House Speaker Thom Tillis made clear Tuesday that the divide between the House and Senate tax plans remains a wide gulf.

In an interview, Tillis said the two chambers need to breach a philosophical divide -- one that may take days, if not longer, to reconcile. His tone seemed to differ from Senate leader Phil Berger earlier in the day. "We are trying to change the mix in a way we believe will actually stimulate economic activity," Tillis said. "I think the Senate is trying to do the same thing, but they have also focused on spending reductions --which we all want, but we need to do it at a pace that we can actually absorb."

The Durham development called 751 South has again divided the legislature. This time, it took the form of a fight between the House Rules chairman and a House Finance co-chairwoman. Finance won going away, in a 75-36 vote.

That means a public hearing on the bill requiring Durham to annex land for the controversial subdivision is on for 4 p.m. Monday.

Rep. Julia Howard, successfully argued to Senate Bill 315 transferred back to her Finance Committee after it had been moved to Rep. Tim Moore's Rules Committee.

Howard said Finance had decided to hold a public hearing, so it wouldn't be right to move the bill.

Two major law enforcement agencies oppose a sweeping gun bill approved by the Senate. The N.C. Sheriff's Association and N.C. Association of Police Chiefs are concerned about a measure -- House Bill 937 -- that would loosen gun controls, by repealing the requirement for a permit to buy a handgun and allowing guns in bars and on school property.

House lawmakers declined to concur to the Senate changes this week, sending it to the Rules Committee on Tuesday.

The chiefs association board listed three major problems with the bill. It opposes allowing concealed weapon permit holders to take firearms into places that serve alcohol; firearms on schools and college campuses; and the elimination of the pistol permit. Regarding the latter, the police chiefs said "elimination of this important background investigation prior to issuance of a pistol permit is detrimental to public safety."

UPDATED: House and Senate leaders are working behind the scenes with the governor to strike a deal on a major tax bill, aiming to avoid lengthy negotiations in a conference committee.

The Senate delayed a final vote on its tax bill Tuesday to accommodate the new approach. "We are hopeful we can reach some accommodations," Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger told the chamber.

A proposal to delay testing new teachers for tuberculosis got some push-back from House members on Tuesday. The House Education Committee held off voting on the bill.

The state Department of Health and Human Services sent a memo to local health departments earlier this year telling them that there is a shortage not only of a drug used to treat TB, but of the protein used in the skin test to screen for the lung disease.

DHHS advised health departments to put off routine skin-test screening, including in cases of employee hiring.

That advisory puts a crimp in teacher hiring. New teachers or those returning to the classroom are required by law to get the TB skin test.

Education committee members balked at the bill, which would allow school districts to put off the test requirement. Members questioned an open-ended deferral and whether the shortage was nationwide. The bill got pulled from consideration.

The National Centers for Disease Control reported in April a nationwide shortage of the skin-test product.

No consensus has formed among Republicans in next year's Senate race, but Congresswoman Virginia Foxx has the most support, according to a new poll.

Foxx leads among Republican voters with 23 percent, followed by state Senate leader Phil Berger with 11 percent, House speaker Thom Tillis and Congresswoman Renee Ellmer with 9 percent, former U.S. Ambassador with 8 percent, Cary physician Greg Bannon with 7 percent, Charlotte minister Mark Harris at 4 percent and former Charlotte Mayor Pro Tem Lynn Wheeler at 3 percent.

That is according to a new survey by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic leaning firm based in Raleigh.

Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan leads all potential Republican candidates by margins ranging from 4 to 9 percent.

An influential tea party group is picking sides in the ongoing tax debate in Raleigh. Americans for Prosperity is urging state lawmakers to back the Senate's plan -- instead of a competing House bill.

The Senate will take a final vote Tuesday on its tax overhaul and send it back to the House. AFP wants the House to concur and abandon its own plan, which the Senate mostly discarded.

“The quickest way to achieve the strongest possible tax relief and reform is for the House to concur to the Senate changes to House Bill 998," said Dallas Woodhouse, the group's North Carolina director, in a prepared statement. "We encourage the House to take this bold step to pass significant tax relief and reform that will get North Carolina back in the game for jobs and business.”

Rex A. Whaley has been named new financial officer for the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Whaley is a CPA who has worked with DENR for more than eight years.

He replaces Rod Davis, who was recently appointed the first chief financial officer for the Department of Health and Human Services.

