In a win for anti-death penalty advocates, New Mexico becomes the 15th state to ban the death penalty.

Gov. Bill Richardson signed legislation Wednesday repealing New Mexico's death penalty, making it the second state to ban executions since the U.S. Supreme reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

Richardson, a Democrat who formerly supported capital punishment, said signing the bill was the "most difficult decision" of his political life but that "the potential for ... execution of an innocent person stands as anathema to our very sensibilities as human beings."

Richardson said he made the decision after going to the state penitentiary, where he saw the death chamber and visited the maximum security unit where those sentenced to life without parole could be housed.

"My conclusion was those cells are something that may be worse than death," he said. "I believe this is a just punishment."

Read the rest of this Huffington Post article here.

Further reading from Death Watch North Carolina about death row inmates in Durham County:

A new study shows that black defendants in Durham County who are accused of killing white victims are six times more likely to face the death penalty than black defendants whose victims are also black.

Read the rest of this post here.

This is good news on several levels: The construction projects will put people to work, the city will have a pretty new building, folks who work Uptown will be able to get to class on time and, hopefully, the curriculum will be non-traditional-student friendly. (Meaning: Classes will be scheduled in such a way that older, often married and working people will be able to graduate in a reasonable amount of time.)

But, as a UNC Charlotte senior, graduating in May, it's a little frustrating to learn my school is going to spend $50.4 million dollars on a new building as professors lament the fact that their contracts aren't being renewed right after they apologize to the class for making us print our own syllabi — because the school can't afford the paper and ink. I'm not a math major, but those numbers seem off to me. Just sayin'.

Chancellor Philip Dubois said the university has built many academic buildings in the past few years, but this might be its most important.

“We are literally bringing our considerable intellectual resources to the heart of the Charlotte community,” he said.

The 143,000-square-foot building at the southwest corner of Brevard and Ninth streets will overlook a proposed 4-acre park within Levine Properties' planned 22-acre urban village.

Over time, the village also is to include parking garages and up to 2 million square feet of offices, apartments, condos, shops and restaurants.

See what the new building will look like and read the rest of this Charlotte Observer article here.

I know this will come as a surprise to you, but many employers care more about their shareholders and bottom line than their workers. Here's one more example:

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification was enacted 20 years ago, and its intent was to prevent situations where rank-and-file employees show up for work only to discover that their employer has shut down without notice. WARN does this by requiring companies that are planning mass layoffs to notify their state and local government, as well as the affected workers, at least 60 days in advance.

There are plenty of ways to follow the letter of the WARN Act but not the spirit. For example, for WARN to be triggered, the layoffs generally must occur within a 30-day period, so companies can get around WARN by staggering their job cuts. Buyouts, retirements and firings don't count as layoffs, so if a smaller company wants to lay off 55 workers without filing a WARN, it can get six of them to take buyouts.

Reducing a worker's hours by less than 50 percent doesn't count as a layoff, either, so companies can cut all their employees from 40 hours to 21 without triggering WARN.

There are various reasons for companies wanting to avoid WARN. Some think that detailed layoff disclosures will make investors nervous, or they view the information as trade secrets. Businesses also have argued that employees will stop showing up to work if they know their jobs are about to end.

Read the rest of this Charlotte Observer article here.

Natasha Richardson, a Tony Award-winning actress whose career melded glamorous celebrity with the bloodline of theater royalty, died Wednesday in a Manhattan hospital, where she had been flown suffering from head injuries after a skiing accident on Monday north of Montreal. She was 45 and lived in Manhattan and Millbrook, N.Y.

"Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha,” said a statement from the family. “They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time."

Read the rest of this New York Times article here.