According to Raleigh Communications, officers have responded to a shooting in the 700 block of South State Street.

There is no word on any injuries and Police can not provide any other details.

Stay with NBC17 and MyNC.com for updates as they become available.

After 29 years in the Whitted Building on West Tyron Street, the Orange County Main Library will close its doors on December 13 at 5 p.m.

The library will re-open to the public at their new location at 137 West Margaret Lane on January 8.

While the Main Library is closed, patrons may visit the Carrboro branch library at McDougle Middle School, the Cybrary at the Carrboro Century Center and the Cedar Grove Branch in the Northern Human Services Center. The Cedar Grove Branch will have extended Saturday hours, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., on December 19 and January 2.

For more information, click here.

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Agricultural experts and industry officials expect enough sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving and Christmas, traditionally a high-demand period. But by Easter, another peak period, sweet potatoes could be in limited supply in some parts of the country due to crop losses in the major growing states of Louisiana and Mississippi.

Whether that leads to higher prices at the grocery store depends in part on demand and how far the North Carolina and California crops stretch. North Carolina, the nation's leading producer, had what officials there consider a good - but not great - crop, and the full extent of losses due to heavy late-season rains in the Gulf South is not yet known.

North Carolina harvested 45 percent of U.S. sweet potato acreage last year, followed by Louisiana and Mississippi with about 30 percent altogether. California accounted for 15 percent, according to statistics provided by the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission.

In the Gulf South, some farmers have been able to salvage potatoes during the recent break in rains, while others have found rotten spuds in still-muddy fields. Ken Thornhill, who wasn't hit as hard as other growers and harvested most of his northeast Louisiana crop, worries how his potatoes will hold up in storage, awaiting shipment and sale.

"We know we have some potatoes that are going to break down," he said. "It's just a question of how much."

Preliminary estimates from agricultural economists at Louisiana State and Mississippi State universities put potential revenue losses for sweet potato farmers in those states at more than $55 million.

Another unknown: seed for next year's crop. Farmers get seed during harvest. Bill Burdine, an area agronomist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, expects that many of his state's growers will need to buy seed from out of state.

This is the second year sweet potato farmers in the region have been hit with losses. Hurricanes Gustav and Ike were to blame in 2008.

Thornhill, who lost much of his crop to Gustav, considers himself among the lucky ones this year. He plans to give thanks Thursday with a meal that includes - you guessed it - sweet potatoes.

"Oooh, you better believe it," he said. "We love 'em."

Benny Graves, executive secretary of the Mississippi Sweet Potato Council, said the industry will rebound from a year in which he expects Mississippi's supplies will be "the shortest in recent times."

"We will have sweet potatoes as long as they last," he said, adding, "It will be an interesting year."

The Fayetteville Observer reported Wednesday that state Sen. Larry Shaw said violent acts blamed on Muslims tarnish the image of Islam.

Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan is charged with killing 13 people at the Texas post. Hasan is a Muslim who reportedly opposed the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Shaw has been chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations since March. The Fayetteville Democrat compared Islamic fanatics with the Ku Klux Klan and Nazis as falsely claiming to represent majority views.

Shaw says Muslims who support killing innocent people don't represent true Islam.

As a temporary step, Toyota will have dealers shorten the length of gas pedals beginning in January. Transportation officials told The Associated Press the Japanese automaker will develop replacement pedals for the vehicles, and new pedals will be available beginning in April.

The automaker announced the massive recall in September.

The recall includes vehicles such as the Toyota Camry, the top-selling passenger car in America, and the Toyota Prius, the best-selling gas-electric hybrid.

PETA spokesman Michael Lyubinsky said Tuesday the organization wanted to air the commercial during the parade but stations in Raleigh, N.C., Columbia, S.C., Savannah, Ga., and Little Rock,
Ark., had banned it.

The commercial depicts a young girl saying grace at Thanksgiving, giving thanks for "the turkey farms where they pack them into dark, tiny little sheds for their whole lives."

The ad encourages viewers to "Go vegan."

Brad Moses, general manager of Raleigh's WNCN, said he decided to ban the ad in Raleigh and Savannah because it's not appropriate for the spirit of the parade.

Perdue visited the Raleigh Rescue Mission on Tuesday, speaking with homeless women living there while trying to get back on their feet during the bad economy. She also talked with mission workers collecting food and cooking turkeys on a big grill for Thanksgiving.

She said volunteering through state organizations, churches and civic groups helps give a hand to fellow citizens who have fallen into poverty.

The governor also sat down at a table with 3- and 4-year-olds at the mission preschool and put on a hat of turkey feathers made of construction paper.

