The State Board of Education, during its two-day retreat at Raleigh's Sheraton Hotel, set out six goals for students and teachers.

The goals are written in ed-wonk language, but Dome has tried its best to write them in English, Lynn Bonner reports. Essentially, the board wants:

* Every student prepared for global competition.

* Student progress measured in a way that alerts teachers to problems so they can adjust the way they teach.

* Every "learning environment" (Dome thinks this means "schools" and classrooms") to be "inviting, respectful, supportive, inclusive and flexible."

* School leaders that create a culture that embraces change and continuous improvement.

* Financial planning and budgeting aligned with maximizing student achievement.

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The flap over U.S. Sen. Richard Burr ATM remarks just got another boost.

The Washington-based Politico newspaper reported this afternoon on a statement that Burr put out when Citigroup bought Wachovia reassuring North Carolinians not to worry — around the same time he told his wife to withdraw money from the bank: 

"Today's news of Citigroup's acquisition of Wachovia might be unsettling to many in North Carolina. While these are difficult times in our economy, it is important to remember that this move provides for the protection of accounts and the soundness of savings for Wachovia's customers. FDIC has said that all services for customers should continue uninterrupted." 

"Today's news once again shows that our financial markets are currently facing tremendous uncertainty, and it is an absolute necessity to move quickly to bring some stability to the crisis." 

The press release was posted to Burr's Web site at 12:46 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2008.

On Thursday, Burr spokesman David Ward said that the senator had called his wife around the last weekend in September. 

"When you think about the three weeks prior to this, you saw some of the biggest investment banks and commercial banks fail. You saw Lehman collapse, Fannie and Freddie propped up, WaMu fall, and Merrill Lynch acquired by Bank of America," he said. "The outlook was pretty grim at the time." 

It is perhaps North Carolina's folksiest cliche: Don't eat your seed corn.

After its latest appearance in Gov. Beverly Perdue's State of the State speech tonight, Dome did a little research in state newspaper archives on the saying.

The cliche refers to the corn used for seeds for next year's crop — it might be tasty now, but you would starve tomorrow. It is generally used by state pols to refer to foolishly cutting a program that will be needed in the future.

A few recent examples:

* In February, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler called agricultural research the "seed corn" of the industry.

* In January, community college president Scott Ralls used it while telling the story of a nursing instructor who quit teaching to go back to work.

* In November, Wachovia CEO Bob Steel told Perdue at a public forum that education is the "seed corn for everything that's needed for the future."

Among other things, basic research funding has been called the seed corn for future technology; recruits in Iraq and Afghanistan, the future military; open space, future tourism; principal in the escheats fund, future scholarship money; freshmen footballers, future ACC eligible players; fish harvested before reproducing, future food supply; copyright law, future artistic endeavors; and Central Piedmont Community College, the future labor force.

Still, education and agriculture seem to be the most popular references.

In fact, Gov. Mike Easley used the same line in his 2007 State of the State speech.

"Progress is not always about planting new crops, it is often about tending the current harvest and increasing the yield," he said. "Now, having said that, I did bring a little seed corn with me tonight, just in case."

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is opposing the nomination of a new Treasury secretary.

The Winston-Salem Republican said in a statement that he has given "the benefit of the doubt" to President Barack Obama's Cabinet nominations so far and he has been pleased with many of them.

But he said he was troubled by nominee Timothy Geithner's tenure on the New York Federal Reserve, especially his support for what Burr called the "ill-conceived" proposed merger of Citigroup and Wachovia. 

"During his tenure at the New York Federal Reserve, Mr. Geithner was a leading participant in many late-night, closed-door deals made between major financial institutions and the federal government," Burr said in a statement.

In addition, Burr said he was troubled by Geithner's failure to pay self-employment taxes while working for the International Monetary Fund.

Richard Moore is not going gentle into that good political night.

Despite losing the Democratic gubernatorial primary and facing the end of two terms as state treasurer, Moore has taken a number of bold steps lately:

LENDING PAY DAY: During an appearance on CNBC in September, Moore offered to lend money to the Federal Reserve from the state's pension fund to help banks.

WATCH OVER WACHOVIA: In November, Moore backed a shareholder lawsuit protesting Wachovia's agreement to be bought by Wells Fargo and said he'd vote against it.

FREDDIE MAC LAWSUIT: Moore butted heads with Attorney General Roy Cooper over which agency should lead a lawsuit against mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

The Associated Press' Mike Baker writes today that the Moore-Cooper quarrel could "foreshadow a coming Democratic primary" to challenge Republican Sen. Richard Burr.

After a painful defeat to Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue in May, some speculated that Moore might leave politics behind, but it was not his first setback.

Moore came back from an unsuccessful Congressional race in 1994 to run again.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole said President Bush's announcement on bank guarantee seems to be a way to boost credit without putting taxpayers at much risk.

