60 The once-hot immigration potato is on the table again. Consulting recently with Democratic and Republican lawmakers at the White House, President Obama made it clear he wants Congress to wrestle with, and formulate a policy for, dealing with the current and surely future illegal immigrants in the United States. www.newsobserver.com/1591628 Old ways die hard, and the North Carolina Senate recently showed that the adage still applies. A slim majority of senators struck down a sensible attempt to fine-tune the law that allows public school teachers and administrators to punish students by hitting them. www.newsobserver.com/1591631 It will be left to historians to determine whether the American invasion of Iraq by George W. Bush was a shrewd foreign policy move, a blow to advance freedom, or a costly exercise of decisions made on the basis of bad advice and political calculation. www.newsobserver.com/1590106 Showing good sense, the Obama administration rapidly resolved an impasse that was holding up release of a list of 44 "high hazard" coal-ash impoundments around the country. www.newsobserver.com/1590105 As Gov. Beverly Perdue herself might say, were she looking at the challenges facing, for instance, a governor in a state with 11 percent-plus unemployment, a budget gap of $4.7 billion, serious bickering ahead on both raising taxes and slicing expenditures, even in public education ... what was that again? www.newsobserver.com/1588563 Keep your seat belts fastened, taxpayers. After rewriting state tax law so it suits Apple Computer to a T, North Carolina attracted another East Coast data center run by a big California company. www.newsobserver.com/1588564 A new North Carolina law brings uniformity to definitions of what constitutes "bullying" in schools, and it requires that school personnel report bullying incidents. In addition, local school boards must establish policies to deal with it. www.newsobserver.com/1585290 Most of North Carolina's historical site markers recall something good -- even if it's only the birthplace of another obscure politician. So the new sign in downtown Raleigh stands out. www.newsobserver.com/1585296 There are all kinds of fraud perpetrated in this country (Bernie Madoff's is just the latest on the national level to come immediately to mind), but among the sleaziest would have to be schemes that bilk the Medicare health care plan for the elderly. www.newsobserver.com/1585294 The Varsity Theater, a longtime resident of 123 East Franklin St. in downtown Chapel Hill, passed away June 25, 2009. www.newsobserver.com/1585316 We've passed the high noon of the year, when an unforgiving sun, ruling in all its glory, pants down our necks with its hot breath. Long, broiling days are but briefly broken by short and steamy nights. www.newsobserver.com/1585315 Lately, North Carolina has experienced the flip side of the food safety issue. Sure, we all want what we eat to be safe. But what about food plant workers' well-being? www.newsobserver.com/1585313 At 50, Michael Jackson was planning another comeback, rehearsing for 50 shows in London that he hoped would take him back to the very pinnacle of the entertainment world, a neighborhood with which he had been familiar. www.newsobserver.com/1585222 At one point in the 1970s, almost every adolescent boy had The Poster. Farrah Fawcett, who died Thursday, came to fame thanks to a hairstyle, a swimsuit and her iconic poster, which every starlet in Hollywood then tried to copy. www.newsobserver.com/1585220 Looking for a computer whiz? Try N.C. State University. www.newsobserver.com/1583772 First, there was the disappearance. Not many governors take off for a week without letting staff, and for that matter constituents, know where they are. South Carolina's Mark Sanford did, and when he got back, the water was hot, and high. What a mess. www.newsobserver.com/1583773 Words from the White House, when they apply to actions in foreign lands, are more than just words. www.newsobserver.com/1582289 In less than a week, the state is required to submit to the legislature a draft report on how to clean up Falls Lake, the drinking water resource for some 435,000 people in Wake County. The lake is rated as "impaired" under federal clean water standards. www.newsobserver.com/1582288