Gov. Mike Easley inducted close associates on his last day.

The two-term Democrat awarded 15 of his staffers and Cabinet members the Order of the Long Leaf Pine on his last day in office, Jan. 9, 2009.

The list includes longtime aide Franklin Freeman, chief legal counsel Reuben Young, spokeswoman Sherri Johnson, state health director Leah Devlin and senior assistant Susan Rabon.

He also gave an award to troubled parole chief Robert Lee Guy, although it was not included in state records.

As noted previously, Easley gave the award to more than 4,000 people over eight years, a rate of more than one a day.

A list of last-day awards after the jump.

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Dr. Jeffery P. Engel has been named state health director.

N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Lanier Cansler announced he was promoting the current state epidemiologist today.

"North Carolina has an ambitious public health agenda before it," Engel said in a statement. "We face tough economic times. It is in times such as these that we must be most vigilant to maintain our successes and find new strategies to make us a healthier state."

Engel replaces State Health Director Leah Devlin, who retired in January but will serve in an interim capacity through March 2.

A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Engel served on the faculty of East Carolina University from 1988 to 2002, including a stint as director of hospital infection control for Pitt County Memorial Hospital.

He has served as state epidemiologist since 2002.

Update: Engel will make $211,251 a year in the post. 

Dr. Leah Devlin, state health director, intended to retire last month.

But she's still at work and still being quoted in press releases, Lynn Bonner reports.

Devlin agreed to stay until a replacement is named, according to a state Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman. There's no word when that will happen.

Leah Devlin, the longtime state health director, is retiring.

Devlin informed Dempsey Benton, head of the state Department of Health and Human Services, of her plans in a letter today.

Devlin said in the letter that she was thankful for the work done by state and local public health departments on chronic disease prevention, improving women and children's health, controlling communicable diseases and preparing to respond to bioterrorism.

"North Carolina's public health system and tradition are held in high esteem nationally," Devlin wrote.

Devlin's retirement is effective Jan. 31.

Mike Easley has formed a task force to protect agricultural workers exposed to pesticides.

The task force comes after advocates for migrant workers said the state did a poor job handling complaints of dangerous pesticide exposure involving Ag-Mart, one of the nation's top suppliers of grape tomatoes, Dan Kane reports.

Two years ago, the state accused the Florida-based company of 369 violations of the state's pesticide law, but two judges recommended most of the charges be dropped because the state did not prove much of its case.

State Health Director Leah Devlin will lead the task force, which also includes N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. The task force will hold its first meeting next month and is expected to make recommendations to Easley in May.

More after the jump.

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State public health officials said this morning that cigarette sales have dropped in the first year since North Carolina increased the cigarette tax.

And yet tax revenues from cigarettes continued to grow, they said.

"This means fewer North Carolinians and their families will face illness, disability and early death," said Dr. Leah Devlin, the state's health director. "The increased tax has improved the health of both the state's people and its coffers."

State officials said there was an 18.5 percent drop in cigarette sales in the first year of the tax hike. But they said tax revenues from cigarettes grew by $157 million.

The tax was increased from five cents a pack to 30 cents on Sept. 1, 2005, and then an additional five cents was added on July 1, 2006. That brings the state's tax to 35 cents a pack, still well below the national average of $1.07 a pack.