Has Gov. Mike Easley made sacrifice fashionable?

The New York Times' Freakonomics blog notes that North Carolina's water demand dropped dramatically after Easley pleaded for residents to cut their water use in half by Halloween.

Though the average drop was only 30 percent, that's still a lot, writes Melissa Lafsky. And Union County nearly met the goal with a 48 percent decrease in consumption.

For a state with a population of almost nine million, these results are impressive enough to warrant attention, and could be an indicator of an even more impressive trend: that people are willing, under the right circumstances, to act decisively and make sacrifices on behalf of the public good.

On the other hand, she notes, the timing could have skewed the results, with cooling weather reducing demand.

Proposals to establish a transfer tax on real estate sales were shot down by voters in several North Carolina counties today.

Voters in Graham, Hoke, Gates, Washington, Davie and Union counties voted down the tax, according to unofficial totals.

Update: With 16 of 19 precincts reporting in Chatham County, 6,850 people voted against the transfer tax referendum and 3,133 voted for it, according to unofficial totals.