CLASSES PACKED: The state's 58 community colleges have been slammed by students who enrolled because they need a job or a new career. One college president is teaching basic political science while another school has ramped up use of online classes to deal with the crush. (N&O)

FLIGHTS PAID: As the date for a hearing on the campaign finance activity of Gov. Mike Easley approached, his campaign quietly paid for five flights, acknowledging they could have been construed as campaign-related. (N&O)

DRIVE MY CAR: Former gubernatorial candidate Fred Smith owned a plane and the State Board of Elections told him that he could treat the plane as his car for the purposes of campaign finance reporting. That fact undercuts an argument by the N.C. Democratic Party that Republicans had unbilled flights just like Easley. (N&O)

The State Board of Community Colleges appeared to be headed for a unanimous vote this morning, as several members extolled the virtues of opening the doors to illegal immigrants.

But when the votes were cast, there was one quiet "nay" vote — from Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, who had been silent during the discussion, reports Kristin Collins.

After the vote, one of Dalton's staffers passed out a written statement to reporters. It said the colleges should focus their limited resources on helping laid-off workers get new training, not educating illegal immigrants.

"Now is not the time to increase the demands on our already overburdened community college system," Dalton, a Democrat, said in the statement.

Community college officials said that they expect allowing illegal immigrants to enroll at out-of-state rates, about $7,700 a year, to add fewer than 150 students to the current total of about 800,000.

Before the board meeting ended, Dalton made a quiet exit. While most of the reporters stood in the building lobby, community college staffers escorted Dalton to a staircase just outside the meeting chambers.

When Dome asked Dalton to elaborate on his no vote, he said, "I've got a statement," before disappearing into the stairwell.

* Labor unions trying to shape the nation's health-reform debate have poured millions of dollars into the campaign coffers of North Carolina lawmakers in recent years.

Since 2003, unions have spent $3.4 million to elect allies from the Tar Heel state to the U.S. House and Senate. Nearly all of it has gone to Democrats.

North Carolina, a right-to-work state, has the second-lowest union representation and the lowest union membership rate in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

But key voting blocs, including state workers and many service workers, are represented by labor groups such as the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU. Labor groups have organized rallies, town hall meetings, phone banks and advertising in support of health-care reform.

Of the state's 13 House members, Democrat Brad Miller of Raleigh received the most union money — $588,000. (N&O)

* North Carolina community colleges leaders have drawn up a new policy that would allow illegal immigrants into the two-year colleges.

The state Board of Community Colleges' policy committee on Thursday drafted rules that would admit undocumented immigrants if they graduated from a U.S. high school. The students would have to pay out-of-state tuition rates and could not take a seat from students who are legal residents. (AP)

Molly Broad, former UNC system president and now president of the American Council on Education, was on hand in Detroit today to hear the president outline a plan to increase spending on community colleges.

President Barack Obama today proposed spending $12 billion over 10 years on workforce training at the nation's community colleges, which are being bombarded with new students as the recession grinds on. Obama said he wanted to graduate five million additional community college students by 2020.

"I applaud the president for his effort to enhance the good work being done at our nation's community colleges," Broad said in a statement. "This investment will go a long way toward meeting our nation's work force needs at this critical time when the economy is struggling."

Broad said higher education leaders will be watching the proposal closely, and don't yet have a detailed understanding of how it will work. Congress would have to approve the money, which would come from the elimination of an education loan program.

Most state agencies fall far short in providing taxpayers with access to information about their work, according to a new survey of transparency in government.

The John Locke Foundation this week unveiled nctranparency.com, an ongoing look at how state and local agencies in terms of making information available to the public.

Most of the 22 state agencies that were graded on the site were given a "D" or an "F". The state Department of Public Instruction earned the highest grade - a "C."

The foundation graded agencies on information that they make readily available online. Joseph Coletti, a fiscal analyst for the foundation, said in a release that grades were weighted to "reflect access to the most important information." Budget information, for example, was given greater weight.

DPI earned the highest grade among state agencies by making available its budget, contracts, the salaries of employees by job code, the salaries of top employees, and other information.

The Office of State Auditor, the state community college system, the Office of the State Controller and others received an "F" because they do not make much of that and other information available online, according to the site.

Four members of the state Board of Community Colleges say they want to reverse a ban on admitting illegal immigrants to the state's colleges.

