U.S. Rep. David Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, will introduce legislation today to create a new Roosevelt Scholars program to help the federal government shore up its waning supply of scientists.

The Office of Personnel Management predicts that nearly a third of the government's engineers, physicians, economists, mathematicians and scientists are close to retirement age, said Price spokesman Paul Cox.

Price's bill, written with Republican U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut, would offer full tuition for three years of graduate school in exchange for three years of civil service in "mission-critical" areas.

The bill is named after former President Theodore Roosevelt.

Up close, Mr. Nice Guy

National Democratic Chairman Howard Dean took a swing through North Carolina on Tuesday, holding fundraisers and meeting with his old presidential rival, John Edwards.

Dean held a luncheon in Charlotte and attended a reception at the home of David Kirby, a Raleigh trial lawyer and former Edwards law partner.

"He was just an incredibly nice, kind-spirited person," Kirby said. "Howard Dean up close and personal is a gentler, kinder Howard Dean than what some of us have seen on television."

Among the 30 people attending the Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Raleigh were Attorney General Roy Cooper and state House candidate Josh Stein. The cost ranged from $500 to $5,000 a person.

Later, Dean had dinner with Edwards at Crook's Corner Restaurant in Chapel Hill.

Legislators in Greensboro

Don't come to Raleigh today if you want to see the state legislature in action.

The House and Senate are convening in Greensboro at 11 a.m. to honor the city's bicentennial. They will meet at N.C. A&T University.

In recent years lawmakers have met in Edenton, Bath and Greenville.

Top candidates to face off

The major candidates for governor and the U.S. Senate may face off for the first time next month.

Officials with the N.C. Bar Association say they have received commitments from Republican Elizabeth Dole and Democrat Kay Hagan, candidates for the U.S. Senate, to participate in a forum at the group's convention at Atlantic Beach on June 21.

They say that Democrat Beverly Perdue and Republican Pat McCrory, who are running for governor, have indicated they are likely to participate in their own forum at the event.

McCrory mum on gangs bill

North Carolina mayors say fighting the growth in gangs is not a partisan issue.

But when they walked into the legislature Wednesday to advocate anti-gang legislation at a news conference, only Democrats were given the microphone.

Sen. Malcolm Graham, the Charlotte Democrat who led the news conference, said Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy and Charlotte Mayor Pro Tem Susan Burgess were invited to speak because they head statewide municipal organizations.

Foy leads the Metrolina Coalition of North Carolina Mayors; Burgess is president of the N.C. League of Municipalities.

McCrory could only stand along with roughly two dozen mayors, police chiefs and lawmakers. McCrory said he was invited to the news conference but not to speak.

"I didn't mind not talking," McCrory said. "I do wish that they had a little bipartisanship up there."

He got his chance. Reporters and TV cameras swarmed him after the event.

Stam puts his money ...

State Rep. Paul Stam of Apex is not a fan of increasing the real estate transfer tax.

The House Republican leader not only opposed the tax increase in the legislature, he also sent a guest editorial to local newspapers in counties holding a referendum.

In Tyrrell County, he was told, the local paper had no room for his editorial.

So Stam, as he told it at the N.C. Chamber luncheon last week, paid the weekly Scuppernong Reminder $67 to run the editorial as an ad.