Raleigh

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The number of homegrown terrorism plots hatched by Muslim-Americans has declined over the last three years and remain relatively rare despite public fears, according to a study by a University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill sociology professor.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The woman accused of killing her common-law husband with her two children and then leaving his dismembered body in a freezer pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Wendy Green, 42, entered the plea in Wake County Superior Court in connection with the death of David Green Jr. in January 2009.

She was sentenced to at least 30 years in prison.

Prosecutor Jason Waller outlined a harrowing incident that started because David Green Jr. was worried that his daughter Alexis Morgan Green, also accused in the case, was pregnant at 15.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Stay-at-home moms may have been right all along when their maternal instincts told them they're best equipped to care for their children.

A new study from North Carolina State University concludes that children of mothers who work outside the home have a significantly higher risk of health problems, accidents and injuries.

The study found that kids of working moms have a 200 percent increase in the risk of experiencing overnight hospitalizations, asthma episodes and injuries or poisonings.

Parenting is an intensely emotional subject that leads to feelings of guilt, inadequacy and -- just as often -- a sense of superiority among parents, particularly among moms who handle the bulk of child-rearing duties. The so-called mommy wars have heated up in recent years as the numbers of women with children under age 18 who are in the workforce has risen to more than 75 percent.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- That cool, throat-numbing sensation some smokers find in their cigarettes could go the way of other products the federal government has deemed dangerous.

Menthol, a natural compound found in the mint plant, soothes throats and helps tame an achy tummy. But in cigarettes, some health experts argue, it makes the poison that is tobacco go down more smoothly, tricking the youngest and most foolhardy smokers.

Last year, Congress passed far-reaching tobacco regulations that, among other things, banned chocolate- or strawberry-flavored cigarettes, saying they lured kids to smoke by dressing up cigarettes as candy.

But Congress passed on regulating menthol cigarettes, which account for one-third of cigarettes sold in the United States. Instead, it called for a study and more discussion by the Food and Drug Administration.