The North Carolina Youth Tobacco Survey presented Thursday showed 4.3 percent of middle school students and 15.5 percent of high school students smoked cigarettes. That rate has dropped steadily in North Carolina since 2003.

The agency correlated that data with its Tobacco. Reality. Unfiltered non-smoking campaign. When that campaign was launched in 2003, 9.3 percent of middle school students and 43 percent of high school students smoked.

Funding for the program was relocated to the department’s budget last year and is not set to recur.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The Winston-Salem Journal reported that the prosecutors were meeting Thursday in Forsyth County to learn how to fight motions filed under the 2009 law. It allows death row prisoners to use statistics and other evidence to try to prove race proved a significant role in their sentences.

If they’re successful, their sentences are reduced to life in prison without parole. One sentence has been reduced so far.

The training session is being held at an undisclosed location and isn’t open to the public. Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill said he didn’t know the cost, but said the bills will go to the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

New 2011 census estimates highlight sweeping changes in the nation’s racial makeup and the prolonged impact of a weak economy, which is now resulting in fewer Hispanics entering the U.S.

“This is an important landmark,” said Roderick Harrison, a former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau who is now a sociologist at Howard University. “This generation is growing up much more accustomed to diversity than its elders.”

The report comes as the Supreme Court prepares to rule on the legality of Arizona’s strict immigration law, with many states weighing similar get-tough measures.

“We remain in a dangerous period where those appealing to anti-immigration elements are fueling a divisiveness and hostility that might take decades to overcome,” Harrison said.

As a whole, the nation’s minority population continues to rise, following a higher-than-expected Hispanic count in the 2010 census. Minorities increased 1.9 percent to 114.1 million, or 36.6 percent of the total U.S. population, lifted by prior waves of immigration that brought in young families and boosted the number of Hispanic women in their prime childbearing years.

But a recent slowdown in the growth of the Hispanic and Asian populations is shifting notions on when the tipping point in U.S. diversity will come — the time when non-Hispanic whites become a minority. After 2010 census results suggested a crossover as early as 2040, demographers now believe the pivotal moment may be pushed back several years when new projections are released in December.

The annual growth rates for Hispanics and Asians fell sharply last year to just over 2 percent, roughly half the rates in 2000 and the lowest in more than a decade. The black growth rate stayed flat at 1 percent.

The immigrants staying put in the U.S. for now include Narcisa Marcelino, 34, a single mother who lives with her two daughters, ages 10 and 5, in Martinsburg, W.Va. After crossing into the U.S. from Mexico in 2000, she followed her brother to the eastern part of the state just outside the Baltimore-Washington region. The Martinsburg area is known for hiring hundreds of migrants annually to work in fruit orchards. Its Hispanic growth climbed from 14 percent to 18 percent between 2000 and 2005 before shrinking last year to 3.3 percent, still above the national average.

Marcelino says she sells food from her home to make ends meet for her family and continues to hope that one day she will get a hearing with immigration officials to stay legally in the U.S. She aspires to open a restaurant and is learning English at a community college so she can help other Spanish-language speakers.

If she is eventually deported, “it wouldn’t be that tragic,” Marcelino said. “But because the children have been born here, this is their country. And there are more opportunities for them here.”

Of the 30 large metropolitan areas showing the fastest Hispanic growth in the previous decade, all showed slower growth in 2011 than in the peak Hispanic growth years of 2005-2006, when the construction boom attracted new migrants to low-wage work. They include Lakeland, Fla.; Charlotte, N.C.; Atlanta; Provo, Utah; Las Vegas; and Phoenix. All but two — Fort Myers, Fla., and Dallas-Fort Worth — also grew more slowly last year than in 2010, hurt by the jobs slump.

Pointing to a longer-term decline in immigration, demographers believe the Hispanic population boom may have peaked.

“The Latino population is very young, which means they will continue to have a lot of births relative to the general population,” said Mark Mather, associate vice president of the Population Reference Bureau. “But we’re seeing a slowdown that is likely the result of multiple factors: declining Latina birth rates combined with lower immigration levels. If both of these trends continue, they will lead to big changes down the road.”

William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution who analyzed the census data, noted that government debates over immigration enforcement may now be less pressing, given slowing growth. “The current congressional and Supreme Court interest in reducing immigration — and the concerns especially about low-skilled and undocumented Hispanic immigration — represent issues that could well be behind us,” he said.

Minorities made up roughly 2.02 million, or 50.4 percent of U.S. births in the 12-month period ending July 2011. That compares with 37 percent in 1990.

In all, 348 of the nation’s 3,143 counties, or 1 in 9, have minority populations across all age groups that total more than 50 percent. In a sign of future U.S. race and ethnic change, the number of counties reaching the tipping point increases to more than 690, or nearly 1 in 4, when looking only at the under age 5 population.

The counties in transition include Maricopa (Phoenix), Ariz.; King (Seattle), Wash.; Travis (Austin), Texas; and Palm Beach, Fla., where recent Hispanic births are driving the increased diversity among children. Also high on the list are suburban counties such as Fairfax, Va., just outside the nation’s capital, and Westchester, N.Y., near New York City, where more open spaces are a draw for young families who are increasingly minority.

According to the latest data, the percentage growth of Hispanics slowed from 4.2 percent in 2001 to 2.5 percent last year. Their population growth would have been even lower if it weren’t for their relatively high fertility rates — seven births for every death. The median age of U.S. Hispanics is 27.6 years.

Births actually have been declining for both whites and minorities as many women postponed having children during the economic slump. But the drop since 2008 has been larger for whites, who have a median age of 42. The number of white births fell by 11.4 percent, compared with 3.2 percent for minorities, according to Kenneth Johnson, a sociologist at the University of New Hampshire.

Asian population increases also slowed, from 4.5 percent in 2001 to about 2.2 percent. Hispanics and Asians still are the two fastest-growing minority groups, making up about 16.7 percent and 4.8 percent of the U.S. population, respectively.

Blacks, who comprise about 12.3 percent of the population, have increased at a rate of about 1 percent each year. Whites have increased very little in recent years.

Other findings:

—The migration of black Americans back to the South is slowing. New destinations in the South, including Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Raleigh, N.C., and Orlando, Fla., saw sharp drop-offs in black population growth as the prolonged housing bust kept African-Americans locked in place in traditional big cities. Metro areas including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco had reduced declines or gains.

—Nine U.S. counties in five states saw their minority populations across all age groups surpass 50 percent last year. They were Sutter and Yolo in California; Quitman in Georgia; Cumberland in New Jersey; Colfax in New Mexico; and Lynn, Mitchell, Schleicher and Swisher in Texas.

—Maverick County, Texas, had the largest share of minorities at 96.8 percent, followed by Webb County, Texas, and Wade Hampton, Alaska, both at 96 percent.

—Four states — Hawaii, California, New Mexico and Texas — as well as the District of Columbia have minority populations that exceed 50 percent.

The census estimates used local records of births and deaths, tax records of people moving within the U.S., and census statistics on immigrants. The figures for “white” refer to those whites who are not of Hispanic ethnicity.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Edwards has pleaded not guilty to six criminal counts related to campaign finance violations stemming from nearly $1 million secretly provided by two wealthy donors that helped hide his pregnant mistress during the 2008 Democratic primary. He faces up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines if convicted of all charges.

Prosecutors likely will argue the payments were intended to influence the outcome of an election by keeping Edwards’ political hopes viable. Defense lawyers will counter that Edwards had limited knowledge of the cover-up and that the payments were gifts intended to keep his cancer-stricken wife from leaning about the out-of-wedlock pregnancy.

U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Eagles set the two-hour limit for closing arguments. The jury is expected to begin deliberating Friday.

On Wednesday, Edwards’ team wrapped up their defense without calling him, his mistress or daughter to testify, a move experts said was intended to shift focus from a political sex scandal to the nitty-gritty of campaign finance law.

“The defense wasn’t sexy, but the defense doesn’t want sexy. It wants an acquittal,” said Steve Friedland, a professor at Elon University School of Law and former federal prosecutor who has attended much of the trial.

Experts said Edwards’ bare-bone defense, which lasted just over two days, may be enough to avoid conviction on charges he authorized more than $1 million secretly provided by two wealthy donors to help hide an affair with pregnant mistress Rielle Hunter as he sought the White House in 2008.

The prosecution presented nearly three weeks of evidence and testimony from a former Edwards aide and campaign advisors that painted Edwards as a frequent liar, but showed no direct evidence he intended to break federal campaign finance laws, the experts said.

Many observers believed Edwards would testify so the jury could hear directly from the former U.S. senator and trial lawyer, who had a reputation for his ability to sway jurors. But putting Edwards and Hunter on the stand would have exposed the defense to withering cross-examination about Edwards’ past lies and personal failings.

“The defense may very well have felt that their case was solid enough to go to the jury without the risk of the personal testimony of these witnesses, which would undoubtedly resurrect the salacious details of the affair for the jury,” said Catherine Dunham, another Elon law professor who has been attending the trial.

The defense also elected not to call Edwards’ oldest daughter, Cate, a 30-year-old lawyer who has sat behind her father nearly every day, as a character witness to help humanize him.

At one point during the trial, Cate Edwards ran out of the courtroom in tears during testimony about her cancer-stricken mother, Elizabeth, confronting her father about his extramarital affair.

