When he was publisher of The News & Observer, Frank Daniels Jr. was never afraid to mix it up with public officials he felt were keeping public information from the masses.

Daniels is now a member of the UNC system's Board of Governors and chairman of its audit committee. During a Thursday committee meeting, he had to ask for a motion to go into closed session to discuss audit papers related to a campus N.C. Central set up in a church in an Atlanta suburb, Eric Ferreri reports.

It was a request Daniels likely never thought would spring from his own mouth.

"I should sue myself," he joked.

State Sen. Walter Dalton raised more than $100,000 in Raleigh Wednesday night in his race for lieutenant governor.

The event, held at the home of Wallace and Jeanette Hyde, a former U.S. ambassador, showed Dalton's support among the Democratic establishment, Rob Christensen reports.

The event included glowing comment from Senate boss Marc Basnight, who called Dalton "a forward thinking leader."

Among the sponsors were Sen. Vernon Malone, Progress Energy CEO Bill Johnson, Red Hat CEO Matthew Szulik, BlueCross/BlueShield CEO Bob Greczyn, former Lt. Gov. Bob Jordan, UNC benefactor Walter Davis, former N&O publisher Frank Daniels Jr., former Glaxo CEOs Bob Ingram and Charlie Sanders, and former state Democratic chairs Tom Hendrickson and Betty McCain and Barbara Allen.

The other Democrats running for lieutenant governor are Durham lawyer Hampton Dellinger, Winston-Salem Councilman Dan Besse, and Canton Mayor Pat Smathers.

New members of the UNC Board of Governors will officially begin their service July 1, but they were sworn in Friday by N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Sarah Parker.

The new members are: Frank A. Daniels Jr. of Raleigh, former publisher of The News & Observer; Ann Goodnight, a philanthropist from Cary; Clarice Cato Goodyear, a business executive from Matthews; Ronald Leatherwood, a businessman from Waynesville; Cheryl Ransom Locklear, a dentist from Pembroke; and Marshall Pitts Jr., former mayor of Fayetteville.

Not sworn in was Purnell Swett, a former educator from Pembroke, who declined to assume a seat on the board when a controversy arose because of his criminal record, Jane Stancill reports.

Swett, who was elected to the board in April along with other new members, was accused in 1997 of paying himself an extra $13,000 from the school system where he was superintendent.

He resigned and was charged with embezzlement and conspiracy, which are felonies. He ended up pleading guilty to a misdemeanor misconduct charge. The judge gave him a suspended sentence and ordered him to repay the money.