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Protest on Jones Street

About 100 students, advocates for workers' rights, immigrants' rights and others protested in front of the Legislative Building on Wednesday.

This follows a Monday night protest at the Legislative Building where 17 people were arrested.

Wednesday's group marched from the edge of N.C. State's campus to Jones Street carrying banners condemning tuition increases, budget cuts and legislative proposals such as a voter ID law. Some of the banners read "Don't Kill Our Future," and "Stop Attacks on Workers."

Five people knelt in the middle of Jones Street while the crowd gathered around chanting "Pope says cut back, we say fight back," referring to state budget director Art Pope.

The doors of the Legislative Building were locked and security posted at the entrances in preparation for the march. Most legislators had cleared out by the time the marchers reached the building

UPDATE: Five protesters were arrested when they tried to push their way past officers who had lined up in front of the Legislative Building, General Assembly police Chief Jeff Weaver said. The five would be taken to the Wake County Jail and booked on assault charges, Weaver said.

About three dozen officers from the General Assembly police, Capitol police and Raleigh police departments gathered as the protest formed outside the statehouse. The arrests happened about 6:20 p.m. Earlier, several members of the legislative black caucus showed up at the rally and expressed their support for the protesters.

Morning Memo: Pray-in targets lawmakers, Foxx to join Obama administration

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AT LEGISLATURE: Clergy and students will participate in an act of civil disobedience Monday at the Legislative Building "in response to the collective acts of the legislature," said the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP. The action, from 5 p.m.- 6 p.m., will be a "form of a pray-in," Barber said. The House convenes at 4 p.m., the Senate at 7 p.m. The NAACP has opposed the legislative actions reducing unemployment benefits, state House approval of photo voter ID, and other legislative measures.

FOXX TO TAKE OBAMA POST: President Barack Obama on Monday will nominate Mayor Anthony Foxx to be secretary of transportation, a White House official said Sunday on the condition of anonymity. The nomination of Foxx, whose city hosted last year’s Democratic National Convention, would make him the only African-American selected for a Cabinet opening in Obama’s second term. (More below.)

***Good morning. Welcome to the Dome Morning Memo -- a full roundup of North Carolina political news and analysis below. ***

NAACP considers civil disobedience at General Assembly

The NAACP’s Rev. William Barber is again raising the threat of protests leading to arrests at the General Assembly.

On Saturday, Barber announced a meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Durham to talk about reacting to voter ID legislation.

It’s time, Barber writes, “to discuss and pray over the possibility of nonviolent civil disobedience and peaceful direct action at the N.C. General Assembly, The People’s House.”

Barber also raised that possibility last week. Barber was arrested last session with six others after chanting from the House gallery during a session on the state budget. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct.

N.C. lawmaker regrets comparing GOP agenda to Boston bombing

Democratic state Sen. Angela Bryant says she regrets making a remark on Twitter linking the Boston tragedy to Republican lawmakers legislative agenda.

"GOP political terrorism on poor along marathon survival route with pressure cooker bombs: pay 4 drug test, IDs, crim check," @angelareb tweeted Tuesday at 9:29 a.m. Bryant later deleted the tweet but Republican operatives captured it and called for an explanation.

Asked about it by Dome on Thursday, Bryant said: "I regret really making a connection between the Boston tragedy and what's happening here. I was frustrated and am frustrated about the incessant attacks on the poor."

Bryant compared the poor's survival efforts to a marathon and the Republican legislation to require drug tests and criminal background checks for public assistance and voter identification to "pressure cooker bombs" along the marathon route.

"It was surely regretful," Bryant said. "It was not a good thing to do, given the tragedy, because there is no comparison to people losing their lives in that kind of incident. Not a good idea at all and I have tremendous regrets about that."

Morning Memo: Gift ban repeal dead, Hahn investigation seeks motive

TILLIS SAYS LOBBYIST GIFT BAN WILL REMAIN INTACT: House Speaker Thom Tillis took to Twitter this week to declare Republican Robert Brawley's bill to lift the ban on lobbyists giving lawmakers gifts is dead. "Benny, does the fact that the bill is dead give you any idea?" @thomtillis wrote. The speaker's office confirmed the 10:10 p.m. Tuesday tweet was legit. Tillis addressed the response to Benjamin Ray, an operative at the N.C. Democratic Party pushing Tillis on the issue and tying it to his office's controversial past with lobbyists and the fact the bill came from one of his committee chairman.

MOTIVE FOR JAMIE HAHN'S STABBING TURNS TO CAMPAIGN MONEY: As the Triangle mourned slain political strategist Jamie Hahn on Wednesday, attention turned to whether the man who police say stabbed her had made questionable campaign finance reports while working for Hahn’s firm. More on the story below.

***Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo -- click below for much, much more from a busy day in N.C. politics. Send news and tips to dome@newsobserver.com. ***

Voter ID amendments pass/fail

Members of state House passed three amendments to the voter ID bill and defeated six on their way to debating the measure.

The explanation of the bill and amendment votes took more than 90 minutes.

The House passed amendments that would have the State Board of Elections distribute information about mobile DMV units in rural counties without full-time DMV offices; allow members of the state's Indian tribes to use tribal identification cards; and to waive the requirement for photo IDs for victims of natural disasters.

The amendments that failed:

Allowing students at private colleges to use their school IDs to vote

Allowing people who don't have an ID but who are known by two elections officials to vote

Establishing more verification procedures for people voting by mail-in absentee ballot

Allowing voters who have a "reasonable impediment" to getting a photo ID to cast provisional ballots

Having the State Board of Elections produce a voters guide that explains the new procedures

Allowing voters to cast provisional ballots by providing the lsat four digits of their Social Security number or date of birth

Legislative Black Caucus members say they're prepared for tough debate on voter ID

Members of the Legislative Black Caucus said Wednesday that they planned a spirited fight opposing the voter ID bill that's scheduled for debate on House floor this afternoon, even though they know it will pass.

Republicans want to "wipe out the 20th century and go back to the 19th century," said state Rep. Mickey Michaux, a Durham Democrat. "White folks take things that we had to fight for for granted," he said.

Rep. Rodney Moore, Charlotte Democrat, recalled how African-Americans fought for voting rights in the 1960s.

Republicans' push for voting restrictions is an attempt to wipe out that progress, Michaux said.

"We know that they've got the votes" to pass the bill, Michaux said. "We want to make it so miserable for them to cast those votes they're going to hate to do it."

Morning Memo: State to probe gambling money; contentious day in N.C. House

STATE ELECTION OFFICIALS TO INVESTIGATE GAMBLING DONATIONS: State elections officials are calling for an investigation of $235,000 in political donations to dozens of North Carolina candidates from an Oklahoma sweepstakes operator, contributions that they say may have violated state campaign finance laws, AP reported. Gov. Pat McCrory, state House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate leader Phil Berger are among those who received the checks, many of them mailed from a Charlotte lobbying firm where McCrory worked until just before he took office.

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: The House will consider three highly contentious measures Tuesday: first, a sweeping immigration bill at 10 a.m. in House Judiciary Subcommittee B and a gun bill at the same time in House Judiciary Subcommittee A, and then, at 2 p.m., the full House convenes to hear a voter ID measure. Immigration advocates are expected to appear in full force at the legislative building today to lobby. Also today: a House panel will also consider a bill to adopt a state marsupial, among other state symbols, and a Senate committee will hear a bill to make hospitals more transparent in their billing.

Gov. Pat McCrory -- and legislative leaders -- will attend the NFIB meeting in Raleigh at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. Later in the day, the governor will sign Kilah's Law (HB75) at a 4:30 p.m. ceremony at the Capitol.

Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo -- our thoughts are with Jamie and Nation Hahn's family and friends today. More North Carolina political news and analysis below.

Morning Memo: Voter ID week starts, Foxx gets FBI vetting

VOTER ID WEEK BEGINS: A highly partisan voter ID measure that could cost more than $3.7 million gets heard in an appropriations committee Tuesday but the outcome is set. The House plans to reserve Wednesday and Thursday for floor debate. The State Board of Elections suggested as many as 318,000 registered voters may not have driver's licenses.

FOXX CLOSE TO BECOMING OBAMA APPOINTEE?  The FBI has been backgrounding Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, who’s reportedly a candidate to be U.S. Secretary of Transportation, sources say. The FBI typically backgrounds potential candidates for federal appointments, Jim Morrill reports from Charlotte. Foxx, who has said he won’t run for a third term this year, has been mentioned for the transportation post now held by Ray LaHood.

***Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo -- more North Carolina political news and analysis below.***

A pray-in at the Legislative Building this week?

The NAACP and a group of pastors Monday issued “a call to action” against the Republican legislature for what it said were a series of actions or proposals that would take North Carolina back to “the old South.''

In an open letter to Gov. Pat McCrory, Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Thom Tillis, the pastors cited a litany of bad policy proposals – including new restrictions on voting, a decline to expand the Medicaid health insurance program, cuts in public education, reductions in unemployment benefits, and an end in tax credits for the working poor.

The Rev. William Barber, state NAACP president, said the ministers were planning a series of efforts to focus a spotlight on the legislature, including a 15-county tour of key lawmaker's districts, and a possible “pray-in” when the state House begins debate on a photo ID bill on Wednesday.

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