KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – Just five years after Pillotex shut down a massive textile plant and threw 4,800 people out of work, the site where the largest mass layoff in North Carolina history will soon be humming again.

However, the hum will be from computers and other technology, not looms.

The North Carolina Research Center will formally open its doors later this summer when the massive yet beautiful 300,000 square foot main building opens. Soon thereafter two smaller but certainly impressive buildings will open for work to be done by scientists and researchers from N.C. State, Dole Food and the University of North Carolina system.

Thursday night, some 100 business executives turned out for a reception and preview of the $1.5 billion complex that is being built by billionaire David Murdock. The NCRC, site developer Castle & Cook and WRAL Local Tech Wire co-hosted the event, and several first-time visitors to the NCRC were stunned

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — So the Global TransPark isn’t a boondoggle any more?

One tenant, albeit a big one, and 1,000 jobs pledged over a decade-long commitment at Kinston proves GTP backers right after nearly $90 million in state and federal subsidies?

One tenant and 1,000 jobs makes the GTP the “best thing we’ve got going in North Carolina”?

Please, governor.

Yes, a tip of the hat is due to Gov. Mike Easley, former Govs. Jim Hunt and Jim Martin and state and local government officials who kept the GTP on life support for 15 years. Their persistence paid off Wednesday when Spirit AeroSystems said it would build a manufacturing facility in Kinston.

However, North Carolina taxpayers will pay a hefty price for the plant. And The Skinny just doesn’t buy into Easley’s political hyperbole about what the Spirit decision means.

“The Global TransPark is the

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. - The Skinny’s post Tuesday about Fortune Small Business ranking Durham as the best place to “live and launch” a business in the Triangle triggered a barrage of reactions – negative AND positive.

WRAL.com’s community Web site “golo” carried 94 posts from readers on both sides of the issue – some saying the survey is bull dip and others saying it’s bull right-on about the Bull Durham city.

Thousands of people also read the column - more in fact than those who read about the aerospace firm's decision to build a plant at the Global TransPark, creating  a potential for thousands of new, high-paying jobs.

The fired-up reactions show just how firmly some people hold to beliefs about Durham, rather pro or con.

Reaction to Durham’s pick as No. 12 ahead of Raleigh (20th) and without a mention of either Chapel Hill or Cary rankled some people immediately.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — Durham, often the overlooked stepchild when it comes to publicity about the Triangle area, emerges ahead of its rivals in a new survey out from Fortune Small Business.

In its ranking of the 100 “Best Places To Live and Launch,” the magazine ranks Durham 12th.

Raleigh, meanwhile, stands 20th. Chapel Hill didn’t even make the list. No mention of Cary, either.

Best place in the state, however, is Charlotte. The Queen City ranks eighth.

Noting accurately in its profile that Durham is “perceived as the underdog of the Triangle region,” the magazine describes the “pros” of the Bull City thusly: “Thriving biotech and pharmaceutical industries, lots of local arts festivals and college sports.”

As would be expected, Fortune Small Business is full of praise for Research Triangle Park, most of which is in Durham County. However, it also

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – It’s time to get more serious about using video games and other interactive technologies in education.

By using what are called “immersive learning” tools, a growing number of companies and institutions are offering students more ways to become knowledge workers. And much of that cutting-edge technology as well as programs to utilize these tools will be on display in Cary on Tuesday and Wednesday at the North Carolina Advanced Learning Technologies Association conference.

“Long-term competitiveness requires a skilled work force,” says Jerry Heneghan, president of NCALTA and a founder of the national ALTA program. “The ability of our children to compete and prosper in the 21st century continues to decline. Comparing our competence with that of other nations in math, science, computer literacy and engineering -- 21st century equivalents of the three Rs -- we are becoming less