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A bill that allowed 16 year-olds to donate blood led to 11,500 new donors in 2009.

Before the bill became law in August 2008, a donor had to be 17. After the change, 16 year old donors in the state contributed 8,052 pints of blood, according to the American Red Cross.

"We were extremely pleased that the North Carolina Legislators saw the value in moving the donor age to 16,” said Red Cross spokesman Barry Porter.

State Rep. Dale Folwell, a Winston-Salem Republican, co-sponsored a House version of the bill that eventually became law. He touted the increased donations in a news release.

According to the Red Cross, High School based blood drives in North Carolina grew by 11.9 percent in 2009 and 16-year-olds represented nearly 25 percent of all High School-aged donors.

"These statistics demonstrate that civic and service oriented teenagers are extending that attitude to saving lives through blood donation, Folwell said.

Rep. Becky Carney returned to the House Tuesday and thanked the lifesavers who helped resuscitate her after a cardiac arrest on April 2.

"I want to thank these men behind me," Carney told a news conference, "from the bottom of my still-beating heart."

Carney, a Charlotte Democrat, helped Mira Batchelor, of the American Red Cross, award a certificate of recognition to:

-- Mark Fleming, a lobbyist for Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, who moved Carney from her desk where she was slumped over and laid her on the floor, which allowed shallow breathing.

-- Rep. Bob England, an Ellenboro Democrat and retired physician, who diagnosed a cardiac arrest and helped perform CPR

-- General Assembly police officers Will Smith, Willie Morris and Sgt. Forrest Johnson, who assisted with CPR and an automated defibrilator. 

"Their actions," Batchelor said, "exemplify the highest degree of concern of one human being for another who is in distress."

Carney thanked them again from the House floor and received a standing ovation to welcome her back.

The American Red Cross plans to honor a legislator and two legislative police officers who helped save Rep. Becky Carney when she suffered a cardiac arrest in April.

Red Cross officials, along with Carney and her family, are scheduled on Tuesday to present the Red Cross' Certificate of Recognition for Extraordinary Personal Action to Rep. Bob England, a retired physician and Democrat from Ellenboro, and legislative police officers Forrest Johnson and Will Smith.

Carney collapsed on April 2 near her office in the Legislative Building after going into cardiac arrest. England and the two officers administered CPR and used a portable defibrilator to revive her. She has been recovering since and is expected back at work next week.

Elizabeth Dole is about to leave the U.S. Senate, but she says she's not done with public service.

Dole, the Salisbury Republican who lost her re-election bid on Tuesday, told The Associated Press that she has not focused on her future yet. Dole said she has spent the week with family and friends, and working on new job leads for members of her staff.

But Dole, who once ran the American Red Cross, said she has no plans to retire from public service.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole has a long resume.

As a former debutante who grew up in 1950s North Carolina, she broke with tradition to become a two-time Cabinet secretary, head of the American Red Cross, wife of a presidential candidate then candidate herself and U.S. senator.

Even in the current anti-Washington climate, Dole thinks her experience running major organizations will resonate with voters. (N&O)

Still, she's remained a back-bencher in her first term, a senator more likely to co-sponsor major legislation than author it, more likely to join a group of negotiators than lead it. She's now being criticized for her effectiveness in Washington.

Dole has blocked some international trade deals until they included provisions to shield local textile companies from overseas competition. She led an effort to protect military families from predatory lending and she forced the Navy to provide information on toxic water at Camp Lejeune.

But her star turn at the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee ended miserably and she's been frustrated at efforts to get the Lumbee tribe recognized. (N&O)

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole has been among the most admired women in an annual poll.

Between 1996 and 2003, Dole was among the top 10 women named by Americans based on random phone surveys done by Gallup each December since 1946. She was also in the top 10 in 1987, 1990 and 2005.

She first landed in the top 10 as Transportation secretary under President Reagan and again while serving as Labor secretary under the first President Bush.

Her highest ratings were in the 1990s, when she headed the American Red Cross, particularly in 1996 when her husband Bob ran for president and in 1998 and 1999 when she ran for president. Her lowest ratings were in the early 1990s and after she became a U.S. senator in 2003.