The former Democratic presidential candidate has sat quietly at the defense table throughout his trial, whispering with his lawyers and rarely showing reaction to the often emotional testimony from witnesses who were once among his strongest supporters and closest friends.

He has made no public statements since October, following a pre-trial hearing where a judge refused to throw out the case.

At the trial, prosecutors have shown two members of Edwards’ inner circle, campaign finance chairman Fred Baron and once-close aide Andrew Young, engaged in a yearlong cover-up to hide the married presidential candidate’s mistress from the media.

The married Young falsely claimed paternity of his boss’ baby and received $725,000 in secret checks from an elderly heiress, using some of the money to care for Hunter.

Baron, a wealthy Texas lawyer, provided Young and Hunter with more than $400,000 in cash, luxury hotels, private jets and a $20,000-a-month rental mansion in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Prosecutors have introduced phone records, voicemails and other evidence showing Edwards in frequent contact with Baron, Young and Hunter while Hunter was in hiding.

Former members of Edwards’ campaign also testified that Baron spoke of “moving Hunter around” in the candidate’s presence and that Edwards told his speechwriter he knew “all along” what Baron was up to.

But in 14 days of testimony, no witness ever said Edwards knew he was violating campaign finance laws, a key element of criminal intent the government must prove to win a conviction.

“There was no direct evidence that John Edwards knew he was violating campaign contribution laws,” Friedland said. “Juries like smoking guns. There were no smoking guns here.”

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

South Carolina GOP Chairman Chad Connelly says he’s pledging 1,000 volunteers to work phones, knock on doors and register voters in North Carolina.

He says South Carolina is a solidly red state so they can focus on North Carolina.

Barack Obama carried North Carolina in the 2008 presidential election. But this time it will be tough sledding for the president, even though the Democratic National Convention is in Charlotte this summer.

Labor unions, a core Democratic constituency, are up in arms because the convention is being held in a right-to-work state. The state Democratic Party is in disarray over an explosive sexual harassment scandal. And voters recently approved amending the state constitution to ban gay marriage.

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Shane Cranfield and Allen Carlyle, along with police officer James Lambeth, were acquitted of charges Tuesday, putting to rest in court as to whether the men used the Taser on the high school student during the East Spencer fire department’s Christmas party last year. WBTV reports that the Taser was used at least nine times on John Resino, a North Rowan High School student and volunteer fireman.

According to police, Resino allegedly ran out of a room during the department’s Christmas Party on Dec. 10 in an attempt to get away from Cranfield and Carlyle. WBTV reports that Cranfield and Carlyle allegedly broke the handle of the door Resino had shut and stunned the 18-year-old nine times with a Taser of Lambeth, an on-duty police officer at the time of the incident. Police have indicated that the Taser went off 18 times in a three-minute span, about once every 10 seconds.

Cranfield believed that the inconsistencies in Resino’s story throughout the course of the trial led to the verdict.

“I have lost my position as the Chief of the East Spencer fire department, as well as my part time paid position,” Cranfield told WBTV. “My reputation, career, and life have been ran through the mud and destroyed.  I have been blacked balled throughout the county and shunned by people I have known for years and considered to be my brothers. Along with me, two other people, firefighter Alan Carlyle and officer James Lambeth, have also faced the same ridicule and public embarrassment as myself.”

While the House was tasked with offering the first proposed changes to the second year of the two-year state budget, the Senate started work on several other matters within hours of the chamber leader gaveling in the midday floor sessions.

“We’re hitting the ground running,” Senate Rules Committee Chairman Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, said. “We’re here for a purpose and we want to be out of here in six weeks.”

Over in the House, budget writers continued to focus on the $19.9 billion plan set to take effect July 1 and Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue’s proposed changes. But a bipartisan group led by Speaker Thom Tillis also filed separately what was labeled consensus legislation to compensate $50,000 to each living victim of North Carolina’s forced sterilization program from the last century. Tillis said the bill had support from Perdue and the Senate.

“The North Carolina House took a historic step toward a long-awaited resolution to a sad chapter in our state’s past,” Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, said in a statement. A committee meeting on the bill was expected next week.

The Senate moved ahead with other legislation as a committee voted to change laws needed for the Cherokee Indians to offer live dealer games at its casino. Another panel was expected Wednesday afternoon to consider a $206 million plan to eliminate a gap between spending and revenue. Some of the bills were expected to come to the Senate floor Wednesday evening.

Legislators arriving for the session were greeted by more than 100 protesters representing liberal and union groups who banged on pots and pans to express anger with Republican policies over the past year. They also suggested that members of the GOP majority that pushed the conservative agenda after taking control of the Legislature following the 2010 elections would be targeted during this fall’s campaign.

“We’re out here saying it’s time to listen to the people,” said MaryBe McMillan with the state chapter of the AFL-CIO, and “we’re going to continue to build this movement so that we can make our voices heard and our votes count in November.”

Many protesters carried signs expressing their unhappiness with the Legislature allowing a referendum on gay marriage that was passed last week with 61 percent of the vote.

“I’m mad at this Legislature,” said Marianne Carter-Maschal, an organic farmer from Siler City. “I don’t care what they’re talking about today. I’m mad at this Legislature (for) the things that have been going in our state the past year.”

The state chapter of the conservative-leaning Americans for Prosperity handed out earplugs to passers-by and suggested legislators should use them to tune out a vocal minority. State director Dallas Woodhouse said many of the protesters want to raise taxes.

“What I hope is the group that the legislators will listen to is the voters,” Woodhouse said. “We don’t believe these people are representative of their folks back home.”

The Senate Rules Committee voted to change state gambling and other laws needed for an updated gambling compact reached in November between Perdue and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to be carried out.

The tribe would be permitted to offer live dealer gambling at its western North Carolina casino.

The state’s school districts would get a share of revenue from the new games, which Perdue said could also create hundreds of new jobs. A coalition of social conservatives and liberal Democrats opposed to gambling could refuse to pass the gambling law changes.

Senators also pushed through a committee changes to involuntary annexation laws to respond to a Superior Court’s judge decision in March that rejected a new method the Legislature approved in 2011. That method allows landowners to petition to block a municipality’s efforts to expand its borders.

The legislation would replace the petition process with an up-or-down referendum by voters in the area where the proposed annexation would occur. Another bill would cancel nine pending and contentious annexations on the outer edges of towns and cities from Wilmington to Asheville that also were subject to the 2011 petition method that’s now been blocked in court.

The House Rules Committee also met briefly Wednesday to take up a handful of bills, including one that would prevent death-row inmates from watching television. The bill is in response to a letter written by convicted killer Danny Robbie Hembree Jr. predicting how he’d get to watch color TV as a gentleman of leisure while he awaits an execution that’s likely decades away. The rules committee’s action means the bill can be introduced this year.

Dozens of House members spent Wednesday afternoon holding a mock floor session to get acclimated to an electronic system in which members will follow bills and amendments during floor debate on laptops or other devices, not paper.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Lana Kuykendall remains hospitalized with necrotizing fasciitis more than a week after giving birth to twins. On May 8, Kuykendall began to experience leg cramps so bad that she couldn’t stand or walk, according to Greenville Online. On Friday, Kuykendall’s husband, Darren, saw his wife suffering. She had discovered a large lesion on the back of her left leg, originally thinking it was a blood clot.

“And the longer she sat there, the bigger that spot got,” Darren Kuykendall told Greenville Online. “It was initially the size of a 3-by-5 index card. But it got bigger and bigger. It moved a quarter of an inch in half an hour. Then the high-risk OB physician had a suspicion of what it was.”

It wasn’t a blood clot but necrotizing fasciitis, the same bacteria that has been at the heart of the case involving Aimee Copeland, the Georgia graduate student who contracted the infection due to a zip-line accident. WYFF reports that friends of Kuykendall’s still aren’t sure how their friend contracted the bacteria.

“(Lana Kuykendall) just kept getting worse in front of your eyes,” friend Kayla Moon told WYFF-TV. “She would just get worse and worse and worse. Every minute it was like she was going down. She was never really able to hold (her babies) and enjoy it.”

But Lana Kuykendall’s fortune could be turning around. Friends have indicated that her last surgery went well and that the bacteria has stopped spreading.

Legislation introduced in the General Assembly on Wednesday would validate a gambling compact reached in November between Gov. Beverly Perdue and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

The key changes allow live dealers for card games like poker and blackjack at the tribe’s western North Carolina casino, with a share of the revenue from the new games going to the state. The 30-year agreement would begin sharing 4 percent of card-game revenues and increase that to 8 percent.

Opponents believe the measure’s path through the Senate seems assured, but a coalition of social conservatives and liberal Democrats could fight it in the House.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The defense called a series of witnesses aimed at shifting the jury’s focus from the lurid details of a political sex scandal to the legal question of whether the Edwards’ actions violated federal campaign finance laws.

Prosecutors spent nearly three weeks trying to convince a jury that Edwards masterminded a conspiracy to use nearly $1 million secretly provided by two wealthy donors to help hide his pregnant mistress, Rielle Hunter, as he sought the White House in 2008.

Many people watching the case believed Edwards would testify so the jury could hear directly from the former U.S. senator and trial lawyer, who had a reputation for his ability to sway jurors. But putting Edwards on the stand was also a risk: It would have exposed him to withering cross-examination about his past lies and personal failings.

Most experts were convinced calling Hunter to testify would have dredged up more negatives and lies. The defense also elected not to call Edwards’ oldest daughter, Cate, who has sat behind Edwards nearly every day of the trial and could have helped humanize him.

