Mike Munger says the state is "dragging its feet" on Libertarian registrations.

The Libertarian gubernatorial nominee and Duke University political science professor tells Dome that the party had more than 13,000 registered voters in 2005.

When the Libertarians lost party status, those voters became unaffiliated, though they should be able to re-register now that it is a party again. But Munger says some of the state's largest boards of elections have not yet posted the forms online to allow it.

"How can we register people as Libertarian when they won't change the forms?" he writes in an e-mail. "The state is intentionally dragging its feet, in violation of the law, and the expressed will of more than 100,000 voters."

As of 8:45 a.m. today, the Wake County board of elections' online form did not include the Libertarian Party, listing only Democratic, Republican and unaffiliated. The Mecklenburg County form and the Guilford County form also lacked the Libertarian option.

The party was recognized in late May, but had only 29 registered members as of this morning.

Mary Fant Donnan is counting on the Triangle.

The candidate for the Democratic nomination for labor commissioner said that Wake, Durham and Orange counties will be key in her upcoming runoff with former commissioner John C. Brooks.

Because there are no other statewide runoffs next Tuesday, Donnan said that turnout will be pretty low except in areas where a local runoff is also on the ballot.

In Durham County, a countywide school board runoff, and in Orange County, a county commissioner district-wide runoff will draw voters to the poll. And Donnan said past results show Wake County typically does well in runoff turnout because of a general interest in state government.

"There's a fair amount to do in the Triangle because all three counties have something that will bring voters out already," she told Dome.

She said that legislative runoffs in Wayne, Greene and Pitt counties could also draw voters.

Illegal immigrants arrested in North Carolina are being deported like never before, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole said at a press conference today.

"If they're thinking of coming to North Carolina to commit crimes, they darn well better not do it," Dole said. "Because we're going to catch them."

Dole held the press conference along with four county sheriffs just days after her Democratic opponent Kay Hagan held a meeting with sheriffs to discuss immigration, Kristin Collins reports. Dole says she has been the leader in calling for a crackdown on criminal illegal immigrants.

With Dole's support, sheriff's departments in North Carolina have teamed up with federal immigration officials to help deport illegal immigrants who come through county jails through a program called 287(g). Dole said about 500 people a month are now being deported with the help of North Carolina's local law enforcement.

Three sheriff's departments — in Wake, Henderson and Cumberland counties — are now training for a federal immigration program that will allow them to check the immigration status of their jail inmates and begin deportation proceedings.

Four sheriff's departments and the Durham Police Department already have the program. North Carolina is among the leading states in the nation for participation in the program.

Another endorsement for Barack Obama came this afternoon, a little by accident.

Wake County Commissioner Harold Webb, squeezed past Dome in a crowded group of young Democrats to shake hands with John Edwards.

Dome, who covered Webb back when we were WakePol, asked if he was going to endorse in the Democratic presidential primary.

"Later," he said.

We asked who he would endorse.

"Obama," he answered.

While he didn't say how much later, Dome had expected he meant more than three seconds, but the cat's out of the bag now.

Two of Webb's Democratic colleagues on the county board, Lindy Brown and Betty Lou Ward, endorsed Clinton at a speech at Wake Tech.

Thomas Wright's lawyers have filed papers in Wake County Superior Court to get his seat back.

Irving Joyner argued that the state House of Representatives' vote to expel Wright was punishment without a trial.

He also argued that current House members didn't have standing to expel Wright because the allegations, if true, occurred in a previous legislative session.

Joyner asked Judge Paul Ridgeway to schedule a hearing immediately.

Three weeks ago, Ridgeway declined to block the House ethics committee from hearing the Wright case, saying it was not his job to interfere with the legislature. (AP) 

Design and staffing problems have delayed the opening of a $120 million state psychiatric hospital.

Dempsey Benton, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, said Thursday that repairs resulting from design flaws were being made to the new Central Regional Hospital in Butner.

The building had been designed with 30 categories of hazard that could allow patients to hang themselves.

The announcement means that Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh will remain open longer.

Most of the campus had been scheduled to close when Central opens, except for 60 beds that the state will operate jointly with Wake County. Minutes from recent meetings of the Central hospital management team show that they felt the May 1 opening date was unrealistic.

The hospital will now open on July 1 or later. (N&O)

Bob Orr received $600 from other politicians' campaign funds in 2007.

According to his mid-year and year-end campaign finance reports, the Republican gubernatorial candidate received donations from two campaigns.

State Rep. Carolyn Justus, a Hendersonville Republican, gave $100 and former Wake County Commissioner Phil Jeffreys gave $500. 

The price of some fruits and vegetables in school lunches has doubled since the U.S. Department of Defense outsourced the work.

Produce distributor Foster-Caviness Foodservice of Colfax has added a $4.30 surcharge on each case. That's in addition to a 5.9 percent charge Defense Department purchasing agents have already added.

The food is distributed under a decade old federal program called "farm-to-school."

The program subsidizes the purchase of home-grown produce by more than 60 North Carolina school districts, including Wake, Johnston and Chatham. (N&O) 

Don Beason long used the name The Capitol Group for his business.

It shows up on archives of his Web site, on lobbying forms he filed, in news articles about him and as an alias on the property records of his office in Bishops Ridge.

But he never registered the name with the state or Wake County.

Technically, it is a misdemeanor in North Carolina to engage in business under an assumed name without filing with either the Secretary of State or the local Register of Deeds, though the archaic law is almost never enforced.

Corporate attorneys say the main reasons to register a business are to protect your right to the name, set up a business checking account and notify potential clients who you are.

In fact, another lobbyist registered the name in 2000.

Attorney Jack Nichols, who helped Lisa Piercy file the paperwork with Wake County, said it was "an unfortunate coincidence" that she chose the rather obvious name.

"We did a check at that point in time, and the name was not being used," he said.