Charges against seven campus protesters will be heard in September after one had her case continued and the others rejected plea agreements this morning.

Haley Koch, a Morehead-Cain scholar, faces a charge of disturbing the peace for protesting former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo's speech April 14, Jesse DeConto reports.

Koch and another student held a banner in front of Riley Matheson, president of the campus chapter of Youth for Western Civilization, as he introduced Tancredo, a staunch opponent of mass immigration.

Her case and those of six other protesters in a second campus incident were scheduled for Orange County District Court this morning but will now be heard Sept. 14.

The other defendants protested at a speech by former U. S. Rep. Virgil Goode of Virginia, who also favors stricter immigration policies, April 22.

More after the jump.

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* The Appropriations subcommittee on health proposes "massive" cuts to state programs, some legislators call for tax hikes instead.

* Former Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Mike Munger proposes an alternative way of thinking about the Apple incentives.

* Conservative columnist David Frum takes the rivalry between Carolina and Duke to a whole new level: Tuition. (Hat Tip: Jon Ham)

* Charlotte Observer columnist Jack Betts eulogizes Jim Stephenson, policy analyst for the N.C. Coastal Federation, who died Thursday.

A pool of state money used to help students pay for college will empty in three years, according to the state treasurer's projections.

State Treasurer Janet Cowell has told legislative and education leaders the escheats fund —  which consists of money collected from sources such as unclaimed bank accounts, forgotten utility deposits and insurance policy proceeds, plus the investment interest — will be drained by 2012.

The state uses the money for college loans and scholarships, Lynn Bonner reports.

In a letter to legislators earlier this month, Cowell estimates the fund will be $59 million in the red by 2012. "That means money available today for an incoming college freshman for financial aid will not be there by senior year," she wrote.

The fund paid  $210 million for scholarships this school year.

Cowell asked legislators not to withdraw $5 million from the fund, as the Senate approved in its budget, and urged them to maintain a  $200 million minimum balance.

"In addition, I also urge you and  your colleagues to revisit the fund's overall structure and sustainability," she wrote. "We cannot keep our promise to ensure that all North Carolinians have access to higher education if we are depleting the means for them to do so."

A UNC-Chapel Hill professor may oversee consumer product safety.

President Obama has nominated Robert S. Adler, a professor of legal studies and ethics at UNC, to be commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Adler's research and teaching focus on consumer protection, product liability, ethics, regulation and negotiation.

Before joining the UNC faculty, Adler served as counsel on the Committee on Energy and Commerce, adgvising on legislative and oversight issues relating to the commission and as an attorney-advisor to two commissioners.

He has been elected six times to the board of directors of Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine.

He also served on the presidential transition team.

Hat Tip: David Ingram 

North Carolinians trust the military and distrust Wall Street.

A recent survey by the Elon University Poll found that around 90 percent gave high marks to the military, small businesses, medical doctors and colleges and universities.

At least 75 percent gave high marks to the U.S. Supreme Court and public schools.

Around 70 percent also trusted organized religion and the White House.

Around 50 percent trusted law firms, banks, T.V. news, Congress and labor unions, though roughly equal numbers had no confidence in T.V. news, Congress, and labor unions.

The military scored the highest, with 3.9 percent saying they had no confidence, 25.8 percent saying they had some confidence, 68.8 percent saying they had a great deal of confidence and 1.4 percent saying they didn't know.

Wall Street did the worst, with 60.4 percent saying they had no confidence, 33.1 percent saying they had some confidence, 2.8 percent saying they had a great deal of confidence and 3.7 percent saying they didn't know.

The live survey of 356 North Carolina residents was conducted April 19-23. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 5.3 percentage points. 

N.C. State asked for six fewer earmarks this year.

As noted previously, the university is the top school in North Carolina in earmark requests from members of the House delegation.

A school official said that it has cut back, however. Last year, the school requested 32 earmarks and received 10. This year, it has asked for 26. 

