Leoneda Inge

North Carolina’s Economic Development Board is reviewing strategies and making suggestions on how to help re-vamp the state Commerce Department.

Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker says she’s pretty positive the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina will be a reality.

“It’s a total re-organization, it is indeed.  Redesign, I guess is a better way to say it," said Decker.

How much would you pay for Six Geese-a-Laying?  What about a Partridge in a Pear Tree?

An economic analysis by PNC’s Wealth Management Division crunches the numbers and highlights just how much a loved one could end up spending this holiday season.

“On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me, a Partridge in a Pear Tree," sang members of the North Carolina Master Chorale Chamber Choir.

Policy-makers and business leaders say North Carolina’s economic future relies on energy.

Governor Pat McCrory was one of many speakers and panelists at the North Carolina Chamber's Energy Conference at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel and Convention Center in Durham.  McCrory said it’s time to follow the economic recoveries of Ohio, Pennsylvania and the Dakotas.

Many holiday shoppers are already at the malls on this busiest retail shopping day of the year.  But a new poll says most North Carolinians are keeping a tight purse this season.

Retailers have been working especially hard to get shoppers in stores on this Black Friday.

Kenneth Fernandez is director of the Elon University Poll.  He says there are several reasons why one-third of North Carolinians plan to spend less money on gifts this year.

A lot of Thanksgiving dinners across the country will feature a turkey grown and processed right here in North Carolina.  Butterball is headquartered here and produces about 20-percent of the nation’s turkeys. 

But Butterball reports it’s coming up a little short this year with fresh orders. And in another part of the state, one of the largest turkey slaughter houses is shut down.

A group of public education, philanthropic and community leaders gathered at UNC-Chapel Hill yesterday to discuss ways to address growing poverty in the state. The conference was titled, "Poverty, Partnerships and the Public Good: A Call for Engagement by North Carolina Institutions."

The discussion was lively. Gene Nichol, Director of UNC’s Poverty Center commenced the group.

“Poverty is by any standard the largest problem that we face in North Carolina," said Nichol.

The Carolina Population Center at UNC is debuting a new unit this week that will focus on translating complicated Census data for businesses and the public.

The new unit is called Carolina Demography.  And the first project by Director Rebecca Tippett is dissecting current and future North Carolina housing units for a span covering 110 years.

North Carolina mayors from the mountains to the coast gathered in Raleigh yesterday to talk business and job creation in this tough economy.

The man of the hour actually wasn’t a mayor at all.  It was O’Hara Macken, an executive vice president and managing director of IPREO.

“Access to talent, culture, livability are all really important to us.  Raleigh offered all of that," said Macken.

Community leaders and residents are coming together this week in Durham to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the “North Carolina Fund.”

The “North Carolina Fund” was established by Governor Terry Sanford in 1963.  The idea was to create programs to help address the state’s vast disparities in housing, education and jobs.  It was North Carolina’s “War on Poverty.”

A report by the state Commerce Department highlights the economic impact of the military in North Carolina.

The Commerce Department says the state has a tremendous opportunity to grow the economy by helping military personnel find employment after their service ends. 

More than 60,000 people stationed in North Carolina are projected to leave the military over the next five years.  Commerce spokesman Josh Ellis says many of them will stay here.