RALEIGH, N.C. — The second of four Wake County School Board candidate debates will take place at noon today.

Today’s debate is for District 9 debate candidates Lois Nixon and Debra Goldman and takes place at the Cary Chamber of Commerce, 307 N. Academy St., Cary. It will last about 75 minutes.

A District 1 debate with Chris Malone, Rita Rakestraw and Debbie Vair will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Administration Building of Wake Technical Community College’s north campus. It will last about 90 minutes.

District 1
Date: Sept. 10
Time: 7 p..m.
Chamber of Commerce partners: Wake-Forest; Rolesville; Wendell; Knightdale; Zebulon
Location: Administration Building, Wake Technical Community College, Northern Campus, 6600 Louisburg Rd, Raleigh

RALEIGH, N.C.  – The North Carolina Senate has held off debating two bills that involve the public schools – one on sex education and the other on bullying.

The Senate on Monday night pulled both bills from the floor. One measure ordering school districts to adopt detailed anti-bullying policies was delayed until at least Tuesday.

The other measure requires schools to offer children in grades seven though nine one curriculum focused on abstinence until marriage and another with more about contraception. That bill was returned to a Senate committee.

Democratic Sen. Ellie Kinnaird of Orange County is a co-chairwoman of the committee. She said the sex education bill was pulled in part so that more senators were present to vote. Kinnaird also said some districts are concerned about how parents would make decisions.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Camera! Action! But no lights?

Debate on a bill to ban smoking at many work places in North Carolina was delayed in the Senate Health Care Committee on Wednesday because the motion picture industry worries the bill would prevent actors from smoking on screen.

The bill, which cleared the House three weeks ago, could bar smoking at many work sites, including film lots, the industry says.

Sen. Bill Purcell, D-Scotland, the committee’s co-chairman, said he wanted to give the movie industry in Wilmington sufficient time to propose an amendment. The bill will be considered next week, he said.

The state is among the nation’s leaders in generating film revenues.

“This is a big issue with the movie makers in North Carolina,” said Purcell, adding that he had no problem. “The film industry is a very important industry to North Carolina.”

A spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America, which sought the change, didn’t immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

The bill’s chief sponsor, Rep. Hugh Holliman, D-Davidson, said Wednesday he wasn’t taking a stand on a moviemaking exemption yet.

“We’ll take a look at it. We’ll see what it does,” said Holliman, who tried unsuccessfully to pass similar smoking bans in 2005 and 2007.

Purcell said a new version of the bill expected before the committee would restore tougher restrictions on smoking that were deleted when the bill passed the House. A House provision to bar smoking in businesses or restaurants that employ or serve anyone under age 18 likely would be broadened, he said.

Purcell also said the definition of private clubs, whose patrons would be permitted to keep smoking, would be narrowed in an attempt to satisfy the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association, which doesn’t support the House version of the measure.

North Carolina is still the nation’s top tobacco-growing state, but that heritage still hasn’t prevent legislators in recent years from raising tobacco taxes from 5 cents per pack to 35 cents and banning smoking inside state buildings and their own Legislative Building.

North Carolina has been the site for filming of such movies as George Clooney’s “Leatherheads” and Will Ferrell’s “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.” The television series “Dawson’s Creek” was filmed in Wilmington, followed by “One Tree Hill.

RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina lawmakers are ready to consider a bill which bans smoking in many businesses as a way to prevent patrons and workers from breathing secondhand smoke.

The Senate’s health care committee prepared to debate Wednesday a measure that passed the House three weeks ago but lost some of its toughest restrictions in the process.

The House measure had forbidden smoking from all workplaces, including bars and restaurants, but amendments narrowed the prohibition to businesses that employ or serve anyone under 18. Most other businesses that post signs to permit smoking are exempt.

Still, House passage was an achievement after similar efforts in the past four years have failed. Senate leaders have said they expect the limited smoking ban to pass, although its ultimate form is unclear.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – The Senate has started debate on a state government budget in North Carolina for the next two years.

Democrats put on the Senate floor Wednesday a spending plan that would spend $20 billion in the fiscal year starting July 1. That’s about $1.3 billion less than the current year’s budget. That difference doesn’t account for some federal stimulus money.

Senate budget co-chairwoman Linda Garrou of Forsyth County said the spending plan tries to protect education and preserve jobs during the deep recession.

The plan narrows a budget gap by cutting expenses, spending stimulus money and increasing taxes by $500 million. But tax details haven’t been released.

The first of two required votes was expected later Wednesday. The House next will put together its own plan.

NEW YORK – Uncertainty over the final scope of the $800 billion-plus economic stimulus plan in Congress has delayed budget action in some states while governors and legislators wait to see how much federal relief they can expect for their cash-strapped programs.

Several governors have decided to hold up budgets until the stimulus bill is completed, while others have proposed budgets based on what they expect to receive and are keeping a watchful eye on House-Senate negotiations. Still others are crafting budgets that don’t rely on stimulus funding at all.

“It’s still a fluid animal, if you will, so I don’t think we know what the final numbers will be yet,” said Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who delayed his budget address until Feb. 20 in hopes that the stimulus will be enacted by then.

Crist has estimated the state would receive $13.3 billion over three years from the plan passed by the House, which would go largely to fund education, Medicaid and transportation.

