HAIL TO THE CUPCAKES: President Barack Obama held a town hall at a Raleigh high school to build support and rally swing votes on health care reform among the state's Congressional delegation. While in Raleigh, the leader of the free world gave a huge plug to a Raleigh cupcake shop and forgot the name of the House speaker.

THE DEAL'S A LOCK: Last week's budget meltdown left House and Senate Democrats bitterly divided. And that's how they stayed until Wednesday when the budget negotiators unveiled a plan that looked remarkably like the one that died the week before. By week's end they had a handshake agreement to raise sales taxes and income taxes on higher wage earners. A handful of Democrats, enough to scuttle the deal, were grumbling about the "sin" taxes and the word was Gov. Beverly Perdue still wasn't thrilled with the tax plan. What could go wrong?

BEAM HIM UP: Rep. Earl Jones, a Democrat from Ceti Alpha 5, er, Greensboro, was in the news this week. First he breathlessly announced in a news conference that his bill to legalize video poker has supporters. Then his bill to create a high-tech center called the "Star Fleet Academy" on N.C. A&T State University's campus was the subject of a parody video that included a picture of Perdue after a Borg assimilation. Jones is running on impulse power and his shields are at 25 percent. Scotty, you've got to give him more power!

IN OTHER NEWS: Former house member Michael Decker got his prison sentence reduced. U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre won't run for Senate. U.S. Sen. Richard Burr won't vote for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

Rep. Earl Jones's bill to provide funding for a technology research center on N.C. A&T State University's campus was a YouTube parody waiting to happen.

Fortunately for all of us, the conservative-leaning Civitas Institute accepted the challenge with a parody video.

Jones' bill would establish "The Star Fleet Academy Complex" on campus. Yes, THAT Star Fleet.

Jones, who co-sponsored the bill in May, said the campus approached him about the idea of creating a world-class technology research center that carried a recognizable brand name.

"Scientists and engineers and people like that, they're pretty straight-laced," Jones said. "It's something that brings attention to the center."

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Rep. Earl Jones called a news conference Tuesday to announce his longshot effort to legalize and regulate video gambling has new endorsements.

The Black Caucus and the State Employees Association of North Carolina support the bill, which would take for the state 20 cents for every dollar spent on video poker machines. Dropping video gambling machines in bars, convenience stores and other establishments across the state could raise nearly $500 million in new revenue, Jones said.

And perhaps anticpating arguments about proliferating gambling across the state, Jones repeatedly stated his opinion that video gaming is no different than the lottery.

"Gambling activity is gambling activity, whether you're talking about a video lottery or a scratch-off ticket," said Jones, a Greensboro Democrat.

Dana Cope, present of SEANC, which represents 55,000 public employees, said the new revenue would allow the state to continue to provide needed services.

"North Carolina's government made this decision. We as a public made this decision when we voted to support the lottery in North Carolina," Cope said. "This is just the natural progression to regulate this industry to get that revenue income into the coffers of the state."

Video poker machines have left a legacy of corruption in the state. William Thevaos, president of the Entertainment Group of North Carolina, said the fact that the industry wants regulation and taxation shows that things will be different.

"We want to be taxed. We want to be legal," Thevaos said. "We want to create a new industry and we want to work with the state."

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It's not common that an interest group asks the government to tax it, but that's what the Video Poker industry did in a press release today.

Industry representatives say electronic gaming, which was made illegal in 2006, can bring the state $498 million in tax revenue if it is regulated and taxed, which they say can help alleviate the budget shortfall.

"We are the only association in the state asking the General Assembly to regulate and tax us and there are $498 million reasons to do so," said William Thevaos, president of the Entertainment Group of North Carolina, in the press release.

Recent state court decisions found that electronic gaming cannot be illegal in North Carolina if the state allows it on Native American reservations.

"If the General Assembly fails to provide some oversight, regulation and taxation on video lottery terminals, the state is going to lose millions of dollars and the hands of time will be turned back to the days of no regulation and that’s not where we need to go," Thevaos said.

Rep. Earl Jones, a Greensboro Democrat, brought a bill before the House finance committee earlier this session, but it was never put to a vote.

Rep. Earl Jones is trying his luck at video poker.

A House committee began discussing but took no action on a bill sponsored by Jones that would legalize video poker in North Carolina, while giving the state 20 percent of the gaming profits. The state banned the machines in 2006.

