The U.S. Navy said today it will study two sites in northeastern North Carolina and three in Virginia for a landing field where aircraft carriers pilots can practice takeoffs and landings.

The Navy said it was abandoning further consideration of its preferred site, which straddles Washington and Beaufort counties near a national wildlife refuge, reports Wade Rawlins. That site drew vigorous opposition from many local residents, environmentalists and the state's top political leaders.

The sites in North Carolina to be considered are Hale's Lake in Camden and Currituck counties and Sandbanks in Gates County.

They are within about 50 miles of Naval Air Station Oceana, where the fighter jet squadrons would be based.

But local officials in both counties as well as state leaders have expressed opposition to locating the airfield in the counties.

State Senate leader Marc Basnight of Manteo issued an immediate statement vowing to continue to oppose the sites.

"For nearly a decade, Senator Basnight has opposed the Navy's efforts to build an OLF in northeastern North Carolina," said Schorr Johnson, a spokesman for Basnight. "He has said that locating an OLF in a rural, economically distressed is absolutely unacceptable. With today's disappointing news, Senator Basnight vows to continue to fight on behalf of families who have worked this land for generations."

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole said she was discouraged by the Navy's failure to consult with local leaders in Camden, Currituck and Gates counties. She said she would oppose the Navy's efforts to acquire any site that lacks broad local support.

The Navy plans to gather public comments in the spring on the sites.

North Carolina’s governor and two U.S. senators told the Navy Tuesday that local support is essential to placing a proposed practice airfield in the state.

They suggested that a site closer to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point might be more acceptable, reports Wade Rawlins.

"We take the position that if an outlying landing field were to be located in North Carolina, the Navy must work more effectively to secure the general support of the local population,“ Sens. Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr and Gov. Mike Easley wrote in a Dec. 4 letter to Donald Winter, secretary of the Navy.

“And we see little purpose in your pending announcement of a narrowed list unless the issue of economic benefits for the affected communities is squarely addressed.”

The Navy wants to build a $230 million training airfield in a remote area for fighter pilots to simulate night landings on aircraft carriers.

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A former assistant D.A. wants to challenge U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry.

Daniel Johnson, 31, had worked for the Wake County district attorney's office for the past three years. He has moved back to his hometown of Hickory to run in the Democratic primary.

"I look around the area I grew up in, and see people struggling with keeping their jobs, affording their health care and just making ends meet," he said in a statement. "It is time for a new brand of leadership."

Johnson served in the U.S. Navy from 1998 to 2000. He received the Navy Marine Corps Medal, the Navy's highest peacetime award for heroism, for saving a crewmate during a 1999 accident on the U.S.S. Blue Ridge that severed both of his legs below the knees.

A graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, he promised to "rise above the divisive politics" of Washington.

Previously: Johnson considers run.