At one point during the trial, she ran out of the courtroom in tears during testimony about her cancer-stricken mother confronting her father about his extramarital affair.

The judge told jurors that no more witnesses would be called. It’s unclear exactly when closing arguments would start, but most likely Thursday.

Edwards has pleaded not guilty to six criminal counts including conspiracy to violate the Federal Election Campaign Act, accepting contributions that exceeded campaign finance limits, and causing his campaign to file a false financial disclosure report.

He faces up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines if convicted of all charges.

Edwards has sat quietly at the defense table throughout his trial, whispering with his lawyers and rarely showing reaction to the often emotional testimony from witnesses who were once among his strongest supporters and closest friends. He has made no public statements since October, following a pre-trial hearing where a judge refused to throw out the criminal case against him.

“After all these years, I finally get my day in court and people get to hear my side of this, and what actually happened,” Edwards said last year on the steps of the federal courthouse in Greensboro. “And what I know with complete and absolute certainty is I didn’t violate campaign laws and I never for a second believed I was violating campaign laws.”

At the trial, prosecutors have shown two members of Edwards’ inner circle, campaign finance chairman Fred Baron and once-close aide Andrew Young, engaged in a yearlong cover-up to hide the married presidential candidate’s mistress from the media. Young, who is married, falsely claimed paternity of his boss’ baby and received $725,000 in secret checks from an elderly heiress, using some of the money to care for Hunter.

Baron, a wealthy Texas lawyer, provided Young and Hunter with more than $400,000 in cash, luxury hotels, private jets and a $20,000-a-month rental mansion in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Prosecutors have introduced phone records, voicemails and other evidence showing Edwards was in frequent contact with Baron, Young and Hunter, all while his mistress was in hiding. Former members of Edwards’ campaign also testified that Baron spoke of “moving Hunter around” in the candidate’s presence and that Edwards told his speechwriter he knew “all along” what Baron was up to.

However, in 14 days of testimony, no witness ever said Edwards knew he was violating campaign finance laws, a key element of criminal intent the government must prove to win a conviction.

The defense also undercut the credibility of Young, whom bank records showed siphoned off most of the money from Mellon to build his expansive $1.6 million dream house. Baron wired another $325,000 to the company building Young’s house.

Before his indictment, Edwards rejected a potential plea agreement with federal prosecutors that would have allowed him to serve as little as six months and keep his law license.

A graduate of the University of North Carolina law school, John Edwards made his fortune handling medical malpractice and corporate negligence cases before turning to politics following the death of his 16-year-old son Wade in a 1996 auto accident. Edwards was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1998 and was John Kerry’s running mate in 2004.

Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth, died of cancer in December 2010. He is now a single parent of two school-aged children, ages 13 and 11, who live with their father at the family’s gated estate outside Chapel Hill. Edwards’ 30-year-old daughter Cate is a lawyer who married last year.

After years of denials, Edwards admitted fathering his Hunter’s baby in January 2010, shortly after agreeing to pay child support. The girl, now 4, lives with her mother in Charlotte.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Authorities said Lottie Young is facing charges including assault by mob and delinquency of a minor.

Video of the incident shows a man trying to help the 16-year-old girl being beaten when he is grabbed by Young and pushed against a car. Witnesses say they saw Young kicking the victim on the ground.

Young says the fight was already going on when she got out of her car and she helped break things up. The mother says the beating victim has been bullying her 15-year-old daughter for the past month.

“Enough is enough, people are killing themselves for getting bullied,” Young told WHNS-TV.

Seneca High School Resource Officer Eric Brown says that Young was holding the victim’s arms while Young’s daughters were beating her.

“There’s no justification for a parent getting involved against a student,” Brown told WSPA-TV.

Young’s daughters have also been charged. It wasn’t known if they or their mother had attorneys.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

“I’m for Mitt Romney,” the former president said Tuesday in Washington as the doors of his elevator shut, perhaps his only public statement on the race before the Nov. 6 election.

Romney’s campaign doesn’t foresee the 43rd president playing a substantive role in the race. Aides are carefully weighing how much the former president should be involved in the GOP convention — and for good reason. The Bush fatigue that was a drag on GOP nominee John McCain four years ago, and on the country, still lingers, including among Republicans.

“The Iraq war? The economy? Let’s not revisit President Bush’s record,” Richard Rinaldi, a 72-year-old Republican, said at a Romney rally last week in Charlotte. “There’s no desire to see him campaigning.”

Standing nearby, Roger Burba, a 73-year-old Republican from Pineville, N.C., put it this way: “He’s back in Texas, where he should be.”

While Bush’s standing has improved since he left office in January 2009, he remains a polarizing political figure. Romney’s aides fear Bush’s status could hurt the new Republican standard-bearer in battleground states like Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin even though Bush could energize the party faithful — and help raise money — in solid Republican parts of the country.

There’s another risk: Romney linking himself too closely to the former president in any way would give Democrats ammunition to boost President Barack Obama’s argument that his Republican rival would restore Bush-era policies.

Bush is said to be enjoying retirement at home in Dallas. He’s largely stayed out of sight and out of politics since leaving office and is likely to sit much of the campaign, too. He spends his time raising money for and promoting his presidential library at Southern Methodist University — the reason he was in Washington on Tuesday when ABC News caught him and elicited the unscripted endorsement. He also gives speeches for charitable causes.

“He’s been a very private person. I don’t know why that would change,” said Republican strategist Danny Diaz, a veteran of Bush’s team.

Romney’s aides won’t speak for the record about the campaign’s plans — if there are any — for Bush. Bush’s office did not respond to a message seeking comment about the campaign or the convention.

Behind the scenes, Republicans close to Romney’s campaign say there are no plans to use Bush in a significant way and that the signal from Romney’s Boston headquarters — it’s loaded with veterans of Bush’s two successful campaigns — is that any role for Bush would be minimal at best. The Republicans, who insisted on anonymity to discuss strategy, said Romney’s team will determine, if it hasn’t already, how best to recognize Bush at the party’s national convention in August in Florida, where Bush’s brother, Jeb, was governor.

Romney’s advisers are studying exit polls from the 2008 presidential election, when nearly three-fourths of voters, or 71 percent, said they disapproved of Bush’s job performance. Twenty-seven percent approved. Voters were evenly split — 48 percent apiece — on whether McCain would continue Bush’s policies or take the country in a different direction. Democrats’ central criticism of McCain was that his presidency would have amounted to a third Bush term.

Of those who said McCain would continue Bush’s policies, just 8 percent voted for McCain; 90 percent supported Obama. McCain carried a substantial majority of those who approved of Bush’s performance. But of the 51 percent who strongly disapproved of Bush’s performance, McCain won just 16 percent.

Bush’s standing is not nearly as dreary any more, but the numbers still show little incentive for Romney to wrap himself in Bush.

A March poll by Bloomberg found that 45 percent of adults had a favorable opinion of Bush, to 50 percent unfavorable. That was better than a January 2009 Pew Research Center poll, taken as Bush was leaving office, that found that 37 percent had a favorable opinion of him, to 60 percent unfavorable.

That’s not to say Romney completely ignores Bush, either. On the March day when he was endorsed by Jeb Bush, Romney credited the former president with averting another Depression in 2008. Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, endorsed Romney little more than a week later.

“I keep hearing the president say that he’s responsible for keeping America from going into a Great Depression,” Romney said of Obama. “No, no, no. That was President George W. Bush and (Treasury Secretary) Hank Paulson that stepped in and kept that from happening.”

There are no rules for using former presidents in political campaigns, nor are potential successors bound to embrace them.

But Obama is keeping his Democratic predecessor closer this time around.

Democrat Bill Clinton had a muted role in the 2008 general election after the nasty primary fight between his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Obama. But Obama has signaled this year that he intends to fully embrace the popular former president — and take advantage of his political strengths. A prolific fundraiser, Clinton recently appeared with Obama at a money event near Washington. He also has a prominent role in Obama campaign videos.

Clinton was sidelined while still in office in 2000 when Vice President Al Gore kept him at bay after the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

History doesn’t offer much precedent for handling former presidents at party conventions, either.

Clinton and Jimmy Carter gave speeches on the first day of the 2004 Democratic convention. In 2000, the elder Bush and Gerald Ford were present when George W. Bush was nominated, but neither man spoke. In 1996, both Ford and George H.W. Bush spoke.

Four years ago, McCain kept Bush at a distance after an awkward joint appearance in the White House Rose Garden. McCain had challenged Bush for the nomination in 2000 and didn’t endorse him after Bush prevailed.

During his convention speech in 2008, McCain spoke the Bush name only once — in reference to Laura Bush.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The governor has proclaimed Wednesday as Tourism Day.

A statement from the governor’s office says visitors spend more than $50 million per day in North Carolina and contribute more than $4.3 million per day in state and local tax revenues as a result of that spending. Each North Carolina household saves over $430 annually in state and local taxes as a result of taxes generated by visitor expenditures.

Perdue’s office also says that for the first time, state tax receipts as a result of visitor spending topped $1 billion in 2011 and have increased more than 50 percent in the last 10 years.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Defense lawyer Abbe Lowell has said the defense could close out its case by calling Edwards, his oldest daughter Cate and Rielle Hunter, the woman with whom he had an extramarital affair while running for president in 2008.

They also could recall Edwards’ former aide Andrew Young.

Edwards is charged with masterminding a plan to use about $1 million from two wealthy donors to hide his pregnant mistress as he ran for the White House.

