By JOSH SHAFFER, Raleigh News and Observer

Just past dawn, a gray SUV pulled into Hailey Shelton's driveway and made off with Chloe and Dixie.

Nobody heard a bark on that June morning. Nobody found an open gate. The only explanation came from a neighbor, who witnessed the early morning dognappers from across the street.

"They just straight-up took two puppies," said Shelton, 19, who lives in Durham, N.C.

RALEIGH, N.C. - For more than a century, North Carolina clung to a pair of Civil War distinctions thought sacred: It sent the first Confederate killed in battle, and it sacrificed 40,275 men -- the most in the South.

Only part of that may be true.

RALEIGH, N.C. - No ordinary pond-hopper, the vampire flying frog has wowed herpetologists with its webbed feet, gliding ability and habit of laying eggs in tree holes 30 feet high.

But one thing sets the Vietnamese croaker apart from any known species on Earth: As a baby, it boasts a pair of black fangs.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Had she won, Stormy Daniels might have been the only U.S. senator who could perform a lap dance, lip-sync Motley Crue and descend a staircase in stiletto heels.

CREEDMOOR, N.C, - After a 14-month hunt that sent searchers trudging through pastures and peering into open wells, sheriff's deputies found the skeletal remains of Kelly Morris inside a 900-acre tract where dogs chase coyotes and foxes for sport.

RALEIGH, N.C. - The rims on Antonio Hopkins' 1995 Chevy Caprice shine like a rhinestone pinkie ring -- flamboyant to the point of being ridiculous, cooler than a thin mint.

On a yellow scratch pad, Albert Clay works out a math problem that can stump a calculator -- and all of the ciphering occurs inside his white-haired head.

At Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, a family can sit in a softly lit viewing room and watch through a window as their loved one enters the cremation chamber. If relatives want to, they can say prayers and scatter flowers over the body before the metal door closes, or even push the button to move the body along.

Every student at Carolina Trucking Academy was either laid-off or fed-up, so they lined up to take nerve-racking turns driving an 18-wheeler in reverse -- all betting that life as a trucker will make a sweet Plan B.