Gov. Beverly Perdue says there's a good reason she didn't join most of the nation's other Democratic governors in signing a letter supporting health-care reform.
Perdue says she was too busy with an economic development trip to New York City to consider the letter.
The letter was assembled by the Senate majority leader and the Democratic Governors Association, Talking Points Memo reports.
It's a standard letter addressed to congressional leaders, telling them states "will only achieve the health-care security and stability they need if we succeed in working together with the Congress and the President to achieve health-care reform."
Perdue was one of six Democratic governors who did not sign the letter. Perdue was given a copy of the letter between meetings, Perdue spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson said.
"She didn't feel she had enough time to give it due consideration," Pearson said. "Her focus that day was the trip to New York City. It was a very grueling schedule."
Pearson said Perdue agrees with the points made in the letter.
"She did not sign it, but wants to make it clear that she remains committed to working with the Obama administration on health-care reform," Pearson said.
To Russia, with Rand
Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight and Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand are spending a few days this week in St. Petersburg, Russia, as part of a conference of state Senate leaders.
The conference, organized by the Senate Presidents' Forum, includes seminars with a variety of Russian and foreign affairs specialists and tours of St. Petersburg sites, including the Hermitage art museum.
Basnight and Rand, both Democrats, are not using public money for the trip, according to their staffs. The forum provides stipends to cover at least part of the cost.
Obama not polling well in N.C.
President Barack Obama's approval rating in North Carolina is hovering around 45 percent, two new polls show.
The Democratic firm Public Policy Polling found an approval rating of 45 percent, and the conservative-leaning Civitas Institute poll showed a 44 percent rating.
Civitas found that Obama is losing support among unaffiliated voters.
Along party lines, just over a quarter of Democrats disapprove of Obama's performance (71 percent favorable, 26 percent unfavorable). But among unaffiliated voters (34 percent favorable, 63 percent unfavorable) and Republicans (17 percent favorable, 82 percent unfavorable) it turns negative.
The Civitas poll of 600 registered voters was conducted Sept. 29-30 by SurveyUSA and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
PPP's survey was of 683 voters from Oct. 2 through Oct. 4 and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
N.C. gets Internet grant
North Carolina will receive a $2 million grant to help expand broadband Internet access in the state.
Perdue got news of the grant Monday in Washington from U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Perdue spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson said. The money will come from federal stimulus dollars and is meant to help get broadband Internet access to rural and under-served areas.
The e-NC authority, a state initiative that seeks to connect all state residents to the Internet, applied for the grant.
The agency will get $1.6 million for mapping broadband availability and $434,000 for planning, according to U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan's office.
Klass seeks appeals court seat
Lexington Superior Court Judge Mark E. Klass intends to run for the N.C. Court of Appeals next year.
Klass plans to seek the seat being vacated by Judge Ann Marie Calabria. Wake County District Court Judge Jane Gray has also announced her plans to run for the seat.
Klass has been a judge for 11 years. He was an assistant district attorney from 1984 to 1986 and was in private practice from 1986 to 1998.
By staff writers Benjamin Niolet and Mark Johnson
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Social issues dominated the 2012 presidential race Friday, as President Barack Obama tried to calm a storm over religion and birth control and the Republicans vying to replace him jockeyed to outdo each other in proving their conservative fervor. 
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum says he thinks it would be wrong to allow women to serve in combat. 
Under fierce election-year fire, President Barack Obama on Friday abruptly abandoned his stand that religious organizations must pay for birth control for workers, scrambling to end a furor raging from the Catholic Church to Congress to his re-election foes. He demanded that insurance companies step in to provide the coverage instead. Keep up with the latest political stories with our free daily e-mail newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox!
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