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Health care most miffed the state's consumers last year, according to a list released today by the N.C. Attorney General's office.

More than 5,000 consumers filed complaints with the AG's consumer protection office last year about health insurance, doctors, dentists, hospitals, pharmacies, nursing homes, health products and services. That was more than double the number of consumers who complaints about the second worst offender on the AG's list: Telemarketers.

Also notable among the top 10 are lenders and creditors, debt collectors and identity thieves, home furnishing businesses and contractors.

We've already reported this in the News & Record, but the developer behind a mega-shopping project in Burlington confirmed today that JCPenney will move there from Burlington Square Mall.

Alamance Crossing, a massive outdoor shopping center being built on 142 acres at I-40/85 and University Drive, already has snagged major mall anchors including Dillard's.

Consumers in the area are worried about what this means for the fate of the mall, which has gone through a number of names and owners during the past decade. It's unlikely that Burlington Square will be able to fill the department store spaces with equally large major nameplate retailers.

The new JCPenney at Alamance Crossing will open this summer in 104,000 square feet on a single level, according to a news release from CBL. It will join tenants including Carousel West End Cinemas, Belk, Ann Taylor LOFT and Coldwater Creek.

Be careful when you request your phone tax refund.

If you don't get it right, you could get a visit from the Internal Revenue Service.

The Census bureau released some fun facts today on Valentine's Day and consumption of related gifts and treats.

By the numbers:

$13.9 billion = Total value of 2004 shipments for firms producing chocolate and cocoa products.

3,467 = Number of U.S. candy and nut stores in 2004.

25.7 pounds = American consumption of candy, per person, in 2005.

$39 million = The combined wholesale value of domestic cut roses in 2005 for all businesses with sales of $100,000 or more.

28,772 = The number of U.S. jewelry stores in 2004.

$2.6 billion = Sales recorded by the nation's jewelry stores last February.

C.P. Morgan, an Indianapolis-based homebuilder, could invest $41 million into the Triad during the next two years through three new residential communities - one of them in Greensboro.

The homebuilder, which has an office and a showroom in Charlotte, plans to build homes in Corinth Village in Greensboro, Salem Springs in Winston Salem and Bitting Hall in Rural Hall. The homes will range from 1,200 to 4,500 square feet with starting prices of $110,000 to $180,000, according to a company news release.

C.P. Morgan plans to locate local headquarters and a 9,000-square-foot showroom in Kernersville. The company plans to start new home sales here in May.

K. Hovnavian Homes will celebrate the grand opening of a Greensboro town-home development this weekend.

The Chestnut Bend community comprises homes made of brick, stone and vinyl and prices starting in the upper $100,000s. Town homes include one- or two-car garages and nine-foot ceilings and range from 2,000 to more than 3,100 square feet.

Chestnut Bend is located on Treycastle Lane in Greensboro. The grand opening will take place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Local accountant Jon Harris, president of High Point's Payne Tax Group, has launched a Web site full of tax tips targeted at clarifying taxpayer confusion.

Check it out, at www.1040helpcenter.com.

City zoning officials panned a rezoning request from dealership Rice Toyota during a Monday meeting after strong protests from area residents.

The Greensboro Zoning Commission voted 9-0 to slap an unfavorable recommendation on Rice's proposal to rezone about 2 acres along Stratford Drive just behind the dealership's Battleground Avenue used-car and Scion sales business.

The dealership, which has been on Battleground for more than 40 years and bookends the major road, could be faced with a move if it cannot expand in the current space. Rice wants to put 185 employee parking spaces in the back of deep lots along Stratford Drive to make way for an expansion of its new-car space and various dealership buildings on the east and west sides of Battleground.

The City Council will hear the rezoning request, and consider zoning officials' unfavorable recommendation, on March 6.

The Fresh Market sent 100 fresh loaves of banana nut bread to American troops in Kuwait on Tuesday.