In 2004 and 2006, Dole received one percent, but she was not in the top 10. In 2007, Dole received less than half a percent, her lowest score since 1994.

In recent years, the list has also grown, with women such as Condoleezza Rice, Angelina Jolie and Nancy Pelosi joining such longtime stalwarts as Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Thatcher. That has pushed Dole farther down the list.

The top 10 list does not include respondents who answered "None or No Opinion," "Other" or "Friend or Relative." Those responses would typically receive a substantial percentage.

Dole's rankings since 1987 after the jump.

Correction: Some numbers have been changed based on new information.

On this much everyone agrees: U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is a rock star.

Former secretary of labor and transportation. Former head of the American Red Cross. Wife of former presidential candidate. First female senator in North Carolina. Household name.

But as "Behind the Music" showed, sometimes being a rock star is not a good thing.

Consider the furor that erupted across the Internet yesterday when Dole attempted to rename an AIDS bill after Sen. Jesse Helms, starting with the Huffington Post and making its way across countless liberal blogs to MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

Some of that is lingering liberal anger over Helms. (Dome still gets a handful of e-mails a day from supporters of that guy who resigned over lowering the flag.) But the story also made the rounds because it was linked to Dole, another familiar name.

It's not easy to get the rank-and-file invested in a Senate race in a far-off state, but it happens. Consider the 2006 elections, when Virginia Sen. George Allen, something of a frontrunner-in-waiting for the Republican presidential nomination, became Target No. 1.

Now look at the other incumbent Republicans up for re-election this year: Sens. Pat Roberts, Roger Wicker, Gordon Smith, Ted Stevens, Susan Collins, John Cornyn and Jim Inhofe. None are as well-known as Dole.

With the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee sending a $6 million signal that it considers North Carolina in play, a lot of Democrats in New York and California are going to start daydreaming about taking down another rock star. 

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole needs your sweat and tears, but not your blood.

The Salisbury Republican ended her speech at the President's Day Dinner last night with an anecdote about her days as head of the American Red Cross, which distributes half of the country's blood supply.

"I used to go out and walk and talk to people," she said.  "I would go up to tables and say I need three things from you: I need your time, I need your money and your blood."

The crowd broke into a laugh.

"Now folks, I'm not asking for your blood tonight," Dole said. "But I am asking for your time, I'm asking for your money, and I'm asking for your prayers."

A conservative blogger suggests U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole for vice president.

In a post on the Race 4 2008 site, Clarence Claus writes that the Salisbury Republican could be a good foil if the Democratic nominee ends up being U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Claus notes that she's served as secretary of transportation and labor, headed the American Red Cross and has a lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union of 91, an A grade from the National Rifle Association and a lifetime rating of zero from NARAL Pro-Choice America.

The Vice-Presidential candidate typically takes on the role of hatchet-man (or woman). This could be hard for Dole since she has kind of a syrupy persona, but she could attack Hillary in a way a male candidate couldn’t.

Claus says Dole would be a good pick for a Northerner like Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani.

In addition, Dole woudl have a former veep candidate in her corner — her husband, Bob, who ran alongside Gerald Ford in 1976.

Richard Moore set up a limited liability corporation for his book.

The state treasurer, who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor, created the Bonnie and Floyd Project LLC in 2002 to receive profits from the book "Faces from the Flood," which he wrote with co-author Jay Barnes.

Barnes said that he did not know why the LLC was set up. Moore said it was to allow the royalties to be redistributed to charity, specifically the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross.

He said someone who had published a book before recommended starting an LLC, but he could not remember who. He was also not sure why it was set up in Washington, D.C., and not North Carolina, but he said it was not to avoid paying taxes.

"I don't really remember how or why it got set up that way," Moore told Dome. "There aren't any taxes to pay, since there hasn't been any profit yet."

Gene Chianelli, a corporate tax attorney for Manning Fulton, said that out-of-state corporations used to be set up to reduce taxes, but that loophole was shut down several years ago.

"State departments of revenue starting saying, 'No, you can't do that,'" he said.