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OBAMA VISIT: President Barack Obama is expected to unveil a plan to connect nearly every U.S. classroom to high-speed Internet while he’s in Mooresville on Thursday. The plan would expand broadband and wireless access to 99 percent of the country’s schools over the next five years, the White House said. It would use money already budgeted and would not require authorization or approval by Congress. The goal is to boost graduation rates and turn out students more prepared for tech-related careers. Full story here.

Gov. Pat McCrory won't be joining the president at his visit, according to his public schedule.

TAX DEAL BROKERED: For the second straight day Wednesday, House Republicans feuded among themselves on a major tax cut measure, stalling a top legislative priority. But 10 hours after a revolt in a morning committee meeting, House GOP lawmakers emerged from a lengthy closed-door meeting Wednesday evening to say they had reached a consensus to remove language from the tax bill aimed at helping the housing industry. The move puts the House tax plan back roughly in its original form. Full story.

***Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo -- the source for North Carolina political intel. More news and analysis below. Send tips to dome@newsobserver.com.***

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: The House tax plan returns for an unscheduled stop in another committee Wednesday morning. Look for lawmakers to possibly strip a provision added the day before by Finance Committee Chairwoman Julia Howard to remove the cap on home-related tax deductions. Continuing the fast timeline, bill sponsor David Lewis said the measure could hit the floor this week. The bill to fast-track fracking will get a vote in a House committee at 10 a.m. The full House will take a final vote to repeal the Racial Justice Act and consider a bill to redraw the Wake County school district boundaries. The Senate will work through a lengthy calendar that includes two beer bills and a measure requiring biodegradable plastic bottles to carry certain wording on their labels.

LT. GOV LAUNCHES COMMON CORE FIGHT: On Tuesday, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest posted a nearly four-minute video on YouTube, titled “My Concerns with Common Core.” In it, he said he has serious qualms about the state’s “rush to implement” the K-12 standard. Common Core was rolled out in North Carolina’s classrooms last fall. Forest vowed a critical review starting Wednesday during orientation for new members of the State Board of Education, suggesting “perhaps a fresh set of eyes will give us reason to pause, and make sure our state looks, before we leap into the Common Core.” 

***Additional details on Common Core, Thom Tillis' U.S. Senate bid and much more below in the Dome Morning Memo.***

From AP: Current and former Democratic state legislators are testifying at a trial where judges are weighing arguments whether the redistricting maps drawn by North Carolina Republicans in 2011 are legal or should be thrown out.

State Sen. Dan Blue of Raleigh and former Sen. Eric Mansfield of Fayetteville told a three-judge panel Tuesday there was no need for Republicans to increase the black voting age population in their districts to make them majority-black to ensure black voters can elect their favored candidates.

Mansfield and Blue testified white voters are willing to elect black candidates due to changing voting patterns and views on race. Republican legislative leaders and the state argue racially polarized voting still exists in North Carolina and majority-black districts can be drawn to avoid federal voting rights challenges. R

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: The action starts early Tuesday and will likely stretch past 10 p.m. again. The House and Senate plan to convene a skeletal session just before 10 a.m. to read in committee reports, then recess until 2 p.m. House Speaker Thom Tillis said the session will go until 5:15 p.m. or so before a dinner recess for committee meetings. The chamber will reconvene at 7 p.m. and go late. The Senate isn't expected to stay as long but its calendar is getting crowded. Gov. Pat McCrory lists no public events.

McCRORY'S OFFICE WON'T RELEASE DAILY SCHEDULE ANYMORE: The governor's Communications Director Kim Genardo is changing the office's policy of releasing a daily calendar. Genardo said if there is no event scheduled, she won't send out a notice stating as much, meaning some days will have no notice to the governor's schedule. McCrory pledged to release a daily schedule during the gubernatorial campaign as he bashed his predecessor, Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue, for taking a "secret" trip to Pennsylvania to study fracking rigs. Republicans jumped on McCrory's Democratic opponent for not pledging to do the same. “Everyone knew where I was as mayor,” McCrory said a year ago. “My records were open."

