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Kevin Geddings, the North Carolina Lottery Commissioner who caused some consternation because of his ties to folks in the lottery industry, has resigned.

Prior coverage here and here.

Yes, this is the same Geddings who was quoted recently as saying: "They'll have to drag my dead body out of there at this point," and "I would then look like I did something wrong, and I haven't."

In a written release, here's what Speaker Jim Black had to say about Geddings resignation this afternoon:

"I felt at the time of Kevin Geddings' appointment to the lottery commission that his past experience with the South Carolina lottery and his knowledge of lotteries in other states would be a benefit to our state's Education Lottery, but regrettably, others saw this experience in a different light. It is unfortunate that his experience and background became more of a liability than an asset, but I hope his resignation will allow the lottery commission to get back to work on the enormous task ahead of selecting a lottery staff, vendor, and retailers and ultimately ensuring we have a lottery that truly benefits our children and their education. I appreciate his initial willingness to serve and now his decision to step aside."

Black now begins a search for Geddings replacement sure to give new meaning to the phrase "no experience required." Really, at this point it's almost a requirement that whoever is picked have no experience with lotteries.

A spokeswoman for Black said he hopes to announce a pick sometime next week.

From today's paper, this story tells how the state will reimburse school systems for teach pay increases, even if those teachers are locally paid.

This is a big deal for the school districts, especially ones like Guilford. Although the state pays the salaries for the bulk of teachers, some salaries are covered by local tax dollars. When state-paid teachers get a raise, which usually means the taxpayers are ponying up more money for local teachers.

School superintendents are very reluctant to have teachers on two different pay scale systems. But finding a lot of cash - almost $400,000 in Guilford County's case - in the middle of the fiscal year is no mean feat.

More education fun, including the latest on paper supply shortages in Guilford County, over at The Chalkboard.

Howdy folks. I've been laid up - still am - with a bad cold. But, dang the luck, the news doesn't stop for sinus pressure and a lost voice.

Earlier in the week, Speaker Jim Black appointed Dr. James H. Woodward of Charlotte to fill the term of Kevin Geddings, the lottery commissioner who had way too many ties to the lottery industry.

Today, Senate Leader Marc Basnight has appointed a replacement for Malachi Greene, who said that he resigned due to time constraints.

Linda Carlisle is now neither the only woman nor the only person from Greensboro on the panel. From Basnight's office:

Raleigh - Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight has recommended Shirley Frye of Greensboro to the North Carolina State Lottery Commission.

“The lottery commission has a great responsibility to run an ethical and open process, and to ensure that our education lottery truly benefits our schools and our students,” said Senator Basnight. “The people of our state expect the finest leadership from its commission members, and I know Shirley will provide that leadership.”

The nine-member Commission is charged with the oversight, establishment, and operation of the lottery in North Carolina.

Frye is a retired educator who has devoted over 40 years to Greensboro Public Schools and higher education. She began her career teaching 2nd grade and exceptional students before becoming a professor of special education and program coordinator at Bennett College. After a short stint with the Department of Public Instruction, Frye returned to her alma mater North Carolina A&T State University, where she was the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Development and University Relations.

Frye also worked as the Special Assistant to the President and Director of Planned Giving for Bennett College. She most recently served as the Vice President of Community Relations for WFMY News 2 in Greensboro. She received a BS in English and Education from NC A&T and her MS in Special Education and Psychology from Syracuse University.

Much of Frye’s time is dedicated to service on many boards, including the Joseph McKinley Bryan Foundation; the Glaxo SmithKline Foundation; Z Smith Reynolds Foundation and the Boards of Visitors for Guilford and Greensboro Colleges and Wake Forest University. She is also a member of the Greater Greensboro United Way, of which she chaired the Board of Directors in 2003.

Frye and her husband, former Chief Justice Henry Frye, live in Greensboro and attend Providence Baptist Church. They have two adult children.

“Frye will bring great education experience to this board and help it focus on addressing our schools’ needs,” said Basnight. “She has committed herself to public service and enhancing the lives of others in her community and is an addition to the commission we will be proud of.”

This just in from Senate Leader Marc Basnight's office:

Raleigh – Shirley Frye, who was recommended Friday by Senate leader Marc Basnight to serve on the NC State Lottery Commission, has declined to take the appointment.

Frye told Basnight earlier Friday that she would accept the nomination. However, after learning that the Greensboro law firm at which her husband is a partner represents a number of media and retail clients in the firm’s legal practice, she was concerned about the perception of conflicts of interest between the firm’s work and the commission’s.

