Edwards aide visits courthouse

bniolet — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:21:02 -0400

A former aide to John Edwards who claimed he fathered a child born to the mistress of the two-time Democratic presidential candidate spent Wednesday in a federal courthouse.

About 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, with his lawyer at his side, Andrew Young walked into the building in Raleigh where a grand jury was meeting. Young simply smiled as he went by and declined to comment about the investigation into his former boss. His attorney, David Geneson, did not return repeated calls from the AP.

A few months before the crucial 2008 presidential caucuses in Iowa, Young publicly declared that he was the father of Rielle Hunter's baby. Edwards placed second to Sen. Barack Obama, who went on to win the presidency. Edwards later admitted having an affair with Hunter that he says ended in 2006. (AP)

Angry e-mails pelted NCSU

bniolet — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:09:04 -0400

From the moment Mary Easley's big raise was made public last summer, N.C. State University's chancellor and provost came under blistering attack, with many parents, students and others sending letters and e-mail messages questioning how they could have made such a deal.

One man wrote three times, exasperated at a lack of explanation about how the wife of the sitting governor got her job. One alumnus wrote only a few words: "What are you people thinking? Idiots."

The seeds of such anger were planted in 2005, when those top administrators created a job for Easley, who was then first lady. The picture that emerges from more than 1,300 pages of documents provided to a federal grand jury is of N.C. State leaders who acted at the behest of the highest-ranking person in state government: Gov. Mike Easley.

The former chancellor who helped arrange the deal, James Oblinger, appeared today at the federal courthouse in Raleigh, where a grand jury is meeting. (N&O)