And it's the right thing to do:

"I know all our families do not look alike. We all want the same thing for our families. We want happiness, we want health, prosperity, a bright future for our children and grandchildren. After conversations I’ve had with family members, with people I go to church with and with North Carolinians from all walks of life, I’ve come to my own personal conclusion that we should not tell people who they can love, or who they can marry. It’s time to move forward with this issue.”

For all the flak Kay has taken (much of it justified) for some of her policy approaches and priorities, this took guts on her part, and should be remembered. The GOP will be gunning for her vigorously in the coming months, and it's going to take every tool in the box to keep from losing this seat.

And by misappropriate I mean steal, of course:

The centers still would receive $7.2 million annually, while Golden Leaf would receive nothing going forward. Art Pope, the state’s budget director, said Golden Leaf and the two centers have “cash already on hand” to fund their programs and don’t necessarily need at this point an annual replenishing.

It's not "annual replenishing", it's a court-ordered disbursement. The Foundation was created in the first place to make sure those monies were specifically targeted to create/enhance non-tobacco-related commerce, and to keep that money from being utilized for projects that don't create new economic engines. Here's the breakdown of those targeted funds:

And the University dart board is back on the wall again:

“There should be no sacred cows,” the Winston-Salem Republican said in an interview Friday. “The UNC system needs to be subjected to the same scrutiny as everything else.” Brunstetter cautioned that it is too early in the dialogue to identify particular campuses that could close, merge or transfer to the community college system – all ideas lawmakers are considering.

Sacred cows? The UNC System has suffered cut after cut during this recession, while students and their families have been forced deeper into debt due to tuition increases, and he's talking sacred cows? But not to worry, closing public universities is not the end of the world, since Georgia did it:

But those things probably aren't their goal, anyway:

Sen. Bob Rucho, a Republican leading the tax overhaul efforts, said revamping the system is necessary because household consumption has changed, eroding the base of the state’s tax system. Rucho said he favors taxing all services on the list. “It should be a balanced approach because there is more and more of a shift toward the service industry in North Carolina … and it’s just a matter of fairness that everybody should be treated the same,” he said.

Taxing services instead of income is about as far away from "fair" as you can get. Not only does it shift the burden down to those who can afford it the least, it puts downward pressure on small businesses, who employ about 3/4 of the work force. And (if that's not enough) it will create a budget deficit the likes we haven't seen for decades: