* N&O public editor Ted Vaden has been appointed deputy secretary of communications at the N.C. Department of Transportation.

* U.S. Sen. Richard Burr could put a hold on Fourth Circuit vacancy unless longstanding Senate "blue slip" tradition is shuttered.

* A proposed state House bill would allow mopeds and scooters to go 50 miles per hour, rather than the current 30 mph speed limit.

* How N.C.'s presidents fared in new C-SPAN poll of historians: James K. Polk, 12th; Andrew Jackson, 13th; and Andrew Johnson, 41st out of 42.