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A state auditor's investigation into a Durham Technical Community College employee working a private business on the state's dime led to the employee's firing, a report released Wednesday revealed.

The investigation began with a call to the auditor's fraud hotline describing an assistant registrar at the college's Center of the Global Learner who ran a bird supply store and sold Amway products during business hours.

A new state audit finds state agencies spent more than double the projected cost for information technology projects that took more than a year longer to complete than original estimates.

The Office of the State Auditor released a report Monday that determined the state spent $356.3 million more than expected on 84 IT projects during the Gov. Bev Perdue administration. It also found inadequate controls to monitor how much state agency's spend on various technology needs.

UPDATED: IS IT MAYOR PAT OR GOVERNOR PAT? Gov. Pat McCrory told two city of Charlotte staff members this week that state money for the light-rail extension to UNC Charlotte could be at risk if the city builds a controversial streetcar, according to a memo sent Thursday. Without the N.C. Department of Transportation’s $250 million grant, the $1.1 billion Lynx Blue Line extension can’t be built. As Charlotte mayor, McCrory, a Republican, championed light rail, which was one of his signature accomplishments. But he vehemently disagrees with using city property tax dollars to build a streetcar, and used the meeting in Raleigh to relay a message to City Council, according to the memo.

FOXX 'OUTRAGED' OVER WHAT HE CALLS A THREAT: “It’s particularly alarming that he would choose to deliver messages to city staff, particularly messages that contain threats," said Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, a Democrat and potential challenger to McCrory in 2016. “He is governor of the state, and there are a host of issues – tax reform, health care. Why the governor would choose to place focus on a transit project, particularly one contained in a transit plan that he voted to implement makes no sense,” Foxx said.

***This is the Dome Morning Memo a tipsheet on N.C. politics. Click "Read More" for other headlines and news.***

The state Auditor's Office has a smartphone application that allows people who spot government fraud or waste to report it, using their smartphones, to the office's investigative division.

Users can download photos or video to support their allegations, according to the office. By law, the names of those making reports are kept confidential. The app, available for iPhones and for phones using the Android operating system, allows for anonymous reporting.

The Foundation for North Carolina, a nonprofit formed to further Gov. Pat McCrory's agenda, held its own inaugural ball Saturday night in Raleigh. The exclusive event -- which sold out days ago and attracted more hype than the traditional Junior League ball the night before -- featured McCrory, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest and many other Republican dignitaries.

VIP guests paid $1,000 to attend a special reception before the ball featuring the governor and an open bar but more than one attendee grumbled that they couldn't drink enough Troy Moonshine and Cheerwine cocktails to make it worthwhile. Earlier in the evening the Foundation hosted an invitation-only dinner at the Carolina Country Club that asked guests not to even tell others about it.

For the main event at the Raleigh Convention Center -- the same scene as the other ball Friday night -- the guests arrived in chauffeured sedans, limousines and cabs. McCrory's new Public Safety Secretary Kieran Shanahan arrived in a stretch black limo with a deep entourage. He emerged as if at a tailgate party, holding what appeared to be a red solo cup and drank on the sidewalk as he talked to State Highway Patrolmen for a couple minutes outside the venue.

From AP: An audit says it's hard to tell if consolidating North Carolina's state agency computer networks has improved government services and saved taxpayer dollars because there are no concrete measures in place to evaluate the changes.

State Auditor Beth Wood's office released Friday a performance review of whether the overhaul of state's information technology system starting in 2004 is paying off. The idea is to get agencies using the same computer platforms to save money and ensure programs in different departments can “talk” to each other.

The political year included its share of odd stories and not-so-flattering headlines. Here's a look at the top 5:

1. @GovBevPerdue makes a splash: A Twitter parody account for Gov. Bev Perdue (real handle: @ncgovoffice) caught a number of national media outlets looking silly. MSNBC and Huffington Post were among those fooled by the account that has steadily mocked all things Perdue. The account is labeled as the “first female governor of North Carolina, and probably the last.” The background image, and often point of discussion, is Bojangles’ Bo-Berry Biscuits. Nonetheless, HuffPo in May quoted the faux Perdue as apologizing to Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant for a quip the real governor made after the state approved an amendment banning marriage between same-sex couples. During the Democratic National Convention, MSNBC was caught sleeping when they aired some of the fake Tweets on live TV.

Updated: A professor from North Carolina State University used grant funds to go on family vacations at top-dollar beach resorts, according to a report by the Office of the State Auditor.

The report accuses Stacy Nelson, an associate professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, of taking two trips in 2011.

Nelson allegedly used $3,359 intended from state Department of Transportation grant funds to take a couple trips to the Outer Banks in July and August 2011.

The changing of the guard in Raleigh will mean a number of personnel shifts in state government. One began before the election.

Bill Holmes left House Democratic leader Joe Hackney's office Nov. 1 for a new post as spokesman for State Auditor Beth Wood. The auditor's office current spokesman Dennis Patterson, a 12-year state employee veteran, is retiring at the end of the year. Patterson and Holmes are former Associated Press reporters.

The latest YouTube video from Debra Goldman, the Republican nominee for state auditor, has an image that GOP gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory could probably live without right now.

In the video Goldman released Sunday, she includes a photo of McCrory happily standing beside her as she talks about looking forward to working with him. But amid recent news reports about a 2010 police report of a burglary at Goldman's home, McCrory has distanced himself to the point of praising Beth Wood, the incumbent Democratic state auditor in a statewide televised debate.   See video below.