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iLEGISLATURE: State legislators may rewrite the corporate tax law in a bid to lure Apple computer, which is looking for a spot to locate a $1 billion data center. The tax breaks could be worth about $3 million a year in the first years and eventually grow to $12.5 million a year. The bill passed the House this week but must go back to the Senate for final approval.

PRE-RACE WARMUP: Contenders for the 2010 elections continue to get shuffled. Democrats are mulling six candidates for U.S. Senate: Reps. Heath Shuler and Mike McIntyre, state Sens. Malcolm Graham and Dan Blue, Iraq vet Cal Cunningham and Durham lawyer Kenneth Lewis. Meantime, Republicans lost first-round draft pick Mike Minter, who declined to run against Rep. Larry Kissell.

DUKING IT OUT: Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is taking heat for remarks she made at Duke University in 2005. An Appeals Court judge, she said the court is "where policy is made." Conservatives said that means she'll legislate from the bench; liberals said she simply meant interpreting vague laws. Forum moderator Erwin Chemerinsky said it's much ado about an "innocuous" remark.

IN OTHER NEWS: Former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee will hold a fundraiser in Charlotte in June. ... Mike Easley Jr. is working at the same law firm as Richard Vinroot, who ran against his father in 2000. ... Gov. Beverly Perdue said she trusts her son Garrett is not lobbying state legislators, despite his recent attendance at a big event. ... The N.C. Association of Educators says it's "at war" over the state budget.

Mike Minter will not run for Congress.

The former Carolina Panthers safety told the Associated Press that he has decided against running against Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell next year.

National Republicans had tried to recruit him and he spent two days in Washington, D.C., in mid May talking with them.

But he decided the campaign would have forced him to be away from his four children too much. Instead, he said he would support former Republican Rep. Robin Hayes if he ran again.

As a first-term Democrat in a swing district, Kissell is a top target for the GOP.

CROSSOVER OVER: The legislature went into a lightning round this week. To meet the deadline required for a bill to pass either the House or the Senate, lawmakers voted on hundreds of bills and dozens of amendments. Tempers occasionally flared, as when Sen. David Hoyle begged a bill sponsor to end debate and "put us out of our misery."

EASLEY'S NOT OVER: Mike Easley may no longer be governor, but he's still in the news. A series of stories in the N&O revealed that he took flights on private jets that were not reported, that his family drove cars that belonged to a car dealership for months and that a Highway Patrolman mysteriously visited his home recently. More news is likely to come.

COOP'S JUST STARTING: Attorney General Roy Cooper dropped by the White House Monday. Long thought to be a potential candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010, he is thought to have been lobbied by President Obama to run. But the official reason for the visit was to watch the president shake hands with the championship UNC-Chapel Hill basketball team.

IN OTHER NEWS: Former Carolina Panthers safety Mike Minter may run against Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell next year. Following in Rep. Heath Shuler's cleats? .... Gov. Beverly Perdue has said she will sign a smoking ban on restaurants and public places. Has Tobacco Road reached a dead end? ... Senate leader Marc Basnight celebrated his 62nd birthday this week, but he's not sure which day. As it turns out, his birth certificate may have the wrong date. Do the conspiracy theorists know about this? ... Former Raleigh Mayor Tom Fetzer has snagged a number of high-profile endorsements in the race for N.C. Republican Party chair.

Former Carolina Panthers safety Mike Minter may run for Congress.

One of the most popular players in the franchise's history, Minter recently returned from a two-day visit to Washington, where he surveyed the political scene.

The registered Republican told a reporter he may challenge first-term Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell, a former schoolteacher. First, he plans to check with his family and his pastor.

"My thing right now is trying to find the best way I can help people achieve what they need to achieve," he said. "This is just another option that was thrown on the table for me to look at." 

Minter is currently involved in several religious and charitable activities and will play the lead role in the upcoming movie, "Sins of Ashe County." (AP)