State Reps. Paul Stam and Nelson Dollar want to know why the state is in such a hurry to release 20 inmates who have served 30 or so years of a "life" sentence.

Stam, an Apex Republican and House minority leader, and Dollar, a Cary Republican, sent a letter to Attorney General Roy Cooper and N.C. Correction Secretary Al Keller urging the officials to slow down on releasing the inmates.

One of the inmates, Bobby Bowden, successfully argued to the N.C. Court of Appeals that he has served his time. When he was convicted of a double murder in Fayetteville, the state defined a life sentence as 80 years and the court found that Bowden had earned enough credit to be released.

The Correction department has calculated that Bowden is one of 20 inmates that must be released this month. Stam and Dollar said that no court is ordering the release.

We are concerned with the haste with which the potential release of these felons is being considered. Only inmate Bowden has filed a motion. His case has been remanded for a hearing to determine sentence reduction credits that he is eligible to receive and how those credits are to be applied. It is premature to consider releasing other prisoners.

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State Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry expressed concern this morning about some of the invoices connected to the state's legal battle with the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Berry, a Republican, noted invoices for $5.50 for a beer, unused hotel rooms, hotel upgrades, valet parking and candy, reports Rob Christensen.

"There are expenses being paid that I don't think are appropriate to be paid with taxpayer money," Berry said after a meeting of the Council of State, a body of statewide elected officials which approves of various expenses and transactions.

Attorney General Roy Cooper, a Democrat, defended the expenditures.

"Those invoices were scrubbed a long time ago," Cooper said. "The state did not pay anything it was not supposed to pay. The bottom line here is that we have succeeded in forcing TVA to significantly reduce pollution coming in to North Carolina. The people of North Carolina are big winners as a result of this lawsuit."

Cooper's spokesman later said the state never reimbursed the firm for the beer, nor did the firm ever submit the beer as an expense.

The Council of State Tuesday approved $103,771 in new expenses to two law firms, the Ayres Law Group and Hunsucker, Goodstein & Nelson. Berry voted against it.

The state had previously paid the firms $3.2 million in legal fees in the case.

The N.C. Department of Justice is reviewing its gift rules.

"We're currently reviewing our policies to see what additions need to be made," Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Roy Cooper, said in an e-mail.

Talley said many of the department's employees, particularly lawyers, already have to abide by professional ethics rules.

Homeowners will get a little more breathing room before a possible foreclosure under a bill that Gov. Beverly Perdue signed this morning.

The legislation requires a court clerk to determine if a mortgage holder has been able to talk to the lender about working out a way to pay the loan. Mortgages are sold and resold so often that it can be time-consuming to identify the lender and reach a decision-maker with that company. The clerk also must determine if the lender has given the mortgage holder sufficient notice before trying to foreclose. The clerk can impose a 60-day waiting period before a foreclosure can proceed.

"This legislation allows time for loan modifications," said Attorney General Roy Cooper, who attended the bill signing in the capitol.

Perdue said the legislation, which also sets new rules for debt collectors, protects both homeowners and North Carolina's economy because of the ripple effect of foreclosure.

"It's bad for families. It's hard on the communities," Perdue said. "It's bad for businesses."

Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge said today that he is giving some thought to running against Republican Sen. Richard Burr next year.

Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat, said he has been courted by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee as a potential candidate, reports Rob Christensen.

“I’m evaluating it,” Etheridge said during a meeting Wednesday with reporters and editors at The News & Observer.

Etheridge said he met recently with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and had discussions with family members and a few key supporters. Etheridge said he hoped to make a decision by September.

The backing of the DSCC is important because Senate races have become nationalized. The DSCC spent at least $10 million on behalf of Democrat Kay Hagan last year, playing a pivotal role in her defeat of Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

Etheridge said it was a particularly difficult decision because he is the first Tar Heel in 56 years to serve as a member of the influential House Ways and Means Committee.

Read more after the jump.

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The legislature gave final approval Thursday to a bill that could slow foreclosures if there's a chance a homeowner could catch up on payments.

The bill, which now heads to Gov. Beverly Perdue's desk, would allow judicial officials to halt foreclosure proceedings if there's a good reason to think more time could help.

Attorney General Roy Cooper praised the bill in a statement Thursday. The bill also bars debt collectors from certain unfair or predatory practices.

