Former Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta raised nearly $65,000 in his unsuccessful re-election bid last fall.

In his year-end report filed Monday, Margiotta reported raising $64,902.72 and spending $61,006.11 during the hard-fought District 8 battle. The Republican incumbent outspent his Democratic opponent, Susan Evans, who raised $43,386.53 and spent $39.077.16.

But the gap narrows to nearly even and could possibly in the end be in Evans' favor when you throw in all the outside money that was spent to topple Margiotta from what was thought to be a safe seat in Southwest Wake.

One of the Triangle's best-known names in the commercial real-estate industry is going away.

Raleigh real-estate services firm Anthony & Co. has signed a deal to become the local affiliate of Colliers International, one of the world's largest commercial real-estate services companies.

Under the agreement, Anthony & Co. will get access to Colliers' larger network of clients, services, brokers and markets. The local firm will take on the Colliers name and its signs in front of buildings and other properties across this region will begin switching in the next few weeks.

"There's some nostalgia that goes with the changing over," said Jim Anthony, 56, who ran track at Duke University in the 1970s and founded the firm in 1987. "But the international brand is so much more powerful. It really wasn't much of a question."