Whaley comes to DENR after serving as the chief financial officer with the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts.

In his new role, Whaley will manage DENR's $820 million budget and direct the department's accounting operations, financial and strategic planning, treasury and cash management, grants and property management, purchasing and contracting

TOTAL ARRESTS NEAR 500: Eighty-four demonstrators were arrested by the N.C. General Assembly police on Monday, bringing the total since April 29 to more than 480. Holly Jordan, 29, a teacher at Hillside High School in Durham, said she decided to get arrested on Monday because she was thoroughly upset with the education policies and budgets proposed. She knew that some of the Republicans had described their naysayers as “aging hippies” and “outsiders” who considered it “en vogue” to get arrested.

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: The Senate will take a final vote on its tax plan, and send it to the House. The two chambers remain far apart on how to cut taxes. The House will consider Gov. Pat McCrory's transportation funding bill. In committees, House lawmakers will consider a bill to raise the speed limit to 75 mph on certain roads and a bill requiring cursive -- which is likely to be remade entirely at the last minute, given a similar bill passed earlier this session. Senate lawmakers will meet in committees to consider a bill requiring background checks on those who receive some public assistance and another measure to roll back energy efficiency regulations on building to 2009 levels.

Gov. Pat McCrory will visit another rotary club, this time in Winston-Salem, before meeting with unidentified business leaders in a private meeting at Womble Carlyle, a law firm that also has a lobbying practice.

***Below in the Dome Morning Memo -- U.S. Senate race news, remember Jim Holshouser and a legislative roundup.***

A month after four Democratic Party members filed a petition against state Chairman Randy Voller the two sides came to an signed agreement to resolve the dispute.

Petitioners John D. Burns, Greg Flynn, Treva R. Johnson and Montica Talmadge had accused Voller on May 8 of breaking party rules after he fired the party’s executive director and appointed himself interim executive director. They wanted him removed from the interim director post.

But in the settlement agreement, Burns, Flynn, Johnson and Talmadge agreed to compromise with Voller.

As his term nears the sixth-month mark, Republican Gov. Pat McCrory's approval rating is at its lowest point so far.

A new poll finds 45 percent approve of his job performance and 39 percent disapprove, a slight decline from the previous month when 48 percent approved, according to Public Policy Polling, a Raleigh-based Democratic firm. The poll's margin of error is 4.4 percentage points.

But the Republican's +6 percent approval margin is his lowest, down from +10 in May and +26 when he took office in January, the survey found. "A big reason why McCrory won so easily last fall was a lot of crossover support from Democrats but that's dissipating -- in April he was at 31(approve)/ 53 (disapprove) with them, now it's 24/60," wrote pollster Tom Jensen in explaining the results.

McCrory's marks still remain better than the state legislature, according to the automated poll of voters conducted June 12-14.

A Senate bill introduced in April would establish a work-sharing program in North Carolina, but the legislation has languished in committee since being introduced.

Work sharing has saved 61,299 jobs in a combined 19 states in 2012, according to U.S. Department of Labor data cited in the Justice Center's report. Some states, like Colorado and New Hampshire, saved less than 100 jobs, while California, Texas and Washington each kept between about 10,000 and 21,000 employed, according to the report.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson said Monday she will recommend teachers be exempted from paying income taxes.

The tax exemption for charter school and traditional public school teachers would cost the state $300 million, according to her figures.

The House and Senate budget proposals do not include raises for teachers or state employees. Atkinson said she would not be making the recommendation if the legislature had provided for raises.

The House and Senate will negotiate changes in the state tax code this week. No proposal has included an income tax exemption for teachers.

The question of whether those participating in the “Moral Monday” protests are outsiders as Republicans have asserted may soon have some answers.

A research team from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is planning to be at tonight's rally to conduct a study of where the protesters are from. The study is being headed by Fred Stutzman and will involve a team of eight researchers who will do a scientific sampling of the crowd.

Last week, WRAL-TV also looked at the issue by examining the police records of those arrested. It found that of the 388 people arrested over six weeks, only eight were from outside North Carolina or 2 percent.

The UNC study will be the first look at the protesters attending the rally – as opposed to the much smaller group that gets arrests.

Gov. Pat McCrory, state Republican Party Chairman Claude Pope and various GOP lawmakers have sought blame outsiders for the protests.

“Outsiders are coming, and they're going to try to do to us what they did to Scott Walker in Wisconsin,” McCrory said at the state GOP convention in Charlotte.