U.S. Reps. G.K. Butterfield and David Price worked to insert 23 lines into the 2008 Defense Authorization Act removing the authorization for the airstrip.

The Navy could still build the landing field elsewhere, and Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter has said he is willing to look for alternative locations.

For the prohibition on the Washington County site to go through, the Senate must include the language in its version of the defense bill as well. That version is still being developed.

For years, nearby residents and environmentalists have been urging the Navy not to choose the Washington County site, which is close to a national wildlife refuge. In the past couple of months, politicians, including U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Elizabeth Dole, have joined the opposition.

Plane rented out

When he started his gubernatorial run, state Sen. Fred Smith bought a plane.

The Citation jet retails for about $2.5 million. A financial disclosure form Smith filed with the State Ethics Commission shows he's making money from it.

According to his 2007 form, Smith earned income from 18 instances of "aircraft rental."

The rentals include Glen-Tree Investments, Celebration Associates and Cary contractor Steve Fowler.

It also includes prominent Republican donors Cliff Benson Jr. and Dean Painter Jr.

Smoking curbs

A bill that would ban smoking inside long-term care homes passed the House this week and will move to the Senate for consideration.

The bill, House 1294, would impose $200 fines for instances of smoking inside nursing homes, assisted living facilities and state-run psychiatric hospitals. Rep. Julia Howard, the bill's sponsor, said changes to the bill in committee -- including making sure residents know the rules when they move in -- should make it more palatable to some who objected on the basis of resident rights.

"Even the tobacco industry has signed off on all of this," Howard, a Mocksville Republican, said Thursday.

The bill would allow residents to smoke outside. That would include some areas shielded from adverse weather.

Pondering a run

Minnesota voters might have a Nobel laureate on their ballots in 2008.

Duke University medical professor Dr. Peter Agre said this week that he will evaluate a possible run for the Senate from Minnesota. Later this summer, he will take a leave of absence from Duke University Medical Center, where he is vice chancellor for science and technology and James B. Duke Professor of Cell Biology.

Agre was born and raised in Minnesota, where his family has lived for four generations. He graduated from Augsburg College in Minneapolis. Agre came to the Duke School of Medicine in 2005 after more than 25 years at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

"Everybody who knows me well knows that Minnesota is and always has been close to my heart," Agre said in a statement. "I've always tried to work for the benefit of humanity as a physician and scientist, and it has always been my hope to do so as a public servant."

Agre has a small research laboratory in cell biology investigating the water channel proteins that he and his colleagues discovered in 1991, garnering him a share of the 2003 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

He likely will establish residency in Minnesota over the summer.

Public-financed races

The town of Chapel Hill is one step closer to using public financing for council races. The House Election and Campaign Finance Reform Committee approved legislation Thursday setting up a pilot project for the town.

The legislation drew little discussion. Rep. Joe Kiser, a Lincoln County Republican, asked Chapel Hill's mayor pro-tem, Bill Strom, whether the council was unanimous in its support for a public financing program. When Strom confirmed that it was, lawmakers moved the legislation without dissent. It now goes to the House floor.

Public financing programs typically provide money for people to run for office in exchange for agreeing to stay within fundraising and spending limits.

The pilot would run for two elections, and then the town would need to report how many people participated, how much money was spent and other information to the legislature.