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Here Comes Google!
posted at 2007-01-19 11:57 | Last modified 2007-11-14 10:38
It's official - New Economy titan Google will put a 600 million dollar server farm in the town of Lenoir, in Caldwell County. Governor Mike Easley's office made the announcement late this morning. The state's throwing in incentives worth up to 4.8 million over the next 12 years - but that's a drop in the bucket compared to the roughly 100 million dollars in incentives county and city officials are reportedly offering.
Easley's office says the new investment will generate around 200 jobs over the next four years, paying roughly twice the area's average salary and benefits. That's good news for a county that's seen more than its share of job losses in manufacturing and textiles. Guess they're "feeling lucky!"
Rendition Flights in NC?
22 state lawmakers, including 9 from the Triangle, are asking State AG Roy Cooper to start an investigation into Aero Contractors, an NC-based government contract firm. The group sent this letter to Cooper yesterday. Some believe Aero provided shuttle flights for the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program -- transporting terrorism suspects to third-party countries for interrogation and possible torture. A dozen lawmakers had asked the SBI to look into this last year, but the SBI declined on jurisdictional grounds. You can find the AP story here.
Musical Chairs
Democratic Party officials in eastern NC have named 7th district Rep. Ed Jones to fill the State Senate seat vacated by the recent death of Senator Robert Holloman. Now they'll need to find someone to fill Jones's House seat. First Congressional District Chair Don Davis says they'll meet to decide that question next Tuesday. Party leaders also named Annie Mobley of Ahoskie to fill the 5th district House seat of the late Rep. Howard Hunter. Hunter passed away just a day before Holloman. Both nominations still have to be confirmed by Governor Easley.
