Charlotte stocks rallied Friday on a day of strong trading, with Ruddick Corp.'s shares jumping 8 percent in value. Ruddick (NYSE:RDK) closed at $44.40, up $3.35. The Charlotte-based parent of the Harris Teeter supermarket released its earnings report for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 after the market closed Thursday. While the company's net income was down, Ruddick cited an 8.5 percent incr ...

Barbara Desoer will retire from Bank of America after her long-suffering stint as head of the bank's troubled mortgage operations. BofA announced her retirement in an internal memo. The Wall Street Journal was first to report the story. "I have given it my all," she said in the memo, according to the Journal. Desoer will end a 34-year career at Charlotte-based BofA and its predecessors. S ...

Forget about spotting POTUS or the Clintons in Charlotte in September at the Democratic National Convention. The real question is where to find the Comedy Central political satire tag team of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Colbert and his Super PAC remain uncommitted, but Stewart, host of The Daily Show, is considering setting up shop at the 440-seat Booth Playhouse in Founders Hall during th ...

BB&T Corp. has plans to acquire the life insurance and property and casualty insurance divisions of New Jersey-based Crump Group Inc. for $570 million, according to an announcement. BB&T (NYSE:BBT) expects the deal to add $300 million in revenue to its insurance business. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close by the end of the first quarter. If approved, it would t ...

Restaurant sales in the South Atlantic region, which includes North Carolina, are expected to grow at the second highest clip in the nation in 2012, according to new research by the National Restaurant Association. The projected growth percentages are made up of what the association deems as “key influencers” of state sales growth, including gains in total employment, real disposable person ...

Ruddick Corp. reports net income of $13.7 million, or 28 cents per diluted share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2012, which ended Jan. 1. That’s down from $38.1 million, or 78 cents per diluted share, in the same period in fiscal 2011. The latest earnings reflect Ruddick’s sale of its ownership interest in thread-maker American & Efird Inc., which resulted in a $12.1 million loss from ...

The nation’s jobless rate fell to 8.3 percent in January as the economy added nearly a quarter-million jobs, the U.S. Department of Labor reports. It’s fifth straight monthly decline in unemployment and puts the jobless rate at its lowest level in nearly three years. Nationwide unemployment stood at 8.5 percent in December. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly survey of employers ...

North Carolina's State Health Plan, which paid $110 million to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina last year, is up for grabs. The plan covers 664,000 state employees and paid out $2.5 billion in claims last year. The state asks insurance providers to stay quiet about the bids until they submit them. Some obvious contenders would be UnitedHealthcare and Aetna, but any major insuranc ...

US Airways Group Inc. reports a 6.1 percent increase in passenger traffic last month to nearly 4.9 million boardings from 4.6 million in January 2011. The airline, which operates its largest hub at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, flew 4.8 billion revenue-passenger miles last month, up 3.7 percent from a year earlier. The carrier’s passenger-load factor, or the percentage of filled ...

This week’s Charlotte Business Journal lists the area’s largest telecom companies, ranked by number of full-time local employees. Time Warner Cable tops the list, with 3,122 local employees. AT&T Inc. is second, with almost 2,500 area employees. Here are area’s largest telecom companies: Time Warner CableAT&T Inc.Windstream CommunicationsComporiumVerizon Wireless For the entire ...

Communities in Schools, which provides academic and social support to 6,500 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students, is a centerpiece of dropout prevention efforts for CMS and the philanthropic Project LIFT.The program has a long track record and is highly regarded by educators locally and nationwide.But as CMS proposes to double its investment in the nonprofit group, there's one question no one ca ...

DURHAM – In the game before the big game, the Duke Blue Devils ran into a feisty Miami team that showed no fear inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.The Blue Devils did rally as they usually do at home – only this time the Hurricanes were ready to respond. Even when Duke forced overtime, the Hurricanes never wavered.Center Reggie Johnson led Miami with a career-high 27 points, and the Hurrica ...

On Friday night, Davidson's Chris Czerapowicz wasn't sure he'd be able to play Saturday against Chattanooga because of a stomach virus. Czerapowicz looked fine Saturday, hitting six 3-pointers in the 88-61 victory over the Mocs. "Sometimes that kind of toughness carries you through games," Davidson coach Bob McKillop said after Czerapowicz's 21-point performance. As the Wildcats (17-5, 11-1) hea ...

Looks like senior Derrio Green has become the odd man out in the Charlotte 49ers' backcourt rotation.Green is averaging career-lows in minutes (19.6) and points (7.0) this season. But it's been the past four games that have been the most telling about where Green stands in Charlotte's guard hierarchy: He's no longer starting and didn't play against Fordham on Saturday (a 69-62 Charlotte) victory, ...

A gun retailer in Washington offers a Walther P-22 with a pink slide with a portion of sales going to the Seattle branch of the Susan G. Komen foundation.Click to Continue �]]>

Tiffanie Davis Henry is starring on ABC's 'The Revolution,' which deals in lifestyle transformation.Click to Continue �]]>

Someone above my moral pay grade must decide if "The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told" is blasphemous enough to imperil the souls of author Paul Rudnick, Queen City Theatre Company…Click to Continue �]]>

"I am meant to be pregnant," Angela Mook, 32, says. "I feel great while pregnant and I always bounce back no problem."Click to Continue �]]>

Molly Barker could start another revolution with this: The Naked Face Project.Click to Continue �]]>

Organizers of United Family Services' signature fundraiser, Art With Heart, scheduled for Saturday at Founders Hall, are hoping a new gadget called BidPal will make the annual art auction even…Click to Continue �]]>

It's who you spend time with that matters most, says Camden Moon.Click to Continue �]]>

Winter fashions can mean big investments. Slick leather jackets, cozy cashmere scarves and sleek tall boots aren�t like the bikini you bunch up and toss in the drawer at the…Click to Continue �]]>

Southern comfort food queen Paula Deen took a beating last week when she revealed she has Type 2 diabetes, three years after her diagnosis, and an endorsement deal with diabetes…Click to Continue �]]>

Gabrielle Giffords may be resigning from the U.S. House of Representatives, but her Asheville speech pathologist says: "You haven't heard the last of her yet."Click to Continue �]]>

Mecklenburg County leaders are now addressing the growing number of recent coyote sightings.

Double-paned, energy efficient, "low-e" or low emittance windows, increasingly called for by building codes, can warp inward creating a concave lens and acting like a magnifying glass, melting vinyl siding and other surfaces including cars.

Neighborhood leaders have a few more days to comment on proposed rules for sweepstakes parlors, or internet cafes, in Charlotte.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a man they say is armed and dangerous.

Women and minorities were disproportionately hit by the budget cuts to state government last year.

Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue says her decision not to seek re-election will free her up to take her proposal to raise the sales tax for education directly to citizens, without worry her stance could be used against her in a campaign.

North Carolina motorists have free sailing again on Interstate 40 through the mountains after crews cleared away rock slides that blocked the highway.

Occupy protesters are making their voices heard. The group took over a building Saturday near Chapel Hill.

A Charlotte couple, who have been sweethearts since they met at Harding High School five years ago, died when their car went over a bridge near Lexington, in Davidson County.