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--The state's largest civil rights group, the NAACP, is asking voters to reject what it says is an invitation to discriminate. A prominent Raleigh minister, meanwhile, says that same invitation is an opportunity to strengthen the state's stance against relationships that go against the Bible.

These are just two examples of how well-known institutions with significant African-American followings are on opposite sides of a hot-button political and social question that all of North Carolina's voters will be asked to decide May 8: whether a ban on gay marriage and civil unions should be written into the state constitution. Read today's story about how black voters factor into the debate.

--Lawyers for John Edwards on Friday issued statements that said the hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenditures incurred last year by the campaign committee of the former presidential candidate were above board.

The statements were issued in a response to a widely distributed report by the Associated Press raising questions about $836,712 in expenditures reported for 2011 on a finance report filed last month. The money spent last year, the lawyers said, was related to expenses the committee incurred recovering campaign email messages that were subpoenaed by federal investigators or to flying campaign staffers from one coast to the other for investigative interviews related to the probe. Get more details here.

--Former House Speaker Richard Morgan looks at old photos of himself from when he weighed 265 pounds and sometimes cries. "I don't understand ... why I would ever let myself get in that shape," he said this week.

Morgan, 59, who is just under 6 feet tall, now weighs 164 pounds. He used to have trouble carrying his big briefcase - and himself - up a flight of stairs to his Raleigh apartment. Now he hops over fences at his farm near Pinehurst. Read the full story and see before and after photos here.

The organization leading the push to define marriage as one woman and one man in the state constitution is officially launching its campaign ahead of the May vote.

Vote for Marriage NC is led by Tami Fitzgerald of the N.C. Values Coalition. It comprises various organizations such as the Christian Action League and N.C. Baptists and includes national groups like the National Organization for Marriage.

In the campaign launch, the group's leaders sought to put the vote in simple terms.

"The marriage amendment is simple and straight-forward," said Rev. Mark Harris, president of the N.C. Baptists, in a statement. "It's about preserving marriage as we've always known it and making sure that activist judges can't redefine it in the future."

The opposition group, Coalition to Protect All N.C. Families, launched its effort last week to highlight that the amendment would ban recognition of gay marriage and civil unions and other domestic partnerships. (State law currently makes gay marriage illegal.)

The pro-amendment committee's website (voteformarriagenc.org) includes information about "why marriage matters" and "the threat to marriage," noting a Guilford County case the group believes exemplifies judicial challenges to the current state law. The group is expected to raise big money to further its cause. A campaign finance report is due by the end of the week.

Western Carolina University's Roger Hartley wrote an interesting opinion piece in today's News & Observer that argues a united GOP on a presidential canidate changes the political scorecard for North Carolina's constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and civil unions. An excerpt:

"The GOP-led legislature placed the marriage amendment on the primary ballot thinking that party activists would be drawn to the polls. With no opposition as yet to President Barack Obama and Gov. Beverly Perdue, the Democratic primary is likely to have low turnout, with the exception of some competitive local races. With a presidential primary contest on their ballot, GOP voters would be drawn to the polls to select their nominee. In a competitive national GOP primary, Proposition 1 would almost certainly pass.

Things have changed. A fast finish by (Mitt) Romney will leave GOP voters with little but local races and the marriage amendment to draw them to the polls. Fewer Republican voters in May could even the playing field." Read the full piece here.