NOBODY LIKES NOBODY: The popularity recession has settled in for most N.C. politicians. Gov. Beverly Perdue, with basement-dwelling approval ratings less than six months into her first term, travelled the state to rally support from unimpressed teachers and Democrats. The raspberries are bipartisan: both U.S. Senators Kay Hagan and Richard Burr's numbers are down. President Barack Obama is slipping, and his policies are less popular than the man.

SPARE A FEW THOUSAND DIMES? One state resident isn't worried about layoffs. Jeff Wilson of Kings Mountain took home $29 million, after taxes, when his father gave him a Powerball ticket that hit the jackpot. (Gotta figure Wilson is apologizing for having ignored any past fatherly advice). We get this question a lot, so before you ask, the lottery can't fix the state's budget problems because it raises only a small fraction of the state's education spending and state law mandates lottery profits go to four specific programs.

PLASTICS, PESTERING AND POTTY TIPPING: The legislature has been on an outlawing binge. It has banned plastic bags on the coast, bullying in schools and vandalizing portable toilets.

IN OTHER NEWS: The state got most of its deposit money back for a private jet officials decided not to buy after all. A new film production tax credit would lose money for the state at first. And Obama does still occasionally smoke, but that's not why he signed into law sweeping new regulatory authority over cigarettes.

Gov. Beverly Perdue signed legislation Wednesday that bans plastic shopping bags for large retailers on the Outer Banks and sent the new law back to its chief patron, Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, in -- wait for it -- a plastic shopping bag.

Basnight, a Democrat from Manteo who owns a restaurant there, relentlessly pushed the bill to help rid the beaches of wafting bags. Many of his fellow Democrats saw it as an unexpected fixation. The law makes the Outer Banks portions of Currituck, Hyde and Dare counties the only jurisdictions in the nation to join San Francisco in banning the plastic totes.

Basnight said one of Perdue's aides delivered the bag containing the signed bill and the pen used to do it. He said he's never received legislation in that fashion in his 26 years in the legislature.

So what happened to the plastic bag?

"I hope we recycled it," Basnight said today.

The Senate gave final approval Monday night to a ban on plastic bags in grocery stores.

The ban applies to three coastal counties Dare, Currituck and Hyde and is meant to keep the bags from polluting the landscape.

The day after the Senate voted 44 to 2 to concur with the House version of the bill, the Civitas Institute released the results of a poll showing a majority of state residents oppose such bans.

The poll asked 600 voters "Would you support or oppose a law banning retail and grocery stores from providing plastic bags to shoppers?"

According to the poll, 58 percent opposed such a ban and 31 percent said they were in support. The remaining 11 percent were unsure.

The proposed ban is least popular in the 252 area code — eastern North Carolina — which encompasses the barrier islands, where only 28 percent of voters said they supported the ban and 62 percent said they were opposed to it, said Civitas Institute Executive Director Francis De Luca.

Another poll finds more support after the jump.

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The House passed a bill Thursday banning plastic bags for large retailers on the Outer Banks, sending the legislation wafting back over to the Senate.

The bill, a pet project of Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, passed by a 78 to 41 vote, despite Republican criticism that it was unconstitutional. The Senate already passed the bill, but senators now will have to agree to a minor change made in the House.

Advocates argue that the bill affects only the Outer Banks and is aimed at reducing the unsightly plastic totes frequently seen blowing across the picturesque -- and tourist-revenue-generating -- beaches. Rep. Paul Stam, of Apex and House Republican leader, argued Thursday that the constitution prohibits a local-oriented bill that affects broader trade and public health.

The only other jurisdiction in the nation that has passed such a ban is San Francisco. China also has banned the bags.

The House Commerce Committee approved a bill banning plastic bags among large retailers on the Outer Banks.

Lawmakers adjusted the bill at the request of the N.C. Retail Merchants Association, who no longer oppose it. The bill already allowed retailers to switch to paper bags made from recycled material if they also offered a refund equal to the cost of paper bags to customers who use their own reusable bags. The bill's goal is to get stores and customers to switch to reusable bags, such as the cloth totes sold in grocery stores.

