The capital city we are visiting today is Raleigh, North Carolina.

The photos are: 1) downtown Raleigh viewed from the Western Boulevard Overpass; 2) the North Carolina State Capitol; 3) Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh; 4) the statue depicting the three Presidents who came from North Carolina (Andrew Jackson (on the horse), James K. Polk (on the left holding a map), and Andrew Johnson (on the right holding the Constitution)); 5) the Main Building on the Peace College campus; 6) the RBC Plaza (the tallest skyscraper downtown)); 6) the Memorial Bell Tower at North Carolina State University; and 7) the Raleigh Rose Garden.

Raleigh is the capital of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the “City of Oaks” for its many oak trees. It is the second most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte. The estimated population on July 1, 2008 was 380,173. Since 2006, Raleigh's municipal population has surpassed those of Minneapolis, Tampa, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis, and it is the 15th fastest growing city in the United States. Its population has grown by more than 100,000 since 2000, an increase of nearly 40%.
Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill make up the three historically primary cities of the Research Triangle metropolitan region. The regional nickname of "The Triangle" originated after the 1959 creation of the Research Triangle Park, located between the cities of Raleigh and Durham. The Research Triangle region encompasses the U.S. Census Bureau's Combined Statistical Area (CSA) of Raleigh-Durham-Cary in the central Piedmont region of North Carolina. The estimated population of the Raleigh-Durham-Cary CSA was 1,635,974 as of July 1, 2007, with the Raleigh-Cary Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) portion estimated at 1,047,629 residents.
Most of Raleigh is located within Wake County, with a very small portion extending into Durham County. The towns of Cary, Garner, Wake Forest, Apex, Holly Springs, Clayton, and Knightdale are some of Raleigh's primary nearby suburbs.

In December 1770, Joel Lane successfully petitioned the North Carolina General Assembly to create a new county, resulting in the formation of Wake county. Raleigh was chosen as the site of a new state capital in 1788. It was officially established in 1792 as both the new county seat and the new state capital. The city was named in 1792 for Sir Walter Raleigh, sponsor of the Colony of Roanoke. The "Lost Colony" is commemorated at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on Roanoke Island, North Carolina.
The city's location was chosen, in part, for being within ten miles (16 km) of Isaac Hunter's Tavern, a popular tavern frequented by the state legislators. No known city or town existed previously on the chosen city site. Raleigh is one of the few cities in the United States that was planned and built specifically to serve as a state capital. Its original boundaries were formed by the downtown streets of North, East, West and South streets.
The North Carolina General Assembly first met in Raleigh in December 1794, and quickly granted the city a charter, with a board of seven appointed commissioners (elected by the city after 1803) and an "Intendant of Police" (which would eventually become the office of Mayor) to govern it.
In 1808 Andrew Johnson, the nation’s seventeenth President, was born at Casso’s Inn in Raleigh. The city's first water supply network was completed in 1818, although due to system failures the project was abandoned. 1819 saw the arrival of Raleigh's first volunteer fire company, followed in 1821 by a full-time fire company.
In 1831, a fire destroyed the State Capitol. Reconstruction began two years later with quarried granite being delivered by the first railroad in the state. Raleigh celebrated the completions of the new Capitol and new Raleigh & Gaston Railroad Company in 1840.
The first institution of higher learning in Raleigh, Peace College, was established in 1858.
After the War began, Governor Zebulon Baird Vance ordered the construction of breastworks around the city as protection from Union troops. During General Sherman's Carolinas Campaign, Raleigh was captured by Union cavalry under the command of General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick on April 13, 1865. After the Confederate calvary retreated west , the Union soldiers followed, leading to the nearby Battle of Morrisville. The city was spared significant destruction during the War, but due to the economic problems of the post-war period and Reconstruction, it grew little over the next several decades.

After the Civil War ended in 1865, African Americans were able to be educated and men could become involved in politics. With the help of the Freedmen's Bureau, many freedmen migrated from rural areas to Raleigh. Shaw University, the South's first African-American college, began classes in 1865 and was chartered in 1875. Shaw's Estey Hall was the first building constructed for the higher education of black women, and Leonard Medical Center was the first four-year medical school in the country for African Americans.
In 1867, Episcopal clergy founded St. Augustine's College for the education of freedmen. In 1869, the state legislature approved the nation’s first school for blind and deaf African Americans to be located in Raleigh. And in 1874, the city's Federal Building was constructed in Raleigh, the first Federal Government project in the South following the Civil War.
In 1880, the newspapers News and Observer combined to form The News & Observer. It remains Raleigh's primary daily newspaper. The North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, now known as North Carolina State University, was founded as a land-grant college in 1887. The city's Rex Hospital opened in 1889 and housed the state's first nursing school. The Baptist Women's College, now known as Meredith College, opened in 1891.
In 1900, the state legislature passed a new constitution, with voter registration rules that disenfranchised most blacks and many poor whites. Added to earlier statutory restrictions, the state succeeded in reducing black voting to zero by 1908. It was not until 1965 that the majority of blacks in North Carolina would again be able to vote, sit on juries and serve in local offices.

