The state Attorney General's office won't appeal a Superior Court judge's decision that State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson has the legal authority to run the state education agency.

Gov. Beverly Perdue had hired Bill Harrison to run the state Department of Public Instruction, going around Atkinson, who had twice won statewide elections for state superintendent. 

Atkinson, a Democrat, hired former state Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, a Republican who runs the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, to fight the decision in court.  She sued Perdue and the State Board of Education, and won. 

The Attorney General's office said immediately after the Superior Court ruling in July that it would appeal. But the office decided last month not to, said spokeswoman Noelle Talley. 

Harrison said he told Perdue soon after the decision that he thought an appeal would be distracting. He retired from the paid job of state education CEO, though he is still the school board chairman. 

Perdue took some hits for appointing Harrison to the job running the education agency. The Mecklenburg County Democratic Party admonished Perdue for the attempted end-run around Atkinson. 

* The N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law filed a lawsuit Wednesday to force Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte to give back the money the state has given to the culinary and hospitality school.

The institute, a conservative-leaning legal think tank, said the $10 million promised to the school by then-House Speaker Jim Black and other legislative leaders in 2004 doesn't qualify as an economic incentive. The school was not required to create jobs or invest in the state, the steps that state officials typically include to justify the public purpose for a corporate handout.

"This is simply a gift from Jim Black to the school," said Bob Orr, the institute's executive director. "Unfortunately it is one the taxpayers are footing the bill for."

Former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker, an attorney for the university, said he expects the courts will not agree with the institute. The courts have yet to agree with suits the institute has filed over incentives to companies such as Dell and Google.

"This went through the legislative process and enjoyed bipartisan support," Wicker said. "Educating our kids is always a public purpose." (N&O)

* As more college students seek financial aid in the troubled economy, the U.S. House of Representatives today is set to overhaul the nation's student loan system.

For students, little in the application process would change beyond a shorter and more simplified form. But more money could be coming their way, and Congress would rework the bureaucracy to potentially save $87 billion in the next decade. (N&O)

* A state task force will try to prevent ex-convicts from going back to prison.

Gov. Beverly Perdue announced 34 members of the StreetSafe Task Force, which will try to find ways to curb recidivism. Every year, 28,000 people are released from prison into a world where their pasts make it difficult to find a decent job and a place to live. Perdue said keeping people from going back to prison is one of the best ways to keep state residents safe.

"This is all about being tougher on crime," Perdue said. "We help people stay out of prison by giving them a life and a job and a capacity to succeed in the community and that's what we want so dare not anybody tell me, 'Oh Bev, you're going soft.' Because I tell you what, if 'soft' means keeping people from being repeat offenders, then I think North Carolina should adopt that motto." (N&O)

A Wake County Superior Court judge Monday upheld a $50 annual fee charged to attorneys to help pay for a public campaign financing fund, but he also gave them a bit more discretion in how the money can be spent.

Two attorneys, Catherine M. El-Khouri and W. Anthony Purcell, had sued the state over the fees, which are assessed through the North Carolina State Bar, Dan Kane reports.

The campaign fund pays for publicly-financed campaigns for state appellate judicial races and for a voter education guide. The attorneys had contended the fee represented a violation of their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and was an impermissible tax. They sued in October 2007.

Judge Howard E. Manning Jr. found that the fee is legal, but he also granted attorneys the option of designating their $50 fee to the voter guide. That way, he said, they would not be paying into the campaigns of candidates that they don't like.

"Overall, it's a positive decision for continued funding of a program that Judge Manning says serves a compelling state interest," said Bob Hall, executive director of Democracy North Carolina, a nonprofit that supports public campaign financing.

He said the attorney fee generates $1.1 million annually, about half of the total funds for the judicial public financing program. The rest comes from a voluntary $3 check-off on the state income tax form.

Update: Bob Orr, a former state Supreme Court judge who heads the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, also found plenty to like in Manning's decision. The institute had supported the lawyers' suit.

"From our perspective, the constitutional claim the suit was based on was upheld by the court," Orr said. "The remedy may be broader than we advocated for, but the underlying claim was upheld as unconstitutional. The $50 fee cannot go to candidates by fiat of the General Assembly."

