* The parent company of the Winston-Salem Journal is closing its Washington bureau, which wrote, among many other things, this article last year.

* Asheville Citizen-Times Jordan Schrader reports that Gov. Beverly Perdue left a message Speaker Joe Hackney after seizing the rainy day funds. 

* Greensboro News-Record's Mark Binker finally gets a long-awaited ethics opinion on donations to the N.C. Legislative Black Caucus Foundation.

* First Lady Michelle Obama visits Fort Bragg, meets with city council members, local civics and business leaders at a Fayetteville event. 

Gov. Beverly Perdue's seizure of the rainy day funds raised eyebrows.

Perdue announced last night that she was taking the $787 million in state reserves to pay the state's bills, including $250 million for the State Health Plan.

A bill in the state Senate would have put that money in the health plan anyway, and Senate leader Marc Basnight said he told Perdue last week to tap the reserves. Gov. Mike Easley similarly seized the reserves in 2001.

But House Speaker Joe Hackney and House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman questioned the constitutionality of the governor's move at a time when the legislature is in session. 

"You know, we're not potted plants here," Hackney said. (WUNC)

And Elaine Mejia, an analyst with the N.C. Budget and Tax Center, said the move was troubling because Perdue had previously said she might use the rainy day fund to address budget problems next year. 

"The truth is this is a very bad sign," she said. (N&O)