ANNEXATION

More property owners join annexation lawsuit. Several property owners in proposed annexation areas near Wilmington and other N.C. cities have been added as defendants to a lawsuit challenging new annexation statutes approved by the General Assembly in 2011.

MUNICIPAL ELECTION

Schlink wins Morrisville Council seat by 3 votes. The two-month battle over the rightful winner of a Morrisville Town Council seat ended Wednesday with challenger Michael Schlink emerging as the victor.

City elections top council's agenda. The future of city elections will be the first topic up for discussion Friday at the Morganton City Council’s annual January workshop.

GENERAL

Cabarrus cities look to Albemarle for future water needs. Albemarle could sell Concord and Kannapolis up to 5 million gallons of water per day as soon as 2013, according to a $21 million plan to construct an 84,000-foot water line to the Stanly County city, which has water intakes on the Yadkin River.

Topsail residents question benefits of multimillion dollar project. A new $7.5 million inlet realignment project at the north end of north Topsail Beach calls for the town to contribute around $2.5 million. 

BILLBOARDS

Editorial: Roadside trees will be lost to billboards. Not only will billboard companies be able to cut down many more trees than they could before a new law loosened restrictions, under newly approved rules taking effect in March they won't have to replace them, either.

TRANSPORTATION

Norfolk Southern says Red Line may not be feasible on its track. The Red Line Regional Rail Project is facing another major roadblock this week: Norfolk Southern Corp., which owns the tracks it would run on, is balking at the idea of commuter and freight rail operating on the same line.