The families of N.C. servicemen and women in one unit had been sending individuals loaves overseas, and the Greensboro-based grocer's community relations director wanted to make sure all members of the unit received bread, The Fresh Market said. Bakery staff members at The Fresh Market's original Lawndale Drive store worked all night Monday and into Tuesday morning to prepare the bread.

I picked this up in my inbox today and thought I'd pass along these tips from Angie's List for any of you who, like me, might be on a budget:

1. Turn your thermostat down to 65 degrees during the day. Go lower at night, if you can - but don't turn off the heat if it's going to be less than 45 degrees outside.

2. Change your furnace filter whenever you pay a gas bill. The cleaner your filter is, the more efficient your furnace will be.

3. Set your water heater at 120 degrees for the greatest possible efficiency.

BET.com thinks Charlotte is the best city nationwide for black families, according to the results of a research project released today.

Interesting that a news release on the selection touts "amenities such as pro basketball and football teams" - considering that BET founder Robert L. Johnson happens to own the Charlotte Bobcats.

The Web site affiliated with Black Entertainment Television gave Charlotte props for communities of educated blacks who own their own homes. BET.com also lauded the city's nightlife, college and university system and appeal to young professionals.

Columbus, Ohio, and Washington, D.C., ranked second. Cleveland, Ohio, ranked last and, not surprisingly, economically depressed Detroit also fell at the bottom. BET.com studied 22 cities and focused on issues including the economy, education and crime. Charlotte was the only N.C. city on BET's list.

Continuing the phone refund saga, the Internal Revenue Service filed search warrants in seven cities this week in response to what IRS agents are calling egregious claims for phone tax refunds.

The IRS slapped warrants on tax-prep businesses in these cities: Atlanta, Dallas; Tyler, Texas; Athens, Texas; Riverside, Calif.; Miami and New Orleans. Agents closed the businesses and seized both computers and documents, the IRS reported today.

Thus far, I've received no reports of similar investigations in the Triad.

It wasn't much of a shock.

Tesla Motors, a California start-up automotive company, put the brakes on proposals from North Carolina and chose Albuquerque, N.M., instead, for its first car plant. The plant will employ 400 people and cost $35 million, according to a news release from the New Mexico governor's office.

The News & Record previously reported that Tesla had received numerous proposals from developers throughout this state. A 600-acre site, owned by Samet Corp., was thought to be on Tesla's short list.

Ben & Jerry's kicked off construction at the Palladium at Deep River in High Point this week.

The ice-cream shop, near the Palladium Cinemas, is slated to open by April 17. Ben & Jerry's franchises distribute free cones and cups of ice cream on that date nationwide, each year.

At least we're not alone.

North Carolina tied with Florida and Tennessee for the top farm losses in the country during 2005, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture today.

The Internal Revenue Service is asking taxpayers to look out for a dozen of this year's biggest schemes.

Not surprisingly, abuse of the telephone excise tax tops the list. I've said enough about that here, for now. But some of the other scams and issues might be worth a few minutes of self-education.

Check out the ones that might impact individual taxpayers, after the jump ...

More than 40 people gathered in Greensboro tonight to form a plan to put the brakes on a local dealership's expansion.

Rice Toyota faces fierce opposition to its plans to put a parking lot on the back portions of residential lots fronting on Stratford Drive. The longtime dealership's neighbors put up a fight at the Feb. 12 city Zoning Commission meeting. And all nine commission members voted against Rice's request to rezone portions of the neighborhood land for parking cars.

GREENSBORO — Sales of existing homes in the state fell 2 percent last month compared to January 2006.

But the Triad did not take a hit, the N.C. Assocation of Realtors reported Friday. Sales here were up 6 percent last month — for a total of 1,013 existing homes sold.

The average price for an existing home in the Triad remained stable, year-over-year, at $176,469. Total sales dollars in the Triad last month nearly hit $1.8 million — also up 6 percent year-over-year.

The National Association of Realtors will release national data on January sales Tuesday.

