More than 12 million doses of prescription drugs collected across the state

More than 12 million doses of old prescription and over-the-counter drugs were collected across North Carolina last week during Operation Medicine Drop, breaking previous records, Attorney General Roy Cooper announced.

“North Carolinians cleaned out their medicine cabinets and turned in more unused prescription drugs than ever before,” Cooper said. “This is a great way to help keep potentially dangerous prescription drugs away from those who could abuse them.”

Do Not Call, lending, and telemarketing fraud top the growing list of complaints

A total of 23,205 consumers filed complaints with the Consumer Protection Division of Attorney General Roy Cooper’s Office in 2012. Cooper encouraged consumers to learn about the top sources of complaints as a way to avoid costly problems.

“If you think you’ve been ripped off or just didn’t get what you paid for, let my office know about it. Even better, we’d like to help you avoid trouble in the first place by helping you learn to avoid common problems,” Cooper said.

Gov. Pat McCrory released his first budget last week, proposing a balanced budget for fiscal years 2013-2015 on the premise of claiming to continue his administration’s focus on finding longterm solutions to fix North Carolina’s economy, transform education and make government more efficient.

The governor’s spending plan totals $20.6 billion over the next two years and states that “Governor McCrory’s fiscally responsible budget strengthens North Carolina's foundation for future generations and moves the state closer to fulfilling and even exceeding its potential.”

North Carolina House of Representative Democrat Joe Sam Queen and North Carolina State Senate Republican Jim Davis have differing views on the governor's budget. While certain aspects of the budget both Davis and Queen could not be further apart on such as education, the Western North Carolina representatives can agree on the budgets neglect of funding to the rural part of the state.

Library Legislative Day held March 26 in Raleigh

Governor Pat McCrory has released his proposed budget for 2013-15, and it calls for a cut of 4.8 percent in state spending on public libraries. Total state funding is currently at just over $13 million spread among all public libraries in North Carolina. Since 1998, per capita state funding has dropped steadily from $2.24 to less than $1.40 today. The proposed cut would drop it lower.

“Libraries throughout western North Carolina will be hard-hit by a nearly 5 percent reduction in state monies,” according to Karen Wallace, Director of Fontana Regional Library. Even before the proposed cuts were announced, the North Carolina Public Library Director’s Association was active in spear-heading a statewide effort to protect and promote library funding .