Former Gov. Bob Scott dies

(Winston-Salem Journal) - Former Gov. Bob Scott, a member of a populist political dynasty in North Carolina who helped push the first retail cigarette tax to pay for public kindergarten and later ran the community college system, died early this morning at the age of 79.

Scott, whose health had been declining for months, died about 3 at Hospice Palliative Care Center of Alamance County, according to his daughter, Meg Scott Phipps.

"We will miss him and we know that he loved this state and the people in this state," Phipps told The Associated Press. "We'll miss his humor and his compassion."