North Carolina has moved into a new Top 10 list, for having a high concentration of nanotechnology companies.

A new study by the Project on Emerging Technologies says that North Carolina has broken into the top 10 states for nanotechnology.

The same study says that Raleigh has moved into the top five cities designated as "Nano Metro" clusters, bumping Oakland out of the top five.

For state Rep. Nelson Dollar, the construction vehicles parked in front of statues and monuments on the Capitol's lawn had ruined enough field trips.

So Dollar got his fellow lawmakers to do something about it.

The Cary Republican sponsored a bill that would let state maintenance vehicles park on the streets around the Capitol for free as long as they stayed off the building's lawn. On Thursday, the bill got final approval from the Senate.

"I just wanted it so school children and other visitors to the Capitol could see the vistas," Capitol said.

In the past, trucks were ticketed for parking too long in metered and free spots. The bill is a compromise between the Department of Administration, which own the trucks, and the city of Raleigh, which is planning on installing more parking meters along the streets.

"It was just to make sure that, no matter what, these people would still be able to work and park," Dollar said.

If North Carolina had an official rock song, what would it be?

Dome and our brother-in-blogging David Menconi opened up the lines for your suggestions earlier this week.

The top five suggestions, as judged by no particular standard, are:

* "Carolina in My Mind," by James Taylor: The hands-down frontrunner, a classic song with inoffensive lyrics and a secret darker edge.

* "Carolina Girls," by General Johnson and the Chairmen of the Board: The beach music classic that spawned a thousand "Best in the World" T-shirts.

* "Oh My Sweet Carolina," by Ryan Adams with Emmylou Harris: A touching duet about leaving the South from a guy who never visits.

* "Raleigh," by Rey Norteno: Perhaps a controversial pick with some, but few bands have sung so movingly about why they love Raleigh.

* "Wagon Wheel," by Old Crow Medicine Show: OK, so it's not rock either, but it's got to be in the running for neo-traditional bluegrass song.

Other suggestions after the jump.

   Comments (4)

The largest gay rights rally in state history was organized on Facebook.

Will Elliott, a 35-year-old Durham resident, was upset about the passage of a California initiative banning gay marriage last November.

He contacted a national group planning protests about holding something in Raleigh, but when no one got back to him after a few days, he went online.

Late on a Sunday, Elliott invited about 50 friends to a Facebook Events page, then was stunned when more than 300 said they would come by mid-week.

"We kept having to call the state back to update our application" for a permit, he said.

On the day of the rally, more than 1,400 showed up despite driving rain. Elliott is now planning a commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots through his Facebook group, NC against H8.

He said his group is a counterpart to the more staid Equality North Carolina.

"The civil rights movement of the '60s and '70s didn't just have the NAACP," he said.

The Democrats for decades have had their annual Jefferson-Jackson fund raising dinner in Raleigh.

But on Saturday, some 400 to 500 Democrats are expected to gather at the Durham Marriott Convention Center, Rob Christensen reports.

David Young, the state Democratic chairman, said he wanted to see the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner moved around periodically and he said Durham was a good place to start because of its strong Democratic showing in last year’s election.

The featured speaker at the $100-per plate dinner is national Democratic chairman Tim Kaine, the governor of Virginia. North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue invited Kaine, and she will be on hand to play host.

The appearance by Kaine is another indication that the Obama administration is paying a lot of attention to North Carolina. Both President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have visited the state.

More after the jump.

   Comments (0)

Hundreds of mourners filled a Raleigh church to remember Sen. Vern Malone.

In a two-hour service, speakers praised the polite statesman, the fiery advocate who fought for a school merger and the teacher who worked with blind students.

Gov. Beverly Perdue noted that Malone died after mowing the lawn and reading a newspaper that he often criticized.

"The thing that makes me just guffaw," Perdue said, "St. Peter reached out and grabbed Vernon's hand, and the last thing he saw was The News & Observer." 

Malone joined the Raleigh School Board in 1972 when whites were fleeing the suburbs. He helped merge with the Wake County school board during a period of racial divide, then spent 20 years as a county commissioner.

He spent four terms in the state Senate. (N&O) 

Protesters will gather around North Carolina today.

The Tax Day Tea Party events will protest government bailouts and record federal spending, among other issues, in 30 locations around the state.

An event in Charlotte is expected to draw 1,000, including Republican Rep. Sue Myrick. Another event in Edenton will draw on a 1774 protest in that city. Protests are also planned for Raleigh, Greensboro and Asheville.

The events are being coordinated in North Carolina in part by Americans for Prosperity, a small-government advocacy group. Grassroots volunteers have also set up Facebook pages and used Twitter to promote the events.

Staffers from the John Locke Foundation and the Civitas Institute will also speak at several events.

A bill that would allow Raleigh and Chapel Hill to use credit card based parking meters cleared the House Tuesday.

The bill also applies to Wilmington, Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach and Kure Beach, Ben Niolet reports.

The city of Raleigh intends to eliminate free parking downtown.

Rep. Grier Martin, a Wake County Democrat and one of the bill's sponsors, made a point of mentioning that the bill didn't eliminate free parking. It simply allows those cities and towns  to install parking meters that accept credit cards.

The bill passed 113 to 0. It now heads to the Senate.

Want to know more about the first GOP mayor of Raleigh?

Here's a snippet from "Historical Raleigh," a 1913 history by Moses Neal Amis on Joseph W. Holden, who beat Tom Fetzer to the punch by more than a century:

(Gov. William W. Holden's) eldest son was Joseph W. Holden, who was Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1868, 1869 and 1870, and enjoyed the reputation of being the most capable officer who had ever occupied that position in this State. He was afterwards elected Mayor of the City of Raleigh. He died at an early age and was undoubtedly one of the most talented men that the State has ever produced. His poem of "Hatteras" was written before he entered politics and this piece of composition will last until the everlasting rocks of Cape Hatteras and time are no more. He died in 1875, aged thirty-one years.

Amis was evidently a fan.

Was Tom Fetzer the first Republican mayor of Raleigh?

As it turns out, no. But you'd have to go a long ways back to find his predecessor.

The candidate for the head of the state Republican Party has been touting his credentials in interviews and e-mails to supporters.

"In 1993, I was elected the first Republican Mayor in the history of Raleigh — a Democrat stronghold — in an election hailed by the Wall Street Journal as 'the most impressive reform victory in the country' that year," Fetzer wrote in a recent e-mail.

An alert Dome reader, however, points to Joseph W. Holden, a Republican who served as mayor from 1874 to 1875. (Incidentally, he was also a former speaker of the state House and son of impeached Gov. William Woods Holden.)

Dome, for one, is not going to be a stickler on this.

Fetzer can rightly claim credit for upsetting the city's 118-year reign of Democratic mayors, which we think is his point. And the N&O itself has described him as the city's "first Republican mayor" at least a half-dozen times in recent years.

And, well, Holden isn't exactly running for party chair.

Of course, there is one other little detail: The city's mayorship is nonpartisan.