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RALEIGH -- A deep bench and powerful inside presence under the basket gave North Carolina lawmakers the advantage they needed to make a second half run and beat a squad of South Carolina legislators 35 -27 in a charity game Wednesday.

With the win at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, North Carolina reclaimed the trophy from its southern rival and extended its series lead to 11-6 in an on-again, off-again competition that dates to 1979.

"It was a great game," said Rep. Burt Jones, a Rockingham Republican who coached the team and reveled in his post-game interview. "I think we played just a little bit better. ... We had a little run in the second half and pulled away."

The 6-foot, 5-inch center Rep. Chris Millis, a Hampstead Republican, scored big points for the bipartisan N.C. General Assembly team and swatted a few big South Carolina shots, easily winning the crowd's MVP nod. "Everybody played hard," he said, sounding just like a professional athlete. "It was a team win."

Gov. Pat McCrory made an appearance in the second half, playing good minutes but later clanked two free throws late in the game. "I've never been so nervous in my life," McCrory said at the line.

Police have charged a man with stabbing and seriously wounding two well-known Democratic political strategists at their home in North Raleigh on Monday evening.

Jonathon Wayne Broyhill is accused of stabbing Nation Richard Hahn and his wife, Jameson Kirk Hahn, at 1705 Tealwood Place. Broyhill, 31, has been charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.

Police say Broyhill knew the Hahns but have not disclosed what led to the stabbing, except to say that investigators think “the events underlying the incident were not domestic in nature.” Broyhill was also injured and taken to the hospital.

Democrats in the state House and Senate filed bills this week that would prohibit state and local governments from making employment decisions based on a person's sexual orientation.

Equality NC plans to promote the bills when supporters come to the Legislative Building on April 16.

Supporters have failed for years to get this legislation passed. When Democrats ran the legislature, getting a committee to hear the bill was a notable event.

Sen. Josh Stein, a Raleigh Democrat who filed this session's Senate bill, sponsored an identical bill last session that died in the Senate Rules Committee.

BIG JOBS DEAL PUTS McCRORY IN THE SPOTLIGHT: The Charlotte law firm Moore & Van Allen, where Gov. Pat McCrory was employed until just days before taking office, helped the New York-based insurance company negotiate with state and local governments to receive more than $94 million in taxpayer-funded incentives in return for the promise to add more than 2,600 jobs in the next three years. The connection raises questions in the minds of Democrats about McCrory’s role in the deal and again shines light on his employment at the law firm, which also runs a lobbying practice in Raleigh. Republicans used similar concerns to reject a major economic development project under Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue, citing how the company hired a Raleigh law firm that employed her son.

TODAY IN POLITICS: McCrory will tout the MetLife deal at another event in Charlotte Friday. The U.S. Labor Department reports the national unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, a four year low. The full N.C. Mining and Energy Commission meets Friday as the debate about what to do with fracking waste remains unresolved and lawmakers are getting involved.

Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo. Much more on the MetLife deal and the political implications below. Send news and tips to dome@newsobserver.com. Have a good weekend and Go Heels!

Legislative Democrats sent out a fundraising letter today asking for money to pay for the Democrats' redistricting lawsuit.

Democrats, civil rights groups and nonprofits suing over the GOP-drawn maps have had some setbacks recently. Their effort to get state Supreme Court Justice Paul Newby to recuse himself from redistricting decisions failed. The larger case is remains in front of a panel of three Superior Court judges. "Carrying this fight to the courts is an expensive proposition, but critical for the future of our state," the email says.

Senate Minority Leader Martin Nesbitt of Asheville, House Minority Leader Larry Hall of Durham, Senate minority whip Josh Stein of Raleigh and House deputy minority leader Michael Wray of Gaston signed the email.

Senate Democrats re-elected Martin Nesbitt as the minority leader and Sen. Josh Stein of Raleigh as minority whip for the next two years.

The selections, reported by the Associated Press, end rumors circulating through Raleigh that Senate Democrats were looking to shake up their leadership after losing two seats in the 2012 election that will keep them solidly in the minority. Republicans will hold super majorities in both legislative chambers next year.

