GENERAL

Muni bond funds losing tax breaks. Fund companies … are quietly taking funds that own municipal bonds of just one state and rolling them into larger funds that hold bonds from across the country. More than three dozen single-state muni funds have been folded into national muni funds since last year, with many more potential mergers on the way …

SWEEPSTAKES CAFES

Sweepstakes group forms after legislative ban. A new group representing programmers and owners of video poker-style games set to become illegal in North Carolina said it's working to tweak their games to so they can stay in business. The group called the Internet-Based Sweepstakes Organization also said Monday it plans to advocate for legislation that would legalize video gaming and Internet-based games that could be taxed.

ANNEXATION

Appellate court to hear Gates Four annexation case. A western Cumberland County community's fight against annexation is scheduled to be argued today before the N.C. Court of Appeals. The homeowners association for Gates Four - a gated community with a golf course off Lakewood Drive - is appealing a lower court's decision to dismiss its complaints last year.

Castle Hayne residents rally for incorporation. Castle Hayne residents have tried many times to incorporate their community. This will likely be their last shot. Wilmington is barely five miles from Castle Hayne’s proposed boundaries, and the residents would need to ask permission from the Wilmington City Council to incorporate any land closer than that. And Wilmington’s elected body, determined to expand the city, is unlikely to say yes. And once Wilmington annexes Ogden, as the city council intends in the next few years, that five-mile line will run straight through Castle Hayne, killing any chance of incorporation.