $375 million national settlement that resolves allegations that Cephalon marketed three drugs for uses not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Under the terms of North Carolina’s settlement, $1.9 million will go to the state’s Medicaid Program and $3.5 million in fines and penalties will go to the public schools. The bulk of the remaining $10 million will reimburse federal Medicaid costs. Medicaid is a joint federal-state program that provides health insurance for the poor.

The national federal and state settlements resolve allegations that Cephalon improperly promoted three drugs, Provigil, Gabitril, and Actiq, including providing millions of dollars in grants to fund continuing medical education programs to convince doctors to prescribe the drugs for off-label uses:

Provigil: Although FDA-approved to treat only narcolepsy and sleep disorders, Cephalon marketed Provigil as a non-stimulant drug to treat sleepiness, tiredness, decreased activity, lack of energy and fatigue.

Gabitril: Although FDA-approved as a partial treatment for seizures, Cephalon marketed Gabitril as a remedy for anxiety, insomnia, and pain. Following reports of seizures in patients taking Gabitril that did not have epilepsy, the FDA required Cephalon to send a warning to physicians advising them of the risks of seizures in connection with off-label Gabitril use.

Actiq: Although FDA-approved to treat cancer patients for whom morphine-based painkillers are no longer effective, Cephalon marketed Actiq for conditions including migraines, sickle-cell pain, injuries and in anticipation of changing wound dressing or radiation therapy.