House lawmakers will consider a revamped plan to provide taxpayer dollars to help send public school students to private schools.

Rep. Rob Bryan, a Charlotte Republican and House Bill 944 lead sponsor, said the new provisions help address concerns about accountability by requiring schools receiving more than $300,000 in voucher money to submit to an audit. Another part of the bill requires schools with more than 25 voucher students to report aggregate test scores.

The maximum voucher would be $4,200 for a child who is eligible for free or reduced lunches, or $3,780 for families with income at 133 percent of the threshold. The children of a family of four are eligible for free lunches if they make about $30,000 a year and reduced lunches with income about $43,000 a year, according to the state Department of Instruction.

Jonathan Wayne Broyhill admitted to police his “involvement” in the fatal stabbing of Democratic fundraiser Jamie Hahn last month, according to a search warrant made public today.

Police have said that Jamie Hahn and her husband Nation were attacked with a knife at their North Raleigh home on April 22. According to the warrant, Broyhill told investigators that he brought the weapon from his home on Glascock Street when he visited the couple that day. Read more here.

Now that the N.C. Senate is trying to move the State Bureau of Investigation to the N.C. Department of Public Safety, an outside group is putting a spotlight on Secretary Kieran Shanahan's record.

Progress North Carolina Action, a political group opposed to the Republican governor and legislature, is trying to draw attention to a News & Observer report earlier this month about Shanahan moonlighting in a second job. To keep his law firm role, Progress North Carolina says Shanahan should release a client list -- or resign office.

Here are some of the transportation funding and policy changes outlined in the proposed Senate budget (PDF) released Sunday. Some of these are new proposals, and others were previously aired this spring in separate legislation:

Try to acquire federal land around Oregon Inlet: The Oregon Inlet Land Acquisition Task Force is established to study the state's options for acquiring land around the Oregon Inlet from the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service so the state can preserve the navigability of Oregon Inlet.

Charge tolls on all ferries: Order the state Department of Transportation to begin collecting tolls on all seven ferry routes by November 1, with rates high enough to generate $5 million to $10 million a year in revenues. This would include tolls on the two routes that the General Assembly said last year would stay toll-free: Hatteras Inlet and Currituck Sound.

Gov. Pat McCrory is making his concerns known with the Senate budget. In a statement, McCrory said he is "pleased the Senate's budget proposal aligns with some of our major priorities." But his office issued a list of "areas for further review," aka "where the Senate went off-track."

They include: "elimination of Special Superior Court judges; transfer of the SBI; exclusion of drug treatment courts; no salary increases for state employees; no expansion of pre-K; no eugenics compensation; and does not allow for routine legal services in each agency."

The major differences will put the onus on the House to help carry the governor's water, unless the Senate bends to the governor's concerns, which seems unlikely given the tenor so far this session.

From AP: North Carolina's Democratic attorney general is opposing a state Senate budget provision that moves much of an investigative unit from his department to one headed by an appointee of Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.

Roy Cooper spoke against the idea Monday, alongside police chiefs and prosecutors who also oppose moving the State Bureau of Investigation to the Department of Public Safety, which includes all other law enforcement agencies. Opponents argued the move will inhibits the agency's independence from the executive branch, but they stopped short of calling it politically motivated.

Housing the agency under a department controlled by the governor runs counter to the SBI's mission, he added. "Putting the SBI under any governor's administration increases the risk that corruption and cover-up occur with impunity," Cooper said.

But Republican senators argued the unit is better grouped with the rest of the state's law enforcement divisions to enhance coordination among the agencies. The Republican budget estimates $2 million in savings from the consolidation in its second year. "It simply does not make sense for the state's top attorney to supervise the SBI, just like it wouldn't make sense for your local district attorney to supervise your sheriffs or police," said House Majority Leader Harry Brown, R-Onslow and one of the chamber's chief budget-writers. More here.

The state Senate’s $20.6 billion budget proposal has no raises for state employees, puts new limits on health services for some Medicaid patients, and anticipates a tax cut.

Leading senators discussed their reasoning behind the budget plan, which affects every taxpayer, public school student, and some businesses looking to move to the state.

“We live within our means,” said Sen. Pete Brunstetter, a Winston-Salem Republican and a chief budget writer, during a news conference Monday morning. “We’ve been through four very difficult years with recession and post-recession, and yet we manage this budget not only without a tax increase, but we manage it with some tax reform accounted for.”

Gov. Pat McCrory and GOP legislators have not agreed on tax change details, but generally, they want to want to reduce income tax rates and spread the sales tax to more services. Find more details here.

The recent debates in Washington about budget cuts and guns show increasing evidence of polarization, a new study highlights.

Researchers at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill visualized the divide going back to 1the start of the 20th century. “We have not seen the current level of partisanship since the early 1900s,” professors James Moody of Duke and Peter Mucha of UNC-CH found. (Maybe this is why some in the U.S. Senate don't think so highly of political science research.)

SENATE BUDGET TIME: The state Senate released a $20.58 billion proposed budget late Sunday night that would eliminate class-size limits for the youngest public school students, move the State Bureau of Investigation to a department the governor’s appointee controls and puts various environmental programs under the control of a state agency. The proposal represents a 2.3 percent increase over the current budget and is about $17 million short of the budget Gov. Pat McCrory proposed in March.

