* The mentally ill in North Carolina will have less access to care as the state makes dramatic changes to save money in the recession.

The budget approved by the legislature Wednesday cuts about $40 million, or 12 percent, in mental health treatment for people without other insurance.

The cuts come despite the state's goal of providing more treatment to people where they live. The cuts and changes rip holes in an already-weak mental health system, advocates say.

They predict it will be harder for poor people without insurance to get community mental health care, and more could end up in emergency departments and jails. (N&O)

* As teachers worry about job security and residents pay a penny more on the dollar in sales tax, one interest group is emerging from North Carolina's new budget unscathed: state universities' athletic booster clubs.

Taxpayers will continue to pick up the tab for granting in-state tuition to out-of-state athletes at a cost of $10 million a year. (N&O)

A pool of state money used to help students pay for college will empty in three years, according to the state treasurer's projections.

State Treasurer Janet Cowell has told legislative and education leaders the escheats fund —  which consists of money collected from sources such as unclaimed bank accounts, forgotten utility deposits and insurance policy proceeds, plus the investment interest — will be drained by 2012.

The state uses the money for college loans and scholarships, Lynn Bonner reports.

In a letter to legislators earlier this month, Cowell estimates the fund will be $59 million in the red by 2012. "That means money available today for an incoming college freshman for financial aid will not be there by senior year," she wrote.

The fund paid  $210 million for scholarships this school year.

Cowell asked legislators not to withdraw $5 million from the fund, as the Senate approved in its budget, and urged them to maintain a  $200 million minimum balance.

"In addition, I also urge you and  your colleagues to revisit the fund's overall structure and sustainability," she wrote. "We cannot keep our promise to ensure that all North Carolinians have access to higher education if we are depleting the means for them to do so."

The state Escheats Fund could go dry soon.

The little-known fund, which is used for college scholarships and grants, has been flush for years with forgotten insurance policies and utility deposits.

It now has about $584 million. But it could go broke by 2012 if the legislature doesn't find another way to pay for student financial aid.

The fund will provide at least $210 million in aid this fiscal year, helping 54,000 students in the UNC system, among others.

State Treasurer Janet Cowell, whose office manages the fund, said lawmakers either need to cut back on scholarships or find another source of money. (AP)

Former UNC President William Friday is cheering on legislators who want to end the tuition break for out-of-state athletes in the UNC system.

At a time when hundreds of thousands of state citizens are living in poverty and many young people can't afford to go to college, the state should not be subsidizing out-of-state scholarship recipients, Friday said today.

"I think those resources should be applied to North Carolina," he said.

The law now allows any out-of-state recipient of a full-time scholarship at a UNC campus to considered an in-state student. The state pays the differential in the tuition rates. The taxpayer cost is about $10 million and growing.

The majority of the money goes to athletes, who generally were less qualified academically than many other applicants, Friday pointed out. Some also goes to recipients of academic scholarships.

Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat, and Rep. George Cleveland, a Jacksonville Republican, filed a bill that would limit the tuition exemption to academic scholars only. It would end the state subsidy for athletes — and the college booster clubs' finances would take the hit.

Rep. Deborah Ross
Raleigh Democrat
Fourth term

What two things would you cut in the state budget?
She would eliminate the in-state tuition break for out-of-state athletes who win athletic scholarships to UNC schools. "I think in a tough budget time we need more need-based scholarships," she said. Otherwise, she would look for ways to combine programs that would maintain services and eliminate duplication.

Are there any taxes you would be in favor of increasing?
Ross has supported raising the cigarette tax and would do so again this session.

— Dan Kane

Will any of Andy Willis' past lobbying efforts come back to haunt him?

Not likely. As a chief lobbyist for N.C. State and the University of North Carolina system, the newly appointed legislative liaison for Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue was not in charge of too many controversial things.

The only controversial issue he lobbied for was a national biodefense facility in Butner that some residents feared could spread deadly pathogens.

As a spokesman for UNC, Willis said that security concerns were valid, but the facility would be safe, noting that Triangle-area labs have handled hazardous material for decades.

"People are going to drop test tubes," he said in a Dec. 22, 2007, article in the N&O. He compared the facility to "a safe within a 6-inch cement box within a 6-inch cement box in a submarine down in the Atlantic Ocean."

That remark may grate among opponents of the proposed facility, though it's something of a moot point now that the federal government has recommended a Kansas site instead.

In other articles, Willis has been quoted being grateful for state higher education funding, explaining why the UNC system has so many vacant jobs and noting that UNC leaders did not ask for athletic scholarships in the state budget.

An offhand remark in a Jan. 21, 2007, N&O article did draw a complaint.

"I'm not sure business will change that much," Willis said of newly instituted ethics rules. "Even though the perception is that lobbyists wine and dine people, 99 percent of the business takes place at the legislature."

A Carrboro woman criticized the quote in a letter to the editor the next week.

Four lawmakers are drafting a bill to provide full scholarships to the children of police and firefighters who are killed in the line of duty.

The lawmakers, all Republicans, are Sen. Richard Stevens of Cary, Sen. Fletcher Hartsell of Concord, Rep. Charles Thomas of Asheville and Rep. Thom Tillis of Huntersville plan to introduce bills in the house and senate in when the General Assembly reconvenes in May.

The scholarships would apply to state public universities or community colleges.

North Carolina's new athletic scholarship program for some public and private college students appears to be unusual compared to other states, according to a review of legislation by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The bipartisan organization, which provides research and other technical expertise to state legislatures, found that only a handful of states have set up programs outside of the typical booster clubs that help pay for athletic scholarships, reports Dan Kane.

None say that general fund revenues will help pay for the scholarships, as North Carolina now does.

Read more after the jump.

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