“Being able to make a difference in somebody else’s life is what it’s about,” said Hall with the aid of an artificial voice box. “I’m very passionate about not wanting people to go through what I’m going through because of choices I made at an early age.”

Hall started smoking at the age of 17 thanks to peer pressure. She smoked for 23 years until a dentist discovered mouth cancer and a sore throat would reveal more.

“They told me I had a tumor on my larynx and they were going to take my voice box,” Hall said.

Since then, she’s been diagnosed with more cancer and is currently battling a brain tumor – all linked to smoking.

Hall doesn’t hide any of her struggles in the national television ads, one of which shows the 52-year-old getting ready in the morning by putting on a wig, inserting false teeth and a device over the hole in her throat. “No one wants to talk with a hole in their neck or breathe through a hole in their neck. But, it can happen. Don’t think it can’t because it can.”

Wednesday her efforts to help others quit smoking gained her recognition from U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin in Washington, D.C.

“It was the ultimate honor,” she says for her work that is backed with faith.  “God has blessed me, He blesses me every day,” Hall said.

The CDC says the ads featuring Hall have made the most impact in their campaign and videos featuring her have received more than 2-million views on YouTube alone.

But, it does take a lot of work to get from the field to the market.

Republicans in the state Senate have proposed a plan that would lower-income tax rates, but add a sales tax to more than 100 different services.

The three-year plan would also lower the state and local sales tax rate in most counties from 6.75% down to 6.5%.

The plan claims to cut taxes by more than $1 billion.

McCrory says one way to rebuild the economy is to make changes to the tax system.

You know how disruptive it can be to your sleep, but Pure Sleep promises to give you some peace and quiet.

FOX8 On Your Side Consumer Reporter Melissa Painter puts it to the Deal or Dud test!

You can buy Pure Sleep at puresleep.com

A fire earlier this year caused a significant amount of damage to the area. The golf course and pro shop re-opened last month.

It’s a great place to connect local farmers to local buyers.

The landslide at Lilydale Regional Park in St. Paul swept over a group of children from Peter Hobart Elementary School in St. Louis Park, burying one to the waist and completely burying another, according to the report.

Another child suffered minor injuries in the landslide. The three children were taken to a local hospital, and one died, according to a local fire marshal. A search for the fourth child was suspended due to dangerous conditions as light rain fell throughout the afternoon.

“Obviously we have a very tragic situation here today,” Mayor Chris Coleman said at a news conference hours after the gravel slide.

Police and firefighters dug frantically with shovels and their hands to get to the children. Authorities estimate it took an hour to rescue a child buried to the waist, and another half-hour to reach the buried child as more workers and equipment were moved in.

As news of the gravel slide broke, parents gathered at the school, located in a western Minneapolis suburb several miles away, to await their children.

Read more at The Associated Press

(CNN) — There’s fresh evidence that American teenagers may be growing weary of Facebook.

They don’t like the fact that their parents, grandparents and other adults are also there, diluting Facebook’s “cool” factor. They complain about their friends’ oversharing, and about too much “drama” on the site. And they’re increasingly flocking to other social platforms, such as Twitter.

These are some of the findings of a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. teens’ social media use. Released Tuesday, the survey finds that teens are sharing more personal information on social media, but are also taking a variety of steps to manage their privacy online.

But it was the Facebook stuff that generated the most headlines. According to Pew, focus-group discussions with teens revealed “waning enthusiasm” for Facebook for the reasons cited, including feeling “drained by the ‘drama’ that they described as happening frequently” on the site.

“The stress of needing to manage their reputation on Facebook also contributes to the lack of enthusiasm,” the survey said.

The Pew survey found that 24% of online teens now use Twitter, up from 16% in 2011. Other social platforms such as Tumblr, Instagram (which is owned by Facebook), YouTube and Snapchat also have seen big growth among young users in the past year.

“Those teens who used sites like Twitter and Instagram reported feeling like they could better express themselves on these platforms, where they felt freed from the social expectations and constraints of Facebook,” the Pew survey said. “Nevertheless, the site is still where a large amount of socializing takes place, and teens feel they need to stay on Facebook in order to not miss out.”

Facebook has 1.1 billion users worldwide and remains the most popular social network among U.S. teens.

A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment specifically Wednesday on the Pew report but pointed to statements by CFO David Ebersman in a recent conference call about quarterly earnings, in which he emphasized Facebook’s popularity among users under 25.

