The North Carolina Secretary of State’s Office has launched a mobile version of the Department’s website.

The mobile site, m.sosnc.com, allows anyone to search the SOS Corporations, Lobbying Compliance, UCC Debtor, Federal Tax Lien, and Charitable Solicitation Licensing databases from web-enabled smartphones or tablets.

After searching in one of the databases, users can simply pull up PDFs of filings. 

“This puts a wealth of searchable data literally in the hands of SOS customers who need to access the site on their smartphones and tablets in order to save time and money,” Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall said Tuesday. “Making these databases accessible on mobile platforms is an important step in keeping pace with how our customers are accessing information.”

To try out the mobile site on your web-enabled smartphone or tablet, just go to m.sosnc.com.

The Newton City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to appoint John Cilley IV as the new City Attorney.

“It is really exciting for me to have been asked by this board and mayor to serve as city attorney for Newton, which of course is my hometown,” Cilley said. “Newton is a community that I have enjoyed living and growing in and becoming a part of the citizenry of a wonderful community such as ours.”

Mayor Anne Stedman said, “I would like to welcome John Cilley, and I look forward to working beside him. I have confidence in his abilities and am glad that we have someone who is very familiar with Newton, having been born and raised here.”

Cilley will have an initial monthly retainer of $2,000 plus an hourly fee of $150 for work performed beyond his attendance at regular, special or emergency called meetings of the council.

Cilley’s appointment follows the Jan.

Gov. Bev Perdue announced Wednesday that $750,000 in grants have been awarded for 13 projects designed to help North Carolina towns and counties restore streams, reduce erosion, study storm water management and benefit other water resources.   

“Protecting the environment makes North Carolina more attractive to residents and businesses,” Gov. Perdue said. “These improvements in our rivers and lakes are crucial in our efforts to recruit new jobs to North Carolina and to maintain the outstanding quality of life we’ve come to expect.”

The N.C. Division of Water Resources awarded the funds as a part of its 2012 fall grant cycle for the Water Resources Development Project Grant Program.