By JAY PRICE, Raleigh News and Observer

DURHAM, N.C. - Black and Asian adolescents are much less likely to abuse or become dependent on drugs and alcohol than white kids, according to a Duke University-led study based on an unusually large sample of kids from all 50 states.

RALEIGH, N.C. - When Abdurrahim el-Keib was a graduate student at North Carolina State University, like many a future political figure he kept late hours, toiling night after night to put his lofty thoughts into inspiring words that might incite future generations to action.

CLAYTON, N.C. - Karli Bossman's odd behaviors came in a sudden, overwhelming wave.

Karli, then 5, had loved going to kindergarten, but suddenly she began grabbing doorframes and fighting furiously to stay home every morning when her parents tried to take her.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Researchers have found that young adults may be much more likely to have high blood pressure -- traditionally a problem for older people -- than previously thought.

The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill researchers think the growing national problems with diet, obesity and sedentary lifestyles are largely to blame for the increase.

RALEIGH, N.C. - North Carolina's cash-strapped public universities, state government agencies and several local governments are turning to an unusual way to pay for energy-saving building renovations: not paying.

RALEIGH, N.C. - North Carolina's own walking parody of U.S. foreign policy is at it again.

This time Mexico is the stage for veteran con man Jonathan Keith "Black Jack" Idema. Is he on yet another Rambo mission?

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Kyle Henn walked away from a plane crash at a small airport here that killed one man and left another in critical condition, but you can't say he's lucky.

Fort Bragg, N.C., soldiers whose goofy war-zone remake of a Lady Gaga video went viral over the weekend and soared to more than 3 million hits on YouTube have won a thumbs up from the brass.

RALEIGH, N.C. - On the morning of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, thousands of men and women all over the country decided to join the military. What Michael Steer decided that day probably saved the lives of some of them.

KABUL - First came the Brezhnev Market. Then the Bush Market.

Now Afghans are beginning to call their notorious bazaar full of chow and supplies bought or stolen from the vast U.S. military bases by the name of the current American president, a modest counterweight to his Nobel Peace Prize.