Wake County homeowners who have a mortgage with Wells Fargo may have been surprised by recent increases in their mortgage payments arising from changes to their escrow accounts.

Wells Fargo is moving up when it pays Wake County property taxes for its mortgage holders by two months -- it will now pay taxes in October rather than December -- which means that this year mortgage holders will have just 10 months to pay into their escrow account before taxes must be paid, rather than the usual 12, said bank spokesman Josh Dunn.

Although Wake County hasn't changed the due date for its property taxes, Wells Fargo decided to advance the date to align the property tax payments with "most of the other taxing authorities in North Carolina," Dunn said.

"This is not an increase in fees, or anything like that, on Wells Fargo's part," Dunn added.

Indeed, he said, next year mortgage customers in Wake County could see a decrease in the amount they need to put into escrow for their property taxes when they return to a 12-month cycle. However, escrow payments also can be adjusted to account for changes in homeowners insurance premiums; in addition, taxes can changes as a result of reassessments or adjustments in the tax rate.

Job postings for information technology workers across North Carolina rose 4.5 percent in February compared to January, the second consecutive month-to-month increase.

However, the improvement in the IT job market paled in comparison to the 14.9 percent jump a year ago, according to a new data from the N.C. Technology Association.

"The current tepid growth may suggest that employers are cautious while federal budget cuts seem to be unavoidable," the report states. "The impact of the sequester is unknown but negative speculation may weigh on employers' minds."

The number of IT jobs in the defense sector declined last month, presumably a reaction to the federal sequester

IT job openings totaled 3,720 in February, up from 3,560 in January. Job postings last month were down by one-fourth compared to February 2012.

Nationwide, the national IT job market fell 4.5 percent in February.

The report was prepared for NCTA by SkillPROOF, which focuses on job market data and research.

Just a few years ago North Carolina's Sustainable Energy Conference events focused on the moonshot dream of developing state policies to promote the clean energy sector.

This year the conference will be held in Raleigh at a time that state legislators are trying to undo a key state policy, and the first law of its kind in the South, that promotes renewables and energy efficiency.

This week's introduction of House Bill 298, which seeks to freeze the state's renewables and conservation mandate, will lend a sense of timeliness to panel discussions about the status of solar energy, wind farms and other renewables in North Carolina.

Target will open three new in-store medical clinics in the Triangle.

The clinics will be in Raleigh at the Super Target at Poyner Place and at North Hills and in Cary at 2021 Walnut St.

Construction in store on the clinics will begin in May and they are scheduled to open Aug. 18.

Target already has clinics in Apex, Wake Forest and Durham, and plans to add three more this year, in Charlotte and Concord. The openings are part of national expansion plan that will see the Minnesota company add 14 new locations in five states, bringing its total to 68.

The clinics are staff by a licensed nurse practitioner or a physician assistant and offers vaccinations, treatment for minor illnesses such as strep, bladder infections and pink eye. Patients are seen on a first-come, first-served basis and the average appointment lasts about 15 minutes. The clinics most accept insurance plans.

Dex One shareholders have given the go-ahead to the yellow pages company's proposed merger with Texas-based SuperMedia.

Shareholders accounting for 40.8 million shares, or 80 percent of the total outstanding shares, approved the deal Wednesday, with most of the rest not voting at all. Of the votes cast, 99.9 percent voted for the merger, said spokesman Tyler Gronbach.

"It's a major merger milestone," CEO Alfred Mockett said after Wednesday afternoon's shareholders meeting, held at the company's Cary headquarters. "It's great to see the overwhelming support for the deal."

Just a single shareholder attended Wednesday's meeting, which lasted a little more than four minutes.

SuperMedia shareholders also considered the deal Wednesday, but results weren't immediately available.

Mockett said that the Dex shareholder approval "keeps us on track to complete the deal in the first half of the year" -- one way or the other.

Chief financial officers want to overhaul the country's immigration policy, according to a survey by Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook.

The quarterly survey of 1,143 CFOs found that 88 percent think the United States should drop its current lottery system for foreign workers and instead adopt a merit-based system to determine who can immigrate to this country.

North Carolina spent more than $1.3 billion on economic development last year, according to a recently released annual report from the General Assembly's Fiscal Research Division.

The vast majority of that spending -- more than 92 percent -- came in the form of tax expenditures, including tax exemptions for goods, services and equipment.

Sales tax exemptions accounted for nearly $700 million, with the bulk of those exemptions going to sales to farmers ($244 million), purchases of mill machinery ($178 million) and packaging costs for manufacturers and retailers ($120 million).

First Tennessee Bank is expanding its presence in Raleigh.

The 170-branch bank has had an office in Raleigh since 2005 that offered a number of services but lacked a teller for accepting deposits. But a teller will be on the premises when First Tennessee moves to a larger office at 1122 Oberlin Road in mid-April.

"We think there is a lot of really good potential in the Triangle," said Ken Reece, senior vice president and head of the new Raleigh office. "Quite frankly, there are a lot of good banks in Raleigh but we believe there is room for another good competitor."

Google will not collect unauthorized data from unsecured wireless networks while taking photographs for its Street View Service and will destroy data already collected under a settlement with North Carolina and 38 other states.

Attorney General Roy Cooper announced the settlement Tuesday.

Under the terms of the deal, Google agreed to destroy all unauthorized data it collected and pay $7 million to the states. North Carolina's share will be $151,054.

Small businesses are starting the year slightly more optimistic than last year — with emphasis on the slightly.

The National Federation of Independent Business' monthly Index of Small Business Optimism increased 1.9 points in February to 90.8.

Gregg Thompson, state director of NFIB/North Carolina, said what's happening locally reflects national trends. The NFIB does not provide state specific data.