* Labor unions trying to shape the nation's health-reform debate have poured millions of dollars into the campaign coffers of North Carolina lawmakers in recent years.
Since 2003, unions have spent $3.4 million to elect allies from the Tar Heel state to the U.S. House and Senate. Nearly all of it has gone to Democrats.
North Carolina, a right-to-work state, has the second-lowest union representation and the lowest union membership rate in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
But key voting blocs, including state workers and many service workers, are represented by labor groups such as the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU. Labor groups have organized rallies, town hall meetings, phone banks and advertising in support of health-care reform.
Of the state's 13 House members, Democrat Brad Miller of Raleigh received the most union money — $588,000. (N&O)
* North Carolina community colleges leaders have drawn up a new policy that would allow illegal immigrants into the two-year colleges.
The state Board of Community Colleges' policy committee on Thursday drafted rules that would admit undocumented immigrants if they graduated from a U.S. high school. The students would have to pay out-of-state tuition rates and could not take a seat from students who are legal residents. (AP)
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Re: Unions put millions into health debate
"But key voting blocs, including state workers and many service workers, are represented by labor groups such as the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU. Labor groups have organized rallies, town hall meetings, phone banks and advertising in support of health-care reform."
Are you sure about this? I thought it was the insurance companies who were busing these mobs in from out-of-town.