Free Republic

RALEIGH -- A fingerprint technology company promoted by State Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight received $307,575 from the state's Tobacco Trust Fund, ostensibly in exchange for relocating significant operations to North Carolina, which the company never fulfilled. After Privaris, Inc. completed a pilot project for the state Division of Motor Vehicles in 2003, company workers vacated their office space at a publicly funded business incubator in Williamston. Despite its failure to create 10 to 15 new jobs as promised in its contract with the Tobacco Trust, Privaris was paid $132,575 in April 2004. Sources with direct knowledge of the...

This July 2003 artist's rendering shows the planned Saks Fifth Avenue store. There's a big hole in the ground at the corner of Park and Gleneagles roads in south Charlotte. Developer Dee-Dee Harris wants to fill it with a glitzy Saks Fifth Avenue store -- and public money. In a rambling plea sent this week to city and state officials, Harris asked for unspecified assistance from government. Without help, she said, her $200 million project might collapse. Construction has stalled for nearly three months. Harris' letter notes that low profit expectations have made private money tough to get. "We read...