***A busy week means lots of news below in the Dome Morning Memo. Send more news and tips to dome@newsobserver.com. ****

A study commissioned by a good-government group documents the unsurprising finding that redistricting in North Carolina has long been used by the party in power to disenfranchise voters who don’t support them.

In 1992, Democrats received 52 percent of the votes in the state House but took 67 percent of the seats. In the Senate, Democrats won 55 percent of the votes and held 78 percent of the seats.

Twenty years later, Republicans received 54 percent of the vote for House and hold 64 percent of the seats, while holding 66 percent of the Senate seats even though the vote was split 50-50.

Another run at taking the politics out of redistricting has emerged this session in the form of a bipartisan bill packed with so many co-sponsors that they constitute a majority in the House.

HB606 would create an independent nonpartisan professional staff that would draw maps that the General Assembly would then approve or reject, with only limited technical amendments permitted.

The main backers of HB606 will try to drum up support at a news conference Wednesday with House Speaker Pro Tem Paul “Skip” Stam, R-Apex; Democratic caucus co-chair Rep. Deborah Ross, D-Raleigh; Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, and Rep. Rick Glazier, D-Fayetteville.

The bill is the same one that passed the House in 2011 on an 88-27 vote. Supporters note that House Speaker Thom Tillis supported redistricting reform when he was in the minority party.

Supporters say that 25 Republicans who didn’t sign on as sponsors of this bill have either voted for the 2011 bill or have said they support redistricting reform.

THE MOST IMPORTANT POLITICAL STORY IN N.C.: The legal fight about the new political boundaries drawn by Republicans in the redistricting process is headed to court this week. A three-judge panelwill hear the arguments Monday and Tuesday after Democrats and groups fighting the maps filed suit contending they were unlawful. The new boundaries seal Republican power in the state legislature for the next decade and Democrats need a judicial reversal to regain strength.

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: The House will focus on education this week, with local school superintendents from across the state invited to meet with lawmakers. House Speaker Thom Tillis will hold a 3 p.m. press conference to discuss "education week." The House and Senate convene Monday evening for skeleton sessions. No votes are expected.

***Good Monday morning. Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo. Find more political news and a weekend headline wrap below. And find out more information about the N&O's new iPad app, available for download now. (Programming note: Dome is not available on the app at the moment. Look for an upgrade later.)***

UPDATED: WHAT REDISTRICTING MEANS: Only one competitive congressional race in 2014. Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball political rankings show what happens when congressional districts are packed with like-minded folks. Of the state's 13 congressional races, only one is deemed competitive between parties. The seat is Democratic Congressman Mike McIntyre in District 7. McIntyre won a close race in 2012 -- one of the few where Mitt Romney won the president vote -- and another tight contest is expected in 2014. The pundits at University of Virginia give him the early edge, though, ranking the race "leans Democratic."

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TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: Monday legislative sessions are typically quiet but Republican lawmakers are using the first one this year to push two major proposals to overhaul unemployment benefits amid the state's $2.5 billion debt to the federal government (House) and block the expansion of Medicaid under the federal health care law (Senate). The floor action for both chambers starts at 7 p.m. Gov. Pat McCrory lists no public events today.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Republicans have the votes to pass the measure but the question is how big a fight Democrats will mount. The tone and strategy of the Democratic opposition will help define the partisan relations this legislative session and signal whether the minority party will acquiesce to GOP supermajorities or make their lives difficult.

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The state Supreme Court ruled Friday that lawyers working for GOP leaders don't have to give redistricting communications to their opponents.

Democrats, civil rights groups and non-profits suing over the redistricting plans sought communications from GOP lawyers who worked for legislative leaders as they redesigned House, Senate and congressional districts. The lawyers were paid with state money, and the Democrats' lawyers argued that their communications should be made public, just as other legislative employee communications become public after new maps are approved.

A three-judge panel of Superior Court judges told Republicans to hand over the information, but legislative leaders appealed to the state Supreme Court, which agreed with Republicans.

"Without a clear and unambiguous statement by the General Assembly that it intends to waive its attorney-client privilege or work-product doctrine, we are compelled to exercise judicial restraint and defer to the General Assembly's judgment regarding the scope of its legislative confidentiality," the ruling says.

Justice Robin Hudson dissented, and Justice Cheri Beasley did not participate in the decision.