From 1914-1917, an influenza epidemic killed 288 Raleigh citizens. The state of North Carolina lost a total of 5,799 men in the World War I.
In 1922, WLAC signed on as the city's first radio station, but lasted only two years. WFBQ signed on in 1924 and became WPTF in 1927. It is now Raleigh's oldest continuous radio broadcaster.
The city's first airport, Curtiss-Wright Flying Field opened in 1929. That same year, the stock market crash resulted in six Raleigh banks closing.
During the difficult 1930s of the Great Depression, government at all levels was integral to creating jobs. The city provided recreational and educational programs, and hired people for public works projects. In 1932, Raleigh Memorial Auditorium was dedicated. The North Carolina Symphony, founded the same year, performed in its new home. From 1934-1937, the federal Civilian Conservation Corps constructed the area now know as William B. Umstead State Park. In 1939, the State General Assembly chartered the Raleigh-Durham Aeronautical Authority to build a larger airport between Raleigh and Durham, with the first flight occurring in 1943.
In 1947, Raleigh citizens adopted a council-manager form of government, the current form.
Raleigh experienced significant damage from Hurricane Hazel in 1954.

With the opening of the Research Triangle Park in 1957, Raleigh began to experience a population increase, resulting in a total city population of 100,000 by 1960.
Following passage of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the main achievements of the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) and the Lyndon Johnson presidency, political participation and voting by African Americans in Raleigh increased rapidly. In 1967, Clarence E. Lightner was elected to the City Council, and in 1973 became Raleigh's first African-American mayor.
In 1976, the Raleigh City and Wake County schools merged to become the Wake County Public School System, now the largest school system in the state and 19th largest in the country.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the I-440 beltline was constructed, easing traffic congestion and providing access to most major city roads.
The first Raleigh Convention Center (replaced in 2008) and Fayetteville Street Mall were both opened in 1977. Fayetteville Street was turned into a pedestrian-only street in an effort to help the then-ailing downtown area, but the plan was flawed and business declined for years to come. Fayetteville Street was reopened in 2007 as the main thoroughfare of Raleigh's downtown.
In 1991, two large skyscrapers in Raleigh were completed, First Union Capital Center and Two Hanover Plaza, along with the popular Walnut Creek Amphitheatre in Southeast Raleigh.
In 1996, the Olympic Torch passed through Raleigh while on its way to the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Also in 1996, Hurricane Fran struck the area, causing massive flooding and extensive structural damage.
In 1999, the RBC Center arena opened to provide a venue for the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes and NC State Wolfpack men's basketball teams.

In 2001, the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium complex was expanded with the addition of the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Meymandi Concert Hall, Fletcher Opera Theater, Kennedy Theatre, Betty Ray McCain Gallery and Lichtin Plaza.
Fayetteville Street reopened to vehicular traffic in 2006. A variety of downtown building projects began around this time including the 34-story RBC Bank Tower, multiple condominium projects and several new restaurants. Additional skyscrapers are in the proposal/planning phase.
With the opening of parts of I-540 from 2005-2007, a new 70-mile (110 km) loop around Wake County, traffic congestion eased somewhat in the North Raleigh area. Completion of the entire loop is expected to take another 15 years.
In 2008, the city's Fayetteville Street Historic District joined the National Register of Historic Places.
Also in 2008, Raleigh has featured prominently in a number of "Top 10 Lists," including those by Forbes, MSNBC and Money Magazine, due to its quality of life and business climate.

Today's Jumble (11/07/08):

OMBUG = GUMBO; KIHCT = THICK; KOTLEC = LOCKET; REHFIE = HEIFER

CIRCLED LETTERS = GOTHOKHIR

What the boxer depended on when he went fishing.

"(THE) RIGHT HOOK"

Today is Hug A Bear Day so break out your teddy bears. You can sit down with them and read a magazine because it is also Magazine Day. And do them both while enjoying candy because it is National Bittersweet Chocolate With Almonds Day.

Other things on this day in history:

