Governor Perdue has appointed the head of the new, restructured Department of Public Safety.
For the last two and a half years, Reuben Young has led North Carolina's former Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. And he'll head a restructured version of the department that will merge crime control, correction, and juvenile justice. The governor issued an executive order earlier this year to cut costs by combining a number of departments. This particular merger will result in the elimination of 34 executive-level positions. Young has been a fixture of the Raleigh political scene for years. He was a legal advisor to former Governor Mike Easley for eight years. Before that he worked with Easley in the attorney general's office. Reuben Young's salary will remain the same.