North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge Barbara Jackson said today that she will run for the state Supreme Court seat held by Justice Edward Thomas Brady.

Jackson and Brady are both Republicans. Brady has not yet announced whether he will run for re-election, but Jackson's announcement suggests he won't. It would be highly unusual for a sitting Court of Appeals judge to challenge a justice from her own party.

Court of Appeals Judge Bob Hunter, a Democrat, has said he plans to run for the seat, as well.

Judicial races are technically nonpartisan in North Carolina. The candidate's political party does not appear on the ballot.

Jackson was first elected to the appeals court in 2004. She previously served as general counsel for the Department of Labor and as associate general counsel for former Gov. Jim Martin, a Republican. She also clerked for then-Associate Justice Burley Mitchell, a Democrat, on the N.C. Supreme Court.

Former House Speaker Jim Black is being moved to a prison closer to home.

The Charlotte Observer reports that Black, a Mecklenburg County Demcrat, was en route late Friday to a federal prison in Jesup, Ga., 300 miles south of Charlotte, according to former Mecklenburg commissioners chairman Parks Helms, a friend of Black's who also served in the state House.

That's more than 200 miles closer to home than his former prison in Lewisburg, Pa.

Last month, more than 150 friends of Black - including Helms, Matthews Mayor Lee Myers and former Republican Gov. Jim Martin - wrote letters to federal prison officials asking for leniency because of the failing heath of Black, 74, and his wife.

They also wrote letters to President Barack Obama, asking that Black's sentence be commuted.

Helms said he fears nothing short of commuting Black's sentence will allow his ailing wife to see him.

Black's wife, Betty, has degenerative Lou Gehrig's disease and Helms said he feels the move doesn't get Black close enough to her.

“It doesn't matter whether it's a hundred miles or 200,” Helms said. “She's just actually got limited time. … I think a commutation now is really the only thing that can give her and probably (Black) some relief.”

UPDATE: An official at the prison in Jesup confirmed Saturday that they do have an inmate named James Black.

Read more after the jump.

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Former Gov. Mike Easley’s reputation is in tatters.

A recent poll shows him the least popular of the five living past or current governors. By far, North Carolinians have the lowest opinion of Easley, who left office in January, reports Rob Christensen.

A poll by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-leaning firm in Raleigh, asked which governor they had the lowest opinion of. Easley (2001-2009) was cited by 45 percent, current Gov. Beverly Perdue by 26 percent, former Gov. Jim Holshouser (1973-77) 13 percent, former Gov. Jim Hunt (1977-1985, 1993-2001) 10 percent and former Gov. Jim Martin (1985-1993) 7 percent.

Easley’s numbers are so poor because he has been the subject of critical news reports about the hiring of his wife at N.C. State University, his acceptance of free cars, and a favorable land deal on coastal property.

Voters remember Hunt most fondly, perhaps because he was governor for such a long stretch of people’s lives.

People had the highest opinion of Hunt (41 percent), then Martin (21 percent), Easley (14 percent) Perdue (14 percent) and Holshouser (10 percent).

More after the jump

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Who has received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine?

Retired Raleigh businessman Tom Walter would like to know, but so far no one in state government can help him.

Walter received the state award in 1991 from Gov. Jim Martin. A few years ago, he wondered who else had received it, but Gov. Mike Easley's office told him they had no idea.

"They said maybe it's in a warehouse in a building somewhere, but we don't know," he said.

The award was created in 1965 to honor special achievements by North Carolinians. Past recipients include Maya Angelou, Billy Graham and Michael Jordan. And one rough estimate is that 7,000 people have received the award.

Walter's unofficial registry includes fewer than a hundred names he gleaned from talking to friends and searching obituaries. He's looking for people who have received the order or can help in his search for information.

He can be reached at walterfinancial@yahoo.com, or you can post a note below.

Update: You can nominate yourself or a friend for the Order with this form.

* McGuireWoods makes it official: Former Gov. Mike Easley and two former aides, Franklin Freeman and Ruffin Poole, have joined the firm.

* Former Govs. Jim Hunt and Jim Martin, meantime, have been named to the state advisory board of the N.C. Heroes Fund, which supports veterans.

* Attorney General Roy Cooper, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton and other dignitaries to speak at opening of new domestic violence center in Raleigh Friday.

* Another national liberal blogger speculates on the deeper meaning of Sen. Richard Burr's 2010 re-election campaign.

Another pollster will be surveying North Carolinians.

A group of Republican consultants and strategists have started Carolina Strategy Group, a business-focused firm that will regularly poll state voters.

Paul Shumaker, a longtime consultant who is currently advising Sen. Richard Burr's re-election campaign, said that he started the firm to pursue business work apart from his political consulting.

"I'm trying to provide a little bit of a buffer," he said.

Other members of the firm include media consultant Jean-Paul Damé, attorney Roger Knight, Virginia consultant Vick Gresham, South Carolina consultant Mark Lisella, attorney Neal Robbins and public relations executive Tim Pittman, the former press secretary for Gov. Jim Martin.

Shumaker said the firm will do two or three polls a month on public opinion issues that could affect business, such as state taxes, but he does not plan to do "horse race" polls on how candidates are doing.

Carolina Strategy Group will be the fourth major pollster in the state, after the Elon University Poll, Democratic firm Public Policy Polling and the conservative Civitas Institute.

Three former governors will get Highway Patrol rides to the funeral this morning of former Gov. Bob Scott in Alamance County.

Former Governors Mike Easley, Jim Hunt and Jim Holshouser will be picked up by Highway Patrol, according to a patrol spokesman.

Former Gov. Jim Martin is in Costa Rica and will be unable to attend, Rob Christensen reports.

There is a tradition of Highway Patrol taking governors to the funerals of past governors.

Gov. Beverly Perdue will lead a delegation to the funeral in Haw River of former Gov. Bob Scott on Tuesday.

Among those expected to attend are former governors Mike Easley, Jim Hunt and Jim Holshouser, Rob Christensen reports. Ex-governor Jim Martin is in Costa Rica and is not expected to attend.

Others scheduled to go to the funeral include former U.S. Senators Robert Morgan and Lauch Faircloth.

The funeral will be held at the Hawfields Presbyterian Church. Scott's body will be pulled by caisson, followed by a riderless horse, to the graveyard.

This is at least the third time the state's political establishment has headed to Haw River for a funeral. The first time was in 1958, when former Gov. Kerr Scott, Bob's father, was buried. The second time was in 1989 when state Sen. Ralph Scott, passed away.