Senate budget writers will hold a press conference at 10:30 a.m. to discuss it in more detail. Full Senate votes are expected later this week. More here.

NCGA PROTESTERS CHALLENGE CHARGES: As protesters gear up to assemble again Monday to highlight concerns about welfare cuts, health care funding, voting rights, racial justice, tax reform, environmental deregulation, workers rights and more, legal analysts are raising questions about whether the General Assembly police are within their power to arrest the nonviolent demonstrators. Irv Joyner, a law professor at N.C. Central University who has observed the demonstrations, said legal challenges of the arrests are being drafted. “We think we have clear-cut First Amendment issues,” Joyner said. Full story.

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The N.C. Senate's budget proposal will clock in at $20.58 billion, just short of Gov. Pat McCrory's $20.6 billion proposal, according to Senate leader Phil Berger's office.

The full budget is expected to be made public later tonight. According to a press release, the budget includes $10.2 million in the second year for a "pay for excellence" system for teachers, and eliminates the "flex cut" to local schools, a budget practice that had districts returning money to the state each year.

The budget adds $1.2 billion in state money for Medicaid, establishes a Rural Economic Development Division within the state Department of Commerce that will have its own assistant secretary, and puts $1.25 million toward fracking.

The Senate is expected to approve its budget this week and send it to the House.

Raleigh’s Jim Cain, former ambassador to Denmark and one-time president of the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team, tells Roll Call he is taking a serious look at running in the Republican primary next year to challenge U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C.

“The race is indeed something that I am considering,” Cain told the Washington, D.C. publication. “Many friends and supporters around the state are encouraging me to challenge Senator Hagan.”

Cain was ambassador under President George W. Bush. A corporate attorney by profession, he works with Kilpatrick Townsend.

That race is getting crowded quickly.

Former state Rep. Stephen LaRoque will go on trial in federal court in Greenville on Monday on charges that he enriched himself with U.S. Department of Agriculture money that he loaned to struggling rural business owners.

The trial is expected to be protracted because it involves complex financial transactions that the government contends amounted to theft and money laundering. LaRoque, who is represented by Raleigh attorneys Joseph Cheshire V and Elliot Abrams, says he used the money legally.

U.S. District Court Judge Malcolm Howard recently denied LaRoque’s motions to dismiss the charges.

A side note to one of the controversial bills that sped through crossover week this week.

SB515, which would repeal current environmental protections at Jordan Lake so that new ones could be written, is a GOP-promoted idea. But not all Republicans are on board.

The three Republican senators whose districts include parts of Jordan Lake voted against it, although they didn’t take part in the floor debate. That would be Sens. Neil Hunt, Tamara Barringer and Chad Barefoot.

The bill could run into similar opposition in the House, which has several members whose districts also lap up against the shores of the lake, which provides drinking water for about 300,000 people and is a popular recreation site.

House Speaker Pro Tem Paul “Skip” Stam, Republican from Apex, said Friday he is against the bill, but allowed that it could be amended to address his concerns.

The top three Republican politicians in the state announced Friday they are all together when it comes to Medicaid reform.

Gov. Pat McCrory, Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Thom Tillis sent out a joint news release emphasizing that – despite criticism of the move toward privatization – the state is proceeding with plans to reign in costs in the $13 billion program.

Their joint announcement said the state Senate’s budget will require the state Department of Health and Human Services submit a waiver application to the federal government. The budget, which will be released Sunday evening, will have to be approved by both chambers in the General Assembly.

A federal waiver would allow the state flexibility in operating and paying for its Medicaid programs. McCrory has said he wants to privatize some of Medicaid as a way to reduce cost overruns.

Guiding principles in the state’s reform plan include focusing on behavior as a way to improve health, making it easier on providers, and developing a reliable estimate of costs.

On Thursday, the House approved spending $400 million through next month to close the current shortfall and repay the federal government other debts.

Gov. Pat McCrory signed five bills into law on Friday:

HB484 – Establishes a permit program to place and operate wind energy plants. DENR will both help wind developers get started and deny permits when necessary.

“This is a great law because it shows that we are serious about our responsibility for balancing our environmental and economic interests, including North Carolina’s strong military presence,” DENR Secretary John Skvarla said in a statement the governor's office released. “We can and will protect the environment and our citizens, while also creating a clear regulatory path for the development of wind energy in North Carolina.”

HB149 – Titled “Caylee’s Law,” the bill makes it a crime to fail to report the disappearance of a child to law enforcement. It also increases the penalty for concealing a child’s death, for making a false report to law enforcement to interfere with a missing-child investigation, and a misdemeanor for failing to report abuse, neglect or death of a juvenile due to maltreatment. The bill was inspired by the death of Caylee Anthony in Florida.

SB91 – Protects people whose criminal records have been expunged from having to disclose that information to employers, licensing boards and educational institutions.

HB706 – Exempts from landfill permit requirements the disposal of debris from decommissioned manufacturing buildings, including electric generating stations.

HB119 – Authorizes the state Utilities Commission to set rates for natural gas local distribution companies.