“By declining her nomination, Shirley Frye displayed exactly the kind of strong character and moral fiber we need in those who serve our state in any capacity, particularly on our lottery commission,” Basnight said. “I appreciate her sensitivity that even the appearance of a conflict of interest could jeopardize the commission’s work.”

Frye’s husband, former Chief Justice Henry Frye, is a partner with Brooks, Pierce, McClendon, Humphrey & Leonard, which represents a number of media organizations and retail clients. Upon learning of the firm’s clients, Shirley Frye became concerned about the potential for interaction between the firm, its clients, and the lottery commission – for example, if a media organization represented by the firm made a public records request of the lottery commission, and the commission determined the information was not subject to public records law, Frye could find herself in the midst of a legal dispute between her husband’s law firm and the commission on which she served.

Shirley and Henry Frye discussed the potential for perceived conflicts late Friday before Shirley declined the nomination. Mrs. Frye felt that the lottery was far too important to risk such a perception. Because of the attorney-client privilege, Mrs. Frye was not in a position to fully know the scope of the firm’s clientele when she initially accepted the nomination.

“The Fryes’ long record of public service to our state is truly outstanding,” Basnight said, “and I especially appreciate their commitment to education and to North Carolina. Their display of integrity today comes as no surprise to anyone who knows the Fryes – in fact it reinforces for me how exceptional Shirley would have been as a lottery commission member.”

Basnight said he would continue to search for a commission appointment with the credentials and character needed to ensure that North Carolina’s education lottery is beyond reproach, and remains committed to nominating a minority to ensure diversity on the commission.

Howdy folks. We're once again in catch-up mode here at Capital Beat due to illness. (My two-year-old made the wife sick; the wife gave me a cold; and the cold kept me from talking much above a croak on Thursday and Friday. Fun for the whole family.)

Now onto business:

• In case you didn't wade through the scattering of press releases I posted Friday, Shirley Frye of Greensboro was appointed to the lottery commission but declined the honor. That leaves the commission down one commissioner.

  If she had accepted the post, it would have been one of the few times I can think of when Greensboro had more members on an influential state board than Charlotte did.

• Have you heard about the drought? Yeah, you're probably living with water restrictions of some ilk if you live in a big enough community. Well, Gov. Easley says state workers should live with those restrictions too. I'll check and see if the sprinklers are on today when I wander by the old capital building.

• I blogged a bit ago about some ongoing consternation over the NAACP state elections. A couple phone calls that I couldn't answer on Friday said that the dispute was over. Skip Alston, who lost his post as state president, confirmed this morning that the national office had dismissed the complaint. (Side note: That also appears to be the Wilmington Journal's assessment of things, if you read through this whole article. It's a little surreal to see this blog quoted in the story, but there you go.)

• My colleagues over at Inside Scoop post this year's endorsement letter from the Simkins Pac.(PDF) (For those of you who don't know, the PAC is a group of influential African American political and business leaders.)

  Check the signatures. Alma Adams, a representative in the NC House, signs as chairman. I'm not sure if she is the first ever, but she's the first woman I've seen in the past five years listed as chairman of the PAC. In any event, the post seems like a pretty big mark of approval for the Greensboro Democrat from the venerable political group.

Well, it’s time for me to go get into some new trouble. As always, drop me a line with what’s on your mind at mbinker@news-record.com . And if you’re hanging about Greensboro for the City Council elections tomorrow night, I’ll see you there.

I just got an e-mail from the North Carolina Child Advocacy Institute announcing that they've broken down some child welfare data by legislative district.

If you're curious, click here. Then plug in your legislative district and the website will spit back a two-page summary.

If you do take a look at the report for your district, I'd be curious to know what you think it's telling you. Comment via the link below.

...what would it be? Use the comments link below or e-mail me (mbinker@news-record.com) by 10:30 a.m. Tuesday (11/8).

From the paper today, there is this story on Jim Black continuing to fund raise for local Democrats, despite whatever problems he may or may no be having related to the lottery.

Discuss if you like.

Gov. Mike Easley is notorious among the capital press corps for what some perceive (I think rightly) as his pretty limited availability to reporters, at least compared to some other governors.

So today's news conference, called mainly in response to all the problems surrounding the lottery, was actually a pretty nice change of pace.

(Update: Click here for the AP's take on Easley's Q+A.)