"I think it's time for kids to get back to the imagination," Mike Maddi as he used his hand to operate a T. Rex puppet. "A kid really opens up when he has a puppet on his hand."

The toy's been out for a couple months now and Puppetoys is sold out. Creations are already selling in specialty shops as far as Europe and at shops like the one at The American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The company is going to start taking more orders again January 1.

"I started 20 years ago and created this," Maddi said as he looked down at the original sculpture he molded of the dino. "I kind of walked away from it as a frustrated young man and put it down for 20 years."

Within that time Maddi became a successful special effects make-up artist. He worked on movies and then eventually headed the department at Saturday Night Live that designed all the make-up for characters on the show.

"You have about 13 players on the show and you have one make-up artist for each player because you only have two minutes to do certain make-ups," he said. "We had a bald cap we had to put on Alec Baldwin once. I believe it was probably about a minute, minute and a half. Normally, when you come into make-up effects ... you'd take about an hour to put a bald cap on somebody."

Practice sometimes made perfect, Maddi said.

"They have a show that they record first at 8:00 and we have 15 sketches in that show," he explained. "What they do is they shoot it with an audience and we see where the make-ups jam up, where are they waiting for us and then change show sketches around so it flows well for a live performance. And then they also take out the three segments that got the least laughs."

Four years ago, Naddi moved his family from New York to Apex. It was when he watched his son play with a simple toy that he remembered his hopes of turning his 20 year-old dinosaur into reality.

"Sky's the limit at that point and you can see a whole other person come out through your hand," he said. "You could say it's a lifelong dream from when I did the first one."

Watch the NBC 17 News story to learn more about the mastermind behind Puppetoys whose history is as colorful as the designs he creates.

They say that’s been the trend for the last six to eight weeks.

But even so, manufacturing facilities continue to pump out H1N1 vaccine at high rates because even though the virus is infecting fewer people right now, it's not out of our lives just yet.
 
“We have every expectation that we will get another wave of H1N1, but we don't know when or how severe it will be,” said Dr. Zack Moore, a respiratory disease epidemiologist with the North Carolina Department of Public Health.

Last week officials revealed three patients at Duke who had compromised immune systems died of a strain of H1N1 that was resistant to the drug Tamiflu.

“What happened at Duke is a little unusual,” contends federal Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Speaking Tuesday in Holly Springs, the secretary revealed that unusual occurrence piqued the interest of federal health officials.

“Our centers for disease control scientists are working very closely with the Duke folks,” said Sebelius. “So far, we've found that Tamiflu resistant flu is able to be treated with Relenza, the other anti-viral medicine.”

But that doesn't mean doctors should stop writing Tamiflu prescriptions.

“Tamiflu resistance is still very rare and we have no indication Tamiflu resistance has spread out in the community,” said the DPH’s Moore.

Since H1N1 has been discovered, scientists have worried it might mutate into something more virulent. 

So far, that hasn't happened.

“This virus has been very stable which means it's still the same virus that's covered by the vaccine,” explained Dr. Moore.

They want the Attorney General's staff to check if the unsolicited, prerecorded telephone calls to voters violated the law.

"They (BCBCNC) have the State Health Plan and state employees are particularly outraged because they don't have a choice about who their insurer is and they're getting mail from Blue Cross Blue Shield against a policy they believe in," said Rep. Pricey Harrison, (D) Guilford County.

The automated call alerted voters to a forthcoming mailer with a prepaid card to Senator Kay Hagan.

The card asks Hagan to oppose the creation of a government-run health insurance plan, also called the public option which would compete with private plans.

"This advocacy campaign is not at all related to the insurance its providing.  That's where the distinction is about whether it's appropriate for them to be calling voters on this issue," said Rep. Harrison.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina called the effort a business expense.

"We said from the beginning, we were going to be involved in thhe debate and the discussion.  As a result we created a communications package: a website, a mailer, follow-up calls, as you would with sany communications plan," said BCBCNC Spokesman Lew Borman.

Turns out the Attorney General's office was already checking out the insurance company's practises after a consumer complaint on the same issue October 22nd and an individual complaint from Rep. Harrison November 5th.

Assistant Attorney General David Kirkman asked BCBSNC to stop the calls immediately because his initial assessment found the robocalls did not provide contact information as required by law.

"We have received an inquiry from the Attorney General's office.  We intend to fully cooperate with that and await a decision," said Borman.

But Rep. Harrison says beyond the law it is bad public policy for BCBCNC to engage in a political campaign.

Borman said, "We said in beginning this was a business expense and something we intended to do. It's much more appropriate to hire a vendor and to use voter registration lists as opposed to customer lists."

