* Former Gov. Jim Hunt to be featured speaker at 2009 international biotechnology convention in Atlanta, to address science education in states.

* Former Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Mike Munger moves to Germany for the summer; Angela Merkel to be mocked shortly.

* Bill drafting director Gerry Cohen outlines the rules behind the upcoming crossover week. Get ready for a hectic week everybody.

* Media consultant J. Mills Holloway, who is running for former Sen. Vernon Malone's seat, has a campaign manager: Marjorie Fields Harris. 

Rep. Bill Daughtridge is seeking nearly $19 million in state spending.

The Republican nominee for state treasurer has cosponsored six bills seeking appropriations in the upcoming state budget.

Among the larger appropriations bills he is cosponsoring: $6 million for the Communities in Schools dropout prevention program, $5.6 million for the N.C. Museum of Art, $3.2 million for a biotechnology research campus at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, $2 million for the N.C. Arts Council and $2 million for a business incubator for homeland security and national defense.

He also cosponsored a bill for $100,000 to study the state Department of Public Instruction.

Daughtridge's Democratic opponent, state Sen. Janet Cowell, has sponsored and cosponsored bills seeking $76 million in appropriations. 

Both Daughtridge and Cowell are cosponsors on the dropout prevention program, the N.C. Museum of Art projects and the N.C. Arts Council funding, which would total $13.7 million in spending.

Sen. Walter Dalton is seeking more than $277 million in state spending.

The Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor has sponsored nine bills and co-sponsored 18 bills seeking appropriations in the upcoming state budget. A longtime state senator, he is serving an advisory role on the budget in the short session.

Dalton is the primary sponsor on bills totaling $208 million: $135 million for grants for local water and sewer projects, $20 million for the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center, $16 million for stem cell research, $14 million for the Cleveland Correctional Center, $10 million to provide services for the developmentally disabled, $5.8 million to help provide high-speed Internet access, $3 million for biotechnology training, $2.5 million for construction at historically black colleges and $2 million for small business entrepeneurship initiatives.

Among the larger appropriations bills he is cosponsoring: $44.7 million for Smart Start early childhood intiatives, $9.5 million for 4-H camps, $3 million for home foreclosure prevention, $3 million for loans for biotechnology start-ups, $1.6 million for a dropout prevention program in Durham and Vance counties, $1.4 million for water resource management and $1.25 million for biotechnology education.

He's also seeking a number of appropriations under $1 million: Teach for America, state GIS improvements, veterinary medicine teaching and research, a statewide infection control program, a literacy program, Kids Voting, a Teacher Cadet Program, an early chilhood initiative, a youth golfing program and a health information management study.

Previously: Sen. Kay Hagan seeks $48 million in state spending.

Gov. Mike Easley endorsed Hillary Clinton today.

At a rally at N.C. State's McKimmon Center, the two-term governor said he supported Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Easley said he first met Clinton at a Jefferson-Jackson breakfast when she was the First Lady of Arkansas and he was a prosecutor.

"It's time for somebody to be in the White House who understands the challenges that we face in this country," he said.

Easley said Clinton "gets it" — the link between education and economic development —. He also promoted North Carolina's efforts at promoting biotechnology.

"There was a lot of 'Yes we can' and 'Yes we should' going around," he said. "Hillary Clinton is ready to deliver. That's the difference."

He said he enjoyed watching his wife, Mary Easley, talk with Clinton before the event began.

"There's nothing I love more than a strong powerful woman," he said.