In a prepared statement, she cited two institutions, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo/Wachovia, with North Carolina bases, Barb Barrett reports.

She also said Americans ought to be able to access their retirement accounts without penalties.

"I applaud the treasury for changing course by taking steps to inject liquidity into financial institutions such as Wells Fargo/Wachovia and Bank of America," Dole said. "This seems more sound than spending taxpayer dollars on buying up assets and hoping to turn a profit later. 

"While I dislike these expensive interventions into the markets, this course of action does seem to be less risky to the taxpayers and should  free up credit to help jumpstart the economy. I still feel it is vital to take steps to provide direct relief to individuals, such as allowing Americans to access their 401k/Individual Retirement Accounts without taxes and penalties."

Previously: Hagan praises bank guarantee plan. 

Beverly Perdue today cast herself as best candidate to lead the state through the bad economy.

"One governor can't fix the global economic situation, but one governor can lead North Carolina through these challenging, turbulent times," she told more than 800 delegates at the N.C. League of Municipalities convention in Charlotte, Jim Morrill reports.

Quoting the 1992 Bill Clinton campaign, she said, "It's the economy stupid."

Perdue spoke for about eight minutes on a whirlwind visit. She had just flown in from Raleigh and was scheduled to fly back shortly after her remarks.

Her opponent, Republican Mayor Pat McCrory of Charlotte, was scheduled to welcome delegates at a luncheon and speak later this afternoon as part of a candidates' forum at the convention. A Perdue aide said scheduling conflicts prevented her from attending the forum.

Perdue also promised to help Wachovia employees in their acquisition by San Franciso-based Wells Fargo.

"We are not going to do anything less than Wachovia tells us they need," she told the Observer on her way out.

U.S. Rep.  Sue Myrick, citing a need to avoid a "catastrophic credit meltdown," said she would vote today for a $700 billion bailout of the financial services sector, a few days after rejecting a similar version.

"I don't want to have to vote for this bill, and I'm not defending it," said the Charlotte Republican, saying it's "full of things that I don't believe in," Lisa Zagaroli reports.

"But, we’re on the cusp of a complete catastrophic credit meltdown. There is no liquidity in the market. We are out of time. Either you believe that fact, or you don't. I do."

Myrick said she was worried that if Congress didn't act now, "devastating unemployment" would follow and the nation was "simply out of time."

Myrick said earlier this week that when she returned to Charlotte, she encountered heightened tensions at home from folks facing long lines for gasoline and the sale of home-based Wachovia.

"All that has made people nervous and unsettled and everyone's a little anxious," she said. "That has helped to heighten the anxiety here."

After the House rejected a Wall Street rescue plan on Monday, the Senate changed a few things and tacked on tax breaks, disaster aide and a mental health parity bill to it. It passed overwhelmingly Wednesday.

The House was scheduled to vote by this afternoon on the changed version.

Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole was criticized Tuesday for attempting to loosen banking regulations earlier this year at time a time when the financial crisis was growing.

Democrat Kay Hagan noted that Dole had introduced legislation that would have made voluntary, rather than mandatory certfication by CEOs and outside auditors of the internal accounting controls of banks, Rob Christensen reports.

Hagan said quoted an industry publication as saying such legislation was “supremely naive” after all all the corporate scandals.

She also said that Dole received a campaign contribution of $2,500 from Bear Stearns’ PAC six days after she introduced the legislation. The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc., a New York-based investment bank, collapsed last month as part of the subprime mortgage crisis.

"Once again she is a rubber stamp for President Bush," Hagan said in a teleconference with reporters.

The Dole campaign dismissed the allegations. The loosening of standards of the Sarbanes-Oxley law had been requested by First Citizens Bank of Raleigh and supported by the state Bankers Association as a way to relieve the regulatory burdens on smaller banks, said Brian Nick, Dole’s chief of staff.

"To say that Bear Stearns some how benefited from this is absolutely preposterous," Nick said. "It shows a total lack of understanding that Kay Hagan has."

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Beverly Perdue said Friday that North Carolina banks are stable.

In a visit to the Greenville Daily Reflector, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate said she's heard from voters who are frustrated by the problems with the country's financial institutions:

"There is this sense of, 'I'm being wronged by the government,' but then there’s this sense of really understanding that something has to be fixed to salvage the financial backbone of America," she said.

North Carolinians can take comfort in knowing the major banks that make North Carolina their base of operations are stable, she said. However, they too are seeing drops in their stock prices.

"I think it proves everything can be rattled by an economic crisis," she said.

With Citigroup buying Charlotte-based Wachovia today, the state Republican Party sent out links to the article arguing that Perdue was out of touch.

"When it comes to the struggles of ordinary people, Beverly Perdue just doesn't get it," said party chairwoman Linda Daves.