Anna Wooten, the winner of the Winston-Salem Journal Regional Spelling Bee, won't be in the semifinals of Scripps National Spelling Bee tonight.
Anna, 14, an eighth-grader at Ashe County Middle School, was eliminated after the early rounds of the bee. She passed the oral rounds, but didn't score enough points on the written test to make the top 41 semifinalists. The semifinalists will compete this morning for a shot at the finals, which will be shown live at 8 on ABC.
It was Anna's first trip to the national bee, which is held each year in Washington.
She said she enjoyed making new friends.
"You think everyone's going to have to go study and not talk to you," she said.
Hospice gets $300,000 gift for home
MOUNT AIRY -- Mountain Valley Hospice & Palliative Care said yesterday that it has received a gift of $300,000 from the State Employees' Credit Union.
The gift is designated toward helping the nonprofit group build a hospice home in Dobson.
House OKs tax break for companies
RALEIGH -- The N.C. House has approved a tax break for companies willing to invest $1 billion in the state amid talk that a decision to build an East Coast data center is near.
The House voted 80-34 yesterday in favor of the bill that could mean about $46 million in tax savings in the next 10 years for the unidentified company. The Associated Press reported last week that the company is Apple Inc.
The N.C. Senate is expected to vote on the bill today.
Davidson sets hearing on incentives
LEXINGTON -- Davidson County commissioners will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. on June 9 to discuss incentives for a company that plans to invest $2.5 million in the county and create about 20 jobs.
If approved, the county would give the company up to $33,500 in incentives over five years.
Steve Googe, the executive director for the Davidson County Economic Development Commission, declined to name the company, calling it "Project Powder." He said that the company wants to expand into North Carolina.
The company is considering several sites in Thomasville, and the city is considering up to $35,000 in incentives for the company. On Monday, the Thomasville City Council will set a date for a public hearing on those incentives.
Bill on bigger jackpots advances
RALEIGH -- People buying raffle tickets to support charitable causes in North Carolina could win bigger jackpots under a bill heading to the governor's desk.
The N.C. Senate gave final legislative approval yesterday to a bill that would increase maximum prize amounts from $50,000 in cash or merchandise in a calendar year to $125,000.
It also makes clear that tax-exempt organizations and associations can offer houses and real property as a prize valued up to $500,000.
N.C. budget writers cutting deeper
RALEIGH -- Democrats in the N.C. House have a message for North Carolina residents: These spending cuts are serious.
Legislators are putting together a state budget for the next two years that would spend less money than both Gov. Bev Perdue and the N.C. Senate plan recommended in the past two months.
That's because April 15 tax collections dropped dramatically, causing House members to cut more deeply.
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