Restaurant inspections get tougher

New forms dock more points for ‘critical violations' that could pose a risk to diners' health.

It was just a letter about the state changing its restaurant inspection form.

N.C. tightens down on mortgage industry

New rules will make it tougher to get a license to make loans or mortgages.

North Carolina is about to make it more difficult to work in the mortgage industry.

What holds that up? An engineering feat

Cantilevers give much of the architectural drama to uptown's newest buildings.

It hovers over South Tryon Street – the massive fourth level of the Bechtler Art Museum, jutting 30 feet beyond its most obvious support, a slim column 30 inches in diameter.

Autopsy: Teen hit by Taser died of cardiac arrest

Doctor finds no pre-existing heart problems in youth who was shocked by police officer at grocery store.

A 17-year-old shocked with a Taser by police after an altercation at a northern Charlotte grocery store died from cardiac arrest, according to an autopsy released Friday.

Sex isn't a game; babies aren't dolls

Children having children is not nearly so exciting as stories about children having children.

County tallies greenhouse gas emissions

Mecklenburg takes stock of government operations amid growing concern over a warming planet.

In a sign of growing attention to a warming planet, Mecklenburg County has finished its first greenhouse-gas inventory of county government operations.

Conservative without compromise

N.C.'s former senator, revered and reviled for his unwavering stands, shaped the course of the nation.

Over a U.S. Senate career that helped shape three decades of American politics, Jesse Helms was a figure seven presidents didn't always agree with but could rarely ignore.

• The last time she crossed paths with Helms, sympathy stirred
• ‘Senator No' waged tough battles

Festival's invitation ambushes library

An invitation to bring Michelle Obama to Charlotte sparked a hubbub earlier this week for the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.

Murder charges filed in newborns' deaths

Authorities say a man accused of shooting a pregnant woman more than a month ago has been charged with two counts of murder after her babies died.

Soldier in famed Iraq photo dies

An overdose may have caused the death of the medic who cradled an injured boy in his arms.

A former Army medic made famous by a photograph that showed him carrying an injured Iraqi boy during the first week of the war has died of an apparent overdose, police said.

'Side Show' shows surprisingly grand side

This endearing musical amplifies the lives of real conjoined twins, British girls, who settled in Charlotte.

There's a sadly beautiful scene in the film “Freaks” when the sideshow attractions get away from gawking crowds for a picnic.

S.C. lottery sales pull surprise

Despite the economy, sales January through June rose 3% over the same period in 2007.

Economic bad times are everywhere in South Carolina, but you wouldn't know it by soaring lottery-ticket sales. January to June, the state-run games raked in 3percent more cash statewide than in the same period last year.

Obama in Charlotte on Monday

Sen. Barack Obama will return to Charlotte Monday, his second visit to North Carolina since securing the Democratic nomination.

In Marines, parents are dropout risk

More than 10% of married fathers and mothers don't even finish boot camp.

Franklin Smith had a wife and an infant son when he convinced a recruiter in Biloxi, Miss., that he wanted to be a Marine.