In a five-paragraph letter to a House Republican leader, the state attorney general's office offered its opinion Friday that the legislature's order for new and increased ferry tolls is still in effect, despite Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue's attempt to stop it.

"We believe that an Executive Order which directly conflicts with a law enacted by the General Assembly raises substantial concerns under our Constitution," Grayson G. Kelley, chief deputy attorney general, concluded in a letter to Rep. Phillip Frye. "It is therefore our opinion that a direct conflict between a law enacted by the General Assembly and an Executive Order issued by the Governor must be resolved through implementation of the law."

The full text of Kelley's letter, dated Thursday and delivered Friday to Frye's office, is below. Check here for details on Perdue's attempt to block the ferry tolls, and here for the texts of two related documents: Perdue's Feb. 29 order and a March 8 memo on the legal issues from Gerry Cohen, one of the legislature's lawyers.

Documents:

Two months after Duke Energy won a 7 percent rate increase from the N.C. Utilities Commisison, the state's Attorney General said he would appeal the ruling.

AG Roy Cooper opposed the rate increase when it was before the utilities commission. Charlotte-based Duke, under pressure to scale back its request, agreed to cut back the rate hike from the 15 percent the company originally requested.

Cooper will fight the increase at the N.C. Court of Appeals, according to our sister publication, The Charlotte Observer. He contends Duke's profit should be curtailed during tough economic times for its customers.

Duke has about 180,000 customers in Durham, Chapel Hill and the western Triangle, representing about 10 percent of its North Carolina customers.

Attorney General Roy Cooper has named a new head of the state’s Consumer Protection Division, which is responsible for protecting consumers from scams, frauds and unfair business practices.

Kevin Anderson has worked for the division since 1998. He helped negotiate one of the division’s largest pharmaceutical settlements and worked with the Federal Trade Commission to help enforce Do Not Call laws. He holds undergraduate and law degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Anderson will oversee a staff of 50 that includes attorneys, consumer specialists and investigators.
 

The search for the new SBI crime lab director is down to two candidates. There were three finalists recommended by the 10-member search committee headed by SBI Director Greg McLeod, but the director of the California crime lab, Jill Spriggs, withdrew.

Spriggs had spent a lot of time in North Carolina over the past ten months answering questions about the SBI and ASCLD, the trade association of crime lab directors. Spriggs and other ASCLD leaders made  almost monthly trips to North Carolina to visit the SBI, ASCLD (head quartered in Garner) and the N.C. General Assembly, which passed a series of reforms for the SBI.

Spriggs had complained about The News & Observer's coverage of the SBI, saying the newspaper misquoted her. Untrue: she was  quoted verbatim, as you can hear from the audio of the relevant meeting, available at the bottom of this page.

George E.B. Holding, the top federal prosecutor in Raleigh since 2006, has resigned the post and is not ruling out a candidacy to become North Carolina's attorney general next year.

Holding announced his resignation today as U.S. Attorney in Raleigh, effective July 8.

In an interview today, Holding told The News & Observer that he would consider all options for his next job, including making a challenge for the state's top law enforcement position.

Holding is a Republican.

Roy Cooper, a Democrat, has held the position since winning election in 2000.

Pharmaceutical company EMD Serono will pay $44.3 million to North Carolina, 49 states and the District of Columbia to resolve allegations that it paid doctors to prescribe one of the company’s drugs.

The states attorneys general argue that kickbacks paid by EMD Serono resulted in fraudulent Medicaid claims for the drug Rebif, which is  used to treat the relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis.

The settlement includes $19 million for Medicaid, a federal-state program that provides health insurance for the poor, nationwide. North Carolina's share of the Medicaid money will be $760,000.

A Winston-Salem man who promised to help homeowners avoid foreclosure can no longer collect money from consumers for foreclosure assistance or loan modifications.

Last week, Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning agreed with the N.C. Attorney General's office request to temporarily bar Edward “Eddie” Phillip Long, Jr., doing business as Credit Enhancement Services, from offering foreclosure and loan modification services, and from charging advance fees for credit repair and credit score improvement services. 

