June Atkinson says the state shouldn't force school systems to merge.

The state schools superintendent objected today to a Senate budget provision — and a related bill — that would limit state spending to one school system per county.

That would affect a handful of school systems in the state, including Orange County and Chapel Hill schools.

"I do not agree with that," Atkinson told Dome. "I understand that these are difficult economic times, but I think that decision has to be made at the local level."

The bill is sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand.

Related: Sen. Martin Nesbitt, a Buncombe County Democrat, also objects to the proposal. 

Mary Fant Donnan is counting on the Triangle.

The candidate for the Democratic nomination for labor commissioner said that Wake, Durham and Orange counties will be key in her upcoming runoff with former commissioner John C. Brooks.

Because there are no other statewide runoffs next Tuesday, Donnan said that turnout will be pretty low except in areas where a local runoff is also on the ballot.

In Durham County, a countywide school board runoff, and in Orange County, a county commissioner district-wide runoff will draw voters to the poll. And Donnan said past results show Wake County typically does well in runoff turnout because of a general interest in state government.

"There's a fair amount to do in the Triangle because all three counties have something that will bring voters out already," she told Dome.

She said that legislative runoffs in Wayne, Greene and Pitt counties could also draw voters.

Joe Herzenberg, the first openly gay elected official in North Carolina, died Sunday.

A native of New Jersey, he first came South to volunteer for the voter-registration project Freedom Summer in Mississippi.

He later moved to Chapel Hill and ran for Town Council in 1979.

Although he was unsuccessful, he was appointed to fill a vacancy in 1981. He campaigned persistently, finally winning in 1987.

"Joe was a historian," said Mike Nelson, an Orange County commissioner who is also gay. "He more than any of us was aware that his election was of historic significance, but that it was not the beginning of a revolution, not the end, but one small piece of a larger journey."

A memorial service is planned in the next two weeks. (N&O)