He has pleaded not guilty to six criminal counts including conspiracy to violate the Federal Election Campaign Act, accepting contributions that exceeded federal limits, and filing false campaign-finance statements.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Commanders from Camp Lejeune and the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force are supporting the investigation, a base spokesman said in an email Tuesday. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is leading the investigation, which began more than a year and a half ago.

“This is some damn fine police work and two years of undercover — $1.8 million is pretty sizable,” NCIS spokesman Ed Buice said by phone from Quantico, Va. “That said, this is not the first time such crimes have occurred with military members selling government-issued combat gear.”

The 66 NCIS investigations involve 47 active-duty Marines and sailors, along with 21 civilians who sold stolen property, said base spokesman Nat Fahy. About half the cases have been settled in court, Buice said.

“This is guys stealing stuff and selling it at garage sales and out of the back of their cars” and other places, Buice said.

NCIS agents also found property stolen from the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army and other federal agencies, Fahy said. That information was forwarded to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI and North Carolina’s  State Bureau of Investigation, among numerous other federal and local agencies.

Buice and Fahy did not say whether weapons were among the items stolen.

The ongoing investigation was first reported by The Daily News of Jacksonville.

A sergeant with Marine Corps Special Operations Command, which is located at Camp Lejeune, was convicted in March of stealing and reselling property.

Sgt. Daniel Adam Reich was a member of 3rd Marine Special Operations Command when he was convicted and sentenced to 40 months in prison and a dishonorable discharge, said Maj. Jeff Landis, a spokesman for the command.

Landis wouldn’t say what type of property Reich stole but did say that weapons were not involved. All of the property was recovered, he said.

The thefts came to light after NCIS received tips, Buice said. Crime analysts did research that suggested more property was being stolen, he said, leading to the investigation.

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The Jacksonville Daily News reports that the two-year undercover investigation implicated nearly 60 people.

“The case is still active and ongoing in partnership with several other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies,” Ed Buice, public affairs officer for NCIS in Quantico, told the Daily News. “I can’t go into much detail.”

Buice said the Marines were selling the stolen equipment on websites such as eBay, Craigslist and Lejeune Yard Sales. Investigators first got wind of it from tip into the NCIS Carolinas Field Office.

“NCIS did an in-depth analysis of the cases and saw there was definitely a growing problem,” Buice told the Daily News. “Undercover agents have worked extensively to build cases against those involved during the last two years.”

Stars and Stripes reports that $1.8 million in stolen guns and combat gear has so far been recovered.

“We’re talking about sophisticated, hi-tech flashlights that cost the government up to $800 per unit,” an official told Stars and Stripes. “The temptation and ease with which to steal and sell them, for some, is irresistible.”

So far, 47 Marines and sailors and 21 civilians are being prosecuted.

The nonprofit Disability Rights NC is asking the U.S. Department of Education to investigate.

The complaint filed last week with the federal agency follows an investigation by the nonprofit group and law student from the University of North Carolina who interviewed patients at a treatment facility in Charlotte. The group’s previous complaints have resulted in changes at a North Carolina school for the deaf and at facilities for adults with mental illnesses and the elderly.

The Associated Press left messages for officials with the U.S. Education Department and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services that were not immediately returned Tuesday morning.

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DeShawn Williams, 34, was arrested by Rock Hill authorities for allegedly beating the 13-year-old with a belt and drum stick.

According to a Rock Hill police report obtained by CBS Charlotte, authorities said that a school counselor at the Rebound Alternative School noticed in March that the teen boy was covered in bruises. The teen told police that he was beaten because Williams “became upset when he discovered that someone did not flush the toilet.”

Police said Williams lashed the teen with a belt across his stomach, leaving a mark that was 4 inches wide and 9 inches long. The teen also told police that Williams hit him in the face.

The girl’s mother claims she did not know about the incident.

Authorities charged Williams after a two-month investigation with cruelty to children and he was released on $470 bond.

He has pleaded not guilty to six criminal counts, including conspiracy to violate the Federal Election Campaign Act, accepting alleged contributions from two donors that exceeded the limits for his 2008 presidential campaign, and filing false and misleading campaign-finance statements. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines.

Here is a look at the first weeks of the trial, and some highlights of witness testimony:

Q: WHAT EVIDENCE HAS THE PROSECUTION PRESENTED SO FAR?

A: Prosecutors showed two members of Edwards’ inner circle, campaign finance chairman Fred Baron and fundraiser Andrew Young, engaged in a yearlong cover-up to hide the married presidential candidate’s pregnant mistress from the media as he ran for the White House in 2008. Young, who is married, falsely claimed paternity of his boss’ baby and received $725,000 in secret checks from an elderly heiress, using some of the money to care for the mistress, Rielle Hunter. A wealthy Texas lawyer, Baron provided Young and Hunter $319,500 in cash, luxury hotels, private jets and a $20,000-a-month rental mansion in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Q: TO WHAT EXTENT HAS THE PROSECUTION SUCCESSFULLY MADE THEIR CASE?

A: After years of Edwards saying he had no knowledge of the cover up, prosecutors introduced phone records, voicemails and other evidence showing he was in frequent contact with Baron, Young and Hunter, all while his mistress was in hiding. Former members of Edwards’ campaign also testified that Baron spoke of “moving Hunter around” in the candidate’s presence and that Edwards told his speechwriter he knew “all along” what Baron was up to. However, in 14 days of testimony no witness ever said Edwards knew he was violating campaign finance laws, a key element of criminal intent the government must prove to win a conviction.

Q: WHAT STRATEGY WILL THE DEFENSE USE?

A: Defense lawyers for Edwards have hammered the credibility of Young, the prosecution’s main cooperating witness, showing he fabricated parts of his 2010 tell-all book about the affair and that he siphoned off much of the secret money to build his family’s dream home. Edwards’ lawyers are also arguing that even the Federal Election Commission concluded that the money from the two wealthy donors wasn’t a campaign contribution and therefore didn’t violate any laws. Edwards’ eldest daughter, Cate Edwards, 30, was expected to take that stand Tuesday in her father’s defense. It’s unknown whether Edwards, a former trial lawyer, will take the stand in his own defense.

Q: WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF THE MOST DRAMATIC MOMENTS SO FAR?

A: During emotional testimony that saw Edwards’ 30-year-old daughter flee the courtroom in tears, former campaign advisor Christina Reynolds recounted an October 2007 fight at a Raleigh airport where an enraged Elizabeth Edwards confronted her husband about his affair, ripping open her shirt and baring her chest.

Former aide Andrew Young testified that when Edwards learned Hunter was pregnant, his first reaction was to express doubt he was the father and call his mistress a “crazy slut.”

Young also described his climactic last meeting with Edwards in August 2008 on a secluded road near the former senator’s Chapel Hill mansion. Young said Edwards was nervous and acting so paranoid the aide feared his boss had hired men to shoot him.

SOME OF THE KEY QUOTES IN TESTIMONY:

— “You can’t hurt me, Andrew. You can’t hurt me.” — Edwards’ last words to Young, as recounted by the former aide on the witness stand.

— “He said he could be to poverty what Al Gore was to the environment.” — Young recounting Edwards’ plan to solicit a $50 million donation from heiress Rachel “Bunny” Mellon to establish a foundation to combat poverty after his political career collapsed.

— “I’ve never asked anybody to pay a dime of money, never been told that any money’s been paid. Nothing has been done at my request. So if the allegation is that somehow I participated in the payment of money — that is a lie.” — Edwards in the 2008 interview on ABC’s Nightline that was played for the jury at his criminal trial. Evidence presented by prosecutors showed numerous statements made by Edwards during the interview were lies, including his denial of fathering Hunter’s baby.

— “You don’t see me anymore!” — Elizabeth Edwards yelling at her cheating husband as she exposed her breasts, as recounted by Reynolds.

— “She thought maybe you should probably pay for your girlfriend yourself.” — 101-year-old heiress Bunny Mellon’s reaction upon learning some of the $725,000 she secretly provided to help Edwards went to hide his mistress, as recounted by Charlotte interior designer Bryan Huffman.

— “She thought it was a little low.” — Huffman’s reply after a prosecutor asked if Mellon was aware of a federal law that then limited individual political contributions to $2,300 per election cycle.

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GAFFNEY, S.C. (AP) — The Cherokee County coroner says a 59-year-old inmate who died in the county jail suffered a heart attack.

Coroner Dennis Fowler said Monday that an autopsy determined no foul play in the Friday death of Rickey Gay.

Authorities say a guard delivering Gay’s dinner tray found him dead in his cell. Gay had last been seen alive nearly six hours before.

Gay had been in the jail for a week after his arrest on a charge of pointing a firearm.

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Land for Tomorrow on Monday requested funding to protect about 400,000 more acres of land and 1,750 miles of waterways. Proponents say the green space will improve resident’s quality of life and help attract employers.

“To put that in perspective, it’s less than one percent of the state’s overall budget and a drop in the bucket really in terms of the returns we get for clean water, air, flood control,” said Elizabeth Ouzts, director of Environment North Carolina.

The request came amid the release of a report made public at Yates Mill Pond with ducks flying in the background.

The group made up of agriculture and wildlife organizations set seven conservation goals in 2005 to reach by this year. The group fell short for each benchmark, but the state added protection for almost 400,000 acres of forests, vistas, parks, farms and stream buffers.