Click here to listen to the whole thing. This is a file for our broadband friends, since it's an about 11 Meg MP3 file. It lasts 50 minutes. As I said, the focus is mainly lottery, with some bird flue and ethics questions thrown in for good measure.

I've done zero editing, so you get the whole thing. Reporter's questions will sound a little fuzzy at times, but Easley should be nice and audible. You'll also get all his jokes and asides and what not, and the tape starts with him talking about one of his staff member's child's school reports.

For those who don't have the time to listen, I expect to do a summary of some sort for tomorrow's paper.

Update: Click here for the story related to this post.

Since 2000, the state has given day care centers and other child care facilities ratings of one through five stars, five stars being the best. It a rating that a lot of parents look at before choosing a day care.

The system was the first of its kind in the nation and has become a model for others to follow. However, some said the program gave day cares too much credit for doing basic things that they should be doing anyway. The argument went that a day care that had a mediocre teaching program might get a prestigious three, four or five star rating by virtue of meeting basic "compliance" requirements.

The General Assembly took that criticism to heart this spring and changed the law. While day cares will still have to meet certain criteria for health and safety, those scores no longer count towards a day cares' star rating. The changes go into effect in 2006 for new day cares, in 2008 for existing ones.

Update: My story in Sunday's paper details some of the concerns that day care owners have about the new scoring system.

For those of you interested in finding out more, some links:

• An overview of the star rating system, from the state Division of Child Development.
• Look up info on your child's day care or find day cares in your area that match certain criteria, including on star rating.
• Information on what's changing in the day care licensing system.

There were a couple stories from me on Sunday and Monday regarding the state's efforts to update its network of voting machines.

Update2: Click here for the Monday story.

Update1: Click here for the Sunday story.

If you were paying any attention at all to politics last year long about this time, you knew something wasn't quite right. A voting machine in Carteret County had gobbled up more than 4,000 votes, enough to turn the tide in the statewide Commissioner of Agriculture race. (There were enough other glitches as well, but the Carteret problem has become emblematic of the lot, at least around Raleigh.)

Because I was out of town last week when the lottery commission last got together, I'm going to refer you to a couple other folks for this version of lottery update:

• The Charlotte Observer reports the lottery commission may name a director on Thursday. (Registration required for that one.) It looks like the most likely candidates are folks who work at the South Carolina, Tennessee and New Mexico lotteries.

  Thursday, by the way, is the lottery commission's next scheduled meeting.

• I commend this lottery-related column by the AP's Steve Hartsoe to you, which gives you a sense of the director search and the frustration from the NC game's rough going.

If you're interested in knowing more about what the lottery commission is looking for in their new director, you might want to check out the job description.

For anyone keeping track, it seems as if we've lost our third of the original nine lottery members. From Speaker Jim Black's office:

N.C. House Speaker Jim Black (D-Mecklenburg) today made the following statement in response to the resignation by Lottery Commissioner Gordon Myers. Myers was appointed to the lottery commission by Black to fill the position that required retail experience. Black hopes to announce a new commission appointee in the near future.

"I am saddened to learn that Gordon Myers has decided to resign from the lottery commission," Speaker Black said. "Gordon is a well respected business leader, who brought a wealth of retail and business experience to the lottery commission, which was not only required by law, but much-needed as the commission works to set-up the new Education Lottery in North Carolina."

Meyers was a former executive with Ingles Market and still has a financial stake in the company. The chain may decide it wants to sell lottery tickets, thus presenting a potential conflict for Meyers.

From the Associated Press story issued this afternoon:

Ingles said it became apparent to him at last week's commission meeting that "approving retail locations for lottery ticket sales will be controversial." Each lottery ticket outlet will receive 7 percent of the revenues from each ticket the outlet sells.

Yes, this means that both of Black's original appointments are now off the commission. Sen. leader Marc Basnight is still trying to fill one of his appointments.

The only guy who has - so far - managed to keep all of his original appointments on board: Gov. Mike Easley.

The NC Lottery Commission named Tom Shaheen, currently New Mexico's lottery boss, to start up the Tar Heel game.

Shaheen is 52, married, with two children in their 20s. A Detroit native, he has worked for lotteries in Florida, Georgia and Texas. Shaheen also said he is an Atlanta Braves fan.

More to come in tomorrow's paper.

If you missed this Sunday's paper (how could you!), you missed this story, which follows up on the state raising the limit on the percentage of alcohol allowed in beer.

Commonly known as the "Pop the Cap" campaign, beer activists were successful in changing state law to allow malt beverages (beers and other alcoholic drinks that are brewed rather than fermented or distilled) to have 15 percent alcohol. The prior limit was 6 percent, which beer enthusiasts said excluded lots of styles of beers.

