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Regional Briefs: Easley adviser is new head of foundation
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Published: September 5, 2008
ROCKY MOUNT -- Gov. Mike Easley's longtime chief budget adviser is the new president of a foundation that distributes some of North Carolina's tobacco-settlement money.
The Golden LEAF Foundation's board chose Dan Gerlach yesterday to succeed the retiring Valeria Lee. The foundation gets half of the state's settlement money and makes grants to help tobacco-dependent communities and other economically distressed areas.
Gerlach joined Easley's office in 2001 and became his chief negotiator on budget matters with the General Assembly. But Easley will leave office in January, leading many of his top aides looking for new jobs.
Gerlach previously worked for the liberal-leaning N.C. Budget and Tax Center before joining Easley.
Brazilian company planning plant, 90 jobs, in Statesville
STATESVILLE -- Providencia USA Inc., a subsidiary of a Latin American plastics manufacturer, said Wednesday that it will build its first U.S. manufacturing plant in Statesville.
The Brazilian company will create 90 jobs over three years and spend $115 million on capital investments on the plant. The company will get a $56,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund, which the governor can provide to existing businesses or business opening operations in the state.
Providencia plans to use the plant to melt polypropylene pellets to form into thin, lightweight nonwoven sheeting. The average annual wage will be $41,835 for the 90 jobs.
Partners for Homeownership to hold annual fundraiser
Partners for Homeownership will hold its third annual Taste of Homeownership, a fundraiser, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. today at ISP Sports' headquarters, 540 N. Trade St. in Winston-Salem.
Tickets for the Taste of Homeownership are $35 and are available at the door. For more information, call Anne Marie at 725-8704.
The Taste of Homeownership will be the kickoff for the American Dream Weekend, a promotion of the Winston-Salem Regional Association of Realtors' diversity committee and its public- and private-sector partners, including Partners for Homeownership.
A housing expo will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Miller Park in the Ardmore community.
Company awarded $57 million for theft of trade secrets
RALEIGH -- A Wake County judge has awarded more than $57 million to a drug-development company in Durham after finding that a former employee stole trade secrets and passed them on to Chinese drug companies.
Judge Donald Stephens of Superior Court ordered the award Tuesday. Stephens ruled in November that former Serenex chemist Yunsheng Huang stole experimental cancer formulas and gave them to Chinese business partners.
Serenex sued after a patent search revealed a Chinese company had applied for a patent for a product similar to Serenex's. Huang was listed as a representative for that foreign company.
Huang has fled to China, according to court documents.
It's unclear whether Serenex, which was acquired this year by Pfizer, will receive any of the $57.5 million because American judgments against foreign companies are difficult to collect.
WE WERE WRONG
The free Josh Kelley concert, which was scheduled for today at Wake Forest University and listed in yesterday's relish, has been canceled, according to the university's media-relations office.
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