“We didn’t quite meet the goals we set out but we came pretty close,” Ouzts said. “The bottom line is that we did really well; we responded.”

State Sen. Neal Hunt, R-Wake, said not to expect an increase in appropriations this year, but supports the groups’ efforts. He told the crowd stories of saving trees when worked in land development.

“What CEO would come to North Carolina if we have dirty air and dirty water?” Hunt asked. “I maintain, and I maintain this to my caucus, that it’s just as important as low taxes, good school, good roads and so on — preserving our environment.”

The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ budget has been slashed by lawmakers since the last recession.

Republicans in the General Assembly last year trimmed the state’s clean water management trust fund from $100 million to $11 million. Conservation trust fund grants dropped from approximately 170 million in 2007 to a little less than 40 million in 2011 and less than $50 million of the $200 million worth of 2011 funding requests were granted.
 
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Dalton said Monday the “town hall”-style debates would give voters the chance to listen to a straightforward discussion on North Carolina’s future in addition to traditional televised debates in the fall.

McCrory’s campaign did not immediately respond to Dalton’s challenge, made a week after each candidate won their respective primaries.

It was McCrory in 2008 who asked then-Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue to participate in town hall meetings in their general election campaign.

This year, McCrory campaign is awash with money while Dalton is trying to get publicity while working to rebuild his campaign coffers following a contested primary campaign.

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Members of Occupy Raleigh and 14th Amendment Equality Projects will march Monday evening in Raleigh, beginning in Nash Square. Occupy Raleigh’s General Assembly passed a resolution against the amendment in February.

The citizen initiative 14th Amendment Equality Projects plans to host a community outreach march on the 14th of every month. The marches will go through neighborhoods because the group wants to engage citizens. Among other things, the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires each state to provide equal protection under the law to all people within its jurisdiction.

North Carolina voters overwhelmingly approved the amendment last week, with 61 percent supporting it.

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Twenty-seven-year-old Staff Sgt. Mark Lewis Salazar was shot by officers in the driveway of his family’s home in Fayetteville on May 5. A 911 caller told police Salazar was standing in his front yard firing off shots at 3 a.m.

Police say they shot Salazar after he pointed his gun at them.

He died May 12 at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center.

Salazar had served as a graphic illustrator for the Army Special Operations Command’s 4th Military Information Support Group.

The State Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the shooting. The three Fayetteville police officers involved have been placed on paid administrative leave.

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Chairman David Parker verbally submitted his resignation offer to the party’s State Executive Committee meeting in Greensboro earlier Saturday and left the room, but hours later, a majority of committee members rejected his resignation.

Parker, a Statesville attorney, returned later Saturday to the podium and said he wouldn’t leave despite receiving phone calls from people he wouldn’t identify specifically. “But this is our party,” he told activists.

Gov. Beverly Perdue, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton and several other top elected officials moved last month to force Parker out, saying the allegations were becoming an election-year distraction. Some Democratic leaders and rank-and-file members were frustrated Parker had left them in the dark about a former party employee’s allegations against the then-executive director and the ensuing financial settlement.

During a rambunctious six-hour meeting that pitted Parker’s backers and critics, the panel voted 269-203 to reject his resignation.

“My friends, I resigned this party but I abide by the will of the State Executive Committee,” Parker told the crowd soon after the vote. “This difficulty in the party is going to be resolved regardless of who the chair is … but you have spoken today. And that’s about enough drama. We have business to do, my friends.”

Parker’s refusal to step aside deals a blow to party leaders who believed they had put out the firestorm surrounding the harassment allegations. Parker announced last month he would call for a new election for his job but that he wouldn’t be a candidate. At least three candidates to succeed Parker had assembled campaigns in advance of Saturday’s election, which never happened.

The standoff adds to the challenges facing state Democrats as they gear up for the party’s national convention in Charlotte in September, and President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in a key battleground state.

Obama’s “chances at winning North Carolina continue to grow smaller by the day and this vote is further evidence that the president’s ground game and national convention are in absolute turmoil” in the state, Republican National Committee spokesman Matt Connelly said.

Some committee members said they were shocked and incensed by Parker’s return. One committee member threw down his unused ballots in the hotel ballroom as Parker announced he would remain chairman. Another complained loudly earlier to 1st Vice Chair Gwen Wilkins about how she handled the vote on Parker — leading him to call her a “Republican.” He later apologized.

Others said there had never been a vote before to accept or reject a resignation — a decision that raised questions among some about whether Parker had orchestrated his return using parliamentary maneuvers.

“This is now about David,” said Perry Woods, a Democratic strategist working with Mary-Ann Baldwin, a Raleigh city council member who was prepared to run to succeed Parker. “It’s obviously divisive and he’s put himself above the party.”

Committee members backing Parker, a veteran party worker elected chairman in January 2011, said he did nothing wrong in his handling of the harassment allegations. They printed fliers for the meeting asking colleagues not to accept his resignation.

“He’s been a good chair and he hasn’t done anything illegal,” said committee member Mike Schaul of Raleigh. After the meeting, he said he was pleased with the outcome and predicted the strained relations between Dalton and Parker weren’t a huge problem. “They’ll make it work.”

Parker played down Saturday’s fracture within the party and called the committee’s decision unexpected, saying he had been prepared to travel out of town after his resignation speech and clean out his desk in party headquarters. He said the party is united behind Obama and Dalton, who won the party’s gubernatorial primary less than a week ago.

“This party will come back together within two or three days,” Parker said.

Still, Parker’s about-face represented an embarrassment for Dalton, who addressed the crowd before Parker’s resignation submission.

“As you know David is resigning as chairman of the party and he says he is ready,” Dalton said Saturday morning, adding that “this is a very selfless act by David.”

Later Saturday, Dalton campaign spokesman Schorr Johnson said: “The lieutenant governor is surprised and disappointed. David Parker had assured him that he would resign and assist in the smooth transition to a new chair. Clearly that did not happen.”

Tensions began rising within the party after members learned a former party headquarters employee accused then-Executive Director Jay Parmley of harassment and being wrongly fired when he spoke up about it, according to documents.

Parmley denied the allegations but resigned April 15, saying he wasn’t going to be a distraction in the coming elections. Campaign finance records and the party’s attorney confirmed that a financial settlement was reached between the party and the former employee.

Democratic elected officials soon centered on Parker because they said he kept them out of the loop. Parker held a news conference in which he defended his actions and said he followed the advice of the party’s attorney. He said he couldn’t discuss the confidential settlement.

The party’s plan of organization does provide a method to remove the chairman from office, but it doesn’t involve the executive committee, which is next scheduled to meet June 17 in Raleigh.

This isn’t the first time the party’s executive committee has thwarted the wishes of a top Democratic elected official. In 2005, the committee elected Jerry Meek, a favorite of local party activists, as chairman over then-Gov. Mike Easley’s choice, Ed Turlington.

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Bloomberg spoke Sunday to thousands of graduates at Kenan Memorial Stadium.

Bloomberg told them Americans have slowly understood since this country was founded that if the government can deny freedom to one person, it can deny freedom to everyone. The mayor says every generation has brought more freedom to this country, and he expects the latest generation to continue the work, especially after last Tuesday’s vote approving a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in North Carolina.

Bloomberg also says the university’s motto, “Light and Liberty,” should be the defining spirit of this century.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Authorities say a 32-year-old man has been shot to death on a Charlotte street not far from where hundreds of people were gathered for a neighborhood barbecue.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said Nakio Cousart was found dead in a car around 7 p.m. Saturday.

Investigators think the shooting may have been related to drugs.

Detectives are looking for a blue SUV seen driving away from the area. They have not named any suspects in the killing.

Police say this is the second deadly shooting in the neighborhood in the past two weeks.

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Once a bright spot for President Barack Obama, North Carolina is now more like a political migraine less than four months before Democrats open the party’s national convention in Charlotte.

The causes are plenty.

Labor unions, a core Democratic constituency, are up in arms. Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue isn’t running for re-election; Democrats say she was likely to lose. The state Democratic Party is in disarray over an explosive sexual harassment scandal. Voters recently approved amending the state constitution to ban gay marriage, a position that runs counter to Obama’s. And unemployment in the state remains persistently high.

“Nobody can sugarcoat the fact that we got problems here,” said Gary Pearce, a former Democratic consultant who was an adviser to former Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt. Pearce was referring specifically to state party woes but could have been talking about any of the troubles here for Democrats.

But, he added: “I think the greatest strength that the party has is President Obama. And he’s the thing that people will rally around.”

It wasn’t supposed to be like this — at least that was the hope — when Democrats chose Charlotte to host the national convention, where Obama will formally accept his party’s presidential nomination for a second time, Sept. 4-6.

When Democrats announced the choice in February 2011, they said selecting the Southern city signaled Obama’s intent to fight hard for the conservative-leaning state like he did in 2008. They also highlighted the economic transformation in the state and in Charlotte — from tobacco, textiles and furniture-making to research, energy and banking. Party leaders noted the state’s strong political leadership and expressed hope that a Perdue re-election bid would get a boost from the attention that would be lavished on the convention.

Now traditional Democratic Party groups are threatening huge protests in part because they’re deeply uncomfortable that the convention is being held in one of the least union-friendly states. And thousands of Democrats across the country are calling for the convention to be relocated because of the gay-marriage vote.

Democrats say that won’t happen.

“Charlotte is going to host a great convention,” insisted Mayor Anthony Foxx, who pushed to bring the event to North Carolina’s largest city.

