While legislators are debating what kind of sex education public schools should teach, the country is talking about a program that gives students answers to teens' questions about sex by text message.

After the New York Times published a story Sunday about the Birds and Bees Text Line, run by the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina, the phone started ringing with interview requests, Lynn Bonner reports.

Look for staff members talking about sex ed by text message Wednesday on Fox and Friends, the Today Show on NBC, and the Early Show on CBS, said pregnancy prevention campaign director Kay Phillips.

The office, based in Durham, has had requests for information about the text line from other states. At least a few states asked if they could forward their teens' questions to North Carolina, Phillips said.

The answer was no, but the office is willing to teach other states how to set up their own text lines, she said.

The Democrats for decades have had their annual Jefferson-Jackson fund raising dinner in Raleigh.

But on Saturday, some 400 to 500 Democrats are expected to gather at the Durham Marriott Convention Center, Rob Christensen reports.

David Young, the state Democratic chairman, said he wanted to see the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner moved around periodically and he said Durham was a good place to start because of its strong Democratic showing in last year’s election.

The featured speaker at the $100-per plate dinner is national Democratic chairman Tim Kaine, the governor of Virginia. North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue invited Kaine, and she will be on hand to play host.

The appearance by Kaine is another indication that the Obama administration is paying a lot of attention to North Carolina. Both President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have visited the state.

More after the jump.

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Is the 2010 Senate race on yet? 

Attorney General Roy Cooper said he hopes to make a decision on whether to challenge Republican Sen. Richard Burr some time this spring, Rob Christensen reports.

"I want to continue with public service to the people of North Carolina," Cooper said Tuesday morning after attending a meeting of the Council of State. "I'm going to determine the best way to do that. I'm going to decide that very soon."

He said many people have been talking about him about the race. He said he has heard from the Democratic Senate leadership, which is trying to recruit him.  He declined to say who specifically has talked to him about it.

The national Democrats see Cooper, a three-term attorney general, as their strongest candidate against Burr.

Burr is using the Senate recess this week to make numerous public appearances in the Triangle and in Eastern North Carolina.

Among other events, Burr will speak at the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce in Chapel Hill this evening, will attend a Veterans Administration Appeals Moot Court event at N.C. Central University in Durham Wednesday morning and will speak to the North Raleigh Rotary Club at lunch tommorow.

Then he is off to Oxford, Henderson, Tarboro, Rocky Mount and Wilson.

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is attentive to black constituents, a news report says.

An article in CQ Politics Monday noted that the Winston-Salem Republican has done a lot of "political legwork" on issues important to the black community:

In February, Burr introduced legislation (S 413) aimed at boosting graduation rates for low-income and minority students, an issue on which he has teamed up with Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Chaka Fattah , whose district includes Philadelphia.

He has been involved in efforts to combat sickle cell disease and to reauthorize the Healthy Start program, which is designed to reduce infant mortality and the number of babies born at low weights. Both issues disproportionately affect African-Americans.

The article also notes that Burr has helped get federal money for Central Piedmont Community College, N.C. Central University, a community center in Rocky Mount and a sewage treatment plant in Durham.

In 2004, only 12 percent of his votes came from black constituents.

Hat Tip: CitizenOpinionated

The executive directors of the nonprofit Center for Death Penalty Litigation and the state Office of Indigent Defense Services have swapped seats, so to speak.

The center this week announced that Malcolm 'Tye' Hunter is the new executive director after retiring from leading the indigent services office the past eight years, Dan Kane reports.

Hunter replaces Thomas Maher, who became executive director of the indigent services office last month.

The center represents death row inmates and assists lawyers who represent clients facing the death penalty in North Carolina.

Hunter has served on the Durham-based center's board of directors, and has a long history aiding death row inmates as a co-founder of the N.C. Resource Center and as the state's appellate defender. He successfully argued a 1990 case before the U.S. Supreme Court that resulted in new sentencing hearings for more than 40 prisoners on death row.

David Young is going on a listening tour.

The former Buncombe County commissioner, currently the odds-on favorite for Democratic Party state chair, will head to seven cities to meet with local organizers and volunteers.

After a stop in Fayetteville Tuesday, Young will be in at the state Democratic Party headquarters in Raleigh at noon around the opening of the legislative session. 

He'll be at Foster's Market in Durham at 8 a.m., then at the Chapel Hill Library at noon tomorrow, followed by stops in Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Charlotte. (A full schedule is here.) 

Young has the backing of outgoing chair Jerry Meek and Gov. Beverly Perdue, among others. Since he announced last week that he was running, two other candidates have dropped out. 

The inauguration of President Barack Obama on Tuesday drew a bigger television audience in Raleigh-Durham than in any other major TV market in the nation, according to the Nielsen Co.

In the Raleigh-Durham market, more than 51 percent of households tuned in for the day's events, Nielsen said today. Seattle-Tacoma had the lowest viewership, with only 18.8 percent of households watching the events.

The overall rating in the top 56 local TV markets was 29.2 percent.

Many people in the Raleigh-Durham area were home on Tuesday because of a winter snowfall, which closed schools and many offices.

An environmental and government watchdog advocacy group wants President-elect Barack Obama to bring back Teresa Chambers, the former Durham police chief who later tangled with the Department of Interior as its U.S. Parks police chief.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, known as PEER, released a nominee wishlist of people it recommends for the Obama administration, Barb Barrett reports.

Chambers was fired from her post as chief of the U.S. Parks after complaining about low staffing levels to the Washington Post. She is tried to re-gain her job with PEER’s support, but she has not yet been successful.

Here's what the group recommended in a release today:

Teresa Chambers as Chief of the U.S. Park Police. Just days after giving an interview with the Washington Post, revealing low staffing levels, Chief Teresa Chambers was ordered to surrender her badge, weapon and ID and was relieved of her duties. In what has become the prime example of the Bush administration's suppression of information, Chambers was ultimately removed from the Chief position. She recently won an appeal of that action before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Chambers is presently serving as Chief of Police for Riverdale Park, a town in Prince George's County, Maryland.

Hampton Dellinger is lobbying to become a U.S. attorney.

As previously noted on Dome, the former candidate for lieutenant governor and legal counsel to Gov. Mike Easley is one of a number of names that has been put forward for federal prosecutor.

Over the weekend, The Durham Herald-Sun reported that Dellinger is lobbying to become U.S. attorney for either the Middle or Eastern districts of North Carolina:

Dellinger — the son of Duke University law professor emeritus and former acting U.S. Solicitor General Walter Dellinger — recently contacted Durham Mayor Bill Bell to ask Bell for help in securing the appointment.

"I've known the mayor and think highly of him and know he's highly regarded," Hampton Dellinger said on Friday. "I wanted to let him know of my interest and relevant experience."

Bell, an early supporter of Barack Obama's, said he didn't see any reason not to support Dellinger.

"I'm sure other people are going to be looking at it, too," he told the paper.

Barack Obama had 50 offices in North Carolina.

The Democratic presidential candidate had offices in the major cities, such as Greensboro, Durham and Asheville. Some had more than one: There were three offices in Charlotte and three in Raleigh, including his central campaign headquarters.

But he also hit smaller rural towns such as Supply and Mount Airy.

Most of the offices were independent operations. Only four were located in local party headquarters.

Although Obama did not have offices in all 100 counties, spokesman Paul Cox said that several in western counties covered bigger regions. 

"We didn't have an office in every county, but every county was hit by our organization," he said. 

After the jump, a complete list.

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