Crist, a Republican, planned to appear with President Barack Obama at a rally in Fort Myers on Tuesday to help Obama sell the package to skeptics, including Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., who opposed the Senate version in a test vote Monday.

“I don’t think we’re relying on it, necessarily,” Crist said. “We’re hopeful to be able to receive it and certainly it could be an enormous benefit as it relates to our budget.”

Forty-three states are running deficits this year, as the economic crisis created a steep drop in state income and sales tax revenues. With most states required by law to balance their budgets, the proposed federal stimulus could prove the difference between temporary solvency and drastic cuts to health care,
education, road repair and other services

The Senate planned a final vote on its version of the stimulus package Tuesday. Approval would then set up negotiations between the House and Senate on a final bill, which Obama has said he wants on his desk by the end of the week.

While both the House and Senate versions contain tens of billions for states, the Senate pared money for education-related spending by $40 billion to bring a few Republicans on board. Obama said Monday he hoped the final bill would reverse some of the education cuts.

The lack of clarity on what they might receive from the stimulus has led governors to craft budgets based on estimates that could change drastically before the bill is finalized.

In Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle said he has been phoning other governors who stand to lose under the Senate bill to figure out how they can push for changes.

“We’ve obviously been really focused on how some of the members of the Senate who might be able to make a difference, what we might be able to do to support them, or educate them on our needs,” Doyle said.

Doyle, like Florida’s Crist, also delayed his budget proposal to Feb. 17 to see what his state will actually receive from the federal plan. Wisconsin faces a $5.7 billion shortfall by July 2011.

And in New Jersey, where Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine is scheduled to deliver his budget address March 12, aides said he would wait until the stimulus plan is passed before outlining how the state might use the money.

Other governors are openly relying on the stimulus money to stabilize their budgets and have signaled they will fight for cuts in the Senate version to be restored.

Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell, a Republican, has said she is banking on $2 billion from the stimulus plan over three years, including $438 million over two years for education. Rell’s budget office was working with the state’s congressional delegation to reinstate the $40 billion in education-related spending, said spokesman Jeff Beckham.

Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons estimates the stimulus plan could result in a “partial or full reversal” of cuts he’s proposed to the state budget. Gibbons, a Republican, has called for a 15 percent cut in education spending alone.

Still other governors were applying “tough love” to their budget proposals, refusing to count on any additional federal money as they try to close looming gaps.

In New York, Democratic Gov. David Paterson said his 2009-10 budget, due April 1, won’t include any federal stimulus funds, even though legislative leaders are counting on about $5 billion from Washington once the plan is enacted. Paterson has proposed a $3.3 billion cut in school aid and has warned of deeper cuts as a way to close an estimated $13 billion deficit.

“Any stimulus aid we receive will only cover a fraction of our long-term deficit,” Paterson said. “We cannot look to Washington to solve all our budget problems.”

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, also has insisted he won’t rely on the stimulus plan to close the state’s $42 billion shortfall even though California could receive as much as $32 billion. He plans to apply most of the stimulus money to neglected infrastructure projects.

In Mississippi, lawmakers have begun developing a budget without any stimulus money and Gov. Haley Barbour has said he might reject some of the stimulus funding if the plan is enacted. Barbour already has cut $87.8 million from elementary and secondary schools – approximately 3 percent of the budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30.

Barbour and fellow Republican Govs. Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Rick Perry of Texas all oppose the stimulus plan as wasteful spending. But Oregon state Sen. Bruce Starr, a Republican, said state spending was the best way for a stimulus plan to work.

“Ultimately the dollars coming to the states will be well used by the states,” Starr said. “I’m concerned by some of the pork in the bill, but I don’t consider the money states need to continue services to be pork.”

RALEIGH, N.C. – Two-time presidential candidate John Edwards is continuing his return to the public stage by debating Republican strategist Karl Rove.

The Commercial Finance Association said the two will hold a point-counterpoint discussion Thursday in San Francisco. They will discuss the election and the economy.

It will be Edwards’ second public event since he acknowledged in August that he had an affair back in 2006. His appearance in Indiana on Tuesday did not address the matter.

Thursday’s meeting puts an odd and perhaps contentious pair on the same stage. During his presidential campaign, Edwards repeatedly called for President Bush to fire Rove. When Rove resigned from the White House in 2007, Edwards issued a simple statement, saying “Goodbye, good riddance.”

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – Democratic congressional candidate Larry Kissell and Republican incumbent Robin Hayes accused each other of dishonesty during a debate.

The 8th District candidates met Wednesday in Kannapolis. The Independent Tribune of Concord and Kannapolis reported Kissell brought up comments Hayes made at a John McCain rally last Saturday. Hayes said “liberals hate real Americans that work and accomplish and achieve and believe in God.”

Hayes has said it was wrong to make the comment. Kissell said Hayes wasn’t honest about the statement, accusing his campaign of initially trying to hide from what he said.

Hayes criticized Kissell for how he paid his campaign workers, arguing that it skirted state and federal tax law. Kissell’s campaign has defended his actions.

Education advisors for presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama will debate at Teachers College at Columbia University in New York City Tuesday.

“Education and the Next President,” is a debate between Linda Darling-Hammond, education advisor to Senator Barack Obama, and Lisa Graham Keegan, education advisor to Senator John McCain. 

The debate will take place at 7 p.m.  and will be available for viewing via livestream here.