The legislature is being pushed by recent court decisions falling on the side of video poker, saying the state cannot ban the games while allowing them on Native American reservations. The case is being reviewed by higher courts.

Proponents argue that such games could bring the state an extra $480 million in revenue and support about 35,000 jobs in the state at a time when money is needed. But others say the practice is deplorable and more addictive than other forms of gambling such as the lottery.

"Economic times have changed, and that's probably the primary reason for the consideration of legislation like this," said Mark Creech of the Christian Action League. "But we can make compromises that are all together too costly."

Jones, a Greensboro Democrat, disagreed, saying that the state already supports one form of gambling, the lottery, and that video poker is not substantially different. "The political liability for the state supporting gaming has already been tested," he said.

An elementary student's science fair project inspired a bill to combat germs on grocery carts.

Rep. Earl Jones, a Greensboro Democrat, said he first learned of the variety of bacteria on shopping cart handles in 2007 when he read about a science project by Nicole Shaw, then a student at Jones Elementary in his district.

Nicole thought of the project, "Sick Shopping Carts," when she saw a baby chewing the handle of a grocery cart.

""It was like a light bulb went off in my head. I figured there were a lot of germs on grocery carts," she told the Greensboro News-Record.

So she and her mother bought a kit and swabbed carts at four locations. Her discovery of the bacteria won at science fairs from the school through the state level and was featured on "Good Morning America."

She said she hoped to campaign for a bill called "Before You Hold Tight, Don't Forget to Wipe," to require stores provide sanitary wipes.

Though the bill failed this afternoon, Jones said he's not giving up.

"I plan to run it next year and the year after that," he said. "Sometimes legislation takes a couple years before it passes, especially in the House."

The House rejected a bill encouraging grocery stores to provide sanitizing wipes to customers to clean shopping cart handles.

Rep. Ed Jones, a Greensboro Democrat, said he filed the bill after learning that researchers determined shopping carts provided some of the most exposure to germs and were most risky for children under the age of six.

The legislation would have encouraged retailers to provide the wipes and instructed local health departments to promote their use.

The bill quickly drew derisive comments from House Republicans.

Rep. George Cleveland, a Jacksonville Republican, said the bill represented the "nanny state having fun."

"I think we're going to lead our society to the point where we're going to be so sterile, we'll all just have to live in a bubble," he said. "When I grew up, I think the saying was you had to eat a peck of dirt or you wouldn't be a healthy kid, and I believe that."

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Rep. Earl Jones filed a bill Wednesday that would legalize video poker and give the state a 20 percent cut of gaming profits.

The bill would allow up to 10 machines in one establishment. Players would have to be 18 and could not bet more than $5 on a hand.

Jones, the sole sponsor of the bill, compared spending money on video poker to investing in hobbies such as golf or going to sports games. Lots of people in the state play Bingo, he said.

"I don't think people should be paternalistic because they feel like they can tell other people how to spend their money," Jones said.

Jones said the state's cut of poker money would be at least $480 million a year. Half would go to the general fund and the other half would go to education, he said.

The bill has little support in the House. Speaker Joe Hackney doesn't support it, a spokesman said. House Republican Leader Paul Stam said Thursday that the bill isn't going anywhere.

Correction: The bill was not sent to the House Rules committee as a previous version of this post indicated. It was sent to Judiciary II and then Finance.

Update: Senate leader Marc Basnight said it's too early to comment on the chances of the bill in the Senate because it hasn't cleared the House.

But a spokesman said he is not a fan of the industry.

"Video poker is the most awful form of legalized gambling their is and he cannot think of any benefit from it whatsoever and cannot imagine legalizing it," Schorr Johnson, a spokesman for Basnight said.

Recent House bills of note:

H.B. 661: City Managers on School Boards, Rep. Ray Warren

H.B. 677: Require a "First in Flight" Background, Reps. Lucy Allen, Lorene Coates, Nelson Cole and Becky Carney

H.B. 691: State Contracts/Slavery Profits, Reps. Larry Womble, Earl Jones, Annie Mobley and Earline Parmon

H.B. 708: Furlough of State Employees, Reps. Ray Rapp, Rick Glazier and Margaret Dickson

H.B. 711: Sales Tax Fairness Act, Reps. Winkie Wilkins and Dale Folwell

H.B. 724: Open Records Attorneys' Fees, Reps. George Cleveland and Curtis Blackwood