N.C. among the fiscally tardy five...Produce public records or pay...Just say no to underage working...beer and puppies.

Happy first day of the new fiscal year!

FUSS BUDGET - North Carolina is one of five states -- along with Arizona, California, Mississippi and Pennsylvania -- that did not have its budget written on time. (New York Times)

DOCUMENTATION OR LITIGATION - The House Finance Committee today takes up a bill that would require government entities to pay the legal fees of anyone who has to sue to obtain public records.

IPODS, NOT ASSEMBLY LINES - The Senate today will consider a bill that doubles penalties for violation of state child labor laws, now among the weakest in the nation, according to the National Consumers League.

WOOF! SLURP - The anti-puppy mill bill advances, as does legislation allowing beer tastings. As Homer Simpson would say: "Mmmmm. Beer."

It's zero hour for the state budget...Appealing the death penalty...Supreme breakfast talk with Walter Dellinger...N.C. is No. 1 -- in dangerous coal ash sites.

Happy Tuesday! When the Flintstones whistle blows this evening, we're halfway through the shortened work week.

WHO BLINKS? The state's budget expires at midnight, so House and Senate budget writers have to figure out whose version of a temporary spending bill survives, since they haven't finished a new budget. House members want a July 15 deadline on the bill, but Senate leaders want the bill, which funds state agencies at 85 percent of this year's level, to last until the new budget is done.

CAPITAL CONTROVERSY: The Racial Justice Act is up for a vote in House Judiciary 1 committee today, bound to spur debate over its provision to allow condemned killers to challenge the death penalty based on race.

SUPREME BREAKFAST: A dissection of the Supreme Court's recent reverse discrimination decision ranks as the No. 1 read on Slate and stars Duke law professor and former U.S. Solicitor General Walter Dellinger.

ASH TUESDAY: North Carolina holds the largest number of dangerous coal ash sites of any state -- 12 of the 44 sites on an EPA list.