Updated: 7:48 PM Permits for companies to perform a form of underground natural gas exploration in North Carolina could begin in March 2015 in a bill offered by Senate Republicans.

Posted: 4:11 PM Tony Tata is a former Army general and Wake County schools superintendent asked by Gov. Pat McCrory to manage the Department of Transportation, which spends about $5 billion in state and federal funds annually.

Posted: 3:25 PM Republicans at the North Carolina General Assembly keep creating more tools they say will help new Gov. Pat McCrory make his mark. But it's unclear how much he's benefiting from the assistance.

Posted: 6:11 AM Marco Rubio is taking center stage as Republicans search for a new leader.

Updated: 6:04 AM Former Gov. Beverly Perdue will be on a North Carolina campus this fall after spending the spring at Harvard University.

Updated: 8:53 PM McCrory announced Friday that Kevin Green of Greensboro and Joel Keith of Wake Forest have joined the three-member board, which regulates how alcohol is sold and distributed in the state.

Posted: 8:23 PM A stop in Asheville, N.C., on Wednesday will be followed by a visit Thursday to Atlanta.

Updated: 1:55 PM A criminal investigation is under way after a hacker apparently accessed private photos and emails sent between members of the Bush family.

Posted: 1:13 PM A former U.S. ambassador to Mali has alleged that France paid a $17 million ransom to free hostages seized from a French mining site -- cash she said ultimately funded the al-Qaida-linked Islamist militants its troops are now fighting.

Posted: 8:05 PM The state Senate has made quick work of legislation supported by Gov. Pat McCrory to create new kinds of high school diplomas and course plans that emphasize vocational or career paths that don't require four-year college degrees.

Posted: 2:42 PM Criminal penalties for people who disrupt a funeral or memorial service would get tougher under a bill approved by a House judiciary committee.

Updated: 7:58 PM A gun-rights group says North Carolina's school principals and teachers should have the right to carry concealed firearms into the classroom.

Posted: 5:50 PM A bipartisan group of North Carolina lawmakers have introduced a bill that would give the state the explicit authority to allow the organizer of a New Year's Eve Possum Drop to use a live animal.

Updated: 11:43 PM B.J. Murphy told WITN that his decision not to run as a re-dedication to his family and business.

Updated: 8:16 PM A solution to ridding North Carolina of its $2.6 billion in unemployment debt more quickly through lower benefits and higher taxes has received approval by the full House.

Updated: 10:31 PM The North Carolina state Senate has given its initial OK to legislation that would block expansion of Medicaid under the health care overhaul and let the federal government build the state's health insurance exchange.

Posted: 6:18 AM An immigration debate is raging and a budget crisis looms in Congress, but the conservative activists gathered outside the New Hampshire Statehouse had just one thing on their minds: guns.

Posted: 10:33 PM Renewing a 3-year-old fight over bank oversight, Senate Republicans say they will oppose President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unless the office created after the 2008 Wall Street financial meltdown is significantly changed.

Posted: 10:27 PM North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory's communications director says he's leaving the job after only three months in Raleigh because of family concerns.

Updated: 10:24 PM The Agriculture Department is proposing new nutritional rules that would apply to most all foods sold in schools.

Updated: 7:51 PM Pittsboro Mayor Randy Voller is the new chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party, barely turning back a last-minute push by former U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge.

Posted: 3:01 PM Thousands have offered their condolences via Facebook over the death of Barney, President George W. Bush's beloved black Scottish terrier.

Updated: 3:02 AM Facing a wave of lawsuits over what government can tell religious groups to do, the Obama administration on Friday proposed a compromise for faith-based nonprofits that object to covering birth control in their employee health plans.

Posted: 9:56 PM Hundreds of Marines and Sailors stationed right here in the east made it home Thursday night after a six-month deployment.

Posted: 5:11 PM The head of the Secret Service is stepping down after 30 years on the job.