A mass baptism draws nearly 10,000 church members

Scheduling conflicts for two of the headliners have forced cancellation of the Moton, Noel and May Celebrity Golf Classic. 

The event hosted by new N.C. Central University men's basketball LeVelle Moton and former
University of North Carolina basketball teammates David Noel and Sean
May had been scheduled for  Aug. 17 at Brier Creek Country Club in Raleigh.

As junior golfers from around the nation are being introduced to some
of the Pinehurst region's outstanding courses this week,  a golfer
already acquainted with the layouts has put his local knowledge to
work. 

Zachary Martin of Pinehurst combined great putting with course
familiarity to win the 88-player Boys Division of Sunday's K12
qualifying tournament for this week's Golf Pride Junior Classic, which runs Tuesday through Thursday at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines.

The 18-hole stroke-play qualifying event, conducted by the American Junior Golf Association, was played at the Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club at Southern Pines.

Will Minton of Raleigh put together three straight rounds under par
(71-69-71—211) to win the boys’ 12-13 division at the Dogwood State
Junior Championship conducted by the Carolinas Golf Association Aug.
4-6 at Cabarrus Country Club in Concord.

Michael McGowan (73-69-68—210) of Southern Pines won the overall boys
title, and Raleigh golfers Alex Ehlert (69-70-73—212) and Spencer
Lawson (71-66-75—212) tied for second overall.

Charlotte's Allison Emrey (73-75-71—219 ) won the overall girls title,
and Clayton's Lizzie Bundy (78-73-79—230) was one of three golfers who
tied for third.

Raleigh ranks No. 18 on a new Forbes list of the best cities for working moms.

The list, part of the ForbesWoman section, was compiled using factors such as jobs, salaries, cost of living, health care, public parks and more.

The authors cited Raleigh's low crime rates and strong public school system.

With all the debate over healthcare reform, it seems like there are some things we can do to help ourselves. Here are 10 healthful Twitter pages I found this week while doing a random search:

1. Fitness & Exercise, http://twitter.com/FitnessExercise

2. Autism Research, http://twitter.com/autism_research

3. Cancer, http://twitter.com/know_cancer

4. Pure Genesis, http://twitter.com/puregenesispure

5. Breast Cancer Care, http://twitter.com/BCCare

6. Quit Smoking 123, http://twitter.com/QuitSmoking123

7. Diabetes, http://twitter.com/diabetescure

8. Kids Doctor, http://twitter.com/TheKidsDoctor

9. H1N1, http://twitter.com/H1N1Info

10. Healthy Heart, http://twitter.com/healthy_heart

As many television viewers may have noticed, Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker greeted President Barack Obama when Air Force One arrived at RDU on Wednesday.

Meeker, a fellow Democrat, said this was the second time he'd met Obama, the first being a brief encounter on the Wednesday before the November election when the future president was in town for a campaign event.

Meeker said Wednesday's meeting was also brief and "entirely ceremonial."

"I thanked him for coming back to Raleigh and working hard on this health care and he said we’re going to get it done and got in the car and took off."

Raleigh residents may have noticed over the last six weeks that more of the plastic items they put in their green recycling bins are not being picked up by the city’s Solid Waste Services trucks.

The city hasn’t changed the rules about what plastic it accepts (only bottles and soft plastic beverage rings), but it had become more lax about rejecting illegal items during the first six months of this year.

On Jan. 1, Raleigh went from sorting recycling at the curb to having its processor sort it for the city. The processor is the company that collects, sorts and finds a market for Raleigh’s recycling. The processor pays Raleigh based on the tonnage of recycling it delivers.

Linda Leighton, a waste reduction specialist with the city, said when trash collectors stopped sorting at the curb they started just dumping the recycling bins no matter what was in them.
“Our crews became pretty lax,” she said. “They would just dump and go, dump and go.”

Soon the processor started complaining that Raleigh’s deliveries had too much contamination, meaning it included too many unacceptable items. The processor has to hand pick those items out and pay to dispose of them.

If Raleigh’s level of contamination is more than 3 percent, the processor may subtract that amount from the city’s tonnage, thus reducing the amount of money Raleigh gets for its recycling.

In recent weeks the city has been more proactive about not picking up illegal plastics. It’s also begun leaving behind a note reminding residents of what plastic items are allowed.
“From January until now they got used to throwing in anything they felt like throwing in,” Leighton said. “But we’ve got to get them back on the right track.”

Leighton has also recorded a two-minute video that can be viewed here.

President Barack Obama outlines the health care reform bill he would sign during a town hall meeting at Broughton High ... more

See photos from the continuing coverage of the arrest of at least seven Raleigh-area men on terrorism charges.