The state's college students don't know enough about managing money and debt and get themselves in trouble, state Treasurer Janet Cowell learned on a debt tour of college campuses.

Cowell visited four campuses, Wake Tech, Alamance Community College, Fayetteville State University and High Point University and met with 53 students. She found that students were using credit cards for every day purchases and getting into trouble with debt.

"This experience, along with national research, has demonstrated the need for programs that can assist and educate students on debt and its consequences," Cowell said. 

In a report, Cowell made six recommendations for new programs that could help students make better choices. Her report included resources that could help the state pay for the changes.

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Gov. Beverly Perdue said today that some sort of tax increase might be needed to close a projected $4.5 billion budget shortfall.

The governor didn't say what tax hikes she might support. But she noted that her budget proposal called for an increase in the excise taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. She said she would not rule out other taxes, Rob Christensen reports.

"I think we cannot do what we have to do as a people on cuts alone," Perdue told reporters after addressing a stimulus recovery workshop at Wake Tech. "As to the mix of revenue, I am very seriously looking at all the options. I'm very serious about hard, tough cuts."

Perdue made the comment as House budget leaders prepare to unveil a budget that would cut the current $21.4 billion budget to $17.5 billion including sharp cuts in services, an increase in the size of public school classes, and thousands of layoffs.

She called the proposed House cuts "horrific for the people of North Carolina."

More after the jump.

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Gov. Beverly Perdue will hold a workshop on federal stimulus money in Raleigh.

Perdue will speak at 1 p.m. Thursday at Wake Technical Community College as part of a series of workshops on how businesses, government and individuals can access stimulus money.

"North Carolina is set to receive more than $8 billion in federal recovery money, and I intend for our state to not only be prepared to use this money to put our people back to work, but also to spend the money with the utmost accountability and transparency," she said in a statement.

The state's stimulus czar, Dempsey Benton, will lead the two-hour workshop. 

Other workshops will be held on Friday in Wilmington and June 18 in Charlotte. They have previously been held in Winston-Salem, Clyde and Kinston. 

Gov. Beverly Perdue gave her education cabinet a preview of her plans for education in the face of a massive budget shortfall.

Perdue said her budget proposal, which she will unveil Tuesday will treat education and jobs as the top priorities. Other parts of state government will feel deep cuts, Ben Niolet reports.

"I figure by tomorrow nobody in North Carolina is going to be speaking to us," Perdue said at a meeting at Wake Tech. "What I'm about to do tomorrow hasn't. Been fun. It hasn't been easy."

Education, specifically K-12 will see an increase in spending of $350 million. Perdue said the 2.5 percent increase will come from a combination  of state money and federal recovery funds.

Perdue said she wants to see local schools make teachers in classrooms the priority for federal dollars.

The state board and local administrations will see cuts across the state, Perdue said.

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Sen. Janet Cowell is seeking nearly $76 million in state spending.

The Democratic nominee for state treasurer has sponsored one bill and co-sponsored 24 bills seeking appropriations in the upcoming state budget.

Cowell is the primary sponsor on a bill to give $2.1 million to the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences for an environmental education facility at the Prairie Ridge Ecostation.

Among the larger appropriations bills she is cosponsoring: $25 million for a school construction pilot program, $6 million for the Communities in Schools programs on dropout prevention, $5.8 million for the Center for Bioenergy Technologies, $5.6 million for the N.C. Museum of Art, $5.6 million for dropout prevention, $5 million for a strategic plan on biofuels, $5 million for public libraries.

Other large appropriations she is cosponsoring: $4 million for a statewide study on aging, $2 million for the N.C. Arts Council, $1.6 million for a pilot program on dropout prevention in Durham and Vance counties, $1.5 million for a pilot program on adult protective services, $1.4 million for water resource management, $1.2 million for teen pregnancy prevention and $1.2 million for Wake Tech Community College.

She is also cosponsoring bills less than $1 million: Support for caregivers of people with dementia, a statewide literacy program, Kids Voting, treatment of autistic children, services for the developmentally disabled, a legal mediation network, a youth golfing program and the African-American Heritage Commission.

In addition, she is cosponsoring a bill that would give state employees a 7 percent raise.

Update: Her Republican opponent, Rep. Bill Daughtridge, is seeking $19 million in spending.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Friday that presidential hopeful Barack Obama was best positioned to guide the country’s economy, including helping ease the home foreclosure crisis.

"We have 22,000 citizens in this state that are precariously close to losing their homes through foreclosures," Sebelius said at a news conference at Wake Tech.

The Illinois senator is proposing to create a $10 billion fund to help families renegotiate their loans to avoid losing their homes.

Sebelius' comments were part of an effort by the Obama campaign to stress economic issues in the May 6th Democratic primary.

The trip by the Kansan came as President Bill Clinton was scheduled Friday night to begin two days of campaigning in Eastern North Carolina.

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Hear Hillary Clinton speak on issues including the economy, infastructure, stem cell research, and the middle class Thursday at Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh. (Staff video by Travis Long, Corey Lowenstein and Jason Arthurs)

Wake County Commissioner Betty Lou Ward met Hillary Clinton in the late 1980s at a Jefferson-Jackson Day breakfast in Raleigh.

The then-First Lady of Arkansas traveled to the City of Oaks to present some ideas on early childhood programs, Sam LaGrone reports.

Ward asked Clinton for some more information which Clinton sent along with a signed hand-written note, which Ward later chucked.

"What a shame I didn't save that note," Ward said.

Ward was one of two commissioners who introduced Clinton this morning at a speech at Wake Tech. 

Hillary Clinton made a number of economic proposals this morning.

In a speech at Wake Tech, she said she would close tax loopholes for companies that outsource jobs, create universal health care, end tax breaks for oil companies and promote environmentally friendly construction.

"You've heard of white collar jobs and blue collar jobs," she said. "Well, how about creating 10,000 green collar jobs right here in North Carolina?"

She also said she would fix the nation's infrastructure, saying that Triangle residents face that firsthand in traffic jams on Interstate 40

She promised to promote stem-cell research and increase spending on job training at community colleges.

"No Americans should be left on the side of the road," she said. "If you're willing to work hard and retrain yourself, then we will reward your hard work."

Hillary Clinton gave shoutouts to March Madness and the Wright brothers, used an extended basketball metaphor and told a Democratic joke.

At a speech at Wake Tech, she said she was glad to be in North Carolina during the NCAA tournament and praised the Wright brothers for their work on the airplane.

She also compared the country's need for a turnaround to a beat-the-buzzer basketball game.

"There's 20 seconds left, there's 10 seconds left and the team that wins is the one that reaches down deep," she said.

She got big applause for an old Democratic joke, however.

"Running for office is like driving a car," she said. "If you want to go forward, you put it in D. If you want to go backward, you put it in R."