Attorney General Roy Cooper is seeking to permanently shut down Long’s foreclosure assistance business and win consumer refunds and civil penalties. The AG's Consumer Protection Division received six complaints about Long and his business.
 
According to the AG's complaint, Long claimed that he had extensive experience in the banking industry and that he was a professor of finance at North Carolina A&T University. Neither is true, according to Cooper.
 
The complaint also alleged that Long promised to save customers’ homes from foreclosure for an upfront fee ranging from $500 to $1000. Under North Carolina law, it’s illegal to charge an advance fee for foreclosure assistance or loan modifications.
 
If you suspect fraud by a foreclosure rescue company or if you have been charged upfront fees, call the AG's Consumer Protection Division 1-877-566-7226.  If you need help avoiding foreclosure, call  the hotline set up by the NC Commissioner of Banks’ Office for free counseling.  he hotline, 1-866-234-4857, is available from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.

Former SBI agent Duane Deaver has appealed his firing. The story is here.

His appeal will take place in the Office of Administrative Hearings. The case may give the public a look into a workplace generally closed off by personnel laws. Deaver's lawyers, Philip Isley and Philip Miller of Raleigh, will be able to gather SBI records and interview Deaver's bosses and colleagues under oath, such as current SBI director Greg McLeod,  former director Robin Pendergraft and perhaps Attorney General Roy Cooper.

The state has settled a 5-year-old lawsuit with the Tennessee Valley Authority over emissions from its coal-fired plants.

The deal was part of a larger settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over TVA violations of the clean air act at 11 of its coal-fired plants in Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee.

The settlement requires the TVA to invest an estimated $3 billion to $5 billion on new and upgraded pollution controls. It must reduce emissions by retiring at least 18 of its 59 coal units and installing and continuously operating emission-control equipment on almost all of the remaining units.

TVA also agreed to invest $350 million on clean energy projects to reduce pollution, save energy and protect public health. North Carolina will receive $11.2 million as part of the clean energy investment.

The four plants closest to North Carolina will be among the first to be controlled or shut down, Attorney General Roy Cooper's office announced today.

"North Carolina businesses will benefit with lower health care costs and more tourism dollars, and all of us benefit from better health,” Cooper said in a statement. “This agreement means our air will be more clear and our waters more clean. The settlement is a remarkable accomplishment and we are pleased that everyone involved could resolve it this way.”
 


Cooper, on behalf of North Carolina, had filed a public nuisance lawsuit against the TVA in 2006, claiming that the utility’s coal-fired plants sent polluted air into North Carolina. 

Attorney General Roy Cooper released two independent audits Tuesday showing that the DNA unit of the SBI crime lab is meeting national standards.

Cooper called for the two audits of the DNA section after an independent audit showed that the SBI crime lab had withheld the results of blood tests in 227 cases from the 1980s through 2003. (Chris Swecker, who headed the independent audit, told The N&O Tuesday that two more cases were removed from his audit, bringing the number from 229 to 227.)

The October audit, conducted by members of the Kentucky State Police Forensics Lab, found two problems. The lab hadn't set expiration dates for some chemicals that lacked a manufacturer's expiration date, which is important because bad reagents can ruin a test.

The lab did not require the review of all standards and controls to see if expected results were obtained. The auditors found that the crime lab addressed both problems.

The October audit also found many test results were were "overblown" - off  the scale. But the lab seldom re-ran the tests as rules required. The audit also found that analysts were overusing the word "artifact" when the use did not fit the definition. An artifact is a false indication of a DNA sequence, perhaps caused by a contaminant or a problem  in the dye.  Theses findings were overruled by Audit Review Panel of the National DNA Index System.

In a press release, Cooper, SBI Director Greg McLeod and acting Crime Lab Director Joe John expressed satisfaction with the results.

"We welcome scrutiny as we work to make sure that the lab meets the highest and best standards," McLeod said.