Free Republic

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Two more former employees were indicted Tuesday in a multi-million dollar fraud investigation involving the Wake County Public School System's transportation department, just weeks after three other suspects in the case pleaded guilty to related charges. Angela Malloy-Sanders and Pamela Stewart were charged with accessory after the fact in the suspected scheme to funnel millions of taxpayers' dollars. According to the indictments, they lied to investigators to cover up the fraud. Investigators said the two women began cooperating in the investigation months ago and have agreed to pay back the money they are accused of taking. Malloy-Sanders...

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...

Hundreds of NC FreedomWorks Members Rally in Raleigh Activists fight tobacco tax increase, demand smaller government Contact: Allen Page Phone: (336) 213-1167 Email: apage@freedomworks.org Raleigh, North Carolina - Today, Governor Mike Easley and many North Carolina legislators got a lot more than they bargained for when they proposed a massive tax increase on smokers. That’s because over 400 FreedomWorks activists traveled from all across the North Carolina to the state Capitol to tell their representatives and senators: “We Want Less”. During the 6th annual ‘FreedomWorks CSE Day at the Capitol’, activists focused on the campaign against the 900 percent increase...

Dell promised publicly that, in exchange for $242.5 million in incentives, it will invest at least $100 million to relocate in the Triad and create 1,200 jobs in five years. Nothing, however, will require Dell to show the public that it kept its promises -- not the way state law is written now. Not the press, not the public at large, not even the legislature -- which voted last week to give Dell the huge incentives package of tax breaks and direct grants -- can require Dell to provide production, employment and tax information to prove the computer company is...

RALEIGH — After The News & Observer of Raleigh published a story in February about his contract dispute with Basnight Construction of Manteo, James Morris of Elizabeth City thought it would be easier to collect about $50,000 he was owed. But, as of Tuesday, Morris still doesn’t have his money According to Morris, Deputy Greg Padilla, who handles collections for the Dare County Sheriff’s Department, told him a few weeks ago that the funds in Basnight Construction’s bank account at RBC Centura in Manteo had been secured but not released. (snip) Seeking an update, Morris said Friday that Padilla told...