New Wake County Commissioners Chairman Tony Gurley may want to bring some insulin from his pharmacy at future meetings.

As noted in today's article, it took Commissioner Stan Norwalk citing the need for an insulin shot to end more than eight hours of voting on a vice chairman. At his request, the meeting was recessed until 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Norwalk's health came up several times during the meeting. He has diabetes.

Today's election of a new chairman for the Wake County board of commissioners makes last week's election of a new school board chairman boring by comparison.

After being deadlocked for more than an hour, the Republicans took advantage of a potty break by Betty Lou Ward to elect Tony Gurley as the new chairman. The Republicans hailed the election while the Democrats cried foul.

Democrats hold a 4-3 edge among the commissioners. But outgoing chairman Harold Webb has missed several meetings, including today's affair, because of a stroke.

UPDATE

The vote that elected Gurley came after dozens of procedural votes in which the Republican refused to move past the election to other matters or to hold a recess.

Changed to reflect that Gurley's election was a 4-2 because Ward's absence was considered a vote for him.

You can watch the meeting live online as they hold yet another vote on picking Ward or Paul Coble to be vice chair by clicking on this page.

A midnight motion to recess the meeting until 10 a.m. Wednesday failed on a 3-3 vote with Democrats voting yes and Republicans voting no.

It's approaching 1 a.m. and Norwalk has given out his cell phone number for people to talk with him during the 2 1/2 minutes between votes. Former Commissioner Phil Jeffreys was the first caller. Then Norwalk got a call from WTVD and proceeded to give an in meeting interview.

The commissioners voted 5-1 at 2:15 a.m. to adjourn the meeting until 10 a.m Wednesday after Norwalk cited health issues because he hadn't had his insulin shot tonight.

Gurley, who initially suggested getting insulin delivered from an all-night pharmacy, was the lone no vote. He said he voted no because Norwalk did not agree to skip Wednesday's meeting in case Webb attends.

Click here for Tuesday's updated online story.

School board candidate Rita Rakestraw is touting her endorsements and her support for an impact fee in her latest campaign mailers.

In this new mailer sent this week, the catch phrase is "it's time growth helps pay for itself." Rakestraw says she'll put the focus back on the classroom by easing the taxpayer pressure to keep pace with growth.

Rakestraw says one solution "would be impact fees on new growth that help defray costs of school construction allowing existing dollars to go towards inside the classroom."

It looks like school board members and county commissioners are going to have to settle for being disappointed with today's media coverage of the joint meeting.

During Wednesday's joint meeting, school board member Horace Tart brought up an argument that's increasingly being used by the district and its supporters. He complained that the media reporting that nearly 25,000 students being reassigned over the next three years "isn't the whole story."

Tart argued that the "real number" being moved is 10,000 students.

The county commissioners have put the funding hot potato in the school board's lap.

The commissioners voted this afternoon to request the school board, Wake Tech and non-profits to participate in a 1.8 percent funding cut. If these groups say no, the commissioners can later implement the cut anyway.

It's putting the school system in the position of deciding whether it will give back $5.7 million. The school board could offer to give less than $5.7 million or nothing to put the issue back with the commissioners.

A new poll from Public Policy Polling has the three Democratic candidates for county commissioner leading their races and poised to flip control of the board.

In the closest race, the poll shows Democratic challenger Stan Norwalk with 49 percent of the vote. Republican incumbent Kenn Gardner is at 40 percent. The poll has an error margin of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

One thing to keep in mind, which isn't mentioned in the press release, is that PPP President Dean Debnam gave $1,000 to Norwalk's campaign.

The county commissioners have a test for the school board to pass.

As part of Monday's budget vote, commissioners are requesting that the school board set aside money to raise teacher pay should the average state raise be lower than expected.

it's looking like the state raises will fall short, which could put the school board in a tricky position. After getting $36 million less than requested from commissioners, will they still go ahead with those raises?