They represent only a sliver of its overall research budget, said Terri Lomax, vice chancellor for research and graduate studies.

During fiscal year 2008, the university received $8 million of federal earmarks for research out of a total of $313 million in total research spending. 

For years, the state Senate promoted and protected the free UNC tuition taxpayers grant graduates of the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics.

Kay Hagan, a former state senator from Greensboro who is now in the U.S. Senate, was the free tuition creator and champion, Lynn Bonner reports.

But it looks like the Science and Math grads' free ride may not survive Hagan's move to Washington, Lynn Bonner reports.

The tuition offer is on the chopping block.

The Senate's proposed budget calls for phasing out the tuition offer, making this year's graduates the last to benefit. Science and Math is a state-run boarding school based in Durham for students from around the state.

More after the jump.

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MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow may not think much of Sen. Richard Burr, but University of North Carolina president Erskine Bowles thinks he great.

Burr defeated Bowles, Clinton's former White House chief of staff, in the 2004 Senate race. But since then the two men have formed a close working relationship, Rob Christensen reports.

"The Lord moves in mysterious ways," said Bowles, in introducing Burr to a meeting of biopharmaceutical companies meeting at GlaxoSmithKline's headquarters on Thursday.

"I think by the Grace of God we both ended in up in the exact right jobs for North Carolina," Bowles said. "Richard Burr is a champion for North Carolina in the U.S. Senate. Let there be no question in your mind about that. He has an unwavering focus on North Carolina.

"Having someone who is focused on your own state and has a strong and effective voice for North Carolina truly makes the difference. I can tell you from first hand experience, nobody works harder or smarter than this guy does in Washington."

Bowles said that Burr is the first guy he turns to when UNC has issues in Washington.

"I think we are so fortunate to have a man like this in the U.S. Senate," Bowles said.

Think that might show up in a Burr TV next year?

Update: That didn't take long. The National Republican Senatorial Committee e-mailed a link to this post to reporters at 12:30 p.m. 

Here are the top five state colleges for earmark requests:

N.C. State University: 23 requests, seven Congressmen, $58.9 million, to study nanotechnology, pig waste, sweet potatoes, aquaculture, biotechnology and textiles, among other things.

N.C. A&T State University: 10 requests, four Congressmen, $23.8 million, to study using cattails for biofuel, retrain workers, research microelectronics and run a math literacy program, among other things.

East Carolina University: Nine requests, two Congressmen, $18.5 million, to study obesity and diabetes, help returning military personnel, research biofuels, pig waste and coastal development, among other things.

UNC-Chapel Hill: Eight requests, five Congressmen, $18 million, to study solar power, research public health trends, develop a technology curriculum, run a cancer center and start a virtual warfare center.

Wake Forest University: Two requests, one Congressman, $15 million, to study regenerative medicine.

In all, 31 colleges requested $184.5 million worth of earmarks through the Congressional delegation this year.

Other requestors included Shaw University, Bennett College for Women, the UNC School of the Arts, Winston-Salem State University, Rockingham Community College and Central Piedmont Community College.

Erskine Bowles said that it's not premature to look into reductions.

The president of the University of North Carolina system responded to a recent letter from State Employees Association of N.C. head Dana Cope, which argued that it was illegal for the UNC system to consider steps to cut back its work force.

"While you suggest that 'there is no shortage of funds yet,' recall that the University has had to absorb more than $175 million in state budget cuts during the current fiscal year alone — and that personnel costs account for 75% of our campuses' state funding," Bowles wrote.

Bowles said that the UNC system has contacted Office of State Personnel head Linda Coleman, who agreed that "in these extraordinary times" it is "appropriate and prudent" for the university to take the steps.

Though the university is not yet short of money, Bowles said it is "wholly unrealistic" to think it won't be hit in the budget year starting June 1.

"Waiting would only increase the number of staff who would have to be laid off in order to absorb inevitable cuts," he writes.