City administrators and council members came away from a Friday meeting on next year's budget with some good news and a good many questions.

The good news was that the city appears poised to finish the current fiscal year on budget, with no need for the sort of last-minute cost-cutting there has been in recent years past.

Most of the questions pertained to dealing with a 2012-13 budget shortfall projected at $2.6 million, and how to fund the "dedicated revenue stream" for low-cost housing that Mayor Bill Bell called for in his State of the City address last Monday.

"Something's going to give," said City Manager Tom Bonfield. "We haven't determined (what) yet."

After some confusion on Orange County's position, plans for the light-rail line between Chapel Hill and Durham got unanimous approval this morning from a bi-county transportation committee.

Today's vote for a "Locally Preferred Alternative" route keeps the project on schedule to apply for a federal grant this year. It also moves the project along to another round of public hearings, on environmental effects, in the spring.

Greenfire Development announced today that it plans to build an 88-unit apartment complex in downtown Durham on land the company owns at the corner of Jackson and Willard streets, adjacent to the N.C. Mutual building.

Greenfire's partner on the $10 million project is Armada Hoffler, a construction firm based in Virginia Beach.

The project will also include space for a local education institution and some market-rate housing.

Construction is expected to begin in July and be completed by May 2013, the company reported in its release.

Today is National Signing Day, when high school athletes from fall sports make their official commitments to college teams.

While several high school seniors who play Olympic sports are signing as well, much of the emphasis for many schools is placed on football programs.

Locally, offensive lineman William Heine of East Chapel Hill has committed to Georgetown and Chapel Hill's R.J. Quick has signed on for Winston-Salem State.

Heine, a 6-5, 280-pound senior played at right tackle for East, helping to protect record-setting QB Drew Davis in coach  Bill Renner's "five-wide" offense. Heine will be joining his brother James at Georgetown, who's a pitcher for the Hoyas' baseball team.

Quick, not the biggest Tiger at  5-11, 180 pounds, was still one of the biggest guns as a top receiver for coach Issac Marsh as CHHS went 10-3 last season. He was also one of the quickest, no pun intended, with 4.5 speed.

The University of North Carolina is announcing its commitments — including Phil Williamson of Jordan — from the Class of 2012 this afternoon. See UNC Now (http://blogs.newsobserver.com/uncnow) for the latest on Carolina's recruits, and ACC Now (http://blogs.newsobserver.com/accnow/home) for updates on Duke and N.C. State.

The American Tobacco Trail bridge over I-40 has – you guessed it – hit a snag again.

Wednesday was bid-opening day for the long-awaited, oft-delayed final segment of the popular greenway. But, according to city contract manager Byron Brady, there weren't enough bids to open.

State law requires at least three. There were only two. So now the $7.8-million job is being re-advertised for bids with opening date now set for Feb. 15.

The bridge, near Southpoint Mall, and a 4.2-mile trail segment, has been on the city's to-do list for more than a decade.

After Durham's 26th homicide of 2011, Mayor Bill Bell told Police Chief Jose L. Lopez he wanted a "different approach" to preventing violent crime.After Durham's 26th homicide of 2011, Mayor Bill Bell told Police Chief Jose L. Lopez he wanted a "different approach" to preventing violent crime.

In January, Bell laid out the first four "new strategies" for curbing homicide and violent crime in general. They include higher bonds for suspects in violent crimes, better communication among law-enforcement and criminal-justice agencies and renewed outreach to engage citizens in crime prevention. (See link below to Belllaysoutcrimestrategy).

At the same time, the Durham Crime Cabinet adopted two sets of revisions to North Carolina's code regarding firearms-involved offenses. The revisions are being circulated to several governmental and law-enforcement organizations before being presented to Durham County's legislative delegation. (See links below to the draft revisions.)

Documents:

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

DURHAM -- Even as it piled up victories to start the season, Duke generally couldn’t be accused of being a fast starting team in many of its triumphs.

With the exception of their wins over Michigan and Washington, the Blue Devils generally took a bit to get warmed up and dispatch their opponents.

Playing its first game in 11 days, Duke wasted little time Friday night in snuffing out Western Michigan’s hope of an upset. The seventh-ranked Blue Devils (11-1) used an early 19-0 lead to build a substantial lead and cruise to a thorough 110-70 win over the Broncos (5-8) at Cameron Indoor Stadium.