“We continue to have really high penetration rates among that age group, both in the U.S. and globally, and … younger users remain among the most active and engaged users,” Ebersman said. “Younger users are extremely active users of Instagram as well.”

Facebook executives maintain that teen use of their social network has remained steady. They argue that Facebook is not losing users to other platforms — instead, they say, more users are visiting other social media sites in addition to Facebook.

“The urban legend (that Facebook is losing younger users) flows more often than not from surveys people have done of younger users that indicate that they’re using other social services … much of the concern stems from the assumption that this is a zero-sum game, and that’s not how we see it,” Ebersman said. “We think the overall amount of time spent on services that enable you to connect and share is growing and will continue to grow.”

Jeff Hancock, a professor of communication at Cornell University and a frequent social media analyst, mostly agrees.

“Facebook’s attraction to youth is based in part on being connected, but also on being an ‘ingroup’ and ‘cool’ thing. To the degree that the cool of Facebook wears off, we should see some migration of teens to other platforms,” he said.

“People are unlikely to fully leave Facebook but simply to diversify their tools for accomplishing social interaction. Instead of Facebook being the Walmart of social media, it will become just one platform in a big ecology, including photo sharing with Instragram, broadcasting with Twitter, etc.”

Pew’s findings are based on a nationally representative phone survey, run by its Internet & American Life Project, of 802 teens ages 12-17. It was conducted between July 26 and September 30, 2012. Pew also conducted two online focus groups of teenagers ages 12-17 in June 2012.

Pew found that the typical (median) teen Facebook user has 300 friends, while the typical teen Twitter user has 79 followers.

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Bonnie Davis has worked at the museum for over 17 years and says visitors are always amazed that there is a whole lot more to the museum than racing.

Jude Kenan Mohammad is one of four Americans confirmed as killed by drones in a letter issued Wednesday by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Mohammad was one of eight Raleigh Muslims indicted by federal authorities in 2009 as part of an alleged homegrown terror plot to attack the U.S. Marine Corps base at Quantico, Va., according to WTVD.

Mohammed was born in the United States and dropped out of Fuquay-Varina High School in 2006. He left the U.S. two years later.

He was among eight men with ties to North Carolina indicted on charges they raised money, stockpiled weapons and trained in preparation for jihadist attacks against American military and foreign targets, according to WRAL. Seven of them were arrested in Johnston County in July 2009. Mohammed, who was believed to be in Pakistan at the time, was never found.

Holder’s letter gave no details about exactly when or where Mohammad was killed.

Mohammad’s seven alleged co-conspirators all either pleaded guilty to terrorism related charges or were convicted at trial.

Gov. McCrory’s plan suggests cutting $6 million from the Rural Economic Development Center, while the Senate plan proposes a re-organization and possible defunding.

The REDC was budgeted for $16.6 million last year, according to the News & Observer.

It’s programs are geared toward kick starting job creation and economic growth outside of North Carolina’s urban centers.

One Piedmont county that has made frequent use of the REDC is Randolph County.

Bonnie Renfro, president of the Randolph County Economic Development Corporation, rattled off almost a dozen projects started or completed in the last four years that used funds from the REDC.

Currently, Kevin Hill is building a grocery store in Seagrove — the town’s only one — that used about $148,000 to run sewer and water lines to the construction site.

The Randolph County Senior Adult Association is building a new senior adult center on Church Street in Asheboro with $15,000 in REDC funds.

“It’s one of the few ways to get investment in less populated areas,” Renfro said.

A group of business leaders, residents and Elon staff who are known the “Downtowners” have been tasked with developing ideas to revamp the area.

The group has broken down their ideas into different groups including, live music and entertainment, dog friendly stores, Elon Unversity relations and beautification methods.

“We’re going towards a society where we have more than one person households and people want to live in an interesting urban environment, and we can hopefully provide that,” said Anne Morris with The Downtown Burlington Corporation.

She hopes Burlington’s location between the Triad and Triangle will work to its advantage.

“Because of our location between the Triad and the Triangle that within an hours drive, just a rough estimate of over 3 million people live in that area, and there’s no reason why we can’t develop destinations here and become a place for them to come here and spend their money.”