For extra fun:

• Check out this website hosted by the NC Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, which lets you search for whether a certain brand or wine or beer has label approval in North Carolina. For more information on related topics, click here.
• To do my story, I needed to get at more data than was available on the web. The nice folks at the commission sent me this Microsoft Excel workbook that contains data on all the brews with more than 6 percent alcohol approved for sale in North Carolina since Aug. 4, when the cap was popped. Data includes name of the beverage, the brewery that makes it and alcohol by volume.

More to come on beer and state laws next weekend.

Offered for your consideration: JimBlackMustGo.Com, which was assembled by former Democratic party strategist Joe Sinsheimer.

It looks like voting machine vendor Diebold is going to have to explain itself to a judge the week after Thanksgiving. (Prior coverage on this issue here.)

The Summary: Diebold is one of the companies hoping to get a contract from the state to provide computerized voting machines to county boards of elections. But Diebold has asked the court to exempt it from a provision in the state's newly crafted law that sets out requirements for vendors.

Click here for the news release from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is doing the legal filing on behalf of a North Carolina voting machine activist. Technically, they are intervening in an ongoing case.

A hearing in the case is expected the Monday after Thanksgiving.

How does someone griping about a $1,000 contribution lead to a story on the GOP escalating its warfare against Richard Morgan, a fellow Republican? I'm going to make you wade through a pretty long post to find out:

I got a phone call yesterday from someone upset that Ed McMahan, a North Carolina national committeeman for the Republican Party, had given a political donation to Democrat and State Treasurer Richard Moore. (A short profile of McMahan from the state GOP can be found here. Click on this link and then scroll down two spots.)

When asked about it, Guilford County Republican Party Chairman Marcus Kindley said the move amounts to treason against the party. Moore was running against a Republican from Guilford County (who has now moved out of state).

Folks who had talked to McMahan said yesterday that a clerical error sent funds from his personal campaign committee rather than a PAC that gives to bipartisan causes that he controls for his company. (That's the same account he gave the News & Observer as well.) The people who are upset about that are upset about that. Those who are not, say it's a simple mistake.

(I think the bigger discussion here might be that there are folks involved in politics who can miss-send $1,000 from a campaign treasurery and not know it goes missing until a campaign finance report comes out. But that's for another day.)

After a few conversations about the McMahan thing, it became apparent why this $1,000 donation was being talked about in the first place.

Click here for the story it lead to.

It's no secret that the GOP party establishment and Richard Morgan, a Republican of Moore County, don't get along. Moore infamous in GOP circles for forging power-sharing arrangements in the state House with Democratic Speaker Jim Black. Morgan was elected co-Speaker in 2003 and serves this session as Speaker Pro Temp, a less powerful but still influential post.

The story that ran in today's paper tells how the Republican Party is set to openly intervene in a Morgan's GOP primary. Messing with primaries is something generally considered beyond the pale for parties - something that leads to too much bad blood. (To be fair, in this case, the bad blood is present in abundance already.)

The GOP party chairman has sometime spoken out on a race, as he did when Republican-turned-Democrat-turned Republican Mike Decker ran for re-election in Forsyth County. But putting the full financial and human resources of the party up against someone in a primary seems to be something of a different animal.

Because he called back late in the day, I didn't get a lot of Morgan's comments to me in the paper - except to show that he was defiant. Here are a few others sentiments that he relayed:

• He called the potential for party interference in his primary as "very dangerous precedent to set."
• He blamed the party move on "extreme" elements of the party, singling out Art Pope, a wealthy GOP operator.
• Of the executive committee members that decided to take action against him, Morgan said: "They have only heard from a folks who are very disgruntled, untruthful, and misleading...They are looking for some sort of revenge. Revenge does no good for the Republican Party."
• He points out that he won election as co-speaker in 2003 and Speaker Pro Temp this year with the votes of Republicans in the House.
• He said he wasn't worried about his re-election chances because his fund-raising organization was just as robust, if not more so, than the state party's.

For Guilford County folks, one of the biggest beneficiaries of a House without Morgan would be John Blust. Blust has not been shy in his criticism of Morgan. And from an observer’s vantage, it doesn't look like Morgan has been shy against using his influence to make Blust's life difficult. Blust didn't get a bill passed before the "cross-over" deadline, meaning that most legislation that he has proposed is effectively dead. And when Morgan is in control of House meetings, I can't think of an instance where he has allowed Blust to debate a bill or resolution during the past year.