Lawmakers sent the same complaint to Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin whose agency oversee the industry.

To hear more of this story, check out our NBC 17 News story in the video monitor above.

The survey focuses on toys that may pose hazards to children.

As the holiday shopping season gets underway, some important information on toys.

A new survey by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group says it found three main toy safety risks to small children.

Toxic hazards, noise and choking.

In the past two years at least 13 children have choked to death on balloons, balls, toys or parts of toys, said Elizabeth Hitchcok of the Public Interest Reesearch Group.

For children under 3, PIRG recommends using a cylinder the size of a tissue roll to test the parts.

If they fit through the cylinder, the toy is considered unsafe.

As for noise, PIRG says nearly 15 percent of kids between 6 and 17 show signs of hearing loss.

So toys like this play cell phone used close to the ear should not be louder than 10 decibels measured from 10 feet away.

Harmful chemicals found in toys are also a major concern.

It's long been known to avoid lead, which can damage the central nervous system.

Also, phthalates, used to make plastic softer are linked to reproductive defects.

But consumer groups and the toy industry say toys are saver than ever.

There are tens of thousands of toys on store shelves and they found them to be in compliance with a few exceptions," said joan Lawrence of the Toy Industry Association.

This year there have been 38 Consumer Product Cafety Commission toy recalls down from more than 160 last year.

PIRG has launched a new interactive mobile phone tool and website to help shoppers check on possible hazards while in the store.

Part of an ongoing effort to help ensure that toys bring joy and not harm to children.

The new mobile phone interactive site once again is www.toysafety.mobi

For more information on toy safety and recalls you can log on to the consumer product safety commission's web site at cpsc.gov.

The survey Careerbuilder.com survey says that's about the same as last year's number.

But with more people facing unemployment, pay cuts, and furloughs, more people than usual are competing for the positions.

GameStop at Crabtree Valley Mall filled it's seasonal positions quickly.

"It's always a competitive environment," said Kevin Dixon, district manager. "This Christmas is no different. We always get applications."

Lori Holly, general manger at the mall's Macy's, said seasonal employees can sometimes land a permanent position after the holidays.

"I have some managers who started that way, as seasonal associates," Holly said. "Our hiring is about the same as last year, so we're definitely looking for seasonal hires to come onboard through the Christmas season."

UPS has about 375 seasonal positions in the Raleigh area.

John Steed, who recently moved to the Triangle from California, is working one of those positions while he looks for more permanent work, in a tough job market.

"It's allowing me to get settled here in the area," he said. "Every penny counts."

The logo celebrates NCOL's more than 30 years of providing rail safety education to North Carolina and its ongoing partnership with the NCDOT Rail Division. A commemorative plaque also hangs inside the car.

"We are excited to honor NCOL and our partnership with them," said Paul Worley, NCDOT Rail Division engineering and safety director. "Working together allows us to spread the rail safety message statewide."

"Having our logo on the state's passenger trains is another way to encourage people to be safe around railroad crossings," said NCOL Executive Director Vivian Bridges. "We value our partnership with the NCDOT Rail Division and look forward to working with them on future safety initiatives."

The lounge car interior is equipped with booth seating and a concession area. Drink and snack vending machines have been added and offer a large selection of refreshments to passengers at reasonable prices. The machines are the first in the nation to be installed on board a passenger train and are a cost savings measure for the state.

Complementary beverages including coffee, tea, hot chocolate and bottled water will also to be offered. The on board vending machines will accept $1 and $5 bills and coins.

The new lounge car goes into service on Train 73/76, the Piedmont which operates daily between Raleigh and Charlotte, Monday, Nov. 30.

North Carolina's Operation Lifesaver Inc. is a non-profit safety education group whose goal is to eliminate deaths and injuries at railroad crossings and along railroad rights of way by raising public awareness of the need for caution around railroad tracks and trains.

North Carolina's Amtrak is a fleet of two state-supported trains, the Piedmont and Carolinian, which provides daily service to Raleigh, Greensboro, Charlotte, nine other North Carolina cities, and to the Northeast. Trains are sponsored by NCDOT and paid for through state funding, Amtrak and passenger fares. Complete schedule and train information is available at bytrain.org. Reservations are required. Travelers should book early for best fares. Tickets can be purchased at Amtrak.com or by calling 1-800-USA-RAIL.

Clayton Police say 28-year-old Larry Daniel Bramlett and 25-year-old Matthew Roy Gilbreath were arrested after police caught them attempting to break into a home on Holding Street.