680 - The Sixth Ecumenical Council commences in Constantinople.
1492 - The Ensisheim Meteorite, the oldest meteorite with a known date of impact, strikes the earth around noon in a wheat field outside the village of Ensisheim, Alsace, France.
1665 - The London Gazette, the oldest surviving journal, is first published.
1786 - The oldest musical organization in the United States is founded as the Stoughton Musical Society.
1811 - Tecumseh's War: The Battle of Tippecanoe is fought near present-day Battle Ground, Indiana, United States.
1837 - In Alton, Illinois, abolitionist printer Elijah P. Lovejoy is shot dead by a mob while attempting to protect his printing shop from being destroyed a third time.
1861 - American Civil War: Battle of Belmont: In Belmont, Missouri, Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant overrun a Confederate camp but are forced to retreat when Confederate reinforcements arrive.
1874 - A cartoon by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly, is considered the first important use of an elephant as a symbol for the United States Republican Party.
1885 - In Craigellachie, British Columbia, construction ends on the Canadian Pacific Railway railway extending across Canada.
1893 - Women in the U.S. state of Colorado are granted the right to vote.
1900 - Battle of Leliefontein, a battle during which the Royal Canadian Dragoons win three Victoria Crosses.
1907 - Delta Sigma Pi is founded at New York University.
1907 - Jesús García saves the entire town of Nacozari de Garcia, Sonora by driving a burning train full of dynamite six kilometers away before it can explode.
1908 - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are reportedly killed in San Vicente, Bolivia.
1910 - The first air freight shipment (from Dayton, Ohio, to Columbus, Ohio) is undertaken by the Wright Brothers and department store owner Max Moorehouse.
1912 - The Deutsche Opernhaus (now Deutsche Oper Berlin) opens in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg, with a production of Beethoven's Fidelio.
1914 - The first issue of The New Republic magazine is published.
1914 - The German colony of Kiaochow Bay and its centre at Tsingtao are captured by Japanese forces.
1916 - Jeannette Rankin is the first woman elected to the United States Congress.
1917 - Russian Revolution: In Petrograd, Russia, Bolshevik leaders Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky lead revolutionaries in overthrowing the Provisional Government (As Russia was still using the Julian Calendar, subsequent period references show the date as October 25).
1917 - World War I: Third Battle of Gaza ends: British forces capture Gaza from the Ottoman Empire.
1918 - The 1918 influenza epidemic spreads to Western Samoa, killing 7,542 (about 20% of the population) by the end of the year.
1918 - Kurt Eisner overthrows the Wittelsbach dynasty in the Kingdom of Bavaria.
1921 - The Partito Nazionale Fascista (PNF), National Fascist Party, comes into existence.
1929 - In New York City, the Museum of Modern Art opens to the public.
1931 - The Chinese Soviet Republic is proclaimed on the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution.
1933 - Fiorello H. La Guardia is elected the 99th mayor of New York City.
1940 - In Tacoma, Washington, the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge ("Galloping Gertie") collapses in a windstorm, a mere four months after the bridge's completion.
1941 - World War II: Soviet hospital ship Armenia was sunk by German planes while evacuating refugees and wounded military and staff of several Crimea’s hospitals. It is estimated that over 5,000 people died in the sinking.
1941 - Holocaust: In Nemyriv, Ukraine, German fascists murder 2580 Jews.
1944 - A passenger train derails in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico from excessive speed when descending a hill. 16 people were killed and 50 were injured.
1956 - Suez Crisis: The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution calling for the United Kingdom, France and Israel to immediately withdraw their troops from Egypt.
1957 - Cold War: The Gaither Report calls for more American missiles and fallout shelters.
1963 - Wunder von Lengede: In Germany, eleven miners are rescued from a collapsed mine after 14 days.
1967 - Carl B. Stokes is elected as Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, becoming the first African American mayor of a major American city.
1967 - US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
1973 - The U.S. Congress overrides President Richard M. Nixon's veto of the War Powers Resolution, which limits presidential power to wage war without congressional approval.
1983 - 1983 United States Senate bombing: a bomb explodes inside the U.S. Capitol Building.
1987 - In Tunisia, president Habib Bourguiba is overthrown and replaced by Prime Minister Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
1989 - Douglas Wilder wins the governor's seat in Virginia, becoming the first elected African American governor in the United States.
1989 - David Dinkins becomes the first African American mayor of New York City.
1989 - East German Prime Minister Willi Stoph, along with his entire cabinet, is forced to resign after huge anti-government protests.
1990 - Mary Robinson becomes the first woman to be elected President of the Republic of Ireland.
1991 - Magic Johnson announces that he is infected with HIV and retires from the NBA.
1994 - WXYC, the student radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provided the world's first internet radio broadcast.
1996 - NASA launches the Mars Global Surveyor.
1996 - A Nigerian Boeing 727 crashes into a lagoon 40 miles southeast of Lagos, killing 143.
2000 - Hillary Rodham Clinton is elected to the United States Senate, becoming the first former First Lady to win public office in the United States, although actually she still was the First Lady. 2000 - Controversial US presidential election that was later resolved in the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court Case.
2000 - The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration discovers one of the country's largest LSD labs inside a converted military missile silo in Wamego, Kansas.
2001 - The supersonic commercial aircraft Concorde resumes flying after a 15-month hiatus.
2002 - Iran bans advertising of United States products.
2004 - War in Iraq: The interim government of Iraq calls for a 60-day "state of emergency" as U.S. forces storm the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
2007 - Jokela school shooting in Tuusula, Finland, resulting in the death of nine people.