Cover

• Review blasts Price earmark waste
• State continues Alcoa dams takeover bid
• Town-hall anger could affect health-care vote

North Carolina

• Judge: Lawyers can’t be compelled to fund judicial campaigns, Page 5
• Study: Energy mandates decrease income, Page 6
• State briefs, Page 6
• Cowell hoping junk bonds will spur greater return on pensions, Page 7
• Interview: Dr. C.L. Gray discusses the advent of post-Hippocratic medicine, Page 8

Education

• New science safety regulations aim to make classrooms safer, Page 9
• Kristen Blair commentary: Rethinking the achievement gap, Page 9
• Deal put onus of increased class sizes on local school boards, Page 10
• Guilford cracks down on athletics after improper recruiting, Page 11
• Community college changes affect high-schoolers, Page 12

Higher Education

• UNC system avoids fiscal austerity — again, Page 13
• Campus briefs, Page 13
• Donor ‘strings’ prompt finding of inefficiences at UNC-CH, Page 14
• Jenna Ashley Robinson commentary: A September letter to college students, Page 14
• George Leef commentary: Can states calculate their ‘productivity’ in higher education?, Page 15

Local Government

• Annexations continue as reform on hold, Page 16
• Town and County, Page 16
• ‘Just a pinch’ could land a big fine in Hillsborough, Page 17
• Michael Lowrey commentary: Legislature bats .500, Page 17
• Monroe finds self in middle of Union County gas dispute, Page 18
• Local Innovation Bulletin Board, Page 18
• Suing city water systems depends on ‘foreseeability’ of problem, Page 19

Learning Curve

• Book review: Gingrich: GOP needs to reach out to the center, Page 20
• From the Liberty Library, Page 20
• Troy Kickler commentary: Imagine our current politicians matching ‘tweets’ with Founders, Page 21
• Book review: No compromise with Rockwell, Page 22
• Short Takes on Culture, Page 22
• Book review: Larry Tye’s Satchel an entertaining by occasionally bumpy ride, Page 23

Opinion

• Editorial: N.C. needs the initiative, Page 24
• Joseph Coletti commentary: Consumer-driven health care, Page 24
• Editorial: The 2009 session, Page 25
• Editorial: Gamblers & cartels, Page 25
• John Hood commentary: A lobster, not a mobster, Page 25
• Michael Walden commentary: The rich and revenues, Page 26
• Letter to the editor, Page 26
• Andy Taylor commentary: This regime needs some change, Page 27
• Becki Gray commentary: ‘A job was done,’ Page 27

Parting Shot

• Rielle Hunter and baby visit Edwards beach house (a CJ parody), Page 28