The Moore County Board of Commissioners will continue a discussion of redistricting at the first meeting in the new year.

The board will convene for its regular meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the historic courthouse in Carthage. A closed (to the public) session will be held an hour earlier.

An update on a space allocation study will be presented by Rich Smith, property management director. Also on the agenda is a report by Public Works Director Randy Gould on a memorandum of understanding about a water main serving The Village Chapel in Pinehurst.

Early in the meeting, library officials will present the Library Trustee of the Year award to a local resident.

HOOD — John Hood, president and CEO of the John Locke Foundation, will be guest speaker at the Jan. 12 meeting of the Moore County Republican Men’s Club at Country Club of North Carolina.

He will discuss jobs, growth and the 2012 elections in North Carolina.

Hood is a regular radio commentator, newspaper columnist and weekly panelist on N.C. Spin, a discussion program broadcast on 16 television stations across the state.

A journalism graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Hood now lives in Wake County.

The John Locke Foundation is a North Carolina think tank that issues policy studies, hosts dozens of events yearly, produces radio and TV programs and publishes Carolina Journal, a monthly newspaper with a readership of almost 200,000.

Registration for the Jan. 12 meeting will begin at 11:30 a.m. Lunch will begin at noon. Anyone wishing to join the club and attend this meeting should call reservations to John Jarrett at (910) 528-4228 as soon as possible.

PLANNING — The Moore County Planning Board will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday in the historic courthouse in Carthage.

Two quasi-judicial hearings will be held to consider amendments to existing conditional use permits requested by the Board of Education. One is for placement of a storage building at Westmoore Elementary School, the other for placement of a structure at Union Pines High School.

The board will consider a petition to close a portion of Airport Road and make a recommendation for final action by the county commissioners.

The board will also convene as the Watershed Review Board to consider a request by Locust Lumber Co. for a special non-residential intensity allocation to build an accessory structure on U.S. 1 near Vass.

ROMNEY — U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is the latest North Carolina leader to endorse former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as the Republican candidate for president.

“Governor Romney’s proven leadership and his track record on issues of vital importance, such as reducing government spending and creating jobs, are exactly what we need to put Americans back to work, reduce our spending and address our national debt, and put our nation on the path to economic prosperity,” Burr said in the statement released Thursday.