N&O staff photojournalist Robert Willett shot this picture at the Duke-UNC game last night. Austin Rivers' shot is headed to the basket. Time has expired, the backboard has been illuminated. John Henson of UNC and Ryan Kelly of Duke are watching the trajectory of the ball. In a moment, the ball will fall through the hoop and Duke will win a stunning victory. In this frame, the outcome is still uncertain. All that these players and both nations know is that there is no time on the clock but the game is not over quite yet

Check out this story and video from the Green Hope-Cary basketball game. The team manager hit a three-pointer. But that's not the whole story.

Living in this economy is like flying in a jet where the pilot has set the flaps wrong and there's ice all over the wings. You just cross your fingers and hope the sucker gets airborne.

I read through Facebook's S-1, the voluminous document that it filed yesterday in preparation for its initial public offering.  Erskine Bowles, former White House chief of staff and former UNC system president, is on Facebook's board.  According to the S-1, Bowles is chairman of  Facebook's audit committee, which is the group responsible for making sure all the company's numbers are on the up and up. This is a particularly important role for new companies that are trying to convince the investing community that its revenues and profits are real, as opposed to Enron-like.

For his service on the board, Bowles has received 20,000 "restricted stock units," or RSUs. Facebook estimates the value of those at around $600,000. But he has to stay on the board for several years before they completely vest. Frankly, that's chump change to Bowles. Being on the board of the world's hottest company is probably something he'd do for nothing.

And frankly, a couple of guys on the board who you might recognize have much sweeter deals, such as Mark Andreessen, who has 5.2 million RSUs, and Don Graham, who has a million RSUs. Andreessen, who also has a bunch of Class B stock, according to the S-1, is the fellow who helped make Netscape the dominant internet browser in the early '90s. And Graham is the chairman of the board of the Washington Post.

Of course RSUs only pay off if Facebook continues to prosper. Andreessen knows from watching Microsoft's Explorer overtake Netscape 15 years ago how an Internet business can get demolished by a competitor with deep pockets.

The question I have is whether Erskine would rather spend the second half of his 60s hanging out with Mark Zuckerberg or being governor of North Carolina.

UPDATE: A reader also reminded me that Bowles is on the board of Morgan Stanley, the investment bank that is the lead underwriter on the IPO. The S-1 notes that Bowles began his career in corporate finance at Morgan Stanley. It is such a small world.

UPDATE #2: Question answered. Bowles just announced he's not running.

The Chapel Hill Town Council has apologized "for the actions taken against the press on Nov. 13." That was the day police made arrests at the former Yates Motor Co. building at 419 W. Franklin St., which had been occupied by protestors.

Two journalists were detained. One of them was Katelyn Ferral, a reporter for The N&O and Chapel Hill News. Before police arrived, Ferral was on the scene for about 15 minutes, interviewing people inside the building and walking around the site. When police approached the building they ordered everyone to get to the ground but allowed Ferral to shoot photographs. After a few more minutes, they told her to get on the ground. She told them she was a reporter and provided identification. She remained face-down on the ground for 15 minutes, was cuffed and then detained for about 30 minutes before being released. 

It's clear Chapel Hill police didn't know what to do about the journalists. They knew Ferral wasn't doing anything illegal; otherwise they would have charged her. She in no way hindered their work. If police thought Ferral was in their way (and no one representing Chapel Hill police has ever said this, including Chief Chris Blue when I later met with him), they could have directed Ferral to a spot away from the action. Other police agencies in the Triangle routinely direct reporters to a spot deem appropriate by police. But Chapel Hill police had no written policy on how to work with journalists at a crime scene. Since then, I have shared Raleigh's written policy with town officials and met with Blue and Roger Stancil, town manager, to talk about how journalists and police can work together. It's in everybody's best interest -- police and those being arrested -- for independent observers to record the proceedings. Blue agrees with this. The presence of journalists can help protect police from unfounded claims of inappropriate force.

There was no reason to detain Ferral, other than police didn't know what to do with her. In this country, that's not a good enough reason to force a citizen to lie face down and be cuffed.  

A majority of the council recognized that. We accept their apology and will work with Chapel Hill to help police and journalists do their jobs. --John Drescher

The photo isn't that remarkable, in and of itself. It shows the UNC men's basketball team filing by the victorious Florida State team, shaking hands as they depart for the locker room.

Except that the game clock still had 14.1 seconds, and this photo shows the UNC team at its lowest point in Coach Roy Williams' tenure. Because the game isn't over, but the Tar Heels are outa here.