Said Democratic National Convention in Charlotte spokeswoman Joanne Peters: “The convention is staying in Charlotte.”

Republicans point out the obvious.

“North Carolina is a mess for the Democratic Party and for President Obama,” said Republican National Committee spokesman Matt Connelly.

Four years ago, Obama became the first Democrat to carry North Carolina since Jimmy Carter in 1976. He did it by exploiting voter anger at President George W. Bush and assembling a diverse coalition of supporters, including huge numbers of minorities who had never been politically organized and young voters. State law allowed people to register to vote on Election Day, which also meant the large student vote could be tapped.

The campaign also targeted highly educated newcomers to the state.

Obama’s team has been hopeful about replicating that effort, while mindful of the new challenges confronting him here. They note that there are enough states in play that Obama can find a strategy to get the necessary 270 electoral votes to win a second term without the 15 North Carolina offers, while Republican Mitt Romney’s path to victory is more limited, meaning he’s more likely to need a victory here.

Criticism began immediately after Charlotte was announced.

Many labor leaders were upset that the convention would be held in a state that offers few protections for workers and in a city with no union hotels. While some unions plan to attend, more than a dozen trade unions are boycotting. Union protests also are planned for convention week.

But unions aren’t the only ones stirring trouble for Obama.

Politically, things are much different in the state.

State unemployment was 9.7 percent in March, well above the national average of 8.2 percent that month, and it’s much higher in some rural counties.

There’s also the fired-up Republican base that turned out Tuesday to approve the constitutional ban on gay marriage. The vote prompted more than 28,000 people to sign an online petition — by the New York-based Gay Marriage USA — to move the convention from Charlotte. Twitter also was flooded with similar sentiment from angry supporters of same-sex marriage. Obama stated his support for gay marriage a day after the vote.

Democrats want to include gay marriage in the platform to be adopted at the convention. That could create controversy at a gathering that’s intended to promote party unity by drawing attention to a divisive social issue when the economy remains the most pressing concern.

What’s more, the state Democratic Party is in disarray.

With sagging poll numbers, Perdue announced in January that she would not seek a second term. Her decision came on the heels of bruising budget battles with the GOP-controlled Legislature. Republicans in 2010 captured the Legislature for the first time in 140 years.

Then there’s the sex scandal roiling the state party.

State Party Chairman David Parker submitted his resignation Saturday, after weeks of resisting calls to resign amid complaints about his handling of sexual harassment allegations by an ex-worker against former director Jay Parmley. But party activists meeting in Greensboro on Saturday rejected Parker’s resignation, and Parker then said he would stay on the job.

Perdue and other elected Democratic officials had pressured Parker to step down, saying his presence leading the party had become a distraction. Executive Committee member Lloyd Scher said Parker did nothing wrong in following the advice of the party’s attorney in settling the allegations confidentially.

Meanwhile, the state’s former Democratic senator, John Edwards, continues to battle charges in federal court in Greensboro that he masterminded a scheme to use nearly $1 million in secret payments to help hide his pregnant mistress as he ran for president in 2008. He has pleaded not guilty in the case, which has painted an unflattering portrait of the 2004 Democratic vice-presidential nominee.

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge’s refusal to throw out campaign corruption charges against John Edwards on Friday means that the former presidential hopeful will have to present his case to a jury. Edwards’ lawyers are expected to begin calling witnesses on Monday.

Edwards is accused of masterminding a scheme to use nearly $1 million in secret payments from two wealthy donors to help hide his pregnant mistress as he sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. He has pleaded not guilty to six criminal counts related to campaign finance violations.

Here is a look at the first weeks of the trial, and some of the highlights of witness testimony:

Q: WHAT EVIDENCE HAS THE PROSECTUTION PRESENTED SO FAR?

A: Prosecutors showed two members of Edwards’ inner circle, campaign finance chairman Fred Baron and fundraiser Andrew Young, engaged in a yearlong cover-up to hide the married presidential candidate’s pregnant mistress from the media as he ran for the White House in 2008. Young, who is married, falsely claimed paternity of his boss’ baby and received $725,000 in secret checks from an elderly heiress, using some of the money to care for the mistress, Rielle Hunter. A wealthy Texas lawyer, Baron provided Young and Hunter $319,500 in cash, luxury hotels, private jets and a $20,000-a-month rental mansion in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Q: TO WHAT EXTENT HAS THE PROSECUTION SUCCESSFULLY MADE THEIR CASE?

A: After years of Edwards saying he had no knowledge of the cover up, prosecutors introduced phone records, voicemails and other evidence showing he was in frequent contact with Baron, Young and Hunter, all while his mistress was in hiding. Former members of Edwards’ campaign also testified that Baron spoke of “moving Hunter around” in the candidate’s presence and that Edwards told his speechwriter he knew “all along” what Baron was up to. However, in 14 days of testimony no witness ever said Edwards knew he was violating campaign finance laws, a key element of criminal intent the government must prove to win a conviction.

Q: WHAT STRATEGY WILL THE DEFENSE USE?

A: Defense lawyers for Edwards have hammered the credibility of Young, the prosecution’s main cooperating witness, showing he fabricated parts of his 2010 tell-all book about the affair and that he siphoned off much of the secret money to build his family’s dream home. Edwards’ lawyers will also call former members of the Federal Election Commission to testify that the scheme to hide the mistress didn’t actually violate campaign finance laws. It’s unknown whether Edwards, a former trial lawyer, will take the stand in his own defense.

Q: IF CONVICTED, WHAT KIND OF JAIL TIME MIGHT EDWARDS FACE?

A: If convicted on all six counts, Edwards faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines.

Q: WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF THE MOST DRAMATIC MOMENTS SO FAR?

A: During emotional testimony that saw Edwards’ 30-year-old daughter flee the courtroom in tears, former campaign advisor Christina Reynolds recounted an October 2007 fight at a Raleigh airport where an enraged Elizabeth Edwards confronted her husband about his affair, ripping open her shirt and baring her chest.

Former aide Andrew Young testified that when Edwards learned Hunter was pregnant, his first reaction was to express doubt he was the father and call his mistress a “crazy slut.”

Young also described his climatic last meeting with Edwards in August 2008 on a secluded road near the former senator’s Chapel Hill mansion. Young said Edwards was nervous and acting so paranoid the aide feared his boss had hired men to shoot him.

SOME OF THE KEY QUOTES IN TESTIMONY:

— “You can’t hurt me, Andrew. You can’t hurt me.” — Edwards’ last words to Young, as recounted by the former aide on the witness stand.

— “He said he could be to poverty what Al Gore was to the environment.” — Young recounting Edwards’ plan to solicit a $50 million donation from heiress Rachel “Bunny” Mellon to establish a foundation to combat poverty after his political career collapsed.

— “I’ve never asked anybody to pay a dime of money, never been told that any money’s been paid. Nothing has been done at my request. So if the allegation is that somehow I participated in the payment of money — that is a lie.” — Edwards in the 2008 interview on ABC’s Nightline that was played for the jury at his criminal trial. Evidence presented by prosecutors showed numerous statements made by Edwards during the interview were lies, including his denial of fathering Hunter’s baby.

— “You don’t see me anymore!” — Elizabeth Edwards yelling at her cheating husband as she exposed her breasts, as recounted by Reynolds.

— “She thought maybe you should probably pay for your girlfriend yourself.” — 101-year-old heiress Bunny Mellon’s reaction upon learning some of the $725,000 she secretly provided to help Edwards went to hide his mistress, as recounted by Charlotte interior designer Bryan Huffman.

— “She thought it was a little low.” — Huffman’s reply after a prosecutor asked if Mellon was aware of a federal law that then limited individual political contributions to $2,300 per election cycle.

Perdue was in Greenville as part of her tour to tout her proposed state budget for 2012-2013. The governor was responding to a question on the amendment from a reporter from WITN-TV in Washington.

“I think it’s wrong for North Carolina, clearly and simply,” the governor said.

“People around the country are watching us and they’re really confused, to have been such a progressive, forward-thinking, economically driven state that invested in education and that stood up for the civil rights of people, including the civil rights marches back in the ’50′s and ’60′s and ’70′s,” Perdue said.

“Folks are saying what in the world is going on in North Carolina. We look like Mississippi.”

On Tuesday, North Carolina became the 30th state to pass a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The amendment passed with nearly 61 percent of voters supporting it.

The vote came a day before President Obama endorsed the legalization of same-sex marriage.

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Lawyers for Edwards argued before U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Eagles that prosecutors failed to prove Edwards intentionally violated the law.

After two-and-a-half hours of arguments from prosecutors and the defense, the judge ruled immediately from the bench that there was enough evidence to let jurors decide.

Motions to dismiss are routine in criminal trials, but rarely granted. The decision means Edwards’ lawyers will begin calling witnesses Monday.

Edwards has pleaded not guilty to six criminal counts related to campaign finance violations. He is accused of masterminding a scheme to use nearly $1 million in secret payments from two wealthy donors to help hide his pregnant mistress as he sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

After 14 days of testimony and evidence presented by prosecutors, legal observers in the North Carolina courtroom said the government’s case was weak.

“They have established their case enough to get to a jury, but it has holes in it,” said Kieran J. Shanahan, a Raleigh defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor. “He is not charged with being a liar and he is not charged with having a baby out of wedlock. He is charged with breaking campaign finance laws.”

