Debate, lawsuit fill a date for Moore

Tuesday could be pretty busy for Richard Moore.

Attorneys for the State Employees Association of North Carolina want to take a deposition from the state treasurer on a public records lawsuit Tuesday.

It's also the day that Moore is slated to debate Beverly Perdue, his opponent in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.

Moore's new attorney, Kieran Shanahan, has asked a judge to stop the proposed deposition. A hearing on the motion is scheduled for this morning.

Shanahan told Dome that the timing shows the "political motivations" of SEANC, which has sued for access to records of Moore's handling of the state pension.

A SEANC spokeswoman had no comment, saying the organization would make its case in the courtroom.

Shanahan is a new face in the dispute. A former Raleigh City Councilman and a noted Republican lawyer, he was hired last week to replace staff attorneys from Attorney General Roy Cooper's office.

Cooper approved the request last Friday and took special Deputy Attorneys General Melissa Trippe and Alec Peters off the lawsuit, according to spokeswoman Noelle Talley.

Myrick: Pull Carter's passport

U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick has called for former President Jimmy Carter's passport to be revoked over a meeting with Hamas leaders in Palestine.

The Charlotte Republican said on Fox News' "America's Pulse" on Thursday that she was angry over Carter's meeting with the Islamic militant group during his visit to the Middle East this week.

She said the call for revocation is mostly symbolic.

"That's up to the secretary of state, but frankly I wanted to send a strong message, because we have a policy in this country about Hamas, and he is just deliberately undermining that policy," she said.

Audit: DENR permits could be faster

A state audit released Thursday says the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources could speed up the process of approving air quality permits by as much as 52 percent and eliminate a backlog of applications by the end of next year.

DENR officials say they are encouraged by the findings, developed in part during a workshop conducted by N.C. State University's Industrial Extension Service. B. Keith Overcash, the director of DENR's Division of Air Quality, said staff have already begun using techniques developed from the audit.

The workshop helped identify a major snag in the permitting process -- a lack of information from applicants. The back and forth required to complete the applications often drags on for months. The audit also found that DENR's Division of Air Quality needs to adopt standardized review methods to speed up the process.

The audit said that DENR could save $572,439 and avoid hiring seven staff members if it followed the recommendations.

Scanning the crowd at Obama rally

Who was in the crowd at Barack Obama's Raleigh town hall meeting?

Several big-name North Carolina legislators, judges and candidates were at the Kerr Scott Building to hear the Democratic presidential candidate speak Thursday.

Hampton Dellinger, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, sat with his father, former U.S. Solicitor General Walter Dellinger.

Other notables included U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, who has campaigned for Obama, state Reps. Dan Blue and Ty Harrell, Wake County Commissioner Harold Webb, former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Willis Whichard, state appeals court Judge Jim Wynn and former UNC Board of Governors Chairman Brad Wilson.

Also on hand: former lobbyist Don Beason.