Charlotte North Carolina

Healthstat Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., will operate and manage an on-site clinic for the city of Greeley. ...

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry has died, one day after falling out of the back of a pickup truck in what authori...

NEW YORK — Bank of America Corp. is sending notices to a limited number of customers that it will start charging an annual fee for some of its rewards credit cards starting next year.

The $29 fee will be applied every February, according to a letter sent to a customer and obtained by the Associated Press.

"We're testing this to see what the feedback is. In terms of any plans going forward, we haven't made any decisions," said Betty Riess, a spokeswoman for Bank of America. She said the fee is being "tested" on 1 percent of its credit card accounts globally, but declined to give specific numbers.

PORTLAND, Maine — FairPoint Communications Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday barely 18 months after becoming northern New England's dominant telecommunications company, fulfilling critics' predictions that the company wasn't up to the task.

The company said it voluntarily filed for bankruptcy after agreeing on a deal with key lenders that would lower its debt by about 62 percent.

FairPoint, based in Charlotte, N.C., owns and operates phone companies in 18 states with a total of 1.65 million lines. Its largest holdings are in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, where it bought Verizon Communications Inc.'s land lines and Internet network for $2.3 billion in 2008.

FairPoint has been struggling under a large debt and falling revenues, as well as customer-service, billing and other problems since switching over to its own computer systems in northern New England nine months ago.

The bankruptcy filing was widely anticipated as the company has negotiated with banks and bondholders to restructure its debt.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry has died, one day after suffering serious injuries upon falling out of the back o...

RALEIGH, N.C. — Premier Inc., a health care purchasing and data company, announced Wednesday it's moving its headquarters from California to Charlotte while increasing its work in North Carolina's largest city by 300 jobs.

A state economic incentives panel approved an agreement with Premier that could pay the company $4.1 million over the next nine years if it creates the jobs over the next five, keeps them through 2018 and meets investment targets.

Premier, with 750 of its 1,250 workers already based out of Charlotte, will shift its headquarters from San Diego to Charlotte in part because many executive team members and its three divisions already are there, company spokesman Alven Weil said.

The new jobs will be created due to the company's growth and aren't being transferred to Charlotte from San Diego, Weil said.

Premier is owned by more than 200 not-for-profit hospitals and health care systems that share clinical information and leverage purchasing on everything from syringes to imaging equipment to reduce costs. The alliance works with more than 2,200 hospitals and 63,000 health care providers.

NEW YORK — The pilots who landed a US Airways jet safely in the Hudson River are reuniting in a cockpit for the first time for a flight out of New York.

Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and 1st Officer Jeffrey Skiles are slated to fly from LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday.

US Airways announced earlier that Sullenberger would return to the cockpit. He will make regular flights and supervise other pilots as part of the airline's safety management team.

Sullenberger ditched his Airbus A320 in the Hudson on Jan. 15 after a collision with geese killed power in both engines minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia for Charlotte. All 155 people on the plane survived.

NEW YORK — Bank of America Corp. says its embattled CEO Ken Lewis will retire from the bank by the end of the year.

The bank has issued a statement Wednesday saying Lewis would also leave the board of the bank.

Lewis and Bank of America have been the targets of intense criticism since the bank agreed to buy Merrill Lynch & Co. at the height of the financial crisis last year. Since the deal closed Jan. 1, it was learned that Merrill, with the knowledge of Bank of America executives, gave billions of dollars in bonuses to employees even as it asked for more bailout money from the government.

NEW YORK — Bank of America Corp. says its embattled CEO Ken Lewis will retire from the bank by the end of the year.

The bank has issued a statement Wednesday saying Lewis would also leave the board of the bank.

Lewis and Bank of America have been the targets of intense criticism since the bank agreed to buy Merrill Lynch & Co. at the height of the financial crisis last year. Since the deal closed Jan. 1, it was learned that Merrill, with the knowledge of Bank of America executives, gave billions of dollars in bonuses to employees even as it asked for more bailout money from the government.

When Bill Sparkman told retired trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door collecting census data in rural Kentucky, the former cop drew on years of experience for a warning: "Be careful."

The 51-year-old Sparkman was found this month hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery with the word "fed" scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment.

"Even though he was with the Census Bureau, sometimes people can view someone with any government agency as 'the government.' I just was afraid that he might meet the wrong character along the way up there," said Acciardo, who directs an after-school program at an elementary school where Sparkman was a frequent substitute teacher.

The Census Bureau has suspended door-to-door interviews in rural Clay County, where the body was found, until the investigation is complete, an official said.

The law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, did not say what type of instrument was used to write the word on the chest of Sparkman, who was supplementing his income doing Census field work. He was found Sept. 12 in a remote patch of Daniel Boone National Forest and an autopsy report is pending.