Long division.

• Position: Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

We butchered the Old North State like a slaughtered steer, hacking it apart, wrapping the pieces in the cerebral cellophane of what we figured fit best together. We attacked the terrain, tearing maps apart along the Fall Line, which divides Piedmont plateau from coastal plain, and on the fault line that separates it from the Blue Ridge escarpment. Not only did we look at the way the Census Bureau counts counties, we tried to scry patterns from how the National Weather Service clusters them for its advisories and forecasts.

But no matter how we sliced and diced it, we finally had to concede that the job had already been done for us. The best way to split up the state for our new Regional Report (premiering on page 17) was by the seven economic-development partnerships. Except for amalgamating the three eastern regions, we laid our lines on theirs.

These reports -- brief items we've gleaned from around the state -- are a bit of a departure for BNC. For the most part, we deal in depth. But it dawned on us that, as the only statewide business publication, we're the only place our readers can get North Carolina news their local papers don't carry. It's right there in our mission statement, which begins: "We do what nobody else does -- cover one very special place, this state, and its...