Flowers have been placed at the statue outside the Andy Griffith Playhouse in Mount Airy, NC. Photo: Tanner Latham

He was a vocalist, an actor, a stand-up comic, a producer and once even a schoolteacher, but we knew him best for creating the mythic Mayberry, a Camelot in bib overalls where home-spun wisdom reigned.

In a surprise move Tuesday morning, the board of the newly-merged Duke and Progress Energy announced Duke CEO Jim Rogers would stay on as the top executive. Throughout the merger process, the companies had said Progress CEO Bill Johnson would take the leadership role, but he resigned today by "mutual agreement."

Mecklenburg County court officials are warning people not to fall for a series of prank phone calls and texts. The calls try to trick people into believing they failed to report for jury duty.

From the website humorhotline.com, pranksters have forwarded a text message or e-mail that tells people to call a number. When they call, they receive message that informs them they will by fined $500 and serve a 30 day jail sentence for failing to appear.

The end of the call lets people know it's a prank.

Andy Griffith died Tuesday at his coastal North Carolina home in Manteo. He was 86.

But home was Mount Airy, North Carolina, in Surry County near the Virginia border, also known as Mayberry.

Andy Griffith had many roles on television and in movies, but his legend was made in the 249 episodes of The Andy Griffith Show from 1960 to 1968.

The show gave us more than laughs. The Rev. Neal Brower says it also gave us life lessons. Brower is the author of "Mayberry 101: Behind the Scenes of a TV Classic."

French investigators searched the home and offices of former President Nicolas Sarkozy today. The AP reports the search is connected to a "probe into suspected illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign."

The AP adds:

"The official says Judge Jean-Michel Gentil and other investigators from the Paris financial crimes unit conducted the search. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be publicly named discussing an ongoing investigation."

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. Later in the program, we'll talk about the latest chapter in the work/family debate that's taken off from a provocative magazine piece written by former State Department official Anne-Marie Slaughter. She resigned her high profile post after two years saying she needed to spend more time with family. And she meant it. We'll ask our panel of regulars in our parenting segment to join her to talk about her piece "Why Women Still Can't Have It All."

Would you pick a doctor just because someone you had never met gave her the thumbs up in an online review? Maybe not, but more people are turning to online sites such as RateMDs.com and Angie's List to look at what other patients have to say about a doctor's communication skills, punctuality and other intangibles that make up the patient experience.

If you want to know where your meat came from, you won't be happy with the World Trade Organization right now. Late last week, the WTO announced that the United States' country-of-origin labels, which took effect in 2008, discriminate unfairly against foreign meat suppliers such as Mexico and Canada.