Illegal immigrants would be denied bail under a new bill.

The bill was filed by freshmen Republican Reps. Pearl Burris-Floyd of Gaston County and Justin Burr of Stanly County.

It would instruct magistrates to have a presumption that no illegal immigrant charged with a sex offense, violent felony or driving violation, among other things, could be released with a reasonable presumption that they would return to court.

Sarah Preston, legislative director for the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said that it was overly broad and would cost too much money.

Burr said the bill was supposed to be broad.

"This is just a way to make sure these folks are being held and not put back on the streets," he said. (Burlington Times-News)

U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler may already have a 2010 challenger.

An unsigned editorial in the Burlington Times-News repeats — a little skeptically — the recent talk about Shuler potentially facing off against U.S. Sen. Richard Burr in two years.

To be sure, Shuler has had star power and attractiveness as a candidate for bigger things ever since his stunning upset of Taylor. A teetotaling pro-life Democrat, Shuler hews to the middle in his votes and his public life. He recently was honored by the National Federation of Small Business for his pro-business voting record. The NRA likes him.

But Burr is no pushover. He's reliably conservative and has seldom strayed from the Bush position but he is no ideologue. He has made his mark working across party lines on several issues, among them reform of the National Institutes of Health spending and creation of an agency to fight bioterrorism.

The paper adds that Henderson County Sheriff George Erwin, the Western North Carolina campaign coordinator for former GOP gubernatorial candidate Fred Smith, is "seriously looking" at running for Shuler's Congressional seat.

Bob Orr didn't have a campaign kickoff.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate basically began his campaign last year with a series of interviews with reporters (including Dome).

He never held the kind of bunting-and-bluegrass event typical of statewide campaigns. In an interview with the Burlington Times-News, Orr said that was by accident.

Orr says he mentioned that he had formed a campaign committee to an Associated Press editor in passing. A few hours later, word was out:

"I wish I had planned this out," Orr says later on the campaign trail. "It would have been better organized and better financed. It was just something I felt was important to do. It developed over a period of time with dissatisfaction of where the state was headed and how issues were going to be debated. I didn't think anybody would talk about the incentives if I didn't get in the race."