NOT LEAVING: The heat is on former First Lady Mary Easley. With the chancellor and provost of N.C. State University appearing before a grand jury to testify about how they came to hire the wife of former Gov. Mike Easley, UNC president Erskine Bowles and Chancellor Jim Oblinger called for her to resign. No dice, said Easley. Or rather, said her attorney, Marvin Schiller, at a press conference Thursday.

STILL ON: The former governor's ongoing troubles aren't hurting everyone. With President Barack Obama in the White House, some Democrats had hoped to name a new U.S. attorney in Raleigh. But U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, who has dibs on the naming rights, said she's asking Republican George Holding to stay on the job at least until he finishes investigations into Easley and the campaign finances of former Sen. John Edwards.

ALMOST OVER? After nearly a month of controversy, the flap over state Rep. Cary Allred's stop by police and subsequent hug of a page has not yet died down. The House sergeant at arms released a report this week detailing the reactions of his Republican colleagues who sat nearby on the night in question. "A gruesome bear hug," said one. Allred said he sees the page "like my granddaughter" and that she and her parents found nothing wrong had happened.

IN OTHER NEWS: Gov. Beverly Perdue ordered the State Highway Patrol to keep better records of its travel with the governor and lieutenant governor after some of Easley's records went missing. ... U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is playing a lead role on Republican efforts to present an alternative to Obama's health care plan. ... One-time Speaker of the House Dan Blue was sworn in to the state Senate, but won't say if he's interested in the U.S. Senate. ... Democrats can't seem to find a candidate to run against Burr in 2010.

Marvin Schiller, Mary Easley's lawyer, said today that Easley won't resign from her post at N.C. State University.

At a press conference this morning, Schiller, a Raleigh attorney, said she received the job "on her merits" and read letters of performance for Easley.

Easley smiled at Schiller's side while he read letters, but did not speak.

"You are a great ambassador for N.C. State in so many ways," Schiller read from one letter written by Larry Nielson, former N.C. State provost, who resigned over Easley's hiring.

"Mary Easley plans to continue to make outstanding contributions to North Carolina State University and North Carolina," he said.

Mary Easley has been urged to resign by Erskine Bowles, president of the UNC system, N.C. State Chancellor James Oblinger and Hannah Gage, chairwoman of the UNC Board of Governors. They all said she should leave for the good of the university.

It's rare that a lawyer publicly criticizes any judge, let alone one with the N.C. Court of Appeals.

So it was noteworthy when Raleigh lawyer Marvin Schiller took umbrage in a recent court filing with what Court of Appeals Judge Barbara Jackson wrote about him in a March 20 ruling.

The three-judge panel, which included Jackson, ruled against Schiller's client. In the ruling, Jackson stated that Schiller failed to asked for a speedy review of an appeal — a slight that Schiller apparently couldn't let stand, Andrea Weigl reports.

And so Schiller decided to make it clear that he did ask for an expedited review. He wrote in his petition for rehearing that Jackson "falsely and wrongly accused the undersigned counsel of not doing what he in demonstrable fact did do."

Schiller then asked Jackson to recuse herself from considering his petition. He notes that he and Jackson ran against each other for the court in 2004. Jackson declined to comment or to recuse herself, citing judicial ethics rules.