Under the Dome reports:

The state Department of Transportation, which has laid off temporary workers and is trimming its budget, paid more than $1,000 last weekend to send one of its managers to an executive networking conference at a resort hotel in Pinehurst.

…

The conference, which began Thursday, is billed as “bringing together minority business entrepreneurs and corporate decision makers.”

The event, however, comes after the Transportation Department has laid off 1,200 temporary workers who typically do pothole filling, drainpipe clearing and grass cutting alongside roadways.

No, this is not Russia … this is Wade Avenue in Raleigh: