* The SBI says that 11 witnesses watched guards at a Greene County prison beat a shackled and helpless inmate. Three guards have been charged with felony assault.

* A bill meant to reform annexation now includes a provision that would allow a referendum under certain conditions. The current proposal leaves all sides of the contentious debate unhappy.

* Officials are keeping quiet, but the signs are pointing to the Catawba County town of Maiden as the site of Apple's new $1 billion data center.

Correction: Post now includes a better description of what the annexation changes would do.

Given all the secrecy with the incentives deals to land companies in North Carolina, it's no surprise that negotiators give them code names.

Take Apple, which could receive as much as $46 million in tax breaks over a decade for spending $1 billion on a computer data center in what will likely be the western part of the state. Gov. Beverly Perdue made that deal official on Wednesday, Dan Kane reports.

That project, according to state Sen. David Hoyle, was code named "Dolphin."

He had no idea why.  At the very least, it doesn't outright clue you to one of the world's best known computer and computer-related gadget makers.

Hoyle, a Gaston County Democrat and Senate Finance Committee co-chairman, has often said he is not a fan of these incentives, but the state has to play the game or lose well-paying jobs to competing states. He said this week he learned that the state lost out on a bid to bring a company with 750 jobs to Cleveland County.

"Project Flyer" had flown to Atlanta, he said.

Another prospect remains up for grabs in Gaston County, he said. This one would bring about 170 jobs paying an average annual salary of $55,000.

But Hoyle said this company is driving a hard bargain, saying the state has to be more competitive.

Maybe the code name is fitting on this one: "Project Barracuda."

The N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law is questioning the Apple incentives.

Executive Director Bob Orr, a former member of the N.C. Supreme Court, said in a statement today that the incentives violate state laws that require tax exemptions be uniform.

"This legislation favors one corporation over all of the existing corporate citizens of our state, particularly those who have made large investments over the years," he said.

Both chambers of the state legislature have passed versions of a bill rewriting corporate tax laws in a bid to lure Apple computer, which is looking for a location for a $1 billion data center.

The tax breaks would be worth between $3 and $12.5 million a year.

Orr, a longtime opponent of corporate incentives, said the institute has e-mailed its legal opinion to Gov. Beverly Perdue.

iLEGISLATURE: State legislators may rewrite the corporate tax law in a bid to lure Apple computer, which is looking for a spot to locate a $1 billion data center. The tax breaks could be worth about $3 million a year in the first years and eventually grow to $12.5 million a year. The bill passed the House this week but must go back to the Senate for final approval.

PRE-RACE WARMUP: Contenders for the 2010 elections continue to get shuffled. Democrats are mulling six candidates for U.S. Senate: Reps. Heath Shuler and Mike McIntyre, state Sens. Malcolm Graham and Dan Blue, Iraq vet Cal Cunningham and Durham lawyer Kenneth Lewis. Meantime, Republicans lost first-round draft pick Mike Minter, who declined to run against Rep. Larry Kissell.

DUKING IT OUT: Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is taking heat for remarks she made at Duke University in 2005. An Appeals Court judge, she said the court is "where policy is made." Conservatives said that means she'll legislate from the bench; liberals said she simply meant interpreting vague laws. Forum moderator Erwin Chemerinsky said it's much ado about an "innocuous" remark.

IN OTHER NEWS: Former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee will hold a fundraiser in Charlotte in June. ... Mike Easley Jr. is working at the same law firm as Richard Vinroot, who ran against his father in 2000. ... Gov. Beverly Perdue said she trusts her son Garrett is not lobbying state legislators, despite his recent attendance at a big event. ... The N.C. Association of Educators says it's "at war" over the state budget.

The state House is considering an incentive to lure Apple.

The change in the state's corporate tax laws is designed to make North Carolina more attractive to a planned $1 billion Apple data center.

The House will vote Tuesday on the bill, which was recently changed to push the project to counties with a high unemployment rate. It passed the Senate ealrier this month.

The bill would change the way corporate income taxes are calculated by giving breaks to companies with a relatively small share of U.S. sales in North Carolina but which have large shares of their nationwide property and payroll here.

The breaks could be worth about $46 million over the next 10 years. (AP)