RANDLEMAN – Nextel Communications Inc. has donated $1 million to the Victory Junction Gang Camp, which opens next week and will provide a sleep-away camp experience to children ages 7 to 15 with chronic and life-threatening illnesses.

RANDLEMAN – The Victory Junction Gang Camp will be the beneficiary of an online auction featuring NASCAR and Toyota merchandise.

ARCHDALE – Thomas Built Buses officially on Tuesday opened its new $39.7 million school bus manufacturing plant today on the border of Randolph and Guilford counties.

ARCHDALE – Bedding manufacturer Sealy, is leveraging its status as an official supplier to the U.S. Olympic Team to align itself with some of the best American athletes competing in the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Greece.

ASHEBORO – Sara Lee Branded Apparel will eliminate 200 jobs at its local plant by the end of the year, part of a realignment that will shut five Central American plants and cost more than 3,800 jobs.

RANDLEMAN – Rheem Manufacturing Co.’s Air Conditioning Division plans to construct a 180,000-square-foot distribution center in the West Randleman Business Park to serve as the North American headquarters for the fast-growing replacement parts business for the company.

RALEIGH – Progress Energy Carolinas Inc. has filed for a 3.2 percent increase in the fuel rate charged to its North Carolina electricity customers, saying the higher rate is needed to cover the rising costs of coal and natural gas used to generate electricity.

SOUTHERN PINES – Two area companies will make presentations at national conferences in the coming weeks.

SANFORD – The Pantry Inc. (NASDAQ: PTRY), which operates more than 1,300 convenience stores in 10 Southeastern states, has filed a shelf registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to sell up to 8 million shares of stock.

SANFORD – The Pantry Inc. (NASDAQ: PTRY), which operates 1,369 convenience stores in 10 Southeast states, has negotiated an expansion and extension of its gasoline supply agreement with BP Products North America.

DUNN – New Century Bancorp (OTC: NCBC) has approved an 11-for-10 stock split to be effected in the form of a 10 percent stock dividend.

DUNN – Morgan Crucible Company plc has reached an agreement to sell the assets of its Auto and Consumer Global Business to Energy Conversion Systems Holdings LLC, an investment group led by managers of Morganite in Dunn and New Jersey-based MidMark Capital.

SEAGROVE – Dallas-based injection molded plastics manufacturer Moll Industries Inc. plans to expand its Seagrove plant to accommodate production for a five-year, $65 million contract the company has signed with medical device maker Medrad Inc.

MOUNT GILEAD – McRae Industries Inc. (Amex: MRIA) reported third-quarter earnings of $790,000, or 29 cents per share, on $24.8 million in revenue, up from $568,000 in earnings, or 20 cents per share, on $19.2 million in revenue for the same period a year ago.

FAYETTEVILLE — The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is investing over $17.7 million in its Kelly-Springfield tire plant to help improve the plant’s competitive position and meet consumer demand for premium and high performance tires, officials announced today.

ROCKINGHAM – Foster Mantels of California announced today that it will locate an East Coast distribution facility in Richmond County that will initially encompass 19,000 square feet and employ six people.

ASHEBORO – FNB Corp., the parent company of First National Bank and Trust Co., has dropping its independent accountants eight months after a mistake at its mortgage lending subsidiary thumped its earnings.

ASHEBORO – FNB Corp. (NASDAQ: FNBN) has declared a regular quarterly dividend of 15 cents per share, which is the same rate as paid in the prior quarter. The dividend will be paid on July 20 to shareholders of record on July 6.

CHARLOTTE – Hospitals in the Sandhills received grants totaling almost $430,000 from The Duke Endowment for new health care programs and to offset the costs of treating uninsured patients.

SANFORD – The Pantry, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTRY), the leading independently operated convenience store chain in the southeastern United States, today announced that executive management has been invited to participate in the Goldman Sachs Fourth Annual Small-Cap Retail Conference being held in New York at 9:30 a.m. Friday.

ASHEBORO – Cincinnati-based shopping center developer Phillips Edison & Co. has acquired Crossroads Plaza as part of a portfolio of properties it purchased from Edens & Avant of Columbia, S.C.

CHARLOTTE – Cingular Wireless plans to spend $55 million to expand and upgrade its North Carolina network, including adding coverage to portions of the Sandhills.

SANFORD – Central Carolina Community College Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer Matthew S. Garrett was selected by the college’s board of trustees as president-elect Thursday evening. The selection is subject to the successful negotiation of a contract with Garrett and the approval of the State Board of Community Colleges.

RALEIGH – Capital Bank Corp. (Nasdaq: CBKN) has approved a quarterly cash dividend on its common stock of 5 cents per share and plans to repurchase up to 50,000 shares of outstanding stock.

PITTSBORO – Biolex Inc., a privately held protein therapeutics company, is expanding its relationship with Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Centocor Inc. to allow Biolex to begin limited production of three proteins on which the companies have worked and to begin studying a fourth protein.