A global warming bill before Congress could be a breeding ground for speculators and con artists without strict government controls, Duke University environmental studies professor Tim Profeta is warning Congress this morning.
Profeta is testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry on the global warming legislation that will create a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gases. Profeta is the founding director of Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and a former environmental counsel for Sen. Joseph Lieberman.
The cap-and-trade market will allow emitters of carbon dioxide to trade emissions allowances with other polluters. That way a company that exceeds its annual emissions limit will have to buy allowances from other companies. The market is designed to encourage businesses to
reduce emissions so they can sell allowances.

Chief executives continued to head for the exit signs in August, according to a new survey.

Last month, 101 CEOS left their jobs, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the global outplacement firm. That total is actually better than July when 126 CEOS walked off the job, and better than August 2008 when 144 parachuted into the golden sunset.

RBC Bank has reached outside its ranks for its new president.

Today the Raleigh-based bank announced that Reginald Davis, a veteran Wachovia executive, has been appointed president. Davis most recently was executive vice president and Eastern Banking Group executive at Wachovia, leading Wachovia's banking services for consumer and
corporate customers in 20 states.

"I was attracted to RBC Bank because of the organization's strong commitment to its clients, employees and communities," Davis said in a prepared statement.

RBC hasn't had a president for more than a year. CEO Scott Custer said in June that he planned to hire a president to head operations that interact directly with clients. The bank has been revamping its management team as part of a restructuring, which has included an undisclosed number of job cuts, in an effort to return to profitability.

LED lighting company Cree intends to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for capital expenditures, among other purposes, by issuing 11 million shares of stock, according to a filing made today with the Security and Exchange Commission.

At Tuesday's closing price, such an offering would raise more than $400 million before underwriting and legal fees. The underwriters also have an option to purchase an additional 1.65 million shares.

Today's SEC filing by Durham-based Cree was made after the markets closed.

Cree shares closed today at $38.40, up 96 cents. Shares have tripled since hitting a 52-week low of $12.57 in December.

The underwriters for the stock offering include J.P. Morgan Securities, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Piper Jaffray, Morgan Keegan, Oppenheimer and America's Growth Capital.

The company said it would use the proceeds from the offering for an anticipated $150 million in capital expenditures in 2010, among other uses.

Line up at midnight tonight at Schoolkids Records in Raleigh if you want to be the first on your block to own a CD from the remastered Beatles catalog.

Salix Pharmaceuticals said this morning that it won regulatory approval for a new treatment for stomach ailments, expanding its portfolio of drugs that treat gastrointestinal diseases.

The Morrisville company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted marketing approval for Metozolv ODT to treat a stomach ailment that afflicts about five million diabetics, diabetic gastroparesis, as well as a more serious form of acid reflux known as gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD.

Metozolv is a fast-dissolving version of the drug metoclopramide. Salix acquired the worldwide marketing rights to Metozolv in September 2007 from Wilmington Pharmaceuticals of Wilmington, N.C.

Metozolv. which melts on the tongue, offers a better option for patients who have trouble swallowing or need treatment when they don't have water available, Bill Forbes, senior vice president and chief development officer at Salix, said in a prepared statement.

Metozolv is expected to be available in November.

Salix shares were fetching $12.73, up one cent, in mid-morning trading. Shares have risen from a low for the year of $6.15 in early March.

Salix already sells drugs to treat ulcerative colitis, traverlers' diarrhea and other diseases. It is one of the few local drug companies with products that have been approved for patients.

Salix posted a loss of $15.3 million on revenue of $52.2 million in the second quarter. The company expects to be profitable in 2010.

Regulators placed Bank of Granite under a so-called “cease and desist” order, the  bank announced this afternoon, according to our sister newspaper, The Charlotte Observer.

Observer staff writer Christina Rexrode reports that the Granite Falls-based bank has lost tens of millions of dollars, suspended its shareholder payout and scaled back on lending.

Despite the name, “cease and desist” orders do not require a bank to immediately shut down, but they do give orders on any number of topics. Among other things, regulators are requiring Bank of Granite to assess management and reduce assets. It cannot pay shareholder dividends without regulators' consent. The bank must report to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the N.C. Commissioner of Banks at least quarterly on its progress in implementing the orders.

For the full story, click here.

Progress Energy wants to offer customers a price break on CFL bulbs.

The Raleigh-based electric utility is asking state regulators to approve a program that would allow Progress customers to buy the energy-efficient bulbs at a $1.50 discount, on average.

The discount would cut the customers's cost of a CFL bulb by as much as 50 percent over the cost of an incandescent bulb.

Under the proposal, customers would pay the discount prices at select hardware stores and other retail centers, and Progress would reimburse the manufacturers and retailers. According to the company's filing with the N.C. Utilities Commission, it expects that the discount would result in 12.4 percent of light sockets in the company's service area using CFL bulbs by 2011.

The Raleigh nonprofit that provides high-speed Internet access for educational use is seeking $28.1 million in financial aid from the federal stimulus package.

MCNC plans to use the money to add more than 600 miles of fiber-optic cable in rural areas that include portions of Wake County and Johnston County. Formed in 1980, MCNC provides communications services for public schools, community colleges and universities.

The additional networks will improve Internet access for schools and colleges that already have access, said MCNC chief executive Joe Freddoso. It's needed because in large part because more and more students rely on distance learning that increasingly requires video transmissions.

"They have access, they need more capacity," Freddoso said. "We need to deliver to these schools in the next three to four years, basically, unlimited bandwidth."

Marriott will soon begin construction on a $15 million Courtyard by Marriott hotel next to the Triangle Town Center mall.

The 109-room hotel should open toward the end of 2010.

Mall manager Jack Love said the mall sold a piece of property along Capital Boulevard near the existing Chili's and Macaroni Grill restaurants to MJM Real Estate Group, which is developing the hotel.

Construction should begin soon, Love said, though he did not know the specific construction timeline. Construction fences are already being put in place on the site. Davidson and Jones Construction Company of Raleigh will build the hotel.