Legislators in the state House now have two big-screen televisions in the hallway outside their chamber.
The 60-inch LED televisions cost $3,900 and another $2,800 to install, officials said. (To attach them, state workers had to remove some asbestos in the ceiling, which led to higher installation costs.)
When the House is in session, the TVs hanging back-to-back from the ceiling will show what appears on the video board inside the chamber - typically the bill number and vote under consideration and vote totals. When the House isn't in session, the screens loop with facts about the legislature and a picture of Tillis.
The TVs appear only on one side of the House chamber. None are scheduled for installation near the Senate.
A spokesman for Tillis said the TV screens are part of an effort to expand the use of technology in the legislature and make information about House action more accessible.
Of course, the public technically can't see the screens because visitors aren't allowed on the second floor, according to a nearly 25-year-old rule. Tillis' office recently invoked the rarely enforced rule to clear a group of demonstrators from the hall outside his office.
Biden to visit Thomasville
Vice President Joe Biden will make a stop in North Carolina on Friday, joining his wife on a community college bus tour.
The vice president will join Jill Biden and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis on Friday morning at Davidson County Community College in Thomasville.
Jill Biden and Solis are on a three-day "Community College to Career" bus tour in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and finishing up in North Carolina to highlight the role community colleges play in developing the workforce.
Jill Biden was a community college instructor for 18 years, and Solis is a former community college trustee.
The White House announced Monday that the vice president will join the tour for the Thomasville stop only.
Watt running for re-election
U.S. Rep. Mel Watt, a Charlotte Democrat who represents the 12th House District, filed for an 11th term Monday morning. His filing ends speculation that Watt might join Charlotte Republican Rep. Sue Myrick in retiring after his current term.
"We need experience and seniority to maintain the influence of our delegation and we need representatives who will continue to work for progress, not return to the same old rhetoric and policies that led to the mess we're trying to dig our country out of," he said in a news release.
Watt, the delegation's longest-serving Democrat, trails only Republican Rep. Howard Coble of Greensboro in seniority. Coble is running for a 15th term.
Merritt to help guide charters
Former State Auditor Les Merritt is joining the board of directors at the N.C. Alliance for Public Charter Schools. The Zebulon CPA will serve as the organization's treasurer, the alliance's president, Paul Norcross, announced. Merritt is also a member of the State Ethics Commission.
"Public charter schools are an important piece of our state's educational system," Merritt said in a statement. "I strongly believe in public charter schools and am pleased to support the charter school movement."
Political barbs get personal
Gov. Bev Perdue's mental acuity is again the topic of public debate.
Playing off Wake GOP leader Susan Bryant's remarks that Perdue is "the dumbest governor in America," Fred Eckert, a former U.S. ambassador and congressman, writes this: "If North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue is not America's dumbest governor, a whole lot of us here in the Tar Heel State would be very surprised."
Eckert's piece appeared at The Daily Caller, a conservative website. It brought a strong rebuke from the state Democratic Party spokesman Walton Robinson, who emailed the editor and conservative pundit Tucker Carlson to complain about "the politics of personal destruction."
Carlson responded that the piece was "pretty mean." But in an email to Robinson, he said he apparently agrees with its sentiment: "On the other hand, she does seem like kind of a moron."
