A program to help public service lawyers repay student loans may be cut.

Since 1989, the N.C. Legal Education Assistance Foundation has helped assistant prosecutors and public defenders and attorneys working at legal aid, legal services and nonprofits repay their law-school loans.

One of the first loan repayment assistance programs of its kind in the country, the program has helped 404 attorneys with more than $3 million in quarterly payments to repay loans.

Recipients are chosen through a competitive process and have to stay in public service for a certain length of time.

"Because salaries for public interest lawyers can be in the low $30s, with law-school debt up to $200,000, they can't take those jobs," said executive director Esther Hall. "We're helping them pursue careers in public service."

Since 2006, the foundation received $500,000 a year, all of which went straight to loan repayments. Three part-time staffers, including Hall, are paid from a grant.

"Without the state funding, we would go out of business," she said.

Gov. Beverly Perdue recently proposed cutting the program as part of a plan to balance next year's budget.

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, has separated from his wife of 26 years, local civic volunteer Esther Hall.

The couple have been separated about 2 1/2 months, reports Barbara Barrett. Miller declined to comment.

"It's a sad situation," said his spokeswoman, LuAnn Canipe. "It's private and painful."

Hall, a one-time candidate for Raleigh City Council and Wake County Board of Commissioners, also declined comment. The couple have no children.

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller has just gotten out of a meeting with Barack Obama in D.C.

The Raleigh Democrat, a superdelegate, will announce today that he is endorsing Obama for president. Obama overwhelmingly won the Tar Heel state in Tuesday's primary, picking up Miller's Thirteenth Congressional District by 63 percent.

"Senator Obama understands that he has the chance not just to win the election this year, but to be a great president," Miller said in a statement.

He also praised Hillary Clinton, saying the decision was "not easy."

"Senator Clinton has run an impressive campaign, and has spoken eloquently to the concerns to working and middle class American families," he said.

Miller, part of the left-leaning wing of the state’s Democratic delegation, had not yet made an endorsement. His wife, Esther Hall, sat behind Obama at the senator’s election night speech in Raleigh, but Miller said he didn’t have advance notice she would be there.

Obama's other superdelegate endorsements include U.S. Reps. David Price, Mel Watt and G.K. Butterfield. Of the state's 17 superdelegates, Obama now has nine; Clinton three.

Previously: Brad Miller Endorsement Watch, Parts 1, 2 and 3.

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller will almost certainly endorse Barack Obama.

The Raleigh Democrat has given several clues how he'll cast his superdelegate vote. His wife, Esther Hall, sat directly behind Obama at his victory rally in Raleigh. He badmouthed Clinton's performance last night, and his office says he's meeting with Obama Thursday.

Not to mention his district went overwhelmingly for Obama and he said he would decide before too long.

And then there's this quote from today's Washington Post:  

Rep. Brad Miller, an undecided superdelegate from North Carolina, said on the eve of his state's primary that he would be uncomfortable telling the African American community in his Raleigh area district that he would choose Clinton over Obama simply because he deemed her more electable.

"I'm not sure how I could tell them that," he said.

The Miller Endorsement Watch is now on. 

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller got a nice reward despite not endorsing.

His wife, Esther Hall, got a choice seat right behind Barack Obama at Reynolds Coliseum for his victory speech, which meant she was on national television as Obama bobbed and weaved on the stage.

Hall was not alone. The crowd behind Obama seemed unusually full of middle-aged white women.