Okay Republicans and other political watchers, I've had my say. Now you have yours. Comment below.

(Update: If you're dying to know more about the McMahan thing, click here for the Charlotte Observer story. (Registration required, if you haven't already.)

From our friends at the Associated Press:

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's first lottery director says he will start at his new job during the first week of December, when the clock will begin to meet a four-month deadline to get the games started.

This from Speak Jim Black's office today:

In case you haven't seen the wire story yet...Speaker Black is planning to announce a new House Select Study Committee on Ethics and Government Reform next week, which will examine ways to strengthen or further clarify our state's lobbying laws and the State Ethics Board.

Specifically he would like for the committee to look at the recently passed lobbying reform bill to see if certain sections can be implemented prior to its effective date in 2007 (note: The Secretary of State's office said during this year's debate that it would take this long to hire new staff and acquire the necessary equipment in order to be prepared for the new reporting requirements) and if there are any additional areas that need to be further clarified or strengthened, as well as examining the State Ethics Board and possibly requiring future appointees to various boards and commissions to sign a sworn statement to ensure full and accurate responses on disclosure forms. Therefore, if an individual does not fully comply with these rules or provide a full account of his/her financial background and/or possible conflicts of interest, as was the case regarding Kevin Geddings, then the Board can take appropriate action.

The Speaker is still finalizing the exact issues that the committee will study between now and next May and the membership, but I will keep you posted next week.

This e-mail refers to a story by our friends at colleagues at the Associated Press. It ran in today's paper, but if you missed it, read it here after the jump.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know all you folks out there in the Internets think everyone is a turkey down here in Raleigh.

But Gov. Mike Easley sent out this release to remind folks how not to get sick from the real thing.

And in all seriousness, Clostridium botulinum is not a guest you want at Thanksgiving.

Have a safe and happy Turkey Day. We'll see you back here full time on Monday, Nov. 28, with only one or two updates between now and then - if all stays relatively quiet here in Raleigh anyway.

I knew as soon as I said I was punching out of here something would come up.

Gov. Mike Easley appointed Rep. Bill Culpepper to the North Carolina utilities commission today.

Culpepper is a powerful member of the House leadership who will have to give up his legislative seat to sit on the commission.

Good afternoon folks. A slightly delayed weekend update brings you these two stories from yours truely if you missed them:

• New laws are going into effect Dec. 1. Read my story on them (from today) here. Read the whole list for yourself here.(Caution, it's a PDF file that has links to html pages in it.)
• Beer and politics...a combination that I've long enjoyed, were the subjects (sort of) of a story I wrote for Sunday. Basically, this story covers the influence that beer wholesalers in North Carolin have, or try to have, over the legislative process.

Also, via our friends at the Associated Press, I'd encourage you to check out this story on the number of registered voters in North Carolina going down.

I spent the morning watching our legal system in action. Sadly, it wasn't acting on the case that I (and maybe you) are interested in.

For those who have missed prior coverage on the voting machine topic, click here, here, or here.

The real short summary: voting machine makers are trying to get themselves exempt from parts of the state's newly written law governing computerized voting machines. The crux of the matter has to do with how much (or how little) of their source code they have to fork over for inspection should something go wrong.

The Judge (who is hearing a bunch of motions today) finally took mercy on those interested in the voting machine matter and set 2 p.m. as the time for that hearing. (If you're in Raleigh, why not head on down to courtroom 10-B of the Wake County Courthouse. Come for the legal arguments, stay for the hind-end-numbing seats in the courtroom.)

I'll write something for tomorrow's paper and blog a bit about the outcome today, time permitting.

Update: For the newspaper story on the Diebold suit, click here.

For those who haven't been following, I'm updating this post.

The judge in the case brought by Diebold Election Systems against the state dismissed the suit.

Diebold had asked that the court clarified what the law meant.

The judge, in essence, said that the law was pretty clear and that without some sort of ongoing controversy (someone getting arrested or sued for damages) there wasn't anything for him to rule on anyway.

Diebold's lawyers said they expected their clients to withdraw from the state contracting process as a result of the decision.

More on this in tomorrow's paper.

A couple days ago (Monday if the electronic voodoo machine here in front of me is correct) this story regarding identity theft protection and other new laws going into effect Dec. 1 ran.

I've gotten a couple questions since then, all of which surround how to go about freezing one's credit report as the law now allows.

