The John Locke Foundation will target some of Mike Easley's pet projects.

The conservative think tank's fiscal analyst told Dome that it will urge state lawmakers to cut newer programs and expansions of older ones in the state budget in the face of a massive drop in tax revenue, including expansions of dental schools, a research campus in Kannapolis and a Shanghai office for the N.C. Department of Commerce.

"Some of the more recent additions to the budget should be the things that are on the chopping block," said Joe Colletti. "We survived until 2008 without some of these things; we can do without them now."

He said the think tank will also argue for higher user fees on budget items such as the N.C. Zoo, the N.C. Symphony and college tuition.

Colletti said he is hopeful that an initiative to provide "Google transparency" to state contracts proposed by Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue will cut costs as similar measures have done in other states. He said private contractors who can provide services for less will be more likely to put a bid in if they can easily see on a public Web site what the state is already paying.

"Most of those other (Web) sites are less than a year old, but they're already having a tremendous impact on savings," he said. "The more we can make it open and allow people to see what we're spending money on, the better off we'll all be."

Previously: Liberal think tanks fire first shot on budget

A summer heat wave is straining North Carolina's power grid.

Progress Energy has asked its 1.2 million customers to reduce consumption as it faces a possibly record-breaking demand. (AP)

High demand shut down a power substation in Knightdale Wednesday, cutting power to 9,000 residents for half an hour.

Gov. Mike Easley ordered thermostats in state buildings adjusted to 80 degrees and asked residential customers to consider making a similar adjustment to prevent blackouts. (N&O)

At the N.C. Zoo in Asheboro, animals have been given blocks of ice. (Russlings)

The Senate budget cuts $72 million of projects to be paid for in cash.

The House had set aside $126.9 million in the general fund for renovations at the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum, a new barn at the N.C. Zoo, courthouse improvements and new buildings at state universities.

The Senate budget cuts that list to just $54.8 million for renovations at the Deerfield Cottage, an emergency responders' phone system, some water resources development projects and fire sprinklers in college dorms.

That's not to say the projects won't be funded. Several of the college improvements are included under state bonds, but not the zoo or the museum projects, for example.

See section 29.2 of the House budget and sections 29.2 and 29.13 of the Senate budget.