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TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: No votes in the House on Thursday but the Senate is expected to give final approval to a bill to purge the state's boards of any Democratic appointees. Gov. Pat McCrory hosts legislators for a private breakfast and attends two closed-door events in Wake County. Democratic Party Chairman Randy Voller is hosting a morning press conference to lay out his vision for the minority party amid GOP reign.

TEA PARTY GROUP MAY SCREEN GOP U.S. SENATE CANDIDATES: Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips said his group may begin to support candidates in Republican primaries, the Daily Caller reports. The move could have implications on North Carolina's U.S. Senate race in 2014 -- which is expected to draw a robust field to challenge Democrat Kay Hagan. Americans for Prosperity is a tea party group that once held close ties to Gov. Pat McCrory's budget director, Art Pope, who led the national board and donated significantly to the organization.

TODAY IN POLITICS: Gov. Pat McCrory will address the media for the first time since his inflammatory comments about higher education funding and liberal arts studies at a 10 a.m. press conference ostensibly about the state's Medicaid system. At the statehouse, House lawmakers will consider a controversial bill to curtail unemployment benefits while senators work on legislation to block the expansion of Medicaid under the federal healthcare law. In Washington, the confirmation hearings for Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel begin as U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan faces pressure in recent TV ads to vote against.

OP-ED: McCRORY'S EDUCATION REMARKS BETRAY CONSERVATIVE PRINCIPLES: Political communications consultant and college lecturer Jonathan Riehl and former Reagan campaign official Scot Faulkner write in this morning's N&O: "With the governor’s star rising in the GOP, his comments no doubt were strategic. They also represent a total betrayal of conservative principle."

***This is the Dome Morning Memo -- a look at North Carolina politcs news and analysis. Click "Read More" for additional headlines and news.***

Federal prosecutors indicted a powerful former Republican state lawmaker on four new counts, charging him with filing false tax returns and trying to hide an alleged scheme to launder federal loan money to enrich himself and close associates.

The new charges – which raise the total number to 12 – accuse former Rules Committee Chairman Stephen LaRoque of submitting false 2009 and 2010 tax returns, concealing actions to divert money for personal use and making false statements to the federal government.

A special House committee punted immigration reform to the full chamber, declining to draft any legislation at its final meeting Thursday.

The House Select Committee on the State's Role in Immigration Policy essential ended confounded by the politics of the issue and couldn't come to an agreement on the best way to proceed. 

Lawmakers spent less than one minute discussing its brief final report and adjourned without any discussion of the issue. The meeting stood in stark contrast to a previous public hearing with heated language and passionate pleas from groups pushing for stricter laws and those warning against taking any action.

Committee co-chairman Frank Iler, a Oak Island Republican, said lawmakers can introduce their own legislation next year. He plans to do so but refused to discuss what it would say.

State legislators are considering an overhaul of the state unemployment system that includes a major reduction in benefits for laid-off workers.

The potential cutbacks, unveiled Wednesday morning by a Republican-controlled committee, are included in a draft bill that takes a broad-brush approach to dealing with the state’s $2.48 billion debt to the federal government. The money was borrowed to pay for unemployment benefits.

Republican leaders are portraying the proposal as spreading the pain among employers and the unemployed. “It ain’t kind. It ain’t nice. But it’s important,” said Rep. Julia Howard, a Republican from Mocksville and co-chair of the Joint Revenue Laws Study Committee. “No one loves this bill.”

But advocacy groups for the poor contend the unemployed, who already are reeling from the effects of a struggling economy, would be hit disproportionately hard. Read more here.

Republican lawmakers worked into the night to get enough votes to override Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of the fracking legislation -- possibly winning approval thanks to a Democrat's mistaken vote.

Rep. Becky Carney, a Charlotte Democrat, hit the wrong button and voted in favor of the override, giving the GOP the one-vote margin it needed to void the veto just before 11:30 a.m.

Carney said she "made a huge mistake" and hit the wrong button in the rush  to vote. House rules don't allow lawmakers to change their vote if it affect the outcome of the tally but Carney wanted to ask to waive House rules. 

Support from key House Democrats for the GOP-authored budget is eroding, putting into question the legislature’s ability to override a veto by Gov. Bev Perdue, if it comes. “They don’t have the votes to override, and they know it,” said Rep. Dewey Hill, a Whiteville Democrat. Hill was one of five House Democrats who helped legislative Republicans enact their own budget last year over Perdue’s objections. Full story here.

Perdue has not said what she will do about the $20.2 billion budget that she says falls short of meeting critical needs. She plans to hold a press conference on the budget at 10 a.m. Friday.

Other political headlines:

--North Carolina risks losing control of the health insurance marketplace it has to establish under the federal law the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Thursday if it hesitates to authorize it much longer. The state is also assessing the financial impact of adding more than half a million people to the Medicaid program as a result of the court’s ruling. 

UPDATED: At 100 legislative days, the N&O scored the House Republicans' 10-point agenda. The result: five wins, five losses. 

With the two-year legislative session nearing a close, Dome dug out the scorecard to see if Republicans made any further progress in the past eight months. The answer: not so far. (Even though if you look at the House Republican caucus website, it proclaims, "promises made promises kept.") Here's a look at the scorecard again.

A trio of controversial issues dominated the discussion Wednesday -- fracking, immigration and gay marriage -- but education is today's topic.

The N.C. Association of School Administrators will hold its annual conference in Raleigh today. Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue will speak at 9 a.m., continuing her push for better education funding. And the Democratic candidates who want to replace her -- Bob Etheridge, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton and Rep. Bill Faison -- will speak at a 5 p.m. forum, along with those seeking the state superintendent post.

Republican Pat McCrory released his education plan Wednesday, getting a day -- and a story -- all to himself on the topic. He outlined a series of proposals including merit pay for teachers, more accountability, faster expansion of charter schools and more e-learning.

For other headlines, see below.

House Speaker Thom Tillis took the brunt of the criticism and tough questions about the midnight special session. In an interview Thursday afternoon with our Charlotte Observer colleague Jim Morrill, the Mecklenberg County Republican didn't back down. In fact, he said he'd do it again, if needed.

But then later in the interview, Tillis said such actions should be rare. And he even suggested the House didn't attempt to override the Energy Jobs Act, a bill reviled by environmentalists, because of transparency concerns.

Here's a few edited Q&As with the Republican speaker courtesy of Morrill.