Oil and gas lobbyists make pitch favoring fracking

(News & Observer, Raleigh)

Speakers from the American Petroleum Institute, which lobbies on behalf of the oil and gas industry, told about 100 government officials, lawmakers and others in Raleigh Thursday that the industry's own self-policing standards should serve as a model for how the state should regulate fracking. Fracking is a controversial method of mining natural gas.

Consultant: Charlotte poised to attract data centers

(The Charlotte Observer)

Charlotte is poised to attract bank data-security centers, according to a Princeton, N.J.-based site-selection consultant. The Boyd Co. says banks are increasingly vulnerable to hackers and fraud, leading many to establish secure, free-standing data centers.

Greensboro economy continuing to struggle, report says

(News & Record, Greensboro)

UNC Greensboro urban geography professor Keith Debbage says Greensboro remains "less than robust," according to his 2012 State of the City report. Among the factors cited by the study: Unemployment is high, one in five residents lives in poverty and median earnings and per capita income have dropped. 

Old Dominion profit up 81%

(Winston-Salem Journal)

Work begins to remove boulder threatening interstate

(Asheville Citizen-Times)

Work began Thursday to break up a 20-foot-tall boulder threatening a portion of Interstate 40 west of the North Carolina state line that already is blocked by a landslide. Officials expect at least one lane of the blocked I-40 westbound highway will reopen Monday, a week sooner than expected.

Road to be reopened earlier

(The Charlotte Observer)