The new version of the bill allows retailers to offer coupons or loyalty card reward points instead of a cash refund.

The bill, strongly backed by Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, now goes to the House floor.

The Outer Banks plastic bag ban cleared another hurdle Tuesday as a House committee approved it but raised a critical question: How will dog owners pick up poop?

The House environment and natural resources committee overwhelmingly passed the bill, which would affect large retailers in Dare, Currituck and Hyde counties. Since it passed the Senate last month, the bill has been modified to include only the barrier island portions of those counties.

Advocates reiterated the need to keep the tourism-dependant seashore clear of the eyesores of wafting bags. Plastic bag manufacturers cautioned that their products require less energy to produce and are reused by consumers for a host of purposes, including, as Rep. Pat McElraft, a Careteret County Republican, noted, for cleaning up after dogs.

Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, a Democrat from Manteo, has made the bill a legislative priority and asked senators to encourage their House counterparts on the committee to pass the legislation. Rep. Lucy Allen, a Franklin County Democrat and committee chair, refused to discuss any contact she received from the Senate.

Outer Banks shoppers at large retailers would have the option of paper or nothing under a bill the Senate approved today.

The legislation, which passed 47 to 1, would prohibit those stores from using plastic shopping bags. Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, a Manteo Democrat, is pushing the bill, which applies to Dare, Currituck and Hyde counties. Basnight said the flimsy bags are polluting the landscape of the Outer Banks, which relies on its landscape to attract tourism business.

The bill's chief sponsor, Sen. Josh Stein, a Raleigh Democrat, described the bill as a pilot program that could go statewide. The goal is to encourage shoppers to use reusable bags, such as the cloth totes sold at groceries, and eventually eliminate both paper and plastic bags.

Nearly 20 states have considered or imposed legislation regulating plastic bags, but only the city of San Francisco has banned them.

Retailers argue that paper bags made from recycled material, which are permitted by the bill, cost more and that retrofitting stores that are set up for plastic bags also will create costs that are passed along to customers. The wiser approach, they argue, is to encourage or even mandate recycling.

Sen. Marc Basnight wants to ban plastic bags in the Outer Banks.

The Democratic Senate leader is pushing a bill that would ban plastic shopping bags in coastal counties that he represents. If successful, the pilot program could be implemented statewide.

Shoppers in Dare, Currituck and Hyde counties would receive bags made of 100 percent recycled paper, which cost more, or bring their own reusable bags.

Last week, Basnight began using paper bags for takeout orders at his restaurant.

Environmentalists blame the bags for causing problems with litter and harming waterborne creatures, but retailers warned that the recycled bags cost more.

"The cost gets passed on to consumers," said Andy Ellen, a lobbyist for the N.C. Retail Merchants Association. (N&O)

* U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre tells Wilmington TV station "you never say never" when asked about running for Senate.

* Transportation blogger Bruce Siceloff notes that the House gave preliminary approval to a local-option sales tax for bus and trail transit.

* Mark Binker notes that a McGuire Woods staffer who worked for (then Lt.) Gov. Beverly Perdue's campaign is lobbying for video poker.

* Plastic bag manufacturers have announced they'll use 40 percent recycled material by 2015. They called Dome about it because of this.

A bill would reduce plastic bag use.

Sen. Josh Stein, a Raleigh Democrat, said he filed the bill because he's concerned about their effects on the environment. 

"I'm driving down the road right now and looking out my window and in the trees and in the gutters and on the fences, everywhere are plastic bags," he said. "I don't want North Carolina's state flower to be the plastic bag, I want it to be the dogwood."

The bill would ban plastic bags at major retailers, with the exception of fresh produce, fresh meat and fresh fish. Smaller retailers could continue to use plastic bags.

Stein said most people would switch to reusable plastic and cloth bags, which can cost as little as a dollar. Others would use recyclable paper bags.

Either would be preferable to plastic, he said. 

"We consume hundreds of millions of these bags every year, and only one to three percent get recycled," he said.