Williams said he decided to take his team off the floor - except for the five benchwarmers assigned to play out the remaining seconds - so most of his players and staff wouldn't be on the court during the certain FSU fan celebration after the buzzer. He was concerned about their safety.

I said the photo, by staff photographer Robert Willett, wasn't that remarkable as far as pictures go. His dozens of game action photos are more compelling. But it may be the sports photo of the year here, because it will either show UNC before a remarkable resurgence over the next couple of months, or it will show the moment that UNC was revealed to be a deeply flawed team going nowhere. In the case of this picture, context is everything, context Saturday in Tallahassee and context in the weeks and months ahead.

So we will see if this becomes the iconic picture of the 2011-2012 season for the Tar Heels.

At The N&O, we're accustomed to having folks saying unpleasant things about us. Most of the time, we just smile, let it pass. Occasionally, we have to admit that the caller or letter writer is correct.

We try to draw the line when someone falsely accuses us of illegal behavior.

That's what Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline has done, repeatedly, in her legal battle against Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson. In her most recent court filing, Cline again says, in a sworn affidavit, that reporter Andrew Curliss was held in contempt of court in Durham in 1998.

In her affidavit, trying to disqualify Hudson from hearing a criminal case, Cline assembles her version of what happened to Curliss after his jailhouse interview with Derrick Allen in 1998:

"By this time, I knew that this reporter and the Raleigh News and Observer had a vested interest in the Allen case; in that in 1998 Curliss was held in Contempt of Court for refusing to follow a Court Order to provide the notes of an interview with Allen."

Let me say this as simply as I can: That is false. Not true. Didn't happen.

Here's what did happen: Curliss interviewed Allen, who was in jail after being accused of sexual assault and murder of a 2-year-old girl. He wrote a story about it. Durham prosecutors were interested in anything else Allen said, and they subpoenaed Curliss' notes.

The N&O did resist this subpoena. But we ended up submitting the notes for Hudson to review. Hudson ordered the notes turned over, but stayed his order while we appealed. Curliss was never called to testify, and he was not cited for contempt. Not in this case, not in any other case.

We have tried to point this out in news stories, but Cline doesn't seem to be getting the message. So today, I mailed (and e-mailed) a letter to her. It simply asks her to correct the court record and stop saying what isn't true.

Cline is angry that Hudson has dismissed charges against several high-profile defendants in Durham, some of them because of prosecutorial misconduct. Cline believes, incorrectly, that we have somehow conspired against her with Hudson and defense lawyers to compile our stories that have shown that she has withheld exculpatory evidence from defendants and made repeated misstatements in court. Now, while complaining about our work and Hudson's, she has made another one.

Since this misstatement involves us, we'd like to set the record straight. We trust that Cline will, too.

--Steve Riley, Senior Editor/Investigations

There’s a pill that reduces your risk of diabetes, high-blood pressure and some cancers. It lowers your risk of being anxious or depressed. It is inexpensive (virtually free in some cases) and widely available. It is the wonder drug of all wonder drugs.
OK – it’s not a pill. It’s exercise.
Starting Sunday, our series, “Exercise: The Real Wonder Drug,” will show how exercise helps you and how you can get moving. The series starts on the front page, moves to the Connect section Monday and continues Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Life, etc.
We will show you how gadgets can help tailor your exercise routines. We will offer tips for getting out there and getting it done (find a buddy, start slowly). We will tell you what and when the average exerciser should eat. We will show how you might look with a new wardrobe, once you lose weight.
Getting started can be the hardest part. There is an exercise routine for everyone; you just have to find yours. Any movement is good.

--John Drescher

The Iowa caucuses tonight brought back memories of when I was a small-town reporter covering presidential politics in the '70s. 

We will name our Tar Heel of the Year on the front page of Sunday's paper. The profile was written by education reporter Jane Stancill,  who has worked at The News & Observer since 1988. She has reported and written almost every kind of story that appears in a newspaper, from police news to developments from the UNC Board of Governors. But this is her first Tar Heel of the Year profile.

It’s a good assignment, Stancill said. “Anyone chosen (as Tar Heel of the Year) is an overachiever, someone doing something remarkable,” she said. “You have to figure out what drives that individual, what makes that person want to have a strong impact.”
The N&O has selected a Tar Heel of the Week since 1950 and a Tar Heel of the Year since 1997. One year we named two people (Ann and Jim Goodnight), so we've named 15, including banker Hugh McColl (our first Tar Heel of the Year); historian John Hope Franklin; and scientist Joe DeSimone.

I hope you will look for Stancill's fine profile about one of our state's most accomplished leaders.

--John Drescher