To prove guilt, prosecutors must show that Edwards not only knew about the money used in the cover-up orchestrated by two members of his campaign, which he denies, but also that the former trial lawyer knew he was violating the law.

Prosecutors rested their case Thursday by playing a tape of a 2008 national television interview in which the Democrat repeatedly lied about his extramarital affair with the woman, Rielle Hunter, and denied fathering her baby. Earlier testimony from a parade of former aides and advisors also showed an unappealing side of Edwards, casting him as a liar and lousy husband.

“It is rare the jury gets to see the defendant talking about the main issues of a case in a televised videotape, especially with the defendant watching himself talking about the issues in the videotape,” said Steven Friedland, a former prosecutor and professor as Elon University School of Law. “The defense must somehow counteract that lasting impression.”

A key question is whether Edwards will take the stand in his own defense.

Before winning a U.S. Senate seat in 1998, Edwards made a fortune as a personal injury lawyer renowned for his ability to sway jurors. However, in doing so Edwards would also expose himself to what would likely be a withering cross-examination about his many past lies and personal failings.

The defense could also call Hunter to the stand, which prosecutors declined to do. She could potentially echo Edwards’ position that he didn’t have direct knowledge of the secret effort to care for her and keep her out of the public eye.

However, Friedland said he’d be surprised to see the mistress take the stand.

“She will simply call more attention to the lies surrounding her affair and pregnancy,” he said.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Lawyers for Edwards argued before U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Eagles that prosecutors failed to prove Edwards intentionally violated the law.

After two-and-a-half hours of arguments from prosecutors and the defense, the judge ruled immediately from the bench that there was enough evidence to let jurors decide.

Motions to dismiss are routine in criminal trials, but rarely granted. The decision means Edwards’ lawyers will begin calling witnesses Monday.

Edwards has pleaded not guilty to six criminal counts related to campaign finance violations. He is accused of masterminding a scheme to use nearly $1 million in secret payments from two wealthy donors to help hide his pregnant mistress as he sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

After 14 days of testimony and evidence presented by prosecutors, legal observers in the North Carolina courtroom said the government’s case was weak.

“They have established their case enough to get to a jury, but it has holes in it,” said Kieran J. Shanahan, a Raleigh defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor. “He is not charged with being a liar and he is not charged with having a baby out of wedlock. He is charged with breaking campaign finance laws.”

To prove guilt, prosecutors must show that Edwards not only knew about the money used in the cover-up orchestrated by two members of his campaign, which he denies, but also that the former trial lawyer knew he was violating the law.

Prosecutors rested their case Thursday by playing a tape of a 2008 national television interview in which the Democrat repeatedly lied about his extramarital affair with the woman, Rielle Hunter, and denied fathering her baby. Earlier testimony from a parade of former aides and advisors also showed an unappealing side of Edwards, casting him as a liar and lousy husband.

“It is rare the jury gets to see the defendant talking about the main issues of a case in a televised videotape, especially with the defendant watching himself talking about the issues in the videotape,” said Steven Friedland, a former prosecutor and professor as Elon University School of Law. “The defense must somehow counteract that lasting impression.”

A key question is whether Edwards will take the stand in his own defense.

Before winning a U.S. Senate seat in 1998, Edwards made a fortune as a personal injury lawyer renowned for his ability to sway jurors. However, in doing so Edwards would also expose himself to what would likely be a withering cross-examination about his many past lies and personal failings.

The defense could also call Hunter to the stand, which prosecutors declined to do. She could potentially echo Edwards’ position that he didn’t have direct knowledge of the secret effort to care for her and keep her out of the public eye.

However, Friedland said he’d be surprised to see the mistress take the stand.

“She will simply call more attention to the lies surrounding her affair and pregnancy,” he said.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Sheriff’s deputies say 28-year-old Charles Daniel Dutton and 25-year-old Rebecca Dutton did not have a license, permit or certificates authorizing them to have the snakes.

Arrest warrants state the couple also did not have proper housing for the snakes.

Authorities say the couple’s 3-year-old and 2-month-old children were endangered, telling the Greenville News that the Duttons placed their kids “at an unreasonable risk of harm.”

The snakes have been taken by animal control officers.

It was not clear if the couple has an attorney. The could each face up to 20 years behind bars.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

The civil disobedience Thursday in Winston-Salem comes a day after President Obama publicly endorsed same-sex marriage, and two days after North Carolina voters overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union solely between a man and a woman.

The orchestrated demonstration repeated a pattern created by the gay rights group Campaign for Southern Equality, which is trying to push public opinion to allow gay marriage

Nine gay and lesbian couples each presented completed forms and identifications to a clerk at the Forsyth County Register of Deeds office. They were refused because state law recognizes only heterosexual couples.

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SUMTER, S.C. (AP) — An employee at a salon in Sumter has been arrested and accused of photographing women at the tanning beds.

Nineteen-year-old Robert Glenn Rodgers Jr. of Mayesville was charged with two counts of voyeurism.

The arrest came after two women said they were being watched as they finished sessions.

A 31-year-old woman said she saw a camera or cell phone on top of a divider separating the tanning bed from the main lobby. One of the woman’s friends said she saw Rodgers standing near the camera Tuesday.

A 41-year-old woman told detectives the same thing happened to her Monday.

It was not clear if Rodgers has an attorney.

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The school on Wednesday released results of a study after the breach was discovered by staff members in February.

The school says part of the problem was improper access settings that made the electronic data accessible on the Internet.

UNC Charlotte says the information from the school’s general system was exposed for about three months. Information from the engineering college was exposed for more than 10 years.

School officials don’t think the information was accessed improperly or used for identity theft.

State and federal officials continue to investigate how the breach occurred.

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The developments gave the first hint of a motive in the case that began in southwest Tennessee, stretched into Mississippi and led the FBI to put Adam Christopher Mayes, 35, on its Ten Most Wanted list. Authorities said they think the missing girls, Alexandria, 12, and Kyliyah Bain, 8, are still with Mayes, nearly two weeks after he took them.

Josie Tate, Mayes’ mother-in-law, told The Associated Press that Mayes thought he might be the girls’ father and it caused trouble in the marriage to her daughter, who’s jailed in the case.

“She was tired of him doting on those two little girls that he claimed were his,” Tate said in an exclusive phone interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday. In an earlier interview, her daughter, Bobbi Booth, said Teresa Mayes suspected her husband was having an affair with Jo Ann Bain.

Authorities refused to comment on the motive for the April 27 slayings and abductions at a Wednesday news conference.

Mayes and his wife were charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in the deaths of Jo Ann Bain and Adrienne Bain, 14. Their bodies were found buried outside the Mayes’ home near Guntown, Miss., a week after they were reported missing by Jo Ann Bain’s husband, Gary.

Adam Mayes’ mother, Mary Frances Mayes, also has been charged with conspiracy to commit especially aggravated kidnapping. Her attorney, Terry Dycus, said his client maintains she is not guilty. Dycus said it was too early to discuss what her defense would be.

“She agrees with the authorities that he’s possibly dangerous, but her main concern is that the children be returned immediately and safely,” Dycus said.

Teresa Mayes faces six felony counts in the case — two first-degree murder charges and four especially aggravated kidnapping charges. She told investigators she saw her husband kill the two in the garage at the Bain home near Whiteville, Tenn., and then she drove him, the younger girls and the bodies to Mississippi, according to affidavits filed in court.

The mother and older girl were killed so Mayes could take the younger sisters, the affidavit said.

Federal authorities pleaded for the public’s help in finding the sisters and urged Mayes to surrender.

“Turn the girls in, and then peaceably and safely turn yourself in to law enforcement,” FBI Special Agent Aaron Ford said at the news conference.

Officials said the reward for information “leading directly to the arrest” of Mayes is now $175,000.

Since the manhunt began for Mayes, people who knew him and the Bains have described him as unusually close to the family and the girls. He was described as a friend of Gary Bain, and the children considered him an uncle.

He was often at the Bain home. Authorities said he was spending the night there before the mother and daughters disappeared so he could help the family to pack for a planned move to Tucson, Ariz., and then drive their belongings west.

A Facebook page, confirmed by law enforcement to be from Adam Mayes using an alias, showed several photos of him and the Bain girls. One picture depicts Mayes and two of the girls smiling, all leaning next to one another cheek to cheek. That page has since been taken down.

Authorities said Alexandria has brown hair and hazel eyes and is 5 feet tall and 105 pounds. Kyliyah has blonde hair and brown eyes and is 4 feet tall and 57 pounds.

Megan Ervin, 16, of Whiteville said at a Tuesday night vigil for the victims that she was a softball teammate of Adrienne Bain last year. She said Mayes spent time at the ballpark, often coming to see the Bain girls play.

“He was always here and everybody saw him,” Megan said. “He was around all these kids all the time.”

Ervin said she never spoke to Mayes.

“When I first saw him, I kind of had a bad vibe about him, so I just kind of stayed away,” Ervin said. “But then I saw him here all the time and I figured he’s no threat to us because he’s always here.

“Obviously, that wasn’t true.”

Mayes’ mother-in-law, who lives in Chatsworth, Ga., said she’s known him for 25 years but didn’t approve of him because his family never seemed to stay in one place and he couldn’t hold down a job.

“Teresa’s father and I begged her: ‘Do not marry him, do not go off with him, do not live with him,” she said.

Tate described her daughter as a slow learner who spent her school life in special education. Teresa Mayes was also incapable of having her own children, she said.