June Atkinson wasn't the only big winner today. Bob Orr also won.

Orr, a former state Supreme Court justice, is a student and teacher of North Carolina's constitution. He cited the constitution regularly last year when he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor. (During his run for governor, Orr offered his own plan for how the state's public schools should be governed.)

Orr, who runs the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, has sued the state over the lottery, tax-increment financing and tax incentives for Dell. None of those suits has been successful.

But Orr represented Atkinson, a Democrat, in her suit against Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue and the State Board of Education over who has the authority to run the state's public schools.

And, on Friday, he was on the winning side.

State Superintendent June Atkinson brought her fight to run the public schools to court today.

Her lawyer, former state Supreme Court justice Bob Orr, argued that the State Board of Education had improperly stripped Atkinson of her duties, reports Lynn Bonner.

"All Dr. Atkinson wants is to perform the job, the duties and responsibilities that 2 million North Carolinians elected her to do," Orr said.

Though Atkinson was elected by voters to hold the position of superintendent, she has not assumed more than a superficial role. She has not actually run the Department of Public Instruction. During her first term, J.B. Buxton came out of Former Gov. Mike Easley's office to manage the education agency.

Then Gov. Beverly Perdue bypassed Atkinson and chose William Harrison to both run the DPI and lead the State Board of Education as chairman.

In April, Atkinson filed suit against Perdue and the state board.

The state is to begin arguments shortly.

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.

The N.C. Republican Party will decide on a new leader this month.

After several defeats in 2008, the race for party chair has been particularly heated, with all four candidates vowing to mobilize voters and stay true to conservative values, the Associated Press reports.

Political observers say the frontrunners are Chad Adams, former Lee County commissioner and vice president of the John Locke Foundation, and Tom Fetzer, former Raleigh mayor and longtime political consultant.

Adams has the support of former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr and much of the political machine run by Art Pope. Fetzer has the backing of a bevy of current and former state officials, most recently U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick.

Retired Navy officer Bill Randall and businessman Marcus Kindley are also running. 

In a political irony, the June 13 event will be held at the Raleigh convention center, a project famously opposed by Fetzer when he served as mayor. 

* Former N.C. Supreme Court Justice and gubernatorial candidate Bob Orr endorses Chad Adams in the race for chair of the N.C. Republican Party.

* Gov. Beverly Perdue tells SAS co-founder John Sall to "get a ram" after sheep at a solar farm interrupt her speech repeatedly.

* North Carolina is the only state in the union where you can't make a citizen's arrest: Although you can detain someone, you can't move them.

* Charlotte Observer columnist Jack Betts thinks state Rep. Cary Allred's propensity to "pop off at every opportunity" has hurt him in his recent brouhaha. 

The N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law will consider redistricting.

The think tank will examine the constitutional and practical implications of Congressional redistricting at a May 7 program.

Former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr and N.C. Coalition for Lobbying and Government Reform director Jane Pinsky will use the program to advocate for a nonpartisan independent redistricting commission.

A panel will include legislative drafting director Gerry Cohen, Southern Coalition for Social Justice director Anita Earls, UNC-Chapel Hill law professor Robert Joyce, Common Cause director Bob Phillips, and attorneys Thomas Farr and Carl Thurman III.

Recent decisions by the North Carolina and U.S. supreme courts have thrown some kinks in redistricting plans.

"A truly independent redistricting commission may be just the answer to provide constitutional districts for the future," said Orr in a statement.

The program will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Raleigh Country Club. 

State school superintendent June Atkinson wants to do her job, and she's willing to go to court to get it.

Today, Atkinson and former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr will discuss Atkinson's lawsuit against the state board and Gov. Beverly Perdue.

Though Atkinson was elected by voters to hold the position of superintendent, she has not assumed more than a superficial role. She has not actually run the Department of Public Instruction. During her first term, J.B. Buxton came out of Former Gov. Mike Easley's office to manage the education agency.

This year, Perdue bypassed Atkinson and chose William Harrison to both run the DPI and lead the State Board of Education as chairman. Harrison is also a defendent in the lawsuit.

Atkinson and Orr announced the lawsuit yesterday and will discuss details today. (N&O)