Celia Rivenbark, one of our favorite humor columnists, is out with a new collection of essays, "You Don't Sweat Much for a Fat Girl" (St. Martin's Griffin, 2011). In it, she riffs on yoga, Twitter, sleeping hip-hop stars, cinema and, of course, Aunt Verlie.

College exposed cellist Shana Tucker to a world of musical possibilities. Before enrolling at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Tucker had only been trained to play classical music. But during her time as an undergrad in the nation’s capital, she was introduced to jazz and the magic that can be created with improvisation. Tucker, a singer-songwriter, now lives in North Carolina where she is fast becoming a staple of the music scene in the Triangle. Her debut solo CD, “Shine” was released this year.

Will McInerney, Kane Smego, Mohammad Moussa, and Sameer Abdel-Khalek spent the last two months traveling, writing, interviewing, and photographing the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. Now they're back.  And be sure to visit their blog.

Federal and state leaders are celebrating the second phase of a major broadband initiative across North Carolina.

Today’s virtual ground-breaking will take place in four corners of the state – including the Elizabeth City State University campus and the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis.  Joe Freddoso is president and C-E-O of M-C-N-C.  He says the independent, non-profit has been funded to build more than15-hundred miles of broadband infrastructure – statewide.

A chemical plant proposed for the city of Wilson is drawing concerns from the people in its surrounding neighborhood. The Texas-based company Pencco wants to build the plant to manufacture iron sulfates to be used as water treatment chemicals. Brian Wodetzki of Pencco says the plant will be safe. He says the company is doing its best to explain the process to concerned citizens in the neighborhood by holding public meetings with them.

Governor Perdue has appointed the head of the new, restructured Department of Public Safety.

The five-year wait is now over, and North Carolina Central is officially a member of the NCAA’s Division I.
 

The NC Central Board of Trustees voted back in 2005 to move from division 2 to division one. The move was somewhat controversial, as it meant the Eagles would no longer play in the popular CIAA basketball tournament.

The Eagles then played as an independent with no conference affiliation. Last year, NC Central was a provisional member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council has voted to place annual catch limits on some fish. The council is charged with preventing over-fishing off the coast of North Carolina and other south Atlantic states. The panel voted this week to limit catch totals on species like mackerel, grouper, and dolphin fish. Mike Leonard of the American Sportfishing Association says recreational fishermen are worried the decision could lead to stricter rules for more popular fish.

AIG was one of the most vilified culprits of the financial crisis, but now the insurance giant says it was actually duped by Bank of America. AIG claims in a new $10 billion lawsuit that the Charlotte-based bank misrepresented the quality of its mortgage-backed securities.

Clyde Edgerton's new novel, "The Night Train," focuses on the transcendent power of American music as witnessed in the small, fictional North Carolina town of Starke. In the summer of 1963, protagonists Dwayne, who is white, and Larry Lime, who is African-American, strike up a friendship despite the social mores of the time. Dwayne wants to be James Brown. Larry Lime worships at the altar of Thelonius Monk.