U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr will be in Raleigh today.

The two senators will attend the AgFIRST! forum on food safety sponsored by the N.C. Department of Agriculture at the N.C. State Fairgrounds.

They will be joined by U.S. Reps. Howard Coble, Walter Jones and Brad Miller. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler is hosting the event.

The forum will focus on protecting state crops, responding to foreign animal diseases and developing programs for recalling tainted food.

Speakers include top officials with the Agriculture department, an assistant commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and representatives of Harris Teeter and Food Lion.

The event will be at the Kerr Scott building from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. 

Elizabeth Edwards said communities, online and off, help ease grief.

At a reading at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh for the paperback version of "Saving Graces," her account of her struggle with breast cancer and the death of her son.

She said that her community of friends and family in Raleigh helped her recover from both.

"Those people in Raleigh know my bad times about as well as anyone could," she said.

Some were in more humorous ways, including "Bobby, the world's slowest checkout clerk" at the Harris Teeter. She said she also found help on Web sites for the grieving, despite the problems she heard of long hours on the Internet make people solitary.

"I just don't consider that a risk for me," she said, provoking a laugh.

More after the jump.

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Harris Teeter says it is company policy to stock Plan B.

Jennifer Panetta, a spokeswoman for the Matthews-based grocery chain, said that all of its stores are supposed to carry emergency contraception, though they may only have one pill in stock.

If a store runs out, pharmacists are supposed to recommend a nearby Harris Teeter and order another pill on the next truck, which could come in one or two days, depending on the location.

When taken within 72 hours of intercourse, the pill can prevent a pregnancy. A survey by NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina found that three Harris Teeter stores did not have the pill in stock despite corporate policy on multiple occasions.

Panetta said the stores have been contacted and they now have the pill in stock.

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Forty percent of Harris Teeter pharmacies in North Carolina were not stocking emergency contraception this spring, despite a company policy in favor of it.

According to a May 22 letter from NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina to the Matthews-based chain, 33 of the grocery store chain's 82 pharmacies did not have Plan B in stock.

For the survey, NARAL volunteers called each of the stores at least three times and asked about the pill, a concentrated dose of hormones that can prevent pregnancy when taken within 72 hours of intercourse. In some cases, they also visited the stores.

In a follow-up letter on June 29, NARAL noted that the number of Harris Teeter pharmacies not stocking the over-the-counter pill was down to 11.

But after a second follow-up, it found three stores were still not in compliance: The Oak Landing Shopping Center in Wilmington, the Providence Commons in Charlotte and Cloverdale in Winston-Salem.

NARAL plans to encourage women who live nearby to ask the pharmacist about Plan B.

"We want to let them know that the public wants it," said statewide organizer Amy Woodell.