These letters got overrun by other issues and did not make the paper.

There are some interesting ramifications to the revised Wake County school board election bill approved by the state Senate Redistricting Committee on Wednesday.

As noted in today's article, the new version of S325 would delay implementation of the new boundaries and regional seats by two years to 2016. A lot of things are different by not doing beginning in 2014.

The new bill would put all nine board seats on the ballot in 2016 with the seven non-regional districts staying on four-year cycles coinciding with presidential election years. If it had begun in 2014, those seven seats would have been on the ballot in the spring primaries of mid-term elections.

Is Senate Bill 325 essentially a second try for Republicans to hold a majority on the Wake County school board?

As noted in today's article, the stated main purpose of the new legislation is to give individual Wake County voters the ability to elect a second school board member. But the bill also lets state Republican lawmakers rewrite the boundaries for Wake's school board districts.

This comes after the redistricting plan approved by the former Republican school board majority in 2011 didn't turn out as some thought that it would in ensuring GOP control of the state's largest school district.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-Greensboro, has been on a N.C. Back to Work Jobs Tour around the state for the past year to gather ideas on getting people back to work and holding job fairs.

The tour brings her to Wake Technical Community College on April 2.

The job fair will be from 9 a.m. to noon, at the college at 9101 Fayetteville Road in Raleigh.

Both large and small businesses are being encouraged to participate. Employers should pre-register and can contact Amanda Gabriel at Amanda_Gabriel@hagan.senate.gov.

Job seekers do not have to register.

Will former Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata return to the public eye as a candidate for U.S. Senator in North Carolina?

In his Talking About Politics blog Wednesday, Democratic political strategist Gary Pearce writes that "Democrats may pay the price" for Tata's firing. For instance, Pearce writes that "Tata gets a years’ pay so he can start (some critics theorize) running against Senator Kay Hagan in 2014."

Pearce writes that now Republican school board member John Tedesco "may stir up enough votes in Wake County to get elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction" and that Wake County Board of Commissioners Chairman Paul Coble "now has an excuse not to give the schools more money."

Pearce writes that "it was a mistake to fire Tony Tata without first setting out a bill of particulars." He also writes that "even strong Democrats believe the Wake school board flunked this test."

This is just in from our Washington D.C. correspondent, Barb Barrett:

By Barbara Barrett
Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON – Scotty-mania hit Capitol Hill today, where North Carolina’s congressional delegation appears to agree that Scotty McCreery ought to win “American Idol” this week.
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, has invited the entire state delegation and their staffs to a watch party this evening at the home of one of her staff members. Hagan also called McCreery last week to congratulate him on coming so far in the contest.
Meanwhile GOP U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers, whose 2nd District includes McCreery’s hometown of Garner, wanted to chat this afternoon about her famous constituent’s chances.

Cherry Point will be getting eight more squadrons of Marine Corps F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

The Navy announced Thursday night that the base near Havelock will receive 128 jets to replace aging Harriers.

The decision also will bring 1,194 military personnel and about 2,300 dependents to the area. Construction costs to prepare for the new squadrons which should be in place by 2020 is estimated to be around $507 million.

State officials, including Gov. Bev Perdue, U.S. Senators Kay Hagan and Richard Burr, have been pushing for the expansion and had hoped the base would receive 11 new fighter squadrons.

"While North Carolina was certainly prepared to receive all 11 Joint Strike Fighter operational squadrons, I am pleased that the Navy’s Record of Decision will bring the majority of the squadrons to Cherry Point," Hagan said in a statement. "The result will increase the capabilities of our Marines. This decision supports tremendous job growth and economic development in our state."

The new F-35B jets can land on improvised airstrips and operate from amphibious vessels.
 

Add the hallowed halls of Congress to the places Cree's LEDs are being installed.

Or least the cafeteria in Washington's Rayburn House Office Building. Think of it as illuminating a dining hall of power using less power.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C. took partial credit for the news. In a press release from her office, Hagan wrote that she sent a letter last fall to the Senate Rules Committee encouraging them to select Cree's LEDs for new, energy efficient lighting.

The light-emitting diodes made by Durham-based Cree are being adopted by cities, schools, retailers and other customers eager to embrace LEDs, which are more expensive than traditional lights, but last much longer and use much less power.

Several North Carolina lawmakers are pushing for the National Sept. 11 memorial and museum to be built with Mount Airy granite.

In a letter to New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, the memorial commission's chairman, they urge him to considering a contract with the Mount Airy Granite Corp. The letter is signed by U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan and U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, Ben Niolet reports at the Under the Dome blog.

"The North Carolina Granite Corporation has a proven track record and is no stranger to sites of national significance," the NC members wrote to Bloomberg. "For example, Mount Airy granite was selected in the construction of the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., in addition to other historically significant projects."

The choice would also create work in Mount Airy, where the company's granite quarry has operated for more than a century.

Read the full Under the Dome report, and the lawmakers' letter, here.

North Carolina's Democrat in the U.S. Senate gave Cary software maker SAS a plug in a speech to lawmakers Tuesday.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan said SAS software could save billions in wasted and fraudulent health-care expenses, our sister blog Under the Dome reports. SAS makes software that government agencies and corporations use to mine vast amounts of data to spot trends and make predictions.

Campaign finance records show that Hagan received $4,000 from SAS CEO Jim Goodnight or his wife, Ann Goodnight, for her Senate campaign.