The first federal spending bill out of the gate this spring has two earmarks from U.S. Rep. David Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat and the state’s only member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

The committee approved the Homeland Security spending bill Tuesday afternoon, Barb Barrett reports. Price is chairman of the subcommittee that wrote the $39 billion bill.

Within it, Price directed $1 million to buy communications equipment at the emergency operations center at the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.

He also directed $5 million toward something called “Impact of Climate on Future Disasters.” The money will also go to the state public safety department, said Paul Cox, a Price spokesman. The money fill allow geospatial experts to study the long-term impacts of climate change and sea-level rise to figure out potential risks for communities, fisheries, agriculture and the environment.

Earmarks are special spending projects inserted into larger bills by specific members of Congress. They have been criticized by groups such as Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington organization that put together the database listing the earmarks.

Taxpayers for Common Sense listed 104 earmarks totaling $180 million in the bill.

U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes, a Concord Republican with a high hill to climb for re-election this year, also has an earmark: $468,000 for pre-disaster work in Kannapolis.

Hayes isn’t on the spending panel, but at-risk members of Congress from both sides of the aisle often receive earmarks as a way for them to curry favor back home.

Correction: An earlier version misstated Hayes' party affiliation. 

The state Highway Patrol will likely have a K-9 program again soon.

In April, Bryan Beatty, secretary of the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, suspended the patrol's K-9 program after a hearing exposed rough obedience techniques such as shocking, suspending and kicking dogs.

Beatty ordered a review that would show what training techniques were used and how they compare to generally accepted practices. The patrol has 10 dogs that mostly sniff out drugs.

Lt. Everett Clendenin, a patrol spokesman, said Thursday that Major Jamie Hatcher, director of special operations for the patrol is conducting the review.

"We feel confident that the highway patrol in the near future will have a K-9 program once again," Clendenin said.

The patrol's dogs are still living with their trooper handlers, but instead of tracking drugs, the dogs are staying home, Clendenin said.

State administrative law Judge Fred Morrison called on the state in a written order to stop using dogs for law enforcement unless the state purchases dogs that already are trained and assigns them only to troopers who also are fully trained. In such cases, he said, the state also should give the troopers specific written compliance techniques for dealing with the dogs.

Gov. Mike Easley ordered a review of the state Highway Patrol Tuesday.

After reports of misconduct by troopers, the governor ordered Patrol Commander Fletcher Clay and Bryan Beatty, the secretary of the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, to look into procedures for hiring, screening and supervising troopers.

A spokesman said it may be the most extensive review in the patrol's history.

In recent weeks, three troopers have been fired after accusations of harassing women and abusing a police dog. In another case, a judge ordered a trooper reinstated, finding that others had engaged in worse conduct and been allowed to stay.

Even the patrol's internal affairs unit has been hit with revelations about a case in which a subordinate investigated a minor wreck of his boss. (N&O)

Mixed martial arts could come to North Carolina.

The Senate unanimously passed a bill today that allows mixed martial arts matches, once the Alcohol Law Enforcement division of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety come up with regulations for them.

The sport uses techniques from different traditions of martial arts, boxing and wrestling. Its godfather is Bruce Lee, who came up with a system called Jeet Kune Do in the 1960s.

Sen. Katie Dorsett, a Greensboro Democrat, said that the matches are "a new sport" popular in the military that "provides not only fun but fitness as well."

One colleague said the bill made him nervous.

"I'm kind of reluctant to even question this bill," joked Sen. William Purcell, "having seen this guy at the Finance committee the other day who could probably take care of five or six of us at one time."

The bill heads back to the House for concurrence.

Correction: An earlier post had an incorrect home town for Dorsett.