One state lawmaker says a state agency should take steps to recover a loan made to a nephew of Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight. According to a report in yesterday's editions of The News and Observer of Raleigh, Fry owes the agency more than 109-thousand dollars and hasn't made a payment since August 1991. Iredell Republican Representative Frank Mitchell says heads should be rolling. Mitchell says the General Assembly should seriously consider eliminating the agency as well as the state Agricultural Finance Authority. Still, the Watauga and the Lumber River in southeastern North Carolina are the only river basins currently not considered impaired.
Scientists gauge the health of a river by sampling the population of aquatic insects.
Much of the sediment at the Foscoe sampling site has come from development along N-C 105, which links Avery and Watauga counties. It's also believed that heavy flooding in the 1990s might also be to blame. Mecklenburg County's center for troubled adolescents has been cited for child neglect, prompting officials to stop taking new patients and to discipline several workers. County officials have declined further comment. No criminal charged were filed.