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Gov. Pat McCrory gave the GOP’s weekly radio address on Saturday morning, giving the newly elected North Carolina governor a bit of a national profile.

McCrory repeated the gist of his campaign themes and remarks he has made since taking office in January, saying North Carolina is working on reforms in the economy, education and efficiency.

North Carolina’s revenue and tax collections so far this fiscal year show an improving state economy that is still struggling to build up considerable momentum.

Through the first three quarters of the fiscal year, North Carolina’s general fund revenues have exceeded the state’s $14.3 billion revenue target by $110 million, according to a new report by the state’s Fiscal Research Division. Tax revenues are $126 million ahead of a $13.5 billion target.

But sales tax collections have been below projections, with the state taking in $90 million less than the $4 billion targeted through the first three quarters of the fiscal year. Non-tax revenues, which includes investment income and judicial fees, are also $16.3 million less than the state’s $513 million target.

The AP’s Michael Biesecker has dug up an interesting follow to the internet sweepstakes case out of Florida that involves a major campaign contributor in North Carolina. This week the sweeps café industry vowed to continue to push for legalization in this state.

Here’s how it starts:

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- Fresh off a nearly $300 million racketeering case involving a veterans' charity that benefited from simulated gambling at Internet cafes, Florida regulators will investigate a children's cancer group connected to a similar operation that is four times bigger.

The new probe comes in response to Associated Press inquiries about Children's Cancer Cooperative, a group that operates out of a South Carolina bingo parlor, shares a lawyer with Allied Veterans of the World and has collected cash from more than 200 of the sweepstakes cafes in Florida.

In exchange for the money that has flowed into the Children's Cancer Cooperative from the cafes, the charity's name is listed as sponsoring sweepstakes prizes offered at the cafes, giving players the impression money lost on the fast-moving games mimicking Vegas-style slots goes to help sick kids. ...

Records found by the AP show the Children's Cancer Cooperative was registered in Florida in 2009. It is also registered in at least six other states where sweepstakes games are popular — Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia and Iowa.

Only three states are expected to spend less per student than North Carolina in the current school year, according to the latest rankings from the National Education Association.

North Carolina's per pupil spending for the 2012-13 school year is estimated at $8,433 with only Texas, Utah and Arizona spending less per student. The U.S. average is $11,068.

The state also ranks No. 48 in teacher salary among the 50 states and District of Columbia in the current school year, paying an average $45,947. Only Oklahoma, Mississippi and South Dakota pay less. The U.S. average is $56,383.

Both rankings in per pupil spending and average teacher salary represent a decline in the NEA rankings from the previous year. North Carolina spent $8,492 per student in the 2011-2012 school year and paid an average teacher salary of $46,605.

The state has received a $74 million federal grant to set up an online marketplace for health insurance, a key component of the new federal health care law.

The internet insurance mall would be for small businesses or individuals not insured through their jobs. The money would be used for getting guts of the system ready.

According to the grant application the state Department of Insurance submitted last year, more than half the money would be used by the state Department of Health and Human Services to link the software that creates the website to an existing software program called NC FAST, which is used by DHHS and county social services departments.

Gov. Pat McCrory has not said how he wants the state to approach the health care law - whether he wants the state to run its own exchange, whether the state will run it with the federal government, or if North Carolina will tell the U.S. government to do all the work.

Senate leader Phil Berger said Wednesday he did not want a state or state-federal exchange.

Two public-interest organizations have analyzed outside election spending in North Carolina and 20 other states, and on Thursday released a report on their findings. The report is meant to draw attention to what it sees as a big problem: too much money is being spent by outside and secretive interests on federal campaigns.

What made the biggest splash on Dome in 2012? The top 5 stories -- in terms of reader clicks --reflect how North Carolina played a major role in the national political scene and the Washington-driven penchant for little news bits that speak to a larger narrative. It doesn't necessarily reflect the biggest news of the political year, but what generated interest in the blogosphere.

Click below to see the top 5.

Gov. Bev Perdue remains mum on her future once she leaves the mansion.

In a recent interview, Perdue said her plans are "beginning to come together" but she refused to provide specifics. 

One possibility floating through political circles is a position at the UNC-Chapel Hill. (Perdue lived in Chapel Hill for a time.) But she demurred when asked about it. "A lot of people talking to me about a lot of things. but again. I would do nothing until I talk to my team and Bob obviously," she said referring to her husband.

At his first news conference as North Carolina’s governor-elect, Republican Pat McCrory pledged to reach out to legislative leaders in both parties and “move very quickly” on forming an administration.

McCrory plans to speak to reporters in Raleigh on Thursday afternoon to offer details of his transition. “There’s not a lot of days to move so we’re going to move very quickly,” McCrory told a news conference at the Westin in Charlotte on Wednesday. “And there’s a sense of urgency.”