A giant model of a colon was set up on the Halifax Mall by the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center to educate legislators about cancer risks today. (Photo by Ryan Teague Beckwith)

The legislature will soon host a giant colon.

The UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center will bring a giant inflatable colon to the General Assembly on June 26.

From 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., the cancer center will host events inside and outside the building — and the colon — to promote screening and awareness for a host of different kinds of cancer, health experts on hand to answer questions, Jay Price reports.

The Super Colon is designed to teach people about the risks and symptoms of colorectal cancer and give information about early detection and treatment options. 

The 8-foot-high, 20-inch-long colon shows models of healthy and diseased tissue as well as various stages of cancer.

Sheryl Crow called U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick "a rock star."

At a congressional hearing Wednesday, the pop-rock singer praised the Charlotte Republican's efforts to draw more funding for the environmental causes of breast cancer, the Charlotte Observer reports.

"I want to know what causes this disease," Crow said in testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's health subcommittee. "We need to put more resources into figuring out what the environment has to do with breast cancer." 

Myrick is not the only one Crow has praised that way, though it was unusual for a well-known liberal to praise a Republican. In an interview with People magazine, she also called her son, Wyatt, a "rock star."

Dome would like to note that Crow herself is not actually a "rock" star. Soft rock star, maybe.

North Carolina has 24 health insurance benefit mandates.

According to the Council for Affordable Health Insurance, an insurance industry group that generally advocates against increased mandates, North Carolina has the 18th most mandates in the United States.

Idaho has the fewest mandates, with seven; while Maryland has the most, at 39. The median was 21 mandates, which Kentucky and Tennessee have.

Among the most common benefits in North Carolina's mandates: Mammograms, maternity stays, breast reconstruction, alcoholism, diabetes supplies and emergency services.

Among the least common: Birthing centers, cleft palate, bone mass measurement, human papilloma virus vaccine, newborn hearing screenings and TMJ disorders.

North Carolina also requires insurers cover clinical trials, mastectomies, hospital stays after a mastectomy, colorectal cancer screening, cervical cancer screening and contraceptives, among other things.

Although it's not yet listed, the General Assembly recently added a 25th benefit mandate: mental health parity.

Joe Hackney is back in action.

The House speaker has made a quick recovery from prostate cancer surgery, taking a tour of a special warfare center this week at Fort Bragg with three other lawmakers, Dan Kane reports.

According to a news release from the speaker's office, the lawmakers toured a vertical wind tunnel that helps paratroopers learn to maneuver in the air and a "laser shoot house" where soldiers with live ammunition sharpen their close quarter combat skills.

Bill Holmes, Hackney's spokesman, said the speaker began holding meetings in his office Jan. 2, and has also attended a few fundraisers for his colleagues. He's back working the Chatham County beef cattle farm with one of his brothers.

Hackney, 62, an Orange County Democrat, had surgery to remove his prostate on Dec. 21 at UNC Hospital after doctors confirmed the cancer in September. Doctors said the cancer was contained within the prostate, and expected Hackney to make a full recovery.

House Speaker Joe Hackney is in the hospital.

The Chapel Hill Democrat, 62, had his prostate removed at UNC Hospitals this morning. Doctors found cancer during a biopsy this fall.

His doctors said he should be released this weekend. 

"He's doing fine. His prognosis is excellent, and he is expected to make a full recovery," said Dr. Eric Wallen, the urologic surgeon who performed the procedure in a press statement.

The release notes that prostate cancer strikes one in six men in the United States. Hackney encourages all men to have regular screenings, as he has, to detect malignancies early. 

The Senate budget would spend $16 million on cancer research.

The money would come from a trust fund that receives cash from a national settlement with tobacco companies. It would pay for research by UNC Hospitals.

Sen. Kay Hagan told the Associated Press that she hopes the spending will one day reach $50 million a year.

The UNC president would have discretion over how to spend the grant.

The provision is under Section 6.23 in the Senate budget.

Retired cyclist Lance Armstrong is backing a bill by U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick.

Armstrong, a cancer survivor, endorsed a proposed cancer screening bill proposed by Myrick, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky and U.S. Sens. Tom Harkin and Olympia Snowe.

At a rally today with 200 cancer survivors in Washington, D.C., Armstrong said the Cancer Screening, Treatment and Survivorship Act of 2007 would help "the most vulnerable Americans" when they are diagnosed:

"Today we are demanding that the federal government invest in strategies that save lives.  This bipartisan effort is a critical first step."

Myrick, also a survivor, sponsored a 1999 law to extend Medicaid coverage for breast and cervical cancer.