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Mike Ruffer, a Raleigh-area local restauranteur, is getting support from business leaders, after he came under fire for his concerns about how the Health Care Act would effect his businesses.

Ruffer, who owns eight Five Guys and Burgers and Fries franchises in North Carolina, said on Monday that the new health care law was hurting his business and forcing him to cancel expansion plans and raise burger prices. He made his remarks during a Heritage Foundation panel discussion.

After his comments were published on the Internet, calls from supporters were made to Five Guys headquarters, and the company began distancing themselves from Ruffer's comments, according to the the group Job Creators Alliance, which announced their support for Ruffer.

CHARLOTTE ISSUES STEAL McCRORY'S THUNDER: Gov. Pat McCrory triumphantly returned to his home city Monday for an economic development announcement -- but you wouldn't know it from the front page of The Charlotte Observer this morning. Two controversial local issues -- control of the airport and Carolina Panthers stadium upgrades -- stole the show and the front page. McCrory punted on the airport issues but said the effort to transfer control from the city to an independent authority needed more thought. And on stadium upgrades, McCrory said no to the use of state money. (More on those stories below.) Expect more of the same today, when McCrory holds a press conference with the Metro Mayors Coalition but will likely face myriad questions about voter ID and other legislation.

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: The House will convene at 2 p.m. but no votes are expected; the Senate opens at 2:30 p.m. to consider a handful of legislation on the calendar. The action is on Gov. Pat McCrory's desk where four bills await his signature -- including a bill to block Medicaid expansion and prohibit a state-based exchange. McCrory's press conference starts at 2:15 p.m.

***Good morning. Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo -- a tipsheet for North Carolina politics. Send news and tips to dome@newsobserver.com. ***

LAWMAKERS THROW McCRORY A BONE: The first bill to Gov. Pat McCrory's desk is likely to be a measure to cut unemployment benefits for the jobless. The Republican supports the bill but don't be surprised if it's not the first one he signs. The House worked late Wednesday to pass another bill designed to create two paths for high school graduates: technical schools or college. McCrory campaigned on this issue and Democrats expect to him to make it the first bill he signs. "The word on the street is that the governor wants to have a press conference on this," Democratic state Rep. Paul Luebke of Durham said on the House floor in criticizing the speed at which it progressed. The bill was heard in committee and given initial approval in the House in the same day.

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: State Auditor Beth Wood appears before lawmakers this morning to talk about a recent audit showing troubles in the Medicaid system -- a documents Republicans are using as justification to block a Medicaid expansion under the federal health care law. A Senate committee will consider a measure to block public access to records about concealed weapons holders. On the House floor, House Speaker Thom Tillis is limiting debate on a controversial measure to block Medicaid expansion to 30 minutes. Lawmakers want to leave early today, in part, because it's Valentine's Day. McCrory is hosting more lawmakers for breakfast and lists no other public events.

Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo -- the source for all the North Carolina political scuttlebutt. Much more below.

Senate President Pro Team Phil Berger's campaign website perpetuates one of the bigger myths of the Affordable Care Act: that the government is coming to get your health records.

A lawsuit accuses Blue Cross plans nationwide of driving up health-care costs by illegally carving up the nation's insurance market. It's an issue North Carolina's General Assembly has tried to deal with going back several years.

The state's DMV headquarters on New Bern Avenue has been in the dark -- really -- since a short circuit Thursday morning caused an outage . Repairs should be completed over the weekend.

Senate leader Phil Berger is circulating an online petition to "Stop Obamacare in North Carolina."

The Eden Republican says the state Senate has already passed a bill and now it's "up to the House and Governor to protect us from:

- The government turning over our health records to the IRS

- Government-forced insurance

- Billions in new taxes on businesses and the people of North Carolina."

There are a few problems with those statements.

UPDATED: McCRORY-COOPER SHOWDOWN: Republican Gov. Pat McCrory's Division of Motor Vehicles is refusing to issue immigrants in the deferred action program driver's licenses but Democrat Attorney General Roy Cooper says they must.

The state Attorney General’s office said Thursday that young illegal immigrants participating in an Obama administration program blocking deportation for two years should be eligible for driving privileges in North Carolina, but by day’s end it wasn’t clear whether the DMV would issue them. But by late Thursday, more than five hours after the opinion was released, acting DMV Commissioner J. Eric Boyette said DMV officials had not formulated their response. “We have just received the ruling from the Attorney General’s office regarding driver’s licenses for people in the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program today and we are in the process of reviewing it,” Boyette said by email.

Gov. Bev Perdue announced Thursday that North Carolina would establish a health care exchange in partnership with the federal government.

“North Carolina is moving forward with implementing a process that provides much needed health insurance for every citizen,” Perdue said in a statement. “It is critical for our state to participate in decisions that affect our state’s citizens. We will not cede total control to the federal government. It remains my goal to pursue a state-based plan.”

Check back for more details. Read her letter to the feds here.

A group calling for politicians in both parties to support the enactment of Obamacare plans a stop in Durham on Tuesday, Sept. 4.

The stop comes as part of a tour sponsored by Doctors for America that has been dubbed Patients Over Politics, a 12-day journey of doctors and patients from the Republican National Convention in Tampa to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.

The group boasted in a release that doctors and patients from 17 states are participating and that thousands of signatures were collected from people in every state calling on all politicians to embrace the Affordable Care Act.

The Obama campaign held a women's round table Friday in Raleigh to tout how how the new health care law would benefit women.

As a result of the new health care law, starting August 1, insurance companies began covering eight new health services including contraception, well-woman visits and breast feeding support. The campaign estimates that 1.35 million North Carolina women will benefit from this program.

“For decades, women in this country have gotten the short end of the stick when it comes ot access to quality, affordable health care,” state Rep. Jennifer Weiss of Cary said at the roundtable held at the Morning Times restaurant.

More than a thousand North Carolina donors gave $100,000-plus to Mitt Romney in the 24 hours since the Supreme Court announced its decision on Wednesday to uphold most of Obamacare, the campaign said.

Nearly a thousand of those donations came from first-time financial supporters. The trend gives credence to claims that Romney stood to benefit politically from a favorable opinion of the law by the Supreme Court.