How could this be? Cheating and cover-up going on at our squeaky clean lottery? The N&O covers the story.

With a bit of drama Tuesday, lottery chief Tom Shaheen whipped away a towel and revealed a new logo for the state's $1 billion-a-year lottery.

:: snip ::

The commission had just agreed to hire a full-service ad agency for the lottery, but Shaheen said his staff designed the logo. He liked it.

His staff said it depicted an exciting explosion of fireworks against what might be a blue sky.

But by the end of the day, the lottery had scrapped the logo, and officials wouldn't release any image of it, despite protests by lawyers for The News & Observer that it is a public record under state law.

Lottery spokeswoman Alice Garland said a check of trademark and copyright issues had brought bad news: They can't use the image.

Why? The artwork was borrowed -- from a source of stock images familiar to kids, grade school teachers and desperate neighborhood newsletter writers.

"We used clip art," she said.

By the way, that "full service agency" hired is Howard, Merrell and Partners of Raleigh. They've been a fine, upstanding consumer agency for a long time. But with the lure of the lottery, they're now just another highly paid team of pushers and prostitutes, sullying their reputation to seduce people in North Carolina to gamble on the "education lottery." I hate this shit.