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State Government News
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Legislature
schedules
hearings on redistricting
The
General Assembly will hold public hearings in eight
cities beginning next week to hear suggestions from
citizens about drawing new boundaries for congressional
and legislative districts. Leaders of the House and
Senate redistricting committees will attend the
three-hour meetings. Each meeting will be linked by
videoconference with two or three other towns in the
region to allow more people in each region an
opportunity to be heard. Below are the times and dates
of the meetings, with the satellite locations shown in
parenthesis:
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May 3, 7 p.m., N.C. School of Science & Math, Durham
(Henderson, Tarboro).
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May 4, 7 p.m., UNC-Greensboro (Winston-Salem, High
Point).
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May 5, 9:30 a.m., Central Piedmont Community College,
Charlotte (Kannapolis, Hickory).
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May 5, 4 p.m., UNC-Asheville (Boone, Cullowhee).
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May 10, 7 p.m., Cumberland County Health Department,
Fayetteville (Jacksonville, Pembroke).
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May 11, 7 p.m., Cape Fear Community College, Wilmington
(Hampstead, Burgaw, Supply).
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May 12, 9:30 a.m., Pitt Community College, Greenville
(Wilson, Washington).
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May 12, 4 p.m., Holmes High School, Edenton (Elizabeth
City, Manteo, Weldon).
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Commission
sets date for starting
Triangle’s new 984 area code
 The N.C. Utilities Commission said Tuesday that it will take
every step it can to make the 919 area code last as long as
possible in the Triangle but it anticipates that the new 984
area code overlay will become mandatory in the region by Feb.
6, 2002. At that time, telephone users in the 919 region will
have to dial 10 digits (the number plus the area code) to make
local calls. At that time all new numbers will be assigned in
the 984 area code overlay. However, the commission said the
number conservation measures it will take could lead to a
delay in the overlay date.
DOT
settles discrimination lawsuit
The state Department of Transportation has
agreed to take several steps that it says will result in more
highway contractors going to companies owned by
African-Americans. A federal discrimination lawsuit filed by
the Carolina Associated Minority Contractors against the DOT,
which was scheduled to go to trial in U.S. District Court in
Greensboro, was settled out of court last week. DOT agreed to
restructure a review committee with a more racially diverse
membership; to have monthly meetings with top transportation
officials to review the committee's rulings; and retrain
employees who certify that a business is minority-owned. The
state also agreed to explore alternative ways for the
contractors to get loans and bonding.
Names in the News
Ann Sternal
was named executive director of the Cabarrus County Convention
& Visitors Bureau beginning June 1. She fills the vacancy created when former Director
Mark
Shore relocated to Virginia. Ms. Sternal comes to Cabarrus
County from the Stockton San Joaquin Convention & Visitors
Bureau in Stockton, Calif., where she served as the executive
director for the past five years.
Pat
Chavis
was named South Central region director for the N.C. Division
of Prisons and will oversee operations at 14 state prisons in
a 12-county area between Charlotte and Wilmington. Chavis is a
27-year veteran of the Department of Correction.
Marc
Thiessen,
U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms' spokesman on the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, was named a spokesman for Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Saundra
Wall Williams, a faculty member in N.C. State University's
Department of Adult and Community College Education, was named
vice president for administration of the state Community
College system, effective July 1. She replaces Brenda
Rogers, who has announced her retirement at the end of
June.
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