Nesbitt represents Asheville. He served more than two decades in the N.C. House and four-plus terms in the Senate. He won Senate majority leader in 2009 when Democrats controlled the chamber.

Stein, who lives in Raleigh, will start his third term in January.

AP also reported that Senate Democrats selected Sens. Gladys Robinson of Greensboro, Floyd McKissick of Durham and Clark Jenkins of Tarboro as deputy minority leaders.

A bill that would allow outdoor advertisers to clear more trees around billboards moved closer to a Senate vote today after winning approval from the Finance Committee, reports Jim Morrill of the Charlotte Observer.

The bill would double the fee outdoor advertisers pay to remove vegetation from a billboard site, to $400. It would also raise fees to erect a billboard and designate $30 from the fee for highway beautification.

It would also expand the space around billboards that could be cleared from 250 feet to 340 in municipalities and 380 in unincorporated areas. It no longer includes any provisions about digital billboards.

Critics say the bill still would allow too much tree-cutting around billboards and override local regulations.

Sen. Josh Stein, D-Wake, dismissed the $30 fee for beautification. That, he said, would only buy one azalea bush.

The bill would apply to signs on interstate highways and federally assisted roads such as U.S. 64 and U.S. 70 in Wake County and U.S. 74 and N.C. 49 in Mecklenburg and other counties.

The state Senate final approval Monday to a bill giving community colleges the option of not participating in a federal loan program for low-income students.

The bill, which had already been approved in the House, passed the Senate in 31-18 party line vote. The measure now heads to the desk of Gov. Bev Perdue.

The Republican bill rolls back a 2010 measure that requires the schools to offer the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program from the U.S. Department of Education starting July 1. Across the state, 34 community colleges currently do not currently offer the loans.

Some community college board members are opposed to participation in the federal loan program due to concern campuses could be put at risk of losing other federal funding if too many students default on their loans.

"They know what they're doing," Sen. Jerry Tillman, an Archdale Republican, said of the community college boards. "I don't want to dictate to them what programs they participate in."

Sen Josh Stein, a Raleigh Democrat, accused the GOP lawmakers of creating a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Of 5,642 institutions of higher education nationally, none have lost federal funding due to too many students defaulting on their Ford loans, he said.

Without access to the federal program, Stein said students would be forced to use higher-interest loans from for-profit creditors.

"If we don't allow access to these low interest loans, then that is a hidden tax on or community college students," Stein said.

Gov. Bev Perdue and several other Democratic Party leaders are scheduled to attend a Thursday fundraiser in Raleigh for a group that's hoping to wrest control of the Wake County school board away from the Republican majority.

The stated goal of the fundraiser for the Wake Citizens for Good Government PAC is to benefit Wake school board candidates "who support high quality public schools for all children." The PAC was formed in 2009 and unsuccessfully ran a television attack ad against Republican-backed school board candidates.

The PAC was formed by Dean Debnam, president of the Democratic-leaning polling firm of Public Policy Polling. PPP has recently conducted surveys on Wake school issues for what the firm says is a private client.

Democrats have tried to rally their base against the changes made by the Republican school board majority, including the elimination of the use of socioeconomic diversity in student assignment.

The state Senate on Wednesday voted 36-13 to approve the medical malpractice bill that gives emergency-room doctors more protection from lawsuits and limits the amount of non-economic compensatory damages to $500,000 for each plaintiff. 

Senators amended the bill to adjust the damages cap with the consumer price index every three years, so that it will keep pace with inflation.

The Senate defeated an attempt by Sen. Josh Stein, a Raleigh Democrat, to retain the current standard of “ordinary negligence” for emergency room physicians instead of the bill’s “gross negligence, wanton conduct or intentional wrongdoing.”

Sen.  Daniel Clodfelter, a Democrat from Mecklenburg County, predicted the bill, if it passes the House as expected, will be invalidated in court. Two state Supreme Court cases have held that limits on compensatory damages amount to an unconstitutional restriction of property rights.