Officers were called to the scene shortly after 2:30 a.m. Sunday in reference to a burglary in progress. Bramlett and Gilbreath ran but were quickly captured by officers.

The victim was an acquaintance of one of the suspects police say and appears that it was not a random incident.

Both men have been charged with attempted first degree burglary and are being held in the Johnston County Detention Center under a $50,000 secured bond.

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And it makes soldiers said Fort Bragg's yearly Thanksgiving dinner feel right at home this holiday.

First Lieutenant Terry Blackledge said celebrating with each other is important to the men and women on base.

"I think it's wonderful for some of the groups that can't get home with their families. I'm happy were here and not deployed and we're spending time together," Blackledge said.

And families like the Raberns said they are not taking this time for granted because next year is a whole different story.

"We're deploying in six months and spending time with family is so important. We're going to be gone for so long and not going to be here for next Thanksgiving," said Chaplin Tim Rabern.

The Fitzgerald family also has to say goodbye come 2010; wife Liza Fitzgerald is happy to be together.

"We're thrilled to have him home especially because we'll miss him next year. We'll treasure this memory," Fitzgerald said.

Others, such as Spc. Wesley Yost, have been deployed and away from their families in the past. He said he learned to cherish every minute.

"You realize what's important is your friends and your family. Your family is going to be there in the long run," Yost said.

And this is not the only day that soldiers can enjoy a homemade meal together. The base will be offering dinner Tuesday, Wednesday and on Thanksgiving Day.

The male suspect entered the SunTrust Bank located at 1516 North Gregson Street around 11:30 a.m. and handed a teller a note demanding money. According to investigators, the note said the suspect had a bomb, although no weapons were seen.

Detectives said the man fled with an undisclosed amount of money.

He is described as a white male in his 30s or 40s with a medium build. He has a mustache and a beard and was wearing sunglasses, a green ball cap, a black and red jacket and blue jeans.

Anyone with information is asked to call Investigator Jones at 560-4582, ext. 29248, CrimeStoppers at 683-1200, or the FBI at 233-7701.

"We are committed to feeding the hungry and ministering to the lonely and hurting in the Triangle," said Rev. Ernie Mills in a press release. "By delivering meals for Meals on Wheels this Thanksgiving, we will be able to meet both of these goals."

The Marriott hotel is providing the following food to help feed those in need:
50 turkeys
Stuffing for 500 people
Green Beans for 500 people
Mashed potatoes and gravy for 1,500 people

Drivers will be delivering the meals to over 400 people in the Triangle on Thursday beginning at 11 a.m.

The Durham Rescue Mission will also be holding a sit down dinner with all the trimmings at Noon.

All participating Dunkin Donuts nationwide will serve free any sized coffee to carriers who are wearing an official uniform or show their union card identification.

"The United States Postal Service letter carriers serve tirelessly throughout the holiday season, and we wanted to recognize their hard work during this very busy time of year," said John Costello, Dunkin' Brands' Chief Global Customer and Marketing Officer. "We invite letter carriers to kick off the season with a free cup of coffee at their local Dunkin' Donuts restaurant, and to know that we are there to help keep them running through snow or rain or gloom of night."

 For a Dunkin Donuts location near you, click here.

The State Board of Elections sent audit letters in the past week to the campaign committees of Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand and Minority Leader Phil Berger.

The letters say there are discrepancies about donations the campaigns reported receiving from political action committees.

The lawmakers also have been asked to explain donations received during the legislative session from PACs that hire registered lobbyists, which would be illegal. Berger told the News & Record of Greensboro he expects the problems to be cleared up. He says PAC donations were probably received just before the session began.

The board could impose fines.

The series begins at 10 a.m. in Terminal 1 with guitarist Bo Lankenau and Friends. Other local artists will perform bluegrass, jazz and holiday favorites on the busiest days of the week.

On Sunday, a holiday tradition returns when a group of tuba players take up residence in the parking garage atrium to play a variety of holiday and traditional tunes.

The music series will continue during the year-end holidays beginning Sunday, Dec. 20.

Click here for the complete holiday music series schedule.

Cumberland County Sheriff's Detectives have issued warrants for 22-year-old Eboney Shea James. James has been charged with striking 23-year-old Kenneth John Holmes III in the hand with the knife during an argument.

Investigators say James nearly severed the fingers on Holmes' right hand. She has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.

She is described as standing 5'6" tall and weighing 140 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes and has the name "Keon" tattooed on her left arm. James also has the picture of a rose tattooed on her chest.

Anyone with information on James' whereabouts is asked to call the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office at (910)323-1500 or the TIPSLINE at 484-TIPS (8477).