60 Rain dampened outdoor commencement ceremonies this morning at UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University and chased graduates indoors at Meredith College. Some Duke and UNC graduates sported garbage bags and other plastic covering over their caps and gowns. www.newsobserver.com/1068843 A man was killed and a woman critically injured when they each lost control of their vehicles and crashed into trees in Johston County on Sunday. www.newsobserver.com/1068920 A maddening tangle of long-standing immigration laws keeps a West African girl apart from the American couple who adopted her in 2007 while volunteering in the Peace Corps. www.newsobserver.com/1068544 Police are investigating a driver who drove into the front of a house this morning. www.newsobserver.com/1068792 A man walked into a Raleigh hospital this morning and said he’d been shot in a robbery attempt several hours earlier, police say. www.newsobserver.com/1068793 State lawmakers face pressure to act on widely publicized issues that have emerged since they adjourned nine months ago. Those issues include widespread problems in the state's probation and mental health systems and calls for the state to better protect poultry workers from injuries. www.newsobserver.com/1068539 Documents and interviews show that state probation chief Robert Lee Guy had known, at least since 2004, about shoddy work in Wake County that could threaten public safety. www.newsobserver.com/1068537 Fred Clark is the mentor for nearly 1,400 low-income students going to school free under the UNC-Chapel Hill 's covenant scholarship program. www.newsobserver.com/1068529 It was the summer of 1987. Raleigh police were hunting a rapist. A man had already attacked a handful of women in apartments near NCSU. Police suspected the rapist spied on the women before the attacks. They staked out the wooded areas behind apartments filled with NCSU students. www.newsobserver.com/1068509 Dr. Calvin O. Butts III calls on St. Augustine's College graduates to be courageous and not sucked in by materialism but to work hard and demand better housing, better health care and better gas prices -- not just for the wealthy but for all. www.newsobserver.com/1068520 Robert Young, founder and CEO of Lulu, tells Peace College graduates that the key to leadership lies not in training or definition but in action. www.newsobserver.com/1068517 Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina system since 2006, tells graduates at N.C. State University to never "over-promise," whether to their employers, friends or family. www.newsobserver.com/1068515 Actor Roger Guenveur Smith tells Shaw graduates how crucial it is for them carve out a niche to survive. "Get yourself a trade," he said. "You get something they cannot take away." www.newsobserver.com/1068512 There has been a lot of history in that old basketball barn, Reynolds Coliseum -- the Dixie Classic, Everett Case and David Thompson. We can now add Sen. Barack Obama's victory speech Tuesday night -- which had the look and feel of a convention nomination acceptance speech. www.newsobserver.com/1068511 By his count, Dunne Dittman used to hoist as many as 400 pieces of luggage an hour working for a Southwest Airlines ground crew at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. www.newsobserver.com/1068504 Mildred Hopkins was always turning words into stories in her head. After she moved to Raleigh in 1999, she sought an outlet for her literary musings. www.newsobserver.com/1068444 Dozens of friends and relatives shared tears and memories Saturday afternoon during the burial of Irina "Ira" Yarmolenko, the 20-year-old UNC-Charlotte student who police believe was murdered Monday. www.newsobserver.com/1068442 The N.C. Zoo is closed this weekend, typically one of its busiest, due to a water line break. www.newsobserver.com/1068441 A News & Observer reporter was charged with drunken driving early Saturday morning. www.newsobserver.com/1068440 On the eve of Mother's Day, 43 people took part in a walk in Research Triangle Park to raise money to fight preeclampsia, a disorder that affects both mother and fetus during pregnancy. www.newsobserver.com/1068439 British and Australian universities have for years paid commissions to overseas recruiting agents and have attracted a growing share of international students. Now the practice is spreading in the United States. www.newsobserver.com/1068428 Here's a sample of the issues state lawmakers might take up in the General Assembly session that begins Tuesday: www.newsobserver.com/1068376 