By Emily

Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) is adding a venti-sized dollop of free books, news and entertainment to its Internet offerings starting Wednesday. The coffee chain’s new digital network promises customers free e-books, movies and other exclusives, including free access to some paid Web sites such as The Wall Street Journal, and is meant to get customers spending more on drinks and content they buy through the site. The move comes as Starbucks faces steep competition from McDonald’s Corp. and other fast-food chains pushing increasingly fancy coffee drinks. But it also offers Starbucks a chance to make money by selling songs, e-books...

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – Faced with stagnant development at the , the Kannapolis City Council agreed Monday to find a new way to build a public health department. City manager Mike Legg said there is a "tremendous amount of concern" about keeping infrastructure development moving at the Research Campus, a $1.5 billion public-private science complex in downtown Kannapolis. The economy has slowed development at the 350-acre campus, where only one new building is under construction and a major tenant (Pharmaceutical Product Development, plans for 300 jobs) recently pulled out. The council agreed to join the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners...

Faced with stagnant development at the , the Kannapolis City Council agreed Monday to find a new way to build a public health department. City manager Mike Legg said there is a "tremendous amount of concern" about keeping infrastructure development moving at the Research Campus, a $1.5 billion public-private science complex in downtown Kannapolis. The economy has slowed development at the 350-acre campus, where only one new building is under construction and a major tenant (Pharmaceutical Product Development, plans for 300 jobs) recently pulled out. The council agreed to join the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners in contributing this...

Computer technology giants Microsoft and IBM have burgeoning partnerships with the Both companies are working with the David H. Murdock Research Institute, the public charity that owns and operates the Core Laboratory at the Research Campus in Kannapolis. The relationships with IBM and Microsoft are important but still formative, said Dr. Kenneth Russell, chief information officer for the Murdock Research Institute. He said the companies will collaborate with the institute and play an active role at the Research Campus, which focuses on human health, nutrition and agriculture. "We are looking for partners, not vendors," Russell said. "This is different...

A major tenant playing a key role in the business strategy at the Wilmington, N.C.-based (Nasdaq: PPDI) has terminated both its short-term lease for temporary office space in Cannon Village and a long-term lease for 40,000 square feet in a long-delayed medical building, a company spokeswoman said. Wilmington-based PPD had planned to create up to 300 jobs at the Research Campus, which is being built by billionaire David Murdock, in the next three years. "Progress in developing, constructing and recruiting tenants to the North Carolina Research Campus has been much slower than we expected," Sue Ann Pentecost, PPD corporate...

The federal government could be the next tenant at the If Congress agrees, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will open a nutrition and agriculture research center at the life sciences hub in Kannapolis, which eventually could employ 150 people and attract hundreds of additional jobs. The Research Campus has long pursued a federal presence in Kannapolis, which would provide a key recruiting tool for developers. "It allows for an avenue to create more jobs and attract more industries," said Leanne Powell, chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell (D-N.C.), who requested a $500,000 earmark to establish the center...

Experimental high tunnels a few miles from Salisbury will change the way North Carolina farms, predicted the state’s top agriculture official. Steve Troxler, N.C. agriculture commissioner, spent Tuesday at the Piedmont Research Station, talking to farmers and tasting strawberries grown under plastic-covered, 150-foot long tunnels. Tunnels have increased the strawberry growing season from eight weeks to six months, nearly tripling the number of berries harvested from one plant. Patterson Farm could become the first commercial grower to test the tunnels next year. More than 80 officials, farmers and scientists from N.C. State University and the N.C. Research Campus attended...