The four members who attended the committee meeting at Randolph Community College agreed unanimously to draft a policy that would allow the admission of undocumented immigrants who graduated from U.S. high schools — the same policy the UNC system uses, Kristin Collins reports.

As at UNC schools, the students would pay out-of-state tuition. The cost to out-of-state students is about $7,000 per year.

It was the board's first step toward crafting a policy since August, when they agreed to hire a consultant to study how other states handle the issue. The $75,000 study found that only one other state, South Carolina, bars illegal immigrants, and that students paying out-of-state tuition wouldn't burden taxpayers.

However, it will take several more months of meetings and discussion, along with a months-long administrative review, before any policy becomes final. It will be at least September before the full 21-member board votes on the policy.

Gov. Beverly Perdue this morning announced a new program designed to quickly retrain people for jobs where are shortages.

At a news conference at WakeMed, Perdue said she would use $13.4 million in federal stimulus money to start accelerated six-month training programs for 12 occupations. She called it "12 in 6," reports Rob Christensen.

"We know that people who have lost their jobs need to get back in the work force as quickly as possible," Perdue said. "This rapid training initiative provides them with a clear path to success in new, sustainable careers."

The 12 areas are nursing assistants, phlebotomy, medical coding, office/clerical support, masonry/tile cutting, plumbing, carpentry, welding, food service, auto body repair, manufacturing/materials and HVAC/industrial maintenance.

The new initiative comes at a time when North Carolina is experiencing double digit unemployment.

The program will be run by the state community college system. Scott Ralls, the community college president and Keith Crisco, the state commerce secretary attended the news conference.

The new training will begin in September. The state community college board is scheduled to vote on the program on Friday.

How should you title a bill on a controversial subject?

Another strategy: Don't say what you're doing.

As noted previously, one strategy is to give your bill either a heroic or bland title that gives no indication of its subject matter. But in some cases, you can mention the subject, as long as you leave out a crucial verb:

Eminent Domain: Compensate nonprofits whose properties are taken by the government at a higher price than fair-market value.

Access to Higher Education: Prohibit state colleges and community colleges from asking students whether they are illegal immigrants.

Modify Charter School Law: Among other things, change the cap on charter schools to allow six more to open each year.

The third bill is especially instructive when compared to titles of other bills that would raise or eliminate the cap on charter schools: Raise Cap on Charter Schools, Eliminate the Cap on Charter Schools, Remove Cap on the Number of Charter Schools and Increase Cap on Charter Schools.

Similar, but still more direct: Allow Charter Schools in 100 Counties.

It looks like North Carolinians are more concerned about being safe and smart than fit and cultured.

The latest Elon University Poll asked North Carolina residents about what areas of the state budget should be cut this year. The poll surveyed 758 North Carolina residents from Feb. 22-26. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

The results showed overwhelming opposition to cutting public safety programs (77 percent opposed), elementary and secondary education (76 percent opposed) and community colleges (70 percent opposed).

The opposition to cuts in parks, recreation and cultural programs was not as great, with only 31 percent saying they opposed cuts in those areas.

But then again, only 20 percent said they would oppose cuts to the state's General Fund - the source of funding for public safety, education, parks and cultural programs.

Go figure.

State legislators have now asked for $577.5 million.

Twenty-four more bills filed since Dome last checked have added another $282.6 million in requested spending, even as the state faces a $2 billion shortfall.

The largest request of the most recent batch is $93.9 million set aside for ABC bonuses to be used instead for teacher salary increases. A second bill does the same thing with more restrictions.

The smallest request is $97,000 to provide medicine to low-income women that would reduce premature births.

Other spending bills would increase technical education at community colleges, build a guest house at a Winston-Salem hospital, hire three workers to lead a behavioral program at state schools, provide scholarships for rural social workers, provide mentoring and tutoring to gang members, open a dentistry school at East Carolina University, fund community theatres, give community economic development grants, buy vans for an after school program in Charlotte, fund various public health programs, provide grants for Boys and Girls Clubs and promote awareness of SIDS.

Nine other bills are companions to bills already filed.

In all, the requests amount to 29 percent of the estimated shortfall.

The requests also add another $49.6 million in spending next year, for a total of $188.8 million in 2010-11 requests.

Ongoing coverage of spending bills is available here.