North Carolina has the 7th worst business tax climate in the nation, according to this year's State Business Tax Climate Index.

North Carolina, whose climate was ranked 44th in the nation, rounded out the bottom with northeastern states like New Jersey (50th), New York (49th), Vermont (47th) and Rhode Island (46th). Wyoming, South Dakota and Nevada topped the list.

The report is compiled and released by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, which aims to educate taxpayers on tax policy.

The index is based on the corporate, individual income, sales property and unemployment insurance taxes of each state . States with lower or no tax rates in these categories rank higher. For example Wyoming, ranked as having the best climate, has no corporate or individual income tax.

Texas finally has unseated North Carolina as the state with the "top business climate," according to the latest executive survey conducted by Site Selection magazine.

North Carolina had held the top spot in the magazine's rankings for six straight years.

Executives lauded Texas for, among other things: Being a right-to-work state, no state income tax, fewer regulations, incentives programs, the state's willingness to challenge OHSA and the Environmental Protection Agency, and the available workforce.

Rounding out the top ten were: Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, Indiana and Alabama.

For more on the rankings go here.

Business law firm Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard LLP added eight new attorneys to its Raleigh roster in the last seven months, leading the firm to seek new space to ease its growing pains.

The firm, which has offices in Greensboro and the Wells Fargo Capitol Center in downtown Raleigh, added two attorneys in March and six more since August to help satisfy growing demand in the Triangle.

As a result, the firm will be leasing more space in the Wells Fargo building, said Mark Prak, a Raleigh partner. Brooks Pierce already occupies the 16^th floor of the building, about 18,500 square feet.

“Many firms in the profession have been getting smaller since 2008,” Prak said. “We’re improving our capability and growing our Raleigh presence in a way that we can serve a large number of businesses who are here in the Triangle area.”

Current and former GlaxoSmithKline employees said good-bye yesterday to the company's Elion-Hitchings Building, one of Research Triangle Park's most iconic landmarks.

About 350 people came out for the event, which encouraged employees to share memories of the building and allowed them to take unlimited pictures inside and out. Employees previously needed permission from security for photos, said GlaxoSmithKline spokesman Robert Sutton.

Empire Properties, owned by downtown Raleigh developer Greg Hatem, will receive a $50,000 loan from the city of Raleigh to retrofit a Hargett Street space for its newest tenant-- a digital media company Foursaken Media.

Foursaken Media specializes in building gaming apps as well as projects like websites and software. The company is run by four brothers, Tom, Jamie, Miles and Connor Jackson, who have been working with Hatem for about a month, he said. You may have heard of the first app game they developed: New York Zombies.

The Raleigh City Council approved the loan Tuesday, giving it terms of 3 percent interest for 10 years with a five-year call. The loan is a part of the Downtown Loan Pool program, which was created in 2004 with the goal of extending financing to businesses along Fayetteville Street.

Do you know a community, school or business that is committed to recycling? Their efforts could pay off with the American Forest & Paper Association Recycling Awards.

A limited number of communities in the U.S. may see an experimental, ultra-fast internet network from Google.

Employing about 11,000 globally, SAS sells software to businesses and government agencies to analyze and mine vast amounts of data, to predict customer preferences and other trends.

Listen as Veronica Scott talks about attending her first job fair as an unemployed worker and her thoughts on finding a new job.