Volunteer groups and other participants removed more than 4.2 million pounds of litter from North Carolina roadsides during the N.C. Department of Transportation’s 2010 fall and spring Litter Sweeps. To put it in perspective, that’s the equivalent of 1.9 billion cigarettes, 134 million soda cans or 42,000 couches. Participants filled more than 288,000 bags with roadside litter, and nearly 40 percent of those were filled by volunteers.

Totals included:

Business owners in Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties have a new loan product option. The New Economy Fund – the latest offering from The Sequoyah Fund – provides loans of $50,000 - $250,000 for green, knowledge- based or creative economy businesses located in the seven farwestern counties of North Carolina. Loans are available for start-ups or ongoing businesses.

The Sequoyah Fund is no ordinary commercial lender. As a nonprofit, independent Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), Sequoyah Fund focuses on assisting individuals who are good candidates to open businesses and pay back loans, but are not having their needs met with traditional bank loan products. The Fund can also partner with banks in offering loan products, especially larger loans. In addition to lending,

A Dawsonville, Ga., man died accidentally Sunday afternoon while rappelling at Cullasaja Falls in Macon County.

Macon County 9-1-1 received a call at 4:17 p.m. advising that a  person had fallen an estimated 150 feet near the top of Cullasaja Falls near Highway 64 East. The man was identified Monday afternoon, following notification of his family, as 19-year-old Gregory Cooper.

Video sweepstakes machines are back yet again–and with Governor Beverly Perdue now officially eyeing them as potential revenue outlets for North Carolina–they could be here to stay.

No decision has been made by the governor on whether the governor will support legalizing the industry, according to Perdue’s communications director Chrissy Pearson, who said with potential revenue streams for the state being scarce, all options are being considered.