Regional Briefs: Easley signs state budget, beats deadline

By: JournalNow Staff | JOURNAL STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
Published: July 17, 2008

RALEIGH -- Gov. Mike Easley has signed off on the budget for North Carolina's state government.

He signed the nearly $21.4 billion spending plan for the current fiscal year into law yesterday, two days ahead of a constitutional deadline.

Easley's approval of the budget completes the major task facing legislators during this summer's legislative session and potentially allows the General Assembly to adjourn this week.

Easley's office put out a short statement yesterday thanking legislators for their work on the budget. Senators clapped when the announcement was made on the floor of the chamber.

Forsyth Animal Control works to end illegal animal fighting

The Forsyth County Department of Animal Control is working with a local animal-welfare organization to crack down on illegal animal fighting, the department announced yesterday.

People who have information about illegal animal fighting are being encouraged to call 703-2418, a hot line set up especially for this purpose. Callers will be assigned an individual code number to keep their identities confidential when communicating with the department after the initial call.

Furever Friends, a local nonprofit group that works in animal adoptions, is offering to pay a cash reward of up to $500 for reports that lead to the arrest and conviction of someone involved in illegal animal fights.

Cotton Mill restaurant closing Saturday because of economy

The Cotton Mill, a restaurant in the Brookstown Inn at 200 Brookstown Ave., will close after dinner service Saturday.

Stephanie Tyson and Vivian Joiner, who also own Sweet Potatoes on Trade Street, had opened The Cotton Mill in October.

Tyson said that a combination of factors contributed to the closing of the restaurant. First among those is the poor economy that has caused people to cut back on dining out, especially at higher-end restaurants such as The Cotton Mill.

"It was just bad timing" Tyson said. "Almost as soon as we opened, the economy went into a tailspin."

Other factors included higher food costs, less-than-expected room service from the inn and a slightly out-of-the-way location. Tyson said that she and Joiner now will be able to concentrate on Sweet Potatoes. Tyson also is working on a cookbook.

Local writer Anna Rubino set for Book TV taping on Saturday

On Saturday, a crew from C-SPAN2's Book TV is scheduled to be at Barnes & Noble Booksellers to cover a talk and question-and-answer session by Winston-Salem writer Anna Rubino.

Rubino is the author of the recently published Queen of the Oil Club: The Intrepid Wanda Jablonski and the Power of Information. As Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Yergin put it in the forward to the book, Rubino's biography of the reporter/publisher who began covering the world of oil in the 1950s "helps to make sense of how we got to today's $4 gasoline."

The session is scheduled for 2 p.m. The plan is for Rubino to talk for about 20 minutes and then to take questions from the audience.

For more information, call the store at 774-0800.