Perdue completes Cabinet with health dept. pick

RALEIGH -- North Carolina Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue has wrapped up her Cabinet picks by choosing a former deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to lead the agency. Perdue on Tuesday named Lanier Cansler as department secretary. She also named secretaries to the other three departments. Current Administration Secretary Britt Cobb will stay on the job, the only holdover from outgoing Gov. Mike Easley's Cabinet. Former Bank of America executive Kenneth Lay will head the Department of Revenue. Retired Triangle-area Council of Governments chairman Dee Freeman will lead the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Perdue has now named all 10 Cabinet secretaries. Her inauguration is scheduled for Saturday. (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)