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Former Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue has recently finished her teaching fellowship at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and plans to launch an education consulting business from her home in Chapel Hill.

“I'm older, I've got probably 10 years of really robust kind of activity, and I'm very discerning about it is I want to choose to do with my time,” she said in a recent interview with Erik Spanberg of the Charlotte Business Journal. “So I have agreed to do some work with one company around education and technology. I'm setting up the company now.''

Perdue plans to work with a number of outside experts with the company that will be called Perdue Strategic Group. She is also working on a biography with two writers, Barlow Herget and Marion Ellis.

GOP ABANDONS PLEDGE FOR TAX REFORM: From Rob Christensen's column: Tax reform in North Carolina died last week. RIP. …The House has rolled out its plan, and the Senate has rolled out an alternative plan. Those plans focus almost exclusively on cutting corporate and personal income taxes, rather than revamping the 1930s tax code. So tax reform is dead. In its place, we have large tax cuts, the size and shape of which will be worked out in a House-Senate conference committee. Cutting taxes is in the Republican comfort zone. Reforming the tax code is not. Full story.

LOBBYING FIRM ACTED AS TILLIS, McCRORY FUNDRAISING CONDUIT: The giving by the sweepstakes industry also puts a spotlight on fundraising efforts organized by McGuireWoods. Multiple contributions from sweepstakes operators were often recorded on the same days, with the largest group coming on May 16, 2012, when the Tillis campaign tallied a total of $60,002 from 19 individuals. Days earlier, on May 10, McGuireWoods held a fundraiser at its Raleigh office attended by Payne and lobbyists from other organizations. Harry Kaplan, a McGuireWoods lobbyist, said he invited clients who were interested in meeting with Tillis to talk about the issues they represented. They could also make campaign contributions, which some did, he said.

***More on Tillis, McCrory campaign fundraising, the sweepstakes industry and questions clouding the N.C. Rural Center and top Republicans below in the Dome Morning Memo.***

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: As a tropical storm hits Raleigh, the House will meet in its first full Friday session this year to debate a tax bill that represents one of the most expansive policy changes in decades. At the same time, appropriation subcommittees will meet to roll out the House budget, meeting before and after session. The Senate adjourned until Monday. The House action precedes what is expected to be a busy time next week in Raleigh with budget and taxes, among dozens of other bills, moving quickly as the legislature nears adjournment toward the end of the month. Top GOP lawmakers will rush from the statehouse to Charlotte for the state Republican Party convention. Gov. Pat McCrory will hold a reception at the convention this evening.

NEW NUMBERS SHOW TAX BILLS AFFECTS: The median North Carolina family would get a modest tax break while wealthy taxpayers may see a significant cut under a sweeping bill primed for a landmark House vote Friday. (Read more below.)

***Special Friday Dome Morning Memo edition. Read more about the tax plan on the House floor below and a recap from President Barack Obama's visit.***

Garrett Perdue, the son of former Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue, has left Womble Caryle, the state's largest law firm.

Perdue joined Womble in January 2009, a month after his mother was elected governor. He was recruited into the firm by former Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt, to work in economic development.

The hiring raised some eyebrows because of the potential for conflict of interest.

Perdue, an attorney who had previously worked as an associate at Womble, stayed at Womble through his mother's four-year term and during the first four months of Republican Gov. Pat McCrory's administration.

He left in April to become managing director of Perdue Global Market Networks Inc.

Gov. Pat McCrory's administration is warning that the state health care program for the poor will cost $135 million more than anticipated.

The cost overruns for Medicaid now total $248 million. The state Department of Health and Human Services blamed former Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue's administration for the "forecasting error" in estimating federal dollars coming to the state.

The Rev. Ben Chavis, a member of the Wilmington 10, publicly thanked former Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue for pardoning the Wilmington 10.

“Since this is my first trip back to Raleigh, I must pay tribute to the first woman governor of North Carolina – one of the best governors this state has ever had, Gov. Beverly Perdue,” Chavis told a breakfast of the Jefferson-Jackson Day Democratic fund raising at the North Raleigh Hilton that was attended by more than 200 people.

