N.C. Transportation Secretary Gene Conti sat down with The N&O's editorial board yesterday to answer questions about how things are going, given that his department in the past has come under fire fairly frequently. When Gov. Beverly Perdue took over the reins of the state, she decided to turn the transportation process on its head, changing the Board of Transportation from a decision-making body to an advisory body. Conti pretty much holds all the power now.

How's that reform going and how hard is it to change the culture there? For starters, Conti said that his department will have a goal of accomplishing 80 percent to 90 percent of what it says it will do, as opposed to the 50 percent success record it has now.

Here are two audio clips of Conti answering those questions:

With more news about furloughs today (Under the Dome, Page 3B), I went back and pulled what Gov. Beverly Perdue had to say about them during her discussion with the editorial board last week. State Treasurer Janet Cowell has cautioned lawmakers that forced furloughs for state workers might affect the state's bond rating. House Speaker Joe Hackney wants furloughs on the budget-hole-filling table, but Perdue says other states have found that furloughs cause more trouble than they're worth.

Maybe it's because we're faced with the devastating loss of 27 more newsroom colleagues that I found Gov. Beverly Perdue's discussion of retraining efforts for white-collar workers one of the more interesting things she talked about in a meeting with the ed board last week. She said it's really the first time the country has been faced with trying to retrain high-finance and high-tech workers for other fields (not that we're high-tech or high-income here at ye ol' N&O, you understand).

Take a listen.

See video of Gov. Perdue speaking by video to a conference of the N.C. Open Government Coalition in Charlotte. Video courtesy of News 14 Carolina.

Hear part four of Gov. Beverly Perdue's State of the State speech.

Hear part three of Gov. Beverly Perdue's State of the State speech.

Hear part two of Gov. Beverly Perdue's State of the State speech.

Hear Gov. Beverly Perdue's State of the State address delivered Monday, March 9, 2009.

See photos from Gov. Beverly Perdue's first day in office. Photos by News and Observer staff photographer Shawn Rocco.

Beverly Perdue becomes the first female governor of North Carolina.