A family friendly event kicks off May 24 with “Fourth Fridays.” Every fourth Friday of the summer months, downtown Burlington shops will be open with special discounts and  vendors will offer food and drinks. Live entertainment will also be provided.

Morris said the revamp plans are still in the beginning stages, but people should notice some small changes in the next couple months.

The 2-lane Research Parkway, which runs from Business I-40, is almost complete. Along that road are plans for retail, mixed use and more research space.

The 90-Series buildings, former tobacco warehouses on Vine Street, are currently under construction to become the future home of Inmar. More than 900 employees will move into those buildings by the end of the year.

Eric Tomlinson, Chief Innovation Officer, says growth inside the Quarter is moving at its fastest pace in 10 years.

“We will have about 4,000 people working sometime about next year. Currently we have about 850, so its enormous growth about to take place. It’s a small town in the making,” said Tomlinson.

Innovation Quarter officials are now marketing the former Bailey Power Plant to developers. The plant has been cleaned of all environmental hazards and is ready for redevelopment. Park officials plan to turn it into a large-scale shopping and entertainment center.

This week, state legislators will also talk about giving roughly $4 million for the creation of a Vaccine Creation and Research Center inside Wake Forest Innovation Quarter.

A park near the Bailey Power Plant is also nearing completion.

Tomlinson says the growth officials have planned for years can finally be seen

“There is an energy building here that is pretty exciting to be a part of,” he said.

Police say a truck driver called in a tip when he noticed two young men acting strangely.

“The delivery driver called us and said that two subjects in this car were trying sell TV’s out of a car at a convenience store over at Kivett and Hendrix,” said Captain Tom Hanson with the High Point Police Department.

Officers happened to be nearby and decided to check out the black Acura.

“One of the detectives recognized it as being a car that was involved in a couple of daytime residential burglaries yesterday,” explained Cpt. Hanson.

Two young men were in the car and sped off when officers got closer. Police decided not to chase them, according to Cpt. Hanson, but did drive through nearby neighborhoods to look for clues.

They found a pretty big one: The black Acura, which had crashed off of Dillon Road and was in the middle of someone’s front yard.

Police say the trunk of the car was full of TV’s, computers and electronics.

They believe the merchandise is stolen and connected to burglaries in High Point and Guilford County yesterday and today.

“When I seen him, his shirt was already off and he was jumping the fence,” said witness Teresa Leviner.

“Then he was running and jumped another fence. So, I just ran out and flagged a cop down coming back by and told him–are you looking for a kid running?! He said ‘yeah where’d he go?’ I just pointed the direction he went,” he added.

Cpt. Hanson added, “That was probably the most helpful for catching them once they ran on foot was having the neighbors all out here pointing which way they went.”

Teresa said she has never seen anything like this in their neighborhood.

“I was glad when the cop came back by and gave us the thumbs up and said, ‘We got him!’ That was good. Good to know,” she said.

Two men were arrested at the scene. Police planned to interrogate them Wednesday and intended to charge them in connection with recent burglaries.

Sometimes, people think of smartphones, when they should be thinking more about smart fabrics.

Repreve is a local company that creates the building blocks of clothing, designed to do more with high-tech yarn that’s made in North Carolina.

Find out more on their website.

The cause of the accident is unknown.

There were no injuries.

Developing..

The Aquatic Park will open Saturday, May 25.

Last year, the park added a lazy river, expanded the deck for sunning and added a children’s splash park.

The park will be open through Labor Day weekend.

For more information visit their website.

The school said it will make an “important announcement about the future of Elon Phoenix Athletics” during a news conference at 2 p.m. on Thursday.

The school is expected to join UNC Wilmington and eight other schools in the CAA.

It’s unclear when the new conference membership will begin, with the 2014-2015 year most likely.

Elon would be the fifth school to leave the SoCon in the past year. Appalachian State, Georgia Southern left for the Sun Belt and Davidson will join VCU and George Mason in the Atlantic 10.

Chattanooga, Furman, Samford, The Citadel, UNC Greensboro, Western Carolina and Wofford are the only remaining schools in the SoCon.

Elon joined the SoCon from the Big South in 2003.

BREAKING: We have confirmed with multiple sources that Elon will leave the #SoCon and join the #CAA. Official press conference is tom. at 2.—
Elon Local News (@ElonLocalNews) May 22, 2013

Developing…

North Davidson against Southeast Guilford–the winner lives to play another day!