Wake County school board member Kevin Hill is touting how both of his 2007 school board opponents are now endorsing him in this year's runoff election.

In a press release today, Hill's campaign announces that it has been endorsed by Martha LaVance and Alfreda Wilson. The release particularly focuses on the endorsement from Wilson, calling her the "2007 Republican candidate" and saying it shows how Hill has "continued to pick up bi-partisan support."

"Kevin is the BEST person suited to represent District 3 on the Wake County Board of Education," Wilson says in Hill's press release. "I have been very pleased with his representation thus far and I believe that he will continue to conduct himself accordingly. "

Wake County school board candidate Jim Martin has maintained his commanding fundraising lead over Cynthia Matson in the District 5 race.

A new campaign finance report filed this week shows Martin had raised $31,534.46 as of Sept. 26 with $19,787.51 on hand. In contrast, Matson had only raised $8,517.10 as of Sept. 26 with $2,132.38 on hand.

The largest donors for Martin in the new report are the $2,000 from Capitol Broadcasting CEO Jim Goodmon and $500 from Wake Citizens for Good Government.

The Wake County Democratic Party is promoting the words of former school board member Tom Oxholm and comedian Stephen Colbert to bolster their school board candidates.

In a press release today, Wake Democrats point to Monday's N&O op-ed piece by Oxholm in which he criticizes the board majority for trying to implement neighborhood schools. Oxholm, a former Republican turned unaffiliated voter who has given money to Democratic candidates, asks people to "vote Oct. 11 to preserve our school system - it is critical to our future."

The Wake Democrats also point out how Colbert's scathing "Disintegration" segment on Wake schools was played nationally Sunday night on the Primetime Emmy Awards.

"If you agree with Tom Oxholm, that it is time for a change and that this election is critical, then we ask you to volunteer to help our efforts," says Wake Democratic Party Chairman Mack Paul in the press release. "If you are ready to move Wake County forward, and stop the jokes, then head over to http://movingwakeforward.com/ and find out more about our effort."

Wake County school board member Kevin Hill and challenger Jennifer Mansfield lag far behind Heather Losurdo in the amount of cash raised so far in District.

The new report filed today by Hill shows he had raised $15,245 as of Aug. 30 with $12,123.69 at hand. Mansfield's new report has her with $3,582.19 raised as of Aug. 30 with $1,826.86 on hand.

Well out in front financially is Losurdo, who's raised $30,529.55 as of Aug. 30 with $11,801.85 on hand.

The District 6 race for the Wake County school board is looking like it could be the most expensive of all the races this fall.

The new campaign report filed today by Christine Kushner shows she has raised $41,565.83 as of Aug. 30 with $33,256.54. The new report filed today by Donna Williams shows she has raised $27,806.83 as of Aug. 30 with $22,634.43 on hand.

The biggest donor in Kushners' new report is the Democratic Women of Wake County, which gave $1,100. She also received small donations from former school board members John Gilbert, Lori Millberg, Tom Oxholm and Susan Parry.

The Wake County Democratic Party will emulate the Republicans this year in choosing sides in non-partisan races where there is more than one Democrat running for office.

Historically, the county Democrats have endorsed all party members who are running, even when they're competing against one other. Unlike partisan races, there's no primary in races like Wake County school board to whittle things down to one person per party.

But based on the significance of this year's contests, Wake Democratic Party Chairman Mack Paul said they will narrow the official endorsement to one candidate in each contest.

WakeMed leaders are urging UNC officials to begin negotiations on their hostile $750 million bid to buy rival Raleigh hospital Rex Healthcare.

In a letter delivered Wednesday to UNC president Tom Ross, WakeMed CEO Bill Atkinson and chairman Tom Oxholm wrote that they want to close the acquisition "on or before" Dec. 31.

"We think it could be done by the close of the year, assuming everyone wants it to happen and we put teams in place on both sides to make it happen," Atkinson said in a phone interview today.

"We hope the state of North Carolina and UNC will look at this in a timely and fair and serious manner," he added. "We have a very viable proposal and it could be a big plus to the state of North Carolina economically."

Still, a sale is far from certain.

UNC officials have made clear that while they will review WakeMed's offer, they're not interested in selling Rex, which is a foundation of the UNC Health Care System's expansion strategy in Wake County. Ross had recently requested more information from WakeMed, which made the unsolicited offer to buy Rex last month.

Tom Oxholm is an alumnus of UNC Chapel Hill, has been a "loyal" donor to the school and three of his four children are also graduates.

But in the brawl between the UNC Health Care System and WakeMed, it's clear where his loyalties lie. Oxholm, who has served on WakeMed's board for eight years, began a two-year term as the hospital's chairman today.

He replaces Billie Redmond, a Raleigh real-estate executive who was chairwoman since May 2009.

WakeMed made an unsolicited, $750 million offer to buy rival Rex Healthcare from UNC Health this month and Oxholm said in a phone interview this morning that the proposal will consume much of his attention in the coming months. The union would improve medical care in this region, and help reduce health costs by creating new efficiencies, Oxholm said.

"We're not trying to do a hostile takeover," he said. "We just think a combination would be the best thing for Wake County."

Oxholm, 55, is also a Certified Public Accountant and the chief financial executive at Knightdale-based Wake Stone Corp. Click "Read More" to see more highlights from this morning's interview. 

Student assignment and diversity accounted for much of the questions that Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata faced Thursday night at the meeting organized by NC HEAT.

As noted in today's article, Tata talked several times about the task force that will hold its first meeting this afternoon for developing a new long-term student assignment plan. He repeatedly said that a focus of the task force will be on figuring out a way to avoid leaving schools with high concentrations of low-performing students.

"It’s clear that for me the student assignment plan really has to address avoiding high concentrations of low-performing students," Tata told the crowd. "That’s the framework and prism from which I’m addressing.”

GOP Wake County Commissioner Joe Bryan has usually come off as a moderate over the years but is pushing himself as a conservative defender of taxpayers in his latest round of campaign advertising.

In this campaign mailer, Bryan calls himself "our first line of defense against higher taxes. Bryan, who is running against Democratic Don Mial, says he's "on the front lines, fighting against the reckless big-spending liberals."

"Joe Bryan knows that ever dollar saved in government spending is a dollar that you're not paying in taxes," Bryan says in the mailer. "That's why he led efforts to balance the county budget without raising taxes. Instead, he cut $30 million in spending while safeguarding needed funds for Wake County schools. And he voted to cut his own salary by 10% to make it happen."