Governor Beverly Perdue’s first overseas trade mission will focus on building ties with North Carolina’s second-and fourth-largest trading partners - China and Japan.

Perdue signs film credit bill from NC lawmakers

North Carolina’s governor has signed a law making it the second state to allow defendants or convicts to prove racial bias was behind prosecutors seeking or jurors rendering the death penalty.

Baldor Electric Company will expand their plant in Weaverville. The plan will add 32 jobs at the facility. Baldor is consolidating its Sleevoil hydrodynamic bearing line in Indiana and moving those operations to North Carolina.

It’s another big example of how much my native North Carolina has changed.

The General Assembly has approved a smoking ban, and Governor Beverly Perdue says she will sign it into law.

That’s right.  A smoking ban in the state where tobacco has been king for generations.

The ban applies to most restaurants and bars.  Private clubs and cigar bars are excluded.

If you’re smoking and refuse to stop, you can be fined up to fifty dollars.

The ban would take effect January 2, 2010.

The budget and policy reforms will toughen probation conditions, make absconder information readily available, and improve access to information for law enforcement and probation officers.

Associated Press/Staff Reports

Perdue said Monday after a round-table discussion with industry executives that she wasn’t ready to commit even a penny to help, noting that a looming budget deficit already has her searching for areas to make cuts. But the Democrat did say she believed the sector was highly valuable for the future of the state’s economy.

The Democratic candidate for governor unveiled a new television ad Monday in which Andy Griffith endorses her for governor. The folksy Griffith, who played Sheriff Taylor in the popular 1960s sitcom, “The Andy Griffith Show,“ also appeared in a Perdue commercial before the primary.

The Democratic candidate for governor unveiled a new television ad Monday in which Andy Griffith endorses her for governor. The folksy Griffith, who played Sheriff Taylor in the popular 1960s sitcom, “The Andy Griffith Show,“ also appeared in a Perdue commercial before the primary.