Rain dampened outdoor commencement ceremonies this morning at UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University and chased graduates indoors at Meredith College. Some Duke and UNC graduates sported garbage bags and other plastic covering over their caps and gowns. www.newsobserver.com/1068843 A man was killed and a woman critically injured when they each lost control of their vehicles and crashed into trees in Johston County on Sunday. www.newsobserver.com/1068920 A maddening tangle of long-standing immigration laws keeps a West African girl apart from the American couple who adopted her in 2007 while volunteering in the Peace Corps. www.newsobserver.com/1068544 Police are investigating a driver who drove into the front of a house this morning. www.newsobserver.com/1068792 A man walked into a Raleigh hospital this morning and said he’d been shot in a robbery attempt several hours earlier, police say. www.newsobserver.com/1068793 State lawmakers face pressure to act on widely publicized issues that have emerged since they adjourned nine months ago. Those issues include widespread problems in the state's probation and mental health systems and calls for the state to better protect poultry workers from injuries. www.newsobserver.com/1068539 Documents and interviews show that state probation chief Robert Lee Guy had known, at least since 2004, about shoddy work in Wake County that could threaten public safety. www.newsobserver.com/1068537 Fred Clark is the mentor for nearly 1,400 low-income students going to school free under the UNC-Chapel Hill 's covenant scholarship program. www.newsobserver.com/1068529 It was the summer of 1987. Raleigh police were hunting a rapist. A man had already attacked a handful of women in apartments near NCSU. Police suspected the rapist spied on the women before the attacks. They staked out the wooded areas behind apartments filled with NCSU students. www.newsobserver.com/1068509 Dr. Calvin O. Butts III calls on St. Augustine's College graduates to be courageous and not sucked in by materialism but to work hard and demand better housing, better health care and better gas prices -- not just for the wealthy but for all. www.newsobserver.com/1068520 Robert Young, founder and CEO of Lulu, tells Peace College graduates that the key to leadership lies not in training or definition but in action. www.newsobserver.com/1068517 Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina system since 2006, tells graduates at N.C. State University to never "over-promise," whether to their employers, friends or family. www.newsobserver.com/1068515 Actor Roger Guenveur Smith tells Shaw graduates how crucial it is for them carve out a niche to survive. "Get yourself a trade," he said. "You get something they cannot take away." www.newsobserver.com/1068512 There has been a lot of history in that old basketball barn, Reynolds Coliseum -- the Dixie Classic, Everett Case and David Thompson. We can now add Sen. Barack Obama's victory speech Tuesday night -- which had the look and feel of a convention nomination acceptance speech. www.newsobserver.com/1068511 By his count, Dunne Dittman used to hoist as many as 400 pieces of luggage an hour working for a Southwest Airlines ground crew at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. www.newsobserver.com/1068504 Mildred Hopkins was always turning words into stories in her head. After she moved to Raleigh in 1999, she sought an outlet for her literary musings. www.newsobserver.com/1068444 Dozens of friends and relatives shared tears and memories Saturday afternoon during the burial of Irina "Ira" Yarmolenko, the 20-year-old UNC-Charlotte student who police believe was murdered Monday. www.newsobserver.com/1068442 The N.C. Zoo is closed this weekend, typically one of its busiest, due to a water line break. www.newsobserver.com/1068441 A News & Observer reporter was charged with drunken driving early Saturday morning. www.newsobserver.com/1068440 On the eve of Mother's Day, 43 people took part in a walk in Research Triangle Park to raise money to fight preeclampsia, a disorder that affects both mother and fetus during pregnancy. www.newsobserver.com/1068439 British and Australian universities have for years paid commissions to overseas recruiting agents and have attracted a growing share of international students. Now the practice is spreading in the United States. www.newsobserver.com/1068428 Here's a sample of the issues state lawmakers might take up in the General Assembly session that begins Tuesday: www.newsobserver.com/1068376