To avoid cluttering up the newspaper version of the story, I had just included one link to the NC Department of Justice's website. That site links to a couple tip-sheets on protecting yourself from identity theft such as this general primer on how to protect yourself and this one that lays out specifically how to freeze one's credit. Both of those are in PDF format.

But the DOJ's web page can be a bit difficult to navigate (and if your internet connection is slow like mine, PDF files can cause you fits) and some people weren't able to find what they were looking for.

So despite the best efforts of my computer to crash and burn on me this afternoon, I'll steal what the AG has up re: credit freezes and post it here after the jump:

I am shocked, SHOCKED, that more people haven't used some play on that phrase in headlines for stories regarding House Speaker Jim Black (a Democrat) and party-switching former House member Michael Decker (now a Republican) of Forsyth County.

Well, those inclined will have the opportunity tomorrow.

A relatively new website publisher, www.JimBlackMustGo.com, dedicated sent around an e-mail today that read in part:

Raleigh – Joe Sinsheimer, creator of the Jimblackmustgo.com website, today questioned why state House Speaker Jim Black sent a large campaign contribution to former State Representative Michael Decker in February 2005 after Decker had lost his 2004 re-election effort in the GOP primary. Decker closed his campaign account the next day, apparently pocketing the leftover funds.

What the website was writing about was recorded on this campaign finance report by Decker's now closed campaign committee.

Well, I should have guessed, but it wasn't too long before my fax machine began rattling off something from NCGOP headquarters.

(RALEIGH) – Ferrell Blount, Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, issued a harsh response after learning that Speaker Jim Black gave former Rep. Michael Decker $4,000 one day before Decker drafted a check to himself and closed his campaign account.

...

“First we learn that Jim Black got Michael Decker a sweetheart $48,000-a year state job in return for switching political parties and keeping Jim Black in power,” Sinsheimer said in the release. “Then we learn that Black helped Decker’s son, Michael Decker Jr., get a job as a ‘research associate’ in the General Assembly. Now we learn that Black is rewarding Decker with campaign cash. There seems to be no end to Jim Black’s influence peddling. I am sick of turning my head while Jim Black rewards his political allies with campaign cash.”

Republicans, in case you haven't gotten the gist, really don't like Black. And the GOP leadership is still mad at Decker for his 2002 party flip-flop that lead to the Black-Richard Morgan co-speakership, rather than out-and-out control of the House by Republicans.

And in case you've missed it, the GOP leadership is holding a grudge against Morgan as well.

So is it unique for someone to get a campaign donation after they loose an election? Not really. Consider a local example provided by former Rep. Joanne Bowie, a Greensboro Republican, who received a $500 donation in February 2005, according to this report.(PDF)

Of course, there are those who would argue that Decker hadn't reported any debts that his committee couldn't cover so Black's contribution amounts to a pay off.

As always, feel free to discus via the comments link below.

Those who remember the controversy over certification of teachers and Easley's veto will be interested to know there is apparently a compromise in the offing.

Read the Associated Press story by clicking here. (Some registration may be required. I'm sending you off site because I can't find the story in our own system.)

The summary of the compromise from the story:

Under the plan, middle school and high school teachers from other states who have less than three years of experience will have to meet several existing conditions to get a permanent license in North Carolina. Those include completing a third year of teaching, earning a recommendation from the local school district and any other professional development work.

The final step for a state license has been passing a standardized test or completing a standardized evaluation program. Monday's recommendation would create a third option: receiving a positive evaluation from a supervisor addressing the teacher's ability to "impact student learning." The evaluation also would have to say the school district has offered to continue employing the teacher.

The third option would give local districts more control over hiring, supporters said.

Let's hope this one sticks.

From Sen. Marc Basnight’s office:

Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight has recommended Bridget-Anne Hampden of Charlotte to the North Carolina State Lottery Commission.

“The importance of the lottery commission in ensuring that our education lottery truly benefits our schools and our students is evident,” said Senator Basnight. “Bridget-Anne will contribute strong leadership to the recognition of that goal.”

I'll post the rest of the release after the jump. But for those of you keeping score at home, this brings the commission up to eight members. House Speaker Jim Black still needs to appoint a replacement for Gordon Meyers, who resigned earlier this month.

Update:Click here for the story from today’s paper.

This post has to do with the Lottery Commission and obedience – some my scornfully say obeisance – to the letter of the law; specifically the North Carolina Open Meetings statute.

I've been told today that I’m making much ado about nothing, so if you read on after the jump I'd love some feed back.