A major private prison operator that has faced lawsuits concerninginmate and employee treatment in other states is negotiating with North Carolina officials to run the state's mental health treatment for people accused of serious crimes.

GEO Care has a proposal in to the state Department of Health and Human Services to run forensic treatment services, which are now housed at Dorothea Dix in Raleigh and Central Regional Hospital in Butner. Forensic treatment is for people charged with serious crimes, including murder, rape or assault, who were found not guilty for reasons of insanity or who cannot be tried because they don't understand the charges against them.

J. Luckey Welsh Jr., head of state-operated health care facilities, told legislators last week that the department is evaluating the single proposal it received. Welsh did not identify the company, but The Business Journal in Greensboro reported this week that Florida-based GEO Care wants to renovate a former nursing home in High Point for a 90-bed hospital, and proposes to employ a 185-person staff.

A GEO Group spokesman said Friday that no one from the company would answer questions about the proposal.

The state has its population of 80 forensic patients split between Dix and Central Regional.

Triangle home sales are up

The Triangle housing market continued its run of encouraging sales numbers last month, with sales increasing 16 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

The string of solid year-over-year gains is expected to continue as long as the comparisons continue to be influenced by the federal homebuyer tax credits. The credits expired at the end of June last year, but sales were depressed for about six months afterward.

A total of 1,240 homes were sold in Durham, Johnston, Orange and Wake counties in October, MLS data show. Pending sales were up 11 percent and showings were up 1 percent.

While the anemic economic recovery continues to limit demand for houses, supply has been coming down. The number of homes listed for sale in October was 20 percent lower than a year ago.

Cash buyers are also more prevalent. They accounted for 20 percent of the people who bought homes in October, up 23 percent from a year ago.

NCSU OKs tuition hike

The N.C. State University board of trustees approved a $300 tuition increase for undergraduates and even larger increases for other students last week.

If approved by the UNC Board of Governors and the legislature next year, the increase would add about 6.2 percent to the undergraduate tuition of $4,853 beginning next fall. That's just under the maximum of 6.5 percent allowed under UNC system policy.

Tuition would rise $600 for graduate students and out-of-state undergraduates, and even more for students in a handful of "premium" graduate programs such as the MBA program.

Also, the trustees approved student fee increases totaling about $97 a year.

The size of the increases came after a lengthy review process on campus, and Chancellor Randy Woodson said that he wished it wasn't necessary.

School choice not set in stone

RALEIGH School board members hoping to keep accreditation at Wake County's high schools will spend the next two days explaining how they've made major decisions.

A special review team from AdvancED, a national accreditation agency based in Georgia, will grill school board members to see whether they've been following their own policies and procedures.

The review has been the subject of intense political debate, rooted in the board's elimination of the use of socioeconomic diversity in student assignment. The decision to move toward neighborhood schools has sparked infighting among board members and the community, sparking a state NAACP complaint that led to the accreditation review.

School board members initially balked at the review, accusing AdvancED of being politically motivated. But they ultimately agreed to cooperate rather than risk losing accreditation for Wake's 24 high schools.

Mark Elgart, president of AdvancED, said the review team will probe allegations that the school board majority that took office in 2009 violated board policies when it made decisions. Reviewers will also question how the school board will follow through on a resolution to provide "equity and equal opportunity" for all students.

Virtual School short on funds

High school students from Wake County and across the state are being blocked, at least temporarily, from attending the N.C. Virtual Public School in the spring because of a likely $3 million funding shortfall.

State education officials say the funding shortfall is caused by explosive enrollment.

The virtual school's $20 million budget is divided among school systems based on their previous enrollment in the program. The solution will require school systems such as Wake to decide whether they want to tap into already strained local budgets to pay for students to take courses online.

Established by the state in 2007, the Virtual Public School hires state-certified teachers to teach courses online. Students register through their schools to take courses such as psychology or Chinese that they don't have time to take during the school day or that aren't offered at their schools.