Archive for the 'North Carolina Living' Category
According to documents filed by the North Carolina Unitilities Commission, Progress Energy has recently won approval for a proposed energy efficiency program.
The program applies to residential lighting and will provide incentives for customers to buy energy efficient lighting products, such as compact flourescent light bulbs. Progress Energy plans to provide incentives to cooperating retailers, who will pass on some of the savings to their customers.
The utility company is required to provide further information to the commission within 10 days, and will include more detail about discounts for customers. Progress Energy is based in Raleigh, North Carolina.
For the second straight year, The Umstead Hotel in Cary and The Fearrington House Country Inn in Pittsboro have been awarded the highest designations in their industry. Both have earned AAA’s Five Diamond award and the Forbes Travel Guide five-star rating. The local hotels are the only winners in North Carolina, and two of only 37 hotels nationwide to receive the top rating.
AAA also gave The Fearrington House Restaurant a Five Diamond award. This is the 15th time that Fearrington has earned AAA’s top honors for both its hotel and its restaurant.
Since opening in 2007, The Umstead has won three consecutive Five Diamond awards and two straight five-star ratings. The Fearrington House has won 16 straight Five Diamond awards and has earned the five-star rating every year since 2000
The average rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell back below 5 percent last week, according the weekly rate report from Freddie Mac.
The average rate dropped to 4.98 percent, from 5.03 percent the previous week. One year ago, 30-year mortgages averaged 6.20 percent.
15-year fixed-rate mortgages also fell to an average of 4.4 percent this week, again besting one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, which currently average 4.47 percent
Freddie Mac attributes the reductions to strong refinancing activity in the first three quarters of this year.
According to the 2009 "HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study", North Carolina scored well in all areas of the study, and Rex Healthcare in particular received the hightest overall score for clinical excellence.
The 12th annual study involved 40 million Medicare hospitalization records from 2006 to 2008, and reviewed mortality rates in several areas: cardiac surgery, coronary interventional procedures, critical care, gastrointestinal, heart attack, heart failure, pulmonary care and stroke. While North Carolina’s mortality rates fell in all areas in this study, there was significant improvement in cardiac surgery, pulmonary care and stroke.
From March 14th to May 7th next year Southwest Airlines will run a fourth daily round trip flight between RDU and Orlando. This will raise the airline’s daily departures at Raleigh-Durham International Airport to 30.
In all, Southwest will be adding 52 round trip flights to its operations, a move made possible by winter’s lower air traffic and thereby shorter flight times.
According to the RDU Airport Authority, more than 9.7 million passengers traveled through the Raleigh-Durham International Airport in 2008, one of the highest passenger counts on record. The airport serves a region that consistently leads the nation in surveys related to technology, new business large and small, higher education and quality of life. Cities and locales include Raleigh, Cary, Wake Forest, Durham, Chapel Hill, Apex, Morrisville, Fuquay-Varina and others.
Construction will begin this November on an expansion of the Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina. The hospital needs new space to resolve a current problem with overcrowding, and to prepare for projected demand. The addition is estimated at about 850,000 square feet, and will be the location of a new cancer center (opens in 2012) and a new patient tower (opens in 2013). Total cost for the project is expected to exceed $700 million.
Duke University Hospital is highly regarded throughout the world for excellence in clinical services, research and training. In addition to its flagship hospital in Durham, Duke University Health System owns Duke Raleigh Hospital and operates Durham Regional Hospital.
The three largest universities in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Area excel in the ‘Great Schools, Great Prices’ category in U.S. News & World Report’s latest annual ranking of ‘America’s Best Colleges.’ The category ranks schools based on their academic quality compared to the total cost after a student receives grants and financial aid based on need. Nationally, Duke was ranked No. 9, while UNC was 14th and NCSU was 21st. Among public universities, UNC was No. 1 and NCSU was No. 3.
Kiplinger.com, owned by the Washington-based personal finance publication, has conferred “favorite destination” status on North Carolina and 26 other states. The designation cites winning states as being the most tax-friendly places for retirees on pensions and Social Security.
Contributing to the favorable rating are North Carolina’s exclusion of Social Security payments from state income tax liability; a $4,000 ceiling on taxes for local government and pensions;, up to $2,000 exemption for private pensions; exemptions for prescription drugs and medical equipment; and a limit on property taxes for homeowners ages 65 and up to 4% of income.
Raleigh, North Carolina’s capitol city, has been proving its commitment to downtown revitalization for many years now, making the area more attractive than ever to citizens and visitors seeking dining, entertainment, convention facilities, shopping and public transportation. With the addition of amenities such as the new convention center, City Market dining and retail spaces, auto-friendly Fayetteville Street (the main thoroughfare), a new city bus terminal, and new parking facilities, to name just a few, “downtown” has become a destination of choice for business and pleasure.
In July, a new project called City Plaza was begun, as heralded by the unveiling of four 55-foot stainless-steel light towers built at the south end of Fayetteville Street. City Plaza, scheduled for completion in October 2009, is designed to host everything from a restful retreat for tired feet, to concerts and other public events. In addition, four glass enclosed pavilions will be built on the plaza to showcase an array of retail shops and eateries.
Contributing to the appeal of the plaza will be a motion-sensitive water fountain some describe as a miniature version of the famous waterworks at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. Several other art projects are planned, which include interactive LED panels displaying an array of pre-programmed images, and pedestals for an annually rotating schedule of sculptures.
For more information visit the Raleigh web site…
The Reserach Triangle area of North Carolina, anchored by Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, continues to attract national and international attention for its support of the arts. In press releases this week Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina, announced it will host an exhibition of 60 works created by Picasso from August 20th to January 3rd. The show is entitled “ Picasso and the Allure of Language”, and focuses on the artist’s lifelong relationship with writers and ways language affected his work.
The Nasher Museum of Art on campus will host the exhibition, whose stars represent works created between 1900 and 1969, four years before Picasso’s death at age 91. In addition, other exciting programs relating to the show are planned, including a free family day event, poetry night, panel discussions, a film series, a workshop for teachers, and other programs. The Carolina Ballet will also participate, presenting a newly choreographed ballet, “Picasso,” inspired by the exhibition.
Tickets go on sale August 4, 2009, at 10am.
For more information, visit www.nasher.duke.edu…