The state’s taxpayers are overlooking a major tax credit this year.

As of Feb. 16, about 28 percent of the state’s early filers had not requested a telephone tax refund. This one-time credit applies to anyone who paid the federal excise tax on long-distance phone service between March 2003 and July 2006.

Mark Hanson, a local spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service, said Monday that unrequested refunds in North Carolina total more than $7.5 million — at least $30 for each early filer who neglected the credit.

Visit www.irs.gov for details on the phone tax refund. Consumers who paid the excise tax but who do not have to file a tax return still can get a refund by submitting a 1040EZ-T to the IRS. This tax form is available at area libraries and online.

The state could see thousands of new jobs in health care and education during the next seven years, according to the Employment Security Commission.

The commission predicted in a Monday report that North Carolina will pick up 700,000 jobs between 2004 and 2014.

Jobs here, buoyed by heath care, could grow at a rate of nearly 17 percent — compared to a predicted 13 percent national growth rate for the same period. But the state’s production jobs will continue to dwindle, helped along by the textile-industry losses that have hit the Triad so hard.

Opponents of Smithfield Packing plan to take their boycott of the company to Harris Teeter's doors at the end of March.

The Matthews-based grocer will be the target of a March 31 protest against products from Tar Heel-based Smithfield, which has been accused of abusing its workers and putting them in harm's way.

Protestors want Harris Teeter to stop carrying Smithfield's pork products. Thus far, one store - Jefferson Market and Restaurant in Ann Arbor, Mich. - has discontinued stocking Smithfield products in response to complaints from ministers, students and activists.

Rice Toyota has requested an additional 30 days to work out changes to its rezoning request along Stratford Drive.

Rice's request to rezone portions of residential lots behind its Scion and used-car dealership could show up at the April 3 meeting of the City Council.

The rezoning hearing was originally slated for March 6.

If you’re planning to attend the High Point Market but haven’t booked your hotel yet, the market authority has some advice for you.

Book it soon and for the middle of the week.

Hotel rooms for the market’s first day, March 26, will be difficult to find, but there are deals for those booking later in the week, said Dawn Smith, a market authority spokeswoman.

A handful of North Carolina mayors have jumped on a national effort, encouraging consumers to use direct deposit for paychecks and federal benefits checks.

The mayors of Asheville, Charlotte, Durham, Gastonia, Raleigh and Winston-Salem have declared March "Go Direct" month. Their mission: Encourage consumers who get Social Security benefits and other regular checks to swap paper for direct deposit.

This local effort falls in line with a national campaign by the U.S. Treasury, which advocates for direct deposit as a much more secure method of receiving money, especially for older consumers or people with a high risk of falling prey to identity theft or fraud.

Greensboro's VF Corp. announced today that it has acquired Majestic Athletic, the Pennsylvania-based company that dresses up Major League Baseball.

Along with VF's January acquisition of California travel-gear company Eagle Creek, the Majestic Athletic deal could add $180 million to VF's revenues this year, Chief Executive Officer Mackey J. McDonald said in a news release.

A VF spokesman said the purchase price was not disclosed, and the news release about the acquisition did not include financial details about the Majestic deal. Industry analysts previously have estimated the deal to be worth more than $100 million.

A privately-owned company based in Bangor, Pa., Majestic employs about 750 people and produces uniforms, outerwear and licensed athletic gear for all the Major League Baseball teams. Majestic also manufactures fan clothing for NBA teams, including the Charlotte Bobcats; minor league baseball teams, including the Greensboro Grasshoppers; and colleges and universities.

The Majestic deal is VF's first foray into producing athletic uniforms, though the Greensboro company's VF Imagewear division already makes clothing for fans of various professional sports, including hockey, football and racing.

Mackey J. McDonald, VF Corp.'s chief executive and chairman, is set to be honored at a major fashion industry event tonight.

The Fashion Institute of Technology, in New York, plans to laud McDonald at a 600-person dinner that costs $750 a plate.