"When a house goes into foreclosure, a family loses its home, neighbors lose property value and the lender loses money," Cooper said. "We're giving homeowners and lenders more time to work out solutions to foreclosure."

Two things are certain about the Senate race next year.

Democrats think they can beat Sen. Richard Burr. And party faithful seem worried about the candidate roster. Over the weekend, articles in The American Spectator and The Hill ruminated on the would-be or wouldn't-be candidates.

The Spectator article dismissed Cal Cunningham and Kenneth Lewis as "no-name lawyers." The piece focused on why top-tier candidates, including Attorney General Roy Cooper, decided not to run.

So why did Cooper brush aside a Senate bid? We'll never know for sure, but two possibilities come to mind. One is the heat Cooper has taken from Republicans, which has trickled into the wider electorate, for going soft on former Democratic Gov. Mike Easley. Easley is under state and federal investigation for alleged ethics violations and campaign finance malfeasance.

A second reason is a defamation lawsuit filed against Cooper nine years ago. The suit alleges that Cooper defamed his Republican challenger during a race for attorney general by airing a misleading television ad. A superior court judge recently denied Cooper's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, allowing the case to go to trial.

The Hill piece wonders whether Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, who is clearly trying to generate buzz for a run, could follow in the steps of Kay Hagan, who was seen as a long-shot candidate who went on to defeat Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

Still, thanks to the decisions of state Attorney General Roy Cooper and a few members of the state’s congressional delegation to pass on the race, Marshall appears next in line.

Nobody is getting terribly excited about her candidacy, but nobody was terribly excited two years ago either, after a similar cast of characters passed on a challenge to Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

Attorney General Roy Cooper wants more information in the state's DNA database, and he wants it sooner.

Cooper said this morning that his office will push the General Assembly next session for laws that will allow police officers to collect DNA evidence using mouth swabs at the time of arrest. Under current law, the state only collects evidence once a person is convicted of a felony.

"I believe DNA is like a fingerprint," Cooper said. "It's information about a criminal that goes into a database that helps us keep the public safe."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation follows a similar procedure, taking mouth swabs at the time of arrest, and a number of states have followed their lead and enacted similar laws.

"We'd want to make sure we had safeguards that if a case is dropped or a person is found not guilty, he can have it removed from the database," Cooper said.

The ACLU of North Carolina said in other states, this has meant people had to ask for the sample to be removed, which puts requires extra work from the innocent.

"It puts the burden on the individual," said Sarah Preston, legislative council for the N.C. ACLU. "They are essentially guilty until proven innocent."

More after the jump.

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Gov. Beverly Perdue signed a new law today to require public disclosure of information about those who die in state mental hospitals and other state facilities.

The governor had proposed new laws to shed more light on deaths at state facilities during Sunshine Week last March, Rob Christensen reports.

"This legislation puts the safety of our patients first by ensuring that important information in death records is available to the public," Perdue said in a statement. "By increasing transparency, we will make state facilities more accountable to the people in their care, restore public confidence and rebuild public trust."

This is the second law that was prompted by a series published in The News & Observer last year that outlined abuses in the state mental health system. The other law required that deaths in state facilities be reported to the medical examiner.

More after the jump.

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Attorney General Roy Cooper said he would help victims of crime get the restitution they are owed.

Cooper was responding to a story Sunday in The News & Observer that reported that for a decade the state court system has improperly divertion millions meant to compensate crime victims to state and local treasuries.

The diversion was the result of a misinterpretation of the law that was compounded by an incorrect computer setting.

"I’m shocked that crime victims have been forced to wait behind the government before getting the funds they deserve," said Cooper, who as a state senator in 1997, was the primary sponsor of the victim restitution bill.

Cooper today set up a task force in his office of Victims and Citizens Services to help crime victims receive their just compensation. The task force will work with the Administrative Office of the Courts and Clerks of Court to help get victims the money they are entitled to receive.

Crime victims who need help getting court-ordered restitution can contact Cooper’s Victims and Citizens Services at vcs@ncdoj.gov or (919) 716-6780.

In a letter sent today to Judge John Smith, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, Cooper called on the state to make sure that both future and past crime victims get the restitution they are owed.

"Just as important as setting future priorities is making it right for past crime victims," Cooper said.

Update: Post now includes Cooper's role on the bill that granted victims restitution.