FAYETTEVILLE – Health insurer WellPath Select Inc. has signed a contract with Doctors Direct Healthcare LLC to develop and market HMO and point-of-service product offerings and services to employer groups in the Fayetteville region.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Small Business Administration announced today it is launching a live web chat feature on its Spanish language website, www.negocios.gov.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Small Business Administration, the Department of Defense, the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration are taking steps to simplify the federal contracting process by creating an integrated database of small businesses that want to do business with the government.

SANFORD – Convenience store chain The Pantry Inc. (NASDAQ: PTRY) has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed secondary offering of 5 million shares of its common stock.

LILLINGTON – McCullers Transload and Transport is buying a 100-acre site in northern Harnett County to relocate its shipping and logistics operation.

MOUNT GILEAD – Military boot maker McRae Industries Inc. (Amex: MRIA) declared a dividend of 6 cents per share on the company’s Class A common stock, payable on Dec. 26 to shareholders of record Dec. 12.

MOUNT GILEAD – McRae Industries Inc. (Amex: MRIA) reported earnings of $562,000, or 20 cents per share, for the first quarter, ended Nov. 1. That was up slightly from the $539,000, or 19 cents per share, earned in the first quarter of fiscal 2003.

ROCKY MOUNT – Golden LEAF, the foundation that controls about half of the money North Carolina receives from the national tobacco litigation settlement, has handed out 64 grants totaling $9.1 million this year, including awards to the Carolina Horse Park and the North Carolina Coalition of Farms and Rural Families.

ASHEBORO – FNB Corp. (NASDAQ: FNBN), the bank holding company for First National Bank and Trust Co., Rowan Bank and Dover Mortgage Co., has declared a regular quarterly dividend of 15 cents per share, which is a 7.14 percent increase over the prior dividend rate.

TROY – First Bancorp (Nasdaq: FBNC), the parent company of First Bank, has declared a cash dividend of 24 cents per share, payable Jan. 23, 2004, to shareholders of record as of Dec. 31.

RANDLEMAN – First National Bank and Trust Company will host a groundbreaking in Randleman on Jan. 6 for a new branch that is expected to open in the fall of 2004.

FAYETTEVILLE – The Downtown Development Corporation announced today the selection of Marshall A. Isler, III as its executive vice president.

CHARLOTTE – Hospitals and health care organizations across the Sandhills were awarded almost $1.5 million in grants by The Duke Endowment, which on Monday handed out more than $54 million to organizations in North Carolina and South Carolina.

BUIES CREEK - Little Diversified Architectural Consulting has been selected to design Campbell University's proposed Convocation/Student Center, a multi-purpose, multi-educational complex that will serve as an athletic and recreational facility, a gathering place for students and a venue for campus and community events.

LEMON SPRINGS – It’s not the cover of Rolling Stone, but for the owners of Tobacco Road Golf Club, it’s better.