GRADE STIMULUS: A Goldsboro middle school was lambasted this week for its plan to award extra test points — enough to raise a letter grade — in exchange for cash contributions for the school. The lesson for students: Hard work, perseverance and positive attitude will be rewarded. And if that doesn't work, a nice crisp $20 couldn't hurt.

CHOPPED LIVER; The race for the Democratic nomination to challenge U.S. Sen. Richard Burr got lots of attention this week. Lexington lawyer Cal Cunningham is out. U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge is going for a new fence-sitting record. Two others are thinking about it. All the buzz about candidates who aren't running can't be flattering to the only two people who are: lawyer Kenneth Lewis and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall.

SHE'S BACK: Gov. Bev Perdue got a big bump in her job approval, apparently because of her refusal to release violent inmates despite a court ruling. Perdue has been hitting the public events pretty hard and making big announcements. A few more ribbon cuttings and another stand at a jail-house door and Perdue might just be liked again.

IN OTHER NEWS: Sen. Martin Nesbitt appears to have a lock on the job of Senate majority leader...The state's pension fund is beginning to recover from a financial slump...Barack Obama's campaign was the source of the tip that John Edwards got $400 haircuts.

After an intense three-month campaign for the votes of North Carolina's House members, players in the health care debate including business, labor and the administration are now likely to focus their full attention on Sen. Kay Hagan. (N&O)

The state's new Racial Justice Act, which allows capital defendants or death row inmates to challenge the death penalty if race played a part in its application, has little traction. Judges have been ignoring requests of defendants to delay murder trials so they can file a challenge under the law. (N&O)

The state intends to finish the remaining five miles of Charlotte's Interstate 485 loop years ahead of schedule, Gov. Bev Perdue announced. To pay for it, the state will ask the contractor to pay for the work and get reimbursed later. (Char-O)

N.C. Republican Party Chairman Tom Fetzer couldn't resist poking fun at a gaffe House Speaker Joe Hackney made while trying to show he is knowledgable about issues related to Charlotte.

Hackney mistakenly referred to Charlotte's incomplete Interstate 485 as "495."

"Despite his selfless attention to Charlotte’s roads, Hackney struck an oratorical pothole when he didn’t know which road he was talking about, and had to be corrected by the audience," Fetzer said. "Speaker Hackney went to Charlotte to demonstrate his awareness of the Queen City’s needs and laid an egg. Let’s hope he didn’t take the wrong road home to Chapel Hill.

"The Speaker should know his roads. And not just the ones that curve sharply to the left,” Fetzer said.

N.C. House Speaker Joe Hackney blasted Republican legislators today for "trying to fight against us at every turn" during the last legislative session.

Speaking to the Charlotte Uptown Democratic Forum, the Chapel Hill Democrat outlined the difficulty of balancing a state budget that had a $4.6 billion shortfall, Jim Morrill of The Charlotte Observer reports. The Democratic controlled General Assembly used a package of cuts and tax hikes and federal stimulus money to balance the budget.

"We did what we had to do to protect education and our universities," he said, adding that Republicans did nothing but ridicule Democratic proposals. "This session (they) were not serious about government ... It's a national trend."

Hackney also touched on matters closer to home.

"There's often a perception in Mecklenburg, I am told, that nobody cares about Mecklenburg," he said. "I can assure you I keep up with it. I know all about 495," he added, before someone corrected him that it's completion of the I-485 beltway that is a concern to Charlotteans.

"485, same thing," Hackney said quickly.

Gov. Beverly Perdue pledged during last fall's campaign to strengthen ties between Charlotte and state government in Raleigh. Since taking office, she has made an impact in the state's largest city, just not always the impression she probably desired.

Perdue has opened a Charlotte office, the first governor to do so, that's more than a mail drop, Mark Johnson reports. Her office director routinely represents her at events in the city. She has visited Charlotte eight times in as many months. At minimum, Charlotte has seen more of Perdue than any governor in recent history.

At the same time, leaders in some parts of the city complain that her appearances have been photo opportunities instead of reaching out to important segments of the community. More widespread is the growing complaint that Perdue's promise in February to start construction on completing Interstate 485 by the end of the year is starting to ring hollow.

The economy and state revenue nosedived in the weeks after Perdue and Transportation Secretary Gene Conti promised to start work on the highway by year's end. State transportation officials most recently proposed that, in order to accelerate 485 construction, local leaders would have to agree to sacrifice another major road project – a planned improvement of Independence Boulevard.

"When I was campaigning, all I heard was '485, 485, 485.' I never heard 'Independence Boulevard,'" Perdue said in a telephone interview last week.