The New Hanover County ABC Board won't tell how much they pay their employees.

The board has so far refused a request from the Wilmington Star-News for salary information on the board's employees, the folks that run the liquor stores. The newspaper is assembling a database of public employee salaries.

Officials at the state ABC Commission said the information is part of the public record, but the state commission does not control the local boards. They are relatively autonomous operations that run the state's liquor stores.

The Star-News has been handling its inquiry through a lawyer for the local ABC board, Doug Fox, who also happens to be a former chairman of the state ABC commission. He was forced out of the job by Gov. Bev Perdue after Fox forwarded a racist email to friends and colleagues.

Three North Carolina localities are ready to build, set up or relocate a liquor store and get their alcohol revenue flowing.

But they have had to put their plans on hold because there is no one in Raleigh to give them approval to proceed.

The state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission consists of a single commissioner at the moment. Two of the three seats, including that of the chairman, are vacant and have been since May. The commission needs two members to hold monthly meetings where it hears liquor law cases and approves new stores.

Gov. Beverly Perdue has not appointed anyone to fill the empty seats, but administration officials said Friday that an announcement could come as early as this week.

In North Carolina, liquor stores are run by local boards, not the state. The state commission runs the warehouse from which all stores buy their liquor, gives final approval for opening a store and hears cases of ABC law violations.

State commission member Mike Joyner of Charlotte stepped down last year. Then-Chairman Doug Fox of Wilmington resigned in May, at the request of Perdue, after Fox forwarded an e-mail message to friends and associates containing a racist illustration. That leaves only commission member John Lyon of Wake Forest. (N&O)

* At least 44 retired North Carolina judges are offering their time to keep courtrooms operating when judges call in sick or juggle a family emergency.

The problem is simple. Like most state agencies, the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts had to make tough choices about what the state could afford this year with a skimpier budget.

The legislature cut 6 percent of the agency's budget, shaving $30 million from funds used for expenses such as salaries and training for judges, prosecutors and clerks.

On the chopping block: money to pay substitute judges. One by one, retired judges raised their hands to come back onto the bench as volunteers. (N&O)

FWD: FOX OUT: Doug Fox may want to go back to a typewriter. The chairman of the state Alcoholic Beverage Commission resigned after a reporter with The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer showed Gov. Beverly Perdue a racist e-mail Fox sent about President Barack Obama. The e-mail contained an altered picture depicting the White House lawn as a watermelon patch, with the phrase “There goes the neighborhood…" State Sen. David Weinstein has already said he wouldn't mind taking Fox's former job.

KIND OF BLUE: State Rep. Dan Blue will soon be state Sen. Blue. After winning a behind-the-scenes two-week campaign to get appointed to the seat of former Sen. Vernon Malone, the former House speaker said he wants to finish a few things up before moving to the other chamber. Presumably that means passing bills before next week's crossover that he can then vote on as a senator.

ORDER OF THE LONG LIST: Former Gov. Mike Easley found a lot of worthy North Carolinians. During two terms in office, the Southport Democrat named more than 4,000 people to the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the state's highest award. That's a rate of more than one a day. Recipients included his wife's parents, members of his Cabinet, the Blue Angels and actor Danny Glover, who is not a Tar Heel.

IN OTHER NEWS: Durham attorney Kenneth Lewis is the first Democrat to say he'd like to run against U.S. Sen. Richard Burr in 2010. Attorney General Roy Cooper is widely expected to run as well. ... U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan would prefer that President Obama name a woman to the U.S. Supreme Court, while Burr is looking for a "non-activist" judge. ... Under pressure by Governor Perdue and Chief Justice Sarah Parker, statewide elected officials and elected judges have all volunteered to take a half a percent pay cut in line with one faced by state workers.

State Sen. David Weinstein wants to run the alcohol commission.

The Lumberton Democrat, now in his seventh term, told the Fayetteville Observer he plans to retire from the legislature at the end of the year.

"It's not as fun as it used to be, all that — the ethics, and the people report anything you do," he said. "They always report the bad things, not the good things, and we do a lot of good things." 

He would like to be the next chairman of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission.

Former chairman Doug Fox resigned this week after a Dome contributor showed Gov. Beverly Perdue a racist e-mail he sent from his work account.

Weinstein campaigned for Perdue in 2008.  

Gov. Beverly Perdue asked for — and received — the resignation of N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Commission Chairman Doug Fox today, just hours after newspapers provided Perdue's office with a copy of a racist photo illustration sent from Fox's e-mail address following last November's election.

The e-mail included an altered photo of the White House that turned the South Lawn into an enormous watermelon patch. The phrase, "There goes the neighborhood..." was printed above the photo, Mark Johnson reports.

The e-mail was sent from Fox's law firm address on Nov. 14, ten days after Barack Obama was elected president. The message, which had been forwarded multiple times by others before reaching Fox, contained no text other than a subject line: "how true."

Fox made no mention of the e-mail in his resignation letter, instead suggesting that he was leaving voluntarily.

"I believe it is time to surrender the helm to someone new," Fox wrote.

But Perdue indicated in a statement today that the resignation was linked to the e-mail.

More after the jump.

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