Although competitive factors have reduced the fortunes of many prominent North Carolina families, twenty of them still wield tremendous economic power and influence.
Due to competition and the potentially lucrative nature of the business, more and more personal-injury lawyers are advertising their services and aggressively seeking clients.
The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to construct a consolidated laboratory in RTP at a cost of $200 million to $300 million. The project is meeting with formidable opposition from state Senators Lauch Faircloth and Jesse Helms.
Gaston Health Care, Inc., a holding company with seven subsidiaries including Gaston Memorial Hospital, has managed to combine high-tech health care with personal attention to its patients.
Gaston County is on the verge of the biggest public building boom in county history, a $40 million project that will include a government campus, a new courthouse, and a detention center.
Gaston County has transformed itself from a textile manufacturing offshoot of Charlotte to a diversified hub of high-technology manufacturing, service, and retailing.
The peaks of Crowders Mountain and Kings Pinnacle in Gaston County have been designated a North Carolina Natural Heritage Area. The peaks offer rock climbers and other outdoor enthusiasts the challenge of sheer cliffs and rugged trails.
Gaston College's Regional Emergency Services Training Center is the site of the nation's largest Live Burn Building, where training of textile mill firefighters and nuclear power plant fire and rescue brigades takes place.
Government deregulation of the trucking industry caused some trucking companies to fold. Earl Congdon, chairman of Old Dominion Freight Lines, Inc. in High Point, cites the absence of unionization as one factor contributing to his company's profitability
State banks are gearing up for electronic banking, and in 1995, Centura Banks signed on with Microsoft and Intuit for the first statewide computer-banking program that customers can use from their homes.
Many retirees do not consider retirement as a life of leisure. Instead, a number are launching second careers that include consulting or new business start-ups. Demographers see this as a permanent trend.
Sanford's Static Control Components, with estimated 1996 sales of $115 million, produces products for the electronic industry that include aluminized bags, static protection bags, grounded floors, and anti-static lab coats.
The Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 has eliminated local telephone company monopolies and opened the way for competition. By the end of 1996, at least fifteen companies will be competing statewide for local service.
There was a time when selecting local telephone service was easy. Only a few companies were available. Now a ruling by the N.C. Utilities Commission allows competition, and nine new companies are ready to compete for customers.