WRAL News

The story of a break-in at a Raleigh man’s home begins in paradise. Jonathan Moss and his new wife were honeymooning in Aruba when his landlord emailed some bad news. There had been a burglary at the couple’s home. An Apple laptop, a wedding gift to Moss from his wife, was stolen. “We were really upset about it,” Moss said Wednesday. “Then I thought, hold on, I installed this thing, this software.” An investigator was already on the job. The software, called Prey, can track a computer’s location and even turn a laptop into a private eye. “It takes...

Lenovo announced Tuesday it will add 115 jobs and begin a production line for personal computers at its distribution center in Whitsett, near Greensboro. ThinkPad laptops and desk top machines will be built in North Carolina beginning next year, company representatives said during a news conference at Lenovo’s international executive headquarters in Morrisville. It will mark the first U.S. production for the world’s second-largest PC maker. “Lenovo is establishing a U.S. manufacturing base because we believe in the long-term strength of the American PC market and our own growth opportunities here,” Yuanquing Yang, chairman and chief executive officer, said...

Tekelec’s Ron de Lange and Brian McHenry, co-founder of Cary-based McHenry Software, are among new investors in the Carolina Hurricanes. Hurricanes legend and hockey Hall of Famer Ron Francis also is among the latest to invest in the team. The Canes announced Wednesday that Francis and four others, all from North Carolina, have joined Hurricanes Holdings, LLC.   Francis’ Playmakers Management, LLC, joins GreengardenDRC, LLC (Eliza Kraft Olander and Brian McHenry), de Lange and two investment partners who have chosen to keep their partnerships private. The amounts of the individual shares were not publicized. De Lange is chief executive...

The latest CFO survey from Duke University and CFO magazine finds little positive feeling as executives look ahead to the last quarter of the year. Even cuts in interest rates would likely have little effect, CFOs say. The “Optimism Index” Of U.S. CFOs fell to 52 from 56 in the summer quarter, based on a scale of 0-100. In the spring, the index was 59. Twice the percentage of CFOs (44 percent) have “become more pessimistic” than are more optimistic, the survey found. That’s not good news, warned one of the executives overseeing the survey, As a result, little...

Job seekers face a more difficult challenge in finding employment this fall, says a new report from talent management firm Manpower. In Raleigh-Cary, the hiring outlook is “considerably weaker” than it was this summer, said Michael Doyle, the Triangle spokesperson for Manpower. Statewide, Manpower labeled the jobs forecast as “weaker” than during summer months. The report, which was issued early Tuesday, doesn’t offer much hope to the unemployed in a state where the jobless rate is fourth highest in the nation at 9.8 percent in July. The seasonally adjusted rate was 9.6 percent. “As we look at the final...

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men, and in most men it grows very slowly. Despite that, it’s important for doctors to know which men have slow-growing tumors and which men have more aggressive forms of prostate cancer in order to plan treatment strategies. Thanks to new imaging technology, identifying men who can afford to wait – and those who can’t – is becoming easier. Called parametric MRI, the new type of MRI imaging provides more detailed information that can make treatment decisions simpler, including 3D models that give doctors a clearer picture of growing tumors....

Duke University researchers are taking a $37.2 million bet that they can help develop a vaccine to prevent HIV, which causes AIDS. At one time, an HIV infection was a death sentence. Then, anti-retroviral therapy was developed to control the HIV infection and prevent AIDS. Researchers are now aiming for a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. “The field was surprised two years ago when the results of the efficacy trial in Thailand … were announced, and that vaccine was partially effective,” said Dr. David Montefiori, director of Duke’s laboratory for AIDS vaccine research and development. The laboratory received a...

Many people with advanced-stage colorectal cancer run out of treatment options because their tumors don’t respond to chemotherapy or other drugs. Researchers at UNC Hospitals are hopeful that a study drug might offer those patients hope. For Morgan Throckmorton, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer in 2009, the study drug provided a chance at getting better and fighting a disease she never expected to get. When she was diagnosed, Throckmorton was in graduate school studying psychology. “The whole semester, I wasn’t feeling good at all,” she said. After several trips to the doctor, she got a CT...