For the first time in more than 90 years of awarding the top honors in journalism, the Pulitzer Prize jury decided not to hand out an award for breaking news this year. Experts say the jury's decision reflects a disconnect between traditional and new media. It's also a harbinger of a local news crisis.

Raleigh Ensemble Players has been presenting provocative theater in the capital city since 1982. Earlier this year, the company moved into a renovated theater space on Fayetteville Street, defying a recession that has plagued many arts organizations. REP’s first full-length production in the new facility will be "Distracted," a play about the challenges of dealing with Attention Deficit Disorder.

Lawmakers in the state House have tentatively approved a 19 billion dollar budget that makes deep cuts to education and health care. 

 Legislators debated the Republican penned budget for nearly ten hours yesterday. Republican representative Mitch Gillespie of Marion told colleagues it's the most responsible budget that could be put together in a slow economy. 

Federal civil rights investigators are in Raleigh tonight to host a public-comment session on possible violations by the Wake County School system. 

The visit is part of the Department of Education’s investigation into the School Board’s abandonment of socio-economic diversity in its student assignment policy. The complaint that launched the investigation was filed by the North Carolina NAACP and other groups.

North Carolina military bases are on a heightened level of security after Osama bin Laden's death this week. Top commanders directed all U.S. military installations to a status called Force Protection Condition Bravo. It's the middle level of a five-stage security system. The order came Sunday morning, before President Obama announced American forces had killed bin Laden. Camp Lejeune spokesman Nat Fahy says marines and sailors are taking basic steps to ensure safety.

Before playwright Suzan-Lori Parks penned the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Top Dog/Underdog,” she wrote “The America Play.” The abstract narrative centers around a character called The Foundling Father, a grave digger who impersonates Abraham Lincoln in a novelty performance that allows people to act out the role of the President’s assassin. “The America Play” is currently in production at Greensboro’s Triad Stage UpStage Cabaret.

The North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh presents "Mirror Image: Women Portraying Women," the second exhibition in its North Carolina gallery. The thematic group show features work depicting women done by women artists who live in the state, but have national and international reputations.

State senators have tentatively passed a bill that would make it more difficult for municipalities in North Carolina to build their own Internet broadband systems. 

 Right now a handful of municipalities across the state provide their own internet broadband services to residents at subsidized rates. But cable companies are wary of the do-it-yourselfers. They say it's not fair that municipalities don't have to follow the same regulations to set up broadband services.

Surry County communications operators are testing a developing 911 call system to improve emergency response networks. A grant program is funding a test system called Next Generation 911 from Greensboro-based Synergem Emergency Services. Surry County communications director Roger Shore says the system allows 911 operators to field calls more efficiently.

Professional tennis players like to say that to master the game, you must first log no less than 10,000 hours on the court. Rex Miller crossed that threshold before the age of 10. Both of Miller’s parents were tennis players and they often brought him to the court as a child, first to observe, then to learn the game.