U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan wants the U.S. Treasury to create a commemorative coin to honor the 50th anniversary of the Woolworth’s civil rights sit-ins in Greensboro.

On Feb. 1, 1960, four students from N.C. A&T University sat at the whites-only lunch counter in downtown Greensboro and refused to leave, Barb Barrett reports. The protest sparked a movement throughout the South.

Hagan, a Democrat from Greensboro, plans to introduce legislation ordering the treasury to mint 1,000 U.S. $1 coins to commemorate the anniversary of the sit-ins. The bill would be deficit-neutral, her office said, and would cost the public $11 per coin.

The design would be selected by the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, which is being built at the site of the Woolworth’s counter in Greensboro.

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, will take the lead in sponsoring the bill in the House. Miller’s district, which stretches into parts of Greensboro, includes the museum site.

Correction: Post previously misstated how many years are between 2009 and 1960. Dome regrets the error. 

Rep. Earl Jones's bill to provide funding for a technology research center on N.C. A&T State University's campus was a YouTube parody waiting to happen.

Fortunately for all of us, the conservative-leaning Civitas Institute accepted the challenge with a parody video.

Jones' bill would establish "The Star Fleet Academy Complex" on campus. Yes, THAT Star Fleet.

Jones, who co-sponsored the bill in May, said the campus approached him about the idea of creating a world-class technology research center that carried a recognizable brand name.

"Scientists and engineers and people like that, they're pretty straight-laced," Jones said. "It's something that brings attention to the center."

More after the jump.

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Jay-Z is coming to North Carolina to get out the vote.

The hip hop star will make two stops Saturday at the Phillip O. Berry Academy in Charlotte and N.C. A&T University in Greensboro on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Rudy Giuliani attacked a "fair tax" plan touted by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Speaking in Greensboro, the Republican presidential candidate said that replacing all taxes on income and investments with a federal sales tax would hurt U.S. citizens, the Associated Press reports.

"I think there are several tax deductions that are vital to our economy," Giuliani said. "This would not be a good time — I don't know if there would ever be a good time to do this — to advocate ending the home mortgage deduction. The home mortgage deduction is considered by many critical to the ability of people to buy a home and keep their home." 

At a fundraising brunch at N.C. A&T University with female supporters, he pledged to stay "on offense" militarily, reduce government control of health care and lower taxes on individuals and corporations, the Greensboro News & Record reports.

"We need to have a society in which we reward success, not penalize it," he said.