She said she believed Mayes had threatened her daughter and perhaps his own mother.

“The feelings I have for Adam are as close to hate as I’ll ever come because he’s destroyed not only the Bain family but he’s destroyed my family too,” Tate said.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Republicans there turned out in force Tuesday night to vote to strengthen the state’s gay marriage ban. The passage of the state constitutional amendment, by a whopping 61 percent of the vote, proves that the topic remains a powerful election-year wedge issue despite tough economic times. It also illustrates the risks for the president as Democrats press him to do what no other has before: back gay marriage.

The vote — in a state that Obama won in 2008 and that will host his nominating convention in September — came just days after Vice President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan voiced their support for gay marriage in back-to-back television interviews, comments the White House insisted were not intended to pave the way for Obama to embrace gay marriage.

Yet, Obama appeared ready to add his voice to this week’s debate in a Wednesday afternoon interview with ABC News that the White House hastily arranged. He was expected to be pressed in the interview on his views on gay marriage.

White House officials would not say whether the president planned to announce a shift in his position.

Obama backs many gay rights; he does not support gay marriage but says his personal views are evolving.

In recent days, the issue has started to roil the presidential race. The White House has been inundated with questions about the president’s position. And GOP rival Mitt Romney — who has an inconsistent record on gay rights but long has been opposed to same-sex marriage — trying to sidestep the matter at a time when most Americans say they support gay unions.

By Wednesday, the president found himself caught between two schools of thought among his backers.

Some top aides argued that gay marriage is toxic at the ballot box in battleground states like North Carolina and Virginia because, as Tuesday’s vote proved, the issue remains a reliable way to fire up rank-and-file Republicans. It also could open Obama up to Republican criticism that he was taking his eye off the economy, voters’ No. 1 issue.

Other Democratic supporters claim Obama could energize huge swaths of the party, including young people, by voicing his support for gay marriage before November. He also could appeal to independent voters, many of whom back gay marriage, and he could create an area of clear contrast between himself and his Republican rival as he argues that he’s delivered on the change he promised four years ago.

On Tuesday, former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat, told Obama to “man up” and take a position on gay marriage.

If Obama doesn’t do so soon, the calls for him to do so likely will only grow. Obama is scheduled to headline two high-dollar fundraisers for gay and lesbian supporters, including one in New York on Monday. And several prominent Democrats, including his campaign co-chair Caroline Kennedy, are pushing for support for gay marriage to be included in the party platform that will be ratified when Obama accepts the Democratic nomination.

For Romney and the Republicans, the topic comes with both benefits and drawbacks given that polls show that a slim majority of the country — and an increasing number of independent voters — now support same-sex unions.

Romney was treading carefully as the hot-button issue re-emerged in the campaign. He favors a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, saying the policy should be set federally, not by states. But some conservatives question Romney’s record on gay rights issues and point to his assertion in a 1994 Senate campaign that he supports “full equality” for gays and lesbians.

On Wednesday, he told KDVR-TV in Denver that “I do not favor marriage between people of the same gender, and I do not favor civil unions if they are identical to marriage other than by name. My view is the domestic partnership benefits, hospital visitation rights, and the like are appropriate but that the others are not.”

The Romney campaign did not respond to questions about which benefits the Republican candidate would oppose.

The former Massachusetts governor told an Ohio television station Monday that he believes “marriage is between a man and a woman, and that’s a position I’ve had for some time and I don’t intend to make any adjustments at this point — or ever, by the way.”

Public opinion on gay marriage has shifted in recent years, with most polls now finding the public tilting in favor of legal same-sex marriages.

A Gallup poll released this week found 50 percent of all adults in favor of legal recognition of same-sex marriages, marking the second time that poll has found support for legal gay marriage at 50 percent or higher. Majorities of Democrats (65 percent) and independents (57 percent) supported such recognition, while most Republicans (74 percent) said same sex marriages should not be legal.

Six states — all in the Northeast except Iowa — and the District of Columbia allow same sex marriages. In addition, two other states have laws that are not yet in effect and may be subject to referendums.

Yet, illustrating how politically tricky the issue is, North Carolina on Tuesday became the 30th state to pass a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Both the Obama and Romney campaigns were watching the North Carolina vote closely. North Carolina is considered the most politically moderate and progressive state in the South, and voters there narrowly sided with Obama in the 2008 presidential election.

Yet the state is still deeply conservative on social issues. Church leaders rallied their congregations to vote for the amendment and the Rev. Billy Graham, who at age 93 remains influential even though his last crusade was in 2005, was featured in full-page newspaper ads supporting the measure.

North Carolina law already bans gay marriage, but an amendment effectively seals the door on same-sex marriages. The amendment also goes beyond state law by voiding other types of domestic unions from carrying legal status, which opponents warn could disrupt protection orders for unmarried couples.

Obama weighed in early with his opposition to the North Carolina amendment. Aides insisted there was no conflict between the president opposing a measure that banned gay marriage and not publicly supporting gay marriage itself. A spokesman said Tuesday night that the campaign was “disappointed” in the outcome.

North Carolina is an important piece of the electoral puzzle for the Obama campaign in November election, but the president could still win the White House again without it.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The protests come just days after North Carolina voters overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as solely between a man and a woman.

Organizers say gay couples and supporters will sit in county buildings and refuse to leave until they are arrested. They say police have been notified and the protests will be nonviolent.

The demonstrations are part of the “We Do” campaign organized by the Campaign for Southern Equality, a pro lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender group. The arrests are part of an eight-city series of events where gay North Carolinians will seek and be denied marriage licenses.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Authorities released a surveillance video that showed Adam Mayes, 35, at a convenience store in Union County, Miss., about three days after the alleged kidnapping. In the video, Mayes appeared calm when he approached the counter and had a fresh haircut.

Meanwhile, a community mourned the slain mother and daughter and the loss of the girls.

Authorities canvassed roads Tuesday and searched tree lines near the home where Mayes lived in Union County, Miss. Authorities have been tight-lipped about the details of the search, hoping to avoid releasing information that puts the girls’ lives in jeopardy.

The FBI said that authorities were hopeful the two young girls — Alexandria Bain, 12, and Kyliyah Bain, 8 — were still alive, but declined to say why. Investigators believed the two youngest daughters were still with Mayes, FBI spokesman Joel Siskovic said.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam on Wednesday announced a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. The money is in addition to $50,000 offered by the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service and $6,000 from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

“It is my sincerest hope that this reward will lead to new information that brings those responsible for this crime to justice,” Haslam said.

Authorities have said Mayes was a family friend who was staying with the Bains on April 27, the day the mother and children disappeared. Before he fled, he admitted to authorities that he was the last person to see Jo Ann Bain and her daughters before the disappearance, according to an affidavit filed with the court.

The bodies of Jo Ann Bain, 31, and Adrienne Bain, 14, were found last week behind the mobile home in northern Mississippi where Mayes lived. The affidavit provides the first clue that the victims may have been killed soon after they were abducted. It said his wife and mother saw him digging a hole in the yard on April 27 or soon after.

On Tuesday, those women were charged in connection with the abduction.

Teresa Mayes, 30, was charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and Mary Mayes, 65, was charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

An attorney for Teresa Mayes, whose bond was set at $500,000, declined to comment Tuesday afternoon. Calls to the attorney assigned to Mary Mayes were not immediately returned. Her bond was set at $300,000.

An affidavit filed in court does not hint at a possible motive for their involvement.

Teresa Mayes told investigators she drove Jo Ann Bain and her daughters from Hardeman County, where they lived, to Union County, Miss., where Adam and Teresa Mayes lived with his parents, according to the affidavit.

Hundreds of adults, teens and children came from throughout west and central Tennessee and north Mississippi for a prayer vigil Tuesday evening at Bolivar Dixie Youth Park, where the two oldest Bain girls played softball.

Mourners sang songs and bowed their heads in prayer as they held red, yellow, orange and purple balloons during the ceremony. Some wept during the vigil and sniffles punctuated the quiet night during a moment of silence for Jo Ann Bain and her three daughters.

Many of the mourners said the kidnappings have shaken their small-town, tight-knit communities, from Corinth, Miss., to Whiteville, Tenn.

Stephanie Bodiford, of Middleton, Tenn., said her son was in the same class at Central High School in Bolivar as Adrienne Bain, who along with her mother was found dead in a home where suspect Adam Mayes lived in Guntown, Miss.

Bodiford said her children have been distraught in the days since the disappearance of Bain and her daughters.

“We live in such a sheltered community,” Bodiford said. “They just don’t understand. They don’t understand bad.”

Megan Ervin said she played with Adrienne Bain on the same softball team last year. She described Adrienne as a good player who enjoyed softball.

“She was real nice but she was real shy,” Ervin said.

Ervin, 16, said she and her friends have been shaken by the kidnapping and deaths.

She also said Mayes spent time at the park. He would often come see the Bain girls play, she said. Megan Ervin’s mother Pam said she also saw Mayes hanging out at the park.

“It’s just shocking. It could have been any of us, really, because he was always here and everybody saw him,” Megan said. “He was around all these kids all the time.”

She recoiled, saying, “No,” when asked if she had ever spoken with Mayes.

“When I first saw him, I kind of had a bad vibe about him, so I just kind of stayed away,” Ervin said. “But then I saw him here all the time and I figured he’s no threat to us because he’s always here. Obviously, that wasn’t true.”

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)