It wasn't an incandescent bulb, but a fluorescent.

At the end of the movie, a list of tips on cutting carbon emissions includes switching to the new compact energy-efficient bulbs at home.

Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat, did that. Now she wants to go one step further, and eliminate incandescent bulbs around the state within a decade.

House Bill 838, which Harrison and Asheville Democrat Susan Fisher sponsored, would prohibit the sale of incandescent bulbs in North Carolina by 2016, the same year that bulb-maker Philips has pledged to stop making them.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the fluorescent bulbs use two-thirds the energy of incandescents and last up to 10 times longer. Wal-Mart has recently begun promoting the bulbs in stores as a way to cut energy costs. Still, lawmakers like Harrison want to give the market a little more incentive. Similar bills are being considered in California and Connecticut, as well as Australia. "Sometimes government mandates move things along quicker," Harrison said.

Poll asked about school proposals

North Carolina voters support raising the mandatory school attendance age to 18. But they aren't wild about a proposal to pay for the "More at Four" preschool program with proceeds from the state lottery, according to a poll commissioned by a conservative research group.

The poll for the John William Pope Civitas Institute found that 72 percent favored raising the dropout age, now 16. Also, 91 percent supported expanding vocational education programs to make school more attractive to students thinking of dropping out.

Pollsters asked voters which of the two possible statewide bond issues they most supported -- a $2 billion bond issue for school construction or a $1.4 billion bond issue for state offices, prisons, university buildings and water resources. Of the voters surveyed, 60 percent said they preferred the bond issue for school construction, and 15 percent said they preferred the bond issue for state offices, prisons and so forth.

Voters were asked whether they supported Gov. Mike Easley's proposal to shift lottery proceeds from school construction and scholarships to the "government run" preschool program More at Four. Of the respondents, 32 percent supported the idea, 49 percent opposed it and 19 percent were not sure.

Finally, pollsters asked whether voters would choose to send their children to private or parochial schools instead of public schools "if money were not an issue." Of those polled, 49 percent said yes, and 42 percent said no.

TelOpinion Research of Alexandria, Va., conducted the poll this month of 800 voters. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

Hackney's Black ties have stains

House Speaker Joe Hackney's permanent staff includes two former aides to his predecessor, Jim Black, who have been subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury that has been probing Black's legislative and campaign activities.

They are former Rep. Michael Wilkins, who was Black's chief of staff and is now a senior policy adviser, and Allen Rogers, who continues to handle state boards and commissions. In announcing his permanent staff last week, Hackney said he has talked to both men about their testimony and is confident that they only served as witnesses, and were not the source of trouble.

Both men were involved in matters that proved costly for Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat.

Rogers had helped arrange a state job for former Rep. Michael Decker, promoting tourism in the Triad. It was one of the first signals that Black was providing extraordinary help for the man who had switched political parties in 2003 and helped Black remain in power. Black and Decker have since admitted that Decker's support came after Black paid a $50,000 bribe and provided a legislative job for Decker's son.

Wilkins, meanwhile, oversaw the work done by former House Historian Ann Lassiter. Black had given her the position after he found out she had sent House pages to stay with her son, a convicted felon, while she coordinated the page program. Her report on the history of House speakers was so poorly done that Black refused to release it. Hackney made it public soon after he won the speakership.

Hackney said Rogers and Wilkins were only following orders and should not be held responsible for Black's actions.

"Obviously, I've concluded they are people of strong integrity," said Hackney, an Orange County Democrat.