Chavis, was a 24-year old civil rights leader, when he along with nine others were convicted of arson in the role in racial disturbances in Wilmington. Chavis was sentenced to 34 years in prison in 1972, but his sentence was overturned by a federal appeals court in 1980.

Chavis, who went on to a career that included a stint as executive director of the NAACP, now lives in Florida.

Perdue issued a pardon of the Wilmington 10 in December, just days before she left office.

Chavis attended the breakfast to introduce former Congresswoman Eva Clayton, who introduced the main speaker, Rep. Gwen Moore of Wisconsin.

TILLIS SAYS LOBBYIST GIFT BAN WILL REMAIN INTACT: House Speaker Thom Tillis took to Twitter this week to declare Republican Robert Brawley's bill to lift the ban on lobbyists giving lawmakers gifts is dead. "Benny, does the fact that the bill is dead give you any idea?" @thomtillis wrote. The speaker's office confirmed the 10:10 p.m. Tuesday tweet was legit. Tillis addressed the response to Benjamin Ray, an operative at the N.C. Democratic Party pushing Tillis on the issue and tying it to his office's controversial past with lobbyists and the fact the bill came from one of his committee chairman.

MOTIVE FOR JAMIE HAHN'S STABBING TURNS TO CAMPAIGN MONEY: As the Triangle mourned slain political strategist Jamie Hahn on Wednesday, attention turned to whether the man who police say stabbed her had made questionable campaign finance reports while working for Hahn’s firm. More on the story below.

***Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo -- click below for much, much more from a busy day in N.C. politics. Send news and tips to dome@newsobserver.com. ***

STATE ELECTION OFFICIALS TO INVESTIGATE GAMBLING DONATIONS: State elections officials are calling for an investigation of $235,000 in political donations to dozens of North Carolina candidates from an Oklahoma sweepstakes operator, contributions that they say may have violated state campaign finance laws, AP reported. Gov. Pat McCrory, state House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate leader Phil Berger are among those who received the checks, many of them mailed from a Charlotte lobbying firm where McCrory worked until just before he took office.

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: The House will consider three highly contentious measures Tuesday: first, a sweeping immigration bill at 10 a.m. in House Judiciary Subcommittee B and a gun bill at the same time in House Judiciary Subcommittee A, and then, at 2 p.m., the full House convenes to hear a voter ID measure. Immigration advocates are expected to appear in full force at the legislative building today to lobby. Also today: a House panel will also consider a bill to adopt a state marsupial, among other state symbols, and a Senate committee will hear a bill to make hospitals more transparent in their billing.

Gov. Pat McCrory -- and legislative leaders -- will attend the NFIB meeting in Raleigh at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. Later in the day, the governor will sign Kilah's Law (HB75) at a 4:30 p.m. ceremony at the Capitol.

Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo -- our thoughts are with Jamie and Nation Hahn's family and friends today. More North Carolina political news and analysis below.

Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby is looking further into the case of a wealthy Democratic campaign donor who helped pay the salary of a staff member of former Gov. Bev Perdue's 2008 campaign in violation of state election laws.

An SBI investigator went before the Wake County grand jury to provide a sketch of a case against Charles Michael Fulenwider, a Morganton resident who provided $32,000 to Tryon Capital Ventures in Chapel Hill, to help pay the salary of Julie Sitton, a fundraiser for Perdue's campaign who was paid off the books, investigators contend.

The grand jury issued a presentment, stating that there was probable cause to believe Fulenwider broke campaign laws. The presentment is a procedure used occasionally to give prosecutors an idea whether they have a case strong enough for a possible indictment. 

Fulenwider, according to Willoughby, has been cooperative with investigators and prosecutors during a longrunning investigation into Perdue's campaign activities. Sitton and Peter Reichard, Perdue's former campaign finance chief and an executive with Tryon Capital Ventures, have already pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in the case.

Public Policy Polling surveyed about 600 voters last week in the wake of Republican-sponsored legislation that would revoke Raleigh's lease on the 325-acre state property.

The bill passed the Senate last week and now heads to the House. About